Treasures of Heaven (2011)

August 9, 2011April 29, 20211 Comment

Saints, relics and devotion in medieval Europe

(British Museum, London (23 June – 9 October 2011)

I have a feeling that, while this exhibition was being prepared, I read an article about concerns expressed by some of the lenders – monasteries, abbeys, great Catholic churches – about whether their precious relics would be treated with the respect they deserved in Protestant England. If I am right, then it shows that awareness of the Reformation remains strong even today. However, they needn’t have worried. The exhibition setting is a triumph of simplicity and the objects are left to work their extraordinary power.

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Glamour of the Gods (2011)

August 6, 2011April 29, 2021Leave a comment

(National Portrait Gallery, London, 7 July – 23 October 2011)

There’s something about the golden age of Hollywood that still captures the attention today: an era when men were men, women were women and everything was screened by a veil of cigarette smoke. This wonderful exhibition brings together a selection of photographs of the biggest film stars from the 1920s to the 1950s. Most are silvery black-and-white prints, luminous visions of another age, with the odd colour interloper feeling oddly out of place.

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Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape (2011-12)

July 31, 2011April 29, 2021Leave a comment

(Tate Modern, 14 April – 11 September 2011)

I left it late to come to this exhibition, the first major retrospective of Miró’s work in the UK for 50 years, but I’m glad I caught it. I don’t often venture to Tate Modern, but this is an unconscious prejudice that I’ll have to change in the future. What struck me most about the exhibition was how completely ill-equipped I was to understand what Miró was trying to achieve in his work.

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BP Portrait Award 2011

July 29, 2011August 6, 20162 Comments

National Portrait Gallery, London (16 June – 18 September 2011)

The first thing to say about this year’s Portrait Award is that the standard is very high. There are a few weaker pictures but generally the portraits are arresting and technically very impressive. I confess that I’m always drawn to intense close-ups of faces, which I feel really bring out a personality, and there were a couple of particularly striking ones in the show. One was Jakub by Jan Mikulka, which from a distance looks exactly like a photograph. Only at close range can you distinguish the brushstrokes and see the image dissolve into careful arcs of paint. It’s remarkable; and I was also touched by the sitter’s haunted, slightly sulky expression, which makes him look very young.

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