The exhibitions you must see this February

Known for his ceramics, tapestries and television documentaries, this is the first exhibition to survey Grayson Perry’s earliest works made between 1982 and 1994. Many of the 70 items on display have been crowdsourced from across the UK following a hugely successful appeal to the public in 2018, with many of his ‘lost’ pots reunited for the first time.

The director of the Academy Award-winning 12 Years a Slave brings a new exhibition to his hometown of London, spanning two decades and featuring 14 major works of film, photography and sculpture – including, for the first time in the UK, End Credits, a film inspired by African-American singer, actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson.

Tyrannosaurus rex is the most well-known of the species, but this exhibition looks at the whole tyrannosaur family tree, revealing through recent discoveries how they evolved from carnivores little bigger than people to huge predators. Cutting-edge technology and interactive augmented reality also allow visitors to walk side-by-side with T. rex and other tyrannosaurs as they explore Edinburgh.

Showcasing over 80 works including vibrant and iconic colour posters by Toulouse-Lautrec, Alphonse Mucha and Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, this exhibition revisits the ‘street art’ of 1890s Paris. Activities and events will include a dressing-up area so visitors can get a feel of what it was like to be a performer or artist in the Moulin Rouge.

Exploring the seaside architecture of hotels, piers, apartments and lidos at a time when mass tourism in the UK was growing and Art Deco was the go-to style for coastal resorts, this show comprises some 130 works including paintings, posters, brochures, photographs, furniture, fashion, ceramics and textiles.

Photographer Bill Brandt and sculptor Henry Moore met in 1942 when Brandt photographed Moore in his studio to accompany a 10-page spread in Lilliput magazine. This exhibition traces their intersecting careers, which hold some parallels, including their shared admiration for rock formations. It also looks at how Moore employed photography to share his sculpture with a wider audience.

Featuring works by Laurie Anderson, Sunil Gupta, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Isaac Julien and Catherine Opie, this exhibition charts representations of masculinities and how they have evolved since the 1960s. Touching on themes including power, patriarchy, queer identity and female perceptions of men, it highlights how photography and film have been pivotal to the way masculinities are imagined and understood in contemporary culture.

Paintings, prints, photographs, objects and clothing from the 15th century to the present day chronicle how shifting social attitudes have impacted depictions of pregnant women in the visual arts. The exhibition also considers how more recent images, which often reflect increased female agency and empowerment, still remain highly charged.