Spring 2007 Special Exhibitions
A Compilation of Significant Shows by Stan Parchin,
Senior Correspondent for Museums and Special Exhibitions
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Albertina Museum
Vienna, Austria
Biedermeier: The Invention of SimplicityFebruary 2-May 13, 2007
The Biedermeier period in Central European art (1815-1830) is represented by some 300 Austrian, Czechoslovakian and German decorative objects, paintings, pieces of furniture and works on paper in this international loan exhibition.
American Museum of Natural History
New York, New York
GoldNovember 18, 2006-August 19, 2007
Explores the art, symbolism and science of Earth's magnificent malleable mineral throughout history and across civilizations. Among the precious objects on display are: ancient Lydian, Byzantine and Spanish currency; rare textiles; and splendid examples of Mesoamerican jewelry.
Mythic Creatures: Dragons,
Unicorns & Mermaids
May 26, 2007-January 6, 2008
Traces the roots of various civilizations' mythological creatures in art (paintings, textiles and other objects) using the tools of cultural, natural and art historians. Preserved specimens and fossils of prehistoric animals are included to illustrate how past peoples mistook them for legendary beasts.
Art Gallery of South Australia
Adelaide, Australia
Egyptian Antiquities from theLouvre: Journey to the Afterlife
March 21-July 1, 2007
More than 200 objects from the Musée du Louvre, many never before displayed publicly, describe ancient Egyptian art and culture. Organized around themes from the Book of the Dead, the exhibition explores ancient Egyptian funerary practices and the idea of the Underworld through works of art dating from the age of the pyramids through that of Cleopatra. Travels next to the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth (July 21-October 28, 2007).
Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Cézanne to Picasso: AmbroiseVollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde
February 17-May 12, 2007
Examines the career of Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939) through masterpieces by the artists whom he represented: Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940) and others.
Asia Society
New York, New York
Glass, Gilding and Grand Design:Art of Sasanian Iran (224-642 A.D.)
February 14-May 20, 2007
More than 150 glass, bronze and mosaic works of art, textiles and arms from American and European collections describe the amazing culture of the Sasanian Empire from the Third through Seventh Centuries A.D.
Baltimore Museum of Art
Baltimore, Maryland
Pissarro: Creating theImpressionist Landscape
February 11-May 13, 2007
Museums worldwide have lent the BMA 45 works by French Impressionist Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), painted between 1864 and 1874, a period of great visual experimentation for the artist. This selection of Pissarro's vibrant landscapes travels next to the Milwaukee Art Museum (June 9-September 9, 2007) and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (October 7, 2007-January 6, 2008).
Bargello National Museum
Florence, Italy
Desiderio da Settignano: The Discoveryof Grace in Renaissance Sculpture
February 22-June 2, 2007
Describes the artistic vocabulary of Italian Renaissance sculptor Desiderio da Settignano (1429-1464) largely through his rendering of stiacciato or flattened reliefs that exude both grace and power. The mostly marble masterpieces by this distinguished pupil of Donatello (1386/87-1466) include busts as well as sculptures of religious, decorative and heraldic natures.
Bowers Museum of Cultural Art
Santa Ana, California
Treasures from Shanghai: 5000Years of Chinese Art and Culture
February 18-August 19, 2007
Inaugurating the Bowers Museum's Dorothy and Donald Kennedy Wing, Treasures from Shanghai... exhibits 77 objects from the Neolithic period (ca. 3000 B.C.) through the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 A.D.) on loan from China's Shanghai Museum. The works of art on display (bronze vessels, examples of porcelain and pottery, paintings and lacquerware) describe various facets of Chinese culture from ancient times through the beginning of the Twentieth Century.
The British Museum
London, England
A New World: England'sFirst View of America
March 15-June 17, 2007
More than 70 watercolors by John White, sent in 1585 by Sir Walter Raleigh to Virginia (present-day North Carolina) to record America's flora, fauna and indigenous inhabitants, comprise a substantial portion of this ticketed special exhibition. These rare images gave Elizabethan England its first view of land it sought to colonize. Portraits of the age, prints, books, maps, nautical devices and scientific instruments round out this show's description of life during sixteenth-century England's transatlantic Age of Exploration.
Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn, New York
Landscapes from theAge of Impressionism
February 3-May 13, 2007
Some 40 of the Brooklyn Museum's French and American Impressionist landscape paintings from the 1850s through the Twentieth Century's early years are on display. Travels next to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida (June 15-September 16, 2007).
Click here for a gallery of images from the exhibition.
Global Feminisms
March 23-July 1, 2007
Presents the work of some 80 female artists, emerging and in mid-career, created from 1990 to the present.
Pharaohs, Queens, and Goddesses
March 23-September 16, 2007
Explores the rich imagery of ancient Egypt's female rulers and deities.
The Dinner Party
Opened March 23, 2007
The permanent centerpiece of the Brooklyn Museum's new Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, The Dinner Party (completed 1979) by American Installation artist Judy Chicago (b. 1939) is a banquet with settings for 39 important women from history.
Kindred Spirits: Asher B. Durand
and the American Landscape
March 30-July 29, 2007
Reassesses the career of American landscape painter Asher Brown Durand (1796-1886) through nearly 60 of his paintings, including newly discovered works. Travels next to the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. (September 14, 2007-January 6, 2008) and the San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California (February 2-April 27, 2008).
Bruce Museum of Arts and Science
Greenwich, Connecticut
Painterly Controversy: WilliamMerritt Chase and Robert Henri
January 27-April 29, 2007
Illustrates the similarities and differences in the works of American Impressionist William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) and Ashcan School painter Robert Henri (1865-1929) during a lifetime of common admiration and animosity for each other. The exhibition chronicles their vitriolic debate over the direction of American art during the early years of the Twentieth Century.
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
Masters of the Plains: AncientNomads of Russia and Canada
December 1, 2006-Septembr 3, 2007
More than 400 works of art and artifacts reveal remarkable cultural similarities between the ancient bison-hunting peoples of North America's Great Plains and the livestock-herding nomads of the Eurasian Steppes.
Michael C. Carlos Museum
Atlanta, Georgia
Renaissance to Contemporary:Recent Acquisitions in Works on Paper
Through May 27, 2007
Beginning with Northern Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) and culminating with José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949) and Sol LeWitt (b. 1928), this exhibition displays outstanding works on paper recently acquired by the Carlos Museum.
Cradle of Christianity: Jewish and
Christian Treasures from the Holy Land
June 16-October 14, 2007
Describes the common roots of early Jewish and Christian life and beliefs through marvelous works of art and artifacts from the First through Seventh Centuries A.D., drawn entirely from the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Claude Lorrain—The Painter as Draftsman:Drawings from the British Museum
February 4-April 29, 2007
French Baroque artist Claude Lorrain (1604/5?-1682) is represented by 85 works on paper, a selection of oil paintings and several original etchings from the British Museum. Travels next to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (May 27-August 12, 2007).
The Cleveland Institute of Art
Cleveland, Ohio
Ansel Adams: A LegacyMay 20-August 19, 2007
More than 100 images by American photographer Ansel Adams (1902-1984), captured mostly between the 1960s and early 1980s, illustrate the artist's 60-year career through his studies of architecture, landscape, portraiture and textiles.
Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, Ohio
Monet in NormandyFebruary 18-May 20, 2007
Celebrates the relationship of French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840-1926) and the Norman Coast (from Sainte-Adresse to Giverny) through 50 of the artist's finest paintings.
Courtauld Institute of Art
London, England
Guercino: Mind to PaperFebruary 22-May 13, 2007
Focuses on the drawings of the largely self-taught Italian Baroque artist Giovanni Francesco Barberi (1591-1666). Called Guercino because he was cross-eyed, the dramatic lighting of his emotionally intense altarpieces brings the viewer illusionistically into his paintings' space. Guercino's unconventional methods helped convey a sense of drama and movement in his compositions.
Temptation in Eden: Lucas
Cranach's "Adam and Eve"
June 21-September 23, 2007
Explores the interpretation of Eve's role in the Fall of Man by German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Elder (ca. 1472-1553) through drawings, engravings, paintings and woodcuts.
Dahesh Museum of Art
New York, New York
Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers,Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt
June 8, 2006-April 22, 2007
Europe's fascination with the art and culture of Egypt from Napoleon's brief military occupation of the country (1798-1801) through the beginning of World War I is explored through 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).
Click here for a selection of images from the exhibition.
Fantasy and Faith:
The Art of Gustave Doré
January 23-April 22, 2007
Examines the allegorical, religious and secular imagery of French artist Gustave Doré (1832-1883) through a select number of drawings, illustrated books and paintings.
Salvador Dalí Museum
St. Petersburg, Florida
Dalí & the Spanish BaroqueFebruary 2-June 24, 2007
Presents Spanish Old Master paintings alongside works by Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) to explore the origins of the artist's pictorial vocabulary.
Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas, Texas
Matisse: Painter as SculptorJanuary 21-April 29, 2007
More than 150 drawings, paintings and sculptures by French Fauve artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954) describe the interrelationships among the three mediums as interpreted through the master's sculptural works. Part of the exhibition is also on view at Dallas' Nasher Sculpture Center. Travels next to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art from June 9 to September 16, 2007 and The Baltimore Museum of Art from October 28, 2007 to February 3, 2008.
The Detroit Institute of Arts
Detroit, Michigan
Ansel AdamsMarch 4-May 27, 2007
More than 100 black and white images by American photographer Ansel Adams (1902-1984) trace his career through many rural and urban landscapes, architectural views and portraits.
Dulwich Picture Gallery
London, England
Canaletto in England: A VenetianArtist Abroad 1746-1755
January 24-April 22, 2007
On display are more than 60 paintings and drawings produced by Italian artist Giovanni Antonio Canal (1697-1768), called Canaletto, produced during his nearly ten-year stay in London. Included are his depictions of the British capital's architectural innovations and country houses, including his capricci (highly imaginative views).
Artists' Self-Portraits from the Uffizi:
Masterpieces from Velázquez to Chagall
May 22-July 15, 2007
On view are 50 self-portraits of artists from Florence's Galleria degli Uffizi. They include: Filippino Lippi (1456/57-1504), Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) and Marc Chagall (1887-1985).
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Nashville, Tennessee
Matisse, Picasso, and the School of Paris:Masterpieces from the Baltimore Museum of Art
March 2-June 3, 2007
Explores why Paris was the center of Modern Art from the end of the Nineteenth Century through World War II by examining 64 paintings from The Baltimore Museum of Art. Artists represented include Claude Monet (1840-1926), Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Max Ernst (1891-1976). Henri Matisse (1869-1954) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).
Brushed with Light: Masters of American
Watercolor from the Brooklyn Museum
May 4-July 22, 2007
The development of American watercolor painting is traced through 82 works dating from the late Eighteenth Century to 1945 as seen through the eyes of Winslow Homer (1836-1910), Thomas Eakins (1844-1916), John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) and Edward Hopper (1882-1967). Travels next to the Taft Museum of Art, CIncinnati, Ohio (September-December 2007) and the Brooklyn Museum (February-June 2008).
Galleria degli Uffizi
Florence, Italy
Albrecht DürerMarch 29-June 10, 2007
Coinciding with the Uffizi Gallery's publication of its engravings by Northern Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), the exhibition displays 180 of the master's prints and drawings, especially those from his series for the Triumphal Arch of Maximilian I (r. 1493-1519), the Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperor.
J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, California
Radiant Darkness: TheArt of Nocturnal Light
April 24-July 22, 2007
Explores the political and religious symbolism of light in darkness through works by artists from the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century.
Oudry's Painted Menagerie
May 1-September 2, 2007
Twelve works by French artist Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755), court painter to France's King Louis XV (r. 1715-1744), describe some of the Rococo ruler's assortment of exotic animals. Drawings by Oudry and examples of decorative art help to describe the French royalty's fascination with rare and unusual creatures during the Ancien Régime.
Medieval Beasts
May 1-July 29, 2007
Explores the everyday and symbolic roles of actual animals in medieval art and society as well as their imaginary counterparts through manuscript illustrations, especially as they appear in two bestiaries.
Defining Modernity:
European Drawings, 1800-1900
June 5-September 9, 2007
Inaugurating its new drawings galleries, masterworks from The Getty Museum, along with loans from London's Courtauld Institute of Art, explore the use of new materials and expansion of subject matter by Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) and Georges Seurat (1859-1891.
Manet's Bar at the Folies-Bergère
June 5-September 9, 2007
Examines A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882) by French Impressionist painter Édouard Manet (1832-1883) in light of recent fascinating scholarship.
The Getty Villa
Malibu, California
Stories in Stone: Conserving Mosaicsof Roman Africa—Masterpieces from
the National Museums of Tunisia
October 26, 2006-April 30, 2007
Twenty-seven mosaics from Roman North Africa, dating from the Second through Sixth Centuries A.D. and used to decorate the floors of public and private spaces, are on loan to the Getty Villa from Tunisia. Nature, theatre, mythology and religion are four topics explored in the exhibition.
Greeks on the Black Sea:
Ancient Art from the Hermitage
June 14-September 3, 2007
Some 175 objects, produced largely in the northern Black Sea region where Greeks as early as the Seventh Century B.C. mingled with the indigenous Scythians, illustrate the cross-fertilization of ancient artistic traditions through the Roman period.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
New York, New York
Divisionism/Neo-Impressionism:Arcadia and Anarchy
April 27-August 6, 2007
Works by French Neo-Impressionists Georges Seurat (1859-1891), Paul Signac (1863-1935) and Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), masters of color theory and optics, help to describe the influence of their Pointillist technique of painting on Italian Divisionists Giovanni Segantini (1858-1899), Angelo Morbelli (1853-1919) and Guiseppe Pellizza (1868-1907), among others, through five themes: light, landscape, rural life, social problems and symbolism.
High Museum of Art
Atlanta, Georgia
Kings as CollectorsOctober 14, 2006-September 2, 2007
The first installment of a three-year collaboration between the High Museum of Art and Paris' Musée du Louvre, this exhibition features 32 world-renowned paintings, complemented by sculptures and antiquities collected during the reigns of Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715) and Louis XVI (r. 1774-1793). Et in Arcadia Ego by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) is a highlight of the show.
Decorative Arts of the Kings
Through September 2, 2007
Displays 53 decorative works of art (ceramics, furniture, silver and tapestry) commissioned by Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715), Louis XV (r. 1715-1774) and Louis XVI (r. 1774-1793). All have never traveled to the United States.
Faces of History and Myth:
Busts from the Musée du Louvre
Through September 2, 2007
Twenty-four bronze and marble busts from the Musée du Louvre's earliest holdings recall the grandeur of imperial Rome. Some are portraits of artists, including Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1649), Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) and Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669).
The Gates of Paradise: Lorenzo
Ghiberti's Renaissance Masterpiece
April 28-July 15, 2007
Three Old Testament narrative panels, two prophets and two decorative heads set in roundels from the doorframes of Florence's Baptistery, created by Italian Renaissance artist Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455), are on view after having been diligently conserved. They represent the sculptor's 27-year involvement with this major project from 1425 to 1452. The show travels next to the Art Institute of Chicago (July 28-October 14, 2007) and The Metropoltian Museum of Art (October 30, 2007-January 14, 2008).
Click here for a preview of the exhibition.
Honolulu Academy of Arts
Honolulu, Hawaii
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528):Woodcuts and Prints
March 29-May 27, 2007
More than 70 works on paper by the Northern Renaissance artist, including his complete woodcut series The Apocalypse (1498) and etchings such as Knight, Death and the Devil (1512) and Melancholia I (1514). Travels next to the New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana (June 16-August 26, 2007) and the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas (September 7-November 4, 2007).
Hood Museum of Art
Hanover, New Hampshire
From Discovery to Dartmouth: The AssyrianReliefs at the Hood Museum of Art, 1856-2006
October 19, 2006-June 17, 2007
Six large-scale relief sculptures from the Northwest Palace of Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883-859 B.C.) depict ancient rituals involving the Mesopotamian ruler, humans and supernatural entities. Other works of art from the Ancient Near East and vivid computer graphics enhance this exhibition.
Houston Museum of Natural Science
Houston, Texas
Imperial RomeFebruary 23-July 29, 2007
More than 400 objects from the National Archaeological Museum of Florence and elsewhere in Italy, many recently discovered, describe Roman art, history and culture from 27 B.C. through the middle of the Third Century A.D. Numerous portrait busts of the Roman Empire's rulers, funerary works and sculptures that describe the Romans' deities and religious beliefs are the hallmarks of this special exhibition.
Of Gold and Grass:
Nomads of Kazakhstan
June 15-September 9, 2007
Some 180 artworks and artifacts describe the ancient nomadic culture of Kazakhstan in Central Asia, including Scythian gold ornaments crafted in the "animal style" as well as objects unearthed from tumuli or burial mounds dating to 2300 years ago.
The Jewish Museum
New York, New York
The Sculpture of Louise Nevelson:Constructing a Legend
May 5-September 16, 2007
Surveys the career of American artist Louise Nevelson (1899-1988) through 66 works, including sculptures, room-size installations, self-portraits and rare works on paper. Travels next to the M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, California (October 27, 2007-January 13, 2008).
Kimbell Art Museum
Fort Worth, Texas
Drama and Desire: Japanese Paintingsfrom the Floating World, 1690-1850
February 11-April 29, 2007
On loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston are more than 80 ukiyo-e or "floating world" paintings from the Seventeenth through Nineteenth Centuries A.D. They explore the rich symbolism of the "two places of iniquity," namely the theatre and the brothel. Travels next to Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum from June 2 to August 12, 2007 and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (August 28-December 16, 2007).
Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage
Beachwood, Ohio
Masterpieces of European Paintingfrom the Cleveland Museum of Art
March 29-July 8, 2007
While The Cleveland Museum of Art undergoes a major expansion and renovation, 13 of its Old Master paintings grace the Maltz Museum's walls. Works by Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-1469), El Greco (ca. 1541-1614), Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573-1610), Frans Hals (ca. 1581-1666), Georges de la Tour (1593-1652), Diego de Velázquez (1599-1660) and Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), among others, comprise this show.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, New York
Coaxing the Spirits to Dance:Art of the Papuan Gulf
October 24, 2006-September 2, 2007
Late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century sculptures from the Papuan Gulf of New Guinea represent supernatural entities that Oceanic peoples placated for the needs of their daily existence.
Read a review of the exhibition here.
Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton
Hall—An Artist's Country Estate
November 21, 2006-May 20, 2007
Assembles many of the architectural remnants, ceramic vases, paintings and stained-glass windows from Laurelton Hall, the Long Island, New York country estate of American Art Nouveau and Aesthetic artist Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933). Includes pieces from Tiffany's collections of Chinese, Japanese and Native American art.
Discovering Tutankhamun: The
Photographs of Harry Burton
December 19, 2006-April 29, 2007
Taken by photographer Harry Burton (1879-1940), the vintage black and white pictures document the tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun (ruled ca. 1336-1327 B.C.) and its contents.
Read a review of the exhibition catalogue here.
Closed Circuit: Video and
New Media at the Metropolitan
February 23-April 29, 2007
Features new video works collected by The Museum's Department of Photographs within the last five years.
Barcelona and Modernity:
Gaudí to Dalí
March 7-June 3, 2007
More than 200 drawings, paintings, posters, prints and sculptures, supplemented by architectural models, decorative objects, designs, furniture and video, describe the "Catalan Renaissance" in the history of modern Spanish art from before the Barcelona Universal Exhibition of 1888 through the beginning of Fascist rule in Spain (1939).
Venice and the Islamic
World, 828-1797
March 27-July 8, 2007
Explains why so many Venetian decorative artworks, drawings, paintings and printed books from the Middle Ages through the Baroque period were influenced by the Islamic world and its artists. Unique to the Metropolitan Museum's presentation is the Bodleian Library's Travels (ca. 1400), an oversized illustrated account in French of the journey to Asia by medieval Venetian merchant Marco Polo (1254-1342). Travels next to Venice, Italy's Palazzo Ducale (July 28-November 25, 2007).
New Greek and Roman Galleries
Beginning April 20, 2007
The opening of the new Hellenistic, Etruscan and Roman art galleries surrounding the Leon Levy and Shelby White Court completes The Metropolitan Museum of Art's reinstallation of its world-class holdings in Classical art.
Frank Stella on the Roof
May 1-October 28, 2007
Recent works in stainless steel and carbon fiber by American artist Frank Stella (b. 1936) occupy The Met's roof garden.
Frank Stella: Painting into Architecture
May 1-July 29, 2007
Architectural works, paintings, sculptures and wall reliefs by Frank Stella (b. 1936) describe the American artist's interests.
Impressionist and Early Modern
Paintings: The Clark Brothers Collect
May 22-August 19, 2007
Describes through more than 65 works of art the collections of rival brothers Robert Sterling Clark (1877-1956) and Stephen Carlton Clark (1882-1960), including paintings by Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Winslow Homer (1836-1910), Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), Claude Monet (1840-1926), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Thomas Eakins (1884-1916).
Neo Rauch at the Met: para
May 22-September 23, 2007
Eleven paintings by New Leipzig School artist Neo Rauch (b. 1960), made specifically for this exhibition, detail the painter's Surrealist and popular imagery in works dealing with historical figures and failed utopias, among other subjects.
Musée du Louvre
Paris, France
PraxitelesMarch 23-June 18, 2007
Devoted to Praxiteles (Fourth Century B.C.), the classical Greek artist credited with sculpting the first female nude.
Mount Holyoke College Art Museum
South Hadley, Massachusetts
Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveriesfrom the Petrie Museum of Egyptian
Archaeology, University College London
February 17-July 22, 2007
More than 220 works of art and artifacts from London's Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology document the rich history and culture of ancient Egypt from predynastic through Roman times. Objects from the reign of the "heretic pharaoh" Akhenaten (r. 1353-1336 B.C.) are a highlight of the exhibition. Travels next to the Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe (August 24, 2007-January 6, 2008) and the Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina (January 24-June 8, 2008).
Click here for a review of the exhibition catalogue.
Museo del Prado
Madrid, Spain
TintorettoJanuary 30-May 13, 2007
Museums and other institutions in Europe and the United States have lent 49 paintings, 13 drawings and three sculptures by Venetian Mannerist Tintoretto (1519-1594) to this monographic survey of his career. Religious narratives, mythological paintings and portraits explain Tintoretto's creative process.
Museo Picasso Málaga
Málaga, Spain
The Pierre and Maria-GaetanaMatisse Collection from The
Metropolitan Museum of Art
March 26-June 24, 2007
Fifty works by titans of twentieth-century art dominate this exhibition of drawings, paintings and sculptures from the Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection donated to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2002.
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
Madrid, Spain
The Mirror and the Mask:Portraiture in the Age of Picasso
February 6-May 20, 2007
The enduring tradition of portraiture between 1890 and 1990 is examined through works by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) to Andy Warhol (1928-1987). Travels next to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas from June 17 to September 16, 2007.
Museum für Völkerkunde
Vienna, Austria
Benin—Kings and Rituals,Court Arts from Nigeria
May 9-September 3, 2007
More than 300 sculptures describe royal art, culture and ritual in the West African Kingdom of Benin from the Fourteenth through Twenty-first Centuries. Travels next to the Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France (October 2, 2007-January 6, 2008), the Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany (February 7-May 25, 2008) and the Art Institute of Chicago (June 27-September 21, 2008).
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Boston, Massachusetts
Donatello to Giambologna: Italian RenaissanceSculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
January 24-July 8, 2007
Displays the MFA, Boston's superb collection of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italian Renaissance sculpture, largely unknown to both the public and scholars. Includes works by Donatello (ca. 1386-1466) and Luca della Robbia (1399-1482). Issues of preservation and conservation are addressed.
Edward Hopper
May 8-August 19, 2007
Fifty luminous oil paintings, 12 prints and 30 watercolors by American artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967), created from about 1925 to 1950, feature many of his iconic images, including Chop Suey (1929) and Nighthawks (1942). Travels next to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (September 16, 2007-January 21, 2008).
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Houston, Texas
The Masterpieces of French Painting fromThe Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800-1920
February 4-May 6, 2007
A selection of 135 French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art are currently on view. Their final stop will be the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, Germany (June 1-October 7, 2007), where 15 sculptures will join them before their trip home to freshly refurbished and expanded galleries.
Click here for a description of the exhibition and images from it.
Nassau County Museum of Art
Roslyn Harbor, New York
Dreams on Canvas: Surrealismin Europe and America
May 26-August 12, 2007
Explores the personalities, inventive techniques and subject matter of the Surrealists in Europe and the United States through works by André Breton (1896-1966), Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), René Magritte (1898-1967), Max Ernst (1891-1976), Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) and others. Surrealism's influence on fashion, film and theatre is also examined.
National Art Center
Tokyo, Japan
Claude Monet and His PosterityApril 6-July 2, 2007
This international loan exhibition includes nearly 100 works by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840-1926) and approximately 20 more by artists influenced by the master, among them Georges Seurat (1859-1891), André Derain (1880-1954) and Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997).
National Gallery
London, England
Renoir Landscapes 1865-1885February 21-May 20, 2007
Some 70 landscape paintings created by French Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) from 1860 through 1883 demonstrate how the artist experimented with composition, the handling of paint and structure in his early works. Travels next to the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (June 8-September 9, 2007)..
National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C.
Jasper Johns: An Allegoryof Painting, 1955-1965
January 28-April 29, 2007
Some 80 works from the early career of American artist Jasper Johns (b. 1930) document his influence on the development of Pop, Minimal, Process, Conceptual and Performance Art in this presentation. Travels next to the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (June 2-September 9, 2007).
Fabulous Journeys and Faraway
Places: Travels on Paper 1450-1700
May 6-September 16, 2007
Some 75 works on paper document European ideas about exotic lands and foreign peoples (both real and imaginary) from the Fifteenth to the early Eighteenth Century.
National Museum
Stockholm, Sweden
The Language of FlowersFebruary 22-May 27, 2007
Some 200 books, ceramics, works of glass, oil paintings, photographs and watercolors display floral motifs from the Renaissance to the present day.
The Art of Transformation:
Ovid's "Metamorphoses" in Art
May 24, 2007-January 6, 2008
Prints and drawings illustrate stories about Greek and Roman deities as they appear in the epic poem Metamorphoses by the Roman author Ovid (43 B.C.-17 A.D.).
Neue Galerie
New York, New York
Vincent van Gogh and ExpressionismMarch 23-July 2, 2007
Demonstrates the influence of Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) on Expressionist artists such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) and Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980). Unique to the American version of the show is van Gogh's The Wheat Field Behind St. Paul's Hospital (1889).
New Orleans Museum of Art
New Orleans, Louisiana
Femme, femme, femme: Paintings ofWomen in French Society from Daumier
to Picasso from the Museums of France
March 3-June 3, 2007
Forty-two French museums have lent 85 paintings to the New Orleans Museum of Art that celebrate women's roles in nineteenth-century society. Themes include domestic life and motherhood, urban and rural labor outside the home, leisure activities and intellectual pursuits.
North Carolina Museum of Art
Raleigh, North Carolina
Temples and Tombs: Treasures ofEgyptian Art from The British Museum
April 15-July 8, 2007
Eighty-five objects from The British Museum (cosmetic and funerary items, jewelry, papyri, reliefs and sculptures) describe the development of art and culture in ancient Egypt from shortly before the Third Dynasty (ca. 2686 B.C.) to the Roman occupation of the Fourth Century A.D. The exhibition is divided into four sections: the pharaoh and the temple; 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 Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, New Mexico (November 18, 2007-February 10, 2008).
Onderdonk House
Ridgewood, New York
Just After the Battle: An Exhibitof the American Civil War
January-June 2007
Titled after an 1864 Civil War song, this splendid exhibition features more than 250 precious artifacts and works of art, including period photographs, patriotic and fraternal war-era mementos, weaponry and more.
Portland Art Museum
Portland, Oregon
Rembrandt and the Golden Age:Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum
May 26-September 16, 2007
Landscapes, portraits, self-portraits, still-life paintings, Delftware, sculptures and objects of silver and glass describe the artists, working environments, living conditions and techniques of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) and other seventeenth-century Dutch artists. Works by Jan Steen (1626-1679), Gerard Dou (1613-1675), Pieter Claesz (1597/98-1660), Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29-1682) and Hendrick Ter Brugghen (1588-1629) complement Rembrandt's masterpieces. The influence of Roman Baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573-1610) is examined.
Princeton University Art Museum
Princeton, New Jersey
Sorcerors of the Fifth Heaven: Artand Ritual of Ancient Southern Mexico
January 27-April 28, 2007
Examines the use of ancient screenfold books (codices) by sorcerers of southern Mexico's Nahua peoples (1300-1500 A.D.) in divinatory rituals to cure diseases, determine royal marriages and control the weather through the invocation of spirit beings called the Maquiltonaleque or Five Souls. A highlight of the exhibition is a rare ceramic effigy censer from 1500 A.D. recently acquired by the museum.
Treasures from Olana: Landscapes
by Frederic Edwin Church
January 27-June 10, 2007
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. Includes Church's magnificent El Khasné, Petra (1874).
Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
Moscow, Russia
Era of the Merovingians:Europe Without Borders
March 13-May 13, 2007
More than 1200 pieces of intricately designed jewelry and statues describe the art and culture of Northern Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Travels next to the State Hermitage Museum, Moscow, Russia from June 19 to September 16, 2007.
Rijksmuseum
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Jan van der Heyden (1637-1712)February 2-April 30, 2007
Examines the precisely painted cityscapes of Dutch Baroque artist Jan van der Heyden (1637-1712) through 40 paintings and 20 drawings.
Royal Academy of Arts
London, England
Citizens and Kings: Portraits in theAge of Revolution, 1760-1830
February 3-April 20, 2007
Illustrates European and American artists' reactions to Enlightenment philosophers' emphasis on reason in painted and sculpted portraiture. Among the exhibition's masterpieces is The Death of Marat (1793) by Neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), on loan from the Musée du Louvre.
The Unknown Monet:
Pastels and Drawings
March 17-June 10, 2007
Drawings, pastels and paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840-1926) help to freshly examine the largely unexplored role of draftsmanship in the artist's works. Travels next to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts from June 24 to September 16, 2007.
Saint Louis Art Museum
St. Louis, Missouri
Symbols of Power: Napoleon andthe Art of the Empire Style, 1800-1815
June 16-September 16, 2007
More than 250 objects (architectural studies, bronzes, clothing, furniture, jewelry, porcelain, scenic wallpapers, silverware, statues and textiles) from Paris' Musée des Arts décoratifs and French public and private collections document the development of the Empire style in early nineteenth-century France during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). Travels next to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts (October 21, 2007-January 27, 2008) and the Musée des Arts décoratifs-Paris, France (April 2-October 5, 2008).
San Diego Museum of Art
San Diego, California
Annie Leibovitz:A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005
February 10-April 22, 2007 Some 100 images by American photographer Annie Leibovitz (b. 1949) cover a number of her recent professional assignments. Included are images that document facets of her personal life and Leibovitz's landscapes of the American West. Travels next to the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia (May 12-September 9, 2007) and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (October 13, 2007-January 13, 2008).
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco, California
Picasso and American ArtFebruary 23-May 28, 2007
Works from Max Weber (1881-1961) through Andy Warhol (1928-1987) demonstrate the influence of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) on the course of American art in the Twentieth Century.
Schiphol Airport
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Low Life in the Golden AgeMarch 1-June 5, 2007
Eleven paintings and five sculptures from the Rijksmuseum explore peasant life in the seventeenth-century Netherlands. Drunken Couple by Jan Steen (1626-1679) is a highlight of the special exhibition.
Scuderie del Quirinale
Rome, Italy
Dürer and ItalyMarch 10-June 10, 2007
This major international loan exhibition examines the life and work of Northern Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), how he was influenced by his Italian contemporaries and vice versa.
Städel Museum
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Witches' Lust and the Fall of Man: TheStrange Fantasies of Hans Baldung Grien
February 24-May 13, 2007
This show is devoted to two recurring themes in the art of Hans Baldung Grien (1484/85-1545). His drawings and woodcuts, many of them risqué, depict women from Eve, the first woman in the Book of Genesis, to the artist's fantastic images of sixteenth-century witches. They accompany Baldung's tempera on panel Zwei Hexen (Two Witches) (1523). Assembled together, the works illustrate Baldung's view of powerful female eroticism, Renaissance German society's belief in witches and how the very real presence of syphilis complicated the medieval ideal notion of love in a vast geographical region of the Holy Roman Empire.
Tate Britain
London, England
HogarthFebruary 7-April 29, 2007
The satirical wit of British artist William Hogarth (1697-1764) is seen through his paintings of aristocratic society as well as lascivious brothels. Drawings and engravings of urban life, sexuality, crime and political corruption are some of the themes treated in Hogarth's art.
Tate Modern
London, England
Dalí & FilmJune 1-September 9, 2007
More than 100 drawings, films, paintings and photographs by Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) describe how cinema played a major role in the creation of many of his works. The exhibition examines Dalí's collaborations with such film makers as Luis Buñuel, Alfred Hitchcock, the Marx Brothers and Walt Disney.
Van Gogh Museum
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Max Beckmann in Amsterdam, 1937-1947April 6-August 19, 2007
More than 100 paintings and works on paper by German Expressionist Max Beckmann (1884-1950), drawn from international public and private collections, describe the decade of his residence in Amsterdam.
Victoria & Albert Museum
London, England
James "Athenian" Stuart, 1713-1788:The Rediscovery of Antiquity
March 15-June 24, 2007
This first international loan exhibition of 150 works by British architect and designer James "Athenian" Stuart (1713-1788) illustrates his contributions to the development of Neoclassicism, frequently overlooked.
Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design
March 29-July 22, 2007
Documents the influence of Surrealism on architecture, the decorative arts and design from the 1920s through after World War II.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Richmond, Virginia
Rule Britannia!April 28-August 12, 2007
Shown exclusively at the VMFA, an unprecedented loan of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century portraits and maritime paintings from the Royal Collection of Queen Elizabeth II and other British sources explores art, power and royalty at the time of the founding of Jamestown, England's first permanent settlement in the New World. A significant loan on view is Queen Elizabeth I: The Armada Portrait (late Sixteenth Century), never before exhibited in the United States.
Géricault to Bonnard: Recent Gifts
from the Paul Mellon Collection
Opens June 13, 2007
Twenty French drawings, paintings and watercolors from the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries grace the fourth-floor Mellon galleries of the VMFA. Artists represented include Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), Theodore Géricault (1791-1824), Odilon Redon (1840-1916) and Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947). A selection of sculptures and decorative objects complements the exhibition.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Hartford, Connecticut
Faith and Fortune: Five Centuriesof European Masterworks
March 2-December 9, 2007
Five-hundred treasures from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art's permanent collection, ranging in date from the Renaissance through the Neoclassical and Romantic periods, are on view. Arranged chronologically, geographically and thematically, they include: more than 125 paintings; objects made of bronze, ceramic, glass, ivory and silver; and a selection of sculptures.
Whitney Museum of American Art
New York, New York
Summer of Love: Artof the Psychedelic Era
May 24-September 16, 2007
Contemporary Art and culture of the 1960s and early 1970s as seen through album covers, paintings, photographs, posters, sculptures and underground magazines. Films of performances and light shows are included.
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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.
