Ian Whittingham
@iwhitti.bsky.social
“I'm drowning here, and you're describing the water!"
Noël au chemin de fer, André Frénaud, Joan Miro, Alès, PAB, printemps 1959
December 19, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Noël au chemin de fer, André Frénaud, Joan Miro, Alès, PAB, printemps 1959
Invisible visible, Georges Braque,
Pierre Andre Benoit,
Alès, PAB, 1960
Pierre Andre Benoit,
Alès, PAB, 1960
November 24, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Invisible visible, Georges Braque,
Pierre Andre Benoit,
Alès, PAB, 1960
Pierre Andre Benoit,
Alès, PAB, 1960
If there is one thing you read today, read this...
As an entirely disinterested reader, I recommend this remarkable essay by my wife @lucindarose.bsky.social
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
On My Last Leg
An illness returns after a quarter century.
www.newyorker.com
October 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
If there is one thing you read today, read this...
"It is a kind of heaven. This is what I was made for. It is doing nothing. A fraud is being perpetrated: writing is not work, it’s doing nothing. It’s not a fraud: doing nothing is what I have to do to live."
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v1...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v1...
Jenny Diski · Diary: Three Whole Weeks Alone
I will have three whole weeks alone in my flat. It hasn’t happened since L-i-L moved in. I have a scratchy feeling of...
www.lrb.co.uk
October 20, 2025 at 9:51 PM
"It is a kind of heaven. This is what I was made for. It is doing nothing. A fraud is being perpetrated: writing is not work, it’s doing nothing. It’s not a fraud: doing nothing is what I have to do to live."
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v1...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v1...
"Power to the people, with ice cream at midnight! Taste it and see. Not everything in the world is going to hell."
Oh, to have been in Bologna for Il Cinema Ritrovato...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Oh, to have been in Bologna for Il Cinema Ritrovato...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
October 19, 2025 at 10:05 PM
"Power to the people, with ice cream at midnight! Taste it and see. Not everything in the world is going to hell."
Oh, to have been in Bologna for Il Cinema Ritrovato...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Oh, to have been in Bologna for Il Cinema Ritrovato...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
"To the end of a long life, he kept on making the only thing he thought worth making: sense, a quality almost entirely lacking in American literature where stupidity—if sufficiently sincere and authentic—is deeply revered, and easily achieved.” www.nybooks.com/articles/198...
This Critic and This Gin and These Shoes | Gore Vidal
On February 2, 1821, gin-drinker Lord Byron wrote in his Ravenna Journal: "I have been considering what can be the reason why I always wake at a certain
www.nybooks.com
October 14, 2025 at 5:13 PM
"To the end of a long life, he kept on making the only thing he thought worth making: sense, a quality almost entirely lacking in American literature where stupidity—if sufficiently sincere and authentic—is deeply revered, and easily achieved.” www.nybooks.com/articles/198...
"I would have Wislawa Szymborska (love her, love her work, love her sense of humor), Javier Marías (love him, love his work, love his bitchiness) and Amitav Ghosh (love him, love his work, love his cooking)."
What a great dinner party @rabihalameddine.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/b...
What a great dinner party @rabihalameddine.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/b...
Rabih Alameddine Is Done With Dostoyevsky
www.nytimes.com
September 26, 2025 at 9:48 PM
"I would have Wislawa Szymborska (love her, love her work, love her sense of humor), Javier Marías (love him, love his work, love his bitchiness) and Amitav Ghosh (love him, love his work, love his cooking)."
What a great dinner party @rabihalameddine.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/b...
What a great dinner party @rabihalameddine.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/b...
Dorothea Tanning, born on this day in 1910.
Twenty-four years ago, I had the good fortune to meet her in her Greenwich Village apartment. I was completely mesmerised by her kindness and curiosity and by the wide-ranging conversation we had that afternoon. An amazing experience.
Twenty-four years ago, I had the good fortune to meet her in her Greenwich Village apartment. I was completely mesmerised by her kindness and curiosity and by the wide-ranging conversation we had that afternoon. An amazing experience.
August 25, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Dorothea Tanning, born on this day in 1910.
Twenty-four years ago, I had the good fortune to meet her in her Greenwich Village apartment. I was completely mesmerised by her kindness and curiosity and by the wide-ranging conversation we had that afternoon. An amazing experience.
Twenty-four years ago, I had the good fortune to meet her in her Greenwich Village apartment. I was completely mesmerised by her kindness and curiosity and by the wide-ranging conversation we had that afternoon. An amazing experience.
"When the doomed are most eloquent in their sinking,
It seems that then we are least strong to save."
Malcolm Lowry, born 28 July 1909.
It seems that then we are least strong to save."
Malcolm Lowry, born 28 July 1909.
July 28, 2025 at 1:08 PM
"When the doomed are most eloquent in their sinking,
It seems that then we are least strong to save."
Malcolm Lowry, born 28 July 1909.
It seems that then we are least strong to save."
Malcolm Lowry, born 28 July 1909.
Pour Aldo Crommelynck avec mes bons voeux pour 1958, Georges Braque
July 25, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Pour Aldo Crommelynck avec mes bons voeux pour 1958, Georges Braque
Ariane et le minotaur, André Masson, 1966
June 23, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Ariane et le minotaur, André Masson, 1966
Portrait-de-l'oiseau-qui-n'existe-pas, André Masson, 1957
May 28, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Portrait-de-l'oiseau-qui-n'existe-pas, André Masson, 1957
Rapt à l'arc-en-ciel, André Masson, 1962
May 26, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Rapt à l'arc-en-ciel, André Masson, 1962
Mélusine, André Masson, 1958
May 26, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Mélusine, André Masson, 1958
Reposted by Ian Whittingham
alice coltrane could build artificial general intelligence but AI could never write Journey in Satchidananda
May 23, 2025 at 6:46 PM
alice coltrane could build artificial general intelligence but AI could never write Journey in Satchidananda
Dorothea Tanning, Downshire Hill, 1950 (photo: Lee Miller) and detail from Peau, 1959
May 8, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Dorothea Tanning, Downshire Hill, 1950 (photo: Lee Miller) and detail from Peau, 1959
“Don’t worry, we’ve had a playbook for this kind of situation since the 1960s.”
Lessons in how Poland inoculated the body politic against the depredations of populism...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Lessons in how Poland inoculated the body politic against the depredations of populism...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
In Poland, we know all about fighting illiberal regimes. Here are our lessons for the Trump age | Jarosław Kuisz and Karolina Wigura
Our political history is one of catastrophe, communism, and developing powerful antibodies against oppression, say Jarosław Kuisz and Karolina Wigura
www.theguardian.com
April 28, 2025 at 11:11 AM
“Don’t worry, we’ve had a playbook for this kind of situation since the 1960s.”
Lessons in how Poland inoculated the body politic against the depredations of populism...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Lessons in how Poland inoculated the body politic against the depredations of populism...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Ian Whittingham
Oh, to be able to listen in
Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges in Buenos Aires.
Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges in Buenos Aires.
April 26, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Oh, to be able to listen in
Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges in Buenos Aires.
Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges in Buenos Aires.
Less is known than people think
It's the Now that is Eternal
“After Blake: Less is Known Than People Think,” David Hockney, 2024
It's the Now that is Eternal
“After Blake: Less is Known Than People Think,” David Hockney, 2024
April 3, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Less is known than people think
It's the Now that is Eternal
“After Blake: Less is Known Than People Think,” David Hockney, 2024
It's the Now that is Eternal
“After Blake: Less is Known Than People Think,” David Hockney, 2024
Reposted by Ian Whittingham
A cleansing:
The Sorrows of the King is a collage using cut out paper shapes by Henri Matisse from 1952. It's a self-portrait, his last.
The Sorrows of the King is a collage using cut out paper shapes by Henri Matisse from 1952. It's a self-portrait, his last.
March 30, 2025 at 5:56 PM
A cleansing:
The Sorrows of the King is a collage using cut out paper shapes by Henri Matisse from 1952. It's a self-portrait, his last.
The Sorrows of the King is a collage using cut out paper shapes by Henri Matisse from 1952. It's a self-portrait, his last.
Reposted by Ian Whittingham
An old lady, holding a puppet of an old lady, feeding a squirrel.
March 29, 2025 at 12:34 PM
An old lady, holding a puppet of an old lady, feeding a squirrel.
Reposted by Ian Whittingham
No, Elon. 40% of people who call Social Security's 1-800 number are not fraudsters, Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme & nobody who is 150 years old is getting a Social Security check.
Stop the lies. Stop the disinformation.
Get your billionaire hands off Social Security.
Stop the lies. Stop the disinformation.
Get your billionaire hands off Social Security.
March 28, 2025 at 8:29 PM
No, Elon. 40% of people who call Social Security's 1-800 number are not fraudsters, Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme & nobody who is 150 years old is getting a Social Security check.
Stop the lies. Stop the disinformation.
Get your billionaire hands off Social Security.
Stop the lies. Stop the disinformation.
Get your billionaire hands off Social Security.
"Whimsy, humor, glee: these were the words that came to mind, on first viewing. But the glitz and wit are a ruse, belying the deep suffering and darkness beneath the surface."
Jamie Quatro reviews Blair Hobbs's new exhibition, Birthday Cake for Flannery
www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/03...
Jamie Quatro reviews Blair Hobbs's new exhibition, Birthday Cake for Flannery
www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/03...
Happy Hundredth Birthday, Flannery O'Connor! - The Paris Review
"The glitz and wit are a ruse, belying the deep suffering and darkness beneath the surface."
www.theparisreview.org
March 25, 2025 at 11:06 PM
"Whimsy, humor, glee: these were the words that came to mind, on first viewing. But the glitz and wit are a ruse, belying the deep suffering and darkness beneath the surface."
Jamie Quatro reviews Blair Hobbs's new exhibition, Birthday Cake for Flannery
www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/03...
Jamie Quatro reviews Blair Hobbs's new exhibition, Birthday Cake for Flannery
www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/03...
"They really should make a darkly satirical TV show about these absurd, degenerate, unpleasant people. Call it The White Potus."
Marina Hyde on the worst chat group the world has ever seen...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Marina Hyde on the worst chat group the world has ever seen...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
It’s war and peace with Donald and Pete – and the worst group chat the world has ever seen | Marina Hyde
We absolutely won’t tolerate leaks, they said before looping in a journalist to top secret war plans. Feel safe? Me neither, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde
www.theguardian.com
March 25, 2025 at 10:42 PM
"They really should make a darkly satirical TV show about these absurd, degenerate, unpleasant people. Call it The White Potus."
Marina Hyde on the worst chat group the world has ever seen...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Marina Hyde on the worst chat group the world has ever seen...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Ian Whittingham
The kind of vacuous statement that actually means nothing, what is "as we know it"? Meaningless.
‘Globalisation as we knew it’ may be over, says HSBC chair Mark Tucker
https://www.ft.com/content/ce7d678a-2499-4867-b152-2c3470c44c84
https://www.ft.com/content/ce7d678a-2499-4867-b152-2c3470c44c84
‘Globalisation as we knew it’ may be over, says HSBC chair Mark Tucker
UK-based bank is dominant in financing trade flows around the world
www.ft.com
March 25, 2025 at 7:35 AM
The kind of vacuous statement that actually means nothing, what is "as we know it"? Meaningless.