ART IN THE CITY From Rodin to

Colours of EUROPE

With works from France’s Rodin to the Italian Bellotto on show, European art comes to the capital this summer, writes Alastair Smart

SEASON OF ART Above: Six Spaces with Four Small Crosses, Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1932), on display at Tate Modern this summer

With the current restrictions on travel abroad, Londoners are missing out on huge helpings of European culture. All is not lost, however, as the capital hosts exhibitions by several artists from the continent this summer.

Sophie Taeuber-Arp

Tate Modern pays homage to the underappreciated Swiss, Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943) – who spent most of her life in the shadow of her husband, the sculptor Jean Arp. Featuring paintings, puppets, purses and much else besides, this retrospective confirms Sophie as someone who flitted between fine art and applied art delightfully. Until 17 October; tate.org.uk

The EY Exhibition: Auguste Rodin

On at the same venue is a show offering an alternative look at Auguste Rodin (18401917). The Frenchman’s fame rests on grand sculptures in marble and bronze, but this exhibition focuses on his preparatory work for them in plaster. The visitor gets a look at the evolution of masterpieces such as The Thinker and The Burghers of Calais (a bronze version of which stands outside the Houses of Parliament). Until 21 November; tate.org.uk Jean Dubuffet

Another French master with a London show this summer is Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985). Not that he would have liked being called a master. Dubuffet was fascinatingly contrarian, disdaining all art that was shown in museums and traditional galleries. He championed the work of children, prisoners, clairvoyants and asylum inmates, which he referred to as Art Brut (‘Outsider Art’). Dubuffet spent his career trying to summon the brut spirit in his work. At a Barbican retrospective, you can judge whether he subverted western art tradition or revived it. Until 22 August; barbican.org.uk

Bernando Bellotto: The Königstein Views Reunited

There’s more traditional fare at the National Gallery, where five paintings by Bernardo Bellotto (1722-1780) are reunited for the first time since the 18th Century. They’re of the ancient fortress of Königstein, outside Dresden, where the Italian had been appointed court painter to Frederick Augustus III, the elector of Saxony, in his mid-twenties. Each of the works was completed from a different, dramatic viewpoint and proves that artistic talent ran through Bellotto’s family: his uncle was the Venetian great, Canaletto. Until 31 October; nationalgallery.org.uk

Paula Rego

Another artist who left her home country behind was Paula Rego (b.1935). Born in Lisbon, she came to study painting at London’s Slade School of Fine Art in the 1950s and has spent most of her life since then in the UK. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2010, yet Rego’s art could never be described as establishment. Her retrospective at Tate Britain will be full of paintings that make for uncomfortable viewing: ranging from dark takes on folk tales and nursery rhymes, to scenes featuring oppressed female figures such as The Policeman’s Daughter. Until 24 October; tate.org.uk

Olivier Debré: Fervent Abstraction

Where Rego’s work is boldly figurative, that of Olivier Debré (1920-1999) was, in his own words, ‘fervently abstract’. Rising to prominence in Paris after the Second World War, he was sometimes refered to as France’s answer to Mark Rothko. Debré said his paintings reflected the feelings he had before natural phenomena such as rivers and typhoons. Vividly colourful works feature in a show of his at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art in Islington. (As the name suggests, the venue specialises in art from Italy, but its bosses clearly decided Debré was worth making an exception for.) This is the first major show of the artist's work in the UK in 44 years, bringing together some 30 oils and works on paper, including 16 of Debré’s large-scale paintings. Until 26 September; estorickcollection.com

WHAT’S ON IN LONDON Top: Cordobes, David Noalia Above right: Main droite de Pierre et Jacques de Wissant, Auguste Rodin (1885–1886); The Cadet and his Sister, Paula Rego (1988)

David Noalia

For those perhaps wishing to buy art, as well as look at it, a number of commercial galleries are showing work by European artists too. Osborne Studio Gallery in Belgravia is putting on a show by the contemporary Spanish painter, David Noalia (b.1977), dedicated to the famed horse breed from southern Spain, the Andalusian. For good measure, Noalia is also including a few canvases of bulls, depicted in his local corrida. Until 7 August; osg.uk.com

Tesfaye Urgessa

In Saatchi Yates gallery in Mayfair, meanwhile, one can see an exhibition by the Stuttgart-based painter, Tesfaye Urgessa (b.1983). His canvases are full of distorted human figures in chaotic compositions. Some critics interpret them in terms of big global issues such as migration crises, but they’re best appreciated simply as works of art. Until August 25; saatchiyates.com

Joseph Klibansky

Another show to catch in Mayfair, albeit one that opens in September, is by Joseph Klibanksy (b.1984) at Maddox Gallery. The Dutch artist has made a name for himself with polished bronze sculptures of animals and astronauts. Even if Londoners struggle to make it to Europe, some very fine art is coming in the other direction.

16 September to 7 October;

wmaddoxgallery.com L