Major Art Exhibitions in London September - November 2013

Poster for Whistler in London
at the Dulwich Picture Gallery - opens October

This is my update about major Art Exhibitions exhibitions on display in London between September and November 2013.

Major Art Galleries and Museums in the UK

British Museum

Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG

The British Museum is tackling a topic not often seen in major exhibitions in a national museum. Should be interesting!

• Until 29 September 2013  Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum Advance booking essential (App for the Exhibition - for Apple and Android).  Now with extended hours - and much better once the children are back at school.
• 3 October 2013 – 5 January 2014 Shunga: sex and pleasure in Japanese art (Parental guidance advised for visitors under 16) The exhibition sheds new light on this taboo art form within Japanese social and cultural history.  The paintings, prints and books inspired Toulouse-Lautrec, Beardsley, Rodin and Picasso.
• 29 August – 3 November 2013 Women of the pleasure quarters - This rare surviving Japanese painted screen depicts elaborately dressed courtesans

Courtauld Gallery

Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN

• 20 June – 8 September 2013 Collecting Gauguin: Samuel Courtauld in the '20s. Catch the last week of this small but excellent exhibition 
• 19 September 2013 – 12 January 2014 Richard Serra - Drawings for the Courtauld This is an opportunity to see radical new drawings - produced using dense black litho crayon on transparent plastic sheets.  Richard Serra is an American minimalist sculptor and video artist who is known for producing large scale steel sculptures and normally exhibits with the Gagosian Gallery.
• 17 October 2013 - 12 January 2014 The Young Dürer - Drawing the Figure This exhibition focuses on the early part of Durer's career and the drawings he made between 1590-1596 when he travelled widely and saw much new art.  Here's a sample of the drawings which will be on display.  This is a related exhibition.

Make sure you don't miss the Courtauld's permanent collection. It includes some very famous paintings in galleries which are a pleasure to visit. This is an interactive map of the gallery. You can take photographs in the gallery as long as you do not use your flash or a tripod.

Dulwich Picture Gallery

Gallery Road, London, SE21 7AD

• 12 June - 22 September 2013 - Nash, Nevinson, Spencer, Gertler, Carrington, Bomberg: A Crisis of Brilliance, 1908-1922. Catch the last few weeks of Dulwich's summer exhibition. It includes some of the best and most innovative works by influential artists from the early part of the 20th century - namely Paul Nash, C.R.W. Nevinson, Stanley Spencer, Mark Gertler, Dora Carrington and David Bomberg.
• 16 October 2013 - 12 January 2014 An American in London: Whistler and the Thames This will include paintings of Chelsea and the Thames River, along with prints and rarely seen drawings, watercolours and pastels.  Did you know that Whistler's 'Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge' has been voted ninth in the Art Everywhere poll of the nation's favourite works of art.  It normally lies at Tate Britain but will travel south of the river for this exhibition.

I'm really looking forward to the Whistler exhibition.  If you'd like to know more about Whistler see the website I produced after I studied his work - About James McNeill Whistler - American Artist

"Paint should not be applied thick. It should be like a breath on the surface of a pane of glass."James Abbot McNeill Whistler

Portrait of Hermine Gallia (1904) by Gustav Klimt

oil on canvas, 170.5 × 96.5 cm (67.1 × 38 in)

image from Wikimedia Commons

National Gallery

Trafalgar Square London WC2N 5DN

I much prefer the permanent collection at the National Gallery to most of their temporary exhibitions. 

• Until 24 November 2013 - Michael Landy: Saints Alive 
• 26 June – 8 September 2013 - Vermeer and Music This is rather a novel exhibition. Three paintings by Vermeer involving the playing of musical instruments together with an exhibition of musical instruments and concerts three times a week.
• 9 October 2013 – 12 January 2014 Facing the Modern: The Portrait in Vienna 1900 The exhibition explores portraiture in the capital of the Austro Hungarian empire post 19th century and prior to the first world war. It includes striking portrait paintings by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka.  This one should be interesting particularly for the portrait painters!

The Portrait exhibition looks as if it good be really good. I'm also really excited having just posted that next summer's big exhibition which is all about Colour!

National Portrait Gallery

St Martin’s Place, London WC2H 0HE

• 20 June to 15 September 2013 - BP Portrait Award The last two weeks of one of my favourite exhibitions every year which is very popular with the public.  Read my review Susanne de Toit wins £30000 BP Portrait Award 2013 - Making a Mark which provides a summary of the portraits and artists awarded prizes totalling £53000.

• 

  Nina Felix by Bob Dylan, 2013
  courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery

  30 March until 1 November 2013 - Jacob Epstein: Portrait Sculptor (Room 33) Works on display include some of Epstein’s most celebrated portraits, notably his busts of Joseph Conrad, T.S Eliot, Vaughan Williams and George Bernard Shaw.
• 11 July - 13 October 2013 Laura Knight Portraits Read my Review: Laura Knight Portraits
• 24 August 2013 - 5 January 2014 Bob Dylan: Face Value 12 pastel portraits by musician  and song writer Bob Dylan
• 10 October 2013 - 5 January 2014 Elizabeth I & Her People in the Wolfson Gallery.  The exhibition includes many outstanding paintings of Elizabeth I, explorers, soldiers, female courtiers, plus lesser-known Elizabethans including butchers, goldsmiths, brewers, merchants, writers and artists.
• 14 November 2013 - 9 February 2014 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2013 in the Porter Gallery. 60 portraits by some of the most exciting contemporary photographers from around the world.

Three unknown Elizabethan children
Unknown Anglo-Netherlandish artist, c.1580courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery

The permanent collection is well worth a visit!  My favourites are The Tudor Gallery and the twentieth century galleries.

'Fire's On', 1891 by Arthur Streeton
Oil on canvas, 183.8 x 122.5 cm
Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased 1893
Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London
in partnership with the National Gallery of Australia

Royal Academy of Arts

Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD | 6 Burlington Gardens, London W1S 3ET

• 6 July—29 September 2013 Mexico: A Revolution in Art, 1910-1940. This exhibition includes artwork by Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and José Clemente Orozco plus work by international artists and intellectuals who were drawn to the country including Marsden Hartley, Josef Albers, Edward Burra, Paul Strand, Henri Cartier-Bresson, André Breton and Robert Capa.
• 21 September—8 December 2013 Australia exhibition in the Main Galleries of Burlington House.  I am so looking forward to seeing paintings by Arthur Streeton.
• 26 October 2013—26 January 2014 Daumier (1808-1879): Visions of Paris in The Sackler Wing of Galleries, Burlington House

I'm really looking forward to the the opening of the Australia exhibition.

Saatchi Gallery

Duke of York's HQ, King's Road, London SW3 4RY

• 18 June - 29 September - Paper
• 20 November - 16 March 2014 - Body Language 

I'm not a fan of this gallery, mainly because I don't have a great affinity with this sort of contemporary art but also because I don't like what seems to me to be sleight of hand marketing.  There's also a curious mismatch between the way people describe visiting the gallery and the supposed number of gallery visitors.

Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB

• 11 May - 22 September 2013 Rory McEwen, The Colours of Reality showcases his botanical work and includes works from artists who influenced him. This is a "must see" for the botanical artists!
• Two new exhibitions open at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art this October.
• 19 October 2013 - Sun 19 January 2014  'Botanicals - Environmental Expressions in Art This exhibition feature paintings from the Ailsa & Isaac Sutton Collection - one of the finest private collections of contemporary botanical art in North America.
• The other is called 'Black and White in Colour' and this will show paintings by Sue Wickison and Sue J Williams.

Very much a gallery for those who love botanical art and illustration 

Tate Britain

Millbank, London SW1P 4RG

• Open every day BP Walk through British Art The brand NEW BP Walk through British Art is really impressive and definitely merits a visit. It offers a circuit of Tate Britain’s unparalleled collection from its beginnings to its end. 
• Open every day Turner Collection Tate Britain houses the world’s largest collection of Turner’s work.
• 26 June – 20 October 2013 Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life Read my review - Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life - a review. On Monday 23 September 2013 (18.30–21.00) there is a screening of Lowry on Film  - documentary and feature films related to LS Lowry’s life and work, and the broader historical period
• 2 October 2013 – 5 January 2014 Art under Attack: Histories of British Iconoclasm is the first exhibition exploring the history of physical attacks on art in Britain from the 16th century to the present day. Iconoclasm describes the deliberate destruction of icons, symbols or monuments for religious, political or aesthetic motives.
• You can download a map of Tate Britain as a pdf file

Tate Britain appears to be making a big effort to get back in tune with what people want out of a gallery which is supposed to represent the best in British Art.  Like recognising people want to see the assets which were stored in the vaults and finally getting round to giving Lowry a major exhibition.

Tate Modern

Bankside, London SE1 9TG

17 April – 20 October 2013 Saloua Raouda Choucair Lebanese pioneer of abstract art
3 July – 22 September 2013 - Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist The first Tate Modern exhibition dedicated to African Modernism traces the life and work of Ibrahim El-Salahi.
3 July – 22 September 2013 - Meschac Gaba: Museum of Contemporary African Art
• 16 October – 9 March 2014 The EY Exhibition: Paul Klee. Klee is a giant of twentieth-century art and one of the great creative innovators of the time.  This exhibition reunites paintings, drawings and watercolours from collections around the world. They will be displayed alongside each other as the artist originally intended, often for the first time since Klee exhibited them himself.

During 2013, Tate Modern has been looking very much to parts of the world which haven't traditionally featured in exhibitions of contemporary art in the past.  This Autumn it returns to a big 'name' artist with an exhibition of work by Paul Klee.

Wallace Collection

Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1U 3BN Open daily from 10am - 5pm

• 20 June - 15 September 2013 The Discovery of Paris: Watercolours by Early Nineteenth-Century British Artists Focusing on the period c. 1802-40 and featuring sixty watercolours including outstanding works by Turner, Girtin and Bonington, and other artists who are now less familiar, such as Thomas Shotter Boys and William Callow.
• 24th October - Sunday 19th January, 2014 The Male Nude: Eighteenth-century Drawings from the Paris Academy This exhibition, of nearly forty French drawings of male nude figures, all drawn between the late seventeenth and the late eighteenth centuries, is unprecedented in Britain.

The Wallace also has an interesting permanent collection which is well worth a visit.  They've got some very nice paintings by Canaletto.

Art Society Exhibitions

I've also included exhibitions of note by member artists on related subjects and major art competitions at these galleries.

Also included are the events and workshops associated with the Art Society Exhibitions where these are posted on websites

Bankside Gallery 

48 Hopton Street, London, SE1 9JH Open daily 11am - 6pm during exhibitions

• 2 August - 8 September 2013 - Off the Wall - A joint summer exhibition by artists from the Royal Watercolour Society and Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers

Mall Galleries 

The Mall, London SW1Y 5BD All exhibitions are 10:00am to 17:00pm daily unless otherwise stated

9 -14 September 2013 The Horse In Art 2013: Annual Exhibition
16-21 September 2013 - The Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition

16-21 September 2013 - The Derwent Art Prize

16-21 September 2013 - Still Alive: Contemporary still life painting
25 September - 12 October 2013 The Threadneedle Prize

15-27 October 2013 Royal Miniature Society’s (RMS): Annual Exhibition

16-27 October 2013 - Royal Society of Marine Artists: Annual Exhibition

31 October - 10 November 2013 - Society of Wildlife Artists: Annual Exhibition

14-24 November 2013 ING Discerning Eye Exhibition

I've only just noticed in compiling this list that two major art competitions are both having exhibitions in the gallery at the same time!

Notes for Visitors to Art Exhibitions

See my websites about museums and art galleries in London

• Top 10 Art Galleries and Museums in the World in terms of the number of visitors
• The Top Ten Museums in London

Also see:

• Making A Mark - Top 30 Art Galleries and Museums in the World in 2012 (2 April 2013)
• Making A Mark - The Best Cities for Top Art Galleries and Museums (2012)
• Making A Mark - Art Exhibitions in London: March - May 2013 24 Mar 2013
• Making A Mark - London Art Exhibitions - Autumn/Winter 2012 28 Nov 2012

Notes for Artists

ARTISTS & ART BLOGGERS 

(Solo or Group Exhibitions)

• Art bloggers should write to me with details and images as per How to highlight your exhibition - for artist bloggers ONLY
• Exhibitions notified to me by art galleries will only be included if I rate the work of the artist!

ART EXHIBITIONS - COMPETITIONS AND ART SOCIETIES

• major art competition exhibitions - the ones I cover are typically those which are listed in my page on Major UK Art Competitions in 2013
• major art society exhibitions Typically these are national level art societies rather than local ones.  For the UK, these include Major UK Art Society Exhibitions in 2013