CONTENTS February 2012
EDITORIAL
From the archives
Charles Saatchi has claimed, somewhat controversially, that collectors today lack discernment, but it’s not a new argument. Turner’s patron, the Earl of Egremont, also made some poor choices, wrote Richard Walker in January 1953.
CONTEMPORARY ART
Around the galleries
Now in its 30th year, the London Park Lane Arms Fair returns with its annual array of fine arms and armoury. Elsewhere in the capital, impressive surveys of Freud, Hirst and mid-century British art can be found.
ARCHITECTURE
Architecture
George Gilbert Scott described the dome as ‘the noblest of all forms’, and it appears as a powerful symbol in secular and religious architecture throughout history. On the island of Malta, however, the craze for dome-building reached astonishing heights.
The art market: Market preview
In London this month, a wealth of Spanish works from Meléndez to Miró is offered, and ARCOmadrid opens in Spain. In December, the Old Master season wasn’t as strong as in previous years, though two Dutch masters broke records.
The art market: Market review
In London this month, a wealth of Spanish works from Meléndez to Miró is offered, and ARCOmadrid opens in Spain. In December, the Old Master season wasn’t as strong as in previous years, though two Dutch masters broke records.
Collectors’ focus
The now buoyant market in ancient coins is subject to fluctuations whenever a major hoard is discovered. In recent weeks, record prices have been realised for the rarest pieces.
The Tent in the Park
The disused Commonwealth Institute building in London is a remarkable landmark of post-war British architecture. Now, its soaring internal spaces are being reconfigured to house the relocation of the Design Museum in 2014, but will the structure finally be fit for purpose?
Art’s Alchemist
Anselm Kiefer is inspired by the transformative possibilities of ruins and ex-industrial spaces, in part derived from his childhood in post-war Germany. He talks to Apollo about the ideas that have driven him to create paintings that mutate through alchemy
The Mythology of Desire
An exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston explores the themes of beauty, love and sexual desire in the ancient world. Many of these classical pieces, with their often overt erotic depictions of playful gods, were collected by the philanthropic gentleman scholar Edward Perry Warren
Ariadne Awakened
‘Modern Antiquity’, an exhibition originally at the Getty Villa and opening this month at the Musée Picasso in Antibes, explores the multi-faceted relationship between Modernism and antiquity – and the effect that this has on how we view ancient art
The Acquisitive Gene
Christian Levett’s fanaticism for collecting antiquities has led to him opening a museum for his collection in the South of France. He spoke to Apollo about his collecting and the museum’s mission to reveal the thread of Classicism in Western art
Seeking the universal painter
Carmen C. Bambach appraises the National Gallery’s once-in-a-lifetime exhibition dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci
Spoils of the Cold War
Nicholas Hodge reports on an exhibition that evokes the changing fortunes of the Sapieha princes
A relic of elegance
David Platzer reports on an exhibition that explores the rise and fall of the Paris townhouse
A hero returned
Louise Nicholson applauds an exhibition of Antico’s bronzes that celebrates the artist’s creative relationship with antiquity
A sense of place
Anthony Parton welcomes a valuable introduction to the often overlooked 19th-century landscapist, Isaak Levitan
In the eye of the beholder
Definitions of beauty and different attitudes towards adornment and embellishment are skillfully revealed in this exploration, writes Sanda Miller
Off the shelf
Apollo's selection of recently published books on art, architecture and the history of collecting
Thinking in colour
Chris Brickley welcomes an overview of the Scottish Colourist F.C.B. Cadell, which illuminates the Colourists’ contribution to modern British art