I have already posted the photos to the ‘book — vainly it appears, as only one or two of them appear in people’s feeds so they keep liking the same two photos over and over. I try to choose more selectively for the blog, but how to choose — for the image, for the significance, for the context? Does it matter? No one reads the blog anyway so I might as well go with the impetus of the moment and have done with it.
Is there anything new to say about the Rossettis and their crowd? Well, yes, including much more of Elizabeth Siddal, mostly dismissed as a ‘tragic supermodel’ as one BBC story would have it, whose art has not received much notice. Christina, whose impact probably remains the strongest, too often overlooked for her dramatic brother. The latter best played by Oliver Reed of course in Ken Russell’s Dante’s Inferno, a clip from which caught me by surprise as I rounded a corner. Unexpected Ollie is always good. A little presence of the Morrises, too, though not nearly enough but the greater context helps.
There are a lot of disparaging commentaries on the Tate Britain’s recasting of itself and its collection. They have been bending to a lot of changing winds and have yet to find their feet. The empire wasn’t undone in a day (or perhaps yet) so I imagine there will continue to be struggles. But more neglected treasures take their places amongst the ‘standards’ of the realm, like lovely Ithell Colquhoun.
As art imitates life — or at least video games do — here is my avatar in the Dùn Dèagh Art Museum this week:
