First of all, many apologies to you all!
Due to various contributory factors, I seem to have got rather out of sync with the timing and duration of exhibitions and with getting my reviews to you in time for you to feel inspired to visit them yourselves! I must try to see exhibitions nearer their beginning than hitherto, when I only seem to have got there in the final few weeks.
Despite all that, it has been another busy month for me, still rushing around trying to get to see what really has been a bumper period of spring events, as well as exhibitions, and even TV programmes!
I have revisited (but will not repeat previous reviews of): Goya to Impressionism (twice!) at The Courtauld; Siena at The National Gallery; Barbara Hepworth: Strings at Piano Nobile; Kew Gardens (three times!); Isabella Plantation (three times!); as well as a number of other parks; and a lovely long weekend in the jewel that is Wells, England’s smallest city!
To Come (reviews of current/ongoing events):
• Cartier at V&A, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
• The Devil Wears Prada at Dominion Theatre, West End (Tottenham Court Road junction with New Oxford Street), London W1T 7AQ
• Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur at The Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1U 3BN
• The World of Tim Burton at The Design Museum, 224–238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG (finishes Monday 26 May 2025!)
• The Brightening Air at The Old Vic, The Cut, London SE1 8NB (finishes Saturday 14 June 2025)
Reviews of events/exhibitions now finished:
• The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence at V&A, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL (finished 5 May 2025)
• Tulip Festival at Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 9AU (finished 5 May 2025)
• Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism at Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD (finished 21 April 2025)
• Battersea Decorative Arts Fair at Battersea Park Events Arena, Battersea Park, London SW11 4NJ
Other item of possible interest to TASV members:
• Rebuilding Notre-Dame: The Last Chapter (with Lucy Worsley) on iPlayer / BBC TV
Cartier at V&A, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
(This exhibition is being held in the Sainsbury Gallery – downstairs from the Exhibition Road Courtyard entrance)
One of the exhibitions of the year, this has already sold out until July, with tickets for that month fast selling out as well, and none at all available for July weekends.
(Being a Friend/Member) I decided to go to see this on a rather grey day when I just felt I wanted a bit of a ‘lift’, and I got to the Exhibition Road entrance just before 9.45 am (for the 10.00 am opening), to find… no queue (as compared with the immense queues at both the nearby Natural History and Science Museums)! Instead, a fairly large group of mainly non-British ladies of a certain age were gathered all over the pavement up and down from the entrance. Fortunately, all was well when the doors opened, but it had been a bit of a surprise, to say the least!
Anyway, down the steps to the Sainsbury Gallery and into another world… the world of Cartier.
The Cartier company of jewellers was founded in Paris in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier and his son Alfred expanded it; but it was Alfred’s three sons – Louis, Pierre and Jacques – who really made the company famous internationally, dividing the world’s markets between them and having the brilliant idea of using Art Deco as a defining feature of the company’s image, as well as claiming to use the best gems and craftsmen to create their pieces.
As well as the incredible jewels, there are many examples of clocks (including the amazing ‘mystery clocks’, which have no visible movement working the hands), watches (including the Salvador Dalí-inspired ‘crash watches’) and vanity cases, as well as an extraordinary tiger’s-eye turban fastener and all sorts of other fabulous sparkles… gemstones of all shapes and sizes, all beautifully lit to give the maximum ‘wow factor’. Many of the showcases are presented in the middle of the rooms so that visitors can see the settings and craftsmanship from front and back. I found this an interesting idea, though occasionally distracting, as people moving on the other side of the case detracted a bit from the actual exhibits. There are illustrations of designs, usually with the finished article nearby, and videos of the craftsmen creating pieces such as a diamond-encrusted panther with emerald eyes.
The information notes are very useful and provide all sorts of interesting facts, either unknown or forgotten by me. There are also various videos along the way showing famous people wearing Cartier pieces – including, of course, royals (the late Queen, her sister and mother, the Duchess of Windsor and the Princess of Wales) and film stars (Grace Kelly, Gloria Swanson and Merle Oberon etc.) – but I thought the most fascinating video was of an incredible necklace (which is in the exhibition and was created for the Mexican actress María Félix) of a diamond and gemstone-encrusted snake, shown in motion so lifelike it took my breath away.
In the early rooms the showcases are divided along country lines – India, Iran, Russian Empire(!) – showing the different styles of pieces created for those markets, and there are even some Fabergé items alongside Cartier pieces.
Wealthy clients who wanted to commission pieces often supplied designs and/or gemstones and the company would produce detailed drawings to demonstrate how versatile pieces could be made; for instance, a diamond necklace could have earrings, pendants or brooches added on special fastenings to produce a tiara for such special occasions as coronations or weddings, whereas a simple diamond necklace could be worn to a greater variety of social events.
There are literally dozens of tiaras throughout, including the opening exhibit: the Manchester Tiara, a stunning piece which is actually part of the V&A’s permanent collection (having been accepted by HMG in lieu of inheritance tax at the final fall of the Dukes of Manchester family, and allocated to the V&A); and many items have been loaned from royal and private collections – but six glorious showcases, each containing three spectacular examples, form the final room to complete a memorable exhibition.
I have to say I am amazed at how many of the 350 items in this exhibition are actually part of the Cartier Collection – they seem to have a vast amount of company capital held in these objects, when I had rather thought that the general purpose of trading companies was to keep turnover turning over! But I’ll definitely be back for another look at it all, probably to brighten another grey day!
Exhibition runs until Sunday 16 November 2025. Opening times are 10.00 am–5.45 pm daily (extended to 10.00 pm on Fridays). Entry costs £27 on weekdays and £29 at weekends, and timeslots need to be booked in advance. As mentioned earlier, this is sold out until July. Members go free (do not have to book a timeslot, but just wait until there is a space and enter at any time), and get 10 per cent discount in the shop and café. Website: www.vam.ac.uk.
The Devil Wears Prada at Dominion Theatre, West End (Tottenham Court Road junction with New Oxford Street), London W1T 7AQ
A French friend who used to work in fashion was visiting London and very much wanted to see this show, so we got tickets for a weekday performance and thoroughly enjoyed an evening of catchy tunes by Elton John, clever lyrics by Shaina Taub and Mark Sonnenblick, stunning costumes by Gregg Barnes and more voguing and posing than I think I have ever seen in my life, with some amazing set-piece songs, dances and staging.
It is a sort of Cinderella story (taken from the best-selling novel by Lauren Weisberger), apparently loosely based on Anna Wintour’s role as queen bee at a certain fashion magazine! Vanessa Williams is excellent as the impossibly demanding Miranda Priestly, with Georgie Buckland as would-be journalist Andy Sachs who starts out as a naïve young girl and is gradually transformed into a very successful assistant clearly destined for bigger and better things. Lots of lessons might be learned from the show’s message, or one can just take everything at face value and enjoy a feast for the eyes and ears! “That’s all!”
Evening performances start at 7.30 pm Monday to Saturday, with 2.30 pm matinees on Wednesday and Saturday. Performances last 2 hours 35 minutes, including a 20-minute interval. Prices through the Dominion’s official box office vary between £25 and £250(!). We each paid £58 for our Stalls tickets in Row WW – quite far back, although we had a perfectly good view and could certainly hear everything! Special offers are often available if bought well in advance (around three months) or last minute. Websites: www.devilwearspradamusical.com, www.londontheatredirect.com, www.nederlander.co.uk.
Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur at The Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1U 3BN
(This very popular exhibition is staged in the lower ground-floor rooms)
It is always a real treat for me to go to Hertford House, and the news last year that Grayson Perry would be holding an exhibition of some forty newly created art pieces across all his many media – pottery, textiles, tapestry, carpet, paintings and works on paper – was intriguing and exciting. I took a friend with me and we entered the downstairs rooms full of anticipation as to what we might find.
It is almost literally another world! Perry adopts a new alter ego – Shirley Smith, an impoverished East End woman who has a strong affinity for the Wallace Collection but who has also spent time in a psychiatric institution. Then we meet The Honourable Millicent Wallace, Shirley’s other persona, who claims to be the rightful heir to Hertford House and the Wallace Collection, being the Marquess of Hertford’s illegitimate daughter.
Perry has created an astonishing amount of work for this exhibition – his creativity seems boundless! Alongside the ceramics for which he was first known, there are textile pieces in incredible colours portraying vivid scenes, some mirroring works actually in the Wallace Collection to enhance the conceit of the Delusions of Grandeur theme. Family trees initially look like any ordinary tree, but on closer inspection reveal several surprising and amusing details. Do take a closer look at the pieces tucked into the exhibition’s nooks!
Each visitor is provided with a headset featuring commentary voiced by Perry as himself, Shirley and Millicent, and documents on display supposedly corroborate the narrative. Delusions and illusions within other illusions abound, and I did wonder what foreign visitors might make of the whole thing! I also felt a paradox: Perry is a remarkable artist, showman and self-publicist, a man of the people, yet he admits to being a critic of the Collection’s beautiful porcelain, baroque and Rococo pieces. He found himself on the horns of a dilemma when asked to curate this show, knowing how much work would be involved – only to discover it was far more than he had envisaged!
The exhibition’s décor has been specially created, including wallpaper in collaboration with Liberty, and of course there is a range of merchandise in the shop: clothing, scarves, soft furnishings, ceramics, trinkets, postcards, a tote bag and the catalogue.
This is truly a one-off exhibition: fantasy, colour, brilliance, genius, nonsense and complete bonkersness, but I will definitely be going back to see if I can make any more sense of it all!
Exhibition runs until Sunday 26 October 2025. Opening times are 10.00 am to 5.00 pm daily. Entry costs £15 (or £17 with donation), £7.50 for National Art Pass holders. All bookings must be made online (there is no on-site ticket desk). Members go free, receive a 10 per cent discount in the shop and café, and – great news! – Membership +1 is now available. Website: www.wallacecollection.org.
The World of Tim Burton at The Design Museum, 224–238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG
(This exhibition is staged on the ground floor and has been extended to Monday 26 May 2025 due to popularity. Prior online booking is recommended, though walk-up tickets can be purchased on site)
I visited at 4.00 pm on a Saturday afternoon (something I will avoid on future visits, as there were just too many people), and as the museum closes promptly at 6.00 pm it all ended in a bit of a rush to see the final pieces.
What a strange, fascinating man Tim Burton must be! From early childhood it was clear he was very artistic, highly imaginative and also very focused on his ambitions. There are examples of his school books and projects, as well as his free-time sketchbooks, all showing incredible attention to detail and great inventiveness.
Over the past four or five decades he has created so many worlds and films – Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, to name just three of his earlier works – but there are dozens of other fantastical, gothic, comic and dark creations. He prefers labour-intensive handmade techniques to blue-screen or computer-generated shortcuts.
The exhibition is arranged roughly chronologically (though I found the large-print guide tricky and ended up going in circles trying to find the next exhibit). On display are numerous drawings and doodles from thirty or forty years ago, whether on napkins, scraps of paper or in notebooks; cartoons (some rather gross, but many laugh-out-loud funny); a mock-up of his US office viewable from two sides; videos; plus props and costumes from countless Burton films, released and unreleased. I do not think I have ever seen so much paraphernalia from one person’s career – well done to the curators for pulling it all together!
I would not call myself a particular Burton fan, but this exhibition truly revealed his creativity, enthusiasm and skill. I am very pleased to have seen it, and only wish I had not been quite as rushed at the end.
Design Museum opening times are 10.00 am to 5.00 pm Monday to Thursday and 10.00 am to 6.00 pm Friday to Sunday. Entry is £26 (including donation). Members go free; Art Pass holders pay 50%; the permanent collection is free. Website: www.designmuseum.org.
The Brightening Air at The Old Vic, The Cut, London SE1 8NB
(This play is scheduled to close on Saturday 14 June 2025)
This play by Conor McPherson is said to be influenced by Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and is billed as an ensemble piece, featuring Chris O’Dowd as the raffish Dermot; Rosie Sheehy as his possibly autistic sister Billie; Brian Gleeson as their farmer brother Stephen; Sean McGinley as their blind, defrocked priest uncle Pierre; and Hannah Morrish as Lydia, Dermot’s estranged wife still in love and desperate enough to try magical well water to bewitch him back. The setting is 1980s rural County Sligo and the dilapidated farmhouse where Stephen and Billie live while Dermot appears with a (very) young assistant.
There is some clever dialogue, but I have to say much of it felt contrived – often aiming for a point or a laugh via non sequiturs. Underlying tensions abound, each character attempting to one-up the others, and it is only later that earlier words and actions are explained. After the first 65 minutes and the 20-minute interval, my companion and I decided we had had enough. I cannot recall ever walking out of a play before, but I simply could not invest in the characters’ predicaments. I may be in a minority, as many press reviews praise the cast’s performances; however, most also describe the plot as dense and overcrowded, perhaps trying to make too many points. McPherson’s dual role as writer and director may have led him to become overly bogged down in the complexities of conveying the story.
Performances are at 2.30 pm on Wednesday and Saturday matinees and 7.30 pm Monday to Saturday evenings (no Sunday performances) until Saturday 14 June 2025. The run time is approximately 2 hours 30 minutes, including one 20-minute interval. Tickets range from £16.50 to £75, depending on provider, date and seat location.
Exhibitions and events which have now finished
Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism at Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD
(This exhibition ran on the ground floor in six or seven large rooms – most of those used for the annual Summer Exhibition – and showcased a world of art previously unknown to me!)
I visited with my sister and we rushed through this huge exhibition of more than 130 works by ten Brazilian twentieth-century artists. It raised more questions than it answered. Most artists were born to immigrant families, spent formative years in Europe and returned to Brazil to influence its art. One question posed was “What is a Brazilian?” – implying that, apart from indigenous peoples, almost everyone is from elsewhere. I was also shocked to learn that almost half of all Africans taken as slaves were transported to Brazil, more than to any other country.
Another surprise was that in 1944, during WWII’s latter stages, an exhibition of Brazilian Modernism was held at the Royal Academy, and some exhibits returned 81 years later! I never cease to be amazed at how the art world finds new ways to present continuity and contrast. The ten featured artists – Anita Malfatti, Lasar Segall, Tarsila do Amaral, Vicente do Rego Monteiro, Candido Portinari, Flávio de Carvalho, Djanira da Motta e Silva, Alfredo Volpi, Rubem Valentim and Geraldo de Barros – were all unknown to me. I regret that, aside from Tarsila do Amaral’s Lake (1928), the poster painting for the show, few pieces have stayed with me. Exhibition ran until Sunday 21 April 2025. Website: www.royalacademy.org.uk.
The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence at V&A, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
(This exhibition, which finished 5 May 2025, was staged in Galleries 38 and 39 of the V&A.)
My French friend also wanted to see this magnificent exhibition and, unusually, I had not seen it myself before going with her. This resulted in our both finding ourselves somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer size of the exhibition, where over 200 items were on display, covering the period 1580–1660, the Golden Age of the Mughal Court under the reigns of the three most famous emperors: Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Whilst the Mughal Empire was largely created and expanded by conquest, these three emperors actually ruled over a relatively peaceful time, showing religious tolerance and incorporating many of the Persian skills, including the language (Persian was the official language of the Mughal Court for much of this period); and the imperial workshops employed goldsmiths, architects, calligraphers and artists from all over the vast region. Intriguingly, in order to govern the empire, the Court was constantly travelling, taking the hugely skilled (not to say labour-intensive!) workshops with it.
Some of the exhibits on display really were unbelievably beautiful… the combination and mingling of Muslim, Hindu and Persian features created with the finest, most intricate craftsmanship, whether in making jewelled vessels, richly decorated fabrics or pieces of furniture, items of jewellery, beautiful calligraphy and paintings is astounding… particularly if, as mentioned above, the imperial workshops were constantly moving around the empire, yet still being able to produce such high-quality items. I only wish I had got to this exhibition sooner, and more than once!
Opening times are 10.00 am–5.45 pm daily (extended to 10.00 pm on Fridays). Permanent collection is free to all; members get free unlimited access to all paid-for exhibitions and 10 per cent discount in shop and cafés. Website: www.vam.ac.uk.
Tulip Festival at Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 9AU (finished 5 May 2025)
An annual highlight for my sister and me… generally lasts four weeks from early April to early May and provides a riot of glorious colour in the interior courtyards and in the gardens around Hampton Court Palace, particularly the formal gardens, the knot gardens and the kitchen gardens, where there are whole beds filled with combinations of two complementary named tulips.
This year’s warm, dry spells meant that the succession of bulbs was rather more compressed than in previous years, so we were particularly fortunate to have booked tickets for the second week of the Festival and thus got to see rather more than we would normally have expected. The garden team had been working miracles to get everything looking so wonderful, and the visit was a particular highlight of this glorious spring.
Hampton Court Palace opening hours: daily 10.00 am to 5.30 pm. Ticket prices vary according to age (16–64 £28 off-peak – generally weekdays – and £30.90 peak times (weekends); over-65s £22.50 off-peak and £24.70 peak times). Members of Historic Royal Palaces go free. Website: www.hrp.org.uk.
The Battersea Decorative Arts Fair at Battersea Park Events Arena, Battersea Park, London SW11 4NJ
Regular readers will know that I love to get to as many of the Arts and Antiques Fairs as possible. As I do not drive, I have to limit myself to those in London, but there are also many others held around the country throughout the year, including one at Petworth Park.
Battersea Park hosts two particular favourites, one in January and this Spring one. They generally run for five days, Wednesday to Sunday, with a private preview on the Tuesday. Information about future events and ticket purchases can be obtained through www.lapadalondon.com, www.decorativefair.com or www.bada.org but suffice to say that, for comparatively little money, unique items – paintings/art, furniture, jewellery, silver, glass, sculpture, decorative items, objets d’art etc – can be added to one’s enjoyment of life!
For your diary/calendar: the wonderful LAPADA Berkeley Square Fair will be held in the marquee inside Berkeley Square Garden (incorporating the famous London plane trees) from Tuesday 28 October until Sunday 2 November 2025. Getting on the mailing list is likely to result in free entry/tickets!
Rebuilding Notre-Dame: The Last Chapter (with Lucy Worsley) on iPlayer / BBC TV
This one-hour programme shows how, following the horrendous fire of April 2019, a veritable army of skilled craftsmen and artisans came together to rebuild Notre-Dame in time for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Lucy Worsley guides the viewer through each crucial phase of the restoration with the requisite ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’, and adds relevant notes wherever possible.
If the fire was an international disaster, the restoration is an awe-inspiring example of what can be done when and if the will, skill and money is there! In the same week as the Notre-Dame fire, Hammersmith Bridge was closed to road traffic; in the five years since, absolutely nothing has been done to get the bridge back in action, with politicians – national and local – sitting on their hands and saying “the other lot will have to pay for it”!
As a final point for this month, I was talking to a number of friends and acquaintances recently, and it was generally agreed that, if one is choosing to become a member or friend of any one arts organisation in London, the V&A is probably the best value, from several points of view: the sheer range and number of different exhibitions staged there; the fact that, even with hugely popular, sold-out exhibitions (such as Chanel, Dior, Mary Quant, Alexander McQueen etc. and the current Cartier), members can just turn up and join a separate queue that enables them to get into the exhibition certainly within 30–45 minutes; the 10 per cent discount on all purchases in the shop and restaurants; the access to special events, talks, lessons and study days; and, finally, having access to the exclusive Members’ Room on the top floor. Website: www.vam.ac.uk.
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