Illuminations

John Wyver writes: To the ICA on Saturday last for another fascinating programme in Michael Witt’s Jean-Luc Godard: Unmade and Abandoned series. This has been a revelatory season, shown more or less monthly, of films by Godard and others that, as Witt claims, ‘sheds light on the huge and varied phantom body of unmade and abandoned ventures that lies behind or in the intervals in his completed oeuvre.’ The screenings have been spun off from Michael Witt’s essential book Jean-Luc Godard’s Unmade…

John Wyver writes: Just over a fortnight since The Cultures of Early Television wrapped, with much – although far from all – of the admin done, and with the distractions of a weekend in Paris and the World Cup now past, I have finally settled down to reflect briefly on the conference. For those of you just joining us, this was a two-day University of Westminster conference about television before the Second World War in Britain, the United States, continental Europe and the Soviet Union. Two…

John Wyver writes: Something of a catch-up today, and even so my posting is both late and melancholy. The past few weeks have been somewhat consumed by The Cultures of Early Television conference, and only now am I getting back to the blog and a selection of Sunday links. I’ll aim to do better going forward, but here are pointers to stuff that has engaged and interested, and it has to be said saddened me recently. No Andy B and no AI, or only glancingly, but those are topics to which we’ll most…

John Wyver writes: After months of preparation The Cultures of Early Television conference takes place at Portland Hall in London on Thursday and Friday this week. A University of Westminster conference, supported by The British Academy, this two-day event will explore television before the Second World War in Britain, continental Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union. I am delighted to say that the full, 24-page conference programme, with a schedule, detailed abstracts and biographies…

John Wyver writes: For the second Sunday running I have simply been too busy to compile the Sunday dozen. Apologies. But the preparations for The Cultures of Early Television conference next Thursday and Friday at the University of Westminster have rather taken over my life. I think those attending are in for a treat, with a host of exceptional scholars and archivists talking about television before the Second World War in Britain, the United States, Italy, Hungary and the Soviet Union. I will…

John Wyver writes: Happy Birthday, America! I think. At least that’s the title of a delightful small exhibition at London’s Mayor Gallery, which includes the artwork in the header above. It’s Billy Apple’s ‘The Presidential Suite: Johnson & Humphrey at L.B.J. Barbecue, 1964’, Xerography and paint on linen. • An extended apprenticeship: a lovely piece of writing by Farran Smith Nehme about the director John Sturges at Columbia between 1946 and 1949, originally published in the Locarno Film…

John Wyver writes: I’m delighted to unveil the schedule for the The Cultures of Early Television, a University of Westminster conference that I am convening on 2 and 3 July at Portland Hall in London. Organised with the support of The British Academy, this two-day gathering focuses on television before the Second World War in Britain, continental Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union. With presentations, panels and screenings of rare archival material, the event marks the centenary of…

John Wyver writes: Technical troubles meant that I missed posting last weekend – apologies. But I’m back today with another group of articles that have engaged and interested me, along with — as a hommage to the changeable weather of the past few days — John Constable’s wondrous ‘Study of Clouds, 30 September 1822’, photographed at the recent Turner & Constable show at Tate Britain, but now presumably safely back with its guardians, The Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. • Television…

John Wyver writes: Just leaving Provence now, which is why there was no Sunday dozen last week. I loved the landscape, and was struck time and again by memories of the artworks of Paul Cezanne. So here is ‘Montagne Sainte-Victoire’, about 1890/95, from the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland. Remember too that there is a marvellous online free-to-access Catalogue Raisonné of all of Cezanne’s work here. Back in London from Monday night, but meanwhile below is this week’s list of…

John Wyver writes: I am in Provence, deep in the Luberon, which makes me appreciate all the more the wondrous Cezanne above, Hillside in Provence, about 1890-2, hanging in the National Gallery in London. Everywhere I look there are views suggestive of the great artist’s work. It has rained here rather more than we had hoped, which at least has given me time to read a wide variety of bits and pieces, including the following that have attracted my interest and repaid my time. • Why? Because… with…

John Wyver writes: We are en vacances, having driven during three days from London to the small town of Simiane-la-Rotonde in the middle of the beautiful but rather remote landscapes of the Luberon. (Before the envy kicks in too hard, this morning it’s raining. Hard.) On the way here we stopped off for a day in Beaune. Wandering through the backstreets we came across this delightful memorial to Étienne-Jules Marey, who we learn was born in the town in 1830. As Wikipedia says, he was ‘a French…

John Wyver writes: I have started a nearly month-long holiday in France, and after three days’ driving have arrived at the small town of Simiane-la-Rotonde in the Luberon. Which is glorious, and which I will send an occasional update from over the coming days, while also continuing to make the final preparations for The Cultures of Early Television conference in early July, registration for which is open here. Posts will continue but with slightly dodgy connectivity they may be a little late,…

John Wyver writes: I am something of a fan of the Voices of British Ballet podcast, which features oral history recordings made since 2002 as well as new exchanges with dancers, choreographers and critics. A current strand is celebrating the great dancer and choreographer Ninette de Valois, marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of Ninette de Valois’ Academy for Choregraphic Art in March 1926 and 25 years since de Valois’ death. One recent fascinating edition features Patricia Linton…

John Wyver writes: I am delighted to say that registration is open for The Cultures of Early Television conference at the University of Westminster on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 July You can sign up here for free, thanks to the invaluable support of The British Academy Conference scheme. The Cultures of Early Television is a two-day conference about television before the Second World War in Britain,

John Wyver writes: Ten days ago, with perhaps rather too little fanfare, the Government released a new strategic vision for archives. Commissioned from The National Archives (TNA) and launched by Baroness Twycross, Minister for Museums, Heritage and Gambling, this involved, as the project’s website notes, ‘an extensive consultation with the sector… in-person roundtable discussions across the country and an online consultation form. We also consulted with a wide range of the sector’s…

John Wyver writes: My header image is of a somewhat-worse-for-wear concrete bench on London’s South Bank. Attached is a precious souvenir of the 2002 launch of BBC Four — nearly a quarter of a century ago! I feature it here as a complement to the first item in today’s list of articles and more that I have found engaging and enriching over the past week. • The disappearance of the public bench: although this excellent Gabrielle Bruney essay for Places journal is focussed on US examples, the…

John Wyver writes: Articles and more encountered and appreciated over the past week. My header image is one of my favourite facades in London, that of the building now known as Tournament House at Paddington Station. Designed by P.E. Culverhouse of the GWR Chief Civil Engineers office and completed in 1935, it was this week revealed again as its covering of scaffolding was removed. • Projections – David Bordwell’s Contributions to the Study of Film: a special open-access edition of the journal…

John Wyver writes: On Friday I was delighted to contibute a paper to the British Silent Film Festival Symposium 2026, immaculately organised by Lawrence Napper and held at the Cinema Museum. My presentation at the end of the day explored the connections between early television and the last days of silent cinema in Britain, in […] The post British television in the end times of silent cinema, 1928-30 appeared first on Illuminations.

John Wyver writes: As usual on a Sunday, here is a selection of media that has engaged and informed me, and enriched my life in small ways, from the past seven days. The header image is a remarkable painting by Ugo Egonu, Piccadilly Circus, 1969, an artist whose work I didn’t know, but which I […] The post The Sunday dozen appeared first on Illuminations.

John Wyver writes: To Tate Modern for the richly interesting Nigerian Modernism exhibition (until 10 May) which is packed with the work of artists of whom I knew nothing. The second room is devoted to the art of Ben Enwonwu (1917-1994), with numerous paintings, and with its central island dominated by seven immensely striking wooden […] The post The Eye of the (African) Artist appeared first on Illuminations.

John Wyver writes: Readings and audio that have engaged me over the past week, shared here for the holiday weekend. The header image comes from a new Thames & Hudson ‘World of Art’ title, New Deal Art: Culture and Crisis in the Great Depression by John P. Murphy, which I have recently read and greatly […] The post An Easter Sunday dozen appeared first on Illuminations.

John Wyver writes: late to posting this today, but here is a selection of articles and video that have engaged and enriched my week, and amongst which I hope you find something interesting; for the header image, see the link below to Tom Crewe’s LRB essay on the paintings of Gustave Caillebotte. • Early television […] The post The Sunday dozen appeared first on Illuminations.

John Wyver writes: the week’s recommendations of articles and audio that I have found interesting and useful and enriching over the past week. Among my recent cultural highlights was Tate Modern’s Theatre Picasso exhibition (on until 12 April), which features this week’s header image, the master’s extraordinary ‘The Painter and his Model’, 1926. • First… […] The post The Sunday dozen appeared first on Illuminations.