RICHARD MURGATROYD enjoys a readable account of the life and meditations of one of the few Roman emperors with a good reputation
Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 209th Exhibition
Social comment, allotment architecture and humour stand out in engaging show
OUTSTANDING: (L to R) Adam De Ville, Eighty Two Rounds, One Knock Out and Brian Smith’s (RI) Ernie's Beach
ALEX HALL asks whether intelligence, and stupidity, are the outcomes of poverty and wealth, and cultural norms
BRENT CUTLER is persuaded by a new account of the rise of Christianity, and the fall of the Roman empire
If non-human nature is devoid of value under the capitalist mode of production, this book presents the case for its reintegration, suggests HENRY BELL
The Bard takes issue with a BBC portrait of The Balkans, and sets the record straight
ANGUS REID urges you to visit Britain’s most remarkable - and mind-blowing - festival of contemporary music
MARIA DUARTE reviews Desperate Journey, Blue Moon, Pillion, and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
WATERCOLOURS, forever the poor relatives of oil painting, have been unjustly associated with “Sunday amateurs,” a stigma that the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours has fought against tooth and nail. To its credit, it’s done so with considerable success.
The institutes’s annual exhibition and awards for painters working in the medium has been the silver lining for artists tested by the pandemic and perhaps trying times have somewhat clipped the wings of the intrepid experimentation evidenced in shows over the last few years.
Yet the unexpected and intriguing is there in Brian Smith’s Ernie’s Beach — reminiscent of Abraham Hondius’s Frost Fairs — which celebrates a triumph over developers to keep a popular stretch of the Thames near the OXO Tower public.
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