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Critic's Choice: Top five exhibitions
By Hephzibah Anderson, Evening Standard 07.09.06
See it while the sun shines: Haymakers (1785), on show at the Tate's George Stubbs exhibition
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Tate Britain marks the 200th anniversary of Stubbs's deat with a special display, an extraordinary collection of modern art goes on show at the Hayward and Tate Modern focusses on Kandinsky's early works...
Stubbs: A Celebration
Tate Britain, SW1
This year sees the 200th anniversary of George Stubbs' death, and Tate Britain is marking the occasion with a special display of some 30 works. Though the equestrian form was his specialist subject, this very English painter also captured broader aspects of rural life, and early on made a living by touring the North, touting his talents as a portraitist. Fully capturing his range as an artist, the exhibition includes dramatic narrative scenes of haymakers and reapers, family groups, and studies of more exotic animals, as well as his famed thoroughbreds. (020 7887 8008). Until 14 January.
How to Improve the World: 60 Years of British Art
Hayward Gallery, SE1
They've certainly been among the noisiest, but have the last six decades in British Art also been among the most fertile? This fiesta of homegrown talent insists that it's so, corralling work by the likes of Francis Bacon and Chris Ofili, Henry Moore and Sarah Lucas. Culled from the Arts Council Collection, its roll call of 130 artists reads like a who's who of the nation's artistic movers and shakers, from post-war austerity to Sixties zaniness and the brash exuberance of the Eighties. Though the exhibits themselves are patchy, it still makes for instructive viewing. (0870 3800 400). Until 19 November.
Kandinsky: The Path to Abstraction
Tate Modern, SE1
His name conjures up sophisticated abstracts in primary colours, yet this modernist master started out as a figurative landscape painter. Initially trained as a lawyer, Kandinsky began painting when he turned 30. The 80 works assembled here focus on the first half of his career, describing his artistic journey and the influences that guided him, from Russian fairytales and Monet to occultism and Bauhaus design. Gradually, details such as hilltop castles are reduced to mere lines, and patches of emotive colour spread. Highlights include the 10-ft wide Composition VII, which he completed in just three days and is the largest painting he ever made. (020 7887 8888). Until 1 October.
LAST CHANCE: Howard Hodgkin
Tate Britain, SW1
Hard to think it of a Turner Prize winner, knight, and national treasure like Howard Hodgkin, but this is his first career-spanning exhibition. A splashy, summery affair, it gazes fondly back to the 1950s when the London-born painter was all but unknown. In the 1960s, he dwelt on intimate portraits of pals and interiors. In the 1970s, he added a more sculptural aspect to his work, trading canvases for wooden panels. He's also travelled, and among the 60 works on show are glimpses of Venice, India and Egypt. Though the influences of Matisse and others are palpable, Hodgkin has steered clear of passing artistic fads, and it's a gutsy independence of vision that characterises his vibrant output. (020 7887 8008). Until 10 September.
LAST CHANCE: From Jean Arp to Louise Bourgeois: Modern Artists at Sevres
Wallace Collection, W1
Aside from a delightful tearoom and an abundance of calm, one of the Wallace's main attractions is its stash of 18thcentury Sevres porcelain, dainty dinner sets and vases whose ambitious decorations echo works by the like of Raphael. Sevres' story doesn't end there, however. The French porcelain factory is still in production today, and over the past 40 years, it has commissioned new designs from a string of contemporary artists, including Jean Arp, Louise Bourgeois and the American pop artist, Jim Dine. Quirky and unexpected, you'll find 40 examples on show here. (020 7563 9500). Until 10 September.
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Reader views (2)
How England used to be! My favourite Stubbs paintings are ones of family groups; they are really rather touching in their naivity. When I look at these paintings I think about how much I miss the countryside now I live in London, and how England used to be a gentle, more civilised country. You must see these paintings before the exhibition closes in January.
- Francine, Barbican
I thought the Kandinsky exhibition was overrated. The exhibition was divided up into rooms, with each room representing a different period of his work. What made Kandinsky brilliant was that his art looked so effortlessly thrown together. I didn't want to see sketches he had done before creating a painting. This ruined it for me. Composition VII was the only highlight, and I sat in front of it for a while wondering why the rest of the show couldnt be as interesting.
- Bruce, Canning Town
