BEST NEW ART SHOWS

As galleries around the world reopen, here are the exhibitions to check out.

SOPHIE TAEUBER-ARP: LIVING ABSTRACTION

Where: Museum of Modern Art, New York, US When: November 21, 2021 – March 12, 2022

Sophie is best known for her geometric abstractions and work with her husband and sculptor Jean Arp. This exhibition will be travelling to some of the biggest art institutions in the world (including the Kunstmuseum in Basel and the Tate Modern in London) and sets out to showcase Sophie’s contribution towards the history of abstract art. Containing around 400 works, the exhibition will start with early architectural and interior design pieces before moving towards abstract line drawings produced towards the end of the artist’s life in 1943.

BOTTICELLI

Where: Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, France When: September 10, 2021 – January 24, 2022

Sandro Botticelli was a major Italian Renaissance artist, painting from mid-1400s to early 1500s. Some of his most famous pieces from US and European collections will be going on show at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris this autumn, ››

including Madonna and Child, The Return of Judith to Bethulia and Portrait of Giuliano de’ Medici. As well as paintings, the exhibition will feature drawings for embroideries and prints, drawing light on how the artist vacillated between producing one-off works and larger series. There will also be other works from 15th century artists, including Fra’ Filippo Lippi and Verrocchio.

YAYOI KUSAMA: A RETROSPECTIVE

Where: Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel When: November 2, 2021 – April 23, 2022

Yayoi’s work now spans some 70 years and eight of her most important exhibitions (showcased between 1952 and 1983) will be recreated in Berlin this year before being exhibited in that autumn at Tel Aviv’s Museum of Art. Yayoi has used a multitude of mediums throughout her career, changing her use of space. There will also be a new exhibition, Infinity Mirror Room, which the artist has created for the occasion. As well as more well-known pieces, there will be earlier works from her long career in the exhibition.

TRACEY ROSE: SHOOTING DOWN BABYLON

Where: Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa When: December 15, 2021 – July 3, 2022

A revolutionary and radical performance artist, Tracey Rose is known for producing some controversial pieces that shine a light on issues within society, from gender equality to rising tensions between Palestine and Israel. The Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town will be showcasing the artist’s largest retrospective to date later this year, with works from 1996 to 2019. There will be a mix of film, photography, sculpture, performance, paint and print. The exhibition is titled after her 2016 installation Shooting Down Babylon, which looks into exorcisms and cleansing rituals in non-Western communities and post-colonial entanglements.

ALICE: CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER

Where: Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK When: May 22 – December 31, 2021

A major new show at London’s V&A will chart the evolution of Lewis Carroll’s kaleidoscopic story of Wonderland, from manuscript to it becoming a global phenomenon with the likes of Walt Disney and Tim Walker adapting the tale. The exhibition is a theatrical, immersive journey with over 300 objects gathered from the story’s 158-year history. Original drawings, set designs, costumes from the Royal Ballet’s production and original models from film adaptations will all be on display, as well as album artwork.

BARBARA KRUGER: THINKING OF YOU. I MEAN ME. I MEAN YOU

Where: Art Institute of Chicago, US When: September 19, 2021 – January 24, 2022

The American conceptual artist is best known for her political messages and collages, mixing text with image. Her career now spans four decades, with a range of her work going on show at the Art Institute of Chicago in autumn, before being shown at a later date at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The exhibition will include collages, installations, videos and rare works from the 1980s that shine a light on the artist’s messages in feminist cultural critique. However, the exhibition is not merely a retrospective, the works having been rethought, remade and replayed – with some even going beyond the walls of the Art Institute of Chicago, branching into the streets, on billboards, buses and public transport tickets. O

Page 93: Sophie Taeuber-Arp The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Imaging and Visual Resources. © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.

Left: Tracey Rose Die Wit Man, 2015, Single channel HD projection, stereo surround sound, 42’ 40”. Courtesy the artist and Dan Gunn, London.

Above: Illustrations detailing the creative process behind Heston Blumenthal's Mock-Turtle Soup, part of the V&A's Alice Curiouser and Curiouser exhibition. (c) Drawings by Dave McKean. Image courtesy of Heston Blumenthal.