The best art to see in December

Pauline Boty: Pop Artist and Woman – the first public exhibition to survey the work and career of Pauline Boty (1938-1966), who was known for her glamorous, free-spirited lifestyle and was one of the few female artists associated with the British Pop Art movement of the 1960s, alongside Peter Blake, Derek Boshier and David Hockney. At Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester until 9 Feb. www.pallant.org.uk

Jake and Dinos Chapman: Come and See – demonstrating the range of the artists’ output, from painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture, to film, music and literature, at Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, London W2 until 9 Feb. www.serpentinegalleries.org

The Story of our Coast: Fact, Fiction and Fantasy, looking at the ever-changing south Hampshire coast, at St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Lymington until 25 Jan. www.stbarbe-museum.org.uk

Peter Howson: A Life (above) – paintings at Flowers, 21 Cork Street, London W1 until 11 Jan. www.flowersgallery.com

Two Cities: Paintings of Jerusalem and Ramallah
by Andrew Gifford at John Martin Gallery, 38 Albemarle Street, London W1 until 21 Dec. www.jmlondon.com

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Georgina von Etzdorf: Paintings at Cassian de Vere Cole Fine Art, 50 Elgin Crescent, London W1 (by appointment) until 14 Dec. www.cdvc.com

White Light/White Heat:
Contemporary Artists and Glass – showing pieces by artists and designers including Tracey Emin, Thomas Schutte and Meekyoung Shin. At the Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1 until 26 Jan. www.wallacecollection.org

Selected – contemporary Craft to Buy and Collect – a selling exhibition at Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh until 21 Dec. www.dovecotstudios.com

Clare Leighton: Working Life – a series of the artist’s wood engravings from her celebrated book The Farmer’s Year: A Calendar of English Husbandry (1933) at Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester until 24 Feb. www.pallant.org.uk

Annual Open Exhibition of the New English Art Club (NEAC) at the Mall Galleries, London until 9 Dec.  

Great Medical Discoveries – 800 Years of Oxford Innovation – the story of Oxford’s place in the history of medicine from the medieval period to its current position at the forefront of medical research. Featuring original manuscripts alongside rare books and artefacts. At the Exhibition Room in the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Oxford until 18 May. www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

The London Spectacle: Drawings by Feliks Topolski R.A. Already well known in Warsaw, both as a painter and for his acutely observed pen and ink drawings, Topolski decided to widen his field with a European tour in 1933 with The London Spectacle where George V was the subject. This exhibition, influenced by the success of The London Spectacle, reflect his work as a War Artist, his post-war ‘Chronicle’ of the evolving World and his mural Scheme ‘Memoir of the Century’. At Abbot and Holder, 30 Museum Street, London, WC1A 1LH from 30 November 2013. www.abbottandholder.co.uk

Dana Schutz. Featuring 13 large-scale new canvases created 2010-13, this is the first UK solo exhibition of one of America’s most acclaimed young, contemporary painters. Schutz’s work reflects the social realities and cultural anxieties of today, which are riotously coloured with casts of odd characters and approached with a dead-pan humour. At The Hepworth Wakefield, Gallery Walk, Wakefield, WF1 5AW from 12 October 2013 – 26 January 2014. www.hepworthwakefield.org

William Darbyshire: The W.A. Ismay Collection. Consisting of over 3,600 pieces, this exhibition brings together contemporary artist Matthew Darbyshire and one of the world’s largest and most significant collections of 20th century ceramics. Supporting approximately 700 ceramics from the collection, Darbyshire uses the architectural footprint of Ismay’s two-bedroomed terraced house where even the bathtub was used as a display shelf. At The Hepworth Wakefield, Gallery Walk, Wakefield, WF1 5AW from 12 October 2013 – 26 January 2014. www.hepworthwakefield.org

Winter Show. An all-star rolling exhibition of real and imagined landscapes by leading West Country artists. Painters include David Atkins, Julian Bailey, Angela Charles and Tim Cumming, accompanied by furniture by Petter Southall and craft, sculpture and accessories by leading artist designers. At Sladers Yard, Contemporary British Art, Furniture & Craft Licensed Café, West Bay, Bridport, Dorset, DT6 4EL from 23 November 2013 – 23rd February 2014. www.sladersyard.co.uk

French Artists Abroad: Paintings and drawings 1630-1850. A collection of paintings and drawings by French artists in Rome, Stockholm, St Petersburg, Lisbon, Dalmatia and the Middle East, among other locations. Ranging from a small oil on copper by Jacques Stella to a watercolour study of a Moroccan by Denis Auguste Raffet, highlights also include an Allegory of the Tiber by Charles Le Brun. At Clifford House, 15 Clifford Street, London W1S 4JY from 30 November – 6 December 2013. www.didieraaron.com

Romanos Moukarzel. Romanos Moukarzel is a figurative artist whose work is inspired by what he sees, both directly and indirectly from studied observations through drawings and oil sketches. This exhibition will showcase his recent work. At Gallery 27, 27 Cork Street, London W1S 3NG from 2 – 7 December 2013. www.romanosmoukarzel.com

Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #1136.
Work by the prolific and influential American artist will be presented in the gallery’s Clore Learning Studio. The work is one of a number of vibrant drawings LeWitt made in the last years of his life with its curved and vertical bands of brightly coloured acrylic paint applied by hand directly onto the walls, creating a dazzling environment surrounding the viewer. At Turner Contemporary, Rendezvous, Margate, CT9 1HG from 3 December 2013 – 8 June 2014. www.turnercontemporary.org

A World of Private Mystery: John Craxton RA (1922-2009)
. Presenting a fresh retrospective on John Craxton from his beginnings as a young hope of post-war British art with dark, meditative images of the natural world to vibrant works of light and colour from his later life in Crete. The exhibition will also feature personal photos reflecting the artist’s many travels and friendships and will be opened by one of his closest friends, Sir David Attenborough. At Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, CB2 1RB from 3 December 2013 – 20 April 2014. www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk (see review in Country Life 18 December 2013)

Art Beyond Exile: Josef Herman, Peter Potworowski & Jacob Bornfriend in Britain.
The three artists were all part of a significant group of émigré artists who fled Nazi-occupied Europe during World War Two and settled in the UK. Exploring a selection of their works on paper, this exhibition will include drawings, paintings and collages, through which the artists celebrated the British people and landscape. At Connaught Brown, 2 Albermarle Street, London, W1S 4HD from 3 – 31 December 2013. www.connaughtbrown.co.uk

Christine Woodside: New Paintings 2013.
This exhibition will showcase Woodside’s latest work, offering a survey of her various journeys over the last decade. A graduate of the famous Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, Woodside’s numerous awards have brought her a large following across the country for her work inspired by visits to Morocco, Tunisia and Italy. At Panter & Hall, 11-12 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5LU from 4 – 20 December 2013. www.panterandhall.com

Matisse – The Essence of Line, Selected Prints: 1900-1950.
Comprising over 50 prints, many of which are rare examples in various graphic media including etching, drypoint, woodcut, lithography, linocut and pachoir (stencil), this is the first major survey to take place in New York and London for many years. The show is divided into four sections according to print-making media and includes themes of poetry, dance and music. At Marlborough Fine Art, 6 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BY from 4 December 2013 – 11 January 2014. www.marlboroughfineart.com

Mini Prints: a Printmakers Council Exhibition. With a wide range of submissions from across the globe, this exhibition will showcase the best printmakers from the USA, Australia, Japan, Sweden and the UK. The 8th International Mini Print exhibition arranged by Printmakers Council will include 200 works created in response to a challenge to create a print which is both striking and readable yet measuring only 8 by 10 cm. Prints will be for sale with prices from £40 and available for collection before Christmas. At Mascalls Gallery, Paddock Wood, Kent, Tn12 6LT from 5 November – 21 December 2013. www.mascallsgallery.org

Visions of India: Derry Moore & Prarthana Modi.
Moore is a leading photographer of architectural interiors and an illustrator of books with thirty-seven portraits in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection and Modi is a photographer who captures all her images in black and white, shooting on only film with each print hand printed on silver gelatin archival paper with selenium toning. The exhibition will consist of several photographs taken in India over a period of time, showcasing the diversity of the landscape and architecture of the Indian. At Grosvenor Gallery, 21 Ryder Street, London SW1Y 6PX from 4 – 20 December 2013. www.grosvenorgallery.com

Julian Stair: Quietus: The Vessel, Death and the Human Body. A major solo exhibition of ceramic works by celebrated British artist Julian Stair. Invoking notions of classical beauty with the belief that pottery can encapsulate the most complex of ideas through elegant simplicity, Stair explores one of the few life experiences universal to all, death. At Lightwells & Deadhouse, South Wing, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA from 4 December 2013 – 26 January 2014. www.somersethouse.org.uk

Christmas Exhibition: New Contemporaries. An exhibition showcasing new gallery artists including Roland Corbin, Jo Oakley, Georgina Warne and Camilla Clutterbuck. Works include watercolours on paper, oil on linen, hand painted stoneware and mixed media on canvas, all of which are under £4,000. At Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery, 20 Park Walk, London SW10 0AQ from 4 – 21 December 2013. www.jonathancooper.co.uk

Interwoven Connections: The Stoddard Templeton Design Studio and Design Library, 1843-2005
. Scotland’s most prominent carpet manufacturing innovators designed and supplied many iconic carpets for the likes of Glasgow Cathedral, the White House and the Titanic. This exhibition focuses on the Stoddard Templeton Design Library which contains a rich array of material amassed from the mid-nineteenth to early twenty-first centuries, showcased through folios, books, designs, films and samples providing an insight into creative process. At Mackintosh Museum, The Glasgow School of Art, 167 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, G3 6RQ from 9 November 2013 – 11 January 2014. www.gsa.ac.uk

Vivian Maier. Born in 1926, Vivian Maier was a New York nanny who liked to photograph in her spare time, but it was not until the end of her life when she became helplessly poor and her storage locker was auctioned off to settle payments, that her talent was unearthed. This exhibition will showcase a selection of her shots taken from over 100,000 negatives, which captured the life that surrounded her as well as some of her powerful self-portraits. At Beetles and Huxley, 3-5 Swallow Street, London, W1B 4DE from 2 – 28 December 2013. www.beetlesandhuxley.com

Almost Lost: London’s Buildings Loved & Loathed.  From Covent Garden to St Pancras Station, many of London’s most treasured historic landmarks were once threatened with demolition. Using the latest digital technology, this show looks at the impact of proposed and actual destruction on the capital, and in the process charts the high and low points of a century of heritage protection in London. At the Quadriga Gallery, Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corner, London W1 from 4 Dec to 2 Feb 2014. www.english-heritage.org.uk

Andrew Lamb: Under the Lens. Andrew Lamb’s third solo exhibition will showcase some of his award winning jewellery as well as the latest developments of his supreme talent. Lamb is inspired by the linear patterns and structures of nature and uses a combination of gold and silver wire to construct sculptural, three-dimensional jewellery. At The Scottish Gallery, 16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6HZ from 4-24 December 2013. www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/andrewlamb

Catrin Howell: Bestiary. Inspired by the Mabinogion, a collection of eleven prose stories based on medieval Welsh manuscripts, animal mythology and the interpretation of ancient symbolism are at the heart of this exhibition. The narrative thread, which combines folktale and mythology, is formed of metamorphosis and transformation between humans and animals. At The Scottish Gallery, 16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6HZ from 4-24 December 2013. www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/catrinhowell

J.D. Fergusson (1874-1961): La Vie Bohème. Exactly 90 years since his first solo exhibition at this gallery, this exhibition looks back on the artist’s life and oeuvre. With emotional truth paramount, the artist’s difficult purpose was to reveal this truth in light through his painting, sculpture and drawings, all of which are included in the exhibition as well as touching representations of family and friends. At The Scottish Gallery, 16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6HZ from 4-24 December 2013. www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/jdfergusson

Gary Bunt. Gary Bunt’s sixth exhibition will showcase some of his paintings, which are inspired by the likes of Christopher Wood, Ben Nicholson and Mary Fedden. The self-taught artist’s latest offering is packed with nostalgic and humorous scenes of village and rural life in the 1950s. At Portland Gallery, 8 Bennet Street, London SW1A 1RP from 5 – 19 December 2013. www.portlandgallery.com

Paintings Prints Butterflies Seeds. Born in England in 1953, David Risk Kannard attended Marlborough College where he flourished in the art school before going to Bower Ashton in Bristol where drawing trees became his forte. Now living in Dorset surrounded by woodland, David’s studio is crammed full of long lengths of tree, which he uses to inform his own inner landscape and this exhibition will showcase some of his latest work. At Elder and Froy, 20, the Square, Beaminster from 5 – 23 December 2013. www.riskkennard.co.uk

A Time to Keep Silence: Duncan Bullen – Lutz Krainhoefner.
Bullen’s practice centres around drawing reduced to the fundamental activity of placing one mark after another in predetermined and random sequence, Krainhoefner’s work lies in the search for beauty in natural materials which are often neglected. The similarity of the two make them ready for combination and this exhibition will present a series of drawings and ceramics, blurring the lines between nature and the man made in an invitation to stop and pause. At Ian Rastrick Fine Art, 38 Holywell Hill, St. Albans, AL1 1BU from 7 – 22 December 2013. www.ianrastrick.com

Courage on our Coasts. With 40 limited edition prints, this exhibition will feature images taken all around the coasts of the UK and ROI over the past three years. These will include portraits of RNLI lifeboat crew members, lifeguards, fundraisers and shots of lifeboats battling rough seas, all of which will be for sale. At The Old Coastguard, The Parade, Mousehole, Penzance, Cornwall, TR19 6PR from 8 December 2013 – 4 March 2014. www.oldcoastguardhotel.co.uk

Edmund de Waal; On White – Porcelain stories from the Fitzwilliam – 3 galleries of the museum taken over with installations by the renowned potter and Cambridge graduate. At Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, Cambridge until 23 Feb. www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

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CLOSING SOON

Warts and All – a loan exhibition of the work of 17th-Century portraitist Samuel Cooper, featuring over 75 works loaned to the gallery from major public and private collections, such as the V and A, National Portrait Gallery, Royal Collection, Ashmolean, Burghley House and the Duke of Buccleuch. Reuniting works by Cooper for the first time along with works by contemporaries such as Sir Peter Lely, the exhibition is the first to showcase Cooper’s works in over 30 years. It will feature major works of famous figures such as Oliver Cromwell, Charles II, Margaret Lemon (the cross-dressing lover of Van Dyck), and will include newly researched and newly attributed images by and of the artist, including new research into one of only 6 extant sketches by the artist loaned by the Ashmolean, and also a new attribution of a sketch owned by the V and A, now thought to be a portrait of Cooper by his cousin John Hoskins. At Philip Mould and Co, 29 Dover Street, London W1 from 13th November- 7th December. www.philipmould.com

Endellion Lycett Green -solo show by the granddaughter of Sir John Betjeman. She has painted plants for over 20 years with focus and intensity and the title of this show, Renewal, refers not only to the perpetual renewal in plants and nature, but also to her sense of her own trajectory as an artist. Also on at the same gallery: Derivations and New Directions – paintings by Duncan Wood, at Browse & Darby, 19 Cork Street, London W1 until 5 Dec. www.broseanddarby.co.uk

James Wyatt; Architect to the Crown and Designer of Complete Interiors – anniversary exhibition showing Wyatt as a brilliant and prolific creator of interior decorative schemes with drawings and photographs of his work, plus pictures from his furniture album, examples of his silver, the architectural model of Fonthill, and furniture from Heveningham Hall, Suffolk – the most complete set of Wyatt’s furniture to survive in an English country house. At Colefax and Fowler, 39 Brook Street, London W1 from 19 Nov to 6 Dec. www.colefax.com

French Artists Abroad: Paintings and drawings 1630-1850. A collection of paintings and drawings by French artists in Rome, Stockholm, St Petersburg, Lisbon, Dalmatia and the Middle East, among other locations. Ranging from a small oil on copper by Jacques Stella to a watercolour study of a Moroccan by Denis Auguste Raffet, highlights also include an Allegory of the Tiber by Charles Le Brun. At Clifford House, 15 Clifford Street, London W1S 4JY from 30 November – 6 December 2013. www.didieraaron.com

Romanos Moukarzel.
Romanos Moukarzel is a figurative artist whose work is inspired by what he sees, both directly and indirectly from studied observations through drawings and oil sketches. This exhibition will showcase his recent work. At Gallery 27, 27 Cork Street, London W1S 3NG from 2 – 7 December 2013. www.romanosmoukarzel.com

Jerwood Encounters: Family Politics. A group exhibition which presents work by artists exploring how wider political systems are played out through representations of the family. Jerwood Visual Arts, Jerwood Space, 171 Union Street, London. Until 8 Dec. www.jerwoodvisualarts.org + 44 (0) 20 7654 0179

2Q13 Women Collectors, Women Artists.
Inspired by the idea of a parallel universe in Haruki Murakami’s trilogy 1Q84, this collection of 85 artworks by 58 female artists represents a parallel universe run by women. The artists represent the collections of seven prominent women collectors based in Europe. Lloyds Club, 42 Crutched Friars, London, EC3N 2AP. Until December 5th. www.marcellejoseph.com. +44 7971 580 572.

Australia. The Royal Academy off Arts presents the most significant survey of Australian art ever mounted in the UK. Spanning 200 years from 1800 this exhibition focuses on the influence of landscape and includes over 200 works of including watercolours, photography and drawings from Aboriginal artists and European émigrés across a broad geographical and chronological sweep. HRH The Prince of Wales is the patron of the exhibition. 21 September until 8 December at the Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J W1 (see preview in Country Life Sep 18 2013) www.royalacademy.org.uk

‘Victoriana: The Art of Revival’.
The first ever exhibition in the UK to offer a retrospective view of Victorian revivalism through graphic design, film, photography, ceramics, textiles, taxidermy, furniture, and fine art. The exhibition explores the work of contemporary artists who have been inspired by the 19th century and investigates the ongoing cultural legacy of Victorianism today through a multi-media, multi-sensory show. Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall Yard, London, EC2V 5AE. Until 8th December. www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/victoriana.

Patrick Gibbs: Travels – an exhibition of recent paintings, depicting places such as Burma, Kerala, Laos, Sri Lanka and Zanzibar. At The Minster Gallery, Minster Chambers, 3A Great Minster Street, Winchester until 9 Dec. www.minstergallery.com

Tim Hall- Above the Clouds – exhibition of photographs that explore the fragile relationship between the natural alpine world and those who live and venture within it. Coinciding with the publication of the photographer’s book of the same title. At Gallery Notting Hill, 118 Talbot Road, London W1 until 7 Dec. www.timhallphotography.com

Tundra: a new solo exhibition by Kerry Phippen focusing on wild animals. At Celia Lendis Galleries, High Street, Moreton-in-Marsh, Cotswolds from 16 Nov to 12 Dec. 01608 650852

JMW Turner R.A.: Masterpieces from the Whitworth Art Gallery – 16 watercolours from throughout the career of J.M.W. Turner, one of the best-known and respected water-colourists of all time. The works show Turner’s progress from studies of precise detail and accuracy to works with an emphasis on colour and expression over exact replication. At Andrew Clayton-Payne, 14 Old Street, London, W1S 4PP, from 21st Nov to 8th Dec. http://www.clayton-payne.com/content/turner2.html

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