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Critic's choice: Top 5 exhibitions
By Hephzibah Anderson, Evening Standard 19.04.07
In the Monet: View of Rouen (1872) at the Royal Academy's Pastels and Drawings exhibition
Look here too
The Royal Academy's latest exhibition reveals Monet was a thoughtful draughtsman, East meets West in A Slap in the Face! and it's your last chance to see Tate Modern's Sliding Doors...
The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings
Royal Academy, W1
Claude Monet was furtive about the fact that his paintings weren't quite the spontaneous creations you'd expect from the founder of Impressionism. Yet as this surprising exhibition reveals, he was a thoughtful draughtsman. The works span his early landscape studies, his luminous Views of the Thames series, and the drawings he made of his own paintings for reproduction in journals. (020 7300 8000). Until 10 June.
A Slap in the Face! Futurists in Russia
Estorick Collection, N1
East meets West in this sparky look at the relationship between Italian and Russian Futurism. Futurism's Italian founder, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, envisioned personally leading the movement across Europe. The Russian Futurists were a fiercely independent lot, however, and differed from the Italian Futurists in several key respects. Though fascinated by all things urban and mechanical, they retained a keen interest in folk art and rural themes, resulting in such seemingly contradictory concepts as the Futurist peasant. (020 7704 9522). Until 10 June.
Surreal Things
V&A, SW7
Visual art "-isms" often spill over into other art forms, but surrealism has had a unique impact on design. This sleekly produced exhibition traces its influence on fashion and architecture, advertising and interior design, and though you'll find paintings by Magritte, Max Ernst and Salvador Dali, it's the objects themselves that are its focus. Almost 300 in all, they take their cues from dreamscapes and subconscious fears and desires. (020 7942 2000). Until 22 July.
Camouflage
Imperial War Museum, SE1
The story of camouflage begins in 1915, when the French army set up the "camoufleurs" unit: mainly artists, who deployed Cubist techniques to make themselves and their equipment less visible. Our own Army also used artists, including marine painter Norman Wilkinson, whose "Dazzle" designs aimed to confuse German U-boat commanders. It's all told in this supersize exhibition, which goes on to chart camouflage's journey from the battlefield to the catwalk, via art, music and film. (020 7416 5320). Until 18 November.
LAST CHANCE: Sliding Doors: Recent Contemporary Acquisitions
Tate Modern, SE1
This new display groups together some of the Tate's latest acquisitions. Audience-participation is a unifying element, and other exhibits include Angela Bulloch's West Ham - Sculpture for Football Song, whose wall-mounted orange beacons flash on and off in response to sound. Elsewhere, Trisha Donnelly's The Redwood and the Raven, a series of photographs of a dancer, is altered weekly, with the aim of transforming the gallery into an everevolving space. Until 22 April.
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