Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Rienzi, the mansion in the River Oaks neighborhood that is home to the MFA Houston’s European decorative arts collection, is the venue for the small, but resonant current exhibition Materials of Empire: Colonial Narratives 1700–1860. The show examines the links between the luxurious artworks on view, which range from fine jewelry and furniture to a sterling silver nutmeg grinder, and the trade and industry, often powered by slavery, that brought the works or their constituent materials to Europe from colonial outposts in Africa, the Americas, and India. This probing exhibition is not to be missed so, check here to plan your trip in advance.
Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, Massachusetts
This season, the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is celebrating the work of Nura Woodson Ulreich, an artist who was a painter, printmaker, and muralist as well as a children’s book author and illustrator. Curators of the exhibition Finding Nura: Rediscovering an American Modernist from the Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection hope to revive interest in the Kansas City, Missouri-born artist, who was acclaimed in midcentury New York for her playfully modernist, highly stylized depictions of childhood, but whose notoriety diminished after her death in 1950. The artist is overdue for renewed attention, so make sure to visit the exhibition and, check here to plan your trip!
CRN Auctions, Cambridge, Massachusetts
On June 19, CRN Auctions will be honored to conduct a sale of works from the collection of G.W. “Bill” Samaha, a preeminent, respected, and beloved dealer and collector of American antiques. Bill is a younger member of that pioneer generation of antique dealers that included such names as Israel and Albert Sack, John Walton, Nathan and Zeke Liverant, Bernard Levy, and Hymie Grossman. Following in the footsteps of his parents, Bill has been in the antiques game since the 1960s, traveling back and forth several times yearly to work from his homes in Milan, Ohio and Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts. Now at 90, and in remarkably good health, Bill has made his final drive and is ready to share treasures from his personal collection with the world. The auction will be held on Sunday, June 19th commencing at 11 am (EST) at CRN Auctions, 57 Bay State Road, Cambridge, MA 02138. Online catalogue and further information: www.crnauctions.com
Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan
This week, the Grand Rapids Art Museum welcomes a new exhibition entitled In a New Light: American Impressionism 1870–1940 | Works from the Bank of America Collection. The exhibition presents a survey of the genre through 130 works—including paintings, prints, and drawings—by influential artists such as George Inness, Childe Hassam, and Lilla Cabot Perry. The art created during this time represents the shifting landscape of America in the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth centuries, as well as the emergence of a uniquely American art style. To see the exhibition yourself, check here to plan your trip!
