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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Julian Spalding |Adrian Brune |William Newton |Ian Sansom
There’s more than a grain of truth in the popular caricature of a curator as a mother hen clucking frantically if anyone gets too near her nest — not that her eggs are about to hatch, let alone run. The recent threat of the British Council to “deaccession” — to put it more bluntly, sell — its 9,000-piece-strong collection of British art has caused a predictable flurry in the curatorial world.
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2 months ago | 
thespectator.com | William Newton |Adrian Brune |Sean Thomas |Ian Sansom
Barcelona is one of the world’s great cities; happily, it seems to be waking up from a lengthy nightmare of its own conjuring. During the anti-everything leadership of its previous mayor, failed actress Ada Colau, empty storefronts, open-air drug markets and sidewalks reeking of urine proved unconducive to outside investment. A deal to establish a local branch of the Hermitage Museum fell through, thanks to political virtue-signaling by local officialdom.
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2 months ago | 
thespectator.com | Adrian Brune |William Newton |Ian Sansom |Catriona Olding
John Myatt held his breath as the bidding began in the Christie’s auction room. His drawings were selling, one by one. He had dreamed of having his work on the block since the beginning of his career. He felt a tingle of adrenaline as the paddles went up… and victory as he strolled through the city streets with a wad of money in his back pocket afterward. But the feeling didn’t last long. Eventually, Myatt started to feel empty and disappointed.
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Dec 26, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Dave Seminara |Freddy Gray |William Newton |Cosmo Landesman
I spent my last afternoon in Tokyo stocking up on snacks and feasting on cheap and delicious conveyor belt sushi, in anticipation of characteristically criminal airport concession prices. But when I made my way past Haneda Airport’s Rodeo Drive-esque esplanade of luxury shops — does anyone really buy a $10,000 Omega watch on their way to their gate? — I was in for a surprise.
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Dec 26, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | William Newton
“Are there any more questions?” I asked loudly. I was struggling to make myself heard above about thirty seventh-graders, whom I was leading on a tour of the National Gallery of Art. There had already been many questions that morning, even before we began looking at objects in the museum’s permanent collection.
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Dec 11, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | William Newton |Michael Evans |Jonathan Miller |Ben Domenech
Maybe the best really was yet to come: Kimberly Guilfoyle has landed the break-up gift of a lifetime, finding herself appointed Donald Trump’s ambassador to Greece the same day news broke of her split from his son Donald Jr.“For many years, Kimberly has been a close friend and ally,” President-elect Trump wrote in a statement Tuesday evening.
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Dec 11, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | William Newton |Michael Evans |Mark Galeotti |Alexander Larman
A year ago I wrote about the experience of attending New York Comic Con for the first time. This type of entertainment convention, which has its equivalents in cities all over the world, brings together fans of superheroes, science fiction, fantasy and beyond. Along with the elaborate cosplay beloved of attendees, Comic Cons also feature a great variety of visual artists.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Dave Seminara |Mary Wakefield |William Newton |Cosmo Landesman
There is no portrait by Alice Neel quite as radical as her own. The artist was one of the first octogenarian women to exhibit a nude of herself with 1980’s “Self-Portrait.” In the painting, Neel grasps her paintbrush and sits exposed at the edge of a blue-and-white striped armchair.
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Oct 21, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | William Newton |Freddy Gray |Andrew Sullivan |Alexander Larman
I was standing in front of “A Soldier’s Journey,” the centerpiece of the new National World War One Memorial in Washington, DC, chatting with its creator, sculptor Sabin Howard, when I raised a question. “So, are you the new Saint-Gaudens?” I asked. “No! No, God no!” exclaimed Howard. “That guy sucks.”Sabin Howard is nothing if not direct in expressing his opinions, which are refreshingly free of the artspeak that saturates most of the contemporary art world.
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Sep 12, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | William Newton |Jonathan Sacerdoti |Freddy Gray |Limor Simhony Philpott
In the fall, a middle-aged man’s fancy turns to thoughts of death. As shadows lengthen, decay takes root in the raised beds, and the “spooky season” recalls the shortening of our days. It also provides an opportunity to reflect on how one artist embraced this time of year. Much of the life of the Basel-born Symbolist Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901) was haunted by the specter of death. His first fiancée died before they could marry; he himself nearly died of typhus.
