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Critic's choice: Top 5 exhibitions
By Hephzibah Anderson, Evening Standard 04.01.07
Boxer 1930, one of Max Penson's idealised images of Soviet Uzbekistan
Look here too
A collection of photographs by former Pravda Vostoka photographer Max Penson go on display and the Sliding Door exhibition groups together some of the Tate Modern's latest acquisitions...
Max Penson and the Soviet Modernisation of Uzbekistan 1920-1930s
Gilbert Collection, Somerset House, WC2
For almost a quarter of a century, Max Penson worked as a photographer for the Soviet newspaper, Pravda Vostoka. By the time anti-Semitism and accusations of Western influences forced him to quit in 1948, he'd amassed an archive of some 30,000 images. More than 200 are on show here, fusing a Modernist aesthetic with a socialist agenda to document sweeping social change. Women take up tractor driving, men join literacy classes, and vast construction projects are begun. Among these idealised images of Soviet life are more personal compositions, including Uzbek Madonna, Penson's portrait of a nursing mother. (0020 7845 4600). Until 24 February.
Sliding Doors: Recent Contemporary Acquisitions
Tate Modern, SE1
This restless new display groups together some of the Tate's latest acquisitions. It borrows its title from Carsten Holler's 2003 work, whose five electronic sliding doors create the impression of an endless mirrored corridor through which gallerygoers may wander. Audience-participation is a unifying element; Angela Bulloch's wall-mounted orange beacons flash on and off in response to sound while Trisha Donnelly's The Redwood and the Raven, a series of photographs of a dancer, is altered weekly, so as to transform the gallery into an ever-evolving space. (020 7887 8888). Until 22 April.
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 of which the Tate has assembled a glorious haul. 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). LAST CHANCE: Until 7 January.
At Home in Renaissance Italy
Victoria & Albert, SW7
This illuminating exhibition peers beyond Italy's Renaissance edifices to suggest what the period might have meant to contemporaries wealthy enough to make the most of it. Focusing on the main rooms of a reasonably affluent home, it brings together works by the likes Titian and Botticelli, together with an extraordinary selection of artefacts beautiful and sometimes bizarre. A through-the-keyhole glimpse of Renaissance life. (020 7942 2000). LAST CHANCE: Until 7 January.
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 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).
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