Laura Knight Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London
Presenting the distinctive and vivid work of Dame Laura Knight (1877 –1970), one of the most popular and pioneering British artists of the twentieth century, this exhibition features over 30 of the artist’s portraits. As well as providing a window onto her important works, it also illustrates her success in gaining greater professional recognition for women in the arts.
Until 3 October, www.npg.org.uk
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Curiosity: Art and the Pleasures of Knowing, Turner Contemporary, Margate
Curated by Brian Dillon, this Hayward Touring exhibition, in collaboration with Turner Contemporary and New York art and culture magazine Cabinet, places contemporary art alongside historical artefacts, turning the gallery into a cabinet of curiosities. (Read Tim Clark’s piece about Laurent Grasso’s Vatican Observatory photographs and the publication that accompanies the Curiosity exhibition, here.)
Until 15 September, www.turnercontemporary.org
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Mass Observation: This is Your Photo, The Photographers’ Gallery, London
Exhibition examining the role of photography in the Mass Observation Archive. Mass Observation was founded in 1937 as a radical experiment in social science, art and documentary. Its founders aimed to create a new kind of realism in response to the economic and political conditions leading up to World War II, hoping to create an ‘anthropology of ourselves’ through artistic means.
Until 29 September, thephotographersgallery.org.uk
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Spring Rain: Becky Beasley, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds
Becky Beasley explores relationships between photography and objects, the body and literature in an exhibition that features references to Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy and Marcel Duchamp’s final work, Étant donnés – and includes cucumbers grown from seed by the artist. The show’s title is taken from a short story by Jewish American writer Bernard Malamud (1914-1986), a minimal tale of the ambiguities of everyday human relations, of things unsaid or unsayable.
Until 22 September, www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries
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Witches and Wicked Bodies, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Discover how witches and witchcraft have been depicted by artists over the past 500 years, including works by Albrecht Dürer, Francisco de Goya and William Blake, plus pieces by 20th century artists such as Paula Rego and Kiki Smith. The exhibition includes works on loan from, amongst others, the British Museum and V&A, as well as from the Scottish Galleries’ own collections.
Until 3 November, www.nationalgalleries.org
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Selection compiled by Jack Hutchinson
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