Good/great art exhibits

[ejp626]

I'll list some of my favorite art exhibits here. I'll probably have to keep updating and correcting dates, places, etc. and add commentary as I feel up to it. This is far from a complete list of everything I have seen, for I have spent many, many, many afternoons in museums, but these are the ones that still stay with me. There is a bias towards larger shows, since I can't track down too much on smaller gallery showings or some of the really cool things I have seen in the Yates Gallery in the Chicago Cultural Center (an amazing resource for the city).

Georgia O'Keefe - retrospective 1987 Chicago (show probably originated in DC) This is the first major exhibit I remember seeing - we drove to see the exhibit because my mom really wanted to see it (I was still in high school). So glad we did.

Wasn't old enough to see the Picasso blockbuster show at MOMA and missed the big High/Low show by about 2 years.

But I did see the Matisse blockbuster show at MOMA in 1992. I loved it. Only time I've ever seen scalpers working an art gallery.

Stuart Davis - Met 1992

Magritte - Met 1992

"Rolyholyover: A Circus” travelling exhibition curated by John Cage and Julie Lazar

This basically originated out of the Guggenheim in 1993, but I saw it in Philadelphia a year later

Barnes Exhibit - DC and Toronto 1994 I know this completely violated the spirit (and the letter) of the charter of the Barnes Foundation, but I'm still glad I managed to catch it (twice in fact)

Gustave Caillebotte - Chicago 1995

Time Dust, James Rosenquist, Complete Graphics : 1962 -1992. This traveled all over the place, and I happened to catch it in Madison, WI in 1995

Kandinsky: Compositions MOMA 1995

Edward Hopper and the American Imagination Whitney 1995

So I can be a bit of a sucker for Americana, but I really do like his empty urban landscapes and the quiet desperation of so many of his intimate portraits.

Claes Oldenburg: An Anthology National Gallery of Art DC 1995

Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South. The Art Institute of Chicago, 2001

Chiefly memorable since it had both the MOMA and Musee D'Orsay versions of Starry Night in one room. Very nice for Midwesterners unable to travel.

Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence Whitney 2001

Many good parts to this show, but best was the seeing the entire Migration Series in one place

Andreas Gursky Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 2002

Surrealism: Desire Unbound Met 2002

Giorgio de Chirico and the Myth of Ariadne Philadelphia 2003

The Stamp of Impulse: Abstract Expressionist Prints 2003

This exhibit was organized by the Worcester Art Museum, then traveled to Cleveland and I caught it in Evanston, IL actually. A really well-done exhibit with an excellent catalogue still kicking around

Matisse Picasso MOMA Queens 2003

I was surprised that there were some paintings I hadn't seen, i.e. they weren't only drawing on paintings from New York museums I was already familiar with. Not nearly as amazing as the Matisse exhibit nor presumably the Picasso one.

Max Beckmann MOMA Queens 2003

Probably the only time I've really gone out of my way to see an art exhibit - I actually scheduled a business trip at the same time as the show to ensure I saw it. I believe 5 of his triptychs were in the exhibit. Terrific.

James Rosenquist: A Retrospective Guggenheim 2003

Finally a really effective use of the Guggenheim's interior. This is by far the most impressive show I've ever seen at the Guggenheim (though I don't go that frequently).

Sebastiao Salgado Migrations 2003

I managed to see this in New York and again in Chicago. Some very moving images, particularly the teeming masses in Far Eastern megacities.

In its last 18 months of existence, the Terra Museum (in Chicago) put on some terrific small shows. I think my favorite was called Chicago Modern: Pursuit of the New (2004). I feel considerably melancholy over its passing, however.

Romare Bearden 2004 SF MOMA

I managed to get to see this in San Francisco and I think I just missed it at the Whitney and in DC.

(I'm a little disappointed the Met is no longer currently showing The Block, but it will probably come back pretty soon.)

Art of Gunther Gerzso - Mexican Fine Arts Center, Chicago 2004

I was only introduced to Gerzso through a fine show "DIEGO, FRIDA AND THE MEXICAN SCHOOL" I had seen the previous year. I was fascinated by the idea that this abstractionist was working in Mexico at the same time as most Mexican artists were doing more figurative work. Very good show - very nice catalogue.

Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 2004

Universal Experience: Art, Life, and the Tourist’s Eye Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 2005

In some ways, the catalogue is more unified and coherent than the show was. Some of the individual pieces were really lame (and perhaps I could have lived without the room that combined an Egytian tomb with hardcore pornography). However, I was completely blown away by the installation by video artist Doug Aitken and went back to see it three times.

Frida Kahlo Tate Modern 2005

Robert Rauschenberg: Combines Met 2006

As always, there are a few that got away. I'm bummed I couldn't get to the Guston show at the Met a few years back. But I have certainly managed to get to most of the exhibits I wanted to see, provided I was on the same continent.

[ejp626]

By the way, I don't know about current New Yorkers, but I am really torn over the new MOMA. It is definitely larger and there is something to be said for the new layout with its feeling of verticality. However, I am nostalgic for the old cramped MOMA, particularly the exhibits in the basement. And somehow crowd control seems worse in the new MOMA, though there may have been overflow crowds due to the Pixar exhibit, which I skipped.

If anything, however, the artists on display seem even whiter than ever before. They do show the cool Wilfredo Lam painting, but that's about it. Can anyone recall some exhibit from the 1990s where MOMA put on display all its art by Mexican, Latin American and South American artists? The MOMA website tells me it is Latin American Artists of the Twentieth Century from 1993. After this show, they kept a handful of the paintings on display in the main collection - the Lam, a couple Diego Riveras and one cool painting with a baby's screaming head that kept getting bigger. All but the Lam have gone into storage. To make it even more ghettoized, in 2004, they set up this separate exhibit in at El Museo called Latin American and Caribbean Art from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art. I didn't see this show, though I suspect it is largely a repeat of the 1993 show. The catalogue does look pretty good, however, and I think I'll order it.

[brownie]

Viewed the Duncan Phillips collection on show at the Palais du Luxembourg. Thought it would be a good idea to go there early morning on Sunday in the hope there would not be a crowd. I was wrong. The place was crowded.

Managed to have a good view of most of the paintings (great Kandinskys, a superb Redon, a superb Bacon, none of the Picassos impressed!).

Will return to view this one early afternoon. That's when the crowd thins out according to the people at the museum!

La Collection Phillips

[clifford_thornton]

Amen on the Bontecou, that was a hell of an exhibition! I wish I had been in Chicago for more than a weekend so I really could have spent some time with it.

Being able to go back again and again is certainly the reason why I rate the Gursky (MoMA, '01) and Last Picture Show (WAC, Mpls, 2003) as among the greatest big-exhibition experiences I've had.

Looking forward to the Hesse drawings and Stella 1958 paintings at the Menil this spring!

[Stefan Wood]

I work at the National Gallery of Art in DC, so there are plenty of good exhibitions that I have worked on and seen!

We recently finished a Cezanne in Provence show and now are busy on DADA, which is a big show (400+ works) and an event in the art world this year. No hype.

[brownie]

That DADA show finished recently at the Pompidou Center. It was just awesome! One of the best exhibition from the Pompidou Center. The Center has a Jean-Luc Godard show on its schedule! Should be interesting.

[Ron S]

Barnes Exhibit - DC and Toronto 1994 I know this completely violated the spirit (and the letter) of the charter of the Barnes Foundation, but I'm still glad I managed to catch it (twice in fact)

You must be aware of what's going on with the Barnes Foundation trust right now.

BTW, I have a semi-humorous story about the exhibition you saw twice. When I was in Paris on my honeymoon in September '93, my wife and I walked to the Musee D'Orsay, looking forward to seeing its wonderful collection. When we got to within a couple blocks of it, we encountered a long line of people coming from the direction of the museum. We continued walking to the museum and, sure enough, the line led all the way to it. It turned out that this blocks-long line of people was waiting to get in to see the Barnes exhibit, which was there at the time, and we were unable to get into the museum at all. It was quite ironic, of course, since that collection is based in our hometown. If I recall correctly, I believe that exhibit broke all attendance records for the Musee D'Orsay, and perhaps for any travelling exhibit in Paris up to that time.

[ejp626]

I work at the National Gallery of Art in DC, so there are plenty of good exhibitions that I have worked on and seen!

We recently finished a Cezanne in Provence show and now are busy on DADA, which is a big show (400+ works) and an event in the art world this year. No hype.

You scared me when you said you finished the Cezanne show -- I see you meant you finished putting it together and hanging it. I'm hoping to arrange a trip to DC soon to catch the Cezanne and DADA shows.

For anyone in DC, the Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec: London and Paris, 1870–1910 show is worth seeing at the Phillips Collection (I saw it at the Tate). I'm glad I managed to catch the Sam Gilliam show at the Corcoran right before it closed, but it doesn't quite make my list.

[Guest]

Andy Goldsworthy has his Arches on exhibit at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI through the spring. Jim and I will definitely make a point to see them. We are big fans of Goldsworthy. Actually, the trio is playing at the gardens right now. Maybe Jim got a sneak peak.

[Stefan Wood]

That DADA show finished recently at the Pompidou Center. It was just awesome! One of the best exhibition from the Pompidou Center. The Center has a Jean-Luc Godard show on its schedule! Should be interesting.

It's taking the best known works from that show, and adding different things as well. I heard that one at Pomidou was HUGE!!!!

[ejp626]

That DADA show finished recently at the Pompidou Center. It was just awesome! One of the best exhibition from the Pompidou Center. The Center has a Jean-Luc Godard show on its schedule! Should be interesting.

It's taking the best known works from that show, and adding different things as well. I heard that one at Pomidou was HUGE!!!!

I vaguely remember a DADA show at the MOMA in the early 1990s (I think) but it wasn't the size of this show. I'll see if I can make it.

[paul secor]

Not recent (or even close), but I remember a collection of Bill Traylor's paintings and drawings at the Hirschl & Adler Gallery (NYC) in late 1988 that was magical.

[brownie]

That DADA show finished recently at the Pompidou Center. It was just awesome! One of the best exhibition from the Pompidou Center. The Center has a Jean-Luc Godard show on its schedule! Should be interesting.

It's taking the best known works from that show, and adding different things as well. I heard that one at Pomidou was HUGE!!!!

That Pompidou DADA show was huge, indeed.

The Pompidou pulled out its famous Dada art stock and had the MoMA add some of its own. There were some 1,000 works from 50 artists. It took several visits to get a grasp of the variety of the retrospective.

[Guy Berger]

I was at the NYC Guggenheim for the first time this weekend. The Kandinsky gallery was something else... I've liked his art for a long time, but a bunch of it in the same place was a special treat.

The two temporary exhibits were mixed -- a very interesting one on Central European photography in the interwar era, and some very silly work by a guy named Richard Prince.

Guy

Edited November 12, 2007 by Guy

[Hot Ptah]

The Monet exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1995 was very enjoyable.

[AndrewHill]

"missed the big High/Low show by about 2 years"

Caught this show at the Cleveland Museum of Art. I specifically wanted to see the Michael Snow movies, which were really interesting. I also went to their Antioch, Picasso, and Guilded Age exhibits as well.

[ejp626]

Chicago currently has a Jeff Koons exhibit at MCA. Not all that really, though a few of his pieces are nice (or at least shiny).

The Art Institute has been undergoing renovation and up until now it was ok, a few things shuffled and some pieces sent off to Texas I believe. But now they have gone and moved out all the modern pieces. There is maybe 1 room left out of 15-20. That's the main reason I go, though their Asian art collection is still very fine. I'll probably go half as often as I normally do until they start reopening some of these rooms in 2009. Anyway, they have a major exhibit on the art of Benin. But honestly I wasn't that moved by it.

One exhibit that really moved me was Portraits from the Mind: The Works of William Utermohlen, 1955-2000 at the Chicago Cultural Center (this is a real gem of Chicago that only locals know about). The show only runs through Sunday, however. The artist found out in 1995 that he had Alzheimers, and his paintings/drawings shift and become more claustrophobic. Eventually he loses motor control, and the drawings regress:Last portraits It is sad but somewhat inspirational in that the drive to create was so strong. (Though it seems that his final art was from 2000 and he died in 2007, so the sadness of a tragic end outweigh the uplifting coda -- in my mind.) Anyway, I had never heard of this artist (American but had most of his career in London) and his paintings from 1991-1995 are just stunning. This is probably the best from the series, titled Snow:

It just was one of those neat art exhibits that you stumble into and it changes your life a bit.

[ejp626]

A small update. I never did make the DADA show, though I did manage to see the Cornell boxes (I think we discussed this on another thread). Likewise I missed the Cezanne in Provence show in DC, but I more than made up for it by seeing the exhibit in southern France.

I was in Europe for roughly 18 months and saw all kinds of amazing museums. Probably the best unified shows were the Cezanne, Jeff Wall (Tate Modern, then a slightly smaller show in Chicago I saw several times) and Kandinsky (Tate Modern). There was also a pretty cool exhibit on the theme of Melancholy that I caught in Berlin, and Vienna had a special exhibit on Klimpt (more than usual), which partly makes up for missing the Klimpt show at the Tate Liverpool now that I am back in the States.

[BillF]

I'm hoping to see the Liverpool Klimt exhibition once the crowds thin a bit. Meanwhile I've seen Art in the Age of Steam, 1830-1960, also part of the Liverpool Capital of Culture initiative, which has some priceless Impressionists, as well as American items by people like Thomas Hart Benton, which are rarely seen over here.

[ejp626]

I'm hoping to see the Liverpool Klimt exhibition once the crowds thin a bit. Meanwhile I've seen Art in the Age of Steam, 1830-1960, also part of the Liverpool Capital of Culture initiative, which has some priceless Impressionists, as well as American items by people like Thomas Hart Benton, which are rarely seen over here.

My son loves trains, so I actually went and bought the Age of Steam catalogue, and we've looked through it many times. The show is actually traveling to Kansas City this fall, and I occasionally have work there, so I am crossing my fingers that I can work something out.

There are 3 "train" paintings at the Art Institute, and I always promise to end any visit by looking at them. Well, all 3 have gone into storage, so he was particularly disappointed and it may be hard to get him to go again until 2009.

Edited July 30, 2008 by ejp626