AboutLondon Laura – June 2024 Newsletter
Summer will be here soon and we’ll complain about the heat but, yeah, I get it. 2024 has been a wet year so far. But London gives us so many reasons to enjoy the city without getting soaked so let’s focus on the good stuff.
Did you try any of my recommendations from last month? I’ve got lots of ideas for this month below.
Ten Things You Can Easily Walk Past And Not Notice But Are Quite Interesting And You Look Knowledgeable When You Tell Your Friends
Once I chose that headline, I really enjoyed selecting the ten things that fit the criteria the best. I then checked if any debunking was needed (it was) and have included as much information and further links to help you sound like a London ‘brainbox’ to your friends when you nonchalantly point out these things.
What’s Happening This Month?
Did you get to go inside 4 Princelet Street in Spitalfields last year? While that was a Gagosian Open to show Early Works by Christo, it was also the opportunity to get into a building we can’t always see inside. The next Gagosian Open is Nan Goldin – Sisters, Saints, Sibyls at the Welsh Chapel on Charing Cross Road, WC2. I know little about the artist but am keen to see inside the building so am willing to learn more. It’s on from 30 May to 23 June (Tuesday–Sunday 10–6).
This will be open as part of London Gallery Weekend (31 May to 2 June).
Another free option, south London’s Bethlem Museum of the Mind has A World Apart: The Work of Charles Lutyens from 8 June to 31 August. This pioneering museum is at the world's oldest psychiatric hospital.
The National Gallery has Discover Degas & Miss La La on display in the Sunley Room from 6 June. As part of the National Gallery’s free ‘Discover’ series, Degas’s Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, 1879, takes centre stage. This landmark Impressionist painting features the circus artist Miss La La. The exhibition takes a closer look at the painting and reveals new information about her life and career. I do online stuff for a famous circus so I know I’ll enjoy this.
Tate Modern has a major UK survey of visual activist Zanele Muholi also opening on 6 June. Through this powerful political exhibition, Muholi's photography looks at the experiences of Black queer and trans persons in South Africa.
The Lore of LOVERBOY is at Somerset House from 8 June. It’s the first exhibition on international fashion powerhouse Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY, celebrating 10 years of club to catwalk. Yeah, I’d not heard of him either but, I guess, I’m not the target audience. Harry Styles and Tilda Swinton like his clothes though.
In The Gilbert and Ildiko Butler Drawings Gallery at The Courtauld, Henry Moore: Shadows on the Wall opens on 8 June to consider Moore’s celebrated Shelter drawings as the point of departure for a new reading of the artist’s fascination with images of the wall, during and immediately after World War II. I’d always looked at the people but we’re encouraged here to look at the bricks and the presence of walls, their texture, mass and volume. And why not? I like Henry Moore so this gets my vote.
You’ve got until 21 June to see Jonathan Yeo’s controversial portrait of King Charles III. It’s on display at the Philip Mould Gallery and entry is free. It’s definitely divided opinions. What is/was your initial reaction?
Summer Exhibition 2024 at the Royal Academy opens on 18 June. This open art event has been held every year since 1769. This year we can enjoy 1,200 artworks by famous artists and members of the public. There’s also a monumental textile sculpture by British artist Nicola Turner, made of found organic matter, including horsehair and wool, being installed in the courtyard.
Dulwich Picture Gallery has Yoshida: Three Generations of Japanese Printmaking on from 19 June. It shines a spotlight on three generations of woodblock print artists and traces the evolution of Japanese printmaking across two centuries, It culminates with a new site-specific installation of cherry blossom.
Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens opens at the National Portrait Gallery on 20 June. Historic paintings by Hans Holbein and contemporary photography by Hiroshi Sugimoto are on display in the NPG’s first exhibition of historic portraiture since reopening.
Naomi in Fashion opens at the V&A on 22 June. It’s the first exhibition of its kind exploring the extraordinary career of fashion model Naomi Campbell. The V&A does glorious fashion exhibitions so I hope to see this one soon.
Later in the month, the Barbican Art Gallery has a major exhibition by renowned Mexico-based artist Francis Alÿs. From 27 June to 1 September, this is the artist’s first and largest institutional monographic exhibition in the UK for over a decade.
And In the Eye of the Storm opens at the Royal Academy on 29 June looking at groundbreaking modernist art made in Ukraine between 1900 and the 1930s.
That should keep you busy. Enjoy!