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Special Exhibition Reviews

Wondering if an art exhibition is worth the time, effort and money? Or would you like to know what you missed? All of this and more, including images, background information on featured artists and recommended reading, can be found in this special section.

Picasso in the Big Apple, Summer 2010
A review of Picasso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Picasso: Themes and Variations at the Museum of Modern Art, two exhibitions in 2010, with a mention of Rineke Dijkstra's concurrent exhibition at Marian Goodman Gallery in which children talk on video about Picasso's painting Weeping Woman in the Tate Liverpool.

Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage
A review of the exhibition Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage.

A New York Salute to Winslow Homer
Nineteenth-century American artist Winslow Homer, known for his New England subjects, spent two crucial years (1878-1879) in New York State transitioning from a narrative to an atmospheric painter.

Alexander the Great: Treasures from an Epic Era of Hellenism
On view from December 10, 2004 to April 16, 2005 at the Onassis Cultural Foundation.

Amarna: Ancient Egypt's Place in the Sun
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia hosts a special exhibition on Egyptian art from the Eighteenth Dynasty's Amarna Period (ca. 1353-1336 B.C.) On view from November 12, 2006 through October 2007.

Americans in Paris, 1860-1900
The exhibition Americans in Paris, 1860-1900 was organized by the National Gallery, London, the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, and in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Antonello da Messina
On view from December 13, 2005 through March 5, 2006 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Art of Medicine in Ancient Egypt
This exhibition, which is not to be missed, balances out preconceived notions of this civilization's supposed preoccupation with life in the hereafter as represented in The Met's surrounding galleries. On view from September 13, 2005 through May 7, 2006 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Beyond February - African American Art in New York
African American Art: Two Hundred Years at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery offered a rare opportunity to study several superstars in one venue, and Jacob Lawrence: Moving Forward, 1936-1999 at DC Moore Gallery complemented the Rosenfeld show with forty works by one of the greatest artists in American history.

Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde
This show reconstructs visually for the viewer the process of dematerialization of the subject matter that took place at the time, having climaxed in the self-sufficiency of form and color as the new subject of art in the Twentieth Century. On view at three stops from September, 2006 to September, 2007.

Cimabue and Early Italian Devotional Painting
Special exhibitions don't always have to be grand in size to describe a significant accomplishment by an artist. This small-scale presentation of two religious works by the Italian master is joined by others produced by some of his anonymous contemporaries. On view at New York's prestigious Frick Collection through December 31, 2006.

Coaxing the Spirits to Dance: Art of the Papuan Gulf
Religious artworks and sculptures, accompanied by the photographs on display and thorough wall texts, offer a new appreciation for Oceanic art and civilization from a not-too-distant age. On view October 24, 2006–September 3, 2007 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Creating St. Peter's: Architectural Treasures of the Vatican
On view until January 9, 2005 at the Knights of Columbus Museum, New Haven, Connecticut.

Dalí
On view through May 30, 2005 at The Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Diane Arbus Revelations
On view through May 30, 2005 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Subsequently traveling to Essen, London, Barcelona and Minneapolis through October 2006.

Diebenkorn in New Mexico
Diebenkorn in New Mexico thankfully isolates the artist's formative period in the early 1950s, greatly enhancing the power of each work by creating a conversation as the paintings relate side by side or within the same room.

Fra Angelico
On view from October 26, 2005 through January 29, 2006 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Fra Carnevale and the Making of a Renaissance Master
On view through May 1, 2005 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Full title: From Filippo Lippi to Piero della Francesca: Fra Carnevale and the Making of a Renaissance Master)

French Drawings from Weimar
From Callot to Greuze: French Drawings from Weimar offered the viewer a vivid visual cross-section of French society at a critical point in France's vibrant cultural history. On view through August 7, 2005 at The Frick Collection.

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724-1780)
In Saint-Aubin's work we find a clear-eyed, earthy response to the ostentatious Rococo trappings offered by his renowned colleagues, rendered in a sprightly hand that seems as fresh as this morning's crisply baked baguette.

Georges Seurat - The Drawings
Seurat's drawings may seem uber-perfectionist, but their essence belongs to a sensitive heart and courageous mind. On view from October 28, 2007 through January 7, 2008 at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise
Atlanta, Georgia's High Museum of Art announced on October 16, 2006 that it will host an intimate exhibition featuring three gilt bronze panels, recently restored, from the famous eastern doors of Florence, Italy's Baptistery of San Giovanni.

Goya's Last Works
This special exhibition focuses on the final phase (1824-1828) of the career of Spanish painter Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) through approximately 50 innovative oil portraits, drawings, lithographs and experimental miniature paintings on ivory. On view February 22 through May 14, 2006 at The Frick Collection.

Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh
Through magnificent examples of sculpture, reliefs, exceptionally crafted jewelry, ceremonial objects and those of everyday use, Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh poignantly describes the artistic innovations of Egypt's Early Eighteenth Dynasty. On view from March 28 through July 9, 2006 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Holiday in Reality: Edward Hopper
The Whitney Museum is home to the largest collection of the work of Edward Hopper in the world. This year, as part of this museum's 75th Anniversary celebration, the entire fifth floor of the museum is dedicated to his art in a six month installation called Holiday in Reality: Edward Hopper which remains on view from June 29 through December 3, 2006.

In Stabiano: Exploring the Ancient Seaside Villas of the Roman Elite
In Stabiano is absolutely worth visiting, full of treasures that easily rival earlier Pompeiian exhibitions, and its extensive itinerary through the U.S. ensures that it should reach a wide and appreciative audience. On view at various locations from 2004 to early 2008; see review for schedule.

Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789): Swiss Master
A dossier exhibition at New York's Frick Collection from June 13 to September 17, 2006, that has done much to revive the itinerant artist's international reputation. More than 50 of his drawings, engravings, miniatures, paintings and pastels from Geneva's Musées d'art et d'histoire, joined by a select number of works from Swiss private collections, are exclusively on display in Manhattan.

Mad About Modernism
Reviews of "Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years" (on view from July 7 through September 17, 2007) and "Martin Puryear" (on view from November 4, 2007 through January 14, 2008) at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Masters of the German Renaissance
German Renaissance artists are the subjects of quite a few special exhibitions at museums on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean during Spring and Summer of 2007. Their works represent the dynamism of late fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century artistic expression north of the Alps.

Masterworks from the Morgan
The Morgan Library's inaugural special exhibition to celebrate its reopening includes some 300 objects from its world-class collection of more than 350,000 objects, focusing on highlights of the Library's holdings spanning the course of Western civilization. From April 29, 2006.

The Medieval Bookshelf: From Romance to Astronomy
The Medieval Bookshelf: From Romance to Astronomy successfully addresses the subject of what literate people read in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It adequately describes their intellectual interests while vividly portraying life in an age of constant change. On view through April 9, 2006 at the Getty Center, Los Angeles.

Memling's Portraits
This rare retrospective of nearly two-thirds of Hans Memling's extant portraits (more than twenty-five superb masterpieces produced by the fifteenth-century, early Netherlandish painter and his school), is astutely organized by Colin Bailey, Chief Curator of Manhattan's prestigious Frick Collection and on view from from October 12 through December 31, 2005.

Monsieur Courbet, The Original Rock Star - A Review of the Gustave Courbet Exhibition
We regard Courbet as a great avant-garde painter, equal to such superb innovators as Manet, Cézanne, and Seurat, among others. And yet, today his legacy as agent provocateur seems more influential than his attention to skill.

Mother-of-Pearl: A Tradition in Asian Lacquer
Elegant works of art amply describe the development of pearl shell ornamentation in Asia and its dissemination to Western Europe. On view from December 2, 2006 through April 1, 2007 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Parmigianino's Antea
On view from January 29 through April 27, 2008 at The Frick Collection, New York.

Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult
Photography gracefully meets the seemingly paranormal in this unconventional, small-scale special exhibition on view from September 27 through December 31, 2005 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Peter Paul Rubens: A Double Special Exhibition Review
Stan Parchin compares and contrasts the exhibitions Drawn by the Brush: Oil Sketches by Peter Paul Rubens (on view until January 30, 2005 at the Bruce Museum of Arts and Science in Greenwich, Connecticut) and Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640): The Drawings (on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art January 15 through April 3, 2005).

Petra: Lost City of Stone
This exhibition provides a careful and well presented display of the treasures of Petra. On view from April 7, 2006 through January 2, 2007 at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, Quebec.

Pompeii: Stories from an Eruption
On view from October 22, 2005 through March 26, 2006 at The Field Museum, Chicago.

Prague, The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437
On view from September 20, 2005 through January 3, 2006 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Pursuing the Real Leonardo
Looking to experience Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) firsthand? Here's an itinerary for you. In 2006, the Italian High Renaissance master is the subject of many special exhibitions on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Raphael at the Met: The Colonna Altarpiece
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's presentation of Raphael's Colonna Altarpiece and accompanying works by other Italian Renaissance masters aptly describes the young artist's early years in Perugia and Florence. On view from June 20 through September 3, 2006.

Renaissance Masters on the East Coast
Special Renaissance exhibitions on view in Washington, D.C., and New York City in the Fall and early Winter of 2005-06.

Renaissance Treasures at the Getty Center
"Painted Prayers: Books of Hours from the Morgan Library" and "A Masterpiece Reconstructed: The Hours of Louis XII" remain on view through January 8, 2006 at the Getty Center. "Drawings from Leonardo to Titian: A North Italian Itinerary" will be on view from December 6, 2005 through February 26, 2006 in the same venue.

Samuel Palmer: Vision and Landscape
Over 100 examples of Palmer's most important and influential works in various mediums. On view from March 7 through May 29, 2006 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Art
The special exhibition Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Art successfully traces the development of facial expression in sculpture across the medieval millennium. The form and function of each beautifully displayed work are expertly explained. And the methods used by modern-day art historians to determine the sculptures' origins are flawlessly described.

Surrealism USA
On view in New York until May 8, 2005. Scheduled for the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona from June 5 to September 25, 2005.

Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur
On view through June 18, 2005 at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Subsequently traveling to The Saint Louis Art Museum (Missouri) and the Middlebury College Museum (Vermont) through December 10, 2006.

Tree of Paradise: Jewish Mosaics from the Roman Empire
Explains synagogue decoration in the Late Roman Empire through 21 Jewish mosaics from the same building discovered in 1883 in Hammam Lif, Tunisia. On view October 28, 2005 through June 4, 2006 at the Brooklyn Museum.

Treasures of Sacred Maya Kings
The glorious past of the Maya comes alive in Treasures of Sacred Maya Kings. Rarely seen artworks, many recently discovered, expand our knowledge of Maya art, culture and understanding of sacred kingship as exhibited in The Metropolitan Museum's remarkable presentation. On view from June 13 through September 10, 2006.

Warriors of the Himalayas
Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet was a first-of-a-kind special exhibition. It explored the beautifully crafted armor, weaponry and equestrian armaments produced by Tibetan artisans from the Thirteenth to the Twentieth Century. On view through July 2, 2006 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Rosalind Solomon: Ritual
A review of photographer Rosalind Solomon: Ritual at Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York, from May 13 through June 26, 2010.

Review of Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present

A Review of Tayo Heuser's 'Pulse' at the Phillips Collection
Rhode Island artist Tayo Heuser was commissioned to respond to Mark Rothko's paintings in the Phillips Collection. Her installation entitled Pulse captures the breathingness of Rothko's Color Field masterpieces. Pulse belongs to a larger project entitled Intersections, an ongoing series curated by Vesela Sretenovic.

A Review of the Neuberger Berman Lehman Auction at Sotheby's
The Neuberger Berman Lehman Collection brought 147 pieces to auction at Sotheby's New York on September 25, 2010 and sold 85 percent of the lots at a total of almost 12.3 million US dollars. This strong result included one surprise, the failure to sell Damien Hirst's piece We've Got Style which was expected to fetch 1 million US dollars -...

Special Exhibition Catalogue Reviews

Cherish the Ladies: Feminism at 30-Something
The Deconstructive Impulse: Women Artists Reconfigure the Signs of Powers, 1973-1991 is an exhibition about late 20th century artists whose feminist content unpacked images in the media. They focus on images of power and powerlessness portrayed in the media or inherent in media itself. The artists deconstruct popular culture in order to expose...

Ai Weiwei in New York
Celebrated Chinese artist Ai Weiwei scheduled two exhibitions in New York before his detention by the Chinese government on April 3, 2011. His Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads opened in Central Park on May 4 and it continues until July 15. His photographs of his life in New York from 1983 to 1993 opened at Asia Society on June 29 and will close on...

McQueen Madness at the Met Until Midnight August 7
British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who died tragically at 40 years old, is celebrated in an extravagant exhibition curated by Andrew Bolton of the Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art. The show chronicles he personal collections from 1996 through 2010.

Remembering Japan's Earthquake and Tsunami through Art
The art gallery in Japan Society in New York opened their exhibition Bye Bye Kitty: Between Heaven and Hell in Contemporary Japanese Art one week after Japan suffered an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. The exhibition was meant to reflect Japan's worries and perpetual state of insecurity, which contradicts the sunny appearance of kawaii...

Nature in Nature: Robert Lobe's Sculpture in Prospect Park
Robert Lobe's famous sculptures of trees are on display in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York during the summer and fall 2011. The exhibition of three works is free and open to the public: Nature's Clock, Antique Jenny, and Invisible Earth.

Special Exhibition Review - In Stabiano: Exploring the Ancient Seaside...
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Malcolm MacDougall III and his Microscopic Landscape in Union Square...
Another Prodigy from Ardsley, New York Hits the Big Time: Malc…

Glitter and Doom: German Portraits from the 1920s - A Special Exhibition...
In Glitter and Doom: German Portraits from the 1920s, we have a wonderful synthesis of two types of exhibition, the familiar and the new. In this case, there has never before been assembled a collection of portraiture in the style called Verism, a branch of Neue Schrechlichkeit (New Objectivity).

In Focus - The Roman Mosaic from Lod Israel
This particular mosaic floor is remarkable for its size, its diversity of subjects, its brilliant color and naturalism, and its particularly excellent state of preservation.

In Focus - Marble Vase with Panther Handles from Petra
This exquisite monumentally sized pavonazzetto marble vase or cantharus with carved panther handles is the only example of its kind ever found. The vase, created by first century Roman master craftsmen in the Augustan era Imperial workshops, was intended as a garden or atrium ornament and is the largest and finest such object to survive from...

In Focus - The Calaveras of José Guadalupe Posada
José Posada (1852-1913), Mexican lithographer and printmaker, is best remembered for his calaveras (skull) etchings.

In Focus - The Head of Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus
One of the finest examples of Roman portrait sculpture in existence, this famous bust of the Emperor Tiberius (42 B.C.-37 A.D., Emperor 14-37 A.D.) resides in the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

In Focus - Nero as Apollo, from the Triclinium of Moregine
In Focus: Nero as Apollo, from the Triclinium of Moregine

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