The Bard stands with the Reformers of Peterloo, and their shared genius in teaching history with music and song
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Christine Lindey's art exhibitions of the year
SUE TURNER is fascinated by a book that researches who the largely immigrant workforce were that built the Empire State
MARIA DUARTE and MALC McGOOKIN review Sirat, The Testament of Ann Lee, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, and All You Need Is Kill
STEVE ANDREW recommends a Marxist analysis of the long chains of production that global corporations exploit
MARY CONWAY relishes the period detail but misses the drama in this unsatisfactory dramatisation of the subjugated life of George Eliot
IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a mainstream scholar to the ranks of left-wing critique of US foreign policy
PETER MASON is disappointed that the eponymous Count fails to put in an appearance
THE centenary of the Russian Revolution provided cultural institutions with a theme which was interpreted in questionable ways.
By far the worst was the Royal Academy’s exhibition Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932. Favoured by an enviably generous budget and excellent connections with post-Soviet Russian institutions, it gathered an impressive body of art and design, some being virtually unknown in Britain.
But rather than explaining the Soviet artists’ socially committed motivations, a vindictive curatorial approach shamefully contextualised the works in didactic attacks on the revolution’s ideals and achievements, reminiscent of liverish 1920s Russian emigres fretting over their lost fortunes.
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KEN COCKBURN assesses the art of Ian Hamilton Finlay for the experience of warfare it incited and represents
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While the group known as the Colourists certainly reinvigorated Scottish painting, a new show is a welcome chance to reassess them, writes ANGUS REID
NICK WRIGHT delicately unpicks the eloquent writings on art of an intellectual pessimist who wears his Marxism lightly