BARBARA BOSWELL remembers South African poet, storyteller, publisher, editor and activist Diana Ferrus (1953-2026)
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‘Books and reality and art are the same kind of thing for me’
Thus Vincent van Gogh — an avid, not to say compulsive, reader — and a fascinating new book shows the impact literature had on his painting, says JOHN KENDALL HAWKINS
(L to R) Farmer Sitting at the Fireside, Reading, October 1881; Doctor Gachet, June 1890
HELEN VASSALLO recommends a gripping Argentinian crime story about gender violence and the weaponisation of religion
New releases from Steve Swallow, Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts, and Ady Johnson
When the ravages of Alzheimer’s leave an elderly woman marooned in painful memories of October 1950, her grandchild comes up with a creative strategy.
New releases from Simone White, Brass Funkeys, and Souad Massi
SUE TURNER is compelled by a history that shows how far a country can turn in on itself to collude with abuses of power
RON JACOBS is persuaded by the parallel drawn between Charles Manson and Donald Trump
IN 1888, Vincent van Gogh sold The Red Vineyard — a vibrant field of colour, abuzz with labourers — to an intimate supporter for today’s equivalent of £1,600. These days van Gogh™ is a billion-dollar industry.
Over the decades there have been a number of film accounts of van Gogh’s work and life, most recently in the first fully painted feature film Loving Vincent in which, beginning a year after his death, his animated paintings tell his story.
Like the narrative of the simple and honest Christ, whose spectacular legacy built majestic cathedrals and led to fugues and counterpoint, van Gogh has taken on a second life.
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MIRANDA RICHMOND relishes the gloriously liberated art of Roy Oxlade, and traces his method back to the thinking of David Bomberg, his acknowledged teacher
JULIA THOMAS unpicks the mental processes that explain why book-to-film adaptations so often disappoint
JOHN GREEN welcomes a remarkable study of Mozambique’s most renowned contemporary artist
BLANE SAVAGE recommends the display of nine previously unseen works by the Glaswegian artist, novelist and playwright