Brighten up life with art and Cassone!

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OUR DECEMBER ISSUE IS IN PREPARATION

November! Here in Britain the evenings are dark, and streets and gardens dank and gloomy. Luckily we have some wonderful things in Cassone this month to cheer things up, so if you have heard the old saying ‘no sun, no fun, November’, you can be sure it is not true in the art world.

Rosalind Ormiston attended the press view of the exhibition ‘Rembrandt: The Late Works’,  on until 18 January 2015 at London’s National Gallery. She told me that ‘The exhibition was wonderful, quite overwhelming to see so many famous works in one gallery space’. Rosalind also writes on her experience at the Royal Academy’s exhibition ‘Giovanni Battista Moroni’, which she says waslike walking into an Italian palazzo full of wonderful paintings. This exhibition is on until 25 January 2015.

In this issue you can read about the finalists of the 2014 Turner prize. This is the 30th year of the competition, which is worth £40,000 to the four finalists, all of whom have to be under 50 and living or working in Britain.

The prize commemorates one of the greatest artists born in Britain: J.M.W.Turner. Susan Grange went to an exhibition of his later works, ‘Turner The Late Works: Painting Set Free’ at Tate Britain. Susan comments ‘Bringing together 150 works from around the UK and abroad, Tate has assembled a cross-section of Turner's extraordinary body of work during this period’. Next month Cassone will review Mr Turner, the newly released film on Turner, starring Timothy Spall.

The subject of our interview, Tim Wright, entered a portrait of Timothy Spall in the recent BP Portrait awards at the National Portrait Gallery. Here Tim talks to Sue Ecclestone. Meanwhile Roy Clark and Sue Ward talked to Valdir Cruz, the noted Brazilian photographer whose interview is also featured this month.

Julian Freeman went to the exhibition, C R W Nevinson: A Printmaker in War and Peaceat Osborne Samuel, London . He writes ‘This exhibition is a tour-de-force, and no mistake, a first for Osborne Samuel and a first also for Nevinson in the post-war world, for there has never been so large an exhibition solely devoted to his prints.’ Julian also reviews the book C.R.W. Nevinson: The Complete Printsby Jonathan Black. Although this is an expensive volume, it comes highly recommended.

Roy Clarke tells us that the Victoria and Albert Museum is dedicating its major seasonal exhibition to one of the most important photographers of the 20th century,  ‘Horst: Photographer of Style’. Roy writes ‘This is an exhibition for anyone with an interest in the art of photography to enjoy’ It is on until 4 January  2015.

In New York Victoria Keller went to the Frick to report on the new show of masterpieces on loan from the National Galleries of Scotland

Janet Tyson, our Michigan correspondent, has been over here in the UK and  visited ‘The Future Rewound & The Cabinet of Souls’, Tunisian artist Nadia Kaabi-Linke’s first solo UK exhibition, which melds urban archaeology with subtle traces of various social, political and economic forces. It is presented by The Mosaic Rooms in London.

Clare Finn attended the launch in London of Art Select.  This Bahraini-based company Art Select, intends to make collecting Middle Eastern art more accessible.

Jenny Kingsley travelled to East Anglia to visit the Alfred Munnings Collection in Dedham in Essex ‘There are many small museums that we never hear about in the mainstream art world which are gems of enlightenment. One such jewel is the Munnings Collection of work by the equestrian and landscape painter Sir Alfred Munnings’

If you don't fancy going out to the nearest gallery, as usual we have a selection of book reviews which may give you some ideas for Christmas presents – or perhaps volumes you would like yourself (time to start dropping hints). See our selection in the Art and Artists section. I am keen to see a copy of the book reviewed by Phoebe Hunter in our Architecture and Design section - that might solve several Christmas present problems!

And don’t forget to come back to Cassone through the month for our Art News    updates.

FREE TRIAL If you are not a subscriber and would like to ‘try before you buy’ do go to our Subscription/Registration page and use the CASSTRY voucher for a free week. Instructions on the page.

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Cassone – ca-soh-neh – the elaborately  decorated chest that a wealthy Italian bride of the Renaissance period used to hold her trousseau: a box of beautiful things.