Amelia Simonow, Harrodian Head of Art History, previews and reviews London's must-see art shows
Who? Rachel Whiteread
Where? Tate Britain
When? Until 21st January 2018
This exhibition by celebrated British sculptor and first female winner of the Turner Prize (1993), Rachel Whiteread, is not to be missed. Her perfectly executed minimalist concrete casts of ‘the inside of objects’ are unsettling, to say the least. Described alternatively by Tate Modern as ‘tombstones…effigies of moments that are gone for good' and by The Guardian as being 'poised between banality and a spellbinding poetry of the past’, the sculptures in this show range from the 'negative space' of Room 101 at the BBC, (purportedly the inspiration for George Orwell's room at the Ministry of Fear in 1984) to an exquisite interior cast of a beehive, executed in honey-like, golden resin. Harrodian History of Art students have studied Whiteread’s Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial in Vienna as part of the new Edexcel History of Art syllabus.
Who? Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, around 1500
Where? The National Gallery
When? Until 28th January
Dedicated to a trio of Renaissance greats, this small but perfectly formed exhibition provides a unique insight into the work of these legendary masters, exploring Leonardo’s influence on Michelangelo and Raphael.
Leonardo is certainly the man of the moment after his enigmatic and hauntingly beautiful painting Salvator Mundi broke all previous records at Christies selling for an incredible £342 million in November. This show provides the opportunity to see more of his extremely rare work as well as the Taddei Tondo (on loan from the Royal Academy) which is the only sculpture by Michelangelo in the UK.
