Titian: Love, Desire, Death, National Gallery, until 17th January 2021
Having led the way in reopening its doors, the National Gallery has extended its Titian exhibition. What better reintroduction to the power of painting than seven mythological canvases inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses, created by Titian for Philip II of Spain? Besides the luscious women, storm-tossed woods and cobalt skies, pellucid pools and roiling seas, these are fiery expressions of drama and emotion. Titian called them poetry in paint.
Hyundai Commission: Kara Walker, Fons Americanus, Tate Modern, 27th July to 8th November
Kara Walker’s satirical installation appeared in the Turbine Hall last year, but it has now accrued unexpected resonance. This monumental working fountain, modelled on the memorial to Queen Victoria in front of Buckingham Palace, and made from recycled materials, is an irreverent symbol of the intertwined histories of Africa, Britain and America. Walker welcomes us: “Come One and All to Marvel and Contemplate the Monumental Misrememberings of Colonial Exploits Yon.”
We Will Walk: Art and Resistance in the American South, Turner Contemporary, Margate, 22nd July to 6th September
The Civil Rights period of the 1950s and 1960s shaped an entire culture. This show presents works created in that cauldron of poverty, segregation and resistance, many never before seen in Europe. These sculptural assemblages of salvaged materials, paintings and quilts, created by over 20 African-American artists between 1950 and today, have become essential viewing.
Having led the way in reopening its doors, the National Gallery has extended its Titian exhibition. What better reintroduction to the power of painting than seven mythological canvases inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses, created by Titian for Philip II of Spain? Besides the luscious women, storm-tossed woods and cobalt skies, pellucid pools and roiling seas, these are fiery expressions of drama and emotion. Titian called them poetry in paint.
Hyundai Commission: Kara Walker, Fons Americanus, Tate Modern, 27th July to 8th November
Kara Walker’s satirical installation appeared in the Turbine Hall last year, but it has now accrued unexpected resonance. This monumental working fountain, modelled on the memorial to Queen Victoria in front of Buckingham Palace, and made from recycled materials, is an irreverent symbol of the intertwined histories of Africa, Britain and America. Walker welcomes us: “Come One and All to Marvel and Contemplate the Monumental Misrememberings of Colonial Exploits Yon.”
We Will Walk: Art and Resistance in the American South, Turner Contemporary, Margate, 22nd July to 6th September
The Civil Rights period of the 1950s and 1960s shaped an entire culture. This show presents works created in that cauldron of poverty, segregation and resistance, many never before seen in Europe. These sculptural assemblages of salvaged materials, paintings and quilts, created by over 20 African-American artists between 1950 and today, have become essential viewing.
