Exhibition until 25 may 2020 @ TATE BRITAIN

Few artists have stamped their personality so indelibly on their era as Aubrey Beardsley. He died in 1898 at the age of just 25 but had already become one of the most discussed and celebrated artists in Europe. His extraordinary black-and-white drawings were instantly recognisable. Then, as now, he seemed the quintessential figure of 1890s decadence. No other artist captured the danger and the beauty, the cynicism and brilliance of the age as Beardsley did with pen and ink. Beardsley worked at a hectic pace: he created well over a thousand illustrations and designs in just five years. 

This exhibition offers a rare chance to see many of Beardsley's original drawings. It also sets Beardsley in his social and artistic context. Works by other artists punctuate the exhibition, showing how he absorbed diverse artistic influences but always retained his own style.

arty-farty's opinion: ****  arty farts
Great to see how the Victorians were disrupted by slinky black-and-white drawings filled with sex and death – Beardsley’s soft porn caused a fair amount of scandal. He influenced us all.

In 1938 the Director of the Tate Gallery, JB Manson, declared that 'over my dead body will Henry Moore ever enter the Tate'.  Today there are 634 works by Henry Moore in the Tate collection ranging in date from 1921 to 1984, and including drawings, prints, and sculptures in wood, stone and metal. The most recent show in 2010 re-affirmed Moore's status as one of the leading artists of the twentieth century.

arty-farty's opinion: ****  arty farts
Henry Moore once said "Everything I do is intended to be big".  this exhibition in Tate is grand.

the CLORE GALLERY @ Tate Britaine was ..... CLOSED :-(

Tate Britain is (the now hidden) home to the largest collection of works by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851). A master of history, landscape and marine painting, he challenged the style of the old masters. Turner often shocked his contemporaries with his loose brushwork and vibrant colour palette while portraying the development of the modern world. It is no wonder that Turner became the most celebrated painter in England.  

arty-farty's opinion: * arty fart
no comment ☹ shame on you,  Tate bureaucracy

ALCHEMY OF THE THEATRE exhibition runs 4 march - now temporarily closed due to ...

Presenting acclaimed and playfully mischievous bronzes by Barry Flanagan (1941-2009). Alchemy of the Theatre explores the theatrical elements of Flanagan's sculptures, beginning with their dramatic conception from molten bronze in the furnaces of the foundry. At the heart of the exhibition are Flanagan's well-loved hares. This show commemorates forty years since Flanagan's first solo show at Waddington Custot, then Waddington Galleries, which took place in 1980.

arty-farty's opinion:  **** arty farts
Barry Flanagan, his relatively traditional bronzes of exuberant, loose-limbed hares are very funny. Even more when you realize that the penis of the hares needed to be reduced in size (half) to make them acceptable for the art market:)

The Guildhall Art Gallery houses the art collection of the City of London. The original gallery was built in 1885 to house art collections from the City of London Corporation. After the original building was destroyed in The Blitz in 1941, a new facility was completed to house the collection, which includes about 4,000 items, in 1999. The centrepiece of the collection, John Singleton Copley's huge painting depicting The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, was placed in a prominent position in the entrance hall of the gallery.

arty-farty's opinion: **** arty farts
the Guildhall Art Gallery is a hidden gem in London. face to face with La Ghirlandata 1873  by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882): flabbergasted

The Natural History Museum in London exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 80 million items within five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology and zoology. The museum is particularly famous for its exhibition of dinosaur skeletons and ornate architecture. The museum is recognised as the pre-eminent centre of natural history and research of related fields in the world.

arty-farty's opinion: **** arty farts
great to see the museum kept their original setting and did not lose its  'Indiana Jones' identity.. swell atmosphere to come back with your kids and grandchildren to tell them stories. afterthought: shame on us Belgians, that we rejected  our roots while rebuilding the Africa museum in Tervuren.

Since opening, The Exhibitionist Hotel Kensington has been the hotel leader in style, chic and cool in Kensington. A place where one can get inspired by an art exhibition in an intimate and easy-going atmosphere. 

arty-farty's opinion *** arty farts
old fashioned boutique hotel, great location. grateful that we discovered Eli Castelli and his "There is no F in art" book.

soaked visit of both Serpentine Galleries in London, strolling through Kensington Gardens in a pooring March rain.