Review by David Starkey Before visiting Madrid this past February, I must admit that I had no idea that the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum even existed. But exist it does, and…
Category: Art & Music
Edvard Munch in Dialogue by Dieter Buchhart, Antonia Hoerschelmann and Klaus Albrecht Schröder
Review by David Starkey “Much is suggested. Little is defined,” writes Margaret Dumas of Norway’s most famous painter. One of the contemporary painters represented in Edvard Munch in Dialogue, Dumas…
Joan Mitchell Edited by Sarah Roberts and Katy Siegel
Review by David Starkey I’m not sure when I realized that Joan Mitchell was my favorite abstract painter, but I do know it was a gradual process. Partly that time-lag…
The History of Bones by John Lurie
Review by George Yatchisin John Lurie, musician, artist, reluctant actor, avatar of 1980s downtown New York City cool, makes this pronouncement fifty pages in to his fascinating memoir The History…
Frick Diptych Series
Holbein’s Sir Thomas More by Hilary Mantel and Xavier F. Salomon; Vermeer’s Mistress and Maid by Margaret Iacono and James Ivory; Gouthière’s Candelabras by Edmund de Waal and Charlotte Vignon;…
Francis Bacon: Revelations by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan
Review by David Starkey Francis Bacon: Revelations is a monumental book: the press release claim that it was “ten years in the making” doesn’t seem like an exaggeration. The notes…
A Year with Swollen Appendices by Brian Eno
Review by David Starkey Several years ago, as I was listening to the ambient music of Brian Eno, which has kept me company through decades of reading, writing and grading…
Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice, 1967-1975 by Richard Thompson with Scott Timberg
Review by George Yatchisin When my physical therapist saw the book I brought to PT, asked what I was reading, and looked totally nonplussed, I have to admit it hurt…
How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy
Review by David Starkey How to Write One Song is an okay book by a great songwriter. Unlike the carefully crafted lyrics of Tweedy’s songs for his band Wilco, the…