Book after Book

W elcome to the blog tour for The Venice Secret by Anita Chapman! More about the book… In 2019, Rachel is stuck in a rut when she discovers what appears to be a Canaletto painting in her grandmother's loft along with a note addressed to Philippa in 1782. With help from Jake at the local art gallery, Rachel endeavours to find out if the painting is an original and uncovers a  secret from the past. In 1780, governess at Chipford Hall, Philippa is offered the role of mistress by Earl Rupert. She escapes to Venice as companion to bluestocking, Lady Cordelia who reveals a secret that changes both their lives. They do their best to keep the secret from Lady Cordelia's social circle, but their nemesis is determined to reveal all and ruin them. More about the author… Anita Chapman enjoyed writing stories from a young age, and won a local writing competition when she was nine years old. Encouraged by this, she typed up a series of stories about a mouse on...

Dulwich Picture Gallery is currently hosting – for the first in the UK – a major exhibition of one of Canada’s greatest modern painters, David Milne (1882-1953). Never heard of him before? Neither had I – and that’s why, on my latest visit to this beautiful south London art gallery, I decided that I would visit the permanent collection only. This is an exquisitely rich collection of European Baroque paintings and British portraits from Tudor times to the 19 th century, which – with its ornate, golden frames - perfectly complements the elegance of the building. The Gallery was busier than I expected it to be on a Wednesday morning and I got a glimpse of the reason as the door leading to the David Milne exhibition area was briefly opened to let more visitors in. I knew then, in that quick glance, that I would go back to reception to have my ticket upgraded. I am not an art critic so I won’t launch myself into a detailed analysis of Milne’s work. I am simply someone who en...

Tectonic Model (Flow) - Takahiro Iwasaki's installation in the Japan Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale 2017

The ARK BOOKTOWER designed by Rintala Eggertsson Architects for the V&A Summer Exhibition 2010, called 1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces . You can imagine how fast I started to walk when I glimpsed the wooden structure through one of the museum's arches!

By Stephen Campbell and Michael Cole Published by Thames and Hudson If you are looking for a book about Italian Renaissance art you will have a tough time choosing from the countless tomes that have been published on the subject. If you are looking for a book with gorgeous illustrations and an approach that will appeal to both students and non-specialist readers, you don’t have to look any further. With the Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci gracing its cover, this newly published hardback is one not to miss. The history of Italian Renaissance art – from the traditions of the Fourteenth century to the trends of the Seventeenth century – is explored chronologically in conveniently divided chapters. From painting and sculpture to architecture and decorative arts, Professors Stephen Campbell and Michael Cole place the artists and their works in a well-explained geographical and historical context. The book also includes all those tools that you’d expect from a first-class reference...

In Ferrara, until the 8th January 2012, you can visit Gli anni folli: la Parigi di Modigliani, Picasso e Dalì , which focuses on the Parisian art scene in the years following the Great War and until the early Thirties. Personal favourites on show: Christopher Nevinson's A Studio in Montparnasse and Gino Severini's Window with Pigeons . At the end of the exhibition, which is hosted in the city's Palazzo dei Diamanti, you also get to enjoy the museum bookshop - full of bookish goodness and featuring the amazing floor that took centre stage in my photo.

Last summer I went to see an Antony Gormley exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea and came across a temporary art installation entitled " Introspective Retrospective ". The artist is the Japanese Tomoko Takahashi, who is known for her "playful recycling of everyday detritus of everyday life into illuminating works of art". Needless to say, I felt a stabbing pain in my chest when I saw a copy of Moby Dick "playfully recycled" as pictured above!

One more title from my ever-expanding reading wish list. ** The cover image is for illustrative purposes only. If you are a publisher and would kindly like to offer me a copy of this book for review, I will change the cover so as to reflect the edition received. ** Seven Days in the Art World By Sarah Thornton Amazon's product description: The art market is booming. Museum attendance is surging. More people than ever call themselves artists. Contemporary art has become a mass entertainment, a luxury good, a job description and a kind of alternative religion for atheists. Art receives the sort of breathless media attention that was once reserved for celebrities and royals. But the art world is still opaque to outsiders. In Seven Days in the Art World , Sarah Thornton takes us on an unusual journey, exploring the most puzzling aspects of buying, selling, creating and exhibiting contemporary art. In a series of beautifully paced, fly-on-the-wall narratives, we witness the drama of a ...

One more title from my ever-expanding reading wish list. ** The cover image is for illustrative purposes only. If you are a publisher and would kindly like to offer me a copy of this book for review, I will change the cover so as to reflect the edition received. ** Lizzie Siddal: The Tragedy of a Pre-Raphaelite Supermodel By Lucinda Hawksley Amazon's product description: The supermodel did not arrive when Twiggy first donned false eyelashes; the concept began more than one hundred years previously, with a stunning young artists' model whose face captivated a generation. Saved from the drudgery of a working-class existence by an astute young Pre-Raphaelite artist, Lizzie Siddal rose to become one of the most famous faces in Victorian Britain and a pivotal figure of London's artistic world, until tragically ending her young life in a laudanum-soaked suicide in 1862. In the twenty-first century, even those who do not know her name always recognise her face: she is Millais...