1: Sicily: Culture And Conquest
The golden island of Sicily has been an artistic mongrel for thousands of years, a place where all the cultures of the Mediterranean have left their trace. The cathedral of Monreale glitters with Byzantine mosaics, while the Norman palace in Palermo mixes Christian figures with the geometric abstract art of Islam. You can save on the air fare to this artistic paradise by seeing some of its wonders in the British Museum’s latest chapter of world history.
British Museum, WC1, to 14 Aug
2: Mat Collishaw
What better place to see Collishaw’s gothic art than an actual gothic abbey? The National Trust has commissioned one of Britain’s most imaginative contemporary artists to create ghostly, spiralling digital artworks that respond to the atmosphere of this 1,000-year-old abbey and its 18th-century water garden. Collishaw has a vivid sense of history and an appetite for visceral imagery so this won’t be stereotypical National Trust fare.
Fountains Abbey, Ripon, Sat to 30 Oct
3: Undressed: A Brief History Of Underwear
This really is a serious survey of the history of what people wear underneath what they wear, and that’s a major topic in the story not just of fashion but of art itself. Where would 18th-century artists such as Hogarth and Rowlandson be without the stockings, stays and slips they peep at? Looks like another hit for the most pleasurable museum in Britain.
4: Pablo Bronstein
I’m not really sure about Bronstein, but he’s dead fashionable. His art is a refined form of dandyism that sports historical allusions to the 18th century, neo-classicism and the gothic revival, yet delivers a cool contemporary feel.
Tate Britain, SW1, Tue to 9 Oct
5: Jenny Saville
Now that Britain’s older painters are, well, old, Saville – at a mere 45 – is a standard bearer for visceral, earthy, figurative painting (work pictured, above). It is also interesting to compare her old masterly sketches with Tracey Emin’s recent nudes. Are women becoming the guardians of tradition in art? Is an era of the Old Mistresses dawning at last?
