Author | Lightnews

Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · 2d

Any 18 year olds on here?

🚆 We celebrate 40 years of Schengen by sharing 40 000 travel passes!

You could get a free travel pass with #DiscoverEU to explore Europe’s culture, history and diversity.

18 and ready to explore Europe? Don’t miss out! 👇
link.europa.eu/6xXcnd

A large roadside billboard in front of a moving blue train. The billboard reads: “If you’re looking for a sign, this is it: Apply for a free DiscoverEU travel pass!” with the EU flag in the top right corner.

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · 19d

#TheNerve is already breaking stories

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 21d

NEW: The British politician, his Russian intelligence handler & a Kremlin plot against the US & Ukraine.

My new piece about Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage for @thenerve_news in which we ask:

Why, even now, is no-one asking questions?

t.co/BUTtpK9C4S

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · 29d

Would love to go to this too: a John Le Carre exhibition at the Bodleian #LeCarre #Tradecraft

visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/lecarre

John le Carré: Tradecraft

Free exhibition at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford

visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Oct 3

If you go, I'd love to see some photos (there's nothing on the website). And yes, literary maps are useful—and fun. Also very collectable, I've learned.

Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 29

I rather like this: 'On the Hunt' by British artist Jack Penny, currently in residence at the crumbling Elveden Hall in Suffolk—formerly owned by the Guinness family. Who's hunting who? #Painting

A photograph of a worn, historical room features a deteriorating ornate plaster ceiling with visible lath and peeling paint, suggesting long-term neglect. Below the ceiling, a large, vividly colored painting hangs above an intricately carved white fireplace. The artwork depicts a stylized figure on horseback, sounding a horn, surrounded by several red foxes in motion against a dark green background. The room’s plaster walls are chipped and water-stained, adding to the overall sense of decay. To the left, a white wooden door marked “219” stands slightly ajar, its paint chipped and handle rusted, enhancing the atmosphere of faded grandeur.

A close-up of a stylized painting shows a whimsical scene of a man riding a pale horse, blowing a hunting horn while dressed in a cream-colored coat, red-striped trousers, and black boots. The rider has exaggerated facial features, including a large nose and mustache, giving the piece a humorous tone. Surrounding the horse and rider are several animated red foxes with expressive, almost cartoon-like faces, all set against a dark green background. The flat perspective and bold colour palette give the artwork a folk art or naïve art style.

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 29

If I was in London, I'd go to this: an exhibition of Ursula K Le Guin's mapmaking. There's book too. #LeGuin #UrsulaKLeGuin

www.aaschool.ac.uk/publicprogra...

AA School

Architectural Association School of Architecture's website homepage is the online entrance into the AA; to its courses from Foundation to PhD for undergraduate and postgraduate students; its open publ...

www.aaschool.ac.uk

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 28

A rare book dealer / investigative journalist + Jim Thompson paperbacks + a JJ Cale soundtrack. #TheLowdown feels like someone wrote a TV show for me

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 28

@karaswisher.bsky.social would be proud. Good luck to them!

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · Sep 26

What do you do when your media org is captured? You start your own.

Introducing....The Nerve!!! @thenerve-news.bsky.social

We're all-female, journalist-owned & launching next week.

Please help us build a truly independent, progressive new media!👊👊👊

Press Gazette @pressgazette.co.uk · Sep 26

Former Observer big-hitters inc @carolecadwalla.bsky.social launch new title The Nerve with redundancy payouts

After Observer sale: "We decided to launch a title that the journalists themselves would own, that would be truly independent"
pressgazette.co.uk/news/former-...

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 22

Every solstice @david94117.bsky.social sends out 220+ artworks by mail to lucky people around the world. I'm hoping to get one, but we'll see. And, yes, they are always this good #Art #Drawing

dpxx_art @david94117.bsky.social · Sep 22

( 09-21-25 ) A few of the 5x7s that draw on the idea of “half & half not” and mailed to more than 220 people in celebration of the Equinox. Half it is. Big love to all mail carriers everywhere.
#dpxx #5x7s #newwork #halftime #solstitials #artsky #designsky #mailart #allmyrelations

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 22

If you need cheering up (I did)...

Anne Denoon @annedenoon.bsky.social · Sep 22

Anna Karina, #BOTD 1940
(As good an excuse as any to post this clip.)
🎬

www.youtube.com/watch?v=61H_...

Bande à part (extract) | BFI DVD

YouTube video by BFI

www.youtube.com

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 22

My favourite pic from a long weekend exploring the Danish island of Bornholm. It's from a harbour-front bar in Gudhjem (God home). The large photo is of Jacques Brell, the reason for which I enjoy remaining entirely ignorant. #TimeofGifts

This image shows a neatly organized set of wooden shelves mounted on a white wall, displaying an assortment of drinking glasses and dishes in what appears to be a cozy, rustic café or bar. The bottom two shelves are packed with clear glass tumblers stacked upside-down, while the top shelf holds wine glasses, a stack of small plates, olive oil bottles, a tall wooden pepper grinder, and a horn-shaped drinking vessel. Above the shelf, two black-and-white photographs of men—one smiling in a beret and the other smoking a cigarette—are pinned to a rough beam. Multicolored string lights are draped along the ceiling, adding a festive and eclectic touch to the space.

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 18

Listening to Linda Ronstadt on repeat all evening. She's so good

A black-and-white photograph captures a young woman sitting on a low concrete step in front of a wooden fence, with plants and wildflowers growing nearby. Her long hair is being blown by the wind, partially obscuring her face, which is turned to the side in a serene, contemplative expression. She wears a striped, long-sleeved mini dress and large hoop earrings, her hands resting loosely in her lap.

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 18

Vintage, though it's a good idea to reissue them in that classic design. I'm trying to compile a hardback set too. Harder! Only found 2 so far...

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 18

So there *is* good news! Very much looking forward to listening

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Reposted by Mark Stevens

Anne Denoon @annedenoon.bsky.social · Sep 16

Lauren Bacall #BOTD 1924
📷Louise Dahl-Wolfe, in Harper's Bazaar, 1943

#LaurenBacall #LouiseDahl-Wolfe

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 16

Love this: AI trained on AI-generated fakes to identify 'real' fakes that aren't any good

AI Art News @ai-art-news.bsky.social · Sep 16

'Norval AI' identifies fake Norval Morrisseau works that flooded the market. It is trained on AI-generated fakes produced by Acrylic Robotics.

“We needed...to test our artificial intelligence programme—the existing fake paintings were so terrible.” #AIArt

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/09/16/h...

How AI-trained robots are helping to root out fake paintings tied to a notorious forgery case

The Norval AI tool is being used to determine the authenticity of works alleged to by the Canadian artist Norval Morrisseau

www.theartnewspaper.com

Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 8

Brodsky on Venice’s nebbia (fog enclosed city):

“This is a time for reading, for burning electricity all day long, for going easy on self-deprecating thoughts or coffee, for listening to the BBC World Service, for going to bed early.”

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 6

Picked up Mountolive today to complete the paperback set. These things make me happy #bookcollecting #lawrencedurrell

Four paperback novels by Lawrence Durrell with red, umber, blue and green covers—all with a distinctive white handprint motive.

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 5

This prompted an embarrassing LOL at cafe:

“What Paradise and vacation have in common is that you have to pay for both, and the coin is your previous life.”

Brodsky, Watermark

Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 4

Years ago, Louisiana Art Museum outside Copenhagen exhibited one. It smelled like a carpet warehouse and visitors treated it like those kid ball pits. Kinda fun

Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 4

Verner Panton’s ‘Fantasy Landscape’ (1970). Odd to think this was commissioned by Bayer Pharma to outfit a Rhine excursion steamer hired as their showroom for the Cologne Furniture Fair.

This image depicts a surreal, futuristic interior space designed with organic, cave-like forms and saturated neon lighting. Two people dressed in white lounge comfortably within a tunnel-like room filled with soft, sculptural seating that flows seamlessly into the walls and ceiling. The environment is bathed in vibrant hues of blue, purple, pink, red, and orange, creating a psychedelic atmosphere. The walls and structures feature rounded, fluid shapes that resemble a fantastical grotto or abstract natural formation, evoking a retro-futuristic or 1970s space-age aesthetic.

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 4

All this could be yours for just 1.5 million GBP

www.worldofinteriors.com/story/richar...

Lonesome spines: buyer sought for over 150,000 books and the one-time Yorkshire Dales youth hostel in which they’re housed

Richard Axe is celebrated in the bookselling trade for his vast collection of antiquarian and second-hand volumes. Since 2005, his stock has been arrayed on over a mile’s worth of shelving in a former...

www.worldofinteriors.com

Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 4

Just finished—an excellent, well-told survey of English (not British) art between the wars. Lots of ‘new-to-me’ artists + well-known figures like Paul Nash and Ben Nicholson.

#FrancisSpalding #EnglishArt

A yellow book showing an image of Eric Ravilious’ famous painting depicting an empty railway carriage with blue seats looking out onto green hills

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Reposted by Mark Stevens

Side-by-Side @side-by-side-art.bsky.social · Sep 3

Jean Siméon Chardin, Glass of Water and Coffee Pot (1760) + Georgio Morandi, Still Life (1955)

Morandi cited Chardin as a model for the quiet sobriety in his still life compositions

#SideBySide #Art #Painting #ArtHistory #Chardin #Morandi #GeorgioMorandi #StillLife

Two still life paintings side by side. The first, rendered in a realistic and classical style, shows a dark brown jug with a side spout, a clear glass of water, and three garlic bulbs resting on a wooden surface with dramatic lighting and a subdued, earthy palette. The second painting adopts a minimalist and modern aesthetic, depicting four simplified objects—a gray cylinder, a yellow bottle, a white bottle, and a round beige form—set against a flat, neutral background with muted colors and rough brushstrokes that emphasize form over detail.

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Mark Stevens @markstevens.bsky.social · Sep 2

True Grit is a joy to read:

“He said he knew a woman in Sedalia Missouri who had stepped on a needle as a girl, and nine years later the needle worked out the thigh of her third child.”

#TrueGrit