Openings and Closings: October 14 to October 20

Elizabeth Lanza Art

Photograph of the 2020 installation of the exhibition. Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama.

Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama

Last month, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts put up a new exhibition called Authority Figures: Traditional African Sculpture from the Collection of the MMFA. This exhibition takes a look at the role of power, both spiritual and political, in traditional African sculpture. These sculptures were used both to signify command, but also as means to attain it. The contents of Authority Figures ranges from figurines to tools and highlights the expansive meaning of the word power. Before making the trip out to Montgomery, make sure to check here in order to plan your visit ahead of time.

The Huntington, San Marino, California

After reopening in mid-summer, the Huntington wants to remind us all of the extensive collections that make their home there. In particular, Becoming America: Highlights from the Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection shines at the forefront. This ongoing exhibition contains more than 200 works of eighteenth and early nineteenth-century American artworks. As home to one of the largest displays of historic American art in the western United States, the Huntington boasts an extensive collection including paintings, furniture, and decorative arts. While this exhibition is a must-see, if you aren’t able to go to San Marino in person, the Huntington has put together a video series detailing the exhibition, as well as a catalog. If you’re able, make sure to check here before you leave the house in order to plan your trip in advance.

Moses Homestead in 1639 in Summer by Anna Mary Robertson (Grandma Moses), 1946. Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine; gift of Mrs. Stuart Symington, 1998.

Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine

When many of us are housebound, the word home begins to take on a new meaning, especially when we get to see snapshots of our colleague’s dwellings via apps like Zoom. The Farnsworth understands the changing nature of home, and aims to illuminate the future of domesticity by taking a look into the past with their exhibition At Home in New England, which examines the interiors and exteriors of New England homes in a pre-COVID world. If you’re looking to visit the museum in person, make sure to check here in order to plan your trip in advance.

Detail of Untitled by Henry Darger (1892—1973), c. 1950—1960. Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, New York.

Andrew Edlin Gallery New York, New York

The Andrew Edlin Gallery recently opened an exhibition focusing on the works of Henry Darger, the famed reclusive Outsider artist. The Double-Sided Dominions of Henry Darger is the first Darger solo exhibition in more than a decade. The show highlights 18 pieces Darger created for his fantasy epic The Story of the Vivian Girls in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. All of the works in this exhibition detail the world, characters, and creatures imagined in the narrative. While this show is rich, its time is limited as it is closing on November 7. So in order to see this exhibition before it goes away, make sure to check here to plan your trip in advance.

Eagle and Serpent by Antoine-Louis Barye (1796—1875), c. 1874. Sladmore Gallery, London, United Kingdom.

Sladmore Gallery, London, United Kingdom

The Sladmore is gearing up to bid adieu to its exhibition Birds in Sculpture – Antique to Contemporary, which features more than 60 avian sculptures in mediums that range from bronze to terracotta. Highlighting 19th and 20th century artists, Birds in Sculpture boasts the works of artists such as Antoine-Louis Barye and Alfred Dubucand as well as several by contemporary artists. Birds in Sculpture is slated to close on November 6. Make sure that you’re able to visit before the exhibition closes and don’t forget to look here before you go to plan your trip in advance.

Polaroid Portrait of Kareem Abdul Jabbar by Andy Warhol (1928—1987), 1978. Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland.

Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland

Although Andy Warhol is known best for pop art, the work that he did in photography is a large though lesser known segment of his oeuvre. The Academy Art Museum opens an exhibition called Accidental Icons: Warhol’s Photography on October 23. The extensive collection of photographs features an array of celebrities and activists from Jane Fonda to Truman Capote. Warhol’s visual diary holds pieces that stand alone and those that served as the base for some of his most famous silkscreen prints. When you go to see this collection in person, make sure you check out the museum’s website here before you go.

From the Collection of Catherine Smith, Women in Pants, A Couple. Danforth Museum of Art, Boston, Massachusetts.

Danforth Museum of Art, Boston, Massachusetts

As both an artist and a collector, Catherine Smith is able to weave together a narrative out of the things she holds dear. A current exhibition Catherine Smith: A Cabinet of Curiosities makes its home at the Danforth Museum of Art, and combines Smith’s sculptural series Dread Running: A Memorial to Lost Dogs and Whale Project with selections from her collection of nineteenth-century photographs. Together, they explain how memories of the past can be used to tell contemporary stories. In order to see the exhibition in person, make sure to check here before you make the trek.

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