ARTS

1. Read and discuss the article “What to See, Region by Region” focusing on the following questions:
a. Who is Edward Hopper?
b. What characterizes the artwork of Francis Bacon?
c. Do you think architecture is an important art form? Why?
d. What is noteworthy about the “Ike Taiga and Tokuyama Gyokuran: Japanese Masters of the Brush”?
e. Why do you think artists, such as Jan van Huysum, chose to paint flowers?
f. What types of materials does Robert Rauschenberg use in his work?
g. What countries are represented by the exhibits described in this article?
h. Which exhibits focus on women and their experiences?
i. Which exhibit appeals to you most? Why?
j. With which artists or types of art described in this article are you most familiar
? For each artist or genre, what do you find interesting about this artist or type of art?



2. Further Questions
-What art exhibits have you seen?
-What is the difference between viewing art live and looking at slides or prints?
-How might a museum or gallery use its space to enhance sculptures, paintings, etc.?
-In what activities can young people participate to engage them more fully when viewing art in a gallery or museum?
-What impact does art have on your life?
-How does art affect your community?

Extension Activities:

· Choose one of the exhibits from the article, “What to See, Region by Region.” Research the artist featured in it, as well as his or her body of work. Write an essay exploring the value of this exhibit. How important is this work? How does it help us to foster a deeper understanding of ourselves, our community and our culture?

· Create a scrapbook of works of art for one of the artists mentioned in the article. Write a brief introduction to the collection, and a caption for each example you include.


March 30, 2007
What to See, Region by Region
By BENJAMIN GENOCCHIO
Art exhibitions flourish across the country. Here is a selection of the latest offerings:
Northeast BOSTON “Edward Hopper.” This popular 20th-century American modernist gets another full-dress retrospective, this time focused on his seminal period as a painter, from 1925 to 1950. On display are 100 paintings, watercolors and graphic work, including several masterpieces of American art. May 6 to Aug. 19. Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue; (617) 267-9300, mfa.org.
BUFFALO “Francis Bacon: Paintings From the 1950s.” Mysterious and dark imagery of screaming popes, snarling dogs and tortured figures trapped in isolation abound in this hard-hitting survey of the formative decade of this Irish-born artist’s career. Not for the fainthearted. May 4 to July 29. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1285 Elmwood Avenue; (716) 882-8700, albrightknox.org.
PORTLAND “Frank Lloyd Wright and the House Beautiful.” Thinking of redecorating in the modern style? Then try not to miss this selection of more than 100 original examples of the architect’s designs for furnishings and integrated interiors, including metalwork, stainedglass windows, furniture, textiles, flatware, lamps and light fixtures, all of which radiate a sense of the modern spirit in art and design. June 28 to Oct. 8. Portland Museum of Art, 7 Congress Square; (207) 775-6148, portlandmuseum .org.
NEW HAVEN “Paul Mellon’s Legacy: A Passion for British Art.” More than 250 little-exhibited treasures from the permanent collection will be assembled for this show commemorating the centennial of the birth of the center’s founder and chief benefactor, Paul Mellon (1907 to 1999). Highlights include rare books, manuscripts, maps and atlases, as well as important paintings by William Hogarth, William Blake and J. M. W. Turner. April 18 to July 29. Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel Street; (203) 432 2800, yale.edu /ycba.
Mid-Atlantic BALTIMORE “Pissarro: Creating the Impressionist Landscape.” The luminous landscapes of this pioneering Impressionist get the standard survey treatment with 45 paintings from museums and private collections. Endless pretty scenes of the French countryside — plowed fields, bucolic towns and gentle rivers — chart the artist’s painting technique and subject matter over his career. Through May 13. Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive; (443) 573-1700, artbma.org.
PHILADELPHIA “Ike Taiga and Tokuyama Gyokuran: Japanese Masters of the Brush.” Though they are legends in Japan, this is the first United States retrospective for the 18th-century Japanese master of ink painting Ike Taiga (1723 to 1776) and his wife, Tokuyama Gyokuran (1727 to 1784). Both rejected the academicism of the reigning Kano school to infuse traditional Japanese painting with a more modern outlook. May 1 to July 22. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Parkway and 26th Street; (215) 763-8100, philamuseum.org.

WASHINGTON “Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918 to 1945.” This show pulls together photographs, artists’ books and illustrated magazines to chart the evolution of artistic photography in central Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. The artists Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Hannah Höch rub shoulders here with lesser-known contemporaries like Karel Teige, Kazimierz Podsadecki, Karoly Escher and Trude Fleischmann. June 10 to Sept. 3. National Gallery of Art, National Mall between Third and Seventh Streets at Constitution Avenue; (202) 737- 4215, nga.gov.

WASHINGTON “Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film.” This exhibition makes connections between American artists and filmmakers in the early years of the 20th century, pairing films by Thomas Alva Edison, the Lumière Brothers and others with works by the period’s artists, like George Bellows, Thomas Eakins, Childe Hassam, Maurice Prendergast, John Singer Sargent and John Sloan. Through May 20. The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st Street, NW; (202) 387-2151, phillipscollection .org.

WASHINGTON “Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries.” This show of 300 objects reflects the cross-cultural exchange that followed the establishment of Portugal’s world trading empire. A section on Portugal and West Africa will be at the National Museum of African Art nearby. June 23 to Sept. 16. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence Avenue, SW; (202) 633-4880. asia.si.edu.

South
DALLAS “Matisse: Painter as Sculptor.” With more than 40 sculptures, coupled with drawings, paintings and photographs of the artist at work in his studio, this exhibition makes the case for Matisse as a major 20thcentury sculptor. Sculptures by other modern artists help contextualize Matisse’s achievement. Through April 29. On view concurrently at the Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 North Harwood Street; (214) 922-1200, dallasmuseumofart.org, and the Nasher Sculpture Center, 2001 Flora Street; (214) 242-5100, nashersculpturecenter.org.

FORT WORTH “The Mirror and the Mask: Portraiture in the Age of Picasso.” Organized with the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, this exhibition revisits the theme of portraiture in visual art with a collection of modern portraits and self portraits from 75 collections across Europe and North America. The checklist includes the usual big names. June 17 to Sept. 16. Kimbell Art Museum, 3333 Camp Bowie Boulevard, (817) 332-8451, kimbellart.org.

HOUSTON “The Temptations of Flora: Jan van Huysum (1682 to 1749).” Crowds will flock to this survey of the work of one the most successful flower painters in history. He is renowned for the microscopic realism of his paintings and his ability to paint elaborate arrangements of fruit and flowers. Through May 20. Museum of Fine Arts, 1001 Bissonnet Street; (713) 639-7300, mfah.org.

HOUSTON “Robert Rauschenberg: Cardboards and Related Pieces.” The dissection of the artist’s career continues with this first museum survey of his assemblages from the early 1970s: discarded cardboard boxes flattened out, torn, cut and bent into interesting shapes. To your average punter, the artwork looks like junk, but fortunately museum curators know better. Through May 13. Menil Collection, 1515 Sul Ross Street; (713) 525-9400, menil.org.

MIAMI “Make Your Own Life: Artists in and Out of Cologne.” These days you don’t see many multigenerational group shows. But along comes this traveling survey of the 1980s art scene in the German city of Cologne, perhaps the most important center for contemporary art in Europe. It includes paintings, installation, sculpture, video and experimental music. May 11 to July 15. Museum of Contemporary Art, 770 NE 125th Street; (305) 893-6211, mocanomi.org.

NEW ORLEANS “Femme, Femme, Femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso From the Museums of France.” Though the title is a mouthful, this show, sponsored by the French government to assist the revival of New Orleans, contains nearly 85 works from the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay and 40 other museums in France. The pictures are to die for, even if the theme is effete. Through June 3. New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle; 504-658-4100, noma.org.

Midwest
CHICAGO “Perpetual Glory: Medieval Islamic Ceramics From the Harvey B. Plotnick Collection.” This delightful exhibition offers a timely glimpse of a famous private collection of valuable Islamic ceramics. There are 100 pieces, ranging from the early Abbasid caliphate in Iraq (9th and 10th centuries) to the Timurid dynasty in eastern central Asia (14th and 15th centuries). March 31 to Aug. 12. The Art Institute of Chicago, 111 South Michigan Avenue; (312) 443- 3600, artic.edu.

CHICAGO “Rudolf Stingel.” The first solid museum exhibition in the United States for the Italian-born painter, conceptual and performance artist, best known for carpeting Grand Central Terminal in New York. Displays include an installation of several walls of silver panels that visitors can write on or cut into as part of the show. Through May 27. Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 East Chicago Avenue; (312) 280-2660, mcachicago.org.

MINNEAPOLIS “Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love.” Born in California in 1969, Kara Walker seems young for a full-scale museum survey. But here it is, bringing together artworks ranging from her well-known blackpaper wall silhouettes to more recent film animations and several dozen works on paper. Through May 13. The Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Avenue; (612) 375-7600, walkerart.org.

ST. LOUIS “Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800 to 1815.” This eye-popping survey of the decorative arts of the Empire style created during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 19th century contains almost 150 masterworks of decorative art, including furniture, silver, bronze, porcelain, jewelry, clothing, textiles and wallpaper. Highlights includeseveral rare objects from royal and imperial residences at Fontainebleau, Versailles and Malmaison. June 17 to Sept. 16. Saint Louis Art Museum, 1 Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park; (314) 721-0072; stlouis.art .museum.

West
LOS ANGELES “Oudry’s Painted Menagerie.” Paintings of antelopes, a rhinoceros, a lion, leopards, sheep and several kinds of exotic brush fowl grace this look at the oddball French painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686 to 1755), who rose to prominence during the first half of the reign of Louis XV. May 1 to Sept. 2. J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive; (310) 440-7300, getty.edu.

LOS ANGELES “WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution.” In a year packed with exhibitions celebrating feminism in art, among the most substantial is this one, presenting the foundations and legacy of feminist art produced internationally from 1965 to the early ’80s. Includes work by 120 artists from 21 countries. Through July 16. The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, 152 North Central Avenue, (213) 626-6222, moca.org.

LOS ANGELES “Vija Celmins: A Drawings Retrospective.” Traveling from the Centre Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris, this comprehensive review of the artist’s drawings from the mid-1960s till now includes more than 70 works on paper. Highlights include her mesmerizing renderings of lunar landscapes, hazy cosmic clouds and distant galaxies. Through April 22. Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Boulevard; (310) 443- 7000, hammer.ucla.edu.

PHOENIX “Curves of Steel: Streamlined Automobile Design.” A collection of 22 of some of the rarest, most beautiful American and European automobiles ever made — some being the only surviving examples. The impressive checklist features cars by Auburn, Alfa Romeo, Lincoln-Zephyr, Bugatti, Hispano-Suiza, Delage and Delahaye. April 1 to June 3. Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 North Central Avenue; (602) 257- 1222, phxart.org.

SAN FRANCISCO “Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga.” More than 200 items, including drawings, covers and posters that trace the artist’s development as well as adult-oriented cartoons, introduce American audiences to Osamu Tezuka (1928 to 1989), a grand master of the 20th-century Japanese manga (graphic novels) movement. June 2 to Sept. 9. Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin Street; (415) 581-3500, asianart.org.

SEATTLE “Carsten Höller: Neon Circle.” Logging kilowatts of power this spring is the Belgian artist’s latest installation — a circular, mind-bending cage made of aluminum and cold cathode neon tubes, designed to induce mild visual hallucinations. Through May 13. Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, 15th Avenue NE and NE 41st Street; (206) 543-2280, henryart.org.