| Summer 2006 Special Exhibitions | |
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Compilation of Significant Shows by Stan Parchin, Senior Correspondent for Museums and Special Exhibitions |
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Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Drawings in Dialogue: Old Master Through ModernJune 3-July 30, 2006
This exhibition displays 166 of 240 drawings promised or already given to the Institute by Dorothy Braude Edinburg. Works from the Renaissance, the Baroque, the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries in Europe and America (particularly nineteenth-century France) and the Early Twentieth Century examine artists' working methods and their relationships.
Birmingham Museum of Art
Birmingham, Alabama
Power and Purpose: African Art from the CongoJune 4-August 27, 2006
The Congo, Luba and Songye peoples of Africa, among others, are represented by 45 examples of ceramics, figure-sculpture, headwear, masks, metalwork, musical instruments and textiles on loan from the famous Walter and Molly Bareiss Collection of African Art.
The British Museum
London, England
Michelangelo: Money and MedalsJanuary 12-June 25, 2006
Rare Italian Renaissance coins and medals describe the frugal painter, sculptor and architect Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564). Also exhibited are images of the ambitious artist's wealthy royal and papal patrons, accompanied by additional small-scale portraits of his friends.
Michelangelo Drawings: Closer to the Master
March 23-June 25, 2006
Drawings from the British, Ashmolean and Teyler Museums, rarely seen, trace the 60-year artistic evolution of the Italian High Renaissance's most notoriously tempestuous genius in this ticketed special exhibition. Included are several studies for Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling and his monumental Last Judgment fresco.
The Warren Cup: Sex and Society in
Ancient Greece and Rome
May 11-July 2, 2006
Phallic wind chimes as well as silver, glass and ceramic objects from classical Rome accompany the British Museum's Warren Cup, an exquisite silver vessel from the First Century A.D. that depicts two pairs of male lovers. The fine craftsmanship of the cup's decoration is possibly Greek in origin.
French Drawings: Clouet to Seurat (Part One)
June 29-October 1, 2006
Nearly 100 highlights representing four centuries of French master drawings from The British Museum comprise this show, many of which are rarely exhibited because of their sensitivity to light. Reflecting the courtly world of sixteenth-century France to nineteenth-century café society, masterpieces from the French Renaissance to Postimpressionism include works by Jean Clouet (1486-1540), Claude Lorrain (1604/5?–1682), Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Paul Seurat (1859-1891) and Paul Cézanne (1839-1906).
The Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn, New York
GraffitiJune 30-September 3, 2006
An exhibition of 20 large-scale works from such influential artists as Michael Tracy ("Tracy 168"), Melvin Samuels, Jr. ("NOC 167"), Sandra Fabara ("Lady Pink"), Chris Ellis ("Daze") and John Matos ("Crash"). Graffiti explores how a genre that began as a form of subversive public communication has become legitimate, moving away from the street and into private collections and galleries.
Tree of Life: Jewish Mosaics from the Roman Empire
October 28, 2005-June 4, 2006
Explains synagogue decoration in the Late Roman Empire through 21 Jewish mosaics from one building, discovered in 1883, in Hammam Lif, Tunisia. Their primary themes are Creation, Paradise and the coming of the Messiah. The exhibition includes more than 35 examples of bronze ritual objects, gold jewelry, marble statues and textiles from the period.
Read the full review.
Read the transcript of an interview with the show's curator.
Caixa Forum
Barcelona, Spain
Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient PersiaMarch 8-June 11, 2006
This special exhibition explores the artistic creativity of Persia, one of the ancient world's great civilizations, offering a unique opportunity to see objets d'art assembled from the National Museum of Tehran, the Persepolis Museum, the British Museum and the Musée du Louvre. Magnificent tributes flowed worldwide into Persepolis, the seat of Achaemenid Persia's empire whose greatest king was Darius I (550?-486 B.C.). The works on display attest to the extraordinary developments in Middle Eastern art and culture that Persia's flourishing trade encouraged, reflected in the British Museum's splendid Oxus Treasure.
Read the exhibition catalogue review.
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Gatineau, Quebec
Petra: Lost City of StoneApril 2, 2006-January 7, 2007
More than 170 artworks and artifacts from Jordanian, American and European collections describe Petra, a Middle Eastern site, from the First Century B.C. to the Sixth Century A.D. The exhibition explores: the art and architecture of the Nabataeans, Petra's inhabitants; their daily life and religious beliefs, as depicted in their sculptures, from before Roman rule through Byzantine times; the Nabataeans' contacts with other ancient civilizations; and Petra's decline after the earthquake of 363 A.D.
Michael C. Carlos Museum
Atlanta, Georgia
In Stabiano: Exploring the Ancient Seaside Villasof the Roman Elite
August 5-October 22, 2006
A complete three-wall triclinium room fresco, 24 wall paintings, stucco fragments and sculptures are among the 70 masterpieces on display from four ancient Roman villas recently discovered near the Bay of Naples and the modern city of Castelammare di Stabiae in Italy. The exhibition describes the luxurious art and culture of the structures' occupants.
Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati, Ohio
Rembrandt: Master PrintmakerFebruary 18-June 11, 2006
The Cincinnati Art Museum celebrates the 400th anniversary of the birth of Dutch Baroque painter, engraver, draftsman and printmaker Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606-1669) through a display of the master's works on paper. They illustrate his consummate use of line and dramatic lighting to describe the plight of humankind sensitively. Scenes from the Old and New Testaments are prominent themes in this exhibition.
Sean Scully: "Wall of Light"
June 24-September 3, 2006
Irish-born American Abstract painter Sean Scully (b. 1945) has been profoundly influenced by twentieth-century masters Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) and Mark Rothko (1903-1970). Geometric shapes and vivid colors characterize his Wall of Light, an ongoing series of paintings, pastels, photographs, prints and watercolors begun in the 1990s. He continues to expand this work while exploring a single theme. Travels next to The Metropolitan Museum of Art from September 26, 2006 to January 14, 2007.
Columbus Museum of Art
Columbus, Ohio
American ImpressionismFebruary 3-June 4, 2006
Some 75 works from Ohio public and private collections describe the course of American Impressionism. Paintings by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), Robert Blum (1875-1903) and others will be compared with masterpieces by French Impressionists Edgar Degas (1834-1917) and Claude Monet (1840-1926).
In the American West: Photographs by Richard Avedon
June 23-September 17, 2006
The Amon Carter Museum commissioned photographer Richard Avedon (1923–2004) to create a portrait of the American West in 1979. The resulting 1985 exhibition, In the American West: Photographs by Richard Avedon, was widely regarded as a definitive expression of the power of photographic art. The Columbus Museum of Art presents many of Avedon's 124 original photographs from that landmark show.
Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery
London, England
The Road to Byzantium: Luxury Arts of AntiquityMarch 30-September 3, 2006
More than 160 Greek, Roman and Byzantine masterpieces from the State Hermitage Museum, the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum trace the endurance of the classical tradition in art from Greece in the Fifth Century B.C through the end of the Middle Ages in the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire. Athenian red-figure vases, silver and gold objets d'art, finely crafted cameos and other works challenge the notion that Byzantine art was dominated by severe iconic imagery during the Middle Ages.
Dahesh Museum of Art
New York, New York
Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers,Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt
June 8-September 3, 2006
Europe's fascination with Egyptian art and culture from Napoleon's brief military occupation (1798-1801) through the beginning of World War I is explored through numerous examples of the decorative arts, drawings, illustrated books, medals, paintings, photographs, prints and watercolors. On display are bound and unbound copies of the Déscription de L'Égypte (1809-1829).
Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas, Texas
Louis Comfort Tiffany: Artist for the AgesMay 28-September 3, 2006
This exhibition of 120 works by the American artist Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) includes stained-glass windows, lamps, vases and mosaics as well as works in other media. Tiffany's active dialogue with the Aesthetic movement, Arts and Crafts movement and Art Nouveau is examined. Objects are grouped according to Tiffany's intellectual interests: nature; the Near, Middle and Far East; ancient art; and Modernism.
M.H. de Young Museum
San Francisco, California
International Arts and Crafts:William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright
March 18-June 18, 2006
Illustrates the development of the Arts and Crafts Movement from 1880s Britain to its expressions in American, continental European and Japanese art, architecture and design. Featured are 300 examples in architecture, ceramics, furniture, glass, metalwork, paintings, photography, prints, sculpture and textiles from museums and private collections worldwide. Four recreations of domestic room settings, including works by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), demonstrate the importance of the home in the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Dulwich Picture Gallery
London, England
Rembrandt & Co.: Dealing in MasterpiecesJune 7-September 3, 2006
Explores the history and importance of one of seventeenth-century Amsterdam's most prominent art dealerships between 1625 and 1675 through 19 works by Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606-1669) and others by his Golden Age contemporaries. Travels next to Rembrandt House in Amsterdam from September 14 to December 10, 2006.
Experience Music Project
Seattle, Washington
Double Take: From Monet to LichtensteinApril 8-September 24, 2006
Twenty-eight works, many of which have not been seen publicly for upwards of 50 years, are culled from the private collection of Seattle businessman and philanthropist Paul G. Allen. Exhibition curator Paul Hayes Tucker has creatively paired Impressionist and Post-Impressionist pieces with modern and contemporary works, placing the former side-by-side with the latter in groups of two or three.
View a gallery of images.
The Field Museum
Chicago, Illinois
Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the PharaohsMay 29, 2006-January 1, 2007
This ticketed special exhibition features many objects from the boy-king Tutankhamun's tomb (some of which were here previously, minus his iconic Gold Mask) and another 80 (mostly funerary) artworks from his predecessors' reigns. They include splendid tomb furnishings of the lady Tjuya, such as her gilded coffin. This time around, Tutankhamun is placed historically within the monotheistic maelstrom of his father, Akhenaten, by the presence of masterpieces that document his religious revolution. Objects specific to Tutankhamun's burial include his delicate royal diadem, discovered encircling the head of the king's mummified body, that he possibly wore while still alive and one of the miniature canopic coffins that contained some of his internal organs. The show climaxes with the recent forensic reconstruction of what Tutankhamun was supposed to have looked like. Travels next to The Franklin Institute from February 3 to September 30, 2007 before its arrival in England.
The Frick Collection
New York, New York
Veronese's Allegories: Virtue, Love,and Exploration in Renaissance Venice
April 11-July 16, 2006
The Frick Collection's two grand allegorical paintings by the Venetian painter Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) are displayed with one from the nearby Metropolitan Museum of Art and two from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in this dossier exhibition. Veronese's complex allegorical compositions are explained. Recent research suggests that four of the five canvases on view were painted as independent compositions and not as a set.
View a gallery of images.
Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789): Swiss Master
June 13-September 17, 2006
This monographic survey of the paintings, drawings and engravings of the well-traveled Swiss artist Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789) is being shown exclusively at The Frick Collection. Trained as a portraitist, miniaturist and engraver, Liotard's direct treatment of his European royal sitters, their family members, other patrons and even himself justifiably characterizes many of his works as "mirrors of nature."
Frick Art and Historical Center
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Waking Dreams: The Art of thePre-Raphaelites from the Delaware Art Museum
July 29-October 8, 2006
Nineteenth-century oil paintings and watercolors influenced by late-medieval art are exhibited in this show of masterpieces by Pre-Raphaelites Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898), William Holman Hunt (1827-1910), John Everett Millais (1829-1896) and others. Ceramics, furniture, jewelry and metalwork round out the works on display. Travels next to the Cincinnati Art Museum from October 1, 2006 to January 1, 2007, the St. Louis Art Museum from February 1 to April 1, 2007 and the San Diego Museum of Art from May 19 to July 29, 2007.
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Nashville, Tennessee
The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient EgyptJune 9-October 8, 2006
The ancient Egyptian idea of the afterlife is dramatically explored through 143 magnificent objects, all from Egypt and many neither displayed publicly before nor seen outside of their homeland. The show includes a life-sized reproduction of the burial chamber of the New Kingdom pharaoh Thutmose III (ca. 1479–1458 B.C.). The artworks exhibited, the largest selection of antiquities ever to be loaned by Egypt to North America, range in date from the New Kingdom (1550-1069 B.C.) through the Late Period (664-332 B.C.). They include luxurious objects that furnished tombs, jewelry, painted reliefs, religious implements, a sarcophagus richly painted with scenes of the afterlife and a model of the royal barge that symbolically carried the pharaohs along the Nile River and into the afterlife. Travels next to the Portland Art Museum from November 5, 2006 to March 4, 2007.
Galeries nationales du Grand Palais
Paris, France
Italia Nova: An Adventure in Italian Art, 1900-1950April 5-July 3, 2006
Explores Italian painting and sculpture during the first half of the Twentieth Century through some 120 works of art that illustrate Futurism, Metaphysical Painting, Magical Realism and the Novecento movement. Compares the Futurists' rejection of traditional expressions of art with the return by a group of artists to some classical forms of expression.
Galleria Accademia
Florence, Italy
Lorenzo Monaco (1370-1425)May 9-September 24, 2006
This international loan exhibition is devoted to Lorenzo Monaco (ca. 1370-1423), the Late Gothic predecessor of Early Italian Renaissance master Fra Angelico (ca. 1390/95-1455) in Florence. Emphasizing the high quality of Monaco's designs and eloquent articulation of the figures portrayed, the exhibition demonstrates how the artist's use of brilliant jewel-like colors reveals his origins as a manuscript illuminator (much like Fra Angelico).
Galleria Borghese
Rome, Italy
Raphael: From Florence to RomeMay 19-August 27, 2006
The recently restored Deposition of Christ (1507) by Italian High Renaissance master Raphael (1483-1520) is the centerpiece of this focus exhibition that includes: La Belle Jardinière (1508), sent abroad by the Musée du Louvre for the first time; 22 other paintings; and 26 drawings produced in Florence between 1504 and 1508. Raphael's Lady with a Unicorn (ca. 1505-06), the Gravida (1505-06) and La Fornarina (1518-19) also await the viewer at the Galleria Borghese.
Galleria degli Uffizi
Florence, Italy
The Mind of Leonardo da VinciMarch 6, 2006-January 7, 2007
Displaying numerous drawings, some paintings and expertly constructed working models of machines designed by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), this special exhibition will explore the Italian Renaissance master's "universal" role in contributions to the development of art, anatomical studies, science and technology. The fertile mind of this sophisticated artist and draftsman is demystified, allowing one to see Leonardo as the consummate investigator and inventive architect of his time. Leonardo's insatiable desire to unify all facets of knowledge, aimed at attaining a perfect imitation of nature in his artistic works, is evident in this special exhibition.
J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, California
Degas at the GettyMarch 7-June 11, 2006
The career of French artist Edgar Degas (1834-1917) is celebrated vividly in this exhibition that revolves around the Getty Museum's recent purchases of his pastel drawing Miss Lala at the Fernando Circus (1879) and his painting The Milliners (ca. 1882-1905). Using the museum's vast collections of paintings, drawings and photographs, Degas' key interests (portraiture, entertainment, society and his bathers) come to life.
The Cult of Saints
April 25-July 16, 2006
Images from the Getty Museum's collection of manuscript illuminations describe the veneration of Christian saints, practices of Roman Catholicism and the role of artistic patronage in the production of devotional texts during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Eliot Porter: In the Realm of Nature
June 13-September 17, 2006
Exhibits remarkable avian and landscape works on paper by American Eliot Porter (1901-1990), an innovator in color photography.
Rubens and Brueghel: A Working Friendship
July 5-September 24, 2006
Technical findings document the collaborative efforts of Flemish painters Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625) through more than 12 paintings, some created with the assistance of their contemporaries. Travels next to the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague from October 21, 2006 to January 28, 2007.
Rubens and His Printmakers
July 5-September 24, 2006
Explores the close relationship between Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and his cadre of printmakers. Rubens' workshop assistants replicated his drawings, paintings and designs for tapestries, disseminating his artistic style and making him famous in seventeenth-century Europe.
Landscape in the Renaissance
August 1-October 15, 2006
Outstanding manuscript illuminations from the Getty Museum explore Renaissance man's development of landscape painting and his need to portray natural phenomena accurately.
High Museum of Art
Atlanta, Georgia
Chuck Close: Self-Portraits 1967-2005March 25-June 18, 2006
Some 100 paintings, drawings, maquettes and works on paper illustrate nearly four decades of self-portraits in various media by American artist Chuck Close (b. 1940), explaining the intricate processes involved in their production.
Houston Museum of Natural Science
Houston, Texas
Royal Tombs of Ur: Ancient Treasures from Modern IraqFebruary 22-August 13, 2006
Features more than 200 exquisite Mesopotamian works of art and artifacts, including: the Great Lyre; the Ram Caught in a Thicket (actually a rearing goat); the Headdress of the Lady Puabi and her exquisite jewelry; a gold ostrich egg; superb examples of weaponry; and other precious masterpieces from Sumer's Early Dynastic IIIA period (ca. 2600-2500 B.C.).
Read the full review.
View a gallery of images.
Kimbell Art Museum
Fort Worth, Texas
Masterpiece: A New Look at the Kimbell CollectionOpened April 30, 2006
The Kimbell Art Museum pays special attention to many of its masterpieces, highlighting recent acquisitions, according to the following schedule: Asian art through July 16; ancient and European art through July 23; and Precolumbian and African art through October 22, 2006. Among the treasures on display are the Egyptian Old Kingdom Group Statue of Ka-nefer and His Family (ca. 2450 B.C.) and the Borromeo Madonna (ca. 1450) by Italian Renaissance sculptor Donatello (ca. 1386/87-1466).
Read about the Group Statue of Ka-nefer and His Family.
Read about the Borromeo Madonna.
Legion of Honor
San Francisco, California
Monet and NormandyJune 17-September 17, 2006
A selection of 60 paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840-1926) describes the artist's accomplishments in Normandy through his depictions of the northern French countryside, its towns, the changing seasons, bodies of water and monuments such as Rouen Cathedral. Travels next to the North Carolina Museum of Art from October 15, 2006 to January 14, 2007 and the Cleveland Museum of Art from February 18 to May 20, 2007.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, New York
The Fabric of Life: Ikat Textiles of IndonesiaFebruary 28-September 24, 2006
The diverse form and function of Indonesian fabrics known as ikat are explored in this exhibition. From infant wrappings to funerary shrouds, the show explores the varied geometric and figural patterns in the textiles on display.
Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh
March 28-July 9, 2006
Hatshepsut (r. 1473-1458 B.C.), the female pharaoh of Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty, is the subject of a remarkable loan exhibition. She ruled ancient Egypt for two decades—first as regent for, and then as co-ruler with, her nephew Thutmose III (r. 1479-1425 B.C.). During Hatshepsut's reign, trade relations with foreign lands were expanded. Interestingly, subtle innovations in royal sculpture allowed the queen to be portrayed as pharaoh. Hatshepsut's remarkable mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri reflects the prosperity of her time. After her mysterious disappearance, Thutmose III obliterated her name and images from public monuments. In his vain iconoclastic attempt to erase the memory of Hatshepsut's accomplishments, he left remarkable artworks for modern-day Egyptologists to interpret. Travels to its last stop at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas from August 27 to December 31, 2006.
Read the full review.
View a gallery of images.
Warriors of the Himalayas:
Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet
April 5-July 4, 2006
An 11-year effort culminated in this international loan exhibition of more than 130 pieces of rarely seen arms and armor from thirteenth- to twentieth-century Tibet. Mongol, Chinese, Nepalese and other Himalayan regional influences on the development of Tibetan arms and armor are examined. Many of these works are displayed stateside for the first time.
The Art of Betty Woodman
April 25-July 30, 2006
This exhibition traces the career of noted American artist Betty Woodman (b. 1930) from the 1950s through 2006. Known for her contributions to ceramic art, the show examines the influences on her work: ancient Egypt, Minoan Crete, Tang Dynasty China, Italian Baroque architecture, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Henri Matisse (1869-1954). The Metropolitan Museum of Art has distinguished Woodman by displaying five of her large urns in its Great Hall with fresh floral arrangements replaced on a regular schedule.
Girodet: Romantic Rebel
May 24-August 27, 2006
Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson (1767-1824) was the rebellious student of Neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825). More than 100 paintings and works on paper, devoted to portraiture, mythology and the military accomplishments of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), illustrate Girodet's artistic style and how his oeuvre was influenced by the French Revolution and its aftermath. Travels next to the Montreal Museum of Fine Art from October 12, 2006 to January 21, 2007.
On Photography: A Tribute to Susan Sontag
June 6-September 4, 2006
Some 40 works on paper from The Met describe the life of American essayist and critic Susan Sontag (1933-2004) and her reflections on such photographers as August Sander (1876-1964) and Diane Arbus (1923-1971).
Treasures of Sacred Maya Kings
June 13-September 10, 2006
More than 150 works of art, many recently excavated and never before exhibited in the United States, explore the role of divine kingship in Maya society in a complex urban setting over 2000 years ago. The national museums of Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico have graciously lent objects for this remarkable special exhibition. Through examples of monumental art and royal portraiture, the show describes the Maya ruler's relation to his culture's cosmos through indigenous symbols of prestige and authority.
Raphael at The Metropolitan: "The Colonna Altarpiece"
June 20-September 3, 2006
Various sources have collaborated to reassemble all of the components of the Colonna Altarpiece (1504) by Italian High Renaissance master Raphael (1483-1520) since their dispersal in 1663. The exhibition examines Raphael's early career by comparing works from this period with those of Perugino (ca. 1445-1523), Pinturicchio (1454–1513) and Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517).
Rembrandt Drawings and Prints: A Selection
in Honor of the Artist's 400th Birthday
July 11-October 15, 2006
The 400th anniversary of the birth of Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606-1669) is celebrated with a display of 44 works on paper by the master himself and another 14 images by artists of his school, drawn almost exclusively from two collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rembrandt's famous Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves: The Three Crosses is a highlight of the exhibition.
Milwaukee Art Museum
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Géricault to Cézanne: Nineteenth-Century French PrintsMay 25-September 3, 2006
Chronologically surveys the development of the graphic arts in nineteenth-century France through the prints of Théodore Géricault (1791-1824), Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796–1875), Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) and others, emphasizing the effects of the Industrial Revolution and France's changing national sensibility on the artists' works.
Morgan Library & Museum
New York, New York
Masterpieces from the MorganOpened April 29, 2006
The Morgan Library & Museum's inaugural special exhibition celebrates the institution's recent expansion and reopening by highlighting some 300 objects from its world-class collection of more than 350,000 objects from the Third Millennium B.C. through the Twentieth Century according to the following schedule: drawings through July 2; musical manuscripts through September 3; other manuscripts and printed books through September 10; and ancient Near Eastern cylinder seals through November 12, 2006.
Read the full review.
View a gallery of images.
Celebrating Rembrandt: Etchings in the Morgan
July 15-October 1, 2006
Recognizing the 400th anniversary of the birth of Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606-1669), the Morgan Library & Museum exhibits some of the master's rarest etchings known for their intense sense of drama and emotion. Scenes from the Old and New Testaments, everyday life, landscapes, studied nudes and sensitive portraits of social outcasts and Rembrandt's contemporaries comprise the exhibition.
From Rembrandt to van Gogh:
Three Centuries of Dutch Drawings
July 15-October 1, 2006
A selection of 50 of the Morgan's seventeenth- through nineteenth-century holdings of Dutch drawings includes botanical studies, genre and pastoral scenes, portraits and a seascape.
Musée d'Art Americain
Giverny, France
Winslow Homer: Poet of the SeaJune 18-September 24, 2006
Describes the uniquely American character of oil paintings and watercolors by Winslow Homer (1836-1910), who created crisp British seascapes on a visit to Northumberland from 1880 to 1881.
Musée d'Orsay
Paris, France
Drawings by Jean-François MilletMay 30-September 3, 2006
Some 50 works on paper by French Realist painter Jean-François Millet (1814-1875) illustrate the complexity of his artistic method while documenting his role in the development of drawing in mid-nineteenth-century France.
Musée du Louvre
Paris, France
From Córdoba to Samarkand:The Future Museum of Islamic Art, Doha
March 30-June 26, 2006
The future Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (Qatar), designed by I.M. Pei and Jean-Michel Wilmotte, is nearing completion. Some 50 masterpieces of Islamic art from Qatar's state collection demonstrate the civilization's brilliant artistic vitality from the Seventh through the end of the Nineteenth Century and across three continents. Two architectural models of the new museum are also on display.
American Artists and the Louvre
June 14-September 18, 2006
Some 60 masterpieces of painting, drawing, engraving and sculpture document the importance of France and the Louvre to the development of American art from 1710 to the Nineteenth Century.
Treasury of the World: Jeweled Arts
of India in the Age of the Mughals
July 7-September 4, 2006
Resurrected from their previous appearances at European and American museums more than three years ago, over 300 splendid examples of jeweled and other rarefied objects from the al-Sabah Collection in the Kuwait National Museum illustrate the spectacular artistic heritage of India's imperial Mughal rulers (1526-1858).
Musée Granet
Aix-en-Provence, France
Cézanne in ProvenceJune 9-September 17, 2006
More than 100 oil paintings and watercolors by French Impressionist and Postimpressionist painter Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) comprise this special exhibition of works by the father of modern art. Borrowed from public and private collections in the United States and Europe, the works on loan demonstrate Cézanne's intense relationship with his native Aix-en-Provence. They include landscapes of Mont Sainte-Victoire and L'Estaque, family portraits and his series of Bathers from London's National Gallery.
Musée Guimet
Paris, France
The Splendour of the Chinese Court (1662-1796):Masterpieces from Qing Imperial Painting
April 26-July 24, 2006
The Musée Guimet traces the development of painting during the reigns of three seventeenth- and eighteenth-century emperors of China's Qing Dynasty through a rare display of nine of its precious scrolls, some measuring up to 16 meters long. More than 100 Ming and Qing masterpieces will also be exhibited, such as: albums of imperial seals; engravings; fan paintings; monochrome scrolls; and works of porcelain.
Museum of Contemporary Art
Los Angeles, California
Robert Rauschenberg: CombinesMay 21-September 4, 2006
Sixty-five mixed-media works by American artist Robert Rauschenberg (b. 1925), his highly imaginative Combines, trace how he reinvented the idea of collage between 1954 and 1964 by drawing on the inspiration of everyday objects and the history of art.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Boston, Massachusetts
Americans in Paris 1860-1900June 25-September 24, 2006
Paris was the center of the art world in the Nineteenth Century. This exhibition explores why American artists were lured to Paris, especially after the 1860s, what they found there and how they reacted to it, through the works of James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) and his former teacher, Thomas Eakins (1844-1916), among others. Highlights of the show include: Whistler's portrait of his mother, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871); Sargent's Portrait of Madame X (1883-84) and Cassatt's famous paintings that used the mother and child theme. Travels next to The Metropolitan Museum of Art from October 16, 2006 to January 28, 2007.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Houston, Texas
Reading the Roman Portrait Bust: Ancient Facesfrom the Collection of Shelby White and Leon Levy
February 18-July 30, 2006
Marble portrait busts from the collection of Shelby White and the late Leon Levy demonstrate verism in Roman portrait busts as seen in the remarkable sculptural likenesses of Roman emperors Octavian (Caesar Augustus), Hadrian and Caracalla as well as members of the nobility.
The Spirit of Ancient Colombian Gold
May 14-September 10, 2006
Objects created by the cultures of Colombia from ca. 500 B.C. to 1600 A.D. explore the indigenous peoples' interpretation of gold, their cosmologies and how rulers and shamans exercised power through the use of ritual implements. Pendants, ear and nose ornaments and staff finials, in cast, hammered and repoussé gold, appear in animal forms such as birds, felines and serpents.
Courbet and the Modern Landscape
June 18-September 10, 2006
Innovations in landscape painting by French Realist painter Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) are explored through 46 examples of this genre. Issues raised in Courbet's art influenced the Impressionists and helped to set the stage for the dawn of Modernism.
The Museum of Modern Art
New York, New York
DadaJune 8-September 11, 2006
This comprehensive survey traces the development of the Dada movement in modern art as it emerged in six international cities during and after World War I. The show features tradition-challenging examples of painting, sculpture, film and collage created by Dadaists such as Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948), Max Ernst (1891-1976), Francis Picabia (1879-1953), Man Ray (1890-1976) and Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) as well as other artists less well-known.
National Gallery
London, England
Rebels and Martyrs: The Artist in the Nineteenth CenturyJune 28-August 28, 2006
Explores the nineteenth-century notion of the artist as rebellious and suffering from Romanticism to Expressionism.
Passion for Paint
July 20-September 17, 2006
The National Gallery explains how Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840-1926) used paint to make its substance convey feeling, pleasure and violence.
National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C.
Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance ofVenetian Painting
June 18-September 17, 2006
Through some 60 splendid masterpieces, this international loan exhibition focuses on Venetian High Renaissance painting during the first three decades of the Sixteenth Century. Portraits, female nudes and landscapes reveal a specific creative dynamism unique to Venice. A highlight of the show is Titian's Pastoral Concert, more popularly known as Concert Champêtre (ca. 1510), on special loan to the National Gallery of Art from the Musée du Louvre for this occasion. Travels next to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria from October 17, 2006 to January 7, 2007.
Read more about the special exhibition.
Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris
July 16-October 15, 2006
The special exhibition explores the theme of the jungle through 60 paintings by French artist Henri Rousseau (1844-1910). Also featured are allegorical paintings, fantastic landscapes and portraits by the self-taught artist. He was admired by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and the Surrealists for his bold primitive style and the dreamlike characteristics of his paintings. Having never left France, Rousseau's art was influenced by the botanical gardens, the zoo and pictorial reproductions of exotic locales and animals, many displayed in the show.
Oklahoma City Museum of Art
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Temples and Tombs: Treasures of Egyptian Art fromThe British Museum
September 7-November 26, 2006
Some 85 objects from The British Museum (cosmetic and funerary items, jewelry, papyri, reliefs and sculptures in many media) describe the development of art and culture in ancient Egypt from predynastic times to the Fourth Century A.D. The exhibition is divided into four sections that explore: the pharaoh and the temple; objects associated with artists and nobles; Egyptians as portrayed in temple and tomb sculpture; and the role of the tomb in death and the afterlife. Travels next to the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens and the North Carolina Museum of Art.
Portland Art Museum
Portland, Oregon
Great Painters in Brescia from the Renaissance tothe 18th Century
April 29-September 17, 2006
This loan exhibition introduces viewers to the accomplishments of artists in Brescia, a major city in Italy's northern region of Lombardy, from the Renaissance through the Eighteenth Century.
Portland Museum of Art
Portland, Maine
Treasures from Olana: Landscapes by Frederic Edwin ChurchMay 20-September 10, 2006
The exhibition features 18 drawings, oil paintings and watercolors by Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), one of America's most famous landscape artists of the Hudson River School. The highlight of the show is Church's magnificent El Khasné, Petra (1874). Travels next to the Huntington Library, San Marino, California from October 14, 2006 to January 3, 2007 and the Princeton University Art Museum from January 27 to June 10, 2007.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Andrew Wyeth: Memory and MagicMarch 29-July 16, 2006
This ticketed 100-piece retrospective of the eight-decade career of American Realist Andrew Wyeth (b. 1917) includes tempera paintings, watercolors and drawings. Arranged chronologically and thematically, the show explores recurrent themes in Wyeth's work, such as domestic interiors, landscapes, family, friends and still-life subjects.
In Pursuit of Genius: Jean-Antoine Houdon
and the Sculpted Portraits of Benjamin Franklin
May 13-July 30, 2006
In honor of the 300th anniversary of the birth of American scientist, philosopher and statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), the Philadelphia Museum of Art presents some 30 works of art related to its exquisite marble bust of the popular intellectual by French Neoclassical sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828). Other likenesses of the Founding Father produced by Houdon's French contemporaries will complement those by the master sculptor.
Royal Academy of Arts
London, England
Modigliani and His ModelsJuly 8-October 15, 2006
This show includes some 55 works by sculptor and painter Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920). His innovative portraits and nudes, often misunderstood, made him an outstanding artist in the history of Modernism.
Rubin Museum of Art
New York, New York
Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric SiddhasFebruary 10-September 4, 2006
This loan exhibition from museums and private collections around the world examines the role of male and female siddhas (the spiritually accomplished) in South Asian and Himalayan societies as depicted in paintings, sculptures and photographs. Many enlightened siddhas worked as farmers and monks. Others were deemed social misfits because of their outwardly eccentric behavior.
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Washington, D.C.
Facing East: Portraits from AsiaJuly 1-September 4, 2006
Portraits and sculptures demonstrate how the cultural identities of various individuals in the Ancient Near East and Asia were expressed over thousands of years.
San Diego Museum of Art
San Diego, California
Winslow Homer: American IllustratorJune 3-September 3, 2006
The American experience during the second half of the Nineteenth Century is captured in 55 of the museum's wood engravings by artist Winslow Homer (1836-1910).
Tacoma Art Museum
Tacoma, Washington
The Essence of Line: French Drawingsfrom Ingres to Degas
June 9-September 17, 2006
Traces the development of drawing in nineteenth-century France through fine examples of preparatory sketches and beautiful watercolors from the Neoclassicism of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) to the Postimpressionism of Georges Seurat (1859-1891).
Tate Britain
London, England
Constable's Great Landscapes: The Six-Foot PaintingsJune 1-August 28, 2006
Focuses on the six-foot-long landscapes (with their full-size oil sketches) and the painting technique of English artist John Constable (1776-1837). Among the famous works on display are The Hay Wain (1820-1821), The Leaping Horse (1825) and Hadleigh Castle (1829). Travels next to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. from October 1 to December 31, 2006 and the Huntington Library, San Marino, California from February 1 to May 1, 2007.
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
Madrid, Spain
From Cranach to Monet: Highlightsof the Pérez Simón Collection
June 20-September 10, 2006
This special exhibition features 57 paintings from Mexico's Pérez Simón Collection. The outstanding selection of masterpieces from the Fourteenth through the Nineteenth Century includes works by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), Bronzino (1503-1572), Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Francisco Goya (1746-1828), Claude Monet (1840-1926), Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) and Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919).
Walker Art Center
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Diane Arbus RevelationsJuly 9-October 8, 2006
Describes the dynamic artistry of award-winning American photographer Diane Arbus (1923-1971) through her images of middle-class families, carnival performers, everyday people, celebrities and transvestites. The show sheds light on the inner workings of Arbus' creative genius through the inclusion of her contact sheets, notebooks and other belongings.
Read the full review.
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From your Guide: Stan Parchin, Senior Correspondent for Museums and Special Exhibitions, is a specialist in ancient, late-medieval and Renaissance art and history, and a regular contributor to About Art History. You may read all of his Special Exhibition and Catalogue Reviews here.
