There are a couple of art exhibitions I cannot wait to see this coming year, so I thought I would share my wish-list...
GEORGIA O'KEEFFE, Tate Modern, London
6 July – 30 October 2016
O’ Keeffe is recognised as a foundational figure of American modernism. She was also claimed as an important pioneer by feminist artists of the 1970s. A single-minded character who identified her ambition to become an artist when she was still a child, O’Keeffe developed her practice over a seven-decade career. Tate Modern will present a major retrospective of the artist, a century after her New York debut. The exhibition is the first important solo institutional exhibition of the artist’s work in the UK for a generation. This ambitious and wide-ranging overview will review O’Keeffe’s work in depth and reassess her place in the canon of twentieth-century art.
"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for."
Georgia O'Keeffe
FRIDA KAHLO: ART, GARDEN, LIFE, New York Botanical Garden
16 May – 1 Nov 2015
This blockbuster exhibition is the first to examine Frida Kahlo’s keen appreciation for the beauty and variety of the natural world, as evidenced by her home and garden as well as the complex use of plant imagery in her artwork. Featuring a rare display of more than a dozen original Kahlo paintings and works on paper, this limited six-month engagement also reimagines the iconic artist’s famed garden and studio at the Casa Azul, her lifelong home in Mexico City.
“I paint flowers so they will not die.”
Frida Kahlo
LIBERTY IN FASHION, The Fashion and Textile Museum, London
9 October 2015 – 28 February 2016
The exhibition charts Liberty’s history as ‘the’ fashionable place to shop as well as its role as the source and originator of key trends in fashion history. Over 150 garments, textiles and objects demonstrate Liberty’s strong relationships with designers since 1875, from Arthur Silver of Silver Studio to collaborations with Jean Muir, Cacharel, Yves Saint Laurent and Vivienne Westwood.
“I was determined not to follow existing fashion but to create new ones.”
Arthur Lasenby Liberty
THE FABRIC OF INDIA, The Victoria & Albert Museum, London
3 October 2015 – 10 January 2015
This will be the first major exhibition to explore the dynamic and multifaceted world of handmade textiles from India from the 3rd to the 21st century. India’s handmade textiles are embedded in every aspect of its identity, with a history dating back at least 6000 years. Courtly splendour was proclaimed by sumptuous fabrics, while religious worship still finds expression through sacred cloths. Centuries of global trade have been shaped by the export of Indian textiles and patterns, in demand around the world. These celebrated hand-made textiles even survived the threat of industrialisation and today, young designers are adapting traditional making techniques to create exciting new fashion, art and design for a global audience, giving India’s textile history a new relevance in the modern world.