Visual Arts

The empty frame of Vermeer's "The Concert" in the Dutch Room of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

30 Years Later, The Gardner Heist’s Emotional Toll Endures

March 18 marks the unsolved crime's 30th anniversary and the notorious event continues to take a cultural -- and emotional -- toll.

The ARTery

Mar 18, 2020

Museum of Fine Arts Boston. (Jesse Costa./WBUR)

Major Art Museums In Boston Close Over Coronavirus

In a joint statement, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Harvard Art Museums have all announced that they will...

The ARTery

Mar 12, 2020

A box of rabbit feet, which will be used in Georden West's installation "Queer Body in Ecstasy" at the Dorchester Art Project. (Courtesy Emma Leavitt)

With 'Queer Body In Ecstasy,' An Artist Claims Space And Examines Sexuality

The immersive installation at the Dorchester Art Project draws upon the artist’s ever-evolving perspective of the queer body.

The ARTery

Mar 12, 2020

Dora García’s “Love with Obstacles" exhibition at Rose Art Museum. (Courtesy Charles Mayer Photography)

Through Letters And Film, Artist Dora García Traverses 'Love With Obstacles'

The exhibition at Rose Art Museum, Garcia’s first solo show in the U.S., is an ascetic yet impassionate assemblage of gestures musing on the thwarted passions of a Russian revolutionary.

The ARTery

Mar 11, 2020

Work by Sterling Ruby at the ICA Boston. (Courtesy Sterling Ruby Studio)

One Man, Many Mediums: Sterling Ruby At The ICA

The artist is like a magpie, picking shiny fragments from myriad artistic and cultural traditions and rearranging them to striking effect.

The ARTery

Mar 6, 2020

Anita Walker, executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, talks at the Council’s official announcement that Lenox has been designed as the state’s 48th Cultural District on September 9, 2019. Walker announced she will be retiring from the Council in June. (Courtesy Ben Garver/The Berkshire Eagle)

Anita Walker, Head Of The Mass. Cultural Council, Is Retiring

During her 13-year tenure, the independent state arts agency has distributed millions in grant funding from the state and the National Endowment of the Arts.

The ARTery

Mar 5, 2020

Work by Ena Kantardžić. (Jenn Stanley for WBUR)

Distillery Gallery Show Delves Into Rituals Outside Of Religion

A new group exhibition explores the rituals and relics of everyday lives, and the meditation of secular routine particularly among people with marginalized identities.

The ARTery

Mar 5, 2020

A portrait of the artist's sister, Latoya Anderson by quilt artist Michael Thorpe. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

His Mom Taught Him To Quilt. Black Artists Guided His Style

Michael C. Thorpe's large-scale portraits are as much like paintings as quilts, soft cubist collages in sunny colors.

The ARTery

04:31Feb 28, 2020

Lucian Freud, “Self-Portrait,” about 1956. (Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Boston's Museum Of Fine Arts Goes All Out For Self-Portraits

The MFA is running three very compelling shows simultaneously, from Lucian Freud’s haunting paintings, to Elsa Dorfman’s cheery photos, to a collection of self-portraits on paper.

The ARTery

Feb 28, 2020

Jacob Lawrence, "Massacre in Boston," 1955. (Courtesy Peabody Essex Museum)

Jacob Lawrence's 'The American Struggle' Commits The Nameless To Canvas

An exhibition of painter Jacob Lawrence is a searing indictment of methodical erasures in our history, and a call to recommit to the democratic principles of liberty and justice for...

The ARTery

Feb 26, 2020

Skawennati, "She Gathers The Rain," 2018. (Courtesy MAAM)

At MassArt Art Museum, Artists Examine Racial And Gender Systems

MAAM’s first three exhibits each deal with the nature of systems and relationships and also offer spaces for viewers to meet.

The ARTery

Feb 26, 2020

The new front entrance of MassArt Art Museum on Huntington Ave features a patio with seating for visitors to relax. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

MassArt Opens A New Contemporary Art Museum, And It's Free

MAAM will show rotating exhibits of contemporary art, while a cohort of MassArt students will learn the business of maintaining this 15,000 square foot space.

The ARTery

04:43Feb 21, 2020

John Singer Sargent, Study of Two Male Nudes for a Cartouche for the Rotunda of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (Courtesy Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum)

'Boston's Apollo' Names John Singer Sargent's Black Model And Tells His Story

After decades of anonymity, Thomas McKeller gets top billing in a new show at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

The ARTery

Feb 18, 2020

12 Exhibits You Should See This Black History Month

"No matter your identity, these exhibits will make you question what you know while providing (some) tools for you to excavate meaning out of your visit," writes Arielle Gray.

The ARTery

Feb 18, 2020

Tschabalala Self, "Spat,"
2019. (Courtesy of the artist)

What Tschabalala Self's 'Out of Body' at the ICA Taught Me About My Own Body

A writer reflects on how she sees herself and black bodies, and how they're seen through the eyes of others.

The ARTery

Feb 7, 2020

Allison Maria Rodriguez, “In the Presence of Absence – José María & Ike” (video still), 2017-2020/ongoing. (Courtesy)

Artists Mourn And Remember In Fitchburg Art Museum's 'After Spiritualism'

Featuring the work of 15 artists who grapple with loss and the spiritual connection between the living and dead, the exhibit explores the acts of mourning, ritual and reverence.

The ARTery

Feb 6, 2020

Stephanie Cole, "Self Portrait Age 70." (Courtesy)

In Fuller Craft's 'Secular Cathedral,' An Artist Pays Homage To Life's Sacred Ups And Downs

Artist Stephanie Cole’s constructions and intricate assemblages, often fantastical and whimsical, are almost exclusively autobiographical, exploring the daily household victories and tragedies.

The ARTery

Jan 22, 2020

Hank Willis Thomas and MASS Design Group's proposed memorial (Courtesy of King Boston)

Organizers Of Planned King Memorial Hope To Break Ground In July

The plan still needs to pass muster with the Boston Arts Commission, the Boston Landmark Commission and the Boston Parks Department.

The ARTery

Jan 20, 2020

Josh Begley, "Prison Map," 2012-present. (Courtesy the artist)

In 'Walls Turned Sideways,' Artists Question The 'Justice' Of Our Justice System

The exhibit at the Tufts Aidekman Arts Center includes 51 works by 34 artists who in the past 40 years have examined aspects of a sprawling system that now imprisons...