Reviews
The strange and sinister world of Julia Soboleva
The Latvian-born artist takes found photographs and paints over them to make enigmatic and eerie images – but they’re not meant to be scary, she insists
‘A curatorial masterclass’ – the 59th Venice Biennale, reviewed
Cecilia Alemani’s focus on women artists goes beyond tokenism to present a strong statement about both contemporary art and the world we live in
The Soane Museum provides a masterclass in the art of architectural drawing
Frances Sands’ selection from one of the world’s greatest collections of architectural drawings will delight both experts and the general reader alike
The restless spirit of Stephen Shore
In this memoir of sorts, the photographer gives us a masterclass in staying alert and fully alive to the everyday world
The fine lines of Franz Kafka
The writer’s drawings are every bit as fastidious as his sentences – and full of the same preoccupations
When clothes really do make the man – ‘Fashioning Masculinities’ at the V&A, reviewed
Throughout the ages, and for better or worse, the clothes men have worn have been absolutely crucial, writes Rosalind Jana
The painter who turned his eye upon the crowds of Paris
Louis-Léopold Boilly experienced his fair share of personal drama, but he had a rare gift for depicting the ins and outs of everyday existence
Details man – Donatello in Florence, reviewed
The sculptor’s boundless powers of invention are on full display in his hometown for this once-in-a-lifetime blockbuster
Making progress in postwar Britain
This focused survey shows that artists after the war seemed more than ready to embrace the future
Mary Weatherford takes on Titian in his hometown
The Californian painter’s responses to ‘The Flaying of Marsyas’ have a sublime quality all of its own
David Hockney sees through it all at the Fitzwilliam
The painter may be fond of his iPad, but his longstanding suspicion of the technologies that have tied artists to linear perspective is to the fore here
The rococo interiors that furnished Walt Disney’s imagination
The French furniture that inspired the look of Disney’s best-loved films also came out of a studio system that required a good deal of collaboration
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
Power play — ‘“Daddy”: A Melodrama’ at the Almeida, reviewed
Jeremy O. Harris’ latest play unravels the twisted power dynamics between a wealthy white art collector and an emerging Black artist on a Hockney-inspired stage
Why are so many public statues so disappointing?
The most successful public statues are more than mere three-dimensional versions of photographs plonked on plinths
Spying an opportunity – how Francis Bacon made it to Moscow
James Birch recounts the improbable story of how, with help from the KGB, he put on a show of Bacon’s work in the Soviet Union
Gilt complex – ‘Gold in America’ at Yale University Art Gallery, reviewed
The gold objects in this show may glitter, but some of their previous owners are cast in a far from flattering light
The thoroughly modern scenes of Florine Stettheimer
The painter who was at the heart of the New York avant-garde captured the many excitements of the modern age
Full frontal flatness – Marlene Dumas in Venice, reviewed
The South African artist’s exposing paintings are not merely portraits of bare flesh – they are revelations of humanity’s darker, more painful depths
Lord of the wings – how Audubon’s career got off to a flying start
James John Audubon’s illustrations of birds endure to this day, even if many of the species he depicted didn’t make it
Golden boy – the timeless appeal of Tutankhamun
A century after the discovery of his tomb, our interest in the teenage pharaoh says more about the present than the past
‘A six-gun salute to the bespectacled one’ – Yves Saint Laurent in Paris, reviewed
The designer’s infatuation with the fine arts ran deep, as a series of exhibitions throughout the city’s museums makes clear
Meet Magritte – the man behind the apple
Bowler hats off to a new biography of the painter that chips away at the Belgian’s bourgeois veneer
A full house of Tudors at the Holburne Museum
Seeing the National Portrait Gallery’s treasures in a new setting allows us to appreciate the larger-life-than personalities behind the paintings in new ways
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It’s time for the government of London to return to its rightful home