This is Tomorrow: Twentieth-century Britain and its Artists

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The new letters fill crucial gaps in the record, notably enlarging our understanding of the genesis and publication of The Waste Land. This is the story of how the lives of British artists, from the late-nineteenth century to the present day, reflected and refracted the profound changes and historical events in the wider world. Bird illuminates how British artists have been remembered, reimagined, and reshaped by a century of dramatic events.

In This is Tomorrow Michael Bird takes a fresh look at the ‘long twentieth century’, from the closing years of Queen Victoria’s reign to the turn of the millennium, through the lens of the artists who lived and worked in this ever-changing Britain. The children’s novel “Black Beauty” was written by Anna Sewell in her fifties and she sold it outright for GBP20. A compelling and lively history that examines the lives of British artists from the late-19th century to today. From the American James McNeill Whistler's defence of his new kind of modern art against the British art establishment in the latter half of the 19th century to the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson's melting icebergs in London, he traverses the lives of the artists that have recorded, questioned and defined our times. As one of history’s most prolific moviemakers, his style and comic sensibility have been imitated, but never replicated, by countless other filmmakers over the years.

The book is lavishly illustrated with reproductions of many of Churchill’s paintings, some of them appearing for the first time. His subjects included his family homes at Blenheim and Chartwell, evocative coastal scenes on the French Riviera, and many sun-drenched depictions of Marrakesh in Morocco, as well as still life pictures and an extraordinarily revealing self-portrait, painted during a particularly troubled time in his life. In This is Tomorrow Michael Bird takes a fresh look at the ‘long twentieth century’, from the closing years of Queen Victoria’s reign to the turn of the millennium, through the lens of the artists who lived and worked in this ever-changing Britain. From the American James McNeill Whistler’s defence of his new kind of modern art against the British art establishment in the latter half of the 19th century to the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson’s melting icebergs in London, he traverses the lives of the artists that have recorded, questioned and defined our times. In war and peace, Churchill came to enjoy painting as his primary means of relaxation from the strain of public affairs.

In his introduction to Churchill: The Statesman as Artist, David Cannadine provides the most important account yet of Churchill’s life in art, which was not just a private hobby, but also, from 1945 onwards, an essential element of his public fame. Meet Monsieur Benoit, who appeared suddenly in Paris with a scheme for telegraphing messages across the world (or, at least, across the room) by means of electricity and the telepathic power of snails, and actually raised the money to build this extraordinary machine. In a brilliant narrative that vividly evokes the personalities who populate and drive this story―including Aubrey Beardsley, Damien Hirst, and Barbara Hepworth―author Michael Bird reevaluates how we look at the history of modern Britain.S. Eliot, edited by Valerie Eliot in 1988, covered the period from Eliot’s childhood in St Louis, Missouri, to the end of 1922, by which time he had settled in England, married and published The Waste Land. These are the ebbs and flows that Michael Bird teases out in this panoramic account of Britain and its artists in across the twentieth century.

The first part of this book brings together for the first time all of Churchill’s writings and speeches on art, not only ‘Painting as a Pastime’, but his addresses to the Royal Academy, his reviews of two of the Academy’s summer exhibitions, and an important speech he delivered about art and freedom in 1937. Getting up close and personal with the actors and actresses that have brought the iconic films to life, this book’s behind-the-scenes stories span the entire career of a man whose catalog has grown into a timeless cornerstone of American pop culture. This is a compelling and lively history that examines the lives of British artists from the late-19th century to today. This is Tomorrow is the work of an undercover agent – one who has bravely realigned the familiar legacies of British twentieth-century art.It's a brilliant book, by far the best survey of a period that I've read in years' - Andrew Lambirth, The Spectator 'A timely update of the story of British art, packed with contextual material and photographs . Richard Glyn Jones has cast his net wide to gather these accounts of human oddity and eccentricity, and the standard of his writing is high, with Lytton Strachey, Derek Hudson, Christopher Sykes and Ronald Knox among the authors included. His books include Artists’ Letters: Leonardo da Vinci to David Hockney, Studio Voices: Art and Life in 20th-century Britain and 100 Ideas that Changed Art.

This is Tomorrow is the work of an undercover agent - one who has bravely realigned the familiar legacies of British twentieth-century art. Mr Bird gives voice to artists previously sidelined in such historical overviews: Sir Frank Bowling, Lubaina Himid, Mary Kelly, John Latham, Phyllida Barlow. His powers of persuasion clearly exceeded those of Colonel Baker, who seemed the personification of Victorian solidity until that embarrassing incident in the sealed railway compartment, where he failed to entice Miss Dickinson to join in his bit of fun, and afterwards had to try and explain his conduct to the High Court, with the whole nation hanging on his every word.The second part of the book provides previously uncollected critical accounts of his work by some of Churchill’s contemporaries: Augustus John’s hitherto unpublished introduction to the Royal Academy exhibition of Churchill’s paintings in 1959, and essays and reviews by Churchill’s acquaintances Sir John Rothenstein, Professor Thomas Bodkin and the art critic Eric Newton. At the heart of this original book are the successive waves of displacement caused by global wars and persecution that conversely brought fresh ideas and new points of view to the British Isles; educational reforms opened new routes for young people from working-class backgrounds; movements of social change enabled the emergence of female artists and artists of colour; and the emergence of the mass media shaped modern modes of communication and culture. A compelling and lively history that examines the lives of British artists from the late nineteenth century to today. Mr Bird's evocative prose keeps us turning the pages, from his immersive introductions that take us back to key moments in history to his pithy descriptions' - Charlotte Mullins, Country Life 'An enjoyable book, one which will entertain and inform even those who consider themselves well versed in this country's art history. Bird has fantastic access to the stories, anecdotes, and personal recollections of those who were actually there.