Sin is a terrific subject for a show, if treated with curiosity and respect, but this is dumbing down
Archive
Polly Morgan’s How to Behave at Home at the Bomb Factory; The Royal Academy’s Winter Exhibition
A fabulously unique show that will have you squirming
Bruce Nauman, Tate Modern, London SE1
Baffling and bleak, Bruce Nauman’s work is hugely influential — and the perfect art for the Covid world
Artemisia, National Gallery, London WC2
Snappy, witty, funny: the National Gallery’s new show charts the arrival of a unique female voice
Look after the pennies and the Tondo takes care of itself
Here we go again. Just as the arrival of the first swallow signals the start of spring, so the arrival of a financial crisis at the Royal Academy prompts a call for the academy to sell its most prized possession: the Taddei Tondo. Carved in Florence in the early 1500s, this unfinished relief is the […]
Cecily Brown, Blenheim Palace; Tantra, British Museum
Some of Cecily Brown’s paintings at Blenheim misfire, but the best are snappy and subversive
The book of Gauguin: a preview of the rare manuscript Avant et après at the Courtauld
Waldemar Januszczak is given exclusive access to the most important of the artist’s outpourings at the gallery’s temporary home
Mary Beard’s views on the nude in art is not the whole picture
The academic calls depictions of the naked form ‘soft porn for the elite’. She’s behind the curve
Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution; Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent
Van Eyck may not have invented oil paints, but he mastered them in an exceptional way, as this enlightening show in Belgium proves
Picasso and Paper, Royal Academy
This fascinating exhibition reveals the full scope of his brilliance