Art and Antiques
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Eccentric, awe-inspiring and a home-from-home for literary giants: Why the London Library is an institution like no other
The London Library is celebrating 180 years in St James’s Square.
By Emma Hughes Published
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A five minute guide to Wayne Thiebaud — the artist who 'reinvented still life as a genre and found fame in the process'
The Courtauld Institute is staging the first-ever exhibition of Wayne Thiebaud's work.
By Carla Passino Published
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What is everyone talking about this week: Does Britain need its own Met Gala?
Will Hosie questions what form the British Museum's upcoming fundraising gala should take.
By Will Hosie Published
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Five émigré artists who greatly enriched Britain's intellectual and creative scenes
Frieze Masters kicks off this week and several contributing galleries are using it to shine a spotlight on the artistic contribution of émigrés past and present.
By Carla Passino Last updated
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Nine of Britain's most beautiful and awe-inspiring painted ceilings from the Country Life archive
Our round-up of some of the Britain's prettiest painted ceilings is a good reminder to always look up.
By Melanie Bryan Published
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‘One remembers not to give the Queen a thump of joyful friendliness’: Remembering Norman Parkinson — revolutionary fashion photographer and Cecil Beaton’s only homegrown rival
Cecil Beaton might be the toast of London right now, with a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, but contemporary Norman Parkinson was always hot on his heels.
By Robin Muir Published
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Tim Knox, director of the Royal Collection, charts a century of regal taste
Edward VII swept away the cobwebs of mid-Victorian style, Queen Mary had passion for all things small and the Queen Mother bought rather avant-garde art.
By Tim Knox Published
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‘One of the most amazing spaces in London’: Two Hogarth murals, inside an 18th century London hospital, are to go on public display for the first time
St Bartholomew's Hospital’s north wing is to open as a visitor attraction and events space — while the rest of the hospital will continue to operate as normal.
By Lotte Brundle Published
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'Each of my active ancestors had the good sense and taste to purchase or commission the outstanding work of their time': Meet the collecting dynasties
Whether it is adding contemporary paintings to a gallery of Old Masters or branching out into territories as diverse as Modernist chairs, Iranian tiles or Churchill memorabilia, the passion for collecting seems to run in some families.
By Eleanor Doughty Published
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Diversity in style and diversity in location: London's best art is all around us
London's hotels, pubs and restaurants show the great depth of the capital's artistic tastes.
By Will Hosie Published
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Wedgwood's craftspeople produce objects that dignify our lives daily in countless ways — here's hoping that better times lie ahead
Country Life's cultural commentator Athena analyses the concerning developments at Wedgwood.
By Athena Published
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'There were no fireworks. The art world remained unshaken. Then, this April, a letter arrived... to see it hanging in Tate will be very special': Art dealer John Martin on the piece he'd never part with
A chance encounter with a huge, shimmering panel led art dealer John Martin to discover Nigerian sculptor Asiru Olatunde, a man who also owed his artistic career to an accidental find, as Carla Passino learns.
By Carla Passino Published
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'It’s always been more about the things than the money': The family crafting silk for Strictly, Highgrove, the House of Commons and Westminster Abbey
For half a century, Beckford Silk has been supplying remarkable textiles since 1975. Ben Lerwill discovers what makes its wares materially different
By Ben Lerwill Published
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‘A stone pounding artist — who exclaims in his sleep, “Think of me standing upon a pinnacle of the Andes — or sketching a Fuegian Glacier!!!”’
When fate handed artist Conrad Martens the chance to join HMS Beagle, he captured the Patagonian flatlands, the shores of Tierra del Fuego and the peaks of the Andes with aplomb.
By Carla Passino Published
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Three kilos of gold, 6,462 diamonds and the size of a plate: Is this the world’s most valuable coin?
With an estimate of £2-3 million, The coin was created for Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, goes up for auction this month and can be bought using cryptocurrency.
By Lotte Brundle Last updated
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Arts & Antiques: Five ways in which we are living in a material world
Carla Passino looks at a new art, fashion and culture festival at Kew Gardens, and the life and work of the artist Rose Hilton.
By Carla Passino Published
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Helene Kröller-Müller: The woman who made van Gogh
After a life-threatening illness spurred Helene Kröller-Müller to make plans for a museum, she bought modern art voraciously, forming an extraordinary collection that shaped the early-20th-century perception of Vincent van Gogh
By Carla Passino Published
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The captivating art of the Japanese woodblock
Hokusai’s ferocious wave and Hiroshige’s relentless downpour stole the show at a sale of ukiyo-e prints earlier in the summer
By Huon Mallalieu Published
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A feat of clay: How ceramics have taken on the fine art world
'Not a Pot’, a sculptural pottery exhibition open at York Art Gallery, throws light onto the art form's evolution.
By Corinne Julius Last updated
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The Manot bed that made it from a Herefordshire attic to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, courtesy of Country Life
When Henry Avray Tipping spotted a 17th-century four poster languishing in a Herefordshire attic in 1911, he set off a chain of events that saw the bed leave its ancestral home and land at The Met in New York
By Carla Passino Published
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Athena: In the eyes of Government, will the Arts always be last?
After a year of Labour rule, life doesn't seem to be getting any better for Britain's cultural institutions.
By Athena Published