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Showing posts from June, 2018

Rembrandt & van Hoogstraten: The Art of Illusion

It takes a split second these days to create an image, and how many millions are recorded daily on mobile phones, possibly never to be looked at again? You can see it all happening in the palatial surroundings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, definitely one of those tick-off destinations on many travellers' bucket lists, where those in search of instant pictorial satisfaction throng the imposing statue-lined staircase for a selfie or pout for a photo in the café under the spectacular cupola. But we're not in Vienna for a quick fix, we're at the KHM to admire something more enduring in the shape of art produced almost 500 years ago by Rembrandt and his pupil Samuel van Hoogstraten that was intended to mislead your eyes into seeing the real in the unreal. Artistic deception is the story at the centre of  Rembrandt--Hoogstraten: Colour and Illusion , one of the most engrossing and best-staged exhibitions we've seen this year. And, somewhat surprisingly, a show wi...
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Opening in July

Edinburgh takes centre-stage in July, with the start of two big exhibitions. Rembrandt: Britain's Discovery of the Master runs at the Scottish National Gallery from July 7 to October 14 and aims to show how the taste for Rembrandt's work has evolved over four centuries. It features major paintings by Rembrandt in British collections as well as some that used to be in the UK but are now overseas. There'll also be work by British artists influenced by Rembrandt, including Hogarth, Reynolds, Kossoff and Auerbach. A week later, on July 14, Emil Nolde: Colour Is Life opens at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Running until October 21, this show comprises about 100 works, including 40 paintings from the Nolde Foundation in Seebüll on Germany's border with Denmark. Nolde's vibrant Expressionism led to his art being labelled as degenerate by the Nazis, yet he was also a supporter of National Socialism. It's worth noting that when this exhibition was on ...
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Just a Taste of the Golden Age: Prized Possessions in Bath

The British have long had a liking for art from the Dutch Golden Age; many of the paintings that made their way across the North Sea are to be found not in museums and galleries but in country mansions. Prized Possessions: Dutch Masterpieces from National Trust Houses  offers a rare chance to see some of the best together in one place -- in a museum: the Holburne in Bath. It's a small but well-formed show that offers an all-too-brief overview of the remarkably productive 17th century in the Netherlands: landscape, cityscape, church interior, portrait, genre scenes, flower painting and of course a naval battle against the English. With a great cast list too: Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Pieter de Hooch and Aelbert Cuyp. The National Trust may not own a Vermeer, but it does have a number of paintings by de Hooch, his Delft contemporary. In the Holburne,  The Golf Players  from Polesden Lacey in Surrey is a classic example of his household scenes: the view through multiple...
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Woman Artists and the Spirit of Virginia Woolf in Chichester

It's perhaps the portraits that provide some of the most memorable images in Virginia Woolf: an exhibition inspired by her writings at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. There are 80 women artists featured in this show aiming to build on Woolf's perspectives on feminism and creaticity -- quite a contrast from Chichester's last, testosterone-laden Pop Art exhibition. Considering how tough it was for many of them to make their way in a male-dominated environment, there's a remarkable self-assurance about the way painters like Dod Procter and Ethel Walker  committed themselves to canvas. The theme running through this show is one of pioneering women defying convention, as Woolf did, and not just in the 20th century. In 1877, Louise Jopling is looking you straight in the eye. She's from Manchester. Bet you blink first. Coincidentally, Laura Knight was born in 1877, and in the 1930s, by now a dame, she became the first woman artist elected to full members...
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Non-Stop Rembrandt: 2019 Celebrates the Golden Age

You don't really need an excuse for a Rembrandt exhibition, but 2019 provides a perfect diary date: it's the 350th anniversary of his death, and some of the Netherlands' biggest galleries (and the Dutch tourism authorities) are celebrating with a year-long programme of events. Let's start at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where they have two big shows planned. The gallery, home to the Night Watch , has the world's biggest collection of Rembrandts, and from February 15 to June 10 it's planning to display 22 paintings, 60 drawings and the 300 best examples of his prints in All the Rembrandts of the Rijksmuseum . Towards the end of 2019, there's the mouth-watering prospect of a show comparing Rembrandt and his Spanish close contemporary Velazquez in what the Rijksmuseum says will be a comprehensive overview of paintings by the two great masters, with paintings hung in pairs. It's a collaboration with the Prado in Madrid, which is celebrating its 200th ...
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