Top Five Exhibitions: September 2018

As we head towards Autumn, here’s a guide to some of Love London Love Culture’s top exhibitions opening next month….

1. Oceania, Royal Academy of Arts: on display from the end of September, the Royal Academy will explore the diverse art work that has emerged from the Oceania region. The work on display will range from the prehistoric to contemporary art work and will mark the 250th anniversary since Captain James Cook took part in a voyage to the region.

Spanning across 500 years, the exhibition will include a variety of objects such as shell, greenstone and ceramic ornaments, to huge canoes and stunning god images.

(C) Jusepede  Ribera, Saint  Sebastian  Tended  by  the  Holy  Women,  c.1620-23,  ©Bilboko  Arte  Ederren.Museoa-Museo  de  Bellas  Artes  de  Bilbao.

2.  Ribera: Art of Violence, Dulwich Picture Gallery: the gallery will present the UK’s first show of work by the Spanish Baroque artist and printmaker, Jusepe de Ribera from the 26th September. The artist is best recognised for his depictions of human sufferings in his work and this exhibition will concentrate on the theme of violence.

It is set to feature eight canvases to be displayed alongside a selection of drawings and prints, arranged thematically to closely examine Ribera’s images of saintly martyrdom and mythological violence, skin and the five senses, crime and punishment and the bound male figure.

3. Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt, Victoria and Albert Museum: the museum’s Autumn exhibition will offer an insight into the way in which contemporary video games have been designed. It will feature  concept art and prototypes which will be displayed alongside large-scale immersive installations and interactive elements.

The exhibition will feature some of the biggest names in video games such as Splatoon from Nintendo as well  independents such as Journey by thatgamecompany to explore how contemporary  designers, players and critics are pushing boundaries in videogames in radical new ways.

4. Courtauld Impressionists: From Manet to Cézanne, National Gallery: on display from the 17th September, this display will trace the development of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings through a selection of over forty masterpieces. Visitors will be able to enjoy famous works by Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, Manet, and Seurat from the Courtauld Gallery’s collection alongside a selection of much-loved Impressionist paintings from the Gallery’s own holdings.

5. I Object: Ian Hislop’s Search for Dissent, British Museum: this new exhibition at the museum will examine about what history is to those such as the downtrodden, the forgotten, the protestors and how they left their mark on objects. The display has been created with the help of Private Eye Editor Ian Hislop.

It will include objects such as graffiti on a Babylonian brick to a banknote with hidden rude words, from satirical Turkish shadow puppets to a recently acquired ‘pussy’ hat worn on a women’s march and the stories behind them.