By James Brewer George Stubbs devoted years to producing beautiful, finely wrought paintings of champion racehorses. While doing so, the 18th century artist remarkably found time to compile a 50,000-word treatise…
By James Brewer At the age of 91, Rose Wylie is the first British woman painter to have a solo exhibition at the Royal Academy – appropriately showing 90 works…
By James Brewer A headland where the waters of two great seas – the North Sea and the Baltic – collide has always been a dangerous locale for navigation. Hans…
By James Brewer A self-described “poor householder” who was a carpenter and millwright in a Dutch village patented an invention in 1593 which changed the dynamics of international shipping. His…
By James Brewer We can thank the shipping and iron ore trades for the genesis of one of the world’s greatest collections of art in the style known as Neo-Impressionism,…
By James Brewer A royal presence, pictorially speaking, graced a major London exhibition marking what is known as the One Hundred Year Partnership Agreement signed on January 16th, 2025 ,…
By James Brewer It is an ‘impossible’ design. True, it looks like a handkerchief, 30.5cm square, and is made from linen backed by the very utilitarian material Tetra Pak, the…
By James Brewer A group of young Black children squat on the floor of an art gallery, gazing attentively at the paintings. They are pictured in an artwork that is…
By James Brewer A silk batik crafted in 1988, an artwork without a title, hangs doubled and scroll-like from ceiling to floor, stopping visitors in their tracks at the latest Tate…
Ithell Colquhoun: British surrealist who owed an artistic debt to Greek antiquity By James Brewer Artist and writer Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988) spent only a brief part of her career in…
By James Brewer Against a rainswept sky, with huge cranes looming in the background, the imposing bulk of an ocean-going ship chained to a drydock conveys the dominance of industrial…
Royal Academy Summer Show 2025 – fine art from feathers, matchboxes and more united with dialogue By James Brewer Ingeniously pairing dynamic contemporary art with eco-friendly architecture is a critical…
James Brewer reviews a rehang and refit that adds lustre to the unparalleled collection of Western European art A complete and imaginative redisplay of more than 1,000 of the National…
Review by James Brewer The power wielded by the multi-trillion-dollar leading lights of the IT world is unsettling, and a new book on regulators’ efforts to hold them to account…
By James Brewer Some of the most glorious, God-fearing artwork early in the 14th century came from a man who was supposedly so disdainful of the authorities that later commentators pronounced…
London’s Royal Academy salutes the brief encounter in Florence of super-talents Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael By James Brewer Prepare for battle, as three Renaissance rivals – Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael…
Colours of Ukraine: artistry rooted in the landscape of the nation By James Brewer The prolific painter Sviatoslav Barabash takes delight in portraying the landscape, both natural and industrial, of…
Lygia Clark and Sonia Boyce – art beyond the frame at Whitechapel Gallery By James Brewer A pioneering Brazilian artist, Lygia Clark, is being accorded a first major survey in…
Peter Kennard: Archive of Dissent – the artist and activist is celebrated at Whitechapel Gallery By James Brewer Jet-black oil spews from a drilling rig stationed in the North Sea.…
By James Brewer Guests welcomed by the Lord Chief Justice to dinner in the 1770s at his stately home, Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath, might be taken aback to see…
Anna Mendelssohn: Speak, Poetess. Whitechapel Gallery salutes writer and artist who abhorred iniquity By James Brewer A life in poetry took off for Anna Mendelssohn after she served a stiff…
A Girl About Town – Rosa Sepple’s sweet, saucy and sea-loving paintings By James Brewer “I love to see the people smile,” says Rosa Sepple. Her Ingenious paintings which weave…
Muse of Mayfair: a showcase of independent-minded London artists By James Brewer A touch of genius – just the one glint of something special – is no longer enough. Multi-talented…
Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South – a profoundly moving exhibition at Royal Academy of Arts Review by James Brewer “My art is the…
By James Brewer A French coastal village with a tranquil view of the Gulf of Marseilles is the place where “Cezanne became Cezanne.” Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) was lauded as the…