August is always one of the quietest months for new exhibitions, and this year is no different, but we do have one big event to alert you to, as well as two splendid shows that only have weeks to run. The one major opening is Gwen John: Strange Beauties at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh. Running from August 1 to January 4, this is a comprehensive retrospective of the work of the woman perhaps now seen as Wales's most significant artist, born 150 years ago this year. Maybe a little too comprehensive, according to some of the reviews of the show when it was on at the National Museum in Cardiff. The exhibition goes on to the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, in February and then at the end of July next year to the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC. We saw a rather smaller Gwen John exhibition in Chichester in 2023. Last chance to see.... Ending on August 23 is the exhibition at the Lakenhal in Leiden ...
"What a coarse rugged Way of Painting's here, Stroaks upon Stroaks, Dabbs upon Dabbs appear." So wrote the English author John Elsum in 1700, musing on An Old Man's Head , by Rembrant, as he spelled it. Those Stroaks and Dabbs have been fascinating the British for almost four centuries, as an enticing exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh demonstrates with a stunning array of canvases, drawings and etchings. So many of the works in Rembrandt: Britain's Discovery of the Master have a fascinating story to tell. You'll find anecdote, mystery and drama aplenty, with a touch of forgery and plagiarism thrown in along the way. It's excellently presented, with really informative wall descriptions and plenty of space to appreciate what's on display. What about the Old Man's Head? Well, the verse accompanies this Portrait of an Elderly Man , painted by Rembrandt in 1667, a picture that spent centuries in Britain but is now back...