Reviews

The view into the Painted Room at Port Lympne, Kent, with murals by Rex Whistler, photographed in 1933.view into the Painted Room at Port Lympne, Kent, with murals by Rex Whistlerinto the Painted Room at Port Lympne (photo 1933), Rex Whistler.

Why modernism was not the only way of being modern

A new study of art and design in the interwar years makes the case for a distinctly baroque take on modernity

19 Jun 2018

How Cedric Morris fused his twin passions for plants and painting

The British artist was as devoted to cultivating flowers as he was to painting them, as this colourful exhibition reveals

15 Jun 2018
Installation view of ‘Albert Oehlen: Cows by the Water’ at the Palazzo Grassi, Venice, 2018.

Colour and chaos in the work of Albert Oehlen

The self-declared ‘post-non-figurative’ painter proves himself a master colourist in this survey at the Palazzo Grassi

14 Jun 2018
Installation view of ‘Grandfather: A Pioneer Like Us (1974)’ at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2018

The man who turned curating into an art form

Why the experimental exhibitions of Harald Szeemann still have something to teach today’s curators

13 Jun 2018
Sweating Blood (1973), Ana Mendieta.

The disappearing acts of Ana Mendieta

A focused exhibition of the Cuban-American artist’s films explores humanity’s complex relationship with the natural world

13 Jun 2018
Washing Day (detail; 1899), Edward Stott. Watts Gallery Trust

Twilight on the South Downs with Edward Stott

The Sussex landscape was an enduring source of inspiration for Stott, which makes Eastbourne an ideal site for a major survey of his work

12 Jun 2018
Detail of photograph of Jacqueline Lamba and Frida Kahlo in Pátzcuaro, Mexico, in 1938 (photographer unknown)

The alliances formed by Surrealism’s neglected women

How the women artists of Surrealism explored the creative possibilities of friendship

5 Jun 2018
Reading (2018), Hanne Lippard. Performance at Somerset House, Lancaster Room, May 2018.

Reading aloud with Hanne Lippard

The British-Norwegian artist explores the mysterious nature of speech in a new performance

4 Jun 2018
Still Life with Three Sailors, , 1980–85, John Craxton, Private collection, © 2018 Craxton Estate/DACS

The art of friendship in post-war Greece

The lives of John Craxton, Nikos Ghika and Patrick Leigh Fermor come under the spotlight at the British Museum

4 Jun 2018

Marc Chagall caught between two lives

The artist’s memoir looks back to his childhood in Russia and forward to a new life in France

1 Jun 2018
Freedom Farming (2014), Li Binyuan.

Bridging the generation gap in avant-garde Chinese art

Provocative performances by Zhang Huan and Li Binyuan offer a cross-generational view of contemporary art in Beijing

31 May 2018
Idriss, (2012), Mary Heilman. Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth, Zurich and 303 Gallery, New York, © Mary Heilman

An alternative history of abstract art

A survey of works by women painters makes for an enthralling display, but is the gender of the artists the most important factor?

25 May 2018
Detail of the Glaubensschild (Shield of Faith), (1842–47), designed by Friedrich August Stüler, Peter von Cornelius and Alexis-Étienne Julienne, Royal Collection Trust, Photo: Royal Collection Trust/© HM Queen Elizabeth II 2018

European silver is the ideal gift for the British monarch who has everything

The work of the Continent’s finest silversmiths can be found in the Royal Collection

24 May 2018
Artists’ Campaign to Repeal the 8th Ammendment. Photo: Alison Laredo

Power, protest and progress at this year’s EVA International

Seán Keating’s paintings of the Shannon Hydro-electric Scheme set the stage for a probing exploration of Ireland’s national identity

23 May 2018
The Painting Table (1954), Jane Freilicher.

How Jane Freilicher found beauty in the everyday

Freilicher’s paintings are full of flowers, self-portraits and interiors – and manage to be traditional and radical at the same time

23 May 2018
Brian O’Doherty with ’Rope Drawing #128: Flipped Corner (Green/Blue)’ (2017) at IMMA, Dublin, 2018.

Brian O’Doherty gets his due in Dublin

The 90-year-old polymath’s artistic output is being celebrated in his native Ireland

17 May 2018

John Ruskin’s visions of Venice

Drawings and daguerreotypes on view at the Ducal Palace reveal the variety of Ruskin’s engagement with Venice

11 May 2018
The Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin (detail; 1424–34), Fra Angelico. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.

‘Few painters in Renaissance Italy used gold to such dazzling effect’

Four reliquaries by Fra Angelico have been reunited for the first time since the 19th century

10 May 2018
Head of the Undersecretary (detail; 2000), Ibrahim El-Salahi.

The calligraphic lines of Ibrahim El-Salahi

The Sudanese artist’s singular vision is equally inspired by African and European culture

8 May 2018
Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, Mary Cassatt

How Mary Cassatt created a school of her own

The American Impressionist’s singular body of work is as hard to classify as ever

7 May 2018
Installation view of a work by John Russell, part of 'Cellular World' at the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow International Festival 2018, photo: © Alan Dimmick

Glasgow International plays tricks on the city

Scotland’s most ambitious biennial sets out to disorient – and largely succeeds

4 May 2018
La Vachalcade, Fernand Pelez

Picturing poverty in the 19th century

In her final book Linda Nochlin makes a case for painting that looks poverty in the eye

27 Apr 2018
'Water', Charles Sheeler

The making of modern America

Masterpieces of American modernism cross the pond for the very first time

27 Apr 2018
She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene, Danh Vo

The weight of history in Danh Vo’s readymades

Vo’s conceptual work serves as a reminder of the personal and political meanings carried by the objects around us

26 Apr 2018