1 Yves Klein
Magic and mysticism, fire and freedom dance through the works of Yves Klein. This charismatic star of 1960s French art tried to fly, practised judo, used nude models as paintbrushes and patented his own shade of blue. While all of that makes him sound a ridiculous showman, long after his death his works shine on. The blue imprints of naked bodies in his Anthropometries are not offensive but haunting, for Klein was a modern shaman whose vision reunited the spiritual and the carnal.
Tate Liverpool, 21 October to 5 March
2 Rodin And Dance
In textbooks, Rodin is “the first modern sculptor”, yet his art is bigger and stranger than that. Even as he expresses the loneliness and longings of modern men and women, he looks back to the age of Michelangelo, rooting his creations in Dante’s Divine Comedy. Here, in some of his final works, he turns his sensual eye on the nature of movement. Expect affinities not only with Degas but also Da Vinci, as one of the greatest artists of human form loses himself in one last dance.
The Courtauld Gallery, WC2, 20 October to 22 January
3 Tony Cragg
Warped and wobbly images of space and time populate this lauded British sculptor’s latest show. Like the architecture of Frank Gehry or Zaha Hadid, Tony Cragg’s art is a liberating exploration of the disorder of things: curvaceous convolutions and blobby manifestations stretching and bending reality. Good post-Einsteinian fun.
Lisson Gallery, NW1, to 5 November
4 Ed Ruscha
This coolest and most enduring of pop artists is the Magritte of Los Angeles, a philosophical ironist revealing the instability of things through his art. The Hollywood sign stands flatly against the sky; gas stations catch fire; objects become their shadows; and the diners and motels of LA are preserved in dispassionate photographs. Ruscha’s world is comic yet eerie – and always worth a visit.
Gagosian Gallery, Grosvenor Hill, W1, to 17 December
5 Hepworth prize for sculpture
Named after one of Britain’s most renowned three-dimensional artists, this new award recognises original, significant contributions to sculpture from artists of any age (unlike the youth-obsessed Turner prize). The inaugural shortlist includes veterans Phyllida Barlow and David Medalla, as well as comparative youngsters Steven Claydon and Helen Marten. Expect a substantial show.
