We went up to Oxford last weekend to meet up with the in-laws and visit the Ashmolean. Degas to Picasso was perhaps a misnomer for the exhibition, which ranged rather more widely, collecting influences from the late eighteenth century onwards. Although there were a lot of works in the exhibition, many of them were pencil drawings or sketches for ( Read more... )

None for ages, and then two come along at once. Last year, 82 portraits and 1 still-life; this year, the Tate's blockbuster Hockney exhibition. We booked well in advance and visited last Saturday. It was, of course, busy; but as usual, the rooms further into the exhibition became more comfortable. The exhibition takes a broadly chronological ( Read more... )

Due to a mix-up earlier this month, Mrs Q had already visited Tate Britain's Paul Nash exhibition, so I went on my own yesterday. There was quite a wide range of work, and I'd seen a few pieces before, but there was also quite a lot that seemed new to me. Some of the early works, such as The Three, immediately made me think of Magritte, although it ( Read more... )

Well, 2016 has been rubbish, but let's try and pick out some more positive things from the year:

• Fiction - Doctor Who - Shada, by Gareth Roberts / Douglas Adams
• Non-Fiction - 1946 - The Making of the Modern World, by Victor Sebestyen
• Music - Prom 51 - the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop
• Museums and Exhibitions - Museum of the Americas in ( Read more... )

Yesterday we went to Dulwich Picture Gallery to see the Adriaen van de Velde exhibition. In comparison to some of the other exhibitions I've seen there over the past few years, it was a bit underwhelming, with a rather small number of paintings and quite a few small-scale chalk sketches. Nevertheless, there's no question about the quality of the ( Read more... )

Having failed to be organised enough to get in to the Hockney exhibition at the RA a few years ago, we booked in advance for 82 portraits and 1 still-life, although in the end it wasn't all that busy. The works are a series Hockney began in 2013 of portraits of friends and family, all painted on identically-sized canvases (the still-life is from a ( Read more... )

When I looked through the Proms season I spotted Rossini's The Barber of Seville and wondered whether Dad would be interested. He said yes, so I braved the Albert Hall website on the day booking opened and got some pretty good seats in the stalls. Since then he decided to make a long weekend of it, and so I took a day's holiday and yesterday ( Read more... )

Perhaps last week was a good week to be away. The shootings in Orlando, the killing of Jo Cox, and the derailment of a train outside Paddington station all impacted on me in a bad way ( Read more... )

On Saturday we travelled to Cardiff to meet up with my university friend Rhodri WINOLJ. Having checked the train times, we needed to make an early start. Due to engineering works the train diverted from Reading to Westbury, then up to Chippenham, back to Swindon, before on to Bristol, Newport and Cardiff - essentially doubling the travel time. In ( Read more... )

We took the opportunity last week of going to the late evening at the Royal College of Physician's exhibition Scholar, courtier, magician: the lost library of John Dee. It's a small exhibition but there were some interesting pieces. Books aren't always especially striking visually, and there were a few paintings and other artefacts included in the ( Read more... )