Beyond the Canvas
The National Gallery turns 200
Fourteen years before moving to the iconic Trafalgar Square location, the National Gallery opened its doors to the public on 10th May...
top of page
Beyond the Canvas
Apr 151 min
In Memoriam: Faith Ringgold 1930-2024
“The stigma attached to having been in jail for a woman is a very threatening one because of the idea of how dare her not be a good wife...
5 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Dec 4, 20231 min
Philip Guston at Tate Modern, London
The tondo - from the Italian word for round, rotondo - is a circular painting or sculpture that became popular during the Italian...
6 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Aug 6, 20232 min
Titian's Sacra Conversazione at Fondazione Magnani-Rocca
They call it the Villa of the Masterpieces for good reason. The Fondazione Magnani-Rocca 's collection boasts a Titian of such sublime...
10 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Sep 7, 20222 min
Albrecht Dürer and history's first selfie
“I, Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg portrayed myself in appropriate colours aged twenty-eight years”. In painting himself like Christ the...
43 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Jul 15, 20222 min
Domenichino's Sibilla Cumana at Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna
Being inside an empty museum at night might well be the ultimate art lover's fantasy. Apart from not having to share the space with herds...
22 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
May 15, 20221 min
Kehinde Wiley’s Archeology of Silence, Fondazione Cini
“That is the archaeology I am unearthing: The spectre of police violence and state control over the bodies of young Black and Brown...
15 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Dec 30, 20212 min
Throwback to Rudolf Stingel at Palazzo Grassi, Venice
Current rabbit hole update: scandals and crimes in the art world, of which I am delighted to inform you there is an abundance of. One...
12 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Dec 28, 20211 min
In Memoriam - Wayne Thiebaud: An Ode to Cake
"The whiteness of meringue becomes for me of great poetic preoccupation; it's like snow, like frost ... like ... purity.'' - Wayne...
36 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Dec 22, 20212 min
Drunk on art.
Whether it’s the first one or the latest of many, a visit to Florence’s Uffizi is bound to leave you breathless. Such are the quality and...
13 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Nov 13, 20211 min
Domenico Gnoli at Fondazione Prada, Milan
“I always use simple elements, I don’t want to add or subtract anything. I never even wanted to deform either: I isolate and I represent....
53 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Oct 17, 20212 min
A museum for change: the Museum of Homelessness, London
From the Wunderkammers of Renaissance to this day, the Global West has a museum for everything. From sex to death, from vaginas to...
10 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Sep 14, 20212 min
Paula Rego at Tate Britain, London
Coming out of this extensive and excellent survey, you get a strong sense that Rego's work is an intoxicating blend of the political and...
83 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Sep 4, 20212 min
Women who defend themselves
At long last, my reading drought has come to an end. I am currently re-reading the original version of The Life Before Us written in 1975...
22 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
May 3, 20212 min
A lapsed reader's whinge
"I would like everyone to read, not so they become writers or poets, but so that no one is a slave anymore." - Gianni Rodari I recently...
26 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Mar 18, 20212 min
Women as icons and targets
Revered by the public, reviled by the art establishment and eventually sold at auction for almost £1m, the Mona Lisa of kitsch was...
12 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Feb 5, 20212 min
Kerry James Marshall IS the canon
“Who needs to NOT think of you as a Black artist to consider you a real artist?” - Kerry James Marshall There are a handful of artists...
10 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Jan 8, 20212 min
May Steven's Dark Flag
"Political activity does not interfere with my work, it feeds it. And if I'm interested in racism and fighting racism, then that should...
38 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Oct 4, 20202 min
The liberation of Artemisia Gentileschi - National Gallery, London
The overwhelming dominance of Artemisia Gentileschi's personal narrative over her worth as an artist has always bothered me. The rape,...
30 views0 comments
Beyond the Canvas
Aug 1, 20202 min
A heathen's pilgrimage to the National Gallery
Today I'm celebrating my first trip into central London after 5 months of mostly staying at home. The Titian: Love, Desire, Death...
22 views0 comments
bottom of page