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Tuesday 2 December 2008

Drawing on experience

Theatres of Life: Drawings from the Rothschild Collection, The Wallace Collection, Manchester Square, London W1, until 27 January 2008
Pop Art Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, until 20 January 2008, Sponsored by Lehman Brothers

Allen Jones celebrates his 70th birthday this year, and there are various displays organised to honour the event. An exhibition of new work, both paintings and prints, is at Alan Cristea Gallery, 31&34 Cork Street, London W1, until 22 December. Before I say it’s an immaculate show, I must declare an interest: I’ve known and admired Jones’s work for many years and have written not only the latest monograph on him (published by the Royal Academy), but also the catalogue essay for this exhibition.

Jones is a deeply thoughtful artist at the height of his powers, whose international profile is far higher than his standing in Britain. (Another example of our tardiness in recognising our own.) Some amends are being made with a room devoted to his work at Tate Britain, showing a group of Sixties’ paintings juxtaposed with recent work. Particularly fine is the large painting ‘Man Woman’ from 1963, which illustrates Jones’s sophisticated understanding of human sexuality while being a powerful and intriguing design. There is also a small show of his watercolours — a medium in which he excels — at the Royal Academy. It’s high time for a big retrospective of Jones’s work, showing the full range of nearly half-a-century’s achievement. That would be something substantial.

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