Movement was very important to artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954). His art has a particularly playful energy, and none more so than in his later works. Health problems in the early 1940s meant that his physical mobility was limited, but he would not let his creativity be held back in the same way. He created a new method of working by using cut out shapes from painted paper to produce a new form of art. The exhibition at the Tate Modern explores Matisse’s development of this technique: The Cut-Outs.
I went to the penultimate day of the Charleston Festival in Lewes, East Sussex, which was marking its 25th year. I heard Charlotte Higgins and Adam Nicolson read from their new non-fiction books on Classics. Charlotte Higgins’ ‘Under Another Sky’ was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.
A few years ago I was given a private tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London and I had special permission to photograph the space. I felt very privileged to be able to wander around with my camera, free to capture the changing light across the seating, beams, stage and even backstage area.
Tulips are like colourful wine goblets, sprouting and spouting from the ground and there is a fantastically riotous clang of tulips at this very moment at RHS Wisley.
I am reliably informed that she was very wriggly!
