Exhibition of the week
John Moores painting prize
Davina Jackson, Katy Shepherd and Joanna Whittle are among the painters shortlisted for this prize that was once won by a young David Hockney
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool from Saturday until 1 March 2026
Also showing
Artists First: Contemporary Perspectives on Portraiture
Today’s artists, including Helen Cammock, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas and Charmaine Watkiss, are inspired or provoked by the NPG’s collection of historic British portraits.
National Portrait Gallery, London, 6 September to 3 August
Schroder Gallery
A new treasure trove of Renaissance curiosities and art, from silver ships to Cranach paintings.
Holburne museum, Bath, from 10 September
Santiago Yahuarcani: The Beginning of Knowledge
This artist based in northern Peru depicts the history of the Uitoto people on Amazonian bark cloth.
The Whitworth, Manchester, until 4 January
The Sun Feeds the Wind
The story of Hastings’ fishing community is explored by Jane Bruce, Sam Sharples and others.
Hastings Contemporary until 14 September
Image of the week Photograph: Fatimazohra Serri
This photograph by Fatimazohra Serri is titled The Swing of Life. Her aim was to illustrate the deep connection between a woman and a man, a relationship shaped by care and burden, intimacy and distance. The man swings from the flowing black dress of the woman above him. The clothing becomes the bridge between the two figures, soft yet unbreakable. It’s a visual metaphor for how men, knowingly or not, often rest on the invisible emotional strength of women. Read more here.
What we learned
A newly discovered portrait may depict ‘fair youth’ of Shakespeare’s sonnets
Mona Hatoum and Giacometti have a meeting of marvellously macabre minds
The work of current trans artists speaks to an important moment
A museum in London is the UK’s first dedicated space for Somali heritage
Johnny Vegas has returned to his first love – pottery
David Hockney’s 90-metre Normandy frieze is arriving in London
skip past newsletter promotion
Your weekly art world round-up, sketching out all the biggest stories, scandals and exhibitions
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion
Robert Colquhoun and Bobby MacBryde are the forgotten bright young things of modern British art
A new exhibition at Tate Modern looks at Picasso’s love of the theatrical
Fatimazohra Serri’s photography resists roles imposed on Moroccan women
Masterpiece of the week
Isabella by John Everett Millais, 1849
Photograph: National Museums Liverpool
A murder story by the 14th-century writer Giovanni Boccaccio becomes a satire on capitalism in this bristling Victorian scene. A family of rich Florentine merchants sit at table, their faces caricatures of cunning and greed. Millais was painting in the wake of Europe’s 1848 revolutions and Britain’s Chartist movement, at a time when novelists were probing the injustices of the new industrial society. Medieval Florence with its highly commercial economy offers Millais a mirror of his own time. In the foreground, Isabella is wooed by the young apprentice Lorenzo with love-hungry eyes. But one of her brothers kicks her dog with a long white-stockinged leg as another studies the blood-red wine in his glass. They are planning to kill this penniless youth who dares love their sister. A pot of basil against the blue sky is presumably the very one in which she will keep Lorenzo’s head.
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Sign up to the Art Weekly newsletter
If you don’t already receive our regular roundup of art and design news via email, please sign up here.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com