Where did all the Chippendales go?
LONDON - JUNE 13: Christie's employees and a client sit on The Dundas Sofa by Thomas Chippendale, designed by Robert Adam, while they inspect a Thomas Chippendale masterpiece named 'The Kenure Cabinet'...
View ArticleThe Precisionist Impulse: in search of the first American art movement
‘The chief business of the American people,’ said Calvin Coolidge, ‘is business.’ Commerce to Coolidge was a kind of religion:… See the full story of The Precisionist Impulse: in search of the first...
View ArticleIt’s the blood that gets you
A man looks at the painting "Jeune tigre jouant avec sa mere" during a press visit of the exhibition "Delacroix (1798-1863)" at the Louvre Museum in Paris on March 27, 2018. The exhibition on French...
View ArticleThe glory that was the Low Countries, the disaster that is the European Union
In 1983, ten European heads of state, signing the Solemn Declaration on European Union, declared a goal of ‘ever closer… See the full story of The glory that was the Low Countries, the disaster that is...
View ArticleDeath in Venice, alive in New York
Il disegno di Michelangelo e il colorito di Tiziano: The drawing of Michelangelo and the colour of Titian. With these… See the full story of Death in Venice, alive in New York on Spectator USA.
View ArticleHow much did Churchill owe to Shakespeare?
Did Shakespeare win the war? He was certainly Churchill’s greatest literary ally in 1940 when he sent the English language… See the full story of How much did Churchill owe to Shakespeare? on Spectator...
View ArticleA Hobbit-sized exhibition about Tolkien as pipe-smoker and parent
To no one’s surprise, the Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth exhibition was a huge success when it opened last October at… See the full story of A Hobbit-sized exhibition about Tolkien as pipe-smoker and...
View ArticleToulouse-Lautrec, poster child of Bohemia
Every circus needs a midget. This particular law of show business was established by the Victorians. It was P.T. Barnum… See the full story of Toulouse-Lautrec, poster child of Bohemia on Spectator USA.
View ArticleA bizarre exhibition of Trump family fan art
The art world has seen many iconic depictions of America’s first families. One can see a marvelous gallery on the… See the full story of A bizarre exhibition of Trump family fan art on Spectator USA.
View ArticleSecrets of the maestro
This article is in The Spectator’s October 2019 US edition. Subscribe here. At last, some justice for the ‘teacher of Leonardo da… See the full story of Secrets of the maestro on Spectator USA.
View ArticleLeonardo in Paris
Paris The Louvre’s Leonardo da Vinci is the latest Renaissance master in a procession of epic anniversary retrospectives — after… See the full story of Leonardo in Paris on Spectator USA.
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why Lucian Freud hated having his picture taken
One of Lucian Freud’s firmly fixed views about himself was ‘I’m not at all introspective’. This was, like many opinions we hold about ourselves, both true and not true. Perhaps it was more that he did...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A motel room of one’s own
This article is in The Spectator’s November 2019 US edition. Subscribe here. To gauge a man’s character, note how he spends a month in Paris. Edward Hopper, according to the catalog of his 1933...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Leonardo da Virtual
This article is in The Spectator’s December 2019 US edition. Subscribe here. The first time ever I saw her face, she was smiling. I knew her face before I saw it, but I cannot remember when I first...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What the Art Basel Banana says about our world
Every December, I make my way to the orgiastic display of wealth and ostentatious show-boating that is Art Basel in Miami. I go primarily to keep my finger on the racing pulse of our culture of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Martin Gayford visits the greatest one-artist show on Earth
For a good deal of this autumn, I was living in Venice. This wasn’t exactly a holiday, I’d like to point out, but a suitable place to work while beginning a new book. The result was, though, that week...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The history, power and beauty of infographics
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born in Massachusetts in 1868, three years after the official end of slavery in the United States. He grew up among a small, tenacious business- and property-owning...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Urbino legend
This article is in The Spectator’s February 2020 US edition. Subscribe here. At the time of his death on Good Friday, 1520, Raffaello Sanzio of Urbino was the most successful artist the world had ever...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An old master who still feels new
This article is in The Spectator’s March 2020 US edition. Subscribe here. Velázquez prized his work, but El Greco’s reputation fell quickly after his death in 1614. Another Spanish painter, Antonio...
View ArticleAre there ways in which virtual exhibitions are better than real ones?
Six months ago I published a book about traveling to look at works of art. One such journey involved a round trip of about 6,000 miles to contemplate minimalist sculptures in the Texan desert. But the...
View Article
