Museum matters: New York City's museums offer something for everyone this season

Art Business News, Feb, 2004 by Erika Rasmusson Janes

Whether your taste in art favors classic or contemporary styles, the city known for its "Museum Mile" offers visitors a taste of it all, with exhibitions ranging from photos of the frigid Arctic to steamy displays featuring the subculture of sex in the city.

AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM

45 West 53rd St.

(212) 265-1040

www.folkartmuseum.org

$9 admission

Open Wed. through Sun.,

10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Fri., 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Talking Quilts

Opening Feb. 25

Throughout history, quilts and other textiles have been seen as an outlet for women to express their individual creativity and personal beliefs. This exhibition of approximately 20 quilts from the 19th and 20th centuries explores the thoughts--political, religious and personal--of women in the United States through the words they have applied to their quilts.

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Central Park West at 79th St.

(212) 769-5100

www.amnh.org

$12 admission

Open daily 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.

Seasons of Life and Land: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Through March 7

An exhibition of more than 40 large-format color photographs by nature photographer Subhankar Banerjee features images that focus on the interdependent relationships among the land, water, wildlife and humanity of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a place of stark beauty and rich ecological diversity ranging from austere mountains to fertile plains. Banerjee spent two years in Alaska documenting the biodiversity and indigenous cultures of the refuge, covering roughly 4,000 miles by foot, raft, kayak, and snowmobile.

BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART

200 Eastern Parkway at Prospect Park, Brooklyn

(718) 638-5000

www.brooklynmuseum.org

$6 admission

Open Wed. through Fri., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

About Time: 700 Years of European Painting

Long-term installation

Drawing on the museum's collections, this thematic installation explores how centuries of European artists have chosen to depict specific moments in time, as well as give a sense of time's passage, in a variety of painting genres that include landscapes, narratives and portraits.

Egypt Through Other Eyes: Images from the Wilbour Library of Egyptology

Through spring 2004

This exhibit, culled from one of the world's most comprehensive Egyptological collections, chronicles Western interest in ancient Egypt. The images on display capture diverse interpretations of Egypt, demonstrate the country's allure to Westerners and present how Western writers and artists saw and recorded ancient Egypt from the 16th through the 20th centuries.

COOPER-HEWITT, NATIONAL DESIGN MUSEUM

2 East 91st St. at Fifth Ave.

(212) 849-8400

www.ndm.si.edu

$10 admission

Open Tues. through Thurs., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Fri., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sun., noon to 6 p.m.

Nancy and Edwin Marks Collection Gallery: Treasures from the Collection

Through May 2

The inaugural exhibition of the museum's new gallery celebrates design as a universal element of daily life. The 70 selections for "Treasures" encompass diverse styles, using objects from the five principal collecting departments of the museum: prints, drawings and graphic design; product design and decorative arts; wallcoverings; textiles; and the Cooper-Hewitt Library. They include a first-century Roman glass bowl, a silk velvet panel from 17th-century Persia and panels of hand-printed arabesque wallpaper from 1770.

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd St.

(212) 535-7710

www.metmuseum.org

$12 suggested admission

Open Tues. through Thurs. and Sun., 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Fri. and Sat., 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Klee Creatures

Through March 14

The 30 paintings and drawings from the Berggruen Klee Collection focus on the fantastic, whimsical creatures that inhabit the artist's world, including a hypocrite and knight errant, a chair animal, ventriloquist and disabled war heroes.

Small Bronzes

Through March 14

A selection of small bronzes, including works by Henri Matisse, Louise Bourgeois, Joan Miro, Henry Moore, Elie Nadelman, Pablo Picasso and Joel Shapiro, are on display--and accompanied by related drawings from the Met's collections of modern art. Themes represented include the human figure, animals and abstraction.

Significant Objects from the Modern Design Collection

Through April 25

This rotating collection of about 30 works includes all media and spans a period from the late 19th to the early 21st century. Furniture, metalwork, silver, ceramics and glass, by designers such as Josef Hoffman, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Peter Shire, Carlo Scarpa, Ettore Sottsass and Wendall Castle, are significant in both art-historical terms and in the context of the museum's collection.

MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART

36-01 43rd Ave. at 36th St., Queens

(718) 784-7700

www.africanart.org

$6 admission

Open Mon., Thurs. and Fri., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Looking Both Ways: Art of the Contemporary African Diaspora

Through March 1

This exhibit features works by artists from Africa who live and work in Western countries. It examines the relationships among physical contexts, emotional geographies, ambition and freedom of expression while focusing on the increasing globalization of the African Diaspora. The artwork demonstrates the interplay between the artists' African backgrounds and their new environments.