Gallery Listings

ACA Galleries, New York City

“Layered Luminescence: The Art of Egg Tempera,” a show focusing on contemporary practice in the historical medium, featuring Doug Safranek’s miniature urban scenes, Suzanne Scherer and Pavel Ouporov’s Symbolist iconography, Fred Wessel’s early Italian Renaissance-style portraits and works by acknowledged master practitioner Robert Vickrey. March 26–May 2, 2009.

 

Alexandre Gallery, New York City

“Fire,” six recent large-scale paintings by Lois Dodd, who has been working in the idiom of flattened representationalism since the 1950s. Through April 25, 2009.

 

Arcadia Fine Arts, New York City

“Winter/Spring Salon,” featuring gallery artists Michael Klein, Jeremy Lipking and Daniel Sprick, among others. Through April 22, 2009.

Alexander Klingspor, an exhibition of paintings by the Swedish-born artist, who favors groups in noirish interiors, suggesting enigmatic narratives. April 23–May 7, 2009.

 

Eleanor Ettinger Gallery, New York City

Glenn Harrington, the painter’s fourth solo exhibition at the gallery. Harrington’s loosely brushed oils have a low-key anecdotal charm, and his interiors mix natural and artificial light to good effect. March 12–April 5, 2009.

 

Forum Gallery, New York City

Paintings and drawings by Steven Assael, who brings old master skills to contemporary subjects. The draftsmanship of his pencil and charcoal portraits is exquisite, and he brings Romantic verve to his depictions of diverse urban tribes. Through May 2, 2009.

 

George Billis Gallery, New York City

New Paintings by James Willis, in oil and acrylic, of New York City, which he sees as “a living, breathing subject.” Willis captures urban bustle, focusing on the vortex canyons of the streets, with energetic brushwork in the tradition of Bellows and Henri. April 2009.

 

Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York City

Clear-eyed still lifes by Jimmy Sanders, who is particularly deft at depicting reflections in glass vessels. A Painter’s Process, with artist’s materials—including a packet of lapis-blue pigment—emerging from shadows, is the strongest painting in the show. Through April 18, 2009.

 

J. Cacciola Gallery, New York City

Bruce Samuelson, figure drawings in pastel, charcoal and oil. The torsos emerging from energetic smudges of grey and flesh tones can be difficult to read, but at their best they have a muscular strength. April.

 

Sherry French Gallery, New York City

“Paintings=Poetry: ut picture poesis,” a group exhibition in celebration of National Poetry Month. No obvious literary references here, but Deborah Bigeleisen’s flower close-ups and Nick Patten’s moody hallway interiors are evocative. April 1–25, 2009.

 

Forum Gallery, Los Angeles

Bo Bartlett, new paintings by a contemporary realist as interested in oblique storytelling as he is the effects of light. Through April 18, 2009.

 

Hackett-Freeman Gallery, San Francisco

Raimonds Staprans, abstracted landscapes and still lifes with strong geometric compositions and boldly colored negative space. March 12–May 2, 2009.
 
Marc Trujillo. The artificial light-boxes of fast-food drive-throughs are depicted with unexpected compositional rigor in these oil paintings. March 12–May 2, 2009.

 

Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco

New paintings by Sherrie Wolf, whose strategy is to position tightly rendered still-life elements against old master backdrops. The discrepancy in scale—bowls of fruit and flowers, monumental against the classical landscape—gives her work a piquancy suggesting Magritte, although without the Surrealist’s visual punning. April 2–May 2, 2009.

 

Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe

“Evenly Scattered,” a group show of paintings, photography and assemblage by eight artists. The sharp-edged realism of Toby Boothman and the brushy, decorative figure printings of Gregory Calibey stand out. March 6–April 6, 2009.

 

Principle Gallery, Alexandria, Virginia

Kevin Fitzgerald, new paintings that explore the border between representation and abstraction. With their simplified shapes and deep colors, these landscapes—especially the coastal scenes—suggest the quiet spirituality of George Inness. Through April 16, 2009.

 

Museums

Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

“N.C. Wyeth: America in the Making.” Wyeth painted these twelve panels, depicting key moments in American history, in egg tempera. Supported by other American Scene paintings from the museum and private collections. Through August 9, 2009.

 

Frick Collection, New York City

“Masterpieces of European Painting from the Norton Simon Museum,” five works from a superb, compact collection in Pasadena, California. A stunning Zurbarán still-life, Jacopo Bassano’s lyrical Flight into Egypt and paintings by Rubens, Murillo and Guercino. Through May 10, 2009. The Frick reciprocates by lending Ingres’s glamorous Comtesse d’Haussonville to the Norton Simon later this year (October 28, 2009–January 24, 2010).

 

Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

“The Road to Impressionism: Barbizon Landscapes from the Walters Art Museum,” thirty-two paintings by Monet, Boudin, Diaz de la Pena and Daubigny, among others. Despite the crowd-catching title, these landscapists had a wide international influence, especially on the woodland scenes of America’s Hudson River School. Supplemented by drawings from the museum’s archive of Millet works. Through May 24, 2009.

 

Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington

“Transatlantic: American Artists in Germany” examines the importance of German training and exhibition opportunities for American artists in the post-Civil War period, when building an international reputation became an important component of success. Works by Bierstadt, William Merritt Chase and Whistler, among others. Through April 26, 2009. A related show, “The Munich Secession and America,” runs through April 12, 2009.

 

Guggenheim Museum, New York City

“The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia: 1860–1989,” a sprawling exhibition of 250 objects, including literature as well as the visual arts. Works by Whistler, Cassatt and La Farge highlight the section on Aestheticism and Japan, while Dove, O’Keeffe and Noguchi illustrate the Asian cross-currents of early modernism. January 30–April 19, 2009.

 

Legion of Honor, San Francisco

“Artistic Luxury: Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique,” the first comparative study of these masters of the decorative arts, illuminating the Art Nouveau exploration of natural forms. Includes a recreation of their exhibits at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, the only occasion on which they shared a venue. Through May 31, 2009.

 

Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey

“The Wyeths: Three Generations,” works by N.C. Wyeth, a major figure in the golden age of American book illustration; his son Andrew, a high-profile realist for most of the twentieth century, and grandson Jamie. Through July 19, 2009.

 

Morgan Library and Museum, New York City

“The Thaw Collection of Master Drawings: Acquisitions since 2002,” another installment in a series featuring promised gifts by collector Eugene V. Thaw. This group of eighty works includes sheets by Gauguin, Matisse, Monet, the talented amateur artist Goethe and the Nazarenes. Through May 3, 2009.

“Studying Nature: Oil Sketches from the Thaw Collection,” more promised gifts, concentrating on the nineteenth-century heyday of the genre. Through August 30, 2009.

 

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

“Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice,” fifty-seven paintings by the great sixteenth-century masters, focusing on their career rivalries and their development of the craft of oil painting. Standouts include Titian’s Flora and Danäe, and Tintoretto’s Susannah and the Elders. March 15–August 16, 2009. Travels to the Musée du Louvre, Paris (September 16, 2009–January 4, 2010).

 

National Academy Museum, New York City

“American Waters: Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Hudson, Fulton and Champlain,” a collection show with fifty works, from 1850 to 2000, depicting the nation’s vital waterways. Artists include Albert Bierstadt, Asher B. Durand, Daniel Garber, Wolf Kahn, John F. Kensett, William Trost Richards and N.C. Wyeth. February 4–April 5, 2009.

 

National Gallery of Art,Washington, D.C

“Pride of Place: Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age,” forty-eight paintings and twenty-two maps illustrating how Amsterdam, Delft and the Hague became subjects in themselves as centers of artistic and economic success in the seventeenth century. Featured artists include Jacob van Ruisdael and Gerrit Berckheyde. Through May 3, 2009.

 

Newark Art Museum, Newark, New Jersey

“Small but Sublime: Intimate Views by Durand, Bierstadt and Inness,” from a fine collection of Hudson River School paintings. These artists, known for their attention to natural detail, didn’t need epic scale to find remarkable landscapes. Through February 28, 2010.

 

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

“Grand Scale: Monumental Prints in the Age of Dürer and Titian,” forty oversize and multipart woodcuts and engravings from a golden age of graphic art, suggesting the epic pictorial ambition of Northern and Italian Renaissance masters. January 31–April 26, 2009.

 

Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri

“Reviving Antiquity: Artists and Their Study of Ancient Rome,” a small exhibition showcasing a recent acquisition, Zenobia in Chains, by Harriet Hosmer, the most talented woman in the group of American sculptors who settled in Italy in the mid-nineteenth century. The exhibition includes views of ancient monuments by Piranesi, among others. Through September 27, 2009.

 

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington

“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery,” a traveling exhibition of paintings, prints and decorative arts from the Colonial period to the Gilded Age. Fresh evidence of why university art collections are vital to the nation’s cultural well-being. Through May 25, 2009. Travels to the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama (October 4, 2009–January 10, 2010).

 

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.

Renwick Gallery, “The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene,” 131 objects—including furniture, stained glass, architectural drawings and photographs—from the California masters of the Arts and Crafts movement. March 13–June 7, 2009.

 

Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery, Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut

An exhibition of egg tempera paintings by contemporary master Robert Vickrey, in association with the publication of Philip Eliasoph’s Robert Vickrey: The Magic of Realism. March 23–April 26, 2009.

 

Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

“A Romance with the Land,” an exhibition focusing on the pioneering American landscapists Thomas Doughty and William Louis Sonntag, continuing with Pennsylvania Impressionist Walter Schofield. Through June 14, 2009.

 

Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland

“Saint John’s Bible,” featuring pages from a project undertaken by Saint John’s University in Minnesota, a handwritten and illustrated manuscript Bible by contemporary scribe-artist Donald Jackson. Supplemented by a demonstration of scriptorium practice. February 15–May 24, 2009.

“The Romance of the Rose: Visions of Love in Illuminated Medieval Manuscripts.” The thirteenth-century Old French allegorical poem, immensely popular and lavishly illustrated in its own time, became one of the seminal influences in the evolution of the Western notion of romantic love. January 24–April 19, 2009.

“Rembrandt Peale’s Portrait of John Meer: A New Addition to the American Art Collection.” The principal work is supported by another of Rembrandt Peale’s portraits, Rubens Peale with a Geranium, as well as Renaissance, Baroque and modern paintings using skull iconography, a signature element of the Meer portrait. March 4–August 23, 2009.

 

Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Conneticut

“‘Endless forms’: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts,” an exciting show, organized by the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University. While many historians emphasize the crisis of faith Darwin’s ideas precipitated, these works suggest a new curiosity about nature in all its variety. Both Ruskin and Asher B. Durand were amateur geologists. Highlights include works by J.M.W. Turner, Thomas Cole, Edward Landseer, Edward Lear and William Dyce, whose Pegwell Bay is splendid. The exhibition, supplemented by illustrated books and specimens, commemorates the bicentennial of Darwin’s birth. Through May 3, 2009.