iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Alexandra Wilson

Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I reviewed the new Renoir exhibition at the National Gallery. I see it has polarised opinion elsewhere - high praise from male reviewers for The Guardian/Telegraph and terrible reviews from female reviewers at The Times/Observer. I found plenty to enjoy, with a few caveats.

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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

'A Blue Room in Kensington' (c.1930) by James Durden (Christchurch Art Gallery)

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

"Wilson skilfully pulls together what the more independent-thinking cultural commentators have been writing for years". Richard Morrison, The Times. Out tomorrow.

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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

'Rush Hour Rain' by Diana Croft dianacroftart.com

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I review the National Gallery blockbuster "Renoir and Love" and ask, is it really about love? Plenty to enjoy though...

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Publication day for my new book is Friday but pre-orders are already arriving with readers! "Admirably spirited" - Dominic Sandbrook "Passionate, lucid and inspiring" - Amanda Craig "A brave and necessary book" - Richard Bratby

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Book number seven is here and very pretty! This one is a new departure for me. It ranges widely across music, galleries and museums, theatre, film, TV, access, funding and education and helps the general reader understand the heated debates taking place around the arts today.

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I did. Been commissioned to write something on it - just finished that off.

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

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Simon Jones @simonjones.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I’ve just discovered that The Illustrated Police News continued into the 1930s as an even more lurid version of the Victorian original. So let’s share some no context badly-drawn sensationalism! First up, ‘ZOO OWNER ATTACKED BY PET BEAR AT SEVENOAKS’, 26 June 1930.

Line drawing of small bear attacking woman in zoo enclosure who tries to defend herself with a stick.

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Engelsberg Ideas @engelsbergideas.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Martha C. Nussbaum's study of opera and political freedom combines musical sensitivity with a philosopher's eye to argue that Mozart offers a template for living well. Mozart’s vision of life | @amwilson.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/reviews/moza...

engelsbergideas.com

Mozart's vision of life

Martha C. Nussbaum's study of opera and political freedom combines musical sensitivity with a philosopher's eye to argue that Mozart offers a template for living well.

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Another kind Amazon review for my book Someone Else's Music! "This book is a great read, and one I've recommended to countless people...I'm always referencing this when trying to talk to people about supposed "elitism" in the arts".

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I'm delighted to welcome the wonderful Cosima Clara Gillhammer to this morning's edition of the Writer's Bookshelf, featuring Le Guin, Tolkien, Leigh Fermor and more! mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-writer...

mathewlyons.substack.com

The writer's bookshelf: Cosima Clara Gillhammer

Eight questions about writers, books, and reading…

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I watch a travel series called Jetlag the Game. The young presenters (YouTubers, effectively) have a particular antipathy for Deutsche Bahn!

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Nobody can quite decide whether Oxford is in the south or the Midlands but it definitely isn't in the east.

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

We recently rewatched it in advance of the new series. Thought it was ok the first time. This time my teenager has begun saying things like "this programme isn't nearly as clever as it thinks it is".

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I went to an archive recently. I think it cost £1.50 per photo, on recollection, and I - rather pointlessly to show willing - took three. But if it had been more useful imagine what it would have cost!

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Neil Schofield-Hughes @neilschofield.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

The ideology - widely held among arts bureaucrats and funding bodies - that canonical arts, especially opera and classical music, are somehow elitist is one of the most destructive and, ironically enough, elitist of our times. So looking forward to this.

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

New book, out in October, on the over-politicisation and over-bureaucratisation of the arts. Get 30% off at the Polity website with code CVW30.

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

And questions about integrity, particularly at such a prestigious university, matter even more when opportunities are so few and so many talented academics who have not plagiarised are not able to get jobs and having to quit.

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

This is what Arday himself said in yesterday's Times. For the record, it is absolutely not normal for academics to copy long passages of others' work and in saying that he insults all of us and demeans the very institution of academia in the eyes of the outside world. It's very serious.

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Engelsberg Ideas @engelsbergideas.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

The South is still beautiful, but likely to suffer severely in a century of climate extremes. It is time the continent rediscovered its northern soul. Is Europe’s future northern? | @alastairbenn.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/notebook/is-...

engelsbergideas.com

Is Europe's future northern?

The South is still beautiful, but likely to suffer severely in a century of climate extremes. It is time the continent rediscovered its northern soul.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Some weekend reading from me: first up the brilliant @amwilson.bsky.social on the Writer's Bookshelf talking Clare Chambers, Tina Brown, Evelyn Waugh, Dorothy Whipple and more! mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-writer...

mathewlyons.substack.com

The writer's bookshelf: Alexandra Wilson

Eight questions about writers, books, and reading…

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

😬 Not to death, one hopes....

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

I enjoyed talking to Mathew about my reading habits past and present. I hope you find it interesting and maybe take some good recommendations from it! It's available for free initially but may go behind a paywall in due course.

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

@oxfordcitycouncil.bsky.social Please can you tell us what the outcome was of the recent consultation on amplified busking? Because it is as bad as ever and this afternoon Cornmarket and Queen Streets were atrociously loud. It makes the centre so unpleasant to be in. Cambridge isn't like this.

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Christopher McCabe @cjmccabe.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Microsoft is planning to build three massive AI data centres in Leeds. It’ll drain thousands of litres of water from the River Aire & be the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop the council's final sign-off, but we need more voices. Add your name: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/pr...

you.38degrees.org.uk

Stop the Microsoft AI megasite in Leeds!

Microsoft wants to build three huge AI data centres at Skelton Grange. It would drain the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop it - add your name to the petition.

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

@oxfordshirecc.bsky.social What are you playing at, putting the MyBus ticket up from £6.50 to £8.50? That's way out of line with inflation. People need to get around! To discourage cars you need to do better with buses. Like this.

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Engelsberg Ideas @engelsbergideas.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

The Paris of the Belle Époque continues to fascinate, with its burgeoning commercial culture, everyday beauty and glittering department stores. Belle Époque Paris and the creation of French soft power | Marie Daouda engelsbergideas.com/essays/belle...

engelsbergideas.com

Belle Époque Paris and the creation of French soft power

Belle Époque-era Paris continues to fascinate, with its burgeoning commercial culture, everyday beauty and glittering department stores.

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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

'London Rain' by Diana Croft dianacroftart.com

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Dr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

On this day in 1902, Venice's famous Campanile collapsed into a pile of rubble, taking out the Logetta as well.

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Nick Jenkins @nickjhistorian.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Cities are often known for one industry, so when that industry dies, the city struggles. But sometimes they just develop. Angouleme was a printing city, but it reinvented itself as the capital of comic-books, a popular medium in France. That led to it becoming a city of murals.

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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

'The Albert Bridge' (1966) by Edward Bawden

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I know someone who won't use any self-serve machines anywhere out of protest at job losses but I am not sure his one-man crusade is achieving anything...

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

And how many people were sacked when they were brought in.

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Problem is, doesn't a by-election cost the public purse/taxpayer rather a lot of money?

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Alexandra Wilson @amwilson.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

It was never explained adequately why person A was chosen over person B to go. The only rational explanation must have been salary, though I suspect some ideological aspect too. No minutes were kept.

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