The Easel

26th November 2019

Troy: Will Gompertz reviews the British Museum’s new blockbuster show

Will Gompertz | bbc.com | 23rd November 2019

Why do stories about Troy have such enduring resonance? The ancient city of Troy probably existed. Fictional Paris abducted possibly fictional Helen (antiquity’s hottest babe), leading to the (unlikely) 10 year Trojan War. All this is recorded by the mysterious Homer in The Iliad. What gives the tale its enduring appeal are its powerful personalities, epic emotions and, above all, the futility of war.

Grave hopping with Gilbert & George

Simon Willis | 1843 | 15th November 2019

Gilbert and George revel in the confrontational. Dressed in immaculate tweed suits, they started as a living sculpture (“two people, one artist”) straight out of art school. Since then their art has become “more extreme” – difficult subjects, brash images, profanities. They feel unloved by the art world, perhaps happily so. “If we saw more art, more artists, we’d become normal. We don’t want to be normal like them”.

19th November 2019

Dora Maar: A solo retrospective

Cat Lachowskyj | British Journal of Photography | 11th November 2019

Before her relationship with Picasso Maar enjoyed commercial and artistic success as a surrealist-influenced photographer. The famous romance obliterated those early achievements. While now getting recognition, can Maar the artist be disentangled from Maar the muse? Probably not, concedes the curator: “it is simply impossible to represent the professional without the personal – they are intertwined.”

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