 |
| Rubens' portrait of his wife |
|
|
|
|
Here are the hot New York museum shows this autumn.
Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years, Metropolitan Museum. With the season's surefire hit, the Met steps into an uncharacteristic role, that of writing contemporary art history. The show takes on Warhol's influence on artists who are actually alive -- grouped around such themes as celebrity and repetition -- and features creaky standbys Jeff Koons, Alex Katz, and Richard Prince but also artists we don't see enough of like Vija Celmins. Opens September 18.
Bernini: Sculpting in Clay, Metropolitan Museum. The greatest sculptor of the 17th century -- and perhaps the greatest master of public art -- made small clay models for his statuary, and the Met is gathering together 50 of them, including some for his fountains scattered about Rome and the angels along one of Rome's bridges. Opens October 3.
Mantegna to Matisse: Master Drawings from the Courtauld Gallery, Frick Collection. Sixty drawings over a 500-year period sounds ridiculous, but this show presents the greatest hits from a great English collection by the masters of the craft -- Michelangelo, Leonardo, Rembrandt, and Cezanne among them -- both sketches and finished works. The Rubens at top is a luscious mix of sensuality and modesty, as he depicts his young wife lifting her veil. High expectations seem sure to be exceeded. Opens October 2.
Fore, Studio Museum in Harlem. Every few years the Studio Museum puts together a show of emerging artists of African descent living and working in the U.S. This year's show of 29 artists -- including Jennifer Packer (whose work is shown at left) and Toyin Odutola -- looks like a winner. Opens November 8.
Martha Rosler, Meta-Monumental Garage Sale, Museum of Modern Art. Haggle with a real artist! Rosler, MoMA's staff, and the public have donated stuff to be sold in the museum's atrium the last two weeks of November. Rosler, reputed to be a hard bargainer, has held garage sales several times before -- first in San Diego in 1973 and then in various European cities -- but MoMA's will be the largest. Expect to be elbowed by serious buyers. November 17-30.
Fantasy and Invention: Rosso Fiorentino and Sixteenth-Century Florentine Drawing, Morgan Library. The Morgan is showing approximately 20 drawings by the likes of Bronzino and Pontormo from its own collection, but the real draw is a painting of the Holy Family with the Infant St. John the Baptist (left) on loan from the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, one of only three paintings in the U.S. by this major Mannerist artist. Opens November 10.
Images from the museums' websites.
Text (c) Copyright 2012 Laura Gilbert.
