Exhibitions opening in June 2015 Part 1

This is the first retrospective of Agnes Martin’s work since 1994. Covering the full breadth of her career, this extensive exhibition will reveal Martin’s early and little known experiments with different media and trace her development from biomorphic abstraction to the grid and striped canvases that became her hallmark.

An exhibition of paintings by the late German artist Günther Förg (1952 – 2013). One of the key artists of his generation, Förg’s fluid, multidisciplinary practice spanned more than thirty years and included paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations and wall paintings. This exhibition focuses on his most well-known works, the lead paintings, which he began making in the early 1980s.

Lines of Beauty, at The Foundling Museum in Bloomsbury, investigates the 400-year-old tradition of decorative plasterwork, from the Rococo splendour of the Foundling Hospital Court Room, now one of the highlights of the Foundling Museum, to the contemporary designs of master craftsman Geoffrey Preston.
And in another display, 26 Pairs of Eyes – 26 writers including former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion, have been paired with 26 objects from the Foundling Museum Collection and responded with 26 ‘sestudes’ – texts exactly 62 words long.

The Summer Exhibition is the world’s oldest open-submission exhibition: its earliest exhibitors included the likes of Reynolds, Constable and Turner. For 247 years, it has captured a moment in time of contemporary art – and this year promises a mix of colour, variety and discovery with over 1,200 works filling the galleries. With many works in the exhibition on sale, the show also gives you a chance to own some original art. Painting, printmaking and sculpture through to installation, photography and film makes this a show unlike any other.

This exhibition focuses on the conflict, martyrdom and catastrophe found in history painting from the eighteenth century to the present day. It will celebrate the emotional power of history painting and show its persistent place in art.

Carsten Höller: Decision is the artist’s largest survey show in the UK to date. Visitors will be plunged into a series of experimental environments that will explore perception and decision making. To enter the exhibition visitors must choose between two different entrances, behind which lie separate routes through the first gallery. Once inside the exhibition, they will encounter a range of situations – including the invitation to consume a pill, contents unknown – that ask them to reflect on the process of decision making.

This exhibition will look at the extremes of footwear from around the globe, presenting around 200 pairs of shoes ranging from a sandal decorated in pure gold leaf originating from ancient Egypt to the most elaborate designs by contemporary makers.