CONTEMPORARY ART

It isn’t so easy in public

In an age without heroes, and in which architecture aspires to be sculpture, only a few artists have created public art that holds people’s attention. What is their secret?

ARCHITECTURE

Viva Fidel!

Cuba deserves acclaim for the conservation of its historic buildings, which range from old houses in havana to 20th-century masterpieces.

Modesty & munificence

This special issue celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Yale Center for British Art and the centenary of its founder, Paul Mellon. Amy Meyers, the Center’s Director, surveys the impact of Mellon’s remarkable generosity on the study and enjoyment of British art.

Diversions of the field

The Yale Center’s magnificent array of sporting art reflects the interests of its founder, and also, argues Angus Trumble, challenges us to ask whether such varied works can be subsumed into a single genre.

Mapping a national style

The Yale Center’s holdings of British topographical art are unrivalled outside the United Kingdom. Ranging from Elizabethan survey drawings to 18th-century watercolours and 20th-century paintings, they include iconic depictions of Britain and suggest a great deal about the nation’s artistic traditions, as Todd Longstaffe-Gowan reveals.

Lux et veritas

Lux et Veritas’ is the motto of Yale University. ‘Light and Truth’ is also an apt description of the way that Louis Kahn emphasised structural honesty and natural light in his design for the Yale Center for British Art. Jules Prown, the first director of the Center, draws on his memories of working with Kahn to explain this ‘relentlessly moral and moralising’ building.

Pont Neuf, from the Quai de l’Ecole, Paris

One of Cox’s rare Continental views, this magnificent watercolour, painted in Paris in 1829, anticipates the vibrant freedom of the artist’s late style, as Scott Wilcox explains.

Travel Narrative

Paul Mellon’s interest in the exploration of the Americas is celebrated in the acquisition of a Latin American travel journal written and illustrated by a British consul in 1826-30. Elisabeth Fairman explains its importance.

Self-Portrait

he Yale Center for British Art continues to enrich its collection. Three major works acquired to mark Paul Mellon’s centennial are discussed here, beginning with Cassandra Albinson on a self-portrait painted by Stubbs on copper.

The sport of collecting

Brian Allen explains how Paul Mellon, a connoisseur of great humanity, integrity and discernment, formed the outstanding collection that, by his gift, became the Yale Center for British Art.