Critic's Choice: Top 5 exhibitions

Bound For Glory captures American families during the Depression, there are saucy shenanigans in The Triumph Of Eros and Dutch photographer Bert Teunissen borrows from his country's artistic heritage...

Bound for Glory: America in Colour 1939-1943
Photographers' Gallery
During the 1930s and 40s, Roy Stryker despatched legions of photographers across America to capture images that would boost support for President Roosevelt's Depression-busting New Deal. The results constitute one of the greatest collections in photographic history. Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans's dignified black and white portraits of ordinary Americans striving to survive have become iconic, but the archive also features early colour photographs, few of which were ever seen by the public. Digital technology has now made it possible to produce higher quality prints, capturing the historical moment in startlingly vibrant detail. They're displayed here alongside some of the later monochrome images, which are more familiar but no less dramatic. (020 7831 1772). Until 28 January.

The Triumph of Eros
Hermitage Rooms, Somerset House, WC2
Peer beyond the rococo sentimentalism of this exhibition, and you'll spy some seriously saucy shenanigans. It was put together following the recent discovery of a stash of rare erotic French engravings, collected by Tsar Nicolas I - probably in secret ) and shown here for the first time outside St. Petersburg. At its heart is an examination of Eros's role in the visual culture of 18th-century France. He appears variously as a cute menace hewn from marble for Madame de Pompadour, as an impish drummer on a Sevres inkstand, and as an allegory for arts, as captured by Boucher. Elsewhere, his influence hovers over a series of erotic encounters, the risquÈ antithesis of France's Age of Reason. (020 7845 4600). Until 8 April.

Bert Teunissen: Domestic Landscapes
Photographers' Gallery, WC2
This Dutch photographer borrows from his country's artistic heritage to striking effect. Over the past decade, he's been working to create an archive that captures the atmosphere and light of homes across Europe, while simultaneously recording vanishing rural traditions. So far, he's amassed over 250 images spanning the continent, from the chill north to the sunny south. He's even visited our own shores. But regardless of their setting, each image is infused with the aesthetic spirit of Vermeer, Rembrandt and their fellow Dutch masters. It's a thought-provoking synthesis of the old and the contemporary. 020 7831 1772). Until 28 January.

Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India
Royal Academy, W1
The Cholas ruled Southern India until the 13th century. As patrons, they left a hefty cultural legacy that includes poetry, paintings and music, and a large number of ever-grander temples, some of which are still standing today. The 40 bronze sculptures on show here would once have been housed in such temples. Worshipped as physical manifestations of the Hindu gods, they were also portable, enabling them to play roles in religious rituals and processions. Some date back as far as the ninth century and all were created using the lost wax technique, making each one unique. Fluid-limbed and mischievously sensuous, it's no wonder their Western fans have included Rodin and Brancusi. (020 7300 8000). Until 25 February.

David Smith: Sculptures
Tate Modern, SE1
Born a hundred years ago, American artist David Smith was a pioneering sculptor. His influences included Picasso and Giacometti, yet the blood of his father, an engineer, flowed through his veins, and he grew up fascinated by railway tracks and locomotives. In his teens, he took a job as a welder and riveter in a car factory, forging a respect for steel and iron that would last his career. The monumental metal sculptures that he went on to make describe America's shift from an agricultural to an industrial society, but they also pack a surprisingly powerful emotional punch, evoking the wide-open spaces of his Midwestern roots. Consisting mainly of mature later works, this impressive exhibition is a timely tribute to a prolific talent, whose life was sadly cut short in 1965. (020 7887 8888). Until 21 January.