The Poet who Vanished

 

“Anyone who picked up a new copy of the New Republic from his or her local newsstand on the morning of 18 July 1955 could have opened it to read an article called ‘How to be happy: installment 1053’. What they couldn’t have guessed is that the author would, in all probability, choose to extinguish his life mere hours later. With a flourish sour, sardonic and elegant, the author would disappear. His name was Weldon Kees.

“Kees had the knack of being in the right place at the wrong time. As a writer-artist, Kees had been in all the best cultural hotspots of the period. He was in New York in 1943-48 during the early Abstract Expressionist boom, but left before the market took off. He had also been in artists’ haven Provincetown, but had sold relatively little work. In 1950, he arrived in San Francisco. Somehow he had managed to be in these places and failed to make critical breakthroughs. He (and his wife Ann) had quit places without getting the most out of them. He seemed to have turned missing opportunities into his greatest art form.

“Admired for his talents as a poet, storywriter, critic, musician, composer, painter, film-maker and photographer, Kees never broke through in any one field despite his talent…”

Read the full review online at Spiked, 26 May 2017, here: http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/weldon-kees-the-poet-who-vanished/19874#.WShlYGkrLIU

RIP Ueli Steck, a truly great sportsman

“On 30 April, one of the world’s greatest sportsmen died near Mount Everest. Ueli Steck, 40, was a Swiss mountaineer who astonished even fellow climbers with feats of agility, skill and speed. After numerous brushes with death over the years, he fell 1,000 metres to his death on a peak neighbouring Everest.

“Steck pioneered a new form of climbing: speed-climbing mountains of technical difficulty, often at high altitudes. One of his great achievements was climbing the north face of the Eiger (which usually takes experienced mountaineers two days) in only two hours and 47 minutes. The video footage of the climb is equally exhilarating and alarming.

“He managed such feats by climbing solo with little equipment and being very prepared and conditioned. He would often free-climb without ropes, meaning that a slip could result in death. Steck was as agile as a ballet dancer, as tough as a long-distance cyclist, and braver than a boxer. He was the world’s most famous and daring mountaineer active in recent years….”

Read the full article on Spiked, 12 May 2017, here:

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/rip-ueli-steck-a-truly-great-sportsman/19780#.WRXJ62krLIU

America after the Fall

“America between the wars (and specifically between the Crash of 1929 and the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack) was at a crossroads. The economic boom and expansion of American power following victory in the First World War had led to prosperity and optimism for many in the 1920s. The Crash of 1929 led to the Great Depression and – in a way – a Great Retreat. America First, isolationism and a backlash against globalism and Modernism caused Americans to view modern and foreign influences with mistrust. A new exhibition, America After the Fall: Painting in the 1930s, at the Royal Academy, explores American art at this crossroads.

“It includes pictures by some of the big names of American realist painting and includes an American icon: Grant Wood’s American Gothic (1930). Although it is seen as typical of American homespun simplicity and Puritan honesty, the male figure is Wood’s dentist dressed as a farmer. The picture is subtle, well-painted and tinged by irony; it deserves its iconic status not only because of its popular appeal but also because of its artistry.

“Wood was part of the Regionalist movement, a group of artists who sought to depict American life and landscapes in a realist manner, often with sentimental or nostalgic overtones…”

Read the full review online at Spiked, 5 May 2017, here: http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/america-after-the-fall/19775#.WQxuoWkrLIU