Culture Watch

Kahlo's affair in New York City with her friend, the Hungarian-born photographer Nickolas Muray which ended in 1939, and her divorce from the Diego Rivera, left her heartbroken and lonely, but she produced some of her most powerful and compelling paintings and self-portraits during this time more »

Joan Cannon wrote: Empathy isn’t born into everyone, but it should be possible to be trained into those who don’t possess it to begin with. Most people are uncomfortable in the presence of what they see as authority. That’s the way most patients see their doctors. A physician who can be useful to her will know she has sustained an emotional injury before she tells him what it is. Then that doctor will have a real sense of how that must feel, not a merely intellectual knowledge of facts of average months’ duration of acute grief. more »

Don’t let the noted extra pages of notes and bibliography put you off Founding Gardeners, a remarkable book. Neither dull nor pedantic, nor beyond the grasp of anyone who likes history or loves growing things. The Map of True Places is a real psychological novel, dealing with layers of each personality and enough mystery to keep it moving with plenty of impetus. DVD Set: The reviewer admits they're watching the Doc Martin complete series for the third time, something the title character (an esteemed but rude doctor) would not admire, no doubt. more »

Through constellations of art and related artifacts, the exhibition follows the conventional activities in the cycle of a Parisian day, such as dressing, writing, collecting, eating, and evening entertainment — allowing visitors to envision the activities and accessories of quotidian life, in order to find resonances with their own daily lives more »