Burra was, in many ways, a typical artist of mid-20th century England, in the sense that his style was personal to him. It is difficult to categorise his work and he seems to have worked largely independently of the mainstream of 20th century art. The work also went through quite a range of styles during his surprisingly (in view of his recurrent poor health) long working life. Published in British Art Journal Vol VI, No 3. To read the full review, CLICK HERE.
Why History?
In 1976 I arrived from my country grammar school at the Historical shrine of Peterhouse. At the time, although the smallest of the colleges of Cambridge, it had the highest number of History dons.
The study of History was taken seriously and the effect on me was to be lifelong. The key people for me were Maurice Cowling and Brian Wormald. Sitting in front of these strange, intense men reading an undergraduate essay was profoundly challenging. Historical writing involved seeking to understand the reality behind why men acted in the way they did; and that reality was hugely complex and not to be confused with the descriptions of it in the work of historians. For those writing about the past always have an agenda. The identification and evaluation of that agenda is part of the reader’s challenge. The effort to abandon – or at least admit to – that agenda is part of the historian’s challenge.
Graham Sutherland. Landscapes, War Scenes, Portraits 1924-1950; Bacon and Sutherland; Francis Bacon’s Studio
Bacon and Sutherland, published by Martin Hammer in 2005, began a very important part of the process of comparing and contrasting those two artists away from the grip of Bacon’s journalist proselytiser, the late David Sylvester. The same year, Hammer had brought out Graham Sutherland. Landscapes, War Scenes, Portraits 1924-1950, and Margarita Cappock introduced us to the reconstituted studio of Francis Bacon, at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin. Reviews of all three, originally published in the British Art Journal, 2005. To read the full review, CLICK HERE.