There are some familiar names and familiar paintings in Art Then! British Painting, Sculpture and Drawing, 1910-1960 at Southampton City Art Gallery, but it's the unfamiliar that makes it especially worth the trip to a venue you might not normally consider for an exhibition. This show provides an excellent overview of art trends in this country in the first half of the 20th century. And it's free! Southampton has a very good collection, but we often get the feeling that a lot of interesting works are in store behind closed doors. Pleasant surprises await when they finally see the light of the day, in this case in combination with a selection from the extensive Ingram Collection of modern British art. In all, there are more than 100 works by over 100 artists, demonstrating how the British reacted to the latest developments in art on the Continent. So let's start with a couple of hidden gems from the Southampton treasure trove, first of all a Landscape that really stoppe...
Ever played the parlour game in which you have to name 10 famous Belgians? Art lovers shouldn't have too much trouble, as long as we're counting Flemish painters from the days before Belgium actually became a country in its own right in 1830. And there are dozens of artists on show in Rare and Indispensable: Masterpieces from Flemish Collections at the Museum aan de Stroom in Antwerp. (There are some pieces by non-Belgians as well!) This exhibition brings together around 100 objects out of more than 1,000 designated by the Flemish regional government as being of major cultural significance -- snappily referred to as topstukken in Dutch. Such works -- in museums in Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp and locations right across Flanders -- enjoy official protection as being "indispensable" and consequently can't be taken outside the region without permission. They started the list 20 years ago, hence this anniversary show in a modern museum that's assumed a certain cache...