APRIL 19-25

NEW YORK

Barbara Takenaga, Black Triptych (blaze), 2016. Acrylic on linen 72 x 108 inches. ©Barbara Takenaga. Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York.

Barbara Takenaga: Waiting in the Sky, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY
On view through April 30, 2016
If you’re in New York, be sure to catch DC Moore Gallery’s fourth solo exhibition dedicated to the abstract artist Barbara Takenaga. Known for her captivating paintings that conjure images of cosmic realms and other natural phenomena, Takenaga employs a decidedly meticulous and labor-intensive technique to create her kaleidoscopic works. Blending organic, layered forms with hard-edge, geometric patterns, Takenaga creates a duality that echoes the tenuous relationship between the familiar and the unknown, the present and the future. Barbara Takenaga: Waiting in the Sky presents a series of large-scale paintings, on linen and panel, and a wall-piece related to the artist’s current installation at MASS MoCA. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog with an essay written by the American poet and critic, John Yau. Click here to continue reading.

Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
On view through July 17, 2016
While Berlin’s Pergamon Museum is closed for renovations, it has decided to send a portion of its remarkable antiquities collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The unprecedented loan includes seventy-three pieces from the Pergamon’s collection of Hellenistic art. Spanning the three centuries between Alexander's death, in 323 B.C., and the establishment of the Roman Empire, in the first century B.C., the Hellenistic period is characterized by the new and exotic artistic styles that emerged as well as the lavish displays of wealth that prevailed. Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World, which features approximately 264 works in total, is one of the most monumental Greek art exhibitions ever mounted at the Met. Click here to continue reading.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Robert Irwin Ocean Park, 1960–61. Oil on canvas, 65 1/2 x 65 1/8 in. (166.4 x 165.4 cm). Collection of Betsy and Bud Knapp © 2016 Robert Irwin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo © 2015 Philipp Scholz Rittermann.

Robert Irwin: All the Rules Will Change, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
On view through September 5, 2016
Robert Irwin has spent the past sixty-plus years exploring art as a perceptual experience. Irwin began his career in the 1950s as a painter and in the 1960s, helped pioneer the pivotal Light and Space Movement. Today, Irwin is best known for his luminous installations, which continue to explore the effects of light and form on perception. All the Rules Will Change is divided into two parts—the first focuses on works created by Irwin between 1958 and 1970—a pivotal period in his career and in the history of postwar American art. During this time, Irwin moved away from small-scale abstract paintings to large acrylic discs and columns, ultimately choosing to create ephemeral, site-specific installations instead of studio works. The second part of the show presents a new commission in the Hirshhorn’s galleries, where Irwin has created an immersive installation in response to the museum’s distinctive architecture. All the Rules Will Change is the first museum survey devoted to Irwin’s work of the 1960s, as well as the first U.S. museum survey outside his native California since 1977. Click here to continue reading.

MISSISSIPPI

When Modern Was Contemporary: Selections from the Roy R. Neuberger Collection, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
On view through October 30, 2016
When Modern Was Contemporary features works from the collection of Roy. R Neuberger, an American financier and one of the twentieth century's foremost collectors. Featuring fifty-two works by some of modern art’s most important figures, the exhibition explores the remarkable evolution of American art during the first half of the twentieth century as well as Neuberger’s role as a champion of Modernism. The exhibition, which includes works by Alexander Calder, Stuart Davis, Willem de Kooning, Marsden Hartley, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko, marks the first time that the works have traveled from their home at the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York, since Neuberger donated them over forty years ago. Click here to continue reading.

WASHINGTON

Edvard Munch (1863-1944), Attraction II, 1896. Lithograph, 1911/16 × 25⅜ inches (sheet). National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Epstein Family Collection, 2013, 2013.10.1. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Edvard Munch and the Sea, The Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
On view through July 17, 2016
This exhibition, culled from private collections as well as a number of major American museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art, proves that there’s more to Edvard Munch than The Scream. A native of Norway, Munch was profoundly influenced by the country’s coastal landscape and often explored it in his work. The twenty-six paintings and prints on view in this show illustrate how Munch used the sea both as a subject as well as a tool to express a host of complex emotions, including love, grief, and joy. The exhibition offers those in the Pacific Northwest a rare chance to see some of Munch’s most affecting masterpieces. Click here to continue reading.     

CALIFORNIA

Sam Francis (American, 1923–1994) Untitled, 1961. Ink on paper, 9 x 12 in. (22.8 x 30.5 cm). Norton Simon Museum, Gift of the Sam Francis Foundation, P.2012.1.11.

Drawing, Dreaming, Desire: Works on Paper by Sam Francis, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
On view through July 25, 2016
A master of Abstract Expressionism, Sam Francis is best known for his vibrant and exuberant canvases marked by colorful splotches, dribbles, and swirls of paint. This exhibition at the Norton Simon Museum provides a glimpse of an often unseen body of work by the artist. Drawing, Dreaming, Desire presents intimate works on paper by Francis that explore the subjects of erotica and the female nude. Quieter and more restrained yet just as energetic as Francis’ large-scale paintings, these works in pen and ink, acrylic, and watercolor reveal another, more personal side to Francis’ inimitable oeuvre. Click here to continue reading.

Man Ray, Butterflies, 1935. Carbro print. The J. Paul Getty Museum. © Man Ray Trust ARS-ADAGP.

The Thrill of the Chase: The Wagstaff Collection of Photographs, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
On view through July 31, 2016
This magnificent exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum presents photographs from the collection of Samuel J. Wagstaff Jr.—an American curator and collector as well as the lover and mentor of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Wagstaff, who began collecting photographs in 1973, believed that the medium was severely undervalued and deserved to be in the realm of high art. With the help of Mapplethorpe, Wagstaff assembled one of the world’s most significant photography collections and ultimately transformed the market for the medium. This exhibition at the Getty, which currently owns the Wagstaff Collection, includes works by some of photography’s most seminal figures, including Man Ray, Edward Weston, and Robert Frank. Click here to continue reading.

LONDON

Courtesy of The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair.

The Spring Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair, Battersea Park, London
April 19-24, 2016
Launched in 1985, the Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair aims to unite the antiques and interior design trades. To further this mission, exhibitors are asked to create bespoke vignettes using art, decorative antiques and twentieth century design, offering endless inspiration for displaying one-of-a-kind items at home. Held three times a year at Battersea Park, the fair’s spring iteration coincides with the ninetieth birthday of Queen Elizabeth. Exhibitors will bring designs and works of art with "regal flair" such as ceremonial seating and early-nineteenth century furniture. Meanwhile, an exhibition in the fair’s foyer will  bring together objects and art with a royal theme as well as pieces relating to the Royal Collection, palaces and homes. Click here to continue reading.

PARIS

Dress and petticoat, around 1760. Silk taffeta. Collection UFAC. © Les Arts Decoratifs, Paris / Photo: Jean Tholance.

Fashion Forward: Three Centuries of Fashion, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
On view through August 14, 2016
The Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of its seminal fashion collection with the exhibition Fashion Forward. Featuring over 150,000 works ranging from ancient textiles to haute couture creations, the museum’s collection is widely considered the finest of its kind in France. The sweeping exhibition, which is currently on display, provides a bird’s eye view not just of the institution’s magnificent holdings, but of fashion history from the eighteenth century to today. Fashion Forward presents 300 items of men’s, women’s, and children’s fashion, including designs by Charles-Frederick Worth, Jacques Doucet, Paul Poiret, Jeanne Lanvin, Cristobal Balenciaga, Gabrielle Chanel, Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent. Click here to continue reading.