Latest news with #RoyalAcademy
Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Andy Goldsworthy: Fifty Years review — a master rights some wrongs
Andy Goldsworthy is imaginative, inventive, poetic, hard-working, big-hearted and brave. He has been making art for 50 years. Nature loves him, people who have seen his work in books love him, people who go to his exhibitions love him, I love him, my wife loves him, and so do my kids. But for reasons we need to go into, the art establishment does not. Indeed, it ignores him. He has never been nominated for the Turner prize. He's not in the Royal Academy. He hasn't received an MBE or an OBE, let alone been knighted or damed like the Gormleys, Kapoors or Emins. He has never had a show at the Tate or the Hayward. No one has asked him to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale. For 50 years Goldsworthy has been making art that touches the heart and delights the eye. But the art establishment can't see it. Why? One reason is that his work is centred on the landscape, and the art establishment, these days, is an urban beast. Sheep don't fret about their identities. Trees don't remember the empire. Farmers don't express themselves with their clothing as relentlessly as Leigh Bowery did, night after night, club after club, in the posthumous show he had recently at Tate Modern. Another problem is the delightful nature of Goldsworthy's art: that it is so easy to love. The gorgeous patterns he finds in autumn leaves, the magical moments he creates with nature's simplest materials, the ecstatic understanding he has of the joy of colour are not neurotic enough to appeal to the art world's tastes. It sees itself as a complex ally of the ego, not a joyous buddy of the id. It hungers for difficulty, rigour, unpleasure. So my advice to the commissars of the art establishment, to Tate directors and Serpentine curators, is to get yourselves to Edinburgh and visit Andy Goldsworthy: Fifty Years at the Royal Scottish Academy. It's a look at the whole of his lengthy career, but also a statement show that seems determined to stamp out the rumour that he's a softie. The real Andy Goldsworthy — hardcore, thoughtful, mysterious — is being encouraged to emerge. It begins spectacularly with a long and shaggy sheepskin rug running down the centre of the posh stairs that welcome us to the Royal Scottish Academy. Infused with the stony rigour of the Scottish Enlightenment, carved out of local granite, the posh stairs speak of privilege and rank, politeness and empire. Goldsworthy's rug, meanwhile, ascending shaggily step by step, speaks of muddy fields and the dirty bottoms of sheep. Two worlds are colliding, and societal sparks are flying. The attack continues with the next sight, a filigree of delicate lines stretching between the portentous Doric columns that loom over the entrance. What is it? A silk hanging? A beaded embroidery? As you get closer, you finally recognise it: barbed wire. From many fields and with many patinas. For the first time in its unpleasant history, the vicious outdoor fencing has been woven by an industrious spider into a curtain of fragile beauty. • Like nature itself, the show keeps switching moods. Gravestones, a lumpy gallery full of rocks that appear to have emerged from beneath the floor, like the biblical prophecy about the resurrection of the dead at the End of Days, is doomy and gothic. It's made out of stones dug up in the cemeteries of Dumfries and Galloway. But Sheep Paintings, two panels of cosmic swirlings with a perfect circle at their centre, feels druidically mystical, like that installation with the setting sun at Tate Modern by Olafur Eliasson. Goldsworthy's solar discs were actually created by the muddy feet of sheep feeding around a perfectly circular food trough. In his student days Goldsworthy worked on a farm, where he learnt a respect for labour and inherited an appreciation for the seasons. Despite their many moods, his installations are invariably centred on a simple piece of geometry: a circle, a square, a line. Oak Passage seems, from its first angle, to be an impenetrable tangle of branches. But as you walk round you see that its centre is dissected by a miraculously straight path. Man and nature are doing their thing in evident harmony. Most readers will know Goldsworthy's work from the sumptuous photography books he produced in the 1990s. They were popular and are, I suspect, the chief reason the art world took against him: it dislikes crowd-pleasers. Some of those images are on show here as well — a mysterious zigzag in the earth created with the feathers of a heron; a bottomless hole in a tree fashioned from autumn leaves. Rather than shining glossily in a coffee table book, they hang coolly on the gallery walls, part of a thoughtful photographic encapsulation in which the rigour that went into their production is easier to note. They remain beautiful — what a nose he has for the intensity of nature's colours — but their ambition to record a fleeting moment is much more evident. The job of this gorgeous photography is to record a natural performance that would otherwise be lost. All through the event there's a feeling that the artist is trying to right some wrongs: a sense of correction. Here, finally, the truth is being projected that he is, at heart, a minimalist: a lover of geometry's simplest order. But where most minimalists are urbanites, searching for industrial precision with industrial materials, he's a rural minimalist who finds order and simplicity in nature. If it's not there, he inserts it into the chaos. And like all great landscape artists — and he's certainly one of those — he's bringing the outdoors indoors. It's a traditional British ambition. It deserves far greater recognition that it has hitherto received.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Royal Academy ‘displays anti-Semitic art' for a second time
The Royal Academy of Arts has been accused of displaying anti-Semitic artwork inspired by the war in Gaza for a second time. Jewish visitors said they had been left upset by two pieces of artwork by Michael Sandle, a Royal Academy member, that were still on display at the Summer Exhibition as of Friday. One £6,000 piece in the display titled 'Terrorist versus smiling mass murderer of innocents', shows what appears to be a Hamas member standing next to an Israeli air force pilot with a damaged building in the background. A second work, titled 'Apropos terror – a pilot doesn't hear the screams of the women and children he is massacring with impunity', is a slightly larger version of the first piece and priced at £25,000. Caroline Turner, the director of UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), wrote to Natasha Mitchell, the Royal Academy's interim secretary and chief executive, calling for them to be removed. Ms Turner wrote: 'The titles of both these drawings imply that Israel is purposely slaughtering women and children.' 'This is far from the truth, since the Israeli army does all it can to avoid harming women and children, while targeting Hamas terrorists, who unfortunately use women and children as human shields,' the letter added. The letter was also sent to Batia Ofer, the chairwoman of the Royal Academy Trust and an Israeli-Canadian patroness and philanthropist. Explaining why the artworks were anti-Semitic, the Ms Turner wrote that the pictures applied 'double standards by requiring of Israel a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation which can be anti-Semitic according to example eight of the IHRA's [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] working definition of anti-Semitism'. 'The images use the symbols and images associated with classic anti-Semitism (eg claims of Jews killing children) to characterise Israel or Israelis; This is anti-Semitic according to example nine of the IHRA definition,' the letter says. The letter, seen by The Telegraph, adds: 'Accusing Jews of killing babies/children is an old-fashioned blood libel. Sandle should be aware that Israel aims to kill terrorists, not innocent children and others.' Mrs Turner also claimed the Royal Academy was breaching the 2010 Equality Act because Sandle's art was 'likely to create an intimidating, hostile and offensive environment for Jews and Israelis who visit the gallery'. One Jewish visitor said: 'I just went to the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition. And there is some disgusting anti-Semitic art hanging there by an artist called Sandle. Unsurprisingly, this isn't the first time.' Last year, the Royal Academy apologised for displaying artwork likening Israel to Nazi Germany in an annual Summer Show competition. One piece by a 16-year-old named as 'Andy', which was later removed, appeared to compare Israel's actions in Gaza to Nazism by featuring Arab women screaming under the shadow of a swastika and the looming figure of Buddha. A note with the piece stated: 'Watching the conflict unravel in Gaza draws many parallels with the Nazis and Chinese oppression, hence the Buddha symbol and the swastika.' A second piece, which was removed, was a photograph of a protester claiming Israel was committing genocide. The photograph, taken by an 18-year-old named 'Kausar', featured a man holding a sign stating: 'Jews say stop genocide on Palestinians: not in our name.' Ms Turner claimed the Royal Academy has 'failed to take the concerns of your Jewish visitors into account'. She added: 'We are of course, in favour of freedom of artistic expression, but not freedom to express hateful anti-Semitic sentiments, which stoke up hatred against Jews and Israelis.' In a statement, the Royal Academy said works in the exhibition 'often reflect current societal and political topics'. It said that artworks in the Summer Exhibition 'should not be read as the Royal Academy supporting any particular artist's point of view'. The Royal Academy added: 'We always take all concerns about artworks on display in the Summer Exhibition seriously; however, our role, as an artist and architect-led organisation, is to allow all artists the ability to express themselves. 'The Royal Academy is an organisation led by artists and architects and is committed to freedom of expression.' In a further letter, Ms Mitchell insisted they were not breaching the Equality Act and added: 'It is simply untrue to state that we are ignoring the matter, or the concerns raised.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Solve the daily Crossword
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Royal Academy ‘displays anti-Semitic art' for a second time
The Royal Academy of Arts has been accused of displaying anti-Semitic artwork inspired by the war in Gaza for a second time. Jewish visitors said they had been left upset by two pieces of artwork by Michael Sandle, a Royal Academy member, that were still on display at the Summer Exhibition as of Friday. One £6,000 piece in the display titled 'Terrorist versus smiling mass murderer of innocents', shows what appears to be a Hamas member standing next to an Israeli air force pilot with a damaged building in the background. A second work, titled 'Apropos terror – a pilot doesn't hear the screams of the women and children he is massacring with impunity', is a slightly larger version of the first piece and priced at £25,000. Caroline Turner, the director of UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), wrote to Natasha Mitchell, the Royal Academy's interim secretary and chief executive, calling for them to be removed. Ms Turner wrote: 'The titles of both these drawings imply that Israel is purposely slaughtering women and children.' 'This is far from the truth, since the Israeli army does all it can to avoid harming women and children, while targeting Hamas terrorists, who unfortunately use women and children as human shields,' the letter added. The letter was also sent to Batia Ofer, the chairwoman of the Royal Academy Trust and an Israeli-Canadian patroness and philanthropist. Explaining why the artworks were anti-Semitic, the Ms Turner wrote that the pictures applied 'double standards by requiring of Israel a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation which can be anti-Semitic according to example eight of the IHRA's [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] working definition of anti-Semitism'. 'The images use the symbols and images associated with classic anti-Semitism (eg claims of Jews killing children) to characterise Israel or Israelis; This is anti-Semitic according to example nine of the IHRA definition,' the letter says. The letter, seen by The Telegraph, adds: 'Accusing Jews of killing babies/children is an old-fashioned blood libel. Sandle should be aware that Israel aims to kill terrorists, not innocent children and others.' Mrs Turner also claimed the Royal Academy was breaching the 2010 Equality Act because Sandle's art was 'likely to create an intimidating, hostile and offensive environment for Jews and Israelis who visit the gallery'. One Jewish visitor said: 'I just went to the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition. And there is some disgusting anti-Semitic art hanging there by an artist called Sandle. Unsurprisingly, this isn't the first time.' Last year, the Royal Academy apologised for displaying artwork likening Israel to Nazi Germany in an annual Summer Show competition. One piece by a 16-year-old named as 'Andy', which was later removed, appeared to compare Israel's actions in Gaza to Nazism by featuring Arab women screaming under the shadow of a swastika and the looming figure of Buddha. A note with the piece stated: 'Watching the conflict unravel in Gaza draws many parallels with the Nazis and Chinese oppression, hence the Buddha symbol and the swastika.' A second piece, which was removed, was a photograph of a protester claiming Israel was committing genocide. The photograph, taken by an 18-year-old named 'Kausar', featured a man holding a sign stating: 'Jews say stop genocide on Palestinians: not in our name.' Ms Turner claimed the Royal Academy has 'failed to take the concerns of your Jewish visitors into account'. She added: 'We are of course, in favour of freedom of artistic expression, but not freedom to express hateful anti-Semitic sentiments, which stoke up hatred against Jews and Israelis.' In a statement, the Royal Academy said works in the exhibition 'often reflect current societal and political topics'. It said that artworks in the Summer Exhibition 'should not be read as the Royal Academy supporting any particular artist's point of view'. The Royal Academy added: 'We always take all concerns about artworks on display in the Summer Exhibition seriously; however, our role, as an artist and architect-led organisation, is to allow all artists the ability to express themselves. 'The Royal Academy is an organisation led by artists and architects and is committed to freedom of expression.' In a further letter, Ms Mitchell insisted they were not breaching the Equality Act and added: 'It is simply untrue to state that we are ignoring the matter, or the concerns raised.'
Washington Post
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
This erotic dream turned nightmare may have inspired ‘Frankenstein'
Great Works, In Focus • #196 This erotic dream turned nightmare may have inspired 'Frankenstein' Henry Fuseli scandalized London, but his painting of a demonic visitor quickly became popular across art and culture. Expand the image Click to zoom in Column by Sebastian Smee July 17, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. EDT 4 minutes ago 3 min Chest pressure. You feel it at night, never quite knowing if its source is physical, psychological or some fiendish amalgam of both. You try to breathe deeply, but there's a heavy, invisible presence constricting your torso. You're like a cyclist pushing, pushing for the crest of the hill and a rush of descent that never comes. Emotion rises in your throat. Feelings of hopelessness. Your body is stretched, tensed, on the rack … Pardon the flight of fancy. But I'm trying to think through — or feel through — this shamelessly gratuitous painting by Henry Fuseli. 'The Nightmare' hangs in the Detroit Institute of Arts, as shocking and inexplicable as when Fuseli (1741-1825), a Swiss-born artist living in England, first presented it publicly at the Royal Academy in 1782. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement In his public lectures, Fuseli was a proponent of neoclassicism — of order and tradition, of everything being accorded its correct proportions. But he was really a hidden romanticist, a close friend of William Blake, eager to indulge inner visions, erotic fancies and his personal penchant for excess and extremity. As a young man, he'd been forced by his father — a portrait painter — to train as a Protestant minister. But he found himself in hot water after exposing a corrupt local magistrate in an ill-tempered pamphlet and had to leave Zurich. In 1765, he settled in London, where he was befriended by the painter Joshua Reynolds, who encouraged Fuseli to commit himself to painting and to train in Rome, where he lived for the next eight years. High on Michelangelo and the late-16th-century mannerists, Fuseli became an influential figure among the expatriate artists who flocked to Rome. Returning to Switzerland, he became besotted with the niece of his friend, Johann Kaspar Lavater. But his marriage proposal was rejected by her father, so Fuseli repaired to London and painted 'The Nightmare.' Often interpreted as a reference to his unconsummated love affair, it shows a viciously leering incubus squatting on the torso of a young woman in a diaphanous white dress. She is suggestively stretched out on a bed, her tossed-back head and vulnerable neck dangling over the side. A spectral, white-eyed horse — thought to have been painted in later — peers in on the scene, almost comically, through dark red curtains. The painting, though scandalous (William Hazlitt called it 'a nightmare on the breast of British art'), quickly became popular. It is said to have inspired aspects of Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' and countless imitators and parodists since. The picture cries out for interpretation (it's in no way surprising to learn that Sigmund Freud hung an engraving of 'The Nightmare' on the walls of his Vienna apartment), and yet it stubbornly resists attempts to say anything definitive about it. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement The painting's eroticism is blatant. Almost everything in it has a fetishistic quality: the hanging tassel; the pointed toe; the tumbling hair; the pink-and-gold fabric spilling out from under her hips; her hanging hand, its limp fingers curled where they softly meet the floor. But it's a disturbed eroticism, with a thwarted, sinister character. The woman is all taut, sinuous curves and linear flow; you feel she might have been poured into the picture from the left. But that leering incubus is going nowhere, and his chilling stare, aimed directly at us, blocks the dream's unfolding, crushing eros into a malign murkiness, and leaving us gasping for air.
The Herald Scotland
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Paintings once owned by Rolling Stones drummer to be sold in dog art auction
One of the paintings once held in the collection of Watts is A Proud Mother by Robert Alexander, which is estimated to fetch £4,000-£6,000. Depicting a collie with its pups, it was originally exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1879. Bonhams said Watts was a devoted lover of dogs, owning nine collies with his wife, and was a patron of the Forever Hounds Trust. Leo Webster, picture specialist at Bonhams, said: 'We're exceptionally lucky to be offering paintings by of some of the most sought-after artists of dogs, from the 19th century to the 21st. 'The sale contains a wonderfully diverse range of breeds, from large deerhounds, St Bernards, and setters to smaller toy breeds like Affenpinschers, spaniels, and the ever-charming Dandie Dinmonts. There's something for every dog lover. Dandie Dinmont Terrier Ginger III features in the sale (Bonhams/PA) 'The dog sale consistently sparks fantastic interest from collectors around the world, and this year's auction is no exception; we're certainly seeing that same international buzz building already. 'The works in this sale come from a range of sellers, including some passionate collectors who've dedicated years, even lifetimes, to building their dog art collections – the loyalty goes both ways. 'A few paintings in this year's sale once belonged to Charlie Watts, drummer for The Rolling Stones, and judging by the collies featured in his collection, it's safe to say he had a soft spot for them.' Bonhams said there are six paintings in the sale that were previously owned by Mr Watts (lots 2, 19, 85, 86, 87 and 88). These are being offered from a collection unrelated to the late drummer but were purchased directly from his estate and were not on the open market. Other pictures in the sale include a painting by Eugene Verboeckhoven, titled Duke, depicting a King Charles spaniel, which is estimated at £15,000-£20,000. A 19th century British painting titled Dandie Dinmont Terrier Ginger III, by an artist known as APB, is estimated to sell for £3,000-£5,000. The long bodied, short-legged terriers were named after Dandie Dinmont, a central character in the Sir Walter Scott novel Guy Mannering. The sale takes place on July 23.
