Exhibition of the week People People who need people … a survey of the art of the human starring Rebecca Warren, Lucian Freud, Michael Andrews, Paula Rego and more. Modern Art, London, 6-30 September Also showing Mandy El-Sayegh Abstract paintings in an immersive installation inspired by Sigmund Freud’s consulting room. Thaddaeus Ropac, London, until 30 September Leonardo Drew Haunting installation in a former chapel by this Brooklyn-based artist. Yorkshire Sculpture Park until 29 October Gabriel de la Mora Paintings that combine modernist grids with an eye for the natural world – using materials such as butterfly wings, feathers and eggshells. Timothy Taylor, London, until 30 September Entwined Artists Pamela Singh, Qiana Mestrich, Serena Chopra and Gayatri Ganju explore science and spirituality. Cromwell Place, London, until 6 October Image of the week This wall on Brick Lane in east London was the site of a work by Wang Hanzheng, a student at the Royal College of Art. The artwork – which spelled out the Chinese government’s “socialist core values” – was designed to be a “silent reminder of the oppression of thought, press freedom and free speech that is still rampant in China in 2023”. Then, in a move described by some as ironically totalitarian, Tower Hamlets council painted over the slogans and issued Wang a £50 fine. It is now being graffitied afresh. Read our interview with Hansheng here. What we learned The Clock artist Christian Marclay’s global success became a nightmare Missing treasures from the British Museum will take decades to recover but they should invest in a detective Roy Lichtenstein took his pop art into the third dimension A photographer flipped the script on Helmut Newton’s sexist nudes Pablo Picasso’s grandson has come to his defence A statue of a roman emperor has been seized from a Cleveland museum on suspicion that it was looted from Turkey The inaugural Photofairs NY boasts images of alternate realities, Kenyan camouflage and a cut-up Andy Warhol Allen Ginsberg was a photographer as well as a poet A London art student caused a political storm in China Photographer Philip Fong is magnetically drawn to Tokyo’s coin laundries Masterpiece of the week The Battle of Montmirail by Emile-Jean-Horace Vernet, 1822 There is an eerie realism to this panoramic painting of one of Napoleon’s last battles. A chilly, ice-clear sky laced with floating clouds hangs over a brutally honest scene of slaughter. Ranks of disciplined soldiers in their fine uniforms move calmly towards a chaotic killing ground of smoke, flame and close-quarters combat. It was a victory for Napoleon but by this time – the battle took place in 1814 – he was defending French soil itself, not conquering elsewhere, as his enemies closed in. Vernet pictures war as a callous, cool mechanism grinding armies in its relentless wheels. Yet his haunting sky suggests a Romantic wistfulness for Napoleon. National Gallery, 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