Galleries - June 2013

PUBLIC GALLERIES BARBICAN ART GALLERY Dancing around Duchamp. Until Jun 9. Map 30 DENBIGH LIBRARY GALLERY Lost in Art. Until Jun 22. Map 5 DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY A Crisis ofBrilliance, 1908–1922. Jun 2–Sep 22. Map 17 ESTORICK COLLECTION Giorgio Casali. Until Sep 8. Map 30. FRUITMARKET GALLERY David Batchelor. Until Jul 14. Map 3 GUILDHALL ART GALLERY Painted Faces. Until Dec 9. Map 30 HAYWARD GALLERY The Alternative Guide to the Universe. Jun 11–Aug 26. Map 29 LEAMINGTON SPA ART GALLERY OPEN 2013. Until Jul 14. Map 7 LEIGHTON HOUSE MUSEUM A Private Palace ofArt. Map 18 NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON Vermeer and Music. Jun 26–Sep 8. Map 28 ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS George Bellows: Modern American Life. Until Jun 9. Map 26 ROYAL BRITISH SOCIETY OF SCULPTORS Tantra. Until Nov 4. Map 19 ROYAL CAMBRIAN ACADEMY John Baum and Harry Robertson. Jun 1–Jul 6. Map 5 ST DAVID’S HALL Welsh Artist ofthe Year 2013. Jun 10–Aug 6. Map 5 SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY Ink. Until Jun 9. Map 3 SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY of MODERN ART Scottish Colourist Series: SJ Peploe. Until Jun 23. Map 3 SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY Man Ray Portraits. Jun 22–Sep 22. Map 3 STANLEY SPENCER GALLERY The life and work of Sir Stanley Spencer RA. Map 16 TATE BRITAIN Gary Hume, Patrick Caulfield. Jun 5–Sep 1. Map 20 TATE MODERN Project Space: Ruins in Reverse. Until Jun 24. Map 29 TATE ST IVES Summer 2013. Until Sep 29. Map 10 12 STAR GALLERY European Opera Centre. Jun 5–14. Map 20 VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM Treasures ofthe Royal Courts. Until Jul 14. Map 20 WATTS GALLERY Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale. Until Jun 9. Map 14 57. GALLERIES JUNE 13 George Catlin ‘La-dóo-ke-a Buffalo Bull a Grand Pawnee Warrior ’ (until 23 June) "There is no death. Only a change of worlds.” Chief Seattle George Catlin at the National Portrait Gallery In May 1830 President Jackson signed the controversial Indian Removal Act – it disenfranchised Native Americans of their tribal lands to the west of the Mississippi River ensuring the expansion of European settlers. In the same year an ex lawyer and passionate advocate of the Native American way of life set out to visit and paint the last unaffected days of America’s indigenous people. George Catlin spent almost his whole life in this pursuit nearly bankrupting himself more than once in the process and ending his days in poverty, but his admiration of the many tribes of Indians he met and his disquiet at their treatment drove him on to complete a unique, poignant and artistic legacy now housed in the Smithsonian Museum. Catlin was a self taught artist and his work is naive – great painterly technique there is not – but it vibrantly records, in real time, Native American dress and customs with an anthropologist’s attention to detail. The portraits sing with vivid colour, every feather, bead and personal decoration, weapons of war and decorated buffalo skin clothing, pipes and papooses all perfectly inscribed along with the notes of who they were and what they did. When Catlin toured his show in 1839 along with the pictures came his extensive collection of Indian artifacts – even without this ingredient it is a journey well worth taking – the weight and the sadness of their history is heavy but made bearable by the joy of Catlin’s delight and enthusiasm for his subjects. CM THUMB nails