Reviews

Putting Renaissance paintings in their place

A new study of framing devices is illuminating, but devotes surprisingly little space to actual picture frames

21 Jun 2019
(1928), Lotte Laserstein. Private collection. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019

Is it time to take Lotte Laserstein at face value?

The painter’s portraits may not be as ambiguous as this show in Berlin seems to suggest

20 Jun 2019
The Russian Constitution. 1905 (late 1905), unknown artist, no publication details. The words on the flag read ‘Liberty or Death’. collection of Tobie Mathew

The postcards that paved the way for the Russian Revolution

Anti-tsarist postcards were an important, and often beautiful, form of radical propaganda in Imperial Russia

18 Jun 2019
Daniel in the Lions’ Den (c. 1614–16), Peter Paul Rubens. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

How Rubens made a booming business of his art

Diplomat, entrepreneur, painter – from an early age Rubens knew what it took to achieve success

14 Jun 2019
Interior. Strandgade 30 (1901), Vilhelm Hammershøi.

Shades of grey – the austere artistry of Vilhelm Hammershøi

The Danish painter scorned the fussy fashions of the bourgeoisie, taking a more spartan approach – at home and in his art

12 Jun 2019
Relief with three Palmyrene gods (1st century), Bir Wereb, near Palmyra. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

A journey through the melting pots of the ancient Middle East

The Met shows how much cities between Rome and Parthia had in common – and how devastating recent archaeological losses are

10 Jun 2019
Luchita Hurtado (b. 1920) photographed in 2019.

A world of her own – the paintings of Luchita Hurtado

The 98-year-old artist makes her debut in the UK with a thrilling exhibition of work from throughout her career

6 Jun 2019
Metropolis (1949), Tezuka Osamu.

Lost without words – Manga at the British Museum, reviewed

Despite its international popularity, the Japanese art form cannot be understood through images alone

4 Jun 2019

Harry Clarke’s uncanny visions of Ireland

The illustrator and designer of stained glass fused Irish and European traditions to create an intriguing new idiom

29 May 2019
Prisoners Exercising (1890), Vincent van Gogh.

How Victorian London inspired Vincent Van Gogh

The Tate explores how the painter’s eyes were opened to new influences during his time in the city

26 May 2019
CARVING: 45 Years Later (detail; 2017), Eleanor Antin. Installation view of ‘Eleanor Antin: Time’s Arrow’, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019.

Funny and unflinching – Eleanor Antin bares all at LACMA

The now-octogenarian artist has revisited her most famous work – and it only gets better with age

23 May 2019
Self Portrait with Skeleton Arm (detail; 1895), Edvard Munch.

Munch’s prints are obsessive and repetitive – but a revelation all the same

He took to the medium with great speed, producing works that display a rich debt to the Old Masters

22 May 2019
Marchesa Luisa Casati with Peacock Feathers Marchesa Luisa Casati with Peacock Feathers

Canes, corsets and peacock feathers – ‘Boldini and Fashion’ reviewed

The Ferrarese painter spent his career capturing the whims of fashion – but the results are far from superficial

21 May 2019

Walter Gropius: the man who built the Bauhaus

Fiona MacCarthy’s biography suggests that the architect’s greatest achievement may have been to assemble so much talent in one place

18 May 2019

The painter who made his name on the Western Front

Alfred Munnings was an official war artist who took a curiously pastoral approach to the conflict

16 May 2019
Philip Johnson with models showing ‘the evolution of the modern skyscraper’, shortly before their display at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1933.

The most influential and most detested architect of the modern age

Philip Johnson was not the most talented modern American architect, but he was certainly the most important

15 May 2019
The Statue of the Virgin Welcomed with Great Pomp in Brussels (1516–18), unknown Brussels workshop, after a design by Bernard van Orley.

Lavish tapestries and pious paintings – Bernard van Orley weaves his magic in Brussels

The Flemish master, whose workshop was one of the busiest in 16th-century Brussels, gets his first major survey in the city of his birth

13 May 2019
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1943), Dorothea Tanning. Tate Collection.

Flowers, hyenas and haunted hotels – the surreal world of Dorothea Tanning

The Tate’s survey of Tanning’s long career testifies to her lifelong commitment to Surrealism

11 May 2019
The Rain Fell Everywhere (2018), David Salle.

David Salle puts a new spin on history painting

The painter’s witty and deceptively effortless works combine high and low culture to enjoyable effect

8 May 2019
Left: Madonna with the Laughing Child (c. 1472), attrib. Leonardo da Vinci. Photo: © Victorian and Albert Museum, London. Right: Bust of a Lady (Lady with Flowers) (c. 1475), Andrea del Verrocchio. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. Photo: Giovanni Martellucci

Andrea del Verrocchio steps out of the shadow of his star pupil

The Florentine master, who took Leonardo as an apprentice, was perhaps the most influential artist of his day

3 May 2019

Oil slick – the smooth dealings of Calouste Gulbenkian

Where both petroleum and art were concerned, the 20th-century tycoon positioned himself for rich pickings

Back cover for ’The Portable Hairy Who!’ (1966), Karl Wirsum.

Cartoons and camaraderie – the Chicago Imagists, reviewed

In the 1960s and ’70s Chicago was the home of a movement that gleefully broke all the rules of good taste

27 Apr 2019
© Gerhard Richter 2018 (28112018)

Gerhard Richter, Steve Reich and Arvo Pärt put on a show

Their joint commission for the Shed includes choirs, orchestras and lots of colour – but is it smaller than the sum of its parts?

26 Apr 2019
Memorial to the Idea of Man If He Was an Idea (detail; 1958), H.C. Westermann. Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

H.C. Westermann’s sinister visions of post-war America

His experiences as a marine gunner in the Second World War and Korea made a lasting impact on Westermann’s art

25 Apr 2019