Tate Britain promises a radical new interpretation of the Pre-Raphaelites with their exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde (until 13 Jan), but judging by the throngs of viewers no such review is needed. The public obviously adores them anyway, but I have to admit to being one of the cynics who finds them often little more than…
At the time of the National Gallery’s blockbuster Leonardo exhibition I remember thinking how I’d love to see more of the Queen’s collection of his drawings, not knowing I’d have that pleasure so soon. His anatomical drawings wouldn’t have been my first choice, but Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist, at the Queen’s Gallery until 7 October,…
Every great city has its own river, and wars are fought and lost around them. London has the Thames, and from the time the Romans forded it, it has been pivotal to the city’s history. Historian David Starkey has taken the river’s royal connections and woven a fascinating tale of how this stretch of water…
On the Olympic site, South African Neville Gabie has been making his presence felt as the official Olympic artist in residence. Gabie, who studied in London, produced a variety of artworks and projects during his 15-month residency, responding to the physical changes of the site and the huge range of jobs, skills and personalities that have delivered…
Can Themba’s achingly sad South African fable, The Suit, is performed at the Young Vic until mid-June in a production directed by the legendary Peter Brook. It forms part of a unique collaboration of eight top London venues and international producers to showcase the different cultural communities in London. Themba’s short story, adapted for…
It’s hard to get away from the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in London right now, but you don’t have to be a fan of royalty to find the National Portrait Gallery exhibition of The Queen: Art and Image (until 21 October) interesting. There are photographs of her posed throughout her reign, some of the most familiar…
Sometimes design can still feel modern nearly a century later, and certain items that date from the Bauhaus era are startlingly fresh, such as the tubular steel chair by Marcel Breuer from the mid-twenties. The movement is associated with architecture largely because Mies van der Rohe was at the helm when the Nazis closed it…
As something of a companion-piece to the Tate’s fabulous Picasso exhibition, the British Museum is showing the full collection of Picasso Prints: The Vollard Suite (until 2 Sept), a series of 100 etchings the artist completed in the mid-1930s. It is one of only a few public institutions to possess the entire series, which became…
Rappers write rubbish lyrics, right? No, that’s not a tongue twister, but it’s pretty much what I thought until I happened upon Kate Tempest, and her play Wasted which is on at the Roundhouse Studio Theatre until next Saturday. It’s some of the most inspiring, energetic and poetic new writing I’ve seen in a long…
What to do when the rain is lashing down on a Sunday? Head over to the V&A Museum where for another five Sundays at 2pm there is a free screening of a play filmed live in performance. These screenings celebrate the 20th anniversary of the National Video Archive of Performance. Remember the Theatre Museum, which…
London Letter 