R & Company to Present Rare and Iconic Masterworks by Wendell Castle, Isamu Noguchi, and Joaquim Tenreiro at TEFAF New York I 18 April 2024

For the upcoming edition of TEFAF New York, R & Company is pleased to present a selection of rare and singular historical masterworks by such renowned makers as Wendell Castle, Isamu Noguchi, Lisa Bo Bardi, and Joaquim Tenreiro, as well as choice contemporary objects by some of today’s leading makers, including Roberto Lugo and Katie Stout. R & Company’s presentation will be featured in one of the Park Avenue Armory’s second floor historic rooms by Pottier & Stymus, establishing a dynamic dialogue between the environment and intricate works on view. TEFAF New York opens to the public on May 10, 2024.  

Spencer Museum of Art to Open Exhibition Exploring the Pathbreaking Work Of Visionary Women Artists of Color  I  3 April 2024

In February 2025, the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas will open a major exhibition exploring the visionary work of women as well as several gender non-conforming artists. Titled Bold Women, the exhibition explores the myriad ways that women have pushed the boundaries of art and spurred critical social and cultural change across generations and geographies. Within this broad purview, it emphasizes the important contributions of Black, Indigenous, and global artists of color, LGBTQ+ artists, and artists of intersecting identity. Bold Women includes approximately 70 new and existing works of art in a wide range of mediums by some 40 contemporary artists, including Elia Alba, Firelei Báez, Andrea Chung, Faye HeavyShield, Hong Chun Zhang, Shirin Neshat, Shelley Niro, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Ingrid Pollard, Shellyne Rodriguez, Cara Romero, Mary Sibande, Rose B. Simpson, Mimi Smith, Sonié Joi Thompson-Ruffin, and Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, among others. The exhibition also features several historical touchstone works to highlight women’s artistic innovations over more than 100 years.

Julia Marciari-Alexander Appointed President of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation  I  3 April 2024

The Samuel H. Kress Foundation, an important supporter of the study and presentation of European art, architecture, and archaeology in the United States, announced today that it has appointed Dr. Julia Marciari-Alexander as its new president. The selection of Marciari-Alexander follows a comprehensive search led by the Foundation’s Board of Trustees that began after the announcement in March 2023 of the pending retirement of the Foundation’s long serving president, Max Marmor. Marciari-Alexander, who currently serves as the Andrea B. & John H. Laporte Executive Director and CEO of the Walters Art Museum, in Baltimore, will begin her role at Kress in Fall 2024.

Monet Painting to be Sold at Auction, Proceeds Will Be Used to Support Future Nelson-Atkins Acquisitions  I  1 April 2024

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City announced today that the Claude Monet painting Mill at Limetz, 1888, which was a partial gift to the museum in 1986 by Ethel B. Atha, will be sold at auction following the death in September 2023 of her daughter, Ethelyn Atha Chase, who held a life interest in part of the painting. Upon the passing of Mrs. Chase, the family decided they wished to sell their one-third share, and together with the museum reached an agreement to proceed with an auction. The Nelson-Atkins contracted with Christie’s Auction Company and the auction will take place in May; the museum’s portion of the sale proceeds will support future art acquisitions. The work has been shared between the family’s descendants and the museum and has been regularly on view at the museum since 2008. It is one of five paintings by Monet in the Nelson-Atkins collection.

R & Company Announces Spring Exhibitions, Featuring Fully Designed Living Spaces  I  28 March 2024

R & Company is pleased to announce its slate of spring exhibitions, including solo shows of new works by acclaimed makers Rogan Gregory and Ashley Hicks and a significant group presentation focused on artistic experimentations with doors and screens as often overlooked but essential design elements. The gallery has for many years presented art and design in arrangements evocative of living spaces, supporting audiences in imagining how they could live with the works on view and creating exciting formal and conceptual juxtapositions between objects and makers. The spring exhibitions build on this long-standing tradition, with each show offering distinct articulations of fully designed interior spaces. The exhibitions feature historical masterworks by such design legends as Wendell Castle, Jose Zanine Caldas, and Joaquim Tenreiro as well as new objects that reflect the latest aesthetic and technical innovations. Together, the spring exhibitions provide visitors with a captivating expression of the possibilities of collectible design to the creation and experience of the home.

Walker Art Center to Open Most In-Depth Museum Exhibition of Artist Walter Price  I  21 March 2024

Brooklyn-based artist Walter Price (b. 1989) isn’t afraid of color. Instead, he sees freedom and joy in its endless possibilities. One glimpse at his exuberant canvases, which burst with lush, vivid hues, make this perspective abundantly clear. In August, visitors to the Walker Art Center will have an opportunity to experience nearly 25 of Price’s evocative paintings, which blur the boundaries between figuration and abstraction and draw viewers into his singular visual world. Titled Walter Price: Pearl Lines, the exhibition represents the most in-depth museum exploration of the artist’s practice to-date, and features selections from significant bodies of work produced between 2017 and 2023, including a painting acquired by the Walker in 2020 that will be on public display for the first time.

Spencer Museum of Art Receives $1.35 Million Gift to Endow Education Position  I  18 March 2024

The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas today announced that it has received a $1.35 million gift from the J.K. & Ingrid Lee Foundation to endow the position of Learning Engagement Coordinator. In collaboration with curatorial and leadership teams, the Learning Engagement Coordinator is responsible for developing programming and overseeing object-based learning for the Spencer’s recently opened Ingrid & J.K. Lee Study Center. The approximately 1,300-square-foot Lee Center includes open artwork storage that allows for direct interaction with artworks and supports a wide range of learning opportunities for students, faculty, visiting researchers, and the public. The gift ensures the Spencer’s ability to maintain a position dedicated to the Lee Center and reflects a shared commitment to its importance in enacting the museum’s mission and vision.

Mia strengthen collections of Native American, Latin American, and Tibetan Buddhist art  I  13 March 2024

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) announced today that more than 185 works were added to the museum’s collection at the end of 2023, a combination of gifts and purchases that includes works in four departments in the museum. Among the highlight objects are: a photograph by Native American artist Cara Romero, made in collaboration with George Alexander, and acquired with funds from an anonymous donor; a painting by the pioneering Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez; eight vibrantly decorated 19th century Tibetan Buddhist carpets; an 18th century painting of a palace scene produced at the court of Udaipur (Mewar); a large-format painting by Jozef Israëls, a prominent, 19th century Dutch artist that was gifted to the museum; a sculpture by Jacques Lipchitz, on long term loan to Mia from the Walker Art Center; and an early 16th century engraving by Renaissance luminary Jacopo de' Barbari. Two of the Himilayan Buddhist carpets, the Lipschitz, and Israels are on view. 

Walker Art Center to Open Major Exhibition of Renowned Artist Sophie Calle  I  6 March 2024

In October 2024, the Walker Art Center will open Sophie Calle: Overshare, the first North American exhibition to explore the full range of the artist’s practice across the past five decades. Through examples of major bodies of work as well as lesser-known pieces, the exhibition captures the ways in which Calle’s early work anticipated the rise of social media as a space to shape and present lived experience. The exhibition features photography, text-based works, video, and installations, highlighting the artist’s efforts to probe the boundaries between public and private; truth and fiction; control and chance. Overshare is the first large-scale exhibition to engage North American audiences with the significance of Calle’s recurring themes, and to capture their ongoing relevance to contemporary experiences and dialogues about our digitally mediated world.

10 Art Museums Host Paid Internships for Students from Underrepresented Backgrounds  I  1 March 2024

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) has selected the 10 member art museums that will host interns in 2024 as part of its paid college internship program for students from underrepresented communities—the fifth iteration of its ongoing initiative, and an important part of AAMD’s efforts to enhance diversity and equity within the art museum sector. This year’s participating institutions are: Hudson River Museum; Missoula Art Museum; Palm Springs Art Museum; Phoenix Art Museum; Reynolda House; Spencer Museum of Art; Taft Museum of Art; The Chrysler Museum of Art; The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) - Qaumajuq; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Daisy Nam Appointed Director of the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts  I  27 February 2024

California College of the Arts (CCA) announced today Daisy Nam has been named as the new director and chief curator of the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts at California College of the Arts. Nam joins the Wattis from Ballroom Marfa, where she has been a curator since 2020 and the director since 2022. Nam is widely recognized for her extensive experience working with living artists curating and developing exhibitions, commissions, public and teaching programs, as well as in fundraising and donor cultivation. Nam will start at the Wattis on April 1. Later this year, the Wattis will reopen in its new gallery, located in CCA’s new, Studio Gang-designed pavilions.

R & Company Announces Creation of Design Triennial  I  27 February 2024

On September 6, R & Company will formally launch its triennial Objects: USA, following the gallery’s landmark presentation of the design survey in 2020. Objects: USA 2024 will feature more than 100 works by 55 artists, designers, and studios from across the United States. In recent years, collectible design has increasingly entered popular consciousness, in part thanks to the diversity of individuals embracing handmade processes and propelling them in new directions. Objects: USA offers an incisive exploration of the formal innovations and conceptual motivations that shape the distinct and varied landscape of today’s object-making. The 2024 edition includes emerging voices and established makers deserving of greater study, across a broad spectrum of gender and cultural backgrounds. Among the many artists are Venancio Aragon, Richard Chavez, Jason McDonald, Ryan Decker, Wally Dion, Nik Gelornimo, Joyce Lin, Linda Lopez, Luam Melake, Anina Major, Kim Mupangilaï, Jordan Nassar, Jolie Ngo, Cammie Staros, Matthew Szösz, Norman Teague, Lonnie Vigil, and Mallory Weston. Objects: USA 2024 will remain on view through January 10, 2025, at R & Company’s 64 White Street location.

23 Artists Receive $45,000 in Unrestricted Grants from Foundation for Contemporary Arts  I  15 February 2024

Today, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA) announced the recipients of its 2024 Grants to Artists awards—twenty-three individual artists recognized for their contemporary, experimental work in five different categories and selected to receive unrestricted $45,000 awards. Totaling $1,035,000, grantees are working in the areas of Dance, Music/Sound, Performance Art/Theater, Poetry, and Visual Arts. This year two new annual awards were inaugurated: The Viola Farber Award, named in honor of the choreographer and early FCA Board member, and dedicated to supporting a NYC-based dancer; and The Alvin Lucier Award for Music endowed by composer and explorer of sonic phenomena Alvin Lucier, to be made to a composer, performer, or sound engineer.

Unique Collection of Federal Art Project Works Presented in New Exhibition at Saint Louis Art Museum  I  7 February 2024

In 1943, the Saint Louis Art Museum received 256 prints, drawings, watercolors and paintings—including the first objects by African American artists to enter the museum’s collection. This remarkable and diverse group of works were produced by artists funded through the Federal Art Project (FAP), a nationwide initiative during the New Deal that put more than 10,000 artists to work. Beginning August 2, the Saint Louis Art Museum will present a new exhibition that looks at 58 of these works, reflecting the creativity of artists working during the Great Depression and the start of World War II, and features artists from historically marginalized groups, including African American, Asian American and female-identifying artists. Titled “The Work of Art: The Federal Art Project, 1935-1943” the exhibition opens with a public celebration from 4-7 pm August 2, 2024 and continues through Feb. 16, 2025.

Walker Art Center to Open Expansive New Installation of Its Collection  I  6 February 2024

On June 20, the Walker Art Center will open This Must Be the Place, the first significant reinstallation of works from the institution’s exceptional and growing collection in over five years. The Walker’s collection features more than 16,000 objects, including works by modern art icons and some of the most influential and celebrated artists of today. In recent years, the Walker has continued to expand its holdings with works by women artists, BIPOC artists, artists working in new media and performance arts, and artists from or with ties to Minnesota. This Must Be the Place reintroduces audiences to the Walker’s evolving collection, presenting beloved, touchstone works alongside lesser known but equally important objects as well as new acquisitions. Through new interpretative materials, the installation offers fresh insight into the development of the collection and creates new pathways for storytelling and community engagement.

Major Painting by Alejandro Mario Yllanes Acquired by Bowdoin College Museum of Art  I  6 February 2024

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) has acquired Estaño Maldito (Cursed Tin) (1937), an important painting by the Indigenous Bolivian artist Alejandro Mario Yllanes (1913-c.1960), and the first painting by this accomplished modernist to enter a museum in the United States. Executed after Bolivia’s defeat in the Chaco War, the work offers a scathing portrayal of the dire conditions faced by Indigenous miners in the nation’s lucrative tin industry. In addition to the painting, the Museum has also acquired Elegia (1944), a wood engraving by the artist reflecting his signature style. A socially conscious artist, Yllanes drew inspiration from Mexico’s muralists, especially Diego Rivera—who became a supporter and mentor—and he created a compelling and powerful body of work, including paintings and many works on paper, before he disappeared. It will soon go on view in the Museum’s galleries as part of the “Currents” installation that explores new ways of thinking about the Museum’s modern and contemporary art.

BMA to Open 50-Year Retrospective of Boundary-Breaking Artist Joyce J. Scott on March 24  I  1 February 2024

On March 24, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will open the 50-year career retrospective of artist Joyce J. Scott (b. 1948, Baltimore, MD), encompassing the full range and depth of her prolific and genre-defying practice. Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams features nearly 140 works from the 1970s to the present—including sculpture, jewelry, textiles, artwear garments, performance compilations, prints, mixed-media installations, and a new large-scale commission. The astonishing virtuosity and ingenuity of Scott’s work in every medium seamlessly coalesces with her lifelong vision to confront racism, sexism, classism, and “all the ‘isms’ society offers” through impish and audacious humor, expressions of beauty, and a humanistic engagement with global events. Her innate ability to move across medium and genre, leveraging her materials to speak fearlessly to subjects of deep personal and communal meaning make her one of the most significant artists of our time and deserving of greater scholarly study and public recognition.

SFMOMA to Open Major Show on Influence of Sports on Contemporary Culture I 1 February 2024 

Sports serve as a major driver for artistic and technological innovation, community building and debates about social and cultural priorities and norms. From October 19, 2024-February 18, 2025, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) will present Get in the Game—its largest exhibition organized to date—exploring the powerful role of sports in contemporary culture. The forthcoming exhibition will examine how sports permeate culture, bring people together in shared experience and offer a critical lens through which to consider ongoing conversations about gender, race, national identity and the human body, as well as the will and desire to compete and succeed. Unfolding across multiple floors and approximately 15,000 square feet, the presentation will feature roughly 200 objects in different mediums. On view will be paintings, sculptures and mixed media works by some of today’s most important artists, as well as design breakthroughs in gear and apparel, and participatory installations that visitors can play. Together, the works in the exhibition will capture the potency of sports in shaping the aesthetics, inspirations and memorable experiences of our daily lives.

BMA Announces More than 100 New Acquisitions Across Media, Time, and Culture I 11 January 2024

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today the acquisition of more than 100 works of art. The objects entering the collection represent a broad range of historical and contemporary material and reflect the BMA’s ongoing efforts to diversify its holdings with works by women artists, artists of color, artists with ties to the Baltimore region, and those representing global cultures across time. Among these works are paintings by Marie Bracquemond, Brenda Goodman, Alexander Harrison, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Hung Liu, Kylie Manning, Megan Rooney, James Alexander Simpson, Helen Torr, Susan Catherine Waters, and James Williams II; sculptural works by Rhea Dillon, Doyle Lane, Jiha Moon, Shahzia Sikander, and Chiffon Thomas; video by Justen Leroy and Sin Wai Kin; and works on paper by Merikokeb Berhanu, Darrel Ellis, Dindga McCannon, Peter Milton, and Wura-Natasha Ogunji, and numerous others across media. In a significant milestone, the acquisitions also include the first work of performance art to enter the BMA’s collection: interdisciplinary artist Jefferson Pinder’s Ben-Hur (2012).

Spencer Museum of Art to Open Exhibitions Exploring Black Life, Love, and Activism  I  9 January 2024 

On February 9, the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas will open Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley: Let the World See, a significant exhibition exploring Emmett Till’s life and his mother’s powerful and tireless activism following his brutal and tragic murder. The exhibition offers keen insight into Till’s life as a child in Chicago, the events that led to his kidnapping and murder, the entrenched racism and biases that allowed his killers to go free, and the ways that Mamie Till-Mobley’s bravery in advocating for her son fueled the Civil Rights Movement. The exhibition includes photographs, first-person accounts and other historical materials, including a bullet-ridden historical marker noting the location where Till’s body was removed from the Tallahatchie River, and interactive components that encourage learning and invite visitors to participate in community healing and activism. To expand on the themes and ideas presented in Let the World See, the Spencer will present a concurrent companion exhibition, titled One History, Two Versions, featuring work by contemporary Black artists that explores and highlights Black life, love, representation, and activism. 

R & Company to Open Three Exhibitions on January 12, Highlighting Emerging Voices and Iconic Designs  I  8 January 2024

Evelyn Ackerman: The Collection of Gary and Laura Maurer is the first solo exhibition focused on Ackerman’s vision and work outside of California. Evelyn Ackerman, along with her business partner and husband Jerome Ackerman, played a pivotal role in melding the worlds of art, craft, and design. The upcoming exhibition features more than 30 tapestries and mosaics designed by Evelyn and produced between 1957 and 1982, capturing her distinct style and highlighting her critical contributions to design history. 

Sayar & Garibeh: Broomlithic is the much-anticipated US solo premiere of the Lebanon-based design duo. In recent years, Stephanie Sayar and Charbel Garibeh have been increasingly recognized for their experimental designs that blend traditional craft techniques with contemporary innovation and wit. The exhibition will feature a selection of new furniture and design objects that reflect the designers’ distinctive stone carving, playful spirit, and commitment to bringing to the fore Lebanese life and culture.

Forma: Bridging Cultures in Modern Design is the gallery’s second exhibition exploring the designs of one of the most important mid-20th century Brazilian furniture ateliers. Drawing on their varying experiences in art, architecture, and interior design, Forma’s lead designers Carlo Hauner and Martin Eisler created a singular style that emphasized local materials, clean, angular lines, and impeccable craftsmanship. Although Hauner and Eisler only worked together for a short period, their practice has had a lasting impact on the development of global design.

BMA Announces Appointment of Kevin Tervala as Chief Curator I 11 December 2023

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that Kevin Tervala has been appointed the museum’s Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Chief Curator, following a nine-month search process. Tervala, a scholar of African art and material culture, has served as the BMA’s Interim Chief Curator since February 2023, and previously held the role of Department Head for the Arts of Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific Islands (AAAPI) since 2017. Tervala has played a critical leadership role at the BMA, supporting the museum’s work to develop a new collections roadmap, to enhance its policies on repatriation and ethical collections growth and management, to engage more directly with college and university partners, and to diversify the voices and experiences represented in the museum’s galleries. He is responsible for reconceptualizing the installation of the BMA’s African art collection to emphasize historical and socio-political narratives and a broad range of artistic expression—including modern and contemporary artworks—as well as for the creation of the first collection gallery dedicated to Oceanic art at the museum. Among his numerous exhibitions are The Matter of Bark Cloth (2023); A Perfect Power: Motherhood and African Art (2020); and Kuba: Fabric of an Empire (2019).

BMA Opens Newly Renovated and Reimagined Joseph Education Center on December 3  I  29 November 2023

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announces the re-opening of its Patricia and Mark Joseph Education Center with new opportunities for hands-on artmaking and interactive engagement for families, students, and art lovers of all ages. At the heart of the renovated and expanded center is a series of site-specific installations by internationally acclaimed artists Derrick Adams, Mary Flanagan, and Pablo Helguera, who each created experiences that encourage learning through play and physical connection. The 5,625-square-foot Joseph Education Center also includes new and refurbished classrooms for both dry and wet artmaking and a Wall of Wonder with tactile and digital displays that invite visitors to consider creative processes and activate their own imaginations. The center debuts on Sunday, December 3 with an Opening Celebration from 1 to 5 p.m. with opportunities to meet the artists and enjoy hands-on artmaking.

SAMA Announces Acquisition of Two Major Gifts of Ancient Art from the Americas  I  28 November 2023  

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) announced today the acquisition of two extensive collections focused on the art of the Americas before 1500. The first is a gift from collectors and longtime SAMA supporters John M. and Kathi Oppenheimer and features nearly 200 objects, primarily ceramic and stone figures and vessels, that represent societies that thrived in West and Central Mexico and Central America, including the Aztec, Mixtec, Colima, Nayarit, and Jalisco, as well as objects made by the Maya, Zapotec, and Olmec cultures. Together, the works were made over two thousand years, from approximately 1200 BC to AD 1500. The second collection comes from Lindsay and Lucy Duff and includes 110 objects, including ceramics, textiles, and carved stone and wood objects, from early South American cultures, such as the Moche, Nasca, Wari, Chimu, and Inca and spanning from around 500 BC to AD 1500. Several of the works in the Duff Collection are currently on loan to SAMA, including a large gold beaker and a ceramic portrait vessel.

UMMA to Open Exhibition Exploring Art of Cambodia through 80 Historic and Contemporary Works  I  17 November 2023

On February 3, the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) will open Angkor Complex, an expansive exhibition exploring the art of Cambodia and its diaspora through 80 works, created from the 12th century to the present day. Angkor Complex explores distinct formal strategies and artistic innovations that emerged in the face of and in response to colonialism, significant social upheavals, war, and genocide. It features work from some of the foremost members of the modern and contemporary Cambodian art scene, including Vann Nath, Sopheap Pich, Svay Sareth, Amy Lee Sanford, and Leang Seckon, as well as significant historic works. Through architectural fragments, sculptural ensembles, paintings, lens-based media, and performance pieces, the exhibition highlights the myriad ways in which artists leveraged the possibilities and power of art to honor the memory of the deceased, heal personal and collective angst, and nurture resilience.

Walker Art Center Announces 2024 Exhibition Highlights  I  14 November 2023

The Walker Art Center’s 2024 exhibition program features significant solo presentations of works by Keith Haring, Walter Price, and Sophie Calle, offering new insights into the depth and range of their individual practices. Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody, which opens in April, explores the distinctive quality and enduring influence of the artist’s oeuvre through more than 100 works and rarely seen archival materials. The exhibition will be accompanied by a wide range of public programs that reflect the Walker’s relationship with Haring prior to his death and the importance of his work to the Twin Cities. In August, the Walker will open the largest institutional exhibition of contemporary artist Walter Price, engaging audiences with both significant and never-before-seen paintings and establishing new scholarship on the development of his vision and approach through today. This will be followed by a major exhibition of French artist Sophie Calle, who, for nearly five decades, has explored the complexities of personal relationships and presentations of the self in ways that presaged today’s social media–obsessed culture. Sophie Calle: Overshare, opening in October, is the most comprehensive examination of her career to be presented in North America.

BMA and Valerie J. Maynard Foundation Launch New Collaborative Internship Program  I  10 November 2023

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and Valerie J. Maynard Foundation (VJMF) announced today the creation of a shared internship program in honor of artist Valerie J. Maynard (1937–2022). Maynard was a pioneering member of the Black Arts Movement and beloved icon of the Baltimore arts community, whose multi-decade practice engaged with the complexity of Black identity and experience. The idea for a collaborative internship with the BMA was first conceived with Maynard as a natural extension of her lifelong impact as an educator and mentor. The Valerie J. Maynard Legacy Internship honors that legacy by supporting young professionals seeking to enter the museum field. The paid internship, which formally launched this fall, invites students to gain experience at both organizations, offering opportunities to learn practical skills in research and preservation, exhibition development, and the work of artist estates. The program also supports Baltimore’s artistic vitality—a critical goal for the BMA, Foundation, and Maynard during her lifetime.

Spencer Museum of Art Acquires Major Works by Artists Dread Scott and Fahamu Pecou I 8 November 2023

The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas (KU) announced today that it has acquired major works by artists Dread Scott and Fahamu Pecou. The two paintings are currently on view at the museum as part of the exhibition Black Writing, which explores the power, politics, and complexities of language in contemporary Black culture. The exhibition, which will remain open through January 7, 2024, was developed in partnership with the History of Black Writing (HBW), an ongoing research project on KU’s campus that supports the recovery and study of literature by Black writers, and celebrates HBW’s 40th anniversary by bringing the visual and literary arts together. 

SLAM Receives Gift of 100 Works of Native American Art I 7 November 2023

The Saint Louis Art Museum has received a promised gift of 100 works from the William P. Healey Collection of Native American Art, which includes drawings, paintings and sculpture by 62 Indigenous artists. Focused on 20th-century works from artists based primarily in Oklahoma and New Mexico, the gift will introduce 55 new artists to the museum collection including major names in the field such as Fred Kabotie, Stephen Mopope, Pop Chalee and Allan Houser. The Healey gift will make it possible for the museum to present greater continuity in the history of Native American art.

David C. Howse Appointed President of California College of the Arts  I  25 October 2024

The Board of Trustees of California College of the Arts (CCA) has announced the appointment of David C. Howse as CCA’s 10th president following a nine month search. Howse brings over 20 years of experience leading arts organizations through strategic visioning, fundraising, and community building, working primarily in educational institutions. He will come to CCA from Emerson College in Boston, MA, where he has worked since 2015 as Vice President in Emerson’s Office of the Arts, as the Executive Director of ArtsEmerson, and also serves as Special Advisor to the President; prior to that, he was the Executive Director of Boston Children’s Chorus. Howse will begin his role at CCA in December.

R & Company to Open Exhibition of New Work by Artist Anne Fischer  I  24 October 2024

On November 3, R & Company will open a solo exhibition of new works by artist Anne Fischer, inspired by her travels with poet Teresa Carson to the extinct ancient city of Ostia Antica on the outskirts of Rome. Fischer’s dynamic practice includes jewelry, furniture, works on paper, and sculpture in various media. Her practice of making rings in precious metals is distinguished by her particular attention to minute details and ability to incorporate poetic text and figurative drawings at a very small scale. In her upcoming exhibition, titled Visit to An Extinct City, Fischer also delves more deeply into the formal qualities and possibilities of plaster, which she uses to produce a spectrum of small sculptural objects that suggest the landscape of an excavated city and are the foundation for her new cast-metal rings. The rings, in turn, are presented as an elaborate assemblage of independent parts echoing fragments in an open field. The installation design for Visit to An Extinct City is being created in collaboration with interior architect Ken Foreman. The exhibition will remain on view at R & Company’s White Street location through January 5, 2024, and is accompanied by an artist book developed in collaboration with designer Julien Fischer.

BMA to Launch Expansive Initiative Centering the Voices and Work of Native Artists and Leaders in April 2024  I 19 October 2023

In April 2024, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will launch Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum, a series of exhibitions and projects that centers the work, experiences, and voices of Native artists. Preoccupied explores the vital cultural contributions of Native people through the presentation of historical objects as well as works created by a breadth of contemporary makers, including Julie Buffalohead (Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma), T.C. Cannon (Kiowa/Caddo), Dana Claxton (Hunkpapa Lakota), Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit and Unangax̂), Duane Linklater (Omaskêko Ininiwak from Moose Cree First Nation), Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache), Caroline Monnet (Anishinaabe/French), Wendy Red Star (Apsáaalooke (Crow)), Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation), Marie Watt (Seneca Nation of Indians and German-Scot ancestry), and Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota), among others. Unfolding over the course of ten months, the initiative features focus solo presentations, thematic explorations, and a film series curated by Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation and a descendant of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians). Preoccupied will also include interventions in the display and labeling of certain objects across the museum that depict Native subjects and espouse colonialist perspectives. Together, these projects and forthcoming public programs will significantly increase the presence of Native artists in the BMA’s galleries and actively subvert the colonialist tendencies and hierarchies upon which museums have been built. The initiative will continue through January 2025.

R & Company to Open Exhibition of Masterworks by Visionary Designer Sergio Rodrigues  I  17 October 2023

On November 3, R & Company will open Sergio Rodrigues: the Heart of Brazil, the gallery’s fifth solo exhibition of the master designer recognized for his critical role in shaping Brazilian Modernism. R & Company has championed Rodrigues’s practice for more than two decades, developing a close relationship with the designer prior to his death in 2014 and amassing an expansive collection of his original works and archival materials. The forthcoming exhibition continues the gallery’s commitment to expanding awareness of his significant and enduring influence on design and to growing a committed collecting base for his one-of-a-kind pieces. Sergio Rodrigues: the Heart of Brazil will include a selection of both iconic and lesser-known furniture that captures the designer’s visionary approach and remarkable craftsmanship. The exhibition will remain on view through January 5, 2024, at the gallery’s 64 White Street location.

Walker Art Center to Launch Collectible Design Store in November  I  12 October 2023

On November 16, the Walker Art Center will launch Idea House 3, a new retail platform within the institution that will feature the work of an international cadre of leading and emerging designers and celebrate design experimentation and innovation. The new 1500 square-foot collectible design store will be organized to suggest the different rooms of a home, with hand-picked furniture, lighting, tableware, textiles, and a wide array of design objects presented to capture how one might live with the works on view. Idea House 3 will emphasize boundary-breaking makers and craftsmanship in its many forms and give special focus to single and special edition pieces as well as new works exclusive to the store. To support its vision to present a diverse range of makers, the Walker will regularly invite design experts and creatives from across disciplines to curate the “Guest Room” of Idea House 3, exploring different themes and bringing a depth of perspectives to the space. The establishment of Idea House 3 adds a compelling new chapter to the long legacy of design within the Walker’s multidisciplinary program, which can be traced to its earliest days as a public institution. Once it launches in November, Idea House 3 Idea will have an online presence on the Walker website, allowing for broad engagement with the content.

San Antonio Museum of Art Appoints Jessica Powers as Chief Curator I 10 October 2023

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) announced today that it has promoted Jessica Powers to Chief Curator. Powers has been with the institution since 2006, holding the position of Gilbert M. Denman, Jr. Curator of Art of the Ancient Mediterranean World since 2007 and serving as Interim Chief Curator from April 2021 to August 2023. She recently organized the critically acclaimed exhibition Roman Landscapes: Visions of Nature and Myth from Rome and Pompeii, the first exhibition in the United States to explore landscape scenes as a genre of ancient Roman art. It featured a range of first-time loans to the US and was accompanied by an extensive scholarly catalog. Powers will continue to oversee the collection of Art of the Ancient Mediterranean World, while also working with the leadership and curatorial teams to shape the future of SAMA’s growing collection and exhibition program.

Bowdoin College Museum of Art Announces Two December Shows, Exploring Jim Dine’s Portrait Drawings & Artist’s Explorations of Asian-American Identity I 27 September 2023

This December, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art will open “Jim Dine: Last Year’s Forgotten Harvest,” an exhibition featuring over 60 of the artist’s exceptional portrait-drawings, created over the past six and a half decades. While Dine has long been celebrated for his fearless and candid self-portraiture, this is the first exhibition to delve deeply into the artist’s portraits of others. Through this constellation of individuals, many of whom Dine has known over many years, we observe how portraiture can register the intensity of human connection experienced through time. The exhibition, which grows out of several generous recent gifts of drawings by Dine to the Museum, will provide audiences with an opportunity to see works never or only rarely presented publicly. “Jim Dine: Last Year’s Forgotten Harvest” will open on December 7, 2023.

The groundbreaking new exhibition “Without Apology: Asian American Selves, Memories, Futures” weaves together 30 artworks from the 20th and 21st centuries, created by more than twenty artists who self-identify as Asian American—including Tomie Arie, Mel Chin, An-my Lê, Hung Liu, and Shahzia Sikander—to explore the ways these artists express aspects of their identity through their work. Across several generations of artists, these works explore identity with pride, or through struggle, or by confronting the challenges of bridging the artists’ self-perceptions as Americans with how others sometimes perceive them. “Without Apology” opens December 14, 2023.

BMA Offers New Insights into Asian Art Collection with Reinstalled Galleries Opening October 1 I 21 September 2023

A new interpretation of the BMA’s Asian art collection debuts on Sunday, October 1, with the addition of works from India, Indonesia, Iran, and Türkiye displayed alongside works from East Asia. This presentation of 182 objects provides a more complete understanding of the development of art across Asia through juxtapositions that offer new insights into materials, cultural and technological influences, and exchange and trade from the 26th century BCE to the 20th century. Approximately half of the works haven’t been on view for decades—if at all.

UMMA to Open New Project Developed in Partnership with Acclaimed Artist Cannupa Hanska Luger and the Nonprofit Monument Lab  I  18 September 2023

On September 22, the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) will open Cannupa Hanska Luger: You’re Welcome, a three-part project developed in collaboration with multidisciplinary artist Cannupa Hanska Luger (enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold) and the nonprofit public art and history studio Monument Lab. You’re Welcome examines the history of the land on which the University of Michigan sits—and its relationship to broader dialogues about land sovereignty, colonialism, memorialization, and the cultural perspectives of and implications for Indigenous communities. The project features a commissioned installation by Luger for the exterior of one of the museum’s buildings as well as an in-gallery exhibition that creates a dynamic interplay between several of the artist’s sculptural installations and works selected from UMMA’s expansive collection. The project also includes the Monument Lab: Public Classroom, which offers a space for dialogue and further contemplation of key themes within You’re Welcome, especially the central curatorial question: “How do we remember on this campus?”

Walker Art Center to Premiere Major New Work by Dance Pioneer Dianne McIntyre  I  11 September 2023

Dance pioneer Dianne McIntyre will premiere a major new work at the Walker Art Center this fall. Titled In The Same Tongue, the performance explores how language and meaning are created through dance movement, music, and spoken word. The work is an expression of Black creatives, weaving narratives of the past, present, and future. The piece is informed by McIntyre’s profound relationship to these arts forms developed over the course of her 50-year career and embodies her groundbreaking work at the intersections of Modern, Concert, Avant Garde, and Black Arts movements. It features an evening-length score by celebrated composer Diedre Murray and poems by Obie-winning playwright Ntozake Shange. The performance offers a captivating evocation of the significance of language, to personal experience as well as to creating moments of disconnection and connection or misunderstanding and understanding. The dance and jazz performers in the DIANNE McINTYRE Group will be joined by dancers from the Twin Cities-based CULTIVATE program of TU Dance. In The Same Tongue is co-commissioned and co-presented by the Walker and Northrop at the University of Minnesota. It will open at the Walker from October 5 through 7, with performances at 8:00 p.m. each evening. Tickets and additional information are available on Walker website.

R & Company Announces Representation of Pioneering Artist Richard Marquis  I  29 August 2023

R & Company announced today its representation of pathbreaking artist Richard Marquis, with the vision to establish new scholarship about his influential practice and expand the collecting audience for his innovative work across glass, ceramics, and other media. As part of the newly formalized relationship, R & Company received a substantial gift from Richard and Johanna Marquis for its Library and Archives, including early drawings and notebooks, image slides, murrine canes and samples, and rare catalogs capturing important moments in the development of the Studio Glass Movement. Over the next two years, R & Company will present a series of focus exhibitions illuminating the breadth of Marquis’s oeuvre, capturing his unwavering commitment to experimentation, unparalleled technical skills, and significance to the evolution of art and craft movements in the United States.

Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces 2023 Fellows, 15 Artists Who Will Receive $60,000 in Unrestricted Grants  I  22 August 2023

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today the 15 recipients of its 2023 Joan Mitchell Fellowships, which award $60,000 in unrestricted funds to artists from across the United States. This year’s artists reflect a diverse array of practices: from installations that demonstrate the impact of solar energy, to works made from tulle that use color and movement as a feminine rejoinder to the evolution of abstractionism; from land- based art practices that engage with questions of resilience, survival, and memory among Indigenous communities, to sculptural installations that explore the micro-ecologies of non- living systems; and painters and sculptors working in a spectrum of materials, including cement, lace, beads, and the artists’ hair.

Mia Announces New CFO, CAEO   I  22 August 2023

he Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) announced today the appointment of its new C. Curtis Dunnavan Chief Financial Officer and Chief Audience and Engagement Officer. Lynn Farmer, Mia’s new Chief Audience and Engagement Officer, will be coming to Mia from Twin Cities PBS, and will begin her tenure at Mia in September. Benjamin Murray, Mia’s new C. Curtis Dunnavan Chief Financial Officer, currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, and will join the museum in November. Both Farmer and Murray will serve on Mia’s senior leadership team and report directly to Mia’s Nivin and Duncan MacMillan Director and President.

R & Company Announces Representation and First Solo Show of Lebanon-Based Designers Sayar & Garibeh  I  15 August 2023

R & Company announced today its representation of Stephanie Sayar and Charbel Garibeh, the Lebanon-based designers known as Sayar & Garibeh. In recent years, the duo has been increasingly recognized for their experimental designs that blend traditional craft techniques with contemporary innovation and wit. R & Company previously presented works by Sayar & Garibeh at Design Miami and will mark their formal collaboration with a solo show of new works by the designers opening September 7, 2023. Titled Broomlithic, the exhibition will feature a selection of furniture and design objects that reflect the designers’ distinctive stone carving and pay tribute to the simple, functional broom. Broomlithic marks Sayar & Garibeh’s first solo exhibition in New York and will remain on view at R & Company’s 64 White Street location through October 27, 2023.

Lisa Key Appointed Executive Director of Chicago’s Driehaus Museum I  14 August 2023

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum announced today that Lisa M. Key has been appointed the Museum’s Executive Director, effective immediately. Key joined the Museum earlier this year as Interim Executive Director. Key’s appointment comes after a national search led by Koya Partners and the Driehaus Museum Search Committee led by Zach Lazar, Chair of the Museum’s Board of Trustees. 

Baltimore Museum of Art and Seattle Art Museum to Present 50-Year Retrospective of Boundary-Breaking Artist Joyce J. Scott I  8 August 2023

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and Seattle Art Museum (SAM) have co-organized the 50-year career retrospective of artist Joyce J. Scott, one of the most significant artists of our time. Best known for her virtuosic use of beads and glass, Scott has upended hierarchies of art and craft across a spectrum of media over the course of five decades—from her woven tapestries and soft sculpture of the 1970s and audacious performances and wearable art in the 1980s to sculptures of astonishing formal ingenuity and social force from the late 1970s to the present moment. The artist’s works across all media beguile viewers with beauty and humor while confronting racism, sexism, ecological devastation, and complex family dynamics. Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams was developed in close dialogue with the Baltimore-based artist and her collaborators to reveal the full breadth of Scott’s singular vision through more than 120 objects from public and private collections across the United States. The exhibition will encompass significant examples of the artist’s sculpture—both stand-alone and wearable pieces—alongside performance footage, garments, prints, and materials from Scott’s personal archive. The exhibition will also feature a newly commissioned installation currently in development and an expansive scholarly catalog.

Groundbreaking Exhibition at Mia Will Explore Photography by and of First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and Native American Photographers I 26 July 2023

This October, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) will present In Our Hands: Native Photography, 1890 to Now, a major exhibition that builds upon the work of Native artists, scholars, and knowledge-sharers to trace the intersecting histories of photography and First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and Native American cultures, from the Rio Grande to the Arctic Circle. Developed in partnership with a curatorial council comprised primarily of Native advisors, In Our Hands centers the work of Native photographers with a diverse array of photographic objects that illuminate the ways in which Native people have advanced the medium of photography for over a century. The exhibition opens on October 21, 2023 and will be on view at Mia through January 14, 2024.

UMMA Announces New Acquisitions, Including Major Works by McArthur Binion, Mel Bochner, Captherine Opie, Willie Cole, and Jarod Lew I 25 July 2023

The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) announced today that it has acquired a major work by acclaimed artist McArthur Binion. Self: Portrait (2022) was the centerpiece of the artist’s recent solo exhibition of the same name at Library Street Collective in Detroit. The new work expands on a body of paintings that Binion first created in 2016 that features a layer of collaged photographs and personal documents overlaid with the artist’s signature approach to painterly geometric abstraction. The mixed media work is the first by Binion to enter UMMA’s collection. It is a museum purchase with support from Joseph and Annette Allen, with proceeds from the sale going to support Binion’s foundation Modern Ancient Brown, which nurtures BIPOC artists and writers, and is developing a public skatepark designed by Binion and legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk. UMMA also announced the acquisition of an iconic painting from Mel Bochner’s Thesaurus Painting series, a readymade sculpture by Willie Cole, and important photographs by Catherine Opie and Jarod Lew.

MEADOWS MUSEUM PRESENTS WORKS BY JOAQUÍN SOROLLA Y BASTIDA, PART OF “YEAR OF SOROLLA” CELEBRATIONS IN SPAIN & AMERICA I 19 July 2023

From September 17, 2023 through January 7, 2024, the Meadows Museum, SMU, will present Spanish Light: Sorolla in American Collections, featuring 26 paintings from American private collections, some of which will be displayed publicly for the first time in decades. The curator of the exhibition is Blanca Pons-Sorolla, renowned Sorolla scholar and the artist’s great-granddaughter. It joins a worldwide celebration of the artist—dubbed the “Year of Sorolla/Año Sorolla” by Spain’s Ministry of Culture—during the centennial anniversary of his death. Of the approximately 30 exhibitions taking place, the Meadows’s is one of only two in the U.S.

BMA Announces Acquisition of More Than 100 Objects and Suites Across Media, Culture, Geography, and Time I 13 July 2023

The Baltimore Museum of Art announced today that it has acquired more than 100 objects and suites during winter and spring 2023. The broad range of works reflect the BMA’s ongoing commitment to diversify its collection across time, media, and culture; to bring forward new and under-recognized voices from across the globe; and to uplift artists with ties to Baltimore and the surrounding region.

A major highlight is a purchase and promised gift from the P. Bruce Marine and Donald Hardy Collection that significantly enhances the museum’s holdings of paintings and works on paper by Black artists from the 19th through the 21st centuries. The BMA purchased from the collection Charles White’s extraordinary 1938 drawing Peace on Earth, which depicts the Red Summer race riots of Chicago in 1919 and is an important example of the artist’s impact on the graphic tradition as a vehicle for messages of social justice. The work joins The Voice of Jericho (1958), a powerful print by White of his friend Harry Belafonte already in the BMA’s collection. The Marine-Hardy Collection also gifted 19 works to the BMA by John Henry Adams Jr., Edward Mitchell Bannister, Eldzier Cortor, Viyé Diba, David Driskell, John Farrar, Kojo Griffin, Seydou Keïta, Joe Overstreet, Charles Ethan Porter, Laura Wheeler Waring, Philemona Williamson, and others. 

R & Company to Open Artist Roberto Lugo’s First Solo Exhibition in New York This Fall  I  11 July 2023

On September 7, R & Company will open The Gilded Ghetto, artist Roberto Lugo’s first New York solo exhibition. Over the past several years, Lugo has been recognized for creating ornate ceramics that reflect his Afro-Latino heritage and depict the portraits and lived experiences of underrepresented communities. His work powerfully expands the voices celebrated within artistic practice and complicates the history of ceramics. The upcoming presentation marks an important shift for the artist, as he moves further from representations of important historical and cultural figures to sharing intimate narratives from his own life. While the iconography in his newest works is deeply personal, it has strong communal resonance, allowing it to be understood and appreciated from a range of perspectives and by a broad audience. The Gilded Ghetto features a wide selection of new work, including life-size pottery, wall-mounted sculptural roundels, and the artist’s interpretation of The Peacock Room at the National Museum of Asian Art. The exhibition will remain on view through October 27, 2023, at R & Company’s White Street location.

Artist Teresa Lanceta Selected for MAS: Meadows/ARCO Artists Spotlight  I 6 July 2023

The Meadows Museum, in collaboration with Fundación ARCO, announced today that Teresa Lanceta will be the second artist to participate in the MAS: Meadows/ARCO Artist Spotlight program. This six-year initiative, announced in 2019, focuses on highlighting exceptional contemporary Spanish artists who have limited recognition in the U.S., and gives them a platform to present their work through an installation at the Meadows Museum. The MAS program formally launched in 2021 with an exhibition of work by conceptual artist, Ignasi Aballí. The current artist, Teresa Lanceta, is known for her intricate, often colorful, textile-based works, recent examples of which will be featured in spring 2024 in the Virginia Meadows Galleries at the Meadows Museum. Lanceta will also travel to Dallas to participate in educational programming about her work that will engage both the SMU students and area arts advocates.

Baltimore Museum of Art and Saint Louis Art Museum to Donate Hip Hop Digital Archive to Atlanta University Center’s Robert W. Woodruff Library I 6 July 2023

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) today announce that “For the Record,” the digital interactive archive launched in conjunction with The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, will find a permanent home at the Atlanta University Center’s (AUC) Robert W. Woodruff Library following the completion of the exhibition’s international tour in 2025. The AUC Woodruff Library serves the world’s largest consortium of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs)—Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and the Interdenominational Theological Center—and is committed to advancing scholarship about the history and global influence of hip hop.

BMA Acquires LaToya Ruby Frazier’s Carnegie Prize-Winning Installation Celebrating Baltimore’s Community Health Workers I 26 June 2023

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it has acquired LaToya Ruby Frazier’s acclaimed installation More Than Conquerors: A Monument for Community Health Workers of Baltimore, Maryland 2021-2022. Featuring a series of portraits and related narratives mounted on 18 socially distanced, stainless-steel IV poles, the large-scale installation captures and celebrates the essential work of community health workers in Baltimore during the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Powerful and deeply evocative, the installation monumentalizes the Community Health Workers’ efforts and offers an alternative approach to monument-making that challenges us to consider the nature of how and who we honor. More Than Conquerors is being generously gifted to the museum by the Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland. Initially created for the 58th Carnegie International, where it won the Carnegie Prize, and recently presented at Gladstone Gallery in New York, the installation will go on view at the BMA in 2025 as part of a year-long initiative focused on the environment.

4heads’ Portal Art Fair Will Not Return to Governors Island, After 15 Years  I  8 June 2023

Portal: Governors Island, the annual art fair and artist residency program hosted by the NYC-based nonprofit 4heads, announced that it will not be presenting on Governors Island this year after the Trust for Governors Island declined to offer 4heads space on the Island for the 2023 season. Previously known as the Governors Island Art Fair, the fair was one of the first organizations on the Island and has been an anchor of cultural activity there since 2008, enlivening the Island’s historic spaces, and especially the houses on Colonels Row, with the work of nearly 100 contemporary artists each year. The organization is actively assessing options for an alternative presentation space within New York City and expects to again present its fair—with a model that continues to feature low application fees and an emphasis on showing a broad array of emerging, and under-recognized artists—in the future.

Walker Art Center to Present Largest Survey of Experimental Art from Central-Eastern Europe in U.S.  I  7 June 2023

On November 11, the Walker Art Center will open Multiple Realities, the largest survey of Central-Eastern European art to be presented in the United States. Through more than 250 works by nearly 100 artists, the exhibition explores the range of experimental visual art, performance, music, and material culture that emerged across East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia, from the 1960s through the 1980s. Despite their geographical proximity, artists working at this time encountered different conditions and varying degrees of control from state authorities. Multiple Realities sheds light on these contexts and the many ways that artists refused, circumvented, and subverted these official systems, often creating new modes of expression and leveraging the power of wit, humor, and irony. While the exhibition includes select canonical figures from the region such as Geta Brătescu, Sanja Iveković, and Alina Szapocznikow, it emphasizes lesser-known practitioners—especially women artists, artist collectives, and those creating work through an LGBTQIA+ lens—highlighting the true depth of artistic innovation, material experimentation, and creative dialogues that developed in the region in this distinct period. Multiple Realities: Experimental Art in the Eastern Bloc, 1960s–1980s will remain on view at the Walker through March 10, 2024. It will travel to the Phoenix Art Museum and Vancouver Art Gallery.

Saint Louis Art Museum Announces Curatorial Promotions  I  7 June 2023

The Saint Louis Art Museum announced today that Genevieve Cortinovis and Alexander Brier Marr have been promoted to associate curators at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Cortinovis—most recently the museum’s Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts and Design—joined SLAM in 2012. Marr, who was SLAM’s Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of Native American Art, joined the museum in 2016. He is curating the St. Louis presentation of “Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s-1970s,” which opens June 24. These promotions follow two other recent hires, with the appointment of Melissa Venator as assistant curator of Modern art and Hannah Segrave as associate curator of European art to 1800 with a focus in Baroque art.

BMA Announces Raúl de Nieves Selection as Second Meyerhoff-Becker Artist for East Lobby Commission  I  1 June 2023

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) has selected Raúl de Nieves (b. 1983, Michoacán, Mexico) as the second artist to receive the Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Biennial Commission. The commission was established in 2018 to foster the creation of new works by international contemporary artists, cultivate aspiring curators from underrepresented backgrounds through a parallel fellowship, and activate the BMA’s two-floor East Lobby with publicly accessible art. De Nieves is a multimedia artist, performer, and musician who often creates joyful, interactive installations that investigate notions of beauty and transformation. His new work for the BMA will engage with ideas of metamorphosis in the natural world through a 27-pane faux stained-glass window, a multi-tiered chandelier, light box installations, and opulently decorated figurative sculptures. Together, these vibrant works will immerse audiences in de Nieves’ distinctive visual language, which draws on Mexican craft traditions, costumes and adornment, religious iconography, mythology, and folktales. The installation will be on view November 19, 2023, through May 2025.

Hannah Segrave Appointed to Curatorial Position at Saint Louis Art Museum  I  24 May 2023

Hannah Segrave has been appointed associate curator of European art to 1800 at the Saint Louis Art Museum. She starts at the museum in June. Segrave recently served as a lecturer in the art history and French and Italian Studies departments at the Ohio State University after completing her doctoral dissertation in Baroque art history from the University of Delaware in 2022. Her expertise in European art runs the gamut from the art of the ancient Mediterranean to 14th- century Italian sculpture to 17th-century French, Italian and British paintings, with a particular interest in witchcraft-related art from the Baroque period.

Spencer Museum of Art & History of Black Writing to Open Exhibition Exploring the Power of Language in Black Contemporary Culture  I  11 May 2023

On August 19, the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas (KU) will open Black Writing, an exhibition exploring the power, politics, and complexities of language in contemporary Black culture. It features new and recent works by Paul Stephen Benjamin, Bethany Collins, Jamal Cyrus, Stephanie Dinkins, Carrie Schneider, and Dread Scott, as well as a new commission by Fahamu Pecou that engages with Octavia Butler’s book Parable of the Sower. The exhibition is developed in partnership with the History of Black Writing (HBW), a major ongoing research project on KU’s campus that supports the recovery, preservation, study, and circulation of literature by Black writers. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of HBW’s founding, the forthcoming exhibition extends the work of the project to embrace visual artists whose practices engage with literature, writing, reading, and the intricacies of words. Black Writing captures the dynamic relationship between the visual and literary arts and the ways in which artists leverage language to empower, heal, question, resist, and create moments of meaning and care. The exhibition, which will remain on view through January 7, 2024, is curated by Ayesha Hardison, Director of the History of Black Writing, and Joey Orr, Mellon Curator for Research at the Spencer.

People Watching: Contemporary Photography since 1965 to Open at Bowdoin College Museum of Art This Summer  I  10 May 2023

Exploring how humans witness each other, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) will organize and host an expansive selection of photographs in a new exhibition titled People Watching: Contemporary Photography since 1965. The show examines how people look at each other: as a recreational activity, an act of surveillance, a type of harassment, a sign of empathy, and a documentary form of expression. The idea for the exhibition came together in the wake of the global pandemic of 2020, when social distancing and shelter in place orders transformed the understanding of one’s relationship to others, as well as the recent social and racial justice movements, when people were demanding to be seen, heard, and respected. The exhibition brings together a group of images from 1965 to the present that investigate the ways in which artists represent individuals on the street, at home and at work, in the studio, and during journalistic assignments. More than 120 photos are featured by almost 50 photographers from the last 60 years, including Diane Arbus, Alfredo Jaar, Sally Mann, Irving Penn, Accra Shepp, Andy Warhol, and Ai Weiwei, among others. The exhibition will run from June 24 to November 5, 2023.

Meadows Museum Announces New Acquisitions, Including Social Realist Work by Carlos Vázquez Úbeda  I  9 May 2023

The Meadows Museum, SMU, announces the addition of three paintings to their acclaimed collection of Spanish art, thus supporting the Museum’s mission to advance the appreciation of the arts and culture of Spain in the United States. The charming Portrait of Vicenta Beltrán de Lis Espinosa de los Monteros (1845), by Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz; the social realist work Mozos de Escuadra (Catalan Police Arresting a Romani Couple) (1906), by Carlos Vázquez Úbeda; and the abstract oil on canvas Yellows Contained (1970), by José Guerrero join the Meadows Museum’s permanent collection. Each of these paintings are the first by their makers to enter the Meadows collection. Two etchings from Pablo Picasso’s The Vollard Suite (Suite Vollard) (1933), were also acquired by donation.

Hector Guimard: Art Nouveau To Modernism Explores His Life &
Work at the Driehaus Museum  I  3 May 2023

Beginning June 22, 2023, the Richard H. Driehaus Museum will present Hector Guimard: Art Nouveau to Modernism, an exhibition exploring the life and work of Hector Guimard (1867-1942), the French architect and designer whose name is synonymous with the French Art Nouveau movement. Bringing together approximately 100 works including furniture, jewelry, metalwork, ceramics, drawings, and textiles from collections worldwide, Hector Guimard: Art Nouveau to Modernism is the first major American museum exhibition devoted to Guimard since the retrospective organized by the Museum of Modern Art in 1970.  The exhibition will run until November 5, 2023.

Pietro Calvi’s Marble-and-Bronze Bust “Selika” acquired by Saint Louis Art Museum  I  2 May 2023

The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) announced today that it has acquired the striking marble and bronze sculpture
“Selika” (1874), by the Italian sculptor Pietro Calvi (1833-1884). Depicting the character of the African queen “Selika” from the 1865 opera “L’Africaine,” Calvi presents her at a reflective moment: the white marble that frames her body provides a dramatic plumed headdress, while the cast bronze comprising her head and upper torso highlights the features of her face, along with her necklace and earrings. The work is the pendant piece to Calvi’s “Othello” (c. 1870), acquired by SLAM in 2020; “Selika” will go on view at the museum this winter, and will be installed near “Othello.”

Walker Art Center to Premiere Newly Commissioned Work by Choreographer and Dance Artist Leslie Parker  I  24 April 2023

The Walker Art Center is pleased to premiere Divination Tools: imagine home, a newly commissioned work by St. Paul-based choreographer, dance artist, and educator Leslie Parker. Presented May 11 through May 13, at 8:00 p.m. each night, in the Walker’s McGuire Theater, the evocative performance brings together a powerful collective of Black visual artists, musicians, and femme dance artists to explore, through music and improvised movement, Black divinity, lineage, and contemporary experience. The work features a specially-made set and environment that grounds performers and audiences and offers a Black space for remembrance, healing, and the conjuring of freedom. Divination Tools: imagine home is the culmination of Parker’s multi-year collaboration with the Walker’s Performing Arts department, which first began in 2021 and reflects the institution’s commitment to providing artists with time and opportunity to experiment and develop new projects. It is also the latest iteration of Parker’s ongoing Call to Remember initiative, which embraces multifaceted collaborations and emphasizes Black improvisation and community building, including through dance workshops previously presented in Minneapolis in partnership with the Walker, Pillsbury House Theatre, and Pangea World Theater. Following its premiere at the Walker, Divination Tools: imagine home will travel to Danspace Project in New York.

Walker Art Center to Present Influential Photographer Allan Sekula's Seminal Work Fish Story  I  20 April 2023 

On August 24, 2023, the Walker Art Center will open Allan Sekula: Fish Story, Sekula’s groundbreaking nine-chapter image-based research project exploring the profound impact of the globalized shipping trade and its relationship to romantic notions of the sea. Regarded as one of the most influential photographers and thinkers of his generation, Allan Sekula (1951–2013) is known for blending documentary-style photography with essays to create poignant narratives that speak to and critique global social, economic, and political structures. Conceived as both an exhibition and a book, Fish Story is considered one of the most important conceptual photography projects of the 20th century and features 105 photographs, slide projections, and accompanying texts developed over the course of many years. The Walker’s presentation of Fish Story marks the first time that the work will be presented in the U.S. in its entirety since its institutional debut tour in 1999. An evocative reflection on capitalism, labor, international politics, climate change, and our connections to water, Fish Story remains as relevant today as when Sekula first created it. The presentation will remain on view at the Walker through January 21, 2024.

Walker Art Center Appoints Rosario Güiraldes as Curator of Visual Arts  I 19 April 2023

The Walker Art Center announced today that it has appointed Rosario Güiraldes as Curator of Visual Arts. She joins the Walker from The Drawing Center in New York, where she most recently held the position of Associate Curator. Originally from Buenos Aires, Güiraldes has more than a decade of experience working as a curator at institutions across the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, focusing in particular on contemporary art of the global south. Among her recent projects are monographic exhibitions of the work of Xiyadie (2023), Fernanda Laguna (2022), and Ebecho Muslimova (2021), as well as the expansive drawing survey Drawing in the Continuous Present (2022). In her new role, she will bring critical insight to the Walker’s visual arts program, developing artist-centered projects, supporting collection growth, and creating new opportunities for community engagement. Güiraldes’s appointment follows the January 2023 news that Taylor Jasper joined the Walker’s visual arts team as Assistant Curator. Güiraldes will start at the Walker on May 1, 2023.

Minneapolis Institute of Art Organizes First Exhibition Celebrating Long-Overlooked Poet and Painter from Japan  I  19 April 2023

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) announces the exhibition “Fukuda Kodōjin: Japan’s Great Poet and Landscape Artist.” Fukuda Kodōjin (1865–1944) was among a handful of scholar-artists who continued the tradition of literati painting (nanga) after 1900. Kodōjin’s painting style is characterized by bizarre mountain forms rendered in vivid color or monochromatic ink that often include a solitary scholar enjoying the expansive beauty of nature. The exhibition, on view from April 22 through July 23, 2023, is curated by Andreas Marks, PhD, Mary Griggs Burke Curator and Head of Japanese and Korean Art at Mia. In addition to painting, Kodōjin was also an accomplished poet and calligrapher with deep knowledge of Chinese literature. In the late 1920s, a group of prominent admirers that included the then-prime minister of Japan, members of parliament, industrialists, scholars, and educators created a society to honor Kodōjin and his poetry and paintings. Following his death, the artist slipped into obscurity; today he is better appreciated outside his native Japan.

Expanding the Narrative of Midcentury Abstraction to Include Native American Artists  I  18 April 2023

The Saint Louis Art Museum this summer will present “Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s–1970s,” the museum’s first exhibition to focus on modern and contemporary Native American art. Like Abstract Expressionist artists, who broke with representational conventions and prioritized experimentation, artists at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) redefined the concept of abstraction following World War II. Combining ancestral aesthetics and art influences coming out of New York, artists in the exhibition pushed the boundaries of Native art media, subjects and styles to develop the field of contemporary Native Art. “Action/Abstraction Redefined” presents approximately 90 works to provide context for the remarkable story of abstraction during the first decade of the IAIA. The exhibition will open in St. Louis with a free, public preview celebration at 4 pm on Friday, June 23 and continue through Sept. 3.

Walker Art Center to Present Exhibition of Major Works Gifted by Judy and Ken Dayton  I  5 April 2023

On June 10, 2023, the Walker Art Center will open an exhibition of major works of modern and contemporary art gifted to the museum by Judy and Ken Dayton, distinguished patrons whose philanthropic legacy over the course of five decades helped to shape the Walker’s collection, with significant works by some of the most groundbreaking artists of our time. Between 1969 and 2022, Ken Dayton, whose family’s business grew into the present-day Target Corporation, and his wife, Judy Dayton, a longstanding member of the Walker’s board, amassed a significant collection of 20th century art. Some of the artists the couple collected became their close friends. Over time, the Daytons gave 550 works of art to the museum as well as important financial gifts to support the Walker’s operations and expansion of its program. The forthcoming exhibition, which honors their remarkable generosity, will feature 25 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints gifted over the course of their long engagement with the institution, including works by Sam Gilliam, Philip Guston, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Agnes Martin, Louise Nevelson, Martin Puryear, Cy Twombly, and Andy Warhol, among others. Among Friends: The Generosity of Judy and Ken Dayton will remain on view through July 7, 2024.

Melissa Venator Joins Saint Louis Art Museum, With Focus on Modern German Art  I  4 April 2023

The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) announced today that Melissa Venator has been appointed as assistant curator of modern art. An expert in modern German art—a cornerstone of SLAM’s collection, with more than 2,500 objects by artists from Germany, Austria and Switzerland—Venator will be the first curator at the museum to have a specific focus on and strength in this important part of its collection. Venator started at the museum in June 2019 as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow for Modern Art. During her fellowship, Venator worked on the forthcoming book “German Expressionism: Paintings at the Saint Louis Art Museum.” She most recently curated the exhibition “Day and Dream in Modern Germany, 1914–1945,” which showcased SLAM’s rich collection of modern German prints, drawings and photographs to show how different artists responded to their changing world. She was a co-curator of the 2020 exhibition “Storm of Progress: German Art after 1800 from the Saint Louis Art Museum,” which presented 120 key collection works of the last 200 years.

SFMOMA to Open Expansive Frank Bowling Exhibition Focused on His Decade in New York  I  30 March 2023

On May 20, 2023, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) opens Frank Bowling: The New York Years 1966–1975, the first major U.S. survey of the artist’s work in more than four decades. Co-organized with the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, this exhibition captures the significance of the formative decade when Bowling, who was born in British Guiana (now Guyana), moved from London to New York. Featuring over 45 color-soaked paintings, this exhibition uncovers the explosive development of his vision and practice during a period that continues to inflect his deeply experimental works today. The SFMOMA exhibition adds to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston’s presentation Frank Bowling’s Americas with 11 additional artworks, including an expanded group of recent paintings produced between 2018 and 2022. The San Francisco presentation also features a wide selection of archival materials that emphasize Bowling’s evolution as an artist, incorporating recorded interviews in New York and London, film footage and photographs from Bowling’s 1968 visit to Guyana and a selection of his little-known “map” sketches. The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue and will be on view through September 10, 2023.

Bust of Harriet Beecher Stowe, by Noted 19th Century Sculptor Anne Whitney, Acquired by Bowdoin College Museum of Art  I  30 March 2023

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) announced today that it has acquired an 1893 plaster work by sculptor Anne Whitney (1821–1915) of the noted author and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896). Whitney was a prominent New England artist—as well as a teacher, writer, and abolitionist—whose works include several major public sculpture commissions, including of Samuel Adams (1880) and Harriet Martineau (1883). The work is an important addition to the BCMA’s collection, reflecting Stowe’s connections both to Brunswick, Maine, and Bowdoin College, where her husband taught. The creation of this work reveals several interesting historical connections that enhance the importance and meaning of this bust. The sculpture was commissioned by Stowe’s sister, Isabella Beecher Hooker, who is best known for her decades-long campaign supporting women’s right to vote. The selection of Anne Whitney as the artist reflects an alignment of views: Whitney’s sculptures often espoused her sympathy toward social and political inequities, including the challenges faced by newly emancipated African Americans, as well as the political disenfranchisement of women.

Making Their Mark Captures Significance and Breadth of Artistic Accomplishment of More Than 135 Women Artists in the Shah Garg Collection  I  23 March 2023

For nearly a decade, philanthropist and collector Komal Shah, along with her husband Gaurav Garg, has been championing the achievements of women artists by supporting the acquisition of their work by major institutions, developing a talk series at Stanford University, and establishing an expansive art collection. In May 2023, Shah will continue this effort to illuminate the innovative and risk-taking work of women artists with the publication of Making Their Mark: Art by Women in the Shah Garg Collection. Co-edited by curators Mark Godfrey and Katy Siegel, the 432-page book provides the first in-depth look at the collection and offers a wide range of scholarly essays that capture the complexity, significance, and breadth of artistic accomplishment of the featured artists. It is also among the first initiatives of the Shah Garg Foundation, created to support new projects, programs, and advocacy relating to the work of women artists.

Monet/Mitchell Opens at Saint Louis Art Museum I 22 March 2023

The Saint Louis Art Museum will present the first exhibition in America to examine the relationship between the paintings of two masters of their medium: the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet and American Abstract Expressionist Joan Mitchell. “Monet/Mitchell: Painting the French Landscape” opens March 25 and continues through June 25. The museum will hold a free, public preview celebration at 4 pm on Friday, March 24. Although from different generations—Mitchell was born in 1925, the year before Monet died—both artists engaged intensely with nature. The exhibition focuses on the ways in which the two artists responded to the landscape of northern France through 24 paintings, 12 by each artist. Monet’s late works in the exhibition were created at his home in Giverny, where he lived from 1883 until his death, while those of Mitchell responded to nearby Vétheuil, where she lived from 1968 to 1992.

BMA to Present Recasting Colonialism: Michelle Erickson Ceramics in May I 6 March 2023

In recent years, ceramics have made a significant resurgence within contemporary dialogues and explorations, with artists bringing new perspectives and technical approaches to the genre and exhibitions revealing the understudied histories of ceramic objects. With its forthcoming exhibition, Recasting Colonialism: Michelle Erickson Ceramics, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) presents the provocative work of an artist whose practice leverages 18th-century ceramic techniques to explore the connections between the global trade of ceramics during the expansion of Western colonization and the pervasiveness of exploitation and inequality in the 21st century. The exhibition will feature 16 ceramic objects by Erickson, produced between 2005 and 2021, alongside more than 30 European and Asian ceramics from the 17th to 19th centuries drawn from the BMA’s expansive collection. Together, the works capture a complicated history of people and objects in circulation and highlights the little-known role of ceramics in perpetuating colonialist ideals that continue to reverberate as racism, sexism, and environmental discrimination in the present moment. Recasting Colonialism will be on view at the BMA from May 7 through October 1, 2023.

BMA Debuts Newly Commissioned Works by Baltimore/ Washington Area Artists Jackie Milad and Nekisha Durrett  I  6 March 2023

On Sunday, April 26, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) debuts newly commissioned works by Jackie Milad and Nekisha Durrett created in dialogue with Fred Wilson’s powerful sculpture, Artemis/Bast (1992). The extended loan of Artemis/Bast, an iconic sculpture that sets the feline head of Egyptian goddess Bastet on the body of Greek goddess Artemis, inspired the BMA to invite artists in this region to submit ideas for new works that responded to the provocation: “What images and thoughts emerge when myths and histories collide?”. The resulting exhibition, Histories Collide: Jackie Milad x Fred Wilson x Nekisha Durrett, explores critical questions integral to Milad’s and Durrett’s practices, while also examining the complex and unresolved legacies in Wilson’s art. Contemplative and immersive, the experience invites visitors to unpack the myths and histories through which we understand ourselves and our societies. Histories Collide is on view in the two galleries adjacent to the John Waters Rotunda from April 26, 2023, through March 17, 2024.

BMA to Open Exhibition of New Work by Martha Jackson Jarvis Inspired by Artist’s Ancestral History  I  6 March 2023

This May, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will open an exhibition of new works by Washington, DC-based artist Martha Jackson Jarvis that explores her great-great-great-great-grandfather Luke Valentine’s service as a free Black militiaman in the American Revolution. The cycle of 13 abstract paintings from her Adaptation: Luke Valentine’s Sonic Journey series are produced at grand scale on 300-pound sheets of paper to evocatively trace her ancestor’s movements on foot across shifting, and at times treacherous, terrain. The paintings capture Jackson Jarvis’s distinct approach to layering her own foraged walnut ink with watercolor, oil, and acrylic paint, and collaged strips of paper to produce formally and conceptually complex works. The exhibition, which also includes smaller paintings on paper inspired by the meditative form of the mandala, reveals the experiences of one individual from within little-discussed African American narratives of U.S. history, adding nuance and perspective to our understanding of the origins of this country. Martha Jackson Jarvis: What the Trees Have Seen will be on view from May 7 through October 1, 2023, and will mark the artist’s first solo museum exhibition since 1996, introducing new audiences to her compelling vision and work.

2023 Artists-in-Residence Announced for New Orleans-based Joan Mitchell Center  I  6 March 2023

The Joan Mitchell Foundation today announced the 16 artists who will participate in the Foundation’s artist residency program at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans. The 2023 Artists-in-Residence participants hail from across the United States and include three New Orleans-based artists. All of the 2023 artists were awarded residencies in previous years that were later deferred or rescheduled due to COVID-19 or other scheduling conflicts. Residencies range in length from one to five months and will take place in either the Spring/Summer (March 13–July 28) or Fall/Winter (October 2–December 15) seasons. The Artists-in-Residence program is a core element of the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s work to support visual artists and offers artists dedicated time, space, and resources to support their creative process at the Foundation’s New Orleans-based Joan Mitchell Center. An open call for 2024 applications for the residency program will be shared in Spring or Summer of this year.

R & Company to Open Exhibition of Iconic and Rarely Seen Works From the Exceptional Dennis Freedman Collection  I  6 March 2023

On April 20, R & Company will open an exhibition of more than 50 highlights from the Dennis Freedman Collection, recognized as one of the most diverse and significant collections of post-war experimental design in the world. Over the course of his illustrious career, Freedman has left an indelible mark on the worlds of fashion and design. His collection reflects his critical eye, adventurous spirit, and appreciation of the avant-garde, featuring a vast selection of Italian, French, Dutch, Scandinavian, Brazilian, Japanese, and British masterworks, from pioneers of early 20th century modernism to 21st century contemporary design. The forthcoming exhibition at R & Company, titled The Dennis Freedman Collection, presents rare examples of European surrealist furniture; iconic designs of the last 20 years by Joris Laarman and the Campana Brothers, among others; and classic chairs, from Gerrit Rietveld to Shiro Kuramata. The Dennis Freedman Collection will remain on view at the gallery’s 64 White Street location though August 11, 2023. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue, published by the gallery that will include new scholarship on the collection.

SFMOMA and MoAD Announce Joint Curatorial Position as Part of Partnership Focused on Art of the African Diaspora  I  28 February 2023

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) announced today the creation of a joint curatorial position as part of a broader partnership that will support scholarship and public engagement with African Diasporic art and culture. SFMOMA and MoAD first collaborated in 2015 on the exhibition Portraits and Other Likenesses and have since sought opportunities to deepen their connection and share expertise and resources. The establishment of this position, titled Assistant Curator of the Art of the African Diaspora, solidifies the institutions’ partnership in support of a shared ambition to elevate artistic and curatorial talents, especially in the Bay Area, and will result in the creation of a robust range of co-created exhibitions, artist projects and public programs.

UMMA Announces New Acquisitions, Including Works by Andrea Carlson, Suchitra Mattai, and Matthew Angelo Harrison I 28 February 2023

The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) announced today a selection of recent acquisitions that capture the Museum’s collecting priorities across global cultures and material innovations. Among the acquired objects is a  group of three works on paper by artist Andrea Carlson (Ojibwe) that are currently on view as part of a significant installation at the Museum, titled Future Cache. The installation highlights the history and experiences of the Cheboiganing (Burt Lake) Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, who were violently burned from their land in Northern Michigan on October 15, 1900. The works of art acquired by UMMA imagine a future decolonized landscape. Also entering the collection is a monumental sculpture by Detroit-based artist Matthew Angelo Harrison, titled Celestial Tower, which addresses the troubling proliferation of African artworks and objects within the art market and among institutions. The work will go on view in UMMA’s galleries dedicated to African art on March 13. All of the acquisitions, which also include works of art by Jess T. Dugan, Suchitra Mattai, Frederick Ebenezer Okai, and Futamura Yoshimi, represent the first objects by these artists in the collection.

SFMOMA Partners with Activist, Writer and Media Maker Alice Wong on Newest Season of Museum’s Raw Material Podcast  I  23 February 2023

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is partnering with disabled activist, writer, media maker and consultant Alice Wong on the newest season of its award-winning Raw Material podcast, launching on February 28. Each season, SFMOMA works with a different “podcaster-in-residence” to explore modern and contemporary art through the perspectives of artists and thinkers from around the globe. The previous season of Raw Material, which garnered over 50,000 listeners, featured writer, artist and radio producer Babette Thomas and explored the power of Black imagination. In the new season, Wong shares five episodes from her podcast Disability Visibility, with newly recorded introductions, putting a spotlight on the innovative work and creative wisdom of disabled artists and makers. The forthcoming season of Raw Material provides a fresh opportunity to engage audiences with the dynamic voices and practices of disabled artists, who for too long have been marginalized by the mainstream art world. Raw Material is available on the SFMOMA website or wherever listeners find podcasts.

Paid Art Museum Internship Program Announces Host for Fourth Year | 22 February 2023

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) announced the selection of the 10 member art museums that will host interns as part of the Association’s regular paid internship program. Those 10 museums are: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Garden; Mississippi Museum of Art; Rollins Museum of Art; Royal Ontario Museum; San Jose Museum of Art; Speed Art Museum; Spencer Museum of Art; The Bass; The Newark Museum of Art; and Weisman Art Museum.

Focused on college students from underrepresented backgrounds, each institution will host an intern for 12 weeks with a program that provides a focal point for those interns’ work and career development in different museum departments. In addition to providing valuable work experience, the interns are supported by mentorship opportunities. This year’s participating museums includes the second Canadian institution in the program, along with three museums—the Mississippi Museum of Art, San Jose Museum of Art, and Speed Art Museum—that have hosted an intern previously. An 11th museum, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, will also host an intern this year after deferring from 2022.

Statement on Unauthorized Use of Joan Mitchell Artworks in Louis Vuitton Ad Campaign | 21 February 2023

Please see the full statement, available on the Joan Mitchell Foundation website:
https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/journal/statement-on-unauthorized-use-of-mitchell-artworks

BMA to Open Major Exhibition on the Achievements of European Women Artists from the 15th to 18th Centuries I 15 February 2023

In October 1, 2023, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will open a major exhibition exploring the vast artistic achievements of women artists and artisans from across Europe between the 15th and 18th centuries. Co-organized with the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800 focuses on works that reflect the ways in which women played an integral role in the development of art, culture, and commerce across more than 400 years. Acclaimed artists such as Rosalba Carriera, Artemisia Gentileschi, Élizabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Judith Leyster, Luisa Roldán, and Rachel Ruysch are positioned alongside lesser-known professional and amateur fine artists, as well as talented but often unnamed makers in collectives, workshops, and manufactories. While scholarship about historic women artists has seen an increase in recent years, the investigations remain largely focused on an elite group of artists working in large-scale painting and sculpture. Making Her Mark explores the breadth of women’s artistic endeavors and innovations through the presentation of more than 175 objects—ranging from royal portraits and devotional sculpture to tapestries, printed books, drawings, clothing and lace, metalwork, ceramics, furniture, and other decorative objects—and argues for a reassessment of European art history to incorporate the true depth and variety of their contributions.

R & Company to Open First Solo Exhibition of Houston-Based Designer Joyce Lin  I  14 February 2023

On April 20, R & Company will open a solo exhibition of new and recent work by emerging Houston-based designer Joyce Lin—her first since she joined the gallery’s program in 2021. In recent years, Lin has come to be recognized for creating works that explore the connections between outer surfaces and interior structures through pieces such as Egg Chair (2019) and Skinned Table (2020). With her forthcoming exhibition, titled Material Autopsy, Lin is continuing these explorations, while also delving more broadly and deeply into the range and impact of human intervention into our physical surroundings. Her distinct practice captures the humor and anxiety related to the ongoing erosion of boundaries between the natural and artificial and embraces material experimentation as core to the art of making. Material Autopsy will remain on view through August 11, 2023, at R & Company’s Tribeca location at 64 White Street.

Photo Series by Accra Shepp Capture the Experiences of Occupy Wall Street and the Covid Pandemic  I  13 February 2023

A new exhibition, “Dissent, Discontent, and Action: Pictures of US by Accra Shepp,” opens Feb. 18 at the Spencer Museum of Art. Through two portrait series, “Occupying Wall Street” and “The Covid Journals,” New York–based contemporary photographer Accra Shepp reveals a sense of community, hope, and resilience during an era of tremendous social, political and environmental change.

Walker Art Center to Premiere Newly Commissioned Multimedia Work by Grammy-Award winning Artist Cécile McLorin Salvant I 8 February 2023

On February 24 and 25, the Walker Art Center will premiere Ogresse: Envisioned, a new multimedia work that explores power, gender, race, body diversity, and love through music, song, and immersive animated projections. The darkly humorous and poignant fairy tale is driven by the acclaimed, genre-defying score and 15-song cycle composed and performed by Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist, composer, and visual artist Cécile McLorin Salvant and a 13-piece chamber orchestra, arranged and conducted by Darcy James Argue. For its presentation of the musical work, the Walker commissioned Salvant and Belgian animator Lia Bertels to bring the narrative to life through striking large-scale, projected imagery. The forthcoming performance marks the first time the multimedia visual components will be shared with audiences.

R & Company to Open New Office and Private Viewing Space in Los Angeles this Month  I  8 February 2023

R & Company announced today that it will open an office and private viewing space in Los Angeles, further expanding its national presence. Open by appointment, the new space will showcase works by artists and designers from across the gallery’s contemporary and historic program, introducing new collecting audiences to an international cadre of makers and deepening understanding of the gallery’s distinct vision and approach. Works in the private viewing space will rotate regularly, with approximately 20 pieces on view at any given time. R & Company will also show works in collaboration with the private contemporary art consulting business ARTED. The new outpost is located at 3507 Motor Ave. in the heart of Culver City. This space adjoins Korean artist Hun Chung Lee’s expansive new studio.

Walker Art Center to Present New Body of Work by Artist Kahlil Robert Irving in Upcoming Solo Show I  7 February 2023

On February 23, 2023, the Walker Art Center will open an exhibition of new work by artist Kahlil Robert Irving (b. 1992), whose multidimensional practice explores how systems of control, oppression, and histories of anti-Blackness operate subtly on the peripheries of our attention. For his forthcoming exhibition at the Walker, titled Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present, Irving examines the philosophical question, “What happens when we peel back the city street?”. Through the lens of archaeological excavation, Irving reveals and critiques how the street—a familiar and often overlooked element of the built environment—is witness to the struggles and experiences of Black America. The exhibition will feature a site-specific installation and a selection of sculptural and video works, and will remain on view through January 21, 2024.

Film Designer Tim Yip to Install Show of Chinese Bronzes at Mia I 6 February 2023

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) will organize and present an exhibition of about 150 of the museum’s ancient Chinese bronzes in “Eternal Offerings: Chinese Ritual Bronzes,” a collaboration with the Academy Award–winning art director and film designer Tim Yip, best known for his work on the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Yip will work with Liu Yang, chair of Asian Art and curator of Chinese art at Mia, to create a novel presentation of the museum’s renowned collection. The vibrant display will include fascinating narrative and thematic backdrops designed by Yip and Liu to evoke the culture and traditions in which these objects were used. The exhibition will be on view March 4 to May 21, 2023.

Walker Art Center to Present Interactive Exhibition that Prompts Visitor Feedback on the Museum Experience I 6 February 2023 

On February 18, The Walker Art Center will open an exploratory exhibition that invites visitors to share feedback about their in-gallery experiences, fostering a dialogue about visitor preferences and testing curatorial assumptions about public opinion. Make Sense of This: Visitors Respond to the Walker’s Collection is organized in four concise thematic chapters that will unfold over a period of nine months. Each chapter is anchored by a significant recent acquisition and features a diversity of works—spanning different media and time periods—drawn from the Walker’s collection. Visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to participate in a short, anonymous survey—offered in English, Spanish, Somali, and Hmong—about the artworks on view, the gallery texts, and additional content of interest. Large-scale monitors in the exhibition and in the Walker lobby will capture the accumulating responses through the run of the show, revealing a composite of the varying ideas and perspectives.

First Major Exhibition of the Art of Mina Loy to Open at Bowdoin College Museum of Art | 1 February 2023

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) will organize and present Mina Loy: Strangeness is Inevitable, the first monographic presentation of the art of Mina Loy (born Mina Gertrude Lowy, 1882-1966), one of the most challenging poets of the twentieth century. Even though Loy developed a powerful body of visual art—one that was admired by contemporaries such as Marcel Duchamp, who curated a show of her work in 1959—no comprehensive exhibition has addressed the visual production of this pioneering modernist and feminist. Curated by Jennifer R. Gross, the exhibition includes over 60 paintings, drawings, constructions, designs, inventions, and original publications of poetry created by Loy through the course of her life will be united to reveal Loy’s omnivorous creativity as an image-maker, author, and cultural arbiter. These pieces are complemented by approximately 20 selected artworks by such friends and associates as Berenice Abbott, Joseph Cornell, Lee Miller, Man Ray, Umbo, and Beatrice Wood. These remarkable objects, drawn from close to a dozen institutional and private collections, will be complemented by extensive, never-before presented, archival materials. A richly illustrated catalogue featuring contributions from Gross, poet Ann Lauterbach, Surrealist scholar Dawn Ades, and writer and editor Roger Conover will be published by Princeton University Press to accompany the exhibition. The show will be on view from April 6 to September 17, 2023.

Works by Kandinsky, Münter, Chamberlain, Frankenthaler, Kline, & McNeely Among 500+ Acquisitions by Mia in 2022 | 30 January 2023

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) announced the 2022 end-of-year gifts to the museum’s collection that include a group of four 19th-century Navajo textiles; a collection of 130 works of Chinese calligraphy from the 16th to the 19th century; and an array of paintings, watercolors, drawings, and pastels by major American and European artists. The museum also stated that over the course of 2022, it received funds for art purchases and gifts of art valued at more than $9 million, supporting the acquisition of more than 500 works during the last year; the two largest areas of collecting were works by Asian or Asian American artists (267) and in the global contemporary category (160).

Meadows Museum Will Present Works From Legendary Collection of Museum of Spanish Abstract Art | 30 January 2023

This spring the Meadows Museum, SMU, will host the first major exhibition of Spanish abstract paintings and sculptures to take place in the United States since the 1970s. Titled In the Shadow of Dictatorship: Creating the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art (February 26 to June 18, 2023), the exhibition presents a comprehensive selection of highlights from the eponymous museum (Museo de Arte Abstracto Español) whose historic building in Cuenca, Spain, is currently undergoing renovations. The Dallas presentation will be the only American venue of this multiyear touring exhibition, which also includes stops in Spain and Germany. It features both globally recognized artists such as Eduardo Chillida, José Guerrero, Pablo Palazuelo, Antonio Saura, and Antoni Tàpies, as well as their lesser-known contemporaries, encompassing more than forty works of art by over thirty artists active in the 1960s and 1970s. A richly illustrated catalogue exploring the history of the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art against the cultural and political backdrop of the last decade of Francisco Franco’s regime accompanies the exhibition, co-edited by Clarisse Fava-Piz, curator of the exhibition and the Meadows’s 2021–2023 Mellon Curatorial Fellow, and Amanda W. Dotseth, director ad interim and curator of the Meadows Museum.

Spencer Museum of Art to Unveil Redesign of Its Fourth Floor, Encompassing 15,000 Square-Feet of Gallery and Teaching Spaces I 26 January 2023

This February, the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas will formally unveil a major redesign of its fourth floor, encompassing nearly 15,000 square-feet of presentation and teaching space. The approximately $4 million project includes a reinstallation of the museum’s collection around themes that engage with our social and political experiences as well as the creation of the new, multi-purpose Ingrid & J.K. Lee Study Center. The completion of this renovation—which embraces more than half of the Spencer’s galleries—marks the conclusion of the second phase of design work at the museum led by acclaimed architecture firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. The overarching design emphasizes the development of galleries that allow for dynamic object presentations, new and expanded gathering and study spaces, and on-site collection storage, as well as improvements to wayfinding, sightlines, and the flow of light in the building. The project is fully funded through government and private foundation grants, including two grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, totaling $800,000, as well as individual private philanthropy. This work is part of the Spencer’s broader strategic efforts to expand connections with its community and to explore the changing roles of museums.

The Baltimore Museum of Art Appoints Dr. Asma Naeem as Director I 24 January 2023

The Baltimore Museum of Art’s (BMA) Board of Trustees announced today that they have appointed Dr. Asma Naeem as the Museum’s new director following a 10-month international search. Naeem has served as the BMA’s Interim Co-Director, alongside Christine Dietze, since June 2022, and as the Museum’s Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Chief Curator since 2018. She is widely recognized for her advocacy of women and underrecognized artists, for her scholarship in contemporary and American art, and for her vision and work in collections diversification. She succeeds Christopher Bedford, who served as director from 2016 until 2022. Naeem will begin in her new role as the BMA's Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director on February 1, 2023, becoming the first person of color to lead the institution.

BMA Announces Acquisition of More Than 150 Artworks For Its Encyclopedic Collection I 18 January 2023

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it has acquired, through purchase and gift, 162 works of art, capturing a wide range of artistic perspectives and innovations. The latest group of acquisitions highlights the museum’s expanded efforts to close critical gaps across the full range of its collection departments. This work emphasizes both historic and contemporary omissions and focuses on revealing the fuller spectrum of voices and practices that have shaped the development of art across time, culture, and geography. The new acquisitions also continue the BMA’s work to support Baltimore-based and -affiliated artists at pivotal moments in their careers.

BMA to Open Groundbreaking Exhibition on the Impact of Hip Hop on Contemporary Art and Material Culture in April 2023  I  13 January 2023

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip hop, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will open a groundbreaking exhibition that explores the conceptual, cultural, and aesthetic attributes that have made hip hop a global phenomenon and established it as the artistic canon of our time. Opening on April 5, 2023, The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century features more than 90 works of art by some of today’s most important and celebrated artists, including Derrick Adams, Mark Bradford, Lauren Halsey, Julie Mehretu, Adam Pendleton, Tschabalala Self, Hank Willis Thomas, and Carrie Mae Weems, as well as several with ties to Baltimore and St. Louis such as Devin Allen, Monica Ikegwu, Amani Lewis, Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola, Damon Davis, and Jen Everett. Their work is presented in dynamic dialogue with fashion and objects created and made famous by Lil’ Kim, Dapper Dan and Gucci, and Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton, along with iconic brands like Cross Colours and TELFAR. Together, the works in The Culture weave a compelling narrative about art and culture that is rarely experienced in a museum context—and one that highlights a broad array of conceptual and material innovation. The exhibition will have significant personal and communal resonance for those steeped in hip hop culture, while providing a crash course into the explosive impact of the genre over the past two decades for those less versed.

Walker Art Center Announces 2023 Exhibition Schedule I 13 January 2023

The Walker Art Center announced today its complete 2023 exhibition schedule. It includes a diverse and compelling range of solo and thematic exhibitions that feature emerging and under-represented voices and capture new additions and approaches to its collection development. In February, the Walker will open a focus exhibition of new work by Saint Louis-based artist Kahlil Robert Irving that explores and challenges notions of identity and culture through the medium of ceramics. This will be followed in April by the first retrospective of artist Pacita Abad, featuring more than 100 significant and rarely seen works from across her 32-year career, and in October, by a major group show, titled Multiple Realities, that offers a sweeping exploration of art made in six Central Eastern European nations during the 1960s to 1980s.

Artist Cannupa Hanska Luger to Create Major Site-Specific Installation at University of Michigan Museum of Art I 12 January 2023

The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), in partnership with the nonprofit public art and history studio Monument Lab, today announced that multidisciplinary artist Cannupa Hanska Luger will create a site-specific installation on the exterior of the museum’s Alumni Memorial Hall. The commission is part of an exhibition titled You’re Welcome at UMMA featuring Luger’s work, slated to open in fall 2023. Luger is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and Lakota), and his practice, driven by multifaceted installations and social collaborations, communicates stories of 21st century Indigeneity and offers critical cultural analysis through deep engagements with materials, environments, and communities. The collaboration with Luger is part of a broader project between UMMA, Monument Lab, and the Arts Initiative that examines how historic structures on the University of Michigan’s campus uphold social and cultural systems and narratives.

Walker Art Center and AIGA Minnesota Announce 2023 Edition of Acclaimed Insights Design Lecture Series I 12 January 2023

The Walker Art Center and AIGA Minnesota announced today the theme and speakers for the 2023 edition of the acclaimed Insights Design Lecture Series. For more than 30 years, Insights has brought together leading designers from around the world to explore innovations, trends, and possibilities in the evolving field of design. Prior speakers have ranged from luminaries such as Sheila de Bretteville, April Greiman, Lance Wyman, Lorraine Wild, Cornel Windlin, and Armand Mevis, to vanguard artist/designers like Martine Syms, Bráulio Amado, Bart de Baets, and Sara de Bondt. This year, the series, which kicks off on March 7, will examine the significance of identity to design practice, with participants sharing the ways in which identity—whether individual, professional, political, institutional, and/or collective—has shaped their perspectives and approaches and is continuing to change the field more broadly. The 2023 edition of Insights will include five in-person lectures at the Walker, as well as a selection of free virtual workshops and projects that allow for an expanded audience to engage with the series’ topics and content. All of the Insights events will be recorded and, at the conclusion of the series, be posted on the Walker’s website.

40 Photographs by Ray Metzker Gifted to Saint Louis Art Museum I 11 January 2023

The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) announced today that it has received a gift of 43 vintage photographs by American artist Ray K. Metzker (1931-2014). One of the most important American photographers of his generation, Metzker is recognized for his extensive exploration of the formal qualities of black and white photography. His technical precision and interest in contrasts of light and shadow yielded compelling images that blended crisp description with abstraction. This group of works spans a range of his visual interests, from pedestrians to beach goers to the architectural elements of street scenes in cities like Chicago and Philadelphia, from the 1950s through 1980. Selected works from the gift will be on view at SLAM in the exhibition “First Look: Prints, Drawings and Photographs” from April 7 through July 9.

16 Art Museums Receive Grants to Support New Creative Aging Programs I 11 January 2023

E.A. Michelson Philanthropy announced today that it has awarded more than $3 million in new grants to 16 different art museums across the United States, a continuation of its investment in creative aging programs that are an essential part of addressing the coming demographic wave of older Americans. Targeted to support the creation of new programs aimed at museum audiences who are 55 years of age and older, these creative aging classes recognize the many benefits—social, emotional, and physical—of engaging older adults in the process of artistic creation.

The museums receiving funds as part of the second phase of the Vitality Arts Project for Art Museums are: Akron Art Museum; ASU Art Museum; Boise Art Museum; Bronx Museum of the Arts; Frist Art Museum; Heard Museum; Honolulu Museum of Art; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art; Memphis Brooks Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Neuberger Museum of Art; Philbrook Museum of Art; Queens Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; Tampa Museum of Art; and the Toledo Museum of Art. Their hands-on art making programs for older adults are expected to be available to the public between May 2023 and August 2024. Each museum is developing these art-making programs to address a growing awareness of ageism in our society and in recognition of the role that art museums can play in providing creative aging opportunities to their community.

Walker Art Center Appoints Taylor Jasper as Assistant Curator of Visual Arts I 10 January 2023

The Walker Art Center announced today that it has appointed Taylor Jasper as Assistant Curator of Visual Arts. Jasper joins the Walker from the contemporary art space The Momentary, affiliated with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, where she most recently held the position of Curatorial Associate. Her curatorial focus has emphasized the work of emerging artists, site-specific projects, and multidisciplinary interventions. She joins a growing team of seven in the Walker’s Visual Arts department, where she will continue to work actively to develop and support exhibitions, acquisitions, artist projects, and public programs. Jasper will begin in her new role at the Walker on January 25, 2023.

R & Company to Present Exhibition on the Extraordinary Robert Pfannebecker Collection I 10 January 2023

On February 3, R & Company will present Robert Pfannebecker: Friend and Collector of the Arts, an exhibition exploring the prolific collector and patron’s extraordinary holdings of American craft spanning from the 1960s to the early 1980s. The exhibition will feature approximately 70 objects by 30 artists, including Patti Warashina, Betty Woodman, Dale Chihuly, Diane Itter, Helen Bitar, Jun Kaneko, Richard Marquis, Eleanor Moty, Ron Nagle, and Henry Takemoto, among others. The featured works will include ceramics, early studio glass, fiber arts, jewelry, and other objects that exemplify the breadth and distinctive quality of American craft and highlight Pfannebecker’s forward-looking vision as a collector. Pfannebecker defined his singular collecting style during a time when American craft was breaking away from tradition to embrace both countercultural and Modernist movements of the time. The exhibition will also explore the friendships that Pfannebecker developed with many of these artists and his unwavering and influential support throughout their careers. The exhibition will remain on view through April 14.

BMA Announces Major Renovation to Joseph Education Center with Artist-Designed Interactives I 21 December 2022

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced it is embarking on a major renovation and reconceptualization of the Joseph Education Center that will introduce more opportunities for dynamic, hands-on engagement when it reopens in fall 2023. A significant focal point will be the creation of a larger interactive gallery within the 5,625 square-foot center that features new site-specific installations that encourage direct visitor engagement, especially among children, made by internationally acclaimed artists Derrick Adams, Mary Flanagan, and Pablo Helguera. Other elements of the renovation include the development and refurbishment of classrooms that expand available space for art-making and the reimagining of the school tour entrance with an interactive Wall of Wonder that captures the vision and unites the architecture of the center.

Baltimore Museum of Art, Phoenix Art Museum Announce Guarding the Art Partnership with Exhibition Planned for 2024 I 6 December 2022

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) today announced a partnership to develop and implement a new edition of the acclaimed Guarding the Art exhibition in Phoenix, which is scheduled to premiere in February 2024. Guarding the Art is a groundbreaking initiative that invites security officers and gallery attendants to gain deeper knowledge about every facet of exhibition development and create an exhibition of artworks that most resonate with their personal interests. Following the model developed by the BMA after its 2022 exhibition debut, PhxArt staff will work toward their own iteration of Guarding the Art over the next year. The forthcoming presentation at PhxArt marks the start of a national roll-out for the exhibition-driven initiative in museums across the United States. This first national iteration of the initiative is sponsored by PNC Bank and the Pearlstone Family Fund.

R & Company to Present Exhibition of New Work By Designer Luam Melake I 15 November 2022

On February 3, 2023, designer Luam Melake will debut her first solo exhibition with R & Company titled, Furnishing Feelings. The gallery previously featured Melake in various group presentations, including the acclaimed Objects: USA 2020 group exhibition and at Design Miami, December 2021. Originally trained in architecture, Luam Melake’s dynamic practice oscillates between material research, exploration of form, and the creation of interactive, functional furniture pieces that encourage social and emotional engagement. In her forthcoming exhibition, Melake will present a new seating series designed to facilitate meaningful connections between its sitters and their surroundings.

Walker Art Center to Open First Retrospective of Artist Pacita Abad in April I 15 November 2022

On April 15, 2023, the Walker Art Center will open the first retrospective of artist Pacita Abad (U.S., b. Philippines, 1946–2004), featuring significant and rarely-seen works from across her 32-year career. Pacita Abad will serve as the most comprehensive exploration of Abad’s works to-date, including more than 100 objects drawn from private and public collections across Asia, Europe, and the United States. A largely self-taught artist, Abad developed a distinct visual vocabulary that embraced the artistic traditions of global cultures and actively blurred the boundaries between fine art and craft. While Abad was engaged in artistic and political dialogues during her life, the depth, range, and inventiveness of her work is only now coming to prominence. The forthcoming presentation positions Abad within art historical narratives, providing new insights into her conceptual and aesthetic evolutions as well as the life experiences that so richly influenced her practice. Following its run at the Walker, through September 3, 2023, the exhibition will travel to the San Francisco Museum of Art (SFMOMA).

New Exhibition Explores Role & Usage of Language in Contemporary Art I 9 November 2022

On December 15, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art will open Turn of Phrase: Language and Translation in Global Contemporary Art, an exhibition examining the critical and creative functions of language in global contemporary art from the 1980s to the present. Featuring more than 20 works in a variety of media—including pieces by Marta María Pérez Bravo, Song Dong, Barbara Kruger, William Kentridge, Glenn Ligon, Shirin Neshat, Lorna Simpson, and Wang Tiande, along with newly acquired works by Luis Camnitzer, Jeffrey Gibson, and Hung Liu—the exhibition provides vibrant examples of how the use of language is embedded in art, and how its presence affects and challenges the viewer’s encounter with a work. The exhibition is curated by Sabrina Lin, the Museum’s post-baccalaureate curatorial assistant and manager of student programs, and will be on view through June 4, 2023.

R & Company Opens Exhibition of New Works by the Influential Studio Job I 8 November 2022

The American Job, an exhibition of new work by influential Belgian artist and designer Job Smeets inspired by his many-mile drive across the United States in 2019, is now on view at R & Company. Three years in the making, The American Job marks the first major American exhibition of his work since 2016 and is the first U.S.-based presentation of Smeets’ work since he became a solo practitioner at the helm of Studio Job. Over the course of his multi-decade career, Smeets has gained acclaim for both his impeccable craftsmanship and his vision to push the boundaries of design into new artistic directions. With his exhibition at R & Company, Smeets explores his experience traveling through America, creating his own landscape of American iconography. The American Job will be on view at R & Company’s 64 White Street location through January 27, 2023.

New Photography Exhibition at Bowdoin College Museum of Art Explores History of Rome I 2 November 2022

On December 8, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art will open In Light of Rome: Early Photography in the Capital of the Art World, 1842–1871, an exhibition exploring the history of photography through documentation of Rome in the earliest years of the new medium. Featuring 112 objects from nearly fifty transnational photographers, the exhibition includes daguerreotypes, calotypes, salt prints, and negatives—many of which have never been exhibited before—and will expand the understanding of Rome’s place in the evolution of early photography and the pivotal role it played in the refinement and technical development of the medium in the 19th century. The works in the exhibition are on loan from the collection of Mary K. and John F. McGuigan Jr. of Harpswell, Maine, one of the most comprehensive groups of nineteenth-century Roman photographs held outside Italy. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue to be published by Pennsylvania State University Press featuring a history of early methods of photography, artist biographies, and a chronology of Roman history, all alongside the groundbreaking images captured by these innovative artists.

Joan Mitchell Foundation Releases New Workbook and Guide to Support Legacy Planning for Artists I 1 November 2022

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today the publication of a new workbook and resource guide, titled Career Documentation for the Visual Artist: A Legacy Planning Workbook & Resource Guide. Developed in collaboration with artists, arts professionals, and legal and financial experts over the course of two years, the workbook provides a breadth of information and perspectives about legacy planning for artists, along with practical tools that support engagement with this long-term, and sometimes challenging, process. The new text is part of the Foundation’s ongoing Creating a Living Legacy (CALL) initiative, which for approximately 15 years has supported artists in their efforts to catalogue, manage, and preserve their life’s work. Career Documentation for the Visual Art will be publicly available starting this month for free download from the Foundation’s website, on Soundcloud and Spotify as a free audiobook, and for on-demand physical printing at cost.

Monet/Mitchell: Painting the French Landscape Will Be Presented at Saint Louis Art Museum I 26 October 2022

Opening March 24, the Saint Louis Art Museum will present the first exhibition in America to examine the relationship between the paintings of two masters of their medium: the French artist Claude Monet (1840-1926) and the American artist Joan Mitchell (1925-1992). “Monet/Mitchell: Painting the French Landscape” will present 24 paintings, 12 by each artist, and will closely follow the development of Mitchell’s work from 1968 until 1992, a period when she lived in the small village of Vétheuil, France overlooking a house once inhabited by Monet. Organized in partnership with the Fondation Louis Vuitton and the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, the exhibition adapts the Paris presentation of “Monet-Mitchell” now at the Fondation Louis Vuitton by incorporating eight different works by Mitchell and two by Monet. The exhibition will open with a free, public opening celebration at 4 pm on Friday, March 24, 2023 and continue through June 25, 2023.

Lehmann Maupin Presents Part Two: Run, New Works by Alex Prager, in Palm Beach I 26 October 2022

Lehmann Maupin presents Part Two: Run, an exhibition of new photographs, films, and sculptures by Los Angeles-based artist Alex Prager. The multi-part exhibition will culminate in the debut of Prager’s ambitious new film at the gallery’s New York location in January 2023. Directly responding to a period of cultural ambivalences and uncertainties, the exhibition urgently examines the collective will to exist and explores the opportunities for empathy, participation, and action present both within art and everyday life. Throughout the ten photographic works that comprise Part Two: Run that will be featured in Palm Beach, Prager examines the cultural mythologies and archetypes that shape our shared existence. Fervently cinematic, works such as Claire and Frances, Diner, and The West craft richly developed characters and interrogate genres such as the noir and the Western as they probe contemporary concerns and anxieties. Occupying a tenuous relationship to time and place, the carefully staged figures remain suspended between the past and the present.

Valéria Piccoli to Join Minneapolis Institute of Art as Chair of Arts of the Americas & Curator of Latin American Art I 26 October 2022

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) announced that Valéria Piccoli, Ph.D., will join the museum in the new role of Ken and Linda Cutler Chair of the Arts of the Americas and Curator of Latin American Art, following an extensive, global search. Piccoli comes to Mia from Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Brazil, where she has been chief curator since 2012, curating exhibitions such as “Pinacoteca: Acervo” [Collection]; “Ernesto Neto: Sopro” [Breath]; “Rosana Paulino: a costura da memória” [The Sewing of Memory]; and “Picturing the Americas: Landscape Painting from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic.” At the Pinacoteca, she has focused on acquisitions strategy, especially on adding underrepresented artists to the collection. Mia’s new curatorial role is made possible through the generous support of Ken and Linda Cutler, who pledged a bequest worth at least $6 million toward this position, and a commitment to annual support toward the salary of the Latin American curator until the bequest is realized. Piccoli will start at Mia later this month.

Artist Nicholas Hlobo Featured in Lehmann Maupin Presentation at ADAA I 24 October 2022

Lehmann Maupin returns to ADAA with a presentation of new works by gallery artist Nicholas Hlobo that capture his newfound engagement with acrylic paint—a medium that he has not employed since his days as an art student. The gallery’s installation in booth D22 marks the first time that Hlobo’s work will be featured in New York in more than four years. Hlobo’s use of acrylic builds a new complexity into his signature multi-media canvases, combining historically-specific materials to explore race, gender, and identity–specifically, his identity as a Black, gay man–within the context of his South African heritage.

Walker Art Center to Open Exhibition of New Work by Artist Kahlil Robert Irving I 17 October 2022

On February 23, 2023, the Walker Art Center will open an exhibition of new work by artist Kahlil Robert Irving (b. 1992), whose multidimensional practice explores how systems of control, oppression, and histories of anti-Blackness operate subtly on the peripheries of our attention. For his forthcoming exhibition at the Walker, titled Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present, Irving examines the philosophical question, “What happens when we peel back the city street?”. Through the lens of archaeological excavation, Irving reveals and critiques how the street—a familiar and often overlooked element of the built environment—is witness to the struggles and experiences of Black America. The exhibition will feature a site-specific installation and a selection of sculptural and video works, and will remain on view through October 15, 2023.

SAMA to Open Major Show Exploring the Roman Landscapes as a New Genre I 12 October 2022

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) announced that early next year it will present Roman Landscapes: Visions of Nature and Myth from Rome and Pompeii, the first exhibition in the United States to explore landscape scenes as a genre of ancient Roman art. Serving as a contrast to the archetypal works of antiquity with which most museum audiences are familiar—the larger-than-life statues venerating gods or heroes, or scenes of battle or ritual found on friezes or pottery—these works instead depict artists’ idyllic visions of a countryside dotted with seaside villas and rural shrines, where gods and mythological heroes mingle with travelers, herdsmen, and worshippers. Organized by and presented exclusively in San Antonio, Roman Landscapes features more than 65 works, including major loans from museums in Italy, France, and Germany, many of which have never before been shown in the United States. The exhibition was curated and organized by Jessica Powers, SAMA’s Interim Chief Curator and Gilbert M. Denman, Jr., Curator of Art of the Ancient Mediterranean World, and will be on view at SAMA from February 24 through May 21, 2023.

Alicja Kwade Solo Exhibition to Open at 303 Gallery in November I 5 October 2022

303 Gallery is pleased to announce the gallery’s third exhibition by renowned Berlin-based artist Alicja Kwade, opening on November 15. This exhibition of new works will feature a large-scale, immersive installation, sculptures, and wall works, as well as a series of suspended and standing mobiles that are being presented outside of Europe for the first time. This will also be the artist’s first exhibition in New York since her celebrated 2019 commission for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roof Garden. The exhibition’s title, Petrichor, refers to the distinctive earthy scent that briefly lingers after rainfall on parched soil, an ethereal implication of a past event. Incorporating concepts drawn from philosophy, mathematics, and science, the artist creates lyrical arrangements of familiar objects and natural materials to elicit similarly intangible phenomena and transitory atmospheres.

R & Company Shines Light on Unsung California Women Designers in Upcoming Exhibition I 4 October 2022

On November 4, R & Company will open Born Too Tall: California Women Designers, Postwar to Postmodern, an exhibition exploring the work of a dozen women designers who pushed the boundaries of object making and deeply influenced the development of design. The featured designers are also united by their engagement with California, where they lived, worked, studied and taught, and were inspired by the state’s natural beauty, creative energy, and centrality to technological advancements. Through approximately 25 objects, Born Too Tall examines the conceptual, technical, and material innovations and experimentations of Evelyn Ackerman, Ray Eames, Claire Falkenstein, Arline Fisch, Trude Guermonprez, Greta Magnusson Grossman, Wendy Maruyama, Merry Renk, Cheryl Riley, June Schwarcz, Kay Sekimachi, Pamela Weir-Quiton, Jade Snow Wong, and Marguerite Wildenhain. While these women attained success for their distinct approaches to working with and re-envisioning the possibilities of ceramics, glass, wood, fiber, and metal, their achievements remain underrepresented in contemporary dialogues and in the narration of design history. With Born Too Tall, R & Company sheds new light on their accomplishments and the singularity of their visions and practices.

Artists Aura Satz and Raven Chacon Explore Satz’s In-development Feature Film Preemptive Listening I 3 October 2022

On October 8, the Walker Art Center will host Preemptive Listening, an interdisciplinary event featuring artist Aura Satz and composer and artist Raven Chacon (Diné). The event is the first of several to be staged over the course of two years as part of Satz’s long-form residency with the Walker’s Moving Image department. The evening will kick-off at 7:00 pm and include the presentation of a segment of Satz’s in-development feature film Preemptive Listening. Chacon, who is a musical collaborator on the film, will give a brief live performance, which will be further followed by some Q&A with both artists. The event captures the interdisciplinary nature of Satz’s film project and provides audiences with a behind-the-scenes experience that reflects the creative process inherent to the film’s development. More information about the event, including ticketing information, can be found on the Walker’s website at walkerart.org/visit/cinema/.

AAMD Members Vote to Change Deaccessioning Rules, Adopt “Direct Care” Standard I 30 September 2022

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) announced today that following a week of electronic voting, AAMD’s members have approved a change to Professional Practices in Art Museums to narrowly change the approved use of funds from deaccessioned art. The new rule was approved with 109 votes in favor; a simple majority of AAMD’s 199 voting-eligible members was required for this resolution to pass. Members were given four days in which to place their vote, a total of 130 votes were cast. The new rule will allow funds generated by the sale of deaccessioned art to be used for direct care of objects in a museum’s collection, with a very specific definition of “direct care.” This change brings AAMD’s policy in alignment both with the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)–and goes further than either AAM or FASB by providing a specific definition for “direct care.”

Mark Owens Appointed to Lead Walker Art Center’s Acclaimed Design Studio I 29 September 2022

The Walker Art Center today announced that it has appointed Mark Owens as its new Director of Design. Owens has extensive experience as a designer, writer, and curator, and most recently led his own design practice, working with non-profit and commercial clients to develop dynamic and engaging exhibition graphics, publications, merchandise, brand identities, and other projects. In his new role, Owens will oversee the Walker’s acclaimed design studio, expanding and re-imagining the institution’s approach to content creation, publications, and the presentation of innovative design online, in the galleries, and in print. He will formally begin in his new position on October 3, 2022.

BMA Appoints Lara Yeager-Crasselt as Curator of European Painting and Sculpture and Promotes Leslie Cozzi to Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs I 22 September 2022

Museum also receives $2 million gift from trustee Anne L. Stone to endow a curatorial position in the Decorative Arts Department

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced that Dr. Lara Yeager-Crasselt has been named Curator of European Painting and Sculpture and Department Head. Yeager-Crasselt is a scholar and curator of early modern European art, specializing in painting, sculpture, and tapestry produced in Northern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. As part of her new role, she will oversee the reconceptualization of the BMA’s galleries of 15th- through 19th-century European art, with a particular emphasis on expanding the narratives told through the museum’s expansive holdings. The BMA has also promoted Dr. Leslie Cozzi to Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs in recognition of her numerous contributions to the museum since she joined in 2018.

Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces 15 Artists to Receive 2022 Fellowships I 21 September 2022

The Joan Mitchell Foundation today announced the 2022 recipients of its Joan Mitchell Fellowship, which annually awards 15 artists working in the evolving fields of painting and sculpture with $60,000 each in unrestricted funds, distributed over a five-year period. Fellows will receive an initial $20,000 payment this year and annual installments of $10,000 for the subsequent four years. In addition to the monetary award, Fellows are invited to participate in one-on-one professional practice consultations; convenings that cultivate a peer learning community; and programs that focus on personal finance, legacy planning, and thought leadership, among other opportunities. The Foundation launched the Fellowship in 2021, with a structure that recognizes and responds to artist feedback that inconsistent access to funding, creative community, and professional resources results in real and ongoing challenges to sustainability and career growth.

Botticelli and Renaissance Florence: Masterworks from the Uffizi to Open at Minneapolis Institute of Art I 14 September 2022

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) will present "Botticelli and Renaissance Florence: Masterworks from the Uffizi,” featuring more than 45 loans from the renowned Uffizi Galleries in Florence, including Sandro Botticelli's evocative Minerva and the Centaur (c. 1482). Marking the first collaboration between Mia and the Uffizi Galleries, the exhibition will include paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, decorative arts, and a selection of ancient Roman marble statues. It will be the largest and one of the most comprehensive shows on Botticelli ever staged in the United States, featuring works that seldom leave the Italian museum’s galleries. On view from October 16, 2022, through January 8, 2023, in Mia's Target Galleries, "Botticelli and Renaissance Florence" will contextualize the artist’s works within the broader artistic and cultural climate of Renaissance Florence.

New Exhibition at Meadows Museum Explores Connections Between Dalí & Vermeer I 14 September 2022

The Meadows Museum, SMU, will present Dalí/Vermeer: A Dialogue, an exhibition tracing the influence of 17th-century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) on Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dalí (1904– 1989). For the first time in history, Vermeer’s Woman in Blue Reading a Letter (c. 1663) will appear side by side with Dalí’s reinterpretation of the painting, titled The Image Disappears (1938). On view from October 16, 2022, through January 15, 2023, the exhibition represents a unique opportunity for viewers to contemplate these two works in tandem, thanks to loans from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí in Figueres, Spain, which displays Dalí’s painting in the Teatro- Museo Dalí.

25% of NCMA’s Collection Will Be on View in Upcoming Reinstallation I 13 September 2022

The North Carolina Museum of Art collection galleries will reopen on October 8 after an ambitious transformation of its displays. Closed to the public since June, the Museum has undergone a total reinstallation, adding new thematic galleries; refreshed interpretation of the entire collection including a community voices project spotlighting visitor viewpoints on select artwork labels; new interactive learning experiences, including digital games and labels; and expanded introductory wall text in English and Spanish. The Museum will now have a significant portion of the total collection on view—approximately 1,000 works out of its more than 4,000 object collection—along with 100 works the Museum has not previously presented to the public. New acquisitions from William Kentridge, Lucie Attinger, Marie Watt, and Edmonia Lewis, and five site-specific commissions, including a new permanent installation by Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno and year-long displays by Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj and North Carolinia- based artists Elizabeth Alexander and JP Jermaine Powell, will go on view for the first time. Seventy-seven loans from international and national museums will temporarily join the collection to strengthen the diverse viewpoints being presented.

Minneapolis Institute of Art Acquires Works by Winfred Rembert, George Tooker I 7 September 2022

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) announced two poignant acquisitions to expand its American art holdings. The first, by Black artist Winfred Rembert, was created with unusual media—dyed, tooled, and carved leather—and is titled The Beginning (2002). It is the only work he produced showing an intimate scene from his infancy: the moment his mother gave him up for adoption. Rembert’s remarkable biography includes surviving an attempted lynching, time spent on a Georgia chain gang, a journey to Connecticut, and a successful art career started at age 51 despite significant forces of racism working against him. The second work is a painting of hand-mixed egg tempera by George Tooker, an artist who made some of the most unforgettable images in American art while part of a broad queer community in 1950s New York. The painting shows a mysterious young girl peeking out from behind a bush. Her expression and Tooker’s use of light make the scene seem magical and otherworldly. Tooker’s output of only about 100 paintings was relatively small, exploring Cold War-era themes of anxiety and uncertainty as well as transcendence—the revelatory experiences one can have in nature. The latter is masterfully depicted in The Artist’s Daughter (1955). These are the first works by Rembert and Tooker to enter Mia’s collection, expanding its holdings of historically underrepresented artists in the museum.

New Asian Art Acquisitions at Minneapolis Institute of Art I 31 August 2022

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) recently acquired several historic works of functional art for its Asian collection. The new pieces include a rare, unaltered straight sword created in Japan around 1280, with incredibly intricate detailing on the blade; an eighteenth-century Chinese jewel-encrusted censer shaped like a mythical beast with the features of a lion, tiger, and dragon; and a pair of Japanese folding screens presenting a serene mountain and lake scene painted on gold leaf around 1600. These extraordinary objects show the breadth of creativity and craftsmanship in the objects created for the use of upper classes and nobility—and continue building Mia’s outstanding collections of art from across Asia.

New Acquisitions at Meadows Museum Honor the Memory of Mark Roglán, Celebrate Best of Spanish Art I 31 August 2022

The Meadows Museum, SMU, announced today that it has acquired seven important works of Spanish art, from the 17th through the 20th centuries, including three paintings and four works on paper. The three paintings—Francisco de Herrera’s Saint Francis (1635), Román Ribera Cirera’s Leaving the Ball (1901), and Antonio Rodríguez Luna’s Still Life (Naturaleza Muerta) (1981)—all enter the collection thanks to donations made to celebrate the life and leadership of Dr. Mark A. Roglán, who was the director of the Meadows Museum for 15 years and who died last year. Two additional paintings were donated to SMU’s University Art Collection (UAC), managed by the Meadows Museum: Larry Horowitz’s landscape Pleasant Bay with Boats (1999) and former SMU Professor of Art Roger Winter’s Self- Portrait (2013).

R & Company to Open Solo Exhibition of New Work by Designer Rogan Gregory in September I 29 August 2022

The power of designer Rogan Gregory’s work lies in the way it beckons, inviting you to experience it up close, touch it, and connect with it physically. Gregory is a curious and constant maker, who sees little difference between creating sculpture or functional furniture and whose practice blends visual and material vocabularies to dynamic and compelling results. His singular approach, which gives particular attention to juxtapositions of shape, color, light, and texture, will be in full effect in his upcoming solo exhibition at R & Company, titled Rogan Gregory: Imperfect Truth. Opening to the public on September 9, the exhibition will feature complete living and dining spaces as well as a gallery of Gregory’s intricate chairs and lamps that suggests the experience of his studio in Santa Monica. Together, the works in the presentation capture the depth and range of Gregory’s creative output and his boundless imagination. The exhibition will be on view through October 28, 2022. Following the show, in 2023, R & Company will publish the first book about Gregory’s vision and work, with guest essays by family, friends, and peers.

Works by Fernando Gallego, Albrecht Dürer Added to Mia’s Collection I 17 August 2022

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) announced two important acquisitions to add to its European art collections. The new works of art include a rare 15th century triptych of the Madonna and Child surrounded by four saints, by Spanish medieval painter Fernando Gallego—one of the few works by this artist to join a collection outside of Spain. Distinguished by its exquisite quality and very fine condition including its original frame and hardware, the devotional painting is a new discovery in the artist’s oeuvre. The second work is a richly detailed, first edition print of a woodcut of Samson fighting the lion, by leading German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. Dürer, one of the greatest printmakers of all time, revolutionized the art of woodcut in the late 1490s with his draftsmanship, imagination, narrative power, and artistic ambition. This first edition print of Samson and the Lion features dramatic movement, fluid lines, and a stunning naturalistic landscape.

Helen Frankenthaler & Jo Sandman Featured at Bowdoin College Museum of Art I 16 August 2022

This fall the Bowdoin College Museum of Art will present Helen Frankenthaler and Jo Sandman: Without Limits, a focused exhibition highlighting the groundbreaking work of two pioneering artists whose early training grew out of the Abstract Expressionist movement. Drawn from recent gifts by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation and the artist Jo Sandman, the show will feature ten editioned prints and eight related proofs donated by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation as part of their “Frankenthaler Prints Initiative” for university-affiliated museums, highlighting the artist’s experimentation with screen printing, lithography, etching, and Mixografia. Nine works given by Sandman showcase her innovative folded fabric drawings, collages, and mixed media pieces. The exhibition will be on view September 15, 2022, to March 15, 2023.

Baltimore Museum of Art Presents Stanley Whitney: Dance With Me Henri I 16 August 2022

On November 20, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will open a focus exhibition of works by acclaimed artist Stanley Whitney that highlights his career-long engagement with the work of Henri Matisse and draws parallels between the two artists’ visionary use of color and line. The exhibition follows Whitney’s celebrated commission of three stained-glass windows for the BMA’s Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies, which debuted with the Center’s opening in December 2021. Never-before-seen sketches and studies for the windows are presented alongside a selection of Matisse’s prints from the 1930s and 1940s chosen by Whitney. On view through April 23, 2023, Stanley Whitney: Dance With Me Henri is curated by Katy Rothkopf, The Anne and Ben Cone Memorial Director of The Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies and Senior Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, and Katy Siegel, former BMA Senior Research & Programming Curator and Thaw Chair of Modern Art at Stony Brook University.

Mary Heilmann: Daydream Opens at 303 Gallery in September I 16 August 2022

303 Gallery is pleased to present Daydream, Mary Heilmann’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery since 2005. On view will be new paintings, ceramics, and an installation of brightly colored furniture designed by the artist. The exhibition title speaks to Heilmann’s intuitive approach while at work in her Bridgehampton studio on Long Island’s East End, an area known as a historic haven for artists since the days of Roy Lichtenstein, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, and Jackson Pollock.

The Hopkins Center for the Arts to Premiere Newly Created Contemporary Opera that Grapples with Social Injustice I 16 August 2022

This September, the Hopkins Center for the Arts (the Hop) at Dartmouth will premiere The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist, a chamber opera that responds to the murder of Eric Garner and the ongoing loss of Black life at the hands of police. Commissioned and produced by the Hop, and co-commissioned by Stanford Live, the theatrical event leverages the power of music, song, dance, visual art, and text projection to create a meditative experience that encourages synchronized communal breathing. This shared experience is aimed to evoke empathy and understanding and provide the strength necessary to heal and spur activism beyond the stage. The performance will be presented on two nights at the Hop on September 16 and 17, and will then travel to Stanford Live, where it will be staged on October 14 and 15.

Solana Chehtman Appointed Director of Artist Programs at Joan Mitchell Foundation I 11 August 2022

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today that it has appointed Solana Chehtman as its new Director of Artist Programs. Chehtman is a highly regarded curator and cultural producer, who most recently served as the Director of Creative Practice and Social Impact at The Shed. In her new role, Chehtman will create and execute a programmatic vision centering artists as creative leaders and change agents, as well as oversee and further develop the existing programs with national impact, including the recently launched Joan Mitchell Fellowship and the longstanding Creating a Living Legacy (CALL) program, among other initiatives. Chehtman will begin in her new position on September 12, 2022.

Hollis Taggart to Open Exhibition of New Paintings by Contemporary Artist Bill Scott I 9 August 2022

On September 8, Hollis Taggart will open I Stood There Once: New Paintings by Bill Scott, a selection of vibrant, abstracted landscapes completed between 2021 and 2022. The oil paintings evoke the views and sensations of time spent in nature, from suggestions of brilliantly colored flowers and trees to the intimate experience of seeing blazing spots after staring at the sun. The exhibition, Scott’s ninth solo show with the gallery, will feature more than 20 never-before-seen works that capture Scott’s incredible use of color and emotive gesture. I Stood There Once will be on view through October 8 at Hollis Taggart’s flagship, ground floor location at 521 W. 26th Street. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue with an essay by collage artist and art critic Matt Gonzalez and will be celebrated with an opening reception on September 8, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

R & Company to Open Exhibition of Rare and Important Works by Brazilian Designer Joaquim Tenreiro I 8 August 2022

On September 9, R & Company will open a major exhibition of furniture by leading mid-century modernist designer Joaquim Tenreiro (1906-1992). Responsible for shaping a new visual vocabulary that has come to define Brazilian modern aesthetics, Tenreiro effortlessly created hundreds of architectonic designs during the 1950s and 60s. This exhibition presents never-before-seen masterworks acquired over the last decade, reflecting R & Company's twenty-year mission to rediscover and champion Tenreiro's work. Featuring more than forty original pieces—including an array of one-of-a-kind objects commissioned by Brazilian patrons—the presentation is also supported by archival material from the gallery’s extensive holdings, showing the development of Teneriro's career, as well as photographs of his custom pieces in their original, intended settings. With the exhibition, R & Company captures the visionary quality and incredible craftsmanship of Tenreiro’s work, illuminating his distinct place in the history of design well beyond his home country. Joaquim Tenreiro will remain on view through October 28 at 64 White Street and builds on the gallery’s multi-decade history of collecting and presenting Brazilian design.

Artists Catherine Opie and Jack Pierson to Curate John Waters’ Fine Art Collection at BMA I 4 August 2022

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) is showcasing approximately 90 works from the collection of John Waters that provide an insider’s look at of the Baltimore icon’s tastes in fine art. The artworks are drawn from the 372 objects that Waters is giving to the museum as part of his bequest, marking the first presentation of works from the gift since its announcement in fall 2020. The exhibition, titled Coming Attractions: The John Waters Collection, is guest curated by photographer Catherine Opie and artist Jack Pierson, both of whom have been friends with Waters for many years and are represented in his collection. Through their collaboration, Waters’ collected works are examined through a particularly intimate lens, offering audiences a distinct sense of his singular sensibilities. On view November 20, 2022, through April 16, 2023, Coming Attractions will be presented in the BMA’s Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs.

BMA and SLAM Co-Organize Exhibition Exploring the Global Significance and Impact of Hip Hop I 29 July 2022

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) have co-organized a groundbreaking exhibition that examines the resounding impact of hip hop on contemporary art and culture across the past 20 plus years. The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century captures the extraordinary influence of the movement, which has driven innovations in music, visual and performing arts, fashion, and technology and grown into a global phenomenon since its emergence in the 1970s. The exhibition features approximately 70 objects by both established and emerging artists, design houses, streetwear icons, and musicians working in a wide range of media to demonstrate hip hop’s proliferation from the street to the runway, the studio to the museum gallery, and countless sites in between. The exhibition also explores how hip hop has and continues to challenge structures of power, dominant cultural narratives, and political and social systems of oppression. The Culture is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue with contributions from more than 50 artists, writers, scholars, curators, and arts leaders. The exhibition is on view at the BMA from March 26 to July 9, 2023, and SLAM from August 25, 2023, to January 1, 2024.

Major Exhibition Exploring Significance of Japanese Ceramics to Global Diplomacy to Open at UMMA in November I 27 July 2022

On November 12, the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) will open an exhibition that examines for the first time the important role that Shigaraki ware ceramics played in supporting American Japanese diplomatic relations after World War II. Shigaraki ware originate from one of Japan’s six ancient kilns and are characterized by earthy tones, rough clay surfaces, and natural ash glazes. These objects, which began entering American museum collections in the 1960s, have become staples of Japanese art installations across the U.S. Despite this, the story of how Shigaraki ware ceramics catalyzed cultural exchange between the U.S. and Japan and helped reframe Japan as a peaceful, democratic ally has not been told in depth. Clay as Soft Power: Shigaraki Ware in Postwar America and Japan brings this history to the fore, while also exploring the influence of Shigaraki ware ceramics on contemporary artists in both countries and its ongoing popularity among today’s collectors. The show will remain on view through May 7, 2023.

Major Survey of Paul Chan's Work Over Past Decade to Open at Walker Art Center I 26 July 2022

This fall, the Walker Art Center will open the first major U.S.-based museum exhibition of works by artist, writer, publisher, and activist Paul Chan in 15 years. Chan came to prominence in the early 2000s with vibrant moving image works that touched upon aspects of war, religion, pleasure, and politics. Around 2009, Chan embarked on what he described as a “breather” from the art world, turning his attention to experimental publishing and the economics of information by founding the press Badlands Unlimited. The forthcoming exhibition, titled Paul Chan: Breathers, traces the artist’s return to artmaking through approximately 40 installations, works on paper, and suites of objects, including a new installation made especially for the Walker. Together, the featured works capture Chan’s creative and conceptual innovations, from his publishing work through to his current experimentations with the boundless possibilities of the moving image. Following its presentation at the Walker, from November 17, 2022, to April 23, 2023, the exhibition will travel to the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU and Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.

$2 Million in Grants to U.S. Art Museums for Creative Aging Programs I 26 July 2022

Nine leading American art museums will receive grants totaling more than $2 million from E.A. Michelson Philanthropy as part of its Vitality Arts Project for Art Museums initiative, to launch a new series of arts programs aimed at museum audiences who are 55 years of age and older. Since 2013, the foundation has invested more than $15 million to fund creative aging programs at art and history museums, performing arts organizations, botanical gardens, and community centers.

The foundation’s latest round of grants engaged a diverse group of nationally prominent art museums—Brooklyn Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, Pérez Art Museum Miami, and Utah Museum of Fine Arts—in order to expand the audience for its creative aging programming and actively address ageism in museums.

German Artist Justine Otto Joins Hollis Taggart Gallery I 25 July 2022

Hollis Taggart is pleased to announce its representation of Hamburg- and Berlin-based artist Justine Otto, who joins the gallery’s growing contemporary program. Otto’s expressive body of work leverages the freedom of abstraction to explore the aura and symbolism of heroic and iconic figures, from military generals to the cowboys of the Wild West to musicians and performers. Inspired by films, vintage photographs, and other representational references, Otto translates and transforms these figures through her own distinct lens, inviting viewers to look anew at these recognizable archetypes. Hollis Taggart will serve as the sole representative for Otto in the United States. The gallery will soon announce a date for Otto’s first solo exhibition.

BMA to Present First U.S. Museum Exhibition of Work by Acclaimed Senegalese Artist Omar Ba I 21 July 2022

On November 20, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will open the first U.S. museum exhibition of works by acclaimed Senegalese contemporary artist Omar Ba. Born outside of Dakar and living between Dakar, Brussels, and Geneva, Ba creates expressive figurative paintings that often intertwine African and European cultures and histories to examine the corrupting nature of wealth and power and their impacts on global communities. While Ba’s work has been shown extensively abroad, it has not yet been given the study and attention it so richly deserves in the U.S. With Omar Ba: Political Animals, the BMA introduces audiences to the incredible conceptual, social, and political relevance of Ba’s oeuvre as well as to his distinct formal approach, which combines the fine detail associated with drawing and the scale and grandeur of history paintings. On view through April 2, 2023, Political Animals provides visitors with a micro-survey of Ba’s practice with approximately 15 large-scale works on canvas and corrugated cardboard, a selection of early works on paper, and inventive modular wall paintings, including a site-specific mural made especially for the BMA’s presentation. The exhibition is curated by Leslie Cozzi, BMA Curator, Prints, Drawings & Photographs.

BMA to Present First Major Museum Exhibition on the Complex and Poignant Work of Darrel Ellis I 21 July 2022

On November 20, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will open the first comprehensive museum exhibition on the profoundly moving and complex work of Darrel Ellis (1958-1992). Over the course of his brief career, Ellis developed a distinct studio practice that merged the formal vocabularies of drawing, photography, painting, and printmaking to redefine Black male identity and family within the constructs of art history and mainstream culture. Ellis was influential during his life, inspiring the work of other artists and featuring in a range of significant contemporary surveys, but his career was cut short by his early death at the of age 33 due to AIDS-related causes. Darrel Ellis: Regeneration examines the full arc of Ellis’s career through approximately 60 works on paper, including a historically significant body of work that captures the experiences and public perceptions of Black men living with the AIDS virus, as well as an expansive group of portraits of his family members that offer a record of Black domestic life. On view through April 23, 2023, the presentation also reveals the results of the most comprehensive technical study of Ellis’s singular process and features archival materials that provide new insights into the artist’s life and work.

North Carolina Museum of Art to Highlight Global Contemporary Artists in Fall Exhibitions I 20 July 2022

Global contemporary artists will be celebrated in the fall exhibitions featured at the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA), starting with an exhibition announcing the promised gift of a private collection of more than 100 works of contemporary art by collectors Randy Shull and Hedy Fischer, opening in September. A selection of over 40 artworks from their collection, amassed over the past three decades, will go on view in an exhibition titled Start Talking: Fischer/Shull Collection of Contemporary Art and features major works by artists from around the world, including Abraham Cruzvillegas, Vanessa German, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Graciela Iturbide, Pope.L, Tina Modotti, Gabriel Rico, Alison Saar, Betye Saar, Hank Willis Thomas, Nari Ward, and many others. In October the NCMA extends its global outlook to Africa, presenting an exhibition on African and African-inspired masquerade that features two contemporary egúngún ensembles from the United States—one newly commissioned—in conversation with a historic example in the NCMA’s collection from 1930s Nigeria. Egúngún, meaning “powers concealed,” refers to both the masquerade itself and the idea that these masquerades are visible manifestations of departed African ancestors who visit earthside for blessings, celebrations, and remembrance. These ensembles highlight the path of the African diaspora and the connection of the past to the present in an exhibition titled Powers Concealed: Egúngúns from Africa and America.

$3M Gift Endows Arts Research Integration Program at the Spencer Museum of Art I 20 July 2022

The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas has received a $3 million gift from Kansas City–based donor Margaret H. Silva to endow Arts Research Integration (ARI), a groundbreaking initiative that brings artists into a wide range of research processes through interdisciplinary collaborations. Additionally, Silva has offered to support a challenge grant, led by the Spencer, up to another million dollars of financial support for the initiative. These gifts build on Silva’s prior contributions to ARI, which began in 2018, and recognize the significance of the initiative to making art core to the study and manifestation of ideas. The gift is essential to advancing ARI’s work on current projects, including those with artists Janine Antoni, Simon Denny, and Stephanie Dinkins, and to securing ARI’s future as an incubator for new research approaches as well as for the development of new models for how museums can engage artists and communities. Silva’s gift will be administered through KU Endowment, the foundation that supports the University of Kansas.

New Exhibition Captures Artist Dusti Bongé’s Career and Friendship with Betty Parsons I 18 July 2022

Hollis Taggart will present Kinship: Dusti Bongé and Betty Parsons, an expansive exhibition on the illustrious but lesser-known career of artist Dusti Bongé and her devoted friendship with legendary gallerist and artist Betty Parsons. On view from October 13 to November 12, 2022, the exhibition is the first to examine Bongé's close personal and professional ties with Parsons and the ways in which their relationship shaped Bongé's career. The show also marks the official opening of Hollis Taggart’s expanded flagship location in Chelsea, which nearly triples the gallery’s size. Now occupying the ground and second floors at 521 W. 26th Street, the gallery boasts more than 6,800 square feet of exhibition, private viewing, and storage space. The opening of the exhibition will be celebrated with a reception for the press and the public on October 13 from 5 to 8 pm.

The People’s Collection to be Reinstalled at the North Carolina Museum of Art I 12 July 2022

This October, the North Carolina Museum of Art will complete an ambitious reinstallation of its collection, featuring the presentation of five new thematic galleries, exploring portraiture and power, Egypt and Africa, the Americas, the art of conservation, and a gallery connecting visual and performing arts. In development for several years, this refreshed interpretation of the entire collection will be strengthened through a community voices project spotlighting visitor viewpoints on artwork labels; new interactive learning experiences, including digital games and labels; and expanded introductory wall text in English and Spanish. In addition, new acquisitions from William Kentridge, Lucie Attinger, Marie Watt, and Edmonia Lewis, and site-specific commissions, including a new permanent installation by Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno and year-long displays by Moroccan artist Hassan Hajjaj and North Carolinians Elizabeth Alexander and JP Jermaine Powell, will go on view for the first time.

BMA Board of Trustees Elect James D. Thornton as Board Chair I 12 July 2022

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) Board of Trustees recently elected James D. Thornton as the museum’s 26th Board Chair and the first person of color to lead the BMA’s Trustees. He succeeds Clair Zamoiski Segal, who held the position for seven years and remains on the board as Immediate Past Chair and Co-Chair of the Director Search Steering Committee. The Trustees also added Virginia K. Adams, Sam Callard, and Paul L. Oostburg Sanz to the group of 36 active board members.

Chrysler Museum of Art Premieres Long-Unseen Jacob Lawrence Series I 12 July 2022

This fall, the Chrysler Museum of Art will present Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club, the debut museum presentation of Jacob Lawrence’s Nigeria series of paintings and drawings—and the first in-depth look at the international artists who were members of the renowned Mbari Artists and Writers Club, many of whom Lawrence met during an extended stay in Nigeria in 1964. These artists, including Lawrence, contributed to Black Orpheus, a radical arts and culture journal published in Nigeria between 1957 and 1975. After opening at the Chrysler Museum from October 8, 2022 to January 8, 2023, the exhibition will travel to the New Orleans Museum of Art from February 10 to May 7, 2023, followed by the Toledo Museum of Art from June 3 to September 3, 2023.

Walker Art Center to Open Major Retrospective of Work by Jannis Kounellis I 7 July 2022

On October 14, the Walker Art Center will open the first U.S.-based retrospective in 35 years on the work of influential Arte Povera artist Jannis Kounellis (1936–2017), whose wide-ranging interdisciplinary practice examined critical questions about culture, nature, and humanity. Titled Jannis Kounellis in Six Acts, the exhibition will feature 50 works from across every major stage of Kounellis’s career, including works that will be shown publicly for the first time. While Kounellis’s work has been presented extensively in Europe, especially in his adopted country of Italy, the artist has remained lesser-known in the U.S. The forthcoming retrospective introduces new audiences to Kounellis’s practice, which remains deeply relevant to contemporary art dialogues, and offers new scholarship that enriches global understanding of his innovative vision and approach. Jannis Kounellis in Six Acts will remain on view at the Walker through February 26, 2023.

Baltimore Museum of Art Announces Diverse Array of Acquisitions Across Museum Departments I 30 June 2022

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today a wide range of acquisitions that reflect its ongoing commitment to diversifying the range of voices and narratives represented across its encyclopedic holdings. This includes approximately 30 works and suites by contemporary artists as well as new additions to the museum’s European, Asian, African, and decorative arts collections. Among the works is a new painting by Salman Toor, currently on view as part of the BMA’s solo presentation of the artist’s work, titled No Ordinary Love. The museum has also acquired works from other exhibitions, such as a monumental five-panel installation by Baltimore-based artist LaToya M. Hobbs, a two-part sculpture by Thaddeus Mosely, and a four-channel video installation by Baltimore-based artists Elissa Blount Moorhead and Bradford Young. In addition, the BMA received several gifts, including 27 works on paper from esteemed curator Dr. Lowery Stokes Sims; 12 prints by artist Shirley Gorelick given by her daughter; jewelry and ceramics from late Baltimore collector Barbara Katz; and textiles from the family of artist Frankie Welch.

Bowdoin College Museum of Art Announces New Curator I 29 June 2022

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) announced today that it has appointed Cassandra (Casey) Mesick Braun as its new curator, following an international search. Mesick Braun comes to BCMA from the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas (KU) where she has worked since 2012, most recently as associate curator of global Indigenous art, in addition to experiences at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University. An anthropologist by training, Mesick Braun has particular interests in contemporary Indigenous art, as well as in exploring the intersections of art, science, and medicine, and the role of social justice work in museum settings. She will begin work at BCMA in August.

Baltimore Museum of Art Announces Selection of Search Firm for New Director I 22 June 2022

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced that Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA) has been selected to support the museum in its search for a new director, following Christopher Bedford’s departure. RRA was chosen following a rigorous interview process led by the BMA’s 10-member Search Committee, which is co-chaired by BMA Board Chair Clair Zamoiski Segal and Trustee Darius Graham. The committee prioritized finding a firm that has deep knowledge of and passion for Baltimore, a demonstrated track record of helping museums like the BMA identify talented leaders, and the capacity and creativity to search in a competitive hiring market. RRA has more than 50 years of experience, including with Baltimore’s cultural community, and is committed to developing a process that aligns with the BMA’s focus on both excellence and equity.

Terra Foundation Appoints Turry M. Flucker as Vice President of Collections and Partnerships I 16 June 2022

The Terra Foundation for American Art is pleased to welcome Turry M. Flucker as its Vice President of Collections and Partnerships. In this newly created position, Flucker will oversee the foundation’s 750-object American art collection with the goal of sharing expansive narratives of American art locally and globally, as well as foster collaborative, interdisciplinary partnerships throughout the field. Flucker, who currently serves as director and curator of Tougaloo College Art Collections in Tougaloo, MS, brings nearly 30 years of experience to the position. He will begin at the foundation on August 1.

Hollis Taggart to Open Solo Show of New Paintings by Tim Kent I 7 June 2022

On June 30, Hollis Taggart will open Between the Lines, artist Tim Kent’s first solo exhibition with the gallery since he joined the contemporary program in February 2021. The paintings, which meld the visual vocabularies of representation and abstraction, use geometric perspective to convey a sense of uncertainty, offering more questions than answers about the narratives contained within these landscapes and spaces. Between the Lines features approximately 15 new works and will be on view through July 29 at Hollis Taggart’s flagship, ground floor location at 521 W. 26th Street. An opening reception will be held on June 30, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm.

University of Michigan Museum of Art to Open Exhibition Exploring Significance of Great Lakes to Broader Discussions About Culture, Environment, and Policy I 2 June 2022

On June 4, the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) will open an exhibition exploring critical environmental and socio-political issues relating to water through the complex history and contemporary experience of the Great Lakes. The exhibition, titled Watershed, will feature the work of 15 international and regional artists, including new commissions by Khaled Al-Saa’i, Michael Belmore, Andrea Carlson & Rozalinda Borcila, Bonnie Devine, Kate Levy, and Meghann Riepenhoff, as well as new and recent installations and works by Dawoud Bey, Matthew Brandt, LaToya Ruby Fraizer, Doug Fogelson, Cai Guo-Qiang, Shanna Merola, Pope.L, and Senghor Reid. The exhibition captures the impact of water scarcity, pollution, and economic and cultural displacement on the communities of the Great Lakes region, past and present, while also highlighting how those same challenges affect populations across the country. Watershed is curated by Jennifer Friess, Associate Curator of Photography at UMMA, and will remain on view through October 23, 2022. Admission to the exhibition is free.

Arts Leader Danyelle Means Joins Joan Mitchell Foundation Board I 24 May 2022

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today the appointment of arts leader Danyelle Means to its Board of Directors. Means currently serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a position she has held since 2021. She has previously held leadership roles at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. Means was raised on the Rosebud Reservation and is a proud member of the Oglala Lakota tribe in South Dakota. Throughout her career, she has centered advancement and support for BIPOC professionals and artists. Board members serve three-year terms, with a maximum of two consecutive terms. Means joins the current eight-member board, which includes Jean Shin, President; Miranda Lash, Vice President; Linda Usdin, Dr.PH., Secretary; Sandy S. Lee, Treasurer; Marc Chennault; Jim Coddington; Kemi Ilesanmi; and Juan Sánchez.

The Adirondack Experience Reopens for 2022 Season with New Programs and Exhibitions I 24 May 2022

On May 27, the Adirondack Experience (ADKX) will open for its 2022 season, inviting visitors to once again engage with the culture, history, and natural beauty of the Adirondacks. Situated on a 121-acre campus, ADKX offers a wide range of indoor and outdoor activities, from interactive gallery installations that capture the experiences of the different peoples of the region to opportunities for boating, hiking, and enjoying the magnificent landscapes. In addition to its ongoing daily offerings, ADKX will host a spectrum of both in-person and virtual programs this season, including workshops and talks with local artists and artisans and explorations of nature with experts and enthusiasts. Its most popular festivals will also return this season, including the Plein Air Festival, Adirondack Artisan Festival, Mohawk and Abenaki Art Market, Rustic Furniture Fair, and FallFest. ADKX will be open every day, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., through October 10, 2022. Information about season highlights follows below, with additional details updating and available on the ADKX website at www.theadkx.org.

Hollis Taggart to Open Exhibition of Never-Before-Seen Works by Audrey Flack I 17 May 2022

From May 26 to June 24, Hollis Taggart will present Audrey Flack: Force of Nature, a selection of Abstract Expressionist works, including early never-before-seen works on paper, by the renowned artist. Opening just three days before Flack’s 91st birthday, the exhibition is her first Abstract Expressionist show at Hollis Taggart since the 2015 Audrey Flack: The Abstract Expressionist Years, which provided an expansive overview of her paintings from the 1950s and 1960s. The forthcoming exhibition provides further insight into the development of her early practice, freshly revealing works from the late 1940s and into the early 1950s.The gallery has long championed Flack’s work, bringing critical attention to the depth and range of her artistic practice and her significant contributions to both the Abstract Expressionist and Photorealism movements.

Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces 23 Artists Participating in its 2022 Artists-in-Residence Program at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans I 11 May 2022

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today the 23 artists who will participate in its 2022 Artist-in-Residence program at the New Orleans-based Joan Mitchell Center. Among the residents are five newly selected New Orleans-based artists—Jose Cotto, Josiah Gagosian, Gabrielle Garcia Steib, Karla Rosas, and Summer White—and 18 artists from New Orleans and across the United States who were previously awarded residencies that were later deferred due to the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 Artist-in-Residence program will include two sessions: a Spring-Summer season, which will run from May 16 to July 29, and a Fall-Winter season, which will host artists from September 6 to February 3, 2023. The Spring-Summer 2022 season will mark the first time national artists are returning to the Center’s campus since the onset of the pandemic.

200 Years of Artists Working in Maine to be Explored in New Exhibition at Bowdoin College Museum of Art I 11 May 2022

This summer, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) will present At First Light: Two Centuries of Artists in Maine, an expansive exploration of how artists have shaped our understanding—and often, quite literally how we see—Maine’s landscapes, communities, and people. At First Light will include more than 100 works, including those by such historic acclaimed artists such as Berenice Abbott, Lynne Drexler, Marsden Hartley, Winslow Homer, and Andrew Wyeth, as well as living masters Katherine Bradford, Barry Dana, Lois Dodd, Daniel Minter, Richard Tuttle, and William Wegman, to name just a few of the numerous artists whose artistic production has been nurtured in Maine over the course of two centuries. Together the featured works, which range widely in media, style, and approach, will offer a vivid portrait of Maine while charting its relationship to wider artistic developments in American art. At First Light will be on view from June 25 to November 6, 2022.

San Antonio Museum of Art to Present Roman Bust Found at Goodwill Before Its Return to Germany I 4 May 2022

When Austin, Texas-based art collector Laura Young purchased a marble bust at a local Goodwill store in 2018, she didn’t know that she had accidentally stumbled upon a centuries-old sculpture that once belonged in the collection of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. The work, which was initially identified by Sotheby’s consultant Jörg Deterling and further authenticated by the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens, and Lakes, is now on view at the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) through May 2023. Once installed in the courtyard of the Pompejanum, a full-scale replica of a villa from Pompeii built by the King in Aschaffenburg, the Roman bust, which dates from the late 1st century BC to the early 1st century AD, disappeared following World War II. It will be returned to Germany in 2023.

Wyeth Foundation Announces Collection Sharing Plan I 27 April 2022

The Wyeth Foundation for American Art announced today that it has established a collection-sharing arrangement providing for more than 7,000 works of Andrew Wyeth to be maintained, conserved and exhibited for the general public at the Brandywine River Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Museum of Art, as well as making such works available for loans to other institutions and encouraging research into the life and legacy of Andrew Wyeth. The Foundation’s collection contains works from Wyeth’s seven decades as a working artist, including iconic temperas and watercolors, drawings, studies and sketchbooks. The collection was assembled primarily by the artist’s wife, Betsy James Wyeth, who was Andrew Wyeth’s muse and who also carefully documented his career. The collection is deeply personal and gives significant insight into Wyeth’s artistic and career trajectory.

Worcester Art Museum Announces Two New Curators I 27 April 2022

The Worcester Art Museum (WAM) announced today the hiring of Samantha Cataldo to the position of Associate Curator of Contemporary Art and Natalia Ángeles Vieyra to the position of Associate Curator of American Art. Cataldo has been at the Currier Museum of Art since 2015, and in 2021 she was promoted to Senior Curator of Contemporary Art. Cataldo will begin her new post on May 23, 2022. Since 2019, Vieyra has been the Maher Curatorial Fellow of American Art at Harvard Art Museums, where she supported the exhibition, conservation, and interpretation of the collections within the Division of European and American Art. Vieyra will begin her new post in August 2022.

ADKX to Launch Environmental and Racial Justice Program Series in May I 26 April 2022

The Adirondack Experience (ADKX), a museum and nature campus, announced today that it will present an eight-part virtual program series focused on examining the intersections between racial and environmental justice. Titled Adirondacks for All: Identity & Environmental Justice in the North Country, the series will explore experiences of inequity and oppression in the Adirondacks and the ways in which those realities connect with issues of preservation, pollution, and access to land, water, and nature more broadly. Adirondacks for All is being developed in partnership with several local organizations, including the Adirondack Diversity Initiative, The Wild Center, and The Nature Conservancy in the Adirondacks, and is supported in part by a $50,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. To oversee the development of the program, ADKX has also hired Erik Reardon, a professor and scholar whose work has focused in particular on environmental history and Native American histories.

Celebrated Artist-Activist Roberto Lugo Joins R & Company I 14 April 2022

R & Company is pleased to announce its representation of Roberto Lugo, an acclaimed Philadelphia-based artist, activist, and educator. Lugo is an innovative and visionary creator, who seamlessly bridges the realms of fine art and collectible design and brings a singularly contemporary perspective to centuries-old ceramic traditions. His practice, which spans ceramics, spoken-word poetry, and community-based projects, embraces the multitude of references that have shaped his life, from his Afro-Latino roots and upbringing in North Philadelphia to his engagement with Hip Hop culture and critical issues surrounding racial injustice. Over the past several years, Lugo’s intricate hand-made objects, which reimagine ceramics through the lens of 21st century street sensibility, have come to prominence through presentations such as Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room, currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and commissions for institutions like the Brooklyn Museum, for which he created the Brooklyn Century Vase. R & Company will feature Lugo’s work at the forthcoming editions of TEFAF and Design Miami and will open a solo presentation in 2023.

A Blade of Grass Announces that Founding Executive Director Deborah Fisher Will Step Down in May I 12 April 2022

A Blade of Grass, the national nonprofit dedicated to socially engaged art, announced today that its Founding Executive Director Deborah Fisher will step down on May 31, 2022. Fisher has been instrumental in shaping the organization’s mission and program as well as guiding it through the challenges of the pandemic. To support the transition leading up to and following Fisher’s departure, A Blade of Grass’s Board of Trustees has appointed Suzy Delvalle as Interim Executive Director. Delvalle brings considerable experience in arts nonprofit leadership and will support the organization in a research and evaluation phase geared to maturing the nonprofit, diversifying its funding, and rebuilding the structures necessary to reestablish its grants to individual artists. Delvalle most recently served as Interim Executive Director at Socrates Sculpture Park, and has previously held leadership positions at Creative Capital, Sugar Hill’s Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling, and El Museo Del Barrio. The decision to appoint an interim leader is part of A Blade of Grass’s broader, ongoing restructuring. Delvalle began in her new role on April 4, 2022, to ensure a smooth, intentional transition.

Hollis Taggart to Open Four Solo and Duo Exhibitions This Spring Across Its Flagship Chelsea Location, a Pop-up Chelsea Space, and at Its Southport Outpost I 12 April 2022

This spring, Hollis Taggart will open four solo and duo exhibitions that unearth the innovations and achievements of artists lost to the passage of time and within the common narrations of art history. First, on April 21, the gallery will open Irene Monat Stern and Jan Peter Stern: Lyrical Modernism, the first in-depth exhibition of abstract painter Irene Monat Stern’s luminous and ethereal paintings in decades. Presented at Hollis Taggart’s flagship location at 521 W. 26th, Lyrical Modernism also features a focused selection of sculptures by Jan Peter Stern, the artist’s husband and a recognized abstract sculptor best known for his large-scale public commissions. The Sterns’ artistic careers flourished following their move to Southern California in 1965, as they drew inspiration from the landscapes and atmosphere of the region. But while they garnered commercial and critical acclaim in their lives, their disengagement from wider art world circles has resulted in an obscuring of their work in contemporary art dialogues. The forthcoming exhibition, on view through May 21, brings their work back to the fore, highlighting the intricacy and distinct qualities of their practices.

Three Important Textile Acquisitions for Mia I 11 April 2022

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) has acquired three important works of textile-based art, across three centuries and three different cultures, as well as a sculptural rendition of Islamic prayer beads. Sonya Clark’s Cornrow Chair (2011), the first work by this important contemporary American artist to enter Mia’s collection, uses an awkwardly proportioned chair—with rococo arms but plain legs, all reupholstered by Clark—as a metaphor for the uncomfortable history of race relations in the United States. The second work is a late-19th-century robe from the Ainu people of northern Japan, made of fiber from the bark of the Manchurian elm; this piece will be on view in the museum’s special exhibition “Dressed by Nature: Textiles of Japan,” opening this summer. The third textile work is a late-18th century palampore from China, a large and exceptional example of the use of silk as a decorative canvas beyond its role in clothing. The last acquisition is Tasbih, a sculptural piece by the late contemporary Indian artist Zarina (1937–2020) that evokes Islamic prayer beads (known as tasbih) on amplified scale, carved from wood and gilt in 22-karat gold leaf.

BMA Promotes Jessica Bell Brown to Curator and Department Head for Contemporary Art I 7 April 2022

The Baltimore Museum of Art today announces Jessica Bell Brown has been named as Curator and Department Head for Contemporary Art. In this role, she will lead a department comprising two associate curators, two curatorial assistants, and one fellow, as well as manage the rapidly growing collection and presentations of the art of our time. Brown came to the BMA in November 2019 as an Associate Curator for Contemporary Art.

New Fund for African American Art at Bowdoin College Museum of Art I 7 April 2022

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) has secured financial contributions to establish the David C. Driskell H’89 Fund, honoring the memory of the distinguished artist, educator, and curator, who passed away in April 2020. The new fund was initiated with a founding gift from Dr. Julie L. McGee ‘82, an associate professor of Africana studies and art history at the University of Delaware. This fund will provide annual support for exhibitions and public programs focused on African American art, and will support the BCMA’s overall work towards its diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.

University of Michigan Museum of Art Announces New Partnership with Monument Lab to Explore Cultural and Social Impact of Historic Structures on University’s Campus I 6 April 2022

The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) announced a partnership today with renowned nonprofit public art and history studio Monument Lab that will examine the role of historic structures at the University of Michigan (U-M) in upholding social and cultural systems and narratives. The initiative, which will include new research, community engagement, and the development of a newly commissioned art installation, will be led by Dr. Paul Farber, director and co-founder of Monument Lab, and Ozi Uduma, UMMA’s Assistant Curator of Global Contemporary Art, both graduates of U-M. In conjunction with this partnership, Dr. Farber will also serve as the University of Michigan Arts Initiative’s first-ever Curator-in-Residence.

San Antonio Museum of Art Acquires Important Works By Pioneering American Photographer Laura Aguilar I 31 March 2022

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) announced today that it has acquired seven photographs by pioneering American photographer Laura Aguilar. The works are drawn from three of Aguilar’s major series, including Clothed/Unclothed, Stillness, and Motion. Aguilar’s practice engaged with and challenged societal constructs relating to beauty, gender, sexuality, race, and class, shaping some of today’s most critical art dialogues. She often leveraged her own experiences as queer, large-bodied, and Chicana to examine questions of identity and the ways it affects how we navigate and live in the world. Although she was immersed in the East Los Angeles Chicano art scene throughout the 1980s and 1990s and created an expansive body of work, Aguilar’s significant contributions to the trajectory of art and its role in wider conversations about social issues only came into national awareness in recent years and requires further scholarly study and critical attention.

R & Company to Open First Exhibition of Works by Hun-Chung Lee In New York City in a Decade I 28 March 2022

Hun-Chung Lee (b. 1967) is widely recognized for his mastery of 15th century Korean celadon glazing techniques, which he uses to create stunning ceramic works that embrace and blend the formal vocabularies of sculpture and functional design. On April 28, R & Company will open Lee’s first exhibition in New York City in ten years, reintroducing his distinct and poetic work to East Coast visitors and capturing the evolution of his practice. With works produced entirely in Lee’s recently opened Santa Monica studio, the exhibition features objects made in his “classic style”, as well as those that represent his most recent experimentations with monumental scale and engagement with California-inspired color palettes. While Lee’s practice is highly acclaimed in Asia, the forthcoming exhibition, titled California: Hun Chung Lee, offers an opportunity to increase awareness of his work and inspire equal admiration among audiences in the United States. California: Hun Chung Lee will remain on view at R & Company’s 64 White Street location through August 12, 2022.

Baltimore Museum of Art Appoints Members of Senior Leadership Team as Interim Co-Directors I 24 March 2022

The Board of Trustees of the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it has appointed two members of the museum’s senior leadership team to serve as Interim Co-Directors. Christine Dietze, the BMA’s Chief Operating Officer, and Dr. Asma Naeem, The Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Chief Curator, will lead the museum following Christopher Bedford’s departure as director on June 3, 2022. Dietze and Naeem were integral to the adoption of the BMA’s strategic plan, which places equity and artistic excellence at the core of the museum, and have worked closely with the Board, management, and staff to implement this vision across the BMA’s internal and external initiatives. Dietze also served as Interim Co-Director between 2015-2016. This news follows the February 9 announcement that Bedford will leave the institution to helm the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

A Blade of Grass Announces Significant Changes to Board Model, as Part of Ongoing Evolution of Organization I 17 March 2022

A Blade of Grass (ABOG), the national nonprofit that supports socially engaged art, announced today the next step in its multi-year restructuring process, first announced in September 2020. To encourage greater accountability and support responsible ongoing stewardship of the organization, ABOG will shift to a paid, professional board structure. As part of this decision, the board will be scaled from 11 to six members following a transition period that will conclude in late spring. The six-member board will include Brett Cook, Michael Quattrone, and Michael Premo, who have been on ABOG’s board for a number of years, and Diya Vij, Gregory Sale, and ashley sparks, who formally joined in January 2022. The members choosing to step down in support of this transition to a paid, professional board structure include Shelley Frost Rubin, Annette Blum, Eva Haller, John Osborn, and Lee Skolnick.

Mia Organizes Exhibition Celebrating the Artistry of Textiles from Japan I 16 March 2022

This June, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) will debut the special exhibition “Dressed by Nature: Textiles of Japan.” Demonstrating the resourcefulness and skill involved in transforming locally sourced materials into extraordinary garments, “Dressed by Nature” will feature clothing and fabrics made from traditional organic materials, including robes crafted from the Japanese fiber banana plant from the subtropical Okinawan region; textiles fashioned from paper, ramie, cotton, silk, wool, hemp, wisteria, deerskin, and rice straw from across Japan’s many islands; garments of elm bark and nettle fiber created by the indigenous Ainu people; and festival coats of fish skin made in neighboring Siberia. Showcasing objects acquired in 2019 from Thomas Murray, a collector of Asian art, the exhibition will highlight rare and exceptional examples of textiles from Japan made between 1750 and 1930. The exhibition, which will be on view from June 25 through September 11, 2022, is curated by Andreas Marks, PhD, Mary Griggs Burke Curator and head of Japanese and Korean Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

ARTBnk And iownit Partnership Will Enable Blockchain-Based Fractional Art Investing I 10 March 2022

ARTBnk, a leading source of valuation, financial performance, and liquidity data on the global art market, and iownit, which specializes in using digital technologies to transform private markets, have announced a collaboration to create new fractional investment opportunities in the art marketplace. iownit's private blockchain-based technology platform underpins this digitization and fractionalization process, providing investors with an experience that is easy to use. Using this platform, investors will be able diversify their portfolios while staying compliant. Driven by ARTBnk's best-in-class database of art sales—which includes several decades of pricing information for tens of thousands of artists—and its AI-driven art valuation tool, both sellers and buyers will be able to transact with clarity, knowing the value of the object and its historical financial performance.

Meadows Museum Launches Masterpieces in Residence Program I 8 March 2022

The Meadows Museum, SMU today launched an exhibition and research initiative designed to demonstrate and celebrate the significant holdings of Spanish art in American museum collections while increasing contributions to scholarship in the field of Spanish art. Titled Masterpieces in Residence, the program is a series of individual installations of a single work of Spanish art on loan to the Meadows Museum from a U.S. museum. Each Masterpiece in Residence loan provides the occasion for the commissioning of a focused essay on the work by a leading scholar, which will be published as a short monograph by the Meadows Museum in association with Scala Arts Publishers, Inc. The first work, Juan Sánchez Cotán’s Still Life with Quince, Cabbage, Melon, and Cucumber (c. 1602), on loan from the San Diego Museum of Art and currently on view, will remain at the Meadows Museum through June 26, 2022. Dr. Peter Cherry, Professor in the Department of Art and Architecture at Trinity College Dublin, wrote the essay for the accompanying publication. The second loan in the series will be announced in the coming months.

Mia Presents Installation of Work by Jovan C. Speller, Exploring Generational & Self Care in Black Communities I 3 March 2022

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) has announced “Nurturing, and Other Rituals of Protection,” an installation by the multimedia artist Jovan C. Speller. The exhibition will underscore the importance of intergenerational care in Black culture while aestheticizing the security of a community too often targeted, misunderstood, and misrepresented in public spaces. Through photographs and an installation that depicts a living room, the exhibition presents a story of possibility and the potential for hope for Black families in every American community. Presented as part of the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program (MAEP), the exhibition will be on view from March 19 through June 26, 2022, in Mia’s U.S. Bank Gallery.

R & Company to Present New Works by Designer Serban Ionescu in April I 3 March 2022

R & Company is pleased to announce Romanian American artist and designer Serban Ionescu’s first solo exhibition at the gallery since formally joining its program in October 2021. Ionescu has long been interested in world making, approaching his design works as whimsical characters that he brings to life in Castle Garden. Named after the first immigration station in the United States, “Castle Garden” was originally a military fort and then a theater before becoming the main entry point to the U.S. for European immigrants in the 1850s. Just as Castle Garden’s functions changed over time, the functionality of Ionescu’s objects is variable, transforming based on the viewer’s desires and the location of the works. For the upcoming exhibition, the designer draws on his architectural background to create a range of large-scale structures, including “pavilions” that people can enter, allowing for a new interior experience of his work, as well as “roomscrapers”, elongated, tall sculptures that suggest a built skyline. On view from April 28 through August 12, Castle Garden will also include a spectrum of works, including a standout dining room table, cabinets, and chairs, and maquettes for other pavilions—all in Ionescu’s signature style.

Hollis Taggart to Open Solo Exhibition of Works by Artist Alex Kanevsky I 1 March 2022

On March 17, Hollis Taggart will open Postcards from a Closet, artist Alex Kanevsky’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. The presentation features a new body of paintings, produced between 2021 and 2022, that captures Kanevsky’s incredible use of color, light, and gesture as well as his fluid engagement with abstraction and figuration. Together, the works in Postcards from a Closet highlight the ways in which Kanevsky brings his painterly approach to a wide range of subjects, while also revealing that painting itself is the artist’s greatest and primary interest. A seasoned painter, his latest works nonetheless reflect ongoing experimentation and new inflections of mood, environment, and lived experience. Postcards from a Closet will remain on view through April 16, 2022, at Hollis Taggart’s primary location in Chelsea on W. 26th Street. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue, with an essay by art historian and writer Jason Rosenfeld.

New Work by Acclaimed Designer Katie Stout Now On View at R & Company I 23 February 2022

R & Company has opened its second solo exhibition of work by acclaimed designer Katie Stout, highlighting her singular vision and iconic aesthetic vocabulary. The exhibition features Stout’s first major body of bronze works inlaid with vibrantly colored and finely crafted ceramic details. The series is a significant evolution in Stout’s practice, capturing the way she continues to create new possibilities in ceramics by embracing and working intuitively across media. The bronze works, which include a monumental cabinet and selection of standing and hanging illuminated sculptures, reflect an important breakthrough moment and are sure to compel those familiar and new to her practice. The bronzes are being shown alongside a range of distinctive, large-scale ceramic pieces, reflecting a longstanding dialogue across the designer’s work. The exhibition will remain on view through April 22, 2022.

“Guarding the Art” Exhibition Guest Curated by BMA Security Officers Opens March 27 I 17 February 2022

For the first time in the Baltimore Museum of Art’s (BMA) history, the people who protect the art have selected the art. Guarding the Art, an exhibition curated entirely by 17 members of the museum’s security team, opens on Sunday, March 27, with approximately 25 works of art from across the BMA’s collection. The exhibition highlights the unique perspectives of the officers and their reflections on the featured objects are drawn from their many hours in the galleries, their interactions with visitors, and their personal stories and interests. Works by Jeremy Alden, Louise Bourgeois, Sam Gilliam, Grace Hartigan, Winslow Homer, Alma W. Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, and unidentified artists from Colombia, Costa Rica, and the Solomon Islands are among those featured in the exhibition. Guarding the Art is on view through July 10, and includes a fully illustrated catalogue.

Minneapolis Institute of Art Hires First CDIO, Appoints New COO I 11 February 2022

On February 8, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) announced that it selected Virajita Singh to serve as the museum’s first Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer (CDIO), following a national search. Singh will come to Mia from the University of Minnesota, where she has served in the Office for Equity & Diversity (OED) since 2015, first as the Assistant Vice Provost and, since 2019, as the Associate Vice Provost. Mia’s new CDIO position, which will join the museum’s senior leadership team, is made possible through more than $6.5 million in funding from former board chairs Nivin MacMillan and Hubert Joly, and trustee Sheila Morgan, to endow the position and support DEAIB initiatives at the museum. Singh will begin her role at Mia in March.

On February 11, Mia announced that Michael Sanders has been appointed as the museum’s new Chief Operating Officer (COO). Currently the President and CEO of Minneapolis’ Bakken Museum, where he has been since 2015, Sanders comes to Mia with two decades of experience in museums, particularly in leadership roles in operations. Sanders began his career in the hospitality industry, and those experiences have also guided his work, underscoring the importance of visitor experience as an essential element to each of his operations roles. Sanders will begin his role at Mia in March.

Bowdoin College Museum of Art Acquires Important Abolitionist Painting by William Gale I 2 February 2022

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) announced that it has acquired William Gale’s 1856 painting The Captured Runaway from the London-based Ben Elwes Fine Art. The work demonstrates the intense Victorian-era interest in the abolitionist movement, and an awareness—even across the Atlantic—of the ongoing legal conflicts over slavery in the United States. In this case, Gale’s work responds to the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, nick-named the “Bloodhound Law,” which overrode state laws to legalize the extradition of Southern runaway slaves and require Northerners to support these extraditions. However, despite the strong political and social interest in the issue—supported by Britain’s elimination of slavery across its empire in 1834—there are few known examples of artists directly engaging in abolitionist political themes in the format of large-scale, formal paintings. The Captured Runaway is now featured in the Museum’s Bowdoin gallery as part of the installation, “Re|Framing the Collection: New Considerations in European and American Art, 1475-1875.”

Meadows Museum Acquires Major Painting by Pedro de Campaña I 2 February 2022

The Meadows Museum, SMU announced today that it has acquired a painting of a calvary scene by Pedro de Campaña (born Pieter de Kempener). The highly emotive painting, likely commissioned for personal devotion in a private chapel, features a masterful composition, rich color, and expertly executed depictions of light and dark. Calvary (c. 1560) is the first work by Campaña, who was widely considered to be the most important painter of Renaissance Seville, to enter the Meadows’ collection. As most works by Campaña are in situ in ecclesiastical settings in Spain, the acquisition of this work presented a rare opportunity for the Meadows to fill a gap in its collection, thereby enabling the museum to present a more complete history of the art of Spain. The painting is currently on view in the museum’s galleries.

Baltimore Museum of Art Presents Joan Mitchell Retrospective in March 2022, Featuring 70 Artworks and Rarely Seen Archival Materials I 1 February 2022

From March 6 through August 14, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) presents Joan Mitchell, the long-awaited retrospective of the internationally renowned artist who attained critical acclaim and success in the male-dominated art circles of 1950s New York, then spent nearly four decades in France creating breathtaking abstract paintings that evoke landscapes, memories, poetry, and music. This comprehensive exhibition features 70 works spanning the artist’s career, including rarely seen early paintings and drawings, vibrant gestural paintings that established her reputation in New York, and enormous multi-panel masterpieces from her later years that immerse viewers with their symphonic color. Numerous loans from public and private collections in the U.S. and Europe include works that have not been shown publicly in decades and never in a single exhibition. The BMA’s presentation also includes many archival photographs, letters, poems, and other materials from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, providing additional context about the development of the artist’s work and influences.

Baltimore Museum of Art Announces Diverse Array of Acquisitions, with 54 Objects Added Across Museum Departments I 25 January 2022

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it has acquired, through both purchase and gift, approximately 54 objects and suites of works across its encyclopedic holdings. The group captures an incredible range of contemporary production, including works by Mel Bochner, Leonardo Drew, Jacob Lawrence, Shahzia Sikander, Nari Ward, and Marie Watt. The BMA also added to its extensive holdings of historic American and European paintings, sculpture, and prints with a 17th-century etching by Paulus Pontius, a magnificent oil on paper by Weimar-era artist Lotte Laserstein, a bronze by celebrated Harlem Renaissance sculptor Richmond Barthé, and a photograph by Surrealist artist Kati Horna, among other works. Three works on paper by Nigerian artist Uche Okeke that capture the experience of an independent Nigeria and the artist’s changing aesthetic add new depth to the museum’s African collection. With acquisitions of works by Jerrell Gibbs, Earl Jones, Nia June with Kirby Griffin and APoetNamedNate, Monica Ikegwu, Ernest Shaw, Joyce J. Scott, James Voshell, and Kandis Williams, the BMA continues its emphasis on collecting works by artists with ties to Baltimore.

AAMD Announces Next Round of Paid Internships, Annual Meeting Plans I 21 January 2022

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) announced that it has selected the 10 member art museums that will host its class of 2022 interns, the third year of the Association’s paid internship program. Each institution will host an intern for 12 weeks, provide a focal point for those interns’ work and career development in different museum departments, and create a mentorship opportunity to support the student during their internship. The roster of museums selected for participation in 2022 reflects the geographic and art historical diversity of AAMD’s membership, and includes both a repeating institution—the San Jose Museum of Art, which participated in the first round and subsequently hired their intern—and the first Canadian institution to host an AAMD intern.

Also today, AAMD announced schedule details for its upcoming annual meeting, to be held January 24-27, 2022.

16 Photos By Irving Penn Gifted to Bowdoin College Museum of Art I 18 January 2022

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) today announced that it has received a gift of sixteen photographs by Irving Penn from his former studio assistant Robert Freson. Spanning more than fifty years of the photographer’s prolific career and demonstrating the variety of his portrait work, the gift includes multiple examples of Penn’s iconic portraits of fellow artists such as Jacob Lawrence and Georgia O’Keeffe, as well as his photographs of anonymous workers in New York. The gift also includes examples of Penn’s fashion photography and still lifes. Freson, now a resident of Bailey Island, Maine, selected the images with special assistance from representatives at the Irving Penn Foundation in order to ensure they provided an overview of Penn’s august career.

Major Works from Uffizi Galleries Travel to Minneapolis Institute of Art I 13 January 2022

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) today announced an exhibition that will celebrate the artistic achievements of Renaissance Florence. Featuring more than 45 loans from the renowned Uffizi Galleries in Florence – including Botticelli’s evocative Minerva and the Centaur – “Botticelli and Renaissance Florence: Masterworks from the Uffizi” will include paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, decorative arts, and a selection of ancient Roman marble statues. The exhibition will be one of the most comprehensive shows on Botticelli ever staged in the United States, and will contextualize his works within the broader artistic and cultural climate of Renaissance Florence. On view from October 15, 2022 through January 8, 2023 in Mia’s Target Galleries, “Botticelli and Renaissance Florence: Masterworks from the Uffizi” marks the first collaboration between Mia and the Uffizi Galleries.

Mia Appoints Dr. Rachel McGarry Chair of European Art I 13 January 2022

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) today announced the appointment of Dr. Rachel McGarry as the new Elizabeth MacMillan Chair of European Art. McGarry, who will assume the role immediately, will lead one of Mia’s largest and most diverse curatorial departments. In her capacity as Chair, McGarry will also serve as the museum’s Curator of European Paintings and Works on Paper. She will oversee the scholarship, display, and preservation of more than 35,000 works in various mediums from the Classical World to the present. McGarry fills a position created by a recent reorganization at Mia wherein previously separate collections of paintings, decorative arts, sculpture, and works on paper were brought together under the aegis of the newly formed Department of European Art.

Us Them We | Race Ethnicity Identity At The Worcester Art Museum I 12 January 2022

In February 2022, the Worcester Art Museum (WAM) will present its new exhibition Us Them We | Race Ethnicity Identity, an in-depth look at how contemporary artists since the mid-1970s have used formal artistic devices in their work —such as text, juxtaposition, pattern, and seriality—to explore socio-political concepts. Us Them We will include works from 47 artists drawn from the Museum’s collection along with several significant loans. The exhibition features photography, prints, painting, and sculpture, including major works by Edgar Heap of Birds / Hock E Aye Vi, Byron Kim, Roberto Lugo, Shirin Neshat, and Lorna Simpson, among many others. Us Them We is co-curated by Nancy Kathryn Burns, Stoddard Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs at WAM, and Toby Sisson, Associate Professor and Program Director of Studio Art at Clark University. The exhibition opens February 19 and runs through Juneteenth (June 19, 2022).

R & Company to Present Solo Exhibition of Works by Contemporary Brazilian Designer Zanini De Zanine in February I 6 January 2022

On the twentieth anniversary of his practice, R & Company will present its first exhibition of works by renowned Brazilian designer, Zanini de Zanine. Opening on February 3, 2022, the exhibition will feature a selection of sensuous, monumental benches, chairs, stools, and other objects made from felled trees, repurposed wood, and reclaimed materials. Zanine’s works capture a connection between the natural and the manmade, as he amplifies organic lines and forms through skilled craftsmanship and a conceptual vision. Zanine’s practice embraces and extends certain traditions of Brazilian modern design grounded in a spiritual and physical relationship with nature, an awareness and response to the environmental impact on the country’s lush landscapes, and a commitment to engaging with sustainable materials. The exhibition will remain on view through April 22, 2022, at the gallery’s 64 White Street location.

Expansive Exhibition of More Than 50 Works by Designer Jeff Zimmerman to Open in February I 6 January 2022

R & Company will open an expansive exhibition of more than 50 works by New York-based designer Jeff Zimmerman on February 3, 2022. Zimmerman has long been a forerunner in collectible design, shaping the genre of contemporary lighting and driving the market for collectible lighting works. The exhibition, titled Jeff Zimmerman: New Work, marks his sixth solo exhibition with R & Company, as part of an ongoing two-decade long collaboration with the gallery. The exhibition captures the range and dynamism of the designer’s glass practice, including illuminated hanging sculptures, variously scaled and magnificently colored vessels, and wall works that behave like three-dimensional collages comprised of numerous individual pieces.

Hollis Taggart to Present Works Spanning More Than Five Decades By Renowned New York School Painter Knox Martin I 22 December 2021

Hollis Taggart is pleased to present Knox Martin: Garden of Time, an exhibition featuring works inspired by nature from across more than five decades of artist Knox Martin’s career. The presentation includes paintings, works on paper, and two of Martin’s rarely displayed mixed-media sculptures, highlighting both the diversity of his practice and the range of ways the 98-year-old artist has engaged with and interpreted his experiences of the natural world. Garden of Time will be on view January 6 - February 5, 2022, at Hollis Taggart’s Chelsea location at 521 W. 26th Street.

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings and Baltimore Museum of Art to Unveil the Official Portrait of the Beloved Late Congressman Elijah E. Cummings I 3 December 2021

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings and the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced that the forthcoming unveiling of the official portrait of Elijah E. Cummings will take place at the museum on December 21 during an intimate event that celebrates the beloved Congressman’s life and enduring advocacy for social justice. The portrait was commissioned by Rockeymoore Cummings in March 2021 and painted by Jerrell Gibbs, a Baltimore-based artist recognized for his evocative portraits of Black life and identity. Gibbs was selected from a short list of three Baltimore-based artists that also included Monica Ikegwu and Ernest Shaw, following a multi-phase process led by Rockeymoore Cummings and a selection committee of BMA and local community leaders. The portrait, which serves to honor Cummings’ many achievements and unwavering commitment to his home city of Baltimore, will be on public view at the BMA from December 22, 2021, through January 9, 2022, before it is permanently installed in the U.S. Capitol. Additional details about the Washington, DC display will be announced at a later date.

Meadows Museum to Present Works by Ignasi Aballí, First Artists in the MAS: Meadows/ARCO Artist Spotlight Program I 22 November 2021

The Meadows Museum, SMU, will present an exhibition of work by the Spanish conceptual artist Ignasi Aballí (b. 1958), opening on March 6, 2022, ahead of his solo presentation at the Spanish Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale. Aballí is the first Spanish artist to visit Dallas and exhibit work at the museum as part of the MAS: Meadows/ARCO Artist Spotlight program. Established in 2019, MAS is a six-year partnership between the Meadows Museum and Fundación ARCO, the leading organization behind Spain’s premier contemporary art fair, ARCOmadrid. MAS selects one contemporary Spanish artist with limited recognition in the U.S. biennially to present their work at the Meadows Museum. Aballí, who was chosen to represent Spain at the 59th Venice Biennale starting in April, will visit Dallas in early March for the installation and to participate in educational programming designed to engage SMU and the broader Dallas community. The exhibition of Aballí’s work will be on view in the Virginia Meadows Galleries from March 6 through June 26, 2022.

R & Company Announces Design Miami Presentation Highlights I 18 November 2021

Over the course of more than two decades, R & Company has supported a wide range of emerging talent as an essential aspect of its vision and program. With its presentation at the 2021 edition of Design Miami, opening on November 30, the gallery is spotlighting the distinct work of a group of rising talents, whose conceptual and technical approaches are shaping the future of design and exciting a broad range of audiences. Several of these designers recently joined R & Company’s dynamic and growing roster, including Serban Ionescu, Joyce Lin, and Jolie Ngo, while others have been featured in prior R & Company exhibitions and projects, including Luam Melake, Sayar & Garibeh, and Norman Teague.

R & Company’s Design Miami presentation also includes major works and collections by established designers, whose practices have evolved and captivated collectors through time. Among these highlights is a collection of works from Studio Job’s Car Crash series, which viscerally encapsulates humanity’s fascination with moments of tragedy. R & Company, which began representing Studio Job earlier this year, will feature the bronze side table inspired by James Dean’s car crash. The table, which juxtaposes the emotional impact of a disaster with the physicality of rich materials, will be presented with its conceptual drawing as well as drawings of other famous crashes, including those of Jackson Pollock, Grace Kelly, and Ayrton Senna. The drawings are available for purchase as artworks in their own right, and collectors will also be able to commission Studio Job to create the three-dimensional versions. The presentation of Studio Job at Design Miami serves as a focused preview into R & Company’s planned solo presentation of the designer’s work in New York in fall 2022.

Vancouver Art Gallery Announces Two New Hires I 16 November 2021

The Vancouver Art Gallery announced today the appointment of Dr. Richard William Hill to be the first curator to fill the new position of the Smith Jarislowsky Senior Curator of Canadian Art. This new role was announced in April 2021, after Vancouver Art Gallery received a bequest of $1 million from artist Gordon Smith, and together with a generous matching donation of an additional $1 million from The Jarislowsky Foundation, was able to create this endowed curatorial position. In his role as the Smith Jarislowsky Senior Curator of Canadian Art, Hill will build upon the research, presentation and collection of historical and contemporary art in the Gallery’s collection, as well as temporary exhibitions, publications and other research activities. Hill will commence his position January 4, 2022.

The Gallery also announced that Broek Bosma has been appointed to the new position of Chief Advancement Officer and Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery Foundation. Bosma takes up this new role on November 29, 2021. Bosma brings over two decades of progressive leadership experience in fundraising and relationship building across a variety of non-profit organizations including Orchestra London Canada, Kitchener Waterloo Symphony, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Most recently, Bosma was at St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation where he served as Chief Development Officer. He worked closely with the foundation board members and executive leaders to create and execute a $225 million comprehensive campaign for the new St. Paul’s Hospital at the Jim Pattison Medical Centre.

‘Kamoda Shōji: The Art of Change,’ Artist’s First Museum Retrospective Outside of Japan, to Open at Minneapolis Institute of Art I 11 November 2021

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) today announced an exhibition of works by the Japanese ceramist Kamoda Shōji, who despite his fame in Japan for significant contributions to contemporary ceramics, has not received the attention he deserves outside of his native country, in part because of his untimely death at the age of 49 in 1983. The exhibition, Kamoda’s first museum retrospective outside of Japan, will celebrate the artist’s meticulous craftsmanship and the beauty of his vessels while examining how his experimentation with material, form, and texture led to a transformation in modern Japanese ceramics. Featuring 49 works from across his oeuvre, Kamoda Shōji: The Art of Change will demonstrate the potter’s tireless innovation and experimentation with technique and form throughout his career. The exhibition, curated by Matthew Welch, Mia’s deputy director and chief curator, will be on view in the Cargill Gallery from December 11, 2021, through April 17, 2022.

Tufts University Art Galleries Explores Pivotal Activist Campaign Artists Call Against US Intervention in Central America in Upcoming Exhibition I 9 November 2021

On January 20, 2022, Tufts University Art Galleries (TUAG) will open the most in-depth exhibition to explore the seminal 1980s activist campaign Artists Call Against US Intervention in Central America. The campaign, which sought to educate North Americans and protest U.S. military interventions, included a vast array of political and artistic actions across nearly 30 cities that continue to reverberate in contemporary practice today. The forthcoming exhibition, titled Art for the Future: Artists Call and Central American Solidarities, provides an expansive examination of the campaign through the work of more than 100 artists and archival materials, including materials drawn from the personal archives of Lucy Lippard and Doug Ashford as well as from the Museum of Modern Art Library & Archives. Art for the Future will remain on view through April 24, 2022, and is accompanied by a fully illustrated, bilingual English-Spanish catalogue that features essays by artists and the exhibition curators as well as interviews with Artists Call organizers.

Vancouver Art Gallery Receives CA$100 Million Gift Towards New Vision & New Building I 4 November 2021

Today, the Vancouver Art Gallery is pleased to announce it will be the recipient of a CA$100 million transformational gift from the Audain Foundation, to support the creation of a new building in downtown Vancouver. This gift comes at a time when the Vancouver Art Gallery celebrates its 90th anniversary. This is the largest single cash gift to an art gallery in Canadian history. The building is being designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron together with Vancouver architects Perkins & Will, in consultation with Coast Salish artists. This consultation is reflected in the building’s design and its use of sustainable practices. The new Gallery will be the first Passive House art gallery in North America, a voluntary standard for energy efficiency which significantly reduces the building's ecological footprint.

BMA to Open The Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs on December 12 I 3 November 2021

The Baltimore Museum of Art today announced the opening of The Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs on December 12, 2021. The approximately 7,000-square-foot center designed by Quinn Evans Architects provides new dedicated space to experience the BMA’s expansive collection of 67,000 works on paper spanning from the 15th century to the present day. The $10 million project is named for museum supporters Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff, who provided the lead gift, and encompasses a spacious exhibition gallery, study room, preparatory room, new offices, and enhanced storage, including new cold storage for photography. The center, which will be led by Andaleeb Badiee Banta, the BMA’s Senior Curator and Department Head of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, will open with the exhibition, The Rembrandt Effect, which explores the artist’s singular etching technique and its significance to European and American graphic artists of the 19th and 20th centuries through more than 80 works from the BMA’s collection.

BMA to Open Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies on December 12 I 3 November 2021

On December 12, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will open The Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies, an approximately 2,500-square-foot space on the first floor of the museum dedicated to the study of French artist Henri Matisse. The establishment of the center fulfills the BMA’s long-term strategic goal to increase research and presentation opportunities for the museum’s incomparable collection of more than 1,200 works by the artist—the largest public collection of his work in the world. The BMA has also commissioned artist Stanley Whitney to create a set of three, large-scale stained-glass windows to be installed inside the center and is presenting an exhibition titled Matisse: The Sinuous Line, both debuting with the center’s opening.

R & Company Now Represents Joyce Lin I 2 November 2021

R & Company is pleased to announce its representation of artist and designer Joyce Lin. Drawing on her dual passions for the natural sciences and the arts, Lin creates objects that explore the relationship between material and environment, both as an intimate experience and as a reflection of humanity’s greater connection to the surrounding world. Her work can be understood as both sculpture and furniture, eroding the boundaries between these creative endeavors to emphasize the experience of creative vision, material, form, and process.

Hollis Taggart Now Represents French Artist Thomas Agrinier I 28 October 2021

Hollis Taggart is pleased to announce its representation of Thomas Agrinier (Lyon, France; b. 1976), who joins the gallery’s growing contemporary program. A self-taught artist, Agrinier blends the visual vocabularies of figuration and abstraction to create expressive and enigmatic paintings that compel and excite the eye. Regardless of subject or inspiration, Agrinier’s work is filtered through his sense of childhood joy, enthusiasm, and play, inviting the viewer to connect with their own experiences of optimism and freedom. A selection of Agrinier’s works were included in Hollis Taggart’s 2021 group presentation, A Way of Feeling, and his painting L’élu du mercato (The chosen one of the mercato) (2021) is currently featured in Game On!, which remains on view at the gallery’s Southport, Connecticut location through October 30, 2021. A solo exhibition of the artist’s paintings is being planned for 2023.

First Retrospective of Photographer Marcia Resnick to Open at Bowdoin College Museum of Art I 14 October 2021

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA), in collaboration with the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) and the George Eastman Museum, today announced the first ever museum exhibition of the photographer Marcia Resnick. One of the most innovative American photographers of the 1970s, Resnick is today most well-known for her portraits of the creative community in downtown New York City during that decade. Marcia Resnick: As It Is Or Could Be will feature these portraits alongside the artists’ less-known experimental and conceptual photographs, highlighting Resnick’s overlooked role in the history of American photography while emphasizing the continued relevance of the aesthetic, social, and political issues explored through her lens. Co-curated by Frank Goodyear, Co-Director of BCMA; Casey Riley, Chair of Global Contemporary Art and Curator of Photography & New Media at Mia; and Lisa Hostetler, former Curator in Charge, Department of Photographs at the Eastman Museum, the exhibition will premiere at BCMA from February 24 through June 5, 2022, before being presented at Mia (August 13 through December 11, 2022) and the Eastman Museum (February 10 through June 18, 2023).

Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces Inaugural Recipients of Joan Mitchell Fellowships I 13 October 2021

The Joan Mitchell Foundation today announced the inaugural recipients of its new Joan Mitchell Fellowship, which annually awards 15 artists working in the evolving fields of painting and sculpture with $60,000 each in unrestricted funds, distributed over a five-year period. Announced in February 2021, the Foundation’s new Fellowship program re-envisions and enhances the impact of its earlier Painters & Sculptors Grants by significantly increasing the financial award and expanding the professional development offerings that are a hallmark of the Foundation’s approach to supporting working artists. The 15 artists receiving Fellowships range in age from 35 to 71; 80% are artists of color—and 40% identify as Hispanic, Latinx, or Chicanx—while 47% identify as female and 13% as gender non-conforming. The artists were selected in a multi-phase, juried process from 166 applicants who were identified by a diverse pool of nominators from across the country and who reflect a wide range of backgrounds in the arts.

MASS MoCA Announces Fall 2021-Winter 2022 Exhibition & Program Schedule I 6 October 2021

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) today announced its upcoming exhibitions through March 2022, including a group show of contemporary ceramic art, titled Ceramics in the Expanded Field, and solo shows of work by Yto Barrada, Lily Cox-Richard, Amy Hauft, and Marc Swanson. A number of the artists have been commissioned by MASS MoCA to create ambitious new installations as part of their exhibitions, including Lily Cox-Richard and Amy Hauft, who had residencies at the museum earlier this year. General details about each exhibition follow below. More information about each exhibition will be released in the coming months.

R & Company to Present Exhibition of Richard Marquis’ Marquiscarpa I 4 October 2021

An unpredictable array of bold, repeating patterns—miniature, swirling snowmen with black top-hats and geometric forms—emerge from the exquisite surfaces of Richard Marquis’ Marquiscarpa. Inspired by Carlo Scarpa’s Murrine Opache series, Marquis’ objects present masterfully woven murrine arranged to create beautifully ornamented surfaces that draw in the viewer, forcing them to admire both the vibrant colors and the technical skill needed to create each work. Eight of Marquis’ objects will be on view in the new exhibition Marquiscarpa, opening October 5, 2021 at R & Company’s 64 White Street galleries.

Classic Love Stories Explored Through Classic Portraits, at the Worcester Art Museum I 28 September 2021

This fall the Worcester Art Museum (WAM) opens Love Stories from the National Portrait Gallery, London, an exploration of the role of love in some of the greatest masterpieces of Western art. For over a year and a half, the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled people around the globe to be physically separated from loved ones. In tragic cases they have experienced loss and suffering. It is thus a timely moment to reflect on how portraits sustain us during long periods apart and preserve the memory of those no longer with us. As the first venue in an international tour organized while the National Portrait Gallery is closed for a major redevelopment, Love Stories at WAM is a rare opportunity for Americans to experience locally some of the National Portrait Gallery’s treasures normally only seen in London. The exhibition opens at the Worcester Art Museum on November 13, 2021 and remains on view through March 13, 2022.

Mia Announces Three Contemporary Acquisitions I 28 September 2021

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) today announced the acquisition of three major works of contemporary art: a transformation mask by the First Nations artist Beau Dick, a mirror and painted mosaic sculpture by the Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, and a tapestry by the Nigerian artist Otobong Nkanga. All three are the first by the artists to enter Mia’s collection. Acquisition of the mask and sculpture was made possible in part by gifts of funds; the Nigerian textile was purchased outright by Mia. Farmanfarmaian’s sculpture, Fourth Family Octagon, will make its debut in the reinstalled Art of Islamic Cultures, Asia gallery, opening this fall; the Dick and Nkanga works will go on view in the near future.

R & Company to Present Immersive Exhibition of Rare and Iconic Works by Groundbreaking Designer Verner Panton I 27 September 2021

On October 5, R & Company will open Verner Panton, an exhibition celebrating the enduring influence and incredible imagination of the Danish designer. R & Company has long championed Panton’s vision, becoming, in 2001, the first presenter in the United States to show his work in an immersive environment as he originally conceived. On the 20th anniversary of that first exhibition, R & Company will once again capture Panton’s singular approach to form, color, and material in an exhibition that brings viewers into the designer’s bold and playful world through a selection of both rare and iconic lamps, textiles, chairs, and additional furniture pieces. The group of nearly 50 objects that will be presented in Verner Panton were collected over the course of three years. The effort highlights R & Company’s commitment to reviving the market for Panton works, which has been dormant for many years due to the scarcity of original pieces. The exhibition will remain on view through January 8, 2022, at the gallery’s 64 White Street location.

MASS MoCA Appoints Kristy Edmunds As Next Director I 23 September 2021

The Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) announced today that Kristy Edmunds has been appointed as its new Director, following a 10-month international search and a unanimous decision by the Board. Edmunds comes to MASS MoCA from UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA), where she has served as the Executive and Artistic Director since 2011. Previously, she was the Artistic Director for the Melbourne International Arts Festival, served for several years as the Head of the School of Performing Arts and Deputy Dean at the Victorian College of the Arts at the University of Melbourne, and was the founding Executive and Artistic Director of the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) and the TBA Festival (Time Based Art) in Portland, Oregon. She also served as the inaugural Consulting Artistic Director for the Park Avenue Armory in New York. Edmunds will begin her new position at MASS MoCA in October.

Hollis Taggart to Open Solo Exhibition of News Works by Leah Guadagnoli I 16 September 2021

On October 14, Hollis Taggart will open Love Lies Bleeding, New York-based artist Leah Guadagnoli’s first solo presentation with the gallery. Guadagnoli, who joined Hollis Taggart’s contemporary program in May 2020, is widely recognized for her distinctive three-dimensional wall-based constructions that seamlessly blend the vocabulary of painterly abstraction with the physicality of sculpture. Love Lies Bleeding captures Guadagnoli’s evolution from the hard-edged lines of architecture and kitschy patterns of ‘80s interiors that have long inspired her to more organic forms articulated in bold, bright fields of color. The transition marks an important expansion of the artist’s visual lexicon and a new freedom and openness in her practice. The exhibition will remain on view through November 13, 2021, at Hollis Taggart’s flagship location in Chelsea. An opening reception will be held on October 14, from 5 PM to 8 PM.

Canvas & Silk: Historic Fashion from Madrid’s Museo del Traje Opens at the Meadows Museum I 13 September 2021

On September 19th, the Meadows Museum, SMU, will open a major exhibition of Spanish dress and fashion that pairs paintings from the Meadows’s collection with historic dress and accessories from the Museo del Traje, Centro de Investigación del Patrimonio Etnológico in Madrid. Canvas & Silk: Historic Fashion from Madrid’s Museo del Traje marks the first major collaboration between this important Spanish institution and an American museum and includes approximately 40 works from the Meadows alongside examples of dress and accessories from the Museo del Traje (Spanish National Museum for Fashion). Displayed together, the works in the exhibition not only tell the story of how fashion trends in Spain changed over four hundred years, but also reveal how elements of a country’s history – such as its involvement with global trade or the formation of a national identity – are reflected in its dress. Canvas & Silk is curated by Amanda W. Dotseth, curator at the Meadows Museum, and Elvira González, curator at the Museo del Traje, and will be on view at the Meadows from September 19, 2021, until January 9, 2022. Concurrently, the Meadows will also present Image & Identity: Mexican Fashion in the Modern Period, an investigation into Mexican dress spanning from Mexican Independence to modern times through photographs and prints from the collections of the Meadows Museum and SMU’s DeGolyer Library.

BMA Receives $150,000 Grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to Launch Community-Focused Research Initiative I 13 September 2021

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it has received $150,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support a multi-year research and planning project. Referred to as the Mellon Initiative, the project aims to reimagine the structure and function of a museum, considering what form a museum would take if an institution was reconceived from scratch. The Mellon Initiative furthers the vision adopted by the BMA in its 2018 strategic plan, which placed at its core a reevaluation of the museum's exhibitions, acquisitions, public programing, staff and board, and other operations through the lens of equity and diversity.

To support the implementation of the initiative, the BMA has hired Keondra Prier as its Mellon Initiative Project Manager. Prier, who has previously held senior positions in education at the Brooklyn Museum and Walters Art Museum, will work with Gamynne Guillotte, the BMA’s Chief Education Officer, along with other senior leadership at the museum. The BMA has also established an eight-member steering committee of local and regional leaders and stakeholders who work across art and culture, civic services, education, community organizing, and the law to advise BMA staff, review their progress, and help shape the initiative. The group includes Zoë Charlton, George Ciscle, Omar Eaton-Martínez, Adam Holofcener, Kennedy McDaniel, Antoinette Peele, Jessica Solomon, and Lu Zhang.

Mia Acquires Baroque Paintings Commissioned by Barberini Family I 30 August 2021

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) today announced the acquisition of four paintings commissioned by the prominent and influential Barberini family of Rome in the 1620s. The paintings—The Archangel Michael (c. 1624-26) by Cavaliere d'Arpino, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (early 1620s) by Cristoforo Roncalli, The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise (1627) by Domenico Passignano, and The Crucified Christ Triumphant over Death, Evil, and Sin (1621) by Paolo Guidotti—evoke the splendor of Baroque Rome in the seventeenth century and the triumphant message of the Catholic Church during the Counter-Reformation. The Barberini family’s patronage represents one of the peaks of this era. The paintings by Arpino, Roncalli, and Passignano, all monumental in scale, have remained together for more than 400 years with direct descendants of the Barberini princes and the Barberini Pope Urban VIII (reign 1623–1644). The works by Arpino and Guidotti are now on view at Mia, while the paintings by Roncalli and Passignano are currently undergoing conservation.

Hollis Taggart to Open Two Exhibitions in September 2021 I 24 August 2021

A Solo Presentation of New Paintings by Hollis Heichemer, on View September 10 - October 9, 2021 at Hollis Taggart's Flagship Location in Chelsea

Hollis Heichemer: Entanglement is New Hampshire-based artist Hollis Heichemer’s second solo presentation with the gallery and her first since formally joining the gallery’s program in April 2020. The exhibition will feature a selection of Heichemer’s new abstract paintings, which capture the artist’s brilliant use of color and organic and fluid gestures. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue that includes an essay and a selection of poems inspired by Heichemer’s new works by writer and artist Tamsin Spencer Smith.

A Sports-Themed Group Show Featuring Contemporary Artists Thomas Agrinier, Zoë Buckman, Royal Jarmon, Hiroya Kurata, Devin Troy Strother, and Clintel Steed, On View September 9 - October 30, 2021 at Hollis Taggart Southport in Connecticut

Game On! explores the different ways in which artists engage with and are inspired by sports in their creative practices. The exhibition will feature six contemporary artists, including Thomas Agrinier, Zoë Buckman, Royal Jarmon, Hiroya Kurata, Devin Troy Strother, and Clintel Steed. Through a wide range of sports imagery and references, the featured artists examine the power of sports to inspire; to transcend verbal expression; and to engage with broader conversations about identity, culture, and personal and communal experience.

Meadows Museum Acquires Major Portrait Painting, Three Drawings I 19 August 2021

The Meadows Museum, SMU, announced today that it has acquired a rare signed and dated portrait by Bartolomé González y Serrano (1564–1627) titled Portrait of a Lady (1621). The portrait is of an unknown woman from the court of either King Philip III or his son, King Philip IV. The painting was made at a pivotal moment in Spanish history, which saw the movement of the imperial capital from Valladolid (Castile) to Madrid and, one year later, the arrival of Diego Velázquez (1599–1660) at court, who would go on to revolutionize the genre of portraiture by re-envisioning the model offered by González y Serrano and his predecessors. It is the first work by González y Serrano to enter the Meadows’s collection, and is one of only a few portraits by the painter outside of Spain. The painting was purchased at auction from Christie’s, London, and was subsequently treated by Claire Barry, Director of Conservation Emerita, Kimbell Art Museum, whose removal of yellowed varnish restored the painting’s vivid colors and delicate details. Portrait of a Lady will be on view from August 21st in the museum’s Jake and Nancy Hamon Galleries. All 29 members of the Meadows Museum Advisory Council contributed funds for the painting’s purchase, which was made in honor of Mark A. Roglán, the Linda P. and William A. Custard Director of the Meadows Museum. This year marks Dr. Roglán’s 20th anniversary at the Meadows, and the 15th anniversary of his directorship, during which he has guided the museum’s unprecedented growth.

Hollis Taggart Announces Representation of the Estate of Trailblazing Modernist Artist Dusti Bongé I 19 August 2021

Hollis Taggart announced today the representation of the Dusti Bongé estate, which is comprised of the collections of the Dusti Bongé Art Foundation and Bongé’s grandson, Paul Bongé. A trailblazing artist, Bongé (1903-1993) developed a distinctive style that embraced the visual vocabularies of Cubism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism. Based in Biloxi, Mississippi—and recognized as one of the south’s first modernist artists—Bongé also developed strong ties to New York’s inner art circles and had a long association with iconic gallerist Betty Parsons, with whom she showed for nearly three decades. Despite Bongé’s many artistic innovations, she has been conspicuously absent from the mainstream art discourse, within the narratives of art history, and contemporary understanding of the artists that shaped modernist art movements.

Portal: Governors Island Art Fair Returns in September 2021 with Presentations by 34 Artists I 11 August 2021

Portal: Governors Island, the annual fair hosted by the artist-for-artist nonprofit 4heads, will return in September 2021 following its cancellation last year due to the pandemic. This year’s edition, which will run from September 8 - 13, will include 34 artists in spaces across the historic homes on Colonels Row. In addition to their presentations at the week-long fair, each of the featured artists is participating in the 4heads Artists-in-Residence program on Governors Island. Divided into two sessions—with one session in progress since April and the second kicking off on August 19 and running through November 17—the residency program has served as a critical lifeline for artists seeking to secure studio space and opportunities to create new work following pandemic-related challenges. Several artists will be showing work at the fair that they have been developing during their residencies, while others will present projects that they plan to continue to evolve during their ongoing stay on the Island.

Baltimore Museum of Art Appoints Five New Trustees | 3 August 2021

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today the addition of five new trustees to its board: Michael Ealy, Nupur Parekh Flynn, Lori N. Johnson, Anne L. Stone, and John Waters. These new trustees join Clair Zamoiski Segal, the BMA’s Board Chair, Christopher Bedford, the Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director, and 36 other active trustees in leading the BMA and ensuring its long-term success. The board is responsible for the governance and oversight of the museum and fostering ongoing support for the BMA’s ambitious mission and vision.

Exhibition of Mauricio Lasansky’s “The Nazi Drawings” to Open at Minneapolis Institute of Art | 29 July 2021

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) presents Envisioning Evil: ‘The Nazi Drawings’ by Mauricio Lasansky, comprising 33 large-scale drawings confronting the horrors of the Holocaust, from October 16, 2021, through June 26, 2022. The Argentina-born Lasansky created the series largely in the 1960s, as the televised trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann awakened the world to the depths of Nazi atrocities. Lasansky’s haunting interpretations reflect his response to the unfolding details. “I was full of hate, poison, and I wanted to spit it out,” he said.

Meadows Museum Announces Two New Curatorial Fellows I 22 July 2021

Today the Meadows Museum, SMU, announced its 2021 curatorial fellowship appointments. Clarisse Fava-Piz, who will begin her term with a doctorate in art history from the University of Pittsburgh, specializes in 19th- century European art and will serve as the Mellon Curatorial Fellow for a period of two years. Miranda Saylor, a doctoral candidate at UCLA who has focused her research on early modern Spain, will join the institution for a one-year term as the Center for Spain in America (CSA) Curatorial Fellow. The two scholars begin their terms in September 2021. Fellows are selected through a multitiered review process led by the museum’s director and leadership from the curatorial and education departments, and following an international call for applications. The post-doctoral Mellon Curatorial Fellowship provides an annual stipend of $50,000 and substantial funding for research and travel. The CSA fellowship includes an annual stipend of $40,000.

BMA to Open Exhibition Curated by 17 Members of Its Security Team, with Support from Dr. Lowery Stokes Sims I 12 July 2021

In March 2022, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will present Guarding the Art, an exhibition curated entirely by 17 members of the museum’s security team. The exhibition will draw from works of art in the BMA’s collection, with each work selected by one of the participating officers. As guest curators, the officers will be collaborating with leadership and staff across the museum to select and reinterpret works from a variety of eras, genres, cultures, and mediums—offering a particularly human-centered lens through which to consider the objects. In addition, the team is working with renowned art historian and curator Dr. Lowery Stokes Sims, who is providing additional mentorship and professional development.

Hollis Taggart Opens Exhibition of Works by Artist Knox Martin Inspired by Goya I 12 July 2021

Over the course of his seven-decade career, acclaimed artist Knox Martin has engaged with a wide range of artistic movements, from Cubism to Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art, establishing his own distinct style. On July 8, Hollis Taggart opened an exhibition that explores Martin’s particular affinity toward Francisco Goya and the ways in which that artist has served as an important source of inspiration for Martin since childhood. The exhibition, titled Knox Martin: Homage to Goya, features a selection of drawings from Martin’s series, titled Caprichos, which the artist has been evolving for several decades. The works reflect the vibrant and energetic approach for which Martin is known, while also capturing the artist’s formal and conceptual relationship to Goya. The exhibition will be on view through August 6, 2021, at the gallery’s flagship location in Chelsea.

BMA Announces 175 New Acquisitions for its Collection and Promised Gift of 90 Works from Museum Supporters Nancy Dorman and Stan Mazaroff I 7 July 2021

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it has received a significant promised gift of 90 works of art by nearly 70 artists from long-standing museum supporters Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff. The gift is particularly strong in photographs and works on paper, including those created by acclaimed artists Hans Hofmann, Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan, Alfredo Jaar, Christopher James, Louise Lawler, Andres Serrano, Gary Simmons, Wolfgang Tillmans, Sze Tsung Leong, and Fred Tomaselli. The collection also includes important works by artists based in or with strong ties to Baltimore such as Larry Cook, Roland Freeman, Connie Imboden, Soledad Salamé, Elizabeth Talford Scott, and Stephen Towns. Examples of other paintings, sculpture, textiles, mixed-media works, and decorative arts include those by Anthony Caro, Leonardo Drew, Sam Gillam, Hun-Chung Lee, and Sarah Sze. The gift coincides with the forthcoming December 2021 opening of the BMA’s new Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, which is supported by a $5 million gift from the couple.

Driehaus Museum Acquires Historic Murphy Auditorium I 30 June 2021

The board of directors of the Richard H. Driehaus Museum today announced the acquisition of the adjacent John B. Murphy Memorial Auditorium from the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Located at 50 E. Erie Street, the six-story, 32,193-square-foot French Renaissance-style building was built between 1923 and 1926 by the American College of Surgeons, which occupied it until 1997. In 1987, it was extensively renovated to add more offices, and in 2006 ACS completed a three-year restoration and began renting the ornate, three-story auditorium for public and private events. For the Driehaus Museum – located in the adjoining Samuel M. Nickerson Mansion, originally built in 1883 and restored by Driehaus in 2003 – the acquisition of the Murphy will make it possible for the Museum to expand its programmatic activities and capacity while carrying forward the tradition of creativity, innovation and education celebrated within these historic buildings since they were erected. Designed by noted Chicago architects Benjamin Marshall and Charles E. Fox of Marshall and Fox, the Murphy was used originally to host meetings and serve as a center for education in surgery. Its iconic exterior is Marshall’s interpretation of the double-columned, two-story façade and flanking entry staircase of the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Consolation (1900) in Paris.

Mia Acquires Nearly 800 Works by Artist Theodore Roszak I 30 June 2021

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) today announced the acquisition of nearly 800 works on paper by the Polish-American artist Theodore Roszak (1907–1981). The works—including 727 drawings, 63 prints, and three photographs—were given by the artist’s daughter, Sara Roszak, on behalf of the artist’s estate; Michael Rosenfeld Gallery facilitated the gift. Today best known for his sculptural work, Roszak experimented with various techniques across a wide range of styles, notably creating abstract geometric forms, influenced by technology, in wood, plastic, and metal. The gifts to Mia, created between 1920 and 1980, represent the numerous themes, subjects, and styles the artist explored throughout his prolific career. The newly acquired works complement and enhance Mia’s collection of modernist art.

$400,000 NEH Grant Awarded to Worcester Art Museum I 29 June 2021

The Worcester Art Museum (WAM) today announced that it has recently been awarded a $400,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support the multi-year implementation phase for the long-term installation of the John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection of arms and armor. A competitive grant process, the NEH reports that only 30% of applicants nationwide received funding in this category during this round. This grant follows a 2018 planning grant of $40,000 from the NEH, used to support the Museum’s initial planning and conceptualization for presenting these works. Acquired by the Museum in 2014, the Higgins Armory Collection is the second largest collection of its kind in the Americas, and includes arms, armor, and metalwork from around the world, from antiquity to the 19th century, and is particularly known for its rare grouping of European suits of plate armor from the 15th to 17th centuries. WAM’s new arms and armor installation is expected to open in 2024.

BMA Receives Gift for African Art Acquisitions Ahead of Major Collection Reinstallation I 29 June 2021

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it has received a $550,000 gift from longstanding museum supporters Amy Gould and Matthew Polk for the exclusive purpose of expanding the museum’s African art collection and related research and publications. The BMA’s collection includes approximately 2,500 works from Africa, and is particularly strong in figurative sculpture from western and central areas of the continent as well as beadwork from its eastern and southern regions. The generous gift arrives as the museum continues to implement its collections roadmap, a multi-year strategic plan that expands the BMA’s efforts to tell more polyphonic narratives and histories and rectify critical artistic omissions across all of the museum’s collecting areas. The gift, which will be referred to as the Amy Gould/Matthew Polk Fund in gratitude to the donors, supports the BMA’s work in further developing the African art collection, engaging in new scholarly study, and articulating more expansive artistic and cultural narratives. The gift also coincides with the BMA’s adoption of new Collections Management Policy, approved by the museum’s Board of Trustees, which includes Amy Gould, on June 22, 2021.

ADKX to Open Exhibition Exploring Contributions of Adirondack People to WWII Effort I 29 June 2021

With its public reopening on July 1, the Adirondack Experience (ADKX) will present a special exhibition focused on the contributions of Adirondack people to America’s World War II effort. The exhibition, developed in conjunction with the war’s 80th anniversary, captures the impact of the war on the Adirondacks, through both the experiences of the men and women who left to serve and those who stayed behind in the region. Titled From Wilderness to Warfront: The Adirondacks and World War II, the show features an extensive array of artifacts and ephemera, including photographs and scrapbooks; letters and journal entries; military uniforms and insignia; advertisements, signage, and graphic works that advanced the war effort at home and abroad; and a wide range of other objects. From Wilderness to Warfront also includes oral histories from two Adirondack veterans—Private Charlie Smith and Lt. Colonel David Hanning—whose recollections and stories are captured for the first time as part of the exhibition. Those histories will also live on the ADKX website. The show will remain on view through ADKX’s summer season, closing on September 30, 2021

Sabrina Lin Appointed Curatorial Assistant at Bowdoin College Museum of Art I 29 June 2021

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art has appointed Sabrina Lin as the Museum’s new post-baccalaureate curatorial assistant and manager of student programs. Lin, who graduated from Bowdoin in May 2021, has already established a strong record of experiences with museums, including: as an intern at OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (OCAT) in Shenzhen, China; as an assistant at The Edward E. Boccia & Madeleine J. Boccia Artist Trust in St. Louis and New York; and as a guide at the Hill Stead Museum in Farmington, CT. Additionally, Lin served as a Curatorial and Education Assistant at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Summer 2019, and was one of the curators of the Museum’s upcoming exhibition Creeping Pavement: Depictions of an Urbanizing America, opening July 1, 2021. Lin begins her work at the Museum on July 6.

Tufts University Art Galleries to Open the Most In-Depth Exhibition to Explore Impact of the Artists Call Activist and Political Campaign I 24 June 2021

In January 2022, Tufts University Art Galleries (TUAG) will bring together the work of more than 100 artists in the most in-depth exhibition to explore the seminal 1980s activist campaign, Artists Call Against US Intervention in Central America. The campaign sought to educate North Americans and protest U.S. military interventions through a vast array of political and artistic actions across nearly 30 cities. The forthcoming exhibition, titled Art for the Future: Artists Call and Central American Solidarities, provides an expansive examination of the development and incredible creative range of the campaign as well as its enduring impact on today’s artists and activists. Art for the Future features reconstructions of original art installations, iconic artworks and ephemera—including numerous objects rarely seen since their making—and new and recent works by contemporary artists, including two installations commissioned by TUAG for the exhibition by artists Beatriz Cortez and Naeem Mohaiemen.

San Antonio Museum of Art Acquires Historic Chinese Works for Expansive Collection I 22 June 2021

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) also announced today the acquisition of important historic Chinese artworks, including a gilt openwork crown and a gilt plaque decorated with a standing lion, both from the Liao dynasty (907–1125); a set of jade belt plaques from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and a set of gilt silver hairpins embellished with kingfisher feathers from the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). These new artworks expand SAMA’s stellar collection of Chinese art, which has particular strengths in ceramics from the dawn of Chinese civilization to modern time. The new acquisitions are part of an ongoing effort to enhance under-represented areas within the Museum’s wider Asian art collection such as metal work and jade.

San Antonio Museum of Art Announces Acquisition of Works by Texas-based Artists I 22 June 2021

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) announced today that it has acquired eight artworks by seven San Antonio-based artists, including Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Jenelle Esparza, Joe Harjo, Jon Lee, Ethel Shipton, Chris Sauter, and Liz Ward. The acquisitions are part of the Museum’s Initiative to Acquire Art by Contemporary San Antonio Artists, which was developed to enhance the Museum’s commitment to support the city’s visual artists by acquiring works for its collection. The artists were chosen with the support of an Advisory Committee comprised of San Antonio-based visual artists, professors, collectors, arts leaders, and Museum staff and Trustees, who have also made recommendations for additional artists whose work could be purchased in the future. The Committee was Co-Chaired by SAMA Trustees Katherine Moore McAllen, PhD, and Dacia Napier, MD. All of the artworks, which include textiles, painting, photography, prints, and sculpture, mark first entries by the artists to SAMA’s collection. The new acquisitions are slated to go on view at the Museum in late fall, with more details about the presentation to follow.

The Hop Announces Summer Season with In-Person Performances and Participatory Workshop I 14 June 2021

The Hopkins Center for the Arts (the Hop) announced today its upcoming summer 2021 season, which will include a dynamic range of experiences, performances, and presentations by such acclaimed companies and groups as Pilobolus, CONTRA-TIEMPO, and Dance Theatre of Harlem as well as workshops featuring inspiring leaders, thinkers, and creators from across a robust spectrum of disciplines. Following several virtual seasons necessitated by the pandemic, the Hop’s summer season will welcome visitors back for in-person events, presented in and out of doors at the Hop and on Dartmouth’s campus. To invite an even greater number of people to reconnect with the arts live this summer, the Hop is also collaborating with regional cultural partners to stage additional events, allowing for greater access. A roster of currently confirmed programs, including dates, times, and locations, is included in the release, available for download below. Ticket purchases are available on the Hop’s website.

BMA to Open Show Celebrating Rebellious Women Through Time I 10 June 2021

From the heroines of ancient myth to the female trailblazers of the modern era, centuries of independent and rebellious women have been trivialized or condemned through the degrading myths and gendered stereotypes perpetuated in printed imagery. From July 18–December 19, 2021, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) presents an exhibition that captures visual representations of independent, defiant, and sometimes misunderstood women and explores the role of European and American art in both continuing their condemnation and celebrating their achievements. Women Behaving Badly: 400 Years of Power and Protest features over 75 prints, photographs, and books from the Renaissance to the early 20th century drawn from the BMA’s vast works on paper collection and supplemented with loans from the Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, Maryland Center for History and Culture, and private collections.

Canvas & Silk: Historic Fashion from Madrid’s Museo del Traje to Open at Meadows Museum I 10 June 2021

The Meadows Museum, SMU, has announced a major exhibition of Spanish dress and fashion that will pair paintings from the Meadows’s collection with historic dress and accessories from the Museo del Traje, Centro de Investigación del Patrimonio Etnológico in Madrid. Canvas & Silk: Historic Fashion from Madrid’s Museo del Traje marks the first major collaboration between this important Spanish institution and an American museum and will include approximately 40 works from the Meadows alongside examples of dress and accessories from the Museo del Traje (Spanish National Museum for Fashion). Displayed together, the works in the exhibition not only tell the story of how fashion trends in Spain changed over five hundred years, but also reveal how elements of a country’s history – such as its involvement with global trade or the formation of a national identity – are reflected in its dress. Canvas & Silk will be on view at the Meadows from September 19, 2021, until January 9, 2022. Concurrently, the Meadows will also present Image & Identity: Mexican Fashion in the Modern Period, an investigation into Mexican dress spanning from Mexican Independence to modern times through photographs and prints from the collections of the Meadows Museum and SMU’s DeGolyer Library.

$19 Million in Endowment Gifts to Minneapolis Institute of Art I 3 June 2021

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) announced today that it has secured five major gifts for its operations and endowment, totaling more than $19 million, including: a gift of $6 million from long-time supporter and former trustee Curt Dunnavan will create the C. Curtis Dunnavan Fund for the Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer—one of the few positions of this type in the museum field nationally to be endowed; a series of commitments from long-time museum supporters Ken and Linda Cutler will fund Mia’s creation of a new curatorial position focused on Latin American Art. Their gift includes both an annual commitment towards this position during their lifetimes, and a bequest to permanently endow the position, expected to be valued at more than $6 million; $5 million in support from two donors will jumpstart the museum’s creation of its new DEAIB leadership role, to be called the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. A gift of $4 million from former board chair Nivin MacMillan—$1 million in immediate support and $3 million through a bequest—and a gift of $1 million from trustee Sheila Morgan will provide both initial funding and endowment support. The national search to fill this position is beginning, and the role will join Mia’s leadership team; and two longtime donors have made a bequest commitment of $2 million to expand their existing endowment to support conservation, research and programming for the museum’s collection of South, Southeast Asian and Chinese Art, and to provide support for reinstallation of the museum’s galleries. Together, these gifts are part of the museum’s larger drive to grow its operating endowment—currently valued at $302 million, of which roughly 45% is restricted to art acquisitions—to ensure Mia has the resources it needs for ongoing financial stability. Contributing these additional funds to the museum’s endowment will generate nearly $1 million in additional operating budget support annually.

Bowdoin College Museum of Art Reopens July 1 With Four New Exhibitions I 3 June 2021

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art announced today that it will reopen to the public on July 1, 2021—after more than a year of pandemic-related closure—and will present four new exhibitions. Re | Framing The Collection: New Considerations In European And American Art 1475–1875, in the Museum’s Bowdoin Gallery, explores the intertwined stories of Europeans and their American descendants with Indigenous and enslaved peoples whose lives have long been erased from historical narratives. New Views of The Middle Ages: Highlights From The Wyvern Collection includes over fifty works from one of the world’s premiere private collections, many of which have not been publicly presented before, covering the period from the 6th through the 16th centuries. Finally, two student-organized exhibitions—The Presence of The Past: Art From Central And West Africa and Creeping Pavement: Depictions of an Urbanizing America—will demonstrate the strength of the Museum’s role on campus and its active place in the College’s educational model.

The Museum will be open to the public beginning July 1 from 11 am to 5 pm, Tuesday through Sunday. To ensure the continued health and safety of Bowdoin’s campus community, masks and social distancing will be required. Please check the Museum’s website at https://www.bowdoin.edu/art-museum/visit/index.html for the most up-to-date information about visiting requirements.

BMA to Open Exhibition Exploring 43-Year Friendship between Henri Matisse and Baltimore Collector Etta Cone I 24 May 2021

This fall, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will present the first comprehensive exhibition to explore the singular 43-year friendship between Baltimore collector Etta Cone (1870-1949) and French modern master Henri Matisse (1869-1954). Their relationship laid the foundation for the BMA’s Matisse collection, which with more than 1,200 paintings and works on paper is the largest public collection of the artist’s work in the world. A Modern Influence: Henri Matisse, Etta Cone, and Baltimore will include more than 160 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and illustrated books that demonstrate how Cone’s bond with the artist provided her with a sense of identity, purpose, and freedom from convention. The exhibition will be accompanied by a scholarly catalogue that includes research on the formal, technical, and social aspects of their artistic and collecting practices, as well as Cone’s seminal role in bringing European modernism to the United States. On view October 3, 2021–January 2, 2022, the exhibition precedes the December 2021 opening of the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies at the BMA, which will allow for greater public and scholarly engagement with the museum’s Matisse collection.

OMCA to Reopen Following Major Campus Renovation I 19 May 2021

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) announced today that the Museum and its campus will reopen on June 18, 2021 with three free community access days. This reopening follows a long period of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and more than a year of construction work for OMCA’s campus renovation project, including the reinstallation of its sculpture garden. In its initial phase, the Museum will be open to the public Friday through Sunday from 11AM to 5PM. Led by the landscape architect Walter Hood (Hood Design Studio) and project architect Mark Cavagnero (Mark Cavagnero Associates), along with general contractor Cahill Constructions, the campus renovation focused on enhancing access to the multi-terraced campus, improving visitor amenities, and significantly updating and refreshing the planting scheme in order to make these outdoor spaces an even better destination and community gathering place. OMCA is also pleased to share that the Museum is on track to meet the goal of its $85 million All In! The Campaign for OMCA capital campaign, which was announced in September 2019 as part of its 50th anniversary celebration. A portion of funds from the campaign support the architectural and landscape improvements, as well as providing operating, endowment, and investment funds to support OMCA’s current and future financial sustainability.

BMA to Present New Installation by Artist Frieda Toranzo Jaeger I 17 May 2021

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) is installing a new work by Frieda Toranzo Jaeger (b. 1988, Mexico City) created especially for the museum’s John Waters Rotunda. The Perpetual Sense of Redness (2021) is a multi-panel contained structure using hinged and folded canvases to create an electric car and spaceship hybrid that serves as a potent symbol and platform through which to consider the complexity of identity comprised of race, indigeneity, gender, and sexuality. For the artist, this installation is an unclaimed site for hope and escape, removed from the impossible paradox of the colonized Indigenous person suspended in a continual state of resistance. Frieda Toranzo Jaeger: The Perpetual Sense of Redness is on view from June 6 through October 3, 2021.

A Blade of Grass Announces Public Art Performance of Black Movement Library: Movement Portraits I 13 May 2021

A Blade of Grass, an arts nonprofit dedicated to social engagement, is excited to announce a large-scale public outdoor performance organized by new media artist, creative technologist, and educator LaJuné McMillian, hosted by Brooklyn Public Library on Grand Army Plaza on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, from 8:30PM to 10:00PM. The performance, which is the culmination of a digital workshop series organized by A Blade of Grass as part of its ongoing Curriculum for the Future initiative, will showcase work and research from McMillian’s ongoing project Black Movement Library and is curated by independent curator Yvonne Mpwo.

Taking the form of multiple short acts, the evening will feature both live and prerecorded “Movement Portraits,” or 2D video representations of peoples’ movements created using perception neuron motion-capture suits. Four Black New York-based performing artists will create their “Movement Portraits” live in front of the audience, dancing on the plaza in front of the Library and sending their movement data to be translated into projected visuals in real-time. The evening will also include pre-recorded videos of “Movement Portraits” created by participants in the workshop series earlier this year. During the intermission, the audience will have the opportunity to participate in the creation and archiving of movements collaboratively through sharing their own movements to be projected.

New Exhibition Explores Artistic Representations of Black Women I 12 May 2021

This fall, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art will present There Is a Woman in Every Color: Black Women in Art, a new exhibition examining the representation of Black women in the United States over the past two centuries. Drawing on more than sixty works of art, historical objects, and artist books both from the Museum’s collection and on loan, the show will confront the history of marginalization and make visible the presence of women of color in the history of American art. The show will feature works by a number of important 20th and 21st century artists, including: Elizabeth Catlett, Alma Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, Betye Saar, Faith Ringgold, Kara Walker, Mickalene Thomas, Ja’Tovia Gary, LaToya Ruby Frazier, and Nyeema Morgan. Supporting these works are a selection of artifacts and ephemera, as well as 19th century works of art, that highlight the continuity of experiences of Black women in America. There Is a Woman in Every Color will open at Bowdoin on September 16, 2021 and run through January 30, 2022. After premiering at Bowdoin, a condensed version of the exhibition will travel to three additional venues, with support provided by the Art Bridges Foundation, which is dedicated to expanding access to American art across the country.

ADKX to Reopen for the 2021 Summer Season on May 28 I 11 May 2021

The Adirondack Experience (ADKX), a sprawling 121-acre campus in the heart of the Adirondacks, will open its 2021 summer season in two phases. From May 28 through June 27, ADKX members will be able to access both the onsite art and history museum and full range of outdoor activities on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. This early access benefit is available to existing members as well as individuals and families who sign up in the coming months. On July 1, ADKX will open to the public, with the campus available every day from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. As organizations continue to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, ADKX is operating under state-mandated capacity limits and will require visitors to wear masks, both in and outdoors. ADKX also encourages visitors to purchase advance timed tickets, especially for any groups of more than two. Ticket purchase will also be available onsite. Additional information regarding visitation is available on ADKX’s updated website at theadkx.org.

Driehaus Museum Appoints Executive Director, Board President I 6 May 2021

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum announced today that Anna Musci has been appointed as the Museum’s Executive Director, effective May 1, 2021. Musci joined the Museum in 2016 holding multiple positions including Director of External Affairs, and since January 2020 has served as the Museum’s Interim Executive Director. Incoming Board president Zachary Lazar, a Senior Vice President and Regional Director-Midwest for Capital Group Private Client Services in Chicago, has been a Trustee of the Museum since July 2019, and also served as the chair of the Board’s Finance Committee. Lazar steps into this role following the death of Richard H. Driehaus, the Museum’s founder, in early March 2021.

Hollis Taggart to Open Solo Show of Works by Artist Dana James I 6 May 2021

On June 3, Hollis Taggart will open Something I Meant to Say, artist Dana James’s first solo exhibition since she joined the gallery’s contemporary program in January 2020. James’s abstract compositions are characterized by their incredible use of light, which shifts fluidly across her brilliant pastel color fields, catching iridescent pigments, and into darker swaths of splotched, recycled canvas. Her acute focus on the light results in works that almost glow, giving her paintings a magical effect that connotes the shimmer of the ocean or the sparkle of childhood memories of enchantment. This emotional impact is at the core of James’s practice, which is grounded in notions of time, memory, selfhood, and the inherent dualities that shape us and our worlds. Something I Meant to Say will be on view at Hollis Taggart’s Chelsea flagship location from June 3 - July 2, 2021.

The Adirondack Experience Announces Virtual Symposium on Significance of APA I 4 May 2021

The Adirondack Experience (ADKX) announced today that it is launching APA@50, an initiative developed in collaboration with historian and author Dr. Philip Terrie and Mountain Lake PBS to reflect on the creation and impact of the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Established in June 1971 by the New York Legislature, the APA was tasked with developing and implementing a land use policy for public and private lands within the Blue Line. For 50 years, the APA has shaped the experience of the Adirondack Park, conserving land for wildlife and for human recreation and use. APA@50 will feature a day-long virtual symposium organized by Dr. Terrie on June 22; the presentation of a documentary produced by Mountain Lake PBS; and an online exhibition created by ADKX to further highlight the history of the APA.

BMA Launches New Brand Identity Today I 3 May 2021

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today unveiled its new brand identity, developed in collaboration with the agency Topos Graphics + Post Typography. The brand components—which are being implemented across all of the museum’s print and digital assets—visually articulate the BMA’s commitment to inclusivity, particularly in the way it signifies how the museum’s identity comes from its community. To realize this brand vision, the BMA has developed a digital system that allows the public to contribute their own unique marks to the new logo, making it an ever-changing manifestation of its audiences and their engagement with the institution. The last significant change to the BMA’s visual identity was in 2005. To see the BMA’s new logo, please visit the museum’s website here.

San Antonio Museum of Art to Open Major Show on American Impressionism I 22 April 2021

On June 11, the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) will open America’s Impressionism: Echoes of a Revolution, an exhibition that explores the development of Impressionism in the United States. While Impressionism made its public debut in Paris with a shocking exhibition in 1874, the style did not fully take hold in America until more than a decade later, after a major exhibition of French works in New York in 1886. With this belated arrival, American Impressionism might be understood merely as the adaptation of techniques and visual vocabularies honed by French masters. Through more than 70 works assembled from public and private collections, America’s Impressionism redefines our understanding of the movement to show how American artists drew upon transatlantic exchange to create an independent movement, uniquely shaped by American sensibilities and regional landscapes.

LA-Based Artist John Knuth Will Present New Work at Hollis Taggart in May I 13 April 2021

Hollis Taggart is pleased to present John Knuth: The Dawn at its Southport location, opening on May 15, 2021. For the exhibition, Los Angeles-based artist John Knuth continues his formal and conceptual exploration and play with unorthodox materials and approaches. The Dawn will include new paintings and ostrich egg sculptures created through his signature flyspeck technique as well as new works that feature horseshoe crab shells. Together, the objects in Knuth’s forthcoming show capture his vision of rebirth and reawakening as the proliferation of COVID-19 vaccines brings new hope for an emergence from the pandemic. The Dawn will remain on view through July 3, 2021 at Hollis Taggart’s gallery in Southport, which is housed in an historic building at 330 Pequot Avenue.

SAMA Receives Artwork Loan and $20,000 Grant from Art Bridges Foundation I 12 April 2021

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) today announced that Art Bridges foundation has loaned the museum major paintings by Stuart Davis, Archibald Motley, and Max Weber from its collection and also awarded it $20,000 to develop artist and public programs inspired by the works. The funds will go toward the creation of three murals by three local artists as well as toward a three-part Jazz in Action program that will feature another local artist painting in response to a jazz playlist. The artists for both initiatives will be selected through an open call to the local community, which is currently active. The programs offer an opportunity to engage with important works of art by American modern masters and to experience them through the eyes of contemporary artists from San Antonio. More details on the artist opportunities are available on the SAMA website.

24 Artists Donate Works to MASS MoCA’s Upcoming Benefit Auction I 7 April 2021

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) has announced that it will be greatly expanding its annual benefit auction, offering 19 works and 5 limited edition multiples by 24 artists who have exhibited at MASS MoCA, including David Byrne, Teresita Fernández, Jenny Holzer, William Kentridge, and Xu Bing. All of the artists have donated their works, often selecting pieces which have direct links to their history with MASS MoCA, including works that were created, exhibited, or workshopped at the museum. With a wide range of one-of-a-kind works and limited-run fixed-price multiples, the digital auction will launch on Artsy on Friday, April 16, with bidding open for two weeks through Friday, April 30. Registration will open on Wednesday, April 14. All of the auction proceeds will go towards MASS MoCA’s mission of supporting the creation of new art.

Suzanne Weaver to Retire After Three Decades as a Curator and Artist Advocate I 29 March 2021

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) today announced that Suzanne Weaver, its Interim Chief and Brown Foundation Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, will retire on April 16, 2021. Over the course of her illustrious 30-year career, Weaver has come to be recognized for her forward-looking vision and tireless advocacy for artists and their work. She has developed dozens of exhibitions on contemporary art, established programmatic series that have fostered community engagement, and played a major role in expanding museum collections with an eye toward diversity and equity, especially in the acquisition of works by women artists. Upon retiring, Weaver will move to Camden, Maine, where she and her husband own a home, and pursue several writing projects and her own photography.

MASS MoCA To Install Taryn Simon’s The Pipes I 24 March 2021

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) has announced that a large-scale outdoor sculpture by Taryn Simon, titled The Pipes, will be on long-term view on the museum’s campus starting May 29, 2021. What began as an oversized concrete instrument for a cacophony of global mourning in Simon’s work An Occupation of Loss will be populated by the sounds, collective call and response, and movements of a living public. The 11 structures that make up the installation – which Simon originally designed in collaboration with Shohei Shigematsu of architecture firm OMA – are modular, and have been adapted by Simon and Shigematsu for the MASS MoCA campus. The Pipes joins MASS MoCA’s growing constellation of long-term outdoor artworks sited throughout the museum’s campus and downtown North Adams, including works by Jenny Holzer, Martin Puryear, James Turrell, and Franz West. This will be Simon’s second project at MASS MoCA, following her acclaimed 2018 solo exhibition A Cold Hole + Assembled Audience.

Louis Grachos Joins SITE Santa Fe as Executive Director I 18 March 2021

SITE Santa Fe announced today that it has appointed Louis Grachos as its new Phillips Executive Director. Grachos currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer and JoAnn McGrath Executive Director of the Palm Springs Art Museum, a position he has held since 2019. Over the course of his 30-year career, Grachos has come to be recognized for his forward-looking vision, experience in fundraising, and extensive work with artists and community collaborators. His appointment marks a return for the seasoned leader, who previously served as SITE’s Director from 1996 to 2003. Grachos will take up his new role in summer 2021.

A Blade of Grass Announces New Details on Its Upcoming Artist-Led Workshops I 16 March 2021

A Blade of Grass, an arts nonprofit dedicated to social engagement, today announced new details on its forthcoming artist-driven programming, including workshops led by artists Brooklyn Hi-Art Machine (comprised of Mildred Beltré and Oasa DuVerney), Stephanie Dinkins, LaJuné McMillian, and The Hologram (initiated by Cassie Thornton). The workshops are part of A Blade of Grass’s Curriculum for the Future initiative, which was first announced last month and is focused on collaborating with and providing a platform for artists to engage the public in developing solutions to important social and communal challenges. The initiative is guided by A Blade of Grass’s core belief that artists have a crucial role to play in creating a more just, equitable, and loving society.

Baltimore Museum of Art to Reopen on March 28 I 15 March 2021

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it will reopen with limited capacity on Sunday, March 28. The museum will be open Wednesdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with timed-entry passes available to the general public beginning Monday, March 22 through the BMA’s website. The BMA plans to welcome up to eight people per each 30-minute time slot for a maximum of 112 people per day—well below Baltimore City’s 25 percent capacity guidelines. All visitors are required to answer two questions about COVID-19 exposure on the day of their appointment and wear face masks and observe gallery capacity limits and social distancing. The BMA is prepared to alter its plans should further precautions be necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the safety of staff and visitors.

Hollis Taggart Presents Michael West’s Black and White Paintings I 10 March 2021

Hollis Taggart is pleased to present Epilogue: Michael West’s Monochrome Climax, an exhibition focused on the artist’s black and white paintings from the 1960s and 1970s. This is Hollis Taggart’s second solo presentation of West’s work since the gallery took on exclusive representation of her estate and archive and organized the exhibition Space Poetry: The Action Paintings of Michael West in 2019. While Space Poetry offered an opportunity to engage with the breadth of West’s practice, reintroducing her to audiences and positioning her within the Abstract Expressionist movement, Epilogue focuses on her monochromatic work to explore particular threads within her oeuvre and her writings. The exhibition will be on view at the gallery’s flagship Chelsea location from April 29 through May 31, 2021. The gallery, which has sponsored several catalogue raisonné projects, has also announced that it will be preparing a digital catalogue raisonné of West’s works.

Bob Thompson: This House is Mine to Premiere at Colby College Museum of Art I 4 March 2021

This summer, the Colby College Museum of Art will present Bob Thompson: This House Is Mine, the first major survey of the American artist’s work in more than two decades. Curated by Diana Tuite, Colby’s Katz Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, the exhibition features approximately 85 paintings and works on paper brought together from more than 20 public institutions and 25 private collections, including important works donated to the Museum by the Alex Katz Foundation. Thompson (1937–1966), who died prematurely at the age of twenty-eight, has featured in recent group exhibitions, but This House Is Mine centers his work within art historical narratives, significantly expanding the depth of scholarship on the artist and establishing his enduring influence on contemporary practice. This House Is Mine will premiere at Colby and remain on view from July 20, 2021 through January 9, 2022. It will then embark on a national tour, with presentations at the Smart Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art, and the Hammer Museum.

American Artists & the Supernatural Explored in New Exhibition at Mia I 3 March 2021

In February 2022, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) will present the first major museum exhibition to broadly examine the relationship between artists in the United States and the supernatural. Supernatural America: The Paranormal in American Art, which will travel nationally, comprises more than 150 works from the early 1800s through the present. The exhibition will feature the work of internationally recognized artists such as Reverend Howard Finster, Whitfield Lovell, Tony Oursler, Howardena Pindell, Betye Saar, Renée Stout, Dorothea Tanning, Alma Thomas, Grant Wood, and Andrew Wyeth, as well as canonical objects, such as John Quidor’s depiction of Ichabod Crane. The exhibition will also highlight underrepresented artists whose work is newer to art historical consideration and has never before been included in museum exhibitions of American art, including the creations of 19th- and 20th-century “spirit artists”—who purported to make art by allowing their bodies to be directed by spirits or who acted as mediums to bring forth images during séances without the intervention of a human hand.

37 Artists to Participate in Joan Mitchell Artist-in-Residence Program in New Orleans I 2 March 2021

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today the 35 artists selected for its 2021 Artist-in-Residence program at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans. The artists, all of whom are based in New Orleans, and two of whom work as a collective, were chosen from among more than 150 applicants by a jury of artists and arts professionals from New Orleans and across the country. Residents were chosen with an eye toward: an expressed need for dedicated studio space to further develop their practices; the potential career impact of a residency; a demonstrated commitment to studio practice; and the presentation of a cohesive body of work that speaks to creative vision and innovation. Additionally, two artists selected for the program in 2020 will complete their residencies as part of this year’s class, bringing the total number of participants to 37. The group represents a wide range of professional backgrounds, demographics, career stages, and artistic media and approaches.

“What the Nazis Stole from Richard Neumann” to Open at Worcester Art Museum I 25 February 2021

This spring, the Worcester Art Museum (WAM) will present an exhibition of works from the collection of Dr. Richard Neumann (1879-1959), a discerning and prolific Austrian businessman of Jewish heritage who was committed to promoting the important role of the arts in civic life—and whose collection of more than 200 paintings and sculptures was confiscated by the Nazis through forced sales or outright theft. Titled What the Nazis Stole from Richard Neumann (and the search to get it back), the exhibition includes 12 Old Master paintings and two sculptures and will trace his and his family’s efforts to reclaim these works over the last 70 years. The exhibition opens April 10, 2021 and will continue through January 16, 2022, after which the loans will be integrated into WAM’s existing Old Master collection galleries, further enhancing the Museum’s presentation of such works—and in keeping with Dr. Neumann's lifelong desire to have great art accessible and enjoyed by the public.

MASS MoCA To Open Skyspace By James Turrell I 25 February 2021

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and James Turrell have announced that a new Skyspace will open on the museum’s campus on May 29, 2021. The Skyspace will augment one of the world’s most comprehensive experiences of installations by the artist while realizing a vision the artist had when visiting the museum’s campus in 1987. The Skyspace will join a long-term exhibition of Turrell works at MASS MoCA, which includes one work from each of the six decades of the artist’s career. With the addition of the Skyspace in May 2021, the museum will now have a major example of every category of the artist’s work on display. MASS MoCA will also present a focused exhibition of Turrell’s ceramics —Lapsed Quaker Ware— from May 29, 2021 to October 30, 2022.

BMA Receives Three Major Gifts in Support of Its Diversity and Equity Initiatives I 25 February 2021

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it has received three major gifts in support of its ambitious diversity and equity priorities. Among the gifts is $1 million from philanthropist Eileen Harris Norton to support the museum’s near and long-term diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI) initiatives. The BMA also received $350,000 from The Rouse Company Foundation, which will be used to establish evening hours, and $110,000 from philanthropists Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Legum to implement immediate pay increases for hourly workers. Together, these generous contributions provide essential support toward the BMA’s Endowment for the Future, an expansive financial plan to enact structural change within the institution and to increase community access to exhibitions and programs.

Baseball Jerseys, High Fashion, & Streetwear Explored at Worcester Art Museum I 24 February 2021

Over the course of 170 years, the baseball jersey has become an iconic emblem of American culture, extending well beyond a sports uniform to inspire fashion trends and serve as a means of everyday, individual self-expression. While the ubiquity of the American baseball shirt is undeniable, there has been little scholarly research on its importance to material and popular culture through time. In June 2021, the Worcester Art Museum (WAM) will open The Iconic Jersey: Baseball x Fashion, the first museum exhibition to focus specifically on the design evolution of baseball jerseys and their impact on wider national culture. The show will feature 37 garments, including historic and contemporary jerseys as well as runway looks—from Jesse Tannehill’s 1908 Boston Red Sox Uniform Shirt to MIZIZI’s Black Lives Matter jersey—along with two, one-of-a-kind jersey chairs and other ephemera that capture the phenomenon of the baseball shirt, both on and off the field. The exhibition, which will remain on view through September 12, 2021, is accompanied by a scholarly catalogue that further examines the subject.

Artist Tim Kent Joins Hollis Taggart Gallery I 24 February 2021

Hollis Taggart is pleased to announce its representation of artist Tim Kent, who joins the gallery’s growing contemporary program. Kent’s work examines the dynamics of power as experienced through architecture and the formal vocabulary of art. His own paintings, which embrace both soft painterly gestures and crisp graphic lines, often depict architectural spaces and landscapes disrupted by the incorporation of grids or other geometries as well as figures in motion. Hollis Taggart previously included Kent’s work in its fall 2020 exhibition Figure as Form and in its recent online presentation for art miami. The artist will be featured in a group show at the gallery’s location in Southport, Connecticut later this year and will be the subject of a solo exhibition at Hollis Taggart’s Chelsea flagship in March 2022.

Meadows Museum Selects Ignasi Aballí as Visiting Artist for MAS: Meadows/ARCO Artist Spotlight Partnership I 17 February 2021

The Meadows Museum, SMU, announced today that Ignasi Aballí (b. 1958) will be the first Spanish artist to visit Dallas and exhibit work at the museum through the MAS: Meadows/ARCO Artist Spotlight program. Established in 2019, MAS is a six-year partnership between the Meadows Museum and Fundación ARCO, the guiding organization behind Spain’s premier contemporary art fair, ARCOmadrid. MAS selects one contemporary Spanish artist with limited recognition in the U.S. biennially to present his or her work at the Meadows Museum for approximately four months. Aballí, who was recently chosen to represent Spain at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, is a conceptual artist whose multimedia work often incorporates unusual materials to challenge the viewer’s perception of reality and poses questions about transience versus permanence. The artist will visit Dallas in early 2022 and present works from his recent series Palabras Vacías (Empty Words) (2020) at the Meadows Museum.

A Blade of Grass Announces New Artist Collaborations and Virtual Programming I 17 February 2021

A Blade of Grass, an arts nonprofit dedicated to social engagement, announced today a series of programmatic initiatives, under the umbrella title Curriculum for the Future. Kicking off in March 2021, Curriculum for the Future features three panel discussions, four multi-part, artist-led workshops, and three artist-developed participatory projects. The initiatives are being created in collaboration with four artists and artist collectives, including Brooklyn Hi-Art Machine, Stephanie Dinkins, LaJuné McMillian, and Cassie Thornton. The programs and projects within the Curriculum are envisioned as additive and responsive, building on each other to explore important questions about social structures, systems of care, the dynamics of power, and the ongoing impact of this pandemic moment on all aspects of contemporary life. The overarching program centers artists as essential to developing solutions to the challenges being faced by our communities.

Minneapolis Institute of Art Acquires Complete Archive of Works Created by Highpoint Editions I 11 February 2021

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) today announced it has acquired the complete archive of works by Highpoint Editions, the publishing arm of Highpoint Center for Printmaking (HP), a nonprofit printmaking art center established in 2001 in Minneapolis. The 20-year archive comprises 310 published prints and multiples, plus 700 items of ancillary production material from 40 artists, including Carlos Amorales, Julie Buffalohead, Willie Cole, Sarah Crowner, Jim Hodges, Julie Mehretu, Todd Norsten, Chloe Piene, David Rathman, Do Ho Suh, and Dyani White Hawk. Mia will showcase 150 artworks this fall in the special exhibition “The Contemporary Print: 20 Years at Highpoint Editions.”

Snøhetta to Lead Major Expansion and Redesign of Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth I 10 February 2021

Dartmouth today announced that it has selected the renowned design practice Snøhetta to lead the expansion and redesign of its Hopkins Center for the Arts. Since its opening in 1962, as the first major university-based center in the U.S. to unite the arts under a single roof, the Hopkins Center—long known as “the Hop”—has been recognized for its groundbreaking approach to arts education and the presentation of performances by leading and emerging talents across dance, music, theater, film, and other creative disciplines. The upcoming expansion, led by Snøhetta’s New York City office, is part of a broader reimagining of the Hop to support greater and more ambitious creation of cross-disciplinary work onsite and to meet the growing demand of Dartmouth students and faculty for artistic expression and experiences. Dartmouth plans to raise approximately $75 million for the Hop project, with $70 million earmarked for design, construction, and other related development costs and $5 million dedicated to programmatic growth.

Solo Exhibition of Works by William Buchina to Open at Hollis Taggart I 9 February 2021

Hollis Taggart is pleased to present Low Information Settings, the first solo exhibition by artist William Buchina since he joined the gallery’s contemporary program in November 2019. Low Information Settings, which opens on March 4, features paintings and works on paper produced almost exclusively during New York City’s pandemic-related shutdowns in 2020 and into 2021. Drawing on an ever-evolving archive of imagery and text, Buchina’s newest works transform threads of social and political happenings into new, largely ambiguous compositional narratives that, in ways, mirror our fractured global landscape and capture our ongoing collective anxieties. The exhibition will remain on view through April 24, 2021 at the gallery’s flagship Chelsea location.

Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces Launch of New Artist Fellowship I 4 February 2021

The Joan Mitchell Foundation today announced the creation of a new program, the Joan Mitchell Fellowship, which will annually award 15 artists working in the evolving fields of painting and sculpture with $60,000 each in unrestricted funds. The award will be distributed over the course of five years, with artists receiving an initial payment of $20,000 and annual installments of $10,000 across the subsequent four years. As part of the five-year fellowship, artists will have access to ongoing individual and group professional development offerings, including one-on-one consultations with arts professionals; convenings that facilitate network-building; and programs that focus on personal finance, legacy planning, and thought leadership, among other opportunities. Fellows will also be eligible to apply for a residency at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, further increasing the range of support available to them. The Fellowship will launch this year and the first group of Fellows is expected to be announced in October 2021, following a multi-phased nomination and jury selection process.

BMA Announces March Solo Exhibitions and Update to Schedule for Joan Mitchell Retrospective I 1 February 2021

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced details for three solo exhibitions opening in its Contemporary Wing on March 28, 2021. Sharon Lockhart: Perilous Life; Tschabalala Self: By My Self; and Lisa Yuskavage: Wilderness present key works by each artist that explore central and recurrent themes in their art. The exhibitions are part of the BMA’s 2020 Vision, an initiative to provide greater recognition for female-identifying artists and leaders that has been extended into 2021 following pandemic-related closures last year. The presentations are slated to remain on view through September 19, 2021. Katharina Grosse’s immersive site-related environment, Is It You? (2020), which opened in March 2020, will remain on view in the central gallery of the Contemporary Wing through that date as well.

BMA Announces Reservation System for Small Group Visits to the Museum I 29 January 2021

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced that small groups of up to eight people will be able to reserve time to see a limited selection of exhibitions and galleries from Saturday, February 6 through Sunday, March 7. Each group will have 90 minutes to see two exhibitions that opened in fall 2020 that will be closing in March: A Perfect Power: Motherhood and African Art (closing March 7) and Stripes and Stars: Reclaiming Lakota Independence (closing March 28). Beginning Sunday, February 17, visitors can also see Stephanie Syjuco: Vanishing Point (Overlay), a three-part installation presented in the front of the building, upper East Lobby, and European Art galleries rotunda. The museum remains otherwise closed to the public to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. A reopening date has not yet been confirmed.

Hollis Taggart Now Represents Suchitra Mattai and Alexandros Vasmoulakis I 12 January 2021

Hollis Taggart is pleased to announce the representation of artists Suchitra Mattai and Alexandros Vasmoulakis, who join the gallery’s growing contemporary program. Both artists were featured in group exhibitions at Hollis Taggart in 2020. Mattai was included in the two-person exhibition History Reclaimed in March as well as the summer group presentation Look Again, while Vasmoulakis’s work was shown in the exhibitions Perceived Realities in June and Remix in the fall. The gallery is currently scheduling solo shows for both artists for after 2021. It will share representation of Mattai with the Denver-based gallery K Contemporary and grayDUCK Gallery in Austin. Hollis Taggart will represent the Athens and Windsor-based Vasmoulakis in the United States.

Conservator Jim Coddington Joins Joan Mitchell Foundation Board I 7 January 2021

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today the appointment of conservator Jim Coddington to its Board of Directors for a three-year term. Coddington recently retired from the Museum of Modern Art where he was chief conservator from 1996 to 2016. Prior to his appointment to the Foundation’s Board, from 2019 to 2020, Coddington served as an advisor to the Foundation’s Legacy Committee, a group of board members who work closely with staff to support planning around the preservation, documentation, and research of the Foundation’s artwork and archival collections as well as other aspects of stewardship of artist Joan Mitchell’s legacy. The announcement follows the appointments of finance specialist Marc Chennault and artist Paul Ramírez Jonas to the Board in 2020.

BMA Announces New Acquisitions, Including 33 Purchases as Part of Its 2020 Vision Initiative I 22 December 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today 33 new acquisitions made as part of its 2020 Vision initiative, which includes a commitment to only purchase works by female-identifying artists this calendar year. Among the highlights entering the collection are mixed-media sculpture and paintings by Theresa Chromati, Shirley Gorelick, Loïs Mailou Jones, Valerie Maynard, Betye Saar, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, and Kay WalkingStick; works on paper by Camille Billops, Margaret Burroughs, Lea Grundig, Joyce J. Scott, and Zarina; and photographs by Laura Aguilar, Zackary Drucker (with A.L. Steiner), Nona Faustine, Martha Rosler, and Ming Smith. The BMA has spent $2.57 million adding 65 works to the collection by 49 female-identifying artists, including 40 who had not previously been represented at the museum.

In addition to the recent purchases made as part of 2020 Vision, the BMA has received an extraordinary gift of 35 works on paper from Baltimore-based collectors Frances K. and George Alderson, as well as gifts of works by Somaya Critchlow, Jadé Fadojutimi, Jerrell Gibbs, Adda Husted-Andersen, Tracy Miller, Daido Moriyama, Cassi Namoda, Betty Parsons, Pablo Picasso, Lieko Shiga, Lilly Martin Spencer, Anicka Yi, and those by unidentified artists from China, Japan, Tanzania (Sandawe and Nyamwezi cultures), and the Chokwe and Pende cultures in Central Africa. A full list of 2020 acquisitions is available at artbma.org/2020.

BMA to Open Major Retrospective on Artist Joan Mitchell in March 2021 I 8 December 2020

Joan Mitchell has long been hailed as a formidable creative force—a woman artist who attained critical acclaim and success in the male-dominated art circles of the 1950s, and then went on to make her own distinctive way in the world for four decades. From March 21through July 18, 2021, The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will present a comprehensive survey of Mitchell’s oeuvre that establishes a new depth of scholarship on her work. Titled Joan Mitchell, the retrospective will feature approximately 60 works, including rarely seen early paintings and drawings, the vibrant gestural compositions that established her career, and large-scale, colorful, multi-panel masterpieces from her later years. With suites of major paintings as well as sketchbooks, charcoal drawings, and pastels on paper, the exhibition will open a new window into the richness of Mitchell’s practice and present a model of art history that accommodates multiple chapters and evolving styles. Joan Mitchell is accompanied by a catalogue that will provide further essential insight into Mitchell’s artistic achievements and the inspirations that drove them.

BMA to Present New Works by Four Baltimore-Based Artists in March I 8 December 2020

On March 21, The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will open an exhibition of new works by Lauren Frances Adams, Mequitta Ahuja, Cindy Cheng, and LaToya M. Hobbs. Titled All Due Respect, the presentation explores how these four Baltimore-based artists are engaging with some of the critical issues within our current social and political moment, including collective grief and loss, the experience of motherhood, the legacy of the antebellum era, and the growing prevalence of conspiracy theories within our political systems. Formally and conceptually distinct, All Due Respect captures the range of media and approaches taken by artists to examine and illuminate the impact of national histories and policies on our identities and personal and collective lives. On view through July 18, 2021, the exhibition is part of the BMA’s ongoing 2020 Vision initiative, which is focused on sharing the achievements of female-identifying artists through time.

Bakehouse Art Complex Receives Gift, Launches Online Gallery I 19 November 2020

Bakehouse Art Complex today unveils the Fresh Goods Gallery, a new, online sales tool that will generate income to support affordable studio workspaces and other resources for its resident artists. Housed in a former industrial, Art Deco-era bakery in Miami’s Wynwood Norte neighborhood, Bakehouse was founded in 1985 by artists to provide studio residencies and support services. Fresh Goods Gallery, a new platform offered by Bakehouse to promote the works of its artists, will launch its inaugural sale on November 30, timed with Miami Art Week 2020. At launch it will feature an impressive selection of vintage and contemporary photographs generously donated by the Martin Z. Margulies Foundation in support of the organization. The viewing room, as well as information on each photographer and a short curatorial statement of the work, with its date, dimensions, edition, and provenance can be seen here: https://bakehouseartcomplex.viewingrooms.com/viewing-room/. Beginning in early 2021, Fresh Goods Gallery also will offer a selection of works by Bakehouse artists.

The Bakehouse community includes 100 working artists from diverse backgrounds, working in a broad range of media and practices, from painting to performance, from traditional to experimental. It is one of the oldest artist-serving organizations in Miami, with studios of varying sizes, two galleries, a print room, photography lab, digital printer lab, ceramics facilities, and woodworking, and welding areas. These spaces, often unavailable outside of university campuses or highly selective artist retreats, enable artists to work, make, discover, learn, and share their practices and work with each other and the broader community.

Meadows Museum Acquires Two Paintings by Secundino Hernández I 19 November 2020

The Meadows Museum, SMU, announced today that it has acquired two recent paintings by the contemporary Spanish artist Secundino Hernández (b. 1975). The Madrid-based artist’s connection with the Meadows began in February 2018, when museum leadership and patrons visited the artist’s studio while on a trip to the ARCOmadrid Fair. It was on this trip that the Meadows began discussions about bringing both Hernández and his painting Untitled (2019) to visit the museum. The painting has been on view in the Virginia Meadows Galleries for over a year and the artist himself visited Dallas in March of 2020. In tandem with the museum’s purchase of Untitled (2019), Hernández has announced that he will donate another work, Orígenes Secretos (Secret Origins) (2020), to the museum.

Untitled (2019) is a monumental painting measuring just over 13 by 9 feet, and is part of Hernández’s “monochrome series,” while Orígenes Secretos (2020) belongs to a genre he describes as “palette painting.” Both works reflect different processes of abstract, free-form gesture, which produces a strong sense of movement and depth across each surface plane. Hernández made Untitled (2019) out of pieces of canvas—often discarded scraps from other works—that are stitched together and then washed and dyed repeatedly, creating a mix of hard-edged lines with vibrant washes of color. Orígenes Secretos (2020) is a much smaller painting that began life in service as a palette, the surface on which artists typically mix paint colors before applying them to a painting. Essentially using leftover paint from multiple paintings to create other works, Hernández mixes, layers, and sculpts the thick impasto into something completely original. Hernández describes his palette paintings, like Orígenes Secretos (2020), as a kind of antithesis to his “monochrome” works, such as Untitled (2019), using the corporeal metaphor: the former is flesh, the latter bone.

John Waters Promises Fine Art Collection to Baltimore Museum of Art I 11 November 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announces a promised gift of approximately 375 works from John Waters’ fine art collection. The long-planned bequest is rich in photographs and works on paper with important examples by 125 artists, including Diane Arbus, Richard Artschwager, Thomas Demand, Nan Goldin, Roy Lichtenstein, Lee Lozano, Christian Marclay, Catherine Opie, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, Gary Simmons, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, and Christopher Wool. The collection also includes nearly 90 prints, sculptures, mixed-media, and video pieces by Waters, making the BMA the greatest repository of the Baltimore-based artist’s work. The gift follows Waters’ close collaboration with the museum on its major retrospective of his visual art practice, titled John Waters: Indecent Exposure, which opened at the BMA in fall 2018. In recognition of Waters’ generosity and to capture the spirit that pervades his work and vision, the museum will name The John Waters Restrooms in the East Lobby—per his request—and The John Waters Rotunda in the European art galleries.

San Antonio Museum of Art Acquires Works by LaToya Ruby Frazier, Jeffrey Gibson, Edgar Heap of Birds, and Numerous Others I 9 November 2020

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) announced today its summer and fall contemporary art acquisitions, which include works by Christina Fernandez, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Jeffrey Gibson, Edgar Heap of Birds, Kirk Hayes, Earlie Hudnall Jr., Marcelyn McNeil, and Liz Trosper. The artworks, which are wide-ranging in their formal approach, media, and vision, expand SAMA’s growing photography collection and fulfill important mission-driven goals to enhance its holdings of works by women, artists of color, and those living in Texas. The group includes the first two works by contemporary Native American artists to enter SAMA’s collection, furthering its vision to more fully represent the spectrum of voices and perspectives within contemporary art practices. These objects join a group of works purchased earlier in the year by contemporary Latin American artists, including Jose Dávila, Sonia Gomes, Pedro Reyes, and Analia Saban.

Department of Arts of Global Africa & The Diaspora Launched at AGO | 29 October 2020

Today the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) announces the establishment of a new Department of Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora, which will focus on expanding both the museum’s collections and its exhibitions and programs of historic, modern and contemporary art from Africa and the African diaspora. The Department will be led by Dr. Julie Crooks, formerly the AGO’s Associate Curator of Photography; her new title is Curator, Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora. Simultaneously, a new support group, Friends of Global Africa and the Diaspora has been formed with the dual goals of supporting the Department’s work in this area, as well as creating a more dynamic forum for community voices.

The creation of this new Department expands and formalizes work that has been underway at the AGO for several years. For example, in 2019 the museum was able—with strong community support—to acquire The Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photographs, a singular collection of more than 3,500 historical images from islands including Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad. Perhaps the largest collection of such images, this incredible visual record contains studio portraits, landscapes and tourist views. The AGO has also significantly expanded its holdings of photographs by African and diasporic artists, including artworks by Malick Sidibe and Paul Kodjo. These recent acquisitions will feature prominently in the upcoming Collection-based exhibitions, Documents, 1960s – 1970s and Dawoud Bey, John Edmonds and Wardell Milan.

The Baltimore Museum of Art issues a statement regarding its deaccession and future plans:

Clair Zamoiski Segal, Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Baltimore Museum of Art, shares a public letter:

Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces 2020 Artist Recipients of Painters & Sculptors Grants I 21 October 2020

The Joan Mitchell Foundation today announced the 2020 recipients of its annual Painters & Sculptors Grants, which provide 25 artists with $25,000 each in unrestricted funds. In a moment of profound change and contraction within the arts landscape, the Foundation felt it was particularly important to continue with its annual grants cycle, providing artists with flexible financial support as well as the recognition essential to career progress. Selected artists are first nominated by artist peers and arts professionals from throughout the United States and then chosen through a multi-phase jurying process, which this year was conducted virtually. The 2020 artist cohort represents a wide range of creative approaches and backgrounds as well as ethnicities, ages, and geographic locations—further enumerated below.In addition to the financial award, grantees also gain access to a network of arts professionals, who can provide consultations on career development and financial management.

2020 Salary Survey Released by AAMD I 21 October 2020

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) today released its 2020 Salary Survey, which includes responses from 187 museums in the United States,Canada, and Mexico. This year’s report includes more than 50 different full-time staff positions within a museum, from the director’s office to leadership and support positions in curatorial, education, advancement, communications, and security departments. New for this year is the addition of data for full-time Visitor Services Associates, as well as for the part-time positions of Visitor Services Associates and Museum Security Guard. The report was developed in partnership with Stax Inc., a consulting and analytics firm. Salary information in this report is based on compensation for the museums’ 2019 fiscal year—and therefore reflects the status of salaries and positions before the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the museum field and the wider economy. However, as part of AAMD’s ongoing commitment to supporting and making public data about the art museum field, the report is important to share.

Joan Mitchell Foundation Selects New Group of Artists for New Orleans-based Residency Program I 9 October 2020

The Joan Mitchell Foundation today announced that it has selected seven artists to join theArtist-in-Residence program at its Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans. The group, which includes local artists Jourdan Barnes, kai barrow, Kara Crowley, Demond Melancon, Anastasia Pelias, Asante Salaam, and José Torres-Tama, will begin residency at theCenter on October 19. The artists were nominated by local arts professionals with a particular eye toward those with substantive artistic portfolios and either an expressed need for studio space for specific projects or a loss of opportunity as a result of the ongoing spread of COVID-19. As part of the program, the artists will receive individual studio space for up to four months, a weekly stipend of$150, chef-prepared box lunches throughout the week, and virtual professional development in the form of training, consultations, and group discussions with peers and leaders across the field.

Baltimore Museum of Art Deaccessions Three Works to Support Ambitious Equity Plan I 2 October 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today details of its Endowment for the Future, an ambitious financial plan that will dedicate funds for the care of the collection and allow the museum to expand its ongoing diversity and equity programmatic initiatives by enacting greater structural change within the institution and increasing access for the community. As part of the plan, the BMA will maintain and increase salaries for staff throughout the museum, establish dedicated funds for DEAI programs, eliminate admission fees for special exhibitions, begin offering evening hours, and enhance its acquisition budget. The specifics for the Endowment for the Future, detailed below, emerged during the BMA’s temporary COVID-related shutdown, in alignment with the ongoing calls for radical thinking and change across the arts and culture sector. The BMA has successfully avoided staff layoffs and furloughs during this challenging period, and the plan reflects the museum’s focus on the future and its ability to continue to fulfill its mission to serve as a truly civic-minded institution. The Endowment for the Future was developed in accordance with the resolutions recently passed by the Association of Art Museum Directors.

A Blade of Grass Announces Plans in Response to Challenges Spurred by COVID-19 I 29 September 2020

A Blade of Grass, the national nonprofit that supports socially engaged art, announced today it will begin a multi-year restructuring process in October 2020. Following six months of financial challenges spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic and related nationwide shutdowns, the organization determined that it can no longer sustain its work and staff and will need to substantively alter both its operating model and programmatic scope to ensure its future ability to support artists. As part of this process, A Blade of Grass will lay off its current five-person full-time staff in October and cut salary and benefits for its Executive Director, Deborah Fisher. The decision, made by Fisher with support from the Board of Trustees, comes at a moment when many smaller nonprofits and alternative art spaces are facing existential threats due to disruptions in their regular fundraising activities and the increased need for financial support across the arts landscape.

André Hemer’s first Solo Show in NY to Open at Hollis Taggart I 22 September 2020

On October 8, Hollis Taggart will open These Days, artist André Hemer’s first solo exhibition in New York. The presentation will feature a selection of new paintings and sculpture created by Hemer during the worldwide shutdowns spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. The new works reflect Hemer’s ongoing engagement with nature, and in particular the cycles of the rising and setting sun, which have especially drawn his attention in the sudden quieting of his home city of Vienna. These Days will be on view through November 7, 2020 and accompanied by a catalogue featuring an essay by writer Victoria Scott. Hollis Taggart will be open by appointment, which can be made by emailing info@hollistaggart.com. Hemer joined the gallery’s contemporary program in August 2019 and has since been included in a wide range of its fair and group presentations.

BMA Receives $5M Gift to Create Space for 65,000 Prints, Drawings, and Photography Collection I 15 September 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it has received a $5 million gift from longtime museum supporters Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff to establish a center dedicated to the presentation, study, and preservation of the BMA’s 65,000-object collection of prints, drawings, and photographs. In honor of the generous gift to fund its completion, the space will be named The Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs. The approximately 7,000-square-foot center, which is being designed by Quinn Evans Architects, will live on the museum’s first floor, adjoining the previously announced Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies. The gift leads the BMA’s fundraising for the $10 million project, with additional funds provided by the State of Maryland, City of Baltimore, France-Merrick Foundation, and Institute for Museum and Library Services. Both of the BMA’s new study centers are slated to open in fall 2021.

Driehaus Museum’s Contemporary Art Series Continues This Fall I 10 September 2020

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum is pleased to announce September 26 as the opening date of the second exhibition in its A Tale of Today contemporary art initiative; it was previously postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the success of last year’s installation by Yinka Shonibare CBE, the museum has commissioned two contemporary Chicago-based artists – Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi – to create site-specific installations working with and responding to the complex history of the museum’s 1883 building and its architecture.

Conceived as an opportunity for audiences to view the legacy of the Gilded Age – the museum’s main area of focus – from different perspectives, the second iteration of A Tale of Today continues to explore the issues that make that history relevant to society today. The exhibition is curated by Kekeli Sumah, the 2020 A Tale of Today curatorial fellow, with guidance from the Driehaus Museum’s executive leadership and curatorial department. A Tale of Today: Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi will be on view from September 26, 2019 through January 17, 2020. A press preview will take place on Tuesday, September 22 from 10-12PM, by appointment only.

Two New Documentary Photography Shows to Open at AGO I 8 September 2020

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) announces the opening of two new photography exhibitions this October. Curated with artworks from the AGO Collection, both feature artists grappling with the same question, albeit from different eras and different perspectives: What can a photograph document? These exhibitions also mark the début of many recent acquisitions, including works by African American artists Dawoud Bey, John Edmonds, Wardell Milan, Ming Smith, as well as Malian photographer Malick Sidibé, part of the AGO’s sustained investment in adding to the depth and diversity of its photography collection holdings. Originally planned as part of the 2020 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival but postponed due to COVID-19, Documents, 1960s – 1970s and Dawoud Bey, John Edmonds and Wardell Milan, will now open October 31, 2020 and run through April 18, 2021.

ADKX Appoints Jodi Joseph as Director of Communications and Partnerships I 3 September 2020

The Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake (ADKX) announced today that it has appointed Jodi Joseph, the long-time Communications Director for MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), as its Director of Communications and Partnerships. In her new role, Joseph will leverage her success in marketing museum programs and building destination tourism to expand visibility of and engagement with ADKX, which is spread across 24 historic and contemporary buildings on a 121-acre campus in the heart of the Adirondacks. Joseph will begin work at ADKX on September 28, 2020.

ADKX Announces Building Renovation Project and Campaign I 1 September 2020

The Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake (ADKX), today announced a $4M campaign for its Adirondack Creativity initiative, which includes the renovation of its original building—now one of 24 historic and contemporary buildings on the museum’s campus. The renovation will establish a 5,800-square-foot exhibition space dedicated to the museum’s fine and decorative art collection. Once completed in 2023, the building will provide the first permanent galleries dedicated to this approximately 5,000-object collection and allow for the most comprehensive showing of the material in the museum’s 60-year history. ADKX also announced that it has received a $250,000 grant from the Museums for America program of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal agency. The IMLS funds, along with $600,000 in state funding and an additional $250,000 from private donors, push ADKX’s fundraising for the initiative over the $1M benchmark, adding new momentum to the campaign.

BMA Announces Phased September Reopening to Public I 27 August 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it will begin a phased reopening on September 16, with the intention of having all of its galleries and gathering spaces accessible to visitors by September 30, 2020. The museum will be open Wednesdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with timed-entry passes available to BMA members beginning Friday, August 28 and the general public on Friday, September 4. The Sculpture Gardens are already open Tuesdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to dusk. The BMA also released its health and safety protocols, which include details regarding timed and limited entry to the museum, PPE requirements, changes to visitor flow, and planned signage to remind visitors about social distancing, capacity limits, and sanitary practices. The BMA plans to welcome up to 25 percent of its capacity, or 350 visitors per day, on September 16 and increase to 525 visitors per day by September 30. The BMA’s reopening remains contingent on state and city guidelines, and the museum is prepared to alter its timelines should further precautions be necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the safety of staff and visitors.

Hollis Taggart to Open Show of British Artist Chloë Lamb I 25 August 2020

Hollis Taggart is pleased to present Chloë Lamb: New September, the British artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery and the first dedicated to her work in New York in several years. On view from September 7 through October 3, the exhibition will feature a selection of abstract oil paintings as well as several wood constructions, marking the first time the artist’s sculptural works will be shown in the U.S. Lamb is inspired by nature and found everyday objects, embracing the beauty and emotive qualities of surrounding landscapes and also the grace and texture of common materials like scraps of wood. The ongoing pandemic has only heightened Lamb’s attraction to these elements, as the world has slowed and the desire for simple pleasures has intensified. The exhibition will include a number of works Lamb created during the COVID-19 related shutdown in the U.K. Hollis Taggart plans to be open by appointment in September. Appointments can be secured by emailing info@hollistaggart.com.

MASS MoCA Will Present Shaun Leonardo: The Breath of Empty Space | 24 August 2020

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) has announced that it will present the exhibition Shaun Leonardo: The Breath of Empty Space from August 26 through December 22, 2020. Through his work, the Brooklyn-based artist addresses how the mediated images of systemic oppression and violence against Black and Brown young men and boys in the United States have shaped our fear, empathy, and perception. This exhibition originated at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore, and was curated by John Chaich. It was organized for MASS MoCA by Laura Thompson, MASS MoCA’s Director of Education and Curator of Kidspace, and will travel to the Bronx Museum of the Arts, where it will be organized by Jasmine Wahi, from January 20 through May 2, 2021.

MASS MoCA Announces Leadership Succession Plan | 21 August 2020

Joseph Thompson, who has led MASS MoCA since its founding in 1988, announced today his plans to step down as Director. He will stay on for the next 12 months as Special Counsel to the Board of Trustees. In this new role, Thompson will focus on institutional advancement and special projects. The Board of Trustees plans to conduct a search for a new permanent Director considering both internal and external candidates. Tracy Moore has been appointed to serve as Interim Director, following Joe’s transition to his new role on October 29. Tracy, who has over 18 years of experience in contemporary art museum programming, management, and leadership, joined MASS MoCA in 2019 and serves as Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer, overseeing finance and operations.

4 Drawings & 1 Modernist Sculpture Acquired by Meadows Museum I 20 August 2020

The Meadows Museum, SMU, announced today that it has acquired six new works for its collection: five Spanish drawings from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including one by Alonso Cano (1601–1667), and one terracotta sculpture by the Catalan Modernist Agustín Querol y Subirats (1864– 1909). Purchased together from De la Mano Gallery in Madrid, Spain, the five sheets reflect the strong tradition of Spanish draftsmanship in the early modern period, and significantly enhance the museum’s collection of drawings. Works by Francisco de Herrera the Elder (c. 1590–1654) and Pedro Duque Cornejo (1678–1757) are the first by these artists to enter the Meadows’ collection, while other drawings offer new insight into the creative processes of artists already represented, including Alonso Cano, Mariano Salvador Maella (1739–1819), and José Camarón Bonanat (1731–1803). The sculpture by Agustín Querol y Subirats adds to the Meadows’ growing collection of Catalan art and joins two important paintings, one by Catalan artist Josep de Togores i Llach (1893–1970) and the other by Santiago Rusiñol i Prats (1861–1931), both acquired by the museum earlier this year.

Joan Mitchell Foundation Reopens Residency to Local Artists I 19 August 2020

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today that it will reopen its Artist-in-Residence program at the New Orleans-based Joan Mitchell Center with a shift to focus exclusively on local artists for the remainder of 2020 and through 2021. The decision comes following several months of evaluating how the Center could best fulfill artists’ essential needs for space and community to advance their practices amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, recognizing the potential health threat that travel and on-site living may pose to artists-in-residence. Artists living outside of New Orleans who were chosen for 2020 residencies will have their placements deferred until 2022. Local artists selected for residency this year have the option to participate in the modified program, which is currently slated to start on September 8 and conclude in February 2021. The group of fall residents is currently being confirmed and will be shared in the coming weeks.

SAMA to Open Major Reinstallation of Latin American Artwork I 12 August 2020

On September 12, the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) will open a freshly re-envisioned installation of works from its expansive, 8,000-work Latin American Popular Art collection. The presentation is the first major reinterpretation of the collection since 1998 and marks an important transition from a more traditional ethnographic exploration of the works to one that is centered on shared human histories and experiences. This includes the shift toward using “popular art” rather than “folk art” to describe the collection, as a more faithful translation of the Spanish term for the genre and one that embraces a wider array of Latin American material culture. The new installation, and the broader reexamination of the collection, are being led by Lucía Abramovich, Associate Curator of Latin American Art, who joined the museum in June 2019.

San Antonio Museum of Art Appoints Three New Trustees I 4 August 2020

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) announced today that educator and art collector May Lam, High Line co-founder Robert Hammond, and former museum director Héctor Rivero Borrell have joined the Museum’s Board of Trustees. Each of them has long experience working in the arts across a range of different areas, all of which will benefit SAMA during this period of change and challenge for museums. They will officially begin their terms in October 2020, serving a three-year term.

“It is with gratitude for their commitment to the San Antonio Museum of Art that I welcome May, Robert, and Héctor to the board,” said Edward Hart, chair of the Museum’s Board of Trustees. “As an institution with a significant collection of Latin American art, both historic and contemporary, we have been looking to expand our board connections in this region, too. As a former museum director with experience in exhibition design and museography, Héctor is exactly the right person to bring a new voice and perspective to the Museum. Robert is a San Antonio native who has accomplished so much in promoting architecture and art as part of civic life, subjects that are important to SAMA and its place in this city. And we are thrilled to welcome May back to the board after an absence of several years. Her contributions to SAMA over the years have been foundational, including important gifts of Australian Aboriginal art.”

Baltimore Museum of Art Appoints Six New Trustees I 30 July 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today the addition of six new trustees to its board. They include Denise Galambos, Vice President of Human Resources at Baltimore Gas and Electric Company; Lisa Harris Jones, founder and managing partner of the Harris Jones & Malone LLC law firm; Elizabeth Hurwitz, recognized Baltimore-based philanthropist; Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; Stuart O. Simms, a respected prosecutor and trial lawyer; and James D. Thornton, co-founder and principal of Thorwood Real Estate Group, LLC. The new trustees join Clair Zamoiski Segal, the BMA’s Board Chair, Christopher Bedford, the Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director, and 40 other active trustees in leading the BMA and ensuring its long-term success. The Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance and oversight of the museum and fostering ongoing support for the BMA’s ambitious mission and vision.

Hollis Taggart to Close Secondary Location in Chelsea I 30 July 2020

Hollis Taggart announced today that it will close its secondary location at 514 W. 25th Street on August 10, 2020. The space, which the gallery has operated for about a year, served predominantly as a platform to showcase the work of contemporary artists. The gallery’s contemporary presentations will now be shown at its flagship location at 521 W. 26th Street, along with its well-recognized exhibitions of historic works. The fall program includes solo shows of work by UK-based artist Chloë Lamb (September) and Vienna-based artist André Hemer (October) as well as a survey presentation of Post-War American artists (November). The gallery is currently welcoming visitors by appointment only but hopes to be more fully open to the public by the fall. Additionally, Hollis Taggart will open a pop-up location in Southport, Connecticut on August 15, with plans to maintain it through October.

4heads Expands Artist Residences Following Fair Cancellation I 23 July 2020

The artist-led, nonprofit 4heads announced today that in response to the ongoing challenges created by COVID-19 it is cancelling the 13th edition of its annual fair, Portal: Governors Island, which would have once again opened to the public in September. The fair, which brings approximately 100 artists from across the U.S. and abroad to Governors Island each year, has become a beloved and anticipated event on the arts calendar and draws hundreds of visitors to the historic locations on the Island. Portal: Governors Island is slated to return in September 2021.

To continue to support its artist community in 2020, 4heads has expanded its artist residency program on Governors Island. While 4heads typically hosts six to ten artists on the Island in the summer and fall months, this year the organization will host 19 artists, predominantly from across New York City and state. 4heads will also be launching a series of digital initiatives, including the development of behind-the-scenes video content and the creation of an online talk series to further illuminate the visions and practices of its residents, to start in September.

A Blade of Grass to Release Series of Artist Films with ALL ARTS I 22 July 2020

A Blade of Grass, the national nonprofit focused on socially engaged art, announced today its partnership with ALL ARTS, an online arts and culture platform created by WNET, to release a series of films about artists working toward social, political, and cultural transformation. The A Blade of Grass Films, which are five to ten minutes in length were co-produced with RAVA Films between 2015 and 2019 as part of A Blade of Grass’s Fellowship for Socially Engaged Art. Several of the films have never been shown publicly and many others have been available in only limited circulation. The partnership provides a new opportunity for audiences to learn about the beauty, rigor, and impact of artists working collaboratively in communities to address critical issues such as gentrification, environmental racism, mass incarceration, cultural preservation, and the creation of more BIPOC-led institutions. In total, A Blade of Glass will release 16 films from its archives on ALL ARTS, including the premieres for artists Jordon Weber, Gregory Sale, Miguel Luciano, and Frances Whitehead.

Hollis Taggart to Open Pop-Up Location in Southport I 14 July 2020

Hollis Taggart is pleased to announce the opening of Hollis Taggart Southport, a temporary gallery location in the heart of downtown Southport, Connecticut. The space will open on August 15 in the historically landmarked building at 330 Pequot Avenue, with the exhibition Look Again: A Survey of Contemporary Painting. Featuring more than a dozen artists, the show explores the spectrum of approaches, techniques, and materials within contemporary painting practice and emphasizes in particular the erosion of traditional boundaries between artistic genres, styles, and modes. Look Again includes gallery artists William Buchina, Leah Guadagnoli, André Hemer, Kenichi Hoshine, Dana James, John Knuth, and Bill Scott, as well as Elizabeth Cooper, Bethany Czarnecki, Hiroya Kurata, Suchitra Mattai, Matt Phillips, and Devin Troy Strother. The gallery currently plans to maintain its Southport location until September 10, 2020.

Adirondack Experience Launches Discussion Series on Racism I 25 June 2020

The Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, announced today that it will launch a new online discussion series exploring the realities of racism in the Adirondack region as well as the work of local organizations to address these challenges. The program is being developed in partnership with The Adirondack Diversity Initiative (ADI) and The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA), and is part of ADI’s wider antiracism education and mobilization initiative. Titled The Black Experience in the Adirondacks, the series will kick-off on Thursday, July 2 at 6:00 pm, with a conversation on the mission and work of ADI. Later discussions will explore the particular dangers of driving in the area as a Black person. The talks will take place live over Zoom, with public registration available here. A fuller detailing of the currently confirmed July discussions follows below, and additional events will be announced in the coming weeks.

BMA Announces New Acquisitions and Extends 2020 Vision I 24 June 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today new acquisitions made as part of its 2020 Vision initiative, which includes a commitment to only purchase works by female-identifying artists this calendar year. Among the highlights entering the collection are mixed-media sculpture and paintings by Barbara Chase-Riboud, Oletha DeVane, Janiva Ellis, Bessie Harvey, Suzanne Jackson, Mary Lovelace O’Neal, and Mary T. Smith; video and animation by Nathalie Djurberg, Laura Ortman, and Martine Syms; works on paper by Vivian Browne, Barbara Regina Dietzsch, Wendy Red Star, Nellie Mae Rowe, Shinique Smith, and Gerda Wegener; photographs by Delphine Diallo and Mariette Pathy Allen; and design objects and textiles by Barbara Brown, Greta Grossman, Zandra Rhodes, and the women of Gee’s Bend. The BMA also announced today that it will extend its 2020 Vision exhibitions and programming into 2021.

Joan Mitchell Foundation Adds Marc Chennault to Its Board I 23 June 2020

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today the appointment of Marc Chennault to its Board of Directors for a three-year term. Chennault, who brings 20 years of private investment experience, has been advising the Foundation’s Finance Committee since 2017, and his formal appointment to the Board recognizes and expands his leadership role. Chennault currently serves as a Senior Advisor at Cherokee Acquisition LLC, and additionally sits on the Board of The Reciprocity Foundation, a New York-based non-profit focused on holistic health programs for New Yorkers facing homelessness, incarceration, and trauma. The announcement follows the Foundation’s appointment of artist Paul Ramírez Jonas to the Board in February 2020.

Meadows Museum in Dallas Announces July 7 Reopening Date I 12 June 2020

The Meadows Museum, SMU, announced today that it will reopen to the public beginning Tuesday, July 7, 2020, at reduced capacity but with regular hours, according to guidelines set by the state of Texas. The museum shop will be open with limited capacity. In the fall, the museum hopes to open its special exhibition Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain, which had originally been scheduled to open in late-March. Its companion exhibition drawn from the museum’s own holdings, Berruguete Through the Lens: Photographs from a Barcelona Archive—the installation of which has been completed since staff returned to campus June 1—will be on view beginning July 7. Healthcare workers, first responders, and other essential business employees will receive free admission throughout the month of July.

2020 Emerging Artist Fellows Announced by Driehaus Museum I 11 June 2020

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum today announced the four artists who will receive its 2020 A Tale of Today: Emerging Artists Fellowship. Launched in 2019, the annual Fellowship provides four emerging Chicago-based ALAANA (African, Latino, Asian, Arab, and Native American) artists with an unrestricted stipend of $2,500. It also provides the artists with support from the Driehaus Museum’s professional networks to advance and promote their careers, plus access to the Museum’s resources and its home, the Nickerson Mansion. To help with the repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis, the stipend this year will be given at the outset of the program, allowing the Fellows to immediately use the funds for anything from studio supplies to housing and other basic needs.

The 2020 A Tale of Today: Emerging Artists Fellows are: Maryam Taghavi, Alexandria Eregbu, Devin T. Mays, and Unyimeabasi Udoh. The Fellowship is a six-month program which includes meetings with art professionals, career counselling sessions, public programming experiences, and exhibition opportunities, including a pop-up exhibition at EXPO Chicago in April 2021. Inspired in part by the Nickerson Family, who in the late 19th century often invited art students to sketch and study their collection, the Fellowship encourages artists to use the Museum and the mansion as a creative center for developing their work and careers.

Meadows Museum Appoints Two New Curatorial Fellows I 8 June 2020

Today the Meadows Museum, SMU announced two curatorial fellowship appointments. Julia M. Vázquez, who was recently awarded a Ph.D. from Columbia University, has focused her research on the life, career, and historic influence of painter Diego Velázquez, and will serve as the Mellon Curatorial Fellow for a period of two years, starting in October 2020. Akemi Luisa Herráez Vossbrink, a doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge, UK, who has focused her research on the Latin American reception of works by Spanish Golden Age painter Francisco de Zurbarán, will join the institution for a one-year term beginning in September 2020 as the first Center for Spain in America (CSA) Curatorial Fellow.

Both fellowships include an annual stipend, of $50,000 and $40,000 respectively. The fellowships provide scholars at different stages of their careers with the opportunity to develop new scholarship in Spanish art and gain invaluable professional experience in the Meadows Museum’s curatorial department. Fellows are selected through a multitiered review process led by the museum’s director and leadership from the curatorial and education teams following an international call for applications.

BMA Announces Initiatives in Support of Local Community I 27 May 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it is launching three new initiatives to provide direct support to Baltimore-based artists, galleries, and communities: BMA Salon, BMA Screening Room, and BMA Studio. The initiatives will provide some immediate financial relief to local artists and businesses, develop new platforms of visibility to ensure the longer-term success of Baltimore’s arts ecology, and extend participatory opportunities to populations that do not have ready access to digital content. The development of these programs stems from the BMA’s popular, ongoing speaker series, The Necessity of Tomorrow(s), which was established to imagine futures that embrace issues of social justice, equity, and creative practice. The BMA’s new initiatives actualize the series’ core principles and respond to the needs of the current situation through creative endeavors, furthering the museum’s role as a cultural collaborator and civic leader. More details on the programs, which are slated to launch during the first two weeks of June, are below.

Artists Leah Guadagnoli and Kenichi Hoshine Join Hollis Taggart I 21 May 2020

Hollis Taggart is pleased to announce its representation of artists Leah Guadagnoli and Kenichi Hoshine, both of whom have been featured in recent presentations at the gallery. Guadagnoli was included in the gallery’s group show Breaking the Frame in the fall of 2019 as well as in its first presentation at Untitled Miami that same year, while Hoshine was the subject of a solo exhibition, titled The Magician and The Thief, at the gallery in the winter of 2020. Both artists have also participated in Hollis Taggart’s popular Instagram LIVE series, Taggart Time, which is hosted weekly by the gallery’s Director of Contemporary Art Paul Efstathiou. The announcement also comes as the gallery is poised to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the formal launch of its contemporary program, which has grown to include the representation of a wide range of artists, including William Buchina, Hollis Heichemer, André Hemer, Dana James, and John Knuth, among others. The gallery will announce dates for new exhibitions featuring works by Guadagnoli and Hoshine as its reopening schedule clarifies in accordance with health and safety guidelines.

Andrea Dezsö Interview Kicks Off BCMA Digital Initiatives I 20 May 2020

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) today shared a video interview with artist Andrea Dezsö, talking about the works in her exhibition The Visitors. Dezsö was the Museum’s 2019–2020 halley k harrisburg ’90 and Michael Rosenfeld artist-in-residence. In an unusual turn of events, her experience at the College was bookended by illness: first, the artist’s own bout of shingles, which manifested shortly after her arrival in Maine in the summer of 2019, and later, the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the closure of the College and the Museum in spring of 2020. Her watercolors of humanoid forms immediately evoke for the viewer a sense of internal pain and physical distress, clearly born of experience and yet also so relatable to the current moment.

The interview with Dezsö, conducted by Sean Burrus, the BCMA’s Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Curatorial Fellow, and Anne Collins Goodyear, Co-Director, is part of the Museum’s newly launched website and expanded range of digital exhibitions, programs, and other initiatives. Also part of the new site is the online exhibition The Presence of The Past: Art From Central And West Africa, developed by Professor David Gordon and the students from his course “The Powers of Central African Art.” Drawn from the Museum’s collection as well as the Wyvern Collection, students used the Museum’s Zuckert Seminar Room to study the objects over the course of the semester. The exhibition was originally planned to be installed and open to the public, but was moved into an online format after it became clear that an on-campus installation would be impossible for the foreseeable future.

A Blade of Grass and New Museum Announce Discussion Series I 19 May 2020

A Blade of Grass, the nonprofit dedicated to fostering socially engaged art nationwide, and the New Museum announced today a new three-part online discussion series that will explore the work and visions of artists and activities engaged in creating more equitable, empathetic, and humane systems of governance. The series, titled Governance Reimagined, will kick off on Thursday, May 28, with a conversation between artist Jonas Staal and Laura Raicovich, Interim Director of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art. The second discussion on June 4, moderated by Andrew An Westover, Keith Haring Director of Education and Public Programs at the New Museum, will feature filmmakers and organizers Astra Taylor and Laura Hanna of Debt Collective and artist Constantina Zavitsanos. The third conversation on June 11, moderated by Prerana Reddy, Director of Programs at A Blade of Grass, will feature Jorge Díaz Ortiz, a Puerto Rican artist and member of collectives Papel Machete and AgitArte, and Jose Romero and Harmony Phoenix, members of Southerners on New Ground (SONG). The weekly conversations will be hosted on the New Museum’s Zoom platform at 2:00 PM EDT, and each conversation will require advance registration.

BMA Receives $3.5M Gift and Names Director of Matisse Center I 12 May 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced that it has received a gift of $3.5 million from a longtime museum advocate to endow the directorship for The Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies, which is currently slated to open in fall 2021. In recognition of this generous gift, the position has been titled The Anne and Ben Cone Memorial Director. The Matisse collection at the BMA was first established through the vision and philanthropy of sisters Claribel and Etta Cone, and the named directorship acknowledges their nephew and his wife, who have continued the family’s legacy of support for the BMA.

As part of today’s news, the BMA has also announced that it has appointed Senior Curator and Department Head of European Painting and Sculpture Katy Rothkopf as the new director. In her position as The Anne and Ben Cone Memorial Director, Rothkopf will be responsible for the development of the center’s exhibitions and public programs and will work with scholars, both at and outside of the BMA, to support new research and the creation of publications and digital resources on Matisse’s work and ongoing influence

A Blade of Grass Announces Its 2020 Fellows I 6 May 2020

A Blade of Grass, the nonprofit dedicated to fostering socially engaged art nationwide, today announced the eight artists and artist collectives who will be the organization’s 2020 Fellows for Socially Engaged Art. This includes the inaugural recipient for A Blade of Grass’s new Fellowship for POC Emerging Artists in New York City, as well as the ongoing A Blade of Grass-SPArt Fellow for Los Angeles, for which a Los Angeles-based artist is selected in collaboration with SPArt, a philanthropic initiative that supports social practice in Los Angeles. All of the Fellowships, which are awarded annually, support artists and artist collectives working with communities in ways that encourage social and political change at ambitious scale. Launched in 2014, the Fellowship provides artist and artist collectives with a $20,000 minimally restricted honorarium as well as support from A Blade of Grass’ professional network to help in the production and execution of proposed projects. While the 2020 Fellows were selected on the basis of specific project ideas, A Blade of Grass has made this year’s grants fully unrestricted to help artists during this unprecedented time of crisis.

The 2020 Fellows for Socially Engaged Art include Alfredo Salazar-Caro (New York), the inaugural dedicated Fellow for POC Emerging Artists in New York City; Cannupa Hanska Luger (New Mexico); a collective including Alex Hare, Zhailon Levingston, and Nehemiah Luckett (New York); the Hidden Voices collective (various national locations, headquartered in North Carolina); Taja Lindley (New York); the Papel Machete collective (Puerto Rico); Tornillo: The Occupation Coalition (Texas and Mexico), and Rosalind McGary (California), the A Blade of Grass-SPArt Fellow. Additional information about each of this year’s fellows follows below.

BMA Creates Site to Make Work by Candice Breitz Accessible I 27 April 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today the launch of a new microsite to house and make publicly accessible nearly all of the videos that had been installed for its major spring exhibition, Candice Breitz: Too Long, Didn’t Read, which closed several days after its opening in March in accordance with health and safety guidelines. The site features Breitz’s powerful multichannel videos TLDR (2017), which explores a series of global debates surrounding sex work, and Love Story (2016), which contrasts narrations of the experiences of six individuals impacted by the global refugee crisis. Together, the works frame critical questions about systems of privilege and the ways in which the 24-hour news cycle, social media, and celebrity culture shape our understanding of the world and who we believe and trust. To foster dialogue on these critical themes, the site also includes opportunities for viewers to upload brief videos that respond to the two questions, “Who do you listen to?” and “Why do they get your attention?” The audience-generated videos will also be viewable as an ongoing archive on the site at artbma.org/tldr.

BMA Appoints Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole as Special Counsel I 23 April 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that renowned scholar and arts administrator Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole will serve as the museum’s Special Counsel on Strategic Initiatives. In her role, Dr. Cole will provide guidance to the BMA’s board, director, and senior leadership team as they continue to implement the museum’s long-term strategic vision, which positions social equity and civic engagement as essential aspects of its scholarly and public program and within its internal structures. Dr. Cole will offer her expertise on a pro bono basis for a period of three years.

Hollis Taggart Now Represents Artist Hollis Heichemer I 20 April 2020

Hollis Taggart is pleased to announce its representation of artist Hollis Heichemer, whose practice embraces lyrical and vividly colored paintings and works on paper. Heichemer was the subject of a solo exhibition at the gallery’s temporary space at the High Line Nine in April 2019, which included the first public presentation of her drawings. While the gallery remains closed in accordance with current health and safety guidelines, it is planning for upcoming exhibitions of Heichemer’s work, in both its digital and physical spaces, with dates to be announced in the coming months. Heichemer joins the gallery’s rapidly expanding contemporary program, which in recent months has also added artists Dana James, John Knuth, and William Buchina.

AAMD Passes Resolution to Increase Financial Flexibility Museums I 15 April 2020

The Board of Trustees of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) has passed a series of resolutions addressing how art museums may use the restricted funds held by some institutions. These resolutions were proposed in recognition of the extensive negative effects of the current crisis on the operations and balance sheets of many art museums—and the uncertain timing for a museum’s operations, fundraising, and revenue streams to return to normal.

The resolutions state that AAMD will refrain from censuring or sanctioning any museum—or censuring, suspending or expelling any museum director—that decides to use restricted endowment funds, trusts, or donations for general operating expenses. The resolution also addresses how a museum might use the proceeds from deaccessioned art to pay for expenses associated with the direct care of collections. The resolution does not change AAMD’s Professional Practices or any other rules currently in place, but instead effectively places a moratorium on punitive actions through April 10, 2022. AAMD also recognizes that it is not within the Association’s purview to approve the redirection of restricted funds. However, it hopes that these resolutions will serve as an endorsement to donors or the relevant legal authorities, encouraging them to permit the temporary use of these funds for unrestricted needs.

BCMA Show Explores Maine as Site of Creative Inspiration I 12 March 2020

Maine has long captivated artists and inspired the creation of iconic works of American art, driven by its rugged mountain and sweeping coastal vistas, its traditions and histories, and the character of the people who make it home. Artists, in turn, have shaped how we understand, and quite literally see, Maine’s landscape and its people. On June 27, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) will open At First Light: Two Centuries of Artists in Maine, an exhibition that explores Maine as a place that has nurtured artistic production over the course of two centuries. The exhibition will include approximately 100 works, including those by acclaimed artists such as Marsden Hartley, Winslow Homer, and Andrew Wyeth as well as living masters Lois Dodd, David Driskell, Molly Neptune Parker, and William Wegman, among numerous others. Together the featured works, which range widely in media, style, and approach, will offer a vivid portrait of Maine and its relationship to wider artistic developments in American art. The exhibition, which is curated by co-directors Anne Collins Goodyear and Frank H. Goodyear III, will be on view through November 15, 2020.

SAMA Acquires Group of Contemporary Latin American Works I 3 March 2020

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) announced today that it has acquired a number of works by contemporary Latin American artists—and that it has also received a gift of five works of contemporary art from the Alex Katz Foundation. Works by Jose Dávila, Sonia Gomes, Pedro Reyes, and Analia Saban—now on view—add to the Museum’s existing strength in contemporary Latin American art. The other five works given by the Alex Katz Foundation—pieces by Sinéad Breslin, Gaby Collins-Fernandez, Leah Durner, Keltie Ferris, and Rob Pruitt—support SAMA’s targeted growth of its contemporary art holdings and are the second grouping of works given to the Museum by the Foundation in the last two years.

SAMA has long been recognized for its strength in Latin American folk art, an area of collecting anchored in 1985 by the gifts of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Mexican Folk Art Collection and the Robert K. Winn Folk Art Collection. In recent years, the Museum has begun expanding its Latin American collections to more actively embrace contemporary art, seeking out pieces that reflect the diversity of artistic perspectives and experiences from across the region.

Lisa Crossman Joins the Mead as Curator of Arts of the Americas I 3 March 2020

The Mead Art Museum at Amherst College has named Lisa Crossman as its inaugural curator of American art and arts of the Americas. This newly created role brings together the Mead’s traditional strengths in American art with its increased focus on developing original exhibitions that interrogate and reshape the art historical canon to include the arts, past and present, of Latin America. Crossman, who comes to the Mead from the Fitchburg Art Museum (FAM), in Fitchburg, Mass., will also generate new opportunities to connect the Museum to the College’s curriculum, as well as inspire new scholarship. Her appointment is effective April 6, 2020.

Crossman is particularly well-suited to fill this new position. As curator at FAM, she organized exhibitions of contemporary art, played an active role in mentoring and education, and partnered with curators across New England on a range of projects. Prior to joining FAM, she worked in Cambridge, Mass., for the Cultural Agents Initiative at Harvard University, and for the online arts and culture magazine Big Red and Shiny. Her many publications include exhibition catalogues and essays in the Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies and Material Culture Review.

Jay Fisher Retires from BMA After 45 Years in Leadership Roles I 2 March 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that Jay McKean Fisher, one of the BMA’s longest-serving curators and the inaugural director of the museum’s Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies, has decided to retire on March 31, 2020 after 45 years at the institution. As of April 1, he will be named the Emeritus Senior Curator for Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. During his tenure at the BMA, Fisher shepherded numerous acquisitions for the museum’s collection, including the George A. Lucas Collection of 19th-century French art, the Gallagher/Dalsheimer collection of American photography, and hundreds of works on paper by Henri Matisse from the Marguerite Matisse Duthuit Collection and the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation. Fisher has also organized many of the BMA’s most important and celebrated exhibitions, including Matisse: Painter as Sculptor (2007); Photographs, Drawings, and Collages by Frederick Sommer and Surrealist Art from the BMA's Collection (1999); and The Prints of Édouard Manet: A Centenary Celebration (1983). Just as critical, Fisher has also built and maintained relationships for the institution with audiences, artists, scholars, collectors, and donors both in Baltimore and around the world.

BMA to Open Retrospective on Joan Mitchell in Sept 2020 I 27 February 2020

Joan Mitchell has long been hailed as a formidable creative force—a woman artist who attained critical acclaim and success in the male-dominated art circles of the 1950s, and then went on to make her own distinctive way in the world for four decades. From September 13 through December 13, 2020, The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will present a comprehensive survey of Mitchell’s oeuvre that establishes a new depth of scholarship on her work. Titled Joan Mitchell, the retrospective will feature approximately 60 works, including rarely seen early paintings and drawings, the vibrant gestural compositions that established her career, and large-scale, colorful, multi-panel masterpieces from her later years. With suites of major paintings as well as sketchbooks, charcoal drawings, and pastels on paper, the exhibition will open a new window into the richness of Mitchell’s practice and present a model of art history that accommodates multiple chapters and evolving styles. Joan Mitchell is accompanied by a catalogue that will provide further essential insight into Mitchell’s artistic achievements and the inspirations that drove them.

Terra Foundation Appoints New President & CEO I 26 February 2020

The Terra Foundation for American Art announced today that it has appointed Sharon Corwin as its new President and CEO, following an international search that began last year. Corwin currently serves as the Carolyn Muzzy Director and Chief Curator of the Colby College Museum of Art, a position she has held since 2006; she is also a professor in the College’s art department. As director, Corwin is responsible for leading the museum through a period of significant transformation, which included the expansion of its facilities and the donation of more than 1,600 works of American art by collectors and philanthropists Peter and Paula Lunder. Corwin’s appointment follows the March 2019 announcement that Elizabeth Glassman, who has led the Terra Foundation for almost 20 years, would be stepping down in 2020. Corwin will start at the foundation in September 2020.

The Zimmerli Art Museum Opens Show on Soviet Design I 20 February 2020

The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers, in collaboration with the Moscow Design Museum, presents the first exhibition in the United States to explore Soviet industrial design from the postwar era. While creative innovation in design flourished in the Soviet Union in the years between 1959 and 1989, limitations in both fabrication processes and consumer circulation resulted in production shortages and left many design ideas unmade. As an outcome, Soviet design from this period is globally largely unknown. Everyday Soviet, on view through May 17, 2020, explores the material culture of this period through more than 300 objects loaned from the Moscow Design Museum, including household objects, fashion, posters, and sketches of products and interiors. These objects are further juxtaposed with a selection of approximately 85 works of nonconformist or underground art of the time from the Zimmerli’s Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union, offering a holistic examination of the ways in which design and art developed concurrently.

OMCA Announces Café Partner & Campus Renovation Updates I 19 February 2020

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) announced today that it will partner with celebrated Bay Area chef and restaurateur Tanya Holland, founder of Oakland’s Brown Sugar Kitchen and former Top Chef contestant, to create a new café concept for the Museum: Town Fare by Tanya Holland. The new café is expected to open in August 2020. Part of a significant campus enhancement, which began in September 2019 and is now expected to be completed in early 2021, the renovations are focused on providing an increased number of amenities for visitors and the wider public, including updates to its gardens, improved public access to the campus achieved by creating an entrance along 12th Street, and the new café, which will now feature its own entrance and an ADA accessible ramp along 10th Street.

In anticipation of the building of the Museum’s garden entrance—which will be redesigned as part of the creation of the new campus entrance facing Oakland’s Lake Merritt—construction fencing will be installed along 10th Street near Fallon and along the 12th Street corridor. Demolition is expected to begin during the first week of March 2020. At the same time, construction will also begin on the new café. The Museum’s galleries remain open during these renovations.

Two Exhibitions at WAM Explore Kimono Design I 19 February 2020

This spring, the Worcester Art Museum will present the first exhibition outside of Japan of historic and contemporary kimonos from the collection of Chiso, the distinguished Kyoto-based kimono house. Kimono Couture: The Beauty of Chiso—on view from April 25 to July 26, 2020—will examine the history and artistry of the prestigious 465-year-old garment maker through the presentation of 14 kimonos and an exquisite selection of related works of art. Paintings, kimono fragments, and woodblock printed books from the Chiso art collection reflect the creative collaborations between Chiso and several celebrated Japanese artists since the late 19th century. The centerpiece will be a one-of-a-kind, contemporary wedding kimono specially commissioned by WAM for Kimono Couture. The exhibition demonstrates Chiso’s profound commitment to championing the rigorous artistic traditions of Japanese kimono-making, while highlighting the company’s shifting sense of innovation, beauty, and versatility. In tandem with Kimono Couture, the Museum will also present The Kimono in Print: 300 Years of Japanese Design, which will provide a wider historical look into the intersection between print and kimono design—on view from March 28 to June 28, 2020.

OMCA Releases Results from Year of Social Impact Research I 19 February 2020

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) today released the results of the first 12 months of its innovative social impact research and evaluation work. This ongoing research program was developed and launched by the Museum as a new way to evaluate visitor engagement, and specifically to better understand the role OMCA plays in connecting different Bay Area residents and communities.

In particular, the research seeks to understand how the Museum can foster social cohesion, actively supporting each visitor’s sense of connectedness to the diverse range of people and ideas that make up the community. Key takeaways from this period of research demonstrate that a majority of visitors—97%— report that they feel welcome at the Museum, while 73% report seeing narratives that relate to their lives reflected within OMCA’s exhibitions and programs. Over the last five years as the result of OMCA’s broad range of exhibitions and programs, the makeup of the Museum’s audience has shifted. This past fiscal year, 56% of visitors identified as people of color, and 62% were under age 45.

Meadows Appoints Anne Kindseth as Director of Education I 19 February 2020

The Meadows Museum, SMU, announced today that it has promoted Anne Kindseth to the position of Director of Education, effective immediately. Kindseth joined the Meadows in January 2018 as Education Programs Manager, and has been responsible for the day-to-day management of the museum’s on- and off-site initiatives with K-12 teachers across the region and for developing partnerships with campus constituencies at SMU. She holds a B.A. in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.A. in Art History and Museum Studies from the University of Southern California, and an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Kindseth’s promotion formalizes the role she has been doing on an interim basis since Scott Winterrowd, the Meadows’s prior Director of Education, left in June 2019.

Paul Ramírez Jonas Joins Joan Mitchell Foundation Board I 19 February 2020

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today that artist and educator Paul Ramírez Jonas has been appointed to its Board of Directors for a three-year term. Over the last twenty-five years, Ramírez Jonas has created works that range from large-scale public installations and monumental sculptures to performances, videos, and intimate drawings. Underlying his diverse practice is a vision to redefine the relationship between artist, artwork, and viewer, and his works and installations often encourage public participation and exchange. In addition to his artistic practice, Ramírez Jonas serves as an Associate Professor at Hunter College in New York. In 2008, he was the recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant.

Hollis Taggart to Open Solo Show of Works by Norman Bluhm I 11 February 2020

On February 20, Hollis Taggart will open its second solo exhibition of work by American artist Norman Bluhm (1921-1999). The exhibition will feature paintings and works on paper, dating from 1957-1997, offering audiences insight into the full arc of Bluhm’s creative output. The gallery presentation, titled Norman Bluhm: Space Time Continuum, 1950s to 1990s, curated by his daughter Nina Bluhm has been developed as a companion to the Newark Museum’s Norman Bluhm: Metamorphosis, the first monographic survey of Bluhm’s career, on view from February 13 – May 3, 2020. Together, the two exhibitions capture the depth and intricacy of Bluhm’s oeuvre—one that deserves much greater scholarly attention and study. The gallery exhibition will remain open through March 14, 2020.

Over the course of his life, Bluhm engaged with and developed a spectrum of styles and approaches, staying true to his own artistic instincts and eschewing the creative trends of the moment. While his work would go through several critical transformations, his paintings and works on paper are consistently recognized for their sumptuous and intuitive use of color and line, which evoke incredible sensations of movement and energy.

New Digital Platform Supports Artist and City Partnerships I 10 February 2020

A Blade of Grass and Animating Democracy, a program of Americans for the Arts, announced today the launch of Municipal-Artist Partnerships (MAP), a digital resources and relationship guide developed to help artists and city leadership establish collaborations that benefit their communities. The MAP guide, which was created over the course of three years of research, is the first publicly available platform of its kind. Designed to answer common questions about how to approach, structure, and evaluate Municipal-Artist partnerships, the MAP guide contains a wide range of content, from case studies that capture successful programs and tools to establish healthy relationships between partners and communities, to document templates that help prospective partners get started. A Blade of Grass, a national non-profit organization dedicated to nurturing socially engaged artists, and Animating Democracy, which promotes arts and culture as potent contributors to community, civic, and social change, envisioned the MAP guide as an evolving tool that both captures successful methodologies and encourages the expansion of such partnerships across the U.S. The MAP guide is free and accessible online at https://municipal-artist.org.

BMA to Present Two Video Installations by Candice Breitz I 6 February 2020

Critically acclaimed artist Candice Breitz is recognized around the world for her unflinching questioning of power and influence, especially as it relates to individual identity. In March, The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will present Candice Breitz: Too Long, Didn’t Read, the spring season anchor of the museum’s year-long 2020 Vision initiative highlighting works by female-identifying artists. The exhibition features two of Breitz’s powerful multi-channel video installations, TLDR and Love Story, both of which examine how our contemporary obsession with celebrity and the explosion of media have distorted our ability to connect with real-world humanitarian issues and empathize with the experiences of those living on the margins of society. Presented side-by-side for the first time, the works represent more than 35 hours of content that captures Breitz’s essential voice as an artist and interrogator of contemporary culture.

BMA Presents Nine Shows of Contemporary Women Artists I 6 February 2020

As part of The Baltimore Museum of Art’s (BMA) 2020 Vision initiative to provide greater recognition for women artists and leaders, the museum is hosting nine solo exhibitions of works by female-identifying artists beginning in March. Seven exhibitions encompassing paintings, sculpture, photography, prints, and video by Zackary Drucker, Katharina Grosse, Valerie Maynard, Ana Mendieta, Elissa Blount Moorhead, Howardena Pindell, and SHAN Wallace will be presented in the Contemporary Wing second floor galleries from March 1 through June 28, 2020. An exhibition of 50 works by Jo Smail will be presented in the Contemporary Wing third floor galleries from March 1 through August 9, 2020, and a new work by Shinique Smith will be presented in the European art galleries March 15 through August 9, 2020. Subsequent exhibitions opening in August will feature works by Sharon Lockhart, Tschabalala Self, and Lisa Yuskavage.

AGO Shares Data on Acquiring & Showing Artworks by Women I 31 January 2020

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) announced today it has acquired major works by internationally renowned artists Tacita Dean, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Silke Otto-Knapp, Hito Steyerl, and a collaboration by Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory and Jamie Griffiths. Dean’s Antigone (2018) is an hour-long 35mm film collage that draws on the character of Sophocles’ ancient play and presents a parallel narrative built around Dean’s sister. OPERA (QM.15) (2016) by Gonzalez-Foerster is a holographic projection—what the artist calls an “apparition”—in which she takes on the appearance and voice of the opera singer Maria Callas. Monotones (Seascape) (2016), Silke Otto-Knapp’s four-panel watercolour of the Newfoundland coast, is part of the artist’s distinctive series done in shades of black, grey and silver. First seen at the Bienale de Sao Paola in 2016, Steyerl’s Hell Yeah We Fuck Die is a video installation and architectural environment, currently on view as part of the AGO exhibition Hito Steyerl: This is the future. Layering sound, images, and dance into a unique doubled-sided video projection, Silaup Putunga (2018), by Williamson Bathory and Griffiths, is the first moving image installation by an Inuk artist to enter the AGO’s Collection.

These acquisitions build on the AGO’s concerted effort to focus on both collection-building and exhibitions of works by women artists. Over the last five years, 79 of the museum’s 189 purchased artworks—or 41% of purchased acquisitions—were by women artists. And in the last three years, 46% of the AGO’s 54 distinct exhibitions or special installations have been focused on women artists. This includes shows and acquisitions of works by artists such as Rebecca Belmore, Vija Celmins, June Clark, Yayoi Kusama, Rita Letendre, and Mickalene Thomas, among others.

Marianne Boesky to Open Three-Person Show in Aspen I 30 January 2020

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present Fallout, a group exhibition of works by artists Jennifer Bartlett, Yayoi Kusama, and Atsuko Tanaka. The distinctive and experimental approaches taken by all three artists throughout their careers have positioned them as critical and essential voices in the development of art in the Post-War era. Fallout offers an exciting opportunity to see their work in dialogue, highlighting how their use of pattern, color, and form—almost to obsessive degrees—have resulted in singular paintings, sculptures, and installations that brim with energy and vibrant physicality. The exhibition will be on view from February 15 through April 19, 2020, at Marianne Boesky Gallery’s location in Aspen, Colorado.

Serge Alain Nitegeka Explores Forced Migration in New Show I 30 January 2020

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present Black Migrant, Johannesburg-based artist Serge Alain Nitegeka’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery. Throughout his career, Nitegeka has sought to evoke the physical and emotional experiences of forced migration through abstract experimentations with color, form, and space. With his upcoming presentation, which will feature new paintings, a large-scale site-specific installation, and a voice recording, Nitegeka reasserts both the figural and the personal in his work. Together, the works examine the particulars of being a black migrant as distinct within the dialogues of the African refugee. Black Migrant will be on view at the gallery’s 509 W. 24th Street location from February 25 through April 18, 2020. An opening reception will be held on March 5, from 6:00-8:00 PM, to coincide with Armory Art Week.

Meadows Museum Acquires Works by Catalan Modernists I 30 January 2020

The Meadows Museum, SMU, announced today that it has purchased works by two Catalan modernists: painters Josep de Togores i Llach (1893–1970) and Santiago Rusiñol i Prats (1861–1931). These works are important additions to the Museum’s collection and to increasing public and scholarly access to Catalan works from this early modern period, roughly the 1880s into the 1920s. Despite the fact that this was a period of significant artistic production and stylistic innovation, works by Catalan artists of this era are not well-represented in American museum holdings.

The first painting, Togores’ Portrait of the Mestre Family (1927), is a masterful example of modern Spanish portraiture depicting wealthy Catalan industrialist Josep Mestre Mitjans; his wife, Berta Lantz Beinquet; and their three children, José, Jorge, and Blanca. Togores was a popular society painter within 20th-century Spain, and his avant-garde works from the 1920s are highly prized. The second painting, Rusiñol’s Cluster of Cypresses, Arbor IV (1908), is a lush, impressionistic landscape, one of a series of ten the artist painted of a “glorieta,” or circular garden feature, located within the historic gardens of the royal palace of Aranjuez, just south of Madrid, and an excellent example of the artist’s work during his prime years in the early 20th century. Rusiñol painted numerous gardens within Spain, and much like the French Impressionist painters, most famously Monet, would return to the same locations at different times of day and during different seasons to capture the changing effects of light and colors.

Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces Artists for Residency I 29 January 2020

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today the 37 artists who will participate in its Artist-in-Residence program at its Center in New Orleans in 2020. All of the artists are selected through a multi-tiered process that includes a review by a five-person panel of established artists, curators, and arts professionals. Participants are chosen with an eye toward: the potential career impact of a residency, as indicated by each artist; a demonstrated commitment to studio practice; and a cohesive body of work that speaks to creative vision and innovation. The 2020 residents include eight artists local to New Orleans and 29 artists traveling to the city from 14 different states, including California, Oregon, Ohio, Texas, Vermont, Florida, and New York.

Dana James and John Knuth Join Hollis Taggart I 23 January 2020

Hollis Taggart is pleased to announce representation of artists Dana James and John Knuth, as part of its growing contemporary program. The gallery recently presented James’s abstract paintings in its fall group exhibition, Breaking the Frame, which explored the different ways in which artists are disrupting the seemingly inherent two-dimensional nature of painting. Knuth’s abstract paintings and objects, which are created through a singular process using fly regurgitations, were the subject of a solo presentation in June 2019 at Hollis Taggart’s temporary space at the High Line Nine. The gallery is now planning solo shows for both artists, with dates to be announced later this year.

A Blade of Grass Announces Additions to Its Staff and Board I 23 January 2020

A Blade of Grass, the national non-profit that nurtures socially engaged art, announced today that it has added new members to its staff and board. Kathryn McKinney has been appointed as the organization’s first Head of Content and Communications. In her new role, she will guide visibility initiatives to enhance public knowledge of socially engaged artists and oversee the development of A Blade of Grass’s diverse range of web and print media, including for its documentary films, public programming, and the bi-annual A Blade of Grass Magazine. The organization has also elected artist and philanthropist Michael Quattrone to its growing board. Mr. Quattrone, who concurrently sits on the boards of the David Rockefeller Fund, The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, will serve a three-year term, with the option to be re-elected for additional terms.

Texas Women: A New History of Abstract Art at SAMA I 22 January 2020

On February 7th, the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) will present the exhibition Texas Women: A New History of Abstract Art, which breaks new ground in identifying contributions from women artists to the history of American abstraction. While Texas is well known for its representational and figurative art, during the mid- twentieth century a number of artists began to explore the possibilities of abstraction instead. Yet despite decades of artistic production, the contributions of women artists in Texas have not been fully examined. Texas Women, the first large-scale exhibition to focus on women abstract artists living and working in Texas, both expands the narrative of American abstraction and celebrates Texas as a vital art scene where women’s unique artistic visions continue to thrive. Organized and presented by SAMA, the exhibition will be on view through May 3, 2020.

Texas Women brings together seventeen artists and ninety-five works in various media, including painting, sculpture, drawing, and installation. The work can be broadly categorized by the artist’s motivating ideas and processes—from the organic, gestural, and improvisational to the structural, systemic, and schematic. There are also connecting themes, such as the sensed or felt landscape; presence of the body; seriation and repetition; and the intersection of analog and digital worlds. “While the artists’ approaches differ and the number of years in which they have been creating art might vary—from over four decades to less than one—their works reflect an ongoing and rigorous commitment to their artistic vision; to pushing their ideas, materials, and processes; and to creating new experiences for their audiences that stimulate reflections about art and the times in which we are living,” said Suzanne Weaver, the Museum’s Brown Foundation Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.

10 Art Museums Selected for AAMD’s Paid Internship Program I 16 January 2020

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) announced that it has selected the 10 member art museums that will host its class of 2020 interns, the second year of the Association’s paid internship program. Each institution will host an intern for 12 weeks, provide a focal point for those interns’ work and career development in different museum departments, as well as create a mentorship opportunity to support the student during their internship. The museums selected for 2020, with their focus areas, are:

Chrysler Museum of Art; Curatorial Columbus Museum of Art; Learning

Frist Art Museum; Curatorial Grand Rapids Art Museum; Curatorial

Joslyn Art Museum; Curatorial Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University; Education

Palm Springs Art Museum; Curatorial/Education RISD Museum; Digital

The Jewish Museum; Marketing The Noguchi Museum; Education

AAMD’s program is designed to engage college students from underrepresented backgrounds, to encourage and nurture their career opportunities in the art museum field—while providing the financial support necessary to make participation in an internship possible. The program was initially planned and launched in 2018, with the first group of interns completing their programs in 2019. For its second year, more than 45 museums applied to host an intern, about 20% of AAMD’s membership. The 10 selected member art museums will then be paired with interns in their home or university town. Each intern will be assigned to work on at least one defined project, so that they will be able to see the culmination of their work at the end of the summer.

Driehaus Museum Commissions Nate Young & Mika Horibuchi I 16 January 2020

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum today announced plans for the second exhibition in its A Tale of Today contemporary art initiative. Following the success of last year’s installation by Yinka Shonibare CBE, the museum has commissioned two contemporary Chicago-based artists – Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi – to create site-specific installations working with and responding to the complex history of the museum’s 1883 building and its architecture.

Conceived as an opportunity for audiences to view the legacy of the Gilded Age – the museum’s main area of focus – from different perspectives, the second iteration of A Tale of Today continues to explore the issues that make that history relevant to society today. The exhibition is curated by Kekeli Sumah, the 2020 A Tale of Today curatorial fellow, with guidance from the Driehaus Museum’s executive leadership and curatorial department. A Tale of Today: Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi will be on view from April 4 through August 9, 2020.

BMA to Show Ellen Lesperance’s Activist-Inspired Artworks I 13 January 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) presents Ellen Lesperance: Velvet Fist, a solo exhibition of works by the Portland, Oregon-based artist known for paintings inspired by the attire of women activists, warriors, and cultural figures. On view January 26–June 28, 2020, the exhibition features seven works from Lesperance’s ongoing Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp series, as well as a new artist book of archival sources. Also featured is Lesperance’s participatory project, Congratulations and Celebrations, through which members of the public can borrow a hand-knit sweater depicting a labrys battle axe to perform a personal act of courage. These acts—big and small, public and private—will be documented on Instagram, with some becoming part of the exhibition.

OMCA Announces New Exhibition on Feminism I 7 January 2020

In April 2020, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) will open Hella Feminist, a major exhibition combining art and historical artifacts that will explore the diverse individual and collective stories of feminism. Organized by Carin Adams, Erendina Delgadillo, and Lisa Silberstein, the exhibition takes on this complex topic by exploring the powerful yet lesser-known stories about feminism in the Bay Area and California over the last 100 years, as well as the timely issues that our society faces today.

Bringing together historic objects from the Museum’s collection such as posters, pins, and photographs, alongside newly commissioned works by artists, Hella Feminist will take inspiration from the idea that discrimination against all elements of identity (gender, class, race, sexual orientation, physical ability, education, age, etc.) is interlinked and that no element can be addressed in isolation. The exhibition aims to challenge, provoke, and inspire visitors to reconsider and expand their understanding of feminism and its complicated history.

Baltimore Museum of Art Announces Fall 2019 Acquisitions I 30 December 2019

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it has added nearly 100 works to its collection this fall, with objects engaging all five of the museum’s curatorial departments. Among the new acquisitions are works by Zoë Buckman, Sonya Clark, Olafur Eliasson, Darrel Ellis, Doreen Garner, Samuel Fosso, Allen Frame, Tomashi Jackson, Zhang Kechun, Judith Larzelere, Ellen Lesperance, Nate Lewis, M. Joan Linault, William B. Meyers, Tanya Marcuse, Sir William Orpen, Joe Overstreet, Howardena Pindell, Ramsses, and Sanlé Sory. The museum also added 18 works by unidentified artists from Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Japan, Korea, and Nigeria, and a 19th-century Baltimore Album Quilt. Approximately a dozen of the works in the group were purchased with proceeds from the BMA’s spring 2018 deaccession from its contemporary holdings, including paintings by Firelei Báez and Ed Clark, a sculpture by Fred Eversley, and a video by Kota Ezawa. The fall 2019 acquisitions mark the final group to enter the BMA’s collection before it launches its 2020 Vision initiative, which includes a commitment to only purchase works by female-identifying artists in the coming year.

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Marianne Boesky to Feature 17 Artists in Exploration of Contemporary Portraiture I 16 December 2019

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present Xenia: Crossroads in Portrait Painting, an exhibition that explores the resurgence of portraiture as an incisive platform through which to consider the nature and meaning of identity. As our globalized society becomes increasingly marked by emigration, resettlement, and technological interconnectedness, so too have notions of the self become exponentially fractured and complex. Through the work of seventeen artist, Xenia: Crossroads in Portrait Painting captures the ways in which artists are leveraging the power of the portrait to express these intricacies, exposing the relationship between identity, place, and shifting social norms. The exhibition will be on view from January 11 through February 15, 2020, across both of Marianne Boesky Gallery’s Chelsea locations at 507 and 509 West 24th Street.

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Hollis Taggart to Open Show of New Work by William Buchina & Christina Nicodema in Jan. I 10 December 2019

On January 9, Hollis Taggart Contemporary will open Of Folly, Fortune, Glory, Ruin, a two-person exhibition featuring the work of contemporary artists William Buchina and Christina Nicodema. The exhibition highlights Buchina and Nicodema’s distinct but related approaches to examining human rituals and social norms through unexpected, and often strange, dichotomies and juxtapositions. Their rich and layered paintings capture, in glimpses, the hypocrisies and extravagances that exist within our daily lives and experiences. This shared vision is further articulated in the exhibition title, which takes its name from a line in William Thackeray’s poem Vanitas Vanitatum (Vanity of Vanities). Of Folly, Fortune, Glory, Ruin: William Buchina and Christina Nicodema will feature new and recent paintings by both artists and remain on view through February 22, at Hollis Taggart Contemporary at 514 W. 25th Street. An opening reception will be held on January 9, from 6:00 – 8:00 PM.

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Hollis Taggart Now Represents Artist William Buchina I 19 November 2019

Hollis Taggart is pleased to announce representation of artist William Buchina, whose paintings meld a wide spectrum of images, symbols, and references into Surrealist-style amalgamations. The gallery has previously included Buchina in a range of exhibitions, including most recently in Highlight: Chelsea in fall 2018. With the rapid expansion of its contemporary program and primary market business under Hollis Taggart Contemporary, the gallery is now formalizing its relationship with the artist. To mark the new collaboration, the gallery will feature a selection of Buchina’s works in a two-person exhibition in January 2020, which will be presented at its space dedicated to contemporary art on W. 25th. This will be followed by a solo presentation at Hollis Taggart’s flagship location on W. 26th in June 2020. The news follows the announcement that André Hemer joined the program in August 2019.

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Terra Foundation to Launch Second Edition of Art Design Chicago in 2024 I 19 November 2019

The Terra Foundation for American Art today announced that it will launch Art Design Chicago 2024. Through exhibitions, academic and public programs, and publications, the initiative will examine Chicago as a critical site for the exchange of ideas and meeting of cultures, from the past and into the present, and highlight the ways in which these dynamic confluences within the city have shaped creative innovation and civic life. Building on the success of Art Design Chicago 2018, which drew approximately 2.5 million people across its yearlong run, the 2024 edition will place additional emphasis on community outreach and audience engagement efforts, highlight the work of contemporary artists and designers, and encourage more projects that capture the narratives and contributions of immigrant and other under-represented groups. The anticipated budget for Art Design Chicago 2024 is $11 million, with the majority of funds going toward grants to institutional partners. The Terra Foundation will invest $9.5 million toward the realization of the initiative—an increase of nearly $3 million from 2018—and seek to raise the rest through philanthropic partnerships. Art Design Chicago 2024 will kick off in May 2024 and run for approximately eight months.

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Marianne Boesky Gallery Now Represents Allison Janae Hamilton I 13 November 2019

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to announce representation of artist Allison Janae Hamilton, whose multidisciplinary work engages with the histories, mythologies, and physical transformations of land, especially in the American South, to examine some of the most pressing socio-economic and political issues of the day. A selection of her work was included in the gallery’s summer exhibition in Aspen, Tricknology, which was curated by Sanford Biggers. To mark the new relationship, the gallery will include Hamilton as part of its presentation at Art Basel Miami Beach, where she is also slated to participate in an Art Basel Conversation on Saturday, December 7, titled Confronting Climate Change Denial. This will be followed by a solo exhibition of Hamilton’s work at one of the gallery’s Chelsea locations in fall 2020.

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Meadows Museum, Dallas Opera, & Teatro Real Announce Innovative Partnership I 11 November 2019

Today the Teatro Real, The Dallas Opera, and the Meadows Museum, SMU announced plans for a new framework of cultural cooperation and social exchange among the three organizations. The accord is the first-ever between the two opera companies, and breaks new ground by establishing a long-term, interdisciplinary collaboration with a museum as a visual arts partner. The announcement caps off Teatro Real’s two-year-long bicentennial celebration.

A Joint Coordination Committee consisting of two representatives from each institution will be formed to advance specific activities and projects under the agreement. These include, but are not limited to: the cross-promotion of operas, concerts, musical and theatrical performances, and museum collections and exhibitions among the audiences of the three institutions; exhibition development with special attention and commitment to the performing arts; research and study projects; visits by professionals and patrons; publications; and lectures, workshops, seminars, and special events.

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Meadows Museum Announces Contemporary Art Partnership with Fundación ARCO I 6 November 2019

The Meadows Museum, SMU, announced today an expansion of its contemporary art program with the establishment of a six-year partnership with Fundación ARCO, the guiding organization behind Spain’s premier contemporary art fair, ARCOmadrid. Through the collaboration, titled MAS: Meadows/ARCO Artist Spotlight, the Meadows will, on a biennial basis, select one emerging or mid-career Spanish artist to present their work at the Meadows Museum for approximately four months. As part of the series, each selected artist will also travel to Dallas to participate in public programming, envisioned to further engage audiences with the artist’s practice. The partnership leverages ARCO’s deep knowledge of Spain’s contemporary art scene and the Meadows Museum’s leadership as a center for Spanish art in the United States to promote Spanish artists who have had limited exposure in the U.S. and provide them with an opportunity to enhance their visibility, build networks of support and interest, and expand understanding and appreciation of their work among U.S. audiences. The first artist’s installation under the MAS program will open at the Meadows in January 2021.

As a prelude to the launch of MAS, the Meadows Museum will display a recent painting (Untitled, 2019) by Madrid native Secundino Hernández (b. 1975). The featured painting captures Hernández’s exuberant style, which mixes hard-edged lines with vibrant washes of color. In his works, subtle representational elements are consumed by abstract, free-form gesture, producing a strong sense of movement and depth across and beneath the surface plane. Hernández has been inspired by old and modern masters from his native country of Spain, creating a strong connection with the Meadows’s excellent historic collection of Spanish art. The work will be on view from November 19, 2019, through April 26, 2020. In April, Hernández will visit Dallas to participate in a series of public programs.

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Ogden Museum of Southern Art Announces Fall Acquisitions I 30 October 2019

The Ogden Museum of Southern Art announced today that it has acquired a suite of dye-transfer photographs by renowned artist William Christenberry, titled Ten Southern Photographs. Taken between 1978 and 1981 in Hale County, Alabama, the suite represents Christenberry’s first substantive photography series produced in large-scale. While his work with three-square-inch Brownie prints brought him initial acclaim, his larger format photographs fully encapsulated his innate ability to imbue his images with emotion and meaning through a rich use of color and an incredible attention to detail. The suite, which was made in an edition of 21, includes views from across the small towns of Hale County, a critical subject of Christenberry’s work throughout his life. The acquisition of the suite coincides with the Ogden Museum’s survey of the artist’s work, Memory is a Strange Bell, which features more than 125 works from across his career and is on view through March 1, 2020. Ten Southern Photographs joins 13 photographs and two screen prints by Christenberry already in the museum’s collection.

The Ogden Museum has also acquired iHome (2012) and Sleepy Church (2014), two archival pigment prints by acclaimed photographer, cinematographer, and director RaMell Ross. The prints are part of Ross’s seven-year project, South County, AL (A Hale County), which resulted in a photography series and a documentary film—Hale County, This Morning, This Evening—that was nominated for an Academy Award and recently screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Ross, who is part of a trajectory of artists inspired by the region that has included Walker Evans and Christenberry, has contributed an essay to the catalogue for Memory is a Strange Bell. iHome and Sleepy Church mark the first works by Ross to enter the museum’s collection and precede a major solo exhibition of his work that will open at the Ogden Museum in October 2020.

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The BMA Expands Curatorial Department for Contemporary Art I 28 October 2019

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced the appointment of Jessica Bell Brown and Leila Grothe as Associate Curators for Contemporary Art, expanding the museum’s contemporary department. Brown most recently served as the Consulting Curator at Gracie Mansion Conservancy, where she spearheaded the organization of the much-acclaimed show, She Persists: A Century of Women Artists in New York, 1919-2019. Grothe joins the BMA after having held the position of Associate Curator at the Wattis Institute at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, where she focused on commissioning new work by emerging and mid-career artists whose practices have yet to receive significant attention, including Rosha Yaghmai, Yuki Kimura, and Melanie Gilligan. Brown and Grothe will both assume their responsibilities at the BMA on November 18, 2019.

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Marianne Boesky Gallery to Open Solo Exhibition of Work by Artist Jennifer Bartlett I 22 October 2019

On November 7, Marianne Boesky Gallery will open The House was Quiet and the World was Calm: Jennifer Bartlett 1970 – 2014, marking the gallery’s first solo presentation of the acclaimed artist’s work since it began representing her in fall 2018. The image of the archetypal house has permeated Bartlett’s work across media since the 1970s, encapsulating within its recognizable form both simple geometry and poignant symbolism. Through a selection of paintings and mixed-media installations, the upcoming exhibition captures Bartlett’s multifaceted and conceptually rigorous examinations of the idea of the house. The House was Quiet and the World was Calm will be on view at the gallery’s 509 W. 24th Street location through December 21, 2019.

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Hollis Taggart to Open Expansive Survey of Woman Artist Michael West I 17 October 2019

On November 7, Hollis Taggart will open a survey of Abstract Expressionist painter Michael West (1908-1991), marking the first solo presentation of the artist’s work since the gallery took on exclusive representation of her estate earlier this year. Michael West—born Corinne Michelle West—is recognized by art historians as a vocal and active participant in the development of Abstract Expressionism, bringing a highly developed personal philosophy and vision to her work. Despite her substantive participation in the dialogues and artistic innovations that shaped the movement, West is best remembered for her intense personal relationship with artist Arshile Gorky—her own narrative obscured by the sexism of the period and subsequent passage of time.

In line with recent renewed investigations of the critical contributions of female artists within the art historical canon, Hollis Taggart’s upcoming survey of West’s work aims to rectify the omission of her practice within our understanding of Abstract Expressionism. This follows the gallery’s work in bringing to light and deepening scholarship on other 20th century women artists, including Audrey Flack, Grace Hartigan, Kay Sage, and Idelle Weber, among others. The exhibition, Space Poetry: The Action Paintings of Michael West, will feature a selection of paintings and drawings that spans the breadth of West’s production, from the early 1940s through the 1980s. It is accompanied by an essay exploring the trajectory of West’s practice, written by art historian Ellen G. Landau. Space Poetry will be on view at the gallery’s W. 26th Street location through December 21, 2019.

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Joan Mitchell Foundation Names Toccarra A. H. Thomas as Director of Joan Mitchell Center I 8 October 2019

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today the appointment of Toccarra A. H. Thomas as Director of its Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans. Thomas has previously served as the inaugural general manager of Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY, and inaugural managing director of SPACE, a contemporary multidisciplinary art organization in Portland, ME. In her new role, she will oversee the Center’s expansive artist residency program, develop public programming and special projects to support community engagement with the Center’s artist residents, and manage the day-to-day operations of the Center. She will also work closely with leadership at the Joan Mitchell Foundation in New York to further develop artist-centered resources and programming. Thomas will begin her position on October 14, 2019, taking the helm from Veronique Le Melle, who has served as Interim Director since January 2019.

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Artist Christopher Myers Transforms Mead Art Museum’s Historic Room I 8 October 2019

This fall, the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College in Amherst, MA, will present a series of nine newly commissioned works by artist Christopher Myers, inspired by themes from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The exhibition is the fifth iteration of the Museum’s Rotherwas Project series, which asks contemporary artists to reimagine a 17th century room through contemporary art installations. Formally titled Rotherwas Project 5: Christopher Myers, The Red Plague Rid You for Learning Me Your Language, the installation will be on view through March 15, 2020.

The historic room inside the Mead serves as Myers’ starting point: the year 1611 gave birth to both the ornate, wood-paneled Rotherwas Room and The Tempest, with its unforgettable characters Caliban and his mirror image, Ariel. Drawing on this historical convergence—and the power of these two central characters—Myers has created contemporary metal-work sculptures, large-scale tapestries, and other works that transform the space while engaging with two key themes: the persistence of the “wildman” character in literature and arts from the 12th century to the present, and the ways in which the room, the play, and Myers’ art all reflect on the complex history of globalization.

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Bowdoin College Museum of Art Explores the Art of Rufus Porter I 3 October 2019

On December 12, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) will open the exhibition Rufus Porter’s Curious World: Art and Invention in America, 1815-1860. The founder of Scientific American, Rufus Porter distinguished himself as a creative visionary who pioneered initiatives in art, publishing, and science. This special exhibition includes more than 80 paintings, inventions, and publications by Porter and a number of his contemporaries, including Samuel F. B. Morse, Robert Fulton, Charles Bird King, and Winslow Homer, many of whom also successfully crossed disciplines between art making and scientific experimentation. Described posthumously as a “Yankee da Vinci” by Time magazine, Porter is underrecognized compared to these contemporaries. This exhibition and the accompanying catalogue demonstrate that he merits broader attention in both the history of American art and of American science. Rufus Porter’s Curious World will be on view at the BCMA from December 12, 2019 through May 31, 2020.

The exhibition unites significant examples of Porter’s artistic endeavors with his patent models, scientific newspapers, original letters, and publications, as well as paintings, drawings, and objects from two dozen other artists and creators. Unlike today’s often siloed and specialized studies, the nineteenth century was an active period of cross-disciplinary exploration, leading to Fulton’s steamboat and Morse’s telegraph, as well as the works of Henry David Thoreau and Frederic Edwin Church. Curated by Laura F. Sprague, Senior Consulting Curator at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, and Justin Wolff, Professor of Art History at the University of Maine, the exhibition is grounded in original scholarly research that establishes a new context for understanding and appreciating Porter’s critical work at the intersection of art, science, and technology.

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Assyria to America at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art I 3 October 2019

This fall, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) will present the exhibition Assyria to America, which will explore the cultural and political history of the Neo-Assyrian empire, as well as the collecting history of Assyrian artifacts by American museums. The exhibition, which includes more than three dozen objects, centers on the Museum’s six Assyrian reliefs from the Northwest Palace at Nimrud, built by King Ashurnasirpal II around 879 BCE and believed to be one of the most splendid of the period. Drawing on these objects, the exhibition will highlight the cultural wealth and artistic achievements of the largest of the ancient Assyrian empires. Curated by Sean P. Burrus, the Museum’s Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, and James Higginbotham, Associate Professor of Classics and Associate Curator of the Ancient Collection at Bowdoin, Assyria to America will open October 24, 2019, and remain on view through December 11, 2020.

The exhibition will use Bowdoin’s ancient reliefs, along with other artifacts excavated from Nimrud and the broader Mesopotamian region, to explore the courtly arts at Nimrud, and the rich material and cultural life enjoyed by royals during the Neo-Assyrian empire (9th–7th centuries BCE). With an empire that stretched at times as far as Egypt to the southwest, much of Turkey to the northwest, and east through Iran, Assyrians were exposed to a wide network of cultural influences through both political allies and adversaries. Drawing on a range of objects—including loans from The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Harvard Semitic Museum—the exhibition will present a fuller picture of the vibrant court life and the range of exotic and colorful items that would have originally surrounded the reliefs in the palace. These include: an ivory chairback from the storerooms of Fort Shalmaneser at Nimrud; ivory furniture elements and figures carved in the round, with fearsome lions and the head of a woman; and an array of cylinder seals capturing diverse Mesopotamian cultures. Clay tablets on view will demonstrate the rise of cuneiform writing in the region, while vessels included in the exhibition attest to Assyrian and Mesopotamian banqueting and culinary cultures. Attention will also be drawn to the way that the influences from Assyrian culture spread beyond the borders of the empire, particularly in the eastern Mediterranean, with works from the Museum’s collection including geometric Greek vases and Cypriot sculptures.

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Oakland Museum of California Surpasses 80% in Commitments Towards Campaign Goal I 26 September 2019

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) announced today that it has raised more than $71 million towards its $85 million capital campaign, which will formally kick off its public phase at a campus groundbreaking event on September 26. The campaign, which is titled All In! The Campaign for OMCA, is part of a long-term vision, spearheaded by OMCA director and CEO Lori Fogarty, to expand the Museum’s role as a public gathering place, with a fulsome roster of exhibitions and programs and new spaces for the community to convene and connect. Timed with OMCA’s 50th anniversary, the campaign also includes funds for important architectural and landscape improvements to the Museum’s campus, and the creation of new amenities to support the Museum’s community engagement initiatives. Major donors to the All In! campaign at the $2 million level and above include Quinn Delaney and Wayne Jordan, Susan and Steven Chamberlin, and the Simpson Family, with major grants from the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation specifically for the Museum's capital improvements, and the Bernard Osher Foundation to endow free admission for children.

Over the last ten years, OMCA has deepened its commitment to serving as an institution “of the people,” organizing exhibitions and programs that illuminate the stories of individuals and communities who are often under-represented in the country’s cultural, social, and political dialogues, but who comprise a large cross-section of the United States. This includes presentations on the Black Panthers, marijuana legalization, genocide of Native populations in California, and the LGBTQ+ community. The All In! campaign will ensure the continued growth of this programmatic approach into the future, and support OMCA in advancing its vision to serve as a town square and place where Californians can build a sense of belonging, together.

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BMA Receives Gift of Art from Collectors Pamela Joyner and Alfred Giuffrida I 26 September 2019

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that noted collectors and philanthropists Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida have gifted the museum a group of seven works by artists Radcliffe Bailey, Zander Blom, Moshekwa Langa, Clifford Owens, Adam Pendleton, and Purvis Young, plus two promised gifts of large-scale paintings by Meleko Mokgosi and Angel Otero that will come to the museum at a later date. The gift coincides with the September 29 opening of Generations: A History of Black Abstract Art, which draws on the extensive Joyner/Giuffrida collection as well as the BMA’s own holdings to examine the significant contributions that black artists have made to the development of abstraction from the 1940s to the present. The gifted works mark an important contribution toward the BMA’s ongoing vision to deepen its collection of contemporary art of Africa and the African diaspora. In 2018, Joyner and Giuffrida also made a promised gift of Odili Donald Odita’s Adorn (2018) to the BMA.

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Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces 2019 Recipients of Painters & Sculptors Grants I 25 September 2019

The Joan Mitchell Foundation today announced the 2019 recipients of its annual Painters & Sculptors Grants, which provide 25 artists with $25,000 each in unrestricted funds. In addition to the financial support, grant recipients become eligible to apply for residencies at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans and gain access to a network of arts professionals, who can provide consultations on career development and financial management. The Painters & Sculptors Grants program was first launched 26 years ago, with the vision to both nurture artistic endeavor and provide critical support for the real-life needs of working artists. Since then more than 500 artists—at varying stages of their careers and from 46 states as well as Puerto Rico—have received Painters & Sculptors Grants. The Joan Mitchell Foundation's commitment to providing this type of unrestricted support reflects its belief in empowering artists to make decisions that will advance their careers and fulfills artist Joan Mitchell’s wish to provide artists with the time and means to both explore and create new work.

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Hollis Taggart to Open New Location at W. 25th Street to House Contemporary Division I 24 September 2019

Hollis Taggart announced today that it will open a new location in Chelsea on the second floor of 514 W. 25th Street. The news follows the gallery’s announcement in the summer of 2019 that it has hired Paul Efstathiou as Director of Contemporary Art to lead the gallery’s growing contemporary division, which operates under Hollis Taggart, Contemporary. The new 2,000-square-foot space will serve as the home base for the division, with historic works also presented to support the exploration of ongoing formal and conceptual dialogues across time, genre, and artist. The new W. 25th Street location replaces Hollis Taggart’s temporary space at the High Line Nine, which it operated for nearly a year before determining to establish this more permanent space, signaling the ongoing expansion of its primary market business. Hollis Taggart retains its flagship location at 521 W. 26th Street, which will continue to emphasize work by important historic American artists, from across Modernism and the Post-War era, as well as its private viewing and storage facility, also located in the neighborhood.

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Ogden Museum to Honor Lonnie Holley and William S. Arnett at Annual Gala I 18 September 2019

On Saturday, October 19, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art will host its annual O What a Night! gala. Now in its 14th year, the gala celebrates the diversity and dynamism of art from the American South and recognizes the Ogden Museum’s mission to expand knowledge of Southern artists and culture. As part of the event, each year the Ogden Museum honors two individuals who have contributed greatly to the health and vibrancy of the arts community. For 2019, the museum will give its Opus Awards to critically-acclaimed artist Lonnie Holley and the founder of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, William S. Arnett. They join prior esteemed recipients of the Opus Awards, including artists John Alexander, George Dureau, Lin Emery, and George Rodrigue; community activist Fran Villere; noted collectors and philanthropists Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida; and David Kerstein, President of The Helis Foundation, among numerous others. Both Holley and Arnett will be honored at the gala, by the 2019 chairs of the event, Mathilde and Richard Currence and Michelle and Lamar Villere.

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Marianne Boesky Gallery Now Represents Artist Ghada Amer I 17 September 2019

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to announce representation of artist Ghada Amer, whose wide-ranging practice spans painting, sculpture, works on paper, and garden and mixed-media installations. To mark the new collaboration, the gallery will present Amer’s work at the 2020 edition of Independent art fair, focusing in particular on the artist’s ceramic sculptures. This will be followed, in spring 2021, with a solo exhibition of Amer’s garden installations at the gallery’s Chelsea locations. In addition to her work with Marianne Boesky Gallery, Amer will present new garden works at the Rabat Biennale in Morocco, in September 2019, and at the Museo de Arte Zapopan in Guadalajara, Mexico, opening on March 8, 2020 in conjunction with International Women’s Day. She is also participating in residencies at the Jose Noe Suro Factory in Guadalajara and the Workhorse Bronze Foundry in Johannesburg, South Africa. Amer will also continue working with Tina Kim Gallery / Kukje Gallery; Kewenig, Berlin and Palma; and Goodman Gallery, South Africa.

“Ghada’s work is visionary, in its formal depth and intricacy as well as in its intellectual acuity. It is with great respect and excitement that we are bringing her into the gallery program,” said Marianne Boesky. “We very much look forward to supporting Ghada in realizing new ambitious projects and to fostering broader global awareness and understanding of the full range of her oeuvre. We likewise look forward to collaborating with the other galleries that support Ghada’s work toward these efforts.”

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Hollis Taggart to Present Solo Exhibition of Work by Artist Leon Berkowitz I 16 September 2019

On October 3, Hollis Taggart will open Thresholds of Perceptibility: The Color Field Paintings of Leon Berkowitz, marking the gallery’s first solo presentation of the artist’s work since it took on exclusive representation of his estate in February 2019. Berkowitz, a contemporary of Willem de Kooning, Morris Louis, and Kenneth Noland, is best known for his brilliant and luminous articulation of natural light on the surfaces of his canvas. His singular use of color to evoke the sensation and poetic experience of light is best encapsulated in his large-scale paintings of the 1970s and 1980s. For Thresholds of Perceptibility, Hollis Taggart will present approximately a dozen of Berkowitz’s paintings from these decades, including several canvases that measure almost nine feet. Together, these stunning paintings draw the viewer into Berkowitz’s magnificent fields of color, which seem to vibrate with energy.

The exhibition is accompanied by an essay examining the development of Berkowitz’s distinct style and approach, written by the art historian Jason Rosenfeld, Distinguished Chair and Professor of Art History at Marymount Manhattan College. Thresholds of Perceptibility will remain on view through November 2, 2019 at the gallery’s location at 521 W. 26th Street. The gallery will host a panel discussion on Berkowitz’s work on October 19, moderated by Rosenfeld.

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Paid Internships Program for Art Museums Will Continue I 12 September 2019

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) today announced that it will continue its paid internship program for a second year. A pilot initiative launched by AAMD last year, the program’s goal is to engage undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds and nurture their career opportunities in the art museum field—while providing the stipend necessary to support these students’ expenses. In its first year, ten students were selected and provided with a 12-week long, paid internship at selected AAMD member museums, offering each intern exposure to a range of museum departments. Based on positive feedback from both participating interns and member art museums, AAMD has committed to continue the program for another year.

As in the first year, AAMD will select 10 member art museums to host one intern each; interns will then be paired with host museums in their home or university town. Each intern will be assigned to work on at least one defined project, so that they will be able to see the culmination of their work at the end of the summer. The program is only available to undergraduate students in their sophomore, junior, or senior years, to provide opportunity for students who have begun to solidify their academic interests and potential career path. The application process to be a host institution for the program will open this fall, with internships beginning in spring or summer 2019; interns will receive a stipend of $6,300 over 12 weeks.

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Reframing the Influence of Photography on Modern & Contemporary Art I 11 September 2019

This November, the Worcester Art Museum will present Photo Revolution: Andy Warhol to Cindy Sherman, a new exhibition that demonstrates photography’s profound influence on contemporary art in the mid- to late-20th century. For much of its history, photography—and other photo-based arts such as film and television—were seen by art historians as secondary media, and artists who used them were typically identified by their “primary” medium of painting or sculpture.

This persisted into the 1980s, even as photography moved from being a supporting medium to taking a central role. Beginning with the rise of Pop art in the late 1950s and, especially after its explosive take-off in the 1960s, it was photo-based media that drove much artistic innovation. Including more than 225 works demonstrating how photography proved foundational to major art movements in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, the exhibition will be on view at WAM from November 16, 2019 to February 16, 2020.

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Ogden Museum to Present Sweeping Survey of Photographer William Christenberry I 10 September 2019

Artist William Christenberry, long hailed as a pioneer in establishing color photography as a fine art medium, will receive a wide-ranging career survey at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art this October. The exhibition will feature a selection of his iconic photographs of Hale County, Alabama alongside drawings, paintings, sculptures, assemblages, and installations, positioning his acclaimed photography practice within the context of his broader oeuvre. Titled Memory Is a Strange Bell: The Art of William Christenberry, the exhibition will also explore the importance of poetry to the development of Christenberry’s vision and approach, highlighting the ways in which the artist’s engagement with poetry enhanced his ability to infuse simple tableaus with meaning and emotion. The exhibition will be accompanied by scholarly texts by the exhibition curators, Bradley Sumrall, Curator of the Collection at the Ogden Museum, and Richard McCabe, Ogden Museum Curator of Photography, as well as an essay by renowned director, photographer, and cinematographer RaMell Ross, whose credits include the highly praised documentary, Hale County This Morning, This Evening and who will receive his own solo exhibition at the Ogden Museum in 2020. Memory Is a Strange Bell will be on view from October 5, 2019 through March 1, 2020.

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BMA to Kick-off 2020 Vision with Exhibition on American Women Modernists I 9 September 2019

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced the first exhibition of its year-long 2020 Vision initiative to celebrate female-identifying artists. By Their Creative Force: American Women Modernists features 20 works by artists such as Elizabeth Catlett, Maria Martinez, and Georgia O’Keeffe to recognize the innovative contributions women artists have made to the development of American modernism. The exhibition is on view October 6, 2019–July 5, 2020.

“This exhibition presents a survey of women artists from a variety of geographic regions and socioeconomic backgrounds to tell a more inclusive story of American modernism,” said Christopher Bedford, BMA Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “It also demonstrates the BMA’s long history of acquiring works by women artists and our commitment to showcasing accomplished artists from this community, both efforts the museum is amplifying in 2020 and beyond.”

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AGO Acquires Rare Masterpiece by Gustave Caillebotte I 23 August 2019

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) announced today that it has acquired a rare masterpiece by the celebrated 19th-century French Impressionist painter Gustave Caillebotte. Painted shortly before Caillebotte’s death, Blue Irises, Garden at Petit Gennevilliers (c. 1892) depicts in cool shades of blue-violet and green a scene from the artist’s own garden. In remarkable condition, the painting is the first Caillebotte to be acquired by a major Canadian museum and is a significant addition to the AGO’s Collection of European Art. Purchased with funds by exchange from the R. Fraser Elliott Estate, the Bequest of F.W.G. Fitzgerald, and from the Department of Canadian Heritage, the painting will go on view at the AGO on Aug. 24, 2019.

Independently wealthy, Caillebotte (1848-1893) was both an artist and patron, simultaneously funding exhibitions and exhibiting alongside Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas. He had no need to sell his paintings during his short lifetime, a fact that accounts for their relative scarcity. Best known for his highly realistic paintings of urban Paris, including Le Pont de l'Europe (1876)—shown at the AGO last winter as part of the exhibition Impressionism in the Age of Industry—he moved permanently in 1888 to the Paris suburb of Petit Gennevilliers, devoting himself to the cultivation and painting of his gardens.

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Hollis Taggart Now Represents André Hemer I 15 August 2019

Hollis Taggart is pleased to announce representation of artist André Hemer, whose tactile abstract works explore the confluence of digital and analog techniques within contemporary painting. Hemer joins Hollis Taggart as part of the gallery’s recently formed contemporary division—Hollis Taggart Contemporary—which is led by director Paul Efstathiou. To mark the new collaboration, the gallery will present a selection of Hemer’s recent paintings as part of its presentation at Untitled art fair in Miami in December. A solo presentation of Hemer’s work is also being planned for 2020. In addition to his new relationship with Hollis Taggart, Hemer will continue to be represented by LUIS DE JESUS LOS ANGELES (Los Angeles), Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery (London and Berlin), Yavuz Gallery (Singapore & Sydney), and Gow Langsford Gallery (Auckland).

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Baltimore Museum of Art Announces New Details on Fall 2019 Exhibition Roster I 15 August 2019

On September 29, the BMA will open Generations, an exhibition featuring nearly 80 paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media installations by such notable artists as Kevin Beasley, Mark Bradford, Sam Gilliam, Jennie C. Jones, Norman Lewis, Lorna Simpson, and Alma W. Thomas. The exhibition, which draws works from both the BMA's collection and the extensive collection of Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida, examines the development of abstraction from the 1940s to the present through the work of both renowned and under-recognized Black artists. Download Press Release

Opening concurrently at the BMA is Melvin Edwards: Crossroads, which will explore the impact of a major arts festival in Lagos in 1977 on the artist's practice. Through 23 sculptures and installations, the exhibition highlights the ways in which Edwards has incorporated and connected to African art, languages, poetry, liberation politics, and philosophy since that pivotal event. Download Press Release

On October 6 the BMA will begin transitioning to its previously announced 2020 Vision, with the opening of By Their Creative Force: American Women Modernists. The exhibition, which acknowledges and celebrates the critical contribution of women artists to the development of American modernism, will feature approximately 20 works by both well-recognized and lesser-known artists such as Simone Brangier Boas, Elizabeth Catlett, Grace Hartigan, Maria Martinez, Georgia O’Keeffe, Grace Turnbull, and Marguerite Zorach, among others.

On November 24, the BMA will open Mickalene Thomas: A Moment’s Pleasure, a large-scale, site-specific installation that will transform nearly every aspect of the museum’s two-floor East Lobby. Envisioned as a living room for Baltimore, the installation will see Thomas re-fit the space with new wallpapers, furniture, and other interior design elements. Within this environment, Thomas will present a selection of her paintings, prints, and collages, while exterior artworks will signal the shift in the aesthetic and communal experience. The installation marks the inaugural presentation of the Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Biennial Commission and is the most expansive commission undertaken by both the artist and the institution. Download Press Release

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Meadows Museum Announces New Acquisitions, Encompassing Three Centuries of Spanish Art I 14 August 2019

The Meadows Museum, SMU, announced that it has acquired four works that reflect the richness and depth of Spanish art across period, style, and mode of production. Among the new acquisitions is Our Lady of Solitude (1769) by Manuel Ramírez de Arellano, which represents both a critical expansion of scholarly knowledge on the artist’s creative output and an important enhancement of the Meadow’s holdings of terracotta sculpture, building on other acquisitions in that medium over the last several years. Further, following the Meadows’s 2018 exhibition Dalí: Poetics of the Small, 1929–1936, which focused on Salvador Dalí’s small-scale paintings, the museum has been given Venus de Milo with Drawers (1936, cast 1971), the first sculptural work by Dalí to enter the museum’s collections. Also among the new acquisitions are a drawing by renowned artist Ignacio Zuloaga, Portrait of Margaret Kahn (1923), which provides new insights into the artist’s process and highlights his success as a portraitist among American audiences, as well as the painting Orchard in Seville (c. 1880), by Emilio Sánchez Perrier, a rare example of the artist’s work at a large scale, produced early in his career.

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Mead Art Museum Receives Anonymous Gift of 170 Works of Contemporary Art I 8 August 2019

The Mead Art Museum at Amherst College announced today that it has received a gift of more than 170 works of contemporary art from an anonymous donor, significantly expanding the Mead’s holdings of recent work. To celebrate this donation, as well as the range of other contemporary artworks that have either been given to or purchased by the Mead in the last several years, the Museum will present the exhibition Starting Something New: Recent Contemporary Art Acquisitions and Gifts, opening September 10, 2019, and running through July 26, 2020.

This gift, which includes works by established artists such as Mona Hatoum, David Hockney, Thomas Ruff, and Cindy Sherman, also includes a significant number of pieces by a diverse roster of emerging and mid-career artists from across the United States and around the world, such as Dario Escobar, Toba Khedoori, Robin Rhode, and Analia Saban. At the same time, the contribution also extends the range of media reflected at the Museum, bringing in new video, photography, and sculptures, as well as paintings, drawings, and a number of mixed-media pieces.

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Marianne Boesky to Open Exhibition of New Work by The Haas Brothers in September I 8 August 2019

On September 12, Marianne Boesky Gallery will open its first solo exhibition of work by The Haas Brothers in New York City. The show, which is titled Madonna, will feature a new body of beaded sculptures, created at a wide range of scales, from the intimate to the monumental, as well as two large-scale sculptures made from Portuguese Pele de Tigre marble. The exhibition captures The Haas Brothers’ increasing interest in exploring nature and spirituality as part of their deep commitment to material experimentation and traditional craft techniques, while also encapsulating their vision of collaborative artmaking. Madonna will be on view at the gallery’s 509 W. 24th Street location through October 26, 2019. Marianne Boesky Gallery will also dedicate its Frieze London presentation in October to The Haas Brothers’ ceramic Accretions, providing audiences with further access to the artists’ dynamic practice.

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Marianne Boesky to Present New Paintings by Dutch Artist Hannah van Bart in September I 8 August 2019

On September 12, Marianne Boesky Gallery will open its sixth solo presentation of paintings by Amsterdam-based artist Hannah van Bart. Titled Places and Beings, the exhibition will include a selection of new and recent paintings, including landscapes, portraits, and still life scenes. Together, the featured works capture van Bart’s incredible ability to elicit poignant sensations of mood, tone, and atmosphere from seemingly indistinct subjects and scenarios. Over her multi-decade career, van Bart has come to be recognized for her melding of figural and abstract modes to convey both the physical and emotional contours of a person or place. Places and Beings will be on view at the gallery’s 507 W. 24th Street location through October 26, 2019. This exhibition will be followed with a retrospective of the artist’s work at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht in 2021.

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San Antonio Museum of Art & Trinity University Collaborate to Launch New Fellowship I 6 August 2019

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) and Trinity University announced today that Dr. Yinshi Lerman-Tan will be the inaugural fellow for a new, two-year program focused on experiential learning and hands-on research in the arts. Fellows will combine research on unexplored aspects of SAMA’s collection with developing courses on related topics for undergraduate students at Trinity. Central to the program is the expectation that fellows will guide the University’s students through hands-on work at SAMA—to include research and writing—providing an experiential, out-of-classroom approach to education in the arts. This new fellowship, which begins in fall 2019, is being funded by a generous grant from the San Antonio–based Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992.

Lerman-Tan, focuses her research on rethinking American art history from the nineteenth century to the present, with an emphasis on forgotten or understudied artists, objects, and archives. As part of her work, she has developed exhibitions and programs that bring together experiential engagement with art to teach audiences—whether museum visitors or students—new ways of looking. Lerman-Tan received her PhD in Art History from Stanford University and most recently served as fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. While at Stanford, she co-founded and ran a Stanford School of Medicine course at campus museums called “The Art of Observation,” which brought medical students into the galleries to look closely at works of art. As the Mellon Curatorial Research Assistant at Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center, Lerman-Tan curated the exhibition Blackboard, which used the simple, evocative concept of the blackboard to draw together works by Vija Celmins, Jasper Johns, Raymond Saunders, and Enrique Chagoya, as well as historic objects and photographs.

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Ogden Museum of Southern Art Announces Awardees for Louisiana Contemporary Prizes I 5 August 2019

The Ogden Museum of Southern Art announced today the artists who have received awards as part of Louisiana Contemporary, the Museum’s annual juried exhibition featuring work by contemporary artists from across the state. Each year, with support from The Helis Foundation, the Ogden Museum honors four of the presenting artists, highlighting some of the most provocative and compelling works in the exhibition. This year, the lead award, The Helis Foundation Art Prize, which comes with $5,000, has been given to artist Jessica Strahan, whose most recent paintings explore the African diaspora within the context of life in New Orleans. Artists Sarrah Danziger, Thomas Deaton, and Rachel David were also recognized for their exceptional work.

The Ogden Museum first launched Louisiana Contemporary in 2012, to establish a vehicle that would bring to the fore the work of artists living in Louisiana and highlight the dynamism of art practice throughout the state. The 2019 edition, which opened to the public on August 3, includes 23 artists and 44 works of art, spanning painting, photography, sculpture, works on paper, and mixed-media installation. Artists were chosen from among 364 applicants by guest juror David Breslin, the recently promoted Director of Curatorial Initiatives at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and represent the forefront of Louisiana's vibrant visual culture. The Helis Foundation, which funds the associated awards for the initiative, also provides critical annual support for the creation of exhibition. Louisiana Contemporary, which is accompanied by a catalogue, will remain on view through January 5, 2020.

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Baltimore Museum of Art Announces 2020 Curatorial Vision, Focusing on Women Artists I 1 August 2019

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced 2020 Vision, a year of exhibitions and programs dedicated to the presentation of the achievements of female-identifying artists. The initiative will encompass 13 solo exhibitions and seven thematic shows beginning in fall 2019, with additional presentations still being planned. Highlights include a large-scale transformative commission by Mickalene Thomas, a major monographic survey of Joan Mitchell’s career, an exploration of Candice Breitz’s video works, and the reinstallation of several of the museum’s galleries to emphasize the depth and diversity of women’s artistry through time. These presentations will be supported by a wide range of public and scholarly programs that will foster dialogue on women’s contributions to art history and the development of many of the artistic institutions that we know today.

The initiative is part of the BMA’s ongoing implementation of its broader vision to address race and gender diversity gaps within the museum field, and to represent more fully and deeply the spectrum of individuals that have shaped the trajectory of art. 2020 Vision builds on the BMA’s efforts over the last several years to expand its presentations of women artists and artists of color, and to more accurately reflect the community in which it lives. It also coincides with the 100th anniversary of the passing of the 19th Amendment, ratified on August 18, 1920, which guaranteed women in the U.S. the right to vote.

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Recent News From Our Clients, July 2019

Crosscut., July 31: “At Sea-Tac airport, a red border made of sand draws attention to human trafficking,“ by Agueda Pacheco Flores on the new installation of artist Molly Gochman’s work Red Sand Project: Border US-MX

Patch, July 30: “350-Foot Earthwork At Sea-Tac Will Highlight Human Trafficking,“ by Neal McNamara, on the new installation of artist Molly Gochman’s work Red Sand Project: Border US-MX

Studio International, July 28: “Koen Vanmechelen – interview: ‘Now everyone is talking about diversity, but that is just a hashtag diversity,’“ by Allie Biswas, speaking with the Belgian artist and touring his new public project, LABIOMISTA

Smithsonian.com, July 26: “Baltimore Museum of Art, Home to Largest Matisse Collection, Will Open Center Dedicated to Artist,“ by Meilan Solly, including further background on sisters and Matisse collectors Claribel and Etta Cone

The Art Newspaper, July 26: “Baltimore Museum of Art to create a Matisse study center,” by Nancy Kenney, including an interview with BMA director Christopher Bedford on the vision for its Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies.

Observer, July 26: “A Center Devoted to Matisse Will Open at the Baltimore Museum Thanks to a $5M Grant,” by Helen Holmes, on the BMA’s announcement that it will establish a center dedicated to the study of artist Henri Matisse.

Artsy, July 26: “The Baltimore Museum of Art will launch an Henri Matisse research center,” by Wallace Ludel, on the announcement that the BMA has received a $5M gift to support the creation of the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies.

New York Times, July 25: “Baltimore Museum to Establish a Matisse Center in 2021,” by Tess Thackara, on the BMA’s plans to create the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies and the $5M it has received in support from the Ruth Carol Fund.

Artforum, July 25: “Baltimore Museum of Art to Launch Henri Matisse Research Center,” by Lauren Cavalli, on the opening of the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies at the BMA and the $5M gift given by the Ruth Carol Fund to support it.

artnet News, July 25: “The Baltimore Museum Art—Home to the Largest Public Collection of Henri Matisse Works—Is Opening a Study Center Dedicated to the Artist,” by Sarah Cascone, on the announcement that the BMA has received a $5M gift from the Ruth Carol Fund to establish the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies.

ARTnews, July 24: “Marianne Boesky Now Reps Gina Beavers, Painter of Luscious Food Porn, Instagram Magic,” by Claire Selvin, on artist Gina Beavers joining Marianne Boesky Gallery.

Artforum, July 22: “Worcester Art Museum Gifted $10 Million,” on the gift from the C. Jean & Myles McDonough Charitable Foundation, the largest in its history

Boston Globe, July 21: “McDonough donates $10 million to Worcester Art Museum, largest gift of its kind in museum’s history,“ by Isaac Feldberg, on the Museum’s leadership gift from the C. Jean & Myles McDonough Charitable Foundation

ICON, July 19: “Fantasy land, reverse zoo, public park: Labiomista features Mario Botta architecture and wild animals,“ by Alice Bucknell, touring the new public project created by artist Koen Vanmechelen

Hyperallergic, July 16: "The Growing Tide Against Unpaid Internships," by Hakim Bishara, on the Association of Art Museum Directors’ resolution encouraging museums to provide paid internships and exploring the implications for issues of access and equity

ARTnews, July 9: “ARTnews in Brief,” including the announcement that Hollis Taggart has hired Paul Efstathiou as director of contemporary art and Jillian Russo as director of exhibitions

Artforum, July 9: “Pace Closes Beijing Outpost, Thor Shannon Joins David Zwirner, and More,“ including the annoucement of two new hires at Hollis Taggart: Paul Efstathiou as director of contemporary art and Jillian Russo as director of exhibitions

artnet News, July 8: “Editors’ Picks: 20 Things Not to Miss in New York’s Art World This Week,“ by Sarah Cascone, including Painting/Sculpture at Marianne Boesky Gallery through August 9, 2019

The Art Newspaper, July 2: “Private view: must-see gallery shows opening this July and August,“ by Anna Brady and Margaret Carrigan, and including the upcoming exhibition Tricknology, on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery, Aspen, from July 26 - September 9, 2019

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Artist Molly Gochman to Unveil Site-Specific Installation on US-MX Border on August 3 I 30 July 2019

On August 3, New York-based artist Molly Gochman opens Red Sand Project: Border US-MX, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Gochman created this 350-foot long, two-foot wide earthwork that replicates the US-Mexico as a symbol of the borders and boundaries that are drawn between people and communities—and the existence of which supports the creation of vulnerable populations. The installation is envisioned as a platform for spurring dialogue on equity, immigration, human trafficking, and support for trafficking survivors.

The presentation of Red Sand Project: Border US-MX dovetails with Sea-Tac Airport’s own efforts to bring awareness to human trafficking. In January 2018, the Port of Seattle Commission passed a motion directing staff to implement a port-wide anti-trafficking strategy, and earlier this year, King County, Port of Seattle, City of Seattle, Sound Transit, Alaska Airlines, and Delta Air Lines launched a unified public awareness campaign, encouraging survivors to call a national hotline for assistance at 888-373-7888, text 233-733, or visit WATraffickingHelp.org.

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Driehaus Museum to Open Exhibition in September Exploring Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Commercial Prowess and Impact on Chicago’s Architecture I 29 July 2019

On September 7, the Richard H. Driehaus Museum will open Eternal Light: The Sacred Stained-Glass Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany, an exhibition featuring 11 outstanding, ecclesiastical stained-glass windows made by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his workshop artisans between 1880 and 1925. The exhibition captures the artistic range and intricacy of Tiffany’s output, while drawing particular attention to his religiously-themed works as important signifiers of America’s rapidly shifting social, economic, and religious landscape at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. As religious communities responded to these changing norms by erecting new churches, Tiffany worked to leverage his technical prowess, his skilled workforce, and glassmaking innovations to meet the newfound demand. The windows included in the upcoming exhibition, along with a selection of other Tiffany objects, preparatory drawings, and archival materials, highlight Tiffany’s incredible creative and commercial vision and provide a new opportunity to examine him as a key purveyor of America’s modern future. The exhibition will remain on view through March 8, 2020.

To further contextualize the prominence of Tiffany’s religious works and to underscore his impact on Chicago’s art and architecture, the Driehaus Museum has also organized a 14-stop interactive self-guided tour through the city, titled Chicago’s Tiffany Trail. The tour, which will be available via the app Vamonde, will build on themes explored in the exhibition and provide details on the patrons who commissioned the projects, the technologies used to realize the designs, and how each Tiffany work is incorporated into the architectural design of their environment. Highlights include the Chicago Cultural Center, Church of Our Savior, Hyde Park Union Church, the Marquette Building, Macy's on State Street, Rosehill Mausoleum, Second Presbyterian Church, and the Levere Memorial Temple. Together, these sites underscore the ways in which Tiffany took advantage of a critical moment in American history to further establish himself and attain new financial success and notoriety.

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Baltimore Museum of Art To Establish Center for Matisse Studies; Receives $5 Million in Support I 25 July 2019

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced that it has received a gift of $5 million from the Ruth Carol Fund to support the creation of a center within the museum dedicated to the study of French artist Henri Matisse, drawing on the museum’s incomparable collection of more than 1,200 works by the artist. In recognition of this generous gift and in tribute to the Ruth Carol Fund’s founder, a longtime BMA supporter, the center will be called The Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies. The Marder Center will serve as a major resource for scholars, providing new opportunities for research and symposia, for the presentation of exhibitions that contribute to both academic and public understanding of the French master’s practice, and for the digitization and publication of portions of the collection, making it accessible to audiences around the world. The gift from the Ruth Carol Fund provides essential support toward the design and construction of the space and also establishes an endowment for the Marder Center’s ongoing operations. The Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies is slated to open in 2021, with a focused presentation drawn from the BMA’s vast Matisse collection.

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Nonprofit 4Heads Announces 12th Edition of Annual Art Fair, Portal: Governors Island I 24 July 2019

On August 31, the nonprofit 4heads will open its annual art fair, Portal: Governors Island (formerly Governors Island Art Fair). The selling fair will feature 89 emerging and mid-career artists, whose work spans the spectrum of artistic genre and media, from painting and drawing to sculptural installations to video and digital works. This year’s edition of the fair will be presented across seven of the historic homes on Colonels Row as well as on the adjacent outdoor lawns. As with prior iterations of the fair, each artist is provided with an individual room, connective space, or exterior plot, allowing artists to leverage the environments to create micro-exhibitions as well as immersive, large-scale installations. Now in its 12th year, the fair heralds the start of the fall visual arts season in New York, offering a spirited atmosphere that invites active engagement between visitors and exhibitors and providing an essential platform for today’s working artists. Portal: Governors Island opens Labor Day weekend and will be open every Saturday and Sunday through the month of September.

Portal: Governors Island, which first launched in 2008 as Governors Island Art Fair, was among the first major art events to take place on Governors Island. Since interest in the Island as a cultural destination has grown, in particular over the last several years, 4heads has remained steadfast in maintaining its presence, continuing to provide working artists with a place to show new and recent work and to build their networks of support. To maintain a diverse and dynamic roster of participants, 4heads continues to offer fair participation to artists free of charge, with 70% of sales also going directly to the artists. As part of the organization’s vision to expand opportunities for its community of artists, especially those without formal representation, 4heads moved to change its name in spring 2019 to Portal, as a signal that other iterations of the fair are being planned for future dates and locations around New York City.

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Marianne Boesky Gallery Now Represents Artist Gina Beavers I 24 July 2019

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to announce representation of artist Gina Beavers, whose sculptural paintings explore the digital landscapes of our everyday lives. Several of Beavers’ paintings are included in the gallery’s summer group exhibition, Painting/Sculpture, which examines the continued blurring of boundaries between painting and sculpture and highlights the depth and interest of works that live in the liminal space between. Painting/Sculpture is on view across both the gallery’s Chelsea locations through August 9. A solo presentation of Beavers’ work is being planned for spring 2020. In addition to her presentations at Marianne Boesky Gallery, Beavers’ work is currently the subject of a solo exhibition at MoMA PS1 in New York. Gina Beavers: The Life I Deserve marks Beavers’ first solo museum show and is on view through September 2, 2019.

“Gina’s works are incredible in their articulation of critical conversations in both contemporary art practice and in our wider society. She has an innate ability to play with and push the limits of our understanding of artistic hierarchies and disciplines, as well as to reflect to us our own cultural ideals—for better or worse. We are excited to have her join the gallery, and to bring wider attention to her dynamic work and vision,” said Marianne Boesky. “We also look forward to collaborating with Foxy Production, who will also continue to work with and support Gina in New York.”

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Worcester Art Museum Receives $10 Million Donation I 22 July 2019

The Worcester Art Museum (WAM) today announced that it has received a $10 million gift from the C. Jean & Myles McDonough Charitable Foundation—the largest single donation in WAM’s history. This contribution follows the Foundation’s $4 million endowment gift and naming of WAM’s directorship in 2015, and continues Jean McDonough’s lifelong support of the Museum with a gift targeted at supporting both the Museum’s near-term needs and its long-term financial health.

“The Worcester Art Museum is a tremendous resource for culture and education for people throughout New England, and an institution greatly deserving all of our support,” said Neil McDonough. “With my mother’s gift, we see an opportunity to strengthen the Museum’s current operations, encourage growth of the endowment, and support its ambitious plans for the future.” Lisa McDonough, a WAM Trustee and Jean McDonough’s daughter-in-law, added: “We hope that by making this commitment, other members of our community will also step forward to ensure that WAM continues to thrive.”

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Hollis Taggart Appoints Director of Contemporary Art & Director of Exhibitions I 9 July 2019

Hollis Taggart announced today that it has appointed Paul Efstathiou as Director of Contemporary Art. The appointment marks the gallery’s ongoing expansion of its primary market business, and supports its vision to create a greater interplay between its work with emerging and mid-career artists and the presentation of its vast holdings of Post-War American art. Efstathiou, who previously worked as an independent curator and dealer, has collaborated with the gallery on several prior exhibitions, including group shows that featured such artists as William Buchina, Marcel Dzama, Brenda Goodman, Hiroya Kurata, and Esther Ruiz, as well as Los Angeles-based artist John Knuth’s first solo exhibition in New York City. To further bolster its leadership team, Hollis Taggart has also appointed Jillian Russo as Director of Exhibitions. Russo previously served as Curator for the Art Students League of New York. Efstathiou will begin his new role at Hollis Taggart on July 15, 2019. Russo has already taken her position.

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Marianne Boesky Gallery to Open Exhibition Featuring Allison Janae Hamilton and ektor garcia, Curated by Sanford Biggers I 1 July 2019

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition curated by artist Sanford Biggers, featuring the work of artists Allison Janae Hamilton and ektor garcia—both of whom have long-standing relationships with Biggers. Hamilton and garcia are recognized for their complex, narrative-infused tactile sculptures and installation pieces. This exhibition will explore the ways in which both artists use materials to evoke history and define new mythologies—aspects of this approach are also present in Biggers’ own practice. Titled Tricknology, the exhibition takes its name from a line in a song by the group Brand Nubian that directly calls out the importance embracing one’s self, soul, and narrative as one. The exhibition celebrates this concept and practice, while critically viewing the dominant narratives that underlie our knowledge of art, culture, and history. Tricknology will be on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery’s location in Aspen, Colorado, from July 26 through September 9. As part of the exhibition, both Hamilton and garcia will present new work.

“In their seminal song Wake Up, the hip hop group Brand Nubian calls out the importance of reclaiming history and self-knowledge in order to see through the tricknology employed by those in power,” said Sanford Biggers. “The works that Allison and ektor make are enigmatic, layered, and nimble in their respective uses of personal and cultural history as well as materials. They both offer visionary insight and tools for us to construct new narratives, and I look forward to collaborating with them on this exhibition.”

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Recent News From Our Clients, June 2019

Artforum, June 28: “San Antonio Museum Of Art Welcomes Four New Trustees,“ announcing the Museum’s new additions to the Board as well as its slate of new officers

ARTnews, June 27: “ARTnews in Brief,“ including “San Antonio Museum of Art Appoints Four New Board Members,“ on Rebecca Cedillo, Kathleen Finck, Aleyda Kniestedt, and Jennifer Lee joining the Museum’s board

Artforum, June 27: “Baltimore Museum Of Art Opens Satellite At Historic Market,“ reporting on the Museum’s new branch at the city’s famous Lexington Market

ARTnews, June 26: “Crab Cakes, Waffles, Art: Baltimore Museum of Art Opens Branch at Storied Local Market,” by Andrew Russeth on the BMA’s announcement that it is opening a branch location at the historic Lexington Market.

Frieze, June 24: “The Untold Queer History of California,“ by Bryony White, on the new exhibition Queer California: Untold Stories, on view at the Oakland Museum of California through August 11, 2019

artnet News, June 24: “Out of Office: Why Top Galleries Are Opening Luxurious Spaces Far Off the Beaten Track,“ by Lorena Muñoz-Alonso, and including Marianne Boesky Gallery, which opened a branch in Aspen, Colorado, in 2017

Artforum, June 21: “Association Of Art Museum Directors Urges Cultural Institutions To Pay Their Interns,“ reporting on AAMD’s new resolution

Hyperallergic, June 20: “The Association of Art Museum Directors Calls on Museums to Provide Paid Internships,” by Hakim Bishara, exploring the resolution passed by the the Association of Art Museum Directors to encourage museums to pay their interns as a means of increasing accessibility to the field.

ARTnews, June 20: “Association of Art Museum Directors Calls for End of Unpaid Internships,” by Alex Greenberger, on the Association of Art Museum Directors passing a new resolution calling on museums to offer paid internships.

Art Newspaper, June 18: “Artist to install earthwork calling attention to immigration and human trafficking,” by Nancy Kenney, on the announcement that artist Molly Gochman will open a large-scale installation in Seattle to foster discussions on the human trafficking and the border wall.

Boston Globe, June 14: “Brave new worlds, on view at the Mead Art Museum,” by Murray Whyte, reviewing the Museum’s exhibition Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein, on view through July 28

Artforum, June 14: “Baltimore Museum Of Art Adds More Than Seventy Works To Its Collection,“ sharing the Museum’s news as it continues to build—and diversify—its holdings

ARTnews, June 14: “Baltimore Museum of Art Acquires Works by Charles Gaines, Ana Mendieta, and Others,“ by Claire Selvin, reporting on the Museum’s news of more than 70 acquisitions

SciArt Magazine, June 2019: “On View | Interview: Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein at Amherst College's Mead Art Museum,“ by Marnie Benney, interviewing the exhibition’s curator, Vanja Malloy

Galerie Magazine, Summer 2019: “High Season,“ by Sue Hostetler, including information on Boesky West and its upcoming exhibition of works by Ektor Garcia and Allison Janae Hamilton, curated by artist Sanford Biggers

Artsy, June 11: “Frank Stella Doesn’t Believe in Artistic Reinvention,“ by Alina Cohen, interviewing the artist tied to his exhibition of new and recent works, on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery through June 22

The Guardian, June 10: “Animal crackers: inside the world's most madcap menagerie,“ by Oliver Wainwright, writing about LABIOMISTA, a new project that explores the connections between art, community, and science, developed by artist Koen Vanmechelen

Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, June 9: “This Iranian Artist Is Spotlighting Female Jinn Figures In Her Latest Solo Show,“ by Delara Zand, on the new exhibition of works by Morehshin Allahyari, on view through August 25 at the MacKenzie Art Gallery

Artforum, June 6: “Toronto’s Black And Caribbean Communities Help Art Gallery Of Ontario Acquire 3,500 Photographs,“ on the museum’s exceptional acquisition, building a new area of depth in its photography collection

artnet news, June 5: “Carribbean Communities in Toronto Helped the Art Gallery of Ontario Acquire a Historic Trove of Photographs From the Islands,“ by Taylor Dafoe, announcing the museum’s acquisition of this 3,500 image collection

ARTnews, June 5: “Summer Preview: The Most Promising Museum Shows and Biennials Around the World,“ including Brian Jungen: Friendship Centre, opening at the Art Gallery of Ontario on June 20, 2019

The Art Newspaper, June 3: “In the Frame: Stars come out: Annie Lennox at MASS MoCA—Pharrell at the Musée Guimet,“ including Annie Lennox’s new installation at MASS MoCA, on view now

Monocle, June 2: “The Monocle Weekly: Kate Bryan, Erland Cooper, Frank Stella,“ podcast featuring an interview with artist Frank Stella talking about his latest works, on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery through June 22

Art in America, June 1: “Yinka Shonibare at the Driehaus Museum,“ by Lauren DeLand, reviewing the Museum’s exhibition, formally titled A Tale of Today: Yinka Shonibare CBE, and on view through September 29, 2019

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Baltimore Museum of Art to Open Branch Location at Lexington Market I 25 June 2019

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced the June 27 opening of a branch location at Lexington Market, the world’s oldest continually operating public market. BMA Lexington Market is a 250-square-foot space that will host a variety of art programs and collaborative activities. The branch will host an opening reception on Wednesday, June 26, from 3 to 5 p.m., to showcase photography created by youth at the Greenmount West Community Center who worked with New Orleans-based artists Keith Calhoun and Chandra McCormick. BMA Lexington Market is located near the arcade in the East Market. It will have regular hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Admission is free.

“For the BMA to achieve its vision to be truly of and for the community, we have to tackle issues of accessibility and audience engagement through a spectrum of approaches, both in and outside the museum walls. The opening of the BMA Lexington Market is another opportunity to connect with people and to provide programs, art presentations, and public convenings in a different environment and context, offering our community more flexibility to participate,” said Christopher Bedford, BMA Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “This opening also builds on the BMA’s long history of operating branches to better serve the public, while creating a new opportunity for the museum to better understand how best to reach and engage with the city’s many constituents.”

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AAMD Urges Art Museums to Provide Paid Internships I 20 June 2019

The Board of Trustees of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) has approved a resolution calling has approved a resolution calling on art museums to provide paid internships. The adoption of this resolution follows several years of discussions surrounding labor and equity issues at AAMD, and in particular conversations led by Professional Issues committee Co- Chairs Jill Medvedow (ICA Boston) and Mark Bessire (Portland Museum of Art).

“Providing paid internships is an important step for the art museum field in creating and sustaining a diverse, equitable, accessible, and inclusive set of opportunities, said Jill Medvedow, Co-Chair of AAMD’s Professional Issues committee and director of the ICA Boston. “Internships are an important gateway for those seeking careers in art museums, providing incredible opportunities for hands-on experience in many aspects of an institution’s operations. Yet by failing to pay interns, we ensure that these experiences are only really accessible to those who already financially secure and, often, people who have established career networks available to them.”

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Exploring the Art of Pregnancy & Childbirth at the Worcester Art Museum I 18 June 2019

This fall, the Worcester Art Museum (WAM) will present With Child: Otto Dix/Carmen Winant, an exhibition exploring representations of pregnancy and birth through the works of German artist Otto Dix (1891-1969) and contemporary American artist Carmen Winant (b. 1983). Providing artistic, social, and medical context for how we view this central, emotionally charged topic, the exhibition will show works by Dix from the Museum’s collection, international loans, and a newly commissioned work by Winant. The exhibition will be on view from September 21 through December 15, 2019.

With Child: Otto Dix/Carmen Winant was inspired by Dix’s enigmatic 1931 portrait The Pregnant Woman, a hyper-realistic depiction of a model in the later stages of pregnancy. Since the work was acquired by the Worcester Art Museum in 2016, it has provoked a range of audience reactions. While some appreciate the painting’s directness—an outgrowth of Dix’s New Objectivity style—others are uncomfortable with the way the work presents its subject. These varied and sometimes powerful responses led Marcia Lagerwey, Guest Curator and Former Director of Education and Experience at WAM, to develop this exhibition as an opportunity to help viewers engage with and confront their own diverse thoughts on this theme.

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Major Collection of Caribbean Photographs Acquired by Art Gallery of Ontario I 5 June 2019

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) announces today that it has acquired The Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photographs, a singular collection of more than 3,500 historical images from 34 countries including Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad. One of the largest collections of such images, this incredible visual record contains studio portraits, landscapes and tourist views. Bringing to life the changing economies, environments and communities that emerged following the abolishment of slavery, the Collection includes nearly every photographic format available during the years 1840 to 1940, including prints, postcards, daguerreotypes, lantern slides, albums, and stereographs. Prior to this, the AGO held no Caribbean photographs in its collection.

The acquisition was made possible in part by the generous contributions of a group of 27 donors, the majority of whom are from Toronto’s Black and Caribbean communities. Collectively the donors raised over $300,000, with a lead gift from Dr. Liza & Dr. Frederick Murrell. Many of the donors have never before contributed to the AGO. The largest known collection outside the Caribbean, The Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photographs now positions the AGO as a leader in Caribbean photographic research, and will make its debut in an exhibition in 2021.

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Recent News From Our Clients, May 2019

ARTnews, May 30: “Marianne Boesky Gallery Appoints Bradford Waywell as Senior Director of Sales and Acquisitions,” by Claire Selvin, on the gallery’s latest addition to its leadership team and the expansion of its secondary market business.

Observer, May 30: “Annie Lennox: ‘I’m a Magpie of Sorts.’ How She Amassed All the Items in Her Mass MoCA Exhibition,” by Laura Pitcher, on the musician’s large-scale installation, currently on view at MASS MoCA.

ARTnews, May 29: “‘It’s a Very Active Form of Listening’: To Refine Exhibitions and Programming, Baltimore Museum of Art Will Survey 300 Local Organizations,” Claire Selvin speaks with BMA director Christopher Bedford on the launch of the museum’s citywide survey to examine local needs and interests.

Artforum, May 29: “Baltimore Museum of Art Launches a Citywide Survey to Learn How to Best Serve Its Communities,” by Lauren Cavalli, on the BMA’s launch of a survey to explore the needs and interest of local organizations and individuals.

artnet News, May 29: “Crowdsourcing the Museum? The Baltimore Museum of Art Is Issuing a Citywide Survey to Ask Locals What They Want to See,” by Rachel Corbett, on the BMA’s launch of community listening initiative inspired by a similar survey done by the museum in 1937.

ARTnews, May 23: “Hollis Taggart Now Represents Knox Martin,” by Claire Selvin, on Hollis Taggart bringing artist Knox Martin into its program.

ARTnews, Summer 2019: “Exhibiting Change: When Some of the Best-Attended Exhibitions in Museums Are Protests, Where Do Institutions Go from Here?,“ by Barbara Pollack, including the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) on field-wide changes, and perspective on the Baltimore Museum of Art’s new approach to audience engagement

AnOther, May 20: “The Mobile Museum Schooling the World on Trans History,“ by Emily Crooked, looking at the "Museum of Trans Hirstory and Art” (MOTHA), included in the Oakland Museum of California’s new exhibition Queer California: Untold Stories, on view through August 11, 2019

The Wall Street Journal, May 20: “‘Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein’ Review: A Manifesto to Shake Up the Creative Landscape,“ by Edward Rothstein, reviewing the exhibition on view at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College through July 28, 2019

Artforum, May 15: “Galina Mardilovich Joins Mead Art Museum As Curator Of Russian And European Art”

ARTnews, May 15: “Mead Art Museum Appoints Galina Mardilovich Curator of Russian and European Art,“ by Claire Selvin; Mardilovich has been the acting curator in this role since last year.

Hyperallergic, May 9: “The Art Gallery of Ontario Makes Admission Free for Visitors 25 and Below,“ by Hakim Bishara, on the admissions changes announced today by the AGO

Artforum, May 9: “Art Gallery Of Ontario Aims To Attract Younger Audience With New Admissions Policy,“ reporting on the AGO’s newly revised admissions fee structure, which goes into effect on May 25, 2019

ARTnews, May 9: “Art Gallery of Ontario Alters Admissions Policy to Diversify Audience,“ by Alex Greenberger, on the AGO’s new pricing, which includes the launch of a $35/year Annual Pass — and free admission for visitors 25-and-under

Artforum, May 7: “Vanja Malloy Named Director of Syracuse University Art Galleries,“ reporting on Malloy’s departure from the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College this July

ARTnews, May 7: “Vanja Malloy Named Director and Chief Curator of Syracuse University Art Galleries,“ by Annie Armstrong, noting Malloy will be only the second director for SUArt Galleries

Architectural Digest, May 2: “Frank Stella Debuts Latest Work at Boesky Gallery in Chelsea,“ by Carly Olson, on the artist’s new exhibition Frank Stella: Recent Work, on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery through June 22

Daily Mail, May 2: “Into the Wild West: Transcontinental Railroad's role in expansion across America is highlighted in photos showing Mormon families, a Shoshone tribe and workers laying tracks in the 1800s,“ by Dianne Apen-Sadler, on the new exhibition Pushing West: The Photography of Andrew J. Russell, on view now at the Oakland Museum of California

artnet News, May 1: “Here Are 22 Unmissable Spring Gallery Shows in New York, From Joan Mitchell’s Big Moment to Jeff Wall’s Spooky Surrealism,“ by Caroline Goldstein and Sarah Cascone, including Frank Stella: Recent Work, on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery through June 22

The Art Newspaper, May 2019: “When Form Plus Function Equals Art,“ by Brook Mason, including a focus on artists the Haas Brothers

Artforum, May 2019: “Waking Life,” by Siddhartha Mitter, on the art of Cauleen Smith including her new exhibition We Already Have What We Need, on view now at MASS MOCA

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Marianne Boesky Gallery Appoints Bradford Waywell as Senior Director, Sales and Acquisitions I May 30, 2019

Marianne Boesky Gallery announced today that it has appointed Bradford Waywell as Senior Director, Sales and Acquisitions. Waywell joins from Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, where he served as the Director. Waywell also previously worked with Marianne Boesky Gallery as a Sales Director, from 2011 to 2012. In his new role, Waywell will lead the gallery’s expansion of its secondary market business, while also supporting artist relations and sales for the gallery’s growing roster of artists. He will start at the gallery in September 2019.

“Brad brings with him great knowledge of Impressionist, Post-War, and Contemporary artists and art movements. His keen eye and wide-ranging relationships with collectors, curators, and artists are incredible assets,” said Marianne Boesky. “With my vision to grow equally the gallery’s primary and secondary market business, I know Brad’s experience will prove invaluable. I very much look forward to welcoming him again to the team.”

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Baltimore Museum of Art Announces Launch of Major Citywide Survey I May 29, 2019

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced it is relaunching its ambitious 1937 citywide survey to find out how the museum can best serve the interests of Baltimore’s communities. Titled Make It Now, the updated survey asks 300 organizations—including schools and civic, social, and religious groups—to tell the BMA what they want from Baltimore’s largest art museum. This initiative will help in planning for future exhibitions and programs while reinforcing longstanding relationships and developing new ones throughout the city.

The BMA is reaching out to many of the same organizations that it established relationships with during the 1930s, such as the American Institute of Architects, Enoch Pratt Free Library, McCormick & Company, and Maryland Jockey Club, as well as newer organizations and those overlooked in 1937. Individuals who wish to contribute their thoughts and ideas to the survey can participate online by visiting artbma.org/now. Responses are due by Sunday, June 30.

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Hollis Taggart Announces Its Exclusive Representation of Artist Knox Martin I May 23, 2019

Hollis Taggart announced today the exclusive representation of acclaimed artist Knox Martin, whose vibrant, abstract compositions bring together the visual vocabularies of Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art in a style all his own. Martin’s paintings, from the 1960s and 1970s, as well as two new works from 2019, are currently on view at Hollis Taggart, in an exhibition titled Knox Martin: Radical Structures. The show captures Martin’s intricate use of color, free-form gesture, and figural references, with important examples from the past and present. Knox Martin: Radical Structures will remain on view through June 1, 2019 at the gallery’s primary space in Chelsea, at 521 W. 26th Street.

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Hollis Taggart to Open Exhibition of Sven Lukin’s Painting-Sculptures in June I May 17, 2019

Much has been made over the last decade about the increasingly blurring lines between fine art and design, as function and creative innovation meld to produce compelling new kinds of objects. In this context, artist Sven Lukin’s painting-sculptures of the 1960s feel utterly at home and enticingly contemporary. Inspired by the work and vision of acclaimed architect Louis Kahn, Lukin’s enigmatic works are all volumetric forms, geometric fields of color, and illusionistic lines and perspectives. On June 6, Hollis Taggart will open an exhibition focused on Lukin’s work from the ‘60s, highlighting the ongoing interest and appeal of the Post-War artist’s practice. Titled Sven Lukin: Objects in Space, the exhibition will remain on view through July 12, 2019 at the gallery’s primary Chelsea location at 521 West 26th Street.

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Baltimore Museum of Art to Open Two Shows Centering Work of Visionary Black Artists in Art History I May 15, 2019

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) presents Generations: A History of Black Abstract Art, an exhibition that captures the significant contributions that black artists have made to the development of abstraction from the 1940s to the present. On view September 29, 2019, through January 19, 2020, Generations explores the multifaceted power of abstract art as experimental practice, personal exploration, and profound political choice for decades of black artists. The exhibition features nearly 80 paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media installations by such notable artists as Mark Bradford, Jennie C. Jones, Norman Lewis, Lorna Simpson, Alma W. Thomas, and Sam Gilliam, and unveils a newly commissioned work by Kevin Beasley. Generations is curated by Christopher Bedford, BMA Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director, and Katy Siegel, BMA Senior Research & Programming Curator and Thaw Chair of Modern Art at Stony Brook University. The exhibition is co-organized by the BMA and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Download Press Release

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced a sweeping reinstallation of its contemporary collection galleries that focuses on the creativity of 20th- and 21st-century black artists. Titled Every Day: Selections from the Collection, the reinstallation features works by such visionary artists as David Hammons, Joyce J. Scott, Mickalene Thomas, Kara Walker, and Nari Ward, alongside those by Helen Frankenthaler, Ellsworth Kelly, and Andy Warhol, among others. Centering the works by black artists creates a multidimensional picture of contemporary art that also allows us to reimagine our collective past, revealing the vital role of artists and art in these conversations about history and the future. Download Press Release

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Mead Art Museum Appoints Curator of Russian & European Art I May 15, 2019

The Mead Art Museum at Amherst College announced today that it has appointed Dr. Galina Mardilovich to the position of curator of Russian and European art, effective July 1, 2019. Mardilovich, who has served as the acting curator at the Mead since August 2018, will oversee the museum’s program for Russian and European art, including researching the collection, developing exhibitions, and proposing new acquisitions. In addition, Mardilovich will collaborate with the Amherst Center for Russian Culture on the use of the Thomas P. Whitney ’37 Collection of Russian Art, a unique art and rare book collection that includes more than 600 paintings, drawings, and sculptures produced by artists both in Russia and in exile beginning in the late 19th century.

During her time at the Mead, Mardilovich has already curated two exhibitions that showcase her acumen for connecting the two collections under her purview: Constructing Collage and Fleeting Nature: Selections from the Collection (co-curated). She has also curated two exhibitions drawn specifically from the Mead’s Russian collection: Views from the Eastern Front: Russian Modernism and the Great War and Paste, Stick, Glue: Constructing Collage in Russia. The latter exhibition—an historical overview of the many ways in which Russian and Soviet artists employed collage, and the related techniques of film montage and photomontage—highlights the Mead’s tremendous collection resources in this area, including artworks by Liubov’ Popova, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, El Lissitzky, Oscar Rabin, Oleg Kudryashov, and Alexander Kosolapov, among others.

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Art Gallery of Ontario Makes Bold New Pricing Changes I May 9, 2019

Today the AGO (Toronto) announced bold and exciting changes that will ensure greater museum access than ever before. Starting on May 25, admission for visitors 25 and under is free – all year, anytime, including for special exhibitions. For visitors over 25, single-visit tickets are now $25 and include the AGO Collection and all special exhibitions with no added fees. And the AGO is launching a new Annual Pass that provides unlimited museum admission for a year for $35.

According Stephan Jost, the AGO’s Michael and Sonja Koerner Director and CEO, “the goal is to make it easier for everyone to make art a part of their everyday lives. We will test and learn from this new model over the coming year, with the goals of increasing engagement with our audiences, and also gaining new understandings of visitor patterns that will help us better meet their needs.”

The AGO is celebrating this landmark initiative with the launch of AGO All Hours, an unmissable event that will happen three times a year. AGO All Hours runs from morning to night, and invites visitors to participate in unconventional experiences featuring local artists and community partners. From special programs, art installations and artmaking activities to pop-up bars, marquee performances and more, AGO All Hours has the vibe of a Toronto block party welcoming all ages all day, from 10:30 a.m. to 1 a.m.More details are available at AGO.ca or by following #AGOAllHours.

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Comprehensive Exhibition of Morehshin Allahyari’s Work on View at MacKenzie Art Gallery I May 7, 2019

The MacKenzie Art Gallery is pleased to announce Morehshin Allahyari: She Who Sees The Unknown, the most comprehensive exhibition to date of the New York-based Iranian artist’s ongoing research project into female and gender non-binary monsters and jinn, of Middle Eastern origin. Using a four-part process involving research, 3D-modeling and printing, storytelling, and community involvement, Allahyari re-creates jinn figures and uses the traditions and myths associated with them to explore colonialism, patriarchism, and environmental degradation in relation to the Middle East. Curated by John Hampton, Director of Programs at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Morehshin Allahyari: She Who Sees The Unknown is the first exhibition to bring together the three figures known as Huma, Aisha Qandisha, and the Laughing Snake, and will be on view from May 25 through August 25, 2019.

Started in October 2016 as part of Allahyari’s residency at Eyebeam in New York City, the She Who Sees The Unknown project is part of a process Allahyari refers to as ‘refiguring,’ or the act of going back into the past to retrieve elements that have been forgotten or misrepresented over time, in order to help reimagine another kind of present or future. In this case, Allahyari revives the stories of various jinn who were seen as tremendously powerful figures but either came to be seen as negative, or have been written out of the canon of largely male “superhero” stories. Allahyari embraces the monstrosity of these figures and resituates them in contemporary narratives where their powers can change perspectives on the present and the future. For Allahyari, ‘refiguring’ is a ficto-feminist and activist practice that challenges today’s power structures and social realities.

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Vanja Malloy Named to Lead Syracuse University Art Galleries I May 7, 2019

Vanja Malloy, Ph.D., curator of American art at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, has been named director and chief curator of the Syracuse University Art Galleries. Malloy will be the second director of the SUArt Galleries, a member of the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers [CMAC], since its founding in 2006. She succeeds Domenic Iacono, who retired after forty years at the university last June.

“We are very excited to welcome Vanja Malloy as the next director of SUArt. It was an extremely competitive process with applicants from around the world,” CMAC executive director Jeffrey Hoone said in announcing the appointment. “Vanja stood out with her great educational credentials and experience. She has an exhibition record that displays a creative mind and an ability to connect many different collaborative partners. She has produced exhibitions and programs that appeal to many different audiences while maintaining an intellectual rigor so important to an academic setting. We are very much looking forward to her leading the team at SUArt and building on their success as the premier art museum at Syracuse University.”

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Recent News From Our Clients, April 2019

Hyperallergic, April 26: “Yinka Shonibare Restages the Trauma of the Gilded Age,“ by Seph Rodney, on the exhibition A Tale of Today: Yinka Shonibare CBE, on view at the Richard H. Driehaus Museum through September 29, 2019

ARTnews, April 22: “9 Art Events in New York This Week: ‘Art After Stonewall,’ Lorna Simpson, Frank Stella, and More,” by Max Duron, featuring the opening of Frank Stella: Recent Works at Marianne Boesky Gallery as part of the roundup of must-attend events

Monocle Magazine, April 18: “Star Turn,” writer Tomos Lewis goes behind-the-scenes with artist Frank Stella ahead of his solo exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery, opening April 25, for the May print edition of the magazine

Aesthetica, April 12: “5 to See: This Weekend,” including Queer California: Untold Stories, on view through August 11, 2019 at the Oakland Museum of California

The Clyde Fitch Report, April 8: “At Driehaus Museum, Yinka Shonibare Fabricates Post-Colonial Identity,“ by Carol Strickland, reporting on the Museum’s first exhibition in its new contemporary art series A Tale of Today: New Artists at the Driehaus

The Art Newspaper, April 2: “Boots Riley on the links between art, Surrealism and social justice,“ by Victoria Stapley-Brown, on the Baltimore Museum of Art’s April 24 program with Mickalene Thomas and Boots Riley

Artforum, April 2019: “1000 Words: Trenton Doyle Hancock,“ by Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi, on the artist’s exhibition Mind of the Mound: Critical Mass, on view now at MASS MoCA

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Driehaus Museum Will Explore Tiffany’s Sacred Stained-Glass I April 24, 2019

This fall, the Richard H. Driehaus Museum will present Eternal Light: The Sacred Stained-Glass Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany, focusing on the design and production of Tiffany’s ecclesiastical window commissions—and exploring these works in the context of both the art and social history of the period. At the heart of the exhibition are eleven outstanding, religiously themed windows made between 1880 and 1925 that demonstrate the signature designs, working methods, techniques, and production styles of Tiffany and his workshops. Works have been drawn from major public and private collections across the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass, and the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. The exhibition also includes a number of works that have not been on public view since the closure of the Richard H. Driehaus Gallery of Stained Glass at Navy Pier. Organized by the Driehaus Museum, Eternal Light: The Sacred Stained-Glass Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany includes more than 25 works by Tiffany and his artists and will be on view from September 7, 2019 – March 8, 2020.

Towards the end of the 19th century, as the social and economic climate in the United States shifted—driven by the wealth created through industrialization, internal migration following the Civil War, and an influx of immigrants—the nation’s religious views shifted, too. This was, in part, an appreciation for the country’s achievements and a desire to celebrate what many saw as divinely inspired success. By some estimates, thousands of churches were commissioned and under construction during this period, and with that building boom came a desire for each religious community to distinguish itself and its house of worship. Louis Comfort Tiffany saw this as an opportunity for business growth and drew on his firm’s technical prowess and innovations in glass-working, along with the creativity of the artists he employed, to meet these congregations’ needs.

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MASS MoCA to Open Comprehensive Survey of Work by Artist Cauleen Smith I April 11, 2019

On May 25, MASS MoCA will open artist Cauleen Smith’s most comprehensive exhibition to-date, featuring a survey of her videos made over the last decade and a half, a written manifesto, and a selection of banners from her In the Wake series, which was included in the 2017 Whitney Biennial. These prior works will be presented alongside a new textile and works on paper as well as an immersive video installation produced especially for the exhibition. Occupying the entirety of MASS MoCA’s first floor galleries, the exhibition provides an in-depth look at Smith’s incredible capacity to engage with and capture the experiences of her subjects, which she describes as “the fragile, the forgotten, the flawed, and the fugitive.”

Building on her training as a filmmaker, Cauleen Smith creates visual and phenomenological experiences that ruminate on social, cultural, intellectual, artistic, and political liberation. Inspired by a wide range of sources, from Afrofuturism, the music of Sun Ra, science fiction, and Third World Cinema, her multi-disciplinary practice combines aesthetic richness with conceptual rigor to examine subjects like the African Diaspora, the image of black women in film, the post-hurricane landscape of New Orleans, and the transformative power of art, among so much more.  

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Marianne Boesky Gallery to Open Exhibition of Recent Sculpture by Frank Stella I April 10, 2019

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of recent sculptures by renowned artist Frank Stella. Ranging from the monumental to the intimately-scaled, the featured sculptures capture Stella’s ongoing exploration of the spatial relationships between abstract and geometric forms and the ways in which they behave in and engage with physical space. In these newest works, Stella combines interlocking grids with more fluid and organic lines, creating a dynamic interplay between minimalist and gestural visual vocabularies. Frank Stella: Recent Work will be on view from April 25 through June 22 across both of the gallery’s Chelsea locations at 509 and 507 W. 24th Street.

Stella’s decades-long career is synonymous with artistic innovation. From his early Black Paintings, which dramatically shifted the dialogues on abstract art, to his use of both the formal qualities of painting and sculpture to produce his Polish Village series in the 1970s, and through to his use of computer modeling and 3D printing, from the 1990s and into the present, Stella has continued to push compositional boundaries. His experimentation with and use of line, color, and form have resulted in strikingly different effects—on the canvas and in three dimensions. Stella’s boundless vision has resulted in a new body of work that freshly engages the grid as well as the star and ribbon motifs that have appeared throughout his oeuvre.

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Hollis Taggart Announces Dual Presentations of Knox Martin at Frieze and in Chelsea I April 9, 2019

This May, Hollis Taggart will present an in-depth exploration of the work of acclaimed artist Knox Martin, with a solo presentation at Frieze New York and a concurrent solo exhibition at its primary location in Chelsea. Martin’s practice, which spans nearly seven decades, has engaged with the conceptual and aesthetic underpinnings of a wide range of artistic movements, from Cubism to Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. His use of bright swaths of color, precise, architectural lines, and organic forms that reference the female body have resulted in energetic and vibrant compositions that speak to a visual vocabulary that is entirely his own.

For the upcoming edition of Frieze New York, Hollis Taggart will present a focused selection of paintings, from the 1950s through the 1970s, providing an introduction to the artist’s early works. To foster a broader understanding of Martin’s practice, the gallery will also open Knox Martin: Radical Structures at its 521 W. 26th Street space on May 2, 2019. The exhibition at the gallery will emphasize in particular Martin’s paintings from the 1960s and 1970s, and also include several later works, among which are two new paintings created by the 96-year-old artist in 2019. Knox Martin: Radical Structures will be on view through May 27, 2019.

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Nonprofit 4heads Announces Name Change to Annual Fair & Opens Call for Artists I April 9, 2019

The nonprofit organization 4heads, helmed by Nicole Laemmle, Jack Robinson, and Antony Zito, announced today that its annual fair on Governors Island will now be called Portal: Governors Island (previously Governors Island Art Fair). Open weekends in September, the fair presents the work of approximately 100 artists every year across the former military homes on Colonels Row and other historic sites across the island. Launched more than 10 years ago, 4heads recognized the possibilities of Governors Island as a platform for the presentation of contemporary art well before many acknowledged it as a desirable destination for arts consumers and the general public. The name change is part of an ongoing planning process that will ultimately result in other editions of Portal opening in different locations across the city throughout the year. The decision also comes at a moment of change on Governors Island, as more cultural entities move to the island and those that have been long-standing staples look to expand on both the island and well beyond.

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New Works & Major Installation Design By Artist Brian Jungen at the AGO I April 3, 2019

This summer, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) will open a major exhibition of the artist Brian Jungen, bringing together for the first time many of his most iconic sculptures in an installation specially designed by the artist. Internationally renowned for his sculptures made from repurposed consumer goods, this exhibition presents over 80 of his works, including a group of new pieces. To provide audiences with insight into his creative process, the exhibition also includes extensive material from Jungen’s personal archive—materials that have served as sources of inspiration throughout his career. Organized by the AGO and curated by Kitty Scott, the Carol and Morton Rapp Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Brian Jungen: Friendship Centre opens on June 20 and runs to August 25, 2019. This exhibition marks the first time that the AGO will host a solo presentation by an Indigenous Canadian artist in the Sam & Ayala Zacks Pavilion, the AGO’s largest temporary exhibition space, at 11,000 sq. feet.

An artist of Indigenous and European heritage, Jungen’s (b.1970) multidisciplinary art-making explores a long history of cultural inequality and expresses both a concern for the environment and a profound commitment to Indigenous ways of knowing and making. He has created an extensive body of work that engages equally with Indigenous materials and traditions as with pop culture and Western art history. The exhibition also transforms the AGO’s galleries into an Indigenous meeting place, bringing to the fore different aspects of Jungen’s personal experiences. For example, on the reservation, the gymnasium is a space not only for sport, but also for ceremony and conviviality; in Canadian cities, Friendship Centers serve a similar purpose. Jungen echoes these spaces in the design for his installation at the AGO.

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Recent News From Our Clients, March 2019

Interior Design, March 2019: “Blips: Contrasts and Connections,” by Annie Block, featuring the Richard H. Driehaus Museum’s new exhibition A Tale of Today: Yinka Shonibare CBE, on view through September 29, 2019

The Art Newspaper, March 28: “Three Exhibitions to See in New York this Weekend,” highlighting the current Hans Op de Beeck exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery, by Victoria Stapley-Brown.

Aspen Sojourner, March 27: “Aspen Weekend Agenda: March 29-31, 2019,” by Cindy Hirschfeld, on the last weekend to see Tropical Molecule at Boesky West in Aspen.

Artforum, March 27: “Curator Miranda Lash Joins Joan Mitchell Foundation Board,” by Lauren Cavalli, on the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s announcement that it has appointed curator Miranda Lash to its Board for a three-year term.

ARTnews, March 26: “Miranda Lash Joins Joan Mitchell Foundation’s Board of Directors,” by Claire Selvin, on the appointment of curator Miranda Lash to Joan Mitchell Foundation’s Board, for a three-year term.

ARTnews, March 19: “Tropical Molecule at Marianne Boesky Gallery, Aspen, Colorado,” an image slideshow of the gallery’s current exhibition at its Boesky West location, put together by Max Duron.

Architectural Digest, March 18: “Driehaus Museum Starts New Contemporary Series with Yinka Shonibare Work,“ by Carly Olson, on the Museum’s newly opened exhibition A Tale of Today: Yinka Shonibare CBE, on view through September 29, 2019

Chronicle of Higher Education, March 18: From the “Campus Spaces Newsletter”, by Lawrence Biemiller, inclusion of the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College and steps it has taken to improve access for and services to students

Chicago Tribune, March 13: “It's 'Party Time' at the Driehaus with an exuberant show from Yinka Shonibare,“ by Steve Johnson, on the Richard H. Driehaus Museum’s new exhibition A Tale of Today: Yinka Shonibare CBE, on view through September 29, 2019

The Art Newspaper, March 13: “Terra Foundation’s Transformational Leader Elizabeth Glassman to Step Down,” by Victoria Stapley-Brown on the evolution of the Terra Foundation under Elizabeth Glassman’s leadership.

Chicago Tribune, March 13: “Elizabeth Glassman will step down as president of Chicago’s Terra Foundation,” a news brief on the announcement that Elizabeth Glassman will step down from the Foundation after 18 years by Steve Johnson.

Artforum, March 13: “Terra Foundation President and CEO Elizabeth Glassman To Step Down,” by Lauren Cavalli on the announcement that Glassman will step down and that the Foundation has exceeded $100 million in giving.

ARTnews, March 13: “Terra Foundation President and CEO Elizabeth Glassman To Step Down,” by Claire Selvin on the Foundation’s news that Glassman will step down and that it has exceeded $100 million in giving.

Crain’s Chicago Business, March 13: “Terra Foundation CEO Stepping Down,” by Jan Parr on Elizabeth Glassman announcing that she will step down from the Terra Foundation after 18 years.

Inside Philanthropy, March 11: “‘Ongoing Evolution.’ An African-American Couple Gets Behind a Museum’s Push for Greater Diversity,” by Mike Scutari on the $3.5 million gift Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown made to the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Modern Art Notes Podcast, March 7: “No. 383: Yinka Shonibare, Pontormo,“ hosted by Tyler Green, and including an interview with Shonibare in conjunction with his exhibition A Tale of Today: Yinka Shonibare CBE at the Richard H. Dreihaus Museum in Chicago

artnet News, March 6: “23 High-Energy Gallery Shows Opening in New York This March That You Won’t Want to Miss,” including an exhibition of works by Harry Bertschmann at Hollis Taggart’s Project Space, by Sarah Cascone.

Artforum, March 1: “San Antonio Museum Of Art Names Lucia Abramovich Associate Curator Of Latin American Art,” on the Museum’s hire for a curator to oversee one of the most important collections of its kind in the U.S.

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Curator Miranda Lash Joins Joan Mitchell Foundation Board of Directors I March 26, 2019

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today that Miranda Lash, currently the Curator of Contemporary Art at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, has been appointed to its Board of Directors for a three-year term. Prior to joining the Speed, Lash was the founding Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), beginning in 2008. During her tenure in New Orleans, she experienced firsthand the impact of the Foundation’s Creating a Living Legacy (CALL) initiative, while organizing the Museum’s Mel Chin: Rematch retrospective exhibition. As part of that process, Lash and Chin worked closely with the Foundation to see how the CALL approach to studio organization and documentation could be applied towards preparing for a major exhibition.

“We are excited to have Miranda bring her significant knowledge and expertise working with contemporary artists to our organization,” said Michele Tortorelli, President and Board Chair of the Joan Mitchell Foundation. “Given the wide range of exhibitions she has curated, her artist-centered approach, and her experience in New Orleans—where the Joan Mitchell Center is located—we expect she will add a valuable perspective to the Foundation’s work supporting artists at various stages in their careers. As a curator, she will be a valued voice at the table in our work on stewarding Mitchell’s legacy.”

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Exhibition of Works by Hollis Heichemer to Open at Hollis Taggart Project Space on April 4 I March 19, 2019

On April 4, Hollis Taggart will open its first exhibition of works by artist Hollis Heichemer at its Project Space at 507 W. 27th Street. Titled Happenstance, the exhibition will include a selection of Heichemer’s vibrant abstract oil paintings, produced between 2017 and 2019. Happenstance will also include several of the artist’s drawings, marking the first time her works on paper will be publicly exhibited. An opening reception will be held on April 4, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, and the exhibition will remain on view through May 4, 2019. 

Of her work Heichemer says, “I’m interested in the moment that something shifts. The sudden disruptions, when we’ve moved from one second to the next but in that instant something inexplicable has happened. We’ve seen something; felt something; our imagination has been sparked; a perspective has been altered; and we’ve changed.” Indeed, Heichemer’s richly-colored paintings exude an intense sense of motion, as delicate lines meld with thick brushstrokes and coalesce into wide washes of color. The layering of color in her work, in particular the deep greens and blues, add a tactility that suggests ongoing action and formation just beneath the surface plane in which this one moment has been caught.

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Terra Foundation for American Art Announces Its President & CEO Will Step Down I March 13, 2019

Elizabeth Glassman, who has served as President & CEO of the Terra Foundation for American Art for nearly two decades, announced today that she will step down, effective upon the Foundation’s appointment of her successor. During her tenure, Glassman led a revisioning of the Foundation’s operational model, which resulted in the global circulation of important works of American art from the Foundation’s 800-object collection and the establishment of a grants program that has to-date awarded more than $100 million for the creation of approximately 1,000 exhibitions and programs in 31 countries. The Foundation’s approach leverages both its extensive collection and granting capacity to bring the art of the United States to a wide range of audiences, spurring important dialogues on visual culture, national identity, and the importance of building connections across places and peoples. The Terra Foundation is launching an international search for Glassman’s successor, with the goal of having a new President & CEO in place by early 2020.

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As part of the announcement, the Terra Foundation also released today new information about the success of its 2018 Art Design Chicago initiative. The content includes data from an audience survey. It can be accessed HERE.

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Belgian Artist Koen Vanmechelen to Open Monumental Art and Nature Project on July 6, 2019 I March 7, 2019

On July 6, 2019, internationally-renowned artist Koen Vanmechelen will open LABIOMISTA, a monumental, multi-faceted project that brings together the vital threads of his work and establishes new opportunities for collaboration and dialogue on some of the most pressing and challenging social issues of contemporary society. For more than 20 years, Vanmechelen has been creating work that explores the connections between art, community, and science. From his paintings, sculptures, videos, and mixed-media installations to his conceptually-driven “living art” initiatives, Vanmechelen’s wide-ranging practice has been motivated by the belief that art has an important role to play in enhancing understanding of and developing solutions for such critical topics as diversity and resilience, shifting outlooks on the environment, the relationships between nature and culture, and sustainable community building. With the opening of LABIOMISTA, Vanmechelen creates his largest, evolving artwork yet, capturing the trajectory of his practice and forming a dynamic platform for future endeavors.

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Recent News From Our Clients, February 2019

ARTnews, February 28: “San Antonio Museum of Art Names Lucia Abramovich Associate Curator of Latin American Art,“ by Claire Selvin

ARTnews, February 27: “Degrees of Mystery: B. Wurtz on Exhibitions Around New York,” including a spotlight on John Houck’s Holding Environment at Marianne Boesky Gallery, by B. Wurtz.

The Art Newspaper, February 27: “Hermitage and MoMA heads seek end to US-Russian loans freeze,“ by Martha Lufkin with Alison Cole, on the recent conference in Texas discussing ways to end the loan embargo

ARTnews, February 26: “Hollis Taggart Now Represents Estates of Michael Corinne West, Leon Berkowitz,” by Claire Selvin, on the gallery’s announcement of its exclusive representation of two artist estates

BURNAWAY: The Voice of Art in the South, February 26: “Nothing and Everything: Paul Stephen Benjamin in New York,” by Stephanie E. Goodalle, a review of artist Paul Stephen Benjamin’s recent solo exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Town & Country, February 25: “Inside Frank Gehry's Overhaul of Garden of Allah, L.A.’s Most Infamous Corner,“ by Lesley M.M. Blume, on the new Gehry-designed complex planned for 8150 Sunset Boulevard

artnet News, February 21: “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: Eurythmics Singer Annie Lennox Is Having a Solo Show at MASS MoCA,” by Sarah Cascone, on the large-scale, site-specific installation singer Annie Lennox will be creating for MASS MoCA, opening in May 2019

Architectural Digest, February 20: “Hugo Franca’s Natural Wood Furniture Arrives in the Rockies,” by Carly Olson, on the opening of Tropical Molecule at Boesky West, featuring the work of designer Hugo Franca and artist Thiago Rocha Pitta

artnet News, February 19: “Editors’ Picks: 16 Things Not to Miss in New York’s Art World This Week,” including the premiere of the film Staging Silence (3) by Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck at Marianne Boesky Gallery on February 23

Artforum, February 19: “Marianne Boesky Gallery Appoints Stephanie Gabriel Director,” by Lauren Cavalli, on the expansion of Marianne Boesky Gallery’s leadership team

ARTnews, February 19: “Marianne Boesky Gallery Names Stephanie Gabriel Director,” by Claire Selvin, on the gallery’s hiring of a new director and marketing and communications coordinator

Hyperallergic, February 15: “Black as a Sensory Experience,” a review of artist Paul Stephen Benjamin’s current solo exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery, written by Jasmine Weber

Art Papers, February 12: “The Infinite Nature of Black,” an interview with artist Paul Stephen Benjamin, written by Sarah Higgins, tied to his current solo exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery

modern Magazine, February 11: “The Influence of African American Designers in Chicago,” by Anna K. Talley, on the exhibition currently open at the Chicago Cultural Center as part of the Terra Foundation’s Art Design Chicago initiative

Artforum, February 8: “Baltimore Museum Of Art Receives $3.5 Million To Endow Chief Curator“ on the Museum’s news announcing long-term support for this position

New York Times, February 8: “Baltimore Museum of Art Gets $3.5 Million to Endow Chief Curator,“ by Sara Aridi, on the gift from philanthropists Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown, a position held by the recently appointed Dr. Asma Naeem

Artforum, February 7: “San Antonio Museum Of Art Gifted Several Works Of Contemporary Art,“ reporting on the news of multiple gifts—from multiple sources—to support the Museum’s collection-building initiatives

ARTnews, February 5: “San Antonio Museum of Art Receives Works from Dallas Collectors, Alex Katz Foundation,“ by Alex Greenberger, including works by Nic Nicosia, Catherine Lee, and a group of five other American artists

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Hollis Taggart to Celebrate Impact of Art Students League at The Armory Show I February 28, 2019

For its presentation at the 2019 edition of The Armory Show, Hollis Taggart will celebrate the importance and impact of The Art Students League, a fixture of the New York art scene for 140 years. The gallery’s exhibition will feature works by prior teachers and students, highlighting the dynamic conceptual and aesthetic interplay between the two and capturing a trajectory of artistic development. Among the prior teachers that will be exhibited are Hans Hofmann, Richard Pousette-Dart, Knox Martin, William Scharf, and Theodoros Stamos. League students that will be shown include Milton Avery, Leon Berkowitz, Helen Frankenthaler, Louise Nevelson, Jack Tworkov, Idelle Weber, and Michael (Corrine) West, among others.

Hollis Taggart is featured in Booth 206 on Pier 90 as part of the Insights sector. Dedicated exclusively to 20th century artworks, Insights emphasizes solo-artist, dual-artist, and thematic presentations, and highlights canonical works of modernism and the post-war era as well as overlooked artistic gems and rediscoveries.

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San Antonio Museum of Art Announces New Associate Curator of Latin American Art I February 28, 2019

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) announced today that it has hired Lucia Abramovich as the Museum’s new Associate Curator of Latin American Art, following the completion of an international search. Abramovich brings to the Museum extensive curatorial, research, and community engagement experience, including at the New Orleans Museum of Art, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection of Harvard University, and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.

The San Antonio Museum of Art’s Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Latin American Art encompasses more than 12,000 objects in the areas of Ancient America, Spanish colonial, Republican-era, Modern, Contemporary, and Folk Art. Among her projects at SAMA, Abramovich will reconceptualize and reinstall the Museum’s Latin American Folk Art collection, one of the most important collections of its kind in the United States. Abramovich will begin work in San Antonio in June 2019.

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Hollis Taggart Announces Its Exclusive Representation of Two Artist Estates I February 26, 2019

Hollis Taggart announced today the exclusive representation of the Michael (Corinne) West Estate. Michael West (1908-1991)—born Corinne Michelle West—is recognized by art historians as a vocal and active participant in the development of Abstract Expressionism, bringing a highly developed personal philosophy and vision to her work. Despite her substantive contributions to the dialogues and artistic innovations that shaped the movement, West is largely remembered for her relationship with artist Arshile Gorky—her own narrative obscured by the sexism of the period and the passage of time. With its new representation of West’s estate, Hollis Taggart aims to rectify the omission of West’s practice within our understanding of Abstract Expressionism and its relationship to subsequent modern art movements. The gallery’s representation of West follows its work in bringing to light and deepening scholarship on other historic female artists, including Audrey Flack, Grace Hartigan, Kay Sage, Marjorie Strider, and Idelle Weber, among others. Hollis Taggart will present an exhibition of West’s work in November 2019.

Hollis Taggart concurrently announced the exclusive representation of the Estate of Leon Berkowitz (1919-1987). Berkowitz founded the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts in 1945, creating the fertile ground on which the Washington Color School would be established. Although frequently associated with the group, Berkowitz resisted the School’s formal investigations in favor of more poetic and spiritual evocations of color and light. While his earlier works suggest a deliberate and ordered study of color, his later—and most recognized—canvases vibrate with luminescent bursts and mists of color that seem to extend well beyond the surface plane. The collaboration with the Estate marks an opportunity to further examine Berkowitz’s practice, which has connections to a wide range of artistic movements, from Color Field Painting to the California Light and Space Movement. Hollis Taggart will present an exhibition of Berkowitz’s work in September 2019.

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MASS MoCA Announces Highlights from Spring 2019 Exhibition Season I February 20, 2019

Each season MASS MoCA offers a powerful range of visual arts presentations that leverages its 250,000 square feet of gallery space, on-site fabrication capabilities, and adventurous spirit. The Spring 2019 season is no exception. Among the highlights are artist Trenton Doyle Hancock’s largest solo project to-date; the most comprehensive survey of works by artist Cauleen Smith; a site-specific installation by celebrated musician Annie Lennox; and an expansive group exhibition that examines the human condition in this particular socio-political moment. All of these exhibitions feature new works and debuts by the featured artists, and provide audiences with in-depth views of some the most topical dialogues and innovations in contemporary art.

Spring 2019 also marks MASS MoCA’s 20th anniversary, and the institution will celebrate on May 25, Memorial Day weekend, with a reception that celebrates three of its exhibitions, a block party, a benefit performance by Annie Lennox, and a rollicking concert—events that speak to MASS MoCA’s equally robust visual and performing arts programs and that activate its vibrant 16-acre campus.

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Marianne Boesky Gallery Appoints New Director and Communications Coordinator I February 19, 2019

Marianne Boesky Gallery announced today that it has appointed Stephanie Gabriel as Director and Sara Putterman as Marketing and Communications Coordinator. Gabriel worked at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, where she most recently served as a Partner. She will take her new position at Marianne Boesky on February 26, 2019. Sara Putterman joins from Sotheby’s New York, where she most recently held the position of Digital Marketing Manager. She will start at the gallery on February 21, 2019.

“Stephanie brings with her an incredible record of gallery leadership and wide range of long-standing relationships with artists and curators that will prove invaluable to our growing operations. And with the digital realm becoming increasingly important to reaching artists, collectors, and influential leaders alike, Sara’s experience in digital communications will play an important role as we look to the future of the gallery. We are delighted to welcome both of them to our team,” said Marianne Boesky.

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Artist Hans Op de Beeck to Premiere New Film at Marianne Boesky on February 23 I February 14, 2019

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present Staging Silence (3), a new film created by Brussels-based artist Hans Op de Beeck. The film, which will make its international premiere at the gallery on February 23, 2019, is the third and final installment in Op de Beeck’s Staging Silence series, with prior films having debuted in 2009 and 2013. The presentation will also include a new life-sized sculpture, several smaller sculptural works, and a selection of watercolors to provide a more holistic experience of the artist’s wide-ranging practice. The film, and accompanying exhibition, will be on view through April 6, 2019 at the gallery’s 507 W. 24th Street location.

Staging Silence (3) takes the viewer on a journey through a series of desolate scenes, gradually constructed and deconstructed by a pair of anonymous hands that act as either divine creator or grand puppeteer. Ranging from hyper-realistic fictional land and cityscapes to absurd, almost surreal, dreamscapes, the various locations are connected by the sense of mystery and melancholy that pervades them. The emergence and disappearance of these interiors and views evoke a wide range of sensations, from nostalgia to tragedy to optimism, and, in some instances, even to humor. These evocations are further accentuated by the film’s original score, produced by Op de Beeck in collaboration with Scanner.

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Baltimore Museum of Art Receives Major Gift to Endow Chief Curator Position I February 8, 2019

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced a gift of $3.5 million from Baltimore-based philanthropists Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown to endow the position of Chief Curator at the museum. The Browns’ support and advocacy for the BMA spans more than two decades and includes important contributions of both art and funds to expand the museum’s presentations and collections of works by African American artists. This most recent gift underscores the Browns’ ongoing generosity and commitment to the BMA and marks a critical development for the museum as it continues to enact its vision to position social equity at the core of its mission.

The announcement of the newly endowed Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Chief Curator—one of the few curatorial positions in the United States named for an African American couple—follows the August 2018 chief curatorial appointment of Dr. Asma Naeem, whose background includes extensive new scholarship into the work of female artists and artists of color. Together, these two milestones highlight the BMA’s commitment to addressing the need for increased diversity in the museum field not only through its exhibitions and programs but also through its internal composition and structures.

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Works by Yinka Shonibare CBE to Open at Driehaus Museum I February 7, 2019

On March 2, the Richard H. Driehaus Museum will open A Tale of Today: Yinka Shonibare CBE, the inaugural exhibition in the Museum’s new contemporary art series. The London-born and -based artist, who was raised in Nigeria, has drawn on both his English and African history throughout his career, to create visually compelling art in a variety of media. The upcoming exhibition at the Driehaus—the artist’s first museum exhibition in Chicago in over five years—will feature photographs, sculpture and installations. A through-line in Shonibare’s practice has been an exploration of the intersection between the attitudes and trappings of the past, such as the Victorian Age, and the values and mores of the present. It is for this reason that the artist was selected to launch the Driehaus Museum’s new series, which will provide opportunities for audiences to see the history of the Gilded Age through different lenses, and explore the social, class, racial and economic issues that make that history relevant to society now. A Tale of Today: Yinka Shonibare CBE is organized by the Driehaus Museum and runs through September 29, 2019.

Formally titled A Tale of Today: New Artists at the Driehaus, the Driehaus Museum’s contemporary art series will continue over the next three years, with variations on the program that explore new perspectives and feature new artists—with an emphasis on engaging artists of color as well as underrepresented communities within Chicago. In Spring 2020, the Driehaus will collaborate with Chicago-based artists, including Nate Young, while the third iteration, in 2021, will be A Tale of Today: Mark Dion, presenting works by the American artist who is particularly known for exploring the history of knowledge and science in his artistic practice. The Museum’s new series takes its name from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, the 1873 book by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner that originally coined the phrase that subsequently became the name for this period in American history.

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Series of Contemporary Art Gifts Go To San Antonio Museum of Art I February 6, 2019

The San Antonio Museum of Art announced today that it has received three separate gifts of contemporary art to support the continued growth and diversification of its collection. The Dallas Consortium has given Nic Nicosia’s major work Space Time Light (2008-2009), which comprises a series 10 large-scale archival inkjet images on canvases. It is the first work by the artist to enter the collection. At the same time, the Alex Katz Foundation, which has been focused on donating works of art by living American artists to American art museums, has donated one work each by artists Katherine Bernhardt, Richard Bosman, Juan Gomez, Lauren Nickou, and Virginia Overton. The third gift, from an anonymous donor, is a large-scale bronze sculpture by American artist Catherine Lee. Many of these gifts are now on view at the Museum, in its newly reinstalled galleries of contemporary art.

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Hollis Taggart to Represent Estate of Norman Bluhm; Exhibition to Open in March I February 5, 2019

Hollis Taggart is pleased to announce representation of the Estate of Norman Bluhm, Abstract Expressionist painter (1921-1999). From his early richly-layered canvases to his more structured and vibrant later works, Bluhm’s paintings are recognized for their compelling evocations of movement and energy. To mark the new collaboration, Hollis Taggart will present an exhibition focused on Bluhm’s work from the 1970s at its primary Chelsea location at 521 W. 26th Street, opening on March 14, 2019. The exhibition, Norman Bluhm: The ‘70s, will be accompanied by an essay by the poet and art critic John Yau, a long-time friend and advocate of Bluhm’s work.

“Norman Bluhm was an exceptionally gifted painter, who showed extensively in New York and Europe throughout his career. Despite his artistic achievements, Bluhm’s full creative trajectory has not garnered the critical evaluation and scholarship it deserves. With the upcoming exhibition—and the others that will follow—we look forward to bringing new audiences and attention to his work, and in doing so, supporting a more robust examination and understanding of the artists that participated in and propelled Abstract Expressionism and the movements that have followed,” said Hollis Taggart. “We have shown Bluhm’s work in numerous group exhibitions over the years, and are excited for the opportunity to examine and present his work more expansively and with greater focus on his particular vision and techniques.”

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Recent News From Our Clients, January 2019

Metropolis, January 31: “LABIOMISTA, a ‘Reverse Zoo’ Anchored by a Mario Botta–Designed Building, Set to Open in 2019,“ by Alice Bucknell, reporting on artist Koen Vanmechelen’s multi-building, 60-acre project located in Genk, Belgium

Wall Street Journal, January 29: “‘Monet’s Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process’ Review: Paintings That Span London’s Many Moods,“ by Judith H. Dobrzynski, on the exhibition now on view at the Worcester Art Museum through April 28

Artforum, January 21: “Canada’s MacKenzie Art Gallery Gifted One Thousand Works Of Contemporary Indigenous And Inuit Art,“ on a gift that builds on the museum’s strengths in Indigenous art

The Art Newspaper, January 15: “MacKenzie Art Gallery given 1,000 works by contemporary indigenous artists from Canada and the US,“ by Judith H. Dobrzynski on the gift of works by collectors Thomas Druyan and Alice Ladner

The Eye of Photography, January 15: “Capturing the Moment: Photographs from the Marie Brenner and Ernest Pomerantz Collection,“ on the gift of works and related exhibition at the San Antonio Museum of Art, beginning February 22, 2019

artnet News, January 14: “Editors’ Picks: 16 Things Not to Miss in New York’s Art World This Week,” by Sarah Cascone, on the upcoming opening of artist Paul Stephen Benjamin’s first solo exhibition in NYC at Marianne Boesky Gallery.

The Art Newspaper, January 11: “Is an art Cold War thaw coming? US and Russian museum leaders and diplomats to discuss loan freeze,“ by Victoria Stapley-Brown, on the upcoming public conversation in Dallas to discuss art exchanges

Artforum, January 10: “Joan Mitchell Foundation Names 2019 Artists in Residence,” by Lauren Cavalli, reporting on the artists who will be taking up residencies at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans this year.

ARTnews, January 10: “Joan Mitchell Foundation Names 2019 Artists-in-Residence,” by Annie Armstrong, announcing the 32 artists who have been awarded residencies at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans.

The Oregonian, January 3: “5 Portland artists recognized with $25,000 Joan Mitchell Foundation grants,“ by Amy Wang, reporting on recent awards to local artists as part of the Foundation’s annual Painters & Sculptors Grants

Architectural Digest, January 3: “A Century of Black Designers Receive Belated Recognition in Chicago,“ by Carly Olson, on the exhibition African American Designers in Chicago: Art, Commerce, and the Politics of Race, on view now at the Chicago Cultural Center as part of the Art Design Chicago initiative

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Explore Hiroshige’s 69 Prints of Japan’s Provinces at the Worcester Art Museum I January 30, 2019

This winter, the Worcester Art Museum (WAM) will explore a pivotal period in Japanese history, through the eyes of artist Utagawa Hiroshige (1797−1858) and his print series Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces (1853-1856). Created during a time of change—after a growing network of roads spurred an increase in tourism within Japan—Hiroshige’s 69 prints tapped into this growing fascination with the country’s landscape and captured many meisho, or famous places, long catalogued in Japan’s literary tradition. Organized by the Worcester Art Museum from the complete set of this series in its collection, Travels with Hiroshige will be on view February 23 – May 26, 2019.

While Hiroshige did some sketching outdoors, for Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces he referred extensively to other sources, including Japan’s centuries-old landscape painting tradition and numerous commercial travel guides that had been developed before or during his lifetime. Among those was the popular guidebook, Exceptional Mountain and Water Landscapes (1800–1802). The result was a series of works that both aspired to topographical accuracy and yet were infused with an artist’s creativity about imagined places.

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Marianne Boesky to Open Exhibition of Work by Hugo Franca and Thiago Rocha Pitta in Aspen I January 30, 2019

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present Tropical Molecule, an exhibition featuring the work of designer Hugo França and artist Thiago Rocha Pitta at Boesky West in Aspen, Colorado. Distinct in their conceptual and aesthetic approaches, Rocha Pitta and França are nonetheless united by a shared commitment to engaging with and honoring the natural environment, especially in their home country of Brazil. On view from February 15 through March 31, 2019, the exhibition will include França’s characteristic sculptural furniture alongside a selection of Rocha Pitta’s watercolors, frescos, and photographs. A new sculpture by Rocha Pitta will also be installed on the exterior of the gallery. Together, the works, which are being shown together for the first time, capture the continuously blurring boundaries between art and design and highlight nature as a powerful source of inspiration across discipline and time.

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Baltimore Museum of Art to Open Major Exhibition of Surrealist Masterworks in February I January 17, 2019

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) presents the first major exhibition to examine how 20th-century European and American Surrealist artists used monsters and mythic figures to depict their experiences of war, violence, and exile. Monsters & Myths: Surrealism and War in the 1930s and 1940s includes 90 works by Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, André Masson, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, Dorothea Tanning, and others who were affected by the political turmoil of the Spanish Civil War and World War II. On view in Baltimore February 24–May 26, 2019, this ticketed exhibition is co-organized by the BMA and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.

During the pivotal years between the world wars, European and American avant-garde artists responded to the rise of Hitler and the spread of Fascism by creating some of the most compelling images of the Surrealist movement. Monstros­ities in the real world bred monsters in paintings and sculpture, on film, and in the pages of journals and artists’ books. The BMA’s exhibition is organized with thematic sections that focus on prominent subjects such as the Minotaur, as well as sections on the artists’ responses to social and political upheavals, including Premonition of War, The Spanish Civil War, World War II, and Surrealism in the Americas. Exhibition highlights include Picasso’s Minotauromachy (1935), Dalí’s Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of a Civil War) (1936), Ernst’s Europe After the Rain II (1940–42), and Masson’s There Is No Finished World (1942). Among the works by American artists responding to the war are Rothko’s The Syrian Bull (1943) and Tanning’s The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1945/46). The exhibition concludes with two films: Un Chien Andalou (1929) by Luis Buñuel and Dalí and Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) by Maya Deren.

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Drawing By Goya, Painting By Fortuny Are Acquired By The Meadows Museum I January 17, 2019

The Meadows Museum, SMU, has acquired two works that complement important aspects of its exceptional collection of Spanish art. A drawing by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828), titled Visions (c. 1819–23), is the first Goya drawing to enter the Meadows collection, which already includes six of the artist’s paintings and important holdings of his prints, including first-edition sets of the Spanish master’s four print series.

The Museum has also acquired Crouched Arab (c. 1871), an oil sketch by Mariano Fortuny y Marsal (1838–1874) that was used for a figure in the artist’s larger canvas Tribunal of the Alhambra (1871). Both works will be on view at the Meadows Museum this spring: the Fortuny sketch will join the Museum’s upcoming exhibition Fortuny: Friends and Followers opening on February 3 and the Goya drawing will be installed with a small selection of related works from the Museum’s permanent collection on April 30.

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Hollis Taggart Moves Its Satellite Space and Announces New Exhibition Series for Spring I January 15, 2019

Hollis Taggart announced today that it has moved its satellite space at the High Line to a new street-front location, increasing its square footage and visibility. The gallery first opened the secondary location in September 2018 as part of its expansion in Chelsea, which also included moving its primary space from the seventh to the ground floor of an arts complex on W. 26th. The satellite at the High Line will continue to operate as a project space, serving to test the appeal of the rapidly developing area as well as collector and public interest in the work of a range of both contemporary and historic American artists. Located at 507 W. 27th Street, the new Hollis Taggart: High Line will open on January 16, with a group exhibition of contemporary work. The space will be open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

The new Hollis Taggart: High Line will open with a group exhibition, featuring the work of Pablo Atchugarry, William Buchina, Audrey Flack, Alex Kanevsky, Li Lihong, Esther Ruiz, and Alan Wolfson, among others. Titled Selections from our Contemporary Collection, the exhibition highlights the range and depth of the gallery’s contemporary holdings. On March 4, the gallery will launch an exhibition series that explores the work of under-recognized—in some instances forgotten—American artists. The first exhibition will focus on the work of Harry Bertschmann, whose early output was considered alongside the paintings of Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, and Mark Rothko. Unlike his contemporaries, however, in the 1960s Bertschmann began shifting his focus to the commercial success he found in graphic design, producing logos and advertisements for well-known brands like Pond’s and Bufferin. Although his participation in exhibitions and with commercial galleries diminished, he remained a prolific painter throughout his life.

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1,000 Works Of Contemporary Indigenous And Inuit Art Gifted To Mackenzie Art Gallery I January 14, 2019

The MacKenzie Art Gallery today announced that it has received a pledged gift of more than 1,000 works of art by contemporary Indigenous and Inuit artists from Edmonton-based collectors, Thomas Druyan and Alice Ladner. The Kampelmacher Memorial Collection of Indigenous Art, named in honour of Druyan’s grandparents Wolf and Sala Kampelmacher, began in 1992 and is the product of the couple’s commitment to engaging with artists and galleries that reflect the myriad of artistic expressions of Indigenous art from across North America. For the MacKenzie, Indigenous art has long been a core area of activity. With this gift, the Gallery can strengthen this capacity, developing an expanded array of exhibitions and programs for current and future audiences and, especially, students, scholars, and members of the community. A selection of works from the collection is touring as part of the MacKenzie’s Provincial Touring Artists and Exhibition Program and additional pieces will be on view at the Gallery beginning January 25, 2019.

The MacKenzie’s relationship with Druyan and Ladner formally began with the 2016 exhibition Across the Turtle’s Back: The Kampelmacher Memorial Collection of Indigenous Art. The first part of their gift—which will be made in three installments over a three-year period—includes 221 of the 234 works from that exhibition. As Across the Turtle’s Back demonstrated, Druyan and Ladner share a vision that is driven by the expressive qualities of individual works. This has resulted in an eclectic collection, often incorporating Indigenous artists they felt were deserving of greater recognition.

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U.S. And Russian Art Exchanges: A Public Conversation On Opportunities to End the Impasse I January 11, 2019

Finding a Way: The Soft Diplomacy of Art Exchanges Between Russia and the United States: a public discussion on February 13, 2019 with several leading American and Russian art museum directors, academics and diplomats, addressing a major challenge in cross-cultural collaboration. Since late-2010, the government of Russia has withheld loans of artwork from its state-owned museums and collections to borrowers in the United States. This moratorium followed an unrelated Federal District Court decision in July 2010, and a fear that artworks on loan to the U.S. might be seized by U.S. courts—even those objects that have received formal immunity from seizure by the U.S. State Department.

The Russian moratorium, led to an informal reciprocal moratorium by most U.S. museums, which refused to lend to Russian state-owned museums if their loans could not be reciprocated. The lack of art exchanges has affected museum exhibitions to the detriment of audiences in both countries, as well as imposed limitations on new scholarship and research. This public discussion is an opportunity for leaders from both sides to engage, share their concerns, and—hopefully—identify ways to improve cultural collaboration between the two countries.

Organized by the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), the Meadows Museum, SMU, and the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies, SMU. Participants include: Ambassador Mikhail Shvydkoy, former Minister of Culture, former Special Envoy for International Cultural Cooperation, Russian Federation; Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director, State Hermitage Museum; and Glenn Lowry, Director, Museum of Modern Art. The conversation will be moderated by Daniel Orlovsky, Professor and George Bouhe Research Fellow in Russian Studies at SMU.

February 13, 2019, 5 - 7:30 PM CST. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. To register, contact the Tower Center at either 214-768-4716 or tower@smu.edu. The event will also be streamed live and will be accessible through the Tower Center website: https://www.smu.edu/towercenter

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Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces 32 Artists Selected for Residency at Its Center I January 10, 2019

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today the 32 artists to whom it has awarded residencies at its Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans for the coming year. All of the artists will be provided with private studio space at the Center, which sits on a two-acre campus in the historic Faubourg Treme neighborhood, along with a stipend, communal dinners, and opportunities to participate in programs that actively engage both the professional arts community and the public. Additionally, those artists traveling to the Center from outside New Orleans are provided with on-site lodging and financial support to transport necessary materials and works. The Artist-in-Residence program was developed as an extension of the Foundation’s support of the local arts community in New Orleans following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and has become a vital realization of artist Joan Mitchell’s vision to provide artists with the necessities of time and space to create their work.

The Foundation first began hosting artists in temporary residency spaces in New Orleans in 2013, and then opened the Joan Mitchell Center in 2015. Over these five years, it has hosted nearly 200 artists. Establishing opportunities for local artists in New Orleans remains a critical aspect of the Foundation’s work at the Center, and every Artist-in-Residence cycle includes a selection of artists from the city. The residency program is complemented by a roster of events, including open studios, artist talks, and networking events, which foster creative exchange and encourage relationship-building among artists and other members of the New Orleans community. Artists also have access to professional training and advisement, including studio visits with curators, and consultations and workshops with arts, business, and legal professionals.

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Paul Benjamin to Open First Solo Exhibition in New York at Marianne Boesky Gallery I January 7, 2019

On January 19, Marianne Boesky Gallery will open Pure, Very, New, Atlanta-based artist Paul Stephen Benjamin’s first solo exhibition in New York. Presented across both of the gallery’s Chelsea locations, at 509 and 507 W. 24th Street, the exhibition will feature Benjamin’s paintings, photographs, sculpture, and single and multi-channel video installations, as well as a new site-specific black light installation to be created in the internal passageway between the two spaces. Curated by independent curator Lisa Freiman, the exhibition will highlight Benjamin’s years-long examination of the word “black” as a linguistic, conceptual, and cultural construct. Pure, Very, New, which will be accompanied by a catalogue, will remain open through February 16, 2019.

Benjamin’s practice is rooted in a vigorous meditation on blackness, considering: “What is the color black?” “What does black sound like?” “Is it an adjective, a verb, an essence, or all of these components mixed to create a nuanced whole?” For his large-scale monochromatic paintings, Benjamin thickly coats the canvas in varying shades of black, producing a sensation of boundless depth. This is further accentuated by Benjamin’s application of the particular tonality’s name within the field of color—the words appearing to float and dissipate within the richness of the paint itself. The development of these paintings followed an ordinary visit to a hardware store, where Benjamin was confronted with the many permutations of commercial black paint. Shades of black came with emotive titles like “Totally Black,” “New Black,” and “Pure Black,” among numerous others. For Benjamin, this sparked a multi-layered investigation of the color and whether it could be distilled or understood differently within the context of a painting or the color itself.

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Recent News From Our Clients, December 2018

Artforum, December 18: “Art Gallery Of Ontario Appoints Heidi Reitmaier New Deputy Director,“ on the AGO’s new director of Public Programming and Learning

ARTnews, December 18: “Art Gallery of Ontario Names Heidi Reitmaier Deputy Director and Chief of Public Programming and Learning,“ by Annie Armstrong, on the AGO’s new hire

ARTnews, December 12: “Joan Mitchell Foundation Names Recipients of 2018 Painters & Sculptors Grants,” by Annie Armstrong, on the announcement of the 25 artists awarded $25,000 in unrestricted funds as part of the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s Painters & Sculptors Grants.

Artforum, December 12: “Joan Mitchell Foundation Names 2018 Grant Recipients,” by Lauren Cavalli, announcing the 2018 recipients of the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s Painters & Sculptors Grants, which awards 25 artists with $25,000 in unrestricted funds.

Brooklyn Rail, December 11: “A Gift from One Artist to Many: The Joan Mitchell Foundation,” an essay by Christa Blatchford, CEO of the Joan Mitchell Foundation, for the Brooklyn Rail’s special section on artist-endowed foundations.

Brooklyn Rail, December 11: “John Houck: Holding Environment,” by David Carrier, on the artist’s currently open exhibition, Holding Environment, at Marianne Boesky Gallery through December 22.

Collector Daily, December 6: “John Houck, Holding Environment @Marianne Boesky,“ by Richard B. Woodward, on the artist’s new exhibition, Holding Environment, on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery through December 22

British Journal of Photography, December 6: “John Houck’s iterative still-life photography,“ by Marigold Warner, on the artist’s new exhibition, Holding Environment, on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery through December 22

Photograph, November/December 2018: “John Houck: Holding Environment at Marianne Boesky Gallery,“ by Taylor Dafoe, reviewing the artist’s exhibition, on view through December 22, 2018

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Artist Matthias Bitzer to Open Solo Exhibition at Boesky West in Aspen I December 13, 2018

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new and recent works by Berlin-based artist Matthias Bitzer at Boesky West in Aspen, Colorado. In his multi-disciplinary work, Bitzer weaves together artistic and literary references to create an otherworldly realm, where the real and imagined meld and a sense of space and time is dislocated. With the upcoming exhibition, Bitzer’s engagement with the visual and written arts breaks new ground, capturing the conceptual explorations within his own storytelling and dovetailing with a novel that he is currently developing. Indeed, the exhibition title, 3, speaks to the triade of Bitzer’s two protagonists and the narrative possibilities that exist between them. The show will be on view from December 19, 2018 through February 3, 2019, and marks the artist’s third solo presentation with the gallery.

Bitzer’s practice is known for an interplay between seemingly disparate subjects, sources, and contexts, culled from historical and literary images and texts, fictional imaginings, and his dreams and real-life experiences. In his mixed-media collages, paintings, sculptures, and multi-part installations, these fragments come together to reveal unseen narratives and surprising connections. Portraits of unidentified characters have emerged throughout Bitzer’s oeuvre—in some instances inspired by historical figures such as Berthold Brecht, Lotte Lenya, and Emily Dickinson, and in others from his own life. Within Bitzer’s work, however, they become dislodged from their origins and are presented anew, as kinds of apparitions or memories.

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Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces Recipients of 2018 Painters & Sculptors Grants I December 12, 2018

The Joan Mitchell Foundation today announced the 2018 recipients of its annual Painters & Sculptors Grants, which provide 25 artists with $25,000 each in unrestricted funds. The unrestricted nature of the grants aligns with artist Joan Mitchell’s recognition that having the time and freedom to create is as important to the development of one’s practice as support for specific endeavors. As such, the Foundation, whose mission was set forth in Mitchell’s will, remains committed to providing artists with the flexibility to determine how best to use the grants to advance their careers. In addition to the financial support, recipients of the Painters & Sculptors Grants become eligible to apply for residencies at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans and gain access to a network of arts professionals, who can provide consultations on career development and financial management.

To be eligible for a grant, artists are nominated by artist peers and arts professionals selected from throughout the US, and are then chosen through an anonymous multi-phase jurying process. Over the last several years, the Foundation has increased its attention to equity and access in the selection process, expanding the pool of nominators and jurors to include more geographic, ethnic, and experiential diversity and to ensure that the nominees reflect a spectrum of backgrounds and approaches to their work. Among this year’s class of Painters & Sculptors grantees, more than 70% of the grantees identify as female and approximately 80% as non-white, with those identifying as Black, African, African-American, and Caribbean comprising 36% of that number and Hispanic, Latinx, and Chicanx individuals 20%. The artists also range in age from 28 to 59 and hail from 10 states across the US.

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Recent News From Our Clients, November 2018

Centurion, Print Winter Issue: “The Dialogues of Diversity,” by Brian Noone, examining the multi-disciplinary work of artist Koen Vanmechelen and his newest project LABIOMISTA

Artforum, November 28: “San Antonio Museum Of Art Receives Gift Of More Than 850 Photographs,“ announcing the gift to the Museum from Marie Brenner and Ernest Pomerantz and the upcoming exhibition of works drawn from the collection

Quartz, November 28: “An eye-opening exhibition shows how scientific breakthroughs shaped modern art,“ by Anne Quito, exploring the new exhibition Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein, organized by the Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, and on view now at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

ARTnews, November 27: “San Antonio Museum of Art Receives 850 Photographs from Marie Brenner and Ernest Pomerantz,“ by Alex Greenberger, announcing the gift and Capturing the Moment, the Museum’s upcoming exhibition drawn from the collection

Financial Times, November 24: “The Art Market: Results as clear as day,“ by Melanie Gerlis, including the announcement of the gift of more then 850 photographs to the San Antonio Museum of Art from collectors Marie Brenner and Ernest Pomerantz

ARTnews, November 20: “Jennifer Bartlett Is Now Represented by Marianne Boesky and Paula Cooper Galleries,” by Alex Greenberger, announcing the two galleries’ co-representation of the acclaimed artist.

New York Times, November 14: “What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week,“ by Will Heinrich, featuring exhibitions by John Houck and Svenja Deininger at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Chicago Tribune, November 14: “Contemporary art by people of color will explore beauty and inequality at Driehaus Museum,“ by KT Hawbaker, announcing the Museum’s contemporary art program, titled “A Tale of Today,” and launching in March 2019

The Magazine Antiques, November 14: “Contemporary art confronts the Gilded Age at the Driehaus,“ by Cillian Finnerty, on the Richard H. Driehaus Museum’s new contemporary art program, which begins in March 2019 with an exhibition of works by Yinka Shonibare MBE

Atlas Obscura, November 13: “A Madcap Project Aims to Rejuvenate a Former Mining Town in Belgium,“ by Amandas Ong, on a visit to LABIOMISTA, the new studio and site being developed by artist Koen Vanmechelen and opening in June 2019

Inside Philanthropy, November 7: “Inside the Joan Mitchell Foundation: How a Visual Arts Funder Is Evolving,“ by Mike Scutari, in conversation with Christa Blatchford, CEO of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

artnet news, November 5: “Editors’ Picks: 17 Things Not to Miss in New York’s Art World This Week,“ by Sarah Cascone, including the new exhibition Idelle Weber: Postures and Profiles from the ’50s and ’60s, at Hollis Taggart through December 15, 2018

Artforum, November 2: “AAMD Announces Partner Museums in Internship Program for Underrepresented College Students,“ about the Association’s new paid internship program and the 10 museums selected to host interns

The Calvert Journal, November 2: “Punk Orientalism: these artists are confronting the legacy of Soviet imperialism,“ by Katie Davies, on the upcoming exhibition at the MacKenzie Art Gallery

The Boston Globe, November 2: “The Ticket: What’s happening in the local art world,“ including Rotherwas Project #4: Yinka Shonibare MBE, The American Library Collection (Activists) now open at the Mead Art Museum, Amherst College

Artforum, November 1: “Joan Mitchell Foundation Releases Workbook To Support Artists With Estate Planning,“ on the Foundation’s release of Estate Planning for Visual Artists: A Workbook for Attorneys & Executors, part of the Foundation’s Creating a Living Legacy (CALL) initiative

Town & Country, November 2018: “The T&C 50: The Most Influential Families in Media, Art, and Culture Around the World,“ including artists Nikolai and Simon Haas, represented by Marianne Boesky Gallery

The Art Newspaper, November 2018: “Long-running Sol LeWitt show adds another decade,“ by Victoria Stapley-Brown and Helen Stoilas, on the extension of MASS MoCA’s career-spanning LeWitt installation until 2043

The Art Newspaper, November 2018: “When the avant-garde met E=mc2,“ by Hannah McGivern, on the exhibition Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein, organized by the Mead Art Museum and opening November 7, 2018 at the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive

The Art Newspaper, November 2018: “In The Trade,” announcing that Hollis Taggart will now represent artist Idelle Weber; the gallery has an exhibition of her work opening on November 8, 2018

Apollo, November 2018: “Letter: The Scene is Reminiscent of Jurassic Park,“ by Digby Warde-Aldam, on his visit to Genk, Belgium, to preview artist Koen Vanmechelen’s new studio and site, LABIOMISTA

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San Antonio Museum of Art Receives Gift of More Than 850 Photographs I November 27, 2018

The San Antonio Museum of Art has been given more than 850 photographs by collectors Marie Brenner and Ernest Pomerantz. The works, which begin in the 1920s and run into the 1990s, track transformative events such as The Great Depression, World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement, as well as scenes of urban and rural life, such as the marqueed chaos of Times Square or the gnarled trees of the Sierra Mountains. To celebrate this gift, the Museum—which has been steadily growing its photography collection over the last three years—will present the exhibition Capturing the Moment: Photographs from the Marie Brenner and Ernest Pomerantz Collection, opening February 22 and running through May 12, 2019.

Among the artists whose work is included in the gift and the exhibition are Dmitri Baltermants, Ilse Bing, Paul Caponigro, Henri Cartier-Bresson, W.E. Dassonville, Mike Disfarmer, Leonard Freed, Danny Lyon, Joel Meyerowitz, Arthur Rothstein, Stephen Shore, and Louis Clyde Stoumen. The work of many of these photographers was informed by changes in camera technology, such as the introduction in 1924 of the lightweight Leica 35mm camera. These very portable cameras made it possible for photographers to enter any landscape and document events—capturing what the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson termed the “decisive moment,” that split second that reveals a subject’s larger truth.

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Marianne Boesky Now Represents Jennifer Bartlett, in Partnership with Paula Cooper I November 21, 2018

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to announce representation of acclaimed artist Jennifer Bartlett, in partnership with Paula Cooper Gallery. To mark the new collaboration, the two galleries will present mixed-media installations by Bartlett at Art Basel Miami Beach in December, with Marianne Boesky showing Boats (1987) and Paula Cooper featuring Beaver: Man Carrying Thing (1989). In both works, Bartlett unites her monumental paintings with steel sculptural forms, extending the imagery held within the two-dimensional space into the third dimension and, in doing so, inviting the viewer to step into and become part of the scene. A solo exhibition of Bartlett’s work is also slated for Marianne Boesky’s primary location in Chelsea at 509 W. 24th Street in fall 2019.

Of Jennifer’s work and career, Marianne Boesky said, “I admire Jennifer’s ambition and her courage to constantly challenge herself and her audience through painting. She began her career as a rare female minimalist painter during the 1970s and has maintained an ever-evolving practice. Her most recent works continue to showcase her unbound curiosity and ability as a painter—something that is markedly difficult to find. Her work deserves much greater visibility.”

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Hollis Taggart Announces Andy Warhol and Jeffrey Becton Exhibitions for High Line Location I November 2, 2018

Tomorrow, November 3, Hollis Taggart will open Warhol’s Social Media at its High Line Nine location at 507 W. 27th Street, featuring more than thirty original photographs produced by Andy Warhol in the 1970s and ‘80s. The photographs, which capture celebrities as diverse as Dolly Parton, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Truman Capote, encapsulate Warhol’s fascination with both notoriety and anonymity, and highlight his fervent commitment to documentation and artistic experimentation. This presentation of historic photographs will be followed by an exhibition of works by Jeffrey C. Becton, a pioneer in digital photography. Opening on November 28, the exhibition, Looking Out, Looking In: Jeffrey Becton, will showcase the artist’s digital photomontages, which he creates by fusing elements of photography, painting, drawing, and other techniques. Experienced in succession, the upcoming exhibitions at Hollis Taggart provide a dynamic trajectory of approach and innovation within photography and underscore the genre’s capacity to portray both reality and fiction.

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Joan Mitchell Foundation Releases Estate Planning Workbook for Artists and Attorneys I November 1, 2018

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today the release of a new workbook, titled Estate Planning for Visual Artists: A Workbook for Attorneys & Executors. Developed in partnership with the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston (A&BC), the workbook includes in-depth sections on legal matters pertaining to intellectual property and copyright as well as estate vehicles, such as wills, trusts, and artist-endowed foundations, among others. The legal details are complemented by perspectives from a diverse group of arts professionals, who offer further information and context on the constellation of entities and relationships that play a role in the legacy-planning process. The workbook is part of the Foundation’s Creating a Living Legacy (CALL) initiative, which provides resources and tools for artists in the areas of studio organization, documentation, and the inventorying of artworks.

The creation of Estate Planning for Visual Artists: A Workbook for Attorneys & Executors marks the second collaboration between the Foundation and A&BC. In 2014, the two organizations partnered to produce and release the Estate Planning Workbook for Visual Artists, which provides guidance to artists on artwork documentation, intellectual property, and the basic components of estate planning. The new workbook builds on the original advice—intended primarily for artists—by focusing in particular on the needs of estate planning attorneys and others working with artists on their legacies. With this resource, the Foundation aims to expand the pool of attorneys with knowledge and experience in this area, as well as to provide insights and increase understanding of this important work in the arts field. Both workbooks are available free-of-charge on the Foundation’s website, along with a Career Documentation Guide and other resources for visual artists.

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Recent News From Our Clients, October 2018

The Art Newspaper, October 31: “US museums are too white, and this paid internship programme hopes to change that,“ by Gabriella Angeleti, announcing the 10 museums participating in the new program from the Association of Art Museum Directors

Introspective Magazine, October 28: “Before Art Deco Hit Miami Beach, Streamline Moderne Had Taken Over Chicago,“ by Ted Loos, on the new exhibition Modern by Design: Chicago Streamlines America, at the Chicago History Museum

Artforum, October 26: “Massachusetts Foundations Team Up To Launch $25 Million Arts Initiative,“ announcing the Barr-Klarman Arts Capacity Building Initiative, which includes a $600,000 grant to the Worcester Art Museum

ARTnews, October 25: “Worcester Art Museum Receives $600,000 Grant from Barr and the Klarman Family Foundation,“ by Andrew Russeth, and also including news of the Museum’s grant of nearly $250,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)

ArtAsiaPacific, October 22: “AAP Monthly Picks: October–November 2018,“ including Punk Orientalism, opening November 10, 2018 at MacKenzie Art Gallery

Hyperallergic, October 18: “Art Movements,“ by Jasmine Weber, including the news that artist Idelle Weber will now be represented by Hollis Taggart, which will feature her in an upcoming exhibition

Wallpaper*, October 14: “Edward Burtynsky surveys the devastating scale of man’s footprint on the planet,“ by Tom Seymour, including new images, film, and Augmented Reality works, part of the Anthropocene exhibition, on view now at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada

Elephant, October 8: “Unpicking the Dominant Narratives of Sex with Veronica Brovall,“ by Alice Bucknell, including mention of Brovall’s exhibition this summer at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

artnet news, October 5: “Joan Mitchell Is Having More Than a Moment. Here’s How the Artist’s Foundation Has Championed Her Market and Legacy,“ by Sarah Cascone, on the mission and recent activities of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Wallpaper*, October 2018: “Wonder lab,“ by Giovanna Dunmall, exploring artist Koen Vanmechelen’s 60-acre LABIOMISTA project and its new, Mario Botta-designed studio building

Fine Art Connoisseur, September/October 2018: including Dalí: Poetics of the Small, the first exhibition to explore the artist’s small-scale paintings, on view at the Meadows Museum through December 9, 2018

Apollo, October 2018: “Q&A: Edward Burtynsky on the future of the planet,“ an interview with the artist by Fatema Ahmed, tied to the exhibition Anthropocene, on view now at the Art Gallery of Ontario and National Gallery of Canada

Departures, Fall 2018: “Persian Promise With a centuries-old artistic heritage, a flourishing diaspora and undeniable international momentum, contemporary Iranian art is on a trajectory like no other,“ by Brian Noone, including Sophia Contemporary Gallery, which showed a number of Iranian artists

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Ten Museum Internship Partners Selected by AAMD I October 31, 2018

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) today announced the selection of its 10 art museum partners for its internship program focused on undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds. These 10 museums, all AAMD members, were chosen from a group of more than 50 applications submitted throughout the summer. Partner museums for this pilot year of the program were chosen based on several factors, including: the proposed project focus for the participating intern; geographic diversity, representing a range of communities across the United States; and type of institution, including those with an encyclopedic collection, and those with a focus on modern and contemporary art. This initiative is supported by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as additional financial and logistical support from AAMD and the participating member museums.

The 10 participating institutions are: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, AK; Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS; Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT; Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; and The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC.

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Exhibition at Department of Education Puts Spotlights Art Museums & Schools I October 30, 2018

Beginning November 5, 2018, the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) will present an exhibition of works by children from across the country, produced as a part of their participation in art education programs organized collaboratively by art museums and their local schools or youth programs. More than 10 AAMD member museums participated in the program, which is supported by the Department of Education; this the fourth such exhibition organized by the Association to be presented at the Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The exhibition will run through January 2, 2019. To see the list of participating institutions, please download the press release.

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$600,000 Grant to Worcester Art Museum, Part of the Barr-Klarman Initiative I October 25, 2018

The Worcester Art Museum announced today that it was selected to participate in the Barr-Klarman Massachusetts Arts Initiative. A partnership between two Boston-based foundations - Barr and The Klarman Family Foundation – the initiative is a $25 million, six-year investment in 29 arts and cultural organizations from across Massachusetts. Participating organizations receive flexible, multi-year operating support grants, in addition to training and technical assistance from TDC, a nonprofit consulting and research firm. Worcester Art Museum’s engagement in the initiative begins with two grants totaling $600,000 from Barr and the Klarman Family Foundation over three years.

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Two New Exhibitions Explore Artists’ Relationship to Structures of Power I October 17, 2018

This fall, the MacKenzie Art Gallery will present two new exhibitions that show different approaches to artists confronting the power of the state, and the ways in which those states can determine people’s perceptions about the world around them. The October premiere of a new work by Garry Neill Kennedy focuses on the artist’s large-scale text paintings addressing the extra-judicial detention of Canadian Omar Khadr, drawing on the phrase “ya ummi, ya ummi,” Arabic for “oh mother, oh mother,” which Khadr repeated during his interrogation. In November, the MacKenzie will present Punk Orientalism, the first show to explore in depth the nonconformist contemporary art and artists of Central Asia, Caucasus, Iran and the Middle East, featuring more than 27 works from the late 1970s through today. Ya Ummi, Ya Ummi … opens October 20, 2018, and Punk Orientalism will open November 10, 2018.

“These two exhibitions embrace an essential part of our mission as an art museum, providing a place to examine and discuss challenging social issues through art, whether those are rooted in Canada or much further afield,” said Anthony Kiendl, the museum’s Executive Director and CEO. “Both the Ya Ummi, Ya Ummi … and Punk Orientalism exhibitions address issues around colonization and imperialism. Garry Neill Kennedy’s moving paintings speak to this in a very Canadian context, while the many artists in Punk Orientalism bring to bear a set of experiences that are both foreign and yet also instantly relatable, drawing on the experiences of Indigenous people and colonization across the globe. We are grateful to guest curator Sara Raza for her collaboration with us on Punk Orientalism, and to Garry for working with us to premiere these new pieces.”

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Hollis Taggart to Represent Pop Artist Idelle Weber & Open Exhibition of Her Work in Nov. I October 16, 2018

Hollis Taggart announced today that the gallery will begin formally representing Idelle Weber, a major figure in the Pop Art movement, but one whose work deserves greater recognition. The gallery has had a multi-year relationship with Weber, beginning with its 2013 exhibition Idelle Weber: The Pop Years. Organized by the gallery, that 2013 show helped bring Weber back into the forefront of contemporary thinking about mid-century women artists—and led to the acquisition of major Weber works, including the painting Munchkins I, II, & III (1964) by the Chrysler Museum of Art in 2013, and the Jump Rope (1967–1968) wall sculpture, by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in 2016.

In conjunction with this new relationship, Hollis Taggart will present an exhibition of Weber’s work this fall, the gallery’s third show in its new, street-level space on West 26th Street. Opening November 8, 2018, the exhibition will focus on Weber’s work from the 1960s, with a few earlier and later works as well. The exhibition, titled Idelle Weber: Postures and Profiles from the 50s and 60s, will feature more than 30 works, including Lucite cube sculptures, collages, and gouache and tempera on paper works. These works address some of the themes that occupied and inspired Weber throughout her career, including the corporate world, fashion, politics, and women in society.

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Terra Foundation Announces Roster of Scholarly Symposia as Part of Art Design Chicago I October 4, 2018

The Terra Foundation for American Art released today a roster of scholarly symposia being organized as part of its year-long Art Design Chicago initiative. Taking place throughout the fall, from October through December 2018, these events bring together esteemed scholars from Chicago, across the U.S., and Europe, who will offer new research, insights, and perspectives and foster ongoing dialogues on a diverse range of subjects. Among the symposia topics are the significance of the South Side neighborhood to Chicago’s cultural fabric and the development of Black visual and material culture nationally; the role of African American designers in social and political movements and changes; a place-based consideration of outsider art in Chicago and other centers internationally, both within the art historical canon and commercial market; and the importance of feminist artist-run activities in Chicago from the late 19th century to the present. Many of the events are free and open to the public, encouraging active engagement among academics, arts professionals, students, and the general public alike.

Spearheaded by the Terra Foundation, Art Design Chicago, which first launched in January 2018, features more than 30 exhibitions, a vast array of public and academic programs, a television series, and publications, developed by more than 75 cultural partners, in and outside of Chicago. Envisioned as an opportunity to reassess and explore deeply the breadth of Chicago’s art and design legacy, the initiative has brought to the fore little-known narratives of artists, designers, and creative thinkers who have shaped Chicago’s cultural landscape and influenced innovations across the U.S. and abroad. The scholarly symposia further encapsulate a primary goal for the initiative: to spur new research that provides a foundation for future projects beyond 2018’s slate of activities, and to contribute to American art scholarship by building understanding of Chicago’s role as a major metropolitan art center.

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Marianne Boesky Gallery to Open Solo Exhibition of Works by John Houck in October I October 2, 2018

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present Holding Environment, an exhibition of new work by Los Angeles-based artist John Houck that highlights the artist’s deepening engagement with the expressive effects and conceptual possibilities of painterly gesture within his photography practice. Inspired by Houck’s temporary relocation to Portland, OR, in 2018, and his time spent living near family there for the first time since his formative years, the exhibition presents the artist’s explorations of memory, identity, and relational psychology. The exhibition will be on view from October 25 through December 22, 2018 at the gallery’s 507 W. 24th Street location. Holding Environment is the artist’s first presentation with the gallery in New York, following a solo exhibition at Boesky West in Aspen, CO, in summer 2017.

Houck’s practice is distinguished by a deconstruction of accepted formal and conceptual boundaries. His intricate compositions hold both the profusion of detail inherent to photography and the fluidity and playfulness of painterly gesture. In this way, his works portray neither reality nor constitute fiction, but rather live in a liminal space where the object and form are defined by experience and personal understanding—much in the way that our memories can distort truth. Houck achieves this sensation through a process of re-photographing, in which he captures an object along with its image—sometimes many times over—introducing a multitude of perspectives and confusing the contours of the original. The effect is further accentuated by Houck’s introduction of painting within the cycle, adding an interpretative and emotive layer to the feedback loop of his photographic process.

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Marianne Boesky Gallery to Open Solo Exhibition of Works by Svenja Deininger in October I October 2, 2018

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present Crescendo, Viennese artist Svenja Deininger’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition will feature a new body of paintings that captures Deininger’s fluid manipulation of color and form, resulting in complex compositions that arise organically as she works the canvas. Driven by both formal inquiry and a deep understanding of physical environment, Deininger will create a holistic experience. Crescendo will be on view at the gallery’s 509 W. 24th Street location from October 25 through December 22, 2018.

Deininger approaches each exhibition as a distinct moment in time, following a single conceptual thread or inkling until it completes in a discrete body of work. In this way, Deininger is much like a composer, weaving together gesture, color, and line to create an intricacy of texture and rhythm, with each painting bringing a singular note and weight to the overall experience. Suspended between abstraction and figuration, her canvases evoke a range of seemingly intangible sensations—a fleeting dream, a spark of memory, the indiscernible outlines of a place, or an emotion lost but newly felt. These evocations are most recently influenced by her time spent painting in Milan, where she began this latest body of work, and Vienna, where she completed it. While devoid of any overt reference or symbol, the atmospheric and structural contours of her home and briefly adopted city have inspired both palette and silhouette within these new paintings.

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Recent News From Our Clients, September 2018

The New York Times, September 28: “Is This the End of Governors Island?,“ by Helene Stapinski, on the impact of rezoning of Governors Island on arts organizations that use the Island, like the annual Governors Island Art Fair

Hyperallergic, September 28: “14 Arts Organizations Protest Governors Island Rezoning,“ Jasmine Weber, on the potential impact on arts organizations of plans to rezone the Island

ARTnews, September 13: “Hollis Taggart Opens Third Space in Chelsea Gallery District,“ by Claire Selvin, on the gallery’s new space in the High Line Nine

The Art Newspaper, September 7: "New York's Chelsea galleries hope new storefronts will bring new business," by Margaret Carrigan and Gabriella Angeleti, including Hollis Taggart's move to a new, street-level space at 521 West 26th Street in Chelsea

Gothamist, September 7: "Old Governors Island Houses Now Filled With Strange Creations For 11th Annual Art Fair," by Scott Lynch, with a photo essay on the 2018 Governors Island Art Fair, open weekends through September 30, 2018

artnet news, September 3: "Editors’ Picks: 17 Things Not to Miss in New York’s Art World This Week," by Sarah Cascone, including the exhibition Dashiell Manley: Sometimes We Circle the Sun, opening Thursday September 6 at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Zeal NYC, September 3: "Art Break: Governors Island Hosts an Art Fair and New Exhibits Kick Off the Season at Galleries Around Town," by A.E. Colas, including the 2018 edition of Governors Island Art Fair, open to the public for free, weekends from September 1 - 30, 2018

The Art Newspaper, September 2018: "Chicago resurrects its master craftsman," by Nancy Kenney, about a renewed focused on architect and designer Edgar Miller, including a series of programs sponsored by the Terra Foundation for American Art, part of the year-long Art Design Chicago initiative

American Way, September 2018: “Surrealism is Smaller in Texas,“ by Izabella Felpeto, on the exhibition Dalí: Poetics of the Small, open at the Meadows Museum, Dallas, through December 9, 2018

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MASS MoCA Announces Expansive Exhibition of Work by Artist Trenton Doyle Hancock I September 28, 2018

For more than two decades, artist Trenton Doyle Hancock has been portraying the tragic saga of the Mounds, mythical creatures whose peaceful existence is under constant threat. His paintings, drawings, mixed-media works, and staged performances explore the weaving plots and narratives of the Mounds as they struggle to survive in a world that seeks their imminent demise. On March 9, 2019, Hancock will invite visitors into the layered and complex universe of Mounds in an immersive and sweeping exhibition presented at MASS MoCA. Occupying the whole of Building 5—which runs the length of a football field—the exhibition, Mind of the Mound: Critical Mass, will feature a series of large-scale, interactive Mound sculptures, envisioned by Hancock and produced onsite in MASS MoCA’s fabrication studios, alongside new and recent paintings and drawings. The exhibition will also feature pages from the 300-page graphic novel that Hancock is currently creating, as well as objects from the artist’s personal collections. Mind of the Mound, which will be further activated by a series of performance once open, marks Hancock’s most ambitious and largest solo project to-date.

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Joan Mitchell Foundation to Release Book & Open Show on Impact of Support for Artists I September 27, 2018

Over the last 25 years, the Joan Mitchell Foundation has awarded grants to more than 1,000 artists, totaling over $15 million in direct, unrestricted funding. Hundreds more artists have been supported through $8 million in grants given to arts organizations nationwide, as well as through the Foundation’s education programming, free online resources, and residency opportunities at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans. To celebrate the work and achievements of its artist community and to examine the impact of its initiatives, the Foundation will release a book and open a companion exhibition, both titled Widening Circles: Portraits from the Joan Mitchell Foundation Artist Community at 25 Years, this December. Featuring anecdotes and testimonials by 25 artists, the book captures the real-life experiences of working artists and shares their perspectives on the importance of ongoing support for art and artists. Developed over the course of 2018, each impact statement is accompanied by a large-scale, color portrait of the artist, captured by photographer Reginald Eldridge, Jr., who traveled from Alaska to New York and many places in between to engage with the featured artists in their studios and hometowns.

The exhibition, presented at the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s headquarters at 137 W. 25th Street, will feature all 25 of Eldridge’s portraits. A gallery guide that includes the artists’ impact statements will be available as part of the exhibition experience. Together, the exhibition and book shed light on the diversity of Joan Mitchell Foundation’s community, with artists ranging widely in age, background, and location, as well as in the breadth of their creative practices and personal and professional experiences. At the same time, their voices make tangible the realities and business of being an artist. They underscore the importance of financial stability to artistic innovation and the need for and nature of meaningful funding.

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Artist Koen Vanmechelen to Open 60-Acre Redevelopment in Belgium in May I September 25, 2018

Internationally renowned conceptual artist Koen Vanmechelen is breathing new life into the city of Genk, Belgium—once a major mining center—with a 60-acre redevelopment project. Called LABIOMISTA—which means “the mix of life”—the project will feature an entrance and orientation building designed by acclaimed Swiss architect Mario Botta; a Research & Study Forum, located in a newly redesigned 1920s villa; the Cosmopolitan Culture Park, a sustainably redeveloped grassland that will serve as home to a wide range of animals and invite the public to engage with the environment and its inhabitants; and the artist’s 53,000-square-foot private studio, also designed by Botta. Each of the project’s components is inspired by Vanmechelen’s wide-ranging practice, which is guided by an artistic and scientific engagement with biocultural diversity and its impact on the creation of more resilient and sustainable communities. This fall marks a midway point to the project’s completion, which is slated to open in May 2019.

LABIOMISTA brings together, at one site, the different threads that comprise Vanmechelen’s work, while also creating a new platform for dialogue and innovation. His practice is best encapsulated in such “living art” initiatives as the Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (CCP). Launched 20 years ago, the CCP is a crossbreeding program through which the artist naturally breeds chickens from different countries, diversifying the flock’s gene pool and in doing so increasing its fertility, immunology, and aesthetic variety. The project has become a driving force for Vanmechelen, spurring similar projects around the world—most recently in Ethiopia—as well as collaborations with scientists and leaders from a spectrum of fields to examine the importance of diversity to building resilience, shifting outlooks on the environment, the relationships between nature and culture, and community development.

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Hollis Taggart Opens Third Space in Chelsea at High Line Nine I Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Hollis Taggart announced today that it will open a third space in Chelsea at the High Line Nine, an indoor promenade located below the High Line between W. 27th and W. 28th Streets. The new space will feature rotating installations of contemporary art, as an extension of the gallery’s continued expansion of its work with contemporary artists and collections. The gallery plans to occupy the approximately 500-square-foot space from September 13, 2018 through early December, at which time it will determine whether to make the location more permanent. This news follows Hollis Taggart’s move to a new street-level space at 521 W. 26th Street and the opening of a nearby private viewing and storage annex earlier this month. The High Line Nine space will operate Tuesday through Saturday, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

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Highlight: Chelsea at Hollis Taggart to Feature 13 Contemporary Artists  I  Monday, September 10, 2018

Hollis Taggart is pleased to present Highlight: Chelsea, an exhibition of new and recent work by thirteen emerging and mid-career artists that together underscore the formal and conceptual diversity of contemporary practice. Highlight: Chelsea is guest curated by Paul Efstathiou and marks the gallery’s second collaboration with the independent curator, as it expands its contemporary program. The exhibition will include new work by William Buchina, Elizabeth Cooper, Corydon Cowansage, André Hemer, Hiroya Kurata, John Knuth, Matt Mignanelli, Matt Phillips, Esther Ruiz, Eric Shaw, and Devin Troy Strother, as well as recent works by Marcel Dzama and Brenda Goodman. Highlight: Chelsea emphasizes the featured artists’ distinct styles and approaches, while also creating dynamic aesthetic juxtapositions and parallels between them. Highlight: Chelsea will be on view from October 6 through 27, 2018.

“For me, Highlight: Chelsea is about creating a visually rich and compelling experience for visitors that translates into genuine interest in each artist’s individual practice. The initial impact of an exhibition—that instant feeling of awe—is essential to overcoming the uncertainty that someone might feel in the gallery environment or with contemporary art, generally, and instead inspiring inquisitiveness and connection with an artist or particular work,” said Efstathiou. 

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Worcester Art Museum Exhibition Focuses on Artistry of Illustrated Manuscripts I  Monday, September 10, 2018

This fall, the Worcester Art Museum (WAM) will examine an important period of art making in the Islamic societies of Iran and India, drawing on forty key works from WAM’s collection. Preserved Pages: Book as Art in Persia and India, 1300-1800, organized by guest curators Hannah Hyden and David J. Roxburgh, will explore the ways in which the linkage between art and literature nurtured artistic developments across the region. The exhibition tracks the innovations in style and media created by artists—including painting, drawing, and illumination—that was spurred by a growing interest in collecting single pages and assembling them into albums. Preserved Pages will be on view October 13, 2018 through January 6, 2019.

Organized around a series of themes, the exhibition examines the range of contexts in which illustrated manuscripts were used—from epic works of poetry to capturing major moments in history—as well as how individual artworks were assembled into bound albums, and the emergence of certain styles, subject matters, and norms, such as including the name or signature of the artist. The first half of the exhibition will present famous literary works represented by folios from manuscripts, while the second half will focus on the album format and its artistic developments, all drawn from the Worcester Art Museum’s collection.

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Mead Art Museum Announces Three Fall Exhibitions  I  Thursday, September 6, 2018  

On September 13, the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College will open three new exhibitions highlighting its growing collection, and the ways in which the Museum presents thematic exhibitions relevant to the lives of current Amherst students, faculty, and staff. Timing Is Everything is an exploration of artists’ visualizations of concepts of time, from 17th Century European decorative arts to contemporary works such as Lorna Simpson’s Partitions and Time (1997). Abstraction: New Acquisitions at the Mead includes eight works on paper by the artist Leon Polk Smith between 1944 and 1969 and recently acquired by the Museum. Finally, the second installation of Fragmented Identities: The Gendered Roles of Women in Art Through the Ages features 31 artworks examining the ways in which women have been depicted or have represented themselves across different media, centuries, and the globe. To celebrate the three exhibitions, the Museum will host an opening reception on September 13 from 5-7 p.m., which is free and open to the public.

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Recent News From Our Clients, August 2018

artnet news, August 31: "9 Artists to Watch at the Governors Island Art Fair," by Sarah Cascone, reviewing the 2018 edition of Governors Island Art Fair, which is open to the public, for free, on weekends from September 1 - 30, 2018

Artforum, August 31: "Canada's MacKenzie Art Gallery Receives Anonymous $25 Million Donation," on the museum's major endowment gift, as well as the additional gift to support acquisitions and programs from local philanthropist Lyn Goldman

Apollo, August 31: "Art news daily," including news of the $25 million endowment gift to the MacKenzie Art Gallery

The Art Newspaper, August 30: "Escape New York's concrete jungle for the Governors Island Art Fair," by Gabriella Angeleti, reviewing the 2018 Governors Island Art Fair

El Universal, August 30: "Obras de arte invaden edificios abandonados," on the upcoming 2018 edition of the Governors Island Art Fair

ARTnews, August 30: "MacKenzie Art Gallery Receives Anonymous Gift of $25 Million," by Annie Armstrong, announcing a major gift to the museum to support its expanding operations and program plans

Hyperallergic, August 30: "Immerse Yourself in the Ghoulish Art on Governors Island," by Zachary Small, previewing the 2018 edition of the Governors Island Art Fair, open weekends September 1 - 30

Untapped Cities, August 28: "8 Unique Ways to Celebrate Labor Day Weekend 2018," including the 11th edition of the Governors Island Art Fair, opening Saturday, September 1

Artforum, August 21: "John G. Hampton Joins Canada’s MacKenzie Art Gallery As Director Of Programs"

ARTnews, August 20: "MacKenzie Art Gallery Hires John Hampton as First-Ever Director of Programs," by Claire Selvin, announcing the museum's newly created position  

ARTnews, August 16: "The Worcester Art Museum Appoints Marnie Weir as Director of Education and Experience," by Claire Selvin

The Art Newspaper, August 10: "Heading home: early Rubens masterpiece returns to the artist's Antwerp studio for the first time," by Victoria Stapley-Brown, reporting on the Art Gallery of Ontario's loan of Peter Paul Rubens’s painting "The Massacre of the Innocents" (c. 1610) to the Rubenshuis museum

Culture Type, August 7: "Yinka Shonibare Wrapped More than 200 Books in ‘African’ Textiles, His ‘American Library’ is Designed to Start a Conversation About Immigration," by Victoria L. Valentine on the Mead Art Museum's acquisition of Shonibare's work The American Library Collection (Activists) and the debate being planned for October 30, 2018 as part of the installation of the work

The Telegraph, August 3: "The Director's Guide: MASS MoCA, Massachusetts," by John O'Ceallaigh, interviewing director Joe Thompson for an "insider's guide" to visiting MASS MoCA

Hyperallergic, August 2: News round-up by Deena ElGenaidi, including the Mead Art Museum's acquisition of Yinka Shonibare's work The American Library Collection (Activists)

Apollo, August 2: "Celebrating the diversity of Chicago's cultural landscape," by Louise Nicholson, exploring the spirit and scope of the Art Design Chicago initiative, spearheaded by the Terra Foundation for American Art and ongoing through December 2018. 

The Clyde Fitch Report, August 1: "Spanish Masterpieces Bridge Cultures at the San Antonio Museum of Art," by Carol Strickland, reviewing the exhibition "Spain: 500 Years of Spanish Painting from the Museums of Madrid," on view at the Museum through September 16, 2018

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$25 Million Endowment Gift Supports Expanding Programs at MacKenzie Art Gallery  I  Thursday, August 30, 2018  

The MacKenzie Art Gallery today announced two major gifts to the art museum. The first, a $25 million (CAD) gift from an anonymous donor, is the largest such donation in the Gallery’s history. By creating a new endowment for the Gallery, this gift will annually provide, on average, 25% of the Gallery’s current annual operating budget. A second, six-figure gift, from local collector and philanthropist Lyn Goldman, will be split between the MacKenzie’s acquisitions fund and its ongoing programming and organizational needs. Part of an effort to transform the MacKenzie ahead of its 70th anniversary, these two gifts will support the museum’s capacity to develop and present creative exhibitions and programs, and to better engage 21st century audiences.

The anonymous $25 million (CAD) donation has been endowed through the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation (SSCF), which will manage the funds and disburse the earned income to the MacKenzie Art Gallery annually. The donor, while wishing to remain anonymous, is committed to ensuring future growth opportunities for the Gallery. Recognizing that raising funds for operating endowments is often an institution’s most difficult challenge, this gift helps to address the museum’s core needs.

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MacKenzie Art Gallery Announces New Position, Hires John G. Hampton  I  Monday, August 20, 2018  

The MacKenzie Art Gallery today announced the appointment of John G. Hampton to the newly created position of Director of Programs. This new position will oversee all of the Gallery’s curatorial and education initiatives and will be instrumental in the ongoing transformation of the Gallery’s exhibitions and programs, creating more dynamic experiences for visitors. Hampton will be joining the gallery on October 1, 2018.

The new Director of Programs will provide the oversight and expertise necessary to lead the Gallery’s curatorial and education departments, as well as strengthening the various complementary practices that engage visitors in an immersive experience. The MacKenzie recognizes and embraces the idea that visual art and culture constitute an immense breadth of perspectives, modes of communication, and experiences. Museums play a vital role in preserving, creating, translating, interpreting and disseminating culture—and when these equally important practices are in conversation, they can exponentially add meaning to our lives.

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Worcester Art Museum Hires Marnie Weir as Director of Education & Experience  I  Wednesday, August 15, 2018  

The Worcester Art Museum (WAM) today announced that Marnie P. Weir has been appointed the Museum’s Director of Education and Experience. Ms. Weir comes to WAM from New York City, where she most recently held the position of Director of Public Education & Visitor Services at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. Ms. Weir will begin work at the Museum on October 22nd. She replaces Marcia Lagerwey, PhD, who is moving into a part-time role after more than 30 years in Education and Audience Engagement at WAM.

In her role as Director of Education and Experience, Ms. Weir will oversee the Education and Experience Division, which encompasses the full scope of educational and public programs for all audiences, as well as classes for adults, youth, and teens, and includes both administrative staff, 47 part-time studio art faculty, and 60 volunteer docents. In addition, she will work closely with the curatorial and exhibition teams on strategy, planning, and interpretation; lead the museum-wide Audience Experience Work Group, which makes sure all activities are connected with a positive guest experience; serve as a key community liaison for the Museum; and implement and maintain an ongoing system of quantitative and qualitative evaluation and documentation of education programs, interpretation, and events.

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Marianne Boesky Gallery Announces September Exhibition Program  I  Tuesday, August 14, 2018  

Anthony Pearson, Opening September 6  I  Download Press Release

Marianne Boesky is pleased to present artist Anthony Pearson’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery, which will feature a selection of new wall works from his Embedment series and highlight his ongoing exploration and mastery of the compositional and textural possibilities of poured gypsum cement. Created through a methodical and physical engagement with the material, the resultant works occupy a liminal space between painting and sculpture. The exhibition will be on view from September 6 through October 20, 2018 at the gallery’s 507 W. 24th Street location.

The Embedment series marks a new shift in Pearson’s experimentation with hydrocal—a gypsum cement that he infuses with pigments—which he first began using in 2011. For this series, he stretches a segment of fabric within a mold and then pours the liquid cement, which he has variously colored, atop the fabric, layering, shifting, and allowing it to coalesce organically within the confines of the supports. Once the material sets, Pearson removes the hardened cement from the frame and pulls the canvas from its face, which leaves intricate patterned impressions and traces of fiber filament on the surface plane. In this way the skin and body of the work are created concurrently, as the fields of color weave together into abstract landscapes, where suggestions of sunsets and desert views dissipate as quickly as they emerge. Made in reverse, with the front of the work facing downward in the frame, the process embodies Pearson’s deep knowledge of the material, integrating his original vision for each work with the naturally arising effects. 

Dashiell Manley, Opening September 6  I  Download Press Release

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present sometimes we circle the sun, Los Angeles-based artist Dashiell Manley’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. Featuring a selection of new large-scale oil paintings, the exhibition sees Manley transition from his direct engagement with breaking news cycles, into more personal meditations, exploring his own experiences within today’s global happenings. With this shift, Manley also delves more deeply into the formal relationships and boundaries between material, mark, and picture plane, using the canvas as a space to physically shape his emotional and psychic responses. sometimes we circle the sun will be on view from September 6 through October 20, 2018 at the gallery’s 509 W. 24th Street location.

Manley’s practice has been characterized by focused, repetitive, and often times labor-intensive techniques and processes. From the New York Times series, in which he transcribed and abstracted the front pages of the newspaper, to his Various sources (quiet satires), for which he reproduced, altered, and collaged political and topical cartoons, Manley’s early work emphasized systems of production as means of understanding and exploring difficult subjects. With his Elegy series, which he began developing in 2016, Manley began to shift away from analytical manifestations to more emotional and psychological expressions on the canvas, allowing himself to open up his gestures and movements. With this new approach, he established a singular technique—sculpting the oil paint with a palette knife—that resulted in colorful, highly-textured, abstract canvases, that in instances encapsulated sharp cuts of paint and in others soft undulating effects. 

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4Heads Announces 11th Edition of Governors Island Art Fair, Opening September 1  I  Tuesday, August 14, 2018

On September 1, 4heads will open the Governors Island Art Fair (GIAF), featuring a diverse range of artists from across the U.S. and abroad. Installations, which span the spectrum of artistic genre and media, will be presented across eight of the historic homes on Colonels Row, with each artist installing in an individual room or connective space. Now in its 11th year, GIAF heralds the start of the fall visual arts season in New York, with a spirited atmosphere that encourages conversation between artists and visitors and challenges the established fair paradigm as one exclusively for art connoisseurs. GIAF will be open every Saturday and Sunday through September 30.

GIAF, which first launched in 2008, was among the first major art events to take place on Governors Island. As interest in the Island as a cultural destination has grown, in particular over the last several years, 4heads has remained steadfast in maintaining its presence, continuing to provide working artists with a place to show new and recent work and to build their network of support—both among peers and the public. Each year, GIAF presents the work of up to 100 artists, selected through an open call and jurying process. For the 2018 edition, as with previous iterations, each artist will be given a full room—free of charge—to create an immersive installation or micro-exhibition, allowing the artists more space to highlight their distinct approaches and techniques.

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Recent News From Our Clients, July 2018

Artforum, July 30: "Mead Art Museum Acquired Installation By Yinka Shonibare," on the Museum's new work, The American Library Collection (Activists), which will go on view beginning October 30, 2018

ARTnews, July 30: "Hollis Taggart Gallery Moves to First-Floor Location in Chelsea," by Claire Selvin, on the Gallery's move and its upcoming exhibition, New Space, New Acquisitions, opening September 6, 2018

ARTnews, July 30: "Mead Art Museum at Amherst College Acquires Work by Yinka Shonibare," by Claire Selvin, on the Museum's acquisition of the work The American Library Collection (Activists) (2018), which will be on view at the Mead beginning October 30, 2018

Hyperallergic, July 26: "Six de Koonings Found in a Storage Unit, and 355 Works Worth $480M Donated to Hong Kong Museum of Art; The Cleveland Museum of Art receives a $1.5 million gift for Chinese painting conservation, and the Worcester Art Museum acquires four new works," by Deena ElGenaidi, including news of the Worcester Art Museum's acquisition of works by Max Slevogt, Richard Müller, Bharti Kher and Stan Douglas.

The New Yorker, July 23: "Sue de Beer," by Johanna Fateman, on the artist's new film, The White Wolf, on view through August 3 at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Galerie Magazine, July 23: "The Essential Aspen Summer Art Guide 2018," by Paul Laster, including the exhibition of works by the Haas Brothers, Stonely Planet, on view at Boesky West through August 25, 2018

FAD Magazine, July 22: "The Top 8 Art Exhibitions to see in London this week," by Tabish Khan, including Veronica Brovall - Wear the Heat, at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London, through July 28, 2018

Artforum, July 16: "Association of Art Museum Directors Aims to Diversify Museum Field with New Internship Program," on AAMD's new paid internship program in art museums from college students from underrepresented backgrounds

The New York Times, July 15: "A Canadian Museum Promotes Indigenous Art. But Don’t Call It ‘Indian.’," by Ted Loos, on the Art Gallery of Ontario and its new exhibitions and installations of Indigenous art, including a major retrospective of work by Rebecca Belmore and the renovation and reinstallation of the J.S. McLean Centre for Indigenous and Canadian Art

The New York Times, July 15: "San Antonio’s Summer Homage to Spain," by Shivani Vora, celebrating the city's tricentennial, including the new exhibition Spain: 500 years of Spanish Painting from the Museums of Madrid at the San Antonio Museum of Art

artnet news, July 12: "In an Effort to Diversify Museum Staffs, a New Program Offers Paid Internships at Museums Across the US," by Sarah Cascone, on the Association of Art Museum Directors' new internship initiative for college students from underrepresented backgrounds

Forbes, July 11: "Artist Sue De Beer Makes Poetic Film Art In The Guise Of A Werewolf Movie At Marianne Boesky," by Adam Lehrer, reviewing "The White Wolf," de Beer's new film, on view now at Marianne Boesky Gallery

The Brooklyn Rail, July 11: "In Conversation: SUE DE BEER with Jessica Holmes," on the artist's solo exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery through August 3, 2018

The Art Newspaper, July 11: "AAMD creates paid internships to make museum staff more diverse," by Gabriella Angeleti, on the launch of a new art museum internship program supported by AAMD for college students from underrepresented backgrounds

Wall Street Journal, July 5: "‘Spain: 500 Years of Spanish Painting From the Museums of Madrid’ Review: A Visual Heritage Tour," by Judith H. Dobrzynski, on the exhibition organized as part of the Museum's celebrations of San Antonio's tricentennial, on view through September 16, 2018

Mayfair Times, July 2018: "The Test of Time," by Reyhaan Day, including Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London in a discussion about the enduring appeal of contemporary art from Iran

The Art Newspaper, July/August 2018: "Indigenous art leads the conversation at Canadian gallery," by Judith H. Dobrzynski, on the reopening of the J.S. McLean Centre for Indigenous and Canadian Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario

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Hollis Taggart to Open New Space in September with Exhibition of Recent Acquisitions  I  Monday, July 30, 2018

In September, Hollis Taggart will inaugurate its new street-level gallery at 521 W. 26th Street, with an exhibition of significant recent acquisitions, including works by Alexander Calder, Adolph Gottlieb, Hans Hofmann, and Theodoros Stamos. The gallery will concurrently open a private viewing and storage annex across the street, with visits available by appointment. This consolidates the gallery’s operations in Chelsea, where it first moved in 2015. Together, the spaces provide Hollis Taggart with nearly 4,000-square-feet to host exhibitions and engage clients with select works of art in its inventory. The inaugural exhibition, which will open to the public on September 6, will be followed by an exhibition of mid-career and emerging artists, organized by independent curator Paul Efstathiou, in October, and a solo exhibition of works by acclaimed Pop artist Idelle Weber in November.

The new gallery space will open following a complete renovation that includes the creation of improved sightlines from the street deep into the main floor of the gallery, installation of new flooring, and construction of glass-walled offices, a library, and other functional back-of-house areas. The renovation will create an inviting environment to draw additional foot traffic, as the gallery transitions from its current seventh floor space in the same building. With the opening of its new private viewing and storage annex, the gallery will close the private viewing space it has been operating on E. 64th Street at the end of November.

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Mead Art Museum Acquires Work By Yinka Shonibare MBE  I  Monday, July 30, 2018  

The Mead Art Museum at Amherst College has acquired The American Library Collection (Activists), a large-scale installation piece by the Britain-born, Nigeria-raised artist Yinka Shonibare MBE. Consisting of 234 books wrapped in Shonibare’s signature Dutch wax print fabric, each book holds the name of a first or second generation American “activist” writer inscribed on its spine in gold foil. This is the first artwork by Shonibare in the Mead’s collection; it will be on view at the Museum beginning October 30, 2018.

Also this fall, the Mead will host a debate among Amherst College faculty on the subject of the global migration of people, commodities and ideas, for which the Shonibare work will serve as the starting point. The debate—which will serve as a model for how students can facilitate constructive discussion of sensitive topics—will bring together faculty from American studies, economics, political science, and other disciplines. The debate will take place as part of the public opening for the Shonibare installation, from 5-7pm on October 30.

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Anthony Pearson to Present New Work in Solo Show at Marianne Boesky Gallery  I  Tuesday, July 17, 2018  

Marianne Boesky is pleased to present artist Anthony Pearson’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery, which will feature a selection of new wall works from his Embedment series and highlight his ongoing exploration and mastery of the compositional and textural possibilities of poured gypsum cement. Created through a methodical and physical engagement with the material, the resultant works occupy a liminal space between painting and sculpture. The exhibition will be on view from September 6 through October 20, 2018 at the gallery’s 507 W. 24th Street location.

The Embedment series marks a new shift in Pearson’s experimentation with hydrocal—a gypsum cement that he infuses with pigments—which he first began using in 2011. For this series, he stretches a segment of fabric within a mold and then pours the liquid cement, which he has variously colored, atop the fabric, layering, shifting, and allowing it to coalesce organically within the confines of the supports. Once the material sets, Pearson removes the hardened cement from the frame and pulls the canvas from its face, which leaves intricate patterned impressions and traces of fiber filament on the surface plane. In this way the skin and body of the work are created concurrently, as the fields of color weave together into abstract landscapes, where suggestions of sunsets and desert views dissipate as quickly as they emerge. Made in reverse, with the front of the work facing downward in the frame, the process embodies Pearson’s deep knowledge of the material, integrating his original vision for each work with the naturally arising effects. 

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Four New Works for the Worcester Art Museum  I Monday, July 16, 2018  

The Worcester Art Museum (WAM) announces the acquisition of four works, as it continues to strategically build its collections of European, Asian, and North American artists in a variety of media. Two early 20th-century German paintings, one by Max Slevogt and another by Richard Müller, bring balance to WAM’s collections and bridge gaps in the pathway to Modernism. At the same time, contemporary works by Bharti Kher and Stan Douglas add to the Museum’s Asian art and photographic collections. Together, these acquisitions support the Museum’s overarching vision to connect its strengths in areas such as Old Masters with modern and contemporary art, and to highlight connections between the work of artists across different countries and continents.

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Wasserman Projects to Open Exhibition of New Works by International and Local Artists  I Friday, July 13, 2018 

Wasserman Projects in Detroit will open Color-aid, an exhibition of new and recent works by New York- and Paris-based painter Ken Aptekar, Cologne-based artist Peter Zimmermann, and Detroit-based sculptor and ceramicist Abigail Murray. Curated by Wasserman Projects’ Director Alison Wong, the exhibition explores the artists’ distinct formal and conceptual approaches to the use of color, surface, and pattern. Color-aid will include paintings and photographs by Aptekar, resin-poured canvases by Zimmermann, and a site-specific installation of Murray’s ceramics; together, these vividly-colored and highly-textured works will engage viewers in a sensory experience and highlight our emotional and psychic responses to such visual stimuli. The exhibition will remain on view through August 30, 2018.

The layering of meaning within the featured works is also an important connective thread throughout the exhibition, with each artist’s formal studies and experimentations providing an avenue through which to both reveal and mask social commentaries. While Zimmermann’s distortion of sourced imagery into pure abstraction offer an insight into the way our society consumes visual culture, Aptekar’s paintings, which juxtapose fragments of historical paintings with contemporary phrases and words, suggest an alternative perspective on who gets to interpret and define art. Murray’s practice, which straddles fine art and commercial production, highlights the attachment we feel to the functional goods with which fill our homes. 

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AAMD Launches Internship Program for Students from Underrepresented Backgrounds I  Wednesday, July 11, 2018

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) today announced the launch of a pilot internship program to engage undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds and nurture their career opportunities in the art museum field. Up to ten students will be selected for the pilot year, and provided with a 12-week long, paid internship at different AAMD member museums, offering exposure to a range of museum departments. Interns will be paired with a mentor, who will direct their activities and provide overall counsel on their professional development. Applications to be a host institution for the program will open this summer, with internships beginning in late-spring 2019. The initiative is supported by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as additional financial and logistical support from AAMD and participating member museums.

AAMD will select 10 member art museums to host one intern each in this pilot year. Interns will be paired with host museums in their home or university town. The program is only available to undergraduate students in their sophomore, junior, or senior years, to provide opportunity for students who have begun to solidify their academic interests and potential career path. Each intern will be assigned to work on at least one defined project, so that they will be able to see the culmination of their work at the end of the summer. A stipend of $6,300 will be provided for each 12 week internship.

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Recent News From Our Clients, June 2018

artnet news, June 28: "Must-See Art Guide: London," by Tatiana Berg, including the exhibition Veronica Brovall: Wear the Heat at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London, through August 4, 2018

Wall Street Journal, June 27: "‘Charles White: A Retrospective’ Review: Shimmering Black History Brought to Life," by James Panero, on the exhibition now at the Art Institute of Chicago (through September 3, 2018) and part of the Terra Foundation for American Art's Art Design Chicago initiative

Artforum, June 26: "Mead Art Museum Appoints Emily Potter-Ndiaye Head of Education, Curator of Academic Programs"

ARTnews, June 26: "Mead Art Museum Names Emily Potter-Ndiaye Head of Education and Curator of Academic Programs," by Claire Selvin, on the news from the art museum at Amherst College

ArtReview, June 22: "Mayfair Art Weekend Gallery HOP! ArtReview tours," including Veronica Brovall: Wear the Heat at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London, through July 28, 2018

Galerie Magazine, June 21: "7 Brilliant Group Shows Not to Miss in New York This Summer," by Lucy Rees, including The Mechanics of Fluids at Marianne Boesky Gallery, curated by artist Melissa Gordon and on view through August 3, 2018

ARTnews, June 18: "9 Art Events to Attend in New York City This Week," including The Mechanics of Fluids at Marianne Boesky Gallery

artnet news, June 18: "Editors’ Picks: 17 Things Not to Miss in New York’s Art World This Week," by Sarah Cascone including Sue de Beer: The White Wolf, at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Time Out New York, June 14: "Check out these top group exhibitions at art galleries this summer," by Howard Halle, including The Mechanics of Fluids at Marianne Boesky Gallery, curated by artist Melissa Gordon and on view through August 3, 2018

ARTnews, June 7: "Meadows Museum Hires Amanda Dotseth as Curator," by Claire Selvin, announcing the news from the Meadows Museum

Artforum, June 7: "Meadows Museum in Dallas Names Amanda W. Dotseth Curator," announcing the selection of Dotseth, currently a Fellow at the Museum, following a search

Artforum, June 6: "Worcester Art Museum Names Claire Whitner Director of Curatorial Affairs, Curator of European Art"

Apollo, June 6: "Acquisitions of the Month: May 2018," including 50 works by American photographer Brett Weston, gifted to the San Antonio Museum of Art

The Art Newspaper, June 5: "A Maine werewolf in New York," by Victoria Stapley-Brown, on the new film by artist Sue de Beer, The White Wolf, on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery from June 21 to August 8, 2018

ARTnews, June 5: "Worcester Art Museum Names Claire Chandler Whitner Director of Curatorial Affairs," by Shirley Nwangwa, on the Museum's new appointment, who will also serve as the Museum's Curator of European Art

WSJ. Magazine, June: "Past Perfect," by Ted Loos, on the exhibition Charles White: A Retrospective, on view at the Art Institute of Chicago from June 8 to September 3, 2018, part of the Terra Foundation for American Art's year-long Art Design Chicago initiative

American Express Essentials, June: "The Top 15 Art Museums This Summer," by Fiona Brutscher, including three from the Terra Foundation's Art Design Chicago initiative: Never A Lovely So Real and Charles White: A Retrospective, both at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Sculpting a Chicago Artist: Richard Hunt and his Teachers, at the Koehnline Museum

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Mead Art Museum Appoints Emily Potter-Ndiaye as Head of Education  I  Tuesday, June 26, 2018  

The Mead Art Museum at Amherst College has appointed Emily Potter-Ndiaye to the position of head of education and Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programs, effective Aug. 20, 2018. In her role, Potter-Ndiaye will promote primary research with the museum’s collections to faculty and students across disciplines as an integral part of the liberal arts educational experience at Amherst College — and a growing area of activity for the Mead, which has expanded its collaborations with faculty, staff and students over the past three years. Potter-Ndiaye comes to the Mead from the Brooklyn Historical Society, where she has been director of education since August 2013, and where she launched a number of notable and nationally recognized programs. In addition to her own work at the Mead, she will supervise the museum’s education team, including the assistant museum educator, coordinator of public programs and marketing, and the study room manager; and also oversee the Mead’s student employees, interns and volunteers.

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Amanda Dotseth Appointed Curator at Meadows Museum  I  Thursday, June 7, 2018

Following a six-month national and international search, the Meadows Museum, SMU has appointed Dr. Amanda W. Dotseth to the position of curator. An accomplished scholar, Dotseth conducts research that is grounded in the Spanish Middle Ages, but has addressed a wide range of topics, including architecture, panel painting and the history of collecting. Dotseth is currently completing a Meadows/Mellon/Prado postdoctoral fellowship at the museum; she will begin her new role as curator on September 19, 2018. During the two years of her fellowship, Dotseth has curated or co-curated exhibitions such as Zurbarán: Jacob and His Twelve Sons, Paintings from Auckland Castle; Chillida in Dallas: De Música at the Meyerson; and At the Beach: Mariano Fortuny y Marsal and William Merritt Chase. She also coordinated the first colloquium of current and former Meadows/Prado fellows and organized a symposium on medieval Spanish art featuring internationally recognized scholars in the field.

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Sue de Beer to Premiere New Film at Marianne Boesky Gallery  I  Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to premiere artist Sue de Beer’s sixth major film, The White Wolf. The film uses the classic werewolf narrative as a lens through which to explore broader themes of transformation, memory, and the psychology and physicality that forms our sense of self. The low-budget horror-thriller was developed as part of de Beer’s John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, which she received in 2016, with additional support from Mana Contemporary. On view June 21 through August 3, 2018 at the gallery’s 507 W. 24th Street location, the exhibition will also feature a group of de Beer’s early career, horror-inspired photographs, which inspired portions of the new film.

The film, which is set on a fictional island off the coast of New England in the late 1980s, follows the intersecting experiences of several characters connected through a medical clinic, to a secret history shared by inhabitants of the town. Presented as a non-linear, two-channel installation, The White Wolf fuses the elements characteristic of the werewolf genre, with a lyrical examination of the body and its relationship to the ephemeral sense of self. This dynamic counter play is best exemplified in the lead character—the reclusive doctor who heads the clinic—played by New York-based experimental musician and composer Yuka Honda. Her quiet but confident presence defines the voice and tone of the film. 

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Worcester Art Museum Appoints Claire Whitner to Two Posts  I  Tuesday, June 5, 2018  

The Worcester Art Museum (WAM) today announced that Claire Chandler Whitner will be its next Director of Curatorial Affairs and James A. Welu Curator of European Art. Whitner comes to WAM from the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, where she has been since 2014, most recently as the Assistant Director of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Curator, and where she oversaw the recent reinstallation of the Davis’ permanent collections galleries. A specialist in German Modernism and 17th-century Dutch art, Whitner will begin her new post on August 20, 2018.

At WAM, Whitner will have broad oversight of the Museum’s curatorial direction, across all departments. This includes bringing together WAM’s curators, educators, and conservators to collaborate on planning and presenting new exhibitions and installations that address a central element of the Museum’s mission: connecting visitors, communities, and cultures through experiences with art. She will also oversee the Museum’s ongoing work to reexamine its installations of European and American art, which began in 2013 with the [remastered] exhibition of its noted Old Masters collection, and has continued since then, including with a program in 2017 that added labels about slave ownership to historical portraits in its American art installation. Whitner will take a leading role in shaping the Museum’s collecting efforts, working with WAM’s director, Matthias Waschek, to identify and secure gifts and purchases that address specific collection needs.

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Recent News From Our Clients, May 2018

ArtReview, May 2018: "Serge Alain Nitegeka: Personal Effects in Black," by Joshua Mack, reviewing the artist's recent exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery

It's Nice That, May 21: "Artist Genesis Belanger explores the strange things that advertising conditions us to want," by Laura Snoad, reviewing Belanger's work timed with her inclusion in the group exhibition Uncanny Memories, on view at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

ARTnews, May 18: "Marianne Boesky Gallery and R & Company Now Represent the Haas Brothers," by Annie Armstrong, announcing the Haas Brothers' representation by Marianne Boesky Gallery and their upcoming show at Boesky West, Aspen

FAD Magazine, May 15: "My week in the art world – Mayfair treats," by Giulia Trojano, including the exhibition Uncanny Memories, on view now at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

Philanthropy News Digest, May 13: "People in the News," include the announcement of Kay Takeda's new position at the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Arts Today, May 11: "What's on in the capital," including the exhibition Uncanny Memories, on view now at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

Artforum, May 9: "Joan Mitchell Foundation Names Kay Takeda Senior Director of Artist Programs," on the Foundation's new hire

ARTnews, May 9: "Joan Mitchell Foundation Names Kay Takeda Senior Director of Artist Programs," by Annie Armstrong, announcing Takeda's move to the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Artforum, May 2: "San Antonio Museum of Art Receives Donation of Fifty Brett Weston Photographs," on the Museum's announcement of the gift from collector Christian Keesee

ARTnews, May 1: "San Antonio Museum of Art Acquires 50 Brett Weston Photographs," by Annie Armstrong, reporting on the gift to the Museum from the collector and philanthropist Christian Keesee

The Art Newspaper, May 2018: "MASS MoCA takes the plunge with ice-water installation," by Victoria Stapley-Brown, on two new commissions by artist Taryn Simon, "A Cold Hole" and "Assembled Audience," opening May 26 in MASS MoCA's Building 5

The Art Newspaper, May 2018: "The Glittering Prizes," including news on the Terra Foundation for American Art's recent announcement of an additional $300,000 in grants for programs that will be part of this year's Art Design Chicago initiative

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Marianne Boesky Gallery Now Represents The Haas Brothers  I  Friday, May 18, 2018  

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to announce representation of The Haas Brothers—Los Angeles-based twin brothers Nikolai and Simon Haas—in partnership with R & Company. To mark the new collaboration, the gallery will present an exhibition of new and iconic works by The Haas Brothers at Boesky West, Aspen, transforming the interior and exterior of the space into a whimsical and fantastical sculptural landscape. Titled Stonely Planet, the exhibition will be on view from June 20 through August 25, 2018. The Haas Brothers will also participate in an Artist Talk at the Aspen Art Museum on July 3, 2018, at 5:00 PM, which will be moderated by the museum’s Nancy and Bob Magoon CEO and Director, Heidi Zuckerman.

Since founding the Haas Brothers in 2010, brothers Nikolai and Simon have spurned arbitrary artistic boundaries and hierarchies, creating a playful and provocative world that merges art, fashion, film, music, and design. Their openness to experimentation and general curiosity has resulted in a wide-ranging visual lexicon that incorporates a spectrum of materials from stone and porcelain to brass and bronze to self-invented resins and polyurethanes. The Brothers' dynamic practice is characterized by technical precision—supported by their active collaborations with an array of artisans—and a whimsical sense of humor that speaks to a universal audience.

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Joan Mitchell Foundation Appoints Kay Takeda Senior Director of Artist Programs  I  Wednesday, May 9, 2018

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today that Kay Takeda has been appointed Senior Director of Artist Programs. Takeda comes to the Foundation from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), where she has been in leadership positions since 2005 and currently serves as Vice President, Grants & Services. In her new role, Takeda will oversee the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s diverse roster of artist-centered initiatives, including its grants, residencies, and professional development programs. As part of the senior leadership team for the artist-endowed Foundation, Takeda will spearhead the Foundation’s activity to refine the focus and enhance the impact of program offerings as an essential facet of Mitchell’s legacy. Takeda will begin work at the Foundation on June 4, 2018. 

“I have followed Kay’s work in the field for years and always admired her incredible commitment to artists, and to establishing programs that offer new opportunities and platforms for artists to enhance their practices. We are thrilled that Kay is bringing her passion, expertise, and innovative approach to the Joan Mitchell Foundation, and look forward to learning from and collaborating with her, as we continue to ensure that our initiatives serve artists at every stage of their careers,” said Christa Blatchford, Chief Executive Officer of the Joan Mitchell Foundation. 

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New Exhibition at Brandywine Explores the Sublime in Contemporary Art  I  Tuesday, May 1, 2018

This summer the Brandywine River Museum of Art will present Natural Wonders: The Sublime in Contemporary Art, a landmark exhibition featuring 13 major American artists whose work investigates our relationship with nature—exploring both its beauty and its capacity to inspire awe and fear. Organized by the Brandywine with guest curator Suzanne Ramljak, Natural Wonders will include the museum debut of Diana Thater’s Road to Hana series, which captures in a multi-screen video wall the fantastical “painted forest” of rainbow eucalyptus on the Hawaiian island of Maui, as well as the North American premiere of Mark Tribe’s New Nature series of 4K videos drawn from wilderness preserves in the United States. On view June 23 through October 21, the exhibition also features work by Suzanne Anker, Lauren Fensterstock, Patrick Jacobs, Maya Lin, Roxy Paine, Miljohn Ruperto & Ulrik Heltoft, Jennifer Trask, T.J. Wilcox, and Dustin Yellin.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Brandywine has commissioned a site-specific piece by Kathleen Vance: a 35-foot-long recreation of a segment of the Brandywine River—complete with flowing water—in the Museum’s atrium. Known for her Traveling Landscape series of works that engage viewers in exploring the changing topography of natural waterways, Vance conducted research on the Brandywine River’s history and shoreline as a prelude to developing her piece. Her commission offers visitors the rare opportunity to see her work within view of the very body of water that inspired it. With the river visible through the Museum’s floor-to-ceiling windows, the installation directly stages the interplay of artifice and nature at the core of the exhibition.

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Recent News From Our Clients, April 2018

Kunstzeitung, April 2018: "Insel der Vielfalt: Die „Art Design Chicago“ soll das Image der drittgrößten US-Stadt aufpolieren," on the Terra Foundation of American Art's year-long initiative of exhibitions and programs

Reuters, April 30: "Art uses custom-made robots to paint," by Elly Park, featuring artist Barnaby Furnas and his collaboration with tech start-up ArtMatr; also seen on USA Today

New York Magazine, April 30: "Three Sentence Reviews," by Jerry Saltz, including of Barnaby Furnas's exhibition "Frontier Ballads" at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Hyperallergic, April 11: "How Robots Can Help Painters," by Ilana Novick, exploring artist Barnaby Furnas's use of robots as painting assistants in his exhibition of new work, Frontier Ballads, at Marianne Boesky Gallery

ARTnews, April 6: "For Collection-Sharing Initiative, Terra Foundation and Art Bridges Tap Detroit Institute of Arts, MFA Boston," by Annie Armstrong, on the news of grants as part of the Terra-Art Bridges initiative

The Art Newspaper, April 5: "Bridging the divide: Terra Foundation and Art Bridges fund collaborative programming between major art institutions and smaller, regional venues," by Victoria Stapley-Brown, announcing the new, $15 million Terra-Art Bridges initiative

TRT World, April 4: "Showcase: Abstract Expressionism in London," a video piece exploring the exhibition Portal, at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London through May 3, 2018, and featuring the work of American artists Iva Gueorguieva and Dona Nelson

The Art Newspaper, April 2018: "How San Antonio Snagged Masterpieces from Madrid," by Victoria Stapley-Brown, on the upcoming exhibition Spain: 500 Years of Spanish Painting from the Museums of Madrid, opening June 22, 2018 at the San Antonio Museum of Art

Mayfair Magazine, April 2018: "Put to the Test," including the exhibition Portal, at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London through May 3, 2018, and featuring the work of American artists Iva Gueorguieva and Dona Nelson

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Marianne Boesky to Open Exhibition of New Work by Artist Julia Dault  I  Monday, April 23, 2018  

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present More Than Words, Julia Dault’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition will feature a new series of sculptures as well as new paintings that, together, capture Dault’s iterative play with color, form, texture, and materials, as well as her ongoing exploration of the creative potential of industrial products. The new works underscore the value of engaging with the intricate, often beautiful, and little-considered systems that lie just beyond any given surface. This idea is also encapsulated in the exhibition title, which references Extreme’s 1991 hit song of the same name and continues Dault’s use of pop culture references in her work.

Dault is driven by the boundless creative and formal possibilities within the confines of self-imposed rules, which are often determined by the materials and tools with which she is working. This sense of discovery in the seemingly constrained led to Dault’s newest sculptures: abstract compositions inspired by the intricate fretworks of brightly colored PEX tubing that comprise the plumbing systems in our homes and workspaces. This new engagement broadens Dault’s explorations of the tools and materials of other trades exemplified by earlier sculptures made with off-the-shelf Formica and Plexiglas. 

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Uncanny Memories Exhibition to Open at Sophia Contemporary Gallery I  Monday, April 23, 2018  

Sophia Contemporary is proud to present Uncanny Memories, a group show of young artists exploring the themes of the uncanny and surrealism through a variety of media. Featuring new and recent work by six artists from the UK, US, and France – Jonathan Baldock, Genesis Belanger, Matthew Hansel, Matt Lipps, Theo Mercier, and Adam Parker Smith – the exhibition reflects on the legacy of surrealism in contemporary art while investigating the notion of the uncanny in reference to the history of art. Uncanny Memories will open to the public with a reception from 6-8PM on Thursday, May 10, and will remain on view through June 23, 2018.

The concept of the uncanny was first defined by Sigmund Freud as an experience strangely familiar, confronting the viewer with unconscious, repressed impulses. Uncanny Memories will explore this notion through eighteen artworks executed in a variety of media: painting, sculpture, ceramic, mirror work, and photography. From London-based Jonathan Baldock’s bronze sculptures and Brooklyn-based Genesis Belanger’s porcelain and stoneware works to Paris- based Theo Mercier’s photographic collages, the exhibition demonstrates the widespread impact of the uncanny on contemporary artists across media and geography.

All of the artists featured in Uncanny Memories are united by a desire to reveal the odd, the strange, the surreal, and the uncanny in our contemporary societies by looking back at the history of art. From the blend of classical imagery and cartoonesque elements in Matthew Hansel’s paintings to the variety of art historical references in Adam Parker Smith’s whimsical sculptures, the use of antique, classical, and modern imagery constitutes a common thread in the exhibition. By looking back at the history of art and reinterpreting it with a surreal, tongue-in-cheek twist, the artists in the show seek to explore our collective unconscious in order to reveal the uncanny memories shaping our present reality.

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Groundbreaking Exhibition Examines Role of Science in Modern Art I  Tuesday, April 17, 2018

This fall, the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) presents the premiere of a touring exhibition that explores the influence of scientific discovery on some of the twentieth century’s most celebrated artists. Organized by the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein is the first exhibition to highlight the untold story of the “Dimensionist Manifesto”—a proclamation authored by Hungarian poet Charles Sirató in 1936 and endorsed by such artistic luminaries as Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp, Joan Miró, László Moholy-Nagy, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, and others—which called for an artistic response to the era’s groundbreaking scientific discoveries. Featuring more than seventy artworks by the Manifesto’s signatories and their contemporaries, the exhibition illuminates remarkable connections between the scientific and artistic revolutions that shaped the twentieth century.

Dimensionism features new scholarship on the influence of science on European and American artists of the 1930s, who were active at a time when mass media was exposing the general public to radical new developments in scientific theory. Inspired by new conceptions of time and space engendered by physics, mathematics, astronomy, and microbiology, an emerging avant-garde movement sought to expand the “dimensionality” of modern art. These artists engaged with scientific concepts to advance bold new forms of creative expression, from the fourth-dimension of space-time embodied by Calder’s free-moving mobiles to new perceptions of the cosmos evoked by Noguchi’s lunar landscapes.

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New $15 Million Collection-Sharing Terra-Art Bridges Initiative Announced  I  Thursday, April 5, 2018  

The Terra Foundation for American Art and Art Bridges announced today the details of the first collaborations for Terra-Art Bridges (TAB), a new $15 million initiative to examine and test new approaches to sharing collections, increasing scholarship, and expanding access to and experiences of American art. As part of the first cycle of grants for TAB more than $2.4 million has been awarded to the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). The DIA and the MFA will work with regional partners to co-create traveling exhibitions that bring important works of American art to new audiences in largely non-metropolitan areas. In addition to the implementation monies provided to the DIA and the MFA, the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) was awarded a research-and-development grant, and discussions about similar exploratory grants are taking place with the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). 

Terra-Art Bridges is a six-year program that will establish partnerships among a wide range of institutions from across the U.S., creating a network that is expected to generate exhibitions across more than 80 museums and arts venues and serve a spectrum of audience interests and needs. To ensure participation from museums from every area of the country, TAB is also working with the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) to identify the pool of potential organizational partners. AAM used its own data about the nation’s museums along with interactive mapping tools and data from the U.S. Census to allow the Foundation to identify communities with strong art museums that might benefit from loans of art as envisioned by the project.

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Recent News From Our Clients, March 2018

National Catholic Reporter, March 30: "Inquisition-era paintings of Old Testament figures highlight 'complexity of humankind'," by Menachem Wecker, reviewing the exhibition Zurbarán's Jacob and His Twelve Sons: Paintings from Auckland Castle, which premiered at the Meadows Museum, SMU, in 2017

Artforum, March 29: "Terra Foundation Awards More Than $300,000 to Art Design Chicago Projects," reporting on the latest round of grants for a range of programs as part of the Art Design Chicago initiative

ARTnews, March 29: "Terra Foundation Awards $300,000 in Grants to Chicago Arts Organizations," by Grace Halio, on the most recent round of grants supporting projects and programs as part of the Art Design Chicago initiative underway across Chicago this year

The New Yorker, March 26: "Goings On About Town," including the exhibition Barnaby Furnas: Frontier Ballads, open through April 14, 2018 at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Artforum, March 23: "Claudia Wieser," by Alex Garner, reviewing Wieser's new exhibition Chapters, on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery through April 14, 2018

Forbes, March 16: "Barnaby Furnas's Historical Paintings For Tumultuous Times," by Clayton Press, on the exhibition Barnaby Furnas: Frontier Ballads, open through April 14, 2018 at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Mosaic, March 14: "The Unprecedented Bible Portraits of Francisco de Zurbarán," by Menachem Wecker, reviewing the exhibition Zurbarán's Jacob and His Twelve Sons: Paintings from Auckland Castle, which premiered at the Meadows Museum, SMU, in 2017

New York Times, March 13: "For Artists, the Thrill of Grant Money Arrives With a ‘Now What’?," by Ted Loos, including the Joan Mitchell Foundation, which provides both unrestricted grants to artists as well as services such as financial counseling

Studio International, March 9: "Claudia Wieser: ’I know there is the danger of beauty in my work, or a danger that it becomes purely decorative’," by Kristian Vistrup Madsen, on Wieser's new exhibition on view through April 14, 2018, at Marianne Boesky Gallery

New York Times, March 8: "Beyond Frank Lloyd Wright: A Broader View of Art in Chicago," by Hilarie M. Sheets, looking at a number of the exhibitions, programs, and participating institutions of Art Design Chicago, a year-long initiative led by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Inside Philanthropy, March 6: "Overlooked No More: A Foundation's Push to Elevate Chicago Art," by Wendy Paris, on the Terra Foundation for American Art's Art Design Chicago initiative, which has provided more than 70 grants to 55 organizations across Chicago for exhibitions and programs taking place this year

Architectural Digest, March 5: "Versatile Artist and Designer Michele Oka Doner Celebrated in 3 Simultaneous Exhibitions," by Brook Mason, on the artist's upcoming exhibition Michele Oka Doner: Fluent in the Language of Dreams, at Wasserman Projects, Detroit

Apollo, March 2018: "Spreading the Word," by Louise Nicholson, profiling the Worcester Art Museum and its leadership, timed with the upcoming opening of the exhibition The Mystery of Worcester's Leonardo, open March 10 through June 3, 2018

Sardinia Post, March 2018: "Il Nuovo Mondo di Maria," by Donatella Percivale, on current and upcoming exhibitions at Marianne Boesky Gallery of work by the late Italian artist Maria Lai

Mayfair Times, March 2018: Art exhibitions roundup by Layla Haidrani, including Portal, at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, featuring American artists Iva Gueorguieva and Dona Nelson

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Terra Foundation Announces $300,000 in Grants for Art Design Chicago Projects  I  Thursday, March 29, 2018  I  PDF

The Terra Foundation for American Art announced today that following its March board meeting, it has awarded more than $300,000 in grants to support public and academic programs for Art Design Chicago, a wide-ranging initiative spearheaded by the Foundation and developed in partnership with more than 60 cultural organizations to explore the ongoing influence of Chicago’s art and design history. Grants awarded in the latest cycle enhance further the roster of public programs available throughout 2018 as part of Art Design Chicago and contribute to ongoing research into ideas spurred by the initiative that will extend well beyond this calendar year. To date, the Terra Foundation has given 90 grants to 64 organizations, totaling approximately $5.6 million, to support the development of exhibitions, academic and public programs, publications, and a four-part television series for Art Design Chicago, which kicked off in January and will continue through December.

 “Encouraging and expanding public engagement with Chicago’s cultural community is a core focus of Art Design Chicago. Barriers to access come in many forms, from financial obstacles to a general sense that cultural experiences can be intimidating or exclusionary,” said Amy Zinck, Executive Vice President of the Terra Foundation. “Our vision, and that of our partners’, is to start breaking down some of these barriers, by providing a wide-range of events on a diversity of subjects; ensuring that programs are taking place throughout the year and across the city’s many neighborhoods; and also helping to make many of those experiences free or affordable. There’s an important slow build with this initiative that takes into account the time necessary for people to engage with opportunities in ways that are meaningful to them.” 

To read the full news alert, please click the PDF link above.

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500 Years of Spanish Painting Will Be On View at San Antonio Museum of Art  I  Thursday, March 29, 2018  I  PDF

This summer, the San Antonio Museum of Art will present a dramatic survey of five hundred years of Spanish painting, stretching from the union of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in the late fifteenth century through the turn of the twentieth century. Spain: 500 Years of Spanish Painting from the Museums of Madrid will contain more than forty works of art from major collections in Madrid — very few of which have previously been on view anywhere in the United States and none of which have been seen in San Antonio. Organized in celebration of the Tricentennial of the city of San Antonio, the exhibition will convey the splendors of Spanish artistic traditions — a heritage that is part of the rich legacy of blended cultures that make San Antonio one of the most distinctive places in the United States.

Spain traces the continuity of specific Spanish pictorial traditions, including portraiture, landscape from the earliest hints of naturalism to the impressionist and expressionist movements of the late nineteenth century, dramatic devotional painting, and exacting still life. Organized by Dr. Katherine Crawford Luber, the Kelso Director, and Dr. William Keyse Rudolph, Andrew W. Mellon Chief Curator/Marie and Hugh Halff Curator of American Art, Spain will only be on view in San Antonio. Spain features works by iconic artists El Greco, Diego Velázquez, Bartolome Estéban Murillo, Jusepe de Ribera, Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Joaquín Sorolla, and Pablo Picasso. It also celebrates the artistic achievements of many other Spanish masters, such as Juan de Flandes, Luis de Morales, Frederico Madrazo y Kuntz, Antonio Esquivel, and Ignacio Zuloaga.

To read the full news alert, please click the PDF link above.

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Marianne Boesky Gallery to Present New Film by Hans Op de Beeck in April  I  Tuesday, March 27, 2018  I  PDF

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition marks the first public presentation of Op de Beeck’s perception-bending animated film, “The Girl,” which he completed in late 2017 in collaboration with the Flanders AudioVisual Fund. For the presentation, which will be open from April 26 through June 16, 2018, the gallery will transform its 507 W. 24th street location into a black box space.

 The film’s highly atmospheric views, rich landscapes, and poignant music—composed by Tom Pintens in collaboration with the artist—penetrate the psyche and stimulate the senses, encapsulating Op de Beeck’s uncanny ability to create visual fictions that deliver moments of wonder, silence, and introspection. His wide-ranging oeuvre, which includes large-scale installation, sculpture, film, painting, drawing, photography, and texts, reflects on the tragi-comic ways in which humans stage and organize their lives. Utilizing simple, everyday images, Op de Beeck raises universal questions about meaning and mortality, finding a delicate balance between the serious and the absurd, between the banal and extraordinary. 

To read the full news alert, please click the PDF link above.

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Iva Gueorguieva / Dona Nelson – Portal, at Sophia Contemporary Gallery  I  Thursday, March 1, 2018  I  PDF

Sophia Contemporary is pleased to announce Portal, the first two-person show of American artists Iva Gueorguieva and Dona Nelson. Gueorguieva and Nelson come from two successive generations of artists whose work is at the forefront of contemporary abstraction in the United States. Through painting and sculpture, both artists grapple with the history of painting, redefining abstraction and challenging the material and conceptual boundaries of their media. The exhibition initiates an intergenerational visual dialogue through fifteen works including Iva Gueorguieva’s vibrant acrylic and collage works and Dona Nelson’s signature double-sided freestanding paintings. Portal will open to the public with a talk by both artists from 6-7PM on Thursday, March 15, 2018 followed by a private view from 7-9PM. The exhibition will remain on view through May 3, 2018.

Portal will demonstrate how Gueorguieva and Nelson question the intrinsic flatness of the canvas by exploring the sculptural properties of painting, in particular through the use of collage and the deconstruction of the form through the process of cutting, dyeing, ripping, gluing, and painting on both sides of the canvas. While collage is an integral part of both artists’ work, they use it in different ways: Nelson controls the composition of her paintings by erecting physical boundaries on the canvas with gauze soaked in glue while Gueorguieva uses various means to push and move the color as it gets absorbed by the raw canvas.

To read the full news alert, please click the PDF link above.

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Recent News From Our Clients, February 2018

artnet News, February 26: "Editors’ Picks: 14 Things to See in New York This Week," by Sarah Cascone, including the upcoming exhibition Barnaby Furnas: Frontier Ballads, opening March 1 at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Artforum, February 16: "Kemi Ilesanmi and Juan Sánchez Join Joan Mitchell Foundation’s Board of Directors"

Interior Design Homes, February 15: "Back to Her Roots," on the exhibition Fluent in the Language of Dreams at Wasserman Projects, Detroit, featuring the work of Michele Oka Doner

Observer, February 15: "Artist Who Gilded NYC’s 34th Street Subway Station Takes on Detroit," by Margaret Carrigan, on the new exhibition of works by Michele Oka Doner at Wasserman Projects, Detroit

Artforum, February 8: "Joan Mitchell Foundation Names Artists for Its 2018 Residency Program," offering a range of national and local artists studio space and a stipend for a residency at the Foundation's Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans

Garage Magazine, February 1: "Dubbed 'Under-Sung' by the New Yorker, Sanford Biggers Is on a Roll," by Paul Laster, profiling the artist--currently working at the American Academy in Rome--whose exhibition Selah was presented at the Marianne Boesky Gallery in September 2017

Departures, February 2018: "Culture Calendar: 18 Things to Do in February 2018," including the upcoming exhibition Michele Oka Doner: Fluent in the Language of Dreams at Wasserman Projects in Detroit

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Marianne Boesky to Open Solo Shows of New Works by Barnaby Furnas and Claudia Wieser  I  Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present Frontier Ballads, Barnaby Furnas’s seventh solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition will feature new paintings that both encapsulate and question deeply-held mythologies of American identity, from representations of the rugged terrain of the West and the legendary explorers who settled it, to symbols of patriotism and those marking the country’s image of wholesomeness. This body of work also marks a new phase in Furnas’s ongoing experimentations with process and technique, as the paintings are being created in part through new robot technologies developed to his specifications.  For the full press release, click HERE.

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present Claudia Wieser’s Chapter, the Berlin-based artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. Drawing inspiration from the BBC Television series “I, Claudius” (1976), Wieser transforms the gallery’s white box into an arena where history, artifice and social constructs collide. Wieser’s practice derives from the distinct, but interrelated realms of fine art, architecture, design, and film. These elements are united by Wieser’s engagement with geometric patterning as a means of abstraction and a manifestation of spirit, psychic space, and the subconscious. The exhibition highlights Wieser’s adept ability to create an experiential environment through a reductive vocabulary of composite wallpaper, ornamented woodwork, gilded drawings, hand-painted tiles, and multifaceted mirrors. For the full press release, click HERE.

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Joan Mitchell Foundation Appoints Two New Board Members  I  Friday, February 16, 2018  I  PDF

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today that arts administrator and curator Kemi Ilesanmi and artist Juan Sánchez have been appointed to its Board of Directors. The Foundation advances the work of living artists through grants, residencies, partnerships, and access to professional services. To ensure that this work is guided as best as possible by the needs of artists, the Foundation requires that one third of its Board be working artists in addition to members from other fields. Sánchez joins artists and current Board members Tomie Arai, Ronald Bechet, Yolanda Shashaty, and Jean Shin. Likewise, Ilesanmi brings her experiences working with artists—as a curator, grants administrator, and the Executive Director of arts presenter The Laundromat Project—to the Foundation’s work.

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Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces 2018 Participants for Artists-in-Residence Program  I  Thursday, February 8, 2018  I PDF

The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced today the artists selected for its 2018 Artist-in-Residence program, which is hosted at the Foundation’s Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans. Recipients include artists local to New Orleans, as well as national and international artists who have previously received grants from the Foundation. All of the artists are provided with private studio space at the Center, a stipend, and the opportunity to participate in communal dinners five nights a week. Artists coming from other parts of the U.S. are also given lodging at the Center’s two-acre campus in the historic Faubourg Treme neighborhood, and an additional stipend for travel and shipping work. The Foundation launched the Artist-in-Residence program in 2013 as an extension of its grants programs, offering artists the essential benefits of time and space to experiment, create new work, and build their networks of fellow artists and arts professionals.

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First Exhibition to Explore Salvador Dalí's Small Format Paintings  I  Wednesday, February 7, 2018  I PDF

The Meadows Museum, SMU, will present the first in-depth exploration of the small-scale paintings of Salvador Dalí (1904–1989). While many of Dalí’s canvases are known around the world and are among the defining works of the Surrealist movement, the small size of many of these works is frequently overlooked. Nearly half of the artist’s paintings during the early part of his Surrealist period (1929–1936) were actually small- format works: some measuring just over a foot, and others as small as 3 x 2 in. Organized by the Meadows as part of its mission to present Spanish art in America, Dalí: Poetics of the Small will be on view at the Meadows Museum—the only venue for this exhibition—from September 9– December 9, 2018.

The exhibition will include nearly two dozen of Dalí’s small-scale paintings, including important works such as The Accommodations of Desire (1929, Metropolitan Museum of Art), The Angelus (c. 1932, private collection), and The Weaning of Furniture-Nutrition (1934, The Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida). While diminutive in scale, these paintings reflect Dalí’s distinctive Surrealist style—with familiar but distorted figures often set against a dramatic or barren landscape. An outgrowth of Dalí’s love for the refined and precise works of Dutch Masters, specifically Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675), as well as Dalí’s own notorious attention to detail, these cabinet paintings from the height of his career have never been systematically studied or exhibited as a cohesive group.

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Recent News From Our Clients, January 2018

Artforum, January 31: "Worcester Art Museum Appoints Erin R. Corrales-Diaz Assistant Curator of American Art," on the appointment of the Museum's new curator

ARTnews, January 31: "Worcester Art Museum Hires Erin R. Corrales-Diaz as Assistant Curator of American Art," by Andrew Russeth, reporting the Museum's new curator

Hyperallergic, January 26: "Art Movements," by Tiernan Morgan, including news of the Meadows Museum's acquisition of "Beach at Portici," the last painting by Mariano Fortuny y Marsal, and the San Antonio Museum of Art's acquisition of three works by contemporary African-American artists

Artforum, January 26: "San Antonio Museum of Art Acquires Works by Kevin Beasley, Rodney McMillian, and Martine Syms," announcing the Museum's latest contemporary art acquisitions, and building its collection of works by African-American artists

The Art Newspaper, January 25: "Three to see: New York," by Sarah Hanson, including the exhibition Serge Alain Nitegeka: Personal Eeffects In BLACK, on view through February 24, 2018 at Marianne Boesky Gallery

ARTnews, January 25: "San Antonio Museum of Art Acquires Works by Kevin Beasley, Rodney McMillian, Martine Syms," by Alex Greenberger, reporting on the latest acuisitions at the Museum

Art Radar, January 15: "A room of one’s own: Iranian-American Afruz Amighi – artist profile," by Jessica Clifford, on the artist's solo exhibition at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

Wallpaper*, January 11: "Letter from Detroit: urban renewal is on the horizon for 2018," by Stephanie Murg, including arts presenter Wasserman Projects, located in Detroit's Eastern Market

Artforum, January 11: "Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum Receives $3 Million Gift," announcing the gift from John and Sue Wieland, as well as the exhibition opening February 8 that draws from their collection, HOUSE: Selections from the Collection of John and Sue Wieland

Observer, January 11: "Serge Alain Nitegeka’s New Paintings and Sculptures Reflect on His Time as a Refugee," by Margaret Carrigan, on the artist's new exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York

ARTnews, January 11: "Collectors Sue and John Wieland Give $3 M. to Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum," by Alex Greenberger, on the endowment gift to the Mead Art Museum, and the upcoming exhibition, HOUSE: Selections from the Collection of John and Sue Wieland, opening February 8, 2018

Hyperallergic, January 9: "How Asian-American Artists Made a Mark on Abstract Expressionism," by Danielle Wu, reviewing the exhibition Abstract Expressionism: Looking East from the Far West, on view through January 21 at the Honolulu Museum of Art

The Wall Street Journal, January 6: "‘Last Defense: The Genius of Japanese Meiji Metalwork’ Review: Creativity Forged Anew," by Lee Lawrence, reviewing the exhibition of the same name at the Worcester Art Museum, on view now through September 2, 2018

ArtAsiaPacific, January 3: "Echo’s Chamber, Afruz Amighi," by Ned Carter Miles, on the artist's exhibition, on view through January 19, 2018 at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

Observer, January 2: "Long Lost Photographic History of People of Color on Display in Worcester," by Margaret Carrigan, on the exhibition Rediscovering an American Community of Color: The Photographs of William Bullard, on view through February 25, 2018

Apollo, January 1: "A trip along the East Coast of the United States," by Louise Nicholson, including a preview of The Mystery of Worcester's Leonardo, opening March 10, 2018 at the Worcester Art Museum

The Art Newspaper, January 2018: "A new Leonardo? Show on connoisseurship claims to reveal master's hand," by Judith H. Dobrzynski, on the Worcester Art Museum's upcoming exhibition The Mystery of Worcester's Leonardo, opening March 10, 2018

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Dr. Erin R. Corrales-Diaz Appointed At Worcester Art Museum  I  Wednesday, January 31, 2018  I  PDF

The Worcester Art Museum (WAM) today announced that Erin R. Corrales-Diaz has been appointed the Museum’s Assistant Curator of American Art, a position generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Dr. Corrales-Diaz comes to WAM from Spartanburg, South Carolina, where she currently holds dual posts as Curator of the Johnson Collection and Visiting Scholar at Wofford and Converse Colleges. Among her recent curatorial projects are exhibitions titled To Teach Is To Learn: Lessons in African American Art of the South, Southern Roots: Selections of Self-Taught Art from the Johnson Collection, and A Process of Learning: Educating the Avant-Garde at Black Mountain College. Dr. Corrales-Diaz will begin work at the Museum in May 2018.

WAM is widely known for its American art collection, which begins with the early Colonial period and continues through the 20th century, and has particular strengths in early American portraiture and American Impressionism. In January 2017, the Museum was awarded a three-year grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support a series of projects focused on the Museum’s collection of pre-contemporary American art. Among other projects, the grant will support a new series of installations and rotating exhibitions that will highlight some important—but less frequently seen—works from the collection, including an initiative to research, conserve, and install several stained glass windows by John La Farge and Louis Comfort Tiffany, which have not been on view in more than 40 years.

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Three Major Works of Art By Acquired By San Antonio Museum of Art  I  Thursday, January 25, 2018  I  PDF

The San Antonio Museum of Art announced it has acquired major artworks by three contemporary African American artists—Kevin Beasley (b. 1985), Rodney McMillian (b.1969), and Martine Syms (b. 1988). The works by Beasley and McMillian are now on view in the Museum’s contemporary art galleries and the Syms video/sound installation will be installed in February to coincide with Black History Month. The works join the Museum’s growing collection of art by other African American artists such as Willie Cole, Eldzier Cortor, Sam Gilliam, Faith Ringgold, Kehinde Wiley, and self-taught artists Bill Traylor and John Willard Banks.

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Meadows Museum Acquires Last Painting by Fortuny  I  Friday, January 19, 2018  I  PDF

The Meadows Museum, SMU, announced today that it has acquired Beach at Portici, the last painting of famed Spanish artist Mariano Fortuny y Marsal (1838- 1874). The nearly finished painting—which is unusual for its large scale, relative to much of the artist’s work—depicts the enjoyment of a summer day at the beach, and demonstrates Fortuny’s hallmark ability to capture light in paint. Fortuny was an especially popular artist with 19th-century American collectors and audiences, as the particularly American provenance of this work reveals. Reflecting the high esteem in which Fortuny’s works were held, Beach at Portici was featured prominently in the American Pavilion’s “Loan Collection of Foreign Masterpieces Owned in the United States” at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Considered one of the most important international exhibitions of the 19th century, these works were selected to show off to the Fair’s wide audiences— more than 27 million people visited during its six-month run—the richness and breadth of paintings owned by American collectors and museums, and implicitly, American economic prowess, and refined taste in fine art.

Beach at Portici will be on view at the Meadows Museum beginning January 19, 2018. From June 24 through September 23, it will be the subject of a focused exhibition, At the Beach: Mariano Fortuny y Marsal and William Merritt Chase, where it will be paired with a loan from the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Chase’s Idle Hours (c. 1894). The Spanish artist had a significant impact on many important American artists and perhaps especially on Chase, who knew his work well and greatly admired it.

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Mead Art Museum Receives $3 Million Endowment Gift, Plans New Exhibition  I  Thursday, January 11, 2018  I  PDF

The Mead Art Museum at Amherst College announced today that it has received a gift of $3 million from John Wieland ’58 and his wife Sue to endow the Mead Director and Chief Curator position and to support contemporary art acquisitions. Long-time supporters of Amherst College and the Mead, the Wielands decided to make their gift to indicate support for a larger set of initiatives at the Museum that have included, over the last two years, a comprehensive reinstallation of the collection and an increased focus on cultivating exhibitions and programs that bring new, international voices to Amherst and more actively engage campus audiences.

In conjunction with the gift, the Mead will present a special exhibition of works from the Wielands’ collection, featuring nearly 60 pieces by more than 30 artists, including Louise Bourgeois, Edward Burtynsky, Robert Gober, Félix González-Torres, Martha Rosler, Cindy Sherman and Ai Weiwei. HOUSE: Selections from the Collection of John and Sue Wieland will open at the Mead on February 8 and remain on view until July 1.

To read the full news alert, please click the PDF link above.

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Worcester Art Museum Presents Exhibition & New Research On A Leonardo Mystery  I  Monday, January 8, 2018  I  PDF

In March 2018, the Worcester Art Museum will present an exhibition revealing the hand of Leonardo da Vinci in two Renaissance panel paintings—the Museum’s A Miracle of Saint Donatus and the Musée du Louvre’s Annunciation—while reuniting these two panels for the first time since they were separated in the early 19th century. Based on recently completed technical research, The Mystery of Worcester’s Leonardo will demonstrate clearly Leonardo’s role in creating both paintings. The exhibition will open March 10, 2018 and remain on view until June 3. The A Miracle of Saint Donatus painting was discovered in 1933 and sold shortly thereafter to Theodore T. and Mary G. Ellis, patrons of the Worcester Art Museum, as a work by Leonardo da Vinci. Like Worcester’s painting, the Louvre’s Annunciation has also sometimes been attributed to Leonardo. However, most prior research led to an attribution to Lorenzo di Credi, a peer of Leonardo’s and a fellow apprentice in painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio’s workshop.

“It is precisely because of the incredible skill and beauty of Leonardo’s work that we find such mystery in those with tantalizing but uncertain attributions,” said Matthias Waschek, C. Jean and Myles McDonough Director of the Worcester Art Museum. “For decades, these two paintings have held clues about Leonardo’s style. Now, thanks to this new research by Rita Albertson, the Museum’s Chief Conservator, and her colleagues, we have for the first time a better understanding of—and evidence for—Leonardo’s role as a painter of these predella panels.” 

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Recent News From Our Clients, December 2017

ArtReview, December 2017: "Previewed," including Jessica Jackson Hutchins's exhibition The People's Cries, on view through December 22, 2017 at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Gallery Girl, December 28: "Gallery Girl meets Afruz Amighi," by Lizzy Vartanian Collier, on the exhibition Afruz Amighi: Echo’s Chamber, on view at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London, until January 19, 2018

artnet news, December 25: "Afruz Amighi’s Multifaceted Feminist Sculptures Project a Sense of the Precariousness of Our Ideals—See Them Here," by Hannah Pikaart, on the artist's exhibition on view at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London, until January 19, 2018

Hyperallergic, December 21: "Best of 2017: Our Top 20 Exhibitions Across the United States," including Nick Cave: Until, which was on view at MASS MoCA

The Art Newspaper, December 18: "The top ten museum acquisitions of 2017," by Aimee Dawson, including the Art Gallery of Ontario's acquisition of 522 photographs by Diane Arbus, making the AGO the second-largest holder of the artist's work

artnet news, December 18: "How Social Practice Artists Are Using Creative Problem-Solving to Help Revive Detroit," by Brian Boucher, including Wasserman Projects' work with artist Koen Vanmechelen and his Planetary Community Chicken project

Art Newspaper, December 15: "Three to See: London," by Aimee Dawson, including the first solo show of work by Afruz Amighi, Echo’s Chamber, at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London, through January 19, 2018

Village Voice, December 13: "The Year in Overlooked Art," by Siddhartha Mitter, including Selah, an exhibition of work by Sanford Biggers at Marianne Boesky Gallery

FAD Magazine, December 13: "How to Show It," by Paul Carey-Kent, including Afruz Amighi’s works, on view now at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

Observer, December 11: "Liz Glynn Questions the Direction of American Progress at Mass MoCA," by Margaret Carrigan, on the exhibition of Glynn's work, The Archaeology of Another Possible Future, on view through Labor Day 2018

Travel & Leisure, December 5: "The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2018," by Fiorella Valdesolo, including The Berkshires, featuring MASS MoCA and its recently opened Building 6, with long-term installations from artists such as Laurie Anderson, Louise Bourgeois, Jenny Holzer, and Robert Rauschenberg

Il Sole 24 Ore, December 1: "Gallerie in corsa per i lasciti d’artista," by Silvia Anna Barrilà and Maria Adelaide Marchesoni, including the news of Marianne Boesky Gallery's announcement that the Gallery now represents the archive of Maria Lai

Frieze, December 2017: "In Profile: Jessica Jackson Hutchins," by Laura Van Straaten, on the artist's new work, now on view in the exhibition The Peoples' Cries, at Marianne Boesky Gallery through December 22, 2017

Art in America, December 2017: "Diana Al-Hadid," by Rachel Wetzler, reviewing Al-Hadid's recent exhition, Falcon's Fortress, at Marianne Boesky Gallery

The Art Newspaper, December 2017: "The top ten museum acquisitions of 2017," by Aimee Dawson, including the Art Gallery of Ontario's acquisition of 522 photographs by Diane Arbus, making the museum the second largest holder of the artist's work

The Art Newspaper, December 2017: "The Glittering Prizes," by James H. Miller, including announcements of grants by: the Terra Foundation for American Art to support public school engagement with exhibitions and projects that are part of the Foundation's Art Design Chicago initiative in 2018; the Joan Mitchell Foundation's 2017 Painters & Sculptors Grants program, providing unrestricted grants of $25,000 each to 25 artists across the U.S.

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Artist Michele Oka Doner to Create New Work for Exhibition at Wasserman Projects  I  Monday, December 18, 2017  I  PDF

With her upcoming self-titled exhibition at Wasserman Projects, renowned artist Michele Oka Doner revisits for the first time the large-scale floor installation Pages I and II, which she created almost 40 years ago for her first solo museum show in 1978 at the Detroit Institute of Arts. For Michele Oka Doner, which opens on February 16, 2018, the artist will recreate the original installation and add Pages III and IV, extending the scope and experience of the work and re-contextualizing it within her career’s long engagement with organic forms and the evolution of language. The installation will be complemented by a selection of her recent Relics and ink drawings. Together, the works offer a lens into Oka Doner’s dynamic practice, shaped in part by her studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and her time spent living in Detroit, between 1969-1981. The exhibition will be on view through May 5, 2018.

 Oka Doner’s work has been guided by a passion for the natural world and a fascination with the history held within the remnants of living things, such as twigs, leaves, seeds, shells, pods, and stones. In her diverse installations, public works, sculptures, photographs, and drawings, these organic fragments are integrated, replicated, and reimagined in new contexts that speak to the ephemeral yet enduring nature of life. Oka Doner’s works exist within a captivating tension between spiritual meditation and scientific study, as she explores the universality and interconnectedness of our world and the human desire to organize and categorize it. 

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Recent News From Our Clients, November 2017

Observer, November 28: "Brooklyn-Based Artist Afruz Amighi Debuts Her Women Made of Steel," by Margaret Carrigan, reviewing Amighi's new exhibition, on view now at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

ARTnews, November 27: "Marianne Boesky Gallery Now Represents Archivo Maria Lai," by Robin Scher, on the new of the Gallery's work with the archive of the late Italian artist

Financial Times, November 24: "Art Market: Collecting," by Melanie Gerlis, including the announcement that the Marianne Boesky Gallery will now represent the archive of the late Italian artist Maria Lai

Jdeed, November 24: "Afruz Amighi | Echo’s Chamber," reviewing the artist's new solo exhibition, on view through January 19, 2018 at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

Alaska Public Media, November 21: "Along with national recognition, 2 Alaska artists awarded $25,000 each," by Casey Grove, on Alaska artists Sonya Kelliher-Combs and Drew Michael receiveing Painters & Sculptors Grants from the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Studio International, November 19: "Abstract Expressionism: Looking East from the Far West," by Lilly Wei, reviewing the exhibition of the same name, on view through January 21, 2018 at the Honolulu Museum of Art

Rivard Report, November 16: "Two San Antonio Painters Receive Prestigious Artist Grants," by Nicholas Frank, reporting on San Antonio painters Ruth Buentello and Ana Fernandez receiving unrestricted grants of $25,000 each, as part of the Joan Mitchell Foundation's 2017 Painters & Sculptors Grants

Glasstire, November 15: "S.A. Artists Receive $25K Joan Mitchell Grants," by Paula Newton, on San Antonio artists Ruth Buentello and Ana Fernandez, recipients of 2017 Painters & Sculptors Grants from the Joan Mitchell Foundation

ArtsATL, November 15: "News: Artadia Award recipients announced, Meko wins Joan Mitchell Prize," including news that artist Michi Meko is the recipient of a 2017 Painters & Sculptors Grants award from the Joan Mitchell Foundation

TRT World, November 15: "'Im/material: Painting in the Digital Age' exhibition in London," an in-depth feature on the exhibition on view through November 17 at Sophia Contemporary Gallery in London

ArtRabbit, November 15: Interview with artist Konrad Wyrebek, by Annette Rotz, one of the artists in 'Im/material: Painting in the Digital Age' exhibition, at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

Philanthropy New York, November 15: "ArtNet News Details Joan Mitchell Foundation 2017 Grant Recipients," picking up artnet's coverage of the Foundation's 2017 Painters & Sculptors Grants announcement

ARTnews, November 14: "Terra Foundation for American Art Gives $100,000 Grant to DePaul University’s Center for Urban Education," by Robin Scher, among a series of additional grants from the Terra Foundation in support of programs its Art Design Chicago initiative in 2018

artnet news, November 14: "Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces 2017 Grant Recipients, Making 25 Artists $25,000 Richer," by Taylor Dafoe, on the Foundation's awarding of a series of unrestricted grants to a diverse audience of artists across the United States

Artforum, November 14: "Joan Mitchell Foundation Awards $625,000 in Grants to Artists," on the announcement of the Foundation's 2017 Painters & Sculptors Grants

ARTnews, November 14: "Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces 2017 Painters & Sculptors Grant Recipients," by Robin Scher, on the Foundation's awarding of 25 unrestricted grants of $25,000 to artists across the United States, in the 24th year of this grant program

Wall Street Journal, November 13: "Winslow Homer’s Transforming Odyssey," by Lance Esplund, on the new exhibition Coming Away: Winslow Homer and England, on view through February 4, 2018 at the Worcester Art Museum

FAD Magazine, November 12: "The Top 8 Art Exhibitions to see in London this week," by Tabish Khan, including Im/material: Painting in the Digital Age, on view through November 17 at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

Fine Art Connoisseur, November/December 2017: "Off the Walls," including the exhibition Coming Away: Winslow Homer and England, on view through February 4, 2018 at the Worcester Art Museum

Artforum, November 10: "DePaul University Receives $100,000 Grant for Education and Exhibition Programs," announcing the Terra Foundation for American Art's grant, to support bringing Chicago Public Schools pupils to exhibitions in 2018, as part of Terra's Art Design Chicago initiative

Hyperallergic, November 10: "Art Movements," by Tiernan Morgan, including news on the Terra Foundation for American Art grant to Center for Urban Education at DePaul University, for a program to bring support arts access and education for students of Chicago Public Schools

Office Magazine, November 9: "Artists and the Internet," by Paige Silveria, interviewing artists Matt Hansel and Chris Dorland, who are featured in the exhibition Im/material: Painting in the Digital Age, on view now at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

Art Asia Pacific, November 2017: "Abstract Expressionism: Looking East from the Far West," by Bansie Vasvani, reviewing the exhibition of the same name, on view through January 21, 2018 at the Honolulu Museum of Art

Departures, November 2017: "Culture Calendar: 19 Things to Do in November 2017," by Rebecca Milzoff, including the exhibition Coming Away: Winslow Homer and England, on view through February 4, 2018 at the Worcester Art Museum

Asian Art Newspaper, November 2017: "Afruz Amighi: Echo's Chamber," on the artist's first UK solo show, opening November 24 at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

The Magazine Antiques, November 2017: "Homer's Odyssey," by Elizabeth Athens, on the exhibition Coming Away: Winslow Homer and England, on view through February 4, 2018 at the Worcester Art Museum

The Art Newspaper, November 2017: "Comings and Goings," including the appointment of Julian Cox as the new Chief Curator of the Art Gallery of Ontario, as well as the launch of the museum's new department of Canadian and Indigenous Art, naming Georgiana Uhlyarik its Fredrik S. Eaton Curator, Canadian Art and Wanda Nanibush its Curator, Indigenous Art

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Marianne Boesky Gallery Now Represents Archivo Maria Lai  I  Monday, November 27, 2017  I  PDF  

Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to announce representation of Archivo Maria Lai (1919-2013), marking the first time the artist will be represented in the U.S. Lai’s expressive compositions—made from a spectrum of materials, including watercolors, fabric, and clay—were influenced by literature and the oral histories of her birthplace, Sardinia. Her works, which were recently featured in Viva Arte Viva at the 57th Venice Biennale as well as at documenta 14, seamlessly combine the essence and traditions of her home with a universally compelling aesthetic vocabulary. Marianne Boesky Gallery will present a selection of cast and sewn works from Archivo Maria Lai at the upcoming edition of Art Basel Miami Beach at Booth B11, and will open the artist’s first solo exhibition in the U.S. since 1956—organized in collaboration with Lai’s niece, Maria Sofia Pisu—at its Aspen location, Boesky West, on February 16, 2018.

Performance and community-activated engagement is at the core of Lai’s career. Her most famous of these works is Legarsi alla Montagne (To Bind to the Mountain), which she created in 1981 as a “monument to the living” in response to a request to make a war memorial in her hometown of Ulassai. In this social action, inspired by a local legend, neighbors tied blue fabric together, creating a single ribbon that wove around homes and other structures until it encircled a peak that overlooked the town. The performative work served to physically and metaphorically bind the town, mountain, and people, establishing a sense of community and bringing the individual into a bigger whole. This work led to the development of other social actions initiated by Lai in cities across Italy and Europe. 

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Tragic Chinese Love Story Explored in New Exhibition at Worcester Art Museum  I  Wednesday, November 15, 2017  I  PDF

The tragic love story of the historic Chinese emperor Ming Huang (reigned 712-756) and his consort Yang Guifei has inspired artists, musicians, and writers across Asia for centuries. It is now the focus of a new exhibition, Dangerous Liaisons Revisited, opening at the Worcester Art Museum on January 20, 2018. Centered on the Museum’s 14th- to 17th-century Ming period handscroll painting, Ming Huang and Yang Guifei Listening to Music, the exhibition explores the story’s enduring appeal through 25 works ranging from the 7th to the 21st century, including tomb sculptures, ink paintings, prints, historical musical instruments, and contemporary works. The exhibition remains on view until April 22, 2018.

Dangerous Liaisons Revisited explores three main themes: the shifting representation and meaning of the famous love story of Ming Huang and Yang Guifei in later Chinese and Japanese art and culture; the role of music at the Chinese imperial court and as a metaphor for human desires; and the significance of the golden age of the Tang dynasty for later generations of artists, from the anonymous Ming period artist of the Worcester Art Museum’s handscroll painting to contemporary artists. 

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25 Artists Will Receive $25,000 Each From Joan Mitchell Foundation  I  Tuesday, November 14, 2017  I  PDF

The Joan Mitchell Foundation today announced the 2017 recipients of its annual Painters & Sculptors Grants—a diverse group of 25 artists who will each receive an unrestricted grant of $25,000. The Painters & Sculptors Grants were created in direct response to artist Joan Mitchell's instructions that a portion of her estate be used to “aid and assist individual painters and sculptors.” The grants focus in particular on artists whose work has contributed to important artistic and cultural dialogues, but who have nonetheless remained under-recognized on a national level. One of several grant programs run by the Foundation, awardees also become eligible to apply for residencies at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, which opened in 2010 to provide both national and local artists with additional space and support to develop their practices.

 This year’s recipients of the Painters & Sculptors Grants represent a wide range of artistic practices and demographics. The artists range in age from 27 to 62, hail from 12 states in all regions of the U.S., including two artists from Alaska and one from Hawaii, and eighty percent identify as nonwhite. Their work explores some of the most pressing issues of our time, including the immigrant experience, transgender rights, the housing crisis, racial and economic inequality, global warming, and Confederate monuments, and employs a broad array of materials and processes. They join more than 500 contemporary artists who have received Painters & Sculptors Grants over the last 24 years, including many luminaries supported early in their careers. 

To read the full news alert, please click the PDF link above.

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Terra Foundation Announces New Grants for Art Design Chicago, 2018  I  Thursday, November 9, 2017  I  PDF

The Terra Foundation for American Art announced today that following its October board meeting, it has awarded several new grants to support education and exhibition programs for Art Design Chicago, a wide-ranging initiative spearheaded by the Foundation and developed in partnership with more than 60 cultural organizations to explore Chicago’s art and design legacy. Among them is a grant of up to $100,000 to the Center for Urban Education at DePaul University to provide Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students and teachers with access to Art Design Chicago exhibitions and to enhance the core curriculum. The project, which will be guided by Dr. Barbara Radner, an associate professor at the University and the director of the Center, will enable schools in low-income neighborhoods to make field trips to a range of cultural organizations participating in Art Design Chicago, along with professional development for teachers and educational materials to incorporate explorations of artworks into their curricula. It is expected to serve approximately 4,500 students in grades 6-12 and 150 teachers across 50 schools throughout 2018.

Dovetailing with Art Design Chicago’s mission to illuminate the under-recognized contributions of Chicago’s creative communities, the DePaul program aims to provide access for students to Chicago’s many cultural institutions, increase awareness of the city’s artistic legacy, and enhance the scope of CPS’s social science, literacy, and visual arts curricula. While field trips will focus on Art Design Chicago exhibitions, the program is intended to inspire an ongoing engagement with American art, and to advance teachers’ skills in guiding students to think critically about art and its relationships to American history and culture as well as their own lives. This long-term vision aligns with the Terra Foundation’s ongoing support for programs that bring American art into Chicago’s classrooms. Students will create their own Art Design Chicago exhibits to inspire their school communities. In addition to the classroom-based activity, program leaders will work with CPS Community Schools, which serve to meet both academic and non-academic needs of families in different communities, to organize parent and family visits to Art Design Chicago exhibitions and events, which will take place from January through December 2018. 

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Recent News From Our Clients, October 2017

artnet news, October 26: "35 Unmissable Gallery Shows to See in New York City This November," by Sarah Cascone, including Jessica Jackson Hutchins: The People’s Cries, on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery from November 2 - December 22, 2017

FAD Magazine, October 25: "Review: Im/material: Painting in the Digital Age (Sophia Contemporary)," by AJ Dehany, on the exhibition currently on view at Sophia Contemporary, London

Inside Philanthropy, October 20: "What Has the Terra Foundation for American Art Been Funding in Chicago Lately?," by Alyssa Ochs, reporting on the Terra's Art Design Chicago initiative, which takes place across sites in Chicago throughout 2018

Hyperallergic, October 19: "Sanford Biggers Summons the Power of Deep Music," by Seph Rodney, on Biggers' solo exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery, on view through October 21, 2017

Arte Fuse, October 17: "Sanford Biggers at Marianne Boesky: Intentionally Woke, Unintentionally Groovy," by Ariana Akbari, on the recent solo exhibition of works by Sanford Biggers at Marianne Boesky Gallery

ArtRabbit, October 13: "Studio Envy: Painting in the Digital Age," by Annette Rotz, interviewing artist Ry David Bradley on his work and participation in the exhibition Im/material: Painting in the Digital Age, on view now at Sophia Contemporary Gallery, London

ARTnews, October 12: "Julian Cox Named Chief Curator and Deputy Director of Art Gallery of Ontario," by Alex Greenberger, on the museum's new hire

Time Out New York, October 4-10: "Sanford Biggers," by Joseph R. Wolin, reviewing Biggers' first solo exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery, on view through October 21, 2017

Brooklyn Rail, October 5: "DIANA AL-HADID: Falcon's Fortress," by Steven Pestana, reviewing the artist's new exhibition, on view through October 21, 2017 at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Brooklyn Rail, October 5: "SANFORD BIGGERS: Selah," by Steven Pestana, reviewing the artist's first solo exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery, on view through October 21, 2017

artnet news, October 5: "Must-See Art Guide: London," by Tatiana Berg, including the exhibition Im/material: Painting in the Digital Age, on view through November 17 at Sophia Contemporary Gallery

Interior Design, October 2017: "Afruz Amighi Showcases Steelwork and Sketches at London's Sophia Contemporary Gallery," by Annie Block, on view at Sophia Contemporary Gallery beginning November 23, 2017

The Mayfair Magazine, October 2017: "The World As We Know It," featuring the exhibition Im/material, opening September 29, 2017 at Sophia Contemporary gallery in London

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Art Gallery of Ontario names Julian Cox its new Chief Curator|  Thursday, October 12, 2017|  PDF

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is pleased to announce that Julian Cox has been appointed its new Chief Curator. With 25 years of museum experience, the British-born Cox—who is currently the Chief Curator and Founding Curator of Photography for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF)—begins his tenure in January 2018, pending approval of authorization to work in Canada. In his capacity as Chief Curator, Cox will also become the Gallery’s second Deputy Director, joining Alicia Vandermeer, Deputy Director and Chief Advancement Officer.

Since 2010, Cox has directed FAMSF’s renowned curatorial team working across two museums, the de Young and the Legion of Honor. As Chief Curator, he led curatorial activities in art of the Americas, Oceania and Africa, Ancient art, European Paintings and European Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Prints and Drawings, American art, contemporary art and international textiles and costume. He has also overseen FAMSF’s conservation, library and publications staff. Cox has considerably strengthened FAMSF’s curatorial endeavours in photography—his field of expertise—leading a robust program of exhibitions and scholarly projects, and increasing the collection by almost twenty per cent to more than 5,000 works. Cox has also published and lectured extensively, giving recent presentations on American civil rights and media culture at the Cincinnati FotoFocus Biennal and on photography and social activism at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

To read the full news alert, please click the PDF link above.