Arts Summary

November 13, 2019

Manet: Three Paintings from The Norton Simon Museum at The Frick Collection, through January 5, 2020

“The Frick presents three canvases by Édouard Manet (1832–1883) from the collection of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California, marking the first time the paintings will be exhibited together elsewhere since their acquisition. Considered the father of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and, by some, twentieth-century abstraction, Manet was a revolutionary in his own time and a legend thereafter. Beyond his pivotal role in art history as the creator of iconic masterworks, Manet’s vision has come to define how we understand modern urban life and Paris, the so-called ‘capital of the nineteenth-century.’ The works in the exhibition encapsulate three ‘views’ of the artist’s life and work. Each canvas offers an opportunity to consider the range of Manet’s pioneering vision. Madame Manet (ca. 1876) encourages visitors to consider how the artist’s biography impacts the way in which his paintings are understood, while the pristinely preserved Fish and Shrimp (1864) prompts an appreciation of his sheer technical skill. Finally, The Ragpicker (1867–71, possibly reworked 1876-77) demonstrates Manet’s innovative combination of references to contemporary visual culture and Old Master painting. Manet: Three Paintings from the Norton Simon Museum is the seventh in a series of acclaimed reciprocal loans with the California museum.” — The Frick Collection

Édouard Manet. Madame Manet, ca. 1876. Oil on canvas, 23 7/8 x 20 inches. Norton Simon Art Foundation, Gift of Mr. Norton Simon, Pasadena, California

M.1978.25.PManet "Still Life with Fish and Shrimp"

Édouard Manet. Fish and Shrimp, 1864. Oil on canvas, 17 5/8 x 28 3/4 inches. Norton Simon Art Foundation, Pasadena, California

Édouard Manet. The Ragpicker, 1867–71, possibly reworked in 1876–77. Oil on canvas, 76 3/4 x 51 1/2 inches. The Norton Simon Foundation, Pasadena, California

The exhibition was organized by David Pullins, formerly Assistant Curator, The Frick Collection.

Images courtesy The Frick Collection.

November 12, 2019

A Wonder to Behold: Craftsmanship and the Creation of Babylon’s Ishtar Gate at Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW), November 6, 2019 – May 24, 2020

“The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) presents A Wonder to Behold: Craftsmanship and the Creation of Babylon’s Ishtar Gate, opening new avenues for understanding one of the most spectacular achievements of the ancient world. The exhibition features 180 objects that bring to life the synthesis of masterful craftsmanship and ancient beliefs that transformed clay, minerals, and organic materials—seen as magically potent substances—into this powerful monument.

A Wonder to Behold demonstrates how the master craftspeople who designed and built the Ishtar Gate and its affiliated Processional Way were not simply skilled technicians—though they were certainly that—but also artists, historians, and ritual practitioners known as “experts” (ummânū). They were believed capable of creating artworks that manifested divine powers on Earth, and the Ishtar Gate, offering entry into the imperial city of Babylon, was designed to be one such magically activated monument.” — ISAW

I filled those gates with splendor for the wonder of all people. — Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon

Three fragmentary bricks with palmette motif Achaemenid Period, ca. 559–331 BCE. Glazed siliceous material. Susa, Iran. (a) H. 8.6 cm; W. 21.4 cm; D. 12.6 cm; (b) H. 8.6 cm; W. 21.5 cm; D. 10.4 cm; (c) H. 8.6 cm; W. 18.8 cm; D. 13.8 cm. Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1948: 48.98.20a–c CC0 1.0. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

(2) Vessel with Frieze of Kneeling Bulls_55.121.2

Vessel with frieze of kneeling bulls. Iron Age III, ca. 800–600 BCE. Glazed baked clay. Said to be from Ziwiye, Iran. H. 43.5 cm; Diam. 29.2 cm. Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1955: 55.121.2. Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY

(3) Bricks with a protective bull-man and cuneiform inscription_Sb 21960

Bricks with a protective bull-man and cuneiform inscription. Middle Elamite Period, Shutrukid Dynasty (reign of Kutir-Nahhunte and Shilhak-Inshushinak, ca. 1150–1120 BCE). Molded baked clay. Inshushinak Temple, Apadana Mound, Susa, Iran. H. 139 cm; W. 36 cm; D. 33 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris, Département des Antiquités orientales: Sb 21960. © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Franck Raux

Bricks with the head of an archer. Achaemenid Period (reign of Darius I, ca. 510 BCE). Molded and glazed siliceous material. Palace of Darius I, Susa, Iran. H. 27 cm; W. 46.8 cm; D. 12 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris, Département des Antiquités orientales: Sb 21878. © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo Christian Larrieu

Fragmentary tile with a genie standing on two griffins in contest with two monsters. Neo-Elamite Period, ca. 800–700 BCE. Glazed siliceous material. Ville Royale Mound, Susa, Iran. H.18 cm; L. 20.5 cm; D. 2.3 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris, Département des Antiquités orientales, Fouilles R. de Mecquenem: Sb 3352. © Musée du Louvre, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Thierry Ollivier / Art Resource, NY

Moule de femme nue debout, les mains jointes

Mold for a female figurine. Middle Elamite Period, ca. 1500–1100 BCE. Molded baked clay Susa, Iran. H. 19 cm; W. 8.5 cm; D. 3 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris, Département des Antiquités orientales: Sb 7413. © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Franck Raux

Walter Andrae. Reconstruction of bricks with a mušhuššu-dragon from the Ishtar Gate. 1902 CE. Watercolor and graphite on board. H. 117 cm; W. 164 cm. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum: VAK 0009. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Vorderasiatisches Museum, Photo: Olaf M. Teßmer

(13) Partial reconstruction of the throne room façade from Nebuchadnezzar II’s Southern Palace showing fitters’ marks on bricks_ArDOG V 28 18

Walter Andrae. Partial reconstruction of the throne room façade from Nebuchadnezzar II’s Southern Palace showing fitters’ marks on bricks. 1901 CE. Watercolor on paper. H. 31.6 cm; W. 70.6 cm. Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, Berlin: ArDOG V.28.18. © Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, Archiv; Photo: Olaf M. Teßmer

(14) Reconstruction of bricks with a mushussu dragon from the Ishtar Gate_ArDOG V 28 41

Artist unknown. Reconstruction of bricks with a mušhuššu-dragon from the Ishtar Gate. ca. 1899–1917 CE. Graphite on paper. H. 33.2 cm; W. 48 cm. Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, Berlin: ArDOG V.28.41. © Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, Archiv; Photo: Olaf M. Teßmer

Reconstructed panel of bricks with a striding lion Neo-Babylonian Period (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 604–562 BCE). Molded and glazed baked clay. Processional Way, El-Kasr Mound, Babylon, Iraq. H. 99.7 cm; W. 230.5 cm. Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Fletcher Fund, 1931: 31.13.2 CC0 1.0. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

A Wonder to Behold was organized by ISAW and co-curated by its Associate Director of Exhibitions and Gallery Curator, Clare Fitzgerald, PhD, with guest curators Anastasia Amrhein, an art historian specializing in the ancient Middle East (University of Pennsylvania), and Elizabeth Knott, PhD, a historian specializing in the textual and visual remains of the ancient Middle East (NYU).

Images courtesy Institute for the Study of the Ancient World.

November 9, 2019

Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power at The Rubin Museum of Art, November 8, 2019 – May 4, 2020

“The Rubin Museum of Art is pleased to present Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power, the first comprehensive museum survey in the United States of renowned Bangladeshi photographer, writer, activist, and institution-builder, Shahidul Alam. The exhibition brings together works from his four-decade career, showing the breadth of his practice and impact in Bangladesh, across South Asia, and beyond.

Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power features over 40 photographs and ephemera including portraits, landscapes, and scenes of daily life, strife, and of resistance in the ‘majority world’ — a phrase Alam has used since the 1990s to reframe the notion of the ‘third world’ or ‘global south.’ This pioneering exhibition provides visitors with a nuanced view of Bangladesh and South Asia, explores systems of personal and collective agency, and underscores the importance of self-representation, empowerment, and truth that Alam’s life and work embody.” — The Rubin Museum of Art

“I heard of the possibility to show my work at the Rubin through three layers of bars with noise levels of over 100 decibels. I was in jail, but the choice was clear: this was an opportunity not to be missed,” says Shahidul Alam. “Truth to Power is a tribute to the numerous acts of resistance all across the globe and gives hope to those who continue to believe that a better world is possible. I’m thrilled to have the support of the Rubin Museum.”

Shahidul Alam (b. 1955, Dhaka, Bangladesh); Protesters in Motijheel Break Section 144 on Dhaka Siege Day; Motijheel, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 1987; photograph; courtesy of Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Shahidul Alam (b. 1955, Dhaka, Bangladesh); Bishwa Ijtema; Tongi, Gaipur, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 1988; photograph; courtesy of Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Shahidul Alam (b. 1955, Dhaka, Bangladesh); Mural of Noor Hossain in Jahangirnagar University Campus; Jahangirnagar, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 1987; photograph; courtesy of Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Shahidul Alam (b. 1955, Dhaka, Bangladesh); Woman in Ballot Booth; Lamatia, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 1991; photograph; courtesy of Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Shahidul Alam (b. 1955, Dhaka, Bangladesh); Smriti Azad at Protest at Shaheed Minar; Shaheed Minar, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 1994; photograph; courtesy of Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Shahidul Alam (b. 1955, Dhaka, Bangladesh); Airport Goodbye; Dhaka Airport, Bangladesh; 1996; photograph; courtesy of Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Shahidul Alam (b. 1955, Dhaka, Bangladesh); Sheep at Sunset; Tibetan Plateau; 1999; photograph; courtesy of Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Shahidul Alam (b. 1955, Dhaka, Bangladesh); Sailboat Fishing for Ilish; Daulatdia, Bangladesh; 2001; photograph; courtesy of Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Shahidul Alam (b. 1955, Dhaka, Bangladesh); Climate Refugees; river crossing between Bondor Tila Ghat in Mijhum Dwip and Moktaria Bazar in Hatiya, Bangladesh; 2009; photograph; courtesy of Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Shahidul Alam (b. 1955, Dhaka, Bangladesh); Rohingya Refugees After Having Just Landed in Bangladesh; Shah Porir Dweep, Teknaf, Bangladesh; 2017; photograph; courtesy of Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power is organized by Curator Beth Citron, in close cooperation with Alam and with support from artists and photographers in Bangladesh.

Title photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary.

November 6, 2019

Rachel Harrison Life Hack at Whitney Museum of American Art, through January 12, 2020

“Rachel Harrison’s (b. 1966) first full-scale survey tracks the development of her career over the past twenty-five years, incorporating room-size installations, sculpture, photography, and drawing. Harrison’s complex works—in which readymades collude with invented forms—bring together the breadth of art history, the impurities of politics and celebrity culture, and the strangeness of history. The exhibition includes approximately one hundred works spanning the early 1990s to the present, drawn from private and public collections throughout the world.” — Whitney Museum of American Art

Installation views of “Rachel Harrison Life Hack”. Photos by Corrado Serra.

“Rachel Harrison Life Hack” was organized by Elisabeth Sussman, Curator and Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography, and David Joselit, Distinguished Professor, Graduate Center, City University of New York, with Kelly Long, curatorial assistant.

October 31, 2019

Rachel Feinstein: Maiden, Mother, Crone at The Jewish Museum, November 1, 2019 – March 22, 2020

“The Jewish Museum presents Rachel Feinstein: Maiden, Mother, Crone, the first survey of the New York-based artist in the United States. The exhibition includes three decades of Feinstein’s work in sculpture, painting, and video, as well as a panoramic wallpaper, a major new commission, and the artist’s maquettes for sculpture. Taken together, the works emphasize the artist’s fascination with dualities: her investigations of masculinity and femininity or good and evil echo her formal explorations of balance and precariousness or positive and negative space. Feinstein’s art follows myriad lines of inquiry, but the idea of the feminine is central. She has made a sustained examination of the many ways this concept is manifested culturally. Female protagonists and figures proliferate in her work and bind it together across diverse media.

The exhibition’s title, Maiden, Mother, Crone, names three consequential stages in a woman’s life, a progression from youth to old age that also signals her accumulation of knowledge and complexity. With the title, Feinstein is thinking of the neopagan deity the Triple Goddess — a simultaneous embodiment of maiden, mother, and crone — in whom past and present, inexperience and wisdom, fragility and power are inextricably entwined.” — The Jewish Museum

Rachel Feinstein. Icicles, 2018. Polyester resin and pigment over foam with wooden base. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Allison and Larry Berg. Artwork © Rachel Feinstein; photograph by Jeff McLane

Rachel Feinstein. Adam and Eve, 2007. Stained wood. Collection of Mima and César Reyes, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Artwork © Rachel Feinstein; photograph by Marcus Leith

Rachel Feinstein. Mr. Time, 2015. Powder-coated aluminum, vinyl, and working clock. Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Gallery. Artwork © Rachel Feinstein; photograph by Robert McKeever

Rachel Feinstein. Satyrs, 2008. Polymer resin, nylon fabric, and polyester filling. Collection of Julie and Larry Bernstein. Artwork © Rachel Feinstein

Rachel Feinstein. The Bleeding Shepherdess, 2014. Polymer resin and pigment. Collection of Mima and César Reyes, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Artwork © Rachel Feinstein; photograph by Robert McKeever, courtesy of Gagosian Gallery

Rachel Feinstein. The Shack, 2001. Wood, cedar shingles, wire, polymer resin, nylon fabric, mirror, gold leaf, and enamel paint. Frank Cohen Collection. Artwork © Rachel Feinstein; photograph courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London

Rachel Feinstein. St. Michael, 2012. Polymer resin, steel, wire, and wood. Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Gallery. Artwork © Rachel Feinstein; photograph by Giorgio Benni

Rachel Feinstein: Maiden, Mother, Crone is organized by Kelly Taxter, Barnett and Annalee Newman Curator of Contemporary Art, The Jewish Museum.

Images courtesy The Jewish Museum.

October 28, 2019

Hans Haacke: All Connected at New Museum, October 24, 2019 – January 26, 2020

“The New Museum presents the first major US survey of Hans Haacke in over thirty years. Hans Haacke: All Connected brings together more than thirty works from across the artist’s career, from the 1960s to the present. This exhibition is the first American museum survey of work by the highly influential artist since the New Museum presented the exhibition Hans Haacke: Unfinished Business in 1986.

For six decades, Haacke has been a pioneer in kinetic art, environmental art, Conceptual art, and institutional critique. This retrospective brings together a wide range of works, focusing in particular on how Haacke expanded the parameters of his practice to encompass the social, political, and economic structures in which art is produced, circulated, and displayed. The exhibition includes a number of Haacke’s rarely seen kinetic works, environmental sculptures, and visitor polls from the late 1960s and early ’70s, all of which were central to discussions around systems aesthetics in art during that period. It also features works from the 1970s and ’80s that address the corporate sponsorship of major art institutions and political interference, and more recent works that consider the intersection of global capitalism, nationalism, and humanitarian crises around the world.” — New Museum

Photographs by Corrado Serra.

Wide White Flow, 1967/2008

Second Floor

Right: Grass Grows, 1967–69

Second Floor

Third Floor

MetroMobiltan, 1985

Third Floor

Oil Painting: Homage to Marcel Broodthaers (Oelgemaelde, Hommage à Marcel Broodthaers), 1982

Gift Horse, 2014

Hans Haacke: All Connected is curated by Gary Carrion-Murayari, Kraus Family Curator, and Massimiliano Gioni, Edlis Neeson Artistic Director.

October 27, 2019

Julie Mehretu at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), November 3, 2019 – March 22, 2020 (Level 1) and May 17, 2020 (Level 3)

“The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) presents Julie Mehretu, a mid-career survey co-organized with the Whitney Museum of American Art. The exhibition unites nearly 40 works on paper with 35 paintings dating from 1996 to the present by Julie Mehretu (b. 1970, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia); along with a print by Rembrandt and a film on Mehretu by the artist Tacita Dean. The first-ever comprehensive survey of Mehretu’s career, the exhibition covers over two decades of her artistic evolution, revealing her early focus on drawing, mapping, and iconography and her more recent introduction of bold gestures, sweeps of saturated color, and figurative elements. Mehretu’s examination of the histories of art, architecture, and past civilizations intermingle with her interrogations into themes of migration, revolution, climate change, global capitalism, and technology in the contemporary moment. Her play with scale, as evident in her intimate drawings and large canvases and complex techniques in printmaking, will be explored in depth.” — LACMA

Julie Mehretu, Untitled, 2000, ink, colored pencil, and cut, paper on mylar, 18 × 24 in., private collection, © Julie Mehretu, photograph by Cathy Carver

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Julie Mehretu, Retopistics: A Renegade Excavation, 2001, ink and acrylic on canvas, 101 1/2 × 208 1/2 in., Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; 2013.28, © Julie Mehretu, photograph by Edward C. Robinson III

Julie Mehretu, Untitled 2, 2001, ink and acrylic on canvas, 60 × 84 in., private collection, courtesy of Salon 94, New York, © Julie Mehretu, photograph by Tom Powel Imaging

Julie Mehretu, Stadia II, 2004, ink and acrylic on canvas, 108 × 144 in., Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, gift of Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn and Nicolas Rohatyn and A. W. Mellon Acquisition Endowment Fund 2004.50, © Julie Mehretu, photograph courtesy of the Carnegie Museum of Art

Julie Mehretu, Black City, 2007, ink and acrylic on canvas, 120 × 192 in., Pinault Collection, © Julie Mehretu, photograph by Tim Thayer

Julie Mehretu, Cairo, 2013, ink and acrylic on canvas, 118 1⁄4 × 287 in., The Broad Art Foundation, Los Angeles, © Julie Mehretu, photograph by Tom Powel Imaging

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Julie Mehretu, Invisible Sun (algorithm 4, first letter form), 2014, ink and acrylic on canvas 119 1⁄2 × 167 in., private collection, © Julie Mehretu, photograph by Carolina Merlano

Julie Mehretu, Epigraph, Damascus, 2016, photogravure, sugar lift, aquatint, spit bite aquatint, open bite, 8.1 × 18.8 feet, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Kelvin and Hana Davis through the 2018 Collectors Committee, © Julie Mehretu, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Julie Mehretu, Six Bardos: Transmigration, 2018, 31-color, 2-panel aquatint, 98 × 74 in., courtesy of Gemini G.E.L., LLC, © Julie Mehretu and Gemini G.E.L., LLC, photograph © White Cube, Ollie Hammick

Julie Mehretu, Haka (and Riot), 2019, ink and acrylic on canvas, 144 × 180 in., courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, © Julie Mehretu, photograph by Tom Powel Imaging

“Mehretu’s unique form of abstraction is connected to a deep meditation at the crossroads of mapping social and political sites and actions, shifting points of entry, new visual languages, mediated images, and corporeality. Her compositions are at once all-encompassing and destabilizing, offering a radical incoherence, which can trigger multiple experiences and senses,” said Christine Y. Kim. “This exhibition lays out this development, articulation, and connectivity of her work over the past 23 years.”

Julie Mehretu is curated by Christine Y. Kim, curator of contemporary art at LACMA, with Rujeko Hockley, assistant curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Following its presentation at LACMA, the exhibition will travel to the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (June 26–September 20, 2020); the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA (October 24, 2020–January 31, 2021); and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (March 13–July 11, 2021).

Images courtesy Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

October 25, 2019

Illusions of the Photographer: Duane Michals at the Morgan, The Morgan Library & Museum, October 25, 2019 – February 2, 2020

“The Morgan Library & Museum proudly presents an exhibition combining a six-decade retrospective of Duane Michals with an artist’s-choice selection of works from all corners of the permanent collection. Michals is known for his picture sequences, inscribed photographs, and, more recently, films that pose emotional, conceptual, and cosmic questions beyond the scope of the lone camera image. Illusions of the Photographer: Duane Michals at the Morgan takes viewers on a tour of the artist’s mind, putting work from his expansive career in conversation with Old Master and modern drawings, books, manuscripts, and historical objects.

The first retrospective on Michals to be mounted by a New York City institution, the exhibition is organized around animating themes in the artist’s work: Theater, Reflection, Love and Desire, Playtime, Image and Word, Nature, Immortality, Time, Death, and Illusion. It showcases his storytelling instincts, both in stand-alone staged photographs and in sequences. The exhibition also includes screenings of short films, Michals’s preferred medium in recent years.” — The Morgan Library & Museum

Michals, Duane, A Story About a Story, 1989, 2018.47

Duane Michals. A Story About a Story, 1989. The Morgan Library & Museum, 2018.47. © Duane Michals, Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York.

Michals, Duane, A Letter From My Father 1960-1975, 2019.78

Duane Michals. A Letter From My Father, 1960–1975. Gelatin silver print. The Morgan Library & Museum, Gift of Duane Michals, 2019.78. © Duane Michals, Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York.

Michals_Andy_Warhol_hands_in_front_of_face

Duane Michals. Andy Warhol. Gelatin silver print © Duane Michals, Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York.

Michals, Duane, Self-Portrait Asleep in a Tomb of Mereruka Sakkara 1978, 2018.42

Duane Michals. Self–Portrait Asleep in a Tomb of Mereruka Sakkara, 1978. The Morgan Library & Museum, 2018.42. © Duane Michals, Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York.

Michals, Duane, The Illuminated Man, 1968, 2018.37

Duane Michals. The Illuminated Man, 1968. Gelatin silver print. The Morgan Library & Museum, 2018.37. © Duane Michals, Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York.

Michals, Duane, Warren Beatty, 1966, 2018.35

Duane Michals. Warren Beatty. 1966. The Morgan Library & Museum, 2018.35. © Duane Michals, Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York.

Illusions of the Photographer is a personal project for Michals, who explains, “The Morgan literally is my favorite museum in New York. I always learn something at the Morgan. I’m so thrilled about this show, because it’s probably going to be the very last time to see me there, with all my resources and touchstones. I’m … archaic, in a way. I’m eighty-seven! I’m of my generation. My references are not at all to what people are talking about today. I’m comfortable there, that’s where I belong—and that’s what I contribute.”

Images courtesy The Morgan Library & Museum.

October 24, 2019

Edith Halpert and the Rise of American Art at The Jewish Museum, October 18, 2019 – February 9, 2020

“The Jewish Museum presents Edith Halpert and the Rise of American Art, the first exhibition to explore the remarkable career of Edith Gregor Halpert (1900-1970), the influential American art dealer and founder of the Downtown Gallery in New York City. A pioneer in the field and one of New York’s first female art dealers, Halpert propelled American art to the fore at a time when the European avant-garde still enthralled the world. The artists she supported — Stuart Davis, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O’Keeffe, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Ben Shahn, and Charles Sheeler key among them — became icons of American modernism. Halpert also brought vital attention to overlooked nineteenth-century American artists, such as William Michael Harnett, Edward Hicks, and Raphaelle Peale, as well as little-known and anonymous folk artists. With her revolutionary program at the Downtown Gallery, her endless energy, and her extraordinary business acumen, Halpert inspired generations of Americans to value the art of their own country, in their own time.” — The Jewish Museum

William Zorach, Spirit of the Dance, 1932, bronze with brown patina. Collection of Kevin Rowe and Irene Vlitos Rowe, Santa Fe, New Mexico © The Zorach Collection, LLC; photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc.

Stuart Davis, Egg Beater No. 1, 1927, oil on linen. Collection of Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, gift of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, 31.169. Artwork © Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Edward Hicks, The Peaceable Kingdom, c. 1846, oil on canvas. de Young | Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd, 1993.35.14

Raphaelle Peale, Venus Rising From the Sea-A Deception, ca. 1822, oil on canvas. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 34-147

Jacob Lawrence, The Music Lesson, from the Harlem Series, 1943, gouache on paper. New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, gift of the Friends of the New Jersey State Museum. Artwork © The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, The Swimmer, c. 1924, oil on canvas. Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, gift of Ferdinand Howald, 1931.196 © Estate of Yasuo Kuniyoshi / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Peter Blume, South of Scranton, 1931, oil on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, George A. Hearn Fund, 1942 (42.155). Artwork © The Educational Alliance, Inc. / Estate of Peter Blume / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; image provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art / Art Resource, New York

Stuart Davis, Little Giant Still Life, 1950, oil on canvas. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, John Barton Payne Fund Artwork © Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; photograph by Katherine Wetzel

Charles Sheeler, Ore Into Iron, 1953, oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, gift of William H. and Saundra B. Lane and Henry H. and Zoe Oliver Sherman Fund, 1990.381

O. Louis Guglielmi, Subway Exit, 1946, oil on canvas. Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University, Alabama, Advancing American Art Collection, 1948.1.17

Georgia O’Keeffe, Poppies, 1950, oil on canvas. Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin, gift of Mrs. Harry Lynde Bradley Artwork © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; photograph by John R. Glembin

Edith Halpert at the Downtown Gallery, wearing the 13 watch brooch and ring designed for her by Charles Sheeler, in a photograph for Life magazine in 1952. She is joined by some of the new American artists she was promoting that year: Charles Oscar, Robert Knipschild, Jonah Kinigstein, Wallace Reiss, Carroll Cloar, and Herbert Katzman. Photograph © Estate of Louis Faurer

Edith Halpert and the Rise of American Art is organized by Rebecca Shaykin, Associate Curator, The Jewish Museum, New York.

Images courtesy The Jewish Museum.

October 23, 2019

Betye Saar: The Legends of Black Girl’s Window at Museum of Modern Art, October 21, 2019 – January 4, 2020

“The Museum of Modern Art presents Betye Saar: The Legends of Black Girl’s Window, an in-depth solo exhibition exploring the deep ties between the artist’s iconic autobiographical assemblage Black Girl’s Window (1969) and her rare, early prints, made during the 1960s. Betye Saar: The Legends of Black Girl’s Window is drawn almost entirely from the Museum’s collection, and highlights the recent acquisition of 42 works on paper that provide an overview of Saar’s sophisticated, experimental print practice. The exhibition engages with the themes of family, history, and mysticism, which have been at the core of Saar’s work from its earliest days, and traces a link from her printmaking to the assemblages for which she is best known today.

A major figure in postwar art, Betye Saar (b. 1926) has lived and worked in Los Angeles her entire life, and is part of a generation of artists who pursued assemblage there during the 1960s and ’70s, which also included Edward Kienholz, John Outterbridge, and Noah Purifoy. Although best known for sculptures made from found materials, particularly those that challenge derogatory stereotypes of African Americans, Saar’s earliest independent works are prints. Working in a range of techniques, including intaglio and lithography, she created works on paper that reveal a comfort with experimentation and an early interest in incorporating physical traces of the world within her art. The Museum now has the largest public collection of Saar’s printed work, which remains largely unknown even to those familiar with her oeuvre.”— MoMA

Betye Saar. To Catch a Unicorn. 1960. Etching and aquatint with watercolor additions plate: 14 3/4 × 8″ (37.5 × 20.3 cm); sheet: 16 3/4 × 9 7/16″ (42.6 × 24 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Candace King Weir Endowment for Women Artists. © 2019 Betye Saar, courtesy the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles.

Betye Saar. Anticipation. 1961. Screenprint, image: 18 1/8 × 14 7/16″ (46.1 × 36.7 cm); sheet: 21 11/16 × 16 15/16″ (55.1 × 43.1 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Candace King Weir Endowment for Women Artists. © 2019 Betye Saar, courtesy the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles.

Betye Saar. Lo, The Mystique City. 1965. Etching with embossing, image: 18 1/2 × 19 13/16″ (47 × 50.4 cm); sheet: 19 13/16 × 22 15/16″ (50.3 × 58.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Candace King Weir Endowment for Women Artists. © 2019 Betye Saar, courtesy the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles.

Betye Saar. Black Girl’s Window. 1969. Wooden window frame with paint, cut-and-pasted printed and painted papers, daguerreotype, lenticular print, and plastic figurine, 35 3/4 × 18 × 1 1/2″ (90.8 × 45.7 × 3.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Candace King Weir through The Modern Women’s Fund, and Committee on Painting and Sculpture Funds. © 2019 Betye Saar, courtesy the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles.

Betye Saar: The Legends of Black Girl’s Window is organized by Christophe Cherix, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator, and Esther Adler, Associate Curator, with Ana Torok, Curatorial Assistant, and Nectar Knuckles, Curatorial Fellow, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art.

Images courtesy Museum of Modern Art.

October 21, 2019

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Celebrates the 60th Anniversary of Frank Lloyd Wright Building on October 21

“Since its opening on October 21, 1959, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright–designed building has inspired generations of visitors as a unique ‘temple of spirit’ where radical art and architecture meet. The Guggenheim commemorates the 60th anniversary of its landmark building, which was recently designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with activities and events this October. On October 21, museumgoers can enjoy live jazz, cupcakes, tours, and conversations, and any visitor with an October 21 birthday will be given free entry. Throughout the month, the Guggenheim will offer an enhanced schedule of tours, sketching workshops, and film screenings, and an expanded selection of architecturally themed merchandise in the Guggenheim Store.” — Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, NY; 1071 Fifth Ave

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1959. Photo: William H. Short © The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.

Public Opening at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Opening day at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1959. Photo: Robert E. Mates © The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.

Installation view: Guggenheim International Exhibition 1960 (November 1, 1960–January 29, 1961), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Photo: Robert E. Mates © The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.

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Installation view: James Turrell, June 21–September 25, 2013, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Photo: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

Installation view: Jenny Holzer: For the Guggenheim, September 26–December 31, 2008, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Photo: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

Installation view: Matthew Barney: The Cremaster Cycle, February 21–June 11, 2003, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Photo: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

On October 21, the Guggenheim will release a new audio guide about the architecture of the Frank Lloyd Wright building with the podcast 99% Invisible. It will feature the podcast’s host, Roman Mars, in conversation with Guggenheim curators and staff as they delve into stories behind the iconic museum’s design, construction, and day-to-day operation.

Title image: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Photo: David Heald © The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.

Images courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

October 20, 2019

Sur moderno: Journeys of Abstraction―The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift at Museum of Modern Art, October 21, 2019, through March 14, 2020

“The Museum of Modern Art announces Sur moderno: Journeys of Abstraction―The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift, a major exhibition drawn primarily from the paintings, sculptures, and works on paper donated to the Museum by the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros between 1997 and 2016. Sur moderno celebrates the arrival of the most important collection of abstract and concrete art from Latin America by dedicating an entire suite of galleries on the Museum’s third floor to the display of artists from Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, and Uruguay. The exhibition highlights the work of Lygia Clark, Gego, Raúl Lozza, Hélio Oiticica, Jesús Rafael Soto, and Rhod Rothfuss, among others, focusing on the concept of transformation: a radical reinvention of the art object and a renewal of the social environment through art and design. The exhibition is also anchored by a selection of archival materials that situate the works within their local contexts.” — MoMA

Photographs by Corrado Serra.

Installation view of Sur Moderno

Installation view of Sur Moderno

Installation view of Sur Moderno

Installation view of Sur Moderno

Installation view of Sur Moderno

Left: Hélio Oiticica, Neoconcrete Relief (Relevo neoconcreto), 1960. Right: Lucio Fontana, Spatial Concept: Expectation (Concetto spaziale: Attesa), 1960

Jean Tinguely, Meta-Mécanique, 1954

Right: Omar Carreño, Relief 1 (Relieve 1), 1952

Left: Raúl Lozza, Invention no. 150 (Invención no. 150), 1948. Right: Carlos González Bogen, Untitled, 1949

Installation view of Sur Moderno

Installation view of Sur Moderno

Jesús Rafael Soto, Double Transparency (Doble transparencia), 1956

Installation view of Sur Moderno

Left: Theo van Doesburg, Composition VIII (The Cow), c. 1918. Center: Alfredo Hlito, Chromatic Rhythms III (Ritmos cromáticos III), 1949. Right: Antonieta Sosa, Visual Chess (Ajedrez visual), 1965

Left: GEGO (Gertrud Goldschmidt), Eight Squares (Ocho cuadrados), 1961. Right: Lygia Pape, Untitled, 1956

GEGO (Gertrud Goldschmidt)

Sur moderno is organized by Inés Katzenstein, Curator of Latin American Art and Director of the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America, The Museum of Modern Art, and consulting curator María Amalia García, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)–Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Argentina, with Karen Grimson, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art.

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