BBC Culture The sexed-up cartoon hunks that defined gay culture verified_publisherBBC Culture - Nick LevineAt the time of their creation, Tom of Finland’s erotic drawings of heavily muscled men were radical. But 100 years on from his birth, how do they stand up now, asks Nick Levine. Touko Laaksonen’s groundbreaking...
BBC Culture How Léon Spilliaert’s dark paintings are strangely uplifting verified_publisherBBC Culture - Cath PoundThe Belgian artist suffered from insomnia and often wandered the streets alone. His paintings found beauty and light from the darkness, writes Cath Pound. Léon Spilliaert’s eerie, enigmatic works inhabit...
BBC Culture The photographer fighting to save an ancient culture verified_publisherBBC Culture - Edward SiddonsIn recent years, Brazil’s Yanomami tribe have suffered epidemics, deforestation and fires – and all the while, Claudia Andujar has helped them fight back. She talks to Edward Siddons. In the dense Amazonian...
BBC Culture The most terrifying images in history? verified_publisherBBC Culture - Kelly GrovierPaintings of the past depicted horror, dread and foreboding. But can art still frighten us into a new consciousness, asks Kelly Grovier. Has art forgotten how to frighten us? In times past, artists understood...
BBC Culture Rediscovering India’s forgotten masterpieces verified_publisherBBC Culture - Rahul VermaPigeonholing great works of art as the property of the East India Company has meant they’ve been ignored for centuries. But a new exhibition is giving due recognition to artists who deserve to be as well-known...
BBC Culture The restoration that shocked the world verified_publisherBBC Culture - Fisun GünerA new exhibition features the groundbreaking work of Jan Van Eyck, whose Ghent Altarpiece features an astonishing number of art firsts, writes Fisun Güner. European artists of the past often depicted animals...
BBC Culture The tragedy of art’s greatest supermodel verified_publisherBBC Culture - Lucinda HawksleyThe extraordinary story of the legendary beauty Lizzie Siddal is both surprising and tragic, and led to a strange myth that persists today. Lucinda Hawksley explores her legacy. In the winter of 1849-1850,...
BBC Culture The eight must-see exhibitions of 2020 verified_publisherBBC Culture - Kelly GrovierFrom Raphael to Yayoi Kusama, Kelly Grovier picks the art you can’t afford to miss in the coming year. A great art exhibition can alter forever not only the fortunes and reputation of the show’s subject...
BBC Culture The lost portrait of Charles Dickens verified_publisherBBC Culture - Lucinda HawksleyMargaret Gillies’s portrait of Dickens was missing for more than 150 years, until it turned up far from home. Lucinda Hawksley tells the story of this long-forgotten artist. In the 1880s, not long before...
BBC Culture A lost masterpiece rediscovered verified_publisherBBC Culture - Kelly GrovierA candlelight painting recently rescued from obscurity shows two children absorbed in play. Kelly Grovier explores a history of wonder in art. We should wonder more about wonder. It’s the fire that burns...
BBC Culture Kahlo and Vermeer: What courage really means verified_publisherBBC Culture - Kelly GrovierFrom the concealed suffering of Sandro Botticelli’s Fortitude to Frida Kahlo’s serene gaze, Kelly Grovier explores a history of artworks showing bravery. “Courage,” the pioneering French artist Henri once...
