VISUAL ARTS

Theodore Roussel,

The University of Hull Art Collection (01482 465192), 10 February until 7 March

Theodore Roussel arrived in London from France in the 1870s and was soon adopted by the group of painters, centred around Whistler, who came to be known as the London Impressionists. He is a minor figure in the wider history of British art, but as is often the way with minor figures we can learn more from Roussel's work about the time and place in which he lived than we can from many of his more illustrious contemporaries.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of Roussel's birth, an anniversary that is being celebrated by a touring exhibition of 100-odd paintings, drawings and prints. Roussel showed an inconsistent talent, occasionally capable of great things, who was at his best under the influence of Whistler, playing with light and mood on the banks of the Thames.

I find his work less engaging than that of his contemporary and sometime pupil Paul Maitland, but his reach was far wider and there are moments when his mind seems on the verge of making genuine discoveries in areas where, sadly, his brush just failed to follow.

This ambitious exhibition aims to show Roussel as an artist who had some understanding of the Post-Impressionists long before most Englishmen had heard of them, and of the sort of Symbolism practised by De Chirico rather than the Pre-Raphaelites. An intriguing suggestion, which doesn't quite come off; nonetheless it is a welcome reminder of an able and interesting painter. He was also, as a selection of etchings, drypoints and lithographs demonstrate, one of the most inventive printmakers of the late 19th century.

EYE ON THE NEW

Postmodernism doesn't give a flying duck according to Richard Tipping, an Australian artist-poet, whose first British exhibition "Hear the Art" includes this motto emblazoned on a street sign.

A combination of his wordworks, signs and books are on show at The Eagle Gallery (0171-833 2674, above The Eagle pub), 159 Farringdon Road, London EC1 until 2 March. Opening hours: 12-6pm Thu, Fri, 12-4pm Sat, Sun