Art Exposed Julian Spalding

Art Exposed.  Julian Spalding. 2024

Julian Spalding has been a controversial curator and director of important art museums in uk and in this book he presents various writings about his experiences and his thoughts on art. These are put in alphabetical order which is novel as is that every person he meets is described physically.

Julian would like better lit art galleries. He has several times mooted shows such as one about Jesus, which were not mounted and he goes into the frustrations of his jobs as well as his successes.

He dislikes Duchamp and asserts that Damian Hirst’s work isn’t art. He  likes Beryl Cook ‘s paintings, using one for the cover of the book which made me hesitate to buy it.

He includes writing about very famous artists and lesser known ones that he has boldly championed. 

He deplores the lack of open submission shows and the undue influence of commercial art dealers. He dislikes Anthony Gormley, calling him ‘ the hollow man of British Art’. He extols drawing and loves Ruskin.

However, whatever his views are, this is a writer whose great energy and enthusiasm is clear and who has a wonderful ability to write clearly and vividly.

I was on the same unusual BA course as Julian Spalding at Nottingham University. It combined fine art taught in town at the art college with art history studied at the University on the out of town campus. There were only about ten students in each year and the four year course only ran for four years, I think because the two sets of staff could not cooperate.

I remember how articulate and passionate Julian was in telling our Professor what our demands were when Hornsey students came up to politicise us and we had our own minor revolution.

The revelation to me from this latest book is that Julian was brought up on a council estate and reared on ‘puritanical communism’. I was in the year after his and seeing him in action and being  best friends with a student who had lots of money I was entirely taken in by what he calls his adopted ‘aspirational accent’. One of my friends was secretly, as far as I know, in love with him.

I still can’t quite believe what he says about having these origins. 

I’m not mentioned in the book. I effortlessly failed to make what might have been a very beneficial contact with this man who went onto a stellar career. Once given a general invitation by his first wife Frankie, the renowned art historian, who was also at Nottingham, to visit them when I met her  by chance at a Bobbie Baker performance years later, I could not really imagine going to stay at their house because I couldn’t have returned their hospitality having nowhere to put up guests.

They both chose the art historical path after University whereas I pursued being an artist and supporting myself via school teaching at the comprehensive chalkface.

Anyway it’s a fascinating read by a man who struck me as very clever and  eloquent and has  written a number of books that are original and enjoyable.