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| Hendrik Goltzius, The Great Hercules,1599 |
Monochrome: Painting in Black and White is at the
National Gallery until 18 February 2018.
This is a wonderful exhibition. The idea of a survey of black and white painting may not seem immediately enticing, but this is a spectacular show. With works spanning from the Middle Ages to the 21st century the variety is remarkable and includes work of jaw-dropping beauty and skill - for example Jan Van Eyck's
Annunciation (1430s) in which the painted forms convincingly simulate three-dimensional stone figures; Louis-L
éopold Boilly's
A Girl at the Window (after 1799) which although a slightly kitsch, sentimetal picture, contains a shiny telescope that you would swear was made of metal and protuding from the picture plane. At the other extreme there is Frank Stella's spare, rigorous and beautiful, Minimalist painting,
Tomlinson Court Park I (1959). Altogether there is simply so much visual pleasure to be found here.
Read reviews by
Adrian Searle,
Laura Cumming,
Alastair Sooke.
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| Jan van Eyck, The Annunciation Diptych, c1433-5 |
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| Albrecht Dürer, Head of a Woman, 1520 |
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| Etienne Moulinneuf, (after Jean-Simeon Chardin) Back from the Market (La Pourvoyeuse), c1770 |
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| Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Odalisque in Grisaille, c1824-34 |
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| Peder Balke, The Tempest, c1862 |
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| Josef Albers, Study for Homage to the Square, 1965 |
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| Frank Stella, Tomlisn Court Park I, 1959 |
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| Gerhard Richter, Helga Matura with her Fiancé, 1966 |
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| Chuck Close, Joel, 1993 |
