Exhibition of the week
Lucy McKenzie
A retrospective of the Glasgow-born artist’s architectural paintings and forays into avant garde fashion.
Tate Liverpool, from 20 October to 13 March
Also showing
Karlo Kacharava
Seductive and strange gothic paintings by this gifted Georgian artist who died young in 1994.
Modern Art Helmet Row, London, until 17 December
Martin Boyce
Telephones stuck eerily to abstract paintings haunt the Turner-winner’s latest delve into modern discomfort.
The Modern Institute, Glasgow, until 23 October
Ekene Stanley Emecheta
Paintings that explore the lives of a fictional family by this self-taught artist.
Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London, from 16 October to 14 November
The Gaze
A group show inspired by the sensitive eyes of Moroni’s portrait The Tailor in the National Gallery, with Sunil Gupta, Cary Kwok, Florian Hetz and many more.
TJ Boulting, London, from 15 October to 20 November
Image of the week
The Frieze art fair is back on in Regent’s Park, London, for the first time since the pandemic began. We sent Guardian photographer Sarah Lee to do some people watching, and you can see more of her snaps of the art-lovers here, and read our review of the fair here.
What we learned
Tacita Dean is part of a Divine Comedy
A Swedish town is making buildings out of plywood
A Benin bronze is being returned to Nigeria
… and a statue of pioneering MP Barbara Castle has joined recent memorials to prominent British women
Critics cast doubt on the photo of Boris Johsnon easel painting at his holiday villa
The Imperial War Museum London’s Holocaust Galleries lay bare history’s greatest horror
Coventry’s year as city of culture is highlighting its resilience
Spanish art has found a new home in Bishop Auckland
Melbourne artists fear the city’s creative heart is threatened
… while the growth of online exhibitions is a worry for some real-world galleries
The Whitney in New York is celebrating the forgotten women of abstract art …
… while the V&A in London will celebrate men’s fashion style
Melbourne artists fear the city’s creative heart is threatened
Anicka Yi’s floating pod creatures have invaded Tate Modern in London …
… and street artist Fin DAC’s giant Frida Kahlo mural is coming to Britain
Banksy reached a personal best with the auction of his part-shredded artwork
Photographer Mark Simmons captured the maverick spirit of the 90s Bristol music scene
Painter Laura Knight lived a life less ordinary
Poussin’s frozen ballet is the greatest in art …
… while the documentary Raphael Revealed is a superb motivator to get to the National Gallery’s blockbuster show in London next year
Sutapa Biswas wants viewers to feel uncomfortable
Hong Kong photographer Nancy Sheung had a gift for line and texture
Artists Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings are looking at feminism and the political right
Kingston University’s Town House is officially the UK’s best new building
Artists are taking on the Beano
Eighteenth-century air from the Antarctic is on display in Glasgow
Architectural photographer Hélène Binet creates universes for the imagination …
… and postwar architecture is being reconsidered
A Palestinian refugee camp is seeking Unesco world heritage status
Australia celebrated good design
Photographer Polly Alderton published her lockdown family gallery …
… while Bruce Gilden showed brutal intimacy in Tokyo
… Charles Traub spotted a lemon at a Miami car dealership
… and the rides began at Hull fair
Vintage Aeroflot posters and images take off in a new book
Barack Obama’s photographic iconography obscured his omissions
Tattoos are more than body art
The Observer’s competition for aspiring cartoonists and graphic novelists has been launched
Louis Wain’s anthropomorphic cats will spring up at London’s Bethlem museum
The architect Stanley Amis has died aged 97
Masterpiece of the week
Titian: Venus and Cupid with a Lute Player, c 1555-65
A photo cannot do justice to this painting – you have to be there in the gallery to get an eyeful of molten colour, a cloud of iridescent life as the goddess Venus imposes her existence on the space around her. Titian’s ability to make bodies real is beyond explanation. Technically it seems simple enough – his use of oil paint on canvas in luscious layers lets him capture the human form with delicate spontaneity. But there’s a magic in his brush that no other painter has ever rivalled. Yes, this is a female nude. But is she objectified? We look at her in awe, sharing the lute player’s reverent amazement at this incarnation of the divine.
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Don’t forget
To follow us on Twitter: @GdnArtandDesign.
Sign up to the Art Weekly newsletter
If you don’t already receive our regular roundup of art and design news via email, please sign up here.
Get in Touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com