‘They narrate fragments of a psychic life we cannot reassemble for ourselves. It is hard, sometimes impossible, to figure out what kind of life Freud is painting slices of’.[1]  This is a blog on a visit to the Tate Liverpool, on Thursday 30th September 2021. The primary purpose was to see a retrospective exhibition Lucian … More LIVERPOOL VISIT 4: ‘They narrate fragments of a psychic life we cannot reassemble for ourselves. It is hard, sometimes impossible, to figure out what kind of life Freud is painting slices of’.[1]  This is a blog on a visit to the Tate Liverpool, on Thursday 30th September 2021. The primary purpose was to see a retrospective exhibition ‘Lucian Freud: Real Lives’.

Homes of space and light at either end of Hope Street, Liverpool. This is a blog of un-academic and possibly unintelligent comments on visit to the cathedrals of Liverpool. This blog is about a visit to homes of space and light at either end of Hope Street, Liverpool. This is a blog of un-academic and … More LIVERPOOL VISIT 3: Homes of space and light at either end of Hope Street, Liverpool. This is a blog of un-academic and possibly unintelligent comments on visit to the cathedrals of Liverpool.

‘… often described as a painter’s painter’.[1] This is a blog on a visit to the Walker Gallery, Liverpool on Wednesday 29th September 2021. The primary purpose was to see a retrospective exhibition Sickert: A Life in Art. I refer in this to the catalogue of same name by Charlotte Keenan McDonald (ed. Karen Miller, … More LIVERPOOL VISIT 2: ‘… often described as a painter’s painter’.[1] A visit to the Walker Gallery, Liverpool on Wednesday 29th September 2021 to see a retrospective exhibition ‘Sickert: A Life in Art’. References to the catalogue of same name by Charlotte Keenan McDonald.

‘Mother was also a kind of weaver’.[1] This is a blog that asserts the bizarre folly of excluding the biographical and crypto-biographical from the appreciation and understanding of great artists. It reviews the Artist Room: Louise Bourgeois exhibition at Tate Liverpool seen there on Thursday 30th September 2021 with my husband and our dear friend … More LIVERPOOL VISIT 1: ‘Mother was also a kind of weaver’.[1] This reviews the ‘Artist Room: Louise Bourgeois’ exhibition at Tate Liverpool. In lieu of there being a catalogue a fictional autobiography of Bourgeois by Jean Frémon (translated by Cole Swenson) [2018] ‘Now, Now, Louison’ is used.

‘Plutarch reports that Philip [King of Macedonia and father of Alexander to-be ‘the Great’] saw them “mingled together” – the word Plutarch selects has erotic overtones – and was moved to tears at the sight. “Perish all those who suggest that these men did or endured anything shameful,” Plutarch quotes Philip as saying, as though … More ‘Plutarch reports that Philip [King of Macedonia and father of Alexander to-be ‘the Great’] saw [these men] “mingled together” – the word Plutarch selects has erotic overtones” … moved by the thought of the erastai and erômenoi embracing in death’.[1] This is a blog reflecting on ‘The Sacred Band’ by James Romm (2021).

BOOKER SHORTLIST: ‘Oddly enough, there’s no name in the DSM for the compulsion to diagnose people’.[1] Reviewing this novel is like attempting to categorise the life of people of people use language that may be difficult to understand and who earn their living by making ‘worlds by the thousands’.[2] A blog reflecting on Bewilderment by … More BOOKER: ‘Oddly enough, there’s no name in the DSM for the compulsion to diagnose people’. A blog reflecting on ‘Bewilderment’ by Richard Powers (2021) London, Hutchinson Heinemann.

Reviewing queer content in Pat Barker’s (2021) ‘The Women of Troy’, the second novel of her Briseis trilogy. I did a brief blog on the 2018 novel by Pat Barker called The Silence of The Girls (accessible from this link). Since then it has become clear that Barker’s intention is that that novel is the … More Reviewing queer content in Pat Barker’s (2021) ‘The Women of Troy’, the second novel of her Briseis trilogy.

A visit to an exhibition of Beauty in the Everyday: Dutch & Flemish Masters at Auckland Castle in the Trevor Gallery in The Bishop’s Palace, Bishop Auckland, County Durham. This is an account of a visit on the afternoon of 17th September 2021. Is there a relationship between Protestant Ethics and Commodity Capitalism in these … More A visit to an exhibition of ‘Beauty in the Everyday’ of Dutch & Flemish Art in the Trevor Gallery in The Bishop’s Palace, Bishop Auckland, County Durham. This is an account of a visit on the afternoon of 17th September 2021.

An ODE to the wit and wisdom of Nadine Dorries as our new Culture Secretary. By Steven Douglas Bamlett @StevenBamlett I wrote a couplet on Twitter (https://twitter.com/StevenBamlett/status/1438205482523635728) on Nadine Dorries for a good friend: Justin by name. He then worried me by saying he thought the little couplet ‘what I wrote’ (going Morecambe & Wise … More An ODE to the wit and wisdom of Nadine Dorries as our new Culture Secretary. By Steven Douglas Bamlett

Verse 1 Love prompted us, that’s Geoff and me, to seek In each lovelorn street a gift that will meet, No less than match, our yearning thoughts to say. Desire strains to honour you this birthday Amongst all others, less to praise than silently pace , (this comma is our excited breath’s space) Soft and … More Thursday 16th September is Linda Goffee’s BIRTHDAY. ‘Let’s celebrate’ said Tenniel’s Hatter to Dormouse. ‘Not a word to that Rackham fella!’

A reflective visit to the Art Gallery in York makes me think about how much we owe to examples of excellent curation practice in ‘provincial’ museums to save us from having our reflection about art done for us, with whatever authority, by art history alone. This is an account of a visit on the morning … More A reflective visit to the Art Gallery in York makes me think about how much we owe to examples of excellent curation practice in ‘provincial’ museums to save us from having our reflection about art done for us, with whatever authority, by art history alone. This is an account of a visit on the morning of 11th September 2021 to see a FREE exhibition of Japanese Ukiyo-E Prints at York Art Gallery.

BOOKER SHORTLIST: ‘If all she was was funny, and none of this is funny, where did that leave her’.[1] A reflection on no one is talking about this by Patricia Lockwood (2021), London, Oxford, New York etc., Bloomsbury Circus. Of course dedicated to @TriciaLockwood with apologies for errors. I have put off reading this novel … More BOOKER SHORTLIST: ‘If all she was was funny, and none of this is funny, where did that leave her’.[1] A reflection on ‘no one is talking about this’ by Patricia Lockwood (2021).