From queer art to royal fashion, Soviet agitprop to sexy fruit paintings, London will be host to masses of amazing exhibitions in 2017.
Big retrospectives for Basquiat and Wolfgang Tillmans dominate the calendar, while the centenary of the Russian revolution brings not one but three major exhibitions to the city’s galleries that will cover everything from architecture to poster design.
Fashion fans also have treats in store: the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death gives the Royal Palaces an opportunity to display all the pie-crust blouses that made her the original people’s princess, and the V&A delivers a drool-inducing exhibition of Cristóbal Balenciaga’s work – a U.K. first. Diaries at the ready...
Tate Britain – 5th April to 1st October
To mark 50 years since the decriminalisation of male homosexuality, the Tate curates the first major exhibition of queer British art under homophobic law. Expect Hockney’s paintings and portraits of icons like Quentin Crisp alongside work by lesser-known – but equally important – names McBean, Tuke, Tanqueray and Craxton.
Henry Scott Tuke (1858-1929) The Critics.Photo Courtesy of Tate Britain.
Kensington Palace – 24th February onwards
From the demure, romantic Emanuel blouse she wore to announce her engagement to the sexy off-the-shoulder gown in which she visited the White House, iconic outfits from the late Princess’ wardrobe go on display in this new exhibition about Diana’s iconic image-crafting wardrobe.
Photo Courtesy of Kensington Palace.
Barbican – 21st September to 28th January 2018
The first big U.K. exhibition of work by the world’s biggest star from the underground boasts over 100 exhibits from punk and post-punk-era New York, from an artist who mixed music, film and TV influences in his bold decade-defining paintings. There’ll be a film season accompanying the first weeks of the exhibition, too.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Hollywood Africans, 1983Photo Courtesy of Whitney Museum of American Art, ARS, New York, ADAGP, Paris.
Revolution: Russian Art 1917–1932
Royal Academy – 11th February to 17th April
Works by Kandinsky, Chagall and Malevich will appear at the RA in the spring in one of three amazing London exhibitions to mark the centenary of the October Revolution.
Elsewhere, Soviet art and photography appear in Red Star Over Russia at Tate Modern (8th November – 18th February 2018) and design and architecture from the same era stars in Imagine Moscow at the Design Museum (15th March – 4th June).
The Photographer's Gallery – 3rd March to 11th June
Sophie Calle’s intimate postcard photography, Dana Lixenberg’s portraits of Angelenos, Awoiska van der Molen’s unpeopled landscapes, and shots from Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs’ Eurasian road trip make this year’s prize a diverse exploration of contemporary photography.
Dana Lixenberg, Wilteysha, 1993.Photo Courtesy of The Photographers Gallery.
V&A – 27th May to 18th February 2018
Cristóbal Balenciaga invented semi-fitted suits, cocoon coats and tent dresses, paving the way for women to break out of corseted post-war styles and completely changing the way we dress. Dior didn’t call him “master of us all” for nothing: this exhibition focuses on the 1950s and '60s, when his work was most dynamic.
Photo: Henry Clarke/Condé Nast via Getty Images.
National Gallery – 26th April to 28th August
His first foray into tapestry, Turner Prize-winning artist Chris Ofili’s new commission Weaving Magic takes inspiration from myths classical and contemporary, giving them an update thanks to his singular expertise in colour and fantasy.
Photo Courtesy of National Gallery.
Tate Modern – 15th February to 11th June
Since his Turner Prize win in 2000, Tillmans has changed the way we look at photography (and lifted our Insta game a tiny bit). Find out why his works run political at this huge exhibition of prints and projections, and don’t miss the accompanying takeover and events at one of Tate Modern’s Tank spaces.
Wolfgang Tillmans 2012, Astro CrustoPhoto Courtesy of Tate Modern.
Studio Voltaire – 10th February to 2nd April
Following last year’s hot shows by Sharon Hayes and the Neo-Naturists, Studio Voltaire’s back with kitsch, creepy new paintings and sculptures, including new work, by this contemporary German painter. Her specialities include puns, pastiche, and pornographic fruit.
Amelie von Wulffen, Untitled (birth of an alcoholic), 2015, Oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cmPhoto Courtesy of Studio Voltaire.
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