How flabby our ideas of draughtsmanship have become
The term drawing is a broad umbrella, so in an exhibition of 120 works it helps to outline some distinctions.…
The tumultuous story behind Caravaggio’s last painting
For centuries no one knew who it was by or even what it was of. The picture that had hung…
Embarrassment of riches: South Asian Miniature Painting, at MK Gallery, reviewed
In 1633, British merchants travelling east were issued with a royal command from Charles I: ‘As the king has considered…
The importance of lesbianism to British modernism: Double Weave, at Ditchling Museum, reviewed
The name of Ditchling used to be synonymous with Eric Gill, but since he was outed as an abuser of…
How Philip Guston became a hero to a new generation of figurative painters
Why do painters represent things? There was a time when the answers seemed obvious. Art glorified power, earthly and divine,…
Proof that Rubens really was a champion of the female sex: Rubens & Women, at the Dulwich Picture Gallery reviewed
‘She is a princess endowed with all the virtues of sex; long experience has taught her how to govern these…
Marina Abramovic’s show is only of interest to diehard fans
‘Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum?’ More than 30 years after the Guerrilla Girls…
You don’t have to be ‘woke’ to be troubled by the Fitzwilliam Museum’s links to slavery
What happens when a museum outlives the worldview of its founder? For publicly funded museums with collections amassed during the…
Surreal, pacy and fun: Christian Marclay’s Doors, at White Cube, reviewed
Sliding doors may change your life, but there’s no mystery in their transparency. A hinged wooden door is another matter;…
Lyrical and dreamlike: A World of Private Mystery – British Neo-Romantics, at the Fry Art Gallery, reviewed
‘My daughter’s moving to Saffron Walden, away from all this,’ said the railway man at Stratford station, gesturing at the…
