Richard Morphet, the former Keeper of the Modern Collection at the Tate, gave an absolutely brilliant speech at the launch of Frances Spalding’s new book, The Real and the Romantic, about the arts between the two world wars: stressing the importance of being generous and comprehensive about how the arts should be studied, rather than narrow and sectarian; an approach which has clearly been followed by Spalding who is apparently as generous in writing about the etchings of F.L. Griggs as she is about the work of Ben Nicholson. I’m looking forward to reading the book and learning more about the complexities of the period, including the role of the Royal Academy.
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
Thanks to Daphne Astor for passing this on. And yes, the extent to which Richard Morphet got inside the book was extraordinary. The author is often too close to the book to know what he or she has done, but listening to Richard’s speech, as it unfolded, I was shown things I did not hitherto realize I had done. It was an experience like none other in many years of book writing.