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National Gallery, until 5 October
It’s that time of the year — some call it the Silly Season — when a themed exhibition visits the Sunley Rooms of the National Gallery, after previously showing at Bristol’s City Museum and Art Gallery, and the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne. This is the seventh in a series of collaborative exhibitions organised by the NG in partnership with Bristol and Tyne & Wear Museums, and this year the selection of exhibits relies very heavily on the National’s collection, with only one work each borrowed from Bristol and Newcastle. Happily, there is no restriction to sourcing loans elsewhere, so the show does not lack variety and strength. If anything, its diversity makes the theme a tenuous cohesive device.
It troubles me that through wall-captions and the accompanying booklet the public is always directed to the way the works of art gathered here tell stories.
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