KEY POINTS:
There were a few reasons I wanted to get away from trudging around the streets of London a couple of weeks ago. For one thing, it was freezing. The first few autumnal days were glorious, with clear blue skies; a lovely time to wander the parks and watch the little squirrels as they race up to your feet, rise on their hind legs and stare - really stare - at you. But then the weather packed in; grey, cold, a cutting wind. Fur-reezing.
Second, the streets are madly crowded. People everywhere. Very draining. And then there are the beggars. It's probably not new, but cute little dogs seem to be the London beggar accessory du jour. One guy, a regular outside the Ritz, had a gorgeous wee mutt. Irresistible, if a bit depressed-looking. I gave him a couple of pounds to buy something for his dog. I went past him the next day on the bus - no dog. Probably gone off to help another chap raise funds. The beggars made me angry, using dogs to cadge money.
Then there was the bus conductor on the footpath near St Martin-in-the-Fields, off Trafalgar Square. The church was undergoing a major waterblast and was thus shrouded in scaffolding. The conductor seemed friendly. I asked him the name of the church. "Is you Christian?" he demanded.
"Well, no ..." "What do you believe in, then?" "Well ..." "Islam is growing and growing and we are gonna take over the world," he uttered, loudly. "Sure," I said as I climbed on the bus and headed for Tate Britain. As I said, plenty of reasons to get off the streets and prowl the galleries.
MILLAIS VS MODERN
Millais, the pre-Raphaelite artist, is famous for his swooning image of Ophelia sinking to her watery death, which has been on display at Tate Britain since it opened 110 years ago.
Now an expansive exhibition of Millais' works puts it at the centre of a Millais survey which will either have you, too, swooning at the sheer romanticism of his sumptuous portraits - or running away after a dose too much of his saccharine. I'm afraid I did the latter. All those droopy eyelids and supine ladies really got to me - but it wasn't a wasted journey. Over the road, you can hop on the Tate boat and go downriver to Tate Modern, where Colombian artist Doris Salcedo has caused a sensation by tearing up the ground floor in a huge, ever-widening gash in the gallery's Turbine Hall.
It's a bold venture by the host gallery. The gash, Shibboleth, is Salcedo's comment on social divides created by racism and prejuduce. Visitors are flocking to it, standing astride to get their photos taken, sketching it, leaning down and staring into its depths.
The crack, about 150m long, leads to escalators which take you to the fourth floor, where 96-year-old artist Louise Borgeois is causing a stir with a major retrospective. Her show is heralded by a giant spider sculpture outside the gallery called Maman (its belly is loaded with giant eggs). An eye-popping range of media upstairs expresses Bourgeois' preoccupations with the dangers of domesticity and the family, and a hatred of her father. As an anitidote to the Millais sweetness, Tate Britain is also running a survey of Turner Prize works from 1984-2006, well worth a long, lingering look.
Millais: Tate Britain, to Jan 13; Turner Prize exhibition, Tate Britain, to Jan 6;
Louise Borgeois: Tate Modern, to Jan 20; Doris Salcedo, Tate Modern, to March 24; tate.org.uk
POP ART PORTRAITS
A small but much-hyped exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery costs 9 ($24.25) to get in - and didn't feel worth it.
With works by Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, Peter Blake, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, images of Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Elvis dominate. Some - like Hamilton's Swingeing London - have been seen in the Auckland Art Gallery '60s art show two years ago.
Perhaps it's the nature of pop art that it doesn't date so well, but Andy Warhol's Screen Tests film, taken from a project when he made three-minute silent film studies of 189 people, is worth a look to see how each handled a camera stuck in their faces.
However, the National Portrait Gallery, free on most other levels, is a wonderful collection of portraits ranging from the Tudors to contemporary times. Its Photographic Portrait Prize 2007 runs until Feb 24, and there is also a celebration of Diana, Princess of Wales, until Jan 14.
Pop Art Portraits: National Portrait Gallery, to Jan 20; see npg.org.uk
THE FIRST EMPEROR: CHINA'S TERRACOTTA ARMY
This show at the British Museum is a major event, with tickets sold out well in advance. However, the museum allows 500 extra ticket sales a day to an elegant display in the Great Court.
The exhibition attempts to explain, through terracotta figures, artefacts, text and film, the context of times which drove the first Emperor of China, Qin Shihuangdi (259-210BC), to unify the warring provinces, transforming his own poor state of Qin, in the far west, into the ruling region, through adaptation of technology, communications and bureaucracy.
Qin grew to believe he was immortal - helped by the use of potions, including mercury, which probably killed him - but he also had a plan to build a kingdom for his afterlife, in which he could continue to rule, surrounded by ranks of generals, horses, archers, entertainers ... and bureaucrats.
His underground kingdom was discovered by a farmer in 1974 and the Chinese Government has been carefully excavating and exhibiting treasures from the four huge pits located near Qin's tomb mound. His tomb, located beneath a 350 sq m pyramid, has still not been excavated. Legend has it that rivers of mercury run through it. Chinese archaeologists are awaiting developments in scanning and conservation techniques before they go near the site.
The First Emperor is a relatively small show and duplicates some material already seen in The Two Emperors exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery in 2003, but it is still moving to look into the faces of each figure represented and marvel at the labour and skill of their manufacture.
If you are lucky enough to get a ticket to The First Emperor, you should also enjoy an hour or two wandering the museum's many floors of artefacts from pre-historic Britain, Rome, Greece, Assyria, Egypt, Iran and the Middle East.
The First Emperor: Britsh Museum, to April 6; see www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk.
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GETTING THERE
Cathay Pacific is offering Early Bird fares for next year. Must be purchased by December 14, with prices starting at $2199 (plus taxes and airport charges) for return economy class fares to more than 80 destinations across the United Kingdom and Europe.
From December 2, Cathay Pacific is also increasing the number of flights it offers from New Zealand to link with its global network in Hong Kong. For fare details and special conditions see www.cathaypacific.co.nz
MORE INFORMATION
For general information about visiting London see www.visitbritain.co.nz/destinations/england/london/index.asp
* Linda Herrick visited London courtesy of Cathay Pacific and VisitBritain.
