Andy Warhol was much more than the “Prince of Pop Art” that we all know. Offering a detailed look at his character, as well as his multifaceted career, is the biography, hot off the press, Warhol: A Life as Art. Almost a thousand compelling pages, and entertaining as well, which sweep the reader away in a tale that starts at the origins of Andrew Warhola - son of an immigrant couple from Slovakia, who came to Pittsburgh in the ‘30s - to his first successes as a commercial illustrator, then to his pioneering art revolution. But besides reading the book by Gopnik, Andy Warhol fans can also find plenty of events dedicated to their beloved artist launched by the Tate Gallery in occasion of the exhibition Andy Warhol. While waiting for its reopening, the London museum has created a virtual stroll which winds through the 11 halls of the exhibition, with the public accompanied by Gregor Muir and Fiontán Moran, the curators of the exhibition at the Tate. His fascination with religion and Hollywood, his activities as an illustrator in New York, the debut of Andy “Swish”, and even Sleep, his first film, shot over several nights between the summer and autumn of 1963 with a 16mm camera, are just some of the highlights of this dazzling virtual tour.
Works on display differ vastly in subject, ranging from sacred compositions such as Michelangelo's Virgin and Child with the Young St John and Raphael's first design for his Disputa fresco, to secular decoration and designs for metalwork, including a table fountain by Leonardo da Vinci.
Another Hollywood blockbuster becomes a musical. It's Back to the Future adapted for the stage by film creators Bob Gale (Back to the Future trilogy) and Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump). Directed by Tony Award winner John Rando.
Shonibare's new works focus on the themes of migration and the conflicts that cause it, and opens a conversation on the role of public sculptures and their meaning in our cities.
Samuel Courtauld called it "the most wonderful painting in existence." Flaming June by Frederic Leighton is one of the masterpieces of Victorian art and one of the most valuable paintings in the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico. It returns today to the Royal Academy in London where it was first exhibited in 1895.