The British Museum wrestles with empire, the Turner prize nears its finale and Spider-Man defends Bolton – all in your weekly dispatch

This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

Exhibition of the week

Valie Export

The incendiary feminist art of an Austrian revolutionary who named herself in defiance of patriarchy and nationalism.

• Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London, from 28 November.

Also showing

Forgotten Masters

Gorgeous and enlightening images of nature by outstanding Indian artists commissioned by the East India Company.

• Wallace Collection, London, 4 December to 19 April.

Sir Stamford Raffles

The British Museum looks at the thorny question of empire and ethnographic collecting through the Javanese art enthusiasms of Raffles, who founded Singapore.

• British Museum, London, until 12 January.

Science Photographer of the Year

This new award recognises excellence in one of this century’s most sublime fields of visual discovery from astrophotography to the super-microscopic.

• Science Museum, London, until 5 January.

Turner prize

Pop along to Margate’s seafront in the bracing late-autumn weather to place a bet on this year’s winner – do you fancy Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock, Oscar Murillo or Tai Shani?

• Turner Contemporary, Margate, until 12 January.

Image of the week

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Hetain Patel

The Spider-Man of Bolton

Growing up Asian in Bolton, Hetain Patel “wanted to be white”. Now the superhero fantasies into which he escaped racism have won him the Jarman prize for video art. Read our full story.

What we learned

Our architecture critic tested the foundations of UK parties’ election housing promises

Anselm Kiefer cracked string theory

Was Tutankhamun the original tomb raider?

The Great Animal Orchestra is an audiovisual spectacle

Judy Chicago is mounting her own extinction rebellion

US artist Rashid Johnson will not be hijacked by President Trump

Yves St Laurent’s Van Gogh jacket is a snip at €382,000

Letizia Battaglia shot the Mafia and lived

We gave the V&A’s Cars a spin

Turkish architecture has gone kaleidoscopic

Margaret Mitchell’s poignant family photographs are on show

Shooting Without Bullets supports young black US artists

Queen Elizabeth I has been restored to youth

French New Wave posters broke the rules

A Roman statue sparked a row about the illicit antiques trade

St Paul’s will make a show of William Blake

The Historic photographer of the year award was announced

Surf’s up in Sydney

Fearless Girl sparked a copyright dispute

Troy brings many gifts

David Lynch lit up Chris Saunders’ world

Van Eyck is moving from London to Ghent

The art of ceilings is looking up

Masterpiece of the week

The Virgin and Child Enthrobed With Angels and Saints, circa 1475, by Michael Pacher

The spiky white peaks and knobbly protrusions of the gothic arches that enclose this painting almost look like mountains – not surprising , for this is a masterpiece from Alpine Europe. Michael Pacher worked in the Tyrol, and left paintings in today’s Austria and the far north of Italy. He was one of the first Germanic artists to adopt the grace and harmony of the Italian Renaissance, as you can see in the sweetness of Mary’s face and the almost sculptural dignity of the figures. Yet he merges that “modern” style with a medieval delight in fantastic architectural profusion and gold bling that makes this lovely painting a meeting of cultures on one Europe’s inner borderlines.

• National Gallery, London.

Don’t forget

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