This week: the recent opening of Edward Hopper’s New York at the Whitney Museum has reignited a controversy over the provenance of some of his works. We talk to the leading Hopper scholar Gail Levin about the story of Arthayer R. Sanborn, a Baptist Minister who befriended the Hopper family and eventually amassed a vast collection of memorabilia and art, some of which is in the Whitney Museum’s exhibition.
The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain at Somerset House, London 2022
Photo: Stephen Chung for Somerset House
In London, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard tell us about The Horror Show!, their exhibition looking at British culture over the past 50 years, and how artists, film-makers and musicians have used horror and fantasy as a means of exploring the political and social realities of the UK in that time.
Hugo van der Goes's Death of the Virgin (1470)
© Musea Brugge, artinflanders.be; Photo: Dominique Provost
And this episode’s Work of the Week is the newly restored Death of the Virgin by the Flemish primitive painter Hugo van der Goes, which is the centrepiece of a new exhibition in Bruges.
• Edward Hopper’s New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, until 5 March 2023.
• Gail Levin’s website: gaillevin.commons.gc.cuny.edu
• The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain, Somerset House, London, until 19 February 2023
• Face to Face with Death: Hugo van der Goes, Old Masters and New Interpretations, Sint-Janshospitaal, Bruges, Belgium, until 5 February 2023