Top 10 Exhibitions to Visit this Summer
I am a huge fan of visiting exhibitions and galleries. Not only are they usually held in beautiful settings, I’ve often found them to be a wonderful way of learning about something or someone new. There’s also usually someone on hand to explain the finer details if needed, or depending on the experience, you can be left alone to fully immerse yourself in a new world.
Exhibitions tend to run for a limited time before being swapped for something else so it’s always worth checking dates before you go. Many exhibitions will be free to enter and if you’re attending one in the UK, don’t forget they can be found up and down the country, not just in London!
1. Fashioned from Nature, Victoria & Albert Museum
Discover the rich history of fashion inspired by nature, the worrying toll it takes on the natural world, and the creative solutions emerging within the industry. This exhibition invites visitors to take a closer look at where their clothes come from – examining the different materials used over the centuries – and showcases designers creating sustainable fashion today.
Highlights include the Calvin Klein dress made from recycled plastic bottles worn by the actor, Emma Watson, a Grape gown created from material derived from wine industry waste, and beautiful historical garments such as a woman’s jacket from the early 1600's embroidered with pea-shoots and flowers. VISIT
2. Orla Kiely: A Life in Pattern, Fashion and Textile Museum
With her stylised graphic designs featured on everything from mugs and notebooks to dresses and cars, Kiely is one of the UK and Ireland’s most successful designers with a global reach.
Over 150 items are on display including patterns, products and collaborations with photographers, film directors and architects. Highlights include the original paper sketches for her famous ‘Stem’ graphic, created in the 1990's, and prototypes of her early signature bags. The retrospective examines how Kiely works and what inspires her as well as exploring the role of decoration in 21st-century life. VISIT
3. Frida Kahlo: Making Herself Up, Victoria & Albert Museum
Frida Kahlo died in 1954, aged 47, in the Blue House where she had been born and lived. Her husband, the celebrated muralist, Diego Rivera, shut up all her possessions inside the house and they remained there untouched for 50 years. In 2004, the cupboards were opened for the first time, revealing a fascinating collection of clothing and personal effects which has enriched our understanding of Kahlo’s life and work.
With such a plethora of unseen artefacts – from Kahlo's prosthetic leg with leather boot to a hand-decorated plaster corset – this exhibition offers a fresh perspective on this iconic artist's compelling life story through her most intimate personal belongings. VISIT
4. Michael Jackson: On The Wall, National Portrait Gallery
Almost ten years after his death, Michael Jackson’s record sales continue to grow and his position as one of the most significant figures in popular culture is undiminished. While his legacy in the worlds of music and performance has been well documented, the impact he had - and continues to have - on artists has never been explored before in a single exhibition.
Since Andy Warhol first used his image in 1982, a huge number of artists from across the world, both established and emerging, have been drawn to Jackson’s story and music as inspiration for their work across many different media. The exhibition brings together over 40 such artists, including Andy Warhol, Rita Ackerman, Yan Pei Ming, Grayson Perry, Donald Urquhart, and Isa Genzken, as well as displaying specially commissioned new pieces. VISIT
5. London Nights, Museum of London
Featuring over 200 photographs by around 50 photographers, London Nights captures the life of the city after dark. Echoing the mysterious, transformatory shift from evening into night in the capital, the exhibition is divided into three sections: London Illuminated, which showcases the inspiring aesthetic of the capital after dark; Dark Matters, an altogether more unnerving collection of images relating to isolation, threat and vulnerability; and Switch On… Switch Off… which focuses on the people who live and work in the city – their nocturnal work, rest and play. VISIT
6. Chatsworth Renewed, Chatsworth
To celebrate the finale of Chatsworth's reconstruction and appreciate the incredible effort and skill of those involved, this exhibition will invite visitors to explore the hidden spaces of the house, peeling back layers and sharing memories of the past. Whether its discovering what's under the floor of the Chapel Corridor or surveying the newly-restored tapestries, the exhibition will give an unrivalled insight into this beautiful stately home.
While honouring the past and celebrating the present-day house, the exhibition will also look to the future, asking what the next 100 years will bring. VISIT
7. Votes for Women, Museum of London
Votes for Women explores the history of the suffragettes, the divisive group with unconventional and often shocking methods who campaigned tirelessly for over 50 years to give women the vote. Featuring a number of iconic pieces from the Museum of London’s vast Suffragette campaign collection, believed to be the largest in the world, visitors will be able to see key pieces from Suffragette history and hear the untold stories of the inspiring women who fought for the cause. VISIT
8. Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008-2018, Design Museum
Reflecting on the politically volatile decade from 2008 to 2018, the exhibition looks at the varied influence that graphics have had during Occupy Wall Street, Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution, the Arab Spring, the Brexit Referendum and the American electoral campaign through over 160 objects and installations.
With global politics increasingly polarised and confidence in the prevailing order firmly shaken, Hope to Nope traces the far-reaching implications of how type, image and social media have been used to construct and communicate political messages over the last 10 years. VISIT
9. Azzedine Alaïa: The Couturier, Design Museum
Sculptor turned couturier and shoe designer Azzedine Alaïa stood out in the fashion world for personally constructing and cutting his own patterns, marrying traditional techniques with cutting-edge technology and amassing a client list including Grace Jones, Michelle Obama and Rihanna. A notorious perfectionist and craftsman, one garment might be worked on for years before release.
Alaïa collaborated on this exhibition of over 60 exemplary designs from the past 35 years of his work before his death in November 2017, personally selecting garments and contributing stories of his life and career. Integrated with specially commissioned architectural elements designed by leading artists and designers with whom Alaïa worked, the showcase illustrates Alaïa’s passion and energy for fashion as he intended it to be seen. VISIT
10. Rembrandt: Britain's Discovery of the Master, Scottish National Gallery
British mania for Rembrandt’s work, particularly his portraits and landscapes, reached fever pitch in the late 18th century, but it had been evolving for over two centuries before that. This exhibition explores how his popularity continues to this day through key paintings that remain in British collections and a selection of fine drawings and prints. The exhibition also reveals his impact on the work of native artists across the centuries. British artists represented range from William Hogarth and Joshua Reynolds through to John Bellany and Leon Kossoff. VISIT
