Beth's lecture on January 7th - Last Call for January and the Winter Holidays!

Félix Vallotton, La Paresse (Laziness), 1896

Greetings, Friends and Happy New Year!

Today is Three Kings Day, "Little Christmas" and Christmas Eve for members of the Christian Eastern Orthodox churches. Thank you, Hyperallergic, for providing the list and a great source to keep us up to date on art happenings and issues. If you haven't subscribed to Hyperallergic, yet, please make that your New Year's resolution.  Thank you, Hrag Vartanian, for a great online art magazine that is absolutely free!

Félix Vallotton's print, Laziness, is part of a wonderful exhibition of this Swiss artist's paintings and prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, through January 26th.  The show is located in the Lehman Wing, so it's a small selection of his work - not too taxing for the weary.

Also, Vallotton and other non-French artists will be featured during my lecture at the Byram Shubert Library, Greenwich, CT on Tuesday, January 7th - that's tomorrow - at 5 pm.

The title is "When Modern Art Came to Paris: Immigration and Assimilation." The talk will highlight the great artists who came to Paris and contributed to modern art when this "City of Light" was the mecca for all aspiring artists. Those who stayed, the immigrants like Vallotton, belong to our concept of "French art."  Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Sonia Delauney, and Amedeo Modigliani were other immigrants who established their careers in France and became part of the French avant-garde during their respective lifetimes.  On January 24, 2020, we honor the 100th anniversary of the  death of Modigliani. 

I hope you will be able to join us at the Byram Shubert Library at 5 pm - it's free and open to the public.

Other exhibitions that are closing:

Metropolitan Museum of Art: 

Vija Celmins, through January 12 (at the Met Breuer).

The Cloisters: The Colmar Treasures: A Medieval Jewish Legacy, through January 12.  

The Last Knight closed on January 5th - here is the exhibition page to view online.

Museum of Modern Art:

Michael Amitage, through January 20

Energy, through  January 26

Betye Saar: The Legends of a Black Girl's Window, closed January 4 - here is the exhibition page to view online.

Guggenheim Museum: 

Artistic License: Six Takes on the Guggenheim Collection, through January 12.

New Museum:

Hans Haacke: All Connected, through January 26

Morgan Library and Museum: 

John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Charcoal, through January 12

New York Historical Society:

Beyond Midnight: Paul Revere, through January 12

Katonah Museum of Art:

Abstract Expressionist Women of 9th Street Show, through January 26

Museum of Art and Design:

Vera Neumann (Vera scarves), through January 26

Anna Sui, through February 23

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2020 -

Beth

Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director and owner

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com 

On Twitter: @bethnewyork

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NYArts.Exchange/

Last Call for Frida in Brooklyn; Tolkien at the Morgan, through May 12

Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving

Brooklyn Museum, through May 12th

The exciting exhibition of Frida Kahlo's art, fashion, personal possessions, and image in photos and film will close on Sunday, May 12th at 10 pm.  All advance-sale timed tickets are no longer available, but you can try to purchase a timed ticket through the Membership link on the Brooklyn Museum's website, provided you become a member.  Here is the info for new membership only 

I will be among those unfortunates who missed the show - but such is life.

Here are two reviews that offer views from afar:

Vivian Wang on Latin X

Stephanie Huber on Hyperallergic

Conversation with Smaug, a watercolour painted by Tolkien in 1937 as an illustration for the first American edition of The Hobbit. In this image, Bilbo Baggins, rendered invisible by a magic ring, converses with the fire-breathing dragon, Smaug.

Tolkien:Maker of Middle Earth at the Morgan Library also closes on Sunday, May 12th.  A brilliant show, I highly recommend going on Friday evening, when the Morgan is open until 9 pm.  The lines for this show will be painfully long over the weekend, I am sure.  (Don't forget to watch the video on the Morgan website, available with the link provided here.)

Augusta Savage, with Realization, 1938

For those of you who are seeking a less crowded museum visit for Mother's Day, may I suggest the New York Historical Society, which features two great shows:

Betye Saar, Keeping It Clean, through May 27

Augusta Savage, Renaissance Woman, through July 28

There are two choices for dining: Parliment café and Storico restaurant

Other exhibitions that may have substantial crowds:

Camp, the Costume Institute exhibition (through the summer), and The Tale of Genji (through June 17) at the Met Museum

Leonard Cohen at the Jewish Museum through September 8

Please consult our website's "Free or Pay-What-You-Wish" page for more ideas to celebrate Mom.

Happy Mother's Day to you and your families,

Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director and owner

New York Arts Exchange, LLC

www.nyarts-exchange.com 

Last Call: Seismic Shifts and The Annual: 2013 at the National Academy Museum, through May 5

Vik Muniz, Woman Ironing (Isis) and The Gypsy (Magna) 

from the series Pictures of Garbarge, 2008-11

portfolio of 7 chromogenic prints, 30 x 23½ inches , edition of 30

Courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & co., New York; art © Vik muniz/licensed by VaGa, New York, NY

Housed in the former Archer Milton and Anne Hyatt Huntington beaux-arts mansion at 1083 Fifth Avenue between 89th and 90th Streets, the National Academy Museum remains one of the ever-twinkling jewels in New York's treasure chest of art.  Rarely disappointing, these temporary exhibitions should be on everyone's list of must-see art shows every season. Since January 31, Seismic Shifts: 10 Visionary in Contemporary Art and Architecture, features a thrilling collection of works by an international group of artists: Vik Muniz, Bill Viola, Betye Saar, Tom Friedman, Thornton Dial, Wangechi Mutu, Moshe Safdie, Gregg Lynn, Kate Orff and Nick Cave. The online catalog offers a sneak peek of these glorious art works and architectural models/photographs. Among the best known are Brazilian artist Vik Muniz's portraits of garbage pickers in Rio de Janeiro from his documentary Waste Land (2010).  

Here is a link to the film's trailer on YouTube.

Betye Saar, Red Ascension (from RED TIME), 2011

mixed media assemblage, 17½ x 96½ x 3¼ inches

Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery llc, New York, NY

Still going strong, 86-year-old Betye Saar contributed her recent works to Seismic Shifts, installed at the very beginning of the exhibition to emphasize the rich multi-media aspect of this curatorial endeavor.  Saar is known for her vast collection of found or received objects that she embeds into exceptionally imaginative environments.  Her Flight of the Trickster (2012) was created especially for the National Academy's show.  (Composed of layered black handmade paper and other materials, it does not reproduce well as a digital form.)  Here I have included Red Ascension from her RED TIME show which references the bloody journey of Africans to the New World - from slave ships to shackles to emancipation (following the stars to freedom with the underground railroad).

For a preview of Seismic Shifts conducted by curator Marshall Price, click on the embedded video posted below.

Seismic Shifts has been paired with the National Academy's annual exhibition of members.  This year, The Annual: 2013 features works by Julie Heffernan, Faith Ringgold, Judith Shea, Richard Kalina, Robert Kushner, Howardena Pindell, and many, many more.  The National Academy's annual exhibition often rivals the Whitney biannual resume of what's new and noteworthy in contemporary art.  Please click here to see the digital images on the NA website.

The New York Arts Exchange will tour the exhibitions on Wednesday, May 1, meeting in the lobby at 1 pm.  To confirm or make reservations, please contact me at nyarts.exchange@verizon.net 

Best regards,

Beth New York

aka  Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange