In the Age of Giorgione

12 March — 5 June 2016
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk

Trace the development of ideas that changed the course of art in this highly original exploration of the Venetian Renaissance. Bringing together iconic paintings by masters such as Titian and Giorgione, we shed new light on a pivotal yet little-understood moment in the history of art.

This fascinating exhibition seeks to unravel the complex web of influences that shaped the work of many of the most celebrated names in Renaissance art. Masterpieces by Giorgione will be displayed side by side with works by Giovanni Bellini, Albrecht Dürer, Titian, Sebastiano del Piombo and Lorenzo Lotto, among others. Visitors will also have the opportunity to rediscover Giovanni Cariani, a great but now unfamiliar artist in their midst.

Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse

30 January — 20 April 2016
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk

Using the work of Monet as a starting point, this landmark exhibition examines the role gardens played in the evolution of art from the early 1860s through to the 1920s.

Trace the emergence of the modern garden in its many forms and glories as we take you through a period of great social change and innovation in the arts. Discover the paintings of some of the most important Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Avant-Garde artists of the early twentieth century as they explore this theme.

Mavericks. Breaking the Mould of British Architecture

26 January — 20 April 2016
www.royalacademy.org.uk

Charting the course of British architecture through twelve maverick architects: Smythson, Vanbrugh, Wyatt, Soane, Cockerell, Mackintosh, Holden, Goodhart-Rendel, Stirling, Price, FAT and Hadid.

What makes an architect a maverick? The first and most obvious answer is when they refuse to conform to the norms of mainstream architectural culture, whether by designing in a particularly idiosyncratic way or through working on the leading edge of architectural design, driving it forward. But architects can also be maverick in other ways, such as in their relationship to the discipline and profession of architecture. These are mavericks questioning what architecture is and how it should be practised.

Jean-Etienne Liotard

24 October 2015 — 31 January 2016
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/

Jean-Etienne Liotard was an artist in great demand at noble courts across Enlightenment Europe. An eccentric and distinctive portraitist, he also made carefully observed scenes of contemporary life in far-flung locales.

Born at the dawning of the 18th century, this idiosyncratic Swiss artist was one of the most accomplished portraitists of his age. He travelled widely, from London to the Orient, applying his unflinching powers of observation to create beautifully crafted portraits, the majority in pastel chalks on parchment.

At the peak of his powers, Liotard was commissioned to paint portraits of members of the British, French and Austrian royal families. A master of self-publicity, he was known as ‘the Turk’ in London, so-called for his adoption of Oriental costume and a long beard, relics of his sojourn in the Near East where he painted British and European residents as well as the indigenous Turkish peoples.

Ai Weiwei

19 September — 13 December 2015
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk

In September 2015 major artist and cultural phenomenon Ai Weiwei takes over our main galleries with brave, provocative and visionary works.

Curated in collaboration with Ai Weiwei from his studio in Beijing, the RA will present some of his most important works from the time he returned to China from the US in 1993 right up to present day. Among new works created specifically for our galleries and courtyard will be a number of large-scale installations, as well as works showcasing everything from marble and steel to tea and glass.

With typical boldness, the chosen works will explore a multitude of challenging themes, drawing on his own experience to comment on creative freedom, censorship and human rights, as well as examining contemporary Chinese art and society.

Rubens and His Legacy. Van Dyck to Cézanne

24 January — 10 April 2015
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk

Peter Paul Rubens has been described as the “prince of painters”. A bold claim? Judge for yourself at this, the first major overview of his work and legacy.

Rubens and His Legacy will bring together masterpieces produced during his lifetime, as well as major works by great artists who were influenced by him in the generations that followed. We see the influence of Rubens in the prints of Picasso and Rembrandt, in the portraiture of Van Dyck, in the hunting scenes and devotional works of Delacroix, and in the landscapes of Constable and Gainsborough. It is a far reaching and remarkable legacy.

Rubens, best known for his fleshy nude women, also embraced a broad array of subjects, from religious and mythological scenes to landscapes and portraits. We will be looking at each of these areas through the lens of six themes; power, lust, compassion, elegance, poetry and violence.

Set to be one of the biggest spectacles of 2015, this is an unprecedented opportunity to see masterpieces by Rubens side by side with the work of his artistic heirs.

Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined at Royal Academy Of Arts

royalacademy.org.uk
25 January - 6 April 2014

The Royal Academy welcomes some of the most creative architectural minds in the world as they launch Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined.

Setting something of a tricky task, the RA have asked architects to come up with work that will give visitors a completely new experience when they walk through the doors.

Architects have the chance to use all the tools at their disposal – including structures, scents, lighting and colour – to transform the Main Galleries and to ask fundamental questions about the architectural discipline.

The project is nothing without the all-important visitors, who are required to arrive and interact with the surroundings so that they realise their full potential. By touching, climbing, sitting, walking and contemplating, it’s you who’ll bring this exhibition to life.

Mexico. A Revolution in Art, 1910-1940

6 July—29 September 2013
Burlington House

 Mexico: A Revolution in Art, 1910 – 1940, will examine the intense thirty year period of artistic creativity that took place in Mexico at the beginning of the twentieth century. The turmoil of the revolution between 1910 and 1920 ushered in a period of profound political change in which the arts were placed centre stage. Often referred to as a cultural renaissance, artists were employed by the Ministry of Public Education on ambitious public arts projects designed to promote the principles of the revolution.

The exhibition will explore this period both in terms of national and international artists. Work by significant Mexican artists, such as Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, will be placed alongside that of individuals who were affected by their experiences in Mexico. These include Josef Albers, Edward Burra, Philip Guston, Marsden Hartley, Paul Strand, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Henrietta Shore, Leon Underwood, Tina Modotti and Edward Weston. 'Mexico: A Revolution in Art, 1910 – 1940' will reveal a dynamic and often turbulent cultural environment that included some seminal figures of the twentieth century reflecting on their interaction with each other and their differing responses to the same subject: Mexico.