Jeweller Theo Fennell: ‘Being called the king of bling is better than the prince of darkness’
The high-class jeweller on switching from silversmithing to memoir-writing to keep up with his daughters, including the film-maker Emerald, in lockdown
The idea of breathing: on being an artist in regional Australia
Painter Lucy Culliton, musician Michael Simic and writer Robyn Cadwallader reflect on the creative power of country NSW
David McKee obituary
Creator of Elmer the Patchwork Elephant and Mr Benn, who wrote and illustrated children’s classics
‘A completely different language’: how Ukrainian writers and artists are responding to the war
Across the arts, creators are producing poignant, direct work at speed at the front line of Russia’s war of aggression
Letters to Gwen John by Celia Paul review – a woman in her own image
The painter conveys her spiritual connection with a fellow obsessive and ascetic artist in this fascinating book of imagined correspondence that lays bare the creative process
Modern Buildings in Britain review – a phenomenal work of gathering and observation
From a radar station in Fleetwood to the BBC’s Cardiff studios, Owen Hatherley’s generous survey of modernist architecture is insightful and surprising
Christopher Alexander obituary
Architect and theorist who believed in creating human-centred buildings, drawing on new technology and ancient traditions
Darling buds: books, music, theatre and more with spring in their hearts
From Chaucer’s elemental epic to Gnarls Barkley’s alternative take on gospel, our critics suggest popular culture inspired by the return of sunnier skies
A Life of Picasso Volume IV by John Richardson review – demon or deity?
This ingenious final volume of an epic biography illuminates the imagery in the artist’s work during Europe’s war years and his complicated love life
On my radar: Jehnny Beth’s cultural highlights
The Savages frontwoman and actor on her admiration for Cillian Murphy, why she was thrilled by Sex Education and how boxing has kept her body and soul together
Like something from a Kubrick film – the hunt for Britain’s best modern buildings
Author Owen Hatherley set out to find fabulous modern buildings all over Britain, from Aberdeen to Aberystwyth. What did he learn? That every town has one – even Reading
In brief: Constable: A Portrait; Wivenhoe; The Enemy Within – reviews
A revisionist biography of the English landscape painter; a murder mystery in Essex; and an inventive counterfactual detective story
An evil bear, a tinpot Churchill, a vile virus… My sketch show for our times
The Tories won by a landslide, Brexit got done, Covid loomed… and the Observer cartoonist Chris Riddell picked up his pen. Here he tells of his daily ritual
A Life of Picasso: Volume IV by John Richardson review – stranger things
The final volume of biography by Richardson, who died before finishing it, is a thrilling survey of Picasso’s surrealist era
Get off the sofa: music, art and more to summon motivation
From noisy young punks to a tiny word on a ceiling, our critics recommend popular culture to light a fire underneath you