The Easel

11th August 2026

Portrait of a City review — a nostalgic stroll through a century of the American urban experience

Jackie Wullschlager | Financial Times | 3rd August 2026

A “nostalgic” exhibition that surveys a century of American photography. Stieglitz is generally credited with the first modernist photograph in 1907. From there America produced a roll call of great image makers, both men and women. Inevitably, much focus lands on that greatest of all melting pots, New York city. Some famous photographers, being recent immigrants, could empathise with their subjects “energy and appetite for change that is almost tangible”. Says one writer,  “exhilarating”.

4th August 2026

A rare and sublime collection of Shimizu Uichi’s work is presented on his centenary

Emma Crichton-Miller | The Design Edit | 9th June 2026

Shimizu, a Japanese ceramicist and Living National Treasure, was a “supreme technician” of glaze chemistry. Iron-rich glazes behave unpredictably when fired. The finest examples are miracles of artist and kiln and have a tradition separate from general ceramics. Unlike the wabi-sabi aesthetic of rustic Japanese ceramics, Shimizu’s pursued a modern style of great restraint where the glaze was his primary interest. But, it seems, he was not after perfection. If a piece is perfect, it “can lose its sense of life”.

No cherry blossom here — women show a different side of Japan

Waldemar Januszczak | Waldemar.tv | 27th July 2026

Japan’s most famous photographer are all men. Female photographers have had to battle for attention. Their work, the subject of a large show, is ”grittily different from the cherry blossom dreams”. Some unflattering male behaviours are recorded but there is little evidence of a consistent “female” style. Says the curator, highlighting these artists makes “the history of photography more truthful. … they also expand our understanding of Japan itself.”

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