Revisiting Modern British Art

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This inclusive, questioning, invigorating book feels like a game-changer. It reframes modern British art and asks us to celebrate a more expansive and exciting idea of Britishness.’ I needn't have worried. The first scene plunges us into a world of mingled sadness, beauty and joy. Pace and tone are spot on. Voices and images come and go, held lightly together by Edmund Joliffe's marvellous score - music I could imagine ER whistling as he worked. Watercolours, wood engravings and lithographs appear before us, hover for a moment or two, then fade away. The voices of Eric (Freddie Fox) and Tirzah (Tamsin Greig) convey the brightness - in all senses - of the characters. There are familiar faces - Anne herself, ER's grand-daughter Ella Ravilious, Grayson Perry, Alan Bennett - and one or two I wasn't expecting. Ai Weiwei's interjections are memorable. Anne Desmet is fantastic on wood engraving.

Through this careful and original reconsideration, modern British art emerges in an expanded form, more relevant than ever and more urgent in its message.’ Inspired by the major exhibition and publication Barbara Hepworth: Art and Life this event focuses on under-represented perspectives on motherhood to consider how this might affect the making and understanding of art works. I'm sure you've had the experience of watching the film version of a novel you love... and wishing you hadn't. It took me years to see The English Patient, so powerful was my own impression of the story, and I've still never seen The Great Gatsby on screen. I don't know if there's a film of Ulysses or To the Lighthouse out there, but if there is I would sell the telly to avoid watching them. On-screen voices and images tend to overwhelm our own more fragile, imagined versions of character and setting, which in some instances are as precious as real memories.The Ingram Collection is one of the UK’s largest and most accessible collections of Modern British & Contemporary Art. Curated by Jo Baring, this exhibition showcases some classic Modern British artworks by artists associated with The Ingram Collection, such as Dame Elisabeth Frink, and includes some of Edward Bawden’s celebrated views of London, such as The Tower of London, and The Pagodaand The Palmhouseat Kew Gardens. Each book takes as its starting point an innovative illustrated book of shops published in Paris in the 1920s: Boutiques (1925) and Boutiques de la Foire (1926), with colour lithographs by Lucien Boucher, and Boutiques Litteraires, with illustrations by Henri Guilac (1925). Each Mainstone edition features captions by Andrew Stewart and an array of historical photos, archive materials and artworks brought together in typically elegant, witty style by designers Webb & Webb. Literary flaneuse Lauren Elkin wrote an accompanying essay for the Guilac book, while fairground historian Pascal Jacob did the same for Boutiques de la Foire and I wrote on the first Boucher book. Print aficionado Neil Philip provided for each volume a succinct print and production history.

Join Alayo Akinkugbe, Simon Martin, Hammad Nasar, James Russell & Tamsin Golding Yee for two panel discussions: Speakers include: Pragya Agarwal, Jody Day, Kerri ní Dochartaigh, Hettie Judah, Holly Slingsby, Lucy Willow and Sophie J Williamson. Please see the speakers' bios for more information.This is definitely a book to have on the bedside table and dip into repeatedly, not least because it is so beautifully illustrated. Anyone who has ever produced an art book will know that the cost of images can be prohibitive. Well, no expense has been spared here, and the pictures are every bit as lively and eclectic as the text.