Hooray! Museums and galleries are open again. Here’s what to see…
Barbara Hepworth at work on the plaster for Oval Form (Trezion)1963. Photo: The Hepworth Wakefield
The pandemic has turned into a ‘plandemic’ now we have to book everything online. Good news though, from today, many of Britain’s major museums and art galleries are re-opening to the public. For months we’ve been dreaming of the day when we’d be able to indulge in exhibition-going once more – and that day has finally come (if you can get your hands on tickets). Attendance requirements will have to follow government guidelines and yes, you’ll have to book, but the benefit is you are not fighting your way through crowds. Silver linings. To get you started on your gallery reunions, here are some of the must-see exhibitions we can’t wait to view:
Barbara Hepworth thinking big. Photo: The Hepworth Wakefield
Up North
Ringing in the 10th anniversary of Yorkshire’s The Hepworth Wakefield is Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life. This will be the grandest exhibition of Hepworth’s work since her death in 1975. Curators have called in public and private loans to show comprehensive works spanning from the 1920s onwards, rarely seen drawings and fabric designs – all in the context of Hepworth’s personal life and relationships (like friends Picasso, Arp and Brancusi). Tacita Dean and Veronica Ryan have created new commissions for the exhibition, alongside comparative works by Bridget Riley.
While near Wakefield, continue your sculpture education at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s Longside Gallery. Breaking the Mould: Sculpture by Women since 1945, is an Arts Council touring exhibition featuring 75 years of sculptural evolution by 50 female artists including: Cathy de Monchaux, Kim Lim and Cornelia Parker – plus the Arts Council’s newest acquisitions.
Photo: It’s Nice That
Fans of Channel 4’s Grayson’s Art Club will be thrilled to know the accompanying exhibition – postponed in 2020 – is back on at the Manchester Art Gallery. View the personal representations of lockdown art made by Perry and his wife, artists, viewers and celebs from the programme, and a further selection from some 10,000 public entries. This is going to be super popular, so book tickets quickly.
Imagine Cindy Sherman blended with a 21st century Mad Hatter – this is Rachel McLean at the Jupiter Artland (Edinburgh). Her solo show features four key works from the last decade which are a mix of fantasy with astute socio-political commentary. This is as bonkers and theatrical as art film and photography can get.
For film and animation buffs: get a rare look into Hollywood special effects legend Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema (Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh). View models and ground-breaking work from the man behind Jason and The Argonauts, One Million Years BC and Clash of the Titans. See how he changed movie-making in the mid-C20th and inspired Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas – this is a great one for kids, B-movie fans and Sci-fi geeks.
Adidas x Pharrell, Human Race sneakers. Photo: Design Museum
Down South
What better than an en-plein-sea-air, exhibition-hop? England’s Creative Coast (a 2018-2022 arts initiative) returns from the 2020 haitus with seven international artists this year. Their Instagram-worthy works – mostly sculptures, mostly outdoors – take in multiple locations including Michael Rakowitz at Turner Contemporary (Margate), Holly Henry at the De La Warr Pavilion (Bexhill-on-Sea) and Andreas Angelidakis at Hastings Contemporary. Most open May 29th. Even if the weather turns, you can shelter indoors with more great exhibitions like John Nash: The Landscape of Love and Solace at the Towner Eastbourne …or simply enjoy a day-out cuppa with a view.
The Design Museum’s Sneakers Unboxed – Studio to Street, sees the humble trainer’s rise to great cultural symbol. Starting with its Chuck Taylor All Stars origins, through to designer adaptations by labels like Balenciaga and Comme des Garçons, resale values of exclusive trainers are now an economy worth billions. Iconic designs (Air Jordans to Y3s), sustainability (Stella McCartney) and their bioactive future – currently being developed at MIT’s Design Lab – are fascinating to view.
Eileen Agar image via Christies
There are a lot of great shows opening in London and many feature women artists: Tracey Emin/ Edvard Munch: The Loneliness of the Soul explores the latter’s influence on the former at the Royal Academy of Arts. (Apparently, tickets are practically sold out for David Hockney’s vibrant digital paintings of spring in Normandy).
If surrealism is your escape, Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy at the Whitechapel Gallery is a wonderful retrospective of free-spiritedness in mid-century painting and collage. While you’re in East London, Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty at the Barbican is the first, major UK survey of the artist’s work for over half a century.
The Serpentine is extending the excellent Jennifer Packer: The Eye is not Satisfied with Seeing alongside a new photography retrospective by British- Ghanaian James Garnor: Accra London. Viewing these almost a year after the George Floyd protests, gives their representations all the more meaning.
Lynette Yiadom Boakye’s ‘ To Douse the Devil for a Ducat’ via Vogue
Tate Britain re-opens with Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly in League with the Night, the acclaimed painter’s first major exhibition. If, however, you just want to let loose your inner child, try Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms blockbuster show at Tate Modern. At the time of going to print, this sell-out, semi-retrospective is booked solid through October but a new batch of tickets goes on sale in September. Having seen it in Toronto, it is the exact post-lockdown, participatory feast-for-the-senses we have all been craving.
Alexia Economou is a design and culture journalist, and regular TNMA contributor @thedesignfeedTW
Discussion (14 Comments)
Evelyn Neilson says:
Lots if great things to see and learn about us! Just reading this, fresh out of the Night Fever exhibition at the V&A Dundee! Excellent! You could partake of a silent disco and write on their map clubs and discos long forgotten! A great trip down memory lane. We are away home with an Electronic music poster and a Mary Quant t- shirt from last year’s exhibition!!!
Joyce Morris says:
Worth a visit for the building and its position on the water alone. Fabulous space. Hope you manage to go at some stage Alyson.
Desperate to see this and wouldn’t mind a trip to Dundee! I’m excited for Debuffet too
Wilma says:
Night Fever is such a happy exhibition and I was over the moon to be back inside the V&A Dundee!
Helen Crossley says:
Thanks for this excellent roundup. I have so missed the delicious visual buffet that is an art exhibition. It’s been a treat to be able to see so much work online but nothing beats the experience of a real gallery and enjoying the scale, textures and colour the artist intended. I’m off to the Delamore Arts & Sculpture Exhibition in South Devon on Friday and can’t wait!
Don’t miss the Constance Spry exhibition at the Garden Museum in Lambeth. Their last exhibition before lockdown on Derek Jarman has been nominated for Best Exhibition of the Year and this one looks just as brilliant. Curated by the lovely Shane Connelly who did the flowers for Will and Kate’s wedding. But it’s not only about flowers – it’s about Spry’s amazing life first as a teacher then a flower decorator and her relationship with artist Hannah Gluckstein.
Oh yes, that’s on the list! Thanks Catherine, I love the Garden Museum, it’s not too far from TNMA Mansions (which is a nice bonus) and so I’m planning a separate feature. Very pleased to hear Derek Jarman exhibition is up for an award.
bev says:
Doesn’t Grayson Perry look fabulous! Love him. Managed to book David Hockney at RA for September – the tickets are going so fast.
Reviews are not that good but will decide for myself. Returning to Charleston (Firle, Sussex) – the mega gorgeous home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant on Saturday to see the Nina Hamnett exhibition. I am like a child bubbling over with excitement…….only 4 more sleeps!!!!!ps Also Farley’s House the home of Lee Miller and Anthony Penrose has re-opened. Another very wonderful trip out (Muddles Green, Chiddingly – what a fab address!)
Beth Lowe says:
I can”t wait to return to the UK. your post today was just the inspiration I needed. I miss galleries and museums so much; however, I have seen wonderful things on-line. I am planning a two week visit to the UK next spring- and your blog is always an inspiration for sanity and wonderful places to put on my ever growing list. One of my plans is to join the National Trust in order to visit their homes and gardens. I am looking forward to filling in historical landmarks, but I must start narrowing down what is doable and still give myself enough time to enjoy British daily life. Thank you for today’s wonderful post. I would like to see the Constance Spry exhibit, I read a wonderful biography of her interesting life.
Lyn Williamson says:
Feel sorry for us in Australia. They will not let us leave the country. They say to keep us safe…but really setting us up for weakness!!!!.
But enough of that!!!!
I remember seeing Lynette Yiadom-Baokye ‘s dancers in Venice many years ago and was struck by their power!! This artist uses the no-no colour of green (in art) to perfection. The V andA has Alice Curiouser and Curiouser as well is on from 22 May 2021 to November 20 2021. Don’t forget a trip to the B.M….it. will be empty of tourists so you will be able to see the wonderful treasures. How I envy you all . Enjoy you summer and I wish you well.
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Thanks Alexia. A useful roundup here of exhibitions we can book and go to visit in real life.
For this week I’ve got tickets to the Ashmolean for Pre-Raphaelites and the Asian ceramics etc then on Wednesday the handbag exhibition at the V and A. A lot of planning is now required such is pent up demand. Unable to book Tate Modern Kusama despite joining a booking queue ditto David Hockney’s Normandy iPad prints at the R.A.
As you rightly describe there’s so much else further afield.
I’ve pencilled in for later in summer a visit north to visit both the Hepworth Museum and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. And am keen on the Dubuffet at the Barbican at some point. I saw the French Post War art exhibition there when a student.
So much to see and look forward to visiting.