Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at the Frick at Frick Madison, September 21, 2023 – January 7, 2024 

I wasn’t part of any “school.” The association I had with artists in Philadelphia didn’i inspire me in any direction other than my own. I spent time looking at the Old Masters. — Barkley L. Hendricks

“Since opening in 1935, The Frick Collection has inspired generations of artists who have engaged with the complex legacies and enduring importance of Old Master painting. Barkley L. Hendricks was one such artist, and the Frick—with its iconic portraits by Rembrandt, Bronzino, Van Dyck, and others—was one of Hendricks’s favorite museums. On view this fall at Frick Madison, Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at the Frick presents fourteen early works by this pioneering American artist who, beginning in the late 1960s, revolutionized contemporary portraiture by uniting portraits of Black figures with traditions of European painting. His work has inspired some of the most prominent artists of today, including Derrick Adams, Mickalene Thomas, and Kehinde Wiley. Frick Madison is a particularly appropriate venue for this show, as it was in the Breuer building (then the home of the Whitney Museum of American Art) that Hendricks first showed his art in a New York City museum exhibition, in 1981.” — The Frick 

Lawdy Mama at the exhibition’s entrance, shown with Frick Collection works by Jean-Antoine Houdon and Joshua Reynolds; photo: George Koelle. Barkley L. Hendricks, Lawdy Mama, 1969, oil and gold leaf on canvas, 53 3/4 x 36 1/4 in. (136.5 x 92.1 cm), Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of Stuart Liebman, in memory of Joseph B. Liebman.
Gallery view of Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at the Frick; photo: George Koelle.
Gallery view of Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at the Frick; photo: George Koelle.
October’s Gone…Goodnight and Lagos Ladies (Gbemi, Bisi, Niki, Christy) in a gallery of limited-palette paintings in white; photo: George Koelle. Barkley L. Hendricks, October’s Gone…Goodnight, 1973, oil and acrylic on linen canvas, 66 x 72 in. (167.6 x 182.9 cm), Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Cambridge; Richard Norton Memorial Fund. Barkley L. Hendricks, Lagos Ladies (Gbemi, Bisi, Niki, Christy), 1978, oil, acrylic, and magna on cotton canvas, 72 x 60 in. (182.9 x 152.4 cm), private collection.
Gallery view of Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at the Frick; photo: George Koelle.
Miss T and Ma Petite Kumquat flanking a gallery of Frick Collection works by James McNeill Whistler; photo: George Koelle. Barkley L. Hendricks, Miss T, 1969, oil and acrylic on canvas, 66 1/8 x 48 1/8 in. (168 x 122.2 cm), Philadelphia Museum of Art; purchased with the Philadelphia Foundation Fund, 1970. Barkley L. Hendricks, Ma Petite Kumquat, 1983, oil, acrylic, white gold, and silver leaf on linen canvas, 72 x 40 in. (182.9 x 101.6 cm), Collection of Ben and Jen Silverman.
Gallery view of Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at the Frick; photo: George Koelle.
Bashir (Robert Gowens) with a signature Breuer window in the Fragonard gallery beyond; photo: George Koelle. Barkley L. Hendricks, Bahsir (Robert Gowens), 1975, oil and acrylic on canvas, 83 1/2 x 66 in. (212.1 x 167.6 cm), Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham; museum purchase with additional funds provided by Jack Neely.

Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at the Frick, which will display paintings drawn from both public and private collections, is organized by the Frick’s Curator Aimee Ng and Consulting Curator Antwaun Sargent.

Comments Ng, “The Frick offers stirring encounters with figures painted centuries ago. As our temporary display at Frick Madison has shown, these works seen in a new light can engage visitors so differently outside of the Frick mansion, in the Brutalist setting of the Breuer building. Here, many of our visitors are new to the Frick, a revelation that has prompted reflection on who the Frick serves, has served, and will continue to serve. This project—the first major museum exhibition and catalogue to focus solely on Hendricks’s early period of portraiture—allows us to consider connections the Frick has made with artists since it became a public museum in 1935. Hendricks’s astonishing portraits of predominantly Black figures, not represented in the Frick’s historic paintings yet who, with their self-assured style, appear right at home among them, grants unprecedented opportunities to celebrate and explore the Frick’s collection, Hendricks’s groundbreaking innovations, and the bridges between them.”

Adds Sargent, “When Aimee and I first began speaking about the Frick and its place in today’s world, I suggested an exhibition on Barkley L. Hendricks—obviously because of his interest in historic art as he developed his own style of portraiture of Black subjects, but also because the quality, dignity, and visual impact of his paintings are what I would think Henry Clay Frick might be drawn to if he were collecting now. The catalogue accompanying the exhibition is an exciting way to highlight and reflect on Hendricks’s own legacies, how he has inspired generations of artists and designers and still does today. Presenting Hendricks’s art at a storied institution like the Frick pays due tribute to the artist’s historic significance, and it also honors the evolving role of the Frick in modern American culture.”

Title image: Lawdy Mama flanked at the exhibition’s entrance with Frick Collection works by Jean-Antoine Houdon; photo: George Koelle. Barkley L. Hendricks, Lawdy Mama, 1969, oil and gold leaf on canvas, 53 3/4 x 36 1/4 in. (136.5 x 92.1 cm), Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of Stuart Liebman, in memory of Joseph B. Liebman.

Images courtesy The Frick Collection.

Manet/Degas at The Met Fifth Avenue, September 24, 2023 – January 7, 2024

“This exhibition examines one of the most significant artistic dialogues in modern art history: the close and sometimes tumultuous relationship between Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas. Born only two years apart, Manet (1832–1883) and Degas (1834–1917) were friends, rivals, and, at times, antagonists who worked to define modern painting in France. By examining their careers in parallel and presenting their work side by side, this exhibition investigates how their artistic objectives and approaches both overlapped and diverged.

Through more than 150 paintings and works on paper, Manet/Degas takes a fresh look at the interactions of these two artists in the context of the family relationships, friendships, and intellectual circles that influenced their artistic and professional choices, deepening our understanding of a key moment in nineteenth-century French painting.” — The Met

“Manet and Degas produced some of the most provocative and admired images in Western art,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director. “Anchored by the unparalleled holdings of their work in the collections of The Met and the Musée d’Orsay, in addition to incredible loans from more than 50 other institutions and individual collectors, this exhibition offers a riveting new perspective on the storied pair of artists.”

Installation views of Manet/Degas, on view September 24, 2023–January 7, 2024 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photos by Anna-Marie Kellen, Courtesy of The Met. 

Stephan Wolohojian, exhibition co-curator and the John Pope-Hennessy Curator in Charge of the Department of European Paintings, said, “While little written correspondence between Manet and Degas survives, their artistic output speaks volumes about how these major artists defined themselves with and against each other. This expansive dossier exhibition is a unique chance to assess their fascinating relationship through a dialogue between their work.”

Ashley Dunn, exhibition co-curator and Associate Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints, added: “Works on paper are integral to their story as the two artists purportedly met in the Louvre, where Degas was working on an etching after a painting attributed to Velázquez, a work that Manet also copied. The exhibition presents an exciting opportunity to evaluate how Manet and Degas worked differently across media.”

Manet/Degas is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie, Paris.

Manet/Degas is co-curated by Stephan Wolohojian (John Pope-Hennessy Curator in Charge of the Department of European Paintings, The Met) and Ashley Dunn (Associate Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Met), in collaboration with Laurence des Cars (President-Director, Musée du Louvre), Isolde Pludermacher (Chief Curator of Painting at the Musée d’Orsay), and Stéphane Guégan (Scientific Advisor to the President of the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée de l’Orangerie).

Perelman Performing Arts Center at World Trade Center Site opens September 19, 2023

“Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC), the cultural cornerstone and final public element of the World Trade Center site, will open with its first public performance on Tuesday, September 19, 2023. Led by Board Chair Mike Bloomberg, Executive Director Khady Kamara, and Artistic Director Bill Rauch, the new performing arts center in Lower Manhattan is a dynamic home for the arts, serving audiences and creators through flexible venues enabling the facility to embrace wide-ranging artistic programs. The inaugural year will feature commissions, world premieres, co-productions, and collaborative work across theater, dance, music, opera, film, and more. The vision for PAC NYC first began 20 years ago when Mike Bloomberg, as Mayor of New York City, included a performing arts center as the cultural keystone in the master plan to rebuild the World Trade Center site following 9/11.

Named for businessman, philanthropist, and benefactor Ronald O. Perelman, the Perelman Performing Arts Center is a 138-foot-tall, cube-shaped building with radically flexible capabilities designed by the architecture firm REX, led by founding principal Joshua Ramus. REX’s design, developed in collaboration with executive architect Davis Brody Bond, theater consultant Charcoalblue, and acoustician Threshold Acoustics, is conceived for an artistic program that will have vast and varied needs to serve New York’s extraordinarily diverse arts community. ” — PAC NYC 

View of lower Manhattan including Perelman Performing Arts Center and National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Image Iwan Baan.
Aerial of lower Manhattan including Perelman Performing Arts Center and National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Image Iwan Baan.
Perelman Performing Arts Center designed by REX. Image Iwan Baan.
Perelman Performing Arts Center designed by REX. Image Iwan Baan
Perelman Performing Arts Center designed by REX. Image Iwan Baan.

Title image: Perelman Performing Arts Center designed by REX.  Image Iwan Baan.

Images courtesy Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC).

Two concurrent exhibitions, Sophia Vari: A Retrospective at The Nohra Haime Gallery and Sophia Vari: A Tribute, Twelve Monumental Sculptures in Park Avenue

The two exhibitions, Sophia Vari: A Retrospective at The Nohra Haime Gallery,  August 7 – September 30, 2023, and Sophia Vari: A Tribute, Twelve Monumental Sculptures in Park Avenue, May 20th – November 5th, 2023, celebrate the work of the esteemed international artist.

Sophia Vari: A Retrospective celebrates the work of Sophia Vari (1940-2023), the Greek artist known internationally for her polychrome paintings, collages, and sculptures. Married to the Colombian sculptor Fernando Botero, Vari died in May 2023. Throughout her career, Vari explored color, form, and volume, interrogating the construction of space and the relationship between object and viewer. The artist cited influences ranging from Cubism, to classical Greek sculptures, to Olmec artifacts.

Sophia Vari: A Tribute, Twelve Monumental Sculptures displays twelve monumental bronze sculptures on Park Avenue between 54th and 62nd Streets. The Nohra Haime Gallery presents them in collaboration with The Sculpture  Committee of The Fund for Park Avenue and the NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program. The sculptures have previously been shown in public art exhibitions around the world, including in Paris, Rome, Montecarlo, Pietrasanta, Madrid, Athens, Cartagena, Baden-Baden, Geneva, Beijing, and London.

SOPHIA VARI. La femme (Woman), 2005. Bronze, black patina and yellow paint. 118 x 51 1/4 x 48 in. (300 x 130 x 122 cm). Edition of 3. Copyright © NOHRA HAIME GALLERY. All rights reserved.
SOPHIA VARI. La Toute Petite, 1997. Bronze, brown patina and red paint. 48 x 71 1/4 x 49 1/4 in. (122 x 181 x 125 cm). Edition of 3. Copyright © NOHRA HAIME GALLERY. All rights reserved.
SOPHIA VARI. L’Homme qui marche, 2007. Bronze, black patina and white oil. 114 1/4 x 31 1/2 x 37 in. (290 x 80 x 94 cm). Edition of 3. Copyright © NOHRA HAIME GALLERY. All rights reserved.
SOPHIA VARI. Tango, 2011. Bronze, black patina and white paint. 118 x 57 x 51 1/4 in. (300 x 145 x 130 cm). Edition of 3. Copyright © NOHRA HAIME GALLERY. All rights reserved.
SOPHIA VARI. Danseuse Espagnole, 1992. Bronze, black patina and blue paint. 98 1/2 x 51 1/4 x 43 1/4 in. (250 x 130 x 110 cm). Edition of 3. Copyright © NOHRA HAIME GALLERY. All rights reserved.
SOPHIA VARI. Double epee, 1997. Bronze, black and yellow painting. 121 1/2 x 39 1/2 x 27 3/4 in. (309 x 100 x 70 cm). Edition of 3. Copyright © NOHRA HAIME GALLERY. All rights reserved.
SOPHIA VARI. Fleur de nuit, 2009. Bronze, black patina and white oil. 118 x 57 x 51 1/4 in. (300 x 145 x 130 cm). Edition of 3. Copyright © NOHRA HAIME GALLERY. All rights reserved.
SOPHIA VARI. Les serpentes de la guerre, 1993. Bronze, black patina and red paint. 91 x 52 3/4 x 50 1/2 in. (231 x 134 x 128 cm). Edition of 3. Copyright © NOHRA HAIME GALLERY. All rights reserved.
SOPHIA VARI. Point immobile, 1993. Bronze, black patina and yellow paint. 66 1/2 x 58 x 56 in. (169 x 147 x 142 cm). Edition of 3. Copyright © NOHRA HAIME GALLERY. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy Nohra Haime Gallery.

El Dorado: Myths of Gold, Part I at Americas Society, September 6 – December 16, 2023

“The exhibition includes paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, engravings, and videos that offer new interpretations and questions about the myth. Since the invasion of Europeans to the Americas, rumors spread quickly about a kingdom filled with gold, driving conquistadores to find it. Despite never being found, the mythical El Dorado defined the continent as an empty land up for grabs. 

El Dorado: Myths of Gold brings together artworks and artists that engage with the myth to evaluate its continuity into the present, sometimes offering a critical view and a path of resistance.” — Americas Society 

“Through their use of gold, both physical and metaphorical the artists in this exhibition emphasize to us the ambivalent power of myth in conditioning who we are as a region, opening space for us to resist extractive systems and to reconsider what we are seeking,” writes the exhibition curatorial team. 

Installation views of “El Dorado: Myths of Gold” at Americas Society. Photos: Arturo Sánchez.

The exhibition is co-curated by Aimé Iglesias Lukin, Director and Chief Curator, Art at Americas Society; Tie Jojima, Associate Curator, Manager of Exhibitions, Art at Americas Society and Edward Sullivan, the Helen Gould Sheppard Professor of Art History, New York University.

It was organized in collaboration with Fundación PROA in Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Museo Amparo in Puebla (Mexico), the exhibition will take place in two parts: part I from September through December 2023 and part II from January through May 2024.

Art on Paper at Heller Gallery, Manhattan’s Pier 36, September 7 – September 10, 2023

Heller Gallery is delighted to announce its debut participation at Art on Paper, where it will present a curated selection of works by Kerry Miller, Mel Douglas & Sibylle Peretti. The fair, held at downtown Manhattan’s Pier 36, opens on Thursday, September 7 and runs through Sunday, September 10. 

Heller Gallery, celebrating 50 years as New York’s leading dealer specializing in contemporary glass sculpture and design, champions artists whose materially based work is bending and breaking boundaries of the contemporary art world.

British artist Kerry Miller makes assemblages using vintage books and re-imagines their content using the illustrations found within. Cutting, tinting and collaging flowers, birds and characters from each selected volume she allows them to pop-up and grow from its original confines into a new dimension. German-born artist Sibylle Peretti sculptures and multimedia collages, which combine photography & drawing with surface interventions such as engraving, mirroring and glass slumping. Poetic narratives about the relationship between humans and the natural world, are the central themes in her work. Australian Mel Douglas subtle, elegant, minimalist work explores the potential, versatility, and flexibility of drawing on and with glass and has been praised as quiet, but strangely energetic and animated.

KERRY MILLER

KERRY MILLER, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2021. Paper/mixed media/wood framing, 16 1/2 x 13 7/8 x 4 in. (41.9 x 35.2 x 10.2 cm). Heller Gallery.
KERRY MILLER, A Comic Almanack, 2021. Paper/mixed media/framing, 13 1/3 x 17 x 4 in. (33.9 x 43.2 x 10.2 cm). Heller Gallery.

 SIBYLLE PERETTI

SIBYLLE PERETTI, Awakening, 2021. Kiln formed, engraved, painted and silvered glass/paper, 35 x 21 x 1 in. (88.9 x 53.3 x 2.5 cm). Heller Gallery.
SIBYLLE PERETTI, Long River, 2022. Kiln formed, engraved, painted and silvered glass/paper, 17 x 21 x 4/5 in. (43.2 x 53.3 x 2 cm). Heller Gallery.

MEL DOUGLAS

MEL DOUGLAS, Superimposed overlay I, set 1, 2023. Glass drawing on paper/framed, 22 x 22 in. (56 x 56 cm. Heller Gallery.
MEL DOUGLAS. Superimposed overlay II, set 1, 2023. Glass drawing on paper/framed, 22 x 22 in. (56 x 56 cm). Heller Gallery.

Images courtesy Heller Gallery.

The Facade Commission: Nairy Baghramian, Scratching the Back at The Met, September 7, 2023 – May 28, 2024 

“The Met unveiled four new sculptures by Nairy Baghramian (German citizen, born Iran 1971) for the Museum’s facade. This is the first public installation by the artist in New York City. Baghramian’s cast aluminum polychrome sculptures feature components that seem to have washed up like flotsam and jetsam in the voids of their respective niches. These abstract forms at the threshold of the Museum present a metaphor of the institution as a filter of historical fragments deemed representative or exemplary. The project’s title Scratching the Back—a distortion of the idiom ‘scratch the surface’—alludes to the need to move beyond superficially constructed cultural narratives.” — The Met

Nairy Baghramian (German, born Iran, 1971). Installation view of Scratching the Back: Drift (sans Tortillon), 2023, for The Facade Commission: Nairy Baghramian, Scratching the Back, 2023. Cast and powder-coated aluminum, painted aluminum. Courtesy the artist, kurimanzutto, and Marian Goodman Gallery. Image credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo by Bruce Schwarz.
Nairy Baghramian (German, born Iran, 1971) Installation view of Scratching the Back: Drift (Tortillon orange), 2023, for The Facade Commission: Nairy Baghramian, Scratching the Back, 2023. Cast and powder-coated aluminum, painted aluminum. Courtesy the artist, kurimanzutto, and Marian Goodman Gallery. Image credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo by Bruce Schwarz.
Nairy Baghramian (German, born Iran, 1971) Installation view of Scratching the Back: Drift (Tortillon rose), 2023, for The Facade Commission: Nairy Baghramian, Scratching the Back, 2023. Cast and powder-coated aluminum, painted aluminum. Courtesy the artist, kurimanzutto, and Marian Goodman Gallery. Image credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo by Bruce Schwarz.
Nairy Baghramian (German, born Iran, 1971) Installation view of Scratching the Back: Drift (Tortillon jaune), 2023, for The Facade Commission: Nairy Baghramian, Scratching the Back, 2023. Cast and powder-coated aluminum, painted aluminum. Courtesy the artist, kurimanzutto, and Marian Goodman Gallery. Image credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo by Bruce Schwarz.

Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and CEO, said, “Nairy Baghramian creates expressive, daring, site-specific works that both deeply engage with and question their settings. Defying traditional conventions of sculpture, the artist’s colorful abstract forms appear to spill out from The Met’s sculpture niches—in stark contrast to the monochrome classical architecture of the facade. Her bold yet fragile structures manifest powerfully composed transformations of space, material, and physical relationships.”

Images courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, September 1, 2023 – January 7, 2024

“The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s, the first North American museum exhibition dedicated to Korean Experimental art (silheom misul) and its artists, whose radical approach to materials and process produced some of the most significant avant-garde practices of the twentieth century.

This historic presentation examines artistic production from an era of remarkable transformation in South Korea, when young artists who came of age in the decades immediately following the Korean War reflected and responded to the changing socioeconomic, political, and material conditions that accompanied the nation’s rapid urbanization and modernization. The exhibition centers on a network of key artists, including Ha Chong-Hyun, Kim Kulim, Jung Kangja, Lee Seung-taek, Lee Kang-So, Lee Kun-Yong, and Sung Neung Kyung, who, in addition to creating boundary-pushing works of art, pursued exhibitions, performances, publications, and public seminars, often under the rubric of self-organized collectives.” — Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Installation views, Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, September 1, 2023–January 7, 2024. Photos: Ariel Ione Williams © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s is co-organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. The exhibition is cocurated by Kyung An, Associate Curator, Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York, and Kang Soojung, Senior Curator, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. The exhibition will open at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, on May 26 and close on July 16, 2023. It will travel to the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, from February 11 to May 12, 2024, following the Guggenheim presentation this fall.

Images courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Underground Images: A History at SVA Chelsea Gallery, August 29 – October 14, 2023

“School of Visual Arts (SVA) presents ‘Underground Images: A History,’ a new exhibition of more than 200 posters from the College’s iconic Subway Posters collection, which have covered the walls of NYC transit stations for almost 75 years. In addition to the posters, the exhibition includes multimedia installations, progress sketches and paintings, a recreated NYC subway platform, and more. Presented by SVA Galleries in partnership with the SVA Archives, it is on view Tuesday, August 29, through Saturday, October 14, 2023, at the SVA Chelsea Gallery, 601 W 26th St., 15th floor, New York City.

Not long after its inception in 1947 as the Cartoonists & Illustrators School, SVA began commissioning these posters from some of its most esteemed faculty members as creative marketing for the College, then took them to the walls lining the NYC subway platforms. These advertising posters were both thought-provoking and eye-catching and have become an essential part of the fabric of the city’s transit system. Since 2006, the traveling iteration of ‘Underground Images’ has exhibited globally, including in Czech Republic, India, Jamaica, Ireland, Turkey, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Italy, Serbia and many other countries and US cities.” — SVA

1949: Rough to Finish, Cartoonists & Illustrators School.
1958: Without Education, It Isn’t Possible For… Jack Wolfgang Beck (designer).
Installation view of “Underground Images: A History” at SVA Chelsea Gallery. Photo: Adam Cable, SVA Galleries.
1968: At 35, Paul Gauguin Worked In a Bank. It… Gene Case (art director and copywriter), Silas H. Rhodes (art director)
1974: Having a Talent Isn’t Worth Much Unless…, Marshall Arisman (illustrator), Richard Wilde (designer), Dee Ito (copywriter), Silas H. Rhodes (art director).
1978: To Be Good Is Not Enough When You Dream…, Paul Davis (illustrator and designer), Dee Ito (copywriter), Silas H. Rhodes (art director).
Installation view of “Underground Images: A History” at SVA Chelsea Gallery. Photo: Adam Cable, SVA Galleries.
1982: To Be Good Is Not Enough, When You Dream…, Marvin Mattelson (illustrator), William Kobasz (designer), Dee Ito (copywriter), Silas H. Rhodes (art director).
1987: To Be Good Is Not Enough When You Dream…, Paula Scher (designer), Silas H. Rhodes (art director).
Installation view of “Underground Images: A History” at SVA Chelsea Gallery. Photo: Adam Cable, SVA Galleries.
2001: I Love NY More Than Ever, Milton Glaser (designer), Silas H. Rhodes (creative director).
Installation view of “Underground Images: A History” at SVA Chelsea Gallery. Photo: Adam Cable, SVA Galleries.
2023: Think About Art…, Carol Fabricatore (illustrator), Dee Ito (copywriter), Anthony P. Rhodes (executive creative director), Gail Anderson (creative director), Brian E. Smith (art director).

“Since the earliest days of the College, the subway posters have done more than just generate interest in SVA. They’ve stirred the imaginations of New Yorkers and the countless aspiring and practicing artists who visit the city each year,” said SVA President David Rhodes. “Exhibiting them all over the world has been an adventure, but we are thrilled to present this collection and its fascinating history in the place where it all began.”

Title image: Installation view of “Underground Images: A History” at SVA Chelsea Gallery. Photo: Adam Cable, SVA Galleries.

Images courtesy School of Visual Arts.

Installation of Works by Robert Indiana at Rockefeller Center, September 13 – October 23, 2023

Rockefeller Center in partnership with The Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative present an installation of works by American artist Robert Indiana (1928-2018). The public installation marks the return of Indiana’s iconic LOVE sculpture to New York City. Also on view will be the artist’s monumental sculptures ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers) (1980-2001), each standing at eight feet tall and made of Cor-ten steel. Additionally, the 193 flags surrounding The Rink at Rockefeller Center all will feature images from Indiana’s Peace Paintings series.

“It is an honor to partner with the team at Rockefeller Center to bring the works of Robert Indiana to the people of New York, where we know Bob always wanted his art to be integrated into the vibrant streetscapes and made accessible to the public. Bob’s legacy is woven into the history of this great city, and we are particularly proud to have LOVE return to the place that so energized him as a young artist. I hope these works will inspire and move New Yorkers and visitors to Rockefeller Center anew,” said Simon Salama-Caro, founder of The Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative.

Installation of Indiana’s LOVE (1966) at Fifth Avenue and 60th Street, New York, November 1971. Photo: Eliot Elisofon. Eliot Elisofon Papers and Photography Collection, 1930-1988, undated [bulk 1942-1973]. The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center. Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Installation view of Indiana’s 12 foot LOVE (Red Outside Blue Inside) (1966-1999) at Sixth Avenue and 55th Street, New York. Photo: Courtesy of Adam Reich, New York. Artwork: © Morgan Art Foundation Ltd./Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.
Robert Indiana, Peace: A Pearl in Peril (2003), Oil on canvas, 50 1/2 × 50 1/2 in. (128.3 × 128.3 cm), diamond. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine.
Robert Indiana, Peace Dives in Oblivion (2003), Oil on canvas, 67 1/2 × 67 1/2 in. (171.4 × 171.4 cm), diamond. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine.
Robert Indiana, Whither Has Peace Gone (2003), Oil on canvas, 50 1/2 × 50 1/2 in. (128.3 × 128.3 cm), diamond. Photo: Dennis and Diana Griggs. Artwork: © The Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine.

“We are thrilled to be the destination for the return of Robert Indiana’s instantly recognizable LOVE sculpture, and to host a campus-wide exhibition of the late, great artist’s work. We expect this to be a huge draw for fans, both new and old, and we thank the Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative for being such great partners,” said EB Kelly, head of Rockefeller Center.

Images courtesy Rockefeller Center and The Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative.

A Greater Beauty: The Drawings of Kahlil Gibran at The Drawing Center, through September 10, 2023

“The first exhibition of its kind in the United States, A Greater Beauty: The Drawings of Kahlil Gibran features over one hundred drawings by the prolific Lebanese-American artist, poet and essayist, and coincides with the 100th anniversary of Gibran’s world-renowned publication, The Prophet. Though best known for his poetry and prose, Gibran viewed himself equally as a visual artist, producing paintings, watercolors, sketches, illustrations, book covers, and other material as a complement to his written work. A Greater Beauty presents an overview of Gibran’s drawings and sketches alongside manuscript pages, notebooks, correspondence, magazine illustrations and essays, and first editions, providing a glimpse into the artist’s production in the context of his work as a whole.” — The Drawing Center

Kahlil Gibran, A Woman with a Blue Veil, 1916. Watercolor, 8 1/2 x 10 inches (21.5 x 25.3 cm). Collection of the Gibran Khalil Gibran Museum, Courtesy of the Gibran National Committee.
Kahlil Gibran, The Waterfall, 1919. Watercolor, 12 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches (32.5 x 21.5 cm). Collection of the Gibran Khalil Gibran Museum, Courtesy of the Gibran National Committee.
Kahlil Gibran, Untitled, 1921. Watercolor and pencil on paper, 5 x 6 inches (12.7 x 15.2 cm) 16 × 20 inches (40.6 × 50.8 cm). Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, Gift of Mary Haskell Minis. Photography by Daniel L. Grantham, Jr., Graphic Communication.
Kahlil Gibran, The Triad-Being Descending Towards the Mother Sea, 1923. Watercolor, 11 x 8 1/2 inches (28 x 21.5 cm). Collection of the Gibran Khalil Gibran Museum, Courtesy of the Gibran National Committee.
Kahlil Gibran, The Divine World, 1923. Charcoal, 11 x 8 ½ inches (28 x 21.6 cm). Collection of the Gibran Khalil Gibran Museum, Courtesy of the Gibran National Committee.
Kahlil Gibran, The Summit, c. 1925. Watercolor and pencil on paper, 11 x 8 1/2 inches (27.9 x 21.6 cm). Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, Gift of Mary Haskell Minis. Photography by Erwin Gaspin.

A Greater Beauty: The Drawings of Kahlil Gibran is organized by Claire Gilman, Chief Curator, with Isabella Kapur, Curatorial Associate, and Anneka Lenssen, Associate Professor of Global Modern Art, University of California, Berkeley.

Images courtesy The Drawing Center.

Young Picasso in Paris at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, through August 6, 2023

“The Guggenheim Museum presents Young Picasso in Paris, an intimate exhibition comprising a total of ten paintings and works on paper executed during Pablo Picasso’s introduction to the French capital. Created over the course of one pivotal year, these works explore a critical juncture in his artistic development, as Picasso encountered novel contemporary subjects and styles.

Picasso (b. 1881, Málaga, Spain; d. 1973, Mougins, France) arrived in Paris from Barcelona in autumn 1900, during the final weeks of the Exposition Universelle that included his 1898 painting Last Moments in the Spanish pavilion. The ville lumière, or city of lights, captivated, and ultimately transformed, the nineteen-year-old Spaniard. He absorbed much of what Paris had to offer over his initial two-month stay and during his return the following May through the end of 1901. Picasso patronized not only the art galleries, but also the bohemian cafés, raucous nightclubs, and sensational dance halls in the hilltop neighborhood of Montmartre.

Coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of Picasso’s death, Young Picasso in Paris highlights a significant work, Le Moulin de la Galette (ca. November 1900), from the Guggenheim collection. The famous dance hall—formerly a mill engaged in the production of a brown bread, or galette—had also been depicted by such avant-gardists as Ramón Casas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Vincent van Gogh. In his titillating version, Picasso rendered a vibrant cross section of Paris society mingling under the dance hall’s lights.” — Guggenheim Museum

Pablo Picasso, Le Moulin de la Galette, Paris, ca. November 1900. Oil on canvas, 89.7 × 116.8 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Thannhauser Collection, Gift, Justin K. Thannhauser 78.2514.34 © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph by Midge Wattles, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
Pablo Picasso, Leaving the Exposition Universelle, Paris (La sortie de l’Exposition Universelle, Paris), Paris, 1900. Charcoal and crayon on paper, 47.5 × 61.3 cm. Private collection © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Pablo Picasso, Self Portrait (Autoportrait), Paris, 1901. Oil on canvas, 81 × 61 cm. Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979 © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Mathieu Rabeau, Courtesy RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY.
Pablo Picasso, The Diners (Les Soupeurs), Paris, 1901. Oil on cardboard, 47.3 × 62.4 cm. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Bequest of George Pierce Metcalf, 1957 © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Courtesy of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI.
Pablo Picasso, Courtesan with Hat (Courtesane au chapeau), Paris, 1901. Oil on paperboard, 66 × 50.8 cm. Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Bequest of Marjorie G. Lewisohn © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Courtesy Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.

Young Picasso in Paris is organized by Megan Fontanella, Curator, Modern Art and Provenance. Conservation research and treatment of Picasso’s Le Moulin de la Galette were conducted by Julie Barten, Senior Painting Conservator and Associate Director of Conservation Affairs.

Images courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.