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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Jonathan Jones

Utopian cities, medieval manuscripts and a queen in mourning – the week in art

Maria Bartuszová: Untitled 1972–1974, soon on show at Tate Modern.
Elusive shapes … Maria Bartuszová: Untitled 1972–1974, soon on show at Tate Modern. Photograph: Michael Brzezinski/Courtesy of Alison Jacques Gallery, London

Exhibition of the week

Maria Bartuszova
Surreal, elusive shapes by a Slovak sculptor who defied Communist rule.
Tate Modern, London, 20 September to 16 April

Also showing

Lindisfarne Gospels
Mesmerising medieval manuscript in a show that juxtaposes it with contemporary art.
Laing Gallery, Newcastle, 17 September to 3 December

Michael Armitage
The gifted Gauguinesque painter shows new works, plus ceramic sculptures by Seyni Awa Camara.
White Cube Bermondsey, London, 21 September to 30 October

Victor Willing
Paintings by the husband of the late Paula Rego, who predeceased her in 1988.
Timothy Taylor, London, 22 September to 5 November

Yinka Ilori
Optimistic, utopian art and design that reimagines the city.
Design Museum, London, until 25 June 2023

Image of the week

Georg Baselitz, Orangenesser (IX), 1981.
Georg Baselitz, Orangenesser (IX), 1981. Photograph: © Georg Baselitz 2022; photo: Friedrich Rosenstiel, Köln

Now in his 80s, Georg Baselitz has lost none of the fiery spirit that earned him the “degenerate” artist label. The arch provocateur talks about his eye-opening art, chronicling his old age and his true feelings about female painters. Read our full interview here.

What we learned

Wolfgang Tillmans is in a thoughtful mood ahead of a career retrospective

Renato Casaro was the Michelangelo of the movie poster

William Klein, who has died aged 96, revolutionised photography

There’s a fight on to save Birmingham’s ‘brutiful’ architectural masterpieces

Whether idealised, gilded or defaced, Queen Elizabeth’s image appeared regularly in our art

Carolee Schneemann’s work was a riposte to macho American conservatism

France’s Banksy is a street artist who fills potholes

Photographer Johny Pitts and poet Roger Robinson took a tour of black Britain in a Mini

LS Lowry’s Going to the Match is up for auction

John Louis Petit, aka Britain’s “forgotten master” is finally enjoying a moment in the sun

Masterpiece of the week

Queen Mariana of Spain in Mourning, 1666.

Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo: Queen Mariana of Spain in Mourning, 1666
The widow of King Philip IV of Spain looks at you with disconcerting intimacy in this study of royal grief. But it’s not only sadness weighing her down. The official document in her hand is a sign that she has work to do, for Queen Mariana ruled as regent when this was painted. Spanish royal portraiture had recently been taken to unprecedented heights by Velázquez, who served Philip IV and died in 1660. This painting echoes his brilliant sense of reality: it even alludes to his masterpiece Las Meninas with its deep view of the interior of the royal palace. It creates a slice of life, a moment we accept is unfeigned and unstaged – the Queen revealing her emotions, here in the shadows where only her dog consoles her.
National Gallery, London

Don’t forget

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