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Brian Sewell

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Brian Sewell (born 15 July 1931)^[1] is a British art critic. He writes for the Evening Standard and is noted for his artistic conservatism and acerbic reviews of the Turner Prize and conceptual art; these, and his upper class demeanor, have also made him into a frequent figure of fun.

1 Early life
2 Art criticism
3 Television
4 Homosexuality
5 Other activities
6 See also
7 Notes and references

Early life

His father, a composer, committed suicide before he was born.^[2] Sewell was born and raised in Kensington, London, attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School (which he has referred to as "bloody fucking Haberdashers'")^[1], and then the Courtauld Institute of Art, where he was tutored by Anthony Blunt and became his friend as a result. Sewell graduated in 1957, and worked at Christie's auction house, specialising in Old Master paintings and drawings. He did his National Service in the Royal Army Service Corps, in which he was commissioned.

Art criticism

In 1984 he became the art critic of the Evening Standard (replacing "avant-garde" critic Richard Cork), from where he has won many press awards, including Critic of the Year in 1988, Arts Journalist of the Year in 1994, the Hawthornden Prize for Art Criticism in 1995 and the Foreign Press Award (Arts) in 2000. In April 2003 he was awarded "The George Orwell" prize for his political/current affairs column in the Evening Standard. In his criticisms of the Tate Gallery's art, he coined the phrase, the "Serota Tendency", after its director Nicholas Serota. It was not until the late 1990s that he became a household media figure through his appearances on television.

Sewell is noted for his somewhat formal, old-fashioned diction and anti-populist sentiments. He offended some people in Gateshead by claiming an exhibition was too important to be held only at the town's Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and should be shown to "more sophisticated" audiences in London. 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." Similarly John Humphrys, in his book Lost for Words, writes "They (people who deliberately speak 'poshly') try to speak like the Queen or even Brian Sewell, the only man I have ever met who makes the Queen sound common." Sewell is imitated by Jon Culshaw for the Dead Ringers comedy show. A track on the 1991 comedy CD Tested on Humans for Irritancy has satirical journalist Victor Lewis-Smith telephoning Sewell and, in Sewell's voice, asking the critic to appear on a spoof arts programme; naturally, Sewell was not amused.

Television

In 2003, Brian Sewell made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, as a travelogue-cum-architectural criticism documentary called The Naked Pilgrim, produced by Wag TV for Channel 5. Although he has not practised the religion for several decades, Sewell still considers himself to be a member of the Catholic Church, prompting an emotional response to the faith of pilgrims in Lourdes. The series attracted large audiences and won the prestigious Sandford St. Martin Trust award for Best Religious Programme.^[3] Following the success of the The Naked Pilgrim Sewell was given presenting duties on two more series for Channel 5: Brian Sewell's Phantoms & Shadows: 100 Years of Rolls Royce which aired in 2004 and Brian Sewell's Grand Tour, which aired 2006. In Dirty Dalí: A Private View broadcast on Channel 4 on 3 June 2007, Sewell described his acquaintance with Salvador Dalí in the late 1960s, which included lying down in the fetal position without trousers in the armpit of a figure of Christ and masturbating for Dalí who pretended to take photos while fumbling in his trousers.^[4]^[5] Sewell has also appeared twice as panellist on the BBC's satirical news quiz Have I Got News For You? and more recently he tried to teach cricketer Phil Tufnell about art in ITV's programme Don't Call Me Stupid. He will act as Big Brother during 2008's Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack. ^[6]

Homosexuality

In a television programme broadcast on Channel 4 on 24 July 2007, marking the 40th anniversary of the passing of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, Brian Sewell said, "I never came out... but I have slowly emerged".^[7] He has 'describe[d] the homosexual condition as an "affliction" and a "disability" and [told] readers, "no homosexual has ever chosen this sexual compulsion".' He has been perceived by some commentators as 'violently homophobic'.^[1] In the first episode of the The Naked Pilgrim Sewell alluded to the loss of his virginity at the hands of a 60 year old French grandmother "who knew what she was doing and was determined."; Sewell was 20 at the time.

Other activities

Sewell is a museum adviser in South Africa, Germany and the United States. He is also patron of the British charity NORM-UK which raises awareness of circumcision and other forms of surgical alteration of the genitals. From August 2006, Sewell has provided the tongue-in-cheek voice-over for television advertisements for Apetina brand Feta cheese, the "conceit" being that the salads on which the cheese is used are works of art. Brian Sewell is also a noted aficionado of classic automobiles, and over several decades has written extensively about cars, classic and contemporary, in the Evening Standard and elsewhere. In both his TV series, on the pilgrimage to Santiago and the Grand Tour (supra), he drove his venerable Mercedes-Benz 600SEL coupe.