Year: 2013
Radiance: The Neo-Impressionists
Saturday, January 19th, 2013 Art Column, International Art,Georges Seurat is a member of that small, unfortunate group of artists who were destined for greatness but died prematurely. When Seurat was carried off by malignant diphtheria in 1891, at the age of 31, modern art lost one of its most remarkable innovators. It is a loss that bears comparison to that of Masaccio, […]
Gangster Squad & You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Saturday, January 19th, 2013 Film Reviews,Rarely has a film ‘based on a true story’ seemed more like a fairy tale than Gangster Squad. If you go looking for the book behind the movie, as I did last week, then head for the True Crime section. Veteran journalist Paul Lieberman has penned a racy account of the real Gangster Squad – […]
Angus Nivison: A Survey
Saturday, January 12th, 2013 Art Column,For those of us who spend their lives going in and out of art galleries there’s nothing better than being surprised. Before entering Angus Nivison’s survey at the S.H. Ervin Gallery I felt entirely familiar with this artist’s work. I’d even written a preface for the catalogue when the exhibition debuted at the Tamworth Regional […]
Hitchcock & Sightseers
Saturday, January 12th, 2013 Film Reviews,Last year the film industry reflected on itself in My Week with Marilyn, this week we have Hitchcock. It’s pure Hollywood navel-gazing when directors make movies about other directors, in which the stars of the past are played by the stars of today – but it’s weirdly irresistible. It was a real test of Michelle […]
Toulouse-Lautrec & the Moulin Rouge
Saturday, January 5th, 2013 Art Column,“The more you see Toulouse-Lautrec the bigger he gets.” Jules Renard Many will have formed a lasting impression of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), from John Huston’s Hollywood pot-boiler, Moulin Rouge (1952), in which José Ferrer spends the entire film waddling around on his knees, speaking in strings of bons mots. Watching this film again […]
Life of Pi & Samsara
Saturday, January 5th, 2013 Film Reviews,Every movie seems to come with a pithy tag line intended to be thought-provoking and seductive. Probably the two best-known examples are: “In space, no-one can hear you scream”, from Alien (1979); and “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..” from Jaws 2 (1978). In the latter case the […]