Exhibition of the week
Diane Arbus
The pathos of this remorseless photographer’s portraiture comes to Shetland.
• Shetland Museum and Archive from 19 August to 12 November, Lerwick
Also showing
Rising Tide
Indigenous Australian and Pacific Islander artists respond to the climate crisis, with works by Anthony C Guerrero and George Nuku alongside pieces from the museum collections.
• National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, until 14 April
Sebastian Thomas: A New Face in Hell
Sculptures that imagine the face of the Golem, the legendary creature brought to life from clay to defend Europe’s Jewish communities.
• Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop until 16 September
Thomas J Price
Bronze images of Black people confront the white marble dead in the V&A’s sculpture gallery.
• V&A, London, until 27 May
Economics the Blockbuster
Artists take on capital in a concept-heavy show that includes Goldin+Senneby, Kathrin Böhm, lumbung Kios and more.
• Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, until 22 October
Image of the week
The American painter Brice Marden, who won an enduring international reputation for constant experimentation and resistance to fashion over six decades, has died aged 84. In 1975, the 37-year-old Marden was given a career retrospective at the Guggenheim, and his works continue to be some of the most prized contempory paintings. Read the full obituary here
What we learned
Sydney is hosting an existential generative AI exhibition
New statues of the Glimmer Twins are duds, but we found eight great public artworks
Olivia Laing celebrated the real power of Janine Wiedel’s protest photos
Eighteen artists explored what happens when poetry and sculpture collide
The Lunar Codex project has sent the work of 30,000 artists to the moon
Groundbreaking gallerist Angela Flowers has died aged 90
Winners of 2023’s international photographer of the year are on show
We explored the weird world of hidden public art
A Florida art gallery boss has been accused of selling fake Basquiats
Masterpiece of the week
The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child by Sandro Botticelli, c.1485
Sandro Botticelli painted pagan myths including the world’s favourite image of the classical goddess of love, his Birth of Venus. But by the mid-1480s he was returning to the Christian fold, as this passionate vision of the Madonna proves. Mary has the features of one of his pagan beauties but clasps her hands in prayer to revere her divine son. We’re teetering on the edge of a mystical rapture. Botticelli depicts nature’s hues with delicate accuracy, but the pink flowers interact with Mary’s pink and blue clothes, and the pearly translucent complexions of mother and child, to transport your soul. This exquisite painting takes you out of the real world to glimpse a promise of paradise.
• Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
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