Art
Searching for Healing in Postwar Art
An exhibition at the Barbican in London asks: How do you make sense of war's senseless destruction and loss of human life?
Olivia McEwan
Olivia McEwan is a trained art historian and freelance writer focusing on the London art world. She is also a practising artist, lending a keen eye and understanding of painterly technique which informs her criticisms of historical and emerging arts.
Art
A Thrilling Discovery of the Only Known Work by Female Renaissance Artist Caterina Angela Pierozzi
Depicting the busts of Gabriel and the Virgin, “The Annunciation” (1677) may be the ultimate lost artwork, or "sleeper."
Art
When a Contemporary Art Gallery Exhibits a Renaissance Artist
Ikon Gallery's retrospective asserts that Carlo Crivelli’s self-reflexiveness and questioning the nature of the image made him anticipate the “contemporary.”
Art
Delicately Balancing Psychoanalysis and Art History in a Van Gogh Exhibition
Popular perceptions of van Gogh are often preoccupied with heart-wrenching accounts of mental illness, but Van Gogh: Self Portraits avoids speculative psychoanalytic readings of one tortured face after another.
Art
Why Is a Virtual Veronese Artwork at a Physical Museum?
To play devil’s advocate, you could argue that eventually technology will be so good that everyone will have VR, and there is no need to travel to the National Gallery at all to see art.
Art
A Hogarth Survey Has Good Intentions but Misses the Mark
Why assemble the most significant grouping of Hogarths from far and wide without indicating why calling out the faults in historical artworks is important to our understanding of our world today?
Books
“I Will Show Your Lordship What a Woman Can Do”: Artemisia Gentileschi’s Compelling Feminist Life
Sheila Barker’s account reveals an undeniably strong character and confidence distinct from, or perhaps in conjunction with, her practical survival needs.
Art
Dürer's Journeys Offers a Detailed Examination of the Worldly Artist
By recording unusual sights encountered throughout his travels and disseminating these via workshop practices, it’s understandable why Dürer is so prominent in art history.
Opinion
How is This Possibly the Right Time for a Fabergé Show at the V&A?
So legendarily precious and complex are the Fabergé eggs that they have become a byword for insane expenditure.
Art
A Well-Intentioned Poussin Show Almost Gets it Right
Poussin and the Dance is a valiant attempt to break into Poussin’s staunchly academic oeuvre and provide a relatable point of entry, highlighting the exciting elements of revelry and movement despite impenetrable and unemotional rendering.
Opinion
The Queen of England’s Inaccessible Art Collection
We owe this rare opportunity to visit the Royal Collection to the temporary closure of the Picture Gallery, where the artworks usually hang.
Opinion
How the Labels in the British Museum's Africa Galleries Evade Responsibility
Despite the British Museum’s active participation in work towards restitution, the current display and captioning fail to be forthright or responsible.