A Beryl of Laughs! Life-affirming painter Beryl Cook passes away at 81 May 29, 2008
Her work was compared to the English visionary artist Stanley Spencer and also to Edward Burra, who shared her taste for sleazy cafes, nightclubs and gay bars. Beryl Cook's 'Tango. (Daily Mail)
Artist Sir Stanley Spencer May 15, 2008
Born June 30, 1891 in the English town of Cookham by the Thames River, Stanley Spencer went to London s Slade School of Art -- although he remained so attached to his hometown that he would return there every evening after classes ... While he received critical praise and several major art commissions, people weren t quite sure of what to make of Stanley Spencer in his day. (Suite101.com)
Artist Ana Maria Pacheco's work bears silent witness Feb 29, 2008
One can also trace connections to the subjects (war, torture) and the Expressionist styles of painters Leon Golub, Stanley Spencer, Max Beckmann, and Fernando Botero, whose recent "Abu Ghraib" paintings depict bound, tortured, and sexually humiliated prisoners. Pacheco's installation is all the more visceral since you walk among her figures and they catch your eye, implicating you in the violence because you, like all the others, witness it and do nothing to stop it. (Boston Globe)
Real Brittania Dec 28, 2007
Stanley Spencer, the most collected artist in Australia and New Zealand, features prominently in the exhibition, his bizarre religious paintings and drawings set alongside his landscapes. The Bloomsbury set is represented with several paintings and decorated tables by Vanessa Bell, Roger Fry and Duncan Grant. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Immodest proposals Oct 13, 2007
Into this undemanding category fall the different accounts of David Garnett by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, Robert Mapplethorpe's pictures of himself as bitch and butch, Picasso's self-portrait of 1906, Kokoschka's self-portrait for Der Sturm and Hilda Carline's Stanley Spencer, all of which have been included in the exhibition. These are all intrinsically conservative; when we come to Alfred Stieglitz's image of Georgia O'Keeffe from nipple to knee, we are up against a similar conservatism. (Guardian Unlimited)
Possum painting to beat Emily's record Jul 7, 2007
Part of the appeal was that the Thames-side village of Cookham, in Berkshire, was home to the revered British artist Stanley Spencer. But, notwithstanding a modest estimate of $6000 to $9000, a flurry of phone bidding took the Johstone out of reach, to a final price of $30,000. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Business)
