If you visit the Wellcome Collection‘s latest exhibition, Brains: The Mind as Matter, you will surely want to lay eyes on one of their most heavily-promoted highlights, a piece of Albert Einstein’s (1879 – 1955) brain. The sliver of cortex on display is not particularly illuminating, and far from the most interesting thing in the gallery space.… [Read more…]
February 26, 2012
One of the most valuable things about living in Bloomsbury is having the British Museum (with free entry) on our doorstep. On Friday night we took advantage of the museum’s extended opening hours, spending time in the galleries sponsored by Lord Duveen of Millbank. On a Friday night, the museum is usually much less crowded than in… [Read more…]
January 23, 2012
This bulbous, organic sculpture by John Isaacs, I Can Not Help the Way I Feel (2003), is just one of many features of the Wellcome Collection’s permanent gallery, Medicine Now. The life-like construction of polystyrene, steel, foam, wax and paint simply demands attention. Every time I see it, I can not help feeling that I shouldn’t have eaten that… [Read more…]
January 23, 2012
Two of England’s creative forces were in conversation at the Foundling Museum on Sunday 22nd January 2012 - Quentin Blake and Christopher Frayling. Quentin Blake is a renowned illustrator, whose awards include Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration (2002), and the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres for services to literature (2004). Blake became the first ever Children’s Laureate in 1999. His illustrations span some 300 books, most recently Angelica… [Read more…]
December 16, 2011
Paul Nash (1889 – 1946) was a prominent British artist, particularly well-known as an official war artist during WWI and WWII. His younger brother, John Nash (1893 – 1977), was also a noted artist and engraver. A blue plaque commemorates Paul Nash’s former residence in Bloomsbury, on the north-facing exterior of Queen Alexandra Mansions, Bidborough Street,… [Read more…]
June 8, 2011
The Australian Season is in full swing at the British Museum in Bloomsbury, with many more events still to come. In the Walkabout Trail, a few exhibition items – including a plant from the forecourt garden, and a bark shield – have been singled out for special examination, with brief , downloadable audio guides. The Baskets and Belonging exhibition… [Read more…]
March 28, 2011
The Bloomsbury Group was an informal, early 20th century salon of influential artists and intellectuals who lived in or regularly visited Bloomsbury and its surrounds. At different times, several of them occupied homes on Tavistock Square, and on the eastern side of leafy Gordon Square, below (see map at bottom of page). Leonard Woolf wrote in… [Read more…]
March 20, 2011
Just a few moment’s walk from the British Museum in Bloomsbury, Cornelissen & Son has been trading in rare pigments and art supplies since 1855. Admire a rainbow spectrum of bottled colours that line the walls and stretch to the ceiling. Caress leather satchels and accessories stuffed with marbled sketch pads and pretty pastels. Linger… [Read more…]
London Bytes
April 11, 2012
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