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    Florence Nightingale show to shine a light on her later years

    Exhibition marks bicentenary of nursing pioneer’s birth with focus on life after Crimean war An exhibition on Florence Nightingale which marks 200 years since her birth will shine a spotlight on her as an older woman. Nightingale is often pictured in her 30s, when she nursed wounded soldiers in the Crimean war. Related: Florence Nightingale, […] More

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    The kimono – from costume to catwalk

    From the 17th to the 20th century the kimono was the principal piece of clothing in Japan for both men and women. But now it’s an inspiration for fashion all over the world Fashion as we know it – the business of clothes-as-zeitgeist, as distinct from simple dressmaking – was invented in Paris by Louis […] More

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    ‘A godlike, pounding power’: Van Eyck and the Ghent Altarpiece Restored – review

    Ghent, BelgiumThe stupendous restoration of the altarpiece, and the magnificent exhibition nearby, confirm Van Eyck as a painting colossus. Get yourself to Ghent! According to the Italian art critic Giorgio Vasari, writing hundreds of miles away and more than a century later, the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck “delighted in alchemy”. As he mixed up […] More

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    Arts Council England aims to foster culture in every ‘village, town and city’

    Chief executive wants to bring art ‘to people’s doorsteps’, but critics say strategy is vague England’s arts chiefs have said they want to create a nation that has better access to culture in every “village, town and city” by 2030, where creativity in each individual is valued and “given the chance to flourish”. Arts Council […] More

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    Blockbuster shows ‘limit chances for minority artists’

    Mega-exhibitions and austerity lead to inequality of opportunity, says study In recent years the V&A has attracted record crowds to its exhibitions about musicians such as Pink Floyd and David Bowie, while the Tate Modern has staged hugely popular Picasso and Modigliani shows. But a report by the London School of Economics warns that the […] More

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    Filthy Lucre review – peacock problems for Whistler the avant-garde cowboy

    V&A, London Darren Waterston’s remake of the painter’s opulent Peacock Room is a vision of dripping stalactites, decay and ruin. But this ‘showette’ all feels rather ordinary – unlike Whistler’s work The trouble with Filthy Lucre: Whistler’s Peacock Room Reimagined is that it isn’t filthy enough. US artist Darren Waterston has created a ruinous installation […] More