Truth is often stranger than fiction, isn't it? Head to the newly opened venue of Charleston in Lewes for Dorothy Hepworth and Patricia Preece: An Untold Story , an exhibition that relates a piece of art history that, you have to say, would make a good film. And here are the two principal characters: Dorothy, on the left, a talented graduate of the Slade School of Fine Art , and her fellow student, friend, lover, partner and collaborator Patricia, perhaps not quite so talented, but both passionate about art. The photograph seems to tell you a lot. Dorothy looks a little bit awkward and ill at ease, slightly frumpy, androgynous even. Patricia appears confident, glamorous, exuberant, perhaps a little.... possessive? But maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves. We need to establish the plot.... The rather retiring Hepworth and the outgoing, gregarious Preece became inseparable as students, and they planned to set up a studio together after graduation. In 1922, Preece took exam
It's the 500th anniversary this year of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, and to mark the occasion 144 drawings from the Royal Collection are being exhibited simultaneously in 12 museums across the UK. Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing starts on February 1, with 12 works each on show at the Ulster Museum in Belfast, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery , Bristol Museum & Art Gallery , the National Museum in Cardiff, Derby Museum & Art Gallery , Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, Leeds Art Gallery , the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, Manchester Art Gallery , the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield, Southampton City Art Gallery and Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens . Admission at most venues is free. Until May 6. All the drawings and more go on show at the Queen's Gallery in London starting in late May, with a selection at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh from November. For something completely different, head for the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Jeff Koons , one of