Features

Dessert trolleys are on the move again, with delightful results

An old-fashioned way of bringing in cakes and custards is beginning to feel rather modern again

29 Aug 2023

The eye-popping posters that promoted Egyptian films

The Egyptian film industry came to dominate the Arab world – and poster makers did much to secure its hold on the popular imagination

25 Aug 2023
retro ice-cream

The return of the retro ice-cream van

The vintage trucks in London’s parks provide soft serve with an outsize dollop of nostalgia – and do it in style

25 Aug 2023
The view of Munstead Wood house across the west lawn.

Gertrude Jekyll and the making of Munstead Wood

The first garden created by the designer for a house by Edwin Lutyens has been bought by the National Trust – preserving a vital piece of history

25 Aug 2023

The Scottish artist who could paint up a storm

From the September 2023 issue of Apollo. Preview and subscribe here. I first encountered William McTaggart’s The Storm (1890) when…

21 Aug 2023

Restoring the largest tapestries in England has been a massive success

It has taken the National Trust 24 years to restore the Gideon Tapestries at Hardwick Hall to their former glory

11 Aug 2023

How Barbie’s Dreamhouse turned into a design nightmare

Before the gal who has everything got into pink, her ideal home was a shrine to midcentury modern living

4 Aug 2023

Acquisitions of the Month: July 2023

The only surviving portrait from Henry Raeburn’s trip to Italy and an 18th-century book about cricket are among the most remarkable works to enter public collections

2 Aug 2023

How X. Marcel Boulestin catered to the masses

The restaurateur and writer won over both the smart set and the middle classes – and was a hero to Elizabeth David

28 Jul 2023

Drinking in style with the ancient Greeks and Persians

The ancient Greeks were quick to adopt the decadent drinking culture of their Persian enemies

13 Jul 2023

Folly mixture – the Wedding Cake at Waddesdon

A close attention to architectural history is the icing on the cake for a new pavilion cooked up by Joana Vasconcelos for Waddesdon Manor

13 Jul 2023

A sculpture given to Captain Cook returns to Tahiti

The figures brought over in 1771 are the first documented works of Oceanic art – and now on display where they were made

3 Jul 2023
Interiors of Casa Balla in Rome

Inside a very forward-looking home in Rome

At Casa Balla, Futurism was definitely a family affair for Giacomo Balla and his daughters Lucia and Elice

3 Jul 2023

The unwavering art of Ellsworth Kelly

On the centenary of the artist’s birth, it is easier to see that beneath the impersonal surfaces his work is teeming with life

3 Jul 2023

Acquisitions of the Month: June 2023

A rare 17th-century portrait of a Black woman and a white woman and an illustrated Armenian manuscript are among this month’s highlights

30 Jun 2023

Glasgow’s cuts will hamper its museums for years to come

The axeing of 37 museum posts will force overstretched employees to work harder and make institutions shelve their grander plans

28 Jun 2023

Will replicas tempt museums to return looted objects more quickly?

The Chrysler Museum of Art has given a looted monolith back to Nigeria and received a facsimile in exchange. Will other institutions follow suit?

26 Jun 2023

What does the National Portrait Gallery say about Britain today?

The museum has reopened with a new entrance and a complete rehang of the collection – but there’s no getting away from its founding purpose

21 Jun 2023

Is Istanbul Modern living in the past?

The newly reopened museum has an impressive collection of Turkish art, but seems strangely disconnected from the present

16 Jun 2023

The seaside gallery that aims to be more than a tourist destination

East Quay is an arts centre breathing new life into the Somerset town of Watchet and it has a real sense of social purpose

16 Jun 2023

The ballet that woke up post-war Britain

Oliver Messel’s rococo sets for ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ at the Royal Opera House represented a new dawn for dance

16 Jun 2023

Buffalo’s oldest museum enters a new era

The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly the Albright-Knox, reopens with a strong sense of civic purpose and a firm commitment to modern art

12 Jun 2023
still life overlooking a river

Fine dining with Patrick Caulfield

The painter’s atmospheric restaurant interiors and precise still lifes put him at the top table

7 Jun 2023
Phaeton from The Four Disgraces (1588), Hendrick Goltzius. Art Institute of Chicago

Acquisitions of the Month: May 2023

The most expensive manuscript to ever be sold at auction and an impressive collection of Dutch Mannerist prints are among this month’s highlights

2 Jun 2023