Jo Lawson-Tancred is an arts writer based in London.

The fragile idylls of Frank Walter

The Antiguan-born painter spent his final years living off the land, but his scenes of paradise are more complicated than they seem

22 Nov 2023

In Lausanne, a lively new museum district has finally arrived

The Plateforme 10 project has brought the city’s fine arts, design and photo museums together on the site of a former train yard

28 Mar 2023

Peter Doig’s pick-and-mix approach to painting

The Courtauld’s show of recent works may be uneven but, at his best, the artist is more than capable of rubbing shoulders with the greats

23 Mar 2023

What does the loss of Masterpiece mean for London?

The threats to the art fair have been piling up for years. So what’s pushed it over the edge?

2 Feb 2023

The algorithms that are giving art curators a run for their money

A show at J/M Gallery compares art curating with the shadowy ways in which AI now shapes our online experience

15 Jan 2023
The National Gallery. Photo: imageBROKER/Alamy Stock Photo

How are UK museums going to keep the lights on this winter?

The government’s energy caps offer short-term relief, but if museums are really going to serve as ‘warm havens’ they need more certainty

22 Sep 2022
Kali Murti (detail; 2022), Kaushik Ghosh. Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum

How do women really wield power?

In attempting to give an account of ‘feminine power’ through the ages, the British Museum raises far more questions than it answers

10 Jun 2022

Making progress in postwar Britain

This focused survey shows that artists after the war seemed more than ready to embrace the future

28 Apr 2022
The Skiiers by Akseli Gallen-Kallela

The Finnish painter who longed for freedom

Akseli Gallen-Kallela is best-known for his pretty lakeside views, but he also yearned for political independence and spiritual fulfilment

13 Apr 2022
Pichhvai temple cloth depicting the Dana Lila festival, 19th century. Francesca Galloway (price on application)

What not to miss at Asia Week New York

Devotional textiles from India and a rare edition of a work by Hiroshige are among the highlights of this year’s event

11 Mar 2022
Red cabbages and onions (1887), Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Can machines do art history?

Art historians may be sceptical about artificial intelligence, but machine learning might enlarge our capacity for observation – and even revive connoisseurship

3 Dec 2021
The sculptor Beverly Pepper (1922–2020).

Material differences – the abstract women sculptors with utterly distinct approaches

The artists featured in this exhibition didn’t share the same outlook or methods, but their variousness is part of the point

29 Oct 2021

The Apollo 40 Under 40 Art & Tech in focus: Nimrod Vardi

The founding director of Arebyte has turned the gallery and online platform into a magnet for new media art in the UK

20 Sep 2021
Visitors showing their ‘green pass’ at the Vatican Museums in August 2021.

Admissible evidence – museum directors have their say on vaccine passports

Museum directors in France and Italy seem to agree that requiring proof of vaccination is preferable to being shut – although not everyone is on board

16 Sep 2021
Wine cooler and stand (one of a pair) (1809), Paul Storr. Koopman Rare Art (in the region of £400,000 for the pair)

What not to miss at TEFAF Online

For its second online edition, the fair is doubly determined to catch the eye of collectors with museum-quality masterpieces

7 Sep 2021
Tim Berners-Lee demonstrating the World Wide Web at CERN.

Tim Berners-Lee said the World Wide Web was for everyone, so why has he sold its source code as an NFT?

The sale at auction raises complex questions about who owns the internet today

29 Jun 2021
New Family Lamp (2020), Atelier Van Lieshout. Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Masterpiece is back, with a new hybrid approach that stays true to its roots

There’s still no bustling tent this year, but the fair continues to offer a platform for the best of art and design from across the globe

22 Jun 2021
Flower Thief (NFT promo) (2021), Jan Erichsen © the artist

Are digital artists waiting for the NFT bubble to burst?

Most of the fuss about NFTs has focused on what, if anything, buyers are getting – but how do digital artists feel about minting their art?

23 Apr 2021

The Swiss museums leading the charge to reopen

Museums in Switzerland have appealed to the government to let them reopen – and French museums are following suit

23 Feb 2021

Meet the artists who were built by a bot factory

Andrei Taraschuk wants to inundate the internet with art – and has made hundreds of bots posing as famous artists

3 Feb 2021
The Empress in the Tarot Garden at Garavicchio.

Niki de Saint Phalle’s psychedelic garden is a seriously good trip

In her Tarot Garden in Tuscany, the French-American artist let her imagination run riot

31 Jan 2021
The gift shop at the newly reopened Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, in September 2020.

Is e-commerce the future for museum shops?

With far fewer in-person visitors exiting through the gift shop, institutions must find new ways to mitigate their losses

19 Oct 2020
Left: Head of Saint John the Baptist (1877/78), Auguste Rodin. Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. Right: La Portinaia (1883/84), Medardo Rosso. Collection PCC, Lugano

What did Impressionism mean for sculpture?

A survey of artists inspired by the movement considers how successfully sculpture can convey a sense of transience

14 Oct 2020
Cromwell Place

Cromwell Place is open – and it’s a timely treat for London’s art lovers

The major new arts hub in South Kensington is now open – and making good on its promise of bringing artistic innovation to London

8 Oct 2020