That Lone Meteorite: the story of Guillaume Apollinaire

A lone meteorite called Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) slammed into Paris with his mother as an impressionable young visitor in the spring of 1899. The surname has such resonance! Shades of the glory of Apollo, Appolinaris, Appolonius of Tyre seem to crowd at its back... The surname itself was a careful contraction, and perhaps even an … Continue reading That Lone Meteorite: the story of Guillaume Apollinaire

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose…

Michael Glover questions the New York painter David Hornung about his admiration for the work of Rose Wylie MG: Why is Rose Wylie one of your favourite painters, David? DH: I am impressed by the authority of her belief in her process, her subjects and her very idiosyncratic visual lexicon. She’s always unpredictable and utterly … Continue reading A Rose is a Rose is a Rose…

Bingeing on the Biennale’s Bellinis

For art's sake: visitors mass on press day outside the Arsenale Henry James once described Venice as infinitely sad; touchingly, agonisingly haunted by the loss of its own once great significance as one of the greatest maritime empires the world has ever known. And a journey after nightfall up the Grand Canal by Vaporetto Uno … Continue reading Bingeing on the Biennale’s Bellinis

Ben Nicholson, international magpie

Ben Nicholson was a pragmatic artist. He looked hard life-long, and he borrowed like a magpie. Never a man to confine himself geographically, nor to believe that he was anything other than a European, if not an internationalist, he travelled widely and looked into many artists' studios, in England and elsewhere. Two Fishes (1932) This … Continue reading Ben Nicholson, international magpie