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Peter Aspden is the Financial Times’ arts writer, having previously been its arts editor for five years. He joined the paper in 1994, as deputy books and arts editor and a general feature writer on Weekend FT. He has written on numerous subjects, including travel, religion, politics, history, most art forms and sport: he covered the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, and the World Cup in France in 1998.
He was born in London in 1958, but spent much of his childhood in Greece, where his mother was born. He was educated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics, before going into journalism. He joined the Times Higher Education Supplement in 1985, where he went on to become deputy editor.
He has been writing a weekly column on contemporary culture since January 2004; it appears in the Life & Arts section every Saturday. - -
The best of times, the worst of times
There is unprecedented cultural success: galleries and museums are fuller than ever, theatres are packed and art forms are looking relentlessly forward, writes Peter Aspden
Giacometti sets sale record with £65m sculpture
A sculpture by Alberto Giacometti became the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction when it fetched £65m ($104.3m) at Sotheby’s London on Wednesday night
It doesn’t make sense any more
Popular music has undergone a quiet revolution in recent years – not just its lyrics, which have always flirted with nonsense, but its integrity as an art form, laments Peter Aspden
Theatres enjoy record performance
The Society of London Theatres announces box office revenues are up by 7.6 per cent on the previous year, while attendances also increase by 5.5 per cent to more than 14m. Both figures hit new heights for the London stage
Simply out of this world
There are certain works of art that achieve all that they set out to do; and others that change the direction of their very art form. Peter Aspden thinks ‘Avatar’ does both
Things are what they used to be
The BBC and the British Museum collaborate on a project to tell the history of the world through the scrutiny of 100 objects from the museum’s collection, writes Peter Aspden
Realism pervades at London art fair
Bargain hunters were out in force to snap up affordable works of art at this year’s London Art Fair, with prices scaled down to reflect public interest in prints from emerging artists
Profit and loss
As Gustav Klimt’s ‘Church in Cassone’ is set to go under the hammer, Peter Aspden examines how restitution cases are transforming the art market
Coffee with Orson Welles
Christian McKay, who plays the American director in Richard Linklater’s movie, tells Peter Aspden he was at first insulted when asked if he would do a show based on the rotund figure
Sex & Violence, Death & Silence
Peter Aspden surveys a collection of writing on contemporary art by the late critic and novelist Gordon Burn and wonders if he is simply too close to his subjects
