Reviews

'Come Fresh Hell or Fresh Hell Water', installation view at Blain|Southern, London, 2017. Courtesy the artist and Blain|Southern. Photo: Richard Eaton

The slippery charms of Sophie Jung

The artist’s weird, witty sculptures refuse to let us fix their meaning

19 Dec 2017
Concrétion humaine oder Coquille se dénouant (1936), Jean (Hans) Arp. Kunstmuseum Winterthur. © Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstwissenschaft, Zürich

Crossing borders at Turner Contemporary

The word-objects of Jean (Hans) Arp are a reminder of how powerful hybrid forms can be

18 Dec 2017
Gold belt plaque with a vulture mauling a yak and a tiger, (4th–2nd century BC), southern Siberia, State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Photo: V. Terebinin; © The State Hermitage Museum

Stepping out in style with the Scythians

These Siberian nomads were consummate survivors – and highly sophisticated craftsmen

16 Dec 2017

The hidden bones of buildings

Monika Sosnowska’s sculptures reflect on the architecture of post-war Eastern Europe

14 Dec 2017
Girl Behind a Screen (detail; 1952), Leonard Rosoman.

The layered life of Leonard Rosoman

A fine, detailed biography convinces us to take another look at the oft-neglected British artist

14 Dec 2017
Sir Joseph Banks, (detail) (1771–73), Sir Joshua Reynolds, National Portrait Gallery, London

‘My grand tour shall be one round the whole globe’

Joseph Banks’ plant specimens from Captain Cook’s first voyage are still of the greatest scientific importance

13 Dec 2017
'Leonor Antunes: the frisson of the togetherness', installation view at the Whitechapel Gallery, London. Photo: Nick Ash

History lessons with Leonor Antunes

A new site-specific work at the Whitechapel reminds us of overlooked women artists

13 Dec 2017
'Hollywood Africans', detail, 1983, Jean-Michel Basquiat. Whitney Museum of American Art

The myth of Basquiat threatens to eclipse his art

The Barbican survey’s biographical focus detracts from the fervent energy of the paintings themselves

12 Dec 2017
Sir Hans Sloane, Bt, 1736, Stephen Slaughter. National Portrait Gallery, London

The private collector who made the British Museum

A new biography of physician-collector Hans Sloane portrays a flawed yet fascinating man

11 Dec 2017
An die Musik, Ragnar Kjartansson

The addictive art of Ragnar Kjartansson

How a seven-hour performance of only ten lyrical lines entranced its audience at the London Contemporary Music Festival

6 Dec 2017

Medardo Rosso: the first modern sculptor

A convincing case is made for the Italian artist’s ambitions, and the need to bring a wider audience to his work

6 Dec 2017
Autumn Arrival, (n.d.), Giorgio de Chirico, Estorick Collection

Reading the riddles of Giorgio de Chirico

Considering the artist’s writing gives us invaluable new ways in which to see his painting

4 Dec 2017

The power and personality of Prince

An exhibition at the O2 in London is as carefully stage managed as anything Prince put on during his lifetime

4 Dec 2017

Florine Stettheimer’s dreamy Jazz Age scenes

The stylish New York salonnière makes her Canadian debut in this enjoyable survey of her paintings

1 Dec 2017

Divine mysteries at Asia House

On its 700th anniversary, Sufi treatise ‘The Garden of Mystery’ continues to inspire today’s Iranian artists

30 Nov 2017
Underground 05 (Tournai’) (detail; 2017), Edith Dekyndt.

The art of slowing down

An exhibition in Glasgow turns our attention towards the ways in which we interact with objects

29 Nov 2017
Head, (2006), Jimmie Durham

The defiant jokes of Jimmie Durham

The artist continues to confound expectations in this display of wit at the Whitney

28 Nov 2017
Eagle Owl, Edward Lear.

The many moods of Edward Lear

Jenny Uglow’s biography brings the writer and artist’s love of contradictions to the fore

24 Nov 2017
Between the Clock and the Bed (1981), Jasper Johns.

The rich repetitions of Jasper Johns

The Royal Academy’s Jasper Johns show captures the complexities of his deceptively simple art

23 Nov 2017
Mme Monet et son fils Jean dans le jardin à Argenteuil

Reconstructing Monet’s private collection

Monet’s hidden art collection goes public in an ambitious exhibition at the Musée Marmottan

22 Nov 2017
The Bachelor’s Ashtray I (1972), Alina Szapocznikow. © ADAGP, Paris 2017. Courtesy The Estate of Alina Szapocznikow / Piotr Stanislawski / Galerie Loevenbruck, Paris. Photo: Fabrice Gousset

The unnerving brilliance of Alina Szapocznikow

The Polish artist’s powerful work is finally being accorded the attention it deserves. Don’t miss the chance to see it in the UK

21 Nov 2017
5000 Feet is the Best (2011), Omer Fast.

There’s more to say about art since 9/11

The Imperial War Museum’s ‘Age of Terror’ exhibition is important, but fails to ask some key questions

20 Nov 2017
Portrait of Madame Marie Hubbard (1874), Berthe Morisot (1841–95) © Ordrupgaard Collection, Copenhagen.

The Danish collector with a passion for French painting

Wilhelm Hansen amassed his impressive collection, now showing at the Musée Jacquemart-André, in only two years

17 Nov 2017
River God (c. 1526–27), Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564). Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Florence

‘An age riven with contradictory impulses’

The Palazzo Strozzi makes the most of the tensions that fuelled the cinquecento’s creative energy

15 Nov 2017