Only Artists

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Only Artists brings two artists together to talk about their creative work.

Only Artists from BBC Radio 4 brings two artists together to talk about their creative work. The agenda is theirs, the conversation is free-flowing, and there is no presenter.

Only Artists from BBC Radio 4 brings two artists together to talk about their creative work. The agenda is theirs, the conversation is free-flowing, and there is no presenter.   The title derives from the art historian EH Gombrich, who began his highly influential book The Story of Art with the famous line “There really is no such thing as art. There are only artists”. Here are some of them…

Only Artists Podcast

Only Artists: Chantal Joffe meets Olivia Laing

Chantal Joffe meets Olivia Laing

BBC Radio 4 - Only Artists, Chantal Joffe meets Olivia Laing

The painter Chantal Joffe meets the writer Olivia Laing.

The painter Chantal Joffe, acclaimed for her portraits of women, often created on a very large scale, meets Olivia Laing, whose books include the prize-winning novel Crudo.

The painter Chantal Joffe meets the writer Olivia Laing. 

Chantal Joffe was Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy of Arts until 2019, and is renowned for her bold, large-scale portraits of women, and for her self-portraits. She has won the Charles Wollaston Award for the 'most distinguished work' in the  Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, chosen from more than 1300 entries. In 2018 she set herself the challenge of creating a self-portrait every day. 

Olivia Laing's books include The Lonely City, a reflection on what it means to be alone, which has been translated into 17 languages and sold over 100,000 copies, and The Trip to Echo Spring, which focuses on the connections between creativity and alcohol. Her novel Crudo, set in the summer of 2017, was widely acclaimed and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2019. 

Producer: Clare Walker

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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