Frans Hals Exhibition. Review by Barbara Lewis. Frans Hals (1582-1666) painted portraits, “nothing, nothing, nothing but that,” wrote van Gogh to fellow painter Emile Bernard, but that they were “worth Dante’s Paradise and the Michelangelos and Raphaels and even the Greeks”.
painting
Claudette Johnson’s exhibition Presence. Review by Jenny Vuglar. Johnson first came to attention in 1982 while a student at The Polytechnic Wolverhampton. Britain’s ‘black cultural renaissance’ began, not in the famous institutions of London but in the Polytechs of the north: Wolverhampton, Trent, Sunderland.
Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris. Review by Barbara Lewis. As curators and art historians work to redistribute glory that men historically monopolised, Pallant House Gallery’s latest major exhibition devotes itself to extracting Welsh-born artist Gwen John from beneath the shadow of her more worldly brother Augustus John.
Paula Rego: Crivelli’s Garden. Review by Graham Buchan. Two years ago Tate Britain mounted a major retrospective of Paula Rego’s work and it was a great exhibition. Now the National Gallery shows a single piece of Rego’s work, albeit a big one: Crivelli’s Garden is nearly ten metres wide and two metres high.
![Piet Mondrian, Composition in colour B, 1917. Oil on canvas, 50.5 x 45 cm. Collection Kröller-Müller Museum[48965]](https://londongrip.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Piet-Mondrian-Composition-in-colour-B-1917.-Oil-on-canvas-50.5-x-45-cm.-Collection-Kroller-Muller-Museum48965-180x200.jpg "Piet Mondrian, Composition in colour B, 1917. Oil on canvas, 50.5 x 45 cm. Collection Kröller-Müller Museum[48965]")
Hilma af Klint & Piet Mondrian: Forms of Life. Review by Graham Buchan. I recommend this show because any exhibition which redresses the balance in favour of a neglected artist is to be commended even if, as I think, af Klint’s work is not altogether good.
Peter Doig, The Courtauld Gallery. Review by Barbara Lewis. Peter Doig never tries to create real spaces, only painted spaces, we learn at the beginning of the Courtauld’s exhibition of some of his most recent work, including paintings created since his move from Trinidad to London in 2021.
Spain and the Hispanic World. Review by Carla Scarano. We are lucky that the Hispanic Society Museum and Library in Upper Manhattan is closed for refurbishing so that the collection that the philanthropist Archer M. Huntington accumulated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries can travel the world on loan.
Museum of New Zealand/Te Papa Tongarewa. Review by Barbara Lewis. In their desperation to get New Zealand’s founding document signed, the British in undue haste drew up a Maori version of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi that is disputed to this day.
Pasolini Painter. Review by Carla Scarano. Pier Paolo Pasolini’s complex personality and multifaceted creativity are displayed in full at the exhibition Pasolini Pittore at Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Rome.
Lucian Freud: New Perspectives. Review by Carla Scarano. The exhibition thoroughly explores Lucian Freud’s artistic career, displaying an extended range of paintings.
Barber Institute. Review by Barbara Lewis. The Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham owes its existence to Lady Martha Constance Hattie Barber. She founded the Barber Institute in 1932, and built a home for it all – a magnificent art deco building opened in 1939.
The Avant-Garde in Georgia. Review by Barbara Lewis. Every two years, Belgium and neighbouring countries host Europalia, a four-month international arts festival to celebrate one country’s cultural heritage. Until early next year, the latest biennale focuses on Georgia, a resonant choice given the conflict nearby instigated by Russia.
By Barbara Lewis • art, exhibitions, painting, year 2023 • Tags: art, Barbara Lewis, exhibitions, painting