For those seeking refuge from the Olympics, Andrew Lambirth picks out the exhibition highlights of 2012: Freud, Hockney, Turner, Zoffany, Lely, Picasso…
In the coming year, when the country will be besieged by all things Olympic, and many people of taste and discernment will (I am assured) be fleeing to spots less barbarous and sports-obsessed, there will still be a lifeline of art exhibitions to refresh those parts that physical activities cannot reach. Focusing on English artists, the main attractions will be shows dedicated to Lucian Freud (at the National Portrait Gallery), David Hockney (at the Royal Academy) and Damien Hirst (at Tate Modern). Despite cutbacks, museums are still largely relying on prestigious temporary exhibitions to pull in the crowds, rather than concentrating on the often unseen glories of their permanent collections. Box office is big business, as the Leonardo exhibition reminded us, and business values tend to distort artistic judgment, but who’s to notice so long as the public continues to queue?
At a time when Britain will presumably be the cynosure of all eyes, we look to our national assets, so the British Museum will be giving us Shakespeare: Staging the World (19 July to 25 November), a mélange of objects, text and performance intending to recreate London in 1600.
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