Arts news

Renzo Galeotti obituary

09-01-2025 20:59 via theguardian.com

“Renzo never cavorts blindly in his art,” wrote Feliks Topolski of his friend and fellow artist, my father Renzo Galeotti, who has died aged 85. On paper, on canvas, and occasionally in sculpture, he was a creator who never saw any reason to disconnect his art from his politics and his wider sense of the world.This was most evident in his cycles of studies of the Italian communist thinker Antonio Gramsci and the author Primo Levi, but was as true of his other works, from commissioned

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Christie’s auction showcases style of centenarian fashion muse Iris Apfel

09-01-2025 17:16 via theguardian.com

Lots include her trademark oversize glasses as well as outfits from Miu Miu, Dior and lifesize ostrich sculptureIris Apfel, perhaps the world’s first centenarian style icon, died last year at the age of 102. Now her clothes, art and furniture are set to be sold at Christie’s later this month in an online auction titled Unapologetically Iris.Anyone familiar with Apfel and her “more is more” style would know that it began with her trademark owl-like glasses. There are 18 pa

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‘We will glorify war – and scorn for women’: Marinetti, the futurist Mussolini sidekick who outdid Elon Musk

09-01-2025 16:18 via theguardian.com

He was the brilliant yet alarming writer of the Futurist Manifesto, a bohemian poet jailed with Mussolini who helped forge the modern world. As a new show re-examines his troubling legacy, we explore the Italian troublemaker’s extraordinary lifeFilippo Tommaso Marinetti was the Elon Musk of the early 20th century, combining a joy in technological innovation with an appetite for illiberal politics. Where Musk builds rockets, Marinetti celebrated those shiny new inventions, the aeroplane and

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National Gallery pulls all-nighter for Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers final weekend

09-01-2025 13:10 via theguardian.com

Tickets for night-time slots on 17 January go on sale as gallery opens for 24 hours for second time in its historySome of the country’s greatest artists, including Lucian Freud, David Hockney and Francis Bacon, used to visit the National Gallery during the early hours of the morning for inspiration. Now, art lovers have the opportunity to follow in their footsteps during a rare, all-night opening for the gallery’s Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers exhibition this month.The London gallery an

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‘It’s our Olympic opening ceremony’: Dynamo, David Hockney and more unite for Bradford city of culture

09-01-2025 11:00 via theguardian.com

This year sees the city celebrate its rich, diverse creativity. Magician Dynamo, AKA Steven Frayne, and director Kirsty Housley discuss collaborating to shine a light on the arts of their home city – and offer hints on what to expectSlathered in mud, the magician formerly known as Dynamo emerged from a five-tonne mound of earth. It was 2022 and Steven Frayne had just buried himself alive, a magic trick that even Houdini never successfully performed. In the coffin-sized pit he dragged himse

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