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Symphonies and Nocturnes on Canvas

The  James McNeill Whistler  exhibition at Tate Britain is big, probably a bit too big, but it's packed with beautiful pictures and it's not in the least bit boring.  That's not surprising as Whistler led a colourful life, never shying from controversy and confrontation -- notably pursuing a high-profile libel case against John Ruskin  -- and he produced art that was groundbreaking, hugely influential and enormously atmospheric. Including, of course, probably one of the most recognisable paintings in art history, that of his mother in profile, dressed in black. It's in this show, and we'll be taking a look at it shortly.  But we start in Whistler's studio, where the artist has painted himself at work, palette and brush in his hands, and looking out directly at us, the viewers. This is the first picture you see in the show, and we're told that for Whistler, the studio was a place for public performance, as well as making art. So here he is, making a statemen...
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Opening and Closing in August

Jean-François Millet -- one of the most influential artists of the 19th century with his depictions of toiling country folk -- is the subject of a free exhibition in just one room at London's National Gallery that opens on August 7. Millet: Life on the Land mainly features work from British museums, but has a star attraction in the shape of L’Angélus from the Musée d'Orsay. On until October 19. 
In eastern Germany, Chemnitz is one of this year's European capitals of culture, and one of the major exhibitions on their programme starts on August 10. Edvard Munch -- Angst in the Kunstsammlungen am Theaterplatz will recall, in part, a visit by Munch to Chemnitz 120 years ago. And, of course, there'll be a version of The Scream. Until November 2. 

On the other side of the country, a rather different offering at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn: an exhibition devoted to the German filmmaker Wim Wenders, creator of Wings of Desire and Paris, Texas, and marking his 80th birthday. W.I.M. -- The Art of Seeing runs from August 1 to January 11, and another version of the show will be on at the DFF Film Museum in Frankfurt from March. 

The American painter Lois Dodd has been going even longer than Wenders; she's still working at 98 and will have her first European retrospective at the Kunstmuseum in The Hague from August 30. You can see her observational pictures of her surroundings in Lois Dodd: Framing the Ephemeral until January 4. 

Last chance to see....

You only have until August 3 to catch perhaps the greatest of the old mistresses, Artemisia Gentileschi, at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris. It's a show full of Baroque drama, squeezed into a terribly cramped exhibition space. Last few tickets still available as this preview was published.  

Closing at the National Gallery in London on August 17 is José María Velasco: A View of Mexico, a chance to see this chronicler of the Mexican 19th-century landscape whose work is little-known here. Fascinating, if a little overpriced. 

The intimate paintings of Norway's greatest woman artist of the 19th century, Harriet Backer, have been on a European tour, and the last leg winds up at Kode in Bergen on August 24. We saw the show at the Musée d'Orsay last year.
An exhibition that's been immensely popular in London this year is Flowers -- Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea; so much so they brought it back for a second run that ends on August 31. There's a lot to enjoy; advance booking advisable. 

Images

Jean-François Millet (1814-1875), L’Angélus, 1857-59, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. © Musée d'Orsay, Dist. Grand Palais Rmn/Patrice Schmidt
Lois Dodd (b. 1927), Sun in Hallway, 1978. © Lois Dodd, Courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York
Harriet Backer (1845-1932), Evening, Interior, 1896, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo. Photo: Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland
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