Learning from The Lives Of Others

My latest article for Artlyst uses exhibitions at Ben Uri Gallery and St Martin-in-the-Fields to explore the place of émigré artists in modern British art and then contrast their opportunities and impact with the current hostile environment being created towards refugees.

I end by quoting Will Hutton:

"'Over centuries ... it has been immigrants and refugees who have been part of the alchemy of any country’s success: they are driven, hungry and talented and add to the pool of entrepreneurs, innovators and risk-takers. The hundreds of thousands today who have trekked across continents and dangerous seas are by any standards unusually driven. They are also, as Angela Merkel says, fellow human beings. To receive them well is not only in our interests, it is fundamental to an idea of what it means to be human.’ These exhibitions and the history of émigré artists in the twentieth century reiterate and demonstrate the continuing relevance and significance of that message."

My other Artlyst articles are:

• The Religious Impulses Of Robert Rauschenberg
• The Christian Science Connection Within The British Modern Art Movement;
• Artists Rebranding The Christmas Tree Tradition;
• Art Impacted - A Radical Response To Radicalisation;
• The Art of St Martin-in-the-Fields; and
• Was Caravaggio A Good Christian?

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Bloc Party - Virtue.