For each of the 12 days of Christmas we have asked Apollo staff and contributors to select the artistic highlights that they are most eagerly anticipating in 2014. The Muse Room will return with its regular daily blogs on 7 January 2014. From all of us at Apollo, happy new year!
Für ein Fest gemacht (Made for a Party) (detail; 1936), Hannah Höch, Collection of IFA, Stuttgart
Without wanting to overshadow the recent excitements of Christmas pudding, the new year promises well. Just over the threshold in January, I am keen to see the first major exhibition ever in Britain of the works on paper of the German Dadaist, Hannah Höch (1889–1979) at the Whitechapel Gallery (15 January–23 March). This will bring together over 100 of her works on paper from the 1910s to the 1970s. Largely collage, these range from early defiant political collages, to gentler feminist social satire to striking, sensual surrealist images.
Anne of Cleves (1539–40), Hans Holbein the Younger © V&A Images / Victoria and Albert Museum, London
In February the National Gallery is bringing its relevant paintings, prints and drawings together to re-examine the idea of the German Renaissance: how were those groundbreaking artists – Hans Holbein the Younger, Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach the Elder – understood in their time? How have perceptions of their qualities shifted over the intervening eras?
Trafaria Praia (2013), Joana Vasconcelos Luís Vasconcelos/ © Unidade Infinita Projectos
Also in February, the jubilant Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos is opening a solo show of recent and new work, including a vast new textile commission, at Manchester Art Gallery (15 February–1 June).
‘Hannah Höch’ is at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, from 15 January–23 March 2014.
‘Strange Beauty: Masters of the German Renaissance’ is at the National Gallery, London, from 19 February–11 May 2014.
‘Joana Vasconcelos: Time Machine’ is at the Manchester Art Gallery from 15 February–1 June 2014.