A selection of this week's musings. January always feels rather sleepy, but there's a sense this week that 2014 is finally under way...
Digital work by the likes of Michael Craig-Marin, Matthu Placek and David Michalek is changing the face of contemporary portraiture
Art and archaeology aren't neat categories at the best of times. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they're allowed to overlap
How do we value a work of art that is defaced, incomplete or fake? Is its damaged history actually its greatest asset?
A new 50p piece, designed by Tom Phillips to celebrate the centenary of Benjamin Britten’s birth, attempts to ‘set the wild echoes flying’
Limerick's first week as Ireland's City of Culture has been a deliciously absurdist shambles as both the artistic director and CEO resign
The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats at Tate Britain's restaurant is more inviting than ever...
Restoration work on Sainte-Chapelle's splendid stained glass windows is almost complete, in time for the 800th anniversary of the birth of Louis IX
The Bard Graduate Center's marvellous exhibition 'William Kent: Designing Georgian Britain' arrives at the V&A this spring, and should not be missed
'Rembrandt: The Final Years', at National Gallery in London and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, promises to show the artist at his most profound
The IWM's First World War centenary programme is the rightful highlight among hundreds of events planned to mark the anniversary in 2014
Kiefer at the RA, Veronese at the National Gallery, and Olafur Eliasson at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art promise to be wonderful exhibitions
An exquisite bag, possibly the oldest lady's handbag in the world, is the unmissable centrepiece of 'Court And Craft' at the Courtauld Gallery, London
The opening of the Liang Yi Museum in Hong Kong, and key new publications and gallery displays at the V&A, will shine a spotlight on the decorative arts
Hannah Höch, the German Renaissance, and Joana Vasconcelos – three very different, but equally enticing, exhibitions coming up in 2014
Matisse's cut-outs are extraordinary bursts of expression, and they are sure to be a major highlight when they go on display at the Tate Modern
LACMA will showcase the overlooked local artists Helen Pashgian and John Altoon in 2014, while several commercial galleries in LA open new premises
'Discoveries' at Two Temple Place, 'El Greco's Library' at the Prado, and 'Silent Partners' at the Fitzwilliam Museum take on unlikely but fascinating subjects
New biographies of Whistler and Piero della Francesca, and Mike Leigh's biopic of J.M.W. Turner promise to show each artist in a new light next year
'Taste and Essence: Chinese and Western Historical Tea Pieces' at the Macao Museum of Art looks at the rich history of tea-drinking in the East and West
Kenwood House has been sympathetically if subtly restored; but will it become a burden in the proposed English Heritage shake-up?
The reification of 'revolutionary' work by John Cage and the Fluxus artists at MoMA is unsettlingly contradictory. The artist is dead. Long live the artist!
The Reith Lectures may have confirmed him as a national treasure, but Grayson Perry retains a sharp realist edge
While Hurvin Anderson's paintings tease out the complexities of relocation and displacement, Peter Doig's risk sliding into exoticism
Moving On
Digital work by the likes of Michael Craig-Marin, Matthu Placek and David Michalek is changing the face of contemporary portraiture
Well Met
Art and archaeology aren't neat categories at the best of times. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they're allowed to overlap
Fixed Price?
How do we value a work of art that is defaced, incomplete or fake? Is its damaged history actually its greatest asset?
Affordable Art
A new 50p piece, designed by Tom Phillips to celebrate the centenary of Benjamin Britten’s birth, attempts to ‘set the wild echoes flying’
New Year’s Revelations
Limerick's first week as Ireland's City of Culture has been a deliciously absurdist shambles as both the artistic director and CEO resign
Lunch with Rex Whistler
The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats at Tate Britain's restaurant is more inviting than ever...
12 Days
Restoration work on Sainte-Chapelle's splendid stained glass windows is almost complete, in time for the 800th anniversary of the birth of Louis IX
12 Days
The Bard Graduate Center's marvellous exhibition 'William Kent: Designing Georgian Britain' arrives at the V&A this spring, and should not be missed
12 Days
'Rembrandt: The Final Years', at National Gallery in London and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, promises to show the artist at his most profound
12 Days
The IWM's First World War centenary programme is the rightful highlight among hundreds of events planned to mark the anniversary in 2014
12 Days
Kiefer at the RA, Veronese at the National Gallery, and Olafur Eliasson at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art promise to be wonderful exhibitions
12 Days
An exquisite bag, possibly the oldest lady's handbag in the world, is the unmissable centrepiece of 'Court And Craft' at the Courtauld Gallery, London
12 Days
The opening of the Liang Yi Museum in Hong Kong, and key new publications and gallery displays at the V&A, will shine a spotlight on the decorative arts
12 Days
Hannah Höch, the German Renaissance, and Joana Vasconcelos – three very different, but equally enticing, exhibitions coming up in 2014
12 Days
Matisse's cut-outs are extraordinary bursts of expression, and they are sure to be a major highlight when they go on display at the Tate Modern
12 Days
LACMA will showcase the overlooked local artists Helen Pashgian and John Altoon in 2014, while several commercial galleries in LA open new premises
12 Days
'Discoveries' at Two Temple Place, 'El Greco's Library' at the Prado, and 'Silent Partners' at the Fitzwilliam Museum take on unlikely but fascinating subjects
12 Days
New biographies of Whistler and Piero della Francesca, and Mike Leigh's biopic of J.M.W. Turner promise to show each artist in a new light next year
Rich Tea
'Taste and Essence: Chinese and Western Historical Tea Pieces' at the Macao Museum of Art looks at the rich history of tea-drinking in the East and West
Caring for Kenwood
Kenwood House has been sympathetically if subtly restored; but will it become a burden in the proposed English Heritage shake-up?
White Walled Cage
The reification of 'revolutionary' work by John Cage and the Fluxus artists at MoMA is unsettlingly contradictory. The artist is dead. Long live the artist!
National Treasure?
The Reith Lectures may have confirmed him as a national treasure, but Grayson Perry retains a sharp realist edge
Exotic Dangers
While Hurvin Anderson's paintings tease out the complexities of relocation and displacement, Peter Doig's risk sliding into exoticism