Bright Enlightenment, Dark Genius, and Soviet Shadows – The Week in Art | Art and design

Exhibition of the week

Wright Derby: From the Shadows
Two of the greatest paintings ever made about science—in which the audience was transfixed by lectures on Orrery and the air pump—are brought together in this small but luminous presentation.
National Gallery, London, until 10 May

also appear

David Hockney
He can’t stop – here are the new photos Hockney has taken since his famous gallery opened in Paris in the spring.
Anneli Gowda, London, until 28 February

Diane Arbus
Stunning, disturbing and haunting images by the dark genius of the camera. Read our full review
David Zwirner Gallery, London, until 20 December

Sudat Ismayilova
Films about the end of the Soviet Union by this Uzbek artist.
Baltic, Gateshead, from 8 November to 7 June

Jaune quick to see Smith: Wilding
The first posthumous exhibition of this enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation, who died during its planning.
Fruitmarket Fair, Edinburgh, until 1 February

Picture of the week

Josef Langelineck has had a big hit at the Kunstpalast Museum in Düsseldorf with his €7 “Gramby” guided tours, in which he berates visitors for 70 minutes about their general ignorance. Karl Brandi, the performance artist who conceived and performed as Langelink, explained his bad technique. Read the full story

What we learned

David Hockney remains an innovator, as his recent exhibition in London proves

Cuban artist Wifredo Lam holds his first retrospective exhibition in the United States in New York

V&A East is targeting Generation Z with a range of “unusually diverse” content.

The Indigogo project created by Stacey Gillian Abe explores how indigo dye was used in the slave trade

The newest form of self-help book is the existential art book

Nottingham gallery, The New Art Exchange, says it is the first ever exhibition run by a Citizens Council

Photo Oxford offers everything from historic rural locations to attempts to trick artificial intelligence

King’s College London linked participants to sensors to prove that going to art galleries is good for them

Masterpiece of the week

Imitation of Hendrick van Steenwyk the Younger, Inside the Church at Night, 1632

The dramatic effects of darkness and light that Joseph Wright of Derby brought to British art, and which his National Gallery celebrates, already had a long history in Europe. From Caravaggio’s intense scenes to Rembrandt’s visceral portraits, artists have been experimenting with darkness for centuries. This painting shows how much Dutch artists of the 17th century were drawn to darkness. He dwells in the darkest part of the church, meditating among the shadows. On the sides, we can see the public spaces of the church brightly lit, perhaps with many candles. But in the dark, less-visited part, fears and ghosts may reside. In a great horror story by Sheridan Le Fanu, similarly dark paintings by Gottfried Schalken are revealed to contain a terrifying secret. This painting may have a horror story of its own, as its grave bears the name of Hendrik van Steenwyk the Younger – but the canvas also bears his signature. Did he paint it after his death? The most boring explanation is that it’s by a copycat.
National Gallery, London

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