Museum Exhibitions To Check Out Around Columbia This Fall

Upper West Side NY

16 September, 2021

11:26 AM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY OLIVIA DOYLE SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 Eased COVID-19 restrictions signal the reopening of New York's vibrant nightlife and arts scene. This fall, a number of museums around campus opened their doors to the public for in-person exhibitions. Although many museums adapted to an online world by offering tours and exhibitions in a virtual format, the absence of in-person exhibitions prompted us to reflect on experiences unique to viewing art in-person. New York's most popular museums and Columbia's galleries fully return art to the people this fall with a variety of new exhibitions on display. The Wallach Located on Columbia's Manhattanville campus, the Wallach Art Gallery opened its first in-person exhibition since the start of the pandemic this summer. On Friday, the gallery opened "The Way We Remember," an exhibition dedicated to the politics of memory as embodied in public monuments. The exhibit lends a particular focus to German modernist sculptor Fritz Koenig's Great Caryatid Sphere (1967–1972), one of the earliest memorials to 9/11. The scope extends, however, to include some of the monuments on Columbia's own campus, inviting an open inquiry as to who we choose to remember and commemorate and the ways in which we choose to do so. The LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies This fall, the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies honors the centenary year of founder and American artist LeRoy Neiman's birth. The exhibition brings together a series of Neiman's drawings and prints, which center on American sporting events and leisure activities and often feature cultural icons like Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali, and Arthur Ashe. The exhibition also features some of Neiman's lesser-known work, which captures the contemporary political climate during his time. The gallery is located at the School of the Arts in Dodge Hall. Grimandi Art Gallery Closer to home is the Grimandi Art Gallery, located on Columbus Avenue between West 108th and 109th streets. Currently on display is an exhibition entitled "Tonantzin: A Call for Mother Earth," which unites the work of artists from Australia, Japan, the United States, Colombia, and Mexico through their advocacy of conservation efforts. On Oct. 8, the gallery will open "The Stones of the Kings: Pre-Hispanic Art of Colombia," an exhibition inspired by the Muiscas peoples of Colombia, who are also known as the Chibchas. The exhibition will showcase over 200 ornaments, jewels, Colombian emeralds, and original gold pieces, with a focus on the special ritual functions of these pieces and Indigenous peoples' relationship with Mother Earth. Heath Gallery The Heath Gallery is currently featuring UBRolling, an exhibition dedicated to one of its founders, Thomas Heath, until Sept. 16. Heath founded the gallery with his wife, Saundra Alexis Heath, in 2002 "to create exhibition opportunities for underserved local artists." The exhibition features 22 paintings on wood and canvas that explore "the movement of the ancestral spirit through the Middle Passage to contemporary Western life," with an effort to display the experiences of people of the African diaspora. The Metropolitan Museum of Art While one could spend hours in what is undoubtedly one of New York's most famous museums, three of its temporary exhibitions this fall shouldn't be missed:"The Medici: Portraits and Politics, 1512-1570," "The New Woman Behind the Camera," and "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion." The Medici exhibit, on view until Oct. 11, boasts over 90 works that explore the portrayal of the Florentine elite during the Medici family's rule in the 16th century. The exhibition examines the politics of representation through portraiture, with special attention given to Florentine identity, which was in flux during this tumultuous period. On view until Oct. 3, "The New Woman Behind the Camera" is a deep dive into the contributions of female photographers. The exhibit focuses on the works of the "New Woman of the 1920s," a global phenomenon that treated the real, modern woman of the early 20th century as an independent revolutionary. "The New Woman Behind the Camera" is the first exhibition that views this feminist ideal as an international phenomenon and includes the works of more than 120 photographers from over 20 countries. On Monday evening, the Met Gala marked the launch of the Costume Institute's "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion" exhibition, a two-part examination of American history through fashion. The exhibition features 12 garments representing various emotional attributes of American fashion as patches that form a quilt that serves as a metaphor for the diversity of cultural identities in the United States. "Belonging" is embodied by four Ralph Lauren sweaters, "Exuberance" is seen in Christopher John Rogers' silk ball gown, and "Consciousness" takes form in an upcycled 1920s beaded dress by Tara Subkoff. The exhibition will be on view between Sept. 18, 2021 and Sept. 5, 2022, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Costume Institute. The MoMA After its major renovation in 2019, the Museum of Modern Art is at the forefront of rethinking the dominant narrative of modern art. On view until Sept. 25 is "Cezanne Drawing," an exhibition that offers a fresh perspective on an old master. The exhibition features over 250 rarely seen works from Cezanne's sketchbooks, including the iconic motifs for which he is best known—Mont Sainte-Victoire, nude bathers, and still lifes—offering insight into the artist's creative process and his radically modern vision. The Neue Galerie A small, intimate space located on Museum Mile, the Neue Galerie is home to a collection of early 20th century German and Austrian art. Perhaps most notably, the museum houses Klimt's "Portrait of Adele-Bloch Bauer," a painting with a complex ownership history dramatized in the movie "Woman in Gold." Also on view are works from Expressionist painters Egon Shiele and Oskar Kokoschka, artists largely influenced by Klimt. The gallery is offering "pay-what-you-wish" admission until Nov. 7. Whether you are interested in the more traditional work of the old masters or the contemporary work of new and up-and-coming artists, the museums around Columbia have much to offer this fall to celebrate the return of in-person exhibitions. A&E Deputy Editor Olivia Doyle can be contacted at [email protected] Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.