Editor's Letter: Lucinda Bredin

"'Spirit of the age' is a phrase that's too often, perhaps, accompanied by a rolling of eyes or a contemptuous snort. And while we latch onto symbols that seem to reflect the contemporary grotesque – I'm thinking of fidget spinners, rainbow bagels and avocado lattes – the obverse of the coin is the people and objects that encapsulate the optimism of an era.

These thoughts came to mind when putting together this issue, as it contains some towering figures that defined their epoch. Take Andrew Grima, the jeweller. To mark a single-owner collection of Grima's avant-garde designs coming to auction in September, Nicholas Foulkes has revisited the 1960s to discover why Grima's pieces were worn by Bond girls and royalty – and why Grima's Jermyn Street shop (designed by Ove Arup, no less) resembled the lair of a Bond villain.

Grima's designs reflected the 'white heat of technology', to use Harold Wilson's slogan for a time when space travel sprung from Marvel Comics to the front pages of the broadsheets. Anything seemed possible in those days. Roll backwards to the Thirties, however, and Britain was a very different place: pessimistic, parochial and with the threat of impending war hanging over it. Looking at a photograph of Herbert Read, the art critic who did so much to import European modernism to England, shown scrutinising the teeth of a surreal sculpture in his suit and bowtie, reminded me how one man can make such a difference.

On page 32, Herbert's son Piers Paul Read, the novelist and biographer, writes about how his father created an artistic network – he founded the ICA with Roland Penrose – to link British artists with the European movements. He was rewarded with gifts from artists with whom he had worked, and some of these pieces are being offered at Bonhams this autumn.

Finally, the life of M.F. Husain in itself sums up our current times. The artist, whose major work Untitled (Blue Black Horse) is offered in October's Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art sale, was one of the most feted in India... until religious extremism caught up with him. Turn to page 22 to find out what happened.

Enjoy the issue."

Lucinda Bredin

Editor's Letter: Lucinda Bredin

"'Spirit of the age' is a phrase that's too often, perhaps, accompanied by a rolling of eyes or a contemptuous snort. And while we latch onto symbols that seem to reflect the contemporary grotesque – I'm thinking of fidget spinners, rainbow bagels and avocado lattes – the obverse of the coin is the people and objects that encapsulate the optimism of an era.

These thoughts came to mind when putting together this issue, as it contains some towering figures that defined their epoch. Take Andrew Grima, the jeweller. To mark a single-owner collection of Grima's avant-garde designs coming to auction in September, Nicholas Foulkes has revisited the 1960s to discover why Grima's pieces were worn by Bond girls and royalty – and why Grima's Jermyn Street shop (designed by Ove Arup, no less) resembled the lair of a Bond villain.

Grima's designs reflected the 'white heat of technology', to use Harold Wilson's slogan for a time when space travel sprung from Marvel Comics to the front pages of the broadsheets. Anything seemed possible in those days. Roll backwards to the Thirties, however, and Britain was a very different place: pessimistic, parochial and with the threat of impending war hanging over it. Looking at a photograph of Herbert Read, the art critic who did so much to import European modernism to England, shown scrutinising the teeth of a surreal sculpture in his suit and bowtie, reminded me how one man can make such a difference.

On page 32, Herbert's son Piers Paul Read, the novelist and biographer, writes about how his father created an artistic network – he founded the ICA with Roland Penrose – to link British artists with the European movements. He was rewarded with gifts from artists with whom he had worked, and some of these pieces are being offered at Bonhams this autumn.

Finally, the life of M.F. Husain in itself sums up our current times. The artist, whose major work Untitled (Blue Black Horse) is offered in October's Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art sale, was one of the most feted in India... until religious extremism caught up with him. Turn to page 22 to find out what happened.

Enjoy the issue."

Lucinda Bredin

Editor's Letter: Lucinda Bredin

"'Spirit of the age' is a phrase that's too often, perhaps, accompanied by a rolling of eyes or a contemptuous snort. And while we latch onto symbols that seem to reflect the contemporary grotesque – I'm thinking of fidget spinners, rainbow bagels and avocado lattes – the obverse of the coin is the people and objects that encapsulate the optimism of an era.

These thoughts came to mind when putting together this issue, as it contains some towering figures that defined their epoch. Take Andrew Grima, the jeweller. To mark a single-owner collection of Grima's avant-garde designs coming to auction in September, Nicholas Foulkes has revisited the 1960s to discover why Grima's pieces were worn by Bond girls and royalty – and why Grima's Jermyn Street shop (designed by Ove Arup, no less) resembled the lair of a Bond villain.

Grima's designs reflected the 'white heat of technology', to use Harold Wilson's slogan for a time when space travel sprung from Marvel Comics to the front pages of the broadsheets. Anything seemed possible in those days. Roll backwards to the Thirties, however, and Britain was a very different place: pessimistic, parochial and with the threat of impending war hanging over it. Looking at a photograph of Herbert Read, the art critic who did so much to import European modernism to England, shown scrutinising the teeth of a surreal sculpture in his suit and bowtie, reminded me how one man can make such a difference.

On page 32, Herbert's son Piers Paul Read, the novelist and biographer, writes about how his father created an artistic network – he founded the ICA with Roland Penrose – to link British artists with the European movements. He was rewarded with gifts from artists with whom he had worked, and some of these pieces are being offered at Bonhams this autumn.

Finally, the life of M.F. Husain in itself sums up our current times. The artist, whose major work Untitled (Blue Black Horse) is offered in October's Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art sale, was one of the most feted in India... until religious extremism caught up with him. Turn to page 22 to find out what happened.

Enjoy the issue."

Lucinda Bredin

Editor's Letter: Lucinda Bredin

"'Spirit of the age' is a phrase that's too often, perhaps, accompanied by a rolling of eyes or a contemptuous snort. And while we latch onto symbols that seem to reflect the contemporary grotesque – I'm thinking of fidget spinners, rainbow bagels and avocado lattes – the obverse of the coin is the people and objects that encapsulate the optimism of an era.

These thoughts came to mind when putting together this issue, as it contains some towering figures that defined their epoch. Take Andrew Grima, the jeweller. To mark a single-owner collection of Grima's avant-garde designs coming to auction in September, Nicholas Foulkes has revisited the 1960s to discover why Grima's pieces were worn by Bond girls and royalty – and why Grima's Jermyn Street shop (designed by Ove Arup, no less) resembled the lair of a Bond villain.

Grima's designs reflected the 'white heat of technology', to use Harold Wilson's slogan for a time when space travel sprung from Marvel Comics to the front pages of the broadsheets. Anything seemed possible in those days. Roll backwards to the Thirties, however, and Britain was a very different place: pessimistic, parochial and with the threat of impending war hanging over it. Looking at a photograph of Herbert Read, the art critic who did so much to import European modernism to England, shown scrutinising the teeth of a surreal sculpture in his suit and bowtie, reminded me how one man can make such a difference.

On page 32, Herbert's son Piers Paul Read, the novelist and biographer, writes about how his father created an artistic network – he founded the ICA with Roland Penrose – to link British artists with the European movements. He was rewarded with gifts from artists with whom he had worked, and some of these pieces are being offered at Bonhams this autumn.

Finally, the life of M.F. Husain in itself sums up our current times. The artist, whose major work Untitled (Blue Black Horse) is offered in October's Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art sale, was one of the most feted in India... until religious extremism caught up with him. Turn to page 22 to find out what happened.

Enjoy the issue."

Lucinda Bredin