What do US museums mean when they talk about folk art?
Collectors, curators and artists have been debating the category of American folk art since the early 20th century – as a display at the MFA Boston makes clear
Bloomsbury’s gooseberry? ‘Clive Bell and the Making of Modernism’, reviewed
Clive Bell is now best known as Vanessa’s husband – but a new biography replenishes his role in promoting modernism in Britain
In the studio with… Mandy El-Sayegh
The unlikeliest objects in the London-based artist’s studio? Either the sex toys or the taxidermy collection, she says
Picasso’s Guernica, as you’ve never seen it before
The ‘Rethinking Guernica’ website allows us to scrutinise Picasso’s anti-war masterpiece in greater detail than ever
The fine art (of sorts) of Euro 2020 football kits
The Italians have opted for a ‘Renaissance design’ – although the floral patterning looks more William Morris than Michelangelo
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The week in art news – staff accuse Barbican Centre of being institutionally racist
Plus: the Met returns two Benin Bronzes, Donald Judd’s office in Marfa severely damaged in fire, and more stories
The frozen dinners of Daniel Spoerri
The Swiss artist’s tableaux of tables capture the joys of dining in good company
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The joyful art of Julio Le Parc
The Argentinian-born artist, now in his tenth decade, reflects on a life devoted to trying new things
Behind the mask? An interview with Gillian Wearing
Gillian Wearing is in an unusually candid mode in her lockdown paintings, writes Martin Herbert – if you take them at face value, that is
June 2021
• An interview with Peter Blake
• The future of tourism in Italy
• Going for artistic gold at the Olympics
• Bernardo Bellotto in Dresden
Plus: Joseph Cornell’s exhibitions for kids, a preview of Masterpiece Online, the threat to the independence of UK museums – and Bonaparte the builder
2 Tone was never just about the music – as this show in Coventry makes clear
2 Tone began as a ska-inspired record label, but swiftly became a look and a political stance – and a defining moment in British cultural history
The clay’s the thing – Ceramic: Art and Civilisation, reviewed
Paul Greenhalgh’s ambitious survey takes us from the ancient Greeks to Picasso and beyond
For Kurdish artists in Turkey, simply making work is a political act
Works produced in prison by the artist Fatos Irwen speak to the increasingly repressive climate for Kurds in Turkey
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In the studio with… Chantal Joffe
The painter offers a glimpse of her canalside studio in London, where she works alone save for her portrait sitters – and a stuffed toy camel on wheels
Scents and sensibility: why smell counts in art
The visual arts have often toyed with odours and smells, however challenging they are to represent
The week in art news – frustrated Belgian experts issue their own restitution guidelines
Plus: The Whitney has voluntarily recognised a union and Hobby Lobby is suing Dirk Obbink over alleged papyrus theft
A home for empathy and artists, in a former socialist-realist district of Cracow
Utopia Home – International Empathy Centre will provide a place of interaction, exchange and community for the artists and residents of Cracow in Poland
Do artists dress to impress?
In ‘What Artists Wear’, Charlie Porter casts an eye over the wardrobe choices of everyone from Barbara Hepworth to Jean-Michel Basquiat
Behind the mask? An interview with Gillian Wearing
Gillian Wearing is in an unusually candid mode in her lockdown paintings, writes Martin Herbert – if you take them at face value, that is
Made You Look – a true crime doc that should terrify art collectors
The knavery and folly of the rarefied art world are writ large in a documentary that picks over the Knoedler forgery scandal
After playing Turner and Lowry, now Timothy Spall has taken up painting for real
Having picked up the paintbrush for film roles, the actor found that he couldn’t stop painting – and he now has a solo show of his own
Nikolai Astrup: Visions of Norway
Paintings and woodblocks inspired by Nordic folklore get their first US showing at the Clark Art Institute
Helsinki Biennial
The city’s inaugural biennial takes place both on the mainland and a nearby island – plus, of course, online
Mamma Andersson
The Swedish artist’s strange compositions, culled from a range of sources, travel to Louisiana in Denmark
Gustave Moreau: The Fables
The French Symbolist’s colourful illustrations go on display at Waddesdon – for the first time in more than a century