John Shand Posts

November 15, 2013 / DVD Reviews

(Select Audio Visual) This outstanding documentary centres on the recent exhibition of Manet’s portraiture hosted by London’s Royal Academy of Arts. Fifty paintings of this great precursor of impressionism were assembled, many of which we are shown in considerable detail with expert assessment. Manet, the man of ideas, is analysed…

November 15, 2013 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Clarendon Guesthouse, November 8 War artists have been around since ancient Egypt, glorifying carnage until people like Goya in Napoleon’s time and Mathew Brady in the American Civil War dared to depict truth. Ben Quilty’s powerful, confronting paintings from his time in Afghanistan join that lineage, matched by Fred Smith’s…

November 15, 2013 / Features - Archive

Pop singers toying with jazz are usually extending wilting careers rather than doing jazz any favours. Jade MacRae is different. Not only is her pop career still thriving, but jazz is in her genes. MacRae is the daughter of pianist Dave MacRae and singer Joy Yates, whose jazz pedigrees span…