Exhibition of the week
Melvin Edwards
The first solo show in Britain for a pioneer of African-American art, taking in his work since the 60s, which includes his celebrated Lynch Fragments.
• Stephen Friedman Gallery, London W1 until 17 January
Other exhibitions this week
Germany: Memories of a Nation
If you are looking for an exhibition with a Christmassy feeling, the romantic paintings of northern forests and working Renaissance clocks in this fascinating survey of German culture are just the thing.
• British Museum, London WC1 until 25 January
Anselm Kiefer
This weekend is your very last chance to catch a barnstorming show by one of the greatest artists of our time.
• Royal Academy, London W1 until 14 December
The Sensory War
This exhibition explores how war has reshaped perceptions and bombarded the senses in art since 1914.
• Manchester Art Gallery, until 22 February
Masterpiece of the week
Albrecht Dürer and others – The Triumphal Arch (1515)
This incredible object is a gigantic print that emulates, in scale as well as content, an ancient Roman triumphal arch. But where the Romans built their arches of stone and covered them with marble reliefs, this monument is made of paper and the triumphs of Maximilian I are narrated in inky woodcuts. A true curiosity.
• British Museum, London WC
Image of the week
What we learned this week
How beautiful the world’s most ancient trees are
That the most expensive photo ever sold – for $6.5m – is hackneyed and tasteless ...
... and revives the debate about whether photography classes as fine art
What Jonathan Jones’s favourite art shows of the year are
What Adrian Searle’s top 10 art shows are
And what Oliver Wainwright’s design highlights of 2014 are
That spectacular beards are set to take over London’s Somerset House
That thieves in a Madrid gallery made off with 70 paintings
What child wrestlers, the uprising in Hong Kong and a performing poodle have in common
How exceptional avant-garde photography was during the world wars
And how brilliantly experimental Alvin Langdon Coburn’s early photography was
That the first British woman press photographer, a true trailblazer, is being honoured
And that the National Gallery is set to have its first woman chair
How cool California’s first skateboarders and rollergirls looked
What the lives of Indonesia’s child jockeys are like
