Reviews

Head with Insect (detail; 1935), Catherine Yarrow. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art © Catherine Yarrow Estate

Scotland is waking up to the importance of women Surrealists

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has put together a modest but eye-opening display of works created and inspired by female Surrealists

24 Feb 2017

The lust for luxury goods

The trade in silk, porcelain, and lacquer from East Asia was even more complicated than we thought

23 Feb 2017
A Painting to Defend, (1993), Chéri Samba.

Afrofuturism takes on a new meaning in Israel

With migrant workers and refugees from Africa settling in Israel, contemporary African art in Tel Aviv takes on a new urgency

21 Feb 2017
The New Hall, Hardwick Hall, designed by Robert Smythson and completed in 1590, seen from the west

‘The most perfect example of the Elizabethan Age’

From its architecture to the treasures it contains, Hardwick Hall is a complete work of art

20 Feb 2017
National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C. Alan Karchmer/NMAAHC

Telling the story of the African American experience in Washington

Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture offers a history lesson for all

18 Feb 2017

Duncan Campbell turns his attention to rural Ireland

The Turner Prize winner’s new film looks at the power of narratives to misrepresent

16 Feb 2017
Medallion (YouWe) (1937), Gluck. Ömer M. Koç Collection

Gluck’s rebellion against artistic and gender norms

Ninety years after Gluck’s first exhibition at the Fine Art Society, the painter seems as radical as ever

15 Feb 2017
Margate Knot, (detail), (2016), Anna Ray.

Turning women’s work into art

Some of the 20th century’s greatest artists have worked in textiles – and most of them happen to have been women

15 Feb 2017
A Marina Abramović performance during ‘Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present’ at MoMA, New York in 2010. Wikimedia Commons

Inside the mind of Marina Abramović

In ‘Walk Through Walls’, Abramović is actively using the memoir form to reveal the persona ‘I try to keep hidden’

14 Feb 2017
Hanging Gardens of Hammersmith, No. 1 (1944–47), Victor Pasmore. © Estate of Victor Pasmore. All rights reserved DACS

The shifting styles of Victor Pasmore

Pasmore’s work surely constitutes one of the most varied and experimental bodies of work produced by any 20th-century British artist

9 Feb 2017
Meteorite hits Savissivik, by Siobhan McDonald. Photo: Vincent Hoban

Siobhan McDonald’s chance encounters with a changing world

The artist’s exhibition at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris explores big themes of climate change, landscape and loss

9 Feb 2017
The Blairs Memorial Portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots (early 17th century), Flemish, unknown artist. Blairs Museum, Aberdeen

The turbulent life of Mary, Queen of Scots

She’s an icon of Scottish nationhood and martyrdom, but Mary’s life at court was a complicated one of competing cultural, social and political influences

8 Feb 2017
‘Anya Gallaccio: Beautiful Minds’ at Thomas Dane Gallery, London, 2017. Courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery, London. Photo Todd-White Art Photography

The melancholy grandeur of a 3D-printed mountain

Anya Gallaccio is building her own version of Wyoming’s Devil’s Tower in London, using a 3D printer. What does the work say about the relationship between man and nature?

8 Feb 2017
Baggage Claim (2010), Jitish Kallat. Centre Pompidou, Paris

Jitish Kallat’s long meditation on life and death in the city

The Indian artist’s global success has not been fully appreciated at home – until now

7 Feb 2017
Capital for a porphyry column (c. 1775–80), Pierre Gouthière, probably after a design by François-Joseph Bélanger. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Photo: RMN-Grand-Palais (Musée du Louvre)/Thierry Ollivier

Pierre Gouthière – the man with the Midas touch

This scholarly show at the Frick Collection is also a feast for the senses

6 Feb 2017
Icon (for Divine Lovers) (1923), Eric Gill. Courtesy of the Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft

The radical side of 20th-century Sussex

Modern art in Sussex was about more than just rolling hills and gentle abstraction

3 Feb 2017
Andrew Graham-Dixon in front of ‘Napoleon 1 on his Imperial Throne’, by Ingres at the Musée de l’Armée, Paris. From the BBC's 'The Art of France'. © BBC

We need more TV shows like the BBC’s ‘Art of France’

Andrew Graham-Dixon’s new show ranges from Islamic influence on French architecture to narcissistic nationalism – and we haven’t even got to Napoleon yet

31 Jan 2017
Thames Painting: The Estuary. (1994–95), Michael Andrews. © The Estate of Michael Andrews. Courtesy James Hyman Gallery, London. Photo: Mike Bruce/Gagosian

How Michael Andrews breathed life into painting

Abstraction and representation blend effortlessly and mysteriously in Michael Andrews’ paintings, which are on view at Gagosian in London

31 Jan 2017
Portrait of Charles Gravier Count of Vergennes and French Ambassador, in Turkish Attire (detail; second half of the 18th century), Antoine de Favray

A picture of past diplomacy in Istanbul’s Pera Museum

Charting the Ottoman Empire’s international relations through art, this exhibition reminds us that Turkey was once a thriving region for statesmen and artists alike

26 Jan 2017

Up close and personal with illuminated manuscripts

This is a gem of a book, full of scholarly insight

25 Jan 2017

The importance of South Africa’s craft traditions

This survey of the history of South African art needs to pay more attention to the country’s craft traditions

23 Jan 2017
Installation view of On Translation: The Games (1996) by Antoni Muntadas at Atlanta College of Art Gallery

Found in translation

Are there too many languages and can translation ever really bridge our gaps in understanding?

20 Jan 2017
'Lange eenzame man' (2010) (left) and P XIII (2008) (right), Berlinde De Bruyckere, installation view, Mona. Photo: Mona/Rémi Chauvin

Getting to grips with the nature of art at Mona

Turns out that the museum of sex and death has much more on its mind

19 Jan 2017

When Derek Walcott met Peter Doig

The only living poet to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature responds to one of the greatest living painters

19 Jan 2017