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The Pavilion Cafe at Hollingworth Lake has reopened after 10 weeks of lockdown, which is both a form of progress and another sign of a worrying readiness in the UK to emerge from lockdown whilst we still have a high death rate from Covid-19. At least the cafe was operating safely and its customers well-behaved. 

A first listen today to the album Steve McQueen by Prefab Sprout, who are the only branch of the Sprout empire who I would agree to consume. Their Brussels business is particularly reprehensible.  My favourite song was Bonny.

The thing to remember about the early 20th century movement known as the École de Paris is that, whilst it may have been based in Paris, it was not a school. Instead, it was a loosely affiliated group artists from many different countries who came to Paris to enjoy the burgeoning art market and the bohemian lifestyle that went with it.

March Chagall was born in Vitebsk, in what is now Belarus, and educated in Russia.  His Jewish background was an important influence upon his work. The White Crucifixion (1938) shows a horrifying scene of cruelty and destruction, painted in the aftermath of the Nazi pogroms of that year but clearly making the point that Christians and others would suffer too from the impending holocaust.

One of the most memorable and vibrant Chagall works I have seen is the ceiling of the Opera Garnier in Paris, repainted by him in 1964. 

Amadeo Modigliani, from Livorno, Italy, was another enthusiastic participant in the art and debauchery of the Paris scene.  Many of his works were portraits of his lover Jeanne Hébuterne, like the one in which she wore a red shawl, completed in 1919. The oval faces of his figures, both in paintings and sculpture, convey both a mask-like indifference and subtle character.