This Week's Major Events: Fascinating Furniture Exhibitions, Early Modernism at the Guggenheim & More

APRIL 26-MAY 2

NEW YORK

Hudson Hewn: New York Furniture Now, Boscobel House and Gardens, Garrison, NY
On view through August 14, 2016
Best known for its spectacular collection of furniture made in New York between 1800 and 1820 by Duncan Phyfe and his contemporaries, Boscobel House is turning its attention to the present day for its 2016 special exhibition. Hudson Hewn features works by local furniture makers that are inspired by the area’s rich craft tradition as well as by nature and natural materials. The contemporary works will be on view in Boscobel’s Exhibition Gallery as well as throughout the nineteenth century Georgian mansion’s period interiors. According to Boscobel’s Executive Director, Steven Miller, “The elegant rooms for which Boscobel is so famous present a legacy of art and craft that continues to the present. We are honored to place that heritage in a new context in this unprecedented exhibition.” Click here to continue reading.

Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
April 27, 2016-February 12, 2017
Drawn entirely from the Whitney’s permanent collection, Human Interest explores the evolution of portraiture over the last sixty years. One of art’s oldest genres, portraits were historically reserved for important figures, including nobility and religious icons. In the mid-nineteenth century, a new era of portraiture was ushered in as artists like Gustave Courbet and Jean-Francois Millet began painting everyday people from a variety of social classes. Today, portraiture is limitless and thanks to such technological advances as the smartphone, ubiquitous. Divided into five thematic sections, Human Interest features widely recognizable works alongside lesser-known examples—all of which explore how we perceive and memorialize others. The exhibition includes portraits by Chuck Close, Alice Neel, Edward Hopper, and Walt Kuhn. Scott Rothkopf, Director of Programs at the Whitney, says, “Our collection includes literally thousands of portraits, dating from the founding of the Museum to just this year. The challenging and exciting part was to present these works with a new twist, according to inventive frameworks, and to show how artists have continually redefined one of art’s oldest genres.” Click here to continue reading.

Antique Garden Furniture Fair, New York Botanical Garden, New York, NY
April 29-May 1, 2016
Now in its twenty-fifth year, the Antique Garden Furniture Fair at the New York Botanical Garden is widely considered the finest venue for garden antiques and rarities, including sundials, fountains, benches, antique wicker, botanical prints, and more. The largest show of its kind, this year’s fair will feature thirty of the country’s top garden antique dealers, including Blithewold Home, Barbara Israel Garden Antiques, Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge, and The Cooley Gallery. The fair’s Designer Chairman, Ken Fulk, will create bee-inspired designs that will adorn the show floor. Fulk, an interior and event designer, will also create a showpiece featuring items from exhibitors that will celebrate the dynamic relationship between antiques and modern design in contemporary settings. Click here to continue reading.

Guggenheim Collection: Early Modernism, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
April 29, 2016 (Ongoing)
In existing gallery space recently dedicated to the Guggenheim's permanent collection, the museum will mount an ongoing exhibition of its early Modernist holdings. Part of the institution’s core collection, many of the works on view were acquires by the museum’s founder, Solomon R. Guggenheim. Although the institution boasts everything from Impressionist works to contemporary art, these daring and revolutionary masterpieces from the early twentieth century played a pivotal role in shaping the ideology behind Guggenheim’s collection. The exhibition will include works by some of Modernism’s most important figures such as Constantin Brancusi, Marc Chagall, Vasily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Joan Miró, and Piet Mondrian. Click here to continue reading.   

The Artist as Architect, Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Catskill, NY
May 1-October 30, 2016
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site’s 2016 exhibition commemorates the recreation of the Hudson River School founder’s self-designed Italianate studio. Held in the “New Studio” building, the exhibition will explore Thomas Cole’s architectural interests through architecturally-themed paintings and drawings, as well as in his realized and visionary projects. The exhibition includes twenty six paintings and drawings, including The Architect's Dream, which depicts the artist overlooking a panorama of architectural styles, and a scale model, two of the artist’s books about architecture, and primary source documents. After its run at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, the exhibition will travel to the Columbus Museum of Art. Click here to continue reading.

ILLINOIS

Design Episodes: The Modern Chair, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
On view through September 11, 2016
In the fall of 2017, the Art Institute of Chicago will unveil its first permanent installation of architecture and design from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In anticipation of that milestone, the museum is mounting a series of three mini-exhibitions highlighting different aspects of its design holdings. The first installment, which is currently on view, focuses on the modern chair. The exhibition charts the evolution of the form from the Machine Age, when engineering and innovative materials took center stage, through the twentieth century, as designer like Charlotte Perriand, Harry Bertoia, and Charles and Ray Eames continued to redefine and revolutionize the chair. Click here to continue reading.

MASSACHUSETTS

Alex Da Corte: Free Roses, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
On view through January 31, 2017
For his first museum survey, contemporary artist Alex Da Corte has transformed MASS MoCA’s second-floor galleries into a panoply of neon lights, psychedelic hues, and artfully arranged everyday objects. The centerpiece of the show is an immersive, candy-colored installation that occupies the museum’s 100-foot long, thirty-foot tall gallery. Inspired by Arthur Rimbaud’s angst-filled poem A Season in Hell, the installation recalls Da Corte’s upbringing in suburbia. The exhibition also includes three videos inspired by the poem and a series of table sculptures. Click here to continue reading.  

TEXAS

Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
On view through August 14, 2016
Beyond Beauty, which has been organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is the first retrospective of Irving Penn’s work in nearly twenty years. Best known for his austere fashion photographs and portraits, many of which appeared in the pages of Vogue, Penn also shot still lifes, cityscapes, and architecture. Presenting over 140 images, including iconic images as well as unseen works, Beyond Beauty aims to reveal a lesser known side of one of photography’s most notable figures. Drawn entirely from the Smithsonian’s holdings, the exhibition presents works from all stages of Penn’s seventy-year career, including his street scenes from the late 1930s, his photographs of the American South from the early 1940s, and  a slew of his stunningly stark and elegant portraits of models, celebrities, and more. Click here to continue reading.

LONDON

Making Discoveries: Rubens’ Ghost, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
April 26-July 3, 2016
Back in January, London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery launched a series of exhibitions exploring the creative processes of four major artists in the museum’s collection: Anthony van Dyck, Gerrit Dou, Peter Paul Rubens, and Rembrandt. The exhibitions also forge connections between works from the Gallery’s collection and outside institutions. Rubens' Ghost, which opens on April 26, will present a life-size X-ray of the artist’s 1653 masterpiece, Venus, Mars and Cupid, alongside the completed work. The display will reveal changes made by Rubens during the creation of the painting and, in turn, illustrate his working process. The exhibition will further explore Rubens’ methods by taking a closer look at other masterpieces by the Flemish Baroque painter, including The Miracles of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Hagar in the Desert. Rubens’ Ghost, which is the second display in the Making Discoveries series, includes works from the National Portrait Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, the National Trust, and a number of private lenders. Click here to continue reading.