Marcus Williamson

John Chamberlain: Sculptor who gave new life to scrap-heap cars

2012-01-05T00:01:00.000Z

Obituary of John Chamberlain in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

George Whitman: Proprietor of the Shakespeare and Company bookshop

2011-12-21T00:01:00.001Z

Obituary of George Whitman in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Axel Axgil: Gay activist who pioneered civil partnerships

2011-11-03T00:01:00.000Z

Obituary of Axel Axgil in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Dennis Ritchie: Computer software pioneer

2011-10-17T00:01:00.000+01:00

Obituary of Dennis Ritchie in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Wilson Greatbatch: Inventor of the implantable cardiac pacemaker

2011-09-30T00:01:00.000+01:00

Obituary of Wilson Greatbatch in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

John Hoyland: Artist whose vibrant, vivid style made him one of Britain's greatest abstractionists

2011-08-04T00:01:00.001+01:00

Obituary of John Hoyland in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Lawrence Lee: Stained-glass artist acclaimed for his work on Coventry Cathedral

2011-07-25T00:01:00.001+01:00

Obituary of Lawrence Lee in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Claude Cahun at School in England

2011-04-24T00:01:00.001+01:00

I'm pleased to announce the publication of my new book on the early life of Claude Cahun.

The French surrealist photographer and writer Claude Cahun (née Lucy Schwob (1894-1954)) spent a year at Parsons Mead School, Ashtead, England during 1907-1908. This book examines newly-discovered material and writings from this period of her life.

Paperback book
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/claude-cahun-at-school-in-england/15544288

PDF download
http://www.lulu.com/product/file-download/claude-cahun-at-school-in-england/15544289

Alan Uglow: Artist who took inspiration from his love of football

2011-04-23T00:01:00.000+01:00

Obituary of Alan Uglow in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Andrée Chedid: Award-winning writer whose sparse language grappled with the human condition

2011-02-15T00:01:00.000Z

Obituary of Andrée Chedid in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Accessing internet via satellite

2010-12-10T00:01:00.000Z

Accessing internet via satellite in the Technically Speaking column for French Week issue 20.

Bella Akhmadulina: Poet who helped liberate Russian literary consciousness following the end of Stalin's rule

2010-12-03T00:01:00.005Z

Obituary of Bella Akhmadulina in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

What is WikiLeaks?

2010-12-03T00:01:00.002Z

What is WikiLeaks? in the Technically Speaking column for French Week issue 19.

How can I use UK TV "watch again" services in France?

2010-11-26T00:01:00.000Z

How can I use UK TV "watch again" services in France? in the Technically Speaking column for French Week issue 18.

The Basics of Bas Débit

2010-11-19T00:01:00.002Z

The Basics of Bas Débit in the Technically Speaking column for French Week issue 17.

Jack Levine: Artist whose work ruthlessly satirised 20th-century America

2010-11-15T00:01:00.000Z

Obituary of Jack Levine in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Microsoft Windows Phone 7 handsets come to France

2010-10-29T12:01:00.001+01:00

Microsoft Windows Phone 7 handsets come to France in French Week issue 14.

The dark history of the Rivesaltes camp

2010-10-29T00:01:00.005+01:00

The dark history of the Rivesaltes camp in French Week issue 14.

The Social Whirl

2010-10-29T00:01:00.003+01:00

The Social Whirl in the Technically Speaking column for French Week issue 14.

New carte musique to incite young to download legally

2010-10-22T00:01:00.009+01:00

New carte musique to incite young to download legally in French Week issue 13.

Don't get caught by Phishing

2010-10-22T00:01:00.008+01:00

Don't get caught by Phishing in the Technically Speaking column for French Week issue 13.

Paris contemporary art fair, the arty rendez-vous

2010-10-15T00:01:00.006+01:00

Paris contemporary art fair, the arty rendez-vous in French Week issue 12.

Temple of Mithras discovered in Angers

2010-10-15T00:01:00.005+01:00

Temple of Mithras discovered in Angers in French Week issue 12.

Teens banned from photo expo on teens

2010-10-15T00:01:00.004+01:00

Teens banned from photo expo on teens in French Week issue 12.

Adding another computer to your home network

2010-10-08T00:01:00.006+01:00

Adding another computer to your home network in the Technically Speaking column for French Week issue 11.

Le Petit Prince comes to le petit écran

2010-10-08T00:01:00.005+01:00

Le Petit Prince comes to le petit écran in French Week issue 11.

Centenarian surrealist shows in Seillans

2010-10-08T00:01:00.004+01:00

Centenarian surrealist shows in Seillans in French Week issue 11.

Maurice Broomfield: Photographer who documented British industry from the 1950s to the 1970s

2010-10-07T00:01:00.002+01:00

Obituary of Maurice Broomfield in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

New Legal Ombudsman receives first complaints - about Gallant Macmillan

2010-10-06T00:01:00.002+01:00

New Legal Ombudsman receives first complaints - about Gallant Macmillan - from TechEye

New Legal Ombudsman Receives First Complaint - from ITProPortal

UK Legal Ombudsman Opens and Receives P2P File Sharing Law Firm Complaints - from ISPreview

New Legal Ombudsman receives complaint against file-sharing solicitor Gallant Macmillan - from UniteTheCows

Toyota to manufacture new hybrid vehicle in France

2010-10-01T00:01:00.002+01:00

Toyota to manufacture new hybrid vehicle in France in French Week issue 10.

European telecoms face Apple and Google

2010-09-24T00:01:00.004+01:00

European telecoms face Apple and Google in French Week issue 9.

Broadband - a question of distance?

2010-09-24T00:01:00.002+01:00

Broadband - a question of distance? in the Technically Speaking column for French Week issue 9.

Claude Chabrol, bon vivant film director, dies

2010-09-17T00:01:00.004+01:00

Claude Chabrol, bon vivant film director, dies in French Week issue 8.

Mobile Broadband for visitors from the UK to France

2010-09-17T00:01:00.003+01:00

Mobile Broadband for visitors from the UK to France in the Technically Speaking column for French Week issue 8.

Google plans R&D centre in Paris

2010-09-17T00:01:00.001+01:00

Google plans R&D centre in Paris in French Week issue 8.

Corneille: Artist who helped set up the CoBrA group which placed spontaneity ahead of theory

2010-09-11T00:01:00.001+01:00

Obituary of Corneille in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Getting British TV in France

2010-09-10T00:01:00.002+01:00

Getting British TV in France in the Technically Speaking column for French Week issue 7.

Questions and Answers

2010-08-27T00:01:00.002+01:00

Questions and Answers in the Technically Speaking column for French Week issue 5.

Setting up your Broadband connection in France

2010-08-20T00:01:00.002+01:00

Setting up your Broadband connection in France in the Technically Speaking column for French Week issue 4.

Laurence Gardner: Alternative historian whose work helped inspire Dan Brown

2010-08-19T00:01:00.001+01:00

Obituary of Laurence Gardner in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Robert Natkin: Abstract painter whose work is remembered for its intimacy and deceptive serenity

2010-08-16T00:01:00.001+01:00

Obituary of Robert Natkin in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

David Warren: Inventor and developer of the 'black box' flight data recorder

2010-07-31T00:01:00.002+01:00

Obituary of David Warren in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

French Week

2010-07-30T00:01:00.006+01:00

A first for France: a weekly in English

France's first English-language weekly came out on Friday July 30th 2010 and will be on sale every Friday. It is for all those who still love the feel of a real newspaper and want to keep abreast of French affairs, news and culture.

French Week is independently owned so its main journalists can offer robust and unfettered views of French affairs. Editor Miranda Neame has lived and worked in France since her late teens, spending the past 15 years in publishing. News editor Robert Harneis is a seasoned observer of French and European affairs; he has published a biography of Ségolène Royal and translated Nicholas Sarkozy's best-seller 'Témoignage' into English.

French Week's 50 or so bilingual correspondents, all well-implanted around France, will be delving into the country's politics, administration, arts and lifestyle. The aims: to help French and English speakers understand each other; to get to the nitty-gritty of readers' concerns and to whet the curiosity of all residents and lovers of France.

Andrei Voznesensky: Poet who fought against artistic censorship in the Soviet Union

2010-07-05T00:01:00.004+01:00

Obituary of Andrei Voznesensky in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Peter Orlovsky: Beat poet and life partner of Allen Ginsberg

2010-06-03T00:01:00.000+01:00

Obituary of Peter Orlovsky in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Ed Roberts: Pioneering electronics engineer who built the first widely available home computer

2010-04-28T00:01:00.000+01:00

Obituary of Ed Roberts in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Ernst Beyeler: Charismatic and influential art dealer who co-founded the Art Basel Fair

2010-04-20T23:01:00.001+01:00

Obituary of Ernst Beyeler in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Bruno Gironcoli: Sculptor celebrated for his monumental designs and distorted outsize replics of everyday objects

2010-03-15T23:01:00.002Z

Obituary of Bruno Gironcoli in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Charis Wilson: Model and writer who became muse and collaborator for the photographer Edward Weston

2010-01-26T23:01:00.002Z

Obituary of Charis Wilson in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Kenneth Noland

2010-01-05T11:01:00.004Z

Kenneth Noland was an American painter best known for his large-scale canvases, geometric figures and expanses of flat colour. Noland's "colour field" paintings, first seen in 1950s, were an example of what the art critic Clement Greenberg termed "post painterly abstraction". This was a new and dramatic departure in American art, influenced by some of Jackson Pollock's techniques but which reacted against abstract expressionism. In these distinctive works Noland eschewed any symbolism or personal artistic traces, such as brush-strokes. He considered representation to be "a distraction... something apart from the formal characteristics of painting" and preferred instead to explore what he called the "the infinite range and expressive possibilities of colour".

Noland was born in Asheville, North Carolina in 1924. At the age of 14 he made his first excursion to the National Gallery in Washington. The visit prompted him to take up painting, using materials lent by his father, who was a pathologist by profession and keen amateur artist.

Following military service during the war, in 1946 Noland joined Black Mountain College, fortuitously located only some 20 miles from his home town. Black Mountain was a radical and experimental endeavour in education, which focussed on creativity and imposed no formal curriculum, encouraging students and staff to learn from one another through exchange of ideas and experiences. Art classes were under Ilya Bolotowsky and Josef Albers, who had previously taught at the Bauhaus and had fled to America from Nazi Germany in 1933. The work of these two geometric artists was to have a significant influence on Noland's oeuvre.

In 1948 he left for Paris to study with the Russian sculptor and painter Ossip Zadkine and had his first one-man show there a year later at the Galerie Raymond Creuze. Returning to Washington, he studied the works of Paul Klee in the Phillips Collection and was inspired by paintings such as Arabic Song (1932), in which Klee applied oil paint directly onto hessian, without first priming the material.

A further development to his technique came in 1953 when, invited by Clement Greenberg, he and his friend, the artist Morris Louis, visited the studio of abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler. On seeing her work Mountains and Sea (1952), Noland was struck by how she had used pigments and thinner directly to "soak stain" the canvas. Noland soon adopted this method of painting for many of his works, as it provided rich colours and left no traces of brushwork. Noland and Louis co-operated at this time on what they called "jam painting", working on the same canvas in experiments which led ultimately to Louis's Veil paintings series of 1954.

By 1956 Noland had moved away entirely from abstract expressionist principles and from the late fifties to the seventies there followed groups of his trademark geometrical painting series including: circles or "targets" (1958-62), chevrons (1962-4), diamonds (1964-7), stripes (late 1960s), lines (1970s). Two of the circles series of paintings, Gift (1961-2) and Drought (1962), are in the Tate collection. He first showed at the Tate as part of the group show Painting and Sculpture of a Decade, 1954-1964.

Describing his working methods for creating these geometrical works, he explained in a lecture later in life:

"Usually I start by fooling with the stuff, make messes. Sometimes something comes out of it; sometimes it doesn't. I paint my paintings directly. I almost never paint over. This maintains the attention of the picture for me, my contact with what I am doing."

In 1963 Noland moved to South Shaftsbury, Vermont, close to Bennington College, where he collaborated with Paul Feeley, Jules Olitski and British sculptor, Anthony Caro. In a 1966 Vogue article the museum director, Alan Solomon, dubbed the group the "Green Mountain Boys", in a double reference to their mentor Greenberg and to the 1775 Vermont revolutionaries of the same name.

By the end of the sixties, Noland had achieved considerable recognition. He and his wife Stephanie were dividing their time between a New York apartment and the Vermont farmstead. Time Magazine said of him in April 1969:

"Geometric painters are a dime a dozen these days. But few of them command the critical respect or the youthful following that Noland inspires. One obvious difference, for anyone who has seen a Noland painting, is that he somehow imparts through his brush, his sponges and his rollers a zest and vigor, a freshness and exuberance that other geometricists lack."

Noland had a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1977 and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in the same year.

During the early 1980s he experimented with irregularly-shaped canvases, breaking away from the restrictions of the traditional rectangular or square formats. A show of these works, Kenneth Noland Shaped Paintings 1981-82, runs from October 2009 to January 2010 at the Leslie Feely Fine Art Gallery in New York.

Tate Liverpool hosted the 2006 exhibition Kenneth Noland: The Stripe Paintings, curated by Christoph Grunenberg and Simon Groom and showing his huge horizontal works of the late sixties, consisting of simple stripes of pure colour.

For Noland the key to art was the essential dialogue between a painting and the viewer. In his own words:

“When you look at a great painting, it's like a conversation. It has questions for you. It raises questions in you.”

Born Asheville, North Carolina, 10 April 1924;
Married 1950, Cornelia Langer (two sons, one daughter) (divorced); Married 1967, Stephanie Gordon (divorced); Married Peggy L. Schiffer (one son); Married 1994, Paige Rense; Died Port Clyde, Maine, 5 January 2010;

(c) 2010 Marcus Williamson

Jeanne-Claude: Artist celebrated with her husband Christo for the pair's large-scale public artworks

2009-11-24T23:01:00.005Z

Obituary of Jeanne-Claude in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Sarane Alexandrian: French art historian, poet and right-hand man to André Breton

2009-10-27T23:01:00.003Z

Obituary of Sarane Alexandrian in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

John Michell: Expert on ancient knowledge and pioneer of the New Age

2009-05-21T20:01:00.003+01:00

Obituary of John Michell in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Helen Levitt: Photographer renowned for her portraits of street life in New York

2009-04-18T20:01:00.000+01:00

Obituary of Helen Levitt in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Inger Christensen: Experimental poet

2009-02-02T20:01:00.000Z

Obituary of Inger Christensen in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Claude Berri: Film director and screenwriter best known for 'Jean de Florette' and 'Manon des Sources'

2009-01-14T20:01:00.000Z

Obituary of Claude Berri in The Independent by Geoffrey MacNab, with additional notes on Claude Berri as an art collector by Marcus Williamson

Jacques Piccard: Oceanographer and pioneer of deep-sea exploration

2008-11-05T20:01:00.000Z

Obituary of Jacques Piccard in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Publication of The True Celtic Language and the Stone Circle of Rennes-les-Bains

2008-09-05T20:01:00.000+01:00

Publication of The True Celtic Language and the Stone Circle of Rennes-les-Bains (1886), by Abbé Henri Boudet, translated from the French by Marcus Williamson and Corella Hughes.

Review by Stella Maris

Enrico Donati: One of the last Surrealist artists

2008-05-21T20:01:00.000+01:00

Obituary of Enrico Donati in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Exhibition: Rennes les Bains et ses historiens

2008-01-16T20:01:00.000Z

16 - 19 January 2008 at Espace d'Art, Rennes les Bains

Christian Bourgois: French publisher of English writers

2008-01-02T20:01:00.001Z

Obituary of Christian Bougois in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Richard Leigh: 'Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' author

2007-11-29T20:01:00.000Z

Obituary of Richard Leigh in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Egon Bondy: Dissident 'literary hero'

2007-04-17T20:01:00.001+01:00

Obituary of Egon Bondy in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Heinz Berggruen: Art collector and dealer

2007-02-28T20:01:00.000Z

Obituary of Heinz Berggruen in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Ray Noorda: Pioneer of 'co-opetition'

2006-11-01T20:01:00.000Z

Obituary of Ray Noorda in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Eva Svankmajerova: Painter, ceramicist and art director

2005-11-02T20:01:00.000Z

Obituary of Eva Svankmajerova in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Mimi Parent: 'Incorrigibly wild' Surrealist

2005-06-25T20:01:00.000+01:00

Obituary of Mimi Parent in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Philip Lamantia: Surrealist poet who influenced the Beats

2005-03-15T20:01:00.000Z

Obituary of Philip Lamantia in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Gérard de Sède: Historian of the mystery of Rennes-le-Château

2004-06-24T20:01:00.001+01:00

Obituary of Gérard de Sède in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Using Public-Domain Site Blocking Lists with Novell BorderManager

2003-02-01T20:01:00.000Z

Using Public-Domain Site Blocking Lists with Novell BorderManager in Novell AppNotes by Marcus Williamson

Understanding BorderManager HTTP Proxy Logs

2002-01-01T20:01:00.000Z

Understanding BorderManager HTTP Proxy Logs in Novell AppNotes by Marcus Williamson

Policy-Based Management of Mobile Phones

2001-03-01T20:01:00.000Z

Policy-Based Management of Mobile Phones in Novell AppNotes by Marcus Williamson

Implementing Strong Passwords in an NDS environment

2000-08-01T20:01:00.000+01:00

Implementing Strong Passwords in an NDS environment in Novell AppNotes by Marcus Williamson

Configuring BorderManager Authentication Services for use with ActivCard Tokens

2000-05-01T20:01:00.000+01:00

Configuring BorderManager Authentication Services for use with ActivCard Tokens in Novell AppNotes by Marcus Williamson

Miriam Patchen

2000-03-15T20:01:00.000Z

Obituary of Miriam Patchen in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

Using ZENworks in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)

1999-11-01T20:01:00.000Z

Using ZENworks in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in Novell AppNotes by Marcus Williamson

Using Network Time Protocol (NTP) with NetWare 5

1999-07-01T20:01:00.000+01:00

Using Network Time Protocol (NTP) with NetWare 5 in Novell AppNotes by Marcus Williamson

Integrating ManageWise with E-mail, Mobile Phone, Pager and Fax Systems

1999-05-01T20:01:00.000+01:00

Integrating ManageWise with E-mail, Mobile Phone, Pager and Fax Systems in Novell AppNotes by Marcus Williamson

Btrieve in the NetWare Server Environment

1999-02-01T20:01:00.000Z

Btrieve in the NetWare Server Environment in Novell AppNotes by Marcus Williamson

Accessing the Novell Support Connection Web Forums on the Internet

1998-02-01T20:01:00.000Z

Accessing the Novell Support Connection Web Forums on the Internet in Novell AppNotes by Marcus Williamson

Licensing and Serialisation in NetWare 4.1

1996-07-01T20:01:00.000+01:00

Licensing and Serialisation in NetWare 4.1 in Novell AppNotes by Marcus Williamson

Configuring NetWare 4 for the Mobile User

1994-07-01T20:01:00.000+01:00

Configuring NetWare 4 for the Mobile User in Novell AppNotes by Marcus Williamson

Time in the NetWare Environment

1994-01-01T20:01:00.000Z

Time in the NetWare Environment in Novell AppNotes by Marcus Williamson