Pictures at an Exhibition

This is a self-portrait in pastel of my great grandmother, Ada Gilbey. She died while giving birth to my great-aunt, aged thirty. Like many Victorian ladies she was a competent artist.

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Edward Burra at Tate Britain

As I was saying, artists often study the work of their predecessors and pay them homage: Faces at an Exhibition.

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Millet

You know the name, you know he is a 19th century French artist but like me you may be unfamiliar with his work.

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Eat, Drink, Shop

Arrive in a lofty atrium with a bar and shopping, then totter up a broad staircase to the first floor where another shop melds seamlessly into an Italian restaurant.

Modesty Blaise

Modesty Blaise, Joseph Losey’s 1966 offbeat, spoof, comedy caper, is a far cry from his other work: The Servant, The Go-Between, The Damned, Accident etc. But it does have a script by Harold Pinter (in part) and Dirk Bogarde who transformed himself from a matinée star for the Rank Organisation into a Losey favourite portraying… Continue reading Modesty Blaise

ISA Update

Just as the garden needs a bit of trimming and tidying so does an ISA.

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Restoration of Independence

Today marks the 34th anniversary of the Restoration of Independence in Estonia following four years of non-violent demonstrations in the Baltic States, known as The Singing Revolution.

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The Barber in London

The Courtauld is one of my favourite London galleries but familiarity can breed ennui. I went again yesterday knowing what to expect but I was in for a surprise.

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Faces at an Exhibition

It used to be called the BP Portrait Award, open to British artists under forty. Lucy Willis won in 1992.

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Out to Lunch

Some good Italian and French restaurants in London close in August – so like Paris.