Leonardo live (Spanish) En uno de sus ensayos más célebres, el pensador alemán Walter Benjamin decía que la reproducción mecánica de las obras de arte las priva de autenticidad. ¿Qué habría pensado Benjamin, me preguntaba sentado en la oscuridad de… Dec 04 11December 04, 2011Article at Letras Libres
Irving Penn: Portraits“Influential” is a word used too often in the art world. Rarely has it been more appropriate than to describe American photographer Irving Penn (1917-2009), who created a style of portraiture that is as recognisable as it is emulated.The National… Feb 19 10February 19, 2010Article at Financial Times
Cristóbal Hara/Mabel Palacín, PHotoEspaña 2009, LisbonCristóbal Hara/Mabel Palacín PHotoEspaña 2009, Museu Colecção Berardo, Lisbon Now in its 12th edition, PHotoEspaña, Spain’s largest photography festival, is focusing on the subject of “daily life”. While galleries across Madrid show the work of… Jun 15 09June 15, 2009Article at Financial Times
Splitting image: new books on photography After Photography By Fred Ritchin WW Norton & Co $29.95, 199 pages FT Bookshop price: £13.59 Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before By Michael Fried Yale University Press £30, 409 pages Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible,… Jan 17 09January 17, 2009Article at Financial Times
Classic book covers: 'The Natural' by Bernard MalamudThis short piece was commissioned for a regular FT Books and Arts series on classic book covers.The NaturalBy Bernard MalamudDesign by Lynn Buckley, 2003Farrar, Straus and GirouxThe Natural, the first book by Brooklyn-born Bernard Malamud, is often… Apr 05 08April 05, 2008Article at Financial Times
Edward Steichen: Lightly across a lifetime of reinventionThe earliest critical assessment of the work of American photographer Edward Steichen (1879-1973) appeared in the magazine Camera Notes in 1899: “Here is a worker with a soul full of feeling, a thoughtful mind, and skilled hand. His future is sure to… Nov 16 07November 16, 2007Article at Financial Times
1959: Richard Avedon’s ‘Observations’ fuses fashion with high artNew York-born Richard Avedon was already a prized staff photographer at Harper’s Bazaar when he published his first collection, Observations. Quite unlike other photography books, its layout was fiercely anarchic – images were unevenly spread over… Nov 10 07November 10, 2007Article at Financial Times
Eugène Atget: Portraits of a lost metropolis“I can say that I now possess all of Old Paris.” This extraordinary claim, made in 1920 by the French photographer Eugène Atget (1857-1927), was not as outlandish as it sounds. Writing in a letter to the director of the Institut des Beaux-Arts, Atget… Apr 16 07April 16, 2007Article at Financial Times
Architect of optimism: An interview with Oscar NiemeyerCentenary years are a common excuse to celebrate an artist’s work. Centenary celebrations honouring artists who are still alive - and professionally active - are much rarer. Brazil’s most famous architect, Oscar Niemeyer, will turn 100 in December.… Apr 13 07April 13, 2007Article at Financial Times
The bigger picture: Surveying new Mexican cinemaThe question most often asked by Mexican movie-goers in the summer of 2000 was: “Have you seen Amores Perros?” Audiences were awed and startled by the intersecting stories of lust and loss set against Mexico City’s bleak landscape. The film ran at a… Oct 06 06October 06, 2006Article at Financial Times
Something for all palettes: Recent novels about artA painting presents a writer with the challenge of putting into words what someone else conveyed on canvas. How can a picture’s visual immediacy be translated into text? From Marcel Proust to A.S. Byatt, authors have meditated on artists’ images and… Aug 04 06August 04, 2006Article at Financial Times
Hobby horses: A short journey into 'living history'I am queuing outside a portable toilet behind a Viking and a Roman legionary. The air is thick with the fatty smell of spit-roasts from a nearby Norman encampment. Over the sound system, an excited narrator gives a real-time, blow-by-blow account of… Sep 23 05September 23, 2005Article at Financial Times
