Reviews

Man Searching for Immortality/Woman Searching for Eternity (installation view; 2013), Bill Viola. Courtesy Bill Viola Studio and Blain|Southern, London

Bill Viola breathes fresh life into the Renaissance

A thrilling opportunity to see Bill Viola’s work alongside the Renaissance art that inspired it

20 Jun 2017
Frank Lloyd Wright’s unbuilt 1957–58 plan for Greater Baghdad. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives, New York

MoMA puts on a model exhibition about Frank Lloyd Wright

This revelatory show matches Frank Lloyd Wright’s work to his personality and his designs to his ambitions

19 Jun 2017
The Parthenon of Books (2017), Marta Minujín. Friedrichsplatz, Kassel, Documenta 14. Photo: Roman März

What has Kassel’s Documenta learned from Athens?

The Kassel leg of Documenta 14 has just opened, but will it fare batter than its much-criticised Athens counterpart?

19 Jun 2017

The grand gestures hiding in Parisian churches

Religious art didn’t die out in the 18th century – Parisian churches are full of large-scale baroque paintings

16 Jun 2017
Matching Pair (2017), Grayson Perry. Photo: Robert Glowacki; courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro, London; © Grayson Perry

Has Grayson Perry’s populist approach paid off?

Art must be accessible, says Perry, but it must also make people feel included

15 Jun 2017
Élevage de poussière (1920), Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp. © Succession Marcel Duchamp/ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2017 © Man Ray Trust/ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2017

Gathering dust at the Whitechapel Gallery

With its abstract qualities and unsettling symbolic significance, dust emerged as a key theme in 20th-century photography

13 Jun 2017
Mappa (1989-94), Alighiero Boetti. Courtesy Tornabuoni Art

The true scale of Alighiero Boetti’s achievements

The current exhibition at the Cini Foundation in Venice has a conceptual clarity that is entirely in keeping with the Italian artist’s philosophy

12 Jun 2017
Flora in Calix Light (1950), David Jones. Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge. © the Estate of David Jones

How David Jones resisted the modern world

A new biography reveals an artist who, falling out of step with contemporary life, created an imaginative world of his own through art

12 Jun 2017
Alice Childress (detail; 1950), Alice Neel. © The Estate of Alice Neel. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London and Victoria Miro, London

Mid-century Harlem through the eyes of Alice Neel

The portraits she created in and around Spanish Harlem are vivid snapshots of New York life and community

9 Jun 2017
The Bacino di S. Marco on Ascension (c.1733-4), Canaletto. Royal Collection Trust/(c)Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016

How Canaletto constructed a better view of Venice

The artist would move churches around, erase rooftops, and even bend the Grand Canal straight if it allowed for a more harmonious scene

8 Jun 2017
Botanical models from 'Object Lessons' at Manchester Museum

Paper plants and wax peaches at the Manchester Museum

The scientific teaching models in George Loudon’s collection are as beautiful as they are fascinating

7 Jun 2017
The new Cabinet d’Arts Graphiques of the Musée Condé at Chantilly

A dazzling new attraction at the Musée Condé at Chantilly

Visitors can finally enjoy the exceptional drawing collection, and explore previously-unseen rooms, in the elegant new Cabinet d’Arts Graphiques

5 Jun 2017
'The Barberini Tapestries: Woven Monuments of Baroque Rome' is at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York

The historic Roman tapestries that travelled to New York

The remarkable Barberini tapestries at the Cathedral of St John the Divine are packed with surprising and beautiful details

5 Jun 2017
Nasema Nawe (2016), Michael Armitage. © Michael Armitage. Photo © White Cube (Ben Westoby)

The disturbing dreams of Michael Armitage

Armitage’s paintings combine African politics and western art history – and will make you see both in a different light

2 Jun 2017
House NA, Tokyo, Japan (2011), Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photo: Iwan Baan

The many modern versions of the Japanese house

Domestic architecture in Japan is reinvented for every generation – as this fascinating exhibition shows

1 Jun 2017

The golden age of propaganda

Calendars have often conveyed political messages, particularly in the reign of Louis XIV and during the French Revolution

1 Jun 2017

A shining example of silver scholarship

One of the most important collections of 18th-century silver in Europe gets the attention it deserves in a new book

30 May 2017
Solitude (2017), Terry Adkins. Installation view, Thomas Dane Gallery, London. Photo: Luke A. Walker

Terry Adkins and the art of sound

The artist’s haunting sound sculptures and paintings address the absent figures who inspired them

23 May 2017
Figure representing the river Rhône (detail). Wallace Collection, London

The Avignon Clock is as good as any sculpture

This spectacular French clock, designed by the best craftsman of the day, is the star of a show at the Wallace Collection

22 May 2017
Scalata al di la dei terreni cromatici / Escalade Beyond Chromatic Lands (2016–17), Sheila Hicks. Photo: Italo Rondinella, courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

How did ‘Viva Arte Viva’ go so wrong?

Wasn’t this year’s Venice Biennale exhibition supposed to do away with grand curatorial conceits?

19 May 2017
Gaea (1966), Lee Krasner. © 2017 Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

A flawed introduction to the women of post-war abstraction

MoMA’s attempt to ‘make space’ for women artists has backfired, but does at least highlight some unexpected affinities between artists

18 May 2017

Cedric Price’s mission to make architecture amusing

Cedric Price believed that architecture should be mobile, lightweight, and temporary. Above all, he thought it should be fun

17 May 2017
Illustrated pages from the Voynich Manuscript, c. 15th century. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

The Voynich Manuscript is a book you’re not meant to read

Despite Yale’s new facsimile edition, this 15th-century manuscript happily remains as indecipherable as ever

17 May 2017
Biinjiya'iing Onji (2017), Rebecca Belmore. © Fanis Vlastaras

The successes and failures of Documenta in Athens

The decision to stage part of the 14th Documenta in Athens has been widely debated. Now that it’s open, what are the highlights of the programme?

16 May 2017