RA Magazine

Editorial: myth and reality

Why has the myth of Modigliani as a cursed artist proven more compelling than the reality? Legend has it that he was a drunken, womanising, drug-addicted painter, who died in penury, his genius as yet...

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Features

Naked ambition
Amedeo Modigliani’s sensuous nudes and portraits are as captivating as the artist’s legendary life story, argues Kenneth Wayne

A cult artist
Modigliani was the quintessential cult artist. Here cultural commentator Peter York looks at what it means to be a cult artist

Open season for art
Now in its 238th year, the Royal Academy’s annual Summer Exhibition remains the oldest and largest open submission art show in the country. This year, it will be televised for the first time and the BBC has been busy filming behind the scenes in the run-up to the exhibition. Fiona Maddocks talks to one of the Summer Exhibition co-ordinators, the sculptor David Mach RA, about how the selection process works, and Roly Keating, controller of BBC2, reveals why he wanted to make a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the show. Main photograph by Nick Cunard

Two of a kind
The late Royal Academicians Patrick Caulfield and Eduardo Paolozzi were two of the most important and best-loved British artists of the twentieth century. Their pioneering spirits helped shape the identity and concerns of the country’s contemporary art scene. As this year’s Summer Exhibition stages major memorial displays in celebration of each artist, Richard Riley revisits Caulfield’s radicalism, while Christopher Frayling remembers Paolozzi’s penchant for ruffling the feathers of the art establishment

The class of '06
In a class of their own The RA Schools final-year students showcase their art this summer. Here Maurice Cockrill RA, Keeper of the RA Schools, explains what makes the place so special and praises the outgoing graduates

School ties
The RA Schools have launched a gallery space to show alumni work

Art addiction
The architect Colin St John Wilson RA talks about how he caught the art bug, as his impressive collection goes on show at Pallant House in a new gallery extension he has designed