Reviews

Panel 10 (detail) (1954) from ‘Struggle: From the History of the American People (1954–56), Jacob Lawrence. Metropolitan Museum of Art. © The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Jacob Lawrence’s radical history of the United States

The reunion of the artist’s series of ‘Struggle’ paintings couldn’t be more timely

5 Oct 2020
Kingsgate Castle, near Broadstairs, designed by W.H. Romaine-Walker for Lord Avebury and built 1902–12.

Domestic reform – a liberal approach to architecture in the Edwardian era

Timothy Brittain-Catlin’s account of Edwardian houses challenges many misconceptions

3 Oct 2020
Mourning Dove (detail) from the series ‘ADSVMVS ABSVMVS’ (1982), Hollis Frampton.

The seriously absurd photographs of Hollis Frampton

Although the film-maker usually used still images as a means to other ends, his photographs are a useful introduction to his work

1 Oct 2020
Tablescape #2, (1999), Robert Kobayashi. Courtesy Susan Inglett Gallery

Showing his metal – the ingenious art of Robert Kobayashi

The artist made paintings and sculptures out of nailed-together strips of metal – and they’re transfixing

1 Oct 2020
Cromwell and Charles I (detail; 1831), Paul Delaroche.

Cavalier attitudes – the complicated visual legacy of the English Civil War

From memorials to history paintings, responses to the conflict often took telling liberties

30 Sep 2020
Portrait of Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous (detail; 1509), Lucas Cranach the Elder.

The seductive splendour of Lucas Cranach the Elder

An exhibition at Compton Verney shows off the full range of the master’s work – from slinky nudes to opulent portraits of the rulers of Saxony

26 Sep 2020
Soul Refresher (Mountain Rose Soda) (2020), Abbas Zahedi.

Brent’s borough-wide biennial offers welcome refreshment

A George Michael mural and a mountain rose-flavoured soda are among the contributions to the borough’s inaugural biennial

25 Sep 2020
Imitation Lesson; Her Shadowed Influence from ‘A Countervailing Theory’ (2019), Toyin Ojih Odutola. Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York; © © Toyin Ojih Odutola

Master class – a fictional civilisation makes its mark at the Barbican

Toyin Ojih Odutola’s scenes of a race of women warriors are a tour de force in pastel, charcoal and chalk

17 Sep 2020
Nude, East Sussex Coast (detail; 1959), Bill Brandt.

Common ground – the elemental forms of Bill Brandt and Henry Moore

The first exhibition to bring the sculptor and photographer together reveals intriguing points of convergence between their work

12 Sep 2020
Citizen Tallien in a Cell in La Force Prison, Holding Her Cut Hair (detail), (1796), Jean-Louis Laneuville. Private collection. Photo: courtesy Yale University Press; © Christies Images/Bridgeman Images

The women who wanted to look like living statues

A study of neoclassical dress in the 1790s shows that fashion can be a serious business

4 Sep 2020
The frontispiece and opening of the MS 411 psalter.

What’s left of Thomas Becket? – ‘The Book in the Cathedral’, reviewed

Christopher de Hamel argues that a book of psalms in a Cambridge library is the only surviving relic of the murdered archbishop

4 Sep 2020
(1936), Barnett Freedman for London Transport.

‘Britain’s most visible artist’ – Barnett Freedman at Pallant House, reviewed

Freedman’s engaging designs were once impossible to avoid – and his lesser-known war paintings are a revelation

1 Sep 2020
Draftsmen’s Congress (2020), Paweł Althamer. Installation view at the 2nd Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art, RIBOCA2, 2020.

How the Riga Biennial adapted to a world changed by Covid-19

With a shortened run and reimagined artworks – plus, of course, social distancing – the exhibition has embraced the need to adapt

28 Aug 2020
John Giorno (1936–2019).

New York confidential – John Giorno’s memoir, reviewed

In his posthumously published memoir, the poet recollects his life as a lover of some of the greats of the New York art scene

27 Aug 2020
Carlton House: the Blue Drawing Room (detail; c. 1816), Charles Wild

Acquired taste – the fashion for French interiors in Britain

Dealers played a pivotal role in creating a demand for ancien–régime style across the Channel

22 Aug 2020
Seen – Edmonia Lewis

A biography of Edmonia Lewis takes on a life of its own

A meticulously researched graphic novel about the sculptor Edmonia Lewis is a suitably original tribute to the enterprising artist

21 Aug 2020
Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs (detail; 1928).

‘The Man Who Laughs’ is a cautionary tale about grinning and bearing it

The inspiration behind Batman’s Joker and many a monster movie, Paul Leni’s ‘The Man Who Laughs’ is a masterpiece of Expressionist cinema

19 Aug 2020
Jan Six XI in front of Rembrandt’s ‘Portrait of a Young Gentleman’ (1635) in ‘My Rembrandt’. Courtesy Dogwoof.

How to own a Rembrandt

An engaging documentary profiles the collectors who possess – or would like to possess – paintings by the Dutch master

14 Aug 2020
Got To Keep On (2019), installation by The Chemical Brothers and Smith & Lyall.

The Design Museum takes to the dance floor

An exhibition dedicated to the music of the future may be too respectful of its past

12 Aug 2020
After Tsunami Galu Afi, Lalomanu (2013), Yuki Kihara. Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū

Sea change – a fresh perspective on the art of Oceania

A rehang of Christchurch Art Gallery’s permanent collections emphasises non-European patterns of influence

12 Aug 2020
John Cage foraging in Grenoble, France, in 1971.

Morel compass – John Cage’s mania for mushrooms

For the avant-garde composer, mushroom-foraging was closely linked to his ideas about sound and spontaneity

The Return of the Prodigal Son (detail; 1660s), Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.

Bible belters – in praise of Murillo’s Prodigal Son paintings

The six paintings have long languished in relative obscurity. Restored and on view in Dublin, they are finally getting their due

3 Aug 2020
The remains of a late medieval church in Garryvoe , Co Cork.

Celtic revival? Recording Ireland’s historic buildings

Would that the Buildings of Ireland series could be completed – the architectural riches of Central Leinster and Cork are well served by two new volumes

28 Jul 2020
The eight ‘bionauts’ of Biosphere 2. Courtesy NEON

The space odyssey that went nowhere – ‘Spaceship Earth’, reviewed

Before ‘Big Brother’, there was Biosphere 2 – an experiment in utopian living that left its participants low on food and short of breath

20 Jul 2020