Fluid bodies, decadent fables and a rescue for Gormley’s iron army – the week in art

  • 6/18/2021
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Exhibition of the week Christina Quarles: In Likeness Paintings of furiously entwined, fragmentary, fluid bodies by this hot American artist. South London Gallery until 29 August Also showing Helen Frankenthaler: Imagining Landscapes Sensual yet authoritative masterpieces by one of the greatest abstract expressionist painters, beautifully presented in a show that’s like a trip to New York. Read my five-star review here. Gagosian Grosvenor Hill, London, until 27 August Gustave Moreau: The Fables Illustrations of animal fables by this marvellously decadent French genius, who is overdue a big exhibition in Britain. Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury until 17 October Barbara Hepworth: Art and Life A survey of the pioneering Yorkshire-born sculptor who sought a secret music in nature. The Hepworth, Wakefield until 27 February Yorkshire Sculpture International As the birthplace of Hepworth and Henry Moore, Yorkshire can claim a special relationship with sculpture, and makes that claim here with shows across several spaces by local and global talents, including Akeelah Bertram and Ashley Holmes. At various venues in Yorkshire until September Image of the week Antony Gormley says he hopes his “iron men” on a Merseyside beach will still exist in at least 1,000 years as “industrial fossils”, after helping to excavate 10 that had been subsumed by Irish Sea mud. One hundred cast-iron statues modelled on Gormley were installed in 2005 at Crosby beach, spread across 3km of the foreshore and stretching almost 1km out to sea. The installation, Another Place, was only supposed to last 16 months in Crosby, and the men were almost sent packing early amid safety complaints, including cases of the coastguard being called out to “rescue” them. Sixteen years on, the artwork has become a tourist attraction and a beloved local institution. Read the full story here. What we learned Yinka Shonibare argued that ‘cultural appropriation is two-way’ Work begins soon to swathe the Arc de Triomphe in blue fabric a year after artist Christo’s death Two artefacts taken by British colonial forces in Ethiopia have been pulled from auction Sumayya Vally’s Serpentine Pavilion is a chimera of light The V&A’s new 20th and 21st Century gallery has been refitted for the social justice era Art created by people shielding during the pandemic will go on display … … and Cardiff’s Artes Mundi 9 prize will be split six ways because of Covid Madrid’s Reina Sofía is celebrating Latin America’s artistic boom A new film tries to untangle the truth behind Leonardo da Vinci and the disputed Salvator Mundi Sotheby’s is to auction a non-fungible token representing Tim Berners-Lee’s source code for the web … … while the world’s first physical gallery for NFTs is hosting an exhibition of Black creativity and liberation Swedish abstract painter Hilma af Klint is being celebrated at the Art Gallery of New South Wales Kathryn Martin captured the beauty of British wildflowers … … while Guardian readers pushed the architectural boundaries of garden sheds Writer Emily Rapp Black told how Frida Kahlo helped her come to terms with amputation Touching images caught the boom in gay US couples having babies Scottish photographer Niall McDiarmid gave us his world on a plate Dan Wood’s photographs captured the remarkable story of the unremarkable Ogmore river Street photographer Paul McDonough caught the heat of 1970s US sidewalks … … while we celebrated album sleeve artwork, from Pink Floyd to Fleet Foxes German architect Gottfried Böhm, famous for the brutalist Mariendom church, died aged 101 Masterpiece of the week Pieter Pourbus: An Allegory of True Love, c1547 A rehang at the exquisite Wallace Collection means this eccentric Renaissance work is now displayed near Fragonard’s saucy frolic The Swing. The comparison is instructive. Both are provocative and funny. This painting’s moralising title and the symbolism attributed to it – contrasting, we are told, wise chaste love with carnal sin – have almost nothing to do with the experience of looking at it. Either Renaissance courtiers were incredibly hypocritical, enjoying this scene of an unbuttoned picnic while pretending to tut, or they were in on a game in which the real meat was, and is, a Rabelaisian delight in the sensual. Wallace Collection, London Don’t forget To follow us on Twitter: @GdnArtandDesign. Sign up to the Art Weekly newsletter If you don’t already receive our regular roundup of art and design news via email, please sign up here. Get in Touch If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com

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