Thank God for black women artists. In the past two decades they have injected vim, lip and vigour into contemporary art. From Njideka Akunyili Crosby to Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Amy Sherald to Kara Walker, they have rubbed our noses in issues that need to be tackled, made the political personal and the intimate entertaining. The BWAs […]
Recent articles
Art’s sudden obsession with tarot, magic and the occult
Inever used to begin my weekly round of gallery visits with the words of Toyah Willcox, the actress and pop star, ringing in my ears, but recently I have found it useful. The art world has developed a passion for witchery, the occult, tarot, all forms of hocus-pocus. So it often helps to remember Willcox’s […]
Join the hunt for the next David Hockney
New Contemporaries is an important show, one of the few genuinely helpful exhibitions in the art calendar. Started in 1949 and toured annually around Britain, it presents a selection of work by artists at the beginning of their careers, either still at art school or just graduated. Its value lies in the evidence it provides of […]
ne of the hottest names in art has the talent of an old master
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is a big deal in art. She has had shows at Tate Britain in London and the Guggenheim in Bilbao. She’s in all the biennales. Her pictures sell for millions and she was recently voted “the number one most bankable contemporary artist”. So it’s heartening to see her display her latest wares not […]
I love bird-watching and art. Here’s my gallery guide to doing both at once
Many years ago, when I was a fledgling art critic living on a council estate in east London, I had a witty meeting with a policeman. I’d been travelling around looking at shows — notably at the excellent John Hansard Gallery in Southampton — and was returning home with a bag full of catalogues and, […]
Waldemar Januszczak’s tour of the Tamara de Lempicka show
For an artist, being called “the Queen of Art Deco” is a heavy cross to bear. Poor Tamara de Lempicka. Art critics belittled her. Art historians mocked her. Museum directors ignored her. Her problem was that no one took art deco seriously: not on any intellectual level. Yes, it was the signature decorative style of […]
Carbuncle or coup? A sneak preview of the new-look National Gallery
Hello, 2025. And, in particular, hello, the new National Gallery, which has been completing a controversial rebuild for what feels like a couple of decades but has really been only three years or so. Rooms closed. Pictures missing. Scaffolding everywhere. They’ve managed to stay open, but it’s been an annoying place to visit. Now, at […]
A potted history of the Christmas tree — from pagans to Queen Victoria
It may have passed you by that 2024 was a significant anniversary. Unless, of course, you live in Germany, in which case you could not have missed it. Exhibitions were opened. Television films were screened. Articles were written. Because 2024 was the 250th anniversary of the birth of Caspar David Friedrich, the German Romantic genius […]
Leonora Carrington, the life and art of a rich girl rebel
Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) had a life that reads like a work of fiction. Born into money in Lancashire, she careered through a rich girl’s journey that involved being expelled from school, running away to France, going mad, finding the Devil, shacking up with the predatory German surrealist Max Ernst — who had a thing for […]
Parmigianino: The Vision of St Jerome review — a gorgeous restoration
The Italian old master Parmigianino (1503-40) is one of those artists for whom the label “old master” feels ill-fitting. He’s too youthful a presence — too fresh, lively and weird — to sit comfortably in the past. He died young as well, aged 37, so there was no time to slow down or grow wise. […]