Opening and Closing in January

The Snowman has become an integral part of the British Christmas, with its come-to-life hero taking a small dressing-gowned boy for an adventure Walking in the Air . It's a 20th-century equivalent of Charles Dickens's tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim. When The Snowman 's creator, Raymond Briggs, applied to go to art school at the age of 15, his interviewer was horrified to hear that he wanted to be a cartoonist. Today, he might be even more horrified to find out about Bloomin' Brilliant: The Life and Work of Raymond Briggs at the Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft in East Sussex. Briggs, who died two years ago, lived just a mile down the road from Ditchling, in the shadow of the South Downs. This joyful celebratory show looks back on a 60-year career that also gave us Fungus the Bogeyman , Father Christmas , When the Wind Blows and the story of his parents, Ethel and Ernest . Cartoons, picture books, graphic novels, for children perhaps, but actual

Opening and Closing in January

Let's start the New Year in Edinburgh, with two of the biggest names in Pop Art.

Eduardo Paolozzi, perhaps the pioneer of the genre with his collages from the late 1940s, was born in the Scottish capital a century ago, and you can see a retrospective of his varied work from January 27 in National Galleries Scotland's Modern Two building. Paolozzi at 100 is on until April 21.

Meanwhile, in Edinburgh's Old Town, Dovecot Studios will be presenting an exhibition of Andy Warhol's colourful commercial textile designs, dating back to the 1950s, before he found fame in New York. Andy Warhol: The Textiles is on from January 26 to May 18, when it might just be warm enough for you to enjoy an ice-cream sundae, if your tastebuds have been tickled by Warhol's fabric.

Rembrandt's earliest known works from the time when he was starting out as a painter in Leiden are pictures depicting four of the senses, and they're brought together at the city's Lakenhal museum from January 20 to mark its 150th anniversary. Rembrandt's Four Senses -- His First Paintings are on show for 150 days until June 16. Be warned: They're not the Rembrandt you're familiar with.

Max Beckmann was one of many German artists whose work was branded degenerate by the Nazis. He fled to the Netherlands, hoping to make it to the US, but he was still in Holland when the Germans invaded. Universum Max Beckmann at the Kunstmuseum in The Hague will feature a cross-section of the painter's often crowded, challenging works, and it's on from January 27 to May 20.

For something a little lighter in tone, you might consider Fresh Air: Northern Impressionism at Museum Singer in Laren, near Hilversum. This show looks at how the influence of French Impressionism spread to the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, where the style was taken up by painters such as Jan Toorop, Max Liebermann, and Anna and Michael Ancher. Open from January 17 to May 5, and then moving on later in 2024 to the Museum Kunst der Westküste on the north-west German island of Föhr and later the Landesmuseum in Hanover.

And another Dutch-Danish encounter: The Joy of Everyday Life -- in the Netherlands and Denmark at the Nivaagaard Collection, north of Copenhagen. This exhibition, running from January 28 to June 16, brings together genre scenes from the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century and the great days of Danish painting in the 19th. There are more than 100 works in this show, with lots of loans from leading collections around the world, including that mystery man of Dutch art, Jacobus Vrel.

Last chance to see....

We had a great time at the Musée des impressionnismes in Giverny in the celebration of floral art and design down the centuries called Flower Power. This show, taking in mythology, pottery, Impressionism, political art and a whole lot more, closes on January 7.

You have until January 14 to get to M Leuven to see the work of Dieric Bouts, perhaps the Flemish city's greatest painter and the creator of a number of remarkable altarpieces in the late 15th century. Fascinating art, even if the curators' approach is a bit bizarre.

There are some stupendous paintings in the Frans Hals exhibition at London's National Gallery, which closes on January 21, and the work of the Dutch Golden Age portraitist who so inspired the Impressionists is really worth seeing. We have to say, though, that the National Gallery show failed to provide much context, leaving the presentation strangely flat. They may well do a better job when the show tours to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where it opens on February 16, and later to the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.

One of the most enjoyable exhibitions we've seen over the past 12 months was Turning Heads at the KMSKA in Antwerp, an exploration of the character studies that are such a feature of Dutch and Flemish art. It's also on until January 21, but it reopens at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin on February 24.

And if you're on the Atlantic seaboard of the US, January 28 is the final day for The Rossettis at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington. We saw the show at Tate Britain several months ago, and despite some gorgeous paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, we found it something of a drag.

Images

Anna Ancher (1859-1935), Clear Moonlit Evening at Skagen Lighthouse, 1904, Museum Kunst der Westküste, Föhr
Anonymous (China), Pair of vases with "thousand flowers" decor, reign of Qianlong (1736-1795), Musée national des arts asiatiques, Paris
Jan Lievens (1607-1674), Man in Oriental Dress, c. 1629-31, Bildergalerie, Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam

Opening and Closing in October

There's been a spate of exhibitions over the past few years aimed at redressing centuries of neglect of the work of women artists, and the Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi is the latest to come into focus, at the National Gallery in London, starting on October 3. Most of the works have never been seen in Britain before, and they cover a lengthy career that features strong female figures in Biblical and classical scenes, as well as self-portraits. Until January 24. Also starting at the National on October 7 is a free exhibition that looks at Sin , as depicted by artists from Diego Velázquez and William Hogarth through to Tracey Emin, blurring the boundaries between the religious and the secular. This one runs until January 3. Tate Britain shows this winter how JMW Turner embraced the rapid industrial and technological advances at the start of the 19th century and recorded them in his work. Turner's Modern World , starting on October 28, will include painting

The Thrill of Pleasure: Bridget Riley

Prepare yourself for some sensory overload. Curves, stripes, zig-zags, wavy lines, dots, in black and white or colour. Look at many of the paintings of Bridget Riley and you're unable to escape the eerie sensation that the picture in front of you is in motion, has its own inner three-dimensional life, is not just inert paint on flat canvas, panel or plaster. It's by no means unusual to see selections of Riley's paintings on display, but a blockbuster exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh brings together 70 years of her pictures in a dazzling extravaganza of abstraction, including a recreation of her only actual 3D work, which you walk into for a perspectival sensurround experience. It's "that thrill of pleasure which sight itself reveals," as Riley once said. It's a really terrific show, and the thrill of pleasure in the Scottish capital was enhanced by the unexpected lack of visitors on the day we went to see it, with huge empty sp

What's On in 2024: Surreal Impressions

In 2024, we'll be marking the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition and the 100th anniversary of the Surrealist Manifesto. There'll be lots more shows focused on women artists. It's 250 years since the birth of the great German Romantic, Caspar David Friedrich, and Roy Lichtenstein was born 100 years ago. We've picked out some of the exhibitions coming up over the next 12 months that have caught our eye, and here they are, in more or less chronological order. February Let's start at Ordrupgaard on the outskirts of Copenhagen with Impressionism and Its Overlooked Women , described by the gallery as a "magnificent exhibition featuring works from across the world". The show focuses on five female artists, including Berthe Morisot , Mary Cassatt and Eva Gonzalès , as well as some of the models who featured in the most iconic Impressionist paintings. The exhibition is on in Denmark from February 9 to May 20, after which it transfers to the Na

The Art Exhibitions Blog

Search This Blog

Raymond Briggs: A Celebration

Subscribe to updates

Get new posts by email: