Visual Arts

Installation view, "Revival: Materials and Monumental Forms," the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, 2022. (Courtesy Charles Mayer/ICA)

At the ICA Watershed, found objects are poetic and political

The six installations that make up the exhibition "Revival: Materials and Monumental Forms" explore themes of labor and production, capitalism and consumerism, as well as the sustainability of it all.

Arts & Culture

May 26, 2022

A visitor to the Venice Biennale photographs Simone Leigh's sculpture entitled "Jug." Leigh has been awarded a Golden Lion at the 59th International Art Exhibition. (Giuseppe Cottini/Getty Images)

At the Venice Biennale, artist Simone Leigh centers experience of Black women

Leigh is the first Black woman to be awarded the Biennale commission for the U.S. pavilion, and she made over the pavilion to reflect just that.

Arts & Culture

04:37May 13, 2022

Joseph Mallord William Turner, "The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, October 16, 1834," 1835. (Courtesy The Cleveland Museum of Art)

'Turner's Modern World' is an eye-popping and informative show at the MFA

This exhibition, in its last stop on a three-city tour, makes a strong case that 19th-century artist Joseph Mallord William Turner is England's greatest painter, art critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews.

Arts & Culture

May 3, 2022

Philip Guston, "Open Window," 1969. (Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

After postponement, Philip Guston's work finally arrives at the MFA

The exhibition was scheduled to open July 2021, but in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and a rise in white supremacist activity, the show was pushed to allow the...

Arts & Culture

Apr 28, 2022

Simone Leigh altered the exterior of the U.S. pavilion to give it the appearance of a traditional African rondavel. (Courtesy Simone Leigh and Matthew Marks Gallery/Timothy Schenck)

Artist Simone Leigh's work transforms the US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

Leigh, the first Black woman to represent the U.S. at the Venice Biennale, not only entices onlookers with her sculptures but subverts the physical space that holds them.

Arts & Culture

Apr 22, 2022

Konstantin Dimopoulos, "Blue Tree Yellow Leaves Looking Up." (Coutesy Konstantin Dimopoulos/Peabody Essex Museum)

At Peabody Essex Museum, trees are turning blue for Earth Day

Australia-based artist Konstantin Dimopoulos’ temporary art installation, “The Blue Trees,” uses biologically-safe watercolor and a team of community volunteers to color trees an electric blue to highlight deforestation.

Arts & Culture

Apr 22, 2022

Children photographed in the early 20th century in San Jose, California. (Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Leonard A. Lauder Postcard Archive)

Postcard exhibit offers a candid view into the early 20th century

A new show at the MFA explores the turn of the century mania for postcards. In 1903, that fascination kicked up into a frenzy with the Eastman Kodak Company’s creation...

Arts & Culture

Mar 17, 2022

Philip Guston, "Painting, Smoking, Eating," 1973. (Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

12 art exhibits worth catching this spring

From a controversial Philip Guston retrospective to a quirky show featuring one-of-a-kind croquet mallets, there are a slew of exhibits to check out.

Arts & Culture

Mar 16, 2022

"Immersive Shevchenko: Soul of Ukraine" opened a special one-day Boston screening Tuesday featuring works by the 19th-century Ukrainian poet and artist Taras Shevchenko. (Courtesy of Lighthouse Immersive)

Special exhibit 'Immersive Shevchenko' opens in Boston, offering window into 'the Ukrainian soul'

Ticket proceeds will go to Red Cross humanitarian relief and a fund set up by the National Bank of Ukraine to support the country's armed forces amid the Russian invasion,...

Arts & Culture

Mar 15, 2022

Byzantine Art Gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Everything old is new again in the MFA’s transformed art galleries of Ancient Greece, Rome and the Byzantine Empire

Five “reimagined” galleries have now opened at the MFA and expand the display of the museum’s impressive collection of art from the ancient world. WBUR arts critic Lloyd Schwartz shares...

Arts & Culture

Mar 14, 2022

The courtyard at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Critic Hilton Als invites us to see the Gardner Museum through his eyes

As visiting curator of performing arts, the Pulizer Prize-winning theater critic is tasked with bringing to life a museum famously stuck in time.

Arts & Culture

04:04Mar 3, 2022

An image of a snowflake, captured by Wilson Bentley. (Courtesy Jericho Historical Society)

How Vermont's 'snowflake man' created the first-ever images of fleeting snow crystals

Using a microscope and a bellows camera, Wilson Bentley successfully photographed his first snow crystal in 1885. Almost 100 years after his death, his images continue to mesmerize.

Arts & Culture

06:33Feb 25, 2022

Iris Apfel modeling her eyewear collection for Zenni Zentennial. (Courtesy Ruven Afanador)

Fashion icon Iris Apfel's surprising connection to Salem

The 100-year-old reflects on her sartorial choices, life lessons and her permanent collection at the Peabody Essex Museum.

Arts & Culture

Feb 22, 2022

Napoleon Jones-Henderson, "TCB," 1970. (Courtesy Mel Taing/ICA)

At the ICA, a Boston artist illustrates the vibrancy of Black culture

Napoleon Jones-Henderson's electric Kool-Aid colored tapestries, animated mosaics and shrine-like sculptures are on view in “I Am as I Am—A Man,” the ICA’s long-overdue survey of his work.

Arts & Culture

Feb 17, 2022

The MFA is returning two objects to Mali, depicting a kneeling figure, left, and a ewe. (Lent by William E. Teel. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

MFA returns two looted terracotta objects to Mali

Members of the UN delegation to Mali signed an agreement with the museum Tuesday to return the figures to their country of origin. They are thought to have been stolen...

Arts & Culture

Feb 8, 2022

Barkley L. Hendricks, "Self Portrait with Black Hat," 1980–2013. (Courtesy of the artist’s estate and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York)

At the Rose Art Museum, painter Barkley L. Hendricks' rarely seen photographs are on display

This exhibit offers a chance to see this other side of Hendricks’ oeuvre, including Polaroids, photographs and never-before-seen works on paper, all discovered in the artist’s New London, Connecticut studio...

Arts & Culture

Feb 8, 2022

Salomon van Ruysdael's "View of Beverwijk" (1646). (Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

MFA returns painting stolen from Jewish collector during WWII

The museum knew little about the 17th century Dutch painting “View of Beverwijk” when it acquired it in 1982. Then, in 2019, came a break in the case.

Arts & Culture

Jan 25, 2022

Alyse Minter, a descendent of Harriet Powers, stands by Powers' Bible Quilt on display in the MFA's exhibit "Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories." (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Harriet Powers' quilts leave a complicated legacy for her descendent

The 19th century quilter is considered the mother of African American story quilt tradition. Her great-great-great granddaughter wants to reclaim her whitewashed story.

Arts & Culture

05:22Jan 24, 2022

YoAhn Han, "Flora morphosis #6." (Courtesy the artist and Chase Young Gallery)

13 art exhibits to brighten up the darkness of winter

From the work of Syrian American artist Mohamad Hafez who explores the pain of the Syrian civil war through sculpture, to the work of Sharona Franklin who creates “bioshrines” to...

Arts & Culture

Jan 10, 2022

Projections of Vincent van Gogh’s "The Starry Night" flood the walls and floor and surround members of the media as they experience the press preview of “Imagine Van Gogh” at the SoWa Power Station in the South End. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

The original immersive Van Gogh exhibit opens in Boston

"Imagine Van Gogh" is the second Van Gogh show to open in Boston this year, but it was the first, shown in 2008 in Provence, France. The exhibit is in...

Arts & Culture

Dec 21, 2021

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At the ICA Watershed, found objects are poetic and political

At the Venice Biennale, artist Simone Leigh centers experience of Black women

'Turner's Modern World' is an eye-popping and informative show at the MFA

After postponement, Philip Guston's work finally arrives at the MFA

Artist Simone Leigh's work transforms the US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

At Peabody Essex Museum, trees are turning blue for Earth Day

Postcard exhibit offers a candid view into the early 20th century

12 art exhibits worth catching this spring

Special exhibit 'Immersive Shevchenko' opens in Boston, offering window into 'the Ukrainian soul'

Everything old is new again in the MFA’s transformed art galleries of Ancient Greece, Rome and the Byzantine Empire

Critic Hilton Als invites us to see the Gardner Museum through his eyes

How Vermont's 'snowflake man' created the first-ever images of fleeting snow crystals

Fashion icon Iris Apfel's surprising connection to Salem

At the ICA, a Boston artist illustrates the vibrancy of Black culture

MFA returns two looted terracotta objects to Mali

At the Rose Art Museum, painter Barkley L. Hendricks' rarely seen photographs are on display

MFA returns painting stolen from Jewish collector during WWII

Harriet Powers' quilts leave a complicated legacy for her descendent

13 art exhibits to brighten up the darkness of winter

The original immersive Van Gogh exhibit opens in Boston