Kitsch in SyncShows on two icons of artistic kitsch suggest that though their styles couldn’t be more different, they share some emotional ground.
Peep ShowAn exhibit of Lucian Freud’s recent work includes a couple of masterpieces, and some surprising glimpses of the painter himself.
Boro HellA new mural celebrates the Brooklyn Museum’s emergence from the past with a vision of the future. It isn’t pretty (unless you’ […]
Mirror ImagesThe work of the best fashion photographers reflects the momentary dreams of the culture around them—but makes a lasting impression.
Golden YearsThe spectacular third installment in the Met’s Byzantine series may focus on an era of decline, but you wouldn’t know it from the art.
AntithesisThe new Biennial contains some provocative individual works, but it doesn’t push a big dramatic theme—for which some will be grateful.
Futurist TenseA Guggenheim exhibit shows how Umberto Boccioni’s portrait of his mother turned Cubism on its head—and irked the French.
Face-LiftsHow shows featuring the well-chewed-over
Close, De Chirico, Picabia, and Warhol can still
manage to surprise.
Skin GamesAn International Center of Photography look at the evolution of racial attitudes makes one wonder, How far have we really come?
CleverlandIn the candied world of John Currin, the
irreverence—toward the old masters, toward
modern-day sexual attitudes—is risk-free.
Me VenerationLucas Samaras’s favorite subject is himself—but as the Whitney’s huge retrospective reveals, he sees things you might not expe […]
Dress ReversalA show that has legs—lots of them—looks at
what the changing nature of men’s clothing can
reveal about the guys who wear it.
Cartoon CharacterPhilip Guston went from refined to raw, making the high-low struggles of twentieth-century painting his punch line.
King of PopThe Guggenheim’s overview of the big, blaring canvases of James Rosenquist reveals the subtlety amid the spaghetti and mushroom clouds.
Greek RevivalOnce dismissed, now revered, El Greco was a Renaissance man with a deep religious streak. A show at the Met revels in this contradiction.
Now, VoyeurAmbitious photography shows at the Met and the ICP shed light on the way the camera can obscure the truth as much as reveal it.
Zen and NowAn artist whose witty Conceptual gems from the Vietnam era to the present transcend the merely absurd to reveal deeper truths.
Dungeon MasterThe imprisoned Chinese painter and writer Mu Xin blended East and West in his misty landscapes—and saved himself in the process.
American CheeseArtists from around the globe take a hard look at the United States—and you probably won’t be surprised by what they see.
Heaviness of BeingAt MoMA QNS, a modernist painter who distinguished himself by bearing the weight of the world—and a delicious Pop contrast.
Machine DreamsAt the Met, a clear-eyed American translation of European modernism, and a movie that New Yorkers shouldn’t miss.
Sumer in the CityRecent events in the region add resonance to the Met’s magnificent gathering of ancient art from the Fertile Crescent; Malevich’s su […]
Soho on the HudsonWith its new space in a retrofitted 75-year-old factory in Beacon, New York, Dia takes sixties-style minimalism beyond Manhattan.
Dress CodesIn the dreamy Whistler portraits of elegant nineteenth-century society ladies on view at the Frick, the clothes make the woman.
Belly UpBy embracing the past, contemporary Buddhist art—much in vogue—helps center us in the present.
Pretty BoyA Whitney retrospective resurrects the all-but-forgotten sculptor Elie Nadelman, who ditched the polish that won him early fame in favor of a ro […]
Schad ’n’ FreudThe Neue Galerie’s welcome show on the German-modernist portraitist Christian Schad doesn’t skimp on outré sex.
Spanish LessonsThe best thing about the Met’s “Manet/Velázquez,” a look at the influence of Spain on French art, is the chance to see su […]
Master of His DomainArtist of the moment Matthew Barney takes over and transforms
the Guggenheim, creating his own, unforgettable mythic world.
The Two TowersPicasso and Matisse, evenly matched juggernauts of twentieth-century art, face off in Queens—and the answer to the question “Who win […]
The Walls Have EyesAt the Met’s retrospective of the photographs of Thomas Struth, people look at people looking at art—and the art returns their gaze.
Enigma VariationsIn the Met’s roundup of Leonardo’s drawings—from portraits to scientific studies of water—Western culture is reflected back at us in a […]
Quilts of PersonalityJackson who? These strikingly beautiful quilts from an isolated Alabama town
just might deserve a place among the great works of twentieth-cen […]
Out of LineMoMA’s exuberant survey of contemporary drawing rescues the genre from second-class status.
Man at His BeastIn the dark, cartoonish paintings of Carroll Dunham, currently on display at the New Museum, a veneer of slapstick can’t conceal the underlying […]
ThemelessnessTwo big grab-bag shows demonstrate the pleasures of letting the art speak for itself; a Bill Viola video installation evokes the great religious […]
The In-BetweeniesTwo retrospectives argue that the painters Chassériau and Gottlieb – often forgotten because neither fits neatly into any single movement […]
Gray MattersIn the smudged, partially erased chalk-on-blackboard images of Gary Simmons, nothing – and everything – is black and white.
PornucopiaAs sex becomes so mainstream that there’s now an entire Manhattan museum devoted to the subject, whither smut?
The View From HereA big Met retrospective of his portraits shows that even when the great Richard Avedon traveled to unfamiliar places, he saw his subjects throug […]
Victoria’s SecretsAn amusing and eye-opening exhibit reveals the lengths to which Victorian artists would go to justify their portrayals of nudity. Has anything c […]
Deconstruction ZoneReflections on the way things in New York City – from the skyline to the Museum of Modern Art’s collection – have come apart, and on how they […]
The Un-IronistThe Whitney offers a rare look at the paintings of the hard-living Joan Mitchell, from her bleak take on Abstract Expressionism to her earthy re […]
Skin DoctorAt the Met, the richly melancholy paintings and photographs of Thomas Eakins, who cut through Victorian propriety to reveal the truths of the flesh.
Backstage PassA diverse selection of shows demonstrate that even in the art world, it’s worth looking behind the scenes.
Skin DeepThree shows that raise questions about the nature of surfaces and the role of touch in an increasingly artificial world.
In BriefIn the early 1900s, Lewis Hine documented the evils of child labor, crisscrossing America to photograph the children who spent long hours sellin […]
Dream WeaverRaphael’s tapestries, which were conceived to compete with Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling, light up the Met.
Well-RedAn exhibition of early-twentieth-century Russian books makes one wonder, what’s become of revolutionary art today?
Der FurorNews that the Jewish Museum was staging a show of Nazi-inspired art provoked anger, but emotions may cool considerably once word gets out about […]
