AboutLondon Laura – January 2024 Newsletter
AboutLondon Laura – January 2024 Newsletter
Happy New Year! I thought it would be good to look at some recommendations for 2024 in London so here’s something for each month.
January
Before we consider the new, there are still some excellent exhibitions on from last year. Frans Hals is at the National Gallery until 21 January and Fashion City is at the Museum of London Docklands until 14 April. Women in Revolt! is at Tate Britain until 7 April and Impressionists on Paper: Degas to Toulouse-Lautrec is at the Royal Academy until 10 March. Holbein at the Tudor Court is still on at the Queen’s Gallery until 14 April and Diva is at The V&A until 10 April. David Hockney: Drawing from Life is at the National Portrait Gallery until 21 January and Coalescence is at the Painted Hall in Greenwich until 4 February.
So, what’s opening this month? My tip is CUTE at Somerset House (opens 25 January). This major exhibition showcases how cuteness seeks to enhance, disrupt and re-imagine the world we live in today and how it has become such an influential measure of our times.
Graphic Thought Facility (1990, UK). Playing dress-up with AI, 2023
February
Legion: life in the Roman army opens at the British Museum on 1 February. From family life on the fort to the brutality of the battlefield, this exhibition explores the reality of daily life for the men, women and children who were part of the machine which allowed Rome to master its vast empire. It will share the stories of real legionaries and will challenge some of the perceptions about what it meant to be a Roman soldier. Objects include letters written on papyri by soldiers from Roman Egypt and the Vindolanda tablets – some of the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain. Oh yeah, and there’s a partnership with the best-selling children's book series Horrible Histories and kids go free.
Gold coin - oath-taking scene between two soldiers. © The Trustees of the British Museum
March
THE BIBA STORY: 1964 - 1975 opens at the Fashion & Textile Museum on 22 March. This is the only exhibition that looks at the history of Biba from the first simple shift dresses to the glamorous devoré wraps, sequinned bodices, leopard print coats, trouser suits, floppy hats and feather boas that came to epitomise the Biba look.
Years ago I had a boyfriend whose sister had been a Biba model. Her Notting Hill home had some stunning photographs of those days.
Image: Copyright Barbara Hulanicki
April
From 18 April, the National Gallery will present Caravaggio’s last painting, not seen in the UK for nearly 20 years. The Last Caravaggio offers an opportunity to explore Caravaggio’s late paintings, the representation of violence in his work and to reflect on violence in our own times.
Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist – Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 - 1610), about 1609-10. © The National Gallery, London
May
Riding on the coattails on Women in Revolt!, Tate Britain has Women Artists in Britain: 1520-1920 opening on 16 May. This looks at female artists from Tudor times until the First World War. These are commercial artists and not amateur hobbyists who daringly painted what were usually thought to be subjects for male artists: history pieces, battle scenes and the nude.
June
The annual Summer Exhibition is back at the Royal Academy from 18 June. It’s the world’s largest open-submission contemporary art show and provides a unique platform for emerging and established artists to showcase their works. You’ll see a range of media from painting, printmaking and photography, to sculpture, architecture and film. Around 1200 works will go on display, the majority of which will be for sale.
It’s always a bit bonkers so don’t expect to like everything but you’ll also always find something you love which makes it all worthwhile.
July
Noami opens at the V&A on 22 June exploring the extraordinary career of fashion supermodel Naomi Campbell. Diva was great, and Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto sold out as soon as it opened so the V&A knows how to put on an iconic fashion exhibition.
Photographer: Marco Bahler
August
The London Mural Festival will be back in August (dates tbc) giving you an excellent excuse to explore London and see some amazing outdoor art.
September
To mark its 200th anniversary the National Gallery has Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers opening on 14 September. It also marks the centenary of the Gallery’s acquisition of the artist’s Sunflowers and Van Gogh’s Chair (1888), two of its most famous pictures, in 1924.
The Gallery’s first exhibition devoted to the artist will feature over 50 works and loans from museums and private collections around the world and will explore the artist’s creative process and his sources of inspiration.
Starry Night over the Rhône, 1888 – Vincent van Gogh. Photo © Musée d'Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt
October
The World of Tim Burton opens at the Design Museum on 25 October. London will be the final stop in a decade-long world tour for the show and its only ever showing in Britain.
While most well-known for his cinematic work, this show will display the full extent of his production as an illustrator, painter, photographer, and author, as well as exploring some of the key collaborations which helped shape his world.
Surrounded, 1996, © Tim Burton
November
On 25 January 1504, Florence’s most prominent artists were brought together to advise on an appropriate location for Michelangelo’s nearly finished David. Among them was Leonardo, who – like Michelangelo – had only recently returned to his native Florence.
Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael opens at the Royal Academy on 9 November to explore the rivalry between Michelangelo and Leonardo, and the influence both had on the young Raphael.
Virgin and Child with St Anne and the Infant St John the Baptist ('The Burlington House Cartoon'), c. 1499-1500 – Leonardo da Vinci. Photo: The National Gallery, London
December
No new openings have been announced for the festive month but there’s always plenty to see and do. Francis Bacon Portraits will still be on at the National Portrait Gallery and the British Library’s Medieval Women (25 October 2024 - 2 March 2025) sounds worth seeing.
Wow, eh?
There’s lots to look forward to, right? I didn’t even mention the Yoko Ono exhibition at Tate Modern which, after recently watching The Beatles Get Back sessions on Disney+, I’m very keen to see. Nor did I mention Barbie at the Design Museum which will have mass appeal.
Do remember there is always a lot happening in London and you can’t get to it all. It’s OK to be happy living vicariously through the social posts of friends too.