Portfolios of photographs, art and design

Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave, British Museum

★★★★ HOKUSAI: BEYOND THE GREAT WAVE, BRITISH MUSEUM The final years of Japan's greatest artist

The final years of Japan's greatest artist

With its striking design, characteristically restricted palette and fluent use of line, Hokusai’s The Great Wave, 1831, is one of the world’s most recognisable images, encapsulating western ideas about Japanese art. First seen outside Japan in the 1880s, Van Gogh was one of the first Europeans to really engage with the print, and he was one of a number of 19th-century artists who tried to incorporate aspects of Japanese style into their work.

Highlights from Photo London 2017 - virtual reality meets vintage treasure

★★★ HIGHLIGHTS FROM PHOTO LONDON 2017 Our resident photographer rummages through a mixed bag

Our resident photographer rummages through a mixed bag

At heart, Photo London is a selling fair for expensive photographic prints. You wander through the steamy labyrinth of Somerset House from gallery show to gallery show surrounded by black-clad snapperati, assaulted on all sides by images until lost in photography. This year the show is said to be the subject of a "rigorous curatorial process" designed to show rare historical treasures, new work by established masters, and work by the brightest new stars.

Fourth Plinth: How London Created the Smallest Sculpture Park in the World

FOURTH PLINTH: How London created the smallest sculpture park in the world

Celebrating Trafalgar Square's infamous empty plinth, and its role in changing attitudes to contemporary art

I have always felt very lucky to have been working as an artist in London during the period when it transformed into the capital of the art world. It has been a beautiful, fascinating and profitable ride. When I started art school in 1978, contemporary art in Britain seemed like a cottage industry situated in some little backwater seldom visited by the public or the media.

28 Sequels That Took Forever

'T2 Trainspotting' isn't the only sequel that took a while to turn up. We list many more

This weekend T2: Trainspotting is released in cinemas. It's taken 21 years for novelist Irvine Welsh, director Danny Boyle, scriptwriter John Hodge and the famous cast to get back together. That's not actually that long, though. This year Blade Runner 2049 is promised following a gap of 35 years after Ridley Scott's original film. Dick Van Dyke is heading for the UK to take a part in Mary Poppins Returns 64 years on, this time starring Emily Blunt in the title role.

Photo Gallery: Aberdeenshire Sand Dunes

TRUMPED: SCOTTISH SAND DUNES Elegiac images from Aberdeenshire of dunes destroyed by the President Elect's golf course

These elegiac images of outstanding natural beauty have since been trumped

These photographs of sand dunes were taken by Brian David Stevens in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, along a stretch of pristine Scottish coastline. The pictures themselves, while captivating and beautiful in their own right, also have political freight. For it is dunes such as these over which a long and ugly battle raged for several years.

The Best of Frieze Masters 2016

Heading to Regent's Park this weekend? Here's our pick of this year's must-sees

The fifth edition of the highly popular Frieze Masters – the quieter sibling of the boisterous contemporary Frieze Art Fair London – is underway in Regent's Park, London. This year, the fair features 133 leading galleries from around the world. Their various displays include curated and created sections as well as solo exhibitions devoted to the works of artists such as Paula Rego (Malborough Fine Art, London), Robert Motherwell (Bernard Jacobsen Gallery, London), Lynn Chadwick (BlainSouthern, London) and Eduardo Paolozzi (Jonathan Clark Fine Art, London).

Eyes and teeth: Conductors at the 2016 Proms

CONDUCTORS AT THE PROMS As the greatest music festival returns, browse these great snaps of bulging eyeballs and windmill arms

Feast on our annual parade of bulging eyeballs and windmill arms at the Royal Albert Hall

The concert photographer Chris Christodoulou has been taking pictures at the BBC Proms for 35 years. Even more than the musicians under their baton, he spends his time watching conductors like a hawk, observing their every gesture and grimace. Every year the wackier images, which convey less dignity but more truth, don’t make it into the public eye.

Prom 25: Gerhardt, Komlósi, Relyea, RPO, Dutoit

PROM 25: GERHARDT, KOMLÓSI, RELYEA, RPO, DUTOIT The power of quiet in two middle-European masterpieces

The power of quiet in two middle-European masterpieces

"Let the song speak, I pray," exhorts the Bard in the Prologue to Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, "Listen in silence." This was a night for leaning in and listening closely, despite the large forces arrayed on stage for Dvořák’s Cello Concerto and Bartók’s opera.

Strictly goes to the Proms

STRICTLY GOES TO THE PROMS Canny brand synergy encourages fans to keep Promming

Canny brand synergy encourages fans to keep Promming

The glitterball has landed. After loaning out Proms queen Katie Derham to Strictly Come Dancing last series, where she hauled comedy pro Anton Du Beke all the way to the final, the Beeb’s Saturday-night juggernaut returned the favour by waltzing a ballroom troupe over to the Albert Hall. Would it be a perfect partnership or murder on the dancefloor? 

Les Rencontres d'Arles 2016

LES RENCONTRES D'ARLES 2016 Our man in France guides us through the highlights of the world-famous photo festival

Our man in France guides us through the highlights of the world-famous photo festival

Nous avons Brexité but we are still welcome at the 47th Rencontres d'Arles. Each summer this beautiful French town gives itself over to an international photography festival which this year features around 40 exhibitions of varying sizes with countless lectures, parties, book signings and fringe events.