Lynda Nead is professor of history of art at Birkbeck, University of London.

The absolutely fabulous stars of stage and screen

The question of what makes a performer truly divine is at the heart of a rigorously researched exhibition at the V&A

17 Jul 2023
Alf and the Canary (Brown Ale) by Ruskin Spear

The unfashionable art of Ruskin Spear

Tanya Harrod’s biography of the unfairly neglected painter champions his scenes of London working-class life

28 Nov 2022
A Corner of the Restaurant in Spielplatz

The British nudists who had their minds set on higher things

Annebella Pollen’s history of nudism in 20th-century Britain takes the movement as seriously as it took itself

31 Aug 2022

‘This exhibition conflates the gallery and the brothel’

Sensationalist displays are no way to explore art and prostitution, writes Lynda Nead – and the Musée d’Orsay has got carried away with selling sex

19 Dec 2015