Brian Sewell

Brian Sewell is an influential English art critic. He writes for the Evening Standard and is noted for his conservatism and acerbic reviews of the Turner Prize.

Related Topics:
English - Art - Critic - Evening Standard - Turner Prize

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Sewell graduated from the Courtauld Institute in 1957. In 1984 he became the art critic of the Evening Standard, where he has won many press awards, including Critic of the Year 1988, Arts Journalist of the Year 1994, Hawthornden Prize for Art Criticism 1995 and the Foreign Press Award (Arts) 2000. However, it was not until the late 1990s that he became a well-known media figure through his appearances on television. He has become a popular subject for impersonation and is sometimes described as having "the poshest voice in Britain", or, as Paul Merton once told him: "You make the Queen sound rough."

Related Topics:
Courtauld Institute - 1957 - 1984 - 1990s - Television - Paul Merton - Queen

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He is noted for his affected manner and anti-populist sentiments. He managed to offend many people from Newcastle Upon Tyne by claiming an exhibition was too important to be held only at the Baltic and should be shown to "more sophisticated" audiences in London.

Related Topics:
Newcastle Upon Tyne - Baltic

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In 2004, he made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, as a travelogue-cum-architectural criticism documentary in The Naked Pilgrim, ultimately a reference to Quentin Crisp's The Naked Civil Servant.

Related Topics:
2004 - Santiago de Compostela - Quentin Crisp - The Naked Civil Servant

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