This year, art exhibitions explore the Parisian suburbs, Pacific islands, grand Indian palaces and more through paintings, photography, sculpture and sketches.
This article is part of our Museums special section about how art institutions are reaching out to new artists and attracting new audiences.
Around the country this spring and summer, museums are aiming to transport visitors to the palaces of Udaipur, the Maya civilization, France during the Industrial Revolution, Japanese landscapes and the diverse communities of Queens — all for the price of an admission ticket.
New York
NEW YORK CITY
“Aliza Nisenbaum: Queens, Lindo y Querido”
Aliza Nisenbaum’s vibrant portraits often highlight people working behind the scenes to keep civic life running smoothly, such as hospitals, transportation hubs and now, even the institution presenting her work. In her first solo show at a New York museum, the Mexican artist, who is based in New York, is presenting new paintings, some depicting Queens Museum staff members and residents of its surrounding neighborhood. Through Sept. 10; Queens Museum, queensmuseum.org
“Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map”
The Indigenous artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, now 83 and based in New Mexico, gets her first New York museum retrospective. The artist, a citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, has long made contemporary art inspired by Native American imagery. In her paintings, collages, mixed media and installations, she challenges commonly held beliefs about history and identity, as she does with her distorted maps of the United States, many of which are on view. Through Aug. 13; Whitney Museum of American Art, whitney.org
“Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty”
This year’s Met Gala and accompanying Costume Institute exhibition will celebrate the life and career of Karl Lagerfeld, the German fashion designer who died in 2019. The show pairs about 150 of his creations for Chanel and the other fashion houses at which he worked, with their original sketches, offering a glimpse at how his two-dimensional drawings were translated into wearable art. May 5 to July 16; Metropolitan Museum of Art, metmuseum.org
From the early 1830s through World War II, members of the Jewish family at the center of this show moved from Iraq and settled in India, China and England, amassing an impressive collection of art over the course of four generations. This show brings together pieces from their diverse collection — including Jewish ceremonial art, Chinese ivory carvings and paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, John Singer Sargent and even Winston Churchill — and revisits their family history. Through Aug. 13; Jewish Museum, thejewishmuseum.org
“Love Songs: Photography and Intimacy”
This group show, focused on love in all its beautiful and occasionally painful forms, collects images from more than 15 photographers. On view will be selections from “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” (1973-86), Nan Goldin’s personal chronicles of friendship, love and loss. And from the Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki, images of his honeymoon will be juxtaposed with photos capturing the grief he experienced during and after his wife’s death. June 2 to Sept. 11; International Center of Photography, icp.org
“It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby”
In the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning comedy special “Nanette,” Hannah Gadsby riffs on Pablo Picasso’s life and work from a feminist perspective. Now the comedian, who also has an art history degree, takes it even further as a curator of this exhibition, which will focus on how the artist depicted women. The show will feature a total of 100 works, including a number of Picasso’s paintings, sculptures and drawings — many from his “Vollard Suite” series (1930-37) — as well as pieces from the museum’s collection of feminist art. June 2 to Sept. 24; Brooklyn Museum, brooklynmuseum.org
“Daniel Lind-Ramos: El Viejo Griot”
The multidisciplinary artist Daniel Lind-Ramos uses found and gifted objects to create his large-scale, detailed sculptures. This show brings together 10 of Mr. Lind-Ramos’s works, including three he created in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, incorporating items collected in Puerto Rico, as well as two new pieces that address the Covid-19 pandemic, created with pieces of cleaning tools, sanitation products and lights from emergency vehicles. Through Sept. 4; MoMA PS1, momaps1.org
NEW WINDSOR
“Beatriz Cortez: The Volcano That Left”
Beatriz Cortez, a sculptor born in El Salvador and based in Los Angeles, will present three new and recent site-specific creations in the Hudson Valley. The show will be anchored by a new handmade work in steel, “Ilopango, the Volcano that Left” (2023), inspired by a volcanic eruption that devastated the Maya civilization in what is now El Salvador. May 20 to Nov. 13; Storm King Art Center, stormking.org
WATER MILL
“Artists Choose Parrish: Part 1”
To commemorate the Parrish Art Museum’s 125th anniversary, its curators identified artists with a connection to the East End of Long Island. Then they asked them to pick at least one piece from the museum’s collection and pair it with a work of their own. Presented in staggered phases, the first show features a neon work by the interdisciplinary artist Pamela Council in conversation with an installation by Dan Flavin, a renowned minimalist. And Nanette Carter will pay homage to multiple artists who influenced her collage work, including the abstract expressionist Frank Wimberley and the modernist Romare Bearden. Sunday through July 23; Parrish Art Museum, parrishart.org
West Coast
LOS ANGELES
“Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in 19th-Century Danish Art”
The drawings, oil sketches and paintings in this show highlight a period of national reflection in Denmark, one that resulted in realistic depictions of the country’s landscapes, architecture and communities. Among more than 80 works are a number that reflect the country’s connection to the sea, including Johan Christian Dahl’s “Copenhagen Harbor by Moonlight” (1846). May 23 to Aug. 20; Getty Center, getty.edu
SAN FRANCISCO
“Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence”
Kehinde Wiley’s painted portraits recasting Black figures in Western European scenes, such as in “Napoleon Leading the Army Over the Alps,” often strike a celebratory note. But this show of new work, a rumination on systemic racism and violence, evokes a much more somber tone. In 25 paintings and sculptures, Mr. Wiley uses the same artistic concept to depict wounded and dead Black subjects, referencing classic imagery of heroes, martyrs or saints. Through Oct. 15; de Young Museum, famsf.org
Mid-Atlantic
WASHINGTON
Before the neo-Classical Italian sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822) could create a marble sculpture like “The Three Graces,” he would often “sketch” the concept first in clay. This show presents these preparatory works as worthy achievements in their own right that also reveal the artist’s process. June 11 to Oct. 9; National Gallery of Art, nga.gov
Centennial Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Festival
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art celebrates its centennial with two weeks of special programming, including performances, film screenings and panel discussions centered on Asian arts and culture. Visitors can, among other things, hear musical performances from the Chinese composer Huang Ruo, the Korean American K-pop artist Eric Nam or the Syrian American rapper Omar Offendum; view the 1920s Japanese silent film “A Page of Madness”; or see site-specific sculptures created by the artist Sagar Kamath. May 1 to May 14; National Museum of Asian Art, asia.si.edu
“Frank Stewart’s Nexus: An American Photographer’s Journey, 1960s to the Present”
At 14, Frank Stewart borrowed a camera from his mother and shot the 1963 March on Washington. He has been documenting American life, with a focus on the Black experience, ever since. This retrospective collects more than 100 of his photographs taken over six decades, including the 30 years he worked as the lead photographer for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. June 10 to Sept. 3; the Phillips Collection, phillipscollection.org
Midwest
CHICAGO
“Van Gogh and the Avant-Garde: The Modern Landscape”
This survey of roughly 75 paintings focuses on five artists and how they depicted an evolving area. From 1882 to 1890, Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Émile Bernard and Charles Angrand captured the transformation of the Parisian suburbs, around what is now Asnières-sur-Seine, into a growing industrial hub, experimenting with their stylistic choices in the process. May 14 to Sept. 4; Art Institute of Chicago, artic.edu
CLEVELAND
“A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur”
The Indian city of Udaipur was, in the 17th century, a thriving royal metropolis known for its monsoons and magnificent “floating” palaces built in its artificial lakes. Court artists captured palace life, parties and the mood evoked by its picturesque landscape in large-scale paintings, 33 of which will be on view in this exhibition, some for the first time publicly. June 11 to Sept. 10; Cleveland Museum of Art, clevelandart.org
DETROIT
This career retrospective covers work the British Ghanaian photographer James Barnor made from the 1950s through the 1980s, in which he captured shifting social and political movements from an African perspective. The show collects his early portrait work in Accra, his images of everyday life during Ghana’s transition to an independent nation and his fashion photography in London during the 1960s. May 28 to Oct. 15; Detroit Institute of Arts, dia.org
MILWAUKEE
“Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890-1980”
Scandinavian design has become almost ubiquitous in American interiors, and this show delves deep into designers, objects and ideas from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland. The 20th-century cultural exchange between the United States and those countries is seen in more than 180 objects, including furniture, textiles and decorative pieces. Through July 23; Milwaukee Art Museum, mam.org
MINNEAPOLIS
“Fukuda Kodojin: Japan’s Great Poet and Landscape Artist”
This is the first exhibition centered on the Japanese scholar and artist Fukuda Kodojin outside Japan, a chance for American audiences to see his calligraphy, poetry and painting. Among nearly 60 selected works are his hanging scroll landscape paintings, depicting mountainous and arboreous terrain. Through July 23; Minneapolis Institute of Art, new.artsmia.org
ST. LOUIS
“Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s-1970s”
One common thread tying together the artists featured in this show is that many of them — including Fritz Scholder, Lloyd Kiva New and Linda Lomahaftewa — either worked or studied in Santa Fe, N.M., at the Institute of American Indian Arts, which opened in 1962. The artistic styles developed there challenged public perception of Native American art, as seen in roughly 90 contemporary paintings, sculptures, textiles and works on paper. June 24 to Sept. 3; St. Louis Art Museum, slam.org
Mountain West
DENVER
“Islands Beyond Blue: Niki Hastings-McFall and Treasures from the Oceania Collection”
Closed since 2016 for renovations, the Denver Art Museum’s Arts of Oceania gallery will reopen with an exhibition that combines ancient material from the Pacific region with contemporary work. America’s history of nuclear testing in the region is referenced by a large-scale lei piece by Niki Hastings-McFall, who is from New Zealand and of Samoan and Pakeha descent. The installation is presented alongside pieces from the museum’s collection made on the islands most affected by that testing. Opens May 14; Denver Art Museum, denverartmuseum.org
New England
BOSTON
“Presence of Plants in Contemporary Art”
Artists of all disciplines have long been inspired by plants, but this show celebrates those actually using organic matter in their art. The work of seven artists will be displayed throughout the museum, such as Piero Golia’s growing sculpture that incorporates oyster mushrooms, and a sculptural painting by Henrik Hakansson that features cuttings from invasive species. June 22 to Sept. 17; Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, gardnermuseum.org
South
ATLANTA
“Bruce Onobrakpeya: The Mask and the Cross”
This 90-year-old artist from Nigeria gets his first-ever solo show at an American museum. The exhibition highlights the way Mr. Onobrakpeya blends Christian iconography with Nigerian characters and settings in his printmaking practice. One highlight is his “Fourteen Stations of the Cross” series of prints, which is based on murals he completed for a Catholic church in Lagos in 1967. Through July 30, High Museum of Art, high.org
LITTLE ROCK, ARK.
When this museum reopened its doors after a renovation that began in 2019, it started showing a new animated film by the multidisciplinary artist Sun Xun that uses the Chinese mythical creature known as chiwen to examine East Asian cultural identity. The short film, which runs about nine minutes, features the Beijing-based artist’s detailed painting, woodcut, charcoal and ink drawing work. Through Aug. 13; Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, arkmfa.org
MIAMI
“Claire Tabouret: Au Bois d’Amour”
Claire Tabouret’s impressionistic paintings of landscapes and figures often echo artists who came before her, but she gives the works a contemporary twist. Inspired by the work of Édouard Vuillard and Les Nabis artists, the Los Angeles-based French artist will present monoprints, a new large-scale tapestry and what she calls “fluff” paintings, done on faux fur. May 5 to Oct. 29; ICA Miami, icamiami.org
STUART, FLA.
“The Highwaymen: From the Street Corner to the Smithsonian”
In the 1950s and ’60s, a group of Black, largely self-taught painters sold colorful landscapes of Florida along the state’s roadways, often right out of their cars. The work of these artists, known as the Highwaymen, was shut out of galleries at the time. But now a collection of more than 70 of their paintings are displayed together, honoring the work of the enterprising artists. Through July 14; Elliott Museum, hsmc-fl.com
Southwest
FORT WORTH
“Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art”
After a well-received debut in New York, this survey of rarely seen and newly discovered Maya art — a collaboration between the Met and the Kimbell Art Museum — opens in Texas. The intricately painted ceramic vessels, carved sculptures and ornaments on display offer a window into the ancient civilization’s complex mythology and understanding of humanity. May 7 to Sept. 3; Kimbell Art Museum, kimbellart.org
HOUSTON
In 1957, the Polish-born Jewish artist Si Lewen published “The Parade,” a wordless graphic novel in which he illustrated the horrors he witnessed fleeing Germany, fighting in the U.S. Army in World War II and visiting the Buchenwald concentration camp soon after its liberation. For the first time, all 55 of the original drawings he made in preparation for the book are displayed together, along with eight related works. Through Sept. 3; Menil Collection, menil.org
Hawaii
HONOLULU
“Salman Toor: No Ordinary Love”
Born in Pakistan and based in New York, the artist Salman Toor says that he draws and paints from the perspective of “a queer man from a Muslim cultural background.” In this survey of recent work, Mr. Toor will let viewers into private scenes: a car ride with friends, a teen exploring what might be his mother’s makeup or two figures sharing a secretive touch. July 14 to Oct. 8; Honolulu Museum of Art, honolulumuseum.org
