Gallery Listings

New works by Stephen Scott Young, who is highly skilled in the use of drybrush watercolor and silverpoint. The light-filled, exquisitely detailed drawings are particularly striking. While the still lifes are fairly routine, a series depicting poised young dancers makes good use of space and light. Many of Young’s subjects are African-American, and he is sensitive to the luminosity of dark skin. April 15–May 29, 2009.

Arcadia Fine Arts, New York City

Alexander Klingspor, an exhibition of paintings by the Swedish-born artist, who favors groups in noirish interiors, suggesting enigmatic narratives. April 23–May 7, 2009.

Forum Gallery, New York City

New paintings and drawings by Michael Leonard, mostly half-length figure studies of men and women in dressing rooms. Leonard’s interest in the casually observed, partially dressed body brings him closer to Degas than the academic nude, but his tight painthandling is contemporary realist. Compressed foregrounds and off-center framing add compositional interest. May 7–June 12, 2009.

Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York City

“Thirteen Miles from Paradise,” four large-scale ( 90-by-75 inches) scenes of an industrial town, Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Composite images of surprising beauty, the four canvases are also meditations on the four seasons. Through March 14, 2009. Travels to the Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (April 10–June 14, 2009).

Recent paintings by John Morra, whose still lifes raise kitchen appliances to iconic status. Emphasizing smooth forms and crisp silhouettes, Morra assembles coffee makers and mixers into architectural skylines, the epic on a domestic scale. April 23–May 22, 2009.

Kouros Gallery, New York City

Maureen Mullarkey, “Gutenberg Elegies,” small-scale collages made from broken books and manuscript fragements, with appealing textures. Strong formal compositions enriched by the cultural memory of salvaged materials. May 14−June 12, 2009.

Byron Roche Gallery, Chicago

Group show featuring Isabelle du Toit, who paints solitary creatures in minimalist black voids, to illustrate the fragility of nature. Colorful birds and butterflies are her most appealing and visually effective subjects. The abstractionist Michael Hoffman is showing some incandescent color studies that evoke the feel of sunset over open water. April 17–May 30, 2009.

John Pence Gallery, San Francisco

Recent paintings by Jacob Collins, a leader in the realist revival and founder of three highly influential teaching institutions: the Water Street Atelier, the Grand Central Academy of Art and the Hudson River School for Landscape. Collins combines academic legerdemain with bravura brushwork in a variety of genres, including still lifes reminiscent of William Merritt Chase’s best endeavors and formally arresting nudes, classically elegant but with the frankness of Courbet. May 2–30, 2009.

Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe

Flight,” a solo show of Isabelle du Toit’s bird paintings, their plumage vibrant against the surrounding black. The way she carves out illusionistic boxes of space around the birds, suggesting both cages and nests, adds dimension. May 29–June 22, 2009.

San Marino Gallery, Pasadena, California

“Explosion of Blooms,” hyper-realistic close-ups of flowers by Anthony Waichulis, Terese Rogers, Claire Fontaine and Lisa Lopuck, among others. Through June 24, 2009.

William Baczek Fine Arts, Northampton, Massachusetts

Still lifes by Larry Preston, paintings of fruit and flower arrangements with reference to the Dutch tradition, a lineage underlined by dark backgrounds and heavy black frames. Some studies are merely conventionally pretty, but Preston uses light sculpturally in handsome, solid compositions such as Old Tin with Wild Apples and Amaryllis (both 2009). April 15–May 17, 2009.

Museums

“Gustave Caillebotte: Impressionist Paintings from Paris to the Sea,” forty paintings, along with drawings and related photographs, by the artist and patron (part of his collection hangs in the Musée d’Orsay). His work, while colorful in the Impressionist manner, is characterized by strong perspective and a realist undercurrent, as well. Through July 5, 2009.

Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

“N.C. Wyeth: America in the Making.” Wyeth painted these twelve panels, depicting key moments in American history, in egg tempera. Supported by other American Scene paintings from the museum and private collections. Through August 9, 2009.

Columbia Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio

George Tooker retrospective, the final venue for an excellent survey of the modern tempera master. One of the pre-eminent chroniclers of twentieth-century angst, he always finds dignity in the human form, and his glowing color is a benediction. The carefully plotted perspective drawings have the logic of Renaissance cartoons. May 1–August 1, 2009.

Columbus Museum of Art, Boston

“Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice,” fifty-seven paintings by the great sixteenth-century masters, focusing on their career rivalries and their development of the craft of oil painting. Standouts include Titian’s Flora and Danäe, and Tintoretto’s Susannah and the Elders. March 15–August 16, 2009. Travels to the Musée du Louvre, Paris (September 16, 2009–January 4, 2010).

Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York

“America’s Rome: Artists in the Eternal City,” in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the publication of William Vance’s two-volume study America’s Rome, tracing the influence of Roman art and ideas. Organized around the Forum, the Colosseum and the Campagna, the show features eighty paintings by, among others, Thomas Cole and George Inness. May 23–December 31, 2009.

Frick Collection, New York City

“Masterpieces of European Painting from the Norton Simon Museum,” five works from a superb, compact collection in Pasadena, California. A stunning Zurbarán still-life, Jacopo Bassano’s lyrical Flight into Egypt and paintings by Rubens, Murillo and Guercino. Through May 10, 2009. The Frick reciprocates by lending Ingres’s glamorous Comtesse d’Haussonville to the Norton Simon later this year (October 28, 2009–January 24, 2010).

Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

“The Road to Impressionism: Barbizon Landscapes from the Walters Art Museum,” thirty-two paintings by Monet, Boudin, Diaz de la Pena and Daubigny, among others. Despite the crowd-catching title, these landscapists had a wide international influence, especially on the woodland scenes of America’s Hudson River School. Supplemented by drawings from the museum’s archive of Millet works. Through May 24, 2009.

Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

“The Darker Side of Light,” an exhibition of 120 works on paper investigating the intimate experience of artists and collectors through prints and illustrated books. Works by Menzel, Munch, Whistler and Redon, among others, highlight the show, which focuses on the fin-de-siècle. April 5-June 20, 2009.

Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York

“The Luminous Landscapes of April Gornik,” fifteen large-scale paintings of serene, unpeopled vistas, often focused on cool, diffuse centers of light. In paintings such as Fresh Light (1987) and Suspended Sky (2004), Gornik suggests the immanent spirituality of open spaces. The sheer size—Fresh Light is 74-by-96 inches—gives the viewer a sense of breathing room. May 2–July 5, 2009.

Legion of Honor, San Francisco

“Artistic Luxury: Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique,” the first comparative study of these masters of the decorative arts, illuminating the Art Nouveau exploration of natural forms. Includes a recreation of their exhibits at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, the only occasion on which they shared a venue. Through May 31, 2009.

Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey

“The Wyeths: Three Generations,” works by N.C. Wyeth, a major figure in the golden age of American book illustration; his son Andrew, a high-profile realist for most of the twentieth century, and grandson Jamie. Through July 19, 2009.

Morgan Library & Museum, New York City

““New at the Morgan: Acquisitions since 2004,” a hundred items reflecting a wide range of interests. Highlights include a tiny, lavish sixteenth-century prayer book, a Watteau study for his Cythera paintings, an illustrated letter by van Gogh and visionary landscapist Samuel Palmer’s majestic Oak Tree and Beech, Lullingstone Pork (1828). Letters and musical scores (accompanied by recordings at listening kiosks) offer insights into the creative process of writers and composers. Through October 18, 2009.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

“Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice,” fifty-seven paintings by the great sixteenth-century masters, focusing on their career rivalries and their development of the craft of oil painting. Standouts include Titian’s Flora and Danäe, and Tintoretto’s Susannah and the Elders. March 15–August 16, 2009. Travels to the Musée du Louvre, Paris (September 16, 2009–January 4, 2010).

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

“Luis Meléndez: Master of the Spanish Still Life,” thirty paintings—eight on loan from the Prado—by the eighteenth-century artist. Meléndez began with a royal commission to interpret the four seasons and went on to find compositional gold in arrangements of humble foodstuffs. The National Gallery’s acquisition, in 2000, of a Meléndez study of bread and figs was a revelation, sparking this exhibition. May 17–August 23, 2009. Travels to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (September 23, 2009–January 3, 2010) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (January 31–May 9, 2010).

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri

The museum’s new galleries of American art re-open, after a $7 million renovation, integrating fine and decorative art and with twenty percent more exhibition space. The first-rate collection includes the nation’s premier holdings of Thomas Hart Benton, along with works by Sargent, Peale, Homer and Eakins. Opens April 22, 2009.

Newark Art Museum, Newark, New Jersey

“Small but Sublime: Intimate Views by Durand, Bierstadt and Inness,” from a fine collection of Hudson River School paintings. These artists, known for their attention to natural detail, didn’t need epic scale to find remarkable landscapes. Through February 28, 2010.

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington

“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery,” a traveling exhibition of paintings, prints and decorative arts from the Colonial period to the Gilded Age. Fresh evidence of why university art collections are vital to the nation’s cultural well-being. Through May 25, 2009. Travels to the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama (October 4, 2009–January 10, 2010).

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.

Renwick Gallery, “The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene,” 131 objects—including furniture, stained glass, architectural drawings and photographs—from the California masters of the Arts and Crafts movement. March 13–June 7, 2009.

Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland

“Saint John’s Bible,” featuring pages from a project undertaken by Saint John’s University in Minnesota, a handwritten and illustrated manuscript Bible by contemporary scribe-artist Donald Jackson. Supplemented by a demonstration of scriptorium practice. February 15–May 24, 2009.

Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

“A Romance with the Land,” an exhibition focusing on the pioneering American landscapists Thomas Doughty and William Louis Sonntag, continuing with Pennsylvania Impressionist Walter Schofield. Through June 14, 2009.