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 ...
If you've never been to Strawberry Hill House, Horace Walpole's Gothic mansion in south-west London, there may never be a better opportunity than now to get a taste of its past splendours. And if you have been, it's time to visit again to see the Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill , an exhibition that brings back to the house many of the works of art that were part of one of the greatest collections of the 18th century. Walpole, the son of Britain's first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, revived the Gothic style when he built Strawberry Hill between 1748 and 1790. His collection, ranging from paintings and sculptures to historical curiosities, was dispersed in an auction in 1842. More than 150 objects have been reassembled for this show after a three-year hunt by the curators through private and public collections. The show revives memories of the 2013 exhibition that saw Houghton Hall in Norfolk rehung with 60 of Sir Robert Walpole's paintings, which...