Brian Sewell, Britain’s colourful art critic!

During this Christmas break I have been scouring my book shelfs, and I have just again read Brian Sewell’s Outsider and Outsider II, his two-book autobiography. Last read back in 2012, it is a highly recommended, as arguably Britain’s most opinionated and knowledgeable art critic Sewell takes us on a journey through his life. From his childhood and schooling through to his time at Christie’s and life as a London dealer in old master drawings. His colourful clashes with the art establishment, his role in Anthoney Blunt’s exposure and his TV ventures through to his time as The Evening Standards most influential and notorious art critic. Some of Sewell’s colourful and acidic observations below!

On Damien Hirst “Were Hirst’s canvases the work of a late teenager, we might take the random lines around the skulls as a clever allusion to the measuring-points of a sculptor of Canova’s generation, or as an illusion of cracked glass, and forgive the ugly clumsiness of inexperienced execution; but Hirst is nearing his half-century and should have a far higher level of skill than this rough daubing, with which he degrades his master, Bacon.”

On Tracey Emin “The sane man must ask whether he should give any of this pretentious stuff the time of day in aesthetic terms when it seems that this self-regarding exhibitionist is ignorant, inarticulate, talentless, loutish and now very rich.”

On Banksy “Any fool who can put paint on canvas or turn a cardboard box into a sculpture is lauded. Banksy should have been put down at birth. It’s no good as art, drawing or painting. His work has no virtue. It’s merely the sheer scale of his impudence that has given him so much publicity.”

Desert Island Discs - Sewell had a very entertaining interview with Sue Lawley in an episode of Dessert Island Discs from 1994, this is well worth a listen as she takes him to task over his opinions. BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Brian Sewell

Brian Sewell - What it means to be an Old Masters drawing expert