Art, Film, Photography

Jeanne Mammen In Ruins and Recovery

Before the Nazis took power in 1933 Jeanne Mammen earned her living as a commercial artist, selling her work to…

5 years ago

The Watchful Eye of Jeanne Mammen

From George Orwell at the Café Royal : The coming of the Hitler regime in 1933 had a chilling effect…

5 years ago

The Games They Played

A recent visit to Montreal found us at the MAC Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal Fortified with coffee and breakfast…

5 years ago

From Minty to Moses – the Extraordinary Fierce and Fearless Harriet Tubman

In September we heard Ta-Nehisi Coates in conversation with Oprah Winfrey at the Apollo in NYC. The topic was his…

5 years ago

For No Good Reason

I love this poem by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. It's a commentary on the fact that - even in the darkest…

5 years ago

Mustn’t Grumble

Mustn't Grumble We mustn’t grumble We have wireless and cable And there’s food in the shops. Beyoncé had a birthday and…

5 years ago

About Isms He was Never Wrong: George Orwell at the Café Royal

George Orwell had an interesting chance encounter with a blasé conspiracy theorist at the Café Royal in 1940. (See left). The young…

5 years ago

The Art Game

Friends in the UK who usually come to visit in August were prevented by an illness this year. Big disappointment,…

5 years ago

Scissors and a Glue Stick

When I first became a head of school I had this daft idea that I would make personalized cut-and-paste greetings…

5 years ago

The Pains of Parting and a Father Says Farewell

Two quite different wartime farewells at Charing Cross Station: The first is from Vera Brittain on the eve of 1915:…

5 years ago