An exploration by an ignoramus of where it might be useful to say that some effects in the art of Murillo tend towards demonstrating that he ‘dissolves the boundaries between art and reality’, and could ‘break down notions of time and space.’[1] : This blog reflects on Works by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617 – 1682) … More An exploration of where it might be useful to say that some effects in the art of Murillo tend towards demonstrating that he ‘dissolves the boundaries between art and reality’, and could ‘break down notions of time and space.’ : This blog reflects on Works by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617 – 1682) currently in the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland (No.3).

Hockney’s life-long challenge to the facilitation by the Art Establishment of the ‘puritanical, abstract and conceptual’ is just one of the ways that he has wished to move the focus of the stories we tell to characterise modern art. This blog looks at different ways in which a ‘moving focus’ was an apt way to … More Hockney’s life-long challenge to the facilitation by the Art Establishment of the ‘puritanical, abstract and conceptual’ is just one of the ways that he has wished to move the focus of the stories we tell to characterise modern art. This blog reflects Helen Little’s (ed.) wonderful 2021 book ‘David Hockney: Moving Focus: Works from the Tate Collection’ London, Tate Publishing.

Frances Spalding says that what distinguished the Bloomsbury Group from other early twentieth-century developments of ‘liberal thought’ was ‘the emphasis it placed on private life’. [1] This is a blog based on a visit to the Beyond Bloomsbury: Life, Love & Legacy exhibition made on the 4th March 2022 at York Art Gallery (York 2022 … More Frances Spalding says that what distinguished the Bloomsbury Group from other early twentieth-century developments of ‘liberal thought’ was ‘the emphasis it placed on private life’. This is a blog based on a visit to the ‘Beyond Bloomsbury: Life, Love & Legacy’ exhibition made on the 4th March 2022 at York Art Gallery (York 2022 blog No. 2).

What more can art history and the institutions representing the traditions of art in the UK do? This is a blog based on a visit made on the 4th March 2022 to York Art Gallery (York 2022 blog No. 1). There is a myth that the world of art and artists has always had porous … More What more can art history and the institutions representing the traditions of art in the UK do? This is a ‘thank you’ blog based on a visit made on the 4th March 2022 to York Art Gallery (York 2022 blog No. 1).

Flesh – Exhibition York Art Gallery visited 05/01/17 Friday, 6 Jan 2017, 08:55 Visible to anyone in the world Edited by Steve Bamlett, Friday, 6 Jan 2017, 08:56 Flesh – Exhibition York Art Gallery visited 05/01/17 I suppose you visit exhibitions such as this drawn by ‘great’ names, and indeed the exhibits by Rubens, Rodin, … More Old Blog: Flesh – Exhibition York Art Gallery visited 05/01/17

‘I say I am a witch, but it is not what I really believe. We are just women with power and skills and an innate knowledge’.[1] This is a blog on critiquing the telling and hearing stories of ‘witchcraft’ in Jenni Fagan’s (2022) Hex Edinburgh, Birlinn Ltd.                 The cover of my copy of the … More ‘I say I am a witch, but it is not what I really believe. We are just women with power and skills and an innate knowledge’.[1] This is a blog on critiquing the telling and hearing stories of ‘witchcraft’ in Jenni Fagan’s (2022) Hex Edinburgh, Birlinn Ltd. @Jenni_Fagan

 ‘“…, the way of seeing outside the limits of architecture is the one that reveals the real truth and … is what illuminates more”/ … “The art that presents us with more difficulties is the most agreeable and therefore the most intellectual”’.[1]  Faking it – An idea applied to the availability and originality of great … More  ‘“The art that presents us with more difficulties is the most agreeable and therefore the most intellectual”’.  This blog is about the El Greco paintings, ‘Christ on the Cross’ (c. 1610), ‘The Holy Family’ (ca. 1585), ‘The Baptism of Christ’ (a digitally processed facsimile) & ‘A Tabernacle of The Risen Christ’ (a digitally processed facsimile): The showcasing of original and facsimile Works by El Greco [Domenikó Theotokópoulos] (1541 – 1614) in the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland: (No.2).

 ‘Ne quis praeter Apellem Pingeret / For his ingeniosidades are not inferior to those that antiquity celebrates from the palette of that artist’.[1]  A Young Boy Holding A Lance and Christ and the Woman of Samaria: Two paintings by Juan van der Hamen y León (1596 – 1631): Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland: Reflections and … More ‘Ne quis praeter Apellem Pingeret / For his ingeniosidades are not inferior to those that antiquity celebrates from the palette of that artist’.  ‘A Young Boy Holding A Lance’ and ‘Christ and the Woman of Samaria’: Two paintings by Juan van der Hamen y León (1596 – 1631): Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland: Reflections and Discussions in my free time on some of the Paintings, as part of a personal learning project related to the Golden Age of Spanish Painting. (No.1).

In the 1998 Afterword to his first novel, published in 1950 Donald Windham says: ‘my ideal was that the theme of a novel should never be stated in so many words, only by the novel as a whole’.[1]  Is there an advantage to queer novelists writing in an age that oppressed queer identities of writing … More In the ‘Afterword’ to his first novel, published in 1950 Donald Windham says: ‘my ideal was that the theme of a novel should never be stated in so many words, only by the novel as a whole’.  Is there an advantage to queer novelists writing in an age that oppressed queer identities of writing indirectly by never stating directly that the novel has a queer theme?  This blog is a reflection on reading the Donald Windham’s reprinted ‘The Dog Star’.

FINAL LONDON ART BLOG (5): ‘If I’m in a positive mood I’m interested in joining. If I’m in a negative mood I will cut things’. ‘… my mother … repaired broken things. I don’t do that. I destroy things. … I must destroy, rebuild, destroy again’. [1]  This blog is really a love song to … More FINAL LONDON ART BLOG (5): ‘If I’m in a positive mood I’m interested in joining. If I’m in a negative mood I will cut things’. This blog is really a love song to the art of Louise Bourgeois, so brilliantly curated for the current Hayward Gallery exhibition ‘Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child’ and the beautiful and brilliant accompanying book edited by Ralph Rugoff.

LONDON ART BLOG 4: Speaking of the way in which Jock McFayden uses paint to indicate his range of subjects, which (whether landscape, buildings or people) are all facing possible extinction, Rowan Moore (2019: 48) says of the paint once applied: ‘While it passionately wants to be something or make something, its grip on the … More LONDON ART BLOG 4: Speaking of the way in which Jock McFayden uses paint to indicate his range of subjects, Rowan Moore says of the paint once applied: ‘While it passionately wants to be something or make something, its grip on the surface of the canvas is provisional’.  This blog reviews an unexpected look at the short exhibition of Jock McFayden’s work, Tourist without a Guidebook currently at the Royal Academy.