West 86th - Exhibition Reviews

Bauhaus: Art as Life

Reviewed by Catherine Moriarty

While exploring the School’s peculiarities, the exhibition at the Barbican, perhaps inadvertently, encourages the visitor to frame things in a wider cultural and political context.

Unlike clay, stone, marble, and ivory, bronze is able to replicate the biomechanics of the musculoskeletal system. This simple fact is the rationale behind Royal Academy's exhibition: how humans almost the world over have crafted sculptures from this curious alloy of copper to wonderful effect.

Present from the Earth: The Staffordshire Hoard

Reviewed by Benjamin C. Tilghman

The anxiety of context continues to vex many curators and art historians: How can we properly consider objects within their historical setting while allowing for the very real presence they have in the present day?

In Other Words

Reviewed by Kim Dhillon

Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, Ireland

July 22–October 30, 2011

Seeing Red: Hungarian Revolutionary Posters

Reviewed by Dominic Paterson

Seeing Red: Hungarian Revolutionary Posters, Museum of Modern Art, New York, February 2–August 2, 2011;
Mihály Biró: Pathos in Rot, Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna, October 6, 2010–January 9, 2011

A Response to Mark Alan Hewitt's Review of "Gustav Stickley and the American Arts and Crafts Movement"

Kevin W. Tucker

A response to Mark Alan Hewitt's review of the exhibition and the catalogue for Gustav Stickley and the American Arts and Crafts Movement.

Vishnu: Hinduism’s Blue-Skinned Savior

Reviewed by Allysa B. Peyton

Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN (February 20–May 29, 2011); Brooklyn Museum (June 24–October 2, 2011)

Gustav Stickley and the American Arts and Crafts Movement

Reviewed by Mark Alan Hewitt

Stickley is widely regarded as the central figure in the American arts and crafts movement. Considering his importance, it is odd that no monographic exhibition of his work should appear until this show.

Exhibition Reviews

If you are interested in reviewing an exhibition, please contact us.

Exhibition reviews, like articles, must be analytical and interpretive rather than essentially descriptive. (They should not merely summarize the contents, but should include a brief indication of what the exhibit is about.) Reviewers are also expected to add their own perspective based on their individual specialties, when this is relevant to the work under review. Judgments must be substantiated with objective evidence and clear reasoning in order to give the original work a balanced and fair assessment.

A brief sampling--in no particular order--of some of the upcoming or current exhibitions we would like to see reviewed (this listing will be updated regularly and we are open to contributor suggestions):

The Art Institute of Chicago

Material Translations: Japanese Fashion from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

November 3, 2012 – April 7, 2013

Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich

Chiné: Kettgemusterte Stoffe des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts

Through August 25, 2013

Bode Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Treasures of Faith: Masterpieces from the Dom-Museum, Hildesheim, and the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin

September 30, 2012 – April 1, 2013

British Library, London

Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire

Through April 2, 2013