Exhibition of the week
Picasso: printmaker
The unhesitating way Picasso drew made him a natural at prints, and this survey of his vast output should be dazzling.
• British Museum, London, 7 November to 30 March
Also showing
Drawing the Italian Renaissance
Mind-boggling masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, plus wonderful works by the likes of Fra Angelico and Titian – but also some filler.
• King’s Gallery, London, until 9 March
Holly Davey
Multimedia show that seeks to rescue marginalised people and stories from Fruitmarket’s archives.
• Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, until 17 November
Felicity Aylieff
Big, blue and white ceramics that echo the Chinoiserie architecture to be seen at Kew.
• Kew Gardens, London, until 23 March
Duggie Fields
Queer punk pop art including disconcerting paintings and the artist’s intriguing possessions.
• Modern Institute, Glasgow, until 6 November
Image of the week
Think modern art is rubbish? The Institute for Contemporary Art in San Francisco has curated a show of works made entirely of found and discarded objects – from toothpaste caps, zip ties and broken computer keys to perfume spray tubes and shoelaces. Dusk by Shinique Smith (pictured above) is made with clothing, ribbon and wood. Read the full story here
What we learned
Our writer felt surprisingly at ease joining Spencer Tunick’s latest mass nude shoot
LA artist Lauren Halsey explained why funk is ‘the oxygen’ in her work
Director Tim Burton revealed the drawings that power his creative process
David Shrigley used a giant mantis to urge schools to prioritise arts education
Germany’s far right AfD party is campaigning against the legacy of the Bauhaus
Louis Fratino is surprised his sunny paintings of queer life have shocked anyone
Bristol photo festival ranges from glamorous portraits to awestruck visions of nature
Ghislaine Maxwell’s old curtains are among the readymade art on show in Bristol
A Van Gogh of a skeleton smoking is a star attraction at a show of modern gothic art
Masterpiece of the week
Raphael’s The Massacre of the Innocents, c1510
The tragic story of how King Herod ordered babies to be slain, seeking to eliminate the newborn Messiah, has been depicted by many artists but rarely with the compassion and eloquence of this great drawing. Raphael was trying to communicate with a wide audience so he created this scene not for a painting, but to be engraved by his collaborator Marcantonio Raimondi. The classical poses, as women flee in formalised panic, lend it a dignified pathos, yet their plight is raw and harrowing. This mixture of grandeur and savagery hits you hard. Above all, the way the central mother looks at us as she runs in our direction breaks out of art, into our world. You can see from this masterpiece of pity why Raphael was a direct influence on Picasso’s Guernica.
• Royal Collection, currently in Drawing the Italian Renaissance at King’s Gallery, London
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