PHOTOGRAPHY: BRIEF ENCOUNTER

Look back on the brief but extraordinary career of American photographer Francesca Woodman at a retrospective of her work in New York’s Guggenheim museum. It features over 100 vintage photographs, large-scale blueprints and the atmospheric black and white self-portraits that she’s best remembered for.
March 16 – June 13; guggenheim.org

MUSIC: FEIST IN 5

1. Leslie Feist is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Formerly of the indie band Broken Social Scene, she now goes it alone.

2. Her 2007 album The Reminder sold 2.5m copies and earned her four Grammy nominations.

3. She did an amazing version of her insanely catchy hit single 1-2-3-4 on Sesame Street. YouTube it – 19 million viewers can’t be wrong.

4. Style-wise, she’s a more tomboy-ish, windswept Charlotte Gainsbourg.

5. After releasing her beautiful, yearning new album Metals in late 2011, she’s playing a short UK tour from March 25-27. listentofeist.com

Shop Feist’s Style

BOOK: THROUGH THE KEYHOLE

Artists’ studios are usually off limits so a new coffee table tome, Sanctuary: Britain’s Artists and their Studios edited by Hossein Amirsageghi (Thames & Hudson), is a real gem. Expect plenty of lavish images and insights that reveal the private spaces of artists such as Polly Morgan, Grayson Perry, Tracey Emin and Juergen Teller.
Out March 19; amazon.com

FILM:GONE FISHING

Ewan McGregor does good geek in Salmon Fishing In the Yemen, an amusing adaptation of Paul Torday’s bestseller. He’s the Scottish fisheries expert lured into a Sheikh’s wildly ambitious plan to introduce salmon to the Yemen. Emily Blunt is the sparkling love interest while Kristin Scott Thomas the comedy spin doctor.
Out 9 March UK and US.

Shop Emily Blunt’s Style

TREND: SWEDEN SWINGS

First came Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series blockbuster novels. Then there was the incredible rise of actress Noomi Rapace, star of the original Girl With The Dragon Tattoo film adaptation and now the toast of Hollywood. Not forgetting the quirky pop of Lykke Li and the winsome folk of girl duo First Aid Kit. Yes, Sweden’s cultural moment continues to run. See for yourself – we recommend the super-chic Berns Hotel in Stockholm, a stunning 19th century restaurant turned boutique hotel. berns.se/en

THEATRE: FEEL THE NOISE

Michael Frayn’s multi-award-winning Noises Off played to packed audiences at London’s Old Vic this winter, breaking box office records and earning a host of five star reviews. If you missed it, fear not, the show is transferring to the West End with the same fantastic cast, including Celia Imrie and Robert Glenister.
March 24-June 30; delfontmackintosh.co.uk

SPEAK EASY: CLASSIC NOVELS

You’ll happily opine that this spring’s 1920s look is very ‘Great Gatsby’ but have you actually read the novel? Here’s the lowdown on some of those often-name-dropped (but less often actually read) classic novels…

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence

Banned in Britain until 1960, Lady C has become a by-word for all things sexually explicit although, by today’s standards, the consummation scene between Lady Chatterley and Mellors the gamekeeper is extremely tame.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

This novel’s title has passed into common parlance to mean a situation from which there is no escape. In Joseph Heller’s novel the Catch-22 is the insanity of war as viewed by his protagonist, US airman Yossarian.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Often invoked by parents to illustrate examples of feral behaviour in their young, William Golding’s book tells the story of a group of British Schoolboys left to fend for themselves on a tropical island and of the savagery that quickly surfaces.

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

Detailing the obsessions, drunkenness and moral bankruptcy of the roaring twenties, the novel is still extremely popular with modern audiences and the film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan is released this year.

EXHIBITION: TEXTILES TRIO

Designing Women: Post-War British Textiles at London’s Fashion and Textile Museum focuses on brilliantly bold, abstract textile designs by Lucienne Day, Jacqueline Groag and Marian Mahler from the 1950s and 1960s. The trio set a new colourful design precedent that influenced the rest of the world.
March 16 – June 16; ftmlondon.org