‘Tis the Season for Exhibitions

Happy Holidays!

As the year winds down, I’m making my list of exhibitions I’d love to experience before they go:

• “UnSeen: Our Past in a New Light, Ken Gonzales-Day and Titus Kaphar” at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. It’s on through January 6th, https://t.co/k6PtzPG860

• “Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now,” also at the National Portrait Gallery, on through February 6th, https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/black-out-silhouettes-then-and-now

• “Charles White: A Retrospective,” at MoMA, NYC, on view through January 13th, https://t.co/gXKmi8by2m

• “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power,” at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, NYC, on view through February 3rd. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/soul_of_a_nation

• “Posing Modernity: The Black Model From Manet and Matisse to Today,” at the Wallach Gallery, Columbia University, NYC, through February 10th, https://wallach.columbia.edu/exhibitions/posing-modernity-black-model-manet-and-matisse-today

Beat the Heat! Summertime East Coast Art-Hopping

It’s always fun to enjoy great public art when it’s nice outside. However, when the temperature and humidity are on the rise, art museums are even more attractive than usual.
Here’s my Summer ArtHop list of exhibitions and works of art to see in the Northeast to Mid-Atlantic region.
So far I’ve visited the Elliott Erwitt exhibition at International Center of Photography, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,  and Ai Weiwei’s Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads.
The remaining shows are on my “hope to explore” list.
Stay tuned for exhibition reviews and have an art-filled summer!

Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads by Ai Weiwei, 2010, installed at Pultizer Fountain in Grand Army Plaza, NYC. Photo by author.

BOSTON
Photography – Catherine Opie: Empty and Full, The Institute of Contemporary Art, on view through September 5th

NEW YORK
Public Sculpture – Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads by Ai Weiwei, at the Pultizer Fountain, in front of Plaza Hotel, 5th Avenue & 59th Street, on view through July 15th, ends soon

*My take-away: I was surprised by the large size of the 12 sculptures and the unusual  blend of quietness and violence. Oriented across the front of the fountain facing Central Park, the disembodied heads seem like spiritual sentries.  Oddly Ai’s work is well suited to the 100-year-old fountain designed by Karl Bitter and provokes one to consider cultural contact and tensions.
For those of you not in the area, you still may have a chance to experience this work because these heads will soon travel to Los Angeles and other U.S. cities. (See the NYTimes article listed below for more information.)

Costume/Textiles – Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, Metropolitan Museum of Art, on through August 7th
Yes, the line is very long to see this exhibition. Last Saturday morning I waited in line for about 30 minutes, but I’m glad I did.
*My take-away: The “romantic artist” rhetoric stated in the exhibit labels is somewhat heavy-handed. In the wall label text the curator attempts to highlight serious themes such as cultural appropriation and racial stereotyping. Unfortunately, the effort is too timid  and the blockbuster-like crowd doesn’t promote contemplation. On a positive note, McQueen’s clothes and the museum’s exhibition design are very imaginative and dramatic. While the show aggrandizes the familiar “the Artist” trope and spectacularizes the fashion industry,  for those with cerebral interests, there’s plenty here to consider on your own.

Mixed Media – Francis Alÿs: A Study of Deception, Museum of Modern Art, on through August 1st

Photography – Lorna Simpson: Gathered, Brooklyn Museum, on through August 21st

Photography – Elliott Erwitt: Personal Best, International Center of Photography, on through August 28th
*My take-away: This show is larger than I expected. It highlights Erwitt’s witty, engaging, dramatic, and stylish work. Beautiful black & white photography. Of all his great work, I found his photos of dogs the most endearing and ironic. Definitely worth checking out.

PHILADELPHIA
Sculpture – Isamu Noguchi at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Anne d’Harnoncourt Sculpture Garden, on view through June 30th, ends soon

Textiles – Battleground: War Rugs from Afghanistan, Penn Museum, on through July 31

Related articles

• 12 Heads Do the Talking for a Silenced Artist (nytimes.com)
• Anish Kapoor Cancels China Plans to Protest Ai Weiwei Detention (artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com)
• French Artist Cancels China Show Over Ai Detention (AFP)
• Alexander McQueen in All His Dark Glory (nytimes.com)
• Elliott Erwitt’s Best Picture? The Next One (lens.blogs.nytimes.com)

Winter Arthopping from Boston to DC

With the weather these days, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic

Norman Rockwell (American, 1894–1978). The Tattoo Artist, 1944. Oil on canvas, 43 1/8 x 33 1/8 in. (109.5 x 84.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the artist, 69.8. Image courtesy of Brooklyn Museum.

dwellers are more likely to be trudging through heaps of snow, slipping on ice, or shuffling through slush than “hopping” anywhere.  Nevertheless, there are many great exhibitions to check out this winter.  Here’s a list of just a few that sound particularly interesting.
(The topic is listed first. The exhibition title follows and is in bold and color.)

BOSTON
Harvard Art Museums
Art versus Artifact, Material Culture – Tangible Things, through May 29

NEW YORK
Museum of the City of New York
New York Life in Cartoons – Denys Wortman Rediscovered: Drawings for the World-Telegram and Sun, 1930-1953, through March 20

International Center of Photography
Public Ceremonies, Vernacular Photography – Take Me to the Water: Photographs of River Baptisms, through May 8
Ethnic Identity, Photography – Jasper, Texas: The Community Photographs of Alonzo Jordan, through May 8
Archival Finds, War Photography – The Mexican Suitcase, Rediscovered Spanish Civil War Negatives by Capa, Chim, and Taro, through May 8

Brooklyn Museum
Relationship between Photography and Illustration – Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera, through April 10
Photography as Document? – Lorna Simpson: Gathered, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, 4th Floor, through August 21

Queens Museum of Art
World’s Fair, Ethnic Identity – Luis Márquez in the World of Tomorrow: Mexican Identity and the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair, through March 6

Studio Museum of Harlem
Chronicling Places, Photography –  Dawoud Bey’s Harlem, USA, through March 13
Relationship between Bodies and Public Space, Photography – The Production of Space, through March 13

PHILADELPHIA
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art
Knowledge of Anatomy in Art & Science – Anatomy/Academy, through April 17

Philadelphia Museum of Art
Fashion, Textiles  – The Peacock Male: Exuberance and Extremes in Male Dress, through June

WASHINGTON D.C.
National Portrait Gallery
Sexuality and Gender in Portraiture – Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, through February 13

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Documenting Architectural and Artistic “Ruins” – Directions: Cyprien Gaillard and Mario Garcia Torres, through March 27