Finding Madrid
Considering its status as a major European city, it is notable that Madrid evades a certain characterisation. Alongside the romance of Paris, the edginess of Berlin and the grandness of […]
Relative Values, Harold Pinter Theatre, 2014
‘Comedies of manners quickly become obsolete when there are no longer any manners’, declares the Jeevesian butler in Noel Coward’s Relative Values (1951). His words strike at the heart of […]
Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs
Wheelchair-bound and afflicted with illness, it is extraordinary that the last decade of Henri Matisse’s life was one of such creative vitality. The artist, widely regarded as the leading colourist […]
The Lure and Blur of Photorealism
The 2013 portrait of Kate Middleton by Paul Emsley has an eerie effect on the eye. Hanging in the National Portrait Gallery, the image has a composition that is quite […]
The Austen Project Uncovered
It was inevitable that The Austen Project would prove controversial. Since Harper Collins announced its initiative to refashion Jane Austen’s six novels for a modern audience, opinion has been polarised […]
Review: What a Carve Up! & Atonement
With Handbagged on the West End, Charles Moore’s biography shortlisted for the Orwell prize and an upcoming collection of short stories by Hilary Mantel, depictions of Margaret Thatcher and her […]
450 Years of Shakespeare
Last year, two computer scientists devised an algorithm to establish the most important people in the whole of human history. In fourth place, behind Jesus, Napolean and Muhammad, was William Shakespeare. […]
Andalusia: A Spanish Seduction
For anyone to whom the idea of ‘holidaying in Spain’ has become a little too mainstream, Andalusia will put your imagination to shame. Rich in culture and rustic in charm, […]
The Age of Reinvention
I remember one of my professors telling us in a University lecture that it’s impossible to ever identify the prevailing literary movement of one’s own era. Her matter-of-factness posed a […]
The Concept of Conceptual Art
Almost a century ago, the artist Marcel Duchamp turned a urinal 90 degrees on its side, signed it ‘R. MUTT 1917’ and submitted it to New York’s Society for Independent […]
The Culturist 