Flags I. Colour screen print by Jasper Johns, 1973

American Dream

British Museum, 9th March to 18th June

In 1960s America, print-making underwent a revolution. Stimulated by the vibrant visual culture of this confident world power, a young generation transformed the medium into a fine art. This landmark exhibition features 200 prints from 70 artists, from the woodcut “Stowage” by the African-American Willie Cole, to Claes Oldenburg’s three-way plug etching. Major artists of the last 50 years—from Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Bourgeois, Donald Judd and Andy Warhol to Kara Walker and Ed Ruscha—are featured.

Howard Hodgkin: Absent Friends

National Portrait Gallery, 23rd March to 18th June

Howard Hodgkin, known for his richly coloured abstract paintings, is an unlikely focus for a gallery devoted to portraits. But he has been painting portraits for decades. What interests him is not a physical likeness, but the emotional colour of his friends, and the elusive impression their presence makes on him. This show includes 55 portraits from 1949 to the present, including Peter Blake, Gillian Wise, Patrick Caulfield, David Hockney, Philip King and RB Kitaj.

That Continuous Thing: Artists and the Ceramics Studio, 1920–Today

Tate St Ives, 31st March to 3rd September

Tate St Ives reopens with a show by multimedia artist Jessica Warboys. Concurrently, That Continuous Thing: Artists and the Ceramics Studio, 1920–Today focuses on three 20th-century episodes: the exchanges of Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada; the Californian “clay revolution”; and the experiments of London-based potters in the 1970s and 80s.