Art on the Underground

In 1908 the tube had got as far as Golders Green and Frank Pick wanted to be sure the public knew. It was I suppose the Crossrail of its day.

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Categorised as Art

Mastaba

The Serpentine Gallery pavilion is still under construction but this summer it will be dwarfed by a giant, red, floating mastaba across the road on the Serpentine in Hyde Park.

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Categorised as Art, Nature

Green Rooms

The re-building of Dresden is almost complete but, as in any city, there is a continuum of regeneration. A bridge over the Elbe is closed to traffic for reconstruction and some bomb sites have not been rebuilt.

Annabel

People say “what goes around comes around”, EM Foster says “only connect” and Anthony Powell wrote Dance to the Music of Time to make the same point at somewhat greater length; a saga with which I struggled a bit early on, but once WW II came along I was hooked.

The Grammar of Ornament

A book first published in 1856 and still in print deserves to be called a classic. That’s The Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones.

Painting Theatre

Yesterday took the train to Chichester to go (again) to the Pallant House Gallery. I was surprised (in a good way).

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Categorised as Art, Theatre

Griffons, Goats & Grub

We have seen griffon vultures wheeling high above us. They look quite small at such an altitude but in fact have a wingspan of more than eight feet. It would be exciting to see one close-up but that seems unlikely.

Fox, Food, Fops

It was raining much too hard to take a photograph of this fine bronze of Charles James Fox erected in 1816. I was walking across the north side of Bloomsbury Square on my way to the British Museum and their Charmed Lives in Greece exhibition.

Charmed Lives

There is a beguiling exhibition at the British Museum, Charmed Lives in Greece, about Niko Ghika, John Craxton and Patrick Leigh Fermor.