Galleries

This Week in London – Tower Bridge turns 125; Cindy Sherman at the National Portrait Gallery; and, Félix Vallotton at the RA…

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•  Tower Bridge marks its 125th anniversary on Sunday and in honour of the event, there will be celebrations inside and outside the bridge right across the weekend. Entry to the bridge will be priced at just £1.25 and visitors will also receive a one-off souvenir bookmark as well as £5 off the official Tower Bridge book. Tickets cannot be booked in advance. Among the activities is a new photographic exhibition on the high-level walkways showcasing rare archival images and new photographs while costumed performers depicting historic figures – including the bridge’s first and only Indian engineer, divers who dug the foundations and the bridge’s first female employees – will be re-enacting scenes which (might have) happened during construction. Visitors can also join in the bridge architect Sir Horace Jones’ 200th “big birthday bash” in the Engine Rooms and view a new installation on the piers imagining some of the alternative river crossings that could have been built in place of the bridge. Special events will be continuing until the end of the year. For more, see www.towerbridge.org.uk/125/. PICTURE: Paul Varzar/Unsplash

• Contemporary artist Cindy Sherman’s ground-breaking series, Untitled Film Stills (1977-80) has gone on public display for the first time in the UK in a major new retrospective of the artist’s work. Hosted at the National Portrait Gallery, Cindy Sherman explores the development of the artist’s work from the mid-1970s to the present day and includes all 70 images from the Untitled Film Still series as well all five of Sherman’s Cover Girl series, completed while she was a student in 1976 and being displayed together for the first time. There will also be a range of source material from the artist’s studio to give insights into her working processes. Runs until 15th September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.npg.org.uk.

• The work of Swiss artist Félix Vallotton (1865–1925) is being exhibited in a dedicated display for the first time in the UK since 1976. Opening in the The Jillian and Arthur M Sackler Wing of Galleries at the Royal Academy of Arts on Sunday, Félix Vallotton: Painter of Disquiet features about 100 works from public and private collections across Europe and the US and is organised in three sections spanning his career. Highlights include Self-portrait at the Age of Twenty (1885), The Sick Girl (1892), The Visit (1899), Gabrielle Vallotton (1905), Nude Holding her Gown (1904),  This is War! (1916), Red Peppers (1915), and Sandbanks on the Loire (1923). On show until 29th September after which the exhibition will travel to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.royalacademy.org.uk.

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This Week in London – British printmaking; the Taste of London; and, Dickens abroad…

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• British printmaking between World War I and II is under the spotlight in a new exhibition which opened at Dulwich Picture Gallery this week. Cutting Edge: Modernist British Printmaking, which marks 90 years since the inaugural exhibition on British linocuts was held at the Redfern Gallery, features 120 prints, drawings and posters and spotlights the work of artists of the Grosvenor School including those of teacher Claude Flight and nine of his leading students – Cyril Power, Sybil Andrews, Lill Tschudi, William Greengrass and Leonard Beaumont among them. A number of the works are being displayed publicly for the first tome and several international loans – including prints by the Australian students Dorrit Black, Ethel Spowers and Eveline Syme – are making their debut as part of a major UK showing. The display can be seen until 8th September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk. PICTURE: Claude Flight, Speed, 1922, © The Estate of Claude Flight. All Rights Reserved, [2019] / Bridgeman Images/ photo Photo © Elijah Taylor (Brick City Projects)

• Food festival, the Taste of London, is on again in The Regent’s Park across this weekend. Opened last night, the festival features the chance to sample food from London’s best restaurants as well as learn from world-class chefs, and visit gourmet food and artisan producer markets. For more, including tickets, see https://london.tastefestivals.com.

• On Now: Global Dickens: For Every Nation Upon Earth. This exhibition at the Charles Dickens Museum in Bloomsbury paints a global picture of one of London’s favourite sons, starting with his trips to Europe and North America and going on to consider how his influence spread across the world. On display is his leather travelling bag, a Manga edition of A Christmas Carol,  and a copy of David Copperfield that went to the Antarctic on the 1910 Scott expedition. Can be seen until 3rd November. Included in admission charge. For more, see www.dickensmuseum.com.

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LondonLife – Dulwich unveils ‘The Colour Palace’…

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The “second edition” pavilion at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, ‘The Colour Palace’ was unveiled earlier this month at the south London institution. Created in a partnership between the gallery and the London Festival of Architecture, the ‘palace’ – designed by Pricegore architects and Yinka Ilori – is a 10 metre high cube featuring a bold geometric pattern which was inspired by the “buzz of fabric markets in Lagos” and the “symmetry, curves and right angles” of Sir John Soane’s now Grade II*-listed gallery building. The temporary palace, which unites the themes of ‘boundaries’ and ‘innovation’, is being used as a public space for a range of creative activities – everything from neon life drawing, supper clubs, storytelling and yoga. For the programme of events, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk. PICTURES:  Adam Scott/Dulwich Picture Gallery.

This Week in London – Self-driving vehicles; Sir Thomas Gresham explored; and, Spanish artist Bartolomé Bermejo…

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• Self-driving vehicles of all descriptions are under scrutiny in a new exhibition which opened at the Science Museum in South Kensington this week. Driverless: Who is in control? looks at the rise of self-driving cars alongside autonomous flying drones and underwater vehicles like the Natural Environment Research Council’s Autosub Long Range fleet (which includes the delightfully named Boaty McBoatface). There are three specific zones in the display – Land, Air and Water, with each section exploring the different technology solutions already available, the motivations of their developers, and their potential to transform a range of activities and industries. Among highlights are a 1960 Citroen DS19 which was modified in an early experiment in self-driving, autonomous flying drones being developed to clear minefields by the Mine Kafon project and prototype vessels designed to monitor ocean plankton and map the sea floor. The free display can be seen until October next year. For more, see www.sciencemuseum.ac.uk. PICTURE: Autosub Long Range (ALR) Boaty McBoatface © National Oceanography Centre (NOC).

• Described as “one of the most over-looked 16th century merchants and financiers”, Sir Thomas Gresham is the subject of a new exhibition at the Guildhall Library. Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579): Tudor, Trader, Shipper, Spy, which marks the quincentenary of his birth and coincides with the release of a major new biography by Tudor historian Dr John Guy – Gresham’s Law: The Life And World Of Elizabeth I’s Banker. Gresham was a financial advisor to four Tudor monarchs, founder of the Royal Exchange, and, through a bequest left after his death, the founder of Gresham College. The free exhibition can be seen until mid-September. For more, head here.

• Selected works of Spanish artist Bartolomé Bermejo (c1440–c1501) have gone on show at The National Gallery as part of its Spanish season. Bartolomé Bermejo, commonly known as Bermejo (which means ‘reddish’ in Spanish), was likely a converso (a Jew who converted to Christianity) and led an itinerant life, partnering with local artists to access painters’ guilds and obtain religious commissions as he visited cities in Aragon including Tous, Valencia, Daroca, Zaragoza, and Barcelona. The display includes six works never before seen outside of Spain including the masterpieces Triptych of the Virgin of Montserrat (probably 1470–75), and the recently restored Desplà Pietà (1490), as well as four panels depicting scenes from Christ the Redeemer – Descent of Christ into Limbo, Resurrection, Christ entering Paradise and Ascension. At the centre of exhibition is the National Gallery’s Saint Michael Triumphant over the Devil with the Donor Antoni Joan (1468) which is being displayed for the first time since a year long conservation. The free display can be seen in Room 1 until 29th September. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk.

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This Week in London – Leonardo’s notebooks; London’s “lost” rivers; Africa celebrated; and, Natalia Goncharova…

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• Three of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks are being displayed together in the UK for the first time as part of a new exhibition at the British Library marking 500 years since the artist’s death. Leonardo da Vinci: A Mind in Motion, which opens Friday and is being held in partnership with Automobili Pininfarina, will feature a selection of notes and drawings from the Codex Arundel, owned by the British Library, the Codex Forster, owned by the V&A, and the Codex Leicester, owned by US billionaire Bill Gates (and being displayed in the UK for the first time since Gates purchased it in 1994). They reveal Da Vinci’s close observations of natural phenomena and how these explorations of nature and motion directly informed his work as an inventor and artist. The exhibition, which runs to the 8th September, is being accompanied by a series of events and until Sunday, Automobili Pininfarina will be exhibiting a 1,900 hp, zero-emissions Battista hypercar on the British Library Piazza. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.bl.uk/events/leonardo-da-vinci-a-mind-in-motion. PICTURE: Part of the exhibition/courtesy British Library.

• The mysteries of London’s hidden rivers are revealed in an exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands. Secret Rivers brings together art and archaeology along with photography, film, and mudlarking finds to show how the city has been shaped by the Thames and its tributaries – and how they in turn have been shaped by Londoners. It explores how rivers including the Effra, Fleet, Neckinger, Lea, Tyburn, Walbrook, Wandle and Westbourne have all been “exploited for transport and industry, enjoyed and revered, and have influenced artists and writers”. Among items on display are rare surviving fragments of the 13th century Blackfriars Monastery which were used to line a well, a medieval fish trap, and drawings and prints depicting rivers – including James Lawson Stewart’s watercolour Jacob’s Island (1887) which depicts an artificial island located in the Neckinger at Bermondsey. The free exhibition runs until 27th October. A series of talks is accompanying the display. For more, see www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london-docklands.

• All things African will be celebrated at the Open the Gate Festival in Shoreditch this weekend. The festival, one of a number of monthly key partner events being held in conjunction with the city’s new Africa in London festival – a summer long celebration of African culture and creativity, will be held at Rich Mix on Saturday and features live music, an African Market, family workshops and African street food. For more on the event and the Africa in London initiative, head to www.london.gov.uk/AfricaLDN.

• The UK’s first ever retrospective of Russian avant-garde artist Natalia Goncharova has opened in the Tate Modern’s Eyal Ofer Galleries this week. The exhibition brings together more than 160 international loans – including from Russia’s State Tretyakov Gallery, home of the largest collection of Goncharova works in the world – and features, at its heart, a room designed to evoke Goncharova’s remarkable 1913 retrospective at the Mikhailova Art Salon in Moscow which featured more than 800 works. Highlights of this show include Peasants Gathering Apples (1911), the monumental seven-part work The Harvest (1911) and nude paintings which led to her trial for obscenity as well as the four panel religious work Evangelists (1911), examples of her forays into fashion and interior design including Spring (1928) and Bathers (1922), a reunion of her ground-breaking works Linen, Loom + Woman (The Weaver) and The Forest (1911), and her collaborations with Ballets Russes including her costume designs for Le Coq d’or (The Golden Cockerel) and Les Noces (The Wedding) – performed on London stages in the 1920s and 1930s. Runs until 8th September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.tate.org.uk.

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This Week in London – London’s architecture on show; D-Day commemorations at Duxford; and, Frank Bowling at the Tate…

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• An exhibition charting the changing architecture of London opens at the Guildhall Art Gallery on Friday. Architecture of London features more than 80 works by more than 60 artists and spans the period from the 17th century to the present day. The display is arranged thematically and starts with views of London before exploring the city’s continuous transformation – including its rebuilding after World War II, moving on to portrayals of everyday London and finishing with a focus on architectural details that help form the rich tapestry of the city’s built form. Highlights include a rare Jacobean view of London – Old St Paul’s Diptych (1616), Canaletto’s London Seen Through an Arch of Westminster Bridge (1747), David Ghilchik’s Out of the Ruins at Cripplegate (1962), Richard IB Walker’s London from Cromwell Tower, Barbican (1977), and works by Spencer Gore, Lucian Freud, and Frank Auerbach as well as Brendan Neiland’s Broadgate Reflections (1989) and Simon Ling’s paintings of East London. The exhibition, runs until 1st December, is being accompanied by a series of talks as well as a ‘Late View’ on 27th September. Admission charge applies.

The display forms part of the City of London Corporation’s outdoor public events programme, Fantastic Feats: the building of London, which celebrates London’s long-standing history of architectural and engineering firsts and looks at how these innovations have contributed to improving the lives of Londoners over the centuries. Another of the projects taking place under the Fantastic Feats umbrella is Illuminated River, an unprecedented light artwork by American architect Leo Villarreal and London-based Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands that will be installed on up to 15 of London’s bridges with the first four bridges – London, Cannon, Southwark, and Millennium – to be lit up this summer. Architectural drawings and visualisations of the project will be on show at Guildhall from Friday until 1st September sitting alongside paintings of the Thames from the gallery’s collection which have been selected by Villareal. Admission is free applies. For more on either exhibition and Fantastic Feats, follow this link. PICTURED: One of the panels from the Old St Paul’s Diptych by John Gypkin (1616) –  Society of Antiquaries of London.

• A mass flight display will take place over the historic Duxford airfield in Cambridge next week as part of commemorations surrounding the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. On 4th and 5th June, IWM Duxford will host the Daks over Duxford event, featuring the greatest number of Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft – also known as Dakotas – in one location since World War II as well as mass parachute jumps and flight displays. The event will also feature a mass flight display over Duxford as aircraft head off for Normandy where parachute landings will take place on 6th June in a recreation of the original D-Day landings. Duxford is located less than 50 miles from central London. Admission charges apply. For more see www.iwm.org.uk/daks-over-duxford.

• The first major retrospective of the work of British painter Frank Bowling opens at the Tate Britain on Friday. Frank Bowling will span the artist’s entire six decade career and will feature early works like Cover Girl (1966) – seen for the first time in the UK since it was painted, 10 of his celebrated ‘Map Paintings’ including Who’s Afraid of Barney Newman (1968) and Polish Rebecca (1971), examples of his ‘Poured Paintings’, sculptural works like his Great Thames paintings, and Sacha Jason Guyana Dreams (1989), a work inspired by the artist’s first visit to his birth country of Guyana with his son Sacha. Runs until 26th August. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.tate.org.uk.

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This Week in London – Kensington Palace celebrates Victoria; unseen Leonardo; and, William Hogarth and sound…

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• Queen Victoria’s childhood and later life are being re-examined in two new displays which open this week at Kensington Palace to mark the 200th anniversary of her birth. Victoria: A Royal Childhood features objects related to her early years – such as a scrapbook of mementos created by her German governess, Baroness Lehzen (on public display for the first time) – shown along a newly presented route through the rooms she once occupied in the palace. Visitors will experience how her childhood was governed by the strict rules of the ‘Kensington System’ and see how she escaped isolation and family feuding into a fantasy world of story writing, doll making and drawing inspired by her love of opera and ballet. Her education, family life, closest friendships and bitter struggles are explored with interactive displays helping visitors bring to life the rooms in which she lived. Meanwhile, the palace is also hosting another new exhibition – Victoria: Woman and Crown – which looks at the private woman behind the public monarch and examines her later life, including her response to the death of Prince Albert, her role in shaping royal dynasties and politics across Europe and her complex love affair with India. Among objects on show here are rare survivals from the Queen’s private wardrobe including a simple cotton petticoat dated to around the time of her marriage, and a fashionable pair of silver boots, both of which were recently acquired by Historic Royal Palaces with support from Art Fund. Entry to the two exhibitions is included in the standard admission charge. The palace gardens, meanwhile, are being planted with a special floral display in celebration of the anniversary centred on plant species connected to the Victorian period  including heliotrope, canna, pelargonium and begonia. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/Victoria2019. PICTURES: Top  – The Birth Room in ‘Victoria: A Royal Childhood’; Right – Queen Victoria’s Highland dress in the ‘Victoria: Woman and Crown’ exhibition (Both images © Historic Royal Palaces/Richard Lea-Hair)

• A newly identified sketch of the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci goes on public view for the first time at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, from tomorrow. Marking 500 years since the artist’s death, Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing also features the only other surviving portrait of Leonardo made during his lifetime as well as 200 of his drawings in which is a comprehensive survey of his life. The newly identified sketch was discovered by Martin Clayton, head of prints and drawings at the Royal Collection Trust, while he was undertaking research for the exhibition and has been identified as a study of Leonardo made by an assistant shortly before da Vinci’s death in 1519. The other contemporary image of Leonardo, by his pupil Francesco Melzi, was produced at about the same time. Other highlights of the exhibition include Leonardo’s Studies of hands for the Adoration of the Magi (c1481) – also on public display for the first time, studies for The Last Supper and many of the artist’s ground-breaking anatomical studies, such as The Fetus in the Womb (c1511). The drawings in the Royal Collection have been together since Leonardo’s death and are believed to have been acquired in the reign of King Charles II. Runs until 13th October. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.rct.uk/leonardo500/london.

• The use of sound in the art of William Hogarth is being explored in a new exhibition opening in The Foundling Museum on Friday. Hogarth & the Art of Noise focuses on the work The March of the Guards to Finchley and unpacks the social, cultural and political context in which it was created including the Jacobite uprising, the plight of chimney boys and the origins of God Save the King. It uses sound, wall-based interpretation, engravings and a specially commissioned immersive soundscape by musician and producer Martin Ware to reveal how Hogarth orchestrated the natural and man-made sounds of London. Complementing the exhibition is a display of works from contemporary British artist Nicola Bealing which takes as its starting point subjects and narratives found in 18th century broadside ballads. Runs until 1st September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk.

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This Week in London – The Moon up close; a new Children’s Garden for Kew; and, FOOD at the V&A…

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• Artist Luke Jerram’s installation Museum of the Moon goes on show at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington from tomorrow. Marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, the six metre spherical sculpture can be found in the museum’s Jerwood Gallery where visitors are invited to watch – or join in – a performance piece called COMPANION: MOON by interactive theatre makers Coney. The sculpture, which depicts the far side the Moon, is accompanied by a surround-sound composition by BAFTA-winning composer Dan Jones. The sculpture is part of a season marking the 1969 Moon landing including lunar-inspired yoga classes for kids, a series of expert space-related talks and museum late openings. The installation can be seen until 8th September. Entry is free. For more, see www.nhm.ac.uk/moon. PICTURE: Image credit for all: Trustees of the Natural History Museum 2019 (Dare & Hier Media).

• A giant new ‘Children’s Garden’ featuring more than 100 mature trees and a four metre high canopy walk wrapped around a 200-year-old oak opens at Kew in London’s west this weekend. The 10,000 square metre garden – the size of almost 40 tennis courts – has been designed around the four elements plants need to grow: earth, air, sun and water. The Earth Garden features a giant sandpit and play hut village with tunnel slides; the Air Garden has winding paths, giant windmill flowers, pollen spheres, hammocks and trampolines and a mini amphitheatre; the Sun Garden features a large open space with cherry trees and pink candy floss grass as well as pergolas with edible fruits; and the Water Garden has water pumps and water lily stepping stones. Aimed at children aged between two and 12 years.  Entry included in admission. For more, see www.kew.org.

• A “sensory journey through the food cycle”, FOOD: Bigger than the Plate opens at the V&A on Saturday. The exhibition explores how the way we grow, distribute and experience food is being reinvented and, split into four sections, features more than 70 contemporary projects, new commissions and creative collaborations by artists and designers who have been working with chefs, farmers, scientists and local communities. Highlights include GroCycle’s Urban Mushroom Farm installation, a pedal-powered Bicitractor developed by Farming Soul to support small-scale farming, a working version of MIT’s Food Computer, and Christina Agapakis and Sissel Tolaas’ Selfmade project which cultures cheese from human bacteria. Admission charge applies. Runs to 20th October. For more see vam.ac.uk/food.

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This Week in London – The written word at the British Library; London below ground; and, women artists at Tate Britain…

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• Carved stone inscriptions, medieval manuscripts and early printed works are among items on display in a new exhibition looking at the act of writing and its impact on human civilisation at the British Library. Writing: Making Your Mark spans five millennia and five continents and includes writing examples from more than 30 writing systems including Greek, Chinese and Arabic. Highlights include an 1,800-year-old ancient wax tablet, early 19th century Burmese tattooing instruments, the final diary entry of Antarctic explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott, James Joyce’s notes for Ulysses, Caxton’s 1476-7 printing of The Canterbury Tales – the first book printed in England, and the personal notebooks of Elizabethan explorer Sir Walter Raleigh (pictured). There’s also a 60,000 signature petition from 1905 protesting the first partition of Bengal, Mozart’s catalogue of his complete works from 1784-1791 featuring his handwriting and musical notation, and Alexander Fleming’s notebook in which he recorded his discovery of penicillin in 1928. A programme of events accompanies the exhibition which runs until 27th August. Admission charge applies. For more see www.bl.uk. PICTURE: © British Library.

• London’s forgotten rivers, tunnels, sewers, deep shelters, and the world’s first subterranean railway are all explored in a new free exhibition at the London Metropolitan Archives in Clerkenwell. Under Ground London in part celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Victorian engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette – who designed the scheme to overhaul the city’s sewers in the 19th century. As well as Bazalgette’s landmark work, the exhibition explores the legend of a cobbled street buried beneath today’s Oxford Street and tells the story of the Thames Tunnel which, when it opened in 1843, was the world’s first tunnel under a river. There’s also information on London’s ‘ghost stations’, including Strand and King William Street; and the Metropolitan Railway – the world’s first underground railway as well as images of the River Fleet, displayed for the first time. The display can be seen until 31st October. For more, follow this link.

• Women artists working in Britain in the past 60 years are being celebrated in a new display at the Tate Britain in Millbank. Sixty Years features about 60 works spanning painting, photography, sculpture, drawing and film and includes many recent acquisitions. Artists whose works are on show include Mona Hatoum, Sarah Lucas, Bridget Riley, Mary Martin and Anthea Hamilton. Highlights include Gillian Wearing’s film Sacha and Mum (1996), Susan Hiller’s large scale multimedia installation Belshazzar’s Feast, the Writing on Your Wall (1983-84), and two new mixed media works by Monster Chetwynd – Crazy Bat Lady (2018) and Jesus and Barabbas (Odd Man Out 2011) (2018). For more, see www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain.

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This Week in London – Easter in London; Chihuly at Kew; Sean Scully and JMW Turner; and, Mary Quant…

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Wishing all of our readers a very happy Easter!

• Easter is being celebrated in London through a range of events over the long weekend. They include an ‘Easter Extravaganza’ treasure hunt for children at The Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace, and a special Easter-themed trail at the Russia: Royalty & the Romanovs exhibition in the Queen’s Gallery, Lindt Gold Bunny Hunts at royal palaces including Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace, and, of course, all the pageantry of Easter services at the city’s many churches.

• A major new exhibition of the work of contemporary glass artist Dale Chihuly has opened at Kew Gardens in London’s west. Chihuly at Kew features 32 works by the Seattle-based artist at 13 locations across the gardens. Highlights include Sapphire Star – located at the Victoria Gate, Drawings, the Rotolo series and Seaforms – all located in the Shirley Gallery of Botanical Art and a new, specially-designed sculpture as well as nine other installations in the Temperate House. An interactive trail designed for families takes visitors around the installations and there will be special night-time viewings from 15th August. Kew is also running family activities during Easter. Chihuly runs until 27th October. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.kew.org.

• New works by Irish-born but American-based artist Sean Scully have gone on show at the National Gallery. Sea Star: Sean Scully at the National Gallery was inspired by the artist’s love for JMW Turner’s painting The Evening Star and features new and recent large scale multi-panel works that include his celebrated Landline paintings as well as Robe Blue Blue Durrow (2018), which suggests the seventh-century Book of Durrow from his native Ireland, and Human 3 (2018), inspired by the New York subway. Admission is free. Runs until 11th August. For more, see www.national gallery.org.uk.

• On Now: Mary Quant. This exhibition at the V&A focuses on the 20 years between 1955 and 1975 and reveals how Dame Mary Quant democratised fashion for a new generation as she popularised the miniskirt, colourful tights, and tailored trousers. The display brings together more 120 garments as well as accessories, cosmetics, sketches and photographs, most of which have never been on display. Highlights include 35 objects from 30 people received after a public call-out to track down rare Quant items from wardrobes across the nation and 50 photographs of women wearing their Quant clothes. Runs until 8th March, 2020. Admission charge applies. For more, see vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/mary-quant.

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This Week in London – Victoria’s coronet in new display; Edvard Munch at the British Museum; and Abram Games wartime posters…

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• A sapphire and diamond coronet made for Queen Victoria goes on permanent display in the V&A’s William and Judith Bollinger Gallery from today. The new display is being unveiled as part of the V&A’s commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the births of the Queen and her husband, Prince Albert. The coronet was designed for the Queen by Prince Albert in 1840, the year they were married. Albert based the design on the Saxon Rautenkranz (circlet of rue) which runs diagonally across the coat of arms of Saxony. Victoria wore the coronet in a famous portrait by Franz Xavier Winterhalter completed in 1842 and again in 1866 when she wore it instead of her crown at the opening of Parliament. Entrance to the gallery is free. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk.

• A major new exhibition of the work of Edvard Munch (1863-1944) opens at the British Museum in Bloomsbury today. Edvard Munch: love and angst, a collaboration with Norway’s Munch Museum, features 83 artworks taken from the museum’s collection as well as loans from across the UK and Europe. Highlights include a black-and-white lithograph of The Scream – the first time any version of the work has been on show in the UK for a decade, Vampire II – considered to be one of his most elaborate and technically accomplished prints, the controversial erotic image Madonna, and, Head by Head, a print representing the complex relationship between human beings. All of the latter three latter prints are being displayed alongside their original matrix (the physical objects Munch used to transfer ink onto paper). Runs until 21st July in the Sir Joseph Hotung Exhibition Gallery. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org. (PICTURE: The Scream (1895), Edvard Munch (1863-1944), Private Collection, Norway. Photo: Thomas Widerberg)

• A retrospective of the work of Abram Games (1914-1996), a poster artist for the War Office during World War II, has opened at the National Army Museum in Chelsea. The Art of Persuasion: Wartime Posters By Abram Games features more than 100 posters he designed while working in the War Office’s Public Relations Department between 1941 and 1945. It explores how his Jewish refugee heritage, his experiences while a soldier and the turbulent politics of the time shaped his career and how his work – Games is described as a “master of reductive design” – still influences design professionals today. In conjunction with the opening of the exhibition last week, Games has been commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque at his former home in Golders Green. Runs until 24th November. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.nam.ac.uk/artofpersuasion.

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This Week in London – ‘Beasts of London’; the Cold War remembered; Prince Albert and the V&A; and, ‘Power UP’ returns..

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• A state-of-the-art, multi-sensory experience focusing on the beasts, large and small, that have helped shaped London opens at the Museum of London tomorrow. Beasts of London, being run in conjunction with the Guildhall School and Music & Drama, tells the story of the capital from before London existed through to the city today, all through the perspective of animals. Inspired by objects in the museum’s collection, the nine “episodes” of the experience encompass subjects including the arrival of the Romans, the creation of the first menageries during the medieval period, the plague years of the 1600s, the first circuses in the late 1700s, the end of the animal-baiting period in the Victorian era and the role of animals in today’s contemporary city. There’s also a special episode on the contribution horses have made to the city. Well-known identities including Kate Moss, Brian Blessed, Pam Ferris, Nish Kumar, Stephen Mangan, Angellica Bell and Joe Pasquale provide voices for the animals alongside actors from the Guildhall School. The family-friendly experience can be enjoyed until 5th January, 2020. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.museumoflondon.org.uk/beastsoflondon. PICTURE: Lion sculpture; courtesy Museum of London.

• A new exhibition about Britain’s role in the Cold War opens at the National Archives in Kew today – exactly 70 years since the formation of NATO. Protect and Survive: Britain’s Cold War Revealed features original documents including political memos, spy confessions, civil defence posters and even a letter from Winston Churchill to the Queen as it explores the complexities of government operations during a time of paranoia, secrets and infiltration. Other highlights include George Orwell’s infamous list of suspected communist sympathisers, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin’s ‘percentages agreement’, a plan of Lionel ‘Buster’ Crabb’s fateful spy mission, ‘Atom spy’ Klaus Fuchs’ confession and Civil Defence posters. There’s also a recreated government bunker and a 1980s living room showing the impact of the Cold War on both government and ordinary lives as well as digital screens on which Dame Stella Rimington, the first female Director General of MI5, shares her experiences along with insights from historian Dominic Sandbrook and curator Mark Dunton. The display is being accompanied by a series of events including night openings, film screening and talks. Runs until 9th November (30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall). Admission charge applies. For more, see nationalarchives.gov.uk/coldwar.

• Prince Albert’s personal contributions to the V&A’s Library collection are the subject of a new exhibition which opened this week as part of the South Kensington Institute’s celebration of the 200th anniversaries of the births of both the Prince and Queen Victoria. Prince Albert: Science & the Arts on the Page features books and photographs include one volume containing a letter written by the Prince’s librarian Ernst Becker highlighting Albert’s wish to promote knowledge and learning in science and the arts. There’s also a volume of songs written and set to music by Albert and his brother, featuring amendments in Albert’s own hand, as well as his signed season ticket to the Great Exhibition of 1851. Runs until 1st September on the Library Landing. Admission is free. Head here for more.

• Forty years of computer game history is once again on show at the Science Museum from Saturday. Returning for its fourth year, Power UP features 160 consoles and hundreds of games, from retro classics like Space Invaders to the latest in VR technology. Special events include two adults-only evening sessions on 10th and 17th April. Runs until 22nd April. For more, see sciencemuseum.org.uk/power-up.

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This Week in London – Van Gogh and Britain; miniature Elizabethan portraits; and, ‘Jews, Money, Myth’…

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At Eternity's Gate• The first exhibition to examine the work of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh through his relationship with Britain has opened at Tate Britain this week. Van Gogh and Britain includes more than 40 works by the artist including L’Arlésienne (1890), Starry Night on the Rhone (1888), and Sunflowers (1888). The exhibition will also feature later works by Van Gogh including two he painted while in the Saint-Paul asylum – At Eternity’s Gate (1890 – pictured) and Prisoners Exercising (1890). The exhibition shows how Van Gogh, who lived in London between 1873 and 1876 working as a trainee art dealer, responded to works by artists like John Constable and John Everett Millais and his love of British writers like William Shakespeare, Christina Rossetti and, particularly, Charles Dickens (L’Arlésienne features one of Dickens’ favourite books in the foreground). The show runs until 11th August and is being accompanied by a series of talks and other events. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.tate.org.uk. PICTURE: Vincent van Gogh (1853 –1890), ‘Sorrowing old man (‘At Eternity’s Gate’)’ (1890), Collection Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo

• On Now – Elizabethan Treasures: Miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver. This exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery – which is focused on the work of Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619) and Isaac Oliver (c1565-1617) – is the first major display of Tudor and Jacobean portrait miniatures to be held in the UK for more than 35 years and includes new discoveries as well as portraits on public display for the first time. A large section of the exhibition is devoted to portraits of Queen Elizabeth I as well as King James I, his wife Anne of Denmark and his three children – Henry, Elizabeth and Charles (later King Charles II). There are also miniatures of famous figures like Sir Walter Ralegh, Sir Francis Drake and a little known portrait of Shakespeare’s patron, the Earl of Southampton. Other highlights include a previously unknown portrait by Hilliard of King Henri III of France. Runs until 19th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.npg.org.uk.

• A major exhibition exploring the role of money in Jewish life has opened at the Jewish Museum London in Camden Town. Jews, Money, Myth looks at the “ideas, myths and stereotypes” that link money and Jews over two millennia. It features art works such as Rembrandt’s Judas Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver as well as new commissions by Jeremy Deller and Doug Fishbone along with film, literature and cultural emphemera ranging from board games and cartoons to costumes and figurines. There are a series of related events. For more, see www.jewishmuseum.org.uk.

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This Week in London – Greenwich’s Painted Hall reopens; ‘Christian Dior’ extended; and, merchant shipping explored…

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• The Painted Hall in Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College reopens on Saturday following a two-year, £8.5 million restoration project. The hall, known as the UK’s “Sistine Chapel”, was designed by Sir Christopher Wren as a ceremonial dining room for what was then the Royal Hospital for Seamen. Completed in 1705, its 4,000 square metre interior features a decorative scheme painted by Sir James Thornhill, the first British artist to be knighted, which took 19 years to complete. The paintings celebrate English naval power as well as the then newly installed Protestant monarchy with joint monarchs King William III and Queen Mary II as well as Queen Anne and King George I all represented in the artworks along with hundreds of other mythological, allegorical, historical and contemporary figures. The restoration project has also seen the King William Undercroft, located underneath the hall, converted into a new cafe, shop and interpretation gallery. Two cellar rooms from King Henry VIII’s palace – which once stood on the site – were discovered during the restoration works and are also now on public display. Other new touches include the return of a series of carved oak benches to the hall (having been introduced when it was used as an art gallery in the 19th century they were removed 100 years ago), two ‘treasure chests’ containing objects related to the ceiling artworks which can be handled, and new tour options – not just of the hall and undercroft but of the entire Old Royal Naval College site. There’s a host of special activities over the opening weekend, including a parade and official opening ceremony from 9.30am, the chance to meet historical characters, music, food stalls, kids activities and more. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.ornc.org. PICTURED: The Old Royal Naval College, home of the Painted Hall.

• The V&A has announced it is extending its sell-out Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition due to unprecedented demand. The exhibition at the South Kensington museum, which had originally been scheduled to close on 14th July, will now run until 1st September with new tickets made available on 15th of each month (there’s also a limited number of tickets available to purchase daily at 10am from the V&A’s Grand Entrance on a first-come, first-served basis; V&A members, of course, attend free-of-charge with no need to book). The exhibition, which initially sold out of its five month run with 19 days of opening, is the most comprehensive exhibition ever staged in the UK on the House of Dior and the museum’s biggest fashion exhibition since Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty in 2015. For more, see vam.ac.uk.

• On Now: Merchant Navy Treasures: An Introduction to the Newall Dunn Collection. This display at the City of London’s Guildhall Library delves into the Newall Dunn Collection, one of the world’s most comprehensive photographic and reference collections on merchant shipping, and showcases the achievements of shipping historian Peter Newall and artist and writer Laurence Dunn. Alongside images, press releases and newspaper cuttings, on show are company brochures, menus and other items from the ocean liners and cargo vessels of three famous lines from the golden age of shipping: the Cunard, Orient and Union-Castle. Admission is free. Runs until 24th May. For more, follow this link.

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This Week in London – “Spain’s Impressionist” at the National Gallery; and, London stories, told on a poster…

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• The first major UK exhibition of the work of “Spain’s Impressionist”, Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923), opens at the National Gallery on Monday. Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light – the first UK retrospective of the artist’s work since 1908 when he mounted an exhibition in London’s Grafton Galleries, spans seven rooms in the Sainsbury Wing and features more than 60 works including portraits and scenes of Spanish life as well as the landscapes, garden views and beach scenes for which he is most renowned. Highlights include his first great success, Another Marguerite! (1892 – pictured), The Return from Fishing (1894), Sewing the Sail (1896), Sad Inheritance! (1899), a portrait of the American painter Ralph Clarkson (1911) and Female Nude (1902) – both of which were responses to the work of Velázquez, large scale preparatory studies from 1912 for Vision of Spain, and sizeable canvases painted out of doors such as Strolling along the Seashore (1909) and The Siesta (1911). The exhibition, which runs until 7th July, is organised in partnership with the National Gallery of Ireland and the Museo Sorolla, Madrid. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk. PICTURE: Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, ¡Otra Margarita! (Another Marguerite!), 1892. Oil on canvas, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St Louis. Gift of Charles Nagel, Sr, 1894.

• On Now – The Poster Prize for Illustration 2019 – London Stories. One hundred illustrations depicting an aspect of London – in a current or historical, real or fictional state – and capturing a familiar or lesser-known narrative in a single image are on show at the London Transport Museum. The images were selected by a panel of judges and visitors have the chance to vote for their favourite poster with the winning illustration to be announced in June (it will then become a permanent part of the museum’s collection). Runs until 14th July. There’s a series of talks accompanying the display including ‘Bus Fare: Stories of the London Bus’ open 21st March. Admission charges apply. For more, see www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/exhibitions.

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This Week in London – Princess Eugenie’s wedding dress on show; Dorothea Manning; and, the impact of photographic reproductions explored…

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• The wedding dress and tiara worn by Princess Eugenie at her wedding in October last year has gone on display in a new exhibition at Windsor Castle, just to the west of London. A Royal Wedding: HRH Princess Eugenie and Mr Jack Brooksbank also features groom Jack Brooksbank’s morning suit and the maid-of-honour outfit worn by Princess Beatrice of York. But the star is the wedding dress, designed by Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos, which features fabric interwoven with symbols including the White Rose of York. The exhibition also includes the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara, lent by Queen Elizabeth II and on public display for the first time, Princess Eugenie’s diamond and emerald drop earrings – a wedding gift from the groom, a replica of the bridal bouquet, and the Zac Posen-designed evening gown worn by the princess for the reception. The display can be seen as part of visits to Windsor Castle until 22nd April. Admission charge applies. For more see www.rct.uk. PICTURE: Royal Collection Trust / © All Rights Reserved.

• The work of pioneering artist Dorothea Manning is the subject of a new exhibition at the Tate Modern on South Bank. Opened last week, Dorothea Tanning is organised in collaboration with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid and is the first large scale exhibition of her work for 25 years. It brings together some 100 works, a third of which are being shown in the UK for the first time, including ballet designs, stuffed textile sculptures, installations and large scale pieces. Highlights include the self-portrait Birthday (1942), Children’s Games (1942), Insomnias (1953), Etreinte (1969),Tango Lives (1970) and the room-sized installation Chambre 202, Hôtel du Pavot (1970-73). Runs until 9th June. Admission charge applies. For more see www.tate.org.uk.

• A new exhibition on the impact photographic reproduction had on illustrative art at the end of the 19th century has opened at the Heath Robinson Museum in Pinner. The Beardsley Generation looks at how a new generation of artists versed in process engraving replaced the craft wood engravers of the past and how the new technology led to an expansion in the production of illustrated books and periodicals. The work of Aubrey Beardsley, Charles Ricketts, Laurence Housman and the Robinson brothers will be on display in the form of original drawings, books and periodicals drawn from public and private collections. Runs until 19th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org.

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This Week in London – Artist Louis-Léopold Boilly’s unseen works; the ‘Renaissance Nude’ at the RA; and, a day about women at the National Army Museum…

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• One of the first ever exhibitions devoted to the work of French Revolution-era artist Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761-1845) opens at The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square today. Boilly: Scenes of Parisian Life features at its heart 18 paintings from private British collection the Ramsay Manor Foundation which have never been displayed or published before. They include early works like Two Young Women Kissing (1790-94), urban vistas like The Poor Cat (1832), The Barrel Game (c1828), and A Carnival Scene (1832), and portraiture like Portrait of the Comtesse François de Sainte-Aldegonde (c1800-05), and Portrait of a Lawyer (early 19th century). Also on display is The Meeting of Artists in Isabey’s Studio (1798, now held in the Musée du Louvre), the painting which, depicting the greatest artists of his generation, rocketed him to fame, and the National Gallery’s own Girl at a Window (Boilly was apparently the first to use the phrase “trompe l’oeil” to describe illusionistic paintings that “deceived the eye” by creating the illusion that depicted objects exist in three dimensions and this work gives the illusion that, though it’s oil on canvas, its a print in a mount). Though born in Lille, Boilly spent six decades in Paris from 1785 onwards and was an eyewitness to events including the French Revolution of 1789, the Terror, the rise and fall of Napoleon, and the restoration of the French monarchy. The free display can be seen in Room 1 until 19th May and admission is free. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk. PICTURE: Louis-Léopold Boilly, ‘The Barrel Game’ (about 1828/oil on canvas/37.8 × 46.8 cm – The Ramsbury Manor Foundation) Photo © courtesy the Trustees.

• The ‘Renaissance Nude’ and how it inspired some of the world’s most renowned masterpieces is the subject of a new exhibition opening at the Royal Academy in Piccadilly on Sunday. The display features about 90 works in a variety of media from across Europe with artists including Lucas Cranach the Elder, Albrecht Dürer, Jan Gossaert, Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci all represented. It will look at developments that led to the nude holding a pivotal place in art between 1400 and 1530 and is organised around five main themes: ‘The Nude and Christian Art’, ‘Humanism and the Expansion of Secular Themes’, ‘Artistic Theory and Practice’, ‘Beyond the Ideal Nude’ and ‘Personalising the Nude’. Highlights include Titian’s Venus Rising from the Sea (‘Venus Anadyomene’) (c 1520), Agnolo Bronzino’s Saint Sebastian (c1533), Dürer’s engraving Adam and Eve (1504), Cranach’s A Faun and His Family with a Slain Lion (c1526) and Gossaert’s Hercules and Deianira (1517). Can be seen in the Sackler Wing of Galleries until 2nd June. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.royalacademy.org.uk.

• How women have helped shaped the British Army will be the subject of a special day featuring theatrical performances, live music and discussion at the National Army Museum in Chelsea this Saturday (2nd March). The day, which is the first of new series of Saturday events at the museum and this month is being held in recognition of Women’s History Month, will feature a theatrical performance by Dr Kate Vigurs of History’s Maid telling the story of Mother Ross who in 1693 disguised herself as a man so she could join the army and find her husband who had gone missing while at war. There’s also a panel of five women – serving soldiers, veterans and army wives – who will share their stories as well as musical performances by the Military Wives Choirs, the chance to engage with re-enactors, gallery tours and object handling opportunities all centred around women in the army. Runs from 10am to 4.30pm and is free. For more, see www.nam.ac.uk/whats-on/women-and-army.

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This Week in London – City of London’s biggest rooftop viewing platform opens; Rembrandt at the British Museum; and, Franz West at the Tate…

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• The City of London’s largest rooftop viewing space – The Garden at 120 – has opened atop the newly opened Fen Court office building in Fenchurch Street. The viewing platform – located 15 storeys above the street – offers 360 degree views of the City and features a pergola planted with fruit trees and Italian wisteria, a water feature and coffee hut. Entry is free and access is between 10am and 6.30pm weekdays until 31st March (5pm on weekends) and between 10am and 9pm from 1st April to 30th September. For more, see www.thegardenat120.com. PICTURE: diamond geezer (licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0)

• Rembrandt’s drawing and prints are the subject of a new free exhibition at the British Museum. Marking 350 years since the death of Rembrandt van Rijn in 1669, Rembrandt: thinking on paper features more than 60 of the Dutch artist’s works ranging from quick sketches to fully realised compositions with subject matter including self-portraits, landscapes and Biblical scenes. Works include Young woman sleeping (Hendrickje Stoffels?) (c1654), his printing plate for Reclining female nude (1658), the pen-and-ink Sketches of an old man and child (c1639-40), Self-portrait, bareheaded, bust in frontal view (1629), Self-portrait drawing at a window (1648), the Raising of Lazarus (c1632) and his late, large drypoints the Three Crosses (1653) and Ecce Homo (1655). Runs until 4th August in Room 90. Entry is free. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org.

• The first posthumous retrospective of the work of Franz West (1947-2012) ever staged in the UK has opened at the Tate Modern. Franz West spans the artist’s career over four decades and includes examples from his series of early abstract small sculptures like Passstücke (Adaptives), furniture work first displayed in the artist’s pivotal 1989 exhibition at the Haus Lange Museum, as well as later, large-scale installations such as Auditorium (1992) and Epiphany on Chairs (2011). The artist’s works in papier-mâché – Legitimate Sculptures – are also featured and there’s a room devoted to Redundanz (1986), a three-part ensemble accompanied by text that stresses “the difference between language and art as ways of understanding the world”. The display finishes with an array of West’s dramatic aluminum works and a collection of maquettes for the artist’s outdoor sculptures, five of which are installed in the South Landscape. Runs until 2nd June. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.tate.org.uk.

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This Week in London – Experience Colombia at Kew; Norwegian landscapes at Dulwich; and, shining a spotlight on London’s disadvantaged children…

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• The flowers of Colombia are at the heart of this year’s Kew Orchid Festival which kicked off in west London late last week. Featuring what’s promised to be “dazzling displays” inspired by Colombia’s fauna and flora – the country boasts some 4,270 species of orchids alone, the 24th annual festival includes music, food, crafts and, of course, coffee. More than 5,700 orchids – including the Flor de Mayo – feature in the display in the Princess of Wales Conservatory with visitors led through a series of zones that evoke the sights, smells and sounds of Colombia. The central display is a “carnival of animals’ which depicts a toucan in flight, a hanging sloth and swimming turtle – all made of orchids, bromeliads and other tropical plants. There’s also a cascade of colourful hanging vandas representing the “rainbow river” – the Cano Cristales, an enchanted forest with life-sized jaguars, and, a golden floating display featuring yellow orchids depicting the legend of El Dorado. Meanwhile, the glasshouse film room features Bogota-style street art murals by Colombian multidisciplinary artist, Vanessa Moncayo González. The festival runs until 10th March. Admission charges apply. For more, see www.kew.org.

• The works of Harald Sohlberg, one of the great masters of landscape painting in the history of Norwegian art, are on show at Dulwich Picture Gallery in the first ever exhibition of his works outside of Norway. Marking the 150th anniversary of the artist’s birth, Harald Sohlberg: Painting Norway boasts more than 90 works revealing the role of colour and symbolism in his art as well as his passion for Nordic landscapes. Spanning the period from 1889 when he was starting out as a 20-year-old through to 1935, the last year of his life, the works include the ‘national painting of Norway’ – Winter Night in the Mountains (1914) which took some 14 years to complete (pictured), as well as Fisherman’s Cottage (1906), Summer Night (1899), Sun Gleam (1894) and Street in Røros in Winter (1903). Runs until 2nd June. Admission charge applies. Accompanying the exhibition is a new sculptural installation in the gallery’s mausoleum by Bristol-based artist Mariele Neudecker – And Then the World Changed Colour: Breathing Yellow. For more see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk. PICTURE:  Harald Sohlberg, ‘Winter Night in the Mountains’, 1914, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway.

• A new photographic exhibition documenting the living conditions of London’s most disadvantaged children has opened at the Foundling Museum in Bloomsbury. Being run in partnership with The Childhood Trust, Bedrooms of London features images of sleeping spaces by Katie Wilson and they are shown alongside stories collected by Isabella Walker which bring into sharp focus the consequences of London’s social housing shortage. The display builds on the history of the Foundling Hospital, providing a glimpse into what life is like for the 700,000 London children currently living below the poverty line. It can be seen until 5th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk.

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This Week in London – Dior at the V&A, and, Don McCullin at the Tate…

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• The UK’s largest ever exhibition focusing on fashion designer Christian Dior and his work opens at the V&A on Saturday. Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams spans his career and legacy from 1947 – the year he hosted his first UK fashion show at the Savoy Hotel in London, to the present day. Based on an exhibition shown at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, it will also include a section on the world renowned designer’s fascination with British culture. The more than 500 objects on show – revealed in 11 sections – include more than 200 rare haute couture garments as well as accessories, photography, film, perfume and make-up, illustrations, magazines and personal possessions. Alongside gowns worn by the likes of Princess Margaret, Margot Fonteyn and Jennifer Lawrence, highlights include the iconic Bar Suit, given to the V&A by the House of Dior in 1960. Runs until 14th July in The Sainsbury Gallery. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk. PICTURE: © Adrien Dirand (V&A).

• The work of Sir Don McCullin – regarded as one of Britain’s greatest living photographers and perhaps best known as a photojournalist and war correspondent – is the subject of a new show opening at Tate Britain next Tuesday. Don McCullin features more than 250 photographs dating from the 1950s – when he started documenting the community in his native Finsbury Park – to 2017, when he visited Syria to document the destruction undertaken by the so-called Islamic State. Among the iconic photographs on show are The Guvnors, a portrait of a notorious local gang in Finsbury Park which launched his career as a photojournalist in 1958, Shell-shocked US Marine, The Battle of Hue (1968), Starving Twenty Four Year Old Mother with Child, Biafra (1968), Northern Ireland, The Bogside, Londonderry (1971), and The theatre on the Roman city of Palmyra, partly destroyed by Islamic State fighters (2017). Also on show are photographs depicting the changing social conditions in the UK, landscapes and still lifes as well as the photographer’s magazine spreads, contact sheets, McCullin’s helmet and the Nikon camera which took a bullet for him in Cambodia. Runs until 6th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.tate.org.uk.

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