Category Archives: Art

Huxley meets Spencer

Posted on December 28, 2017 by clivedav184z

In the secondhand bookshop.

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Face to face

Posted on March 29, 2017 by clivedav184z

At the Royal Academy for America After the Fall. It was much more crowded inside the gallery. The Russian revolutionaries downstairs have way more space.

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Churchyard

Posted on April 27, 2016 by clivedav184z

Stanley Spencer’s gravestone, Cookham.

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Dante & the hermaphrodite

Posted on April 25, 2016 by clivedav184z

At The Wallace Collection yesterday. My first-ever visit. I had no idea there was so much more to the place than “The Laughing Cavalier”

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Andy Warhol x 2

Posted on March 21, 2016 by clivedav184z

“Warhol’s art has a shattering and mysterious authority,” says one reviewer. Really? When I walked around the Ashmolean’s exhibition, all I detected was the stale aura of yesterday’s celebrity obsessions.  “Look, there’s Paul Anka! Is that Pia Zadora portrait supposed to … Continue reading →

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David Litvinoff: the man who knew everyone

Posted on January 17, 2016 by clivedav184z

In the Times, my review [£] of Keiron Pim’s  biography of the enigmatic outsider who had his portrait painted by Lucian Freud, gave musical advice to Eric Clapton and worked as a fixer for the Kray Twins: Pim certainly homes … Continue reading →

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Best of 2015

Posted on December 31, 2015 by clivedav184z

I’ve already posted my favourite world music, folk and jazz albums. Here are some other highlights of the year. Best experience at a gig. Sitting a few feet behind Bill Charlap at Ronnie Scott’s as he hurtled through “Cool” from … Continue reading →

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Musée d’Orsay

Posted on December 23, 2015 by clivedav184z

A Sunday morning visit, June 2015.

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Remembrance Day

Posted on November 8, 2015 by clivedav184z

‘The Last Muster: Sunday at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea” by  Sir Hubert von Herkomer.  Lady Lever Art Gallery, Wirral [HT: @DrLivGibbs]

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Notebook

Posted on November 8, 2015 by clivedav184z

Stanley was handed an extra bandolier of fifty rounds, but it was the anticipation of hand-to-hand fighting that filled him with apprehension…  “I felt a kind of disagreeable gloominess and taciturnness settle on my spirits as the night wore on. … Continue reading →

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