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Hector Zamora : Lattice Detour

The Roof Garden Commission

closes 07 December

Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met's annual Rooftop Commission is a harbinger of summer and a fixture in the city's cultural calendar. This year's commission, delayed by quarantine until late August, makes a powerful statement, amplified by its truncated run. A simple wall of uniform terracotta bricks may not sound like the most important and impressive exhibition in a city replete with decadent architecture, but this year it is.
Vida Americana

Mexican Muralists Remake American Art

closes 31 January 2021

Whitney Museum of American Art
This blockbuster exhibition revisits one of the most significant moments in North American art history: the rise of the Mexican muralists. This early 20th-century format pioneered and perfected by the likes of Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco produced incredible large-scale murals. But, as this exhibit makes clear, the impact of this movement continues to influence contemporary art a century later.
Private Lives Public Spaces

closes 21 February 2021

Museum of Modern Art
This is the kind of exhibit that could occupy your entire visit. One hundred screens are installed in the museum's two basement galleries, outside the theaters. Each screen presents a "home movie" drawn from the MoMA's vast collection. For 100 years before the advent of the smartphone, amateurs recorded family celebrations, personal travels, and daily events on consumer film equipment. Some films feature celebrities. Others are just some kid's birthday from the 1970s. Peek into the private lives of nearly a century of unique filmmaking.
City/Game

Basketball in New York

closes 18 January 2021

Museum of the City of New York
As one commentator in the accompanying video states, "New York City didn't birth the game, but we raised it." While the Knicks, Nets, nor Liberty may be overly impressive this year, New York is a city of basketball. An urban sport for a population without vast green fields, basketball has been everpresent in New York since its earliest days. This exhibit looks at the city's relationship with basketball from streetball to Linsanity.
Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution

closes 03 January 2021

New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical Society hosts what will be one of the must-see exhibitions of the summer. Get tickets soon (or hit the museum early in the day) as this is a crowd-pleaser. Bill Graham was one of the most influential rock-and-roll promoters in history. Graham fled Nazi Germany as a boy and went on to promote concerts featuring such acts as The Grateful Dead, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and The Rolling Stones. This exhibit traces his long and influential life through the musicians and celebrities with whom Graham worked. Pick up the audio guide for a unique gallery experience.
Judd

closes 09 January 2021

Museum of Modern Art
This crowd-pleasing exhibition is one of the city's most popular. As you will see, Donald Judd is difficult to categorize and he himself disavowed most of the labels critics tried to apply to his work. But his unique influence is without question. This--the first museum retrospective of Judd in the United States--brings together sculptures he did not consider to be sculptures, paintings he would not call paintings and drawings seen for the first time by the public. Expect a crowd as this will be popular all spring.
Auschwitz

Not Long Ago. Not Far Away

closes 02 May 2021

Museum of Jewish Heritage
Over the next seven years, this exhibition of artifacts from the Holocaust's most infamous extermination camp will travel to 14 cities in Europe and North America. Appropriately, during its time in New York, the Museum of Jewish Heritage will play host to this timely and sobering exhibition. With objects borrowed from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, US Holocaust Memorial Museum and Israel's Yad Vashem, this exhibition demonstrates that we are a few short decades removed from the horrors of Auschwitz.
In Praise of Painting

Dutch Masterpieces at the Met

closes 04 October 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
As a result of the Met's European Paintings galleries continued renovation, many core pieces of the permanent collection are not on display. This exhibit puts some of those highlights back on display with a look at the ever-popular Golden Age of Dutch paintings from the 17th-century headlining Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, and more.
Measure Your Existence

closes 25 January 2021

Rubin Museum of Art
The range of the Rubin's mission is on full display with Measure Your Existence. After wandering through galleries filled with millennia-old masterpieces, journey to the top floor and participate in some of the most interesting contemporary installations of the year. Six contemporary artists contributed works to this show, built around the theme of impermanence. Take a piece of candy off the floor. Write a deceased loved-one a letter. Watch a man punch a clock once an hour for a year. Plan on coming back again to see the works as they change through interaction.
T. rex

The Ultimate Predator

closes 14 March 2021

American Museum of Natural History
The ever-popular dinosaur halls at the museum feature an impressive temporary upgrade with this detailed look at everything we know about the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The exhibit traces the evolution of the tyrannosaur family, and a detailed examination of their life-span, behaviors, and habits. An impressive, educational, and immersive exhibit, supplementing the museum's already-impressive dinosaur education.
Brian Clarke

The Art of Light

closes 21 February 2021

Museum of Arts and Design
Brian Clarke is perhaps the greatest living artist producing contemporary stained glass. This sprawling and immersive exhibit brings together over 100 pieces of Clarke's work produced over the course of his forty-year career. To see so many pieces outside of this exhibition would require traveling to installations on four different continents. Revisit the magic of stained glass outside of traditional religious settings.
Making the Met

1870 - 2020

closes 03 January 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met's year-long celebration of its 150th anniversary culminates with this massive and immersive journey though the history of one of the world's great cultural institutions. Learn the history of the museum's founding and development, but also, this is a hit parade of some of the museum's most popular treasures. If you only see one exhibit at the Met in your entire life, it should probably be this one (but don't let that be the case).
Alien Property

Rayyane Tabet

closes 18 January 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
What makes Rayyane Tabet's small exhibit so interesting is the fascinating story of war, politics, and espionage told through the installation. Settled into the Assyrian Room at the Met, supplementing the reliefs rather than distracting from them, is a passionate story of ancient art extracted from Syria by Germans and later destroyed during World War II or ceded to Allies as part of the Alien Property Custodian Act. You will continue thinking about this exhibit and its lessons long after your visit.
Relative Values

The Cost of Art in the Northern Renaissance

closes 28 February 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
You will have fun at this exhibit, which seeks to explain how 16th-century Europeans practically valued work we now consider priceless. To adjust for the variations of currency and economic assets, Relative Value attaches a contemporary price to each piece in the exhibit expressed in a number of cows. It is much more than a joke; it is educational to see how economic changes impact art.
The Whitney's Collection

Selections from 1900 to 1965

closes 31 May 2022

Whitney Museum of American Art
Since moving to its beautiful new home in 2015, the Whitney has shown selections of its permanent collection in rotating exhibitions, a practice that is become more and more common. This season, the permanent collection exhibition focuses on the Whitney's founding collection, supplemented by recent acquisitions. As you would hope, Edward Hopper and Georgia O'Keeffe feature prominently in the exhibition.
After the Plaster Foundation

"Where can we live?"

closes 17 January 2021

Queens Museum
The Queens Museum unexpectedly timely exhibition After the Plaster Foundation examines the question of home and property in the twenty-first century. The museum brings together works by 12 different artists and collectives working in New York City, including the installation of an entire home's attic by Heather Hart. Visitors are invited to climb on the roof and explore the attic interior. This is one of the museum's most engaging exhibitions in recent years.
Truth to Power

Shahidul Alam

closes 04 January 2021

Rubin Museum of Art
Shahidul Alam, a photojournalist and activist from Bangladesh, has captured profound images around the world for over 40 years. After the outcry over his 2018 arrest for criticizing the Bangladeshi government, Alam was selected as one of Time Magazines 2018 Persons of the Year. This exhibit is the first retrospective of Alam's career in the United States. Alam's depictions of the social struggles common in South Asia are powerful and inspiring.
Sanford Biggers

Codeswitch

closes 24 January 2021

Bronx Museum of the Arts
Quilts are common subjects of New York City museums. But usually, the responsibility falls to The American Folk Art Museum or occasionally The Museum of Art and Design. This season, however, the best quilt-based exhibition in the city is hosted at the Bronx Museum. Harlem-based artist Sanford Biggers displays his contemporary interpretation of artistic quilting in this thoroughly unique display.
American Perspectives

Highlights from the American Folk Art Museum

closes 03 January 2021

American Folk Art Museum
The American Folk Art Museums dedicates its spring exhibition to the vast varieties of the American Experience. Selections from its permanent collection tell the story of Founders, Travelers, Philosophers, and Seekers. Central to the exhibition is the gathering of Possum Trot Dolls, carved and dressed by Calvin and Ruby Black in the 1950s. Quilts, of course, line the walls, with the interesting addition of a quilt-like sculpture made from recovered wood in Louisana. This is a great time to discover--or re-discover--American Folk Art.
Collecting New York's Stories

Stuyvesant to Sid Vicious

closes 31 December

Museum of the City of New York
The Museum of the City of New York continues to add to its vast collection, particularly in the area of photography. This long-running exhibit showcases recent additions to the collection. The main gallery is filled with contemporary photography, including works by Harvey Want and Bruce Davidson. The supplemental gallery adds posters, fashion, and historic objects related to the history of New York. This is a perfect fit for the museum and pairs well with the core story.
Betye Saar

Call and Response

closes 31 January 2021

Morgan Library
The legendary artist Betye Saar turned 94 this year, but her popularity continues to grow. After a major exhibition last year at the MoMA, Saar returns to New York with a new exhibit at the Morgan. Saar consulted directly on the presentation of a series of workbooks and sketches together with the finished assemblages. While primarily a retrospective, new works by the artist are also on display in this timely and relevant show.
Art of Native America

The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection

closes 03 October 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met has a long history of collecting and displaying art produced by the indigenous peoples of the world in its large Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas Collection. This exhibition of recent acquisitions marks a revolutionary change. Showcased alongside the colonial rooms and baseball cards in the American Wing, this marks the first time Native American arts have been included in the museum's definition of 'American.'
Countryside

Future of the World

closes 14 February 2021

Guggenheim Museum
Occupying the Guggenheim's famed rotunda through the summer is this powerful and unique exhibition. Architects, urbanists, designers, and students present the results of their investigations into the future of non-urban areas around the globe, with particular focus on the impact of climate change and political changes. While still presented artistically, this is far more science and politics than you usually see at the Guggenheim.
The Anarchist and the Avant-Garde

Felix Feneon

closes 02 January 2021

Museum of Modern Art
Felix Feneon coined the term "Neo-Impressionism" to describe the work of his contemporaries like Georges Seurat. This is the first exhibition dedicated to his efforts as a collector, patron, dealer, and, importantly, anarchist. In addition to Feneon's own writings and selections from his collection, the exhibit will feature works by artists in his circles of influence, such as long-time MoMA favorites Henri Matisse and Amedeo Modigliani.
Gateway to Himalayan Art

closes 31 May 2021

Rubin Museum of Art
In many ways, this is the most important exhibition in the museum. Himalayan Art is unique and beautiful but draws on history, legends, traditions, and methods often unfamiliar to Western viewers. This exhibition walks you through the basics: the difference between Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the meaning of the different postures and hand gestures, the common compositions of paintings. Time invested here pays off in the rest of the museum and through the city's other major collections of Himalayan Art.
Jay Jaxon

40 Years of Fashion Design Brilliance

closes 31 December

Queens Historical Society
Jay Jason Jaxon was born and raised in Queens. Over the course of his career, he became one of the leading designers in Paris and New York City during the peak of haute couture during the 1970s. Jaxon passed away in 2006. This charming exhibition looks back on Jaxon's career and his long-lasting relationship with Queens in a rare fashion installation at the Historical Society.
We Fight to Build a Free World

An Exhibition by Jonathan Horowitz

closes 24 January 2021

Jewish Museum
For the Jewish Museum's blockbuster summer exhibition, the museum gave the reins to New York-artist Jonathan Horowitz. Horowitz has gathered works from modern and contemporary artists that have addressed contemporary social issues such as anti-Semitism, xenophobia, immigration, and authoritarianism. Works are drawn from artists such as Kara Walker, Andy Warhol, and Max Weber. In addition, 36 political posters were commissioned specifically for this exhibit.
Jesse Wine

Imperfect List

closes 25 January 2021

Sculpture Center
The Sculpture Center reopens with a retrospective of the British sculptor Jesse Wine. Dozens of small and large works are installed (and sometimes hidden) throughout the museum's raw, labyrinthine lower level. From large-scale human legs to tiny tractor-trailers, wander through the tunnels to discover the variety of work by this specialist in clay.
Within Reach

Jordan Casteel

closes 03 January 2021

New Museum
Jordan Casteel has exhibited her work around New York City, including on Governors Island, at the Ford Foundation, and in the Studio Museum. But this exhibit at the New Museum, featuring dozens of her large scale paintings, is her first solo show in New York. Her portrait subjects explore the daily Black experience in New York and America.
MONUMENTS NOW

Parts I, II, & III

closes 14 March 2021

Socrates Sculpture Park
This fall, the Socrates Sculpture Park is hosting the most relevant and ambitious exhibition in its history. During the past few years, public monuments have been a source of unprecedented debate and controversy. Sculptures commissioned from contemporary artists, such as Jeffrey Gibson and Xavier Simmons dominate the grounds and examine the complex power for public moments to shape emotional and political discourse. This is a must-see.
Crime and Punishment

Peter Saul

closes 03 January 2021

New Museum
Peter Saul has been producing intricate, colorful pop art since the 1950s. Yet somehow he had never received a museum survey in New York City until this exhibition at the New Museum. With over 60 paintings spanning five decades, you will leaving knowing Peter Saul and his journey across the twentieth century very well.
2020 Vision

Photographs, 1840s - 1860s

closes 13 December

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Timed for both the new decade and as part of the Met's celebration of its 150th year, this exhibition celebrates two eras in photography. Drawn from the Met's collection, including recent acquisitions, the first of the two-part exhibition (running through May 10) focuses on the earliest years of photography. With Daguerreotypes, Albumen and salted paper prints, this is an instructive look at the medium of photography from its infancy.
45 Stories in Jewelry

closes 24 January 2021

Museum of Arts and Design
This exhibition will expand your definition of jewelry. MAD has long featured jewelry as a core part of its mission, but exhibits tend to look at the styles of previous generations. This exhibition brings together 45 contemporary artists who are redefining what can be considered jewelry for a new generation. The exhibition features pieces inspired by social protest, the space age, and a digital world.
Arte del mar

Artistic Exchange in the Caribbean

closes 27 June 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
This exhibit at the heart of the Met's Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas department explores the unique artistic contributions resulting from early cultural exchanges among the various Tiano cultures of the Carribean. Supplemented by descriptions by early Spanish colonists, this unique collection is a fascinating look at pre-Columbian politics and art.
Body-Space Devices

closes 02 May 2021

Noguchi Museum
Artist and choreographer Brendan Fernandes has selected pieces from the museum's permanent collection which he feels best to reflect Noguchi's attempts to conform design to the realities of the human body. With a collection of furniture, sculpture, set designs, and abstractions, see the many ways in which Noguchi related his designs to the human form.
Bruce Davidson

Outsider on the Inside

closes 17 January 2021

Queens Museum
Bruce Davidson is one of the most important American street photographers of the last century. His focus the daily life in New York City has made him a fixture in local galleries and major museums since the late 1950s. His most recent show at the Queens Museum celebrates his New York City work, documenting how the city and its unique challenges have evolved throughout his 60-year career.
Gerhard Richter

The Birkenau Paintings

closes 18 January 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met Breuer had planned to conclude its run with an epic exhibition celebrating the career of Gerhard Richter. Only a lucky few managed to enjoy the exhibit in March during the nine days before the pandemic closed the doors of the Breuer for good. This small show in the Lehman Wing of the Met Fifth Avenue hosts the core of the canceled Breuer exhibition. A collection of four hyper abstract paintings by the German-born artist line the walls facing the four small photos which inspired the work. It is a fascinating story, well-worth a stop during your Met visit.
Photography's Last Century

The Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Collection

closes 30 November

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Another one of the celebratory gift exhibits this season is an important look at a century of photography. This gift from the collection of Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee include works from over 60 twentieth-century photographers, including such luminaries as Man Ray, Andy Warhol, and Walker Evans. Central to the exhibition is early work from Cindy Sherman, dating from when she was only twenty two.
The Sculptor and the Ashtray

closes 30 May 2021

Noguchi Museum
Among Isamu Noguchi's many projects was an ongoing effort to design the perfect ashtray. While uncommon in contemporary America, at the height of Noguchi's career in the 40s and 50s the ashtray was central to American society. This exhibit looks at Noguchi's various designs from a wide selection of materials and motivations. With few designers working in the medium of ashtrays today, it is truly a unique look back at a design challenge.
Maiden, Mother, Crone

Rachel Feinstein

closes 03 January 2021

Jewish Museum
The prolific New York-based artist Rachel Feinstein presents her first solo museum survey at the Jewish Museum this season. Feinstein works in a variety of mediums, including carved wood and oil paint, but is most celebrated for her unique sculptures. The title of the exhibition suggests the artist's inspiration of the mythical Triple Goddess, who, according to early folklore, embodies all three states of a woman's life at the same time. Her unique sculptures will be on extended display through the end of the year.
The City Within

Brooklyn Photographs

closes 18 April 2021

Museum of the City of New York
The husband and wife creative pairing of Alex and Rebeccas Norris Webb has produced some of the greatest New York street photography of the last twenty years. This exhibit gathers thirty iconic photos from the pair that capture the tremendous diversity of Brooklyn which, as the country's fourth-largest urban area, is less a borough and more a city unto itself. Contrast Rebecca Norris Webb's photos of urban greenery with the color celebration of urban diversity by Alex.
Jeffrey Gibson

When Fire is Applied to a Stone It Cracks

closes 10 January 2021

Brooklyn Museum
The painter and sculptor Jeffrey Gibson was invited by the museum to display his work alongside selections from the permanent collection he felt contrasted his own work. The result is an exhibition which suggests a re-categorization of Indigenous and Native American Art (Gibson is Choctaw-Cherokee). Gibson's works are the primary draw, but the contrast with traditional pieces is impactful.
Queens' Green Thumb

The Flushing Garden Club

closes 30 November

Queens Historical Society
Selections for the Historical Society's permanent collection are on display in this interesting exhibit focused on the history of The Flushing Garden Club. Since its founding in 1912, the Flushing Garden Club has been at the forefront of home cultivation of decorative plants and flowers. The exhibit goes well beyond the club to the rich horticultural history of Queens, including the 1939 World's Fair.
Ordinary Treasures

Highlights from the Museum of Jewish Heritage

closes 31 December

Museum of Jewish Heritage
The individual impact of the Holocaust is often lost in the magnitude of the tragedy. The numbers and statistics do not capture the daily, personal horrors of Nazi persecution. This exhibit brings the individual impact to the forefront, celebrating objects treasured by individuals who suffered during the Holocaust. From homemade greeting cards written in the Ghetto to Torah scrolls hidden from destruction, the stories of individuals are made real through their treasures.
mistikosiwak (Wooden Boat People)

The Great Hall Comission

closes 31 December

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Together with the new Facade Commission, the Met has launched a commission program to bring long-term site-specific contemporary works to The Great Hall. Kent Monkman, a Cree artist born in Canada, installed two large-scale paintings that dominate the interior without overwhelming. The detailed works are satirical and serious, reversing common representations of Native Americans in art. Thought-provoking pieces to entertain you while you wait in the coat-check line.
#ICPConcerned

Global Images for Global Crisis

closes 31 December

International Center of Photography
Like other museums and cultural institutions around the city, early in the pandemic, ICP sent out a call for submissions capturing this unique moment in time. Many thousands of contemporary photographs were submitted to #ICPConcerned. This exhibit has selected one thousand of those images, from over 60 different countries, for display in their main gallery space.
Making Knowing

Craft in Art, 1950 - 2019

closes 28 February 2022

Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney's vast collection of American art is re-curated in this exhibition to explore the influence of craft on different artistic mediums. Craft, such as weaving and bead-work, is often considered a distinct field from painting and sculpture. These works, however, show the influence of folk and decorative arts on contemporary painting. Works by more than sixty contemporary artists, including Robert Rauschenberg and Kahil Robert Irving make up the large, long-running exhibition.
Life Cut Short

Hamilton's Hair and the Art of Mourning Jewelry

closes 31 December

New-York Historical Society
New York City's (and the Historial Society's in particular) love-affair with Alexander Hamilton continues with this special installation featuring a mourning ring holding a lock of the Founding Father's hair. Mourning jewelry was a fascinating practice of preserving personal mementos, including locks of hair, in a wearable form like jewelry. Featuring relics from not just Hamilton, but Aaron Burr, Abraham Lincoln, and John James Audubon. The exhibition is small, but an informative look at a curious historic practice.
Further Impressions

Major Grolier Club Library Acquisitions, 2005-2020

closes 02 January 2021

Grolier Club
The Grolier Club celebrates its reopening with a sequel to its 2004 exhibition Lasting Impressions. Lasting Impressions was a celebration of the Grolier Library's collection of rare books, posters, type examples, and photographs. This exhibition continues the tradition and features works acquired by the library since the original 2004 exhibit. Works are drawn from across the centuries and around the globe, and this exhibit is the perfect introduction to books as art.
Tishan Hsu

Liquid Circuit

closes 25 January 2021

Sculpture Center
Tishan Hsu's training as an architect has significant influence over his contemporary sculpture and installations. The Sculpture Center reopens by hosting Hsu's first museum survey in the United States and celebrates the on-going influence of this unique and creative artist. Explore not only the many sculptures but also drawings, reliefs, and paintings from the 1980s and 90s.
David Hockney

Drawing from Life

closes 30 May 2021

Morgan Library
David Hockney is considered one of the most important British artists of the 20th century. Long known for his unique portraits and prints, this stunning new exhibit at the Morgan focuses instead on his abilities as a draftsman. These are not Hockney's most well-known works, but rather excerpts from his sketchbook and preparatory portraits in colored pencil, ink, and acrylics on paper. The Morgan excels at exploring the process artifacts of great modern and contemporary artists.
No Soft Nonsense

Anne Bronte at 200

closes 14 February 2021

Morgan Library
The youngest Bronte sister is the overdue focus of this small installation at the Morgan Library. After the Morgan held a large retrospective for Charlotte Bronte's 200th anniversary in 2016, the museum returns to the Bronte family to celebrate Anne's birthday. While less prolific than her sisters, critics hold Anne's achievements on par. See selections from the library's own holdings from Anne's short life.
Rendering Witness

Holocaust-Era Art as Testimony

closes 31 December

Museum of Jewish Heritage
Artifacts, photography, and memoirs are the primary media through which contemporary audiences experience the Holocaust. This exhibit takes a closer look at another testimonial of the horrors of the holocaust: art produced by victims of Nazi atrocities. Whether sketches produced while in hiding, pastels of life and conditions in a Ghetto, or cartoons drawn from daily life, artists managed to capture unique views of their own experiences and those of their communities.
Americans Looking In

closes 12 December

Center for Book Arts
The Center for Book Arts reopens with an exhibition that draws inspiration from Robert Frank's seminal work The Americans. First published in 1959, Frank's book of photographs captured the variety of the American experience in the decade following the second world war. This exhibition gathers work from over 20 contemporary artists, with updated responses to Frank's question of "What is American culture, today?", fifty years later.
Construction Site

Viviane Rombaldi Seppey

closes 12 December

Center for Book Arts
Viviane Rombaldi Seppy, the Swiss-born artist, is known for exploring the contemporary migratory experience through her family history. Her latest exhibition, hosted at the Center for Book Arts, draws from the migration stories of her grandfather. Seppy uses phonebooks, maps, and other paper-based objects to construct intriguing and thought-provoking pieces.
Morcos Key

closes 12 December

Center for Book Arts
Marcos Key is a design studio founded in Brooklyn in 2018. The studio, founded by Wael Morcos and Jon Key, specializes in language and letter design, particularly across the Middle East. The pair are Faculty Fellows at the Center for Book Arts which is hosting this small retrospective of the studio's work, including books, zines, journals and newsprints.
100 Drawings From Now

closes 17 January 2021

Drawing Center
The Drawing Center reopens with this timely connection of contemporary drawings by dozens of international artists. Each of the drawings on display was produced since the beginning of wide-spread quarantine and amid increase racial activism. This is among the first of what will likely be many exhibitions exploring the creative output of artists working in these unique and unprecedented circumstances.
Shrine Room Projects

Shiva Ahmadi / Genesis Breyer

closes 07 June 2021

Rubin Museum of Art
This season the Rubin presents the work of three artists lining the way to the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room. This rotating series invites contemporary artists to contribute work harmonious with the Shrine room. Tehran-born Shiva Ahmadi contributed videos referencing the plight of refugees. Genesis Breyer P-Orridge invites visitors to shake his hand (actually a bronze cast of his own arm), reminding them that "wisdom can only be passed by the touching of hands." Nepalese artist Tsherin Sherpa built a striking memorial to the loss suffered in Nepal in the 2015 earthquake.
The Nature of Color

closes 08 August 2021

American Museum of Natural History
In a COVID-free world, this premium, interactive, family-friendly exhibit would have been one of the hottest tickets of the summer. But it is not too late to immersive yourself in the art and science of color. Installed throughout the museum, visitors experience learn how color influences nature, early human cultures, and the modern world. Additional ticketing is required.
Climate in Crisis

Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas

closes 20 June 2021

Brooklyn Museum
This powerful exhibition draws upon the museum's vast holdings of Indigenous art to consider the impact of climate change on Indigenous peoples across the Americas. The exhibit gathers over 60 objects, some of them almost three millennia old, which examine traditional Indigenous relationships with nature as well as the potential threat climate change poses to their traditional and contemporary ways of life.
New York Responds

closes 31 December

Museum of the City of New York
The role of a museum devoted to history during history-making times is unique. The nation's most energetic and vibrant city shut down for several key months at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Museum of the City of New York, seeking to document this unprecedented moment, sent a call for submissions of photographs, objects, thoughts, and poetry to preserve this unique time in city history as it happens. This free, outdoor exhibit features some of the best submissions, updated regularly as history unfolds.
Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver

Cinematic Illumination

closes 28 February 2021

Museum of Modern Art
The second in the museum's studio installation series is this immersive film installation by Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver. Cinematic Illumination debuted in 1968 at the Intermedia Arts Festival in Japan. The museum acquired this unique piece of modern cinema and installation art in 2017, but until the redesign had nowhere to install it. Plan on lines, but it is worth the wait.
Taking a Thread for a Walk

closes 10 January 2021

Museum of Modern Art
Museums around the city have begun to give raw textiles the same artistic treatment as fashioned or decorative fabric. With the MoMA's recent expansion, much more gallery space is available to feature depths of the collection not usually on display. This exhibition focuses on the art and science of textile design, both from the perspective of individual artists like Ed Rossbach, and the role in larger industrial design. Few single works stand out as highlights, but the exhibition is focused more on the history and process of textiles.
Beth Lipman

Collective Elegy

closes 04 April 2021

Museum of Arts and Design
Beth Lipman's stunning glass-work is at the core of this remarkable new exhibition at the Museum of Art and Design. The Philadelphia-based artists has produced impressive mixed-media sculptures and installations in the collections of museums around the country. This is her first New York City retrospective, and the celebration of her career is long overdue. This is a perfect pairing with the museum's Brian Clarke exhibition.
What Eats Around Itself

Daiga Grantina

closes 03 January 2021

New Museum
The unique title of this exhibition is a reference to the self-replication abilities of lichen. Daiga Grantina draws inspiration from such natural phenomenon in her large-scale installations. The sculptures hang from the ceiling in the lobby gallery. Grantina was born in Latvia, studied in Germany and lives in Paris. This is her first American solo exhibition.
Knotted, Torn, Scattered

Sculpture after Abstract Expressionism

closes 19 September 2021

Guggenheim Museum
In concert with the museum's re-unveiling of Jackon Pollock's 1943 masterpiece, Mural, the Guggenheim has collected pieces from a variety of artists who came of age under the influence and inspiration of Pollock's abstract expressionism. Sculptures and installations by artists such as Richard Serra and Robert Morris answer Pollock's questions about the process and purpose of contemporary art.
From the Silly to the Sublime

A Century of American Comic Strips

closes 02 January 2021

Museum of American Illustration
Newspaper comic strips are not often included in collections of Fine Art. But during the last century, the art of simple comic strips has influenced contemporary artists as prominent as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. This entertaining exhibition looks back at the last century of comics, from the simple works of Krazy Kat to Al Taliaferro's iconic Donald Duck. No selection of American comics would be complete with a nod to Charles Shulz's Peanuts which celebrates its 70th year of publication.
Taller Boricua

A Political Print Shop in New York

closes 17 January 2021

El Museo del Barrio
The Taller Boricua (or 'The Puerto Rican Workshop') has spent the last fifty years promoting the arts and culture of the Puerto Rican community in East Harlem and New York. Founded by artist-activists in 1969, the workshop has produced vibrant prints with overtly political themes, commenting on imperialism, workers' rights, and Latin American independence. This exhibit looks back at the lasting impact of this unique collective as well as its future role in international discussion.
The Fullness of Color

1960s Painting

closes 14 March 2021

Guggenheim Museum
Two exhibitions at the Guggenheim look back at the height of Abstract Painting in the 1960s. The primary contrast between Marking Time and this vibrant exhibit is the use of color. Featuring works by such artists as Morris Louis and Helen Frankenthaler. The gallery is dominated by large-scale abstract paintings, supplemented by a handful of smaller masterpieces.
George Georgiou

Americans Parade

closes 31 December

International Center of Photography
George Georgiou is a freelance contemporary photographer and photojournalist. While is best-known works focus on eastern Europe, Turkey, and former Soviet states, in 2016 he set out across the United States. Between January and November Georgiou traveled through fourteen states, visiting twenty-six different local parades. But the subject of his photographs were not the floats and marching bands, but rather the groups of spectators lining the route. An interesting look at the state of contemporary America.
Selections from the Collection of Jefferson R. Burdick

closes 30 November

Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met almost always has a small sample of baseball cards from the vast collection of Jefferson R. Burdick on display in a small corner of the American Wing. It is an altogether appropriate addition of a uniquely American art form based on a uniquely American sport. It takes some searching to find the display, tucked away in visible storage, but it is well worth the trouble.
Charged with Buddha's Blessings

Relics from an Ancient Stupa

closes 31 May 2021

Rubin Museum of Art
The museum's smallest exhibit tells a fascinating story of discovery and legend. The exhibit features relics recovered during an 1898 archaeological excavation in Piprahwa, India. Piprahwa is a possible burial place of the Buddha's ashes and the relics contained in the stupa that was unearthed are believed by some to have been charged with blessings by their proximity to the life of the Buddha. Marvel at the ancient gems and dig deep into the story of their discovery.
Crossroads

Cyprus as Ancient Crossroads

closes 31 December 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Crossroads is an interesting experiment in curation. The Met uses physical intersections in the museum to showcase cultural intersections. Most of the interesting evolutions in creative culture are the result of the blending of disparate cultures at key locations and important times. The island of Cyprus is a perfect example of this phenomenon. See this, then explore the four other installations related to this.
Six Decades Collecting Self-Taught Art

closes 03 January 2021

American Folk Art Museum
Despite the tiny size of this single-wall exhibit, you could spend hours appreciating the variety and intricacy of the works on display. Housed in one large wall-mounted case are dozens of works drawn from the museum's vast collection. From paintings to sculptures to repurposed found objects, it is a stunning array of folk art styles and includes works by Henry Darger and Judith Scott. The exhibit will just make you wish the museum had more gallery space for its fascinating collection.
COVID New York

Five ICP Alumni

closes 31 December

International Center of Photography
Similar to its open call for submissions around the globe in #ICPConcerned, the center also commissioned COVID-specific works from five New York-based photographers. Each photographer approached the project with a different lens, resulting in a collection of contemporary photographs ranging from street photography to image-text storytelling. This is one of the best COVID-based exhibitions in the city.
Marking Time

Process in Minimal Abstraction

closes 14 March 2021

Guggenheim Museum
The counter-argument to the Guggenheim's exhibition The Fullness of Color is present in this sister exhibit, which celebrates chromatic minimalism in 1960s painting. Featuring works from a variety of artists, including Agnes Martin and Park Seo-Bo, this exhibition is primarily paintings and drawings. All are abstract and all are very, very minimalist.
Poetry and Patronage

The Laubespine-Villeroy Library Rediscovered

closes 16 May 2021

Morgan Library
The historical narrative behind this exhibition is more interesting than the collected works on display. Only recently have scholars become aware of the vast library collected by Claude III Laubespine, who, in sixteenth-century Burgandy, amassed one of the largest collections of ornamentally bound books. This exhibition reunites, for the first time in over 400 years, key examples from Laubespine's collection, which was scattered after his death at age 25.
Children to Immortals

Figural Representations in Chinese Art

closes 03 January 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
This long-running exhibition in the Met's Asian Art collection examines one of the most common subjects for artists from a uniquely Chinese point of view. Artists from nearly every culture represent the human form through any possible medium. But where most cultures focus on accurate representations, Chinese artists seek to capture a person's inner spirit (chuanshen).
From Mansion to Museum

closes 31 December

Morris-Jumel Mansion
This summer, the oldest surviving residence in Manhattan features and exhibit celebrating a unique period in its own fascinating history. Instead of looking in further detail at its role in colonial New York or the revolution, this exhibit looks at the fifteen-year transition from private historic residence to public preservation and museum. A perfect way to introduce yourself to the home if you have not yet visited.
Ridgewood Reservoir for the 21st Century

Community Partnership Exhibition

closes 17 January 2021

Queens Museum
While not as famous as the legendary Panorama of the City of New York, the Queens Museum is home to another scale model built for the World's Fair. The 1939 Relief Map of the New York City Water Supply System in on the long-term view. This exhibition, hosted near the installation, explores the history and long-term fate of the Ridgewood Reservoir, which has supplied fresh water to Brooklynites since 1858.
The Conference of the Animals

Ulrike Muller and Amy Zion

closes 17 January 2021

Queens Museum
The Queens Museum commissioned the Austrian artist Ulrike Muller to create a large scale mural for the museum's interior. Muller drew inspiration from Erich Kastner's children's book The Animal's Conference. Supplementing the mural is a charming collection of art produced by children, curated by Amy Zion, exploring children's impressions of world events and international diplomacy.
Art and Peoples of the Kharga Oasis

closes 23 May 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met makes clever use of the rough, unpolished space below the Grand Staircase by housing artifacts collected by the museum's own 1908 archaeological team. The site of the dig was the Kharga Oasis in southern Egypt, a stop on Egyptian and Roman trade routes and home to a healthy community of early-Christians. If you can find it, take a quick look.
Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions

Creating the American Republic

closes 07 February 2021

New-York Historical Society
There is a clear message coming out of the New-York Historical Society this season. With a new installation revisiting the accomplishments of American Presidents supplemented by a look at the important role of the census in the evolving republic, the foundations of the American government are in the spotlight. Crowning this pattern is this new exhibit that showcases original founding documents from Federal and State governments placed carefully in their historical context.
Composition for Idlewild Airport

closes 30 May 2021

Noguchi Museum
Idlewild Airport (now known as JFK) invited contemporary artists from across America to submit designs for a monumental sculpture as part of the construction of a new International Arrivals Building in 1956. Isamu Noguchi submitted a proposal for a large column. While not selected, the proposed artwork is impressive, as cataloged in this fascinating exhibit.
Spaces of No Control

closes 10 January 2021

Austrian Cultural Forum New York
The Austrian Cultural Forum reopens with this diverse examination of the uses of urban public space across the globe. The show includes videos, experimental paintings, short films, a documentary, and photographs. Seven artists contributed to this exhibition, including Taryn Simon, Francis Ruyter, and Kay Walkowiak. Be sure to stop by the documentary about the destruction by Austrian neo-Nazis of an installation by Hans Haacke in 1988.
Anniversary Highlights

Selections from Drawings and Prints

closes 18 January 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met's celebration of its historic 150th anniversary continues with this variety of selections from the museum's vast collection of drawings and prints. For this exhibition, the museum has drawn on the superstars of its collection: Edgar Degas, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, and Leonardo Da Vinci. This is the most efficient and accessible tour through the history of Western art available in the city.
Away from the Easel

Jackson Pollock's Mural

closes 19 September 2021

Guggenheim Museum
Peggy Guggenheim was an early patron of Jackson Pollock. Even before his first solo exhibition, she commissioned the now-legendary artist to produce something for the entrance hall of her large Manhattan home. The result was 1943's Mural which has recently been restored by the J. Paul Getty Museum and is the centerpiece of this single-work exhibition. The piece has not been on display in the city in over twenty years.
The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room

closes 27 September 2021

Rubin Museum of Art
This semi-permanent exhibition is the highlight of the Rubin. The Shrine room is a detailed representation of a private shrine in the household of devoted practitioners. Filled with elaborate scroll paintings, traditional objects, ritualistic instruments, and (simulated) candles, the installation invites users to experience the serenity of a place dedicated to personal mediation and quiet contemplation.
Treasures from the Vault

closes 14 February 2021

Morgan Library
This season's rotation from the Morgan Library's vast holdings include manuscripts from Mozart and Wagner compositions, an original quatro of King Lear, and a manuscript from Edgar Allan Poe. Set in one of the city's great interior spaces, surrounded by J.P. Morgan's floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, remember that these impressive selections represent just a sliver of the library's collections.
Worlds Beyond Earth

closes 31 December 2021

American Museum of Natural History
For the first time in over six years, a new film is showing at the Hayden Planetarium. Replacing Neil deGrasse Tyson's Dark Universe is World's Beyond Earth, which explores the significant differences between the planets in our solar system. The 25-minute film screens every half hour throughout the day, though timed tickets (at an additional fee) are required.
Women March

closes 24 January 2021

New-York Historical Society
Since the historic Women's March in 2017 broke records for single-day protests in the United States and around the world, the historical society has featured some small collection of artifacts from the long history of the movement for women's rights. This summer exhibit combines all these efforts into one exhibit, tracing the history of the movement from early suffragettes through to modern activists. Important, timely, and relevant.
Cauleen Smith

Mutualities

closes 31 January 2021

Whitney Museum of American Art
Contemporary filmmaker Cauleen Smith receives her first solo exhibition at the Whitney this season. Two films, Sojourner and Pilgrim screen at the center of the exhibition, which also features selected drawings (Firespitters). The films are generally experimental, exploring spiritual and cultural sites significant to key Black women writers. This solo show follows her impressive installation at the Whitney's 2017 Biennial.
Faberge

From the Gray Foundation Colection

closes 03 November 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Matilda Geddings Grey's collection of Faberge has been on display at the Met since 2011, seemingly an ever-present part of the museum's collection. However, the long-term loan is coming to an end, scheduled to close at the end of November 2021. You still have plenty of time to see this unique collection, which includes three of the famed 50 Imperial Easter Eggs commissioned by the Romanov family in 1885.
Fear and Force

New York City's Sons of Liberty

closes 04 July 2021

Fraunces Tavern Museum
This long-running exhibition takes a detailed look at the Sons of Liberty in New York City. The revolutionary organization was responsible for some of the most dramatic acts of rebellion in the years leading up to the American Revolution, including a tea party in New York's harbor and the removal of a statue of King George. The exhibit features objects related to these events.
P.S. Art 2020

Celebrating the Creative Spirit of New York City Kids

closes 14 February 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met continues its annual tradition of hosting work by New York City public school students. This 2020 exhibition features the work of over 120 students from across ages and boroughs. Submissions are judged by the Department of Education and later juried by museum staff and other members of the city's art community. Take some time to explore the range of talent on display in the same building as the great masters.
Sharon Hayes

I March in the Parade

closes 30 November

New Museum
The New Museum celebrates its reopening with a renewal of one of its original commissioned exhibitions. As part of the opening of the New Museum at its current Bowery location in 2007, the museum commissioned multi-media and performance artist Sharon Hayes. While the original work took place as a series of public performances, this exhibition presents recordings of the 2007 performances.
Sublime on the Small Scale

closes 12 September 2021

Morgan Library
This small exhibit is made up of paintings gifted to the Morgan by Eugene V. Thaw. The collection highlights the striking beauty of small-scale landscapes painted by great European artists. Unlike the large-scale works commonly associate with sublimity, these smaller works were often produced outside, with the actual subject in view. It is an impressive collection of underappreciated works.
It's Yours

Jose Parla

closes 10 January 2021

Bronx Museum of the Arts
Jose Parla's first solo museum exhibit is appropriately hosted at the Bronx Museum. Though born in Miami, Parla's first moved to the Bronx when relocating to New York City. His abstract paintings made of multiple layers of paint recall the large murals he painted in Miami under the name "Ease." This is a beautiful collection of work perfectly harmonious with the goals of the Bronx Museum.
Kamikaze

Beyond the Fire

closes 31 December

Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum
During its World War II service the USS Intrepid was repeatedly attacked by kamikaze pilots. 88 crew members died in these attacks. This exhibition looks at this unique form of warfare with interviews from both sides of the conflict, together with a multimedia installation looking at a particularly deadly attack on November 25, 1944.
Tyler Mitchell

I Can Make You Feel Good

closes 31 December

International Center of Photography
The Brooklyn-based photographer Tyler Mitchell has logged remarkable achievements in his short career. While he has reached early heights of success, photographing celebrities and landing the cover of Vogue, he continues to photograph daily experiences in his neighborhood. This solo exhibition at ICP documents Mitchell's exploration of what he calls a "visualiz[ation of] what a Block utopia looks like." Enjoy his "clothesline" installation, or lay back (literally) and watch one of his short films.
Kyoto

Capital of Artistic Imagination

closes 31 January 2021

Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Japanese city of Kyoto was the political and cultural center of Japan until the 19th century. Spurned by the patronage of the political and economic elite of classical Japan, artists of the Golden Age produced some of the most beautiful pieces of work to come out of the country. This exhibit revisits Kyoto as a seat of power, highlighting the masterpieces produced in the vibrant metropolis.
Aljoscha

The Miraculous Draught

closes 15 May 2021

Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
One of the most remarkable site-specific installations this season is at New York City's largest cathedral. Soaring through St. John the Divine's cavernous nave are over 100 translucent sculptures by the artist Alijoscha. It should be viewed from all angles, particularly with the cathedral's famed rose window as a backdrop. There have been few better pairings of a sculpture to a site in recent memory. Do not miss this rare installation.