Painting
Why do British galleries shun the humane, generous art of Ruskin Spear?
Where do you see paintings by Ruskin Spear (1911–90)? In the salerooms mostly, because his work in public collections is…
Ethereal and allusive, all nuance and no schmaltz: Helen Frankenthaler, at Dulwich Gallery, reviewed
In 1950 the 21-year-old painter Helen Frankenthaler, fresh out of college, went to an exhibition at New York’s Betty Parson’s…
This radical Nativity is also one of the great whodunnits of art history
Martin Gayford on a radical Nativity that is the subject of one of the great whodunnits of art history
Ignore the wall text and focus on the magnificent paintings: Tate Britain's Hogarth and Europe reviewed
There are, perhaps, two types of exhibition visitor. Those who read the texts on the walls and those who don’t.…
His final paintings are like Jackson Pollocks: RA's Late Constable reviewed
On 13 July 1815, John Constable wrote to his fiancée, Maria Bicknell, about this and that. Interspersed with a discussion…
Albrecht Dürer was a 16th-century Andy Warhol
Gossipy, amusing, a little vain, Albrecht Dürer was a 16th-century Andy Warhol, says Martin Gayford
The best podcasts to help you become a better painter
There’s a great documentary film on Netflix at the moment about the late artist Bob Ross, he of the happy…
The frisky side of a classical master: National Gallery's Poussin and the Dance reviewed
In the winter of 1861, visitors to the Louvre might have seen a young artist painstakingly copying one of the…
The genius of Frans Hals
Since art auctions were invented, they have served to hype artists’ prices. It can happen during an artist’s lifetime —…
Fortifying snapshot of the gardener’s year: Saatchi Gallery's RHS Botanical Art show reviewed
Elizabeth Blackadder, who died last month at the age of 89, was probably the most distinctive botanical artist of our…
Glorious: Bernardo Bellotto at the National Gallery reviewed
What is the National Gallery playing at? Why, in this summer of stop-start tropical storms, is the NG making visitors…
Hugely pleasurable – a vision of summer: Jennifer Packer at the Serpentine Gallery reviewed
We need to talk about Eric. In Jennifer Packer’s portrait of her friend and fellow artist, Eric N. Mack sits…
Rich and strange: Eileen Agar at Whitechapel Gallery reviewed
Heads turn, strangers gawp, matrons tut or look in envy. A man doffs his bowler hat knowing when he is…
Joan Eardley deserves to be ranked alongside Bacon and de Kooning
Claudia Massie on the unjustly neglected artist Joan Eardley, who deserves to be ranked alongside Auerbach, Bacon and de Kooning
If you didn’t love Jansson already, you will now: Tove reviewed
Tove is a biopic of the Finnish artist Tove Jansson who, most famously, created the Moomins, that gentle family of…
The magical art of boxer, labourer & sometime gravedigger Eric Tucker
Artists’ estates can be a curse on a family. The painter dies, leaving the house stuffed with unsold canvases. What…
The art of government: what politicians’ paintings say about them
What politicians’ paintings say about them
The Dickensian delights of London in lockdown
I’m blessed by the fact that I live almost smack-bang in the middle of old London, a pebble’s toe punt…
An immensely rich show – though it consists of only two paintings: Rubens at the Wallace Collection reviewed
‘When pictures painted as companions are separated,’ John Constable wisely observed, ‘the purchaser of one, without being aware of it,…
The world's first robot artist discusses beauty, Yoko Ono and the perils of AI
Stuart Jeffries discusses beauty, Yoko Ono and the world’s disappointments with the first robot artist
Rodin was as modern as Magritte and Dali, but more touching and troubling than either
Rodin’s studio at Meudon in the suburbs of Paris is huge and filled with light — a sort of combined…
The art of the asparagus
Manet’s ‘Botte d’asperges’ are probably the most famous asparagus in the world. The artist painted the delicious white- and lilac-tinged…
It is impossible to imagine Henrician England except through the eyes of Hans Holbein
‘Holbein redeemed a whole era for us from oblivion,’ remarks the author of a trilogy of novels set at Henry…
The high and low life of John Craxton
Charm is a weasel word; it can evoke the superficial and insincere, and engender suspicion and mistrust. But charm in…
The bizarre art of Scottie Wilson deserves to be better known
On eBay I have an alert set for ‘Scottie Wilson’. Nine times out of ten, it’s a diamanté Scottie dog…
