The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Getty Center closed its doors last year. After a long wait, visitors are finally welcome back to a host of brand-new exhibitions that have been worth the wait. One is Silk & Swan Feathers: A Luxurious 18th-Century Armchair. A plump French bergère by the great eighteenth-century furniture maker Georges Jacob is the focus of the exhibition. The seat is a great example of the neoclassical era’s attention to the combination of comfort and style. The meticulously crafted chair has managed to survive almost unaltered for 250 years. The Getty Center reopened on May 25, and visitors must reserve a ticket here.
Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts
The Worcester Art Museum is offering a new self-guided tour entitled Women of WAM: Depictions of Femininity in Early Modern Europe. The works in the early European galleries, for example, include depictions of saints, mythological subjects, and elite members of society that challenge visitors to reflect on the ways depictions of women impact our cultural notions of femininity. A collaboration with Clark University, the exhibition was crafted by CU students from the theme down to the very labels in the exhibition. To see this hard work at play, make sure to check here to plan your trip in advance.
Frist Art Museum, Nashville, Tennessee
In just a few short weeks, the Frist Art Museum will celebrate the opening of Designing the New: Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style. The exhibition sets its focus on late nineteenth-century Scotland, where architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh developed a new aesthetic—at once sleek and organic, and nothing like the revival styles popular in the Victorian era. You can read our article about the exhibition—which features 165 works drawn from Glasgow’s noteworthy public and private collections—here, and we hope it prompts you to visit the Frist. Make sure to reserve your tickets here before you head out!
Georgia Museum of Art, Athens
On May 22, the Georgia Museum of Art opened two new exhibitions that must not be missed. The first of the pair is entitled Echoes from Abroad: American Art from the Collection of Barbara Guillaume. This first exhibition comes from the collection of museum board member and art collector Barbara Guillaume and examines a body of work spanning from 1878–1940. Despite many differences in style, genre, and subject, all of the pieces in this exhibition challenged the academic standards in their own time. Featuring works by artists such as Charles Courtney Curran and Alice Shille, this exhibition demonstrates how international art—particularly from Asia and Latin America, began to inspire artists in the United States.
The second of the two exhibitions is Rediscovering the Art of Victoria Hutson Huntley. An examination of the work of one of the leading American printmakers of the early twentieth century, the show includes thirty lithographs, two paintings, as well as essays on the artist’s life and work. Huntley is best known for her images of the natural world and the exhibition is divided into three sections that each encompass an era of Huntley’s life: youth in the North, the Florida years, and a return to the North. Before making your way to Athens, make sure to reserve your free, timed tickets here.
