Art History in Focus returns on Wednesday, 24 and Thursday, 25 April at 17.00 (BST) / 12.00 (EDT) with two new exciting talks.
At the end of each panel, there will be a Q&A session of 15 minutes. Sign up below to join the conversations and submit your questions to the speakers.
Browse below upcoming talks, editorials and exhibitions to discover this month.
Wednesday 24 April, 17.00 BST
In this unmissable talk, Lynn Roberts, editor and lead author of The Frame Blog, will be joined by Paul & Mark Mitchell (Paul Mitchell Ltd - Antique and handmade replica frames, who for more than 45 years have carefully reframed Impressionist paintings for countless collectors and institutions around the world. They will discuss the extraordinary innovations of Impressionist frames and their reception by a critical contemporary audience, as well as looking at the ways in which museums and galleries frame Impressionist pictures today, and where this has gone right (and wrong).
The talk is moderated by Matthew Reeves, director of Sam Fogg, London.
Thursday 25 April, 17.00 BST
Fruit of Friendship: Portraits by Mary Beale
Mary Beale was Britain's most trailblazing 17th century woman artist. In an era when the arts in Britain were flourishing and portraitists were in high demand, Beale established a unique portrait practice that set her apart from her competitors. In conjunction with the opening of a new exhibition on the artist at Philip Mould & Company, this talk will see specialist Ellie Smith (Philip Mould & Company) and curator Lucy West (Dulwich Picture Gallery) telling the story of a talented artist, writer, businesswoman, mother and friend, and her triumph against the odds.
The panel is chaired by Christopher Baker (The Burlington Magazine).
A newly discovered cabinet miniature by Nicholas Hilliard
In their April issue, The Burlington Magazine publishes a remarkable discovery which adds significantly to Nicholas Hilliard's known work: a large 'cabinet' miniature, identified by Elizabeth Goldring and Emma Rutherford as a portrait of Lady Arbella Stuart, granddaughter of Bess of Hardwick and a possible successor to the throne. The circumstances of the commission are bound up with a fascinating episode of late Elizabethan spycraft. Read the full article to learn more.
All the previous #ArtHistoryinFocus talks are now available on our YouTube channel.
Recommended Exhibitions To Visit This Spring
JEAN-MARIE TOULGOUAT: GARDENING GIVERNY
13 March - 24 April 2024
David Messum Fine Art, The Garden Museum, 5 Lambeth Palace Rd, London SE1 7LB
In conjunction with David Messum Fine Art, The Garden Museum presents an extraordinary exhibition of archival photographs of the gardens in Toulgouat's time by legendary garden photographer Andrew Lawson, along with immersive elements bringing Claude Monet's home and garden in Giverny to life in London.
FRANCESCA WOODMAN AND JULIA MARGARET CAMERON
21 March - 16 June 2024
National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London WC2H 0HE
Photographers Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron are two of the most influential women in the history of photography. They lived a century apart - Cameron working in the UK and Sri Lanka from the 1860s, and Woodman in America and Italy from the 1970s. Showcasing more than 160 rare vintage prints, Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In spans the career of both artists - and suggests new ways to look at their work, and the way photographic portraiture was created in the 19th and 20th centuries.
THE WORLD IN YOUR HANDS: FIVE LUSTRE-PAINTED BOWLS FROM KASHAN
5 April - 25 April 2024
Sam Fogg, 15D Clifford Street, London W1S 4JZ
A new spotlight exhibition at Sam Fogg focusing on ceramics produced in the workshops of Kashan between c. 1150-1280, this group of five lustre-painted bowls illustrates the technical and aesthetic heights achieved by the Kashan potters through the innovative combination of a siliceous stone-paste ceramic body with lustre-painted surfaces.
RANJIT SINGH: SIKH, WARRIOR, KING
10 April - 20 October 2024
The Wallace Collection, Exhibition Galleries, Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1U 3BN
Ranjit Singh's formidable leadership led to a golden age marked by thriving trade, flourishing arts, and a formidable army. Discover his story through nearly 100 stunning artworks, including jewellery and weaponry from the Sikh Empire drawn from major private and public collections. The exhibition also features historic objects from his court, courtiers, and family, including items owned by the Maharaja and the most famous of his 30 wives, Maharani Jind Kaur. Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King is a unique opportunity to see our remarkable collection of Sikh arms and armour alongside other Sikh artworks for the first time.
10 April - 3 May 2024
David Messum Fine Art, 12 Bury St, St. James's, London SW1Y 6AB
Working from her light-filled Limoges studio, filled with an eclectic array of objects and textiles from around the world - reflecting her well-travelled life - Nancy is provided with an elegant backdrop for her paintings and oil pastels, whose lively dialogue of colour, texture and form, captivate our imagination and reflect her deep connection to her artistic family heritage and diverse artistic influences.
BRONZE AND STONE MAQUETTES 2024
10 April - 3 May 2024
David Messum Fine Art, 12 Bury St, St. James's, London SW1Y 6AB
While conventions in decoration and fashion have changed over the last century, the appeal of owning sculpture in the home - how we interact with them, how we rearrange them, how we handle and appreciate them - continues to demonstrate their allure amongst their admirers.
The artists' maquettes in this show not only reflect this enduring desire, but also the genealogy of organic modernism in British sculpture which can be traced back to the work of Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Leon Underwood. Their relationship with this modernism is complex and multifaceted, reflecting traditionalist elements as well as contemporary innovations in both stone carving and bronze casting.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.
THE PASSING SEASONS or LEARNING TO PAINT
11 April - 4 May 2024
Abbott and Holder, 30 Museum Street, London WC1A 1LH
An exhibition of plein air landscapes of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Scotland, Suffolk, Wales, Wiltshire and many more.
16 April - 3 May 2024
Hignell Gallery, Gallery Eight, 8 Duke Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6BN
&
16 April - 26 July 2024
Open air exhibit in St James's Square gardens
Hignell Gallery is pleased to present a TOGETHER, by the sculptor Helaine Blumenfeld OBE. The exhibition features Blumenfeld's newest works, conceived against the backdrop of our turbulent world and explores the essence of vulnerability and the light of hope. The exhibition features 30 sculptures in marble, bronze and wood, presented in two adjacent venues, the gallery space and an open air exhibition in the historic gardens of St James's Square in the heart of St James's. Save the date!
18 April - 28 April 2024
Colnaghi, Online & Brussels
Colnaghi is delighted to announce IDOLS & ICONS, an online exciting new show exploring the evolution of images of religious and popular devotion across four millennia.
The works featured will also be available to view in person by appointment at Colnaghi Brussels office, 1 rue aux Laines.
Courtesy of Colnaghi.
FRUIT OF FRIENDSHIP: PORTRAITS BY MARY BEALE
25 April - 19 July 2024
Philip Mould & Company, 18-19 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5LU
Presenting twenty-five works from public and private collections, the exhibition spans the artist's entire career including self-portraits, portraits of her family and friends, and formal commissions.
The exhibition offers exclusively three works not seen in public before, including an early re-discovered portrait of the artist's husband and a portrait of Anne Sotheby, which will be displayed in the gallery for two weeks before it is exhibited in Tate Britain's upcoming exhibition Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain, 1520-1920.
TWO MASTERPIECES BY JAN VAN HUYSUM
18 May - 8 September 2024
Strawberry Hill House, 268 Waldegrave Rd, Twickenham TW1 4ST
From May until September, Strawberry Hill House will present two exquisite 18th century masterpieces by one of the most celebrated painters of still life, Dutch artist Jan Van Huysum (1682-1749). Flowers in a Vase with Crown Imperial and Apple Blossom at the Top and a Statue of Flora (1731-2) and Fruit and Flowers in front of a Garden Vase with an Opium Poppy and a Row of Cypresses (1731-2) will be displayed in public for the first time in ten years, on loan from a private collection.
