Britain's most famous luxury car marque brings woodland magic to London Craft Week
At this year’s London Craft Week (12–18 May 2025), Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is bringing a captivating artistic display that reimagines the British countryside in exquisite detail and craftsmanship.
Created by artisans at the marque’s Goodwood headquarters, the triptych artwork draws on the flora and fauna of the British Isles, presenting a woodland scene across three evocative moments: day, evening, and night. The centrepiece is a kingfisher, depicted in each panel using a range of complex techniques, transforming leather, wood, metal and thread into an immersive natural tableau.
Chloe Dowsett, Bespoke Specialist at Rolls-Royce, explained the concept behind the triptych. “We wanted the three panels to talk to each other, to be connected,” Chloe explained. “The reeds at the bottom of the first panel, which are made of metal, in rusty red and mandarin orange, are matched in the second panel with grasses in leather dyed in similar hues.”
Paul Ferris, also a Bespoke Specialist at the marque, gave further details about the cohesive nature of the artwork. “For the first time we had the chance to create something that had nothing to do with…
Mesmerising mythology at a major new sculpture exhibition in Norfolk
Mythological beasts stalk the grounds of Houghton Hall – in a good way. The stately home in Norfolk is presenting Stephen Cox: Myth, an absorbing new exhibition of the work of the British sculptor. Arranged across the park gardens and interiors, this is the most comprehensive retrospective ever of the Royal Academician’s sculpture. Covering more […]
A landmark exhibition uncovering the artist’s overlooked prints
Everyone is familiar with JMW Turner’s matchless oils and watercolours. His 1839 masterpiece, the oil painting The Fighting Temeraire, is regularly voted the greatest British artwork of all time. To mark the 250th anniversary of his birth, the Whitworth gallery in Manchester is mounting an enthralling new exhibition of his prints, equally magnetic, yet far […]
In the heart of the city of Nîmes, opposite the famous 2000-year-old arenas, this museum is one of France’s biggest contemporary architectural and cultural projects. Built as an initiative of the Mayor of Nîmes, it presents the city’s extraordinary archaeological collections with an emphasis on the influence of ancient constructions on the development of Nîmes.
Designed by Elizabeth de Portzamparc, the building echoes the history of the city with its façade, draped like a Roman toga, and the thousands of glass tiles forming a contemporary mosaic. Residents and tourists can cross it along an interior street, following the line of the old Augustan fortifications. The museum is also a place for relaxation, with its 3,500-m2 archaeological and Mediterranean garden and a planted roof terrace offering an exceptional view over the city. The museum boasts a bookshop, café and a restaurant, opened by Michelin-starred chef Franck Putelat.
The permanent collection
Through its innovative museography, the museum collection demonstrates the process of “Romanisation” that occurred in the region. Four spaces, designed by Chief Heritage Curator Dominique Darde, form a chronological sequence for the circuit: the Gallic period at the dawn of Roman culture; the Roman period; the Medieval period; and the Roman legacy. The museum rooms have been set around the monumental reconstruction of the pediment of the Sanctuaire de la Fontaine, a spectacular relic positioned 15m above the ground, symbolising this ancient period in Nîmes.
Inaugural exhibition: “Gladiators: heroes of the Colosseum” June 2nd to September 24th
Numerous discoveries in Nîmes attest to the gladiator fights held in the Arenas, which had their own school. This spectacular exhibition, curated by Dr. Rosella Rea, curator of the Colosseum in Rome, presents pieces from a dozen Italian museums, including remains from Pompeii from the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. Based on meticulous scientific documentation, “Gladiators: heroes of the Colosseum” takes visitors on
a journey through time and up close to the complex daily lives of these emblematic figures. The exhibition features outstanding pieces in an interactive setting, with four sequences forming the circuit: the history of the fights, the daily lives of the gladiators, characteristics of the Colosseum and, finally, the spectacle in the arena.
Rodin and the art of ancient Greece The British Museum Until July 29th
Words: Lavinia Dickson-Robinson
Auguste Rodin (1840 – 1917) was one of the greatest and most innovative sculptors of the modern era. However, it is little known that Rodin took his inspiration, in large part, from the works of the fifth-century BC sculptor Pheidias, the artist who conceived the Parthenon sculptures.
This exhibition presents works by Rodin and explores how he admired the art of antiquity, particularly that of ancient Greece and how he regularly visited the British Museum to sketch and seek inspiration. Some of the sketches were done on headed notepaper from the Thackeray Hotel where Rodin stayed when he was in London, right opposite the British Museum.
For the very first time, visitors can appreciate Rodin’s extraordinary talent as a sculptor by showing his work alongside the very Parthenon sculptures that inspired him. Thanks to a collaboration with the Musée Rodin in Paris, over 80 works in marble, bronze and plaster, along with some of Rodin’s sketches are displayed in conversation with ancient Greek art. The show allows visitors 360-degree access to many of the works which
will be displayed at eye level as if they were in a sculptor’s workshop. The exhibition design takes inspiration from Rodin’s home and studio in Meudon outside Paris. This exhibition reveals that Rodin’s famous work The Kiss (1882) evokes two female goddesses, originally on the East Pediment of the Parthenon, one of which reclines luxuriously in the lap of her companion. The British Museum is borrowing an important version of The Kiss from the Musée Rodin. It is a plaster cast of the first marble example and it became the version which Rodin would display in exhibitions and from which others were copied. Both the Parthenon goddesses and Rodin’s marble Kiss are carved from a single block of stone with one figure melting into another.
The Innsbruck Festival of Early Music is dedicated to musical masterpieces from the Renaissance to the Romantic era. Every summer music aficionados flock to the Capital of the Alps to listen to beautiful melodies and to watch dramatic stage performances. International singers, ensembles and orchestras perform the works of world-renowned composers.
The festival’s core value is a commitment to original sound. This means that not only is the music played on period instruments, but is also based on a full awareness of historical performing practice, and Innsbruck’s imperial past provides the perfect venues to achieve this. The concerts and operas take place in a variety of locations in and around Innsbruck, the most beautiful of which is the Spanish Hall in Ambras Castle with its elaborate wooden ceiling. Other venues include the Treibhaus, the Tyrolean State Theatre and the Hofburg Imperial Palace.
For the 2018 Innsbruck Festival, director Alessandro De Marchi has put together a journey of sound across epochs, styles and countries for the Festival’s 42nd edition entitled “Exciting Worlds”.
The performances of (Baroque) operas on original instruments have always been the centrepiece of the Innsbruck Festival, whether on the stage of the Tyrolean State Theatre or in the courtyard of the Faculty of Theology, where the stars of the future make up the Baroque Opera:Young. This time, the young singers are interpreting Francesco Cavalli’s “Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne” (The Love of Apollo and Daphne), the Greek mythical world being effectively staged against the backdrop of a shadow theatre. Conductor Alessandro De Marchi and star director Jürgen Flimm’s performance of Giuseppe Saverio Mercadante’s 1823 romantic opera “Didone abbandonata” (The Abandoned Dido) will show that it’s not only Baroque masterpieces but also more recent musical and theatrical works that can be especially effective when the performance is informed with historical awareness. This will certainly be one of the highlights of this year’s festival, as Jürgen Flimm has worked at the most prestigious opera houses in the world such as Milan’s La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden, the Zurich Opera House, the Bayreuth Festival and also as artistic director of the Salzburg Festival.
There’s also an Italian theme in the third – and semi-staged – performance at the festival: Johann Adolf Hasse’s serenata “La Semele, o sia La richiesta fatal” (Semele or The Fatal Request) was written in 1726, a few years after the North German composer moved to Naples.
The festival’s programme will take visitors on an extended journey. Spain, England, Germany and South America are strongly represented, for example, in the concerts “Time stands still” in the chapel of Ambras Castle, “Misa Criolla” in the series Open Mind, and “Mysteries”, all about Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber and Johann Sebastian Bach. But it is Italy which will be playing the main role, and audiences in Innsbruck will be able to immerse themselves in the sound worlds of the Italian music centres of Naples, Venice and Rome. Antonio Vivaldi will represent the Venetian art of composition; Domenico Scarlatti, Arcangelo Corelli, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Antonio Montanari will represent the Holy City; and Andrea Falconieri and Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli will represent Naples.
There will be several of opportunities to hear their works: Anna Fusek and the Ensemble Kavka will bring together “Nordkette and Vesuvius” at the Ambras Castle Concerts; the Ensemble Arminiosa will spread “Vivaldi fever” when “David and Goliath” meet in Innsbruck Cathedral; Italian-influenced church music will be heard at a service in Stams Abbey and the festival concert “Between Heaven and Hell” will shed light on the tradition of Morisco dancers. There will probably be some dancing too, when the Zeitgeist ensemble bring their “Concerto Mobile” to public places in Innsbruck and perform wild sensual Baroque dance music. This is where the festival motto “Exciting Worlds” can be taken quite literally.
Both wild and gentle music should, of course, sound as beautiful and as original as possible – a feat accomplished not only by virtuoso playing, but also with the help of excellent instruments. No wonder, then, that this time the Innsbruck Festival is placing a special emphasis on the instrument makers. For example, the composer Jakob Stainer (1619-83) will be honoured in concerts, a children’s workshop and a lecture. He was born in Absam, and his violins were played by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber and the members of the orchestra who played alongside Johann Sebastian Bach. And it was Stainer who established the ideal sound of Viennese classical music. The festival’s “Windspiele” concert will also commemorate Rudolf Tutz (1940-2017), the Innsbruck woodwind and brass instrument maker whose flutes, clarinets, basset horns, trumpets and oboes based on historical models are played all over the world.
Old music on every path
One of the major concerns of the Innsbruck Festival is to emphasise how music spans the globe and how it must therefore be made intelligible to all. This is evident both in the selection of music and at events such as the lunchtime concerts in the Hofgarten Imperial Gardens, “With Timpani and Trumpets” under the Golden Roof and the final concert in the Cesti singing competition. This is also where the bridge to next year will be built as the winners of the Cesti Competition traditionally always sing at the Young Opera the following year. Children and adults can experience all the splendour and joie de vivre of the Renaissance at the Ambras Castle Festival, which has long been a regular fixture of the summer with its musicians, jugglers, acrobats, noble lords and ladies.
With Eurostar launching its direct service to Amsterdam this year, traveling from London to Holland is now easier than ever. In just three hours and 41 minutes, you can be transported to a world full of coffeeshops, canals, and the red light district – Europe’s most notorious tourist attraction. But for those who remember the days before Eurostar, the trip used to be a lot more complicated.
The first time I visited Amsterdam was in 1993. I was studying at Oxford during a year abroad. The 10+ hour trip via bus, train, and ferry was nothing short of a pilgrimage. While waiting for the ferry to Calais, with time to kill, I took a short hike up the white cliffs of Dover. I arrived in Amsterdam exhausted but exhilarated, white clay still on my shoes. During the trip, I took an innocent stroll through the district, marveling at the women who didn’t seem to belong there. It was horrifying and memorizing all the same, and difficult to process. At the time, I had no intention of returning. Also, at the time, I had no intention of becoming a writer. That changed a few years later, when I found myself working for Labour MP Dale Campbell-Savours in the House of Commons while studying at the London School of Economics. I was hired to help Dale with an international boycott of Campbell Soup due to unethical business practices in Workington. As an American, he figured I could be useful. The boycott failed, but while roaming the halls of Parliament, I connected with Austin Mitchell, MP from Great Grimsby. All I previously knew about Austin was that I read his book Westminster Man while studying PPE as an undergrad.
Austin had a new book he needed help with, which involved interviewing members from Harold Wilson’s administration from the sixties to provide advice to Tony Blair, who was months away from becoming Prime Minister. I traveled the country, spending days with Tony Benn, Michael Foot, Lady Castle and others, and pieced together the book. I thought I was just going to receive a nice thank you in the acknowledgments. I thought wrong. Little did I know, Austin put my name on the cover. I remember walking down Oxford Street in the light rain and seeing the book for the first time. I was just 23. Austin was beyond gracious, and my career as a writer was born. That said, few can live off royalty checks. I certainly couldn’t. Accordingly, I left England to study international law at Berkeley. My plan was to return to London as a newly minted lawyer down the road. While in law school, I published my second book on intellectual diversity in higher education, and then took off to Amsterdam to study international law. But really, I had something else in mind. Years after my first visit to Holland, images from the district still haunted me. I knew I wasn’t alone. I was amazed a place so frequented was also largely ignored. The subject matter was taboo. Sure, take a trip. Smoke a joint. Wander the streets, and have an adventure, or two. But what happens in Amsterdam stays in Amsterdam. It was a world left behind, and largely invisible. I wanted to write a book that changed that. Over the next four months, I dove deep into the district, largely without a plan, with hopes of demystifying the place.
In writing the book, I set a rule for myself. I could never become a customer, or pay a woman to talk. That would defeat the purpose. I needed to find a woman who cared enough to open up without money changing hands. I needed to find someone who believed change was possible. It wasn’t an easy task. What resulted was a love story that could never have been imagined. After leaving Holland, I began a career as an international lawyer, and then as a talent lawyer representing the likes of Steven Spielberg and Madonna. Struggling to find perspective, and stifled by corporate America, I carried the story around with me for another 18 years before finally publishing Amsterdam Exposed: An American’s Journey Into The Red Light District (May 1, 2018, De Wallen Press).
Much has changed in Amsterdam since 1999 when the events of the book took place. Currently, the district is fighting for its survival. As recently as April 2018, new laws have been enacted limiting tourism, and imposing hefty fines on anyone taking photos of the women. More significantly, major efforts are being made to remove the district from the heart of the city, in an attempt to reclaim and revitalize it. In 2000, there were 510 windows in Amsterdam. As of 2016, there were 384. That’s a 25% reduction. If things proceed as planned, the district that has persevered for hundreds of years may soon become a memory. Back in 1999, I could never have imagined I would be writing about a world facing extinction.
The topic of prostitution is complex, and the book steers clear of passing judgment. Rather, it’s about casting new light on a world so many of us have visited, yet so few understand. The question remains: is the red light district the answer to the problem, or the problem itself? Even after writing the book, there are no easy answers. For sure, people have strong views on the subject. But you must first truly see a world before trying to change it. One thing’s for sure. When addressing the subject of prostitution, you can’t hide behind a moral code. By doing so, you can unwittingly hurt the very people you are trying to protect. Much was learned from my journey. On a micro level, I learned about the rules of the district, and its unspoken “10 Commandments.” On a macro level, I learned how none of us are really different from the women who work there – just differently situated. And I learned that, for most of us, lawyers and prostitutes alike, we put ourselves in life where we think we belong, whether we can accept that, or not. As Shannon L. Alder writes,
“Your life perspective comes from the cage you are held captive in.”
But even for a prostitute, change is possible. In fact, it’s inevitable. Sometimes though, society stands in the way. We become the problem. The book aims to correct that, and restore dignity to the women who have been stripped of theirs over and over again – for centuries. In an age where women’s rights are on the forefront, and rightfully so, we can’t simply forget those who many wish to disregard, or worse, ignore. While there may be little to celebrate about the district, there is a lot to digest. Through new understandings, we can elevate us all. And maybe, just maybe, we can come closer to finding meaningful solutions to problems that desperately need fixing.
DAVID WIENIR is the author of several books, including Amsterdam Exposed: An American’s Journey Into The Red Light District (2018) and Last Time: Labour’s Lessons From the Sixties with Austin Mitchell, MP (1997). He was educated at Columbia, Oxford, The LSE, Berkeley, and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and is married to Dr. Dina, the inspiration for Nancy Botwin in the show Weeds.
KINO KLASSIKA PRESENTS The Rise of the Soviet New Wave Regent Street Cinema II 2nd May – 27 June
Kino Klassika creates programs of restorations, publications, art commissions and events to spotlight Russian language cinema – a tradition that remains largely invisible to audiences outside of Russia.
Acclaimed film curator and cinema critic Konstantin Shavlovsky will curate a 9 film season of classic films of the Soviet New Wave. The films will be screened on original formats or DCPs. They will be introduced by leading directors, film critics and commentators, providing a thrilling insight into the provocative generation of directors who used perestroika to engage with the outside world and create a punk protest cinema that still has resonance today.
Rashid Naugmanov, Kira Muratova and Otar Iosseliani are among the latest directors to confirm their involvement in ‘Youth on the March! The rise of the Soviet New Wave’. This film season will be London’s first ever attempt to trace the antecedents of East European punk.
Otar Iosseliani will open the film season in person with a screening of his Cannes prize winning classic film, ‘Falling Leaves’ on Wednesday 2nd May. He is Georgia’s most celebrated film director, a key member of the Soviet Wave and prize winner of films at Berlin, Venice and Cannes Film Festivals. The screening of ‘Falling Leaves’ will be a collaboration with the Georgian London Film Festival and will be followed by a Georgian banquet with some of Georgia’s finest chefs at Terriors, Trafalgar Square on 2nd May.
Rashid Naugmanov is widely seen as the leading director in Kazakhstan’s 1980s New Wave, with Needle winning prizes in Berlin, Toronto and Sundance. The film starred Victor Tsoi, the Soviet Union’s most iconic rock star, who died in a plane crash in 1990. Naugmanov will introduce the film in person on Wednesday 20 June.
Kira Muratova is one of the world’s leading female filmmakers. Her iconoclastic filmmaking style means her films have been repeatedly banned or censored. Kino Klassika is proud to present this rare opportunity to see Muratova’s early masterpiece, Long Goodbye, which was banned as soon as it was released. One of the great film rediscoveries of the perestroika period of the 1980s, this film is long overdue a London screening.
PROGRAMME
FALLING LEAVES by OTAR IOSSELIANI (1966) An idealistic young worker discovers the immoral realities of a state-run wine collective in this complex meditation on factory life, disappearing rural traditions and Georgian history. 2 May, 6.30pm
WE’LL LIVE TIL MONDAY by STANISLAV ROSTOTSKY (1968) A bittersweet comedy about a high school history teacher who must choose between his head and his heart: will he abide by the rules of school or give way to his natural warmth of feeling towards fellow teacher, Natalya? 9 May, 7.30pm
LONG GOODBYE by KIRA MURATOVA (1971) This little-known masterpiece by Kira Muratova focuses on the rare narrative of a mother’s overbearing love for her son. 17 May, 7.30pm
WOODPECKERS DON’T GET HEADACHES by DINARA ASANOVA (1975) Young boy Mukha longs to be taken seriously as an adult and a rock musician. When he falls in love one summer, he begins to hear music everywhere, from the rain to the woodpecker’s rattle. 22 May, 7.30pm
COURIER by KARIN SHAKHNAZAROV (1986) Russia’s equivalent of the Breakfast Club follows teenager Ivan as he rebels against tradition, in the exciting new world of Adidas, skate-culture, breakdancing and pop music. 30 May, 7.30pm
IS IT EASY TO BE YOUNG? by JURIS PODNIEKS (1987) Hailed as one of the most controversial films of the era, this ground-breaking documentary is a portrait of rebellious teenagers growing up under communist rule in Latvia. 7 June, 7.30pm
ASSA by SERGEI SOLOVEV (1987) The film that brought Russian rock music from the underground into the mainstream, this cult crime classic is the tale of a young nurse, her mafia lover and a young musician. 13 June, 7.30pm
THE NEEDLE by RASHID NUGMANOV (1988) Part Pulp Fiction, part Betty Blue, Needle charts the attempt of enigmatic drifter Moro, who returns to Almaty to find his ex-girlfriend stuck in the underground world of drugs, mafia and violence. Introduction by Rashid Naugmanov 20 June, 7.30pm
LITTLE VERA by VASILI PICHUL (1988) The film that shocked Soviet audiences with on-screen nudity for the first time, Little Vera is the portrait of a feisty, mean-minded hellcat who injects chaos into her dull provincial town. 27 June, 7.30pm
Summer wines are coming. And just what are we going to be faced with? Shelves packed full of rosés and super-fresh whites such as Loire Sauvignons, teeth-grindingly acidic Vinho Verdes and Rieslings that taste like lime juice? Even some light and flowing reds, maybe served from the fridge, with dialled-down tannins and ramped-up fruitiness? Ooh, and let’s not forget fabulous fizzies which, let’s face it, means Prosecco by the container load and English, French and Spanish sparkling wines vying for the more discerning pound.
You may have detected an air of cynicism in the paragraph above, and it may also strike a chord amongst those of you who have been farmed examples which really did set your teeth on end and leave you wondering why your evening’s budget has disappeared so quickly.
It is true, as it is with all wine, that there are mountains of lazy examples out there. But there are also wonderful, inspiring or just plain bloody delicious versions that, with just a little nudging in the right direction, are there not only to be discovered, but to be enjoyed as they were intended – as an al fresco aperitif, with a meal on a terrace, or as part of a good old-fashioned BBQ. And always to be shared with friends.
Rosé
Good place to start. Look for something that has ripeness but not that kind of sugary sweetness that lingers and engulfs all other flavours. Freshness is key, and the kind of fruit flavours that burst from the most memorable bottles are redcurrants and cranberries, strawberry and orange. The best rosés for drinking on their own or with nibbles are simple versions with all of these attributes, easy to understand and even easier to drink. Ask your local independent wine merchant for examples from Navarra or Yecla in Spain, Tuscany in Italy or the Languedoc in France. Or try the brilliant Cote de Provence No.2 from Chateau de St Martin (£64.50).
Move up a notch or two, with wines made from older-vine fruit and perhaps aged in large-format old oak casks, and you add the savoury flavours and light spice that make them pair brilliantly with cured salmon, grilled pork or barbequed fish. The ‘Cru Classé’ Provence rosés will get you there, as well as those from Bandol such as Domaine de Terrebrune (£24).
Whites
Next up are tang-tastic white wines. We’re talking those which can wake you up from a mid-afternoon slump with an electric jolt, but which can then coax you into surfing its invigorating wave to the bottom of the bottle, rather than immediately batting you away with battery acid. Vinho Verde has come a long way in a relatively short time, and many combine the traditional low alcohol (10.5%) and spritzy tongue-fizz freshness with a rounder and fruitier character which literally makes all the difference. Try the Quinta do Ameal ‘Loureiro Classico’ (£16).
Riesling
The wine trade is fond of insisting how good Riesling is, but it’s a minefield. Is it dry, sweet, full, light, young, old, good, bad? It always helps to have a steer. So if we’re talking dry and super-zippy Riesling that delivers a stand-under-the-waterfall-in-your-underpants type experience, then look for dry Rieslings from the Pfalz, Mosel and Rheinhessen in Germany or the Clare Valley in South Australia. My current favourites are Riesling Trocken ‘Pirat’ from Kettern (£19.95) and the inimitable Rodney & The Horse Clare Valley Riesling (£14.95).
Sauvignon Blanc
I’m afraid that the stereo-typical Kiwi Sauvignon doesn’t get a look-in here. Pungent, capsicum-scented and thickly ripe Sauvignon clearly pushes some of the right buttons, but fresh and pure, chalky-fresh Loire Sauvignons make for proper summer drinking. Always consider the big hitter Loire Sauvignons such as Sancerre, Pouilly Fume and Menetou Salon, but an IGP Val de Loire Sauvignon makes financial sense and will put a big sunny smile on your face. Try the refreshing, citrusy and grassy Sauvignon Blanc from Wally (£22.50).
Light reds
Light reds, although we know make sense, do scare many of us away. Don’t be frightened. That local friendly wine merchant will come in handy here. She or he will probably steer you towards Beaujolais or Valpolicella, and very worthy they are; but if you’re feeling adventurous, you should try a Dornfelder from Germany or an English red – the best examples of which are fruity and ripe yet soft and easy to drink. Denbies Redlands (£13.95), a Pinot Noir led blend from Sussex, is delicious and won’t break the bank like many English wines.
Winemakers from all over the world are becoming more confident in producing lighter, lower alcohol reds, and as the quality of the fruit they use is often high, they can make for delightful summer drinking. A good example is the cherry and spice-laced northern Rhone Cinsault from Burgundy producer Mark Haisma, which we’ll be serving all season.
Fizz
We all know and love Prosecco. Go for the cheapest options and you’ll get something made from high-yielding Glera grapes grown low down on the plains in Italy’s Veneto region. A few more worthy pounds and you’re likely to be drinking wines distinguished by high-quality grapes from the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene ‘zone’.
Trading up? We all know and love Champagne, but ignore English sparkling wine at your peril. They are often made just like Champagne from the same grapes, from the same soil types and in a similar climate. We’re loving the Cornwall Brut from Camel Valley (£29), with its cascades of citrus and freshly baked bread flavours. Who doesn’t love Cornwall anyway?
Shorts on, sunnies perched atop, flip-flops wedged in? Good, that means it’s summer. You know what to drink.
A diploma in Hotel Management gave Charlie Young the grounding to embark upon experience in the Channel Islands, West Indies, Germany and England, before moving to the drinks trade where his first position was selling Tetley’s Bitter to working men’s clubs in Yorkshire. Experience in the wine trade in France and Australia followed, before landing at Liberty Wines’ doorstep where he met Brett Woonton. Together they opened the first Vinoteca wine bar in 2005 on St John Street in Farringdon, London. The rest is history.
A story of war and what comes after By Clemantine Wamariya & Elizabeth Weil
Clemantine Wamariya is a gifted storyteller, public speaker, social entrepreneur and human rights advocate. At the age of fled the Rwandan massacre in 1994 with her sister, spending the next 6 years wandering through 7 African countries, searching for safety. They were hungry, imprisoned and abused, enduring and escaping refugee camps, sometimes finding unexpected kindness, and others witnessing inhuman cruelty.
Finally in 2000, she and her sister were granted asylum in the US, where she went on to receive a BA in Comparative Literature from Yale University. In her stories, Clemantine draws from her experiences to catalyse change and create community.Elizabeth Weil is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine.
The Girl Who Smiled Beads is a touching tale of sorrow and hope, of the worst and the best of mankind.
Tomas Baleztena exhibits at Maison Assouline One night – Private Invitation only – April 18th 196A, Piccadilly, London
On April 18th, Londoners will have the privilege, for one night only, to watch the latest work of critically acclaimed artist Tomas Baleztena at Maison Assouline.
Paintings from Baletzena’s latest body of work (oil on canvas) will be curated in London, representing Baleztena’s ability to capture mood in its deepest state: intense and in rapture. Many of the paintings in the exhibition will be available to buy on the evening, together with some drawings and sketches.
Born in Madrid, with Spanish and British heritage, Baletzena studied Fine Art at Middlesex University in London and at the faculty of Fine Arts, Complutense University, Madrid. Baletzena has a strong expressionist style, and an unconventional approach to portraiture, which conveys to the viewers his very personal vision and emotions. On the other hand, his landscapes find glimpses of warmth, even in the darkest of subjects. Working in oil on canvas, the artist uses the medium to express raw emotion and self-reflection. Currently, Baletzena is working on a series of large oil pieces with London as the main subject.
250 Summer Exhibitions THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS 1768-2018
2018 celebrates the 250th anniversary of The Royal Academy of Arts, Britain’s foremost artist and architect-led institution and undoubtedly one the closest to Britons’ hearts. Founded by King George III in 1768, the Royal Academy has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to be a clear, strong voice for art and artists. Its public programme promotes the creation, enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, education and debate.
The RA moved to its permanent home at Burlington House in 1869. Burlington Gardens, a separate building situated behind, was designed by Sir James Pennethorne and opened by Queen Victoria in 1870 as the Senate House of the University of London. The RA acquired Burlington Gardens in 2001.
To celebrate its quarter of a millennium anniversary, the Royal Academy is rolling out the red carpet with a world-class exhibition programme and a transformative redevelopment designed by architect Sir David Chipperfield CBE RA, that link Burlington House and Burlington Gardens for the first time, uniting the two-acre site. This redevelopment opens up the essential elements that make the Royal Academy unique worldwide, sharing with the public its historic treasures, the work of its Academicians, and the RA Schools.
Christopher Le Brun, President, Royal Academy of Arts, said: “Royal Academicians are at the heart of everything we do – they govern the Academy and are responsible for its direction. British visual art and architecture has achieved outstanding international success in recent decades and the proof of the Academy’s resurgence in the twenty-first century is that among our Academicians we have world-class painters, sculptors, printmakers and architects. For the first time in 2018, our visitors are able to see more of their work in dedicated changing displays of art and architecture, past and present, for free.”
The conservation of the façade of 6 Burlington Gardens.
Spaces for exhibitions and displays across the site showcasing the richness and depth of the historic RA Collections, and allowing many works to be brought out of storage. Dedicated temporary exhibition galleries for contemporary art projects and new work by Royal Academicians, Britain’s leading artists and architects.
A double-height Benjamin West lecture theatre with over 250 seats, allowing the volume of programming to double.
A new Clore Learning Centre, providing space for the RA’s learning programmes, enabling participation in creative learning on-site to expand three-fold.
New spaces for the RA Schools, including a permanent project space, the Weston Studio, for the public display of work by students, situated at the heart of the site. The integration of the Schools into the visitors’ experience reveals the Academy’s important role in arts education.
The Weston Bridge connecting Burlington House and Burlington Gardens, creating a central route from Piccadilly to Mayfair.
Improvements to visitors’ facilities across the site.
Sir David Chipperfield CBE RA, Architect, said: “The project is an architectural solution embedded in the place itself, a series of subtle interventions which add up to something very different. The big change is that the Royal Academy now has two entrances: a front door facing Piccadilly in the south, and a new front door to Burlington Gardens, Cork Street and Bond Street. You can go from an exhibition in Burlington House to a lecture in Burlington Gardens through the vaults of the building. Visitors can see the Cast Corridor and where the RA Schools have been all this time. It’s a small amount of architecture for a profound result.”
The redevelopment has been funded with a grant from the National Lottery as well as with support from private individuals, trusts and foundations from all over the world.
Probably, the star of this anniversary is The Great Spectacle exhibition, which tells the story of the annual summer show by featuring highlights from the past 250 years. The exhibition includes works by Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, Thomas Lawrence, John Constable, J.M.W. Turner, John Everett Millais, Frederic Leighton, John Singer Sargent, Peter Blake, Tracey Emin, Zaha Hadid, Michael Craig-Martin, David Hockney and Wolfgang Tillmans, amongst others.
The Great Spectacle runs alongside the annual Summer Exhibition from June 12th to August 19th. To mark this momentous occasion, this year’s exhibition has been co-ordinated by Grayson Perry RA along with a Summer Exhibition Committee of Royal Academicians chaired by the President of the Royal Academy of Arts, Christopher Le Brun.
The Summer Exhibition is the world’s largest open submission contemporary art show which has taken place every year without interruption since 1769. In keeping with tradition it continues to play a significant part in supporting the Royal Academy Schools. The members of the Summer Exhibition Committee serve in rotation, ensuring that every year the exhibition has a distinctive character, with each Royal Academician responsible for a particular gallery space. Works from all over the world are judged democratically on merit and the final selection is made during the eight-day hang in the galleries.
For this 250th anniversary exhibition, co-ordinator Grayson Perry RA, decided that the theme of the show was to be ‘Art Made Now’: “I want to champion the democracy of the exhibition and show off the diversity of art being made in this moment, so I encourage you to submit works that you have made in 2017/18. I am also planning a special ‘Room of Fun’ in a newly built part of the Academy, so the committee may well look favourably on artworks that we find amusing.”
Around 1200 works, in a range of media, are displayed, the majority of which are for sale offering visitors an opportunity to purchase original work. As the world’s largest open submission contemporary art show, the Summer Exhibition provides a unique platform for emerging and established artists to showcase their works to an international audience, comprising a range of media from painting and printmaking to photography, sculpture, architecture and film. Royal Academicians are automatically entitled to submit up to six works to the Summer Exhibition and the rest of the exhibition features work by those invited by the committee and external entrants.
The new Royal Academy will open to the public on Saturday 19 May 2018 and BNY Mellon is the anniversary partner for the Royal Academy’s 250th anniversary
Summer Exhibition 2018 Main Galleries and The Sackler Wing of Galleries 12 June – 19 August 2018
The Great Spectacle: 250 Years of the Summer Exhibition The John Madejski Fine Rooms, Weston Rooms, Galleries I and II 12 June – 19 August 2018
