This week's art world highlights showcase a diverse range of exhibitions and cultural developments across Britain and beyond. The standout exhibition features an unlikely pairing of British artists Maggi Hambling and Sarah Lucas, who formed their friendship at London's legendary Colony Room and are now presenting their work together in a cross-generational artistic dialogue at Sadie Coles HQ from November 20 to January 24.
Several other notable exhibitions are opening across London and England this month. Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes presents her latest kaleidoscopic abstract paintings featuring complex geometric patterns and vibrant colors at White Cube Masons Yard from November 19 to January 17. Meanwhile, the unique British painter Stanley Spencer, known for his medievalist yet modern vision, is being celebrated in Suffolk at Gainsboroughs House in Sudbury from November 15 to March 22, showcasing landscapes he painted in the region.
Additionally, art critic Roger Fry, widely credited with introducing modernism to Britain over a century ago, receives a rare exhibition of his own paintings at Charleston in Lewes from November 15 to March 15. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh continues its presentation of Alfred Buckham's dramatic aerial photography, featuring stormy Scottish skies captured by the pioneering photographer, running until April 19.
The week's most controversial image involves renowned sculptor Anish Kapoor's famous Chicago installation "Cloud Gate," commonly known as "the Bean." U.S. Border Patrol agents posed at the sculpture following what Kapoor described as military-style immigration enforcement raids. The artist condemned the incident, stating "This is fascist America and it is beyond belief," and described the agents' actions as "abducting street vendors, breaking doors, pulling people from cars, using teargas on residential streets." Kapoor previously filed a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association in 2018 for using his sculpture in an advertisement, which was settled out of court. He noted that the recent border patrol incident presents more complications because "they're a full, if you like, national army unit."
The art world also received several significant updates this week. More than one-third of U.S. museums have lost government funding since the Trump administration took office, while over 150 Tate staff members are planning to strike over pay issues this month. In more positive news, an image of a burn survivor won the Taylor Wessing photo portrait prize, and Harlem's relocated Studio Museum has become a new destination for Black art in New York.
Other cultural developments include artist Luke Jerram's ambitious living installation featuring 365 trees, and new recognition for Japanese-American photojournalist Jun Fujita, who documented early 20th-century Chicago and Al Capone. A BBC film has also raised the intriguing possibility that the famous painter J.M.W. Turner may have been neurodivergent. Artists and writers have been sharing advice on living life artfully, while guerrilla mosaics are brightening cities from Southampton to Sarajevo.
This week's featured masterpiece is "A Young Man Holding a Ring" by a follower of Jan van Eyck from around 1450, currently housed at the National Gallery in London. The painting showcases revolutionary technical skills influenced by the great Bruges artist Jan van Eyck. The work features a well-dressed man holding a ring between his finger and thumb, standing against a wall decorated with rain clouds and the Flemish inscription "her las uber gan," meaning "Lord, let it pass over." The painting's sophisticated use of shadow and detail demonstrates the technical innovations of its time, with the subject likely representing a wealthy merchant using the ring as a symbol of prosperity, while the storm imagery may reference weathering financial difficulties.
