PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Museum of Art is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ellsworth Kelly’s birth with a new exhibition highlighting an extraordinary group of drawings that Jack Shear, the artist’s longtime partner and husband, has generously offered along with a related painting and sculpture as gifts to the museum. They come just as the museum has dedicated Gallery 275 as the newly endowed Jennifer Rice and Michael Forman Gallery, which has long showcased the early work of Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015) and will be devoted to artist’s work and legacy.
Nat’l Gallery DC acquires mixed-media by Native American artist
WASHINGTON – The National Gallery of Art has acquired Fog Bank (2020), a mixed-media work by Emmi Whitehorse (Dine, b. 1957-). It is the first piece by this highly respected Native American artist to join the collection. Whitehorse’s artwork embodies the natural harmony she observes in the landscape at her home near Santa Fe, New Mexico. It conveys her intimate knowledge of a place, in keeping with Navajo philosophy.
Raoul Dufy’s career explored in 100-work show in Seoul
SEOUL, South Korea – Manifesto Expo is coordinating the exhibition Raoul Dufy: Colorful Symphony at the Hangaram Museum in the Seoul Art Center in Seoul, South Korea in partnership with the Korean producer Gaudium. The exhibition, which is on now through September 10, brings together 100 works by Raoul Dufy (French, 1877-1953) from the Edmond Henrard collection. The Musee d’Art Moderne Andre Malraux in Le Havre, France, and the Musee des Beaux-Arts Jules Cheret in Nice, France, have made exceptional loans to the exhibition.
Walters Art Museum unveils new installation of its Asian and Islamic collections
BALTIMORE — This spring, the Walters Art Museum debuts Across Asia: Arts of Asia and the Islamic World. The exhibition, which opened April 23 and is ongoing, features more than 600 works of art spanning 5,000 years and marks the first time in the museum’s history that its core Asian and Islamic art collections are on view together. Across Asia highlights the connections among art, cultures, religions and ideas across the vast geography of Asia, and includes examples of architecture, calligraphy, ceramics, cloisonne, enamelwork, lacquerware, manuscripts, metalwork, painting, sculpture and textiles.
Artist-designed miniature golf course returns to Cranbrook Art Museum
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. – By popular demand, Cranbrook Art Museum is bringing back Cranbrook on the Green, its artist-designed miniature golf course, for the 2023 summer season – with the addition of two new holes. The course will be open for play between May 24 and September 3.
Hannah Gadsby takes aim at Picasso in ‘It’s Pablo-matic’ at Brooklyn Museum
NEW YORK – Fifty years after his death, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) remains an artistic and cultural icon whose status as the preeminent modern artist has gone largely unquestioned. The exhibition It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby grapples with Picasso’s art and legacy through intersecting, critical feminist methodologies that have emerged since 1973 and continue to reshape art history today. Part of the global Picasso Celebration 1973–2023, the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition is organized by senior curators Lisa Small and Catherine Morris with Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby, whose groundbreaking 2018 comedy special Nanette pointedly challenged how public debate around marginalized communities is conducted, including art institutions’ frequent condoning of art history’s inherent misogyny. It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby opens on June 2 and closes on September 24.
Julian Opie digital work returns to stride outside Phoenix Art Museum
PHOENIX – Phoenix Art Museum has unveiled the newly restored 2006 digital artwork Julian and Suzanne Walking by British artist Julian Opie. The popular public art installation, commissioned with funds provided by Jan and Howard Hendler, was taken off view in 2019 due to weather-related wear-and-tear and has since been restored by the museum to represent the artist’s original intent. The restoration was made possible through the generosity of Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust’s Now is the Moment Grants Commemoration. Julian and Suzanne Walking is back on view on the east-facing facade of the museum’s south wing.
Edward Hopper’s Cape Ann connections explored in July exhibition
GLOUCESTER, Mass. – The Cape Ann Museum will unveil Edward Hopper & Cape Ann: Illuminating an American Landscape in 2023, an exhibition of the critically acclaimed American artist during a turning point in his life and career when he came to Cape Ann from 1923-1928. This major exhibition is the first dedicated to Hopper’s formative development on Cape Ann, marking the pivotal summer of 1923 when Edward Hopper and his future wife, Josephine “Jo” Nivison, visited Gloucester. Edward Hopper & Cape Ann opens on Hopper’s birthday, July 22, runs through October 16, and is presented in collaboration with the Whitney Museum of American Art, the major repository of the Hoppers’ work.
Colby College Museum of Art receives 184 works from John Marin’s family
WATERVILLE, Maine — The Colby College Museum of Art has received 184 works of art from Norma Marin. Ms. Marin, who died in 2022 and was married to John Marin Jr. — son of the modernist painter John Marin — had a long relationship with the Colby Museum as a donor and a lifetime member of the Museum Board of Governors.
Rihanna buys Matthew Perry’s former LA penthouse for $21M
LOS ANGELES – Rihanna is the new owner of a 40th-floor Los Angeles penthouse in the celebrity-approved, paparazzi-proof, 42-story the Century condominium building. The penthouse was formerly owned by Matthew Perry, who sold it in 2021 for $21.6 million. Rihanna paid $21 million for the four-bedroom, 9,290-square-foot condo. She has been a resident of the Century since 2014 in a much smaller unit; she will gain one more bedroom, three more bathrooms, and almost 6,000 additional square feet with her new, higher-floor pad.