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Tuesday 2 December 2008

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Be selective

Andrew Lambirth

Wednesday, 6th February 2008

From Russia: French and Russian Master Paintings 1870-1925 from Moscow and St Petersburg

Royal Academy, until 18 April

Sponsored by E.ON

It is a salutary and instructive experience to forego the relatively civilised Press View of an exhibition, when only the denizens of the world’s press and assorted successful liggers are allowed in, and attempt to review a show amid the hurly-burly of an average open-to-the-public day. Especially when the exhibition has been talked up to the skies and punters are queuing to get in. Column inches had helped to create the unsatisfactory and uncomfortable viewing conditions in which I found myself last week, and here I am adding to them. While commending the contemporary appetite for culture, I do wish there were fewer people in the world. As usual these days we’re in danger of stifling the thing we love. Although I can’t quite agree with my esteemed colleague who called for his readers to boycott the Academy, I should warn you that this is a large exhibition but very uneven in quality: care has to be exercised in what you linger over, or exhaustion may set in halfway round and some of the best exhibits be missed.

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