Exhibition of the week
Anselm Kiefer
The most powerful artist of our time unveils colossal new paintings about mortality and the end of the world.
• White Cube Bermondsey, London, 23 November-12 February
Also showing
Picasso on Paper
Last weeks for this survey of the rich and brilliant graphic works of the 20th century’s greatest artist.
• Compton Verney, Warwickshire, until 11 December
Robert Mapplethorpe
Photographer Juergen Teller curates a selection of sensual images by this increasingly legendary artist.
• Alison Jacques Gallery, London, until 7 January
James Ensor
The troubling and uncomfortable art of one of the spookiest modern painters.
• Royal Academy, London, until 29 January
Drawing the Line
An investigation of how maps have shaped the modern world from imperial geography to Google.
• British Library, London until 1st March
Masterpiece of the week
Unknown Swabian artist, Portrait of a Woman of the Hofer family, about 1470
The superbly detailed black fly that crawls across this woman’s white headdress is both a proof of the unknown German artist’s skill and a sinister suggestion of mortality and decay.
• National Gallery, London
Image of the week
Interviewed for our My Best Shot feature this week, Bleddyn Butcher told us about his lost weekend in Berlin with Nick Cave in 1985. “Back then, no one thought his career would last so long. The Birthday Party were viewed as a goth band: just tight pants and doomy music. That’s not what I heard in it, though, and I felt frustrated. I wanted to show there was more to Cave than a tough guy with incredible hair.”
What we learned this week
Newly discovered Van Gogh drawings aren’t by Van Gogh at all, says official museum …
… and the news has ushered in the post-truth phase of the art world
Helen Marten won the inaugural Hepworth prize for sculpture
The Design Museum’s inaugural exhibition features Grindr, Ikea and George Osborne’s wallpaper
A new performance art show explores touch – from tender to predatory
Jon McNaughton is summing up Trump’s America with his oil paintings
An ingenious folding bike helmet won the James Dyson design award
Claudio Rasano won the Taylor Wessing prize for portrait photography…
..… and we rounded up a few of the highlights from the exhibition his winning shot is featured in
Psychologist Darian Leader put artist Gavin Turk on the couch
The Turner prize should give up its age limit
Albanian prime minister Edi Rama is also a jobbing artist – with a new exhibition in New York
Nimrud was recaptured from Isis – here’s hoping their barbarism is consigned to history
Get involved
Book now for two Guardian members’ events: Night at the Museum, at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery on 29 November, and Insider’s View of Intrigue: James Ensor by Luc Tuymans, at London’s Royal Academy on 20 January.
Our A-Z of Art series continues – share your art with the theme N for North Sea
And check out the entries we selected for the theme M for majesty
Don’t forget
To follow us on Twitter: @GdnArtandDesign
