Exhibition of the week
Rose Finn-Kelcey
This retrospective of the important British conceptual artist surveys her works from the 1970s until her death in 2014.
• Modern Art Oxford, 15 July – 15 October.
Also showing
Jac Leirner
Brazilian minimal elegance with a sinister narcotic undertow from this artist who has extensively documented her drug use.
• Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, until 22 October.
Lawrence Alma-Tadema
The sensuality of ancient Rome recreated by one of Victorian England’s fruitiest painters.
• Leighton House, London, until 29 October.
Plywood
Who knew this mundane material was at the heart of modern design from classic chairs to the second-world-war de Havilland Mosquito bomber? Read our review here.
• Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 15 July – 12 November.
A Still Life by Chardin
Artists including Hanne Darboven, Dan Graham, Trisha Donnelly and Laurie Parsons appear in a group homage to the great 18th-century French artist.
• Lisson Gallery, London, until 26 August.
Masterpiece of the week
The Origin of the Milky Way, c 1575, by Tintoretto
As the goddess Juno breastfeeds the infant Hercules, stray milk spurts upward to form the spiralling path of our galaxy in the heavens. It may be bad science, but the unstable floating perspective of Tintoretto’s cosmic vision makes it powerfully suggest the immensity and wonder of space.
• National Gallery, London.
Image of the week
Icon for My Man Superman (Superman Never Saved Any Black People – Bobby Seale), 1969, by Barkley Hendricks
Tate Modern’s new exhibition, Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, surveys the contribution of artists to America’s civil rights struggle from the 1960s onwards – many of whom have been overlooked in the orthodox art history of the period. Painting, sculpture, photography and more with a hefty punch. Read our five-star review here.
• Tate Modern, London, until 22 October.
What we learned this week
Scientists have encoded visual images in DNA
A “monkey selfie” is proving a legal headache for its photographer
Can vertical forests save the planet?
An indigenous Australian community is turning fishing debris into art
Photographer Zanele Muholi, who dubs herself the “Black Lioness” …
… has made a brave stand documenting abuses of all kinds in South Africa
Chloe Lamford’s stage designs are works of installation art …
… while Yael Bartana’s venture into theatre proves difficult
Windsor Castle discovers it has some Gainsboroughs
The National Portrait Gallery is having a brief Encounter with obscure portraits
Gehry and Piano are in the frame for London’s proposed new concert hall
A Spanish exhibition celebrates a century of the Leica camera
American Reportage takes street photography to a new generation
Susan Hefuna gathers evidence of the Egyptian diaspora
People make sport of dancing with dogs
Australia embraced art deco enthusiastically in the 1930s
Don’t forget
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