Welcome to February's Cassone

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Recently I was talking to a friend who does not live in London and who told me that after seeing items about the Mall Galleries in Cassone, she and her husband went to take a look for themselves. She had never heard of the Mall Galleries before reading about them in Cassone, and was very impressed at what she had seen there. ‘A real find’ she said, and plans to go again the next time she is in London.

Visitors to the Cassone website should keep a good look out on the Art News section for information about the wide variety of exhibitions, events and happenings at galleries and other venues that you may not have known about.

This March we visit current exhibitions on Manet at London’s Royal Academy, a year in the life of the young Picasso at London's Courtauld Institute and Kurt Schwitters at Tate Britain, have an interview with Johan van Mullem, who paints ‘emotional portraits’ of imagined people, and take a look at the new furniture gallery at the V&A. If you are wondering what happened to the old one, incredibly there never was one, despite the museum’s vast collection of furniture – it was all simply distributed round other galleries.

We have a whole new issue lined up for April, but in the meantime make sure you have seen all the current content, especially Katie Campbell’s review of the British Library exhibition ‘Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire’, which closes in April. Adrian Lewis tells us about ‘Matisse in Search of True Painting’, which closes on 17 March  at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and Robert Radford reviews the etching exhibition at the Estorick Collection, ‘Morandi: Lines of Poetry’.

We published Professor Larry Silver’s review of the catalogue of ‘The Northern Renaissance: Durer to Holbein’ in the October issue of Cassone – so, suitably inspired, Susan Grange set off to see the show at London’s Queen’s Gallery. Meanwhile, Ian Jones discovered the beauty of recent Middle Eastern photography at London’s Victoria and Albert.

I talked to Neha Kirpal the young founder of India’s Modern and Contemporary Art Fair, which as I write is in its fifth year and running from 1–3 February in New Delhi – see Art News, January. Jenny Kingsley takes a look at the world of corporate art – where once the original Florentine bankers, the Medici, were the premier patrons of art, now it is the giants of the modern corporate world who dominate the art markets. If you can’t afford to compete for a van Gogh, what about investing in a hand-crafted artefact made with love and care? Jenny also looks at the world of the modern craftsman and craftswoman, creating handmade goods with skill and love – and encouraging the amateur to have a go too. Don't miss our offer of free tickets to the Spring Knitting and Stitching show at London's Olympia – a must for aspiring clothing and textile designers. Meanwhile. Matthew Sillence has been looking at the architecture of a stunning new science building in Cambridge where scientific creativity is reflected and encourage by the environment.

If you think you could do with a holiday, then you are sure to be tempted to a few days away by Darrelyn Gunzburg’s review of an Italian language course in Florence that aims to immerse you in the language of art. Just want a good read? Some book reviews of note are Peter Jones on the late Tom Lubbock’s interesting and entertaining views, expressed in his columns in the Independent; Katie Campbell on the English garden from the reign of Elizabeth I to that of Charles II; the surreal art of Wouter Berns, and Amy Sargeant on the glory days of the Ealing Film Studios.

Our next full issue will be April, but remember to keep an eye out for additional reviews added between now and then – and of course our Art News pages, which have new material added every week. Finished this month's issue? There is plenty in our Archive! Whatever the weather where you are – chilling in Britain or baking in Australia – enjoy Cassone.