The Harvard Art Museums shows that the medium is considerably less wishy-washy – and more modern – than it sometimes seems
The British Museum represents a century and more of imperial decline, civil uprisings and the birth of the modern republic in objects
How the Missouri-born dancer became a sensation in Parisian night clubs and a champion of civil rights in the United States
The British-Ghanaian artist’s work tackles histories of travel, migration and displacement
A survey of the self-described 'Science Fiction Expressionist' at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid
Pallant House Gallery in Chichester explores how the artist forged an independent career and style
The Guggenheim explores how the City of Light entranced the 19-year-old artist
The Getty Center looks at what medieval communities did for fun
Georgia’s most celebrated painter documented his nation’s customs and landscapes in a distinctive, naive style
How the Persian empire set the standard for luxury living in the ancient world
Garments and hand-drawn sketches trace the extraordinary career of the pioneering designer
The National Gallery considers how Franciscan teachings have inspired artists from the Renaissance to the present
The Bozar in Brussels shows that in Florence, the style was considerably more refined than in Rome
The film-maker’s lyrical explorations of race and cultural history go on show at Tate Britain
The Grolier Club serves up a feast of menus that tell us much about changing social mores
The Huntington presents a rare opportunity to view the oldest printed book in its collection
The Whitney puts on the most comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work to date
The Queen’s Gallery in London puts on a courtly fashion show
The photographer documented Jewish communities throughout Eastern Europe from the late 1920s to the start of Second World War
The Tate considers how both artists used abstract painting as a means of understanding the natural (and supernatural) world
More than 250 works at the Met testify to millennia-old concerns about death and the afterlife
The Kunsthaus Zürich explores the two artists’ fleeting but formative friendship
The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena lends new meaning to the trope of the ‘starving artist’
The Petit Palais pays homage to France’s most famous thespian
