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BostonUSA! Museum
Exhibitions
2008-2009 | |
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| Welcome to BostonUSA's Museum Exhibition
Visitors Guide for 2008-2009. Below you will find major
exhibitions taking place at the finest museums
in Boston, Cambridge, and
beyond. |
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"Stage Idols, Japanese Kabuki
Theater" Opens February 2, 2008, and runs through
January 25, 2009 at the Peabody Essex
Museum |
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With
its dramatic storylines, lush costumes and celebrity actors,
kabuki was the ideal subject for Japanese print designers.
Stage
Idols, Japanese Kabuki Theater
features a stunning selection of woodblock prints from PEM's
collection, many of which are on view for the first
time.
The exhibition features a rotating selection of over forty
19th-century prints - including works by famed print designer
Utagawa Kunisada - as well as rare kabuki-related objects,
such as costumes, photographs and sign-boards. Curated by
Midori Oka, PEM curator of Japanese art and culture,
Stage
Idols
opens Feb. 2, 2008, and runs through Jan. 25, 2009.
Click
here for more information.
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Institute of Contemporary Art
(ICA) |
THE WORLD AS A STAGE
February 1, 2008 through April 27,
2008
Works blur the lines between theater,
performance, and visual art in this
exhibition.
MOMENTUM 10:
RANJANI SHETTAR
March 19 - July 13, 2008
The Indian
artist will create new work for the ICA's
Momentum
series.
STREET LEVEL:
Mark Bradford, William Cordova
& Robin Rhode
March
19 - July 13, 2008
Discover three promising artists
whose works draw directly from street culture in this
exhibition organized by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke
University.
Anish Kapoor, Sculptor
May 30-September 1,
2008
This major exhibition, the first U.S. museum
survey of Kapoor's art in more than 15 years, will
feature works made since 1980, a period in
which his sculptures and installations have grown
increasingly ambitious and
complex.
Please click here for more
information. |
Thomas Kellner:
Picturing the Boston Athenæum
Boston Athenæum: February 13
- April 19, 2008 |
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German artist Thomas Kellner is the Athenæum's
Bicentennial Artist in Residence.
He specializes in
large-scale, photographic montages of urban environments and,
exclusively for this exhibition, has created a series of
images of the interior of the Boston Athenæum as it looked on
the occasion of its 200th anniversary. The exhibition will
also feature preparatory sketches, drawings, and charts that
Kellner used in creating and assembling his images and that
will clearly illustrate his methodology for the visitor.
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Shaping Up America: JFK, Sports and The Call to Physical
Fitness
Through September 27,
2008 |
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Shaping Up America: JFK, Sports and the
Call to Physical
Fitness
 Shaping
Up
America presents a special display of
archival material and Museum objects from the Library's
collection that focuses on President Kennedy's love of sports
and athletics as well as his challenge to the nation to become
more active and physically
fit. |
Museum
of Science
Far,
Far Away: The Worlds of Star Wars Planetarium Show Returns on
January 2, 2008
Lizards
and Snakes Alive! February 17 - April 27,
2008 |
Back
by popular demand: Are the Star Wars worlds really
fiction? From parched desert planets to water worlds, frozen
ice moons to global lava seas, this lively, fun show will
compare the fantasy planets of the Star Wars movies to
the Earth and other real planets and moons in our solar
system. Shows through April 18, 2008.
Please click
here for more
information.
Lizards and
Snakes Alive!
Opens
February 17, 2008-Included with Exhibit Halls
Admission
Witness live
animals and their remarkable adaptations, including projectile
tongues, deadly venom, amazing camouflage, and sometimes
surprising modes of locomotion. Representing 26
species from countries such as Australia, Cuba, Egypt,
Guatemala, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, Sudan, and the United
States, the specimens range from a four-inch Tropical Girdled
Lizard to a fourteen-foot Burmese Python and are shown in
re-created habitats complete with ponds, tree limbs, rock
ledges, and live plants. Lizards &
Snakes offers lots of interactive stations
throughout the exhibition inviting visitors to listen to
recorded squamate sounds, get a close-up look at live geckos,
test their knowledge about squamates, explore the inner
workings of a rattlesnake on the hunt, and view videos of
lizards and snakes.
An activity center for children, located at the end of
the exhibition, featuring hands-on exhibits and
activities-from matching lizards to their habitats to
assembling squamate skeletons-will include touchable skin
casts, puzzles, question-and-answer sliders, games, and more.
On exhibit through April 27,
2008.
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| A Taste of
Power: 18th Century German Porcelain for the Table
Busch
Reisinger Museum Through June 30, 2008 |
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In the 18th
century, porcelain was not just an art to amuse and delight
the eye: it was also a potent source of prestige and a
demonstration of power. The Meissen factory, under the
protection of Saxony's August the Strong, became the first
European producer of porcelain, and soon every minor duchy
throughout Europe angled to repeat Meissen's triumph. This
installation of four works, drawn from the
Busch-Reisinger Museum's permanent collection, examines the
use of porcelain figurines as intriguing table decoration at
elaborate baroque court festivals and banquets. It features
objects from Meissen, Nymphenburg, and Höchst and encourages a
fresh experience of them by suggesting their original context
and function.
Click here for more
information.
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1. "The Grand
Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts:
Celebrating 275 Years of
Brotherhood"
National Heritage Museum, March 22 through
September 1, 2008 |
Celebrating
its 275th anniversary this year, the Grand Lodge is
the oldest Masonic
jurisdiction in the western hemisphere. On July 30,
1733, Henry Price, the Provincial Grand Master of North
America, constituted the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in
Boston This exhibition will trace the history of the state's
Masonic governing body, which grants charters, undertakes
charitable activities, and standardizes Masonic rituals and
customs throughout its jurisdiction. Among its members, have
been Revolutionary War heroes Paul Revere and Joseph Warren,
sports commentator Curt Gowdy and former pro football player
Russ Francis.
For more information and to view
exhibit images, click
here. |
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Long Life Cool White: Photographs by
Moyra Davey
Fogg Art Museum
February 28 through June 30,
2008 |
With this installation of forty works,
Long Life Cool White: Photographs by Moyra Davey is the
artist's first major museum exhibition. An artist and a writer
for the past twenty years, Davey has taken modest photographs
of the typically overlooked-newspapers, books, money, empty
bottles, and the accumulation of objects on the tops of
refrigerators. She remains fascinated by the ability of the
photograph to stop time, to focus attention, and prick us into
a state of increased awareness about the everyday life that
both surround us and that we are immersed in. With an interest
in traditional photography's reliance upon the notion of
accident, her work stands as a passionate, but quiet,
rejoinder to the hyper-staged quality of much contemporary
photography, which she sees as bound up with the intense
commercialization of the art world.
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Urban Design and Civil Protest
MIT Museum Compton Gallery February 28 through
June 9,
2008 |
Urban
Design and Civil Protest,
an exhibition created by MIT visiting architect and urban
designer Tali Hatuka, creates a laboratory for examining
the socio-spatial dynamic of protest as a public dialogue
between citizen and regime. On view are examinations of
models, plans, sections and photographs displaying circular,
grid and concentric forms of protest throughout the world. A
sound installation of voices from various events emphasizes
the way individual and crowd voices are formed and performed
in public space. A video screen projects textual messages,
slogans, and banners illuminating the relationships between
symbolic text of protest and the symbols of the place. The
exhibition also identifies key moments during protest when
violence or contention unfold as the outcome, underlining the
complexities of urban form, architecture and human reaction in
a place and time of protest.
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Sea Creatures in
Glass
Harvard Museum of Natural History: March 20,
2008 through January 4,
2009 |
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Many years before they were commissioned by Harvard
University to make the "Glass Flowers," father and son artists
Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka meticulously shaped glass and
wire into lifelike models of marine animals.
Renowned for their beauty and exacting detail, the
Blaschka marine invertebrate models were commissioned by
universities and museums throughout world during the 19th
century. On Friday, March 20, 2008, the Harvard Museum of
Natural History will open Sea Creatures in Glass.
Thisnew exhibition features 60 of these spectacular glass
animals - some never before on public display - taken from
Harvard's collection of over 400 models. Delicate
jellyfish and anemones, tentacled squid, bizarre sea slugs
(nudibranchs), and other soft-bodied sea creatures captured in
glass are a sparkling testament to the Blaschka legacy.
Combined with video, real scientific specimens, a recreation
of the Blaschka's studio, and a rich assortment of
memorabilia, these invertebrate models offer intriguing
insights into the history, personality, and artistry of the
extraordinary men who created
them.
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| Antonio
López
García
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, April 13-July 27,
2008 |
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 A painter in
the "realist" school., his masterful paintings of the prosaic,
familiar places of his world and of the family and friends
comprising it reveal an unusual sensitivity to his subject.
Through uncompromising study of his subjects, he has imbued
the commonplace with a haunting and extraordinary character,
seen in his exceptional depiction of light-at once brilliant
and subdued, ethereal and fleeting, and palpable. His
unrelenting examination and depiction of his subject means
that he sometimes spends years to finish a single canvas. This
penetrating approach, as well as his exceptional skill, has
singled out López García as one of Spain's most
revered artists.
This exhibition of approximately
sixty paintings, drawings, and sculpture is presented as a
complement to the exhibition "El Greco to Velázquez: Art
during the Reign of Philip III." López García is in the
lineage of artists to be examined in this historical
exhibition, artists who introduced naturalism into Spanish
art, from an attention to detail and the depiction of space in
court portraiture, to the flourishing of still life, to the
humanizing of saints.
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El Greco to
Velázquez: Art during the Reign of Philip III
April 20, 2008 - July 27, 2008
at
the Museum of
Fine Arts |
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 This
groundbreaking exhibition examines a fascinating period
(1598-1621) bookended by the two giants of Spanish painting:
the late works of El Greco and the early paintings of
Velázquez. Discover the masterpieces of Philip III's court and
the artists who flourished in his reign. To separate
themselves from Philip II's approach to governing, Philip III
and his court "issued in a new style of grandeur" (in the
words of their contemporary Gil González d'Avila), where gala
celebrations, elaborate religious fiestas, building campaigns,
picture collecting, recreation, and above all, travel, were
the order of the day. The art produced at and for the court
reflected this style, replacing the austere, relatively
uninspired art created under Philip II with the more
naturalistic and emotionally expressive art that became the
hallmark of Philip III's reign. "El Greco to Velázquez: Art
during the Reign of Philip III" features paintings, sculpture,
and decorative arts-including a partial recreation of the
camarín of the Duke of Lerma, possibly the most important
non-royal collector in Europe at the time and the favorite of
Philip III-organized around themes such as portraiture,
religion and the court, and still life and the birth of
naturalism.
Please click here for more
information. |
Wedded Bliss: The Marriage of Art and Ceremony
Peabody Essex
Museum, April 26, 2008 through Feb. 1,
2009 |
This ambitious exhibition explores the wedding
as impetus for the creation of art in cultures around the
world. Approximately 130 objects from the United States,
Europe, Asia, Africa and the Pacific are showcased for a
unique look at the complex beliefs and emotions surrounding
the matrimonial experience. Works spanning three centuries,
from the 18th century to the present, reveal the diversity of
creative response inspired by weddings as well as changing
attitudes and customs over time.
 The
exhibition features objects in a wide range of media -
including paintings, sculpture, photography, film, ceramics,
and clothing - by over 50 major artists, designers and
craftspeople. Works by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Marc
Chagall, Winslow Homer, Benjamin West, William Hogarth, Cecily
Brown, Claes Oldenburg and Jacob Lawrence are presented
alongside an extraordinary array of objects created for
wedding rituals. These include historic and couture gowns,
ceremonial items, and rare jewelry - ranging from Tiffany
& Company's one-of-a-kind creations to the diamond nuptial
crown of Alexandra, the last Russian empress.
Organized thematically, the exhibition
reflects the full spectrum of the matrimonial experience -
from courtship, engagement, and prenuptial arrangements to
wedding rituals, ceremonies and anniversaries.
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The 2008 DeCordova Annual Exhibition
DeCordova Museum
& Sculpture Park: May 10 - Aug 17,
2008 |
Originally titled the
Artists/Visions series, the DeCordova Annual has
showcased the works of emerging, mid-career, and established
artists since 1989. This exhibition highlights the work of a
limited number of contemporary artists from the six New
England states and emphasizes the quality and variety of works
rather than any single or overarching theme. Each year the
DeCordova Annual seeks to feature some of the best,
most innovative and gifted artists working in the
region. The DeCordova
Annual is the backbone of the Museum's exhibition program,
solidly reflecting our mission. The series also reinforces
DeCordova's commitment to regional artists, and its leadership
position in celebrating contemporary art in New England.
DeCordova's Curators have
selected 12 artists/artist teams-who work in a variety of
media including painting, printmaking, installation,
performance, sculpture, drawing, and photography-for
The 2008 DeCordova Annual Exhibition. The selected
artists are: Mitchel Ahern, Matt Brackett, Leah Gauthier, The
Institute for Infinitely Small Things (founded by Catherine
D'Ignazio and Savic Rasovic), Niho Kozuru, Eva Lee, Yana
Payusova, David Prifti, Kirsten Reynolds, Mark Schoening,
Vanessa Tropeano, and Marguerite White.
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Baseball as America
Museum of Science: June 15 -September 1, 2008
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 Baseball
As America,
a blockbuster exhibition, marks the first time the treasures
of the Hall of Fame have left their legendary home in
Cooperstown to tour the country. Baseball As
America is a national celebration of America's romance
with baseball and is a once-in-a-lifetime venture that only
the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was capable of
creating. The exhibition includes approximately 500
of the Museum's most precious artifacts, dating from
baseball's early roots in the 19th century to today, ranging
from uniforms, balls, bats and gloves, to books, recordings,
artworks and films, to historic documents, advertising and
ephemera. Among the highlights of the exhibition are The
Game's most sacred relic, the Doubleday Ball, from baseball's
mythic first game in 1839; Jackie Robinson's 1956 Brooklyn
Dodgers jersey; a variety of artifacts from the All-American
Girls Professional Baseball League; record-setting bats from
the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run chase of 1998, as well as
those of Babe Ruth (home run #60 in 1927) and Roger Maris
(home run #61 in 1961); FDR's January 15, 1942 "Green Light"
letter calling for the continuation of professional baseball
as a way to heighten morale during World War II; Norman
Rockwell's 1949 painting The Three Umpires; the "Wonder Boy"
bat from the movie The Natural; a 1908 Thomas Edison recording
of "Casey at the Bat"; "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's shoes; and the
most valuable baseball card in the world, the T206 Honus
Wagner.
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Imperishable Beauty: Art
Nouveau Jewelry
July 23, 2008 - November 9,
2008 at the Museum of Fine
Arts |
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This
exhibition includes about 120 works by the leading designers
and fabricators of late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century
Art Nouveau jewelry. Although many of these artists acquired
their skills in traditional, high-style jewelry houses, they
found inspiration in the work of the Pre-Raphaelites, the
philosophy of John Ruskin (1819-1900), the paintings and
poetry of the symbolists, and the arts of Japan. For motifs,
they looked to the flora (orchids, lilies) and fauna
(dragonflies, butterflies) of the natural world and the
sensuality of the female form.This new aesthetic was, in large
measure, a reaction against nineteenth century historicism,
industrialization, and the "tyranny of the diamond," and these
Art Nouveau artists chose to interpret nature rather than
imitate it. Please click here for more
information. |
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Karsh 100: A Biography in
Images
September 23,
2008 - January 18,
2009
at the
Museum of
Fine
Arts |
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In
celebration of the 100th birthday of renowned photographer
Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002), the MFA will host an exhibition of
the great portraitist's work, offering a visual biography of
this twentieth-century legend. Born in Armenia, settling first
in Canada and eventually in the United States, Karsh made a
career photographing the world's most distinguished statesmen,
artists, literary figures, musicians, scientists, actors, and
actresses. Traveling the globe, he gained access to virtually
every great figure of his time. Among his most famous iconic
images are ones he made of Winston Churchill (1941), Albert
Einstein (1948), Pablo Picasso (1954), Georgia O'Keeffe
(1956), Ernest Hemingway (1957), Jacqueline and John F.
Kennedy (1960), Sophia Loren (1981), and Jessye Norman (1990).
This exhibition explores the eminent photographer's
celebrated work alongside his lesser-known images. Archival
material revealing Karsh's personality, his approach to his
work, and the friendships he forged with sitters also is
included, as well as his large format camera. Please
click
here for more
information.
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