Other artists’ still lifes may be showier, but none are as companionable as Giorgio Morandi’s
There are various staples of still life painting, some symbolic, some not. Skulls and musical instruments suggest the transience of…
Did this Lithuanian invent abstraction? M.K. Ciurlionis, at Dulwich Picture Gallery, reviewed
Trivia question: name a famous Lithuanian. Google came up with four I’d never heard of and one I had: Hannibal…
An Uffizi Adoration that upstages even the Botticellis
Laura Gascoigne on the shadowy Flemish artist Hugo van der Goes, whose painting in the Uffizi upstages the masterpieces of Botticelli
Brueghel’s peasant paintings were the D.C. Thomson comics of the 17th century
‘Psst! Someone’s coming!’ the skinny man with the ragged breeches and the bandaged jaw warns his fat companion out of…
Does gender matter? Making Modernism, at the Royal Academy, reviewed
The catalogue to Making Modernism opens with an acknowledgment from the Royal Academy’s first female president, Rebecca Salter, that in…
The careers of artists like Carolee Schneemann and Stephen Cripps are unthinkable today
During the 1964 debut of Carolee Schneemann’s ‘Meat Joy’ in Paris, a man in the audience tried to throttle the…
Thrilling: Hieroglyphs – unlocking ancient Egypt, at the British Museum, reviewed
‘Poor old Mornington Crescent, I feel sorry for it with this highly made-up neighbour blocking the view it had enjoyed,’…
The genius of Cezanne
Pity the poor curators of major exhibitions struggling to find fresh takes on famous masters. The curators of Tate Modern’s…
Do we need another Lucian Freud exhibition?
Do we need another Lucian Freud exhibition? After years of exposure to his paintings of naked bodies posed like casualties…
Brilliant and distinctive but also relentless: William Kentridge, at the RA, reviewed
William Kentridge’s work has a way of sticking in the mind. I can remember all my brief encounters with it,…
Biomorphic forms that tempt the viewer to cop a feel: Maria Bartuszova, at Tate Modern, reviewed
Art is a fundamentally childish activity: painters dream up images and sculptors play with stuff. It was while playing with…
Fresh and dreamy: Edward Lear, at Ikon Gallery, reviewed
‘It seems to me that I have to choose between 2 extremes of affection for nature… English, or Southern… The…
There's much more to Winslow Homer than his dramatic seascapes
Winslow Homer may be too all-American for British tastes but a forthcoming retrospective could change all that, says Laura Gascoigne
A victory of the imaginatively crafted over the conceptual: In the Black Fantastic reviewed
‘These artists are offering other ways of seeing,’ says Ekow Eshun, curator of In the Black Fantastic, and from the…
As cool and refreshing as a selection of sorbets: RA's Milton Avery show reviewed
‘I like the way he puts on paint,’ Milton Avery said about Matisse in 1953, but that was as much…
A showstopper is at the heart of this winning show: Dulwich Gallery's Reframed – The Woman in the Window reviewed
Themed exhibitions pegged to particular pictures in museum collections tend to be more interesting to the museum’s curators than to…
At her best when lightly ruffling the surfaces of things: Cornelia Parker, at Tate Britain, reviewed
Cornelia Parker wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but when she was growing up her German godparents…
The women’s lips are pursed; the men’s are kissable: Glyn Philpot at Pallant House reviewed
Of all the photos of artists in the studio, the one of Glyn Philpot being served a martini by his…
Nobody paints the sea like Emile Nolde
In April, ten years after opening its gallery on the beach in Hastings, the Jerwood Foundation gifted the building to…
A brief introduction to Scottish art
When Nikolaus Pevsner dedicated his 1955 Reith Lectures to ‘The Englishness of English Art’, he left out the Scots. The…
Artist, actor, social justice warrior, serial killer: the many faces of Walter Sickert
Artist, actor, social justice warrior, serial killer. Laura Gascoigne on the many faces of Walter Sickert
Evocative tribute to the orphaned caped crusader: Superheroes, Orphans & Origins at the Foundling Museum reviewed
Instead of wasting money, like other museums, on extravagant architectural statements, the Foundling Museum in Brunswick Square has sensibly chosen…
Exquisite and deranged: two glass exhibitions reviewed
A ‘Ghost Shop’ has appeared between Domino’s Pizza and Shoe Zone on Sunderland High Street. Look through the laminated window…
Raphael – saint or hustler?
Laura Gascoigne dishes the dirt on Raphael
Fails to dispel the biggest myth of all: Whitechapel Gallery's A Century of the Artist’s Studio reviewed
Picture the artist’s studio: if what comes to mind is the romantic image of a male painter at his easel…
