The many faces of Mary Magdalene
From penitent saint to salacious sinner, the biblical figure has worn a number of different guises in art through the ages
In praise of the cat ladies of contemporary art
Hettie Judah considers how artists such as Tracey Emin and Kiki Smith have represented the sacred bond between women and their cats
Lust for life – the art of Beryl Cook and Tom of Finland
Pleasure is a point of principle at Studio Voltaire’s exhibition of works by the two artists
The women who channelled violence into art
Chantal Akerman and Valie Export have both deployed aggression as a means of artistic expression
‘I am every conservator’s nightmare – that person who wants to touch the art’
Seeing art is often a purely visual experience, but we shouldn’t be afraid of exploring our other senses in the gallery
Does this year’s Venice Biennale live up to the hype?
There are delightful discoveries to be made at this year’s event, but sometimes the central exhibition fizzles where it should spark
Why are fathers so absent from art history?
Artists over the centuries have often depicted women as mothers, but where are all the deadbeat dads?
Don’t fear the gatekeeper
Artists may distrust intermediaries but it would be more difficult for anyone to get noticed in the art world without them
Breaking the mould – the women who rewrote the rules of sculpture
In the decades after the Second World War, female artists chafed at the strictures of abstraction and began expressing their gender through their work
The art museum in Athens that is making a feminist stand
For one year, the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens has an all-female display of works from its collection and an all-female programme
The passion projects of Dorothy Iannone
Work by the artist who painted herself as a sex goddess sits uneasily within the category of feminist art – and is all the better for being discomforting
The arrested adolescence of Mike Kelley
The artist found freedom in a form of DIY making that teeters on the edge of self-indulgence
Taking Philip Guston on his own terms
Hettie Judah stops her ears to the endless chatter to find a painter whose work is full of flaws and self-doubt – and all the better for it
The artists who want to enter the monster zone
Creativity often flouts conventions, so it’s no wonder more women want to become thoroughly monstrous
Can painting ever bear the weight of grief?
Gwen John and the contemporary artist Matthew Krishanu found comfort in a shared composition
When outsider art entered the mainstream
A string of recent exhibitions have done much to raise the profile of so-called outsider artists
Are artists getting screwed over by galleries and museums?
A new report shows that most practitioners are still working for love rather than fair pay
The cosmic visions of Hilma af Klint
The Swedish artist is now fêted as a pioneer of abstract art, but her spiritual inclinations are what really resonate today
‘Every generation rewrites the past in its own image’
Hettie Judah revisits the past as it is presented by artists delving into the archives and reusing old footage
Girls observed: the art of taking young women seriously
Hettie Judah on what artists have got right (and also wrong) when it comes to depictions of girls
The film-makers who deserve a fair hearing
While Peter Strickland’s most recent feature sends up sound artists, Georgina Starr’s short makes for a more challenging listen
Can stones unlock the secrets of our existence?
Contemporary artists are looking to geological forms less for aesthetic cues than for perspective on time, place and human agency
Body politics – how physical illness affects an artist’s work
We are well used to art expressing mental anguish, yet when we are presented with work that responds to physical pain, our urge is to look away
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How to paint with real freedom
Artists from Helen Frankenthaler to Marlene Dumas have poured and splattered paint on to their canvases with a sense of enviable abandon