Features

Jonathan Miller. Photo: Lucinda Douglas-Menzies

‘Rehearsals were frequently full of laughter’ – remembering Jonathan Miller

The late stage director, filmmaker, comedian, writer and medical man wore his experience lightly – and made an excellent museum guide

11 Dec 2019
The Doors (video still detail; 2019), Zach Blas.

How a small German city became a leading home for new media art

The Edith-Russ-Haus in Oldenburg is currently host to an exhibition exploring the rise of ‘nootropics’, or smart drugs, in Silicon Valley

10 Dec 2019
Detail of the south wall of the Sala di Psiche, Palazzo Te, Mantua, Giulio Romano and workshop.

‘A buffet of bums, boobs and bollocks’ – Giulio Romano at Palazzo Te

The 16th-century frescoed palace has been sexed up with a show exploring power and desire in the mannerist’s art

7 Dec 2019
Queen Henrietta Maria (detail; 1636), Anthony van Dyck.

Acquisitions of the month: November 2019

Jayne Wrightsman’s final gift to the Met and a silver-gilt toilet service at the Louvre are among this month’s highlights

6 Dec 2019
Queen Victoria’s Christmas Tree at Windsor Castle (1850), James Roberts.

Exit through the gift shop

Apollo’s editors pick out some arty stocking fillers, from a glow-in-the-dark Leonardo figurine to Mondrian-inspired socks

5 Dec 2019
Fishermen in front of Cape Coast Castle, Ghana, with a staircase on the left leading up to a ‘Door of No Return’.

‘The dungeons are decorated with wreaths left by slaves’ descendants’

Four centuries after the first English slave ship arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, the president of Ghana is urging members of the African diaspora to discover their roots

3 Dec 2019
Faye Dunaway at the Beverly Hills Hotel, 29th March 1977 (detail).

‘He kicked open the doors of Society just as Sixties London began to swing’ – a tribute to Terry O’Neill

The late photographer shot some of the most iconic figures of the 20th century, from Winston Churchill to David Bowie

26 Nov 2019
The Peabody Essex Museum in 2019 with its new wing designed by Ennead Architects on the right

The Peabody Essex Museum makes a bigger splash in Salem

Thanks to the town’s seafaring merchants, the museum has one of the world’s best collections of maritime and Asian art – and a whole new wing for its display

23 Nov 2019
Last Supper (detail; c. 1560s), Plautilla Nelli.

Sister act – Plautilla Nelli and the painter nuns of 16th-century Florence

The Dominican nun led a flourishing workshop in the convent of Santa Caterina – as her recently restored Last Supper shows

21 Nov 2019
Anangu members perform a dance during a ceremony marking the permanent ban on climbing Uluru on 27 October 2019.

Rock stars – the Indigenous artists inspired by Uluru

A recent ban on climbing the sacred rock in Australia’s ‘red centre’ was celebrated with singing and dancing. What other forms of art have emerged from the site?

19 Nov 2019
In the final scene of Derek Jarman’s film The Last of England (1987), Tilda Swinton’s unnamed character destroys her wedding dress on Dungeness Beach.

English woes – Derek Jarman’s apocalyptic visions of England are as relevant as ever

Twenty-five years after his death, Jarman’s films, paintings and words are still incisive and inspiring

8 Nov 2019
Abraham Lincoln and Queen Victoria (early 20th century). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Acquisitions of the month: October 2019

Collections of hand-drawn postcards, quilts, and 18th-century French bindings are among this month’s highlights

7 Nov 2019
Ciaran Carson.

Still lifes and Belfast streets – remembering Ciaran Carson (1948–2019)

The poet, translator and musician was also a passionate observer – and recorder – of the visual world

5 Nov 2019
Death of a Hunted Stag, photo: Dépot du Musée d'Orsay, photographie Charles Choffet

Gustave Courbet’s love of the chase

The painter’s monumental and often melancholy hunting scenes are well worth another look

2 Nov 2019
Preparatory drawing for In Memory of My Feelings (detail; 1967), Jane Freilicher. The Museum of Modern Art, New York

‘A fine day for seeing’ – Frank O’Hara at the Museum of Modern Art, New York

A new display in the museum pays tribute to one of its best and most charming ambassadors

30 Oct 2019
Night and Sleep (1878), Evelyn de Morgan. De Morgan Collection.

‘Not simply passive Cinderellas’ – rediscovering the Pre-Raphaelite women

Whether as models, studio managers, or artists in their own right, the women in the orbit of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood deserve greater recognition

28 Oct 2019
Ecce Homo (detail; c. 1524), Alonso Berruguete.

‘One of the most fascinating artists in the history of Spanish art’

As the greatest sculptor of the Spanish Renaissance, Alonso Berruguete deserves to be better understood

24 Oct 2019
Installation view of ‘Taus Makhacheva: Charivari’ at Yarat Contemporary Art Centre, Baku, 2019.

Bread and Soviet circuses – a letter from Baku

The artist Taus Makhacheva is fascinated by the subversive side of an art form that found great favour in the USSR

24 Oct 2019
The Humours of an Election, 4: Chairing the Member (detail; 1754–55), William Hogarth.

Works in progress – the turbulent tales of William Hogarth

Things rarely turn out well for the characters in the satirist’s so-called ‘progress’ pieces – rather, they capture the chaos of 18th-century life

23 Oct 2019
John Giorno (1936–2019) in New York in 2012.

‘All kinds of glorious hijinks’ – a tribute to John Giorno

In all his art, from his poetry hotline to the recent text paintings, Giorno refused to be bored or be boring

21 Oct 2019
The Glasmuseet in Ebelhoft

Glass act – inside the Danish museum devoted to studio glass

The Glasmuseet in Ebeltoft has a significant collection of works donated by artists from around the world

17 Oct 2019
The Mocking of Christ (detail; c. 1280), Cimabue.

A long-lost Cimabue has emerged – and the ‘first light’ of painting now burns brighter than ever

The chance discovery in a kitchen in France has major significance for scholarship on the Florentine master

14 Oct 2019
Camp Nou, Barcelona in 2014.

Messier and Messier – at the FC Barcelona Museum

A visit to Camp Nou – where Lionel Messi’s boots can be found alongside works by Miró, Dalí and Tàpies

12 Oct 2019
Noah’s Ark, from the Jami‘ al-Tawarikh of Rashid al-Din (MS 727), copy from 1314–15.

Around the world in 35,000 objects – and a handful of clicks

The Khalili Collections have partnered up with Wikimedia UK to broaden access to their vast holdings spanning centuries and cultures

11 Oct 2019