Works of Art in Russia: Two 1921 Editorials in the Burlington Magazine

by Anne Benson In July and September of 1921, editorials in the Burlington Magazine expressed concern over the fate of Russia’s art treasures “ever since the outbreak of the revolution and especially since the appearance of a Bolshevik government”. The July article was speculative, while in September, the editors included a welcome eyewitness account providing …

The Burlington Magazine and the National Gallery Cleaning Controversy (1947-1963)

Between 1940 and 1965 The Burlington Magazine published in its pages one of the most complex and long lasting controversies in its history. The controversy regarded the conservation of oil paintings, and especially the different methodologies, practical and theoretical, on how to approach the cleaning of pictures. The characters involved were of the highest calibre: …

The Burlington Magazine and the ‘Tate Bricks’ Controversy

by James Brown In 1972, the Tate Gallery bought for an ‘undeclared sum’  - although later revealed to be £2,297 - [1] the 1966 sculpture by Carl Andre, Equivalent VIII (also referred to here by its Tate catalogue reference T.1534). In April 1976, The Burlington Magazine published an editorial which questioned the Tate’s decision to …

‘Why bother with Joseph Boze?’ Pastels in The Burlington Magazine, a contribution by Neil Jeffares

I’ve blogged elsewhere about the hostility engendered by the vocabulary chosen to discuss the medium of pastel, and how language itself may be used to undermine an art that was so highly prized during the eighteenth century. In this post I will examine the language implicit and explicit in the coverage of pastels made before …