The rise of the Renaissance woman
The flurry of exhibitions focusing on women artists is very welcome – as long as they resist tired old narratives
Blackpink goes to Buckingham Palace
The K-Pop quartet attended a State Banquet for the South Korean president hosted by the new king – but perhaps its members might take up more permanent residence?
‘I needed a porcelain life’ – Christine Coulson treats a person like a work of art
One Woman Show is a novel about a socialite’s progress through the 20th century, told in the style of wall labels you might find at the Met
A continental breakfast worth tucking into twice
Jean-Étienne Liotard depicted the same scene first in pastel, then 23 years later in oils – and both versions can be savoured for a time at the National Gallery in London
Four things to see: art and nightlife
The seedier side of city life has captured the imaginations of artists throughout the decades
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The cover stories of Andrew Cranston
The artist’s playful and delicate works, often painted on book jackets, conceal a serious interest in absurdity, art history and animals
Nicolas de Staël’s art was unpredictable to the end
This long overdue retrospective shows that there was very little Nicolas de Staël coudn’t do as a painter
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In the studio with… Es Devlin
The multidisciplinary artist begins her work in bed each morning and spends her afternoons cycling to meetings, equipped with two large saddlebags
In the studio with… Claudette Johnson
The painter works on several pieces at a time with the occasional break to use her skipping rope
December 2023
• The Pop sculpture of Marisol
• The rise of the Renaissance woman
• Canine art at the Kennel Club
• Building modern India
Plus: festive geese for the table, the demand for French art deco furniture, visions of heaven and hell at the Morgan Library, and reviews of Venetian painting in Munich, John Lavery in Dublin and an 18th-century guide to marble
The fragile idylls of Frank Walter
The Antiguan-born painter spent his final years living off the land, but his paintings of an island paradise are more complicated than they seem
The sculptor who saw infinite possibilities in a line
After fleeing Nazi Germany for Venezuela, Gego made intricately-woven works from industrial materials
The art of being Barbra
Barbra Streisand’s doorstopper of a memoir suggests that the real love of the star’s life is the painter Modigliani
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Four things to see: the Elizabethan era
The British monarch was no patron of the arts, but the political upheaval of her reign inspired many writers and artists
How to do things with words – and make art at the same time
At the Henry Moore Institute, artists and poets are hanging on to language for all they’ve got, finding meaning in the spaces between writing and objects
The city of Nantes has really pushed out the boat for culture
Ambitious arts programming has transformed the fortunes of the French city since it experienced tough times in the 1980s
Hockney gets personal at the National Portrait Gallery
The artist has turned his attention to the same five sitters time and again across his 60-year career, to touching effect
The cover stories of Andrew Cranston
The artist’s playful and delicate works, often painted on book jackets, conceal a serious interest in absurdity, art history and animals
Under the influence – can social media stars also be market makers?
Cause and effect is hard to pin down, but a certain type of celebrity association does seem to affect the value of a work of art
Lost in fantasy at the British Library
This impressive exhibition takes us through the very long history of a literary genre, but overlooks the part played by artists and illustrators
Ethiopia at the Crossroads
This show at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore spans 1,750 years of Ethiopia’s rich cultural and artistic history
Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses
The Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris explores the Dutch designer’s pioneering practice
Karlo Kacharava: Sentimental Traveller
S.M.A.K. in Ghent presents the first institutional solo show outside of his native Georgia to be dedicated to the poet, critic and artist
The Printmaker’s Art: Rembrandt to Rego
The National (Royal Scottish Academy) in Edinburgh tells the story of printmaking from the 15th century to the present day
The artists who want to enter the monster zone
Creativity often flouts conventions, so it’s no wonder more women want to become thoroughly monstrous