Salvator Mundi, Queen Victoria, Jordan and more
newsletter 7: June 2019
hello! i've had a flurry of new subscribers since the last email, so to the newbies: welcome. to the old guard: thanks for sticking with me. as ever, if you like what you see then please share on social or forward to a friend! let's dive in.
catch up: all the news
The big mystery over the the whereabouts of the the $450 million Salvator Mundi is solved as it's finally tracked down...to a yacht. Artnet
The 'lost Leonardo' has been found just in time for the Louvre in Paris to ditch the work from it's upcoming Da Vinci exhibition. The Guardian
The winner of the BP Portrait Award 2019 has been announced ahead of the annual exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Creative Boom
Rare etchings by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are to go on show at the British Museum for the first time (I PR'd this story!). Mail on Sunday
Speaking of Queen Vic, the Museum of Modern Art in New York has unearthed the last surviving film footage of the monarch, taken in 1900. The Telegraph
The world's oldest known depiction of a couple having sex has gone on display in Norwich. Eastern Daily Press
Jordan is a stunning country (can't wait to go back) and a new museum at the iconic ancient site at Petra hopes to lure visitors back. The Art Newspaper
A famous Hogarth painting is to stay on public display in Leicester after a fundraising campaign involving [checks notes] pug dogs. BBC News
Eurostar launched a new third daily direct London-Amsterdam service by revealing a gown made of sunflowers in a nod to the Van Gogh Museum's upcoming exhibition. Travel Daily
137 years after construction began, Barcelona has finally issued a building license to La Sagrada Familia. National Public Radio
Installation view, Frank Bowling at Tate Britain. Tate photography, Matt Greenwood
weigh up: review roundup
FRANK BOWLING at Tate Britain (until 26 August) tate.org.uk
"He is up there with Turner, Rothko and Pollock. This magnificent show, which swings from joyous foam-filled works to serious meditations about slavery, is long overdue." The Guardian
"Later works are caked in transparent sheets of goo or covered in ripped lumps of canvas. Even today, he’s still messing about with shape and colour and texture. You don’t have to like it all – I don’t – but you have to admire his chutzpah." Time Out London
LEONARDO DA VINCI: A LIFE IN DRAWING at The Queen’s Gallery (until 13 October)
"Everything about this magnificent presentation of Leonardo’s drawings amazes. Two hundred sheets are here reunited, after smaller displays around the country...anyone who thought themselves fully familiar with his encyclopedic range should think again". The Observer
"There is more fascination to be had in this show than in any exhibition of his paintings." Evening Standard
Michael Craig-Martin: Sculpture at Gagosian Britannia Street.
Photo: @maxwellmuseums
get up: what's new
These brand new exhibitions - all recently opened - should be on your radar, and in your diary
An Enquiring Mind: Manolo Blahnik at the Wallace Collection - shoe designs from Blahnik’s archives set amongst masterpieces at the Wallace Collection.
As Seen On Screen: Art and Cinema at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool - works by Sam Taylor-Johnson, Anthea Hamilton and more examine the relationship between art and the silver screen
Michael Craig-Martin: Sculpture at Gagosian, Britannia Street - monumental new sculptures by the conceptual artist.
Louise Bourgeois & Pablo Picasso: Anatomies of Desire at Hauser & Wirth Zürich - the first time that Picasso is exhibited in dialogue with a female sculptor.
London Festival of Architecture - the month-long fiesta of talks, exhibitions, tours and events for all #archilovers out there
The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition - the annual mammoth display of works by the great and the good of the art world
and finally
this week I turned art critic and wrote a review of the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo in Seville, for the ace website museeum.com. have a read here
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