Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
This past weekend, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art welcomed a new exhibition into its galleries. Crafting America includes more than 100 works of art in ceramic, fiber, wood, metal, glass, and other materials, all of which celebrate traditional handicraft skills put in the service of making art. Crafting America features furniture, jewelry, sculptures, and more while looking into the diverse backgrounds of the artists behind the work. As a country known for our melting pot of cultures, it should come as no surprise that the art and craft of America is just as varied and exciting as the nation’s inhabitants. Make sure to check here in order to plan your trip and reserve your free timed tickets.
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts
As photography becomes ever more ubiquitous in our lives, the Clark Art Institute takes a step into the past to remind us of a forgotten chapter in the history of the medium with their new exhibition A Change in the Light: The Cliché-Verre in Nineteenth-Century France. Opening this upcoming Saturday, the exhibition showcases cliché-verre, a hybrid process developed in France in the 1850s that blended photography and printmaking. The arrival of more efficient methods for image reproduction soon dispatched cliché-verre to the technological dustbin. But, as the Clark exhibition demonstrates, prominent French artists such as Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Eugène Delacroix, and Jean François Millet were moved to give the process a try. Please make sure to check here to reserve your timed tickets in advance.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut
The Wadsworth Atheneum is getting ready to say goodbye to Protest and Promise on February 21. The exhibition examines the making of art as a means to engage with politics. While artists have done this through the ages, Protest and Promise takes as its jumping-off point the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Some of the social dilemmas depicted in the exhibition include the struggle for racial, gender, and sexual orientation equality as well as the discourse surrounding gun violence, immigration policy, and the AIDS crisis. That which touches our everyday lives is laid out for viewers of Protest and Promise. As you’re making plans to visit the exhibition before it closes later this month, make sure to check here in order to reserve your timed tickets.
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia
Spanish art and culture had an enormous impact on American painters in the latter half of the nineteenth century, so why do we see so little evidence in museums? This is exactly the problem the Chrysler Museum sought to remedy with their exhibition Americans in Spain: Painting and Travel, 1820-1920 which opens on February 12. Exploring themes such as the aesthetic legacy of Spain’s Islamic past, and the nation’s changing fortunes in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the exhibition shows how American artists absorbed this milieu and interpreted it in their art. If you still aren’t enticed, look here to see what ANTIQUES senior editor Sammy Dalati had to say about the exhibition in our latest issue. Finally, make sure to check here before you head out in order to plan your trip.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Opening late this month at MFA, Houston is an exhibition entitled Hockney – Van Gogh: The Joy of Nature. The exhibition puts into conversation works by the artists that express their clear fascination with nature, as well as their depictions of the living world in vibrant color. Boasting almost 50 of Hockney’s works, from sketchbook studies to immense paintings and even experimental videos and digital drawings, the exhibition also features ten hand-picked paintings and drawings by Van Gogh. While uniting the artists, the exhibition simultaneously reminds viewers of the individuality that is characteristic of Hockney and Van Gogh both. In order to see this unique exhibition in person, make sure to check here.
