Nicknamed the ‘ribcage’, the winning design for a new Holocaust memorial and education centre in London was unveiled last week (25 October).
Designed by British-Ghanaian architect Sir David Adjaye, the £50 million memorial will be built in Victoria Tower Gardens, adjacent to the Houses of Parliament. Continue reading
Local councils battled for her, a disgraced mayor tried to sell her and Storm Brian almost toppled her. Now Henry Moore’s ‘Draped Seat Woman’ has at long last returned to London’s east end after holidaying in the green hills of Yorkshire. Continue reading
In the wake of Wednesday’s (22 March) terror attack in Westminster Londoners have paid an artistic tribute to those who perished.
Chalk drawings bearing positive messages of hope, peace and solidarity appeared on the paving in Trafalgar Square. They were crafted by four homeless street artists who handed out chalk and invited members of the public to inscribe their works with words and names. Continue reading
Londoners will be able to view a long-disputed self-portrait by Rembrandt when it visits the capital for the first time in November this year.
‘Self-Portrait, Wearing a Feathered Bonnet’ (1635) will be displayed at Dulwich Picture Gallery as part of the ‘Am I Rembrandt?’ exhibition (8 November – 5 March 2017). The show will explore the lengthy investigations conducted by curators and conservators into the painting’s authenticity. Continue reading
Plans for a new cultural and educational hub on the London 2012 Olympic site are to go ahead, London Mayor Sadiq Khan told The Art Newspaper on Wednesday night (17 August).
Former London Mayor, Boris Johnson, announced major new plans for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in 2014. Dubbed ‘Olympicopolis’ in an ode to South Kensington’s 86 acre ‘Albertopolis’ museum precinct, the new quarter on the Stratford waterfront was to bring together ‘art, dance, history, craft, science, technology and cutting edge design’. Continue reading
“Indisputably… one of the best museums in the world” is how judges described the Victoria & Albert Museum, which won the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year 2016 award last night.
The £100,000 prize was presented to the V&A by HRH The Duchess of Cambridge in a ceremony at London’s Natural History Museum. Accepting the award, V&A Director Martin Roth told the gathering of leading museum and cultural leaders that the prize money would be used to re-establish an old department axed due to budget cuts, which had been dedicated to supporting and collaborating with other museums and galleries across the UK. Continue reading
The brand new extension to Tate Modern on Bankside will open to the public on 17 June 2016. Consisting of ten storeys, the new Switch building will add 60% more display space to the existing gallery. The opening will be accompanied by a complete rehang of the collection displays, 75% of which will have been acquired since 2000. Speaking at a press conference today, Francis Morris, the Director of Tate Modern, said that it will feature “more international [artists], more new media and importantly more women.”
The nation’s youngest will be among the first to see the new development. 3,000 school children from across Britain have been invited to a special preview on Thursday 16 June 2016. On Saturday 18th June, a 500-strong choir from across London will perform a specially commissioned choral work by Peter Liversidge, kicking off a celebratory three weeks of live art from artists such as Tania Bruguera, Tino Seghal and Amalia Pica. Continue reading
It has been a terrible year for the destruction of cultural heritage in the Middle East. By September, the United Nations confirmed that militant group Islamic State (Isis) had razed two ancient temples, the Temple of Bel and the Baal Shamin temple, in the Syrian city of Palmyra.
As 2015 draws to a close, the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) has announced exciting plans which offer a glimmer of hope in the wake of the devastation. The IDA is to erect a replica of the entrance to the Temple of Bel, one of the few surviving parts of the 2,000 year old structure, in New York and London in April 2016. Continue reading
The race is on to find a UK buyer for a £30m artwork before it is exported for sale to an overseas collector.
A temporary six month export ban has been placed on Pontormo’s ‘Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Cap’ by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, according to a statement published by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport on 23 December. Continue reading
The National Portrait Gallery of London (NPG) is set to unveil the true story behind the only surviving group portrait of the Brontë sisters with the aid of scientific testing, the Telegraph reported at the end of last week. Continue reading
