Exhibition of the week
Eduardo Paolozzi
Science, technology and the modern world merge creatively with the traditions of sculpture in the work of one of the first pop artists.
• Whitechapel Gallery, London, 16 February-14 May
Also showing
Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932
The art of the Russian revolution, from avant-garde experiments to propagandist portraits, in the unlikely setting of the RA’s plush galleries.
• Royal Academy, London, 11 February-17 April
Wolfgang Tillmans
Spontaneous, passionate photography that takes the pulse of our time.
• Tate Modern, London, 15 February-11 June
Cagnacci’s Repentant Magdalene
A provocative, nearly nude baroque portrayal of Mary Magdalene with a naked sinner being beaten for the very lust the painting incites.
• National Gallery, London, 15 Februry-21 May
Nathan Coley
In his latest work, this artist fascinated by architecture and the public sphere imagines a fire at Tate Modern.
• Parafin, London, 10 February-18 March
Masterpiece of the week
Peter Paul Rubens, Samson and Delilah (about 1609-10)
The immense fleshy back of Samson dominates this warmly glowing nocturnal scene, slumped in Delilah’s lap as Philistine warriors approach. The Biblical story, of how he was robbed of his strength by cutting his hair, is transmuted by this painterly masterpiece into a vision of the grandeur and fragility of the human form.
• National Gallery, London
Image of the week
Two children pose in a private photo studio, somewhere in the United States. The image is part of the Loewentheil Collection of African American Photographs, 645 gifted to Cornell University, and made available online this week. It adds up to a rebuttal against “the predominance of material on African Americans as enslaved people or working in menial jobs or other stereotypical situations,” as Cornell’s Katherine Reagan says – these images show African Americans asserting their normality and freedom after the distorting horrors of slavery.
What we learned this week
Did the Mona Lisa have syphilis?
Adrian Searle had mixed feelings about the Tate’s big David Hockney show...
... but loved the RA’s survey of revolution-era Russian art
Ian Sample and Oliver Wainwright visited the Science Museum’s Robots show
Christo told us how he made the Wrapped Reichstag
We toured around the contemporary art in Hull for its City of Culture celebrations
We met Paulo Mendes da Rocha, the Brazilian brutalist who has been awarded a RIBA gold medal
There’s only one Bruegel that matters – the one without an “h” in his name
We looked at the legacy of American Gothic – one of the world’s most parodied paintings
Anish Kapoor won the Genesis prize – and donated the $1m prize money to refugees
We spoke to Dennis Morris about his best photograph – a boy with a gun in Michael X’s Black House
Hettie Judah explored the trend for artists finding the macabre in the domestic
The National Gallery may not get this Pontormo masterpiece, thanks to a post-Brexit sterling slump
David Bailey’s portrait of the Queen has been reissued
Virginia Woolf’s sister Vanessa Bell has got her first ever major show
Rowan Moore pondered the merits of a British Holocaust memorial
Get involved
Book now for Guardian members’ events: a private view of the Robots exhibition at the Science Museum in London, a private view of Never Going Underground: The Fight for LGBT+ Rights at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, and a private view of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation prize at the Photographers’ Gallery in London.
Our A-Z of Readers’ Art series continues – we’re now asking for your artworks on the theme of Q is for Quality. Submit them here.
Don’t forget
To follow us on Twitter: @GdnArtandDesign.
