Exhibition of the week
Chikako Yamashiro
This Japanese artist explores the history of her birthplace, the island of Okinawa, which remained under American control from 1945 to 1972 and is still home to several US airbases.
• Dundee Contemporary Arts until 21 November
Also showing
Christen Sveaas Art Foundation – This Is the Night Mail Selected by Ida Ekblad
Dark and dreamy art that explores existential themes, from Edvard Munch and Giorgio de Chirico to Louise Bourgeois and Francesca Woodman.
• Whitechapel Gallery, London, until 2 January
Victoria and Albert
Art collected by Queen Victoria and her consort, including watercolours of the Scottish landscapes they loved.
• Queen’s Gallery, Edinburgh, until 3 October
Dippy on Tour
The surreal sight of a giant dinosaur skeleton inside a gothic cathedral comes to Norwich, on tour from the Natural History Museum.
• Norwich Cathedral until 30 October
Orkney and the Artist
A survey of how the landscapes and seabound setting of Orkney have inspired artists including Sylvia Wishart, Gunnie Moberg and Ian MacInnes.
• Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, until 6 November
Image of the week
The Iranian-born, Canada-based artist Abbas Akhavan has individually sculpted, out of straw, mud and clay, each column of the colonnade that led to the Arch of Palmyra before Isis destroyed the monuments in the Syrian city in 2015. The installation forms the major part of his current show at the Chisenhale Gallery. Read the Observer’s review here.
Masterpiece of the week
Claude: Landscape with the Marriage of Isaac and Rebekah (“The Mill”), 1648
Claude paints landscapes for the mind to escape to. This French artist who settled in 17th-century Rome and endlessly drew its scenery and surroundings is a merchant of dreams, putting together timeless visions from his Italian sketches. Here, a wedding is being celebrated on a tranquil shore. Nature mirrors the happy moment: a perfect blue sky dappled with cotton wool clouds is suspended peacefully over a turquoise bay and rolling hills decorated with soft trees. The biblical story it illustrates seems to be just an excuse to paint a beautiful world and invite us in.
• National Gallery, London
What we learned
That this autumn promises to be filled with great art and exhibitions
That the shadow child poverty secretary says Tory cuts to arts for kids are nauseating
Chuck Close, the photorealist and portrait artist, has died aged 81 …
… and our critic Adrian Searle’s wrote an appreciation of his work
That Gilles Peress has produced the ultimate photographic statement on the Northern Irish Troubles …
… while Stéphan Gladieu has been photographing the people of North Korea
… and the winners of the Mono awards for black-and-white photography were announced …
… as were the winners of the Australian Geographic nature photographer of the year awards
That the National Gallery is planning a Lucian Freud show for the artist’s centenary
That the National Youth Theatre has had a £4m architectural overhall
How artists and activists are challenging the way we reuse and reimagine broken objects
The Guardian gave its view on the Art Fund Museums prize
Perpignan’s Festival of Photojournalism 2021 features more than 25 exhibitions throughout the city
A New York exhibition tells the incredible stories behind recovered Nazi-looted art
The swing bridge on the River Tyne that doesn’t work, in spite of a £1m upgrade
… and John Graham, one of the architects behind Harlow new town in Essex, has died aged 93
Children’s illustrator and writer Jill Murphy, creator the Worst Witch books, has died aged 72
… she gave one of her final interviews to the Observer …
… and we reprinted some of her best illustrations
Ikea’s Symfonisk hides a wifi speaker in a picture frame: we gave it a 4-star review
Don’t forget
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