MATISSE EXPLAINED
The Red Studio (Museum of Modern Art (MOMA))
The Red Studio is a fascinating exhibit. Seeing Matisse’s painting of his studio with the deep red background and then seeing many of the actual paintings and other works depicted there right in the MOMA gallery was somewhat mind-blowing. The explanations (they were more than just labels) provided the locale for each work and some details on what Matisse was looking at or doing in the art. It’s one of the best art exhibits I’ve been to in a long time. Sheer pleasure!
EASY READING
The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor–the Truth and the Turmoil by Tina Brown
If you want all the juicy details of the past twenty years of the British royal family, then Tina Brown’s latest work is for you. In The Palace Papers, no one, except perhaps the Queen herself, is left unscathed. Many readers will be very familiar with Princess Diana’s history, but this book provides much in the way of backstories on Camilla, Prince Andrew, Prince William, and Kate, and more about Prince Harry and Meghan than has appeared in the American press.
As a Brit and someone who has covered and spent time with some of these royals, Brown is overall fair and balanced in her account. It’s a long book, but I was quickly immersed in it for several days.
CLAIRE FOY MAKES THIS HISTORICAL DRAMA
A Very British Scandal (Prime Video)
This three-part historical series is about another scandalous divorce, this one that of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. Margaret Campbell was Duke Ian Campbell’s third wife. Their marriage was a tumultuous one to say the least. Margaret liked the company of men, lots of men, and may have had affairs with many of them. Ian was volatile, physically aggressive, short of cash, and probably also adulterous.
Their divorce trial in 1963 was a scandal more for what it revealed, or at least presented as truth, about Margaret Campbell. Neither character is likable, but Claire Foy is excellent as the wife and a far cry from who she was as Queen Elizabeth in The Crown.
Note: Photos by JWFarrington. Header photo is Matisse’s Still Life with Geraniums.
