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Critic's Choice: Top Five Exhibitions
By Hephzibah Anderson, Evening Standard 28.09.06
A recreation of one of Da Vinci's flying machines at the V&A exhibition, Experience, Experiment and Design
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Leonardo Da Vinci at the V&A, Holbein at Tate Britain and modern British art at the Hayward Gallery. Hephzibah Anderson selects the cream of London's art exhibition crop...
Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment, Design
Victoria & Albert Museum, SW7
Whether dreaming up flying machines or pondering the anatomy of man, Leonardo jotted down his ideas in fluid, complex images, cramming page after page with ink and brownish red chalk. While his body of surviving work is scant, these questing, life-filled sketches - at once scientific and vibrant - confirm his genius. Accompanying computer animations and large-scale models of his inventions are interesting but unnecessary; the drawings say all there is to say and more. (020 7942 2000). Until 7 Jan.
Holbein in England
Tate Britain, SW1
When Hans Holbein sailed to England to dodge religious turbulence in his native Germany, he brought the Renaissance with him. In all, he spent more than a decade here, creating extraordinary works under the patronage first of Sir Thomas More and his cronies, and later Henry VIII. Though the National Gallery has clung on to The Ambassadors, the Tate has assembled a glorious haul of highlights, loaned from collections across Europe and America. Along with portraits of the King and his many wives, you'll find vivid drawings in chalks and pen and ink, allegorical paintings, and even designs for jewellery. (020 7887 8008). Until 7 Jan.
First and Last Loves: John Betjeman and Architecture
Sir John Soane's Museum, WC2
This year marks the centenary of John Betjeman's birth, and the Soane Museum is celebrating with an exhibition focusing on the Poet Laureate's great love - architecture. A devotee of Victoriana, Betjeman fought to preserve St Pancras Station and other chunks of the nation's architectural heritage. His early career included a stint on the Architectural Review and he went on to edit the Shell Guides, which steered motorists round historic buildings, county by county. As a broadcaster, he burrowed into Britain's overlooked suburbs in his iconic film Metro-Land. Photographs and vintage film footage fill out this fond portrait of his maverick passion. (020 7405 2107). Until 30 Dec.
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 moves 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 Nov.
LAST CHANCE: 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 feet wide Composition VII, which he completed in just three days and is the largest painting he ever made. (020 7887 8888). Until 1 Oct.
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