The Top 10 Museum exhibits in NYC you won't want to miss

One of the greatest gifts New York City has to offer is its burgeoning art scene that’s constantly being revived with intellectual and intriguing exhibitions at its many world renowned museums, galleries, and other institutions. Here are the Top Ten shows to see this month:

1. America is Hard to See—The Whitney Museum settles in to a new home in the Meatpacking District with an inaugural exhibition of more than 600 works inspired by a poem by Robert Frost and a political documentary by Emile de Antonio revolving around art history from the early 20th century to the present. At The Whitney Museum, 99 Gansevoort St., through Sept. 27.

2. Life of Cats: Selections From the Hiraki Ukiyao-e Collection—This charming exhibit includes 90 Ukiyao prints and other works borrowed from different collections that illustrate the significance of felines in Japanese culture and folklore. At The Japan Society, 333 E. 47th St., through Jun. 7.

3. Coypel’s Don Quixote Tapestries—Inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ classic 17th century novel, this exhibition includes a collection of paintings that have been woven into tapestries by Charles Coypel, painter to Louis XV of France, completed between 1714 and 1734 of iconic scenes from the story with one final painting completed in 1751, a year before Coypel’s death. At The Frick Collection, 1 E. 70th St., through May 17.

4. Gustav Klimt and Adele Bloch-Bauer: The Woman in Gold—Since 2006, Austrian artist Gustav Klimt’s famous painting Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, has called the Neue Galerie its home. The painting features Adele Bloch-Bauer, a patron of the arts from Vienna who was a close friend of Klimt’s. This special exhibit features paintings, drawings, photographs, and archival materials that focus on their relationship. At the Neue Galerie, 1048 Fifth Ave., through Sept. 7th.

5. Masterpieces & Curiosities: Nicole Eisenman’s Sedar—New York City-based artist Nicole Eisenman presents a collection of paintings that revolve around the significance of the story and ritual of Passover including images of families gathered for Sedar with glasses of red wine and pieces of matzah, and holding copies of the Haggadah as the story of Exodus is retold. Eisenman conveys themes of love, dark humor and loneliness and her artistic influences include Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pierre Bonnard, and Norman Rockwell. At The Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Ave., through Aug. 9th.

Adele Bloch-Bauer I  by Gustav Klimt  (1907, oil, silver, and gold on canvas)

6. China Through the Looking Glass—This dazzling exhibit organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute highlights China’s influence on fashion and art in Western culture. Aesthetically pleasing dresses and costumes, designed by Yves Saint Laurent and Paul Poiret among others will be on view alongside paintings, porcelain pieces, and even film revealing enchanting Chinese imagery. At The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave., through Aug. 16.

7. One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series—Jacob Lawrence, one of the most influential African-American artists of the 20th century, gained national recognition in 1941, at age 23, by creating a series of 60 paintings telling the story of the Great Migration focusing on the trials and tribulations that thousand of African American men and women faced as they made their epic journey from the rural South to the urban North. At The Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St., through Sept. 7. 

8. Lincoln and the Jews—Commemorating 150 years since the end of the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, this exhibition focuses on the close relationships he formed with fellow Jews at a time when Jews made up a miniscule portion of America’s population. A collection of original documents, artifacts, and photographs, and shed light on Lincoln’s friendships and how he became advocate for Jewish equality and independence. At The New York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, through Jun. 7.

  

9. Laurie Simmons: How we See—New York city-based artist Laurie Simmons presents several cropped photographs of glamorous, young fashion models with large, sparkling eyes that have been painted on their closed eyelids making them appear hypnotized. With these altered photographs, Simmons examines the lengths some women will go to (through wearing makeup, dresses, or even getting cosmetic surgery) to make them appear to be as beautiful as Barbie dolls or similar characters. At The Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Ave., through Aug. 9th.

10. Sultan of Deccan India, 1500-1700, Opulence and Fantasy—This exhibition consists of more than 200 works from numerous collections worldwide that focus on the rich, Indian Deccan courts in the 16th and 17th century which became a Mecca for artists, writers, and diamond traders from all over the world. At The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave., through Jul. 26.

Yves Crenn's animal portraits and other paintings on view at Soho gallery

The Axelle Fine Arts Galerie in Soho is currently presenting a collection of work by Yves Crenn for an exhibition titled Un Autre Temps, which translates to “Another Time.” For his sixth solo show at the gallery, Crenn offers exquisite new paintings where he uses a wide range of subjects including portraits of animals, nude figures, and still-lifes. The inspiration for many of Crenn’s paintings came during a trip to Pompeii as a young child when he became fascinated by the frescoes and artifacts preserved in the ashes, and the textures and muted colors in his paintings are very much like those seen in Italian frescoes.

One of Crenn’s animal portraits titled Dalmatien is a poignant image of a dog of the classic breed with a gentle, compassionate expression on its face. Other animal paintings include Chien un collier rouge II featuring a white canine happily running around a sandy beach, and Porcelaine which features a porcelain-colored white dog standing alone with the pale blue and white colors illustrating a cold, winter night.

Dalmatien by Yves Crenn

Crenn effectively illustrates how natural beauty of the female figure with his intimate nudes where he uses warm colors. These include Deuxieme Mouvement featuring a woman standing with her back turned to the viewer as she looks to the side, and Femme au drape illustrating a young woman’s poise and graceful style as she sits up on her bed with half of her body covered in a silky white dress or blanket.

Crenn makes excellent use of soft brushstrokes in his landscape and still-life paintings. Still-life paintings such as Bouquet de roses I and Bouquets au carnet bleu illustrate vases of lush, white flowers; landscape paintings such as Un arbre a Hyde Park and Vache au Val de Saanee feature trees with lush, green leaves blowing in the wind.

At The Axelle Fine Arts Galerie, 472 West Broadway, through May 17. The gallery is open from 10 a.m.—6 p.m.

Deborah Kahn's new paintings at Chelsea gallery convey wide range of emotions

The Bowery Gallery in Chelsea is currently presenting a collection of new oil paintings by Deborah Kahn that focus on emotion. Kahn’s subjects include men, women, and she uses certain colors in her works to convey different feelings.

For instance, Floating depicts several individuals who appear to be contemplating different things and experiencing different emotions. A couple of these characters include a mother sitting on a window sill as she holds her child who can be seen hanging from his mother’s arms as his legs are crossed. The background consists of cool colors like light blue and green as though each one is floating in a sea of his or her own feelings hence the title of the painting. 

"Floating" (2014) by Deborah Kahn

Another notable painting titled Mars Red Man and Yellow Animal features a young man who represents a character that exists in all of us, full of humor and pain. The different movements and colors in the paintings symbolize how the mind’s fluid movement from conscious to the unconscious, and also represent how emotions are transferred from one individual to another, or even to an animal. 

About her work, Kahn says “I believe that art, like emotion, contains coexisting contradictions. My paintings are an attempt to make this idea concrete.... Painting for me is a controlled connection to an inner world.”

Kahn studied at Boston University and the Kansas City Art Institute before receiving her MFA from Yale University. She is an Associate Professor Emerita at American University in Washington, DC. She also taught at Dartmouth College, Yale University and the New York Studio School. Kahn has exhibited widely in the United States and also in Japan. She was a past recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.

At the Bowery Gallery 530 W. 25th St., through May 16. The gallery is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Hank Willis Thomas looks back on 100 years of white women

The Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea is currently presenting a collection of work by Hank Willis Thomas for the exhibition Unbranded: A Century of White Women, 1915—2015. For his fifth solo show at the gallery, Thomas unveils 101 photographs relating to different generations of white women and how they’ve portrayed in popular culture over the past century. Thomas chooses images that represent each individual year between 1915 and 2015 where explores notions of virtue, power, beauty, privilege, and desire that many of these women possess.

One of the earliest images in this show No Anxious Moments (1918) perfectly captures the charm of mother and child bonding as it illustrates a woman in her kitchen kneeling down in front of her oven to take out a tray of muffins as her young daughter stands next to her beaming with her rosy cheeks and wearing a long apron. The girl very much resembles the iconic Little Debbie, the namesake of brand of desserts whose products include cupcakes and brownies.

"No Anxious Moments" (1918)

Similarly, Give Your Daughter a Daughter (1971) also highlights notions family bonding as it depicts three generations of women. A woman sits in a large wicker chair as her young daughter with pigtail braids sits on her lap as a baby doll with curly blonde hair, blue eyes, and wearing a light pink dress sits on the child’s lap.

Another theme that’s examined in the show is that of women being allowed to embrace their sexuality. The Taming of the Shrewd (1966) symbolizes the suppression of desires features a beautiful blonde woman wearing a leopard skin swimsuit trapped inside a cage in a jungle as though she were an actual live animal being locked up as her male companion leans his back against the cage and looking over his shoulder in amusement. On the other hand, The Natives Will Get Restless (1976) depicts a woman swinging on a rope in the jungle, wearing a bikini, as though she’s finally breaking free from societal constraints.

The most recent image in the show Just As Our Forefathers Intended, (2015) pays homage to Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s iconic Washington Crossing the Delaware painting with two groups of women standing on a wooden board in the place of George Washington’s army as they make their journey across the Delaware River. The first group of women are standing in front of a red flatbed truck pulling another group of women piled onto a boat.

At the Jack Shainman Gallery, 524 W. 24th St., and 513 W. 20th St., through May 23. The gallery is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Philemona Williamson explores adventures of adolescence at Soho gallery show

The June Kelly Gallery in Soho is presenting a collection of recent work by Philemona Williamson for the exhibition Black & Colored. For this show, Williamson unveils several intriguing oil paintings where she lets her imagination run wild, as her subjects include girls and women often in playful or dramatic situations. She also effectively captures the anxiety and curiosity that most young girls feel as they go through the transition from childhood to adulthood.

For instance, Round About Midnight depicts a girl about 12 or 13 years old in an awkward position as she is half-squatting, with her right foot as she presses her left foot against a small door, and both of her feet appear to be caught in a red web. She holds a pink stuffed bunny rabbit in one hand that she that she raises out in front of her, as she thrusts her other arm behind her which is bent as she carries a mysterious red sea creature in her hand. The girl’s head is turned toward the viewer with an intense expression on her face as dark blue skies can be seen behind her.

"Round About Midnight" (2015)

A similar painting titled Golden Afternoon also features a young girl in between two older women with all of them wearing bright, yellow dresses. The girl appears to be in the midst of a tug-of-war as the two women are clutching her dress, with one of them trying to pull her back, as the other tries to pull her forward. Another intriguing piece Invisible Run illustrates a tan-skinned girl with blonde pigtails running away as she tosses a stuffed animal behind her. The background is pitch black and the swift pace at which the girl is running is shown with swift brushstrokes that shadow the girl’s body including a faint shadow of one of her legs.

Williamson is a native New Yorker who received a bachelor's degree from Bennington College and a master’s degree in painting from New York University.  She is the recipient of numerous awards and her work has been shown in many one-person and group exhibitions across the country and around the world. Additionally, Williamson’s designs were included in Seasons, 18 fused-glass panels for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Art in Transit program at the Livonia Subway Station in Brooklyn, and Folktales from Around the World, which are four glass mosaic murals for the New York City Board of Education at the Glen Oaks Campus School in Queens.




At The June Kelly Gallery, 166 Mercer St., through May 12. The gallery is open Tues.—Sat. from 11 a.m.—6 p.m.

Rose Wylie's perceptions of people and animals at Chelsea gallery show

 The Thomas Erben Gallery in Chelsea is currently presenting a collection of work by British painter Rose Wylie for the exhibition Girl and Spiders. For her second solo show at the gallery, Wylie unveils paintings and collages of people and animals, which she creates mostly from memory. The ideas for her subjects come from a variety of sources such as things she sees in the news, in movies, on television, and things she’s learned about while studying art history. She’s also inspired by different eras in art history and people she meets or comes across in her life.

One notable image that evokes joy and childhood fantasies is Blue Horse With Girl depicting a black and blue horse leaping into the air with a teenage girl dancing on its back as though trying to capture the carefree innocence of when she was a young child. Other works that Wylie offers include portraits such as Danser (Dark Eyes) and Zelda. Danser (Dark Eyes) evokes lighthearted humor as it’s caricature of an entertainer whose head is shaped like a heart that balances on top of his skinny neck. The figure has well-combed hair and chiseled cheekbones, but has a mischievous expression on his face as he glances to his left, with his left eye being larger than his right. Zelda is the portrait of a woman with bold, black brushstrokes going through her short, curly hair with a somewhat stern expression on her face.

"Blue Horse With Girl" (2013) by Rose Wylie

 Rose Wylie studied at Folkestone & Dover School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London where she earned her M.A. Wylie’s first show at the Thomas Erben Gallery in 2010 led to wide recognition by the U.S. audience.  In 2014, she won the John Moores Painting Prize, which is a high honor in the United Kingdom.

Wylie’s work has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions at institutions all throughout Europe, and her works are also included in many permanent collections including Tate Britain, and The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C.

At the Thomas Erben Gallery, 526 W. 26th St. through May 9. The gallery is open Tues.—Sat. from 10 a.m.—6 p.m.

Alma Thomas' Earthly drawings and paintings on view at Chelsea gallery

“Man’s highest inspirations come from nature. A world without color would seem dead. Color is life. Light is the mother of color. Light reveals to us the spirit and the living soul of the world through colors.” That was the philosophy of Alma Thomas, the late Abstract Expressionist painter whose works will be on view at the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery in Chelsea in an exhibit titled Alma Thomas: Moving Heaven and Earth, Paintings and Works on Paper, 1958—1978. 

Alma W. Thomas was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1891. When Thomas was a teenager, her family moved to Washington D.C. to escape the racial violence that was prevalent in their hometown. Thomas began studying at Howard University in 1921 where she earned her BS in Fine Arts three years later. She then became an art teacher at Shaw Junior High School where she founded a community art program to introduce her students to the world of fine art. In 1958, two years before she retired from teaching, Thomas began her career as an artist and had her first exhibition in 1966 at Howard University’s Gallery of Art, followed a few years later with exhibitions at the Whitney Museum and Corcoran Gallery of Art. Thomas passed away in 1978 at age 86 and this exhibit at the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery includes more than 40 drawings and paintings she did during the last 20 years of her life when she decided to become a full-time artist. 

"Oriental Sunset" (1973)

Thomas’ works consist of rhythmic patterns that are bursting with energy with their vibrant colors. She had an appreciation for nature and her keen observations come through in all of her works. For instance End of Autumn depicts the Earth with a blue center representing the winter that will soon be approaching as the typical red, yellow, and orange colors are pushed to the side. Contrarily, Spring No. 1 features a group of bright colors on the right side starting to dominate and push to the side cooler colors to mark the emergence of springtime.

Thomas also recognizes the importance of yin and yang elements in two similar paintings that both feature swift black paint strokes dancing across the canvas. One of them titled Fire Flies has hot colors like red to represent yang, while the other titled Tales of the Vienna Woods has cooler colors like blue to represent yin. Thomas has also done many paintings of several different shapes clustered together on the canvas giving them the appearance of a stained glass window. Such paintings include Jonquils, Oriental Sunset, Red Scarlet Sage, Scarlet Sage, and Dancing a Whirling Dervish.

At the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 100 Eleventh Ave., through May 16. The gallery is open Tues.—Sat. from 10 a.m.—6 p.m.