The Ugly Duchess at the National Gallery is a shockingly good display. The highlight is undoubtedly the reunion of Quinten Massys’ An Old Woman with its pendant pair An Old Man (private collection). But the latter is also joined for the first time with its smaller oil-on-paper version (Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris), made either as aContinue reading “REVIEW | The Ugly Duchess: Beauty and Satire in the Renaissance – National Gallery, London”
Category Archives: London
REVIEW | Drawing on Arabian Nights – Courtauld Gallery, London
An easy display to miss, Drawing on Arabian Nights at the Courtauld Gallery is a thrilling analysis of Europe’s obsession with Orientalism and the impact of the folk tales in Edward Lane’s translation of One Thousand and One Nights (ألف ليلة و ليلة) on 19th-century artists. An illustrated edition of the Arabian Nights executed byContinue reading “REVIEW | Drawing on Arabian Nights – Courtauld Gallery, London”
REVIEW | Peter Doig – Courtauld Gallery, London
Peter Doig at the Courtauld Gallery, London, is a short and sweet presentation of new works from the artist, many of which were begun in Trinidad and reworked in his London studio years later. Underpinning these works are the memories and observations from Doig’s experiences as an Edinburgh-born artist who lived for many years inContinue reading “REVIEW | Peter Doig – Courtauld Gallery, London”
REVIEW | Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance – Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is an eloquently considered exhibition that wondrously conveys the atmosphere and decor of a living, breathing Renaissance city. From monumental public sculptures and fountain pieces to devotional reliefs lined wall to wall, it offers a surprisingly immersive experience conducive to understanding the functions ofContinue reading “REVIEW | Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance – Victoria and Albert Museum, London”
REVIEW | Magdalena Abakanowicz – Tate Modern, London
Magdalena Abakanowicz: Every Tangle of Thread and Rope at Tate Modern, London, is a brief but powerful overview of the Polish artist’s category-defying woven sculptures known as Abakans, which she created in the 1960s and 70s. Made of thread and rope, their large-scale appearance envelops the viewer in a powerful forest of entities in theContinue reading “REVIEW | Magdalena Abakanowicz – Tate Modern, London”
REVIEW | Spain and the Hispanic World: Treasures from the Hispanic Society Museum & Library – Royal Academy of Arts, London
I haven’t seen the Royal Academy of Arts presented in such a magnificent fashion in a long time, and Spain and the Hispanic World: Treasures from the Hispanic Society Museum & Library is a triumph in those large rooms. Highlighting thousands of years’ worth of human history in the Hispanic Society of America’s collection, almostContinue reading “REVIEW | Spain and the Hispanic World: Treasures from the Hispanic Society Museum & Library – Royal Academy of Arts, London”
REVIEW | Leighton House Museum and Sambourne House, London
Sambourne House was the first historic house I ever volunteered at. Practically no one had ever heard of it, but it remains to my knowledge one of the best preserved Victorian interiors in London. Revisiting the place some six years later following a major re-brand, barely a thing has changed and the house remains justContinue reading “REVIEW | Leighton House Museum and Sambourne House, London”
REVIEW | The Legend of King Arthur: A Pre-Raphaelite Love Story – William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow
Nothing is more emblematic of the Pre-Raphaelites than the legend of King Arthur. Obsessed with medieval chivalry, damsels in distress, and dreams of the romantic past, Sir Thomas Malory’s literary compilation Le Morte d’Arthur, published in 1485, was the perfect catalyst for their radical revolution against the Royal Academy’s ideals. The William Morris Gallery’s currentContinue reading “REVIEW | The Legend of King Arthur: A Pre-Raphaelite Love Story – William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow”
REVIEW | Helen Saunders: Modernist Rebel – Courtauld Gallery, London
Vorticism is one of those movements that, in my experience, very rarely receives public attention. In fact, the only major figures who probably come up more often than others is Wyndham Lewis, the short-lived movement’s co-founder, and perhaps David Bomberg. The Courtauld’s exhibition on Helen Saunders’ drawings and watercolours, one of only two female membersContinue reading “REVIEW | Helen Saunders: Modernist Rebel – Courtauld Gallery, London”
REVIEW | Fuseli and the Modern Woman: Fashion, Fantasy, Fetishism – Courtauld Gallery, London
Fuseli and the Modern Woman at the Courtauld Gallery, London, is like a provocatively sexy catwalk. Featuring 50 of Henry Fuseli’s private drawings of his wife Sophia and other stylish characters in society, there is a feeling that these were made as some sort of external release for the artist’s repressed interests and desires, likeContinue reading “REVIEW | Fuseli and the Modern Woman: Fashion, Fantasy, Fetishism – Courtauld Gallery, London”
Nigel Ip | Visual Arts Writer & Art Historian 