To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
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The alternative to Establishment literary awards like the Forwards and Toilets
If you can see past the relentless commodification you will be rewarded by enormously powerful work, suggests JENNY MITCHELL
CHRIS SEARLE revels in the one-off collaboration between an American polymath and a British Muslim, and detects the presence of their revolutionary forebear
GORDON PARSONS revels in an ebullient production of Shakespeare’s magical comedy
BRENT CUTLER welcomes a thoughtful analysis of the Erdogan regime, viewed through the evolving history of a neighbourhood in Istanbul
GORDON PARSONS regrets the price, but is dazzled by an outstandingly ambitious study of the way art restoration in particular, and culture in general was weaponised by the Nazis
IN 1977, Jeff Nuttall wrote: “The aristocracy is always dying. The top of the social tree is always falling away in twigs and powders and leaf-skein.
“It is dying because, having realised ultimate ambition, it has reached ultimate disillusion. The tree grows no further. The upper class has lost its motivation. It has no need to strive. It ceases to strive. It dies perpetually.”
As with every year, poets are already looking to the award and honours that will blossom. I agree the upper classes don’t strive, but they excel at excluding. Earlier this month, poet Niall O’Sullivan noted: “You may think wrestling’s not worth your respect because it’s all fixed but I’ve felt the same about most literary prizes.”
Awards that I do think carry something beyond marketing value are those celebrating potential.
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At the very moment Britain faces poverty, housing and climate crises requiring radical solutions, the liberal press promotes ideologically narrow books while marginalising authors who offer the most accurate understanding of change, writes IAN SINCLAIR