Exploring the changes in geopolitics, technology and society through the use and evolution of maps is an interesting idea, and the British Library’s exhibition does its best to add enough variety to keep the subject matter engaging. The exhibition is logically structured, with an early section on the opening of the 20th Century and a […]
This exhibition, like many of the artworks in it, bears up well under the weight of history. For Revolution is firmly rooted in the historic context of the period 1917-1932 in Russia – a time of upheavals, civil war, dictators and hopes born and cruelly dashed. Despite this, it manages to educate, illuminate and engage, […]
While visiting this overall excellent and interesting exhibition at Tate Modern, I was thinking a lot about conservation versus comprehension. Warnings abound before and throughout the galleries not to move or blow on the works as they are now too fragile, but is a static mobile still a mobile? If an installation which relies on […]
We are familiar with Greek art. In fact, as a rule, the audience will also be familiar with a number of the sculptures on display in this exhibition at the British Museum. Even the fact that Greek sculptures were originally decorated in what could be described as garish colours will not be new to many. […]
Having incorporated it into my Masters thesis, the topic of war-looted art and its subsequent treatment and consideration for restitution is one of perennial interest to me. I was very interested, therefore, to learn more about a large-scale piece of collection research which has been going on in the Netherlands since my time there, and […]
If there is one thing I could say about this exhibition, it had a very good build from historic context to artistic beginnings to master works. If there’s a second thing I could say, it had a terrible queuing system. Queuing once to get a ticket and then separately to get in? Don’t get me […]
I like Tintin. I also fairly unashamedly like things that are designed for children. So it was maybe no surprise that one of the exhibitions that was on my list while I was in Paris was at the Musée en Herbe, a small museum for children celebrating its 40th anniversary this year with an exhibition […]
This is the first exhibition at Buckingham Palace that I’ve been to in five years in London. I think part of that reason may be that they don’t tend to get as much press as other exhibition spaces. This in turn is linked to the fact that the nature of the gallery lends itself to […]
For a start, the space is superb. Not just the building itself, where the exhibitions are in the Roman baths above which is a medieval hôtel for the abbots of Cluny (not a bad town house). The way that the space is used is key to what I felt was the success of this exhibition: […]
Mid-century German artists. Do they get more exhibitions in London than you can shake a stick at, or is that just me? Between Richter, Kiefer, Polke, Baselitz and another couple of heavyweights, they could certainly keep the turnstiles of a willing museum pretty busy. Having said that, this was the first major Polke retrospective I’ve […]
