Exhibition of the week
DJ Roberts: An Enormous Yes
Among the bookshops of London’s Charing Cross road, this is a diverting break for Christmas shoppers that celebrates the pop-cultural passions of poet Philip Larkin.
• 58 Charing Cross Road, London, until 21 December.
Also showing
Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg: The Lost Rhino
An installation that portrays the doomed northern white rhinoceros, of which species no males survive.
• Natural History Museum, London, from 16 December until March.
Luke Jerram: First Breath
A light installation over Manchester looking forward to the new Factory International arts venue.
• Manchester International site from 1-29 January.
Turner in January
Traditional new year outing for Turner’s wondrous watercolours.
Scottish National Gallery from 1-31 January.
Lucian Freud: New Perspectives
Don’t miss this sprawling survey of the human condition.
National Gallery, London, until 22 January.
Image of the week
Rome-based photographer Francesca Pompei is among finalists in the Art of Building competition with her image of the UAE Pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai by the Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava. At the centre of the structure is a spherical void that serves as a 200-seater auditorium. The competition, run by the Chartered Institute of Building, is the largest of its kind celebrating the built environment, and entries range from an isolated church to a shopping mall, with the winner to be decided by a public vote. See the full gallery here.
What we learned
Brain sculptures by artists including Tracey Emin have been auctioned for charity
Australian artists claim an app using AI to generate self-portraits steals their content
Douglas Gordon’s neon lights revive the art of the readymade
The new Orange County Museum of Art is an “unfinished Frankenstein’s monster”
Fans of muscular Christianity have helped the “hot priest calendar” succeed
Despite acclaimed work, female artists remain desperately underpaid
Matthew Arthur Williams’s new show explodes working-class cliches
Ashley Bickerton, whose neo-geo work satirised the get-rich-quick 80s, has died aged 63
An immersive show used animatronics to bring architectural models to life
Masterpiece of the week
Saint Francis and the Poor Knight, 1437-44, by Sassetta
In the first frame of this finely painted medieval cartoon strip, the young Francis of Assisi meets a poverty-stricken knight on the road, and gives him his cloak. Later, he lies in bed and dreams of a floating castle hung with holy banners. According to the official posthumous interpretation of this ascetic saint’s life, it was a vision of the Franciscan order of friars – which was in reality the church’s attempt to contain and control his radical message. Sassetta tells this tale in one of the panels from a magnificent altarpiece of the life of Francis. Yet in reality, this visionary preacher posed a threat to the religious and social order. He preached poverty, sisterhood and brotherhood, even taking his message to wildlife. And at Christmas 1223 he got ordinary people to enact a nativity scene that celebrated the birth of the messiah in a stable.
• National Gallery, London.
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