Vanessa Bell: A World of Form and Colour. Review by Jenny Vuglar. To be a woman artist in the mid twentieth century was not uncommon but to be one that was taken seriously was. The question for women artists was: how did you step out of the strait jacket of ‘lady artist’ into the world of serious collectors, galleries; out of the here and now into eternity?
painting
Siena: The Rise of Painting 1300?1350. Review by Graham Buchan. This, quite simply, is a stunning exhibition. It asserts that the first half of the fourteenth century is when painting came into its own. It was now that painting, as an art form, first became something to be commissioned and acquired.
Georgian art. Review by Barbara Lewis. Georgia is a country of less than 4 million inhabitants with a language its guides will tell you is unique. They might also mention that the word for hello “gamarjoba” comes from the word for victory.
The Rubens Garden. Review by Barbara Lewis. The Italianate palazzo in Antwerp where the great artist and diplomat Peter Paul Rubens lived and worked is closed for restoration until 2030. At the end of August, however, the newly restored garden of the Rubenshuis reopened to the public.
The Shape Of Things. Review by Barbara Lewis. Damien Hirst is famously fascinated by death and decay. For him, they are inseparable from an affirmation of life, we understand in the Pallant’s major exhibition, the first of its kind, of more than 100 practitioners of British still life – or, as the French would say, “la nature morte”.
Gavin Jantjes: To Be Free! Review by Graham Buchan. Jantjes earliest work on show here is a range of screenprints where he expresses his rage, not just at the oppression in his own country, but in other colonial territories such as Algeria, Ghana and Mozambique.
Expressionists – Kandinsky, Münter and The Blue Rider. Review by Graham Buchan. The Blue Rider was a diverse group of avant-garde artists from a variety of countries and backgrounds who gathered together in Munich pre-First World War to share their beliefs and enthusiasms.
The Last Caravaggio. Review by Graham Buchan. Sometimes it is more rewarding to spend extended time with one great example of an artist’s work than to work through a whole exhibition. This is the opportunity being offered by the National Gallery’s free show The Last Caravaggio.
Poetry review – GOD’S LITTLE ARTIST: Rosie Johnston considers Sue Hubbard’s perceptive and affectionate poetic biography of the painter Gwen John
John Craxton: A Modern Odyssey. Review by Barbara Lewis. John Craxton managed to emerge from school without passing a single exam, not even in art. Instead, charm, daring, connections, irrepressible talent and luck served him better than any merely formal qualifications.
St John’s Hospital in Bruges, dating from the 12th-century, has a history of healing focused on the soul rather than the body. By the time Hans Memling arrived in Bruges in the second half of the 15th-century, that meant the hospital had a clear role for the man who was described at the time of his death in 1494 as “the most accomplished and excellent painter of the whole Christian world”.
Impressionist Paris. Review by Barbara Lewis. Impressionist Paris, A Panoramic View of Paris in French Impressionism. Published by Hannibal Books to coincide with the exhibition New Paris: From Monet to Morisot at the Kunstmuseum in the Hague until June 9
By Barbara Lewis • art, books, drawing, exhibitions, painting, print, year 2025 • Tags: art, Barbara Lewis, books, drawing, exhibitions, painting, print