REVIEW: Soul of a Nation – the extraordinary art of the black power era
Tate Modern, London
Civil rights meet aesthetics in this riveting survey of 20 crucial years of black American art and struggle
Tag: The New Review
How down-at-heel Lisbon became the new capital of cool
Four years ago, Portugal’s capital felt like a ‘city on its knees’. Now it is being touted as hip, cheap and innovative. But is the socialist government failing Lisbon’s poor in its rush to revitalise?
Giacometti review – master of all things thin
Tate Modern, London
Fight your way through the spindly hordes at this huge, overcrowded Giacometti show and you’ll find a tender, protean artist who is still uniquely strange
REVIEW: Damien Hirst: Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable – beautiful and monstrous
Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi, Venice
Filling two museums with ancient ‘treasure’, Hirst’s spectacular mix of storytelling, invention and humour is art for a post-truth world
Yuval Noah Harari: ‘Homo sapiens as we know them will disappear in a century or so’
The visionary historian, author of two dazzling bestsellers on the state of mankind, takes questions from Lucy Prebble, Arianna Huffington, Esther Rantzen and a selection of our readers
A World View: John Latham; Speak review – a time-bending experience
Serpentine Gallery; Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London
From proto-psychedelic film to book chewing, the hardcore conceptual art of John Latham continues to inspire
Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932 review – when anything was possible
Royal Academy, London
From singing peasants to Soviet mugshots, history shapes everything in this momentous show
Ragnar Kjartansson review – a brilliant fusion of humour and sorrow
Barbican, London
Prepare to be enchanted by the playful, melancholy, sociable art of Iceland’s Ragnar Kjartansson
REVIEW: Barbara Hepworth: a life told in six works
We associate Barbara Hepworth with St Ives and Yorkshire, but often forget she was a driving force in international modern art. On the eve of a major Tate retrospective Tim Adams tells the dramatic story of this fascinating artist through key pieces spanning 40 years
REVIEW: Agnes Martin – beauty and steeliness at Tate Modern
Tate Modern, London
This major Agnes Martin retrospective contains some gems, but overemphasis on her less original work disguises her worth
REVIEW: 56th Venice Biennale – more of a glum trudge than an exhilarating adventure
There’s an awful lot of fretting about the state of the world in the Biennale’s 88 national pavilions, but little power, wit or bravado
REVIEW: History is Now: 7 Artists Take on Britain – the ultimate Blue Peter time capsule
Hayward Gallery, London
From flak jackets to flotsam to Farrow & Ball, seven artists curate an inspired cultural history of postwar Britain
REVIEW: Jockum Nordström: For the insects and the hounds @DavidZwirner
David Zwirner; National Gallery, London
Sweden’s Jockum Nordström unsettles with work that seems to tap into childhood. And prepare to be surprised by the long-forgotten art of Peder Balke
The best art books of 2014
The year saw contemporary art stars prove thoughtful in print while Whistler and Rembrandt drew perceptive analysis
David Hockney: ‘When I’m working, I feel like Picasso, I feel I’m 30’
David Hockney last year left Yorkshire and returned to his home in the Hollywood Hills after a series of traumatic events in his personal life. Here the 77-year-old reveals how California has rejuvenated him, before answering questions from Observer readers and cultural figures
Conscience and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War review – rousing, revelatory and poignant
Pallant House, Chichester
How did British artists respond to the war that so famously inspired Picasso? This exemplary show is the first devoted to finding out
Debbie Harry by Chris Stein: a life in pictures
Blondie’s Chris Stein and Debbie Harry talk about a new book of intimate photos taken by Stein during the band’s post-punk glory days
Walk Through British Art – review
Tate Britain’s ambitious rehang has been widely hailed as a triumph, but our critic finds the new display congested and frustrating
Gary Hume: ‘I couldn’t hold down a job. That’s why I became an artist’
A fully paid-up member of the rowdy YBA generation in the 90s, the artist made his name with his household gloss-painted life-size door paintings. On the eve of a solo show at Tate Britain, he talks about his agent Jay Jopling, his farm in upstate New York – and why he now confines his excesses to the studio
Fiona Rae; New Order: British Art Today – review
Towner Gallery, Eastbourne; Saatchi Gallery, London
Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: The Happiest Man; Two Mountains – review
Ambika P3; Sprovieri Gallery, London