Exhibition of the week
Peter Blake
Sensitive illustrations for Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood by the godfather of pop art.
• Waddington Custot, London, from 11 June to 23 July.
Also showing
Gone Fishing
The uncanny real life art of the Boyle Family features alongside the maverick experiments of John Latham.
• Flat Time House, London, from 16 June to 17 July.
Lucy Wertheim
A celebration of the collector, patron and gallerist who was at the centre of British art in the 1930s.
• Towner Eastbourne from 11 June to 25 September.
Whitstable Biennale
A week of art in this seaside town with participants including Nicole Bachmann, Patrick Flannery Walker, Ruth Waters, Sarah Craske and Savinder Bual.
• Various locations from 11 to 19 June.
Peter Saul
Visceral splatters of cartoonish fun by the veteran American painter.
• Michael Werner through the summer.
Image of the week
Tributes have been paid across the world to influential Portuguese artist Paula Rego who died this week aged 87. Recognised as one of art’s great storytellers, her visceral, unsettling works were often inspired by folklore. A long-time resident of London, she was made a Dame in 2010. Read the full story here.
What we learned
Antony Gormley is to become a German citizen after “tragedy” of Brexit
Thieves stole Banksy’s Bataclan mural with crowbar, a court was told
Tommy Kwak photographed Miami’s ornate lifeguard towers
William Morris’s wife was painted out of the Arts and Crafts movement
Goya’s horrific Black Paintings have been brought to life
Theaster Gates has punched a hole in the roof of his Black Chapel
US artist Deborah Roberts was enraged by the Child Q story
Artists have changed our picture of the Queen
The popularity of anti-slavery art is being challenged in New York
Masterpiece of the week
https://composer.gutools.co.uk/content/629f34138f08a189de5290d3
The “jungle” in this painting exists to give form to the colours in Rousseau’s head. It is an abstract creation, a buoyant dance of greens and reds and bulbous, tubular geometries, all created by an act of will rather than observation. This was revolutionary in 1891 when artists were expected to study nature closely rather than flying off into their own minds. But Rousseau was a “naive”, untrained artist, and other modernists laughed at his innocent character. Infamously, a banquet for him at Picasso’s studio was intended more to mock than to celebrate this part-time painter. He has the last laugh in this undying masterpiece. The mad stare of the tiger, the glitter of foliage in a storm’s electricity, the rubbery textures of leaves, all add to its hallucinatory magic. It is art for everyone, adult or child, a vision that will never date.
• National Gallery, London.
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
