Culture

Culture

Siena: The Rise of Painting 1300-1350

When drama was introduced into art

If you’re a fan of great 14th century Italian art – and who isn’t? – you might want to consider camping outside the National Gallery for one of the most eagerly anticipated cultural events of the year.

Marking the 200th anniversary of the National Gallery and paying tribute to the earliest pictures in its collection, Siena: The Rise of Painting 1300 – 1350 is a seriously impressive exhibition. It reunites many of the greatest works in all of Western painting – some for the first time in centuries. A number of the most groundbreaking pictures in the history of art, many of which formed part of larger ensembles before being dismantled, are being brought back together at this rarely- staged exhibition.

These highly prized, enormously influential and innovative paintings, many in gold ground, will be on display at this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition of Sienese art from the first half of the 14th century. The exhibition of approximately one hundred works illustrates how the status of painting developed during that period and underscores the central role that Sienese artists took in that story. For the first…

Culture

Arpita Singh: Remembering

Memory, Womanhood, and the Art of Resilience

Remembering is the first institutional solo exhibition of her work in Arpita Singh’s six-decades-long career. Showing at Serpentine North in London, the exhibition features art curated in partnership with 87-year-old Singh, who has been long hailed as one of the most consequential artists to break through in the wake of Indian Independence. Singh was born […]

Culture

Mid-Century Modern Designers

Style and aesthetics that transcended generations

Eighty years after it was first identified as a movement, our fascination with mid-century modern design (MCM) is stronger than ever before. Phaidon’s Mid-Century Modern Designers brings together the philosophy of the movement that made design a real profession, as well as the work of its most significant representatives. MCM prioritised function over ornament, emphasising […]

Culture

The House of Wonders

Audemars Pigues launches its 150th anniversary tour at its museum in Switzerland

If you harbour enough interest in horology to be absorbing these words but have never made the pilgrimage to the Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet in Switzerland’s Vallée de Joux, now is the time to hike it to the top of your bucket list. To mark the occasion of its 150^thanniversary, the brand is launching a new exhibition titled The House of Wonders, which will seriously enhance your visit.

For five years now, the story of how a manufacture founded by childhood friends Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet became one of horology’s Holy Trinity (alongside Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin), and the most decorated by the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, has been brought to life by tours of this sublime, spiral-shaped architectural marvel – which nestles next to the brand’s original workshop in Le Brassus, and was designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).

Outside of the Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet in Switzerland.

The spiral-shaped Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet reminiscing of a watch spring

The traditional tour involves a clockwise jaunt around the building, as if following the contours of a giant watch spring. At the centre of the spiral sits the Universelle: Audemars Piguet’s most complicated watch (think split-second chronograph, jumping seconds and deadbeat seconds, grande strike, minute repeater, alarm, perpetual calendar), which was made in 1899. As well as examining, close-up, tantalising pieces from the manufacture’s history, visitors can also see artisans engaged in satin brushing, circular graining and other artisanal activities associated with the brand.

The House of Wonders exhibition comprises seven stages in which visitors can learn in detail about not only the greatest watches in the history of Audemars Piguet, but also the men and women who made them possible.

The House of Wonders – an exhibition, running until 2026 – will further enrich that narrative over seven stages, embellishing the story with even richer detail about the men and women who have literally made Audemars Piguet tick over the years. There will also be masterclasses for children and adults, which enable participants to try their hand at movement and case assemblage as well as the decorative techniques which grace the likes of the Royal Oak, and an installation inspired by astronomy as well as horlogerie. Adapted versions of The House of Wonders will visit Shanghai in May and Dubai in November.

Also part of the 150^th Anniversary celebrations are new novelties including exciting new Grande Sonnerie iterations of Code 11.59, new ceramic variants of the Royal Oak Offshore, and – naturally – a special edition Royal Oak: Gerald Genta’s stainless steel masterpiece, as if horolophiles need informing, which laid waste to the tenets of watch design when it was introduced in 1972.

Author: Nick Scott

Culture

Greubel Forsey: The Art of Invention

A homage to the past and future of artisanal watchmaking

Beautifully written and sumptuously illustrated, Greubel Forsey: The Art of Invention is a book not only for fans of the brand, but for anyone who ever felt any curiosity about watches. In early 1992, Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey met at Renaud et Papi, a hothouse of new watchmaking ideas in Le Locle, amidst the beauty of the Swiss Jura Mountains. They teamed up and launched the firm in 2004. From the very beginning, Greubel Forsey distinguished itself for many inventions that have advanced watchmaking expertise in this century.

Refusing to accept that everything had already been done in horology – and going against the grain – from their first watch – the 30-degree Double Tourbillon – Greubel Forsey focused on invention and innovation, testing the limits of mechanical advances in their Experimental Watch Technology (EWT) workshop, as well as bringing back the kind of hand finishing not seen since the 18th- and 19th-century.

Founder Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey in the early ages of their horological adventure.

The book was commissioned to celebrate their two decades of pioneering excellence. The Art of Invention has been authored by renowned expert Michael Clerizo, with co-founders Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey’s cooperation, along with other prominent individuals involved in the firm’s development. The volume offers an in-depth exploration of the philosophy and artistry behind each of the 30 new calibres developed since its foundation.

Reading the book, it becomes apparent that Greubel Forsey, like most research-orientated companies (even those in Silicon Valley), is not a firm or a brand, but an adventure, one that started not in a garage, but in a reconditioned stable block in La Chaux-de-Fonds, a rural area in Switzerland known for its appeal to watchmakers. Success was such that the firm expanded rapidly, and the book covers the commissioning of a purpose-built atelier which incorporated an 18th-century farmhouse, against the bucolic backdrop of the Jura Mountains.

The attention to detail in the book mirrors that found in Greubel Forsey watches. The cover sleeve is decorated in the same manner as plates within the firm’s creations.

Greubel Forsey: The Art of Invention is divided up into a broadly chronological narrative by key events and the timepieces that helped develop the company. “Timepieces 1” is the section that explores the early days, the watches that were first created, up to the building of their current dedicated workshop. The next set of watches in “Timepieces 2” records the growth of the firm up to their winning entry into the 2011 Concours International de Chronométrie. The competition was a watershed moment as it vindicated the use of the young company’s approach to chronometric improvements and the accuracy of the 30-degree Double Tourbillon (their first fundamental invention). Finally, in “Timepieces 3” the book covers the development of the sport line, the Art pieces, as well as the future in terms of the nano mechanics that the firm is now working on.

It clearly comes across from the narrative and the detailed images of the watches the care and commitment that Greubel Forsey imparts to the creation of complex timepieces, such as the Grande Sonnerie or the Hand Made 1, which came to life through countless hours of meticulous craftsmanship, blending modern innovations with artisanal skills. The detailed macro images of the movements allow the reader to view the intricacies and traditional finishing techniques in close detail.

Detailed image of the movement to 30-degree Double Tourbillon showing different finishing to the components within the watch.

The book is far more than a photo catalogue. Through ad-hoc interviews, Clerizo’s story telling captures the dedication of the firm’s artisans and engineers, highlighting their commitment to hand-finishing and the inventive concepts emerging from the EWT research platform. This is a homage not only to the passion at the heart of all who work at Greubel Forsey but also to the founders’ knowledge and appreciation of horological history that manifests itself into their creations.

Even if you have only a passing interest in watches, The Art of Invention is a must-read. You will learn not just about Greubel Forsey, but also what it means to reinvent traditional watchmaking in the 21st century, through the thoughts and practices of two of this century’s most inventive watchmakers.

Greubel Forsey: The Art of Invention by Michael Clerizo is available through Thames & Hudson and Amazon.

Author: Dr Andrew Hildreth

Learn more about the unique world of Greubel Forsey through some of its watches, such as the ground-breaking Hand Made 1, Hand Made 2, and Nano Foudroyante EWT Chronograph.

Culture

Anselm Kiefer: Early Works

The struggle to overcome the past

The philosopher George Santayana famously wrote that that, “Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it”. Anselm Kiefer: Early Works is a new landmark exhibition of the work of the German painter and sculptor, which sketches a portrait of an artist determined not to forget the past.

Marking his 80^th birthday, the exhibition, Anselm Kiefer: Early Works, at the Ashmolean Museum, traces Kiefer’s constant dialogue with history, conflict, mythology and the human condition. In his work – which is renowned for monumental paintings and installations – the artist scrutinises the contradictions of German identity, the burden of history and the wounds inflicted by war.

Engaged in a relentless, confrontational debate with his country’s Nazi past, Kiefer’s oeuvre can be interpreted as a prime example of the uniquely German concept of Vergangenheitsbewältigung (the struggle to overcome the past.) The Leitmotiv in the work of this titanic figure in post-war German art includes sunflowers and shattered landscapes, which have a profound resonance in his nation’s history.

Kiefer’s techniques and materials – which include straw, lead, concrete, fire and ash – are also highly significant, as his work ceaselessly evolves through its interaction with nature.

Left, Anselm Kiefer, Untitled, 1974. Courtesy of the Hall Art Foundation. © Anselm Kiefer / Adam Reich. Right, Anselm Kiefer, The Adige, early 1970s. Courtesy of the Hall Art Foundation. © Anselm Kiefer / Mark-Woods.com.

The exhibition features 45 early works produced during the period 1969-82, including paintings, watercolours, books, photos and woodcuts scarcely seen in the UK before. Look out for such compelling works as Die Etsch (The Adige), an early-1970s piece created with watercolour, gouache and ink on paper.

Anselm Kiefer: Early Works also showcases three new paintings from the artist’s own collection, selected by him especially for the Ashmolean exhibition, which has been arranged in partnership with the Hall Art Foundation.

According to Dr Xa Sturgis CBE, Director of the Ashmolean: “Throughout his career, Anselm Kiefer has pushed the boundaries of what is possible in art, challenging what art can and should do in response to the world around us. This exhibition takes us back to Kiefer’s origins and aims to offer a new understanding of his long and distinguished career.”

This major exhibition reminds us that great art is not just there to comfort; it is also there to challenge.

Author: James Rampton

Anselm Kiefer: Early Works
14 February – 15 June 2025
The Ashmolean Museum
University of Oxford. Beaumont St, Oxford, OX1 2PH
More information and tickets, HERE.

Lead image: Till Brönner, Anselm Kiefer, 2023 (image cropped from the original due to formatting restrictions).

Culture

The Oskar Reinhart Collection

Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces at The Courtauld Gallery

The Courtauld Gallery, located in the historic Somerset House, houses one of the UK’s greatest art collections. It is particularly known for its Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, as well as being at the forefront of the study of art and will now showcase a rich array of highlights from the Oskar Reinhart Collection for the first time outside of Switzerland.

Oskar Reinhart (1885-1965) the son of a dynasty of traders fulfilled his passion aged thirty-nine to become a full-time art collector. At his villa, Am Römerholz, in Winterthur, just outside of Zurich, his collection would become one of the most remarkable of its kind featuring over 200 paintings ranging from superlative Old Masters to an exceptional group of Impressionist paintings. The collection was assembled in the first half of the 20^th century and features some of the greatest Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, as well as major paintings by artists who preceded the Impressionists.

From Goya To Impressionism showcases twenty-five works presented across two rooms. The exhibition opens with a selection of major paintings by artists such as Francisco Goya, Still Life with Three Salmon Steaks, c. 1808-12and Gericault’s moving A Man Suffering from Delusions of Military Rank, c. 1819-22. the heart of the show is an exceptional display of some of the greatest paintings of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism from artists such as: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Lily and Greenhouse Plants, 1864; Edouard Manet, Au café, 1878; Paul Cezanne, Still Life with Faience Jug and Fruit, c. 1900; Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Clown Cha-U-Kao, 1895; and Claude Monet, The Break up of Ice on the Seine, 1880-81. A highlight of the exhibition is the pair of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, A Ward in the Hospital at Arles, 1889 and The Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles, 1889, illustrating where he had been a patient following an earlier mental breakdown and the mutilation of his ear. This is the first time the two paintings are presented together.

From the left: Vincent van Gogh, The Courtyard of the Hospital in Arles, 1889 and
Vincent van Gogh, A Ward in the Hospital at Arles, 1889. Images: The Swiss Confederation, Federal Office of Culture, Oskar Reinhart Collection “Am Römerholz”, Winterthur.

The much talked about Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto, 1901 by Pablo Picasso during his early Blue Period depicts the eponymously named sculptor, a friend of the young Picasso at the time, is also said to reveal another figure beneath the surface providing further insight into the process of the painter’s work during this pivotal time in his life. A stand-out for me is Gustave Courbet’s, The Wave, 1870. Painted at Etretat on the Normandy coast, his ability to convey the vast expanse of stormy sky and sea with waves breaking on the shore is both moody signifying violence and destruction, but also creation and renewal.

Reinhart was a direct contemporary of Samuel Courtauld, founder of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and they shared similar tastes in artists. The Reinhart Collection’s close affinities with that of the Courtauld Gallery’s permanent collection, therefore, provides the perfect context to stage this unique collaboration, unprecedented cultural exchange, and remarkable exhibition, bringing together two prestigious collections for a unique celebration of European art. Not to be missed.

Goya to Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection
14th February -26th May 2025
The Courtauld Gallery
Somerset House, Strand
London WC2R ORN
www.courtauld.ac.uk

Author: Linda Hunting

Leading image: Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Faience Jug and Fruit, c. 1900. Image: The Swiss Confederation, Federal Office of Culture, Oskar Reinhart Collection “Am Römerholz”, Winterthur.

Culture

American Photography

Shaping a country through the viewfinder

The art world’s focus this February will be trained on the Rijksmuseum, which is mounting the first ever major exhibition of American photography in Europe. Incorporating more than 200 works across three centuries, American Photography zooms in on the fascinating history of photography in the US. The show at the Rijksmuseum recounts the story of the medium through almost 200,000 vintage prints, photo albums and books.

Over the last 10 years, the Museum has assembled an especially impressive collection of American photography. Highlights from the Rijksmuseum’s collection, on view for the first time, are exhibited beside loans from more than 30 collections in the US, Netherlands and other European countries.

American Photography: Ming Smith, America Seen Through Stars and Stripes, New York City, 1976

Ming Smith, America Seen Through Stars and Stripes, New York City, 1976. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (VA).

The show presents apicture of the country through the lens of US photographers. Mirroring the nation in all its richness and complexity, American Photography zeroes in on such subjects as the American Dream, landscapes and portraiture. It presents how photographers have captured the seismic events that have shaped their country.

A key theme of the exhibition is photography’s development as an art form. It traces its evolution from 19th-century daguerreotypes of frost flowers on a window to the work of such great American photographers as Irving Penn, Sally Mann, Paul Strand, Diane Arbus, Charles Sheeler, Dawoud Bey, Sarah Sense, Robert Frank, Lisette Model, Nan Goldin, Richard Avedon, James Van Der Zee and Andy Warhol.

American Photography: Anonymous, Family Standing Beside Their Car, c. 1957–1960

American Photography: Irene Poon, Virginia, 1965.

Left: Anonymous, Family Standing Beside Their Car, c. 1957–1960. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Right: Irene Poon, Virginia, 1965. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Gift of Charles Wong. © Irene Poon Photography Archive, Stanford University Libraries.

Images from these iconic artists are on display next to revelatory pictures by unknown and anonymous photographers.

Another significant strand of American Photography is a demonstration of how photography has progressed to the point where it now pervades every element of our lives. It is ubiquitous in art, news, advertising, family portraits, postcards, record covers and more.

Penn once said: “A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it.”

This captivating exhibition is likely to have just this effect on everyone who visits it.

American Photography
Rijksmuseum
Museumstraat 1, 1071 XX Amsterdam
7th February – 9^th June 2025
More information and tickets, HERE.

Author: James Rampton

Lead image: Amanda López, Homegirls, San Francisco, 2008. National Museum for American History, Washington DC. © Amanda López (image cropped due to formatting restrictions).

Culture

Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels

Passion and support for choreographic arts

The artistry will be glittering at the second edition of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival, which runs in London from 12th March to 8th April at the Royal Ballet and Opera, Sadler’s Wells, South Bank Centre and Tate Modern.

Following on from the hugely successful inaugural event in 2022, this iteration of the festival created in partnership with the world-famous French luxury jewellery company features 15 dazzling shows from a whole gamut of different cultures.

Taking place at iconic venues in our capital city, Dance Reflections showcases artists who, in the words of Catherine Renier, President & CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, have specialised in, “Collaborations with prestigious partners, contributions to major choreographic events, support for emerging and touring artists… These various commitments, in keeping with the values of creation, transmission and education dear to the Maison, all meet the same objective of celebrating contemporary choreographic art.”

“The second Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival in London is an opportunity to explore new aspects of our heritage.”
– Catherine Reiner

Including repertory works, dance workshops, artist forums and awareness-raising initiatives, all emphasising the connections between dance heritage and modern choreography, the festival highlights imaginative ways in which dancers have evolved exciting new forms of artistic expression.

Age of Content by (LA)HORDE with the Ballet National de Marseille, for example, borrows the language of action films, musicals and videogames.

Meanwhile Sakinan göze çöp batar by Christian Rizzo draws on traditional Turkish dance, and Shu Lea Cheang and Dondon Hounwn’s Hagay Dreaming is a performance piece melding tribal legends from Taiwan’s indigenous Truku culture with science fiction.

For her part, in We wear our wheels with pride…, Robyn Orlin seeks inspiration from the Zulu rickshaws of her childhood.

BIPED by Merce Cunningham at Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpel

The ground-breaking BIPED by Merce Cunningham will be performed at Sadler’s Well on the 19^th-20^th of March by the Lyon Opera Ballet. This ground-breaking ballet from 1999 was the first in which virtual dancing figures shared the stage with real dancers.

The festival culminates in a rich tribute to the great Georgian-American choreographer George Balanchine. When he arrived in the US in the early 1930s, he transformed modern ballet. Utilising kinetic pace and athleticism, he reinvented the American neoclassical style. His profound influence will be honoured with three seminal pieces from his repertoire: Serenade (1935), Prodigal Son (1929) and Symphony in C (1947).

“The 2025 edition of Dance Reflections highlights the links between choreographic heritage and contemporary creation.”
– Serge Laurent

Serge Laurent, Van Cleef & Arpels’ Director of Dance and Culture programs, says of the Balanchine tribute: “Weaving together the modern and the contemporary, this historical perspective offers an opportunity to better understand today’s choreographic art and nurture that of tomorrow.”

More information about the 2025 London edition of Dance Reflections HERE.

Author: James Rampton

Leading image: Hagay Dreaming, by Shu Lea Cheang and Dondon Hounwn, which will be performed at Tate Modern 13^th-15^th March 2025.

Culture

Hélène de Beauvoir: The Woman Destroyed

A tribute to the work of one of the fundamental figures of French Modernist painting

After three years in the making, the Amar Gallery is bringing to London Hélène de Beauvoir: The Woman Destroyed, a unique exhibition featuring paintings and works on paper from the 1950s to 1980s by this French artist, crucial to the feminist movement.

Often overshadowed in the past by her older sister, Simone – the groundbreaking feminist writer and partner of Nobel Prize-winning Jean-Paul Sartre – de Beauvoir is now a highly regarded figure in her own right.

At the painter’s first solo exhibition in Paris in 1936 at the Galerie Jacques Bonjean, her work acquired a very distinguished admirer indeed: Pablo Picasso. He was drawn to the exquisite use of colour and shape in Hélène’s compelling paintings. Picasso instantly saw that her swirling brushstrokes possessed an undeniably mesmeric quality.

Hélène de Beauvoir, Castle in Alsace, c. 1960s

Hélène de Beauvoir, Nude with Horse (acrylic on canvas, 1965)

From the left, Hélène de Beauvoir, Castle in Alsace (oil on canvas, circa 1960s); Nude with Horse (acrylic on canvas, 1965); and Visage dans un Miroir Brisé (oil on canvas, 1969). Images © APP, Ute Achhammer.

Now we can see for ourselves what so appealed to Picasso at The Woman Destroyed, de Beauvoir’s first solo exhibition in London, at the Amar Gallery.

One of the highlights of the exhibition is an extremely rare piece by de Beauvoir, who died in 2001 aged 91. In 1967, Gallimard published just 143 first-edition copies of Simone’s pioneering feminist book, The Woman Destroyed. It was illustrated with sixteen haunting etchings by her sister.

Gallimard refused to publish any more first-edition copies of The Woman Destroyed as they were feared that printing such “feminine” literature would be construed as an attempt to overthrow the social order. For that reason, first editions of this book are exceptionally hard to come by, but a copy will be on display at the Amar Gallery. A seminal work in feminist ideology, the book was the first and only time the de Beauvoir sisters worked together. It is a real coup for the gallery to have it on view.

Illustration by Hélène de Beauvoir in The Woman Destroyed, page 53.

Etching by Hélène de Beauvoir in pages 163 of The Woman Destroyed.

From the left: etchings by Hélène de Beauvoir in pages 53 and 163 of The Woman Destroyed. Images © APP, Ute Achhammer.

In another coup, Claudine Monteil, the best friend of both siblings, and author of The Beauvoir Sisters, will be giving a presentation at the gallery on 25th January at 2pm.

The Woman Destroyed is a most welcome – and long overdue – celebration of the beauty of de Beauvoir.

Hélène de Beauvoir: The Woman Destroyed
Amar Gallery, Kirkman House, 12-14 Whitfield Street, London, W1T 2RF
24th January – 2nd March, 2025
More information and tickets, HERE.

Author: James Rampton

Culture

Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed

The artistic encounter of two masters

Despite being separated in time by nearly 200 years, Sigmar Polke felt a deep admiration for Francisco de Goya. The show at Museo del Prado, Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed, explores how the Spanish master influenced the work of the German painter, after he saw for the first time Goya’s Time and the Old Women in 1982.

From painting to photography, film installations and prints, Polke’s work revolutionised the international art scene. His use of innovative materials and techniques combined with his often-confrontational attitude towards political and social conventions labelled him as an anti-establishment artist.

Francisco de Goya, in his own way, was also an anti-establishment artist. He lived during the turbulent times of the Napoleonic invasion, a time when the Spanish monarchs were useless and the Church abused its power to criminal levels. His disgust was reflected in his art, which he used as a weapon to denounce the horrors and injustices he witnessed. At the same time, he could be humorous and acerbic, very much like Sigmar Polke.

Sigmar Polke taking a photograph of the painting Time and the Old Women, by Goya, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, 1982.
Photograph © Britta Zoellne.

In Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed, visitors will discover motifs, techniques and elements of composition that Polke took from Goya. The Museo del Prado identifies Goya’s influence on Polke in three different ways: first, the man himself and the socio-political surrounding context; second: the objectual and anthropomorphic iconography found both in Time and the Old Women (1810-12) and in the X-radiographs that Polke took of the painting in 1982; and third, the specific execution of the picture.

The show examines in detail Polke’s exploration of the painting. His X-radiographs revealed an earlier composition featuring a Resurrection of Christ ascending to heaven, surrounded by souls. This composition instigated an interest in the artist for the magical and the paranormal, which is reflected in many of his works, such as Untitled (Triptych), where ghostly faces peep out between layers of resin, amidst an intentionally ambiguous composition. The figure of Saturn, who appears behind the two old women holding a broom in a menacing manner, together with The Colossus (attributed to Goya, c. 1808) inspired the theme of gigantic figures that we see in works by Polke such as Black Man (1982), Large Man (1986-92) and the gigantic figures developed in 1997, which most powerful execution is possibly Fear (Black Man).

From the left, The Colossus (attributed to Goya, 1808), Polke’s Large Man (1986-92), Black Man (1982) and Fear (Black Man) (1997).
Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed. Photo ©Museo Nacional del Prado.

Curated by Gloria Moure, Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed is an intriguing exhibition – the first solo of the artist in Madrid – that will certainly take visitors into a journey of discovery of the German artist’s work, often described as a dialogue between the viewer and the artist. In doing so, visitors may find themselves invited to raise their own questions about aesthetic, political, and social conventions. The synergies with Goya’s paintings provide a further invitation to reflection, since the work of the Spanish master, back in the early 19th century, seem to indicate that he felt the Age of Enlightenment would end up in socio-political chaos and disorder.

Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed
Until 16^th March 2025
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.
Free access
More information,HERE.

Author: Julia Pasarón

If you liked this article, you may enjoy reading The Living End: Painting and other Technologies, 1970–2020.

Leading image: image of the exhibition galleries Sigmar Polker. Affinities Revealed featuring Polke’s Ashes over Ashes (1992) and Goya’s Time and the Old Women. Photo ©Museo Nacional del Prado.

Culture

Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami

The Master of Japanese Pop-Art is back in London

It has been six years since we last had the chance to admire Murakami’s work in London. Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami presents an exceptional opportunity to explore the artist’s interpretation of Japanese historical paintings.

Murakami’s work plays with blending commercial imagery, manga and of traditional art. In fact, he himself has several times bridged the gap between commercial work and art through his collaborations with luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Hublot, among others.

Trained in traditional Japanese art, Murakami brings together the flat compositions of classic Japanese painting and anime and manga aesthetics. His technique, coined as “super flat” emphasises the use of flat planes of colour, derived from the two-dimensional imagery from Japanese art that we see in manga and anime. At the same time, Murakami uses this “flatness” to reflect the lack of distinction in Japanese society and the otaku subculture. Otaku is the term used to describe obsessive fandom related to Japanese popular culture (anime, manga, video games…).

While participating in the PS1 International Studio Program in New York City in 1994, Murakami became heavily influenced by the monumental work of Anselm Kiefer and Jeff Koons’s simulationism, down to the practice of using a whole team to help him produce his large canvases. In his effort to show “a Kyoto that is not that beautiful”, Murakami combines elements of high art and mass culture, mirroring the work of Koons. He is also trying to emulate Willem de Kooning’s freedom of expression as Alzheimer’s progresses.

“In the process of preparation for these complex paintings, I try to go in my mind into the emptiness, like Kooning.”
– Takashi Murakami

The latest of Murakami’s influence is Disney’s show, Shogun. At the opening of this exhibition at the Gagosian gallery in London, the artist admitted being fascinated by this Western chronicle of the 17^th century in Japan (dawn of the Edo period), when the country was immersed in internal conflict.

Murakami felt particularly inspired by seppuku (or hara-kiri), an honourable death conducted by ritualistic suicide in Japan, as the antagonism of dementia, which took his father’s life. Before killing themselves, the samurai would read a poem of their own creation. Murakami sees his epic paintings as his poem, “It got me thinking that if I could make my own poem before I die, maybe my soul will be in peace.” In his canvases, like in Shogun, beauty and death go hand in hand, as a way to process the trauma that is inherent to contemporary otaku subculture.

Detail of Rakuchu ̄-Rakugai-zu Byo ̄bu: Iwasa Matabei RIP (2023–24), where one can observe Murakami’s singular iconography and characters among the traditional figures and motifs from the original 17th-century artwork.

With this motivation in mind, Murakami recreated these historic paintings, populating them with his iconic characters and motifs. From gold-leaf clouds embossed with skulls (a reference to the Toribeno burial ground) and smiling flowers to different versions of Mr D.O.B, some of which are far from its original kawaii (cute) aesthetic. A prime example is Rakuchu ̄-Rakugai-zu Byo ̄bu: Iwasa Matabei RIP (2023–24), modelled on the 17th-century depiction of Kyoto by Iwasa Matabei’s Rakuchu ̄- Rakugai-zu Byo ̄bu (Scenes in and around Kyoto) (Funaki Version).

Other works in the show, such as Murakami’s paintings of the mythical guardians of Kyoto (the Four Symbols, one per cardinal point), are the result of a complex process that involves the combination of the artist’s own sketches with AI-generated images as well as fragments of his earlier works in a process that parallels the inventiveness of earlier artists in depicting unfamiliar or imaginary creatures.

Black Tortoise and Arhats, 2024 (left) and Flaming Vermillion Bird, 2024 (right) represent the North and South of Kyoto. Both works acrylic on canvas mounted on aluminium frame. © 2024 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co. Ltd. Photo: Kei Okano. Courtesy Gagosian.

Among the other works in the exhibition is Murakami’s version of a set of Daigo Hanami-zu screens that depicts a cherry blossom viewing event on the grounds of Kyoto’s Daigoji Temple.

To me, Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami represents everything that Takashi Murakami stands for in art, condensed into an 18-painting show. Given Murakami’s popularity among international art collectors, it is likely that many of these pieces will end up in private collections, so don’t miss the opportunity to see this unique exhibition at Gagosian Gallery London.

Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami
Gagosian, London
20 Grosvenor Hill, London W1K 3QD
10th December, 2024 – 8th March, 2025

Opening image: Takashi Murakami, Rakuchu ̄-Rakugai-zu Byo ̄bu: Iwasa Matabei RIP (2023–24). Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas mounted on wood panel, in 2 parts. © 2023-2024 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Photo: Kei Okano. Courtesy Gagosian.

Other unmissable exhibitions in London at the moment: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c. 1504, and Versailles: Science and Splendour.

Author: Julia Pasarón

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“In the process of preparation for these complex paintings, I try to go in my mind into the emptiness, like Kooning.”

– Takashi Murakami

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