Exhibitions
Julian Cooper's rock profiles
Like most ambitious artists, Julian Cooper has been pulled this way and that by seemingly conflicting influences. The son and…
Upside down and right on top: the power of George Baselitz
It’s German Season in London, and revealingly the best of three new shows is the one dealing with the most…
The tubular joys of Fernand Léger
In 1914 Fernand Léger gave a lecture about modern art. By then recognised as a leading Cubist artist, he had…
Richard Deacon – from Meccano into art
When I visited the Richard Deacon exhibition at Tate Millbank, there were quite a lot of single men of a…
The British Museum's Vikings: part provincial exhibit, part gripping drama
Exhibitions are made for two main reasons: education and entertainment. Although I recognise the importance of education I am, by…
Hannah Höch – from Dada firebrand to poet of collage
I suspect I am not alone in finding it surprising to encounter at the close of this exhibition an unexpected…
Who knew that Cézanne had a sense of humour?
Tourists are attracted to queues, art lovers to quietude. So while the mass of Monet fans visiting Paris line up…
The best exhibition of architecture I have ever experienced
Curtain walls, dreaming spires, crockets, finials, cantilevers, bush-hammered concrete, vermiculated rustication, heroic steel and delicate Cosmati work are all diverse…
The Ikon Gallery's greatest hits
In a crowded storeroom at Ikon, Birmingham’s contemporary art gallery, its director Jonathan Watkins is unwrapping the pictures for his…
Four artists you ought to know — and a famous one you can know better
In this round-up of exhibitions in London’s commercial galleries, I feature three shows of little-known but mature contemporary British artists.…
'Castiglione: Lost Genius' loses his genius in a sea of brown
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609–64) was, I must admit, unknown to me until I visited this show, the only Castiglione I…
'Uproar!' The Ben Uri gallery punches above its weight
Last year saw the centenary of the London Group, a broad-based exhibiting body set up in a time of stylistic…
John Craxton was more gifted than the Fitzwilliam show suggests
It is often said of John Craxton (1922–2009) that he knew how to live well and considered this more important…
Painting Now doesn't represent painting now. Thank goodness
The death of painting has been so often foretold — almost as frequently as its renaissance — that any such…
Alan Sorrell, oddly original and shamefully neglected (till now)
Rediscovering the unduly neglected is one of the chief excitements of those who curate exhibitions and write books. And there’s…
When soldiers have golden helmets and the wounded have wings
‘If I go to war, I go on condition I can have Giotto, the Basilica of Assisi book, Fra Angelico…
Turner's seafaring ways — and his blazingly competitive art
Turner’s contemporaries regarded him primarily as a marine painter. This perception extended to his persona, with many who met him…
Daumier's paintings show he is at heart a sculptor
There hasn’t been a decent Daumier exhibition in this country for more than half a century, so art lovers have…
In the National Gallery's Vienna show, it's Oscar Kokoschka who's the real revelation
The current exhibition in the Sainsbury Wing claims to be a portrait of Vienna in 1900, but in fact offers…
Where's the fun, Barbican?
Pop Art Design, curated by the Vitra Design Museum and currently at the Barbican, opens with Richard Hamilton’s 1956 ‘Just…
The Lisson show is so hermetic, sometimes we flounder for meaning
The title of the Lisson Gallery’s new show, Nostalgic for the Future, could sum up the gallery’s whole raison d’être.…
'Squiggle, squiggle, ooh, good...' Tate St Ives shows how sexy the octopus can be
One of the more exotic attractions at the 1939–40 World’s Fair in New York was Salvador Dalí’s ‘Dream of Venus…
The painter of poetry
The famous court case in which Ruskin accused Whistler of ‘flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face’ continues…
How China's Bayeux Tapestry differs from ours
The V&A’s remarkable survey of Chinese painting begins quietly with a beautiful scroll depicting ‘Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk’,…
What my addiction to Chinese painting made me do
My addiction to Chinese landscape painting began in 1965 at the V&A, in a travelling exhibition of the Crawford Collection…
