With its numerous art galleries and museums, thousands of art dealers, and a great variety of outdoor art installations, New York is rightly called the art capital of the world. So once you are here, make sure to catch the most significant shows! To help you with that, we have prepared a list of the top 5 must-see New York City exhibitions that are held right now in prominent art institutions, from The Metropolitan Museum of Art to the New Museum of Contemporary Art. Here goes!
1. Alma Thomas (Studio Museum in Harlem)
This New York retrospective is dedicated to Alma Thomas (1891-1978), an African-American artist who is usually associated with Abstract Expressionism due to her very distinctive style of painting consisted of short strokes. However, taking into account bright colors and focus on the light, Alma Thomas can also be referred to as Impressionist. The exhibition features paintings from the artist’s entire career, starting from famous pieces of canvas art drawn from public and private art collections to rare watercolor paintings and examples of modern abstract art. It is on view until October 30, 2016.
2. Turner’s Whaling Pictures (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The exhibition is focused on four amazing marine paintings created by a well-known British landscape painter Joseph Mallord William Turner better known as J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851). Each of them represents a certain whaling scene painted by the artist near the end of his career. It’s interesting that this New York exhibition not only brings Turner’s whaling paintings together for the first time but also shows their influence on Herman Melville and his whaling epic, Moby-Dick. It can be viewed till August 7, 2016.
3. Saint Clair Cemin: Psyche (Paul Kasmin Gallery)
This retrospective actually presents a single work by a renowned Brazil postmodern sculptor Saint Clair Cemin (born in 1951) who lives and works in Beijing and New York City. The exhibited work dedicated to Classical Antiquity is called Psyche, referencing the myth of Psyche and Eros. This beautiful piece of large sculptures is represented by a 30,000-pound marble boat measuring 16 feet in length that is mounted on a standing armature made of bronze. It is on view through August 19, 2016.
4. The Keeper (New Museum of Contemporary Art)
The Keeper is a unique exhibition dedicated to the act of preserving important paintings, images, works of fine art, and other precious objects. It is represented by lots of imaginary art collections, museums, and assemblages to demonstrate the technique of displaying art and the devotion of those who create such sanctuaries for antique and fine art objects in real life. The show can be visited until September 25, 2016.
5. Peter Piller: Erscheinungen (Andrew Kreps Gallery)
This New York exhibition represents a retrospective of the latest works of a well-known German artist Peter Piller (born in 1968) who is known for appropriating different archival images and photographs from magazines and newspapers to explore the relationship between disparate images. However, the current New York exhibition is focused on the portrayals of women in advertising Piller photographed himself during his countless trips. It is on view until August 19, 2016.