Alexander Archipenko and the Italian avant-garde at the Estorick Gallery, Highbury, London

Archipenko is not one of the best known of the Italian Futurists, possibly because he was originally from Ukraine. However, his work was influential on the movement and this exhibition demonstrates why. His sculpture is particularly impressive, many of the pieces created in the first two decades of the 20th century and encompassing modernist elements of cubism and, the Futurists’ ambition of representing movement in static images.

The work of some of his contemporaries were also on display, mainly from the Estorick permanent collection. 4* 

The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Book Artists at the Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Birkenhead

A fascinating exhibition by Helen Day from her exceptional collection of Ladybird Books, dating from the very first publications right up to the present day. Most impressive is the Wall of Books, where every single book published by Ladybird is presented in chronological order.

A very nostalgic exhibition, as many of the titles and the illustrations are familiar, both from my own childhood and from those of my children. The illustrations, and the artists involved, changed over the years, to reflect dramatic changes in society, but the common factor was that the books were all illustrated with the highest quality of realistic artwork. Many of the artists were employed by other publishers, some were known for their non-illustrative work.

Great fun. 5*

Our Time on Earth, an ecological exhibition at The Curve, Barbican, London

This has been justifiably very well attended. It is in part a didactic analysis of the approaching global catastrophe caused by man’s exploitation of the natural resources of the planet and failure to recognise the need for immediate change. But it also provides an opportunity for some fine original visual video art representing various forms of life on the planet. The two approaches to imparting the message are very well integrated.

The other impressive aspect of the exhibition is that it doesn’t simply alarm us by pointing out the environmental problems, but it demonstrates the various solutions that have been put forward — from the culturing of bacteria and fungi to replace oil-based materials, to the extreme solution of having everyone in the world live in one gigantic city in order to leave the rest of the planet to recover from its exploitation. Other less radical ideas are based on examples from indigenous people who have come up with natural solutions for sharing scarce resources like water — cooperation instead of competition. 5*

Milton Avery, American Colourist at The Royal Academy, London

I had heard to Milton Avery and associated him with Mark Rothko as an abstract expressionist, but wasn’t acquainted with his work. The advertising material for the exhibition portrayed him as one of America’s most important 20th century artists, a ‘master of colour’. So I expected to find out why he is seen as so influential. But before I got half way through, I was seriously perplexed as the works on show seemed talentless and lacking originality. There was nothing there to justify the Royal Academy’s description of his work.

Avery painted from the early 1920s through to the late 1960s. He was extremely prolific — one painting a day apparently — and held in esteem by the next generation of American artists. Having subsequently looked online at some of his other work, it is a bit easier to see where his work was somewhat original and how the use of colour played a part (although surely almost all artists use colour in their work), but the exhibition hardly provided any examples of this. This was the first comprehensive exhibition of Avery’s work in Europe. 2*

Reported or Distorted? Breaking the News at the British Library, London

A perfectly curated exhibition about how news is presented to the public. The means of dissemination has ranged over centuries from announcements in the public square, through newsprint to television and the internet. Each of these means of communication has its own scope for distortion of the truth, whether deliberate or accidental. The generators of news have long exploited our human interest in sensation and scandal and our willingness to ignore the truth when it does not conform with our views. News, or its suppression, remains an important political tool.

Many of the examples used are familiar, but more striking for that. All are well chosen to illustrate the theme of the exhibition.5*

(Maria Helena) Vieira da Silva at the Musée Cantini, Marseille

Vieira da Silva was a Portuguese-born artist who, along with her Hungarian artist husband Arpad Szenes worked in France, including Marseille, through the early to mid-twentieth century. Her fascination with buildings and city architecture informed much of her work, which is typified by semi-abstract fractionated cityscapes that still retain an element of perspective.

Also in the gallery are some fine paintings by Marseille-born Charles Camoin and an interesting surrealist work by architect Le Corbusier. 4* 

Eileen Mayo, A Natural History at the Towner Gallery, Eastbourne

Eileen Mayo, 1906-1994, was born in Norwich and educated in Bristol and at the Slade School of Art and the Central School of Arts and Crafts. In order to support herself financially, she took up modelling and sat for well known artists, including Duncan Grant, Laura and Harold Knight and Vanessa Bell. This group of artists encouraged and helped to develop her artistic career. She became interested in conservation and many of her works depict natural objects. An interesting exhibition, come across by chance. 4* 

Lucy Wertheim, Patron, Collector, Gallery Owner at the Towner Gallery, Eastbourne

Lucy Wertheim was an influence on English art particularly throughout the 1930s. She supported financially and provided an outlet for artists who, at that time, were thought of as modernists, with an emphasis, not present elsewhere, on women artists, those struggling financially and, it would seem, artists in known same-sex relationships. She ran galleries in various parts of the UK including London, Manchester and Brighton, although not all were successful.

Her art collection was donated to the Towner Gallery in 1971. It could be argued that Wertheim selection or artists and their work was not especially prescient, as a good many of them have faded into relative obscurity. Of the ones on display in this exhibition, the best known, although not necessarily the best, are by Christopher Wood, Albert Wallis, or Victor Pasmore but I have selected out a few that I liked by other artists that I knew less well, if at all. 3*