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...
It must have been a disorienting era, the early 20th century in America, one of rapid change amid the onward march of the skyscraper and the automobile. That sense comes over clearly and strongly in America's Cool Modernism at the Ashmolean in Oxford. Here is art that is largely devoid of people, highlighting the strange new shapes of the technological revolution and the dislocation of the individual in a confusing new world. You'll discover names new to a European audience in a fascinating line-up of paintings, prints and photographs from the Met in New York and other American collections. Many of the works have never crossed the Atlantic. The familiar sunflower of the Impressionists takes on a new more abstracted form as we enter the show with Le Tournesol (The Sunflower) by Edward Steichen, from about 1920. It's a rare painting by an artist who destroyed most of his others and leaves you wondering what striking images he committed to canvas are lost. Plants and ...