News & Comment
CONTEMPORARY ART
Collectors’ focus
Wood carving flourished in Southern Germany in the late 15th century onwards, resulting in exquisitely crafted devotional sculptures. Today, these figures and reliefs may be found for as little as £5,000, though the best examples command high prices.
May 2012
From the archives
The Barnes Foundation is relocating to new premises in central Philadelphia – in violation of its founding principles. Writing in September 1991, Patricia Corbett insisted that this monument to an earlier age should be left intact.
April 2012
From the archives
Like the work of Damien Hirst today, Jacob Epstein’s Genesis was the subject of a media furore in Britain in the 1930s. Writing in March 1931, Thomas Leman Hare mounted a defence of what now appears to be a rather innocuous sculpture.
May 2012
Around the galleries
Carré Rive Gauche returns to Paris’s Left Bank in early June, with an array of fine art, sculpture and furniture. In Brussels, a trio of fairs presents outstanding antiquities and Oriental works.
April 2012
Collectors’ focus
Swiss painting has traditionally appealed to Swiss collectors, but in recent years the market has expanded to attract international buyers. Although prices are increasing, many works produced by Swiss artists are still arguably undervalued.
April 2012
Around the galleries
Art en Vieille-Ville returns this spring to Geneva’s historic Old Town, with local galleries showcasing their best work in an array of exhibitions. Elsewhere in the Swiss city, a plethora of superb satellite shows can be found.
April 2012
Architecture
Despite its vulnerability to fire, damp and rot, wood is a durable material that, over time, can become almost as hard as steel. From medieval barns to 17th-century log churches, timber structures have survived across Northern Europe over centuries.
March 2012
Architecture
Augustus Pugin, whose bicentenary falls this month, died ill, impoverished and insane aged 40. In recent years, following a major London exhibition and a popular biography, the illustrious architect is at last garnering the recognition he deserves.
February 2012
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.