Exhibitions
Had Hollywood not lured him away, Dennis Hopper could have made his name as a photographer
In an age when photographs have swollen out of all proportion to their significance, and are mounted on wall-sized light…
Painted, sculpted and stuffed: a history of the bird in art
These days, as the sparrows and starlings so common in my youth are growing scarce, there’s less need for a…
Charles Hadcock – taking on the age of speculation with sculpture in the City
As the boundary between auction house and art dealer blurs yet further, with auctioneers acting increasingly by private treaty as…
Oceans and forests in kaleidoscopic flow – discovering Keith Grant
For decades I’ve been aware of the work of Keith Grant (born 1930), but it is only in recent years…
A comic drawn by Bob Monkhouse in which a superhero battles giant penises? Yes, it’s all here
Fwoooosh! That, were someone to write a strip about it, would be the sound of a thousand comic books going…
The painter who channelled the forces of gravity
Tragically, Ian Welsh (1944–2014) did not live to see this exhibition of his latest work. Diagnosed with terminal cancer on…
The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition offers up the good, the bad and the ugly – and a sore neck
One of the great traditions of the RA’s Summer Exhibition has always been that each work submitted was seen in…
When Mondrian was off the grid
I find it easy to forget that Piet Mondrian is a Dutch artist. The linear, gridlocked works he is famed…
It took 11 years to bring Bill Viola to St Paul’s Cathedral – but it was worth it
Deans are a strange breed. Growing up in the Church of England, I met a wide range, their cultural tastes…
Kenneth Clark wasn’t happy simply popularising art, he liked to collect it and shape it too
Earlier this year, I sat down and watched Kenneth Clark’s groundbreaking TV series Civilisation. I vaguely remember when it was…
Can Lynn Chadwick finally escape the 1950?
Lynn Chadwick was born 100 years ago in London, and died in 2003 at his Gloucestershire home, Lypiatt Park, where…
Josef Albers: roaring diagonals and paradisiacal squares
Josef Albers (1888–1976) is best known for his long engagement with the square, which he painted in exquisite variation more…
We’re very lucky Philip II was so indulgent with Titian
In Venice, around 1552, Titian began work on a series of six paintings for King Philip II of Spain, each…
The brilliant neurotics of the late Renaissance
In many respects the average art-lover remains a Victorian, and the Florentine Renaissance is one area in which that is…
What was Allen Ginsberg doing in Wales? LSD
‘Valleys breathe, heaven and earth move together,/ daisies push inches of yellow air, vegetables tremble,/ grass shimmers green…’ The characteristic…
When Raquel Welch danced on a table at Cinecittà
Before there was Hello!, OK! and Closer, there was Oggi. Oggi was the magazine my Italian mother used to flick…
The hidden, overlooked and undervalued: Andrew Lambirth’s spring roundup
Jankel Adler (1895–1949), a Polish Jew who arrived in Glasgow in 1941, was invalided out of the Polish army, and…
Henri Le Sidaner: the artist who fell between two schools
Like other species, artists club together in movements not just for purposes of identification but for longevity. Individuals who don’t…
A fresh perspective on reassuringly familiar artists
This exhibition examines a loosely knit community of artists and their interaction over a decade at the beginning of the…
The German devotion to high culture is quite shaming
The 300th anniversary of George I coming to the British throne on 1 August 1714 is big news in his…
The Matisse Cut-Outs is a show of true magnificence
Artists who live long enough to enjoy a late period of working will often produce art that is radically different…
William Kent was an ideas man - the Damien Hirst of the 18th century
How important is William Kent (1685–1748)? He’s not exactly a household name and yet this English painter and architect, apprenticed…
It’s the whisper you’ve got to listen for in Arturo Di Stefano’s paintings
One of the paintings in Arturo Di Stefano’s impressive new show at Purdy Hicks Gallery is called ‘Santa Croce’ and…
Francisco de Zurbarán had a Hollywood sense of drama
It seems suitable that just round the corner from the Zurbarán exhibition at the Palais des Beaux Arts is the…
The great and the good and the gassed and the dead
Last week, three exhibitions celebrating the art of Germany; this week, a show commemorating the first world war fought against…
