Cultural Hit List
Art
Europe
London "Louise Bourgeois," at Tate Modern (Oct. 10–Jan. 20; tate.org.uk). Surrealist, Expressionist, and conceptual artist Bourgeois is still going strong in her nineties. This show, which spans seven decades of drawings, sculpture, and installations, reflects the synthesis of the major movements of the 20th century in her highly personal art. "An American's Passion for British Art: Paul Mellon's Legacy," at the Royal Academy of Arts (Oct. 20–Jan. 27; royal academy.org.uk). "It took an American collector to make the English look again at their own paintings," a noted London art dealer once remarked of Paul Mellon. Some 150 treasures from the philanthropist's collection (which now belongs to the Yale Center for British Art) will cross the pond for an exhibition celebrating the centennial of his birth.
Paris "Alberto Giacometti's Studio," at the Centre Pompidou (Oct. 17–Feb. 11; centrepompidou.fr). Giacometti's attenuated sculptures seldom travel, because of their extreme fragility. This exhibition offers a wide selection of them, along with paintings, drawings, writings, and a complete re-creation of his atelier. Plus, the Pompidou marks its 30th anniversary this year with a rehanging of its holdings—Europe's largest— of Modern and contemporary art.
Vienna "Late Titian and the Sensuality of Painting," at the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Oct. 18–Jan. 6; khm.at). Does the loose brushwork of Titian's late style represent unfinished painterly business, or a new direction heralding the next generation? This and other questions will be explored in a show that includes the museum's recently restored Titian, Nymph and Shepherd, as well as works by Tintoretto and Bassano.
United States
New York "Impressed by Light: British Photography from Paper Negatives, 1840–1860," at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Sept. 25–Dec. 31; metmuseum.org). Calotypes—early photographs made from paper negatives— were well suited for travel photography. The more than 100 rare images displayed here include mementos of the Grand Tour and colonial India. This fall also brings the reopening of the Wrightsman Galleries for 18th-Century French Decorative Arts (Oct. 30), and the reinstallation of the Met's stellar collection of Oceanic art (Nov. 14). "Zhang Huan: Altered States," at the Asia Society (through Jan. 20; asiasociety.org). The performance artist who sat covered in honey and fish oil in a Beijing latrine to attract flies and protest political repression gets his first retrospective. Included are photographs and recent sculptures informed by China, New York, and his travels.
Washington, D.C. "J.M.W. Turner," at the National Gallery of Art (Oct. 1–Jan. 6; nga.gov). The most comprehensive U.S. survey of this quintessentially modern painter, whose studies of the sublime effects of light and shadow on land and sea made him an Expressionist avant la lettre.
Miami "Promises of Paradise: Staging Mid-Century Miami," at the Bass Museum of Art (Dec. 5–Feb. 24; bassmuseum.org). Sketches, photographs, and furniture illustrate the exuberant style of the architects and designers—Alfred Browning Parker, George Farkas, Morris Lapidus—who shaped the look of houses and hotels in southern Florida. The show features a reconstruction of the dining room in the Miami Beach residence of Lapidus, for whom "too much was nowhere near enough."
Fort Worth "Declaring Space: Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko," at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (Sept. 30–Jan. 6; mamfw.org). This exploration of postwar abstraction through the work of four of its pioneers includes rare ensemble groupings of Rothko's work and an all-white Fontana installation.
San Francisco "Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson," at SFMoMA (through Feb. 24; sfmoma.org). The exhibition is the first U.S. survey of this Danish artist. Eliasson's installations have brought the effects of passing clouds, rainbows, and other phenomena indoors, posing questions about perception and experience.
Newport Beach, California "Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury," at the Orange County Museum of Art (Oct. 7–Jan. 6; ocma.net). Taking its title from Miles Davis's seminal recordings for Capitol Records, this ambitious exhibition explores the cultural ferment surrounding painting, architecture, furniture design, film, and music in California in the fifties and sixties.
Asia
Beijing " '85 New Wave Movement: The Birth of Chinese Contemporary Art," at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Nov. 4–Feb. 28; ullens-center.org). The inaugural show examines the mid 1980's and 30 of the artists who brought Chinese art to world attention. The new venue houses a collection of more than 1,500 works—paintings to video. — Leslie Camhi
Architecture
Fall 2007 sees openings of new buildings and major additions for museums throughout the United States, designed by some of the world's top architects. Meanwhile, in France, after three years of painstaking restoration, the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles may have more than recaptured its original resplendence.
Denver The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (mcartdenver.org), the first U.S. public institution by Londoner David Adjaye, opens its doors in Denver's historic LoDo district on October 28. Adjaye made a luminous box from etched gray glass and filled it with three levels of galleries. The premiere show, "Star Power: Museum as Body Electric," explores the body's relationship to architecture through the contemporary art of Chris Ofili, Wangechi Mutu, and Candice Breitz.
Detroit On November 23, the Detroit Institute of Arts (dia.org) returns after a top-to-bottom overhaul and a complete rehanging of its permanent collection. Michael Graves has designed a four-story addition to the 1927 main building by Paul Cret.
New York The much anticipated building for Manhattan's New Museum of Contemporary Art (newmuseum.org), by Tokyo's red-hot duo Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of sanaa, resembles a shifting stack of metal crates clad in aluminum mesh and delicately piled above the Bowery. It opens on December 1 with "Unmonumental," a show of sculpture, collage, sound, and new media.
Versailles The Hall of Mirrors (chateauversailles.fr), designed in 1678 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart for Louis XIV, debuted in June after a $16 million restoration. A regiment of artisans employed state-of-the-art processes to clean the paintings, gilding, marble, chandeliers, and 357 mirrors in the 240-foot-long gallery, which dazzles anew.—R.B.
Film
Los Angeles The American Film Institute's AFI Fest (Nov. 1–11; 866/234-3378; afi.com). Tinseltown's longest- running festival showcases work by well-established and not-so-established filmmakers, and includes nightly red-carpet premieres. The theaters themselves are part of the draw, with screenings held at Sunset Boulevard's ArcLight complex, inside the space-age Cinerama Dome, a geodesic cinema built in 1963.
Morocco Marrakesh International Film Festival (Nov. 3–Dec. 8; festivalmarrakech.info). Morocco and the movies go way back—the country has provided scenery and extras for countless toga-and-sandals epics—but the allure of its top-tier film festival, which has attracted Martin Scorsese, Catherine Deneuve, and Monica Bellucci, has just as much to do with the destination as with the Seventh Art.—D.H.
Theater
Europe
London All About My Mother Old Vic (through Nov. 24; 44-20/870-060-6628; oldvictheatre.com). Diana Rigg and Lesley Manville star in Samuel Adamson's adaptation of Pedro Almodóvar's 1999 Academy Award–winning masterpiece that follows a woman's return from grief with the help of other women on the edge.
United States
New York Black Watch St. Ann's Warehouse (Oct. 20–Nov. 11; 718/254-8779; stannswarehouse.org). The National Theatre of Scotland's production, based on interviews with members of the elite Scottish regiment sent to Iraq as part of the British forces, was the sensation of last year's Edinburgh Festival. Rock 'N' Roll Bernard Jacobs Theatre (opens Nov. 4; 212/477-7400; telecharge.com). The three principal members of the original London cast, Rufus Sewell, Brian Cox, and Sinéad Cusack, reprise their roles in Tom Stoppard's drama about Czecho-slovakian politics from 1967 to 1990. Young Frankenstein Hilton Theatre (opens Nov. 8; 866/448-7849; ticketmaster.com). It's alive! Mel Brooks returns to Broadway with his own musical adaptation of his celebrated 1974 movie. Susan Stroman, who staged The Producers, directs a cast that includes Tony Award winners Roger Bart, Sutton Foster, and Shuler Hensley, and television actress Megan Mullally.
Washington, D.C. Tamburlaine Harman Center for the Arts (Oct. 28–Jan. 6; 877/487-8849; shakespearetheatre.org). The renowned Shakespeare Theatre Company, headed by Michael Kahn, inaugurates the Sidney Harman Hall theater in its new home with a festival devoted to the works of Christopher Marlowe, kicked off by the dramatist's richly poetic, deeply ironical exploration of the glory found in war.
Minneapolis King Lear/ The Seagull Guthrie Theater (Oct. 5–14; 612/377-2224; guthrietheater.org). Director Trevor Nunn and the Royal Shakespeare Company bring on their touring repertory production of two classic plays, then take them to Los Angeles's UCLA Live (Oct. 19–28). Ian McKellen doubles up, too—playing the aged monarch Lear in Shakespeare's stark tragedy and the elderly, ailing estate owner Sorin, in Chekhov's tragicomedy. —Bill Rosenfield
Dance
Europe
London Jewels Royal Opera House (Nov. 23–Dec. 7; 44-20/ 7304-4000; roh.org.uk). In 1967, George Balanchine created the first multi-act "abstract" ballet, a three-part showcase of classical dance inspired by specially selected com-posers and precious stones: "Emeralds" (set to music by Fauré), "Rubies" (Stravinsky), and "Diamonds" (Tchaikovsky). This fall, the Royal Ballet mounts all three gems for the first time.
United States
New York Morphoses New York City Center (Oct. 17–21; 212/581-1212; nycitycenter.org). English choreo-grapher Christopher Wheeldon debuts his company in two programs that feature four of his new ballets, two of which have costumes by Narciso Rodriguez. The program also includes Wheeldon's acclaimed Morphoses, set to the music of Györgi Ligeti. American Ballet Theatre New York City Center (Oct. 23–Nov. 4; 212/581-1212; abt.org). The troupe's fall season will feature the premiere of A Musical Portrait of Chuck Close, by Finnish choreographer Jorma Elo, to music of Philip Glass, with sets by Close and costumes by Ralph Rucci; the revival of Baker's Dozen, Twyla Tharp's jazz-tinged showcase; and Antony Tudor's wistful The Leaves are Fading.—R.G.
Music
Europe
Milan Tristan und Isolde Teatro alla Scala (Dec. 7–Jan. 2, 39-02/7200-3383; teatroallascala.org).
Daniel Barenboim makes his long-awaited first move as La Scala's new principal guest conductor, and Patrice Chéreau, whose revolutionary Bayreuth Ring may be the sine qua non of Wagnerian opera production, returns to Wagner with a staging that features soprano Waltraud Meier in the role of Isolde.Vienna Die Walküre Staatsoper (Dec. 2–20; 43-1/513-1513; staats oper.at). Having tapped Franz Welser-Möst to be its next music director as of 2010, the Vienna State Opera is bringing him in to conduct all four operas—two per season—of its new Ring, staged by Sven-Eric Bechtholf.
United States
New York "Berlin in Lights" Carnegie Hall (Nov. 2–18; 212/ 247-7800; carnegiehall.org). The Berlin Philharmonic comes to the States, shining with even more luster than usual. The concerts at Carnegie, under music director Simon Rattle, are the centerpiece of a citywide festival that ranges from not-to-be-missed cabaret at Café Sabarsky to the hot-ticket Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela under the brilliant young conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Metropolitan Opera (212/362-6000; met opera.org). With live simulcasts, bigger crowds, and better conductors, Peter Gelb's house really does feel like a "new Met." Fall highlights include Verdi's Macbeth (Oct. 22–Nov. 3), with the fiery Maria Guleghina as Lady Macbeth; Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride (Nov. 27–Dec. 22), here for the first time in 90 years, with Susan Graham in the title role and Plácido Domingo as Oreste; and Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel (Dec. 24–Jan. 31), sung in English for the kids. Delusion of the Fury Japan Society (Dec. 4–8; 212/715-1258; japansociety.org). The Japan Society, which has inspired cutting-edge cross-cultural dialogue for 100 years, caps its centennial celebrations with a piece it commissioned from maverick composer Harry Partch in 1969, performed on instruments Partch invented, and directed by performance artist John Jesurun.
Baltimore Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (410/783-8000; baltimoresymphony.org). Feting Marin Alsop, the first woman to lead a major American orchestra, the BSO delivers a season (with tickets starting at $15) that continues Baltimore's tradition of showcasing recent American works—for example, Barber's piano concerto, played by Garrick Ohlsson (Oct. 25–28, with Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony), and works by 47-year-old Aaron Jay Kernis (Nov. 29–Nov. 30, with Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony).—A.M.
Fashion
Europe
London "The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London, 1947–1957," at the Victoria & Albert Museum (Sept. 22–Jan. 6; vam.ac.uk). This show highlights the creations of Parisian houses like Dior (promulgator of the New Look in the 40's), Givenchy, and Balenciaga, alongside their London counterparts.
Rome "Valentino a Roma: 45 Years of Style," at the Ara Pacis Museum (through Oct. 28; ara pacis.it). Valentino, Rome's last great couturier, gets imperial treatment with a retrospective in this Richard Meier–designed museum, where throngs of scarlet-clad vestals surround an ancient altar formerly used for sacrifices.
United States
Boston "Walk This Way," at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (through Mar. 23; mfa.org). Shoes are art: that's the thesis behind this exhibition, which pairs Venetian chopines with paintings of the Grand Canal by Canaletto, for example, or displays Vivienne Westwood pumps beside the 18th-century damask that may have inspired them.
San Francisco "Stylized Sculpture: Contemporary Japanese Fashion from the Kyoto Costume Institute," at the Asian Art Museum (Oct. 12–Jan. 6; asian art.org). Art photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto turns his camera on contemporary Japanese style with this show, which presents never-before-seen designs alongside innovative styles by Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, and Rei Kawabuko. —L.C.
More Art Trips
Europe
Lisbon With their trams, mosaic sidewalks, and tiled houses, the Portuguese capital's streets have long been considered its foremost attraction. But a new world-class museum is changing the city's image. Latest on the scene is the Museu Colecção Berardo (Praça do Império; 351-21/361-2913; museuberardo.com) at the Centro Cultural de Belém, just opposite the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. Entrepreneur Joe Berardo has amassed a superlative collection of nearly 900 works, including masterpieces by Picasso, Dalí, Mondrian, Bacon, and Gursky. Looking ahead, St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum will open its third European satellite, the Hermitage-Lisboa, here in 2010. But there's no need to wait until then, since Russian president Vladimir Putin will be in Lisbon on October 25 to help president Anibal Cavaco Silva inaugurate "Imperial Russia: From Peter I to Nicolas II," at the D. Luis Gallery in the stunning 18th-century Ajuda Palace (Largo da Ajuda; 351-21/361-4200), north of the Belém district. The survey of 650 works is among the largest ever to leave Russia. —A.F.
Seattle Long home to tech giants, the Emerald City has also emerged as a top cultural destination, thanks to the largesse of its citizens and foundations. To celebrate the 75th anniversary, in 2008, of the Seattle Art Museum (1300 Union St.; 206/344-5275; seattleartmuseum.org), 53 private collectors have given the museum 1,000 works—valued at more than $1 billion—including paintings ranging from Murillos to Richters; contemporary Chinese art; and Native American and African pieces. To house them, SAM has built a 300,000-square-foot expansion, designed by Brad Cloepfil, with room to grow. Earlier this year, SAM transformed nine acres along the waterfront into the Olympic Sculpture Park (2901 Western Ave.; 206/654-3123; seattleartmuseum.org), where visitors can see works by Louise Nevelson, Tony Smith, and Richard Serra, along with the view of the Olympic Mountains. —M.R.M.
