Reviews

Light exposure

Kate Flint’s history of flash photography highlights the uses of a technology many practitioners have mixed feelings about

3 Apr 2018
Lamentation over the Dead Christ (c. 1490/95), Sandro Botticelli.

Florentine painting in full colour

This catalogue of Florentine works in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich sets a new standard

2 Apr 2018
Almond Blossom, (1890), Vincent Van Gogh, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

How Van Gogh imagined Japan

The artist’s collection of Japanese prints gave him a new way of seeing the world

30 Mar 2018
The Titanic in dry dock

A first-class voyage through the golden age of ocean liners

Luxury, glamour and romance abound in the V&A’s celebration of the heyday of sea travel

27 Mar 2018
Prisoner Pair (2008), Tacita Dean.

Tacita Dean’s meditations on a medium

Two shows in London reaffirm the artist’s intense dedication to film and the moving image

24 Mar 2018
‘Karla Black’, installation view at Capitain Petzel, Berlin, 2018.

The sculptures that dare to mean nothing at all

Karla Black’s playful new works subtly challenge the viewer to make sense of them

23 Mar 2018
'Mike Nelson: Lionheart', installation view, The New Art Gallery Walsall, 2018.

Mike Nelson sets up camp in Walsall

At the New Art Gallery the artist remakes an old installation exploring migration and belonging in Europe

22 Mar 2018
Le parfum de l'abîme, René Magritte, Private Collection. © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2018

What Magritte found out in Paris

The artist’s time in the French capital was not a success, but it formed his thinking about words and pictures

21 Mar 2018
Landscape near Felpham, William Blake

William Blake at heaven’s gate

What did William Blake really see when he looked at the Sussex landscape?

20 Mar 2018
The Famous Women Dinner Service (set of 50) (c. 1932–34), Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant.

It’s time to recognise the radicalism of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant

A rediscovered set of dinner plates depicting famous women prompts a reassessment of the pair’s artistic collaboration

19 Mar 2018
Installation view of 'Yto Barrada: Agadir' at The Curve, Barbican Centre, 2018.

Yto Barrada wrestles with the ghosts of Agadir

An exhibition that takes the Agadir earthquake of 1960 as its starting point is well framed in the brutalist surrounds of the Barbican

13 Mar 2018
August: Reaping Wheat, 'Da Costa Hours' (detail; c, 1515), illuminated by Simon Bening. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York.

Keeping track of time in the Middle Ages

An exhibition at the Morgan Library examines medieval concepts of past, present and future

10 Mar 2018
Loe Bar (1962), Peter Lanyon.

‘A total immersion within the landscape’

From Cornish coves to remote towns in Italy, a sense of place is central to the paintings of Peter Lanyon

9 Mar 2018

The BBC’s ‘Civilisation’ reboot is fixed firmly in the present

The update of Kenneth Clark’s landmark series takes a more questioning approach to art history

5 Mar 2018
Charles I ('Le Roi à la chasse') (detail; c. 1635), Anthony Van Dyck. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Charles I, the connoisseur king

His political judgements may have been poor, but Charles I’s art collection was first rate

3 Mar 2018
Gigantomachy II (detail; 1966), Leon Golub. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

The epic battles of Leon Golub

Leon Golub’s paintings harness classical myth to criticise atrocities and abuses of power

1 Mar 2018
Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae: Plan of Ancient Rome, 16th century, Pirro Ligorio, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Reconstructing ancient Rome

An extraordinarily ambitious attempt to map the city will set off as many arguments as it solves

27 Feb 2018
Fernanda Pivano and Jack Kerouac per Segnalibro, Milano (1966), Ettore Sottsass.

Jack Kerouac’s art reminds us that his real talent was for words

An exhibition of Kerouac’s art in Milan gives some sense of his restless creativity

27 Feb 2018
Installation view of Mark Dion's 'The Library for the Birds of London' (2018) at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2018, Photo: © Jeff Spicer/PA Wire

‘There are no spectators, only participants’

Mark Dion’s playful installations at the Whitechapel Gallery turn viewers into voyeurs

22 Feb 2018
Captain Lord George Graham in his Cabin, (c. 1745), William Hogarth. National Maritime Museums, Greenwich

Group dynamics in polite society

How ‘conversation piece’ paintings summed up the social aspirations of a new social class

22 Feb 2018
Pin-up (1973/74), Friedl Kubelka.

Looking at the female gaze

At Richard Saltoun Gallery, the body is both subject and material for women artists exploring gender and sexuality

21 Feb 2018
Freedom of Expression National Monument (1984), Laurie Hawkinson, Erika Rothenberg, and John Malpede. Battery Park City landfill.

The story of public art in New York City

From historic monuments to contemporary commissions, art is everywhere in the urban environment

20 Feb 2018
Family Fortunes (detail; 2018), Dale Lewis.

The joys of junk food

Appetite is a central theme in the exuberant paintings of Dale Lewis, at Edel Assanti in London

19 Feb 2018
My Shadow's Reflection

Bock and Clark share a sensitive approach to their subjects

At the Ikon Gallery, two very different artists approach their subjects with remarkable empathy

15 Feb 2018