Recently we watched a documentary film about the life and work of Paula Rego. I have long admired her work, and the film did justice to it. By the end of the film, however, I was really feeling quite wretched. It was clear to me that there are no circumstances under which I could ever … Read more
I assume that most, if not all, of my readers will have heard by now of the death of Paula Rego. I have been a great admirer of her work for many years, particularly as a pastellist. It was a wonderful privilege to be able to visit her major retrospective exhibition last year at the … Read more
I decided to take seriously my annoyance expressed in the last post, and I contacted the Pastel Society. They will be looking into it. I am amazed constantly by the relative lack of interest in and respect for pastels as a medium. Certainly I don’t work only in this medium, but I have to say … Read more
My wife and I will be making one of our “raids” on London next week. It seems ages since last we did so, and we are both looking forward eagerly to the trip. One of the principal reasons for my going is the retrospective exhibition of work by Paula Rego, at the Tate.* I think … Read more
For understandable reasons the government is loosening rapidly a series of restrictions on movement and contact which were put in place to combat the Covid outbreak. Quite explicitly they have been betting on the effectiveness of the vaccination campaign, which one has to admit has been managed pretty effectively. Yesterday my eye was caught by … Read more
Last week’s “raid” on London enabled me to take in the current exhibition at Tate Britain, entitled All too human. I’m still uncertain as to whether this is intended to refer to the artists represented there or to their subject-matter. The sub-title of the event was “Bacon, Freud and a century of painting life”, and … Read more