Exhibitions
Super nature
For decades I’ve been aware of the work of Keith Grant (born 1930), but it is only in recent years…
Black comedy
Fwoooosh! That, were someone to write a strip about it, would be the sound of a thousand comic books going…
The optimism of light
Tragically, Ian Welsh (1944–2014) did not live to see this exhibition of his latest work. Diagnosed with terminal cancer on…
The good, the bad and the ugly
One of the great traditions of the RA’s Summer Exhibition has always been that each work submitted was seen in…
Going Dutch
I find it easy to forget that Piet Mondrian is a Dutch artist. The linear, gridlocked works he is famed…
Viola and St Paul’s
Deans are a strange breed. Growing up in the Church of England, I met a wide range, their cultural tastes…
Discerning eye
Earlier this year, I sat down and watched Kenneth Clark’s groundbreaking TV series Civilisation. I vaguely remember when it was…
Out of the shadows
Lynn Chadwick was born 100 years ago in London, and died in 2003 at his Gloucestershire home, Lypiatt Park, where…
Square dance
Josef Albers (1888–1976) is best known for his long engagement with the square, which he painted in exquisite variation more…
Rare treat
In Venice, around 1552, Titian began work on a series of six paintings for King Philip II of Spain, each…
Weird and wonderful
In many respects the average art-lover remains a Victorian, and the Florentine Renaissance is one area in which that is…
The spiritual in landscape
‘Valleys breathe, heaven and earth move together,/ daisies push inches of yellow air, vegetables tremble,/ grass shimmers green…’ The characteristic…
Snap happy
Before there was Hello!, OK! and Closer, there was Oggi. Oggi was the magazine my Italian mother used to flick…
Spring round-up
Jankel Adler (1895–1949), a Polish Jew who arrived in Glasgow in 1941, was invalided out of the Polish army, and…
Master of melancholy
Like other species, artists club together in movements not just for purposes of identification but for longevity. Individuals who don’t…
New ways of seeing
This exhibition examines a loosely knit community of artists and their interaction over a decade at the beginning of the…
Hanoverian trail
The 300th anniversary of George I coming to the British throne on 1 August 1714 is big news in his…
King of cut-outs
Artists who live long enough to enjoy a late period of working will often produce art that is radically different…
The gardens of Kent
How important is William Kent (1685–1748)? He’s not exactly a household name and yet this English painter and architect, apprenticed…
Hidden presence
One of the paintings in Arturo Di Stefano’s impressive new show at Purdy Hicks Gallery is called ‘Santa Croce’ and…
Acts of faith
It seems suitable that just round the corner from the Zurbarán exhibition at the Palais des Beaux Arts is the…
Bearing witness
Last week, three exhibitions celebrating the art of Germany; this week, a show commemorating the first world war fought against…
In tune with nature
Like most ambitious artists, Julian Cooper has been pulled this way and that by seemingly conflicting influences. The son and…
German giants
It’s German Season in London, and revealingly the best of three new shows is the one dealing with the most…
Senses working overtime
In 1914 Fernand Léger gave a lecture about modern art. By then recognised as a leading Cubist artist, he had…
