UPDATED
Well, the exhibitions schedule for 2020 didn’t quite go as planned. But here is an idea of what exhibitions to expect in 2021. Obviously, this is all subject to change due to the ever-evolving Covid pandemic. Highlights to look forward to are Paula Rego at Tate Britain, Helen Frankenthaler at Dulwich Picture Gallery, Durer at National Gallery and Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser at V&A.
Please note the list will be amended and updated as soon as new information becomes available.
Exhibitions For March
Liverpool Biennial
20 March – 6 June 2021
various venues around Liverpool
The 11th edition of Liverpool Biennial: The Stomach and the Port will take place from 20 March – 6 June 2021. This edition was originally scheduled to take place in 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Taking place every two years across the city’s public spaces, galleries and historic buildings, the Biennial commissions artists to make and present work in the context of Liverpool. The festival is underpinned by a year-round programme of research, education, residencies, projects and commissions.
May
Royal Academy of Arts
Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch, Royal Academy of Arts
Tracey Emin/Edvard Munch: The Loneliness of the Soul
From reopening until 30 May 2021
The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries, Royal Academy of Arts
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/
Michael Armitage,The Paradise Edict, 2019
Michael Armitage
22 May – 19 September
Royal Academy of Arts
Michael Armitage is a Kenyan-born artist who works between Nairobi and London. His colourful, dreamlike paintings are loaded with provocative perspectives that play with visual narratives and challenge cultural assumptions, exploring politics, history, civil unrest and sexuality.
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/
David Hockney, No. 323, 13th May 2020.
David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020
23 May – 1 August 2021 in Main Galleries
Reinstalled – 8 August – 26 September in The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries
Royal Academy of Arts
In the midst of a pandemic, David Hockney RA captured the unfolding of spring on his iPad, creating 116 new and optimistic works in praise of the natural world.
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/
Unearthed: Photography’s Roots
From re-opening to 30 August 2021
Dulwich Picture Gallery
The first exhibition to trace the history of photography as told through depictions of nature, revealing how the subject led to key advancements in the medium, from its very beginnings in 1840 to the present day. It brings together over 100 works by 35 leading international photographers, many never seen before.
https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/
Jean Dubuffet, Barbican Art Gallery
NEW DATES
Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty
17 May – 22 August 2021
Barbican Art Gallery
An exhibition celebrating French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985), one of the most singular and provocative voices in postwar modern art.
https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/art-design
Eileen Agar, Erotic Landscape, 1942
Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy
19 May – 29 August 2021
Whitechapel Gallery
A major retrospective of the work of Eileen Agar (1899-1991). Throughout her nearly 70-year career, Agar synthesised elements of two of the twentieth century’s most significant artistic tendencies: Cubism and Surrealism. The exhibition explores how these early inspirations rapidly developed into her very personal style that offered a moving commentary on society over a period of tremendous social change.
Tate Modern
The Making of Rodin, Tate Modern
The EY Exhibition: The Making of Rodin
NEW DATES: 18 May – 31 October 2021
Tate Modern
Working at the turn of the 20th century, Auguste Rodin created sculptures with an expressiveness and emotion rarely seen before. This major exhibition offers a unique insight into Rodin’s processes, highlighting the crucial role of plaster in his practice. The exhibition evokes the informal atmosphere of the studio, where you will discover lesser-known pieces and new aspects of his most iconic works.
Zanele Muholi
Re-opening on 17 May until 31 May 2021
Tate Modern
Zanele Muholi is one of the most acclaimed photographers working today, and their work has been exhibited all over the world. With over 260 photographs, this exhibition presents the full breadth of their career to date.
https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/zanele-muholi
Yayoi Kusama Infinity Room Tate Modern
Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms
From re-opening – 27 March 2022
Tate Modern
Tate presents a rare chance to experience two of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms. These immersive installations will transport you into Kusama’s unique vision of endless reflections.
Tate Britain
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye,Tate Brita
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly In League With The Night
Re-opening on 17 May until 31 May 2021
Tate Britain
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is a British artist and writer acclaimed for her enigmatic portraits of fictitious people. This exhibition brings together around 80 works from 2003 to the present day in the most extensive survey of the artist’s career to date.
https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/lynette-yiadom-boakye
Tate Britain Commission: Heather Phillipson
NEW DATES: 17 May 2021 – 23 January 2022
Tate Britain
Every year Tate Britain invites an artist to create an exciting new commission for the grand spaces of the Duveen Galleries at the heart of the building. In 2020 the commission will be by British artist Heather Phillipson.
V&A
Bags: Inside Out
19 May 2021 – 16 January 2022
V&A
The UK’s most comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the ultimate accessory. From designer handbags to despatch boxes, vanity cases to military rucksacks, the exhibition will explore our longstanding fascination with the bag. Featuring innovative designs from Mulberry to Karl Lagerfeld, bags carried by Vivien Leigh to Sarah Jessica Parker, the heritage of Hermès to the streetwear of Off-White, and an exclusive look inside the world of the factory and atelier; Bags: Inside Out provides an unprecedented look at this global obsession.
Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser, V&A
NEW DATES
Alice: Curiouser & Curiouser
22 May – 31 December 2021
V&A
Exploring its origins, adaptations and reinventions over 157 years, this immersive and theatrical show charts the evolution of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland from manuscript to a global phenomenon beloved by all ages.
Epic Iran
NEW DATES: 29 May – 12 September 2021
V&A
Epic Iran will explore 5000 years of art, design and culture, bringing together over 300 objects from ancient, Islamic and contemporary Iran. It will be the UK’s first major exhibition on Iranian art and culture in 90 years that presents an overarching narrative from 3000 BC to the present day. From sculpture, ceramics and carpets, to textiles, photography and film, the exhibition will comprise rarely seen objects from the V&A alongside international loans and significant private collections, including The Sarikhani Collection.
Igshaan Adams: Kicking Dust
19 May – 25 July 2021
Hayward Gallery
First solo exhibition in the UK of South African artist Igshaan Adams (b. 1982). The artist’s cross-disciplinary practice combines aspects of weaving, sculpture and installation whilst exploring concerns related to race, religion and sexuality.
https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/venues/hayward-gallery
Matthew Barney: Redoubt
19 May – 25 July 2021
Hayward Gallery
An exhibition of the renowned artist and filmmaker’s latest body of work. The exhibition, the artist’s first major museum show in the UK in over a decade, presents a group of monumental sculptures, and more than forty engravings and electroplated copper plates. Also included is the UK premiere of Barney’s new eponymous film.
https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/venues/hayward-gallery
James Barnor Serpentine Galleries
James Barnor: Accra/London – A Retrospective
19 May – 22 October 2021
Serpentine Gallery
The first major survey of British-Ghanaian photographer James Barnor, whose career as a studio portraitist, photojournalist and Black lifestyle photographer spans six decades and records major social and political changes in London and Accra.
https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/
July
Paula Rego, Tate Britain
Paula Rego
NEW DATE: 7 July – 24 October 2021
Tate Britain
The largest and most comprehensive retrospective of Paula Rego’s work to date
Since the 1950s, Paula Rego has played a key role in redefining figurative art in the UK and internationally. An uncompromising artist of extraordinary imaginative power, she has revolutionised the way in which women are represented.
Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Tate Modern
Sophie Taeuber-Arp
15 July – 17 October 2021
Tate Modern
Sophie Taeuber-Arp was one of the foremost abstract artists and designers of the 1920s and 30s. Her multidisciplinary work has enduring influence, inspiring innovative artists and designers around the world.
September
Helen Frankenthaler, Dulwich Picture Gallery
NEW DATES
Helen Frankenthaler: Radical Beauty
15 September 2021 – 17 April 2022
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Frankenthaler (1928–2011) is recognized among the most important American abstract artists of the 20th century, widely credited for her pivotal role in the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Color Field painting. She experimented tirelessly throughout her six-decade-long career, producing a large body of work across multiple mediums. Opening ten years after her death, this exhibition shines a light on the artist’s groundbreaking woodcuts, which appear painterly and spontaneous with expanses of colour and fluid forms. It will reveal Frankenthaler as a trailblazer of the printmaking movement, who endlessly pushed possibilities through her experimentation.
https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/
NEW DATES
Summer Exhibition
22 September – 2 January 2021
Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Academy’s annual Summer Exhibition, the world’s largest open submission contemporary art show, is now in its 253rd year. It provides a unique platform for emerging and established artists to showcase their works to an international audience, comprising a range of media from painting, printmaking and photography, to sculpture, architecture and film.
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/
October
Late Constable
30 October 2021 – 13 February 2022
Royal Academy of Arts
The exhibition will explore Constable’s late career, from 1825 until his unexpected death in 1837, through his paintings and oil sketches as well as watercolours, drawings and prints. It will be arranged in chronological order exploring the extensive cross-fertilisation of his ideas between different media.
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/
November
Hogarth and Europe
3 November 2021 – 20 March 2022
Tate Britain
For the first time, this exhibition will bring together Hogarth’s greatest works with those of his peers across the continent – including Francesco Guardi in Venice, Chardin in Paris and Cornelis Troost in Amsterdam – to suggest the cross currents, parallels and sympathies that crossed borders.
Dürer’s Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist
NEW DATES: 20 November 2021 – 27 February 2022
National Gallery
The first major UK exhibition of German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer in nearly 20 years.
Through paintings, drawings, prints, and letters, this exhibition follows Dürer’s travels across Europe, bringing to life the artist himself, and the people and places he visited.
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution
20 November 2021 – 8 May 2022
V&A
Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution is the first major exhibition devoted to the international prominence of the legendary Russian goldsmith and the importance of his little-known London branch. With a focus on Fabergé’s Edwardian high society clientele, it will shine a light on his triumphs in Britain as well as a global fascination with the joyful opulence of his creations. Showcasing over 200 objects across three main sections, the exhibition will tell the story of Carl Fabergé, the man, and his internationally recognised firm that symbolised Russian craftsmanship and elegance. Unknown to many, it will explore the Anglo-Russian nature of his enterprise with his only branch outside of Russia opening in London in 1903.
Lubaina Himid, Tate Modern
Lubaina Himid
25 November 2021 – 22 May 2022
Tate Modern
This large-scale exhibition will debut recent work and include selected highlights from Turner Prize-winning artist Lubaina Himid’s influential career. Taking inspiration from her interest in theatre, the exhibition will unfold in a sequence of scenes designed to place visitors centre-stage and backstage.
December
Art from Britain and the Caribbean
1 December 2021 – 3 April 2022
Tate Britain
This exhibition will explore work by artists from the Caribbean who made their home in Britain, alongside other British artists who have also made work addressing Caribbean themes and heritage. It celebrates how people from the Caribbean have forged new communities and identities in post-war Britain – and in doing so have transformed British culture and society.
Kehinde Wiley at the National Gallery (working title)
10 December 2021 – until 18 April 2022
Sunley Room
National Gallery
For his first collaboration with a major UK gallery, Wiley will depart from portraiture to explore artistic conventions and modes of representation in the European landscape tradition – mountainous, coastal, sublime, transcendental – through the media of film and painting.
Please note the following exhibitions have been postponed:
Francis Bacon: Man and Beast
Royal Academy of Arts
Postponed until 29 January – 17 April 2022
Marina Abramović
Royal Academy of Arts
Postponed until 2023. New dates to be announced in due course.
Impressionist Decorations: The Birth of Modern Decor
National Gallery
postponed indefinitely (was due to open in September 2021)
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