Arts Summary

October 17, 2018

Celebrating Tintoretto: Portrait Paintings and Studio Drawings at The Met Fifth Avenue, October 16, 2018 – January 27, 2019

“Jacopo Tintoretto (1518/19–1594) was one of the preeminent Venetian painters of the 16th century and was renowned for his dynamic narrative scenes and insightful portraits. In celebration of the 500th anniversary of the artist’s birth, The Met presents Celebrating Tintoretto: Portrait Paintings and Studio Drawings. This focused exhibition unites 21 works from European and American museums and private collections, bringing them into a larger discussion of the artist’s approach to portraiture and painting, as well as the role of drawings in his workshop.

Characterized by their immediacy, penetrating observation, and startling modernity, Tintoretto’s small-scale, informal portrait heads are an innovative aspect of his portraiture, and one that has been little studied. Seen together for the first time, these portrait studies will reveal Tintoretto’s famous quickness (prestezza) as a painter, capturing both the spirit and appearance of the sitter.

Facets of artistic practice in the Tintoretto workshop will come to light in the exhibition’s exploration of the relationship between Jacopo and his son Domenico. Central here are a series of bold figural drawings and a painting in the Museum’s collection, The Finding of Moses, whose long-debated attribution to both father and son will play a key role in the discussion of this flourishing workshop.” — The Met

Jacopo Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) (Italian, Venice 1518/19–1594 Venice). Portrait of an Elderly Man, ca. 1550. Oil on panel. San Diego Museum of Art, Gift of Anne R. and Amy Putnam

Jacopo Tintoretto (Italian, Venice 1518/19–1594 Venice). Portrait of a Man, 1550s. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of George Blumenthal, 1941

Jacopo Tintoretto (Italian, Venice 1518/19–1594 Venice). Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?), 1550s. Oil on canvas. Private collection

Jacopo Tintoretto (Italian, Venice 1518/19–1594 Venice). Head of a Man (Portrait Study). Probably 1550s. Oil on canvas laid on panel Royal Collection / HM Queen Elizabeth II

Jacopo Tintoretto (Italian, Venice 1518/19–1594 Venice). Head of an Old Man, 1555–65. Oil on canvas. Private collection, Milan

Jacopo Tintoretto (Italian, Venice 1518/19–1594 Venice). Portrait of a Bearded Man, Bust-length, in a Red Gown, ca. 1570 (?). Oil on canvas The Alana Collection, Newark, Delaware

Jacopo Tintoretto (Italian, Venice 1518/19–1594 Venice). Portrait of an Elderly Bearded Man, ca. 1570. Oil on canvas. Private collection

Jacopo Tintoretto (Italian, Venice 1518/19–1594 Venice). Portrait of Jacopo Sansovino, ca. 1570. Oil on canvas. Klassik Stiftung Weimar

Domenico Tintoretto (Italian, Venice 1560–1635 Venice). The Mocking of Christ, 1560–1635. Black chalk, brush and brown ink, gray and white oil paint, on blue paper; squared in black chalk. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Harry G. Sperling Fund, 1994

Domenico Tintoretto (Italian, Venice 1560–1635 Venice). Reclining Female Nude Figure, 1560–1635. Black chalk, highlighted with white, on blue paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Robert Lehman, 1941

Domenico Tintoretto (Italian, Venice 1560–1635 Venice). Reclining Female Nude, Early 17th century. Black and white chalk on faded blue paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975

Domenico Tintoretto (Italian, Venice 1560–1635 Venice). Reclining Female Nude, Early 17th century. Black and white chalk on blue paper.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975

Domenico Tintoretto (Italian, Venice 1560–1635 Venice). Reclining Female Nude, Early 17th century. Black and white chalk on blue paper The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975

Jacopo Tintoretto (Italian, Venice 1518/19–1594 Venice). Reclining Male Figure, 1560s. Black chalk on blue paper; squared in black chalk. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975

“Tintoretto created intensely powerful portraits, and the opportunity to look at these brilliant studies alongside one another allows us to recognize and appreciate the urgency and tremendous skill in these paintings,” said Max Hollein, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Celebrating Tintoretto: Portrait Paintings and Studio Drawings is organized by Andrea Bayer, The Met’s interim Deputy Director for Collections and Administration and Jayne Wrightsman Curator in the Department of European Paintings, and Alison Manges Nogueira, Associate Curator in the Robert Lehman Collection.

Images courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

October 16, 2018

Drawing in Tintoretto’s Venice at The Morgan Library & Museum, October 12, 2018 – January 6, 2019

“The dramatic canvases of Jacopo Tintoretto (1518/1519–1594), with their muscular, expressive bodies, are some of the most distinctive of the Italian Renaissance. His drawings, however, have received less attention as a distinctive category in his oeuvre. Drawing in Tintoretto’s Venice is the first exhibition since 1956 to focus on the drawing practice of this major artist. It will offer a new perspective on Tintoretto’s evolution as a draftsman, his individuality as an artist, and his influence on a generation of painters in northern Italy.

Organized to mark the five-hundredth anniversary of the artist’s birth, this exhibition brings together more than seventy drawings and a small group of related paintings. It places Tintoretto’s distinctive figure drawings alongside works by contemporaries such as Titian, Veronese, and Bassano, as well as by artists—Domenico Tintoretto, Palma Giovane, and others—working in Venice during the late sixteenth century, whose drawing style was influenced by Tintoretto’s. The exhibition also features a particularly engaging group of drawings that have recently been proposed as the work of the young El Greco during his time in Italy.” — The Morgan Library & Museum

Tintoretto (1518/19–1594), Seated Male Nude, ca. 1549. Black and white chalk, squared, on blue paper. Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. 5385. © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY.

Titian (1488–1576), Embracing Couple, ca. 1568–70, charcoal and black and white chalk on faded blue paper. The Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Tintoretto (1518/19–1594), Venus and Vulcan, ca. 1545, black chalk, pen and brown ink with brown and gray wash, bpk Bildagentur / Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin /Art Resource, NY. Photography by Jorg P. Anders.

Tintoretto (1518/19–1594), Holy Family with the Young St. John, ca. 1549–50, oil on panel. Yale University Art Gallery, Maitland F. Griggs, B.A. 1896, Fund and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Class of 1913, Fund.

Tintoretto (1518/19–1594), Study of a Man with Raised Arms, ca. 1562–66, charcoal, heightened with white, on blue paper, squared for transfer, The British Museum, London. ©The Trustees of the British Museum.

Tintoretto (1518–1594), Studies of Three Men, for the Last Supper at San Trovaso, ca. 1563–64, black and white chalk. bpk Bildagentur / Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany / Art Resource, NY. Photography by Volker-H. Schneider.

Tintoretto (?) and Workshop (1518/19–1594), Study of Michelangelo’s Samson and the Philistines (recto and verso), ca. 1560–70, charcoal and black chalk with white opaque watercolor on blue paper, The Morgan Library & Museum, Thaw Collection, 2005.234. Photography by Janny Chiu.

Tintoretto (1518/19–1594), Study for Return of the Prodigal Son, ca. 1574–76, charcoal (and black chalk?) with white chalk, on blue paper. Gabinetto Fotografico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi.

Tintoretto (1518/19–1594), Study for a Man Climbing into a Boat (recto), 1578–79, charcoal, squared in charcoal. The Morgan Library & Museum. Gift of J.P. Morgan, Jr. The Morgan Library & Museum, IV, 76. Photography by Graham S. Haber, 2012.

Domenico Tintoretto (1560–1635), Reclining Female Nude, ca. 1590, black and white chalk on blue paper. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.

Domenico Tintoretto (1560–1635), Miracle of the Slave, ca. 1611–12, oil over charcoal, squared for transfer. The British Museum, London. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Attributed to El Greco (ca. 1541–1614), Last Supper, ca. 1575, brown wash with white opaque watercolor, over black chalk, on light brown paper. The Morgan Library & Museum, gift of János Scholz, 1981.96. Photography by Janny Chiu, 2018.

Palma Giovane (1544–1628), Christ Carried to the Tomb, ca. 1610, brush and brown and white oil paint over black chalk on oatmeal paper. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Purchased as the Gift of Helen Porter and James T. Dyke, 2007. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Drawing in Tintoretto’s Venice was curated by John Marciari, Charles W. Engelhard Curator of Drawings and Prints.

Images courtesy The Morgan Library & Museum.

October 16, 2018

It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200 at The Morgan Library & Museum, October 12, 2018 – January 27, 2019

“Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus—in which a chemistry student makes a living being out of corpses—has compelled our attention since it was first published in 1818. This exhibition explores its adaptability to stage and screen, its sources in Gothic art and Enlightenment science, and the haunted life of its creator. Frankenstein’s author was the daughter of celebrated writers and the partner of another. She too became famous in 1823, when the story was staged in London, with the monster portrayed by an expressive pantomime actor. Audiences loved it. More than a dozen other theatrical productions appeared, followed by the first film version, less than a century after the novel. James Whale’s 1931 film made Boris Karloff the face of Frankenstein for generations of viewers, and versions in other media— comic books, illustrations, prints, and posters—testify that Mary Shelley’s ‘hideous progeny’ is very much alive. Enter these galleries to meet the monster.” — Introductory Wall Text

William Blake (1757 – 1827), Europe: a Prophecy, London: Printed by Will. Blake, 1794. The Morgan Library & Museum, gift of Mrs. Landon K. Thorne, 1972; PML 77235.1. Photography by Janny Chiu.

Joseph Wright (1734 – 1797), The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher’s Stone, Discovers Phosphorus, and Prays for the Successful Conclusion of his Operation, as was the Custom of the Ancient Chymical Astrologers, 1795, oil on canvas, Derby Museums Trust. Photography by Richard Tailby.

Benoît Pecheux, plate no. 4 in Giovanni Aldini, Essai théorique et expérimental sur le galvanisme, Paris: De l’imprimerie de Fournier Fils, 1804. The Morgan Library & Museum, purchased on the Gordon N. Ray Fund, 2016; PML 196238. Photography by Janny Chiu.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 – 1851), Frankenstein, manuscript, MS. Abinger c.56, fols. 20v – 21r, 1816 – 1817. The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford.

Lyceum Theatre (London, England), This evening, Monday, July 28th, 1823, will be produced (for the first time) an entirely new romance of a peculiar interest, entitled Presumption! or, the Fate of Frankenstein, [London: s.n., 1823]. The Morgan Library & Museum, purchased on the Gordon N. Ray Fund, 2015; PML 196172, Photography by Janny Chiu.

Jean-François Vilain, Théâtre de la Porte St. Martin, Le monstre, acte premier, scène dernière, ca. 1826, color lithograph. Département des Arts du spectacle—Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 – 1851), Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, London: Printed for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, 1818. The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle, The Morgan Library & Museum, purchased by Pierpont Morgan in 1910. Photography by Janny Chiu.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 – 1851), Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1831. The Morgan Library & Museum; PML 58778. Photography by Janny Chiu.

Auguste Pontenier, wood engraving in Louis Figuier, Les merveilles de la science, ou Description populaire des inventions modernes, Paris: Furne, Jouvet et cie, [1867] – 1870. The Morgan Library & Museum, purchased on the Gordon N. Ray Fund, 2016; PML 196256. Photography by Janny Chiu.

Carl Laemmle Presents Frankenstein: the Man who Made a Monster, lithograph poster, 1931. Collection of Stephen Fishler, comicconnect.com, Courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing LLC, © 1931 Univeral Pictures Company, Inc.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 – 1851), Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus, New York: Grosset and Dunlap, [1931]. The Morgan Library & Museum, purchased on the Gordon N. Ray Fund, 2016; PML 196478. Courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing LLC, © 1931 Univeral Pictures Company, Inc. Photography by Janny Chiu.

Lynd Ward (1905 – 1985), The Monster and Victor Frankenstein Encounter Each Other in the Swiss Alps, in a Field of Ice The Newly Created Monster Tries to Get into Victor Frankenstein’s Bed, proof wood engravings for illustrations in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, New York: Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, 1934. Eberly Family Special Collections Library, Pennsylvania State University Libraries, Permission of Robin Ward Savage and Nanda Weedon Ward.

Dick Briefer (1915 – 1980), Frankenstein, no. 10, New York: Prize Comics, Nov.-Dec., 1947. From the Collection of Craig Yoe and Clizia Gussoni. © First Classics, Inc. Used with permission granted by Trajectory, Inc.

Bernie Wrightson (1948 – 2017), Frankenstein, or, The modern Prometheus. [New York, NY]: Published by Tyrannosaurus Press, 1977. The Morgan Library & Museum, purchased on the Gordon N. Ray Fund, 2017; PML 197644 © 2018 Bernie Wrightson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Barry Moser, No Father Had Watched my Infant Days, wood engraving in a suite of prints accompanying Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, West Hatfield, MA: Pennyroyal Press, 1983. The Morgan Library & Museum, gift of Jeffrey P. Dwyer; PML 127245.6 © Pennyroyal Press

“The Morgan is in an excellent position to tell the rich story of Mary Shelley’s life and of Frankenstein’s evolution in popular culture,” said director of the museum, Colin B. Bailey. “Pierpont Morgan was fascinated by the creative process, and one of the artifacts he acquired was a first edition Frankenstein annotated by the author. The collection of works by the Shelleys, both at the Morgan and the New York Public Library, has only grown since then. We are very pleased to collaborate with the NYPL in presenting the full version of this extraordinary tale and how it lives on in the most resilient and timely of ways.”

It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200 is a collaboration between the Morgan Library & Museum and The New York Public Library. It is co-curated by John Bidwell, the Astor Curator and Department Head of the Morgan’s Printed Books and Bindings Department, and Elizabeth Denlinger, Curator of the Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle at The New York Public Library.

Images courtesy The Morgan Library & Museum

October 15, 2018

Sarah Lucas: Au Naturel at New Museum, through January 20, 2019

“Sarah Lucas: Au Naturel is the first major survey in the United States of the work of British artist Sarah Lucas (b. 1962, London, UK). The exhibition spans Lucas’s entire career, bringing together some of her most iconic works and series from the late 1980s to today. Sarah Lucas: Au Naturel is curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Edlis Neeson Artistic Director, and Margot Norton, Curator.

Over the past thirty years, Lucas has created a distinctive and provocative body of work that subverts traditional notions of gender, sexuality, and identity. Since the late 1980s, Lucas has transformed found objects and everyday materials such as cigarettes, vegetables, and stockings into absurd and confrontational tableaux that boldly challenge social norms. The human body and anthropomorphic forms recur throughout Lucas’s works, often appearing erotic, humorous, fragmented, or reconfigured into fantastical anatomies of desire.

The title of the exhibition, ‘Au Naturel,’ is taken from a sculpture Lucas created in 1994, in which an assemblage of objects suggestive of sexual organs adorns a mattress that slumps in the corner as if it were reclining. In an art historical context, ‘au naturel’ commonly refers to paintings of female nude figures, and literally translates from French as ‘in the nude.’ Applying the term to Lucas’s greater body of work, the title speaks to the immediacy, intimacy, and directness of her images and speculates on the possibility of a natural state, perhaps without the limitations of established social structures and gender conformity.” — New Museum

Photographs by Corrado Serra.

October 14, 2018

Light Lines: The Art of Jan Groth, Inger Johanne Grytting, and Thomas Pihl at Scandinavia House, October 13, 2018 – January 12, 2019

“Light Lines: The Art of Jan Groth, Inger Johanne Grytting, and Thomas Pihl at Scandinavia House celebrates three Norwegian artists who have influenced and continue to influence one another with work that employs the power of the reductive, sharing close ties to the New York community, and representing three generations: Jan Groth (b.1939), Inger Johanne Grytting (b.1949) and Thomas Pihl (b.1964).

Considered the foremost Norwegian artist of his generation, Jan Groth has continuously explored the relationship between line and picture plane. Exhibited extensively throughout his career with major exhibitions including a largescale retrospective at The Guggenheim Museum in New York, Groth’s influence and presence has been widespread both in the Nordic countries and internationally. In his relationships with Grytting and Pihl, the artists share a combined interest in a minimalist, restrained, and conceptual language. Their three practices, however, are distinctly individual.

Each room in the gallery will be dedicated to one artist, enabling visitors to experience a body of work while creating connections to the exhibition and artists as a whole. Jan Groth will also present a site-specific drawing installation.” — Scandinavia House

Jan Groth, Sign III, 1988. Wool tapestry, 59 x 82 2/5 in. (150 x 222 cm). Collection of Erling Neby Henie Onstad Kunstsenter

Jan Groth, Maquette for Open, 2017. Patinated bronze, 46 2/5 x 11 x 9 1/5 in. ( 118 x 28 x 23.5 cm). 1/5 from an edition of 5+2 AP (JG s 62). Collection of Bettina & Hans Peter Jebsen

Inger Johanne Grytting, Untitled No 12, 2016. Graphite pencil on Stonehenge paper, 22 1/4 x 30 in. (57 x 76 cm). Collection of the Artist

Inger Johanne Grytting, Untitled No 3, 2018. Oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in. (91.5 x 91.5 cm. Collection of the Artist

Inger Johanne Grytting, Untitled No 8, 2017. Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in. (122 x 122 cm). Collection of the Artist

Thomas Pihl, Untitled #4, 2018. Acrylic paint on canvas, 72 x 60 in. (182.9 x 152.4 cm). Collection of the Artist

Thomas Pihl, Untitled #6, 2018. Acrylic paint on canvas, 72 x 60 in. (182.9 x 152.4 cm). Collection of the Artist

Thomas Pihl, Untitled #7, 2018. Acrylic paint on canvas, 72 x 60 in. (182.9 x 152.4 cm). Collection of the Artist

The show is curated by Karin Hellandsjø, Director Emeritus of the Henie Onstad Art Centre, Norway.

Images courtesy Scandinavia House.

October 13, 2018

Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, October 12, 2018 – April 23, 2019

“Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents the first major solo exhibition in the United States of the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862–1944). When af Klint began creating radically abstract paintings in 1906, they were like little that had been seen before: bold, colorful, and untethered from recognizable references to the physical world. It was several years before Vasily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, and others would take similar strides to free their own artwork of representational content. Yet af Klint rarely exhibited her remarkably forward-looking paintings and, convinced the world was not ready for them, stipulated that they not be shown for 20 years following her death. Ultimately, her work was not exhibited until 1986, and it is only over the past three decades that her paintings and works on paper have received serious attention.

Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future offers an opportunity to experience af Klint’s artistic achievements in the Guggenheim’s rotunda more than a century after she began her daring work. Curated by Tracey Bashkoff, Director of Collections and Senior Curator, with the assistance of David Horowitz, Curatorial Assistant, and organized with the cooperation of the Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm, the exhibition features more than 170 of af Klint’s artworks and focus on the artist’s breakthrough years, 1906–20. It is during this period that she began to produce nonobjective and stunningly imaginative paintings, creating a singular body of work that invites a reevaluation of modernism and its development.” — Guggenheim Museum

Hilma af Klint. Group IV, The Ten Largest, No. 7, Adulthood (Grupp IV, De tio största, nr 7, Mannaåldern), 1907 from untitled series. Tempera on paper mounted on canvas, 315 x 235 cm. The Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm. Photo: Albin Dahlström, the Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Hilma af Klint. Group I, Primordial Chaos, No. 16 (Grupp 1, Urkaos, nr 16), 1906-1907 from The WU/Rose Series (Serie WU/Rosen). Oil on canvas, 53 x 37 cm. The Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm. Photo: Albin Dahlström, the Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Hilma af Klint. Group V, The Seven-Pointed Star, No. 1n (Grupp V, Sjustjärnan, nr 1), 1908 from The WUS/Seven-Pointed Star Series (Serie WUS/Sjustjärnan). Tempera, gouache and graphite on paper mounted on canvas, 62.5 x 76 cm. The Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm. Photo: Albin Dahlström, the Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Hilma af Klint. Tree of Knowledge, No. 5 (Kunskapens träd, nr 5), 1915 from The W Series (Serie W). Watercolor, gouache, graphite and metallic paint on paper, 18 1/16 x 11 5/8 inches (45.8 x 29.5 cm). The Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm. Photo: Albin Dahlström, the Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Hilma af Klint. Group IX/SUW, The Swan, No. 17 (Grupp IX/SUW, Svanen, nr 17), 1915 from The SUW/UW Series (Serie SUW/UW). Oil on canvas, 150.5 x 151 cm. The Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm. Photo: Albin Dahlström, the Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Hilma af Klint. Group X, No. 1, Altarpiece (Grupp X, nr 1, Altarbild), 1915 from Altarpieces (Altarbilder). Oil and metal leaf on canvas, 237.5 x 179.5 cm. The Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm. Photo: Albin Dahlström, the Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Hilma af Klint. No. 1 (Nr 1) from The Atom Series (Serie Atom), 1917. Watercolor on paper, 27 x 25 cm. The Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm. Photo: Albin Dahlström, the Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Hilma af Klint. No. 2a, The Current Standpoint of the Mahatmas (Nr 2a, Mahatmernas nuvarande ståndpunkt), 1920 from Series II (Serie II). Oil on canvas, 36.5 x 27 cm. The Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm

Hilma af Klint. Untitled, 1920 from On the Viewing of Flowers and Trees (Vid betraktande av blommor och träd). Watercolor on paper, 17.9 x 25 cm. The Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm. Photo: Albin Dahlström, the Moderna Museet, Stockholm

October 11, 2018

Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence at Chrysler Museum of Art, October 18, 2018 – February 24, 2019

“Experience the color and shine of intricate beaded artworks in Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence. The exhibition showcases a new form of textile art known as the ndwango and presents a story of rural South African women overcoming hardships and illness to achieve artistic significance and economic independence.

Beadwork is a customary form of artistic expression for South African women and is passed down through the generations. Ubuhle Women was established by Ntombephi Ntobela and Bev Gibson in 1999 on a former sugar plantation in KwaZulu-Natal. It created employment for rural women using the traditional skills many of them already possessed. The plain black fabric that serves as the foundation for the Ubuhle Women’s exquisite beadwork is reminiscent of the Xhosa headscarves and skirts many of the women wore growing up. The artists stretch this textile like a canvas and use colored Czech glass beads to transform the flat cloth into a contemporary art form of remarkable visual depth. Gibson, the visionary of the traveling exhibition, says “the works are so beautiful, there’s nothing to understand.” Ntobela says the women work in their own unique style “directly from the soul” to create abstract and figurative subjects for their ndwangos.” — Chrysler Museum of Art

“There are fascinating, culturally specific elements in these artworks like patterning influenced by traditional Zulu and Xosa clothing and adornment as well as imagery and subject matter that speak to a universal humanity that we all share and can relate to. No matter who we are, we can identify with a person’s sorrow, joy, hopes and journeys of healing,” said Carolyn Swan Needell, Ph.D., the Chrysler Museum’s Carolyn and Richard Barry Curator of Glass.

Bongiswa Ntobela (South African, 1973−2009). Funky Bull, 2006. Glass beads sewn onto fabric. The Ubuhle Private Collection

Zondlile Zondo (South African, b. 1969). Flowers for the Gods, 2012. Glass beads sewn onto fabric. The Ubuhle Collection

Zondlile Zondo (South African, b. 1969). My Mother’s Peach Tree, 2012. Glass beads sewn onto fabric. The Ubuhle Private Collection

Ntombephi “Induna” Ntobela (South African, b. 1966). My Sea, My Sister, My Tears, 2011. Glass beads sewn onto fabric. The Ubuhle Private Collection

Ntombephi “Induna” Ntobela (South African, b. 1966). Sangoma Bull, 2012. Glass beads sewn onto fabric. Private collection

Zanele Muhloli (South African, b. 1972). Portrait of Ntombephi “Induna” Ntobela and Bev Gibson, April 2013 © Zanele Muhloli / Ubuhle Artists

Zanele Muhloli (South African, b. 1972). Portrait of Zondlile Zondo, April 2013 © Zanele Muhloli / Ubuhle Artists

Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence was developed by the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, Washington, DC, in cooperation with curators Bev Gibson, James Green, and Ubuhle Beads, and is organized for tour by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.

Images courtesy Chrysler Museum of Art.

October 10, 2018

Anni Albers at Tate Modern, October 11, 2018 – January 27, 2019

“Tate Modern presents the UK’s first major retrospective of the work of Anni Albers (1899–1994). This exhibition brings together her most important works from major collections in the US and Europe, many of which will be shown in the UK for the first time, to highlight Albers’s significance as an artist. Opening ahead of the centenary of the Bauhaus in 2019, it is long overdue recognition of Albers’s pivotal contribution to modern art and design, and part of Tate Modern’s wider commitment to showing artists working in textiles.

Anni Albers combined the ancient craft of hand-weaving with the language of modern art, finding within the medium many possibilities for the expression of modern life. Featuring over 350 objects including beautiful small-scale studies, large wall-hangings, jewellery made from everyday items, and textiles designed for mass production, this exhibition explores the many aspects of Albers’s practice – such as the intersection between art and craft; hand-weaving and machine production; ancient and modern. Significant weavings such as Ancient Writing 1936 and Six Prayers 1966-67 – Albers’s moving memorial commemorating the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust, commissioned by the Jewish Museum in New York – are shown in this country for the first time. The artist’s lesser-known commissioned works exploring the relationship between textiles and architecture are also highlighted, including Albers’s designs for a large wall-hanging at the iconic modernist Camino Real hotel in Mexico City in 1968. The exhibition design itself takes inspiration from the artist’s own writings, such as her seminal essay ‘The Pliable Plane: Textiles in Architecture’, 1957, in which Albers advocates ‘a new understanding between the architect and the inventive weaver’.” — Tate Modern

Anni Albers . Wall Hanging, 1926.  Mercerized cotton, silk,  2032 x 1207 mm.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Everfast Fabrics Inc. and Edward C. Moore Jr. Gift, 1969 © 2018 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London

Anni Albers.  Ancient Writing, 1936.  Cotton and rayon,  1505 x 1118 mm.  Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gift of John Young © 2018 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London . Photo: Princeton University Art Museum/Art Resource NY/Scala, Florence

Anni Albers.  With Verticals, 1946.  Red cotton and linen , 1549 x 1181 mm. The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany CT © 2018 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London.  Photograph by Tim Nighswander/Imaging4Art

Anni Albers.  Open Letter, 1958.  Cotton,  57.8 x 60 cm. The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany CT  © 2018 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London.  Photo: Tim Nighswander/Imaging4Art

Anni Albers.  Intersecting, 1962.  Pictorial weaving, cotton and rayon,  400 x 419 mm . Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop © 2018 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London

Anni Albers. Rug, 1959. Wool hand woven, 1220 x 1650 mm. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University © 2018 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London

Anni Albers.  Six Prayers, 1966-1967.  Cotton/linen, bast/silver, Lurex , 1861 x 2972 mm.  The Jewish Museum, New York, Gift of the Albert A. List Family, JM

Anni Albers . Epitaph, 1968. Pictorial weaving, 1498 x 584 mm. The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany CT © 2018 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London

Anni Albers in her weaving studio at Black Mountain College, 1937

Anni Albers is organised by Tate Modern and Stiftung Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. It is curated by Ann Coxon, Curator, International Art, Tate Modern, Professor Briony Fer, University College London with Maria Müller-Schareck, Curator, Stiftung Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen assisted by Priyesh Mistry, Assistant Curator, International Art, Tate Modern and Linda Walther, Assistant Curator, Stiftung Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Images courtesy Tate Modern.

October 9, 2018

Charles White: A Retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art, October 7, 2018 – January 13, 2019

“Charles White: A Retrospective is the first major exhibition dedicated to Charles White (1918–1979) in over three decades. Organized chronologically, the retrospective charts the entirety of White’s career, illuminating his socially motivated responses to the tumultuous events and cultural episodes that defined 20th-century American history. The exhibition’s roughly 100 drawings, paintings, and prints, along with additional ephemera, attest to White’s continually developing body of work, and serve as a model for the active role art can play in contemporary society.

The exhibition includes representative work from the three artistic centers in which White lived, created, and taught throughout his life: Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. It begins with early paintings and murals White made for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Depression-era Chicago, where he grew up. Shortly thereafter, between 1942 and 1956, White lived mainly in New York City, teaching drawing, exhibiting at the progressive ACA Gallery on 57th Street, and supporting the Committee for the Negro in the Arts in Harlem. A selection of White’s personal photographs, also on view in the exhibition, capture his life in New York, while the inclusion of his work for album covers, publications, film, and television emphasize his dedication to more accessible distribution outlets for his art. The presentation concludes with the inventive output from his last decades as an internationally established figure and influential teacher in Los Angeles during the 1960s and ’70s.” — MoMA

Charles White. Five Great American Negroes. 1939. Oil on canvas, 60 x 155″ (152.4 x 393.7 cm). From the Collection of the Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.© The Charles White Archives/ Photo: Gregory R. Staley

Charles White. Love Letter II. 1977. Color lithograph, 30 1/8 × 22 7/16″ (76.5 × 57 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago, Margaret Fisher Fund. © The Charles White Archives/ © The Art Institute of Chicago

Charles White. Love Letter III. 1977. Color lithograph. 30 1/16 x 22 5/8″ (76.3 x 57.4 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago. Margaret Fisher Fund. © The Charles White Archives/ © The Art Institute of Chicago

Charles White. Preacher. 1940. Tempera on board. 30 × 21 1/2″ (76.2 × 54.6 cm). The Davidsons, Los Angeles, California. © 1940 The Charles White Archives. Photo Credit: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California.

Charles White. Headlines. 1944. Ink, gouache, and newspaper on board, 20 x 16″ (50.8 x 40.6 cm). Collection of William M. and Elisabeth M. Landes. © The Charles White Archives/ Photo: Gregory R. Staley

Charles White. Soldier. 1944. Tempera on Masonite. 30 × 25″ (76.2 × 63.5 cm). The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of Sandra and Bram Dijkstra. © The Charles White Archives/ © Courtesy of the Huntington Art Collections, San Marino, California

Charles White. Our Land. 1951. Egg tempera on panel, 24 x 20″ (61 x 50.8 cm). Private Collection. © The Charles White Archives/ Photo: Gavin Ashworth. Courtesy Jonathan Boos

Charles White). Work (Young Worker). 1953. Wolff crayon and charcoal on illustration board, 44 × 28″ (111.8 × 71.1 cm). Private collection. Photo: Christopher Burke Studio © The Charles White Archives/ Charles White (American, 1918-1979).

Charles White. Harvest Talk. 1953. Charcoal, Wolff’s carbon drawing pencil, and graphite, with stumping and erasing on ivory wood pulp laminate board. 26 × 39 1/16″ (66 × 99.2 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago. Restricted gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Hartman. © 1953 The Charles White Archives.

Charles White. Ye Shall Inherit the Earth. 1953. Charcoal on paper, 36 x 26″ (99.1 x 66 cm). Private Collection. © The Charles White Archives/ Courtesy Princeton University Art Museum

Charles White. J’Accuse #7. 1966. Charcoal on paper, 39 1/4 × 51 1/2″ (99.7 × 130.8 cm). Private collection. © The Charles White Archives/ Photo courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

Charles White. General Moses (Harriet Tubman). 1965. Ink on paper, 47 × 68″ (119.4 × 172.7 cm). Private collection. © The Charles White Archives. Photo courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries

Charles White. Harriet. 1972. Oil on board. 53 5/16 × 47 1/4″ (135.4 × 120 cm). John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, The University of Texas at Austin. © The Charles White Archives/ Photo: Paul Bardagjy

Charles White. Black Pope (Sandwich Board Man). 1973. Oil wash on board. 60 × 43 7/8″ (152.4 × 111.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Richard S. Zeisler Bequest (by exchange), The Friends of Education of The Museum of Modern Art, Committee on Drawings Fund, Dian Woodner, and Agnes Gund. © 1973 The Charles White Archives. Photo Credit: Jonathan Muzikar, The Museum of Modern Art Imaging Services

Charles White. Sound of Silence. 1978. Printed by David Panosh, Published by Hand Graphics, Ltd. Color lithograph on paper. 25 1/8 × 35 5/16″ (63.8 × 89.7 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago. Margaret Fisher Fund. © 1978 The Charles White Archives.

Charles White: A Retrospective is organized by Esther Adler, Associate Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, MoMA; and Sarah Kelly Oehler, Field-McCormick Chair and Curator of American Art, The Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition was on view at The Art Institute of Chicago from June 8 through September 3, 2018, and following its MoMA presentation it will travel to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), where it will be on view from February 17 through June 9, 2019.

Images courtesy The Museum of Modern Art.

October 8, 2018

Harry Potter: A History of Magic at New-York Historical Society, October 5, 2018 – January 27, 2019

Harry Potter: A History of Magic, now at the New-York Historical Society, was the British Library’s most successful exhibition. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the New York exhibition explores the traditions of folklore and magic at the heart of the Harry Potter stories and showcases a new selection of objects that are on view to the public for the very first time.

Harry Potter: A History of Magic features centuries-old treasures, including rare books, manuscripts, and magical objects from the collections of the British Library, the New-York Historical Society, and other museums, as well as original material from publisher Scholastic and J.K. Rowling’s own archives. The exhibition is organized around the subjects studied at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, including: Potions and Alchemy, Herbology, Divination, Charms, Astronomy, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Care of Magical Creatures.

Photographs by Corrado Serra.

The exhibition is accompanied by a special audio tour featuring the voice of actress Natalie Dormer—available to ticketholders as a free Audible download—providing in-depth content on the objects on view.

The original exhibition was organized by British Library curators Julian Harrison, Tanya Kirk, Alexander Lock, and Joanna Norledge. In New York, the exhibition is overseen by Margi Hofer, New-York Historical’s vice president and museum director, and Cristian Petru Panaite, associate curator of exhibitions.

October 7, 2018

Art of Native America: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection at The Met Fifth Avenue, October 4, 2018-October 6, 2019

“The achievement of historical Native artists from across the United States and Canada is reflected in this installation of 116 works. More than fifty Indigenous groups are represented, as well as nearly all major historical Native American aesthetic forms: painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles, quill and bead embroidery, basketry, and ceramics. The works reveal the complexity, vibrancy, and variation of Native life and offer new narratives of America’s past.

Most of the objects—made to be worn; to nourish; to hunt, defend, and protect; to heal; to cradle the young; and to invoke the spirits—were created in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries against the backdrop of Euro-American colonialism. They are organized into seven geographical regions: Woodlands, Plains, Plateau, California and Great Basin, Southwest, Northwest Coast, and Arctic.

This long-term installation consists of promised gifts, donations, and loans from the pioneering collectors Charles and Valerie Diker. Their belief in the potential of these objects to broaden historical, cultural, and aesthetic understanding inspired their generosity. The presentation marks the first significant display of Native art in the American Wing, established in 1924.” — Introductory Wall Text

Guest curators: Gaylord Torrence, Fred and Virginia Merrill Senior Curator of American Indian Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri and Marjorie Alexander, Curatorial Consultant, American Indian Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.

Photographs by Corrado Serra.

Sylvia Yount, the Lawrence A. Fleischman Curator in Charge of the American Wing, stated: “We are committed to exploring thoughtfully and sensitively the entangled histories of contact and colonization from both Native and Euro-American perspectives. The Met takes seriously its curatorial responsibility to share with our broad audiences—in a variety of displays and contexts—the cultural endurance and creative continuity of Indigenous American artists.”

October 5, 2018

Franz Marc and August Macke: 1909-1914 at Neue Galerie New York, October 4, 2018 – January 21, 2019

“Franz Marc and August Macke: 1909-1914 is an exhibition that explores the life and work of two German artists and the power of their friendship. In the four years prior to Macke’s death in 1914 (Marc himself died in 1916), they wrote each other scores of letters, visited each other’s homes, traveled together, and often discussed the development of their work. They shared ideas about art, and through their innovations helped create the movement known as Expressionism in early twentieth-century Germany. The exhibition focuses on Marc and Macke’s artistic relationship, how their lives intersected, and how their art was developed and received during their lifetimes.

Featuring approximately 70 paintings and works on paper, Franz Marc and August Macke is comprised of loans from public and private collections worldwide. While Marc has received acclaim in the United States, Macke has not become well known. This presentation at Neue Galerie New York is the first time that Macke’s work will be shown in an American museum exhibition, and the first exhibition in the United States on the relationship between these artists.

In early 1910, Marc wrote to Macke: “I consider it a great stroke of luck to have at last met a colleague of so inward and artistic a disposition—rarissime! How pleased I would be if we were to succeed in exhibiting our pictures side by side.” Both men were young artists—twenty-nine and twenty-three, respectively—when they first met in Munich in January of that year. They soon became friends and visited each other’s studios in and near Munich. Beginning with the first presentation of the Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) in December 1911 and continuing for the next three years, they showed together in Munich, Berlin, Dresden, Cologne, and Moscow.” — Neue Galerie

Franz Marc (1880–1916). Siberian Sheepdogs, 1909. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Gift of Mr. And Mrs. Stephen M. Kellen

August Macke (1887–1914). Portrait with Apples, 1909. Oil on canvas. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich

Franz Marc (1880–1916). Ape Frieze, 1911. Oil on canvas. Hamburger Kunsthalle. Photo: bpk Bildagentur/Hamburger Kunsthalle/Art Resource, NY

Franz Marc (1880–1916). The Yellow Cow, 1911. Oil on canvas. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection

August Macke (1887–1914). Geraniums before Blue Mountain, 1910. Oil on canvas. Milwaukee Art Museum. Gift of Mrs. Harry Lynde Bradley, 1961. Photo: John R. Glembin

August Macke (1887-1914). Colored Forms I, 1913. Oil on board, mounted on panel. LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Münster, Germany. Photo: LWL-LMKuk/Sabine Ahlbrand-Dornseif

Franz Marc (1880–1916). Broken Forms, 1914. Oil on canvas. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

August Macke (1887–1914). Four Girls, 1913. Oil on canvas. Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf. Photo: Museum Kunstpalast – Horst Kolberg – ARTOTHEK

August Macke (1887-1914). Lady in a Park, 1914. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the Henry Pearlman Foundation, 1956. Photo: The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY

August Macke (1887–1914). Strollers at the Lake II, 1912. Oil on canvas. Neue Galerie New York. This work is part of the collection of Estée Lauder and was made available through the generosity of Estée Lauder

Franz Marc (1880–1916). Horse and Donkey, 1912. Tempera on paper. Private Collection, Switzerland

Franz Marc (1880–1916). The First Animals, 1913. Gouache and pencil on paper. Private Collection

August Macke (1887–1914). Donkey Rider, 1914. Watercolor on paper. Private Collection

Franz Marc and August Macke: 1909-1914 is organized by the Neue Galerie New York and the Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie, Paris. The curator for the Neue Galerie is independent scholar Vivian Endicott Barnett. After its presentation in New York, the exhibition will travel to Paris, where it will be on view at the Musée de l’Orangerie from March 6 to June 17, 2019.

Images courtesy Neue Galerie.