OPENING SOON

Opening in February or March

February

Gillian Ayres at 80. New paintings and works on paper by a major British abstract artist.
Alan Cristea Gallery, 31 & 34 Cork Street, London W1S 3NU. Tel. +44 (0)20 7439 1866. (Open Mon - Sat) 3 February – 13 March.

Shhh... it's a Secret. Curated by 12 children from the local St Vincent's Catholic Primary School, this enchanting interactive exhibition aims to “unlock” many secrets from works of art chosen from throughout the museum's permanent collection.
The Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1U 3BN. Tel. +44 (0)20 7563 9500. (Open daily) www.wallacecollection.org 4 February – 28 March.

Facing East: Recent works from China, India and Japan, from the Frank Cohen Collection. Exhibition of major contemporary works of painting and sculpture selected from Frank Cohen's huge international collection.
Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3JL. Tel. +44 (0)161 235 8888. (Open Tues - Sun) 4 February – 11 April.

Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde: Constructing a New World. Major exhibition devoted to works by the Dutch avant-garde artist Theo van Doesburg (1883 – 1931) and his modernist European peers.
Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Tel. +44 (0)20 7887 8888. (Open daily; late Fri & Sat) www.tate.org.uk 4 February – 16 May.

Walls Are Talking: Wallpaper, Art and Culture. Major exhibition of artists' wallpapers including work by Damien Hirst, Niki de St Phalle, Rosemarie Brockel, Sonia Boyce, Zineb Sedira, Thomas Demand, David Shrigley and Bashir Makhoul.
The Whitworth Art Gallery, Oxford Road, Manchester M15 6ER. Tel. +44 7183 3577. (Open daily) 6 February – 3 May.

Hiroshi Suzuki – Silver Waves. Exhibition of the technically astonishing yet poetic work by Japanese-born silversmith who in 1994 was attracted to live and work in London by its world-renowned metalworking courses.
Goldsmiths' Hall, Foster Lane, London EC2V 6BN. Tel. +44 (0)20 7606 7010. (Open Mon - Sat) 8 February – 6 March.

Paul Nash: The Elements. Loan exhibition of paintings and watercolours by Paul Nash (1889 – 1946) plus a selection of photographs and photographic collages by this major English artist. Subjects include interiors, abstracts, still lifes, landscapes and work from both World Wars.
Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gallery Road, London SE21 7AD. Tel. +44 (0)20 8693 5254. (Open Tues - Sun) 10 February – 9 May.

Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective. Celebration of Arshile Gorky (c. 1904 – 1948) one of the most important figures of American Abstract Expressionism through more than 150 paintings and works on paper.
Supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Tel. +44 (0)20 7887 8888. (Open daily; late Fri & Sat) www.tate.org.uk 10 February – 3 May.

Artificial Paradises: Natasha Kissell. Exhibition of very intriguing new work by widely regarded artist – who live and works in cosmopolitan Brighton.
Eleven Fine Art, 11 Eccleston Street, London SW1W 9LX. Tel. +44 (0)20 7823 5540. (Open Tues - Sat) 11 February – 13 March.

Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2010. The short listed artists for this important annual international award are: Anna Fox, Zoe Leonard; Sophie Ristelhueber and Donovan Wylie.
The Photographers' Gallery, 16 – 18 Ramillies Street, London W1F 7LW Tel. +44 (0)845 262 1618. (Open Tues - Sun; late Thurs & Fri) 12 February – 18 April.

Terry O'Neill: New & Unseen. Selling exhibition of unseen & unpublished images from the archives of a noted celebrity photographer.
Chris Beetles, 8 & 10 Ryder Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6QB. Tel +44 (0)20 7839 7551. (Open Mon - Sat) 17 February – 6 March.

Michelangelo's Dream. Potentially very important exhibition centred on one of the Courtauld's greatest treasures: the drawing Dream of Human Life by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 – 1564) shown in the company of other works by this artist, some by his contemporaries, plus a group of his autograph letter and poems.
The Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN. Tel. +44 (0)20 7848 2526. (Open daily) www.courtauld.ac.uk 18 February – 16 May.

Ron Arad: Restless. Major exhibition of work by Israeli-born, British based-designer.
Barbican Art Gallery, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS. Tel. +44 (0)845 120 7550. (Open late daily; except Tues & Wed) 18 February – 16 May.

Alan Johnston. Drawing a Shadow: No Object. An opportunity to see and experience Johnston's drawings spreading over all the Institute's walls.
The Henry Moore Institute, 74 The Headrow, Leeds LS1 3AH. Tel. +44 (0)113 246 7467. (Open daily; late Wed) 18 February – 2 May.

Irving Penn Portraits. Major exhibition of portrait photographs by the late Irving Penn, including never-previously shown images of Lee Krasner, Edith Piaf, Harold Pinter and Cecil Beaton.
Supported by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
National Portrait Gallery, St. Martin's Place, London WC2H 0HE. Tel. +44 (0)20 7306 0055. (Open daily; late Thur & Fri) www.npg.org.uk 18 February – 6 June.

The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture, 1600 – 1700. Stunning exhibition of 16^th century Spanish religious paintings and polychrome sculptures showing their interdependence of subject and parallel technical skill.
National Gallery of Art, Fourth Street at Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20565. Tel. +1 202 737 4215. (Open daily) www.nga.gov 20 February – 31 May.

Painting History: Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey. Another potentially popular (and scholarly) winner: devoted to the history paintings by the great French artist Paul Delaroche (1797 – 1856). Seven famous works on display include his monumental masterpiece The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, plus The Princes in the Tower and, only recently re-discovered and conserved, Charles I Insulted by Cromwell's Soldiers. This international loan exhibition will also include some of Delaroche's preparatory drawings as well as paintings and prints by his French and English contemporaries.
National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN. Tel. +44 (0)20 7747 2885. (Open daily; late Fri) www.nationalgallery.org.uk 24 February – 23 May.

Sophie Molins: The Impossibility of Escapism. Exhibition of photographs, texts and found objects presented in association with the Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust (RAPt). Since 1999, Sophie Molins has been working with this charity which is concerned with helping people within prisons across the UK recover from substance abuse and addiction.
ArtSpace, Westbourne Grove Church, Westbourne Grove, London W11 2RW. Tel. +44 (0)20 7034 0500. (Open Mon – Fri) 24 February – 30 March.

Henry Moore. Major exhibition of more than 150 works including stone sculptures, wood carvings, bronzes and drawings by Henry Moore (1898 – 1986) aiming to re-establish the artist as someone who was in fact at the forefront of progressive 20th century sculpture.
Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG. Tel. +44 (0)20 7887 8888. (Open daily) www.tate.org.uk 24 February – 8 August.

March

Alice Anderson's Time Reversal. Installation by French/Algerian artist Alice Anderson (b. 1976) including film, sculptures and photographs, plus thousands of metres of hair – illustrating fictional childhood memories.
Riflemaker, 79 Beak Street, Soho, London W1F 9SU. Tel. +44 (0)20 7439 0000. (Open Mon - Sat) 1 March – 24 April.

Kingdom of Ife: sculptures from West Africa. Exhibition of more than 100 examples of sculpture in stone, terracotta and copper from Ife in West Africa dating from the 12^th - 15^th centuries. Most pieces are on loan from the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria.
Sponsored by Santander.
British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. Tel. +44 (0)20 7323 8000. (Open daily) www.britishmuseum.org 4 March – 6 June.

Stradivarius - Myth and Music. Loan exhibition of violins, violas and cellos by the great Italian maker Antonio Stradivari (c. 1644 – 1737) – plus concert programme by international artists playing “genuine Strads”.
Supported by AXA.
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, 50667 Cologne, Germany. Tel. +49 221 221-21119. (Open daily) 5 – 21 March.

Seven British Artists in Milan, 1965 – 1975. Works by Stephen Buckley, Bernard Cohen, Harold Cohen, Barry Flanagan, John Hoyland,Richard Smith, William Tucker – all from the private collection of Beatrice Monti, one of the founding directors of Milan's Galleria dell'Arte, which closed in 1980.
Austin/Desmond Fine Art, Pied Bull Yard, 68/69 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3BN. Tel. +44 (0)20 7242 4443. (Open Mon – Sat) 5 March – 1 April.

Art Sheffield 2010 – Life: A User's Manual. City-wide event spilling through many gallery spaces organized by the Sheffield Contemporary Art Forum highlighting the relationship between the individual and the collective – using art as a way of dealing with the current all-enveloping crisis of global capitalism. The fifth such, the previous series of exhibitions and events attracted no less than 150,000 visitors. Information: www.artsheffield.org 6 March – 1 May.

Matisse to Malevich: Pioneers of Modern Art from the Hermitage. Exhibition of some 75 masterpieces of European modern art by Matisse, Picasso and their peers from the Hermitage, St Petersburg – an uniquely important assemblage which derives from the drive, energy and passion of two great Moscow collectors: Sergej Shchukin (1854 – 1936) and Ivan Morozov (1871 – 1921). During the October Revolution of 1917 both collections were confiscated by the State.
Hermitage Amsterdam, Amstel 51, 1017 AB Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Tel. + 31 20 530 87 51. (Open daily; late Wed) 6 March – 17 September.

Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill. Horace Walpole (1717 – 1797) was the youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain's first Prime Minister. Blessed with substantial private means he was able to indulge his collecting and antiquarian interests principally through the transformation of Strawberry Hill, his villa beside The Thames at Twickenham, into a Gothic masterpiece. In 1842 his collections were sold at auction; many important examples have been brought together for this exhibition which marks also the completion of the restoration of the house and its reopening in 2010.
Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL. Tel. +44 (0)20 7942 2000. (Open daily; late Wed) www.vam.ac.uk 6 March – 4 July.

The Art of Power. Arms, Armour and Paintings from the Spanish Court. Objects loaned from the Royal Armoury in Madrid displayed with paintings by contemporary masters showing how the latter used arms and armour in their portraits to emphasize the power of the monarchy.
Museo Nacional del Prado, Paseo del Prado, 28014, Madrid, Spain. Tel. +34 91 330 28 00 (Open Tues – Sun). www.museodelprado.es 8 March – 16 May.

Artes Mundi 4. Exhibition of work by the eight international artists short-listed from more than 480 nominations in over 80 countries for the Fourth Artes Mundi prize: Yael Bartana (Israel); Fernando Bryce (Peru); Ergin Çavuşoğlu (Bulgaria); Chen Chieh-jen (Taiwan); Olga Chernysheva (Russia); Gulnara Kasmalieva and Muratebek Djumaliev (Kyrgyzstan) and Adrian Paci (Albania). The Prize aims to bring together “outstanding artists from around the world who stimulate thinking about the human condition and humanity.”
International selection and judging processes supported by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
National Museum Cardiff, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP. Tel. +44 (0)29 2039 7951 (Open Tues- Sun). 11 March – 6 June.

The Indian Portrait: 1560 - 1860. Potentially fascinating and first ever exhibition devoted to the origins and development of the portrait in India, from its origins in the Mughal court through its spread into the Hindu kingdoms until finally subsumed by the pervasive influence of European ideas in the Company period.
Spring Season Sponsor: Herbert Smith.
National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN. Tel. +44 (0)20 7747 2885. (Open daily; late Fri) www.nationalgallery.org.uk 11 March – 20 June.

Paul Sandby (1731 - 1809): Picturing Britain, A Bicentenary Exhibition. More than 80 works by Paul Sandby, a Foundation Member of the Royal Academy, deservedly known as the “father of English watercolour” whose working career spanned 50 years, during which he travelled the length and breadth of the British Isles producing landscapes and genre scenes never rivalled – even by his successors, uniformly inspired as they all were by his technical innovations.
Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London WIV 0DS. Tel. +44 (0)20 7300 8000. (Open daily; late Fri) www.royalacademy.org.uk 13 March – 13 June.

Christen Købke: Danish Master of Light. Exhibition of some 40 works by Christen Købke (1810 – 1848), one of the greatest painters of Denmark's Golden Age and a rare opportunity therefore to see and admire the extent of his work in this, the first-ever exhibition solely devoted to him, outside of his native country.
Supported by the A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation, Copenhagen.
National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN. Tel. +44 (0)20 7747 2885. (Open daily; late Fri) www.nationalgallery.org.uk 17 March – 13 June.

Edmund de Waal: At Zero. Exhibition of ceramic installations by the internationally celebrated potter Edmund de Waal.
Alan Cristea Gallery, 31 & 34 Cork Street, London W1S 3NU. Tel. +44 (0)20 7439 1866. (Open Mon - Sat) 18 March – 17 April.

Victoria & Albert: Art & Love. This is the first-ever exhibition devoted to “Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's shared enthusiasm for art.” More than 400 items from the Royal Collection will reveal “the royal couple's mutual delight in collecting and displaying works of art” from their engagement in 1839 to the Prince's early death in 1861. This large exhibition will spread through the whole of the Queen's Gallery – without doubt, for our pleasure, admiration and delight. Not to be missed.
The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London SW1. Tickets and information Tel. +44 (0)20 7766 7301. (Open daily). www.royalcollection.org.uk 19 March – 31 October.

Quilts 1700 -2010. Three centuries of British quilt making shown in a potentially enchanting exhibition of some 65 examples by generally anonymous makers from the museum's collection, plus loans from other museums and related material such as prints, paintings, diaries and keepsakes.
Supported by the Friends of the V&A.
Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL. Tel. +44 (0)20 7942 2000. (Open daily; late Wed) www.vam.ac.uk 20 March to 4 July.

Hendrick Avercamp (1585 -1634): The Little Ice Age. Exhibition of paintings and drawings by the Dutch landscape artist Hendrick Avercamp who specialised in painting winter landscapes – including depictions of the joys and perils of skating on ice.
National Gallery of Art, Fourth Street at Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20565. Tel. +1 202 737 4215. (Open daily) www.nga.gov 21 March – 5 July.

Room for Art. Few other things confirm the wealth and discrimination of 17^th Century Antwerp than the kunstkamer, small 'cabinet' paintings depicting rooms filled with artworks of all kinds including paintings and sculptures – and their attendant admirers. This genre originated in Antwerp most notably in the work of Willem van Haecht (1593 – 1637) three of whose paintings are exhibited, with others by Frans Francken de Jonge, Jan Brueghel the Elder and David Teniers – who exported the idea.
Supported by Electrabel, Group GDF SUEZ.
Mauritshuis, Buitenhof 35, The Hague, The Netherlands. Tel. +31 70 302 34 35. (Open Tues – Sun) www.mauritshuis.nl 25 March – 27 June.

Beauty in Repetition: Metalwork and Jewellery. Junko Mori and Jacqueline Ryan. Exhibition of sculpture by the former who hails from Yokohama in Japan and jewellery by the latter who was born in North London, both with a love of nature and a commitment to the hand-working of every aspect of their creations.
Blackwell, The Arts & Crafts House, Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria LA23 3JR. Tel. +44 (0)15394 46139. (Open daily) www.blackwell.org.uk 27 March – 13 June.

Henry Moore Deluxe: Books, Prints & Portfolios. Major exhibition devoted to Henry Moore's graphic work – curated by David Mitchinson who from the late 1960s to the artist's death in 1986, worked alongside Moore on the production of his prints, a medium the artist had espoused from as early as the late 1940s.
The Henry Moore Foundation, Perry Green, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire SG10 6EE. Tel +44 (0)1279 843 333. (Open Tues - Sun. Advance booking only) www.henry-moore.org 30 March – 30 August.

Tracey Emin. The Hayward, South Bank Centre, London. Spring 2010.

*especially recommended

Please check opening times and days before travelling any distance.