The Easel | Art journalism

12th August 2025

Jean-François Millet and the drudgery of rural life

Michael Prodger | The New Statesman | 6th August 2025

In mid-eighteen hundreds France, people were leaving farm life to take their chances in the cities. Millet, a country boy, knew the realities of peasant life and made it the subject of his work. Wanting to be modern, a realist, he avoided romanticising rural life but did want to show the “dignity of toil”. Says one writer, his art is not naïve but rather “sophisticated, carefully staged naturalism”. One admirer was a young van Gogh who regarded Millett as “the essential modern painter”.

Our greatest football photographer’s secret? Ignore the game

Waldemar Januszczak | Waldemar.tv | 4th August 2025

Believe it or not but located in the glamorous Tottenham stadium in London is an art gallery. Proving that art and soccer are logical bedfellows Oof gallery is staging a retrospective of the sports photographer Peter Robinson. On-pitch drama didn’t interest him. The fans, in his view, displayed the humanity of the game most vividly. Rather spoiling the art-sport theme, another artist exhibiting alongside Robinson has embroidered football shirts. Says the writer, “messy, not Messi.”

Britain London photography Robinson Peter soccer sport Tottenham

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