Interesting to note which of our group of artists worked in Iceland. One, Ravilious, is well-known for his Icelandic work and he died there in an accident in 1942. He had been there as an official War artist. His replacement was Thomas Hennell and there are gorgeous examples [Read More…]
George Cukor and Peter Watson
Watson knew the legendary gay American film director, George Cukor, well enough to ask him to sponsor him in connection with Watson’s visa application to visit America in the later 1940s. One wonders if the American immigration authorities would have opened a file on Watson.
Greta Garbo,Cecil Beaton and Peter Watson
Cecil Beaton had a well-known relationship with Greta Garbo over a number of years. It was not an easy relationship. One aspect of it which Beaton did not relish was the nexus between him, Peter Watson and Greta Garbo. As everyone who knows anything about Beaton’s life knows,Beaton [Read More…]
Rina Arya. “Francis Bacon. Painting in a Godless World”
Farnham 2012 ISBN: 978-1-84822-044-7
Not all writers about Bacon have been able to write so clearly. But the interpretation of Bacon’s paintings is not a task where “success” is possible. The task facing the author of trying to analyse works created intuitively was never going to be easy. As ever with a great artist, we are left with the pictures speaking to us in whatever way we choose to hear them.
William Nicholson. Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings by Patricia Reed.
London 2011. ISBN 978 0 300 17054 2
Anyone wishing to assess 20th century English artists objectively will recognise Sir William Nicholson as one of the greats. This book fully supports that status and is itself a great book.
David Smary
At Ightham Mote yesterday my eye was drawn to a portrait of the American, Charles Henry Robinson, who saved the house in the 1950s. It was by an artist identified as David Smary. Competently painted in the 1950s/60s, I assumed he would turn out to be a known portrait [Read More…]