Part II: Upcoming Exhibits and Gallery Openings, 2009.

Here is Part II, my dears -- the ultimate inspiring museum guide for 2009 [well, MY ultimate, at least!].

11. Musee D'Orsay, Paris. Pierre-Louis Pierson: Portrait Album of Countess of Castiglione. A recent acquistition by the museum and a work of major cultural importance. The 21 page album presents eighteen portraits of the Castiglione family, some of which have never been exhibited before. These photographs, in which Virginia Oldoïni (1837-1899) posed for Louis Pierson, Napoleon III's official photographer, are really more "tableaux vivants" than portraits. Ongoing exhibit.

12. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Showa Sophistication: Japan in the 1930's. The Museum recently acquired seventeen Japanese paintings largely produced and exhibited in Tokyo in the 1930s—the early Shōwa era—an overlooked period in the history of the arts in Japan. In many cases the subject matter, as well as the size, gave these paintings a commanding presence: large, elegant images of skiers, of stylish tea-house attendants in an art deco tea room, of young women in the latest Parisian fashion standing on the prow of a sailboat, and of a traditional Japanese woman standing in front of a decorated Christmas tree. Feb 11 - Nov 9, 2009.


13.Oklahoma City Museum of Art, OK. Harlem Renaissance. Organized by the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Harlem Renaissance will examine the “vogue” of Harlem in the 1920s, the art of the “New Negro,” and the artistic legacy of the 1920s and 1930s. The exhibit will include paintings, sculptures, and photographs by artists such as Richmond Barthé, Aaron Douglas, Palmer Hayden, William H. Johnson, Malvin Gray Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, James VanDerZee, and others. Feb 5 - April 19, 2009.


14. Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA. Marcel Duchamp: Étant donnés. Marcel Duchamp’s enigmatic assemblage Étant donnés has been described by the artist Jasper Johns as “the strangest work of art in any museum.” Permanently installed at the Museum since 1969, this three-dimensional environmental tableau offers an unforgettable and untranslatable experience to those who peer through the two small holes in the solid wooden door. Celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the work going on public display, this exhibition consists of Duchamp’s extraordinary assemblage, along with close to eighty works of art related to its installment, including all the known studies, photographs, erotic objects, and other materials. July 7 - Nov 1, 2009.


15. Tate Online [Link for Modern & Britain], London, UK. . Futurism. Futurism represents a significant revision of the accepted understanding of this major Italian movement and returns it to the central position that it occupied in the avant-garde of the years immediately preceding the First World War. Celebrating the centenary of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti’s publication of the Founding and First Manifesto of Futurism in February 1909, the exhibition will be a major landmark and the first large-scale showing of Futurism in Britain in thirty years. June 12 - Sep 20, 2009.

16. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion. Exploring the reciprocal relationship between high fashion and evolving ideals of beauty, The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion focuses on iconic models of the 20th century and their roles in projecting, and sometimes inspiring, the fashion of their respective eras. The exhibition, organized by historical period from 1945 to 1995, will feature haute couture and ready-to-wear masterworks accompanied by fashion photography and video footage of models who epitomized their epochs. May 6 - Aug 9, 2009.

17. The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, NY. Seduction. Seduction will be the first chronological exploration of the role of sexuality in fashion. The exhibition will feature over seventy looks from the mid-eighteenth century to the present, using objects from the Museum’s permanent collection. Through June 16, 2009.


18. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans. First published in France in 1958 and in the United States in 1959, Robert Frank's The Americans is widely celebrated as the most important photography book published since World War II. Including 83 photographs made largely in 1955 and 1956 while Frank (b. 1924) traveled around the United States, the book looked beneath the surface of American life to reveal a profound sense of alienation, angst, and loneliness. Through April 26, 2009.


19. The National Gallery, London. Love. Arguably love has been the inspiration for more great art than any other human emotion. Nevertheless it presents a challenge to the visual artist. How do you depict love? How do you convey its complexity and intensity?
Comprising works of art from the 15th century to the present day, this exhibition explored how artists have represented this most powerful of emotions. July 24 - Oct 5, 2009.

20. Whitney Museum of American Art, NY. Jenny Holzer Retrospective. Jenny Holzer's pioneering approach to language as a carrier of content and her use of nontraditional media and public settings as vehicles for that content make her one of the most interesting and significant artists working today. Alternating between fact and fiction, the public and the private, the universal and the particular, Holzer's work offers an incisive social and psychological portrait of our times. Opens March 12, 2009.