Kathy Dalwood
Around London – Celebrating London's architecture; space at the NMM; Tate Britain redux; remembering Waterloo at Apsley House; and, 'Coins and the Bible' at the British Museum…
by exploringlondon June 6, 2013
• The London Festival of Architecture has returned with a month long celebration of the city's built form in a program of events including talks, tours and exhibitions. Among the latter is Lesser Known Architecture – A Celebration of Underappreciated London Buildings – a free exhibition at the Design Museum which runs until 22nd July and looks at 10 structures ranging from London Underground Arcades and Cabmen's Shelters (one of which is pictured) to Nunhead Cemetery. Other events include an exhibition at Somerset House – Nicholas Hawksmoor: Methodical Imaginings – looking at churches designed by Hawksmoor in the late 17th and early 18th centuries (this runs until 1st September), and The Secret Society – A Sculptural Banquet, a large scale installation by artist and designer Kathy Dalwood at Pitzhanger Manor in Ealing, west London (ends this Sunday). For more on the festival, check out www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org or for fringe events, http://londonarchitecturediary.com.
• A new exhibition featuring more than 100 images from space – including images of the colourful dust clouds in which new stars are formed, the aurora on the surface of Saturn and the sight of Earth from the International Space Station – opens at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich tomorrow. Visions of the Universe takes visitors on a "visual trip through our solar system" with images of the moon, sun, plants and distant galaxies. It looks at the development of telescopy and photography and examines our understanding of our place in the cosmos. Space scientists including Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees and The Sky at Night's Chris Lintott introduce each section of the exhibition which has at its centre a 13×4 metre curved wall known as the 'Mars Window'. It has the latest images from NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover projected onto it. There is a programme of events accompanying the exhibition which runs until 15th September. For more, see www.rmg.co.uk.
• Tate Britain is undergoing an overhaul this year with the opening of new galleries and a rearrangement of the institution's collection. Last month, a new chronological presentation of the institution's British art opened across more than 2o of the institution's galleries. BP Walk through British Art features around 500 artworks, dating from the 1500s to present day, by artists ranging from Sir Joshua Reynolds and William Hogarth to JMW Turner, John Constable, Lucien Freud and David Hockney. Meanwhile new galleries have opened dedicated to the works of sculptor Henry Moore and artist William Blake. Around 30 of Moore's works are featured in the rooms as well as more than 40 of Blake's works. For more see www.tate.org.uk.
• Apsley House, regency home of the Duke of Wellington, is hosting a series of events every weekend in June in the lead-up to the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. Interpreters will be at the house, known as Number 1 London, this weekend to discuss the dress and manners of the era while next weekend (15th and 16th June) visitors have the chance to meet some of Wellington's soldiers and their wives. Gentry from the Napoleonic era will be celebrating the victory at Waterloo on 22nd and 23rd June while on the final weekend of the month, the focus will be on the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Vitoria in 1813, which led to eventual victory in the Peninsular War. For more, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/apsley-house/.
• On Now: Coins and the Bible. This free exhibition at the British Museum looks at how money was referred to in the Old and New Testament, and the use of Christian symbols such as crosses or monograms derived from Greek letters on later coins. These include the first coin, dating from about 450 AD, to depict an image of Jesus (the coin, on loan from the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, is included in the exhibition). There are also early Biblical fragments on papyrus and vellum lent by the British Library and an ivory panel dating from the early 400s AD which includes an image of the purse of 30 pieces of silver Judas received after his betrayal of Jesus. Held in Room 69a, the exhibition runs until 20th October. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org.
City Duke of Wellington Greenwich Museums News Nicholas Hawksmoor Regency Underground West End West London William HogarthApsley House Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees Battle of Waterloo British Museum Cabmen's Shelters Coins and the Bible David Hockney Design Museum Duke of Wellington Ealing Greenwich Henry Moore International Space Station JMW Turner John Constable Kathy Dalwood Lesser Known Architecture - A Celebration of Underappreciated London Buildings London Festival of Architecture Lucien Freud National Maritime Museum NIcholas Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor: Methodical Imaginings Nundead Cemetery Pitzhanger Manor Sir Joshua Reynolds Somerset House Tate Britain The Secret Society - A Sculptural Banquet Underground Arcades Visions of the Universe William Blake William Hogarth