Cosmic Stonehenge secrets, Ai Weiwei looks back, and gay sex 11,000 years ago – the week in art

Exhibition of the week

The World of Stonehenge
The secrets and techniques of Britain’s most famous Neolithic monument ought to make for an enchanting present.
British Museum, London from 17 February to 17 July.

Additionally displaying

Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Little one
The revered artist seen from a brand new perspective, stressing her use of textiles.
Hayward Gallery, London, till 15 Might.

Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature
Nature drawings that reveal the scientific aspect of Peter Rabbit’s creator, as properly her authentic designs for image books.
V&A, London, from 12 February to 25 September.

Ai Weiwei: The Liberty of Doubt
Faux and actual antiquities alongside simulacra of on a regular basis objects by the activist and dissident.
Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, from 12 February to 19 June.

Ida Applebroog: Proper as much as Now, 1969-2021
A mini-retrospective of this veteran New Yorker’s feminist work and cartoons.
Hauser and Wirth, Somerset, till 2 Might.

Picture of the week

Louise Bourgeois The Good Mother (detail), 2003. Fabric, thread, stainless steel, wood and glass. 109.2 x 45.7 x 38.1 cm.
Photograph: Christopher Burke/ShootArt Cellular 1/The Easton Basis/VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2021

Louise Bourgeois’s sewn-together physique elements, similar to The Good Mom, above, dangle from the ceiling, hang around on stands or have intercourse in vitrines on the Hayward Gallery in London. They had been created within the closing a long time of the artist’s lengthy profession and are provocative, scary and marvellous. Learn full evaluate of Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Little one right here.

What we discovered

A 5,000-year-old chalk drum is the “most necessary prehistoric artwork discover in Britain for a century”

A rotting London warehouse has been reworked right into a cutting-edge “makerspace”

The statue of a Thirteenth-century Jewish businesswoman was unveiled in Winchester

A South Korean educational is studying North Korean candy wrappers for clues

Damien Hirst is dealing with plagiarism declare No 16

Feminine photographers are exploring nudity and the female gaze

Kurt Schwitters’ unknown portrait sitter was a German spy

Unhappy younger girls are the newest e book cowl development

Glasgow’s Burrell Assortment is reopening after a six-year refurbishment

Life is gorgeous in infrared

Manchester’s new flue is a towering achievement, impressed by Tudor palaces

Masterpiece of the week

Ain Sakhri lovers, Natufian culture c. 9000 BC, Ain Sakhri, Jordan.
Photograph: Trustees of British Museum

The Ain Sakhri Lovers, Natufian tradition c 9000BC, Ain Sakhri, Jordan
This is likely one of the oldest sculptures of the human determine and may additionally be the earliest picture of homosexual intercourse. The 2 lovers sensually embracing don’t have outlined genders, however the truth they each resemble erect penises makes male on male ardour a professional interpretation - particularly in LGBT+ historical past month. On the very least we would say this historic marvel of erotic artwork leaves identities open and prospects unclosed. It might symbolize individuals exploring new methods of life as human society acquired extra advanced. Older pictures of the human kind are usually “Venus” figures that symbolise fertility. The Natufian interval was when individuals had been beginning to experiment with agriculture and domesticity. On this liberating murals, intercourse is depicted not simply as a method to breed the species, however a type of play – with whomever you like.
British Museum, London

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