Exhibitions

NOVEMBER’S BEST ART SHOWS

LATE CONSTABLE 30 October to 13 February 2022 John Constable’s seminal six-foot scenes of the River Stour are arguably the most iconic landscape paintings in British art. Yet this new survey uses the final offering in the series, 1825’s The Leaping Horse [above], as a springboard to explore the artist’s final 12 years. Among more than 50 artworks on show will be mezzotint prints, watercolours and more full-scale oil paintings, as well as some of his famous plein air cloud studies. Royal Academy of Arts, London. www.royalacademy.org.uk

© ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON. PHOTO: PRUDENCE CUMING ASSOCIATES LTD.

THE EXPRESSIVE MARK 17 November to 2 April 2022 Abstract Expressionism was arguably the first artistic movement that shifted the focus of Western art from Europe to America. Nevertheless, post-war British artists still had a part to play in this new language of painting.

Collecting key examples, The Expressive Mark will show how British painters such as Gillian Ayres [Distillation, left] and Roger Hilton were influenced by their peers across the Atlantic to develop their own vocabularies of mark-making techniques. The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, The University of Leeds. www.library.leeds.ac.uk

© ESTATE OF GILLIAN AYRES. PHOTO: © TATE REFLECTIONS: THE LIGHT AND LIFE OF JOHN HENRY LORIMER 6 November to 20 March 2022 While Claude Monet and Edgar Degas were pushing the boundaries of painting in France, oft-forgotten contemporary John Henry Lorimer was quietly developing a more classical style back home in Edinburgh.

Giving the Scottish artist the attention he deserves is this retrospective of oil paintings, watercolours and sketches, including The Flight of the Swallows [below]. Throughout Lorimer depicts elegant interiors and light- filled landscapes with technical brilliance. City Art Centre, Edinburgh. www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk

© CITY ART CENTRE. PHOTO: MUSEUMS & GALLERIES EDINBURGH – CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL

Dates may change due to Covid-19 restrictions Always check gallery websites beforehand

SAINSBURY CENTRE © MARY WEBB RHYTHM AND GEOMETRY: CONSTRUCTIVIST ART IN BRITAIN SINCE 1951 2 October to 30 January 2022 Calling into question the assumption that creativity and logic are two very distinct entities were the Constructivists of mid-century Britain, who relied on mathematical and scientific foundations to create their geometric abstract art.

To celebrate the emotive and optical effects of colour and pattern so closely tied to the movement is this collection of paintings, reliefs, sculptures and mobiles, dating from the 1950s to the present day. The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich. www.sainsburycentre.ac.uk

HOGARTH AND EUROPE 3 November to 20 March 2022 Few artists have defined an era like William Hogarth, whose satirical depictions of 18th-century England still capture imaginations today. However, he was not alone in painting the rapid changes to society, as this exhibition hopes to prove.

Hogarth originals will be placed alongside those of his continental contemporaries, such as Parisian painter Jean-Siméon Chardin and Venetian artist Pietro Longhi. The comparisons should ensure the British artist’s work is revealed in all its complexity, while proving parallels and sympathies have no borders. Tate Britain, London. www.tate.org.uk