Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector, Barbican Art Gallery - exhibition review

Some of the greatest artists, from Rubens and Rembrandt to Degas, have also been great collectors. In recent times, too, numerous artists have gone beyond swapping works with peers and entered the realms of obsession.

What this exhibition makes strikingly clear is that the stuff they obsess about is dizzyingly broad. The 14 artist-collectors featured, of different generations and based everywhere from London to Mexico, range from connoisseurs of fine painting to hoarders of bric-a-brac.

Some of the collections are obvious given the artists’ work — Damien Hirst’s seven-legged taxidermy lamb, skulls and anatomical models are less polished and blinged-up versions of his sculptures, while Martin Parr’s postcards are a perfect complement to his photographic snapshots of humdrum British life. But the show is most entertaining at its most surprising. The minimal beauty of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photographs do nothing to prepare you for his collection of anatomical prints and his grid of glass eyes, while Hanne Darboven’s exuberant clusters of junk are a world away from her severe conceptualist systems.

Essentially, this is 14 discrete little shows, vignettes that sometimes work beautifully, as in the elegant display of highlights from Howard Hodgkin’s collection of Indian paintings. But too often it’s frustratingly thin. Hirst’s eclectic holdings should surely resemble a cabinet of curiosities rather than the forlorn museum display here. And photos in the catalogue show Andy Warhol’s home teeming with stuff, yet only a smattering of kitsch cookie jars and toys are at the Barbican. Collections are all about depth; this show offers too many tantalising glimpses.

Until Monday May 25 (0845 120 7550, barbican.org.uk)