Art and design, photography and architecture

Lucky PDF, the DIY art agitators

The subversive south London collective staged parties, launched an online channel, and now makes subversive and often participatory art works for the digital generation

Lucky PDF, the DIY art agitators
Post early Beautiful vintage Christmas reminders from the Royal Mail

Glad tidings they bring ... these magical mid-century designs made sure people popped their festive parcels and cards in the letterbox in good time

Beautiful vintage Christmas reminders from the Royal Mail
Phillip King: 'sculpture is the art of the invisible'

Phillip King’s sculptures from the 1960s helped to define a new era in British art. As he turns 80, and ahead of a Tate retrospective of his work,, he talks to Nicholas Wroe

Phillip King: 'sculpture is the art of the invisible'

Parthenon marbles loaned to Russian museum

Headless statue of a Greek god Ilissos goes on display in the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg
Parthenon marbles head to Russia – in pictures
- Parthenon marbles head to Russia – in pictures
Parthenon marbles loaned to Russian museum
That’s me in the picture Markiyan Matsekh plays the piano for riot police in Kiev, 7 December 2013

‘I took off my coat and started playing Chopin. It was about -15C, and my fingers could barely move. Not my best performance’

Markiyan Matsekh plays the piano for riot police in Kiev, 7 December 2013
Audrey Hepburn and Afghan Girl Pictures that changed photography – part four

A surrealist advert of Hepburn before she shot to fame, Steve McCurry’s famous green-eyed girl, and Ol’ Blue Eyes on stage at the Royal Albert Hall. Our final set of trailblazing pictures range from the 1950s to the 90s

Pictures that changed photography – part four
Mr Turner’s record year should blaze a trail for British painting’s other greats

The avalanche of interest in JMW Turner is welcome – but he was not the only artist to give colour to the 18th and 19th centuries. Let’s give some others a chance
Turner masterpiece sells for £30.3m, setting world auction record for artist
- Turner masterpiece sells for £30.3m, setting world auction record for artist
Mr Turner’s record year should blaze a trail for British painting’s other greats

Chris Bracey, the Blade Runner neon artist

Neon artist Chris Bracey started out making signage for Soho strip joints and went on to work on films like Blade Runner and Batman

Chris Bracey, the Blade Runner neon artist
Serpentine pavilion 2015 to be built by Spanish subversives Selgas Cano

The Spanish architects, who specialise in semi-submerged builds in harmony with their natural surroundings, promise an ‘experimental’ pavilion that will ‘embrace the garden’

Serpentine pavilion 2015 to be built by Spanish subversives Selgas Cano
Jeremy Deller My summer in Andy Warhol’s Factory

Jeremy Deller on watching Benny Hill with Warhol – and why there’s more to William Morris than floral wallpaper

My summer in Andy Warhol’s Factory
Thames 'private' garden bridge could cost £3.5m a year in public money

The controversial bridge scheme has now been passed by Westminster Council, despite vociferous opposition on everything from crowd-crushing to lack of cycle routes and Londoners footing the bill

Thames 'private' garden bridge could cost £3.5m a year in public money
Clip Art You might be gone – but your happy floppy disks will never be forgotten

Microsoft Office’s brutal closing of the legendary image library signals the end of a glorious era of clumsily resized birthday cakes and disembodied bridges

You might be gone – but your happy floppy disks will never be forgotten
Live Art Basel Miami Beach 2014

We’re at America’s biggest art fair, where artists, architects, collectors and celebrities hit Miami Beach to buy cutting-edge work by day – and go to parties by night

Art Basel Miami Beach 2014
Philippe Lopez’s best shot A procession after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines

‘I didn’t want to interrupt. They were thanking God no one in their village had died’

A procession after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines
Review If Maggi Hambling's a painter, I’m Rembrandt

Jonathan Jones
1 / 5 stars

A total lack of integrity distinguishes Hambling’s latest collection of daft daubs

If Maggi Hambling's a painter, I’m Rembrandt
Russian bathers and LGBT South Africans on Deutsche Börse photography prize 2015 shortlist

Zanele Muholi’s portraits of post-apartheid sexuality join Nikolay Bakharev’s shots of swimmers in an eclectic, political selection

Russian bathers and LGBT South Africans on Deutsche Börse photography prize 2015 shortlist
Nudes on sand and Ansel Adams: the pictures that changed photography – part three

Today’s selection of groundbreaking images comes from the interwar period

Nudes on sand and Ansel Adams: the pictures that changed photography – part three
Duncan Campbell Politics seeps into everything

A 54-minute Marxist meditation just won Campbell the Turner prize. The artist tells Charlotte Higgins about his Das Kapital reading group with Michael Clark – and picking a fight with the British Museum

Politics seeps into everything
Audrey Hepburn back at scene of her big break – at National Portrait Gallery

Exhibition of famously glamorous film star shows Hepburn from first appearances at Ciro’s nightclub, which is now part of gallery

Audrey Hepburn back at scene of her big break – at National Portrait Gallery
New sensation Tracey Emin's Brit Awards statue unveiled

Following previous designs by Vivienne Westwood and Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin is the latest prominent British figure to use the music award as canvas

Tracey Emin's Brit Awards statue unveiled
‘Our cities are insufferable’ Chinese artists go back to the land

China’s president Xi Jinping wants artists to move to villages. But some are well ahead of him

Chinese artists go back to the land
2014: the year British art became irrelevant

Jonathan Jones

Art doesn’t have to shock, but when the thrill of the avant garde has been subsumed into middle-class culture, we find ourselves in a terrible place

2014: the year British art became irrelevant
Snow Glow Elsa to the 50mph foam blaster Top toys for Christmas

Future classic or throwaway junk? Oliver Wainwright gives his verdict on the UK’s must-have toys this Christmas

Top toys for Christmas
London’s architecture lacks Berlin’s sense of culture, says Chipperfield

Leading British architect, who works in both cities, bemoans lack of public realm and discussion of buildings’ meaning in Britain

London’s architecture lacks Berlin’s sense of culture, says Chipperfield
Art Basel, Miami and the beach that went boom

Lady Gaga’s recreating a painting from 1793 and Outkast’s André 3000 is showing off his jumpsuits. As the rich, famous and fabulous steer their jets to Miami, Edward Helmore looks at how the art fair transformed the city

Art Basel, Miami and the beach that went boom
Look sharp Readers' best pencil drawings – badgers, babies, meerkats and monkeys

2B or not 2B? Readers get graphic with graphite, in drawings that combine technical brilliance, humour and imagination …

Readers' best pencil drawings – badgers, babies, meerkats and monkeys
UK export ban on Jan Brueghel the Elder Garden of Eden painting

British buyer sought for 17th-century work Garden of Eden With the Fall of Man, judged to be of outstanding aesthetic importance

UK export ban on Jan Brueghel the Elder Garden of Eden painting
Prada brings artistic spirit into Milan’s industrial centre

Former distillery to become city’s newest and largest gallery of contemporary art

Prada brings artistic spirit into Milan’s industrial centre
Thailand school emerges from shadow of Boxing Day tsunami – in pictures

Yaowawit school in Thailand, a positive legacy that remains 10 years on from the devastating Boxing Day tsunami

Thailand school emerges from shadow of Boxing Day tsunami – in pictures
Parthenon marbles: Greece furious over British loan to Russia

Greek prime minister says loan of statue from pillaged frieze puts end to British Museum argument that disputed antiquities are immovable

Parthenon marbles: Greece furious over British loan to Russia
Reverend Billy: 'In the US, consumerism is how we operate'

The radical preacher and his Stop Shopping Choir are rattling the cage of the corporations with their new show Monsanto Is The Devil

Reverend Billy: 'In the US, consumerism is how we operate'
Mr Turner, the Parthenon marbles and Miley Cyrus – the week in art

Turner’s record-breaking auction sale, the headless statue allowed to leave Britain for the first time, and rock karaoke at Art Basel. Plus the death of Clip Art and the pictures that changed photography

Mr Turner, the Parthenon marbles and Miley Cyrus – the week in art

UK export ban on Jan Brueghel the Elder Garden of Eden painting

British buyer sought for 17th-century work Garden of Eden With the Fall of Man, judged to be of outstanding aesthetic importance

UK export ban on Jan Brueghel the Elder Garden of Eden painting
- Prada brings artistic spirit into Milan’s industrial centre
  
  Former distillery to become city’s newest and largest gallery of contemporary art
  
  Prada brings artistic spirit into Milan’s industrial centre
- Parthenon marbles: Greece furious over British loan to Russia
  
  Greek prime minister says loan of statue from pillaged frieze puts end to British Museum argument that disputed antiquities are immovable
  
  Parthenon marbles: Greece furious over British loan to Russia
- Serpentine pavilion 2015 to be built by Spanish subversives Selgas Cano
  
  The Spanish architects, who specialise in semi-submerged builds in harmony with their natural surroundings, promise an ‘experimental’ pavilion that will ‘embrace the garden’
  
  Serpentine pavilion 2015 to be built by Spanish subversives Selgas Cano

Turner masterpiece sells for £30.3m, setting world auction record for artist

Rome, From Mount Aventine was one of the last great works in private hands and remains in exceptional condition

Turner masterpiece sells for £30.3m, setting world auction record for artist
Andy Warhol and William Morris face off in Oxford exhibition

Artist Jeremy Deller draws direct links between two of his artistic heroes

Andy Warhol and William Morris face off in Oxford exhibition
Thames 'private' garden bridge could cost £3.5m a year in public money

The controversial bridge scheme has now been passed by Westminster Council despite vociferous opposition, writes Oliver Wainwright

Thames 'private' garden bridge could cost £3.5m a year in public money
Russian bathers and LGBT South Africans on Deutsche Börse photography prize 2015 shortlist

Zanele Muholi’s portraits of post-apartheid sexuality join Nikolay Bakharev’s shots of swimmers in an eclectic, political selection

Russian bathers and LGBT South Africans on Deutsche Börse photography prize 2015 shortlist
UK museums receive £45m of art in inheritance-tax windfall

Works by Van Gogh and Constable among treasure trove of paintings, books and sculptures accepted by government in lieu of tax

UK museums receive £45m of art in inheritance-tax windfall
Ian Fairweather's Drunken Buddha paintings reunited at Tarrawarra

Queensland artist survived prisoner of war camp, near drowning and arrest to become one of Australian art’s most influential figures, writes Fiona Gruber

Ian Fairweather's Drunken Buddha paintings reunited at Tarrawarra
Turner prize 2014: Duncan Campbell wins Britain’s prestigious art award

Irish favourite takes prize for ‘essay film’ It for Others, which uses dance, the IRA and Marxism to explore the value of art

Turner prize 2014: Duncan Campbell wins Britain’s prestigious art award
Duncan Campbell’s Turner prize winner is more like a lecture than artwork

Adrian Searle

Adrian Searle: Campbell’s consistency made him the favourite, but his film is overlong, over complicated and so preachy it can alienate

Duncan Campbell’s Turner prize winner is more like a lecture than artwork
London’s architecture lacks Berlin’s sense of culture, says Chipperfield

Leading British architect, who works in both cities, bemoans lack of public realm and discussion of buildings’ meaning in Britain

London’s architecture lacks Berlin’s sense of culture, says Chipperfield
A passing era: two Americans' visions of Britain and Ireland in the 1960s

A new exhibition in Los Angeles brings together the work of Bruce Davidson and Paul Caponigro, who travelled to Ireland and the UK as outsiders

A passing era: two Americans' visions of Britain and Ireland in the 1960s
Courtesy of the man from Oz and Viz, the outrageous Eric Gill’s finest art

Multi-millionaire publisher Felix Dennis was an obsessive collector of the great artist-craftsman, who also became infamous for his voracious sexual appetite. Now his archive is up for auction at Sotheby’s

Courtesy of the man from Oz and Viz, the outrageous Eric Gill’s finest art
The Liverpool locals who took control of their long-neglected streets

Granby Four Streets in Toxteth is a rare success after New Labour initiatives drained the area of life

The Liverpool locals who took control of their long-neglected streets
Four hundred years after his death, Greece reclaims the artist El Greco

Five exhibitions in Athens alone to honour the Crete-born painter Doménikos Theotokópoulos who lived in Spain

Four hundred years after his death, Greece reclaims the artist El Greco
Conflict, Time, Photography at Tate Modern sets timestamp on tragedy

First ever photography programme to cross all Tate galleries will look at war photography through the lens of time passing

Conflict, Time, Photography at Tate Modern sets timestamp on tragedy
V&A’s cast courts of beautiful fakes reopen after three years

The museum has dusted off its plaster masterpieces, including Michelangelo’s David, to give a rare glimpse of Victorian mores and ambitions. Oliver Wainwright takes a tour

V&A’s cast courts of beautiful fakes reopen after three years

Thailand school emerges from shadow of Boxing Day tsunami – in pictures

Yaowawit school in Thailand, a positive legacy that remains 10 years on from the devastating Boxing Day tsunami

Thailand school emerges from shadow of Boxing Day tsunami – in pictures
- Readers' pictures of landscapes around the world
  
  We asked you to share your photos of the iconic landscapes as part of GuardianWitness’ bi-weekly readers’ assignment. Here is a selection of our favouritesReaders’ assignment: public transport
  
  Readers' pictures of landscapes around the world
- Blade Runner neon artist Chris Bracey retrospective – in pictures
  
  Neon artist Chris Bracey started out making signage for Soho strip joints and went on to work on films like Blade Runner and Batman
  
  Blade Runner neon artist Chris Bracey retrospective – in pictures
- Parthenon marbles head to Russia – in pictures
  
  A headless statue from the Parthenon marbles, also known as the Elgin marbles, is being loaned by the British Museum to the Hermitage in St Petersburg
  
  Parthenon marbles head to Russia – in pictures
- Nudes on sand and Ansel Adams: the pictures that changed photography – part three
  
  Today’s selection of groundbreaking images comes from the interwar period, with glamorous propaganda shots, farmers in the Great Depression and moonrise in New Mexico as seen by the king of landscapes
  
  Nudes on sand and Ansel Adams: the pictures that changed photography – part three

Bodybuilders and angels: the pictures that changed photography – part two

A popular Russian wrestler, a Sri Lankan centenarian and the pioneer of hidden cameras all play a part in some of the most revolutionary images ever taken. Today’s selection runs from the 1870s to the first world war

Bodybuilders and angels: the pictures that changed photography – part two
Look sharp: readers' best pencil drawings – badgers, babies, meerkats and monkeys

2B or not 2B? Readers get graphic with graphite, in drawings that combine technical brilliance, humour and imagination …

Look sharp: readers' best pencil drawings – badgers, babies, meerkats and monkeys
From Queen Victoria to a hippo: the pictures that changed photography from the 1820s to the 1870s

All week we’ll be bringing you the most revolutionary photographs ever taken, by the biggest names. Today, it’s the birth of photography, with the earliest heliograph, scandalous nudes and the first ever manipulated image

From Queen Victoria to a hippo: the pictures that changed photography from the 1820s to the 1870s
The beauty of a red-headed man – in pictures

The Red Hot 100 exhibition challenges social stigma towards ‘gingers’ by celebrating the modern-day, red-haired male

The beauty of a red-headed man – in pictures
Surreal in translation: Matt Lindley and Marcus Oakley's foreign proverbs – in pictures

The cat is out of the bag: proverbs sound odd when they’re translated. Writer Matt Lindley and artist Marcus Oakley have turned them into illustrations, writes Kathryn Bromwich

Surreal in translation: Matt Lindley and Marcus Oakley's foreign proverbs – in pictures
Something shiny: readers' photos on the theme of 'bright' – in pictures

For this week’s photography assignment in the Observer New Review we asked you to share your photos on the theme of ‘bright’ via GuardianWitness. Here’s a selection of our favourites

Something shiny: readers' photos on the theme of 'bright' – in pictures
The 20 photographs of the week

The reaction to the Michael Brown verdict, the death of Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes, the ongoing crisis on the Turkish-Syrian border - the best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week

The 20 photographs of the week
From Pond to Panda Bear, the month in pop culture visuals

The Guide’s art critic Skye Sherwin on a month in pop culture visuals, from Pond to Panda Bear

From Pond to Panda Bear, the month in pop culture visuals
Lost highway: creepy Lynchian dreamscapes – in pictures

Why are children and deer trapped in the headlights? Why’s that car on fire? And why have forests started growing in bathrooms? Part-nightmare, part-reverie, Julien Magre’s peculiar pictures are full of mysteries to unravel

Lost highway: creepy Lynchian dreamscapes – in pictures
Photo highlights of the day

The Guardian’s picture editors bring you a selection of the best photographs from around the world

Photo highlights of the day
Can you guess which artists inspired these Thanksgiving dinners?

Whose offering is suitably swirly? Who goes heavy on the cranberry sauce? And why is one not even a meal at all? Hannah Rothstein has transformed traditional Thanksgiving dinners into mini-masterpieces

Can you guess which artists inspired these Thanksgiving dinners?
Bold and beautiful: famous buildings emerge from the shadows – in pictures

Photographer Gabriele Croppi travels the world shooting the most iconic buildings. But his pictures also reveal way more startling things in the urban shadows: a man carrying a nude mannequin, and bands of meditating monks

Bold and beautiful: famous buildings emerge from the shadows – in pictures
The building of Sydney's Anzac bridge – in pictures

Photographer David Moore’s construction images join a long tradition of honouring urban engineering feats – and the workers who sweat to create them

The building of Sydney's Anzac bridge – in pictures

Lewis Baltz obituary

Landscape photographer who specialised in austere images revealing the impact of development on the American wilderness

Lewis Baltz obituary
Thames 'private' garden bridge could cost £3.5m a year in public money

The controversial bridge scheme has now been passed by Westminster Council despite vociferous opposition, writes Oliver Wainwright

Thames 'private' garden bridge could cost £3.5m a year in public money
- Russian bathers and LGBT South Africans on Deutsche Börse photography prize 2015 shortlist
  
  Zanele Muholi’s portraits of post-apartheid sexuality join Nikolay Bakharev’s shots of swimmers in an eclectic, political selection
  
  Russian bathers and LGBT South Africans on Deutsche Börse photography prize 2015 shortlist
- ‘Our cities are insufferable’: Chinese artists go back to the land
  
  China’s president Xi Jinping wants artists to move to villages. But some are well ahead of him, writes Oliver Wainwright
  
  ‘Our cities are insufferable’: Chinese artists go back to the land
- 2014: the year British art became irrelevant
  
  Art doesn’t have to shock, but when the thrill of the avant garde has been subsumed into middle-class culture, we find ourselves in a terrible place, writes Jonathan Jones
  
  2014: the year British art became irrelevant
- Duncan Campbell’s Turner prize winner is more like a lecture than artwork
  
  Adrian Searle
  
  Adrian Searle: Campbell’s consistency made him the favourite, but his film is overlong, over complicated and so preachy it can alienate
  
  Duncan Campbell’s Turner prize winner is more like a lecture than artwork
- Shia LaBeouf's #IAM SORRY: art is often violent, but nothing can excuse rape
  
  Performance art is a difficult genre that often exploits physical threat, but LaBeouf’s #IAMSORRY is simply bad
  
  Shia LaBeouf's #IAM SORRY: art is often violent, but nothing can excuse rape
- Top toys for Christmas: from Snow Glow Elsa to the 50mph foam blaster
  
  Future classic or throwaway junk? Oliver Wainwright gives his verdict on the UK’s must-have toys this Christmas
  
  Top toys for Christmas: from Snow Glow Elsa to the 50mph foam blaster

Rich and ripe: Pipilotti Rist’s arty tunnels of love

Rist’s immersive, sensual art is always a visual surprise. Adrian Searle gets an eyeful

Rich and ripe: Pipilotti Rist’s arty tunnels of love
David Hockney enters new phase: no more Constable

Documentary shows an artist who matters leave his pastoral period and begin to match himself against modern masters

David Hockney enters new phase: no more Constable
A stitch in time: the dream-like world of embroidered vintage photography

Julie Cockburn takes studio portraits from the past, obliterates the faces with embroidery – and injects them with new life. Sean O’Hagan meets her

A stitch in time: the dream-like world of embroidered vintage photography
Mick Jagger, William Morris and Minecraft – the week in art

Jonathan Jones: Tate teams up with Minecraft, Hipgnosis turn the Stones into goats, and a new Hockney documentary hits the screens

Mick Jagger, William Morris and Minecraft – the week in art
The Liverpool locals who took control of their long-neglected streets

Granby Four Streets in Toxteth is a rare success after New Labour initiatives drained the area of life

The Liverpool locals who took control of their long-neglected streets
Minecraft at Tate: in gaming, the Renaissance has returned

Jonathan Jones: This new collaboration is proof that video games hark back to an artistic age obsessed with realism and perspective – the Renaissance

Minecraft at Tate: in gaming, the Renaissance has returned
V&A’s cast courts of beautiful fakes reopen after three years

The museum has dusted off its plaster masterpieces, including Michelangelo’s David, to give a rare glimpse of Victorian mores and ambitions. Oliver Wainwright takes a tour

V&A’s cast courts of beautiful fakes reopen after three years
Marrakech is set to become photography's global HQ – so why aren't locals happy?

As one of the world’s biggest photography galleries prepares to open in Morocco, some locals are still furious about having their – and even their horse’s – picture taken, writes Sean O’Hagan

Marrakech is set to become photography's global HQ – so why aren't locals happy?
The scars of war: how good is photography at capturing conflict?

Conflict, Time, Photography, a new show at London’s Tate Modern, explores the horror of war by looking at the traces it leaves on the landscape, writes Sean O’Hagan

The scars of war: how good is photography at capturing conflict?
Cornelius Gurlitt’s haunted treasure trove of art needs to be seen

Jonathan Jones: Hated by the Nazis for their freedom and humanity, the paintings are neither poisoned gifts nor spoils of war but vital works of art

Cornelius Gurlitt’s haunted treasure trove of art needs to be seen

Jonathan Jones reviews Maggi Hambling ‘If she’s a painter, I’m Rembrandt’
1 / 5 stars

A total lack of integrity distinguishes Hambling’s latest collection of daft daubs

‘If she’s a painter, I’m Rembrandt’
The scars of war How good is photography at capturing conflict?

Conflict, Time, Photography, a new show at London’s Tate Modern, explores the horror of war by looking at the traces it leaves on the landscape

How good is photography at capturing conflict?
Just the ticket The joy of England’s railway stations

The story of the English railway station since its Victorian heyday is that of a distinctively creative free-for-all

The joy of England’s railway stations

- Beyond taste Post Pop: East Meets West review
  4 / 5 stars
  
  From Paul McCarthy's penis spaghetti to Jeff Koons' floating basketballs, this show is refreshingly unrepressed by today’s idea of cool
  
  Post Pop: East Meets West review
- Art Pierre Huyghe at Lacma – a sometimes baffling but always engaging retrospective
  
  LA is the ideal location for a Pierre Huyghe retrospective – the artist’s baffling and borderless installations fit right in with the city’s chaotic character
  
  Pierre Huyghe at Lacma – a sometimes baffling but always engaging retrospective
- Performance art Ryan McNamara – ME3M 4 Miami Art Basel review: the web made dance
  
  This award-winning work attempted to convey the experience of the internet through performance art
  
  Ryan McNamara – ME3M 4 Miami Art Basel review: the web made dance
- Art Tony Bevan: Trees and Archives interview – organic, geometric, and human
  
  Exhibition showcases figurative painter’s first archive paintings alongside an exploration into the natural world – and several new studies of his own head
  
  Tony Bevan: Trees and Archives interview – organic, geometric, and human
- Art and design One Way: Peter Marino Art Basel review – a spectacle of decadence
  
  This show of the leather-clad architect’s private collection suggests that art’s recession into fashion and luxury is not just inevitable but something to be celebrated
  
  One Way: Peter Marino Art Basel review – a spectacle of decadence
- Art Conflict, Time, Photography review – emptiness, ruin and absence
  
  Tate Modern’s huge survey of the ways photographers have conveyed the aftermath of conflict is astonishingly short of images of people, writes Laura Cumming
  
  Conflict, Time, Photography review – emptiness, ruin and absence
- Installation Julio le Parc review – punching bankers and balls isn’t such radical fun
  2 / 5 stars
  
  An amusement arcade of optical tricks and dangling punchbags daubed with hate figures fails to conjure up the spirit of artistic rebellion
  
  Julio le Parc review – punching bankers and balls isn’t such radical fun
- Architecture Fulton Center review: a vision of New York's cold future
  
  While the light-diffusing Sky-Net is a feat of technical virtuosity, the transport hub is grey and glassy, with the placeless feel of a shopping mall
  
  Fulton Center review: a vision of New York's cold future

Art Imran Qureshi review – a hauntingly beautiful show at the Ikon Gallery

Imran Qureshi is a master miniaturist who also has bigger things on his mind, writes Laura Cumming

Imran Qureshi review – a hauntingly beautiful show at the Ikon Gallery
Francisco de Goya Goya: Order and Disorder review: clerics, hats and flying cats

Though flawed, this titanic exhibition brings together some of the most racked and disturbing artworks in history, writes Jason Farago

Goya: Order and Disorder review: clerics, hats and flying cats
Chuck Close Chuck Close review – analogue printmaking explores a digital era

Prints, Process and Collaboration reveals as much about the artist’s huge range of techniques as his prodigious output

Chuck Close review – analogue printmaking explores a digital era
Art The Baroque Underworld: Vice and Destitution in Rome review – high art and low life in the Eternal City

Colourful lives of 17th-century artists on show at Villa Medici exhibition

The Baroque Underworld: Vice and Destitution in Rome review – high art and low life in the Eternal City
Architecture Farshid Moussavi: ‘We are in a world where ideas migrate’

Rowan Moore talks to Farshid Moussavi about fashion, function and the power of physical space in a virtual world

Farshid Moussavi: ‘We are in a world where ideas migrate’
Art Conscience and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War review – rousing, revelatory and poignant

How did British artists respond to the war that so famously inspired Picasso? This exemplary show reveals all, writes Laura Cumming

Conscience and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War review – rousing, revelatory and poignant
Renzo Piano Renzo Piano reboot of Harvard art museums largely triumphs

A radical overhaul disguised as a modest intervention, the new building wears its ambitions lightly – apart from one serious flaw

Renzo Piano reboot of Harvard art museums largely triumphs
Painting A poet of solitude: Peder Balke's haunting visions of the Arctic Circle
4 / 5 stars

The first UK exhibition devoted to the eerie mystery of this 19th-century master shows just how precociously modern he was, writes Jonathan Jones

A poet of solitude: Peder Balke's haunting visions of the Arctic Circle
Art and design Takashi Murakami review: a welcome return to a more disturbing style

His collaborations with Kanye West and Louis Vuitton have made him rich and famous, but the Japanese artist’s new works, inspired by Fukushima, are more than gaudy trinkets for the super rich

Takashi Murakami review: a welcome return to a more disturbing style
Art Is Allen Jones’s sculpture the most sexist art ever?

Zoe Williams goes among the women as fetish furniture at the RA’s new show to find out

Is Allen Jones’s sculpture the most sexist art ever?

Readers' assignment: public transport

You’ve sent in some great assignment ideas for GuardianWitness so we’ve started a bi-weekly series based on your best suggestions

Readers' assignment: public transport
Philippe Lopez’s best photograph: a procession after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines

‘I didn’t want to interrupt. They were thanking God no one in their village had died’

Philippe Lopez’s best photograph: a procession after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines

Bodybuilders and angels: the pictures that changed photography – part two

A popular Russian wrestler, a Sri Lankan centenarian and the pioneer of hidden cameras all play a part in some of the most revolutionary images ever taken. Today’s selection runs from the 1870s to the first world war

Bodybuilders and angels: the pictures that changed photography – part two
As time goes by: share your artworks about nostalgia

As the year draws to a close, take a trip down memory lane and share your nostalgia-themed art

As time goes by: share your artworks about nostalgia
A passing era: two Americans' visions of Britain and Ireland in the 1960s

A new exhibition in Los Angeles brings together the work of Bruce Davidson and Paul Caponigro, who travelled to Ireland and the UK as outsiders

A passing era: two Americans' visions of Britain and Ireland in the 1960s
From Queen Victoria to a hippo: the pictures that changed photography from the 1820s to the 1870s

All week we’ll be bringing you the most revolutionary photographs ever taken, by the biggest names. Today, it’s the birth of photography, with the earliest heliograph, scandalous nudes and the first ever manipulated image

From Queen Victoria to a hippo: the pictures that changed photography from the 1820s to the 1870s

The beauty of a red-headed man – in pictures

The Red Hot 100 exhibition challenges social stigma towards ‘gingers’ by celebrating the modern-day, red-haired male

The beauty of a red-headed man – in pictures
Beats, punks and stunts: the photography of Glen E Friedman

American photographer Glen E Friedman witnessed the births of skateboarding culture, hardcore punk and hip-hop. He talks to Killian Fox about being in the right place at the right time

Beats, punks and stunts: the photography of Glen E Friedman
Your pictures: share your photographs on the theme of 'decoration'

Wherever you are in the world, we’d like to see your pictures of ‘decoration.’ Share your best photos via GuardianWitnessReaders’ pictures on the theme of ‘bright’

Your pictures: share your photographs on the theme of 'decoration'
Something shiny: readers' photos on the theme of 'bright' – in pictures

For this week’s photography assignment in the Observer New Review we asked you to share your photos on the theme of ‘bright’ via GuardianWitness. Here’s a selection of our favourites

Something shiny: readers' photos on the theme of 'bright' – in pictures
The 20 photographs of the week

The reaction to the Michael Brown verdict, the death of Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes, the ongoing crisis on the Turkish-Syrian border - the best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week

The 20 photographs of the week
Howard Hodgkin, Imran Qureshi, William Blake: this week’s new exhibitions

From Howard Hodgkin in London to William Blake in Oxford, find out what’s happening in art around the country

Howard Hodgkin, Imran Qureshi, William Blake: this week’s new exhibitions

Ebenezer Howard's three magnets

Picturing place: The Three Magnets diagram has travelled widely since its original publication in 1898, but divorced from its original text the image has often been mis-read, highlighting the ease with which images can be isolated from their original context and be mobilised in new ways

Ebenezer Howard's three magnets
If women built cities, what would our urban landscape look like?

The number of women in UK architecture firms is falling, and many urbanists are worried by the ‘very, very male-dominated’ worlds of planning and construction. So how would cities differ if women designed them?

If women built cities, what would our urban landscape look like?
This 'hero shot' of Shanghai’s future skyline projects China's success

Picturing place: In an age of intense competition between the world’s cities, authorities are focused on presenting a particular image for global consumption

This 'hero shot' of Shanghai’s future skyline projects China's success
Letter: David Mackay obituary

Andrew Dempsey writes: I first met David Mackay at the time that he and his firm MBM designed the Homage to Barcelona exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London, in 1985

Letter: David Mackay obituary

London’s architecture lacks Berlin’s sense of culture, says Chipperfield

Leading British architect, who works in both cities, bemoans lack of public realm and discussion of buildings’ meaning in Britain

London’s architecture lacks Berlin’s sense of culture, says Chipperfield
The iconic origins of Brazil's capital city

Picturing Place: In the first of a series looking at how imagery shapes our cities, we look at the origin of Brasilia and how it started life as a simple drawing

The iconic origins of Brazil's capital city
Why even an old ruin can be so elevating for the human spirit

Rachel Cooke

Rachel Cooke: Lovely old buildings such as Lowther Castle gladden the heart – and provide a perspective our politicians would do well to remember

Why even an old ruin can be so elevating for the human spirit
Hermione Hobhouse obituary

Architectural historian who made a compelling case for preserving London’s historic buildings

Hermione Hobhouse obituary
World view: The Palm Springs Visitor Center, California

The Palm Springs Visitor Center is a prime example of 'desert modernism', the theme of the new Architecture and Design Center in the Californian city

World view: The Palm Springs Visitor Center, California
The dockland redevelopment: Mumbai's last big chance?

Reviving the port lands could be this congested island city’s best bet for affordable housing, transport links and public space. But chances like this have been squandered in the past

The dockland redevelopment: Mumbai's last big chance?
The Liverpool locals who took control of their long-neglected streets

Granby Four Streets in Toxteth is a rare success after New Labour initiatives drained the area of life

The Liverpool locals who took control of their long-neglected streets
Bold and beautiful: famous buildings emerge from the shadows – in pictures

Photographer Gabriele Croppi travels the world shooting the most iconic buildings. But his pictures also reveal way more startling things in the urban shadows: a man carrying a nude mannequin, and bands of meditating monks

Bold and beautiful: famous buildings emerge from the shadows – in pictures
The building of Sydney's Anzac bridge – in pictures

Photographer David Moore’s construction images join a long tradition of honouring urban engineering feats – and the workers who sweat to create them

The building of Sydney's Anzac bridge – in pictures
Strange beasts on the balustrade

Country Diary Wrest Park, Bedfordshire: Out of the fog came a jackdaw which landed on its stone head

Strange beasts on the balustrade

Fashion forward Edward Steichen's trailblazing Vogue photographs

Shooting for Vogue and Vanity Fair in the 20s and 30s, father of fashion photography Edward Steichen devised a mode of portraiture that still sets the template for style magazines today

Edward Steichen's trailblazing Vogue photographs

Audrey Hepburn is back – at the scene of her big break

An exhibition of the famously glamorous film star shows Hepburn from first appearances at Ciro’s nightclub, which is now part of the National Portrait Gallery

Audrey Hepburn is back – at the scene of her big break
In pictures The beauty of a red-headed man

The Red Hot 100 exhibition challenges social stigma towards ‘gingers’ by celebrating the modern-day, red-haired male

The beauty of a red-headed man
Lost highway Creepy Lynchian dreamscapes

Part-nightmare, part-reverie, Julien Magre’s peculiar pictures are full of mysteries to unravel

Creepy Lynchian dreamscapes
Hipgnosis' mind-bending album art

They made dispersive prisms sexy with Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, and transformed Mick Jagger into a goat. Here’s how the design duo Hipgnosis turned the art of the album sleeve upside down for the biggest names in rock

Hipgnosis' mind-bending album art
Love unlimited Studio 54 at the height of its fame

Photographer Tod Papageorge documented the beautiful people he found inside glittering New York disco club Studio 54 – in all their debauchery, glamour and cool

Studio 54 at the height of its fame
Disco kitsch Are these the world's most ridiculous record covers?

Soft porn, engorged limes, erect bananas – and an extra-special zebra print carpet courtesy of Kool and the Gang ... disco cover art is endlessly, brilliantly OTT

Are these the world's most ridiculous record covers?
André Kertész: the photographer's photographer

The Hungarian artist who pioneered photojournalism, influencing Cartier-Bresson and Brassaï, is back in the spotlight with an auction of his most moving images

André Kertész: the photographer's photographer
The frog with kaleidoscope eyes Psychedelic close-ups of nature

Nature photographer Michael Kern turns reptiles, insects and creepy-crawlies into strange psychedelic creations. It’s time to get up close and weird

Psychedelic close-ups of nature
The Strip-Steppers Backstage with burlesque dancers in the 1930s

In 1936, Margaret Bourke-White went behind the scenes with top burlesque acts to show them setting their hair and tweaking their nipples before they hit the stage. Here are her most candid shots

Backstage with burlesque dancers in the 1930s

Clip Art: you might be gone – but your happy floppy disks will never be forgotten

Stuart Heritage: Microsoft Office’s brutal closing of the legendary image library signals the end of a glorious era of clumsily resized birthday cakes and disembodied bridges

Clip Art: you might be gone – but your happy floppy disks will never be forgotten
David Hockney When I’m working, I feel like Picasso, I feel I’m 30

Last year David Hockney moved from Yorkshire to the Hollywood Hills after a series of personal tragedies – and it has totally rejuvenated him

When I’m working, I feel like Picasso, I feel I’m 30
Shotguns and sundaes Gordon Parks's rare photographs of life in the segregated South

Lost for more than 50 years, Gordon Parks’s stunning images show daily life for one Alabama family in the shadow of race riots, bus boycotts and the fight for civil rights

Gordon Parks's rare photographs of life in the segregated South
The big-eyed children The extraordinary story of an epic art fraud

In the 1960s, Walter Keane was feted for sentimental portraits that sold by the million. But in fact, his wife Margaret was the artist, working in virtual slavery. She tells Jon Ronson her story, now the subject of a Tim Burton biopic

The extraordinary story of an epic art fraud

We are family Nicholas Nixon’s 40 years photographing the Brown sisters

The US photographer has taken a portrait of his wife BeBe and her siblings every year since 1974, making us confront the passing of time, family ties and our own mortality

Nicholas Nixon’s 40 years photographing the Brown sisters
Garry Winogrand The man who gave street photography attitude

Garry Winogrand pounded the streets of America every day of his life photographing reluctant subjects – and he left behind 6,500 undeveloped films when he died. A powerful new retrospective makes sense of the torrent of imagery by the prolific American master

The man who gave street photography attitude
The real Mad Men Mac Conner's stunning New York illustrations

A new exhibition presents classic hand-painted illustrations from 1950s women’s magazines by one of the original Mad Men

Mac Conner's stunning New York illustrations
Into the orgasmatron! The Institute of Sexology hits the spot

Stephen Moss flings off his pullover to unleash his inner libido at the Institute of Sexology exhibition, which probes everything from Victorian masturbation manuals to priapic pottery

Into the orgasmatron! The Institute of Sexology hits the spot
A line in history The east German punks behind the Berlin Wall's most radical art stunt

=>The Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago, taking with it miles of artists’ graffiti. But a simpler art protest captured the wall’s power. This is a story of spies, betrayal and buckets of white paint

The east German punks behind the Berlin Wall's most radical art stunt

Ben Eine: I'm a graffiti artist; I'm not meant to meet David Cameron – video

Graffiti artist Ben Eine reveals his surprise at being invited to Downing Street for tea and biscuits

Ben Eine: I'm a graffiti artist; I'm not meant to meet David Cameron – video
Tower of London poppies artist says transience is crucial to the installation - video

Ceramic artist Paul Cummins says he didn't realise how popular the idea would be after an estimated four million people visited his poppies installation at the Tower of London

Tower of London poppies artist says transience is crucial to the installation - video
Romance Was Born: fashion duo show off new kids show - video

Fashion duo Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales – better known as Romance Was Born – discuss the NGV's new gallery show for kids

Romance Was Born: fashion duo show off new kids show - video

Melbourne art trams add colour to the city's streets – slideshow

Artist Jeff Makin climbs aboard as eight decorated art trams brighten up Melbourne's streets for the second year running

Melbourne art trams add colour to the city's streets – slideshow
Globe Theatre awash in colour for Alternative Miss World 2014 - video

Highlights from the 13th Alternative Miss World competition held at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on London's South Bank

Globe Theatre awash in colour for Alternative Miss World 2014 - video
'Sex toy' sculpture raises eyebrows in Paris - video

A 60-ft tall green inflatable sculpture has caused a stir among Parisians for its resemblance to a sex toy

'Sex toy' sculpture raises eyebrows in Paris - video
Go figure: Frieze art fair in numbers - video

Mega art fair Frieze London is about to swing its doors wide – but just how many kilos of coffee will the art world consume this week, and what's the biggest bargain ever bagged there? Our animation spills its secrets

Go figure: Frieze art fair in numbers - video
'It's a moment in thought, not a conclusion' – Turner prize 2014 nominee Duncan Campbell explains his work

Duncan Campbell was nominated for a film, It For Others, which draws on a huge library of archive footage to look at a host of complex histories: the IRA, African art, and the language of advertising. He shows how his work came together

'It's a moment in thought, not a conclusion' – Turner prize 2014 nominee Duncan Campbell explains his work
'Chance encounters – that's when it's interesting': Turner prize 2014 nominee Ciara Phillips explains her work

Ciara Phillips set up a workshop and invited artists to come and collaborate – the result is a series of bright screenprints, but also a sense of shared inspiration. She explains how the project came together

'Chance encounters – that's when it's interesting': Turner prize 2014 nominee Ciara Phillips explains her work
'The voice belongs but the body is gone': Turner prize 2014 nominee Tris Vonna-Michell explains his work

Using the precarious analogue technology of slide projectors, paired with his own recorded voice, Tris Vonna-Michell creates poignantly fractured travelogues that have won him a Turner prize nomination. Here he explains his work in more detail

'The voice belongs but the body is gone': Turner prize 2014 nominee Tris Vonna-Michell explains his work
'It's about owning images – and disorientating them': Turner prize 2014 nominee James Richards explains his work

In the first of a series following 2014's Turner prize nominees at work in their studios, James Richards talks us through his 'abstract sculpture' which takes in film, sound and photography in a disquieting whole – from sources like submerged cameras and censored Japanese library books

'It's about owning images – and disorientating them': Turner prize 2014 nominee James Richards explains his work
'A passionate, bloody arena': 30 years of the Turner prize, from Emin's bed to Grayson's dress – video

The Turner prize, launched 30 years ago, remains a focal point for British art and all its invention, vision and public outrage. Tate director Nicholas Serota and The Guardian's art critic Jonathan Jones consider its legacy, ahead of 2014's exhibition opening this week

'A passionate, bloody arena': 30 years of the Turner prize, from Emin's bed to Grayson's dress – video
Ai Weiwei's new show at Alcatraz: Lego, mental health hospitals and Edward Snowden - video

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei talks about his newest exhibition at the Alcatraz prison. Take a tour of his large scale installations using Lego, traditional kites and porcelain flowers at the famous San Francisco penitentiary

Ai Weiwei's new show at Alcatraz: Lego, mental health hospitals and Edward Snowden - video
'Anyone who lives in New York will see it 100 times a day': meet Milton Glaser, the creator of the 'I love NY' logo – video

You're probably familiar with Milton Glaser's work, even if you don't know it. The graphic artist is the man responsible for creating the ubiquitous 'I love NY' logo that adorns T-shirts, coffee cups, bags and caps across the world

'Anyone who lives in New York will see it 100 times a day': meet Milton Glaser, the creator of the 'I love NY' logo – video
What is art for? Alain de Botton's animated guide – video

In this exclusive video for the Guardian, philosopher Alain de Botton gives his top five reasons why art is such a vital force for humanity. Are we wrong to like pretty pictures? Watch and find out

What is art for? Alain de Botton's animated guide – video
Six-storey inflatable rubber duck sails into the Port of Los Angeles – video

A super-sized rubber duck arrives in the Californian harbour to take part in the Tall Ships Festival

Six-storey inflatable rubber duck sails into the Port of Los Angeles – video
Inside 'the Cheesegrater' – architect Graham Stirk gives a guided tour of the Leadenhall building – video

From Lloyds to Leadenhall: architect Graham Stirk gives a guided tour of the tallest office skyscraper in the UK

Inside 'the Cheesegrater' – architect Graham Stirk gives a guided tour of the Leadenhall building – video
Robots take you on an after-dark tour of Tate Britain - video

It's not a hi-tech art heist, but a brand new way to explore art galleries by night. Design team The Workers have created four robots that will roam Tate Britain for five nights. Oliver Wainwright gets the first glimpse of the robots' eye view

Robots take you on an after-dark tour of Tate Britain - video
Afghan life in wartime: Bolan Market by Mark Neville – video

Mark Neville spent two months as a war artist with British troops in Afghanistan in 2011. In this silent, slow-motion film shot in Lashkar Gah from a Husky armoured vehicle, he records Afghans' reactions to the troops – some warm, some hostile

Afghan life in wartime: Bolan Market by Mark Neville – video
Surf's up: dive into our digital wave machine – video

Ever wondered what a wave looks like in extreme closeup? For Waves, the artist and programmer Memo Akten has mapped the motion of the ocean in digital images. In other words, don't click if you get seasick

Surf's up: dive into our digital wave machine – video

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Post early Beautiful vintage Christmas reminders from the Royal Mail

That’s me in the picture Markiyan Matsekh plays the piano for riot police in Kiev, 7 December 2013

Audrey Hepburn and Afghan Girl Pictures that changed photography – part four

Jeremy Deller My summer in Andy Warhol’s Factory

Clip Art You might be gone – but your happy floppy disks will never be forgotten

Live Art Basel Miami Beach 2014

Philippe Lopez’s best shot A procession after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines

Review If Maggi Hambling's a painter, I’m Rembrandt

Duncan Campbell Politics seeps into everything

New sensation Tracey Emin's Brit Awards statue unveiled

‘Our cities are insufferable’ Chinese artists go back to the land

Snow Glow Elsa to the 50mph foam blaster Top toys for Christmas

Look sharp Readers' best pencil drawings – badgers, babies, meerkats and monkeys

Jonathan Jones reviews Maggi Hambling ‘If she’s a painter, I’m Rembrandt’

The scars of war How good is photography at capturing conflict?

Just the ticket The joy of England’s railway stations

Beyond taste Post Pop: East Meets West review

Fashion forward Edward Steichen's trailblazing Vogue photographs

In pictures The beauty of a red-headed man

Lost highway Creepy Lynchian dreamscapes

Love unlimited Studio 54 at the height of its fame

Disco kitsch Are these the world's most ridiculous record covers?

The frog with kaleidoscope eyes Psychedelic close-ups of nature

The Strip-Steppers Backstage with burlesque dancers in the 1930s