Gallery Review
Sean Scully in France
He’s been showered with honours and awards — yet plenty of people can’t stand his work
Splashing the cash
On the complex relationship between art and money
The Venice Art Biennale
The overall tone is rather bloodless, smug and muted where one might hope for exhilaration
The art of Caspar David Friedrich
In our brave new world of modern art, there’s a growing appetite for celebrating the mystery of the natural world
The imagination of Ensor
The great Belgian painter could enliven the most mundane scenes
The decline of beauty
Why has the concept been rejected by the art world?
Thoughtful delicacy and austere introspection
An exhibition of the art of Gwen John secures her legacy
Women’s anger and women’s ambiguities
A new exhibition offers interesting, if sometimes confusing, perspectives on women in revolt
The second life of Pauline Boty
Critics should not drown this much-needed revival in emotive clichés
Resurrecting Lavery
The decline of Sir John Lavery’s reputation was undeserved
Hatred without end
A year on from October 7th, mutual dehumanisation and refusal of moral responsibility characterises our “debate” over the Gaza war
The same old song
A reboot of nineties favourite Le Caprice is more museum than restaurant
Fleeing Sally Rooney’s god
Why have critics been ignoring one of the novelist’s most important themes?
Humble pie?
Ric Holden is painfully aware that he is only just Holden on to his seat
Writing lives
The life story of the biography, from Victorian glorification to Bloomsbury boldness to contemporary obliquity
Art of the deal
A simple sale, with money changing hands, was out of the question
Gothic staging
The Turn of the Screw, Coliseum
A full-blooded blow-out
Kurt Weill: Symphonies, Seven Deadly Sins (DG)
Oasis: the good boys of rock and roll
For guitar bands since punk, there’s been a tension between credibility and success
Don’t bite the hand that feeds the birds
The government’s flawed biodiversity analysis endangers successful state-funded schemes
The price of victory
Benjamin Netanyahu has won battles, but there is no foreseeable end to the war
