Visual arts
George Stubbs: 'all done from Nature', MK Gallery review - a glorious menagerieTuesday, 29 October 2019
Artist George Stubbs liked horses. The MK Gallery’s exhibition “all done from Nature” will try to convince you that he also cared about people. He did, to an extent; the commissions came that way. But about half way through the exhibition, the... Read more... |
Lucian Freud: The Self-Portraits, Royal Academy review - mesmerising intensitySunday, 27 October 2019
Lucian Freud died in 2011 after a career spanning some 70 odd years. Over the decades, he painted and drew himself repeatedly, creating a fascinating portrait of a man who spent an inordinate amount of time scrutinising himself and others.One of the... Read more... |
Bridget Riley, Hayward Gallery review - the thrill of seeingFriday, 25 October 2019
“People collect diamonds because they sparkle; or they sit on a bench in Cornwall and look out to sea”. At the Hayward Gallery for the opening of her retrospective, Bridget Riley speaks of such uncomplicated pleasures with evident delight. To... Read more... |
Hogarth: Place and Progress, Sir John Soane’s Museum review - state of the nationThursday, 24 October 2019
Of the British, the English have a reputation for satire. They’re also prone to stupidity. The combination of biting morality and excoriating wit required to deride this tendency reached notable heights in the work of engraver and painter William... Read more... |
Pre-Raphaelite Sisters, National Portrait Gallery review – a fascinating glimpse behind the scenesMonday, 21 October 2019
Focusing on twelve women who played a key role in the lives of Pre-Raphaelite painters like Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt, this timely exhibition begins with a whimper and ends with a bang. First up at the... Read more... |
Rembrandt's Light, Dulwich Picture Gallery review - a film-maker out of time?Friday, 11 October 2019
Among the numerous exhibitions marking the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt’s death, this small show at the Dulwich Picture Gallery stands out. A select but high quality group of paintings and works on paper provides the focus for this study of... Read more... |
Anna Maria Maiolino: Making Love Revolutionary, Whitechapel Gallery review – a gentle rebellionThursday, 10 October 2019
Now in her mid-seventies, Anna Maria Maiolino has been making work for six decades. Its a long stretch to cover in an exhibition, especially when the artist is not well known. Perhaps inevitably, then, this Whitechapel Gallery retrospective seems... Read more... |
Gauguin Portraits, National Gallery review - me, myself and ITuesday, 08 October 2019
“Gauguin was undoubtedly self-obsessed” begins the National Gallery’s latest dead cert blockbuster, as it cheerfully hijacks a de facto series begun next door at the National Portrait Gallery. Unlike Picasso and Cézanne, Gauguin is not known for his... Read more... |
Into the Night: Cabarets and Clubs in Modern Art, Barbican review - great theme, disappointing showTuesday, 08 October 2019
The Barbican’s latest offering – a look at the clubs and cabarets set up by artists mainly in the early years of the 20th century – is a brilliant theme for an exhibition. Established as alternatives to galleries and museums, places like the Chat... Read more... |
Kara Walker: Fons Americanus, Tate Modern review – a darkly humorous giftThursday, 03 October 2019
Soaring some 40 feet up towards the ceiling of Tate Modern’s vast Turbine Hall, Kara Walker’s Fons Americanus looks ludicrously out of place – like a Victorian interloper within this cathedral to contemporary art. Resembling those monuments you walk... Read more... |
William Blake, Tate Britain - sympathy for the rebelSunday, 29 September 2019
Poor Satan. Adam and Eve are loved-up, snogging on a flowery hillock and all he’s got for company is a snake — an extension of himself no less, and where’s the fun in monologues? Poor, poor Satan. He’s a hunk too, if you don’t mind blue. Coiffed... Read more... |
Van Gogh’s Inner Circle, Noordbrabants Museum review - the man behind the artThursday, 26 September 2019
Vincent van Gogh (b. 1853) could be difficult, truculent and unconventional. He battled with mental illness and wrestled with questions of religion throughout his life. But on good form he was personable. He was said to be an excellent imitator with... Read more... |
