Gallery Listings

“Small and Everlasting: 1897–2008,” small-scale works by important twentieth-century American artists such as Reginald Marsh and George Bellows, along with contemporaries such as Suzanne Scherer and Pavel Ouporov, whose Language of the Birds suggests the Cloisters Unicorn tapestries. Through January 31, 2009.

Arden Gallery, Boston

Norman Laliberte, folk art-inspired composite acrylic and mixed media paintings, with a cheerful palette. These patchwork quilt compositions bring a modernist sophistication to playful motifs. January 3–30, 2009.

Artspace, San Antonio, Texas

Kehinde Wiley, “The World Stage: Africa Lagos-Dakar,” epic portraits of contemporary young African men, with dynamic backdrops taken from historical design. Organized by the Studio Museum in Harlem. January 15–May 3, 2009.

Eleanor Ettinger Gallery, New York City

“The Figure in American Art,” twelfth annual exhibition featuring gallery artists Paul Oxborough, Gabriela Gonzales Dellosso and Nicholas Raynolds, among others. January 8–February 1, 2009.

Fischbach Gallery, New York City

Alexander Tyng, “Above and Beyond,” recent paintings of coastal Maine, including straightforward village views and far more interesting aerial panoramas, where irregular land formations and blue water coalesce with eerie beauty. January 8–31, 2009.

Forum Gallery, Los Angeles

Peter Krausz, “(No) Man’s Land” series, moody landscapes of hills and valleys, in an unusual palette of yellow-greens and dusky violet. January 9–February 28, 2009.

Forum Gallery, New York City

Alex Melamid, “Holy Hip-Hop!” Traditional portraits of contemporary hipsters. January 15–March 14, 2009.

Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, Tennessee

“Paint Made Flesh,” a group show exploring a particular type of figure painting—one that emphasizes the carnality of the body. The time frame is the 1950s to the present, and artists include Francis Bacon, Eric Fischl, the trendy and over-rated John Currin, and—on a more positive note—Lucian Freud and Jenny Saville, good painters with sympathy for the less-than-beautiful body. January 23–May 10, 2009. Travels to the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., June 20–September 13, 2009, and the Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, New York, October 24, 2009–January 3, 2010.

George Billis Gallery, New York City

Andrew Jones, paintings of the mostly nineteenth-century ornamental ironwork of urban stoops. Jones’s documentary impulse, a preservationist’s guide to vernacular design, is balanced by a painterly interest in light, perspective and formal shapes. January 2009.

Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York City

Peter E. Poskas, recent oil paintings, including clear-eyed, crisply defined still lifes and luminous views of picturesque Maine seaside towns. Through February 7, 2009.

OK Harris Works of Art, New York City

David T. Kessler, acrylic paintings on metal, detailed nature scenes. His riverbanks with reflections have a remarkable luminosity. January 10–February 7, 2009.

Onassis Cultural Center, New York City

“Worshiping Women: Ritual and Reality in Classical Athens,” 155 objects from the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, and other collections, including the State Hermitage Museum and the Vatican. Marble goddesses and vases depicting ritual practices illuminate the myths and lives of ancient women. Through May 9, 2009.

Woodward Gallery, New York City

Louise Peabody, “Peace,” oil paintings of contemporary women in repose, in a modernist figurative idiom somewhat reminiscent of Alice Neel. Strong compositions with a nice feel for rumpled drapery. Both the paintings and the related drawings cast a spell of tranquil intimacy. January 10–February 28, 2009.

Museum Exhibitions

“That Liberty Shall Not Perish: World War I Posters,” featuring colorful, dynamic designs by well-known illustrators such as Howard Chandler Christy and Joseph Pennell. Through February 1, 2009.

Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

“From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci: A Century of Italian Drawings from the Prado,” seventy sixteenth-century drawings, with sheets by Giulio Romano, Paolo Veronese and Andrea del Sarto. The catalogue, written by Nicholas Turner (published in English by Art Services International), reproduces nearly 600 drawings in color. October 25, 2008–January 4, 2009. Travels to the Mary and Leigh Black Museum of Art, Northwestern University (January 24–April 5, 2009) and the Philbrook Museum of Art (April 25–July 5, 2009).

Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California

“In Nature’s Temple: The Life and Art of William Wendt,” a full-scale retrospective of the colorful, spiritual work of the early-twentieth-century California Impressionist. November 9, 2008–February 8, 2009.

J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

“Captured Emotions: Baroque Painting in Bologna, 1575–1725,” twenty-seven works from the Dresden State Art Collection and an equal number from California collections, showcasing the full-bodied Bolognese style. December 16, 2008– May 3, 2009.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

“The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions,” 160 works from seventeen curatorial departments demonstrate the retiring director’s strength as steward and expander of one of world’s great encyclopedic museums. Through February 1, 2009.

“Raphael to Renoir: Drawings from the Collection of Jean Bonna,” 120 drawings by an impressive roster of artists, including Raphael, Parmigianino, Rembrandt, Goya, Ingres, Manet, van Gogh and Seurat. January 21–April 26, 2009.

Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey

“Philip Pearlstein: Objectifications,” a retrospective covering six decades of figurative paintings. October 18, 2008–February 9, 2009.

Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary,Williamsburg,Virginia

“The Dutch Italianates: Seventeenth-Century Masterpieces from Dulwich Picture Gallery,” forty paintings from a fine British collection, including work by Aelbert Cuyp, Nicolaes Berchem and Philips Wouwermans. Through March 22, 2009.

Museum of the City of New York, New York City

“Growing and Greening New York: PLANYC2030 and the Future of the City,” proposals by architects, designers and urban planners to improve civic space. December 4, 2008– April 5, 2009.

Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, Massachusetts

“Two Museums/One Culture,” sixteen rare icons from the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow alongside 105 from the American museum, from the fifteenth century to the present. A fascinating opportunity to see a substantial body of work from a great tradition. Through May 1, 2009.

New-York Historical Society, New York City

“Drawn by New York”: Six Centuries of Watercolors and Drawings at the New-York Historical Society.” The most interesting material in this good-size show documents the growth of the city and includes a 360-degree panorama executed from the top of a lower-Manhattan church; drawings by Asher B. Durand and sketchbooks by other Hudson River School artists are aesthetic highlights. Through January 7, 2009. Travels to Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York (August 14–November 1, 2009) and the Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, Ohio (November 20, 2009–January 17, 2010).

Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts

“To the Ends of the Earth, Painting the Polar Landscape,” fifty paintings of the Arctic and Antarctic by nineteenth- and early twentieth-century artists, including Frederic Edwin Church’s spectacular Aurora Borealis. November 8, 2008–March 1, 2009.

Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma

“Paintings from the Reign of Victoria: The Royal Holloway Collection, London,” including works by Sir Edwin Landseer, David Roberts, William Powell Firth and Sir John Everett Millais. October 12, 2008–January 4, 2009. Travels to the Delaware Museum of Art (January 31–April 12, 2009), the Yale Center for British Art (June 11–July 26, 2009), Brigham Young University Museum of Art (August 15–October 25, 2009) and the Huntsville Museum of Art (November 21, 2009–January 31, 2010).

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

Graphic Masters I: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum,” a works-on-paper show featuring the exuberant watercolors of Winslow Homer, John La Farge and John Marin. Through May 25, 2009.