The best art to see this week: June 17

June 17th

BP Portrait Award. The annual portrait competition, showing the best of contemporary portraiture from around the world. At the National Portrait Gallery, London 20th June- 15th September 2013.

Collecting Gauguin: Samuel Courtauld in the ‘20s
. An exhibition of Samuel Courtauld’s collection of paintings, works on paper and sculpture from the Post-Impressionist master Paul Gauguin. At the Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2 from 20th June- 8th September 2013. www.courtauld.ac.uk

Summer Exhibition – the world’s largest open submission contemporary art show, now in its 245th year, showcasing the work of both emerging and established artists in all media. The Architecture Room is hung by Eva Jiricna RA, who is co-ordinating this year’s exhibition with Norman Ackroyd RA. At The Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1 until 18 Aug. www.royalacademy.org.uk

‘Estuary’. An exhibition which brings together the work of 12 artists who have been inspired by the outer limits of the Thames where the river becomes the sea, including Jock McFadyen and Richard Wilson. At Museum of London, 150 London Wall, London EC2 until 27th October. www.museumoflondon.org.uk
 
‘In St Cuthbert’s Time
– The Sounds of Lindisfarne and the Gospels’ – In collaboration with Durham University’s Institute of Advanced Study, and other Durham-based researchers, artist Chris Watson has created a sound installation that reflects the acoustic landscape of that island during the time that the Lindisfarne Gospels were being considered, written and illustrated. In the Holy Cross Chapel, Durham Cathedral, Durham until 30 Sep

Rountree Tryon Galleries presents ‘Summer Exhibition‘ showing David Ord Kerr, Mandy Shepherd, Laurence Dingley, Helen Gauchat, and others. From 18th – 28th June. 7 Bury Street, St James’s, London, SW1Y. Contact number: +44 (0)20 7839 8083

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William Evans – From Galway to Leenane: Perceptions of Landscape. In 2008 the National Gallery of Ireland acquired a collection of 41 watercolours of West of Ireland scenes by the English topographical artist William Evans of Eton (1798-1877). From 15th June – 29th September. National Gallery of Ireland, Clare Street, Dublin 2. Contact number: (01) 661 5133

Frank Holl: Emerging From The Shadows. Watts Gallery presents the first major retropective exhibition in more than 100 years of the eminent Victorian artist, Frank Holl RA (1845-1888). For the first time, this exhibition will bring together 27 of his major works to examine how, during his short career, the artist became a distinct and insightful voice in British painting. From 18th June – 3rd November. Watts Gallery, Down Lane, Compton, Guildford, Surrey, GU3 1DQ. Contact number: 01483 813588

Northern Vision: Master Drawings From The Tchoban Foundation. From Schinkel’s earliest attributed drawing to designs for the Palace of the Soviets, Moscow, this exhibition will draw on the highlights of the Tchoban Foundation collection, Museum für Architekturziechnunung, Berlin.  Amongst the architects represented will be seldom seen works by Matthias Daniel Pöppelmann (1662-1736), Leo von Klenze (1784-1864), Herman Giesler (1898-1987) and Boris Iofan (1891-1976). From 21st June – 28th September. At Sir John Soane’s Museum, 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A. Contact number: 020 7440 4263

The University of Nottingham presents ‘2013 BA (Hons) Fine Art Degree Show. From 19th June – 25th June. At Djanogly Art Gallery, Lakeside Arts Centre, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD. Website: www.nottingham.ac.uk

The Wallace Collection presents ‘The Discovery of Paris
: Watercolours by Early Nineteenth-Century British Artists – The remarkable British contribution to the iconography of Europe’s most popular city. From 20th June – 15th September. At Herford House, Manchester Square, London W1U. Website: www.wallacecollection.org; Contact number: +44(0)20 7563 9500

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Nicholas Hely Hutchinson. His exhibitions are visual diaries; pencil, paper and paints are never far away when Nicholas travels, whether along the lanes and coastal path of this beloved Dorset or further afield to the glistening seas and alluring gardens of the tropical islands of Barbados and Bequia. From 19th June – 12th July. Portland Gallery, 8 Bennet Station, London, SW1A. Contact number: 020 7493 1888.

Enlightenment: Ideas that changed the World
– presenting 11 participating artists. This exhibition brings together objects collected over the past three years through the HLF Collecting Cultures project in partnership with Buxton Museum and Art Gallery and Belper Museum. It explores the period known as ‘The Age of Reason’ or ‘Enlightenment’ in the eighteenth century, provides objects as diverse as a salt cellar, a patch box, ceramics, a telescope, minerals, paintings and a cribbage set woven together to illustrate and explain this vast and fascinating subject. From 22nd June – 25th August. Derby Museum and Art gallery, The Strand, Derby. Contact number: 01332 641901 Website: www. derbymuseums. Org

From Milan to Genoa and Back: Between Mannerism and Baroque
– exploring the comparison between Genoese and Milanese painting during the first half of the 17th century. At Robilant + Voena, 38 Dover Street, London W1 until 19 July. www.robilantvoena.com

Curious – works by 22 artists who have responded to the ground of the historic West Norwood Cemetery in South London, working in sculpture, ceramics, sound, textiles, photography and poetry to create a magical trail. At West Norwood Cemetery, Norwood Road, London SE17 from 22 Jun to 28 July. www.westnorwoodcemetery.com

Paintings by Alex Lowery, ceramics by Richard Batterham and furniture by Petter Southall, at Sladers Yard, West Bay, Bridport, Dorset from 22 June to 28 Jul. www.sladersyard.co.uk

Man Ray Portraits at Scottish National Portrait Gallery
, 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh from 22 Jun to 22 Sep. www.nationalgalleries.org

Royal Paintbox: Royal Artists Past and Present – charting the history of royal artists from the 17th century to the present day. At The Drawings Gallery, Windsor Castle from 22 Jun to 26 Jan. www.royalcollection.org.uk

Treasures from a hidden garden; plant portraits by the Florilegium Society at Chelsea Physic Garden, 66 Royal Hospital Road, London SW3 from 1-30 Aug. www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk

Colour Coded – works by artists for whom the use of colour is central to their practice. The history, science and symbolism behind the remarkable colour spectrum that it is now possible to reproduce. Alongside Patrick Caulfield’s striking Jules Laforgue series of prints, the exhibition will feature a range of works by contemporary artist Ella Robinson. At Museums Sheffield, Weston Park, Western Bank, Sheffield from 22 June to 26 Jan 2014. www.museums-sheffield.org.uk

Great and Small – mixed exhibition of latest works by British artists Catriona Hall, Angela Harding, Ann Heat, Lesley McLaren, Morag Muir, Georgina McMAster, Tracy Rees and Robina Yasmin, each of whom has a charming unusual take on the theme of animals. At Red Rag Gallery, Stow on the Wold, from 23 Jun to 7 Jul. 01451 832563

Trees and Birds and Landscapes – an exhibition of work by two North Yorkshire artists, the wildlife painter Jonathan Pomroy and Carolyn Smith, who creates beautiful, meticulous drawings of trees. Both are inspired by the flora and fauna of N. Yorkshire, at Gallery Beyond, The Barn, Church Street, Nunnington, York until 8 Aug. www.gallerybeyond.co.uk

Sculptural Ceramics – a selling exhibition exploring the dialogue between two traditionally segregated media, presented in the new format of 2-weekly foucus exhibitions of work by Merete Rasmussen, Christie Brown, Halima Cassell and Jason Wason, alongside a permanent group show from a variety of established and emerging artists. At Pangolin London, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 until 7 Sep. www.pangolinlondon.com

Antony Bream – exhibition of works from Jerusalem and Petra. At Daggett Gallery, 225 Kensington Church Street, London W8 until 29 June. www.daggettgalleries.com

Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life at Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1 from June 26 to Oct 20. www.tate.org.uk (see review in Country Life June 19 2013)

Unseen Lowry – the ‘Unseen’ side of L S Lowry to coincide with the major exhibition at Tate Britain, revealing over 100 of the artist’s works on paper, oil sketches and paintings that have never been seen in public before. At The Lowry, The Quays, Salford M50 from 22 Jun to 29 Sep. www.thelowry.com

Sickert From Life – 50 oil paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints spanning the artist’s career from etchings made in the 1880s to ‘Echoes’ painted in the 1930s. All but 4 works are for sale. At The Fine Art Society, 148 New Bond Street, London W1 until 11 July. www.faslondon.com

RA Schools Show – annual exhibition of works by final year students at the historic Royal Academy Schools, the oldest art school in Britain. Held in the studios of the Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1 until 30 Jun. www.royalacademy.org.uk

Les Lalanne – major retrospective of the output of Claude and Francois-Xavier Lalanne, their famous bronze sculptures, together with specially commissioned new works by Claude. Drawing inspiration from flora and fauna, the Lalannes’ sculptures embody an eclectic style that references Classical antiquity, Surrealism and the Baroque. At Ben Brown Fine Arts, 12 Brook’s Mews, London W1 until 21 Sep. www.benbrownfinearts.com

Harry Cory Wright – ‘Hey Charlie’
– a celebration of over 50 years of the photographer’s involvement with a particular bend in a river and the field beside it. Cory Wright worked for many years exclusively with the large 10×8 inch plate camera. In this new series he mixes this approach with high end digital cameras that allow him to explore the opportunities afforded by post production and print. At Eleven, 11 Eccleston Street, London SW1 until 14 Sep. www.elevenfineart.com

Louise Balaam RWA NEAC – Cornish Light – seascapes and views of the Cornish coast at Cadogan Contemporary, 87 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 until 6 July. www.cadogancontemporary.com

Gillian Ayres – work from 1986 to 2011 on show at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter until 15 Sep. www.rammuseum.org.uk.

Closing Soon

Rountree Tryon Galleries presents ‘The Sporting Sale’. Sporting paintings and sculptures from 18th Century to the present day. Until 25th June. 7 Bury Street, St James’s, London, SW1Y. Contact number: +44 (0)20 7839 8083

Francois Houtin – Broceliande Forest of Dreams – strange and haunting horticultural visions, their hallucinatory character heightened by the artist’s use of monochrome. Allusions ‘from Arcimboldo to Dali, from Desiderio Monzu to Le Doux, from Hieronymus Bosch to Schinkel. This is the imaginary garden as theatre, as a setting for nightmare transformation scenes of a kind that throw up memories of the monsters which lurk in the scro bosco of Bomarzo’ says Roy Strong. At Francis Kyle Gallery, 9 Maddox Street, London W1 until 22 June. www.franciskylegallery.com

Bernard Cohen – 80th birthday exhibition at Flowers, 21 Cork Street, London W1 until 22 June. www.flowersgallery.com

Bellini, Botticelli, Titian…500 years of Italian Art
. Including works by Giovanni Bellini, Sandro Botticelli, Titian, Salvator Rosa and Francesco Guardi, this exhibition shows landscapes, portraits and devotional works chronicling Italian painting from 1400-1900. At Compton Verney, Warwickshire from 23 Mar to 23 Jun. www.comptonverney.org.uk

Annual Summer Exhibition
– Paintings and Sculpture for Gardens presenting the work of 12 artists and 14 sculptors in the Sussex barn and landscaped gardens of the Moncrieff-Bray Gallery, near Petworth from 18 May to 22 June. www.moncrieff.bray.com

Federica Galli’s Trees – trees have featured prominently in the etchings of Federica Galli (1932-2009). This exhibition highlights Galli’s fascination with this subject while showcasing her technical achievements. Federica Galli is considered one of Italy’s most significant contemporary figurative etchers, and her etchings are held in collections throughout Italy and the world. At Henry Sotheran Ltd, 2-5 Sackville Street, Piccadilly, London W1 from 4th – 24th June. www.sotherans.co.uk

George Catlin: American Indian Portraits. Including over 50 portraits, this exhibition shows the efforts of the Pennsylvanian- born artist George Catlin’s five trips to the western United States, in which he tried to capture the Native American Indian’s way of life. This is the first time they have been exhibited outside America since the 1840s. At the National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London WC2 from 7th March- 23rd June.  www.npg.org.uk

Robert Filliou:The Institute of Endless Possibilities.
Devoted to the French artist Robert Filliou (1926-87), this exhibition asks the question: when does an everyday object become a sculpture? Using tools ranging from mobile museums to absent cleaners, masterpieces to chance operations, telepathic sculptures to musical economies, the Henry Moore Institute turns into an institute of endless possibilities. 40 artworks on show made between 1962 and 1984. At Henry Moore Institute, The Headrow, Leeds from 21 Mar to 23 Jun. www.henry-moore.org/hmi

Keir Smith: From Wall to Floor – Keir Smith (1950-2007) pushed the possibilities of painting into sculpture, using the landscape as a subject, site and support. This show, which celebrates the donation of the Keir Smith archive into the Henry Moore Institute’s Archive of Sculptors’ papers, charts his evolving sculptural ideas through sketchbooks, highly detailed drawings and sculptures. At Henry Moore Institute, The Headrow, Leeds from 21 Mar to 23 Jun. www.henry-moore.org/hmi

The Scottish Colourist Series: S J Peploe – bringing together over 100 paintings from public and private collections throughout the UK, this is the first large-scale retrospective devoted to the artists work for almost 30 years. At Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 73 Belford Road, Edinburgh from 3 Nov to 23 Jun. www.nationalgalleries.org

Metropolis: Reflections on the Modern City is a showcase of international contemporary artwork jointly collected by Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and The New Art Gallery Walsall as part of the £1 million Art Fund International initiative. Birmindham Museum & Art Gallery, Chamberlian Square, Birmingham. Until 23rd June. www.bmag.org.uk

Katie Paterson – this exhibition is the culmination of Katie Paterson’s residency at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge. Collaborating with leading scientists and researches, her poetic and conceptual projects consider our place on Earth in the context of geological time and change. From 26th April until 23rd June at Kettle’s Yard Gallery, St Peter’s Church, Cambridge.
www.wellcomecollection.org/global

Fiona Rae: Maybe you can live on the moon in the next century – at Towner, Devonshire Park, College Road, Eastbourne until 23 June. www.townereastbourne.org.uk

Margaret Hunter – Stepping Places
– the Berlin which Hunter encountered when she moved there in 1985 is now a radically transformed city. She witnessed the heady moments in 1990 as the Wall came down, and joined 119 international artists to mark this moment with paintings on a specific section of the previously inaccessible eastern side of the wall. The East Side Gallery, has become an international memorial for freedom, 1.3 km long and it was completely renovated in 2009 to commemorate Germany’s unification. Hunter has created a version of her Wall painting on large sheets of paper as the focus of her new show. In addition, there are three figurative sculptures in wood and metal and panel paintings, richly coloured with characteristically inscribed surfaces that convey a fresh range of gestures, a shift in palette and sometimes a sense of reverie – partly inspired by the warmth and ease of outdoor living made possible by the Mallorca studio she has been working in. At Art First, 21 Eastcastle Street, London W1 until 22 June. www.artfirst.co.uk

Will Maclean – Reliquaries – two groups of new intimate works, The Postcard Series (referring to travel in a seafaring community) and the Lantern-Slide Series (referencing aspects of the war at sea during World War 2), incorporate elements of layering and collage, and both are in themselves culturally defining ‘totems’, deriving from Maclean’s childhood. At Art First, 21 Eastcastle Street, London W1 until 22 June. www.artfirst.co.uk

Jerwood Encounters: After Hours – an exhibition of personal work by graphic designers, with works by Robert Ball, Anthony Burrill, Alan Kitching, Magpie Studio, Craig Oldham, Steve Royle, Jim Sutherland, Young Creatives Network and others. At Jerwood Space, Union Street, London SE1 until 23 June. www.jerwoodvisualarts.org

Paintings from the Bay Area School – Californian Artists from the 1940s, 50s and 60s – the first ever group exhibition to be staged outside the US – at Thomas Williams Fine Art, 22 Old Bond Street, London W1 until 22 June. www.thomaswilliamsfineart.com

John Martin Gallery presents Barry McGlashan: The Howling Infinite. From 31st May – 22nd June. 38 Albemarie St, London, W1S. Contact number: +44 (0) 20 7499 1314. info@jmlondon.com

James Gillick Still lifes 2013. Through the recent hard and blustery months, in his freezing studio, he has refined his own oils, mixed his own paints, stretched his canvases taut over small wooden panels and lovingly applied layers of gesso to produce the smoothest and most gleaming of surfaces. Gillick’s concern for simplicity is combined with an instinct for mathematical precision, but the resulting compositions are not cold or celebral; they suggest dialogues between forms, conversations and complicities. From 5th June – 22nd June. 20 Park Wall Gallery, London, SW10. Contact number: (0)20 7351 0410.    Email: mail@jonathancooper.co.uk

Onform presents both established and new sculpting talent, exhibiting more than fifty sculptures using stone sourced from all over the world. Sizes range from small desk-top pieces to much large outdoor works. From 7th June – 26th June. The Crypt Gallery, St Pancras NW1. Website: http://www.onformsculpture.co.uk

The University of Nottingham presents ‘2013 BA (Hons) Fine Art Degree Show. From 19th June – 25th June. At Djanogly Art Gallery, Lakeside Arts Centre, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD. Website: www.nottingham.ac.uk

Trinity House Paintings present the works of internationally renowned 19th and 20th century artists in their exhibition ‘From Corot to Munnings. Sir Alfred Munnings, as a figurative equestrian portraitist, moved away from the abstracting modernist trends of the era. This can be seen in character-filled works such as his Portrait of Harry La Montagne on a Grey (1920), which is included in the exhibition. While Munnings’ works draw on traditional, and particularly British, subject matter- hunting and horse racing – his warm portraits of friends such as La Montagne also show a unique, novel style.

From: 10th June – 21st June. 50 Maddox Street, London. Contact number: +44 (0) 1386 859329. Website: www.trinityhousepaintings.com

Chris Beetles Gallery presents ‘Daggers Drawn: 35 years of Kal Cartoons in The Economist’ – An exhibition of 100 Cartoons for sale. This major retrospective of Kal cartoons will be launched on the same evening as the Chris Beetles Gallery exhibition ‘The Eyes of Caligula & the Lips of Marilyn Monroe. Cartoons of Margaret Thatcher, featuring the Lord Alistair McAlpine collection of JAK cartoons (1975-1990). At Chris Beetles Gallery, 8 &10 Ryder Street, St James’s, London, SW1 until 22 June. 020 7839 7551 Website: www.chrisbeetles.com.

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