Surgery postponed - my list of exhibitions in London to visit

I made it all the way to the ward, unpacked and knew when the operation was likely to take place when it was CANCELLED (long story not for this blog!). It's hopefully in the process of being rescheduled for mid January.

So coming home again I started making a mental list of exhibitions to try and go and see.... 

and these are they....

ART EXHIBITIONS to see in London

Courtauld Museum

https://courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/

....has reopened after its major transformation project and I'd like to try and get to see old favourites again.

 

Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything

https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/hokusai-great-picture-book-everything

Venue: Room 90, British Museum

Dates: until 30th January 2022

Ticket prices - cheaper to go in the week rather than the weekend

In a global first, this exhibition will display 103 recently acquired drawings by Hokusai, produced in the 1820s–1840s for an illustrated encyclopedia called The Great Picture Book of Everything. For reasons unknown, the book was never published, presenting the opportunity to see these exceptional works which would otherwise have been destroyed as part of the woodblock printing process.

Depicting scenes from Buddhist India, ancient China and the natural world, the brush drawings not only showcase Hokusai's inimitable style and skill, but also reveal a version of 19th-century Japan much more intrigued by the wider world than previously thought.

Dürer's Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/durers-journeys-travels-of-a-renaissance-artist

Venue: Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery

Dates: Until 27 February 2022

Ticket prices: Standard admission £20 Monday – Sunday plus concessions

This is the exhibition which should have been held in 6 March 2021 – 13 June 2021 - but got caught by the lockdown.

I was really miffed I was going to miss this one so pleased I can now get to see it as I'[m a big admirer of Durer.

The first major UK exhibition of German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer in nearly 20 years.

Through paintings, drawings, prints, and letters, this exhibition follows Dürer’s travels across Europe, bringing to life the artist himself, and the people and places he visited.

Charting his journeys to the Alps, Italy, Venice and the Netherlands, the exhibition will explore how Dürer’s travels sparked an exchange of ideas with Netherlandish and Italian Renaissance artists, fuelled his curiosity and creativity, and increased his fame and influence across Europe.

Hogarth and Europe

Venue: Tate Britain
Dates: Until 20th March 2022

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/hogarth-and-europe

One that had completely passed me by - but I am partial to Hogarth. I often wonder why more artists today - with the exception of Grayson Perry - don't follow in his footsteps in terms of recording daily life.

Funny video provides a new take on the story!

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2021

A List of Virtual Art Galleries & Museums #1 - in the UK

If you've been clicking your way through Google Trends (I aced it on the quizzes!) you'll have seen this.....

Virtual Museum was the top trending search in relation to virtual activity

"Virtual Museum" hurtled up the search query rankings to become a TOP TREND in 2020 for virtual activities

So I thought I'd make a list of Virtual Museums - for your delectation over the Covid / Christmas Break (take your pick - says woman sat in a 'Deep Purple' zone in Tier 4 London - who's going absolutely nowhere in the foreseeable future).

Here's some of the things I've learned through this process:

• some art galleries and museums are using the word "virtual" to rechristen their existing offering on the website. Doubtless after they realise that "virtual museum" was a search query which was hitting new heights during Covid. 
• I'm looking for either:
• pre-existing and genuine virtual tours (i.e. you get to decide where you go and what you look at)
• new initiatives aimed at making art galleries and museums more accessible via virtual tours.
• The process also told me which art galleries and museum 
• really think hard about "virtual" from the perspective of the viewer i.e. we want to decide where we go and what we do - just as we do when we visit for real
• have an online marketing team which does NOT look at trends in search queries - and 
• which have not used the downtime associated with museums being closed to get virtual tours started properly!

Initially I'm going to divide the listing into three posts covering museums and art galleries in different geographical area i.e. 

1. the United Kingdom
2. Europe
• France
• Italy
• Spain
3. the USA

However if you like these posts, I'll do more!  Plus these are posts I can come back to and add in more art galleries and museums with virtual tours - and I'll do an update post to tell you what's been added when I do.

Finally - this is very much a work in progress - broken off initially today because I need to make dinner - but I will return!

A List of Virtual Museums

This list of art galleries and museums is ordered on the basis of which museums I found had invested and produced the best results. 

• I'm starting today with London - but will add in more museums from elsewhere in the UK later - within a regional context
• Suggestions of Virtual Tours you know about elsewhere in the UK to me on my Facebook Page
  
  

LONDON

British Museum

The British Museum has some unusual ways of viewing its collection online.

British Museum: Prints and Drawings - The Solution!

Yesterday I highlighted the problems with accessing the Virtual Gallery of the Prints and Drawings held in the permanent collection of the British Museum. 

Today I have the solution

This page provides the Collection search guide.  It's one of those guides which provides a lot of information for what is obviously a really big database of images.

Collection online has been completely redeveloped, making it much easier to find what you want. It allows access to almost four and a half million objects in more than two million records. The search is more intuitive and now offers suggestions as you type.

Unfortunately they completely forgot to provide a shorthand version - with links to certain specific types of drawings e.g Drawings or Prints.

It's almost as if 

• they've started off from the perspective of the complexity of their collection 
• rather than 
• EITHER asking people what they'd like to search for 
• OR done any analysis of the search queries that bring people to the British Museum website. 

The latter is the one which keeps me on my toes in terms of me tweaking my own website to make the most popular also the most accessible!

Progressive refinement of key words and filters

However if you start at this Explore the Collection Page and put "drawings" in the search window you get this

• So I then selected "objects" as the filter type on the left - and got a lot of objects some of which clearly were NOT drawings. So I think I'd suggest a quality audit of the referencing by key words!
• Rather annoyingly the feedback link for the individual pages which are not relevant to drawing goes to the "Sorry we can't find that page" - suggesting somebody needs to do a major audit for DEAD LINKS!!

Started again and selected 'paper' as the filter (under 'drawings') and got a rather better set of results

I then added 'flower' as an additional key word - and got an even better set of results - given I'm particularly interested in flower / botanical drawings and came across some 17th century Persian Drawings of flowers that I've never ever seen before.

Artists

I next tried Artists. The trick appears to be quite precise as to what you want to see - and remember/spell names correctly!

Do NOT use quotation marks around the artist's name - I got a nil result when I tried it with one artist.

So for example, if you add in an artist's name e.g. Thomas Rowlandson - you get a great collection of Rowlandson's pen and ink and wash drawings

I added in Ehret and got nine examples of works by or associated with one of my heroes Georg Ehret ( see About Georg Ehret on my website) 

The quality of the digital image is FABULOUS!  But you must first click on the image, go to its individual page and use the plus (+) icons to go in as far as the image will let you.

Drawn by Georg Dionysius Ehret
collection of the British Museum

I tried again and inserted Joseph Mallord William Turner and got some fabulous watercolour sketches and painting which allow you to see his technique up close. 

crop of a Topographic representation of: River Washburn by Joseph William Mallord Turner collection of the British Museum

The total number of items related to Turner exceeds 3,000!  That's because - although he painted a LOT - the search query also picked up people like John Sell Cotman who created drawings "after Turner".

Conclusion

There is undoubtedly lots of wonderful things to see in database of digitized images of items in the Permanent Collection of the British Museum.

For me it'll be one of those links I'll bookmark and try out while having a cup of tea - to see what comes up under different queries and keywords. I think there are lots of surprises.....

Here's a few more I found 

• Hindu and Persian Miniatures and Penmanship
• Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual
• Tempera
• Rembrandt (3,206 objects)

One interesting fact - there are 12,595 objects related to Painting - but only 200 of these are oil paintings - one of which is a very fine paintings of Portrait of: Dr Robert Anderson (Director of the BM) by Tom Phillips RA who has 55 items in the British Museum.

It's the ultimate surfing sinkhole!

British Museum: Prints and Drawings - problems with accessing the Virtual Gallery

 Have you checked out the developments the British Museum has made with its digitised Virtual Gallery for its Prints and Drawings?

Their website suggests that it's all very simple to access digital versions of prints and drawings in the collection.

In reality it isn't.

• today the problen
• tomorrow the solution!

Albrecht Durer 'Rhinoceros' at the British Museum

American artist Kara Walker at the British Museum

- who is best known for her panoramic friezes of cut-paper silhouettes

There is this page - Prints and Drawings virtual gallery - which provides a selection of Old Masters and Modern and Contemporary Drawings

BUT NO LINK OR EXPLANATION FOR HOW TO FIND OUT MORE.

These and millions of other works are freely accessible for you to look at via our study room.

so you go to the study room link an what you then see is 

The Museum's Department of Prints and Drawings is devoted to making its collection and specialist knowledge accessible. Most of the Prints and Drawings collection has been catalogued.

You can search for information and images about objects from the collection on Collection online which has information about more than four million objects in the British Museum collection.

Great

So you click the Collection online - and find that it is a completely DEAD LINK

WHAT YOU SEE WHEN YOU CLICK THE DEAD LINK!!

So then you try Study Room instead and get another dead end

Our study room remains closed to the public until further notice. Please delay any requests for object study as we are not currently able to accommodate these. We look forward to welcoming you back when our study room reopens in 2021.

Still no access to the Digital Collection of Drawings!

Tomorrow I'll show you how to access the digital collection!

Grayson Perry Returns - on TV, at the British Museum and with a new exhibition!

Oh joy of joys - Grayson is back - in a diverse number of ways - on TV, at the British Museum and with a new exhibition!  He and his work can be seen:

• at the British Museum - NOW!
• at Victoria Miro - with a new exhibition from 15th September timed to coincide with the roadtrip television series.....
• on Channel 4 - riding across the USA on his motorbike - in 3 episodes later this month
• early 2021 - in a second series of Grayson's Art Club.

That'll really get under the skin of the Grayson Haters Club.

For those who love Grayson read on....

CHANNEL 4 - another road trip in September 2020

Grayson Perry’s Big American Roadtrip (w/t), broadcast on Channel 4 in September

In this very personal three-part documentary travelogue, award-winning artist and social commentator Grayson Perry is going to travel across the US, to explore the meaning of the American Dream today. At a time when the nation can sometimes seem more divided than ever, he will spend time with people from very different walks of life, to try to understand how Americans today view issues of identity, race, money and class.

I have no dates and not a lot more than the quote from the production company above. Keep your eyes peeled - my guess is second half of the month.

Grayson Perry with his motorbike by the side of the road

CHANNEL 4 - a second series in early 2021

Grayson will be inviting you once again to join his Art Club in early 2021. 
No wonder - the first series was incredibly successful and has been nominated for a few television awards!

Grayson’s Art Club was the best performing series from Channel 4’s #StayAtHome Academy programming, attracting over one million viewers per episode. Apparently the nation was inspired to unleash its creative side during lockdown - with the series reportedly responsible for a considerable rise in online sales for craft specialists! 

“Appointment television is back – and it’s a bona fide masterpiece. In the midst of lockdown, a quirky Channel 4 series has brought the nation together and served up not just creativity but a slice of British life like no other.”
The Telegraph

Grayson’s Art Club, the critically acclaimed series, from BAFTA-winning production company Swan Films, has been recommissioned by Channel 4.  There are no dates as yet. 

Philippa and Grayson Perry

The second series has contemporary award-winning artist, writer and broadcaster Grayson Perry reworking from his studio alongside his wife, the best-selling author, psychotherapist and broadcaster Philippa Perry.

“I’m so pleased and proud Art Club is coming back, it’s a joyful team effort with the stars being the artists who send in their wonderful works and tell us their stories. Of course, it’s not principally about art, it’s a celebration of life.” 

Grayson Perry

The second series of Grayson’s Art Club in early 2021 will follow the same format, In each episode:

• Grayson will in his studio making his own art - alongside Philippa who is no slouch in the art department!
• He will also have conversations with celebrity guests, high-profile artists sharing insights into their processes, 
• feature art made by the great British public. 

The one departure is that if social distancing rules permit it, Grayson will also travel around the country to meet artists and discuss their artwork. 

The series is being made by Swan Films produced by Neil Crombie and Joe Evans

“We’re thrilled to bring Grayson’s Art Club back to Channel 4. The first series unlocked a wealth of creativity around the country, and we’ll be building on that for the post-lockdown era, showing once again why we all need the joy of art in our lives.”
Joe Evans, co-founder and managing director of Swan Films

You will again be able to join in the conversation on twitter and Instagram @Channel4 using the hashtag #C4ArtClub

BRITISH MUSEUM

Grayson Perry: The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman

Art Galleries and Museums to reopen - with covid secure measures

This lunchtime it was announced that Art Galleries and Museums can reopen from 4th July 2020. However they will have to comply with ongoing requirements for social distancing for interiors.

At the same time the social distancing rule will be limited to something called "one metre plus" which seems to mean a minimum of one metre if two metres is not possible but try and do more than one metre.

The British Gallery in the National Gallery of Art

Art Galleries and Museums in London

Most of the larger arts venues fall under "step three" of the official lockdown plan. Step three relates to all those which are seen as "higher-risk businesses" either:

• because they involve crowds of people in close proximity
• or because it's know there is a much greater threat of Covid-19 transmission within enclosed spaces

Hence they were told that they could not legally re-open before July 4 - but that to be confirmed and today it has.

The Directors of the Tate, Science Museum Group, the Natural History Museum, the National Gallery, the British Museum and the V&A welcomed the news and issued a joint statement which said

“The British public have faced a wretched few months of isolation, loss and anxiety in confronting the Covid-19 pandemic,” they said. “The reopening of museums – whose galleries speak to the creative, resilient power of the human spirit – will provide solace and inspiration as Britain looks to the future.

All the following closed on 18 March 2020 and have now been closed for over three months.

Covid-secure measures

It's expected that it will be mandatory that all public spaces inside MUST follow they follow guidance to ensure they are "Covid secure"

The type of measures we can expect to see when the art galleries and museums reopen are:

• minimise face-to-face contact by requiring customers to pre-book tickets, 
• require the public to stand in spaced queues and to enter and leave through different areas. 
• erect screen to minimise the risk to staff 
• staff wear face visors
• improve ventilation systems where these are problematic and/or fail health and safety tests re. circulation of Covid19 laden air.

Why no announcements?

It's been clear that moves were afoot to reopen art galleries and museums since the Director of the National Gallery returned and did a short video from inside the National Gallery a couple of weeks back.

As a result I'm really VERY surprised that nobody had their Press Releases sorted in advanced and ready to go when the Government announced the changes.

I'm wondering what's going on which means that none to date have actually announced they are reopening. I'm guessing representations are being made about money re. loss of income and the additional costs of reopening.

Tate Galleries - closed until further notice - or 4th July???

There is nothing on the websites of the following - which is surprising given they've known this has been coming for some time.

• British Museum
• National Gallery 
• Tate Britain / Tate Modern
• Victoria and Albert
• Royal Academy of Arts - but they at least have announced changes to exhibitions for 2020/21 (see NOT The Summer Exhibition)
• Wallace Collection
• Dulwich Picture Gallery

Temporary Closures beyond 4th July 2020

• National Portrait Gallery: closed for the next three years (and more!) - see National Portrait Gallery not reopening - until 2023
• Courtauld Gallery - Closure of the Courtauld Gallery - more details - remains shut until Spring 2021 due to major renovation. Note it was originally intended that it would only be shut for two years from Autumn 2018. 

Food and Drink

The hospitality side of the galleries and museums should also reopen BUT they are presumably under the same constraints as all other venues inside providing food and drink i.e. if you enter you must give your name and address for contacting.

Smaller commercial art galleries were successful in getting recategorised as non-essential retail and hence were allowed to open earlier - but have adopted an approach of "appointments only" + strictly limited numbers at any one time.

NOTE: Theatres and concert halls are able to reopen from July 4 but not for live performances. What do you do if not have a live performance? Show films?  I think this may come within the following

Permitting cultural and sporting events to take place behind closed-doors for broadcast, while avoiding the risk of large-scale social contact.

Coronavirus and Art #4: Art Galleries, Museums and Auction Houses close in London

The list of art galleries, museums and auction houses in London which have announced a temporary closure due to the Coronavirus Pandemic are as listed below. 

• I will update this post periodically as new closures are announced.
• Links in the name are to the website or the page where there is an announcement.

The home page of the Serpentine Galleries is unequivocal about what has happened.

Art Galleries and Museums in London

The British Museum will close temporarily from 18 March 2020. Director Hartwig Fischer would like to share this message.

For more information, please see our website: https://t.co/3WrFt92jn2 (1/3) pic.twitter.com/CDrCKIaPhF

— British Museum (@britishmuseum) March 17, 2020

• British Museum
• Tate - has closed all four galleries including Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives until at least 1 May.

• National Portrait Gallery

The safety of our staff, visitors and community is our priority, therefore we have decided to temporarily close the Gallery from Wednesday 18 March until further notice. Please read the full statement below, we look forward to staying in touch with you here on Twitter 💛 pic.twitter.com/pIbfaYopMi

— Portrait Gallery (@NPGLondon) March 17, 2020

• The Royal Academy closed while I was writing this blog post! 

We hereby rename Tuesday Shut All The Museums And Galleries In The UK Day

— Royal Academy (@royalacademy) March 17, 2020

• Serpentine Galleries 

Following careful consideration in response to the COVID-19 situation, the Serpentine will temporarily close to the public from today until further notice.

We look forward to welcoming you back soon. Wish you all good health, the Serpentine team. pic.twitter.com/hqmUQHHntR

— Serpentine Galleries (@SerpentineUK) March 17, 2020

• The whole Southbank Centre, including the Hayward Gallery, has now closed
• The ICA is closed - this includes exhibition spaces, cinema, theatre, bookshop and canteen.

Following careful consideration of the current course of the Covid-19 pandemic, the entire ICA (exhibition spaces, Cinema, Theatre, Bookstore and Rochelle Canteen) will close to visitors and staff until further notice.

Read more: https://t.co/Cxykn4S3o0 pic.twitter.com/pNeE7G9Rwp

— ICA (@ICALondon) March 16, 2020

• Victoria and Albert Museum - close as from tomorrow at South Kensington, Museum of Childhood, Blythe House, V&A Dundee 

Art Galleries in London still open

• The National Gallery remains open for the time being but its new exhibition about 17th century Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi. has been postponed.
• The Wallace Collection also remains open - but has a lower footfall than some others.

The Wallace Collection is open as usual to welcome visitors, and there are no changes to our opening hours because of coronavirus. We are continuing to monitor the advice of Public Health England and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and will update our visitors if the situation changes.

• The Mall Galleries is still open.

Art Galleries elsewhere in the UK

National Galleries Scotland have closed temporarily - until further notice.

Galleries closed until further notice.
In order to help protect the health of our staff and visitors during this difficult time, we are closing all of our Galleries from 5pm this evening, 17 March 2020. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/ze35WxMfPY

— National Galleries (@NatGalleriesSco) March 17, 2020

Auction Houses

The auction houses are not so much closed as very busy rescheduling sales.

• Christies are currently rescheduling a significant number of sales around the world
• Sothebys has an Update to its Spring Sales Schedule

London Art Galleries and Museums: Membership Scheme costs compared

The cost of seeing an art exhibition in London is not cheap. Enrolling for one or more Friends / Membership schemes can seem like a sensible thing to do if you like viewing art. 

Certainly, I planned on visiting art exhibitions a lot when I retired and one of the very first things I did when I retired was to take out memberships at a number of the national art galleries and museums in London - and I've never regretted it - until now.

The reality is Annual Membership fees for Art Galleries and Museums keep on rising 

• by more than the cost of inflation (as government funding has been cut) over the course of the recession 
• some rises have also been pretty steep and less than transparent for those addressing some pretty ambitious development plans!  I use direct debits for my memberships and got a major shock when I realised how much I was now paying for my RA membership!

Given memberships are often gifted at Christmas I thought I'd do a review of:

• what each membership scheme costs
• my conclusions as to which is best for what
• the best value art membership scheme of all - and it's maybe a scheme you're not aware of

Some of you who have enrolled and, like me, have not looked at your direct debits lately may get a SHOCK!

National Gallery from Trafalgar Square on a late winter afternoon

Art Galleries and Museums - The cost of membership

Membership fees have changed and come museums have got very cute at working out what makes a difference to people eg

• some are very family friendly with free access for more than two kids (see Tate and V&A)
• some are kind to young people eg V&A
• some are well suited to those who like taking their friends and guests to an exhibition
• some do decent discounts on books and items in shops eg NPG and Tate
• some do decent discounts on restaurant meals and throw in great views eg National Portrait Gallery (one of the main reasons members go to to the NPG!)

Art Gallery / Museum	2017/18 Million visitors	Benefits Summary	Annual / Life Membership
British Museum	5.8	Free unlimited entry to exhibitions, special events, members room & other benefits	£64 single £86 joint £44 under 26 single
Dulwich Picture Gallery	?	Free unlimited entry to all visiting exhibitions and Collection + Friends' Private Views; Friends Rates on tickets for lectures, art classes, talks & events; InView magazine (3 editions per year); Friends monthly e-news; opportunity to get involved with the work of the	£43 single £61 single + family guest £25 under 30 single Year 1 payment covers 14 months for direct debit
National Gallery	5.0	Free unlimited entry to exhibitions + private views of exhibitions, exclusive Members' events including concerts, cinema screenings, talks, and more	£68 single £94 joint (household) £107 single + guest Nothing for young people
National Portrait Gallery	1.7	Free unlimited entry to ticketed exhibitions + members' only private views and previews; 10% discount in Gallery Shop, Portrait Café & Restaurant	£55 single (direct debit) £80 single + guest £90 joint (same address)
Royal Academy of Arts	1.1 (2016/17)	Free entry to exhibitions for you and a family guest (but you have to book first for some) + Previews to exhibitions before they open to the public; Priority booking to all RA events. Private views and exclusive Friends events; all-day access to the Keeper's House; RA Magazine and a weekly email newsletter; 10% discount in the RA shop (but not on everything)	£125 standard friend + guest £60 16-25 single + family guest [Note: NO SINGLE MEMBERSHIP]
Tate Group (Tates Modern, Britain,  St Ives and Liverpool)	8.2	Free unlimited entry to all four Tate galleries and any exhibitions, plus member talks, events and viewing hours. Unlimited free exhibition entry at all four art galleries (No need to book, just turn up) +; Exclusive Members Hours away from the crowds; Access to Members Room; 10% Tate Shop discount. Free admission for up to six children	£76 single (direct debit) £120 single + guest (direct debit) Year 1 (Direct Debit) = 15 months for the price of 12
Victoria & Albert Museum	4.4	Free unlimited entry to all exhibitions (no need to book) +  exclusive previews; priority booking for evening talks and access to specially curated Members-only events; Members' Room; V&A Magazine (three times a year); quarterly newsletter & monthly emails; free access to exhibitions for up to four children (under-18)	£70 single £95 single + guest £145 joint + 2 guests £45 single under 25
Wallace Collection	0.5	Free unlimited entry to all exhibitions + exclusive events (Lectures / tours / exhibition previews); Concession rates on public events including concerts, Friday Lates, lectures and art classes; 10% discount in our Museum Shop and The Wallace Restaurant*	£45 single £65 joint £30 Single under 25

1. Most of the above also do Joint Membership schemes + guests but I've not included them above as I think the cost will have limited appeal to all but the most sociable and well endowed.
2. The Courtauld Gallery closed in September 2018 for at leas two years for renovations. Meanwhile you can see the Impressionist Paintings from the Coutauld at the National Gallery.

Some of the world famous Courtauld Impressionist paintings at the National Gallery

My conclusions

• For those who like blockbuster exhibitions - consider 
• the British Museum (if you like historical / cultural aspects of art)
• the National Gallery (for once in a lifetime exhibitions of art loaned by other national museums)
• the V&A (if you like design, fashion and/or contemporary culture)
• the RA - for "once in a while" blockbusters. (They certainly don't have them every year.)
• If you have a young family the Tate and V&A are your best bet - both provide free admission for children under 18 (6 and 4 respectively). Others provide free access for under 12s and discounted prices for 13-18 year olds.
• If you want to see exhibitions when they are less crowded, choose less busy hours of the day or extended hours which are also open to the public. 
• Members previews at some galleries are if anything MORE crowded than when the public are in!  
• Only galleries who are making a very serious effort to make the galleries less crowded for viewing by members should get your money.
• If you enjoy somewhere to relax after seeing an exhibition, consider the Tate. Best view in London (across the Thames) and some comfy seats at Tate Modern. HOWEVER
• most galleries forget that a lot of their membership patrons are pensioners who like to have decent sit down at some point during the day, especially after seeing an exhibition. 
• The leather Chesterfields in the Friend Room at the RA (sadly now gone for good) kept me as a member for a very long time!  Hard seats have very little appeal....
• If you want a stunning view - and a discount - with your lunch, consider the National Portrait Gallery Restaurant - which looks out at Parliament and the London Eye over the top of the National Galley. The 10% discount is a bonus!
• Think very long and hard before signing up for a Royal Academy of Arts Friends subscription
• there is NO SINGLE MEMBERSHIP for those of us who like visiting exhibitions on our own -and/or not having to pay through the nose for the odd times we take a friend as well.
• as a result, it's TWICE the cost of most of memberships (ie equivalent to Friend + Guest subscriptions elsewhere) - and creeps up each year without being signalled loudly. 
• Plus having a membership card no longer means free access whenever you want (i.e. the main reason I have a card) as you still need to book entry for members previews and some popular exhibitions - which means less spontaneity and you don't eliminate booking!). 
• It's much much cheaper to just book for the exhibitions you want to see and pay for tickets online.

The Best Value Membership Scheme - by a long way!

Art Exhibitions in London: June-July 2017

If you're visiting London and want to visit an art exhibition in London in June-July 2016, you'll find the list of art exhibitions below a useful start for choosing what to see and where to go.

It starts with exhibitions about individual artists and moves on to the Group Shows.  Dates are indicated and the title of each exhibition includes a link to the gallery's webpage about the exhibition

If you know of any more that deserve to be added in please leave a comment or contact me.

Exhibitions about an Artist

British Museum

• Hokusai: beyond the Great Wave - (25 May – 13 August 2017 - Room 35) - focuses on the last thirty years of Japan’s most renowned artist’s, Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), career from around 1820 to 1849.

Dulwich Picture Gallery

• Sargent: The Watercolours - 21 Jun 2017 - 8 Oct 2017 - The first UK show in nearly 100 years devoted to watercolours by the Anglo-American artist, John Singer Sargent (1856-1925).

Gagosian Gallery (20 Grosvenor Hill)

• Picasso: Minotaurs and Matadors (28th April 25th August 2017) - examines the bullfighting imagery by Picasso; curated by John Richardson

Garden Museum

• Eileen Hogan: Artist-Not-In Residence (May-September 2017) -  twelve large-scale oil paintings, one for each month of the year of places, parks and gardens in London that mean something to people. Includes an exhibition of her sketchbooks. Executed while the 'artist-in residence' for a museum that was closed for refurbishment.

Jerwood Gallery

• Jean Cooke - Delight in the Thing Seen (24th May - 17th September 2017) Jean Cooke RA (1927-2008) delighted many people with her very personal view of the world and the way she could make art from the everyday activities
• Quentin Blake: The Only Way to Travel (14th June - 15th October 2017) - news works created featuring extraordinary beasts, machines and narrative scenes, exploring themes such as dislocation, loneliness and depression.

National Gallery

• Chris Ofili - Weaving Magic (26 April – 28 August 2017 - Sunley Room) A new work in a new tapestry medium for Chris Ofili; imagery reflects Ofili’s ongoing interest in classical mythology and the stories, magic, and colour of the Trinidadian landscape he inhabits

National Portrait Gallery

• Howard Hodgkin: Absent Friends (23 March - 18 June 2017 - Porter Gallery) - the first exhibition of portraits by Howard Hodgkin (b.1932), one of Britain’s leading artists

Queens's Gallery

• Canaletto and the Art of Venice (19 May 2017 - 12 November 2017) - series of views of 18th century Venice in a series of paintings, drawings and prints by Venice's most famous view-painter, Canaletto (1697-1768). It also includes works by other Venetian artists but Canaletto is very much star of the show

Serpentine Gallery

• Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever (8 June - 10 September 2017) - a major exhibition of new work - ceramics, prints and tapestries - commenting on modern society, politics and social media

Tate Modern

• Alberto Giacometti (10 May – 10 Sep 2017) - focusing on influences and practices
• Fahrelnissa Zeid - 6 Jun – 8 Oct 2017 - Zeid (1901–1991) was one of the most influential female Turkish artists; best known for her large-scale abstract paintings

White Cube. Mason's Yard

• Wayne Thiebaud (1962-2017) (24 May – 2 July 2017) - a selection of paintings and works on paper that date from 1962 to 2017.

Group Art Exhibitions

British Museum

• The American Dream: pop to the present (9 March – 18 June 2017) an outstanding collection of modern and contemporary American prints 
• Places of the Mind: British watercolour landscapes 1850–1950 (23 February – 27 August 2017 - Room 90) The 125 watercolours and drawings on display examining the ways artists interpreted landscape on paper during the Victorian and early Modern period

Courtauld Gallery

• Bloomsbury Art & Design 18 February – 21 September 2017 Special Display - a wide-ranging selection of work by the early twentieth century Bloomsbury Group. A new selection of works on paper will be displayed from 24 May 2017.

Garden Museum

• Tradescant's Orchard: A Celebration of Botanical Art (May-September 2017) - a contemporary exhibition comprising watercolours of fruit by fifty eminent botanical artists alongside alongside a display of ‘The Tradescants’ Orchard’, a seventeenth-century volume of sixty-six watercolours depicting fruit varieties that John Tradescant and his son might have grown in their market garden at Lambeth

Mall Galleries

• New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2017 (16 June 2017 to 25 June 2017) - an exhibition by a group of visual artists whose work is based principally upon direct observation of nature and the human figure
• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2017 (28 June 2017 to 2 July 2017) - the ever popular exhibition organised by David Shepherd includes fine art in various media by international wildlife artists

National Gallery

• Michelangelo & Sebastiano - 15 March – 25 June 2017 (North Galleries) - About the creative artistic relationship between two great Renaissance masters, Sebastiano and Michelangelo, from the 1510s through to the 1540s

National Portrait Gallery

• BP Portrait Award 2017 (22 June - 24 September 2017 - Wolfson Gallery) - an internationally prestigious exhibition and the most visited of exhibitions at the NPG
• The Encounter: Drawings from Leonardo to Rembrandt (13 July - 22 October 2017) - featuring portrait drawings by some of the outstanding masters of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Natural History Museum

• The Art of British Natural History : Images of Nature (over 200 illustrations via 4 rotations) - Images of Nature Gallery - 11 March 2017 to summer 2018.

Royal Academy of Arts

• Summer Exhibition 2017 (12 June — 20 August 2017 - Main Galleries) - the biggest open art exhibition in the world. A unique platform for emerging and established artists to showcase works across painting and printmaking, photography, sculpture, architecture and film. 

Saatchi Gallery

• From Selfie to Self Expression (31 March - 23 July 2017) - the world’s first exhibition exploring the history of the selfie from Velazquez to the present day, while celebrating the truly creative potential of a form of expression often derided for its inanity.

Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens

• British Artists in Shirley Sherwood Collection (25 March to 17 September 2017) - Her vast collection of botanical art contains 330 works by 86 British botanical painters. Some of these are showcased in this exhibition, including Brigid Edwards, Coral Guest, Rory McEwen, Rosie Sanders, Pandora Sellars and Graham Rust..

Tate Britain

• Queer British Art 1861 - 1967 (5 April - 1 October 2017) - Featuring works from 1861–1967 relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) identities, the show marks the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England.

Tate Modern

• Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power (12 Jul – 22 Oct 2017) - explores how the category ‘Black Art’ was defined, rejected and redefined by artists across the United States

Victoria & Albert Museum

• The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains (13 May – 1 October 2017 - Room 39 - Exhibition Space) - includes set and construction pieces from some of Pink Floyd’s most innovative and legendary album covers and stage performances, original designs, architectural drawings, handwritten lyrics and psychedelic prints and posters.