From Omega to Charleston at Piano Nobile
Where to buy… The Week reviews an exhibition in a private gallery
When looking at pictures by members of the Bloomsbury Group, the myth often obscures the art. Perhaps this is why art history has been unkind to figures like Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, who are seen to merit no more than a footnote in the story of international modernism. But as this intriguing exhibition – which covers the two artists’ work between 1910 and 1934 – demonstrates, they do not deserve to be written off. While they are demonstrably indebted to the European avant-garde of the day, paintings such as Grant’s Still life with Fruit and Coffee-pot (1914) or Bell’s peculiar depiction of a basket of flowers (1933) are far more than derivative period pieces. The centrepiece here is a dinner service Bell and Grant created between 1932 and 1934, featuring 50 ceramic plates each depicting a famous woman from history. In contrast to everything else here, it feels oddly contemporary – Grayson Perry, one feels, may well have been taking notes. Prices on request.
129 Portland Road, London W11 (020-7229 1099). Until 28 April.
Delirious New York by Rem Koolhaas, 1978 (Monacelli £30). A wonderfully eccentric and influential analysis by the famous Dutch architect of the city’s physical and symbolical development. Illustrated with paintings, photographs, plans and imaginative propositions. A dashing manifesto of Manhattanism.
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford, 2016 (Faber £8.99). This brilliant first novel by a much-admired non-fiction writer paints an extraordinarily vivid picture of the city in the last years of its British administration.
New York photographer portrays his city with its figurative clothes off. Weegee was famous for capturing scenes of violence: most of these pictures were taken at night, and are so infused with humour and understanding that they show a profound love for the city and its people.
The New York Kid’s Book,
1979 (out of print). 167 artists and writers, many of them eminent, contributed to this anthology of civic celebration, distributed free to libraries throughout NYC. The Big Oyster: A Molluscular History of New York by Mark Kurlansky, 2007 (Vintage £10.99). By no means
just a joke, but a scholarly analysis of the importance of the local oyster beds in the development of the city, from their first exploitation in the 18th century to their eventual destruction by pollution in the 1920s. The book is rich in social and culinary history and illustrated with many maps, recipes and photographs, so that no shell is left unturned.
The New York Pop-up Book,
edited by Marie Salerno, 2000 (out of print). A commemorative book made to mark the city’s centennial, it features all manner of creative cut-outs, snippets and incidental notes, affording a fascinating insight into the world’s greatest metropolis.