Tag: art

In a career lasting just ten years, Marilyn Monroe became one of the world’s most photographed women and her image is just as recognisable and revered today. She died in 1962 and would have been 100 this week. The National Portrait Gallery has staged a magnificent centenary exhibition celebrating her life in pictures.

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This enchanting exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery is really very moving. The first image we see is this tiny photograph, above left, of 15 year old Norma Jeane taken in a photobooth in New York. Still with her natural dark hair, the smile and the clever use of eyes is there to see. And later on, we see the image, some 20 years later, which Marilyn wanted to project as a professional star, bright blonde hair, red, red lipstick, elongated eyeliner and false lashes and the beauty spot. She was lovely looking and it’s such a tragedy that she died at the tender age of 36. However, the result is, it turns out, immortality. Marilyn will always be thought of as a beautiful talented young woman .

The ultimate cover girl, photographers found her inspiring and clamoured to invite her to be photographed. She clearly developed close relationships with many of the photographers and quickly established a degree of control of usage of the images – studying the pictures and only allowing those she approved of to be used in print. Above, you can see her jumping with the photographer Philippe Halsman.

After a career as a photographic model she gravitated to Hollywood and some great roles. She turned out to be a brilliant actress, dancer and singer. But being in front of a movie camera, and sharing a scene with other people, came with issues for her. Difficult to stay in total control of the finished image. Oh, but how enchanting she looks in her white dress as wind from the subway blows up her skirt revealing her legs and underwear. She knew exactly how powerful that image would be. The exhibition shows a montage of her best films and give us a glimpse of how luminous she looked on screen.

Marilyn Monroe’s image inspired artists before and after her death. We are all familiar with those Warhol prints (there are three of them in this show). And I was impressed to see the painting by Richard Hamilton, top right, based on photographs taken by George Barris, shortly before she died. He paints directly onto the images as contact sheets, showing the ones she approved and blotting the ones she rejected. Above middle is Ray Johnson’s collage of a pin up and on the left is a huge ‘vanitas’ by Audrey Flack painted after her death showing images of her life and the transience of her beauty.

Final shots from the George Barris shoot of Marilyn on the beach at Santa Monica. And the Last Sitting photograph by Bert Stern in 1962. She drew an x on the rejected images and took a hair pin to the colour transparencies. One is left with a sense of such sadness that all that talent was over too soon. But in its place is this remarkable immortality – she is forever young and beautiful.

The show is on at the National Portrait Gallery until 6th September 2026.

James McNeill Whistler at Tate Britain – what a treat! So great to see so many works – portraits, self-portraits, narrative paintings, landscapes and the mesmerising ‘Nocturnes’ depicting stretches of water at dusk.

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Loved this self-portrait of James McNeill Whistler. He’s looking quite louche and pleased with himself – blowing that little puff of cigarette smoke from his mouth and looking out at us with supreme confidence. And he was a confident painter. Interesting to learn that, having been born into a military family, he attended West Point and was expected to lead the life of a soldier but he was clearly far too free-thinking and disobedient for that world. And, as we see in the exhibition at Tate Britain, he spent every spare moment making drawings. He wanted to be an artist.

So, in his twenties he moved to Paris to live the Bohemian life as a painter, made friends with contemporary artists such as Degas and started drawing, painting and etching. Looking at his etchings it’s clear to see the influence of earlier artists such as Rembrandt. He also had a great sense of story-telling and obviously relished portrait painting.

These two portraits made in France in1859 are great examples of how he managed to capture likeness, character and the interior world of his subjects. You can see the influence of Rembrandt too.

These are BIG oil paintings. On the left is a scene set on the Coast of Brittany (Alone with the Tide) from 1861painted in the open air and full of atmosphere. The texture of the paint is impressive and really worth getting up close to this one to see how he captures the approaching waves. And on the right is a painting I really love, Wapping, which was created from a series of drawings made in the busy port on the River Thames and very much a studio piece in its complexity. The viewer’s eye is so cleverly drawn from the foreground scene of drinkers (models) in a disreputable pub on the waterfront and the jumble of ships, boats, buildings and the great metropolis in the background. You just want to sit down at that table, smell the beer and the filthy river and dream of trade and travel to far flung places.

And here she is, Whistler’s mother. How still she looks in this austere setting with an oriental fabric drape to the side, a single print on the wall behind her (the print itself is also in the exhibition) and the woman seated, solemnly, staring at something. It’s unusual to see a portrait in such severe profile and the colours are very subdued. Having enjoyed colour in his earlier work, Whistler make a point of reducing the colour to subtle tones and allows the monochrome, or grey, of his palette to dominate. It’s a large painting with a tremendous draw to it.

And here are some of the ‘Nocturnes’ the later paintings he made which capture watery scenes at dusk or by moonlight. I think there must be a warm, orangey ground underneath all those cool blues and greys because there’s a hidden warmth to the pictures. They are dreamy and compelling.

What a great show. It’s on at Tate Britain until 27th September. Well worth a visit.

We don’t get to see much contemporary art from the Asia Pacific region so it’s great that the V&A has devoted a gallery space to a show called Rising Voices: Contemporary art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific – a broad scoop of the planet featuring works from Indigenous peoples from remote islands to huge, densely populated countries.

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It’s quite hard to describe what, exactly, you are seeing at this show, but it was interesting and engaging to see the work of so many contemporary artists from places as diverse as Hawaii, Cambodia, India, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines… what a great sweep of the world to try and represent!

The works, above, caught my eye because they represented people and events: La Famillle Pomare by Aline Amaru from Tahiti, Independence Celebration by Mathias Kauge from Papua New Guinea and Svay Ken’s depiction of People on 18th April 1975 when the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia

What’s striking is that so many of the images referenced violence, domination and occupation. These regions have been buffeted by so many of the greedy countries of the West for whom faraway lands represented an opportunity to take by force, own and exploit. So there’s a lot of that on show.

Above you can see: Pala Pothupitiye’s Kaulara Fort which gives an impression of the colonial experience in Sri Lanka, showing a fort first built by the Portuguese, captured by the Dutch and then taken over by the British. Middle is Heri Dini’s Eating Bullets, a rather ‘Guernica-like’ expression of invasion and fury and on the right is a depiction of Vietnamese planes and Pol Pot Soldiers in battle.

Good to see a variety of sculptures and crafts too. I was impressed by these three, painted dishes and everyday objects, a ceramic bust by Ah Xian from China who works in Australia, and Spikey One by Shirley Macnamara from Queensland, Australia who uses spinifex, emu features, ashes, porcupine quills and polymer.

The exhibition ends with a spectacular sculpture depicting the Phoenix Pavilion which is part of Kyoto’s Byodo-in temple complex. Made from Japanese cypress he building appears to float on water with a reflection created to mirror the building. And Montein Boonma from Thailand has created Lotus Sound, made from terracotta ‘bells’ which is very beguiling.

The exhibition is on show near the main entrance to the Victoria and Albert Museum until 10th January 2027

The magnificent Elsa Schiaparelli is having a well-deserved moment at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Working from the 1920s -50s, she was really an artist who found her way into clothes designing – and what a legacy that produced. This show, Fashion becomes Art is a fitting tribute to her astounding contribution to 20th century fashion.

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Above is just one example of Schiaparelli’s imaginative and playful approach to clothing. This jacket from 1938 features prancing circus horses printed on silk twill and the ‘buttons’ are enchanting little acrobats. Just brilliant. And the sort of thing any of us would love to wear today.

Here’s a portrait of Elsa wearing one of her own designs and looking so very elegant in 1930s chic. She was primarily an artist and knew many of the important artists of the day – Dali, Picasso and Jean Cocteau, Man Ray and Cecil Beaton.

Above is an early foray into clothing where Schiaparelli created a knitted sweater with the design incorporated into the knit – revolutionary at the time. And on the right is an extraordinary coat made in patchwork style with so much hand-stitching. Must have been glorious to wear.

Lovely dresses and a very glamorous evening coat. I first encountered the name of Schiaparelli when I read The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark when I was a teenager. I really related to the giddy girls in their London boarding house who had little money but plenty of ambition. And, for important dates, they took turns to wear the precious Schiaparelli dress to impress their would-be boyfriends.

I love this portrait of Lady Mount Temple painted by Gluck. You would not mess with her when she’s wearing that suit.

This picture is quite hard to read because the lighting is very dark in this exhibition but it’s a huge collage of images of the dresses created in a gloriously playful way. And of course it always interests me to see an artwork involving paper in a show!

There’s a lot of art in the show too. At the top is a lobster print textile created with Salvador Dali from 1937, there’s a Picasso portrait and I loved the painted screen created with artist Marcel Vertès which depicts Commedia dell’arte characters. And below is painting by Man Ray called Fair Weather featuring a mannequin with a colourful diamond pattern, painted in 1939, just as war was approaching.

And although Elsa Schiaparelli died in 1973 her name and design house lives on under the direction of Daniel Roseberry who has been creative director Maison Schiaparelli since 2019. If you want to cut a dash on the red carpet or at a spectacular ball then this is the place to go for your outfit!

The show is on until 8th November 2026.

Lucien Freud: Drawing into Painting is a very enjoyable show at the National Portrait Gallery. I’m pretty familiar with Freud’s work but it was very special see works which are rarely exhibited and to see the relationship between his drawing (which was so fundamental to his work) and the painted pieces which followed.

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Right at the start of this show we are treated to a huge photograph of Freud’s studio in West London. It has the look and feel of one of his paintings and it’s quite moving to see the way he daubed the walls, furniture and floor with paint. Above is the picture and one of his later self-portraits.

Anyone familiar with Freud’s work will know how he evolved from an artist fascinated by detail and fine lines into a painter who used large, bristle brushes and created his work from bold, expressive brush strokes. I was very intrigued by the early drawings on show. The middle one, above, is a self-portrait with hyacinth drawn with conte crayon on paper. On the left is Portrait of a Young Man and on the right is The Village Boys, which is oil on canvas from 1941 and probably painted when Freud was studying at the East Anglia School.

I really liked this portrait of Cedric Morris, Freud’s tutor at the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing. Made in the summer of 1940 when Freud was only 18. It captures Morris’s character beautifully.

There were a lot of women in Freud’s life. Some were lovers, wives, models or simply friends. Above is a selection of the ones he loved. Above left is Suzy Boyt and centre Caroline Blackwood. One the right and above are two portraits of Kitty Garman. Quite a mixture of drawing and painting – detail and broad brush strokes.

Freud’s mother, Lucie Freud, was also an important model. On the left is a very direct charcoal drawing of her from life and on the right a painting combined with a nude of Jacquetta Eliot.

Two faces you may recognise? On the left is David Hockney, centre, the late Queen Elizabeth II and on the right is Frank Paul.

His portraits always seem to capture the sitter’s thoughts. There’s a really contemplative feel to these to portraits. On the left is his daughter Bella Freud, in the centre is a nude etching and on the right is Suzy Boyt – the painting is entitled Girl Smiling.

The show is on at the National Portrait Gallery until 4th May 2026.

A blockbuster show at Tate Britain celebrates two of the the UK’s most acclaimed artists. Born a year apart, JMW Turner (1775-1851) and John Constable (1776-1837) both pushed their art into entirely new aesthetics and left a lasting legacy in the development of British art, paving the way for the Impressionist’s movement and everything that followed.

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Turner, self portrait
Portrait of John Constable by his contemporary Ramsay Richard Reinagle.

The works of Turner and Constable must be amongst some of the most recognised images in art history. Say the words Flatford Mill or A misty sunset in Venice and most of us will conjure the familiar bucolic image of a Suffolk Mill with a horse and cart or the beauty of Venice seen through a haze of cloud and watery sunshine. These works are amazing. But the history of these two artists is more entwined and their approach more similar than I had realised. This show, entitled Rivals and Originals, charts their artistic development as contemporaries and adversaries.

Both Turner and Constable were dedicated to art from an early age. Turner, you could argue, had the more difficult journey – the son of a barber based in Covent Garden, London, he demonstrated his skills at an early age and his father did his best to support his son’s desire to paint but he was not of the class expected to choose art as a career. Constable was born into middle class comfort in Suffolk and had to convince his family that he did not want to follow a conventional profession but devote his life to art. The pair developed their styles through study of Old Masters and a desire to push a narrative element into their art while recording contemporary life.

Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between them – just look at these two, above. On the left is Turner’s Snow Storm – Steam-boat off a Harbour’s Mouth and on the right is Constable’s swift oil sketch called Rainstorm over the Sea. Both of them were fascinated by the power of nature and the constantly changing sky and weather conditions. They spent all their time sketching landscapes and painting the scene directly onto whatever surface they brought with them.

Both must have spent hours observing clouds in their infinite variety and using immediate sketches to dramatic effect. On the left is a selection of cloud studies by Constable and on the right is Turner’s massive painting Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps.

My takeaway from the show, apart from having thoroughly enjoyed it, was the chance to see the evolution of these two artists from detailed work, which might be as literal and accurate as possible, towards a much freer, expressive way of working. Both appear to have created their work at speed, using wonderful gestural swishes of paint or urgent daubs of white and black to denote drama and impact. They are both glorious. This is a wonderful show and well worth seeing.

It’s on at Tate Britain until 12 April 2026.

Wright of Derby: From the Shadows. What a terrific show at the National Gallery, London. I’ve long been an admirer of Joseph Wright’s ‘candlelight’ paintings which capture moments of interior drama, both literally and psychologically. Wonderful to see the artist’s work from 1765 – 1773 at the height of his powers.

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Above is a detail from probably the most famous painting by Joseph Wright, known as Wright of Derby – the town where he was born and worked. The Air Pump shows an audience watching a scientific demonstration. The air is being pumped out of a glass flask and the bird inside is about to suffocate. The girls are clearly distressed, the adults fascinated and the scientist resembles a wizard, in a loose gown, playing God over the life of the hapless bird. There is so much going on in this compelling picture which gives you so many perspectives. But the most striking element is Wright’s ability to capture the lighting of the scene. A single candle, hidden behind a large goblet containing a skull, illuminates the faces and highlights the reactions.

This wonderful exhibition not only brings the best of Joseph Wright’s paintings from the 1760s-70s but also assembles some of the instruments and props which feature in the pictures. For example, below, we see a painting entitled The Orrery which was an extraordinary teaching instrument for demonstrating the movement of the planets and the earth’s place in the heavens. The two boys are transfixed by the tiny orbs which are shown to move around each other.

Tenebrism is the word given to the style of painting associated by Italian artist Caravaggio and describes the use of an extreme form of ‘chiaroscuro’ (meaning light and dark). The drama derived from seeing, and not seeing, objects is brilliantly conveyed in these picture. As a viewer you are drawn to the illuminated faces and the expressions responding to the action but then you wonder what is happening in the shadows? Each picture contains so many questions and invites you to puzzle over the subject as you scan the painting absorbing the story.

Above is The Alchymist in Search of the Philosopher’s Stone, Discovers Phosphorus, and Prays for the Successful Conclusion of his Operation, as was the Custom of the Ancient Chymical Astrologers. Wow! Quite a title, but what a picture, there’s so much going on. Amazement on the face of the alchemist and bewildered fascination by his helper making notes at the desk by candlelight. And capturing the bright light of phosphorus must have been a huge challenge.

I love this painting of the girl reading the letter. You can’t see the candle but it’s behind the paper, making it transparent, but for the shadowy fold. And is the man leaning over her shoulder about to grab the paper away? What was she reading? Oh, so many questions. This painting is up there with works by Vermeer but with a more rosey hue and earthy atmosphere.

Above are a couple of great examples of ‘tenebrism’ showing not only Wright’s skill at capturing light but depicting the enduring artistic quest to capture form by using light and shadow in the context of the art class.

And above is a detail from a painting of two boys fighting. You can see that things are turning violent as one boy’s ear is grabbed and pinched with his assailant in the foreground represented in shadow. And I loved the picture on the right of A Blacksmith’s Shop. Nighttime work, with the moon beyond the clouds and all eyes focused on the action on the anvil. Wonderful.

Above is a self-portrait by Joseph Wright of Derby done with pastels early on his career. Clearly he was perfecting his ‘tenebrist’ skills but, quite playfully, representing himself in the style of an ‘Old Master’. What a master of his craft he was. This is a great show. It’s on at the National Gallery until 10th May 2026.

The Story of South Asian Art at the Royal Academy shines a light on the artist Mrinalini Mucherjee, her family and fellow artists. Their work spans the the second half of the twentieth century and shows how Western art was stylistically absorbed into traditional Indian art.

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I had no idea what to expect when I attended the press preview for this show. My knowledge of Indian history is scant. For this exhibition we were introduced to the work generated by Benode Behari Mukherjee, his wife, Leela, daughter Mirnalini and students who lived and work an an idyllic-sounding art school established in Santiniketan in 1919. This was a time when Indian artists might look to the West for influence but were determined that their work would be definitively Indian, and reflect their deep-rooted culture.

I was impressed by the variety of work and, at times the visceral nature of the imagery. Above is a water colour sketch on paper by Leela Mukherjee demonstrating the influence of Matisse through bold, vigorous brush strokes.

I really liked this trio of work. On the left is a paper collage made with cut outs by Benode Mukherjee. He became blind in his 50s but continued working and teaching. His daughter, Leela, worked closely with him, describing what she could see around them and helping him interpret his art by preparing and cutting up paper for him to collage. He would then, intuitively, ‘feet’ his way into these later works. In the centre is a carved wood mosaic by K G Buramanyan (a student) which relates to a monumental mural commissioned in 1962. The mural stretches some 25 metre and used 13,000 terracotta tiles – examples are shown on the right.

These two paintings caught my eye. On the left is a watercolour by Mrinalini Mukherjee which is like an abstract landscape using great colours. And on the right is a very Matisse and Picasso-inspired ‘Reclining Woman’ by K G Subramanyan.

The sculptures are interesting. On the left is Night Bloom II by Mrinalini Mukherjee, a partly-glazed ceramic made with folds of clay which convey the idea of a woman seated in the lotus position. They clay bears impressions of textiles. And on the right is her intriguing sculpture named Jauba, from 2000 made with hemp and steel.

I found this lithograph, Landscape 1968, by Gulammohammed Sheikh quite threatening with intimations of unsettling goings on. And on the right is an etching entitled Riot from 1871 where the violence is evident.

A very intriguing show. It’s on at the Royal Academy until 24 February 2026.

Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World – well, there is so much more to this show at the National Portrait Gallery than fashion. Glorious to see so many photographs, drawings, illustrations, sketches and creative ideas which demostrate the breadth of this remarkable man’s abilities.

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Above are three portraits of Cecil Beaton. On the left is a very posed photograph showing his youthful beauty, in the centre is an impressive oil painting by Christian Bérard, which shows a kind of wistful self-confidence and on the right is a self-portrait in pen, ink, wash and pencil made in a New York hotel room in 1928 – a young man with a focus on his career, complete with camera on the right, behind the wine glass, framed by fashion photos and sketches.

Cecil Beaton was born at just the right time. Coming of age in the early 1920s he was fortunate enough to fall in with a crowd of creative, free-living and very wealthy young people who lived in fine houses and threw wild parties. They look extremely pleased with themselves in the photo above but they are having fun; and, after the horrors of the First World War, which they were too young to take part in but were no doubt affected by, you can see how that whoosh of expressive freedom must have captured these Bright Young Things and propelled them into a creatively brave new world.

The show begins with Cecil Beaton’s gorgeous photographs of lovely society ladies and celebrities. Who wouldn’t want to have been photographed in a sumptuous gown, surrounded by flowers, frills and frou-frou? What a wonderful record of beautiful youth.

Cecil Beaton was far more than a photographer. He was an artist, designer and fashion designer. I rather liked the swift watercolour sketch he made for Vogue (on the left) of Wallis Simpson. He didn’t like her at first but was impressed by her transformation into ‘all that is elegant’. And on the right is his frontispiece to Cecil Beaton’s New York in 1938. He adored New York and he was a stalwart photographer and front cover designer for Vogue magazine.

Of course the highlight of Cecil Beaton’s career was his work on the staged musical My Fair Lady. He created all the costumes and set designs for the theatre and, when the musical was filmed in Hollywood in the early 1960s, he won two Oscars for his work. The magnificent evening dress worn by Audrey Hepburn is on display.

And here he is in a photograph on the set of the film with Audrey Hepburn.

Well, this is a charming exhibition which transports you back to a world of late Edwardian opulence, manners and mores of ‘flapper days’ and the celebration of flattering fashion when women (more than men) could truly dress up for important events. Cecil Beaton’s naturally theatrical style fuelled ‘dressing up’ in its purest sense. What a fun time, and what a fun show.

It’s on at the National Portrait Gallery until 11th January 2026

Throught the eyes of Lee Miller – a sensational new retrospective at Tate Britain displays this remarkable woman’s talents as a photographer and chronicler of her time.

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Lee Miller was a very beautiful woman. This sensational retrospective begins with images of her as a model in her early twenties and she is gloriously photogenic. But it didn’t take long for her to grow weary of being the focus of images and to start taking her own photographs.

I’m always drawn to a collage, of course! And this work, centre, is fabulous mingling of cutout paper and photographs featuring the surrealist painter Eileen Agar. Lee Miller became friends with many of the surrealist painters, spending time with them in Paris and the South of France.

But it’s her work as a War Correspondent in Europe during the Second World War which is so very moving and affecting. She bravely picked her way through war-torn streets, capturing the images of displaced people, injured fighters, hungry children and ruined buildings. She sent her photographs back to Vogue magazine (for whom she worked) but they found many of her images too brutal to publish.

Here’s the uniform she wore and her camera.

The images we were not allowed to photograph at the press preview include the famous shot of Lee Miller in Hitler’s bath in his former apartment in Munich. With her associate, David E. Sherman, they entered his private bathroom after taking pictures of the horrors of Dachau.

So many of the photographs emit a palpable atmosphere which speaks of the time the pictures were taken but also convey Lee Miller’s barely-bottled anger at the places she was seeing, the people she met and the dreadful cruelty that had been inflicted on victims from the concentration camps.

Above is a photograph of Lee Miller’s son, Antony Penrose and Pablo Picasso. Antony knew very little of his mother’s extraordinary past. After her death he uncovered huge boxes of photographs stuffed into the attic of the family home at Farley Farm in Sussex. It is this astonishing archive we are able to see at the exhibition.

The show is on at Tate Britain until 15th February 2026.