For sheer painterly pleasure, Nige says you can't do better than visit the John Singer Sargent exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, running until 25 May... To the National Portrait Gallery for the John Singer Sargent exhibition, Portraits of Artists and Friends, which is, unsurprisingly, brilliant. Such dash, such effortless technical mastery, ... Read More...
Art
We've teamed up with Artfinder - the online affordable art marketplace - to showcase artists who we think deserve to be seen by a wider audience. Our second choice is Nicola Albon, whose candid photographs capture London life 'as it is lived'... Nicola says of her work: I started photographing at night ... Read More...
Today's poetry and painting piece features Edward Thomas, Paul Nash, W.H. Davies and birds' nests... In addition to their intrinsic beauty, the bare trees of late winter and early spring offer an opportunity for the discovery of birds' nests. This thought brings to mind Edward Thomas, who was a great searcher ... Read More...
For a new series, we’ve teamed up with our friends at Artfinder to showcase works by artists who we think deserve to be seen by a wider audience. Artfinder is the online art marketplace which enables buyers to connect directly with independent artists to buy original works at affordable prices. They ... Read More...
Last year I wrote a short biography of my childhood dog, Jason, and mentioned that, preposterously indulged, he had his own armchair in the front room. It was a pretty naff 1970s-coloured one left over from a previous suite, but this is what British people are like with their dogs. ... Read More...
Spring is coming - time to keep your eyes on the ground, suggests Stephen in this week's Dabbler Verse feature... There is something to be said for winnowing, for paring down. The culture around us encourages short attention spans and hyperactive grasping after chimeras. Don't get me wrong: I am in ... Read More...
Nige is blown away by Norwegian painter Peder Balke's masterly seascapes, in an exhibition currently showing at London's National Gallery... I admit I'd never heard of Peder Balke before reading about this exhibition. Balke was a Norwegian painter (1804-87) whose mature style was so heavily criticised in his day that he ... Read More...
Nige enjoys the masterful wood engravings of the great Eric Ravilious... One of the most welcome birthday presents I've ever received was a handsome volume of Eric Ravilious Wood Engravings, beautifully produced by the Mainstone Press. The versatile and prolific Ravilious was as naturally gifted a wood engraver as he was a watercolorist, ... Read More...
Steerforth introduces the police photography of Arnold Odermatt, which elevates everyday mundanity to the level of art... One morning I told a colleague that I'd ordered a book of photographs of the Swiss police force. She looked at me as if I was mad and I could see her point. But perhaps ... Read More...
A little after one in the morning we emerged arm-in-arm from the Bristol Museum and walked unsteadily in the direction of the taxi rank outside Brown’s. Mrs Brit was in a cocktail dress and heels. I was in a dinner suit (by M&S, machine washable) and a real bow tie ... Read More...
