
-
Hamilton rubbishes claims he's lost faith in Ferrari
-
Nintendo Switch 2 sparks excitement despite high price
-
Sri Lanka's crackdown on dogs for India PM's visit sparks protest
-
S Korea police raise security levels ahead of impeachment verdict
-
China vows 'countermeasures' to sweeping new US tariffs
-
Trump jolts allies, foes and markets with tariff blitz
-
France says EU to target US online services after Trump tariffs
-
Tsunoda vows to bring 'something different' after Red Bull promotion
-
Verstappen not happy with Tsunoda-Lawson Red Bull swap
-
Experts accuse 54 top Nicaragua officials of grave abuses
-
Remains of 30th victim of Los Angeles fires found
-
EU to target US online services after Trump tariffs: France
-
How Trump's 'liberation day' tariffs will impact China
-
Malaysia suspends search for long-missing flight MH370
-
Search for long-missing flight MH370 suspended: Malaysia minister
-
Europe hits out at Trump tariffs, keeps door open for talks
-
Myanmar's junta chief to head to Bangkok summit as quake toll surpasses 3,000
-
Lawson vows to prove he belongs in F1 after shock of Red Bull axing
-
Australia sweats through hottest 12 months on record: official data
-
Livestock theft is central to jihadist economy in west Africa
-
South African artist champions hyenas in 'eco-queer' quest
-
Danish PM in 'unity' Greenland visit amid US takeover threats
-
Taiwan says US tariffs 'highly unreasonable'
-
Lawson says ruthless Red Bull axing was 'tough to hear'
-
Heat humble Celtics for sixth straight win, Thunder roll on
-
Trump escalates trade war with sweeping global tariffs
-
Japan says US tariffs 'extremely regrettable', may break WTO rules
-
South Koreans anxious, angry as court to rule on impeached president
-
Juve at in-form Roma with Champions League in the balance
-
Injuries put undermanned Bayern's title bid to the test
-
Ovechkin scores 892nd goal -- three away from Gretzky's NHL record
-
Australian former rugby star Petaia signs for NFL's Chargers
-
China says opposes new US tariffs, vows 'countermeasures'
-
Athletics world watching as 'Grand Slam Track' prepares for launch
-
Heat humble Celtics for sixth straight win, Cavs top Knicks
-
Quake-hit Myanmar's junta chief to head to Bangkok summit
-
New Spielberg, Nolan films teased at CinemaCon
-
Shaken NATO allies to meet Trump's top diplomat
-
Israel's Netanyahu arrives in Hungary, defying ICC warrant
-
Shiny and deadly, unexploded munitions a threat to Gaza children
-
Stocks tank, havens rally as Trump tariffs fan trade war
-
Altomare hangs on to tie defending champ Korda at LPGA Match Play
-
Paraguay gold rush leaves tea producers bitter
-
Health concerns swirl as Bolivian city drowns in rubbish
-
Syria says deadly Israeli strikes a 'blatant violation'
-
Financial markets tumble after Trump tariff announcement
-
Starbucks faces new hot spill lawsuits weeks after $50mn ruling
-
Europe riled, but plans cool-headed response to Trump's tariffs
-
'Shenmue' voted most influential video game ever in UK poll
-
New coal capacity hit 20-year low in 2024: report

Major Walter Sickert retrospective opens in London
A major Walter Sickert retrospective opens at London's Tate Britain gallery on Thursday, with more than 150 works showcasing the revolutionary British painter.
The exhibition -- the biggest in nearly 30 years -- includes works on loan from more than 70 private and public collections in Britain and across the world.
They range from self-portraits and nude women lying on iron bedsteads to music hall scenes and seaside landscapes, as well as work from photographs.
Sickert, who was born in Munich in 1860, tried his hand at every genre during a career spanning more than 60 years.
He earned a reputation as a rebellious provocateur who inspired generations of artists and played a key role in the transition from Impressionism to Modernism.
After trying to be an actor, at 22 he became an assistant to the American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler, before meeting Edgar Degas in Paris in 1885.
The Frenchman became his mentor.
"These French Impressionists really taught him a new style of painting and he brought this to Britain and made something quite radical and revolutionary," Tate Britain's Thomas Kennedy told AFP.
"Britain was very conservative at the time. His use of colour and playing with light was something entirely new for British audiences."
The retrospective presents the places, people and events that inspired Sickert in chronological and thematic order.
One room is given over to his self-portraits over the years, another to his music hall scenes, which were hugely popular in Victorian Britain, even if they were not considered appropriate subject matter for high art.
One of the most striking pieces in the exhibition is "Little Dot Hetherington at the Bedford Music Hall" (1888-1889).
Kennedy, the gallery's assistant curator for modern British art, said the painting summed up what Sickert was about: his experimentation with colour and light and his interest in popular culture.
- Naked immorality -
In strait-laced 19th-century Britain, Sickert's nudes were considered immoral. Rather than idealised depictions of the human form, they were painted in often cluttered, humdrum settings and from disturbing angles.
Sickert also liked to paint conflicting emotions and disenchanted lives, of couples who had fallen out of love, and gloomy backgrounds.
Some of the same characters pop up in several of his works in different combinations.
He was also fascinated by news stories, which inspired the controversial "The Camden Town murder series", about the murder of a sex worker in 1907.
Sickert was living in the same area of north London at the time.
His fascination with the seamier side of life, including the crimes of notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper, has led to claims that he was a suspect in the murders in London's East End.
The Tate exhibition, which runs until September 18, details hoax letters he is alleged to have written to police who tried in vain to identify the killer.
Another room is devoted to his landscape paintings, including of the northern French city of Dieppe, where he lived between 1989 and 1905, and Venice.
In Dieppe, he painted the facade of the church of Saint Jacques at different times of the day, probably inspired by Monet's series on Rouen cathedral, and Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice.
Sickert, a francophile who died in 1942, often gave his paintings French titles.
"The most consistent thing about him is that he was inconsistent in his types of paintings, the way he painted," said Kennedy.
"He was very rebellious, he... certainly liked to stir the pot, but he was someone that was radical for British painting.
"And really, his legacy lives on to this date. He influenced a generation of artists including Lucien Freud and Francis Bacon."
X.Karnes--AMWN