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Museum And Gallery

Slideshow: The MFA's Luis Melendez exhibit

"Master of the Spanish Still Life," now showing through May 9, 2010
Images of Luis Melendez's show at the MFA

By PHOENIX STAFF | February 09, 2010

Bon appétit!

The delicious art of Luis Meléndez
Luis Meléndez himself greets you at the outset of "Luis Meléndez: Master of the Spanish Still Life" at the Museum of Fine Arts. He seems a haughty 31-year-old in this 1746 self-portrait, standing in a fine silk coat and ruffled shirt and holding up a chalk drawing (note the chalk in his hand) of a hunky nude dude.

By GREG COOK | February 09, 2010

Lighting history

The Gardner Museum takes a chance on the new
On January 1, 1903, Isabella Stewart Gardner invited 300 guests to a private concert by members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra to celebrate the opening of her new museum on the Fenway. After performances of Bach, Mozart, and Schumann, the mirrored doors of the first-floor concert room rolled open to reveal an extraordinary vision.

By GREG COOK | February 03, 2010

Photos: Amalgam and Different Kind of Monster at the BCA

Plus images from the 2010 DeCordova Biennial
Images of the art exhibit Amalgam and Different Kind of Monster at the BCA as well as the 2010 DeCordova Biennial.

By PHOENIX STAFF | January 26, 2010

Reboot

The new DeCordova 'Annual,' plus the BCA's studio artists
Portland artist Randy Regier's work is just beginning to be known, but he may be one of the best sculptors in the country.

By GREG COOK | January 26, 2010

Photos: AMALGAM and Different Kind of Monster at BCA

Two exhibitions featuring artists from the BCA Studio Building, on display till March 7, 2010
Photos from opening night in the Mills Gallery at BCA

By MARCUS GUTTENPLAN | January 27, 2010

Works in progress

Photography after Facebook at the PRC, 'Boston Does Boston III' at Proof, and Taro Shinoda at Gardner
Back in October, Minnesota photographer Alec Soth spoke at MassArt. "Facebook: 15 billion uploaded photos," he said. "At its busiest, 550,000 images each second being uploaded. So I've been struggling with that. How do I function as a photographer in that environment?"

By GREG COOK | January 12, 2010

Modern times

Does Jen Mergel's appointment mean that the MFA is getting serious about contemporary art?
Does Jen Mergel's appointment mean that the MFA is getting serious about contemporary art?

By GREG COOK | January 06, 2010

2009: The year in art

Saints, sinners, paint
The year started off with a kick in the teeth when, in January, Brandeis University announced plans to shutter its Rose Art Museum and sell off its masterpieces.

By GREG COOK | December 30, 2009

Fresh fruit and vegetables

A winter crop of art
The bleakest months of New England winter are ahead of us, so the prospect of leaving your toasty house to see art may not be at the top of your to-do list.

By GREG COOK | January 04, 2010

Alternative universe

Boston Expressionism in context
In the 1930s and '40s, Boston painters developed a moody, mythic realism. They mixed social satire with depictions of street scenes, Biblical scenes, and mystical symbolic narratives, all of it darkened by the shadow of the Great Depression and World War II.

By GREG COOK | December 16, 2009

Photos: Boston expressionism at Danforth Museum

Aronson, Bergenstein, and Schwartz at the Danforth Museum this winter
Photos of the works of expressionist artists David Aronson, Henry Schwartz, Gerry Bergstein and at the Danforth Museum in Framingham.

By PHOENIX STAFF | December 16, 2009

Photos: Yone’s Hot Tokyo nights (NSFW)

Yonehara Yasuma, Japan’s photographic poet of sleaze, brings his erotic landscapes to Boston
Yonehara Yasuma -- or just Yone, to his international legions of fans -- is a singular figure in Japanese photography, fashion, and culture. His photographs of Japanese pinup girls and amateur models are genuinely erotic, even as they draw attention to the complexities and dark undercurrents of desire.

By YONEHARA YASUMA | December 11, 2009

Wild about Harry

Trailblazing along a narrow path
What I want to do — what most photographers want to do — is write Harry Callahan a love letter. At the very least, he deserves an elaborate thank-you note for innovating or validating 80 percent of the successful photographs we ever took.

By CLIF GARBODEN | December 09, 2009

Magpie and copyist

Iris Apfel at PEM, Mary McFadden at MassArt
If you were going to recount the evolution of hippie guy fashion, you might say that what began with psychedelic ruffled shirts and corduroy pants in 1968 has in late middle age split into two streams: collarless white button-down shirts, usually buttoned right up to the neck and worn with a black vest, and Hawaiian shirts.

By GREG COOK | November 24, 2009

Narrative truth

Krzysztof Wodiczko’s war story at the ICA
For the majority of us Americans, Iraq and Afghanistan are a series of news-data points — number of Americans killed today, number of car bombs, spending tallies, estimates of civilian deaths.

By GREG COOK | November 11, 2009

Power to the people

Art of the Streets Dept.
Painted portraits are, as evidenced by the many on display inside Boston’s world-famous art galleries, a window into the world of royalty, politicos, and other spectacularly coiffed assholes from centuries ago.

By IAN SANDS | November 04, 2009

Wizards and masterpieces

Harry Potter at the Museum of Science, and another look at the Rose
At “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” at the Museum of Science, when a robed attendant places the sorting hat on a visitor’s head and soon after a door whooshes open to reveal the Hogwarts Express, you find yourself filled with the kind of giddy expectation you feel when getting your hands on a Potter book the day it’s released.

By GREG COOK | November 06, 2009

Harvard ‘ACT UP’ show gets rise from right-wingers

Tea Baggers Meet the Tea-Baggers Dept.
Taking a detour from directly bashing President Obama, right-wingers are now hot and bothered by a Harvard art exhibit. And they have an Obama administration foil toward whom they can channel their bile.

By GREG COOK | November 02, 2009

Casting spells

Tomb 10A at the MFA; ACT UP at Harvard
In 1915, Harvard University and Museum of Fine Arts archæologists digging in a rocky cliff at Deir el-Bersha unearthed the 4000-year-old tomb of the Djehutynakhts, an ancient Egyptian governor and his wife.

By GREG COOK | October 21, 2009