When you think of Renaissance-inspired fashion, images of rich velvets, intricate lace, and elaborate headpieces likely come to mind. But Dutch artist and designer Suzanne Jongmans is challenging these expectations in imaginative ways. Rather than using traditional textiles, Jongmans crafts her historically inspired costumes out of recycled materials such as packaging foam, plastic sheets, and other discarded objects. Her work bridges the gap between the past and present, proving that beauty and creativity can emerge from the most unexpected sources.
"History is written by the victors," or so goes the quote often misattributed to Winston Churchill. In other words, those who wield the most power or resources are typically the ones whose stories are represented in textbooks, passed down through generations, and etched into our collective consciousness. Without intentional effort, it can be difficult to hear more than a single narrative.
The Histories, an exhibition conceived by Godfrey in collaboration with Marshall and Adrian Locke, the RA's chief curator, is Marshall's largest show to date in Europe and is timed to celebrate his 70th birthday. After London, it will travel to Kunsthaus Zürich and the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris. The exhibition's title speaks to the layered histories in Marshall's work, to the history of painting as well as African and transatlantic history.
For more than a decade, Rosen has sought out chattering macaws, cockatoos with fluffy, blush-colored plumage, and ornery owls, which she pairs with patterned papers and textiles. An African penguin, for example, stares curiously at its pink-and-white striped surroundings, while a Lady Amherst's pheasant trots across ornate brocade. The resulting portraits are meditations on notions of beauty and the relationship between nature and culture, particularly as we've reproduced imagery of the former throughout centuries of art and design.
Wally Caruana was the senior curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the National Gallery of Australia between 1984 and 2001. His book provides a concise survey exploring how the diverse works of Aboriginal and Torres Strait artists has continually developed and responded to change. He considers the impact of urban living, the growth of local art centres that support the artists in these communities, and the recognition of women artists.
The recently identified portrait of Konstantinos XI Palaiologos in a monastery church provides new insights into Byzantine art and its historical context, particularly during the mid-Byzantine period.
"The same institution that values tradition above almost everything else has quietly acknowledged that artistic merit isn't about the tools you use - it's about what you create with them."
Celia Paul, known for her haunting portraits and landscapes, trained at the Slade and had a ten-year relationship with Lucian Freud, resulting in their son Frank.
The restoration confirmed previous reports that Raphael wished to paint imagery directly onto the walls of the four rooms. Two female figures, uncovered during a previous restoration and attributed to Raphael, were found to be painted in this way-supporting the fact they are indeed by the master.
Ali Smith's essay on Edvard Munch is a door opener for understanding the artist's immediate approach to painting. The gift of Munch is that he strips back everything that is not important.
"A lot of people say that the varnish should never be removed, that that's a patina that is on the surface of the painting and that it adds to the painting's quality: it makes the painting look better, it makes it look more serious," says Baumgartner.
In 1968 Celmins's medium shifted. "I dropped paint," she says, "because I was not satisfied with it. I fell for the pencil-maybe so I could explore its ability to be dense yet precise."
What is even less widely known is that, in the past, two ambassadors have brought their Van Gogh masterpieces with them to enhance the house's reception rooms.