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 ...
The British have long had a liking for art from the Dutch Golden Age; many of the paintings that made their way across the North Sea are to be found not in museums and galleries but in country mansions. Prized Possessions: Dutch Masterpieces from National Trust Houses offers a rare chance to see some of the best together in one place -- in a museum: the Holburne in Bath. It's a small but well-formed show that offers an all-too-brief overview of the remarkably productive 17th century in the Netherlands: landscape, cityscape, church interior, portrait, genre scenes, flower painting and of course a naval battle against the English. With a great cast list too: Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Pieter de Hooch and Aelbert Cuyp. The National Trust may not own a Vermeer, but it does have a number of paintings by de Hooch, his Delft contemporary. In the Holburne, The Golf Players from Polesden Lacey in Surrey is a classic example of his household scenes: the view through multiple...