Today’s highlights
Art
Willem de Kooning: The unintentional painter
To the Dutchman commercial art was just as fulfilling as something more purely creative – and it came with a wage
The lost father of surrealism
How Paul Nougé helped create a movement… then disowned it
Matthew d’Ancona’s Culture: An Enemy of the People is a very special production indeed
Our editor-at-large’s rundown of the pick of the week’s theatre, books and cinema
Amsterdam’s new Holocaust museum
This is the country’s first museum dedicated to telling the whole story of the darkest period in European history. Will it get it right?
Against the herd: the kaleidoscopic visions of Outi Pieski
The artist championing the Arctic’s mistreated, reindeer-raising Sámi people
John Craxton: The odyssey of an outsider
Born with a talent for living – and living off others – the painter never quite seemed to fit in. Then he discovered Greece
Books
The hardest truths: Clara Dupont-Monod and the weight of the past
In a new book by a best-selling French author, ancient onlookers watch a family come to terms with a disabled child
Matthew d’Ancona’s Culture: An Enemy of the People is a very special production indeed
Our editor-at-large’s rundown of the pick of the week’s theatre, books and cinema
Mikhail Bulgakov: The USSR’s most deliberate provocateur
A barely concealed desire for the old Russian empire would infuse his work but even this did not preclude Stalin’s tacit admiration
The lady vanishes: the mystery of H Ellen Browning
A great writer travelled to Hungary, wrote a single book, and then disappeared. All she left behind was a masterpiece
Matthew d’Ancona’s Culture: Dune Part Two is even better than the first
Our editor-at-large’s rundown of the pick of the week’s film, TV and art
The Sicilian town that named the Brontës
Exploring the surprising link between a small town in the shadow of Mount Etna and the most celebrated siblings in English literature
Music
Kralle Krawinkel: The guitarist who put the Dada into Da Da Da
As good a musician as Keith Richards, the German was never entirely comfortable in the limelight
Cymande: The best band you never heard
After 40 years on hiatus, south London’s Cymande are stars of a superb biopic and out on a European tour
Rhapsody in Blue at 100: An ear tuned to the world
A century old, Rhapsody in Blue blends rhythms from the Black jazz age and from the Europe that George Gershwin left behind
Fred Buscaglione: The Turin boy who was the face of post-war Italy
The singer almost came to embody the nation’s revival before it all ended at the dawn of a decade that could have been made for him
How four Brits unleashed America’s hidden anarchy, 60 years ago
The Beatles gave young Americans gold standard permission to be different from their parents
Hedvig Mollestad, Oslo’s queen of heavy jazz
Blending headbanging with head-nodding, Norway’s genre-bending guitarist is having her moment in the sun
Film
Matthew d’Ancona’s Culture: An Enemy of the People is a very special production indeed
Our editor-at-large’s rundown of the pick of the week’s theatre, books and cinema
Bonnie Greer’s Vintage: Frank Capra
A Frank Capra picture always embodied what Abraham Lincoln appealed to in US citizens: “The better angels of our nature”
Goals, glory and gaslighting: the forgotten World Cup
The inaugural Women’s World Cup held in Mexico in 1971 was a tournament of joy. But before long, its participants were ridiculed and dismissed
Prejudice is back in fashion
John Galliano and the shadow of antisemitism
Matthew d’Ancona’s Culture: Dune Part Two is even better than the first
Our editor-at-large’s rundown of the pick of the week’s film, TV and art
Bonnie Greer’s Vintage: Fred Astaire
In the Top Hat dance sequence we see a master dancer at the top of his game
Theatre
Great pretender: Billy Crudup is a revelation in Harry Clarke
The Morning Show star shines in a tale of deception
Theatre Review: A standing ovation for the immersive Guys & Dolls revival
Brave audience members can choose to get right in the thick of the musical’s action
Matthew d’Ancona’s Culture: An Enemy of the People is a very special production indeed
Our editor-at-large’s rundown of the pick of the week’s theatre, books and cinema
Theatre Review: His films were horrific.. and so was his acting
But Double Feature’s tale of Vincent Price’s clashes with a director is a misfire
Matthew d’Ancona’s Culture: Dune Part Two is even better than the first
Our editor-at-large’s rundown of the pick of the week’s film, TV and art
Theatre Review: A fidgety encounter with Keeley Hawes
The Human Body, also starring Jack Davenport, is a confused homage to a David Lean classic
Great European Lives
Willem de Kooning: The unintentional painter
To the Dutchman commercial art was just as fulfilling as something more purely creative – and it came with a wage
Mikhail Bulgakov: The USSR’s most deliberate provocateur
A barely concealed desire for the old Russian empire would infuse his work but even this did not preclude Stalin’s tacit admiration
Horst Buchholz: The man who made Germans cool again
He arrived in the US as the “James Dean of Germany” but that promise would never truly be fulfilled
Stefan Zweig: The perpetual exile longing for the Viennese life he once knew
Many exiled European writers embraced their situation, but for Zweig the loss of his nation represented the loss of his identity
Kralle Krawinkel: The guitarist who put the Dada into Da Da Da
As good a musician as Keith Richards, the German was never entirely comfortable in the limelight
Anna Anderson: The woman who claimed to be the daughter of the last Tsar
Once the toast of New York society, the mystery of why she did what she did remains