Abby Cronin: arts journalist in London

The British Museum acquired 11 wall-paintings from the tomb-chapel of a wealthy Egyptian official called Nebamun in the 1820s. Dating from about 1350 BC, they are some of the most famous works of art from Ancient Egypt.

A solo exhibition by one of the world’s most respected living artists, Richard Hamilton. Hamilton has embraced many different mediums since the 1950s, including painting, printmaking, installation and industrial design. The exhibition will reassess the nature of Hamilton’s pioneering contribution, taking as a starting point the artist’s political paintings.

‘Des Res’ or one stop to never ending boredom? Suburbia will explore how public transport helped to create the myths and identity of suburbia and how it has featured in the cultural fabric of London and Britain over the last 100 years. The exhibition will look at how transport has shaped the suburbs and celebrate suburban lifestyle, architecture, design and popular culture through a series of unique displays.

Curated by Dr Jonathan Miller, this exhibition explores the representation and analysis of movement in the visual arts and sciences, drawing on a wide range of material in many different media to provide an in-depth examination of this complex and fascinating subject.

Chris Ofili is one of the most acclaimed painters of his generation, winning the Turner Prize in 1998 and representing Great Britain in the Venice Biennale in 2003. This mid-career survey is Chris Ofili's most substantial presentation to date, and his first solo exhibition in a public institution in this country for more than a decade. It brings together around 45 of the artist's paintings, as well as pencil drawings and watercolours covering the period from the mid 1990s to the present day.

Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde: Constructing a New World: Tate Modern presents the first major exhibition in the UK devoted to the Dutch artist and lynchpin of the European avant-garde, Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931). A radical and multidisciplinary artist (painter, architect, designer, poet, art critic and publisher), van Doesburg played a pivotal role as a conduit for the international exchange of information and ideas. He founded the magazine and movement De Stijl, advocated Dadaist concepts under the pseudonym IK Bonset, taught a De Stijl course in Weimar in opposition to the Bauhaus and forged links with Constructivist groups.

Celebrating one of the most powerful and poetic American artists of his generation, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective examines the extraordinary contribution of this seminal figure in Abstract Expressionism.

Paul Nash, 1889-1946, was once notorious as an English Surrealist, but now he is one of the most admired of modern British artists.  The exhibition brings together around sixty of his finest paintings and watercolours from the whole of his career -  including his outstanding work as a war artist in both World Wars, together with photographs and photographic collages and much more.

Michelangelo’s (1475-1564) The Dream (Il Sogno) has been described as one of the finest of all Italian Renaissance drawings and it is amongst The Courtauld Gallery’s greatest treasures. Executed in c.1533 when the artist was at the height of his career, it exemplifies Michelangelo’s unrivalled skill as a draughtsman and his extraordinary powers of invention. The exhibition will examine this celebrated work in the context of an exceptional group of closely related drawings by Michelangelo, as well as letters and poems by the artist and works by his contemporaries.

This exhibition reveals the groundbreaking moments of Henry Moore's career starting from the 1920s, reasserting his position as an innovator and major modern artist.  Explore works in wood and stone and discover the lesser-known themes and contexts of this important British sculptor.

This exhibition will recreate Walpole's pioneering collection in the context of the rooms at Strawberry Hill.  This will be a journey through ancient and modern British history and European art.

The BADA Antiques & Fine Art Fair is the UK’s foremost national art and antiques fair and a major showcase for 103 members of the British Antique Dealers’ Association. The 18th Fair will take place from 17- 23 March 2010 housed in a purpose-built pavilion in the exclusive location of the Duke of York Square, off Sloane Square, London SW3. An outstanding array of art and antiques will be for sale, ranging from furniture, paintings, ceramics, glass and textiles to clocks, silver and jewellery.

The heyday of the maharajas began in earnest after the collapse of the Mughal empire in the early 18th century. 'Maharaja' (literally means 'great king').

The V&A will present its first ever exhibition of British quilts, with examples dating from 1700 to the present day - a unique opportunity to view the V&A's unseen quilt collection as well as key national loans. Earliest examples include a sumptuous silk and velvet bedcover, with an oral narrative that links it to King Charles II's visit to an Exeter manor house in the late 17th century. Recent examples will include works by leading artists such as Grayson Perry and Tracey Emin and commissions for the exhibition by a number of contemporary artists including Sue Stockwell and Caren Garfen.

Leighton House was the home of Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830 - 1896) and one of the most remarkable buildings of the 19th century. Built to designs by George Aitchison, the house was extended and embellished over the next 30 years to create a private palace of art. The Arab Hall houses Leighton’s priceless collection of over 1,000 Syrian tiles and important works by Leighton and his contemporaries are on display.
Restoring Leighton’s Palace of Art for the 21st Century
Leighton House Museum is currently undergoing a refurbishment and will open to the public on 3rd April 2010
12 Holland Park Road, London W14 8LZ.
Tel: 020 7602 3316

A Garden Fantasy: Unusual Statuary & Decorative Objects for City & Country Spaces
Spring Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair
This is the Fair’s 25th Anniversary Year, and the event goes from strength to strength, immune to the whims of fashion or fad. Now averaging 135 exhibitors per event, the huge variety of stock

This major exhibition features 100 exquisite drawings by Italian Renaissance artists including Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Verrocchio among others. Drawn from the two foremost collections in the field, the display charts the increasing importance of drawing during this period, featuring works by Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Angelico, Jacopo and Gentile Bellini, Botticelli, Carpaccio, Filippo Lippi, Mantegna, Michelangelo, Verrocchio and Titian.  A unique collaboration between the Uffizi in Florence and the British Museum.

FAIR DATES for 2010
25th April
19th September
28th November

This exhibition will showcase the reaction of ten London-based contemporary painters to the work of twentieth-century Italian artists. Each will contribute a number of paintings, most of which will have been created specifically for the exhibition, highlighting some of the connections made with the work of the Italian twentieth century, both in terms of ideas and practice.

Francis Alÿs, born in Belgium and based in Mexico City, uses painting to extend his response to the urban stage. His multi-media work addresses the city streets he wanders compulsively.

Exposure presents over two hundred photographic works, from the late nineteenth century to the present day, offering an illuminating and provocative perspective on subjects both iconic and taboo. Includes work by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Nan Goldin, Dorothea Lange, Paul Strand and Garry Winogrand.

British Comic Art : This groundbreaking exhibition uses visual art to explore the role of humour in British culture over the centuries. Tackling key themes such as morality, politics and the absurd, the show will feature works by classic caricaturists from William Hogarth, James Gillray and George Cruikshank, to David Low, Gerald Scarfe and Steve Bell.

This special summer display presents a rich selection of works of art acquired by the Courtauld Gallery since it moved to Somerset House twenty years ago. The display will include watercolours by Turner, Constable and others from the collection bequeathed in 2007 by the late Dorothy Scharf. Other works to be shown include a portrait of Gian Lorenzo Bernini; a drawing by Ingres (once owned by Samuel Courtauld), fine Victorian watercolours by Frederick Walker; a rare 18th century pastel by John Russell showing one of the porters of the Royal Academy at Somerset House, sculptures by Degas and Rodin, and two oil sketches by Georges Seurat.. The display will also unveil Sir Joshua Reynolds’s late masterpiece Cupid and Psyche. Early work presented by sculptors Sir Anthony Caro, Phillip King and Richard Long extend the collections more fully into the second half of the twentieth century

Given the success of the inaugural Master Paintings Week London in 2009 , a second Master Paintings Week is being planned for July 2010. This event is held to coincide with the auctions of Old Master Paintings and Master Drawings London, and will encourage collectors, curators and other enthusiasts to come to London this summer. Each dealer will stage a special display or an event in their gallery to draw attention to the great paintings and unrivalled expertise to be found in London. Master Paintings Week brings together the most distinguished names in London galleries along with three auction houses.

One of photography's early pioneers, Eadweard Muybridge is be subject of a major retrospective at Tate Britain. Bringing together around 150 works, this exhibition explores how British born Muybridge documented the landscape and people of America when the 'New World' was first emerging as a modern country.

Rachel Whiteread: Drawings: Rachel Whiteread is renowned for her evocative large-scale sculptures, but drawing has always remained one of her core activities. This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to explore her works on paper, most of which have never been shown before in a public gallery.

This major retrospective will examine the origins, development and long term influence of the Ballets Russes, to celebrate the centenary of their first appearance in 1909.

ESTORICK COLLECTION OF MODERN ITALIAN ART
39a Canonbury Square
London N1 2AN
Tel. +44 (0)20 7704 9522
www.estorickcollection.com
In collaboration with Warwick University -While several important exhibitions have been devoted to the art and iconography of Italian Fascism, the work of artists opposed to Mussolini’s regime has received less attention outside their native country. This show explores the idea of art as a means of political resistance, comprising dramatic, powerful imagery by painters, sculptors and satirists such as Renato Guttuso, Giacomo Manzù, Renato Birolli and Renzo Vespignani. Curated by Stephen Gundle, Professor of Film & TV Studies at Warwick University.

In many ways Gauguin's art anticipated trends in 20th-century modernism. He is noted for his unusual juxtapositions and startling anachronisms which can be seen as precursors of the dislocations in the surrealist art of the 1920s and later.

Paul Cézanne’s famous series of paintings of peasants playing cards has long been considered among his most important and powerful works. This landmark exhibition will be the first to bring together the majority of these remarkable paintings alongside a magnificent group of Cézanne’s closely related portraits of Provençal peasants and rarely seen preparatory oil sketches and drawings.

The first international exhibition to explore the unconventional creativity of the British Aesthetic Movement (1860-1895).

A remarkable exhibition examining the human fascination with jewellery, tracing its importance & symbolism from ancient times to the present day.

What does Postmodernism mean, and where did it come from? The V&A will explore these questions in a new exhibition focusing on the 1970s and 1980s. The ideas of Postmodernism first emerged in architecture as new interest was shown in buildings from the past and the minimalism of Modernism was eschewed. These early ideas began to influence other areas of design, including furniture and graphics.