Javier Portús, introducing the book that celebrates the Prado’s first celebration of The Spanish Portrait explains that ‘some readers may be surprised to see some pictures that are not portraits in the obvious sense’ but that they are included as an ‘opportunity to reflect on the boundaries between portrait, reality and representation’. That opportunity he … More Javier Portús explains of a Prado exhibition that ‘some readers may be surprised to see some pictures that are not portraits in the obvious sense’ but that they are included as an ‘opportunity to reflect on the boundaries between portrait, reality and representation’. This blog insists that those boundaries are nearly always porous and need added to them the liminal cusp of boundaries of the portrait to paintings that evoke ‘description’ also of the imagined supernatural wherever it occurs – in religion and political ideology. It uses as its case studies examples of ‘portraits’ currently in the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland

When your bestie hits fifty, it’s hard to put into sensible words what you feel – so I thought I’d just accept the fact that utter nonsense is what I am good at writing. So here it is – utter nonsense! It acknowledges Justin’s key passion (Prince) and his politics but the thing about this … More Our dearest friend Justin Curley is 50 on Friday 22nd April 2022. Steve wrote a poem in tribute to him.

Why plays must end as they will: ‘the Gods look down / expect the unexpected … end of story. Black. / End’.[1] Reflecting on the reading of plays before you see them! The case of Euripides’ Medea (a play I have read and seen in different versions many times). This blog focuses on the version … More Why plays must end as they will: ‘the Gods look down / expect the unexpected … end of story. Black. / End’. Reflecting on the reading of plays before you see them! The case of Euripides’ ‘Medea’ (a play I have read and seen in different versions many times). This blog focuses on the version (‘after Euripides’ in the author’s term) written in 2000 by Liz Lochhead which will be seen by us for the first time in Edinburgh performed by the National Theatre of Scotland at the 2022 Edinburgh International Festival on Saturday 20th August. The text is available as Liz Lochhead (after Euripides) [2000] Medea

In 2018 in an introduction to the ‘fraught European history of polychromy’, Luke Syson identifies within that history a ‘long condemnation of not just the application of colored (sic.) paints to the surface of carved or modeled (sic.) statuary – to use the strict definition of “polychrome” – but also those sculptures that use colored … More In 2018 in an introduction to the ‘fraught European history of polychromy’, Luke Syson identifies within that history a ‘long condemnation of not just the application of colored (sic.) paints to the surface of carved or modeled (sic.) statuary – to use the strict definition of “polychrome” – but also those sculptures that use colored media to imitate flesh and skin’.[1] This blog reflects on the examples of polychrome sculptures currently in the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland: from Reflections and Discussions in my free time on some of the Works of Art, as part of a personal learning project related to the Golden Age of Spanish Painting (No.6).

‘Could he live with the man forever, and be his – what? … There was no language for what should happen next’.[1]  ‘What were they, after all?’[2] This blog reflects on a novel that, I’d assert, queers even the gay literature it advances upon and goes well beyond: Okechukwu Nzelu (2022) Here Again Now London, … More ‘Could he live with the man forever, and be his – what? … There was no language for what should happen next’. ‘What were they, after all?’ This blog reflects on a novel that, I’d assert, queers even the gay literature it advances upon and goes well beyond: Okechukwu Nzelu (2022) Here Again Now @NzeluWrites.

Our friend Rob’s 51st birthday Our friend Rob’s birthday is 9th April. He will open our (Geoff & Steve’s) birthday card which Steve bought at the Bloomsbury Group exhibition at York Art Gallery. The card has two graphically decorated doors by which to open up its front. These are based on those designed for the … More Our friend Rob’s 51st birthday

Early Spanish still lifes, those of Sánchez Cotán (for instance), can be interpreted as promoting the value of ‘a framing space’ in which to place singular objects.[1] However, later examples of the ‘genre’ emphasise, in Antonio Arellano’s words about Tomás Hiépes, the ‘copious’ fulfilment of that space.[2] This blog sets out to suggest that this … More Early Spanish still lifes can be interpreted as promoting the value of ‘a framing space’ in which to place singular objects. However, later examples emphasise, in Antonio Arellano’s words about Tomás Hiépes, the ‘copious’ fulfilment of that space. This blog reflects on still lifes currently in the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland: from 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.5).

Speaking of Claudio Bravo’s rejection of ‘abstraction’ as an aim in aesthetic creation, Edward Lucie Smith summarises the artist’s view by saying: ‘the human mind is trained to look for images and will find them in the most unpromising places’.[1]  However this blog suggests that it is the fact that the artist leaves the viewer … More Speaking of Claudio Bravo’s rejection of ‘abstraction’ as an aim in aesthetic creation, Edward Lucie Smith summarises the artist’s view by saying: ‘the human mind is trained to look for images and will find them in the most unpromising places’.  However this blog suggests that it is the fact that the artist leaves the viewer to detect for themselves stories, ‘iconographic meaning’, symbolic reference or influence from past masters which makes Claudio Bravo’s art into queer art.

Despite the concentration of most on the extremities of intense interpersonal but external drama and violence in Jusepe Ribera’s art, Havelock Ellis valued it in terms of its ‘essential tenderness’: saying that in the ‘power of rendering loving devotion, of tender abandonment, associated with religious emotion, Ribera not only surpasses all his countrymen, but is … More Despite the concentration of most on the extremities of intense interpersonal but external drama and violence in Jusepe Ribera’s art, Havelock Ellis valued it in terms of its ‘essential tenderness’: saying that in the ‘power of rendering loving devotion, of tender abandonment, associated with religious emotion, Ribera not only surpasses all his countrymen, but is scarcely excelled outside Spain’. This blog reflects on works by Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) currently in the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland. Golden Age of Spanish Painting (No.4).

If we take drama back to its basic elements – without the clothing and properties indicative of illusions of power – then both directing and enacting Shakespearean history must understand how to create ‘men’ large enough to fulfil the expectations of the huge roles they are given to play in life and art. In those … More If we take drama back to its basic elements – without the clothing and properties indicative of illusions of power – then both directing and enacting Shakespearean history must understand how to create ‘men’ large enough to fulfil the expectations of the huge roles they are given to play in life and art. This blog reflects on a rehearsed but performance-ready version of ‘King Henry VI Part One’ screened by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) – seen on the Durham Gala’s Screen One on 23rd March 2022. 

‘It occurred to me I might be dead and I think it’s possible that I was, that I’d crossed the line or was crossing it, was in some kind of limbo, where the brain is busy trying to make sense of what it doesn’t understand at all, trying to see itself, what’s wrong, then doing … More ‘It occurred to me I might be dead and I think it’s possible that I was, that I’d crossed the line or was crossing it, was in some kind of limbo, where the brain is busy trying to make sense of what it doesn’t understand at all, trying to see itself, what’s wrong, then doing what it always does, putting together a story of some kind, however unlikely’.’[1]  This blog reflects on Andrew Miller’s (2022) ‘The Slowworm’s Song’

‘ I’d only say someone was gay if I feel they’re comfortable with who they are. The sadness is I don’t think he [Charles Causley] was ever comfortable with who he was’.[1]  This blog reflects on a brilliantly intelligent novel on, it argues, the definition of ‘being gay’: Patrick Gale’s Mother’s Boy (2022) London, Headline … More ‘ I’d only say someone was gay if I feel they’re comfortable with who they are. The sadness is I don’t think he [Charles Causley] was ever comfortable with who he was’.  This blog reflects on a brilliantly intelligent novel on, it argues, the definition of ‘being gay’: Patrick Gale’s ‘Mother’s Boy’ (2022)