Fall into the Fall Art Season 2024 - Highlights and Last Call for Isaac Julien, MoMA; Jenny Holzer, Guggenheim

 

Sonia Delaunay, Electric Prisms, 1914 (Orphism)

Musée Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Dear Friends,

Three cheers for Fall - the most glorious time of the year!  Rich red, orange and golden leaves shelter us and then fall as our most cherished festive gathering Thanksgiving draws near. Plump pumpkins proudly sit on our porches and in our shop windows almost everywhere to welcome Halloween activities throughout October.  Classes to nourish our minds and spiritual growth begin.  And best of all, the Fall Art Season gets into full swing.

However, before we welcome in this bountiful Fall harvest, let's bid farewell to two great summer exhibitions:

Isaac Julien, Lessons of the Hours (on Frederick Douglass), Museum of Modern Art, through September 28 for the public; September 29 for members only.  Another stellar video installation by Sir Isaac that is a powerful indictment of America's idealization of itself and its dehumanizing reality.

Jenny Holzer: High Line at the Guggenheim Museum through September 29, 2024. A "reimagining" of her 1989 exhibition - which was AMAZING!  Don't miss out on this opportunity to consider the past and present relevance of this hard-hitting installation artwork.

Elizabeth Catlett, Mother and Child, 1939

New Orleans Museum of Art

Hyperallergic Art Magazine offers one of the best guides to a jam-packed autumn in New York City (all five boroughs).  Here is the link to use as a reference to mark your calendars: Fall Art Season.

I am especially excited about three Modernist shows in New York: 

Elizabeth Catlett at the Brooklyn Museum, September 13, 2024 - January 19, 2025.

Berthe Weill at the Grey Art Gallery, NYU, October 1, 2024 - March 1, 2025.

Orphism at the Guggenheim, November 8, 2024 -  March 9, 2025.

And I recommend these extremely important exhibitions outside of New York:

Impressionism at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, September 8, 2024-January 19, 2025.

Surrealism at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, November 3, 2024 - March 2, 2025.

Wishing you a healthy and happy Fall 2024!

Beth

Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, PhD

Director/Owner

New York Arts Exchange, LLC

February Zooms: Art Salons Hosted by Greenwich Arts Council and "Queen Esther in Art" Hosted by Learning in Retirement Stamford

 

Paul Signac, Portrait of Félix Fénéon, 1890

aka Opus 217. Against the Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones, and Tints

Museum of Modern Art, NYC

In about a month from now, we'll mark the first anniversary of the Covid-19 lockdown and, perhaps, look back on all we accomplished during this challenging "pause."  Did you see all the 2,500 museums available online?  Did you take all the virtual art tours?  I sure haven't.  

Oh - I have visited a few virtual exhibitions, as well as several in person since art museums and galleries opened this past summer.  The in-person experience can't be beat. However, there are several virtual exhibitions that merit praise.

What do YOU think of virtual exhibitions on museum websites?  I would genuinely like to know.

So with that curiosity in mind, and a sincere desire to talk to you about art, as we did when we toured the museum and galleries shows, I have dreamed up a series of 4 meetings, which I call "art salons" that offer an opportunity to talk about art and not sit passively listening to the presenter.

Our series of 4 salons is called: Critiquing the Virtual Museum Experience

It is hosted by Greenwich Arts Council.  You can learn more about the series and register here.

• 
  
• Time: Wednesdays, February 17 and February 24; March 3 and March 10
• 7:00 PM  8:30 PM
• Cost: $15 each
• Topics:  

1. Félix Fénéon at MoMA
2. Jacob Lawrence at the Met
3. Women artists at the Hudson River Museum
4. Crowd-sourced photos of life during the Covid-19 Pandemic at the Phillips Collection.

• 
  
• Each session features conversations about the curator's theme, content, and website presentation. We will meet in small "rooms" to facilitate lively and spontaneous exchanges. Preparation for these salons is recommended in order to fully engage in the three conversational segments listed above (theme, content, and success/failure as a virtual art experience).  However, it's not necessary.

I hope you will join us for these 1 1/2 hour opportunities to really weigh in on the art scene today.

For more details, please visit the Greenwich Arts Council website.

Antoine Coypel, Esther Swoons Before King Ahasuerus, c. 1704

Musée du Louvre

Art History Lecture on Zoom, Hosted by Learning in Retirement:

"Images of Queen Esther in Art"

Wednesday, February 24 at 10 am.

Browse and register here and here

Fee: $5.00

I'll lecture on the image of Queen Esther in art, just in time to celebrate Purim on February 25-26.

Please join me for this sprint through hundreds of years of artworks about The Book of Esther in the Bible, each created for a different audience: Catholic, Protestant and Jewish.  

I hope you will sign up for one or more of these art history events.

And I hope I see you again soon!

Warm wishes for Valentine's Day,

Beth

Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director and owner

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com

Happy Birthday, Pablo Picasso!

Feliz cumpleaños, Pablo Picasso. Today, you would have been 134 years old. And to celebrate your legacy, we bring attention to two great exhibitions of your work and about the influence of your work:

Picasso Mania! in Paris at the Grand Palais, through February 29, 2016

And Picasso Sculpture in New York at the Museum of Modern Art, through February 7, 2016.

Viva Picasso - Long may you reign as the art master supreme.

Beth New York

Rain Room at Inside and Out

It's 8 pm on the last day/night of Random International's Rain Room (2012) at the Museum of Modern Art - and it's raining outside.  I imagine people are now standing in the rain, waiting to enter the Rain Room, which is the experience of standing in the rain without getting wet.  Someone has to point out the irony in all that - it's too delicious to let slip by without a comment.

Announcements were sent out to inform the public that the show would close at 12 midnight to accommodate those die-hearts unperturbed by standing in line for as little as 1 1/2 hour (members) and as much as 8 hours or more.  Once inside the Rain Room, you can stay as long as you like - but only 10 people may stand inside the room at one time.  (One wonders which MoMA wunderkind thought that this was a good idea for a city of millions and its thousands of summertime guests - not.)  As of last weekend, over 70,000 visitors braved the challenging New York heat for fear of missing out on this much-talked about attraction.

If you are like me, however, and can't spare 1 hour - let alone 8 hours - for just about anything these days, take heart.  We still have videos.  Here is one with the artists as your guides:

And at the Barbican Gallery last year:

Or you may share my "rain room" on the porch, gently perfumed with Nature's own refreshing blend.  

Cheers,

Beth New York

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

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com

Our next tour will be Edward Hopper at the Whitney Museum, July 31 at 1 pm.
Please confirm your reservation at nyarts.exchange@verizon.net
Thank you.

November 2012 Newsletters: Thanksgiving Greetings

Dear friends,

We have much to be thankful for during this Thanksgiving and Holiday Season.  For many, it's is having electricity and heat after lengthy power outages due to Hurricane Sandy and Nor'Ester Athena.

However, many people still suffer from losses incurred by these storms and other serious reverses.
While we celebrate our good fortune, please consider those who have lost so much.  Here is a link to a list of several organizations that need our help.

As you know, the New York Arts Exchange had to postpone two tours, because of the storms.
Our next tour will be on Wednesday, November 28:
"Caribbean Art," El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th St,  We meet a 1 pm.  $60 per tour.

Our remaining tours for the Fall Season:
November 28 - El Museo del Barrio
December 5 - Private studio visit with Ellen K Levy
December 12 - Matisse at the Met.
December 19 - Bellows and Bernini at the Met
December 26 - Brooklyn Museum

Closing Soon:
The Duchamps, Francis Naumann Fine Arts, closing Friday, November 23.
This show is a must-see this season.  Here is the New York Times review
"Martha Rosler's Meta-Monumental Garage Sale," Museum of Modern Art, through November 30.

Closing in December:
Malcolm  D. MacDougall III, 287 Spring Gallery, through December 8
"Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years," Metropolitan Museum, through December 31

Closing in January:
Saika Hoisu, Japan Society, through January 6.
The Quay Brothers, Museum of Modern Art, through January 7
Rosemarie Trockel, New Museum, through January 20
Picasso Black and White, Guggenheim Museum, through January 23
"Mantegne to Matisse: Drawings from the Courtauld," Frick Museum, through January 27
"Faking It: Manipulated Photos before Photoshop," Met Museum, through January 27
Lin Tianmaio, Asia Society, through January 27.


Opening Thursday, December 13: Masako Inkyo's recent work at Onishi Gallery.
Look for an invitation soon.

Best wishes for the Holiday Season,
Beth

Beth S. Gersh-Nesic
Director
New York Arts Exchange
www.nyarts-exchange.com