Exhibition of the week<\/p>\n
Gwen John: Strange BeautiesThis excellent and moving encounter with the Welsh modern painter, touring from Wales\u2019s National Museum, takes you deep into John\u2019s silent, poetic world. Also showing<\/p>\n The Pattern of Life: Enid Marx and Modern British Design East of the Aldgate Pump LR Vandy: RiseGiant corn dolly-like sculptures arranged round a Maypole offer a draft of rural gothic for summer. Ranti Bam: Sacred GrovesThe mysterious power of clay to connect nature with the human body is explored by this British Nigerian artist. Image of the week<\/p>\n Era-defining photographs from the likes of Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothea Lange and this image from uptown Manhattan in 1960 by Saul Leiter showcase the US cityscape, from midnight crime scenes to gloomy corridors. They are part of a major new show in London. See our full gallery<\/a><\/p>\n What we learned<\/p>\n The fight to save the world\u2019s only women\u2019s sculpture park from becoming a generic space for VIP events and cocktails is on<\/a><\/p>\n Gunter von Hagens died this week, but his plastinated horrors will endure<\/a><\/p>\n Nearly 20 Georgia O\u2019Keeffe works inspired by her New Mexico will show in the UK for the first time<\/a><\/p>\n Charles Rennie Mackintosh\u2019s iconic Glasgow School of Art faces \u2018curated decay\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Startling unseen work by the late Brett Whiteley has been found at his studio<\/a><\/p>\n Kyiv wants to erect a statue of a Cossack chief in place of \u2018enemy of humanity\u2019 Lenin<\/a><\/p>\n Artists find creative haven in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s \u2018calm and soothing\u2019 Grand Bassam<\/a><\/p>\n Masterpiece of the week<\/p>\n The Water Cistern (\u2018La Fontaine\u2019) by Jean-Sim\u00e9on Chardin, 1733 or later<\/p>\n We can\u2019t see this young woman\u2019s face as she bends to release water from a bronze tank into a wooden bucket. She\u2019s dressed in simple clothes and doing exhausting work so we assume she\u2019s a servant in a grand house or on a farm. That\u2019s as much of a story as you can extract from Chardin\u2019s painting, for it expands one moment in time, the little drama of the water splashing from the tap and the silent attentiveness of the servant. Life, in the eyes of this early 18th-century painter of the humble and factual, is made up of such moments. This painting is in a line of quietness observed that leads from Vermeer\u2019s Milkmaid to Gwen John\u2019s portraits of women reading in solitude. As the maid fills her bucket, we notice a red and white slab of meat hanging in the shadows: this hunk of flesh might add a carnal hint to the scene, or make you think of mortality. For this peaceful routine takes place, the slaughtered animal reminds us, in a world of violence and desire that always threaten to destroy Chardin\u2019s treasured calm. Sign up to the Art Weekly newsletter<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t already receive our regular roundup of art and design news via email, please sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Get in Touch<\/p>\n
\n \u2022 Modern Two, Edinburgh, from 1 August until 4 January<\/a><\/p>\n
\n Creator of the London Underground\u2019s seat coverings and other classic fabrics, Marx is presented here as a major modern designer.
\n \u2022 Compton Verney, Warwickshire, until 3 January<\/a><\/p>\n
\n A survey of contemporary artists working in east London, including Rene Mati\u0107 and Denzil Forrester.
\n \u2022 Whitechapel Gallery, London, until 6 September<\/a><\/p>\n
\n \u2022 Yorkshire Sculpture Park, until 13 September<\/a><\/p>\n
\n \u2022 South London Gallery, until 23 August<\/a><\/p>\n
\n \u2022 National Gallery, London<\/a><\/p>\n