Existential encounters, a birthday bash and forensic feminism – the week in art

14 hours ago 8

Exhibition of the week

Encounters: Giacometti – Huma Bhabha
A season of sculptural “encounters” with Giacometti’s primal, existentialist figures kicks off with this Pakistani-American artist taking him on.
Barbican, London, from 8 May to 10 August

Also showing

Austen and Turner
Jane, meet JMW … this exhibition imagines a country house encounter between the two British greats who celebrate their 250th birthdays this year.
Harewood House, Leeds, until 19 October

Eric Tucker
Paintings of working-class British life by the “Secret Lowry” whose work is being taken seriously at last.
Connaught Brown, London, until 30 May

Helen Chadwick
The Artist Rooms collection presents this mini-survey of the brilliant feminist artist.
Tate Modern, London, until 8 June

Alaria
A group show by Miriam Austin, Eiko Soga and Esther Teichmann with landscape as its theme.
Gerald Moore Gallery, London, until 24 May

Image of the week

Twenty paintings by the Caribbean British abstract painter Winston Branch have been recovered after they disappeared without trace nearly five decades ago. Read the full story.

What we learned

Tate Modern transformed art in the UK

Ian Hamilton Finlay was an idiot

Artists have a long tradition of painting each other

Utagawa Hiroshige’s work birthed a new way to capture everyday joy

Five UK museums are to compete for a huge prize

Korean conceptualist Do Ho Suh brought his homes to life

Jeremy Deller created a ‘speculative [Roman] mosaic’ for Scarborough’s art trail

New play Port Talbot Gotta Banksy explores the impact of his visit to south Wales

Masterpiece of the week

Salvator Mundi by Andrea Previtali, 1519
This painting of Christ as a mystical figure looking straight at you, holding up a crystal orb in one hand and giving a blessing with the other, has the same composition as the version of the same theme sold as a Leonardo da Vinci at a record price – but they don’t seem to be connected. Previtali makes no attempt to emulate Leonardo’s style. In fact this north Italian artist paints in a crisp, realistic way that’s the opposite of Leonardesque. Christ’s round face is very different from the Leonardo Salvator Mundi. His tunic is different, too. Rather than imitating Leonardo, it seems Previtali draws on the same inspirations. The Salvator Mundi icon was invented by Flemish artists in the 15th century. It seems this painting is influenced by those north European paintings. Which leads us to ask – why would an artist as great as Leonardo do the same, and copy Flemish art?
National Gallery, London

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