Reviews

6 October 1942/ 6. Oktober 1942 (1943), Hannah Ryggen

The revolutionary craft of Hannah Ryggen

The artist’s tapestries, made on a remote farm in Norway, remained fiercely engaged with the political events of their time

5 Feb 2018
The Enchanted Room (detail; 1917), Carlo Carrà.

Milan’s modern masters enchant at the Estorick

The Pinacoteca di Brera’s overlooked collection of modern Italian art gets a welcome outing in London

1 Feb 2018
Correspondence O (still; 2017), Ilona Sagar

The archival experiments of Ilona Sagar

The artist’s film installation explores the history of a radical 1930s health centre and its south London home

30 Jan 2018
Measure for Measure 7 (2016), Bridget Riley

‘A visceral assault on the senses’

Bridget Riley’s monumental abstract paintings are as mysterious as they are mesmerising

26 Jan 2018
CONDO 2018

A warm welcome for out-of-town guests at Condo 2018

The gallery-sharing initiative’s third edition provides a hopeful model for collaboration and creativity

25 Jan 2018
Michelangelo's David at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence. Still from Great Art (dir. David Bickerstaff)

ITV’s ‘Great Art’ brings art broadcasting back to basics

Episodes on Michelangelo, Canaletto and the Impressionists make the case for a simple approach to art on telly

23 Jan 2018
Two London Painters (Frank Auerbach and Sandra Fisher), (1979), R.B. Kitaj, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

R.B. Kitaj in his own words

The painter’s posthumously published memoir is a candid record of his obsessions

23 Jan 2018
Luncheon of the Boating Party, (1880–81), Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Dallas Museum of Art

‘This is a book about a man who painted, not about the paintings he made’

A new biography of Renoir emphasises the role the painter’s domestic life played in his work

20 Jan 2018
Detail of a scroll drawing showing the ten avatars of Vishnu, c. 1771–79, Andhra Pradesh, India. © Victoria and Albert Museum

A comparative approach to religious art

An ambitious, if limited, exhibition compares the early traditions of five faiths

19 Jan 2018
Experiments in Black and White XIII - Richmond South Africa (video still; 2014), Neville Gabie.

The patient precision of Neville Gabie

The South African artist has made a virtue of taking his time to make slow but rewarding films and performance pieces

19 Jan 2018
James Rosenquist in his studio with source materials, 1966

The art of advertising

A museum retrospective charts James Rosenquist’s journey from billboard painter to Pop art pioneer

18 Jan 2018
Pose Work for Sisters (detail; 2016), Jacqueline Donachie. Courtesy of the artist and Patricia Fleming Projects, Glasgow

A guide to urban living

In her mid-career survey, Jacqueline Donachie explores the hidden cruelties of the urban environment

11 Jan 2018
Hellelil and Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs (1864), Frederic William Burton. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

The man who made Ireland’s favourite painting

Frederic William Burton’s sentimental watercolour scenes reflect the taste of a bygone era

10 Jan 2018

The dividing lines of Otobong Nkanga

For her first solo exhibition in Ireland, Otobong Nkanga complicates easy distinctions between the natural and the industrial

10 Jan 2018

The remarkable legacy of Johan Maelwael

This superbly curated exhibition transforms our understanding of medieval art history

6 Jan 2018
Bunker 2 (detail; 2017), Doug Ashford. Still from digital film. Courtesy the artist and Wilfried Lentz Rotterdam

The battle for Picasso’s mind

An exhibition in Berlin explores how both sides in the Cold War tried to turn artists into ideological weapons

3 Jan 2018
Round bowl, mid 1st century AD, Ennion, Roman, eastern Mediterranean, possibly Syrian, Yale University Art Gallery

The enduring appeal of ancient glass

Many of the methods invented by Roman glassmakers are still in use today

20 Dec 2017
‘Luciano Fabro'. Installation view at Simon Lee Gallery, London, 2017, Photo: Todd White Art Photography; the Archivio Luciano e Carla Fabro and Simon Lee Gallery

A potted guide to Luciano Fabro

The works of the Arte Povera artist playfully resist our expectations of what sculpture should be

19 Dec 2017
'Come Fresh Hell or Fresh Hell Water', installation view at Blain|Southern, London, 2017. Courtesy the artist and Blain|Southern. Photo: Richard Eaton

The slippery charms of Sophie Jung

The artist’s weird, witty sculptures refuse to let us fix their meaning

19 Dec 2017
Concrétion humaine oder Coquille se dénouant (1936), Jean (Hans) Arp. Kunstmuseum Winterthur. © Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstwissenschaft, Zürich

Crossing borders at Turner Contemporary

The word-objects of Jean (Hans) Arp are a reminder of how powerful hybrid forms can be

18 Dec 2017
Gold belt plaque with a vulture mauling a yak and a tiger, (4th–2nd century BC), southern Siberia, State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Photo: V. Terebinin; © The State Hermitage Museum

Stepping out in style with the Scythians

These Siberian nomads were consummate survivors – and highly sophisticated craftsmen

16 Dec 2017

The hidden bones of buildings

Monika Sosnowska’s sculptures reflect on the architecture of post-war Eastern Europe

14 Dec 2017
Girl Behind a Screen (detail; 1952), Leonard Rosoman.

The layered life of Leonard Rosoman

A fine, detailed biography convinces us to take another look at the oft-neglected British artist

14 Dec 2017
Sir Joseph Banks, (detail) (1771–73), Sir Joshua Reynolds, National Portrait Gallery, London

‘My grand tour shall be one round the whole globe’

Joseph Banks’ plant specimens from Captain Cook’s first voyage are still of the greatest scientific importance

13 Dec 2017