This is London Magazine July Edition 2026 - Flipbook - Page 43
Robert Ryman, Untitled Study, 1963.
Kenneth C. Griffin Collection. © 2026
Robert Ryman - DACS, London.
Photo: Stephen Arnold, courtesy David
Zwirner.
AMERICAN PAINTER ROBERT
RYMAN AT THE BARBICAN
This autumn, the Barbican is to
present a major new retrospective
recognising the extraordinary career of
American painter Robert Ryman (19302019). Robert Ryman: The Real Thing is
the first exhibition in the UK to take an
in-depth look at Ryman’s work in over
30 years and will be a key highlight of
the Barbican’s Autumn 2026 season.
The Real Thing will feature over 60
works from Ryman’s prolific career from
the mid-1950s up to the early 2010s.
Arranged thematically, the exhibition will
celebrate Ryman’s legacy as a painter
who rejected the categories of
representation and abstraction, choosing
instead to ‘paint the paint’.
For nearly 60 years, Ryman dedicated
himself to exploring – and questioning
– what constitutes a painting: paint, on a
surface, with a relationship to the wall
and exhibited in space. He playfully and
rigorously investigated materials and
their effects, making subtle and
surprising paintings that show and make
visible materials as they are. Though
Ryman primarily used white paint and a
square format, this exhibition will reveal
the remarkable variety Ryman produced
as he worked across canvas, linen,
fibreglass, steel, aluminium, Plexiglas,
tracing paper, and coffee filter paper,
using a range of paints including oil,
acrylic, enamel, and epoxy.
Ryman’s interest in painting’s
relationship to the wall and its presence
as object in space is further seen in his
choosing to make visible different
hanging mechanisms ranging from
custom-made fasteners, screws, and
staples to masking tape in works that
range from small and intimate to
monumental in scale. For Ryman, every
painting was a test to ‘see what would
happen’ as he experimented with
materials and the paintings’ interactions
with each other and their surroundings.
V&A FASHION GALLERY REOPENS
IN 2027 AS BURBERRY GALLERY
The Victoria and Albert Museum’s
Fashion Gallery is to undergo a major
transformation, reopening in Spring
2027 showcasing the V&A's extensive,
world class fashion collection, aiming to
inspire visitors and enabling them to
experience fashion in innovative and
exciting ways.
The V&A Fashion Gallery is one of
the museum’s largest dedicated
permanent galleries and is one of the
museum’s most visited spaces. The
displays have changed over the years
however the gallery has not been
structurally redeveloped since 1962. The
V&A’s fashion collection is designated
as the UK’s National Collection and is
one of the largest and most
comprehensive collections of dress in
the world. Many of the pieces in the
V&A’s fashion collection are unique to
the V&A. Items in the collection include
rare historical treasures such as 17th
century menswear garments and 18th
century ‘mantua’ dresses to cutting-edge
contemporary couture from across the
world. The collection also includes a
wide range of outstanding and unusual
accessories. The collections have been a
source of inspiration for numerous
fashion designers from Vivienne
Westwood to Alexander McQueen to
Molly Goddard and Rahemur Rahman,
as well as students and researchers.
Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A
said: ‘Founded in the same decade, for
over 150 years the V&A and Burberry
have been pillars of British fashion.
Global in our reach, whilst champions
of UK art and design, we share a
commitment to ensuring our proud
heritage inspires the next generation of
creatives. This partnership allows us to
share the V&A’s incredible collections in
new and accessible ways and, with
Burberry, support education and
craftsmanship across the country. The
V&A is hugely honoured to display the
Burberry name above one of the very
greatest fashion galleries in the world.’
Founded in 1856, Burberry is a
global luxury brand with a rich British
heritage. For over a century, Burberry
has pioneered clothing that protects
people from the elements. From
outfitting polar explorers to inspiring
people to explore the outdoors, Burberry
creates outerwear that affords the wearer
freedom, function, and protection in
style, whatever the weather.
T H I S I S L O N D O N M A G A Z I N E • T H I S I S L O N D O N O N L I N E • w w w. t i l . c o m • @ t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g
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