New York: The Met Misses the Mark in Recounting Its Own History

Needless to say, it’s been an exhausting few weeks. Now feels like an especially great time to curl u

Nov 11, 2020 • View in browser

Needless to say, it’s been an exhausting few weeks. Now feels like an especially great time to curl up with some of the best documentaries of the year.Contributor Daniel Larkin also takes a deep dive into the Metropolitan Museum’s (oddly heralded) anniversary exhibition, which “botched several opportunities to truly reckon with own history.” Check out other reflectionson exhibitions featuring the work of Etel Adnan, Theaster Gates, and Fred Tomaselli, among others.Staff writer Valentina Di Liscia also writes of an election day performance that honored the courageous legacy of Ona Maria Judge Staines, a woman who escaped from George and Martha Washington’s enslavement.– Dessane Lopez Cassell, Editor, Reviews

The Met Misses the Mark

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, European Paintings Galleries; View of installers hanging paintings. Photographed in November 1928 (all images courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Making the Met, the anniversary exhibition chronicling the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s first 150 years, botches several opportunities to truly reckon with own history.

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Latest Reviews

Etel Adnan Reflects on Aging With Gentle Hues A sense of longing pervades Seasons, which opened at Galerie Lelong just as New York City reached peak autumn foliage. Billy Anania

Welcome to the Empty Gallery That Speaks Volumes Mike Zahn gives us an image of Shrine’s empty gallery projected in the empty space, offering a commentary both meta and melancholic. Seph Rodney

On Election Day, a Performance Remembers a Woman Who Fled Enslavement Starting at Seneca Village and ending at the Manhattan Trump Hotel, artist Dragonfly honored the legacy of Ona Maria Judge Staines, who escaped from George and Martha Washington’s enslavement. Valentina Di Liscia

Theaster Gates and the Shapes of Black History Gates reminds us of the many hidden, unacknowledged, and under-recognized histories of Black culture in America. John Yau

SPONSORED Check Out Indigenous Cinema With the National Museum of the American Indian For Native American Heritage Month, the Native Cinema Showcase includes over 60 free online screenings representing 49 Native Nations in 12 different countries.

Cathartic Art for Precarious Times Fred Tomaselli’s incorporation of printed news in his paintings long before the pandemic now seems downright prescient. Gregory Volk

Monumental Art No Bigger Than a Postcard Toying with blob-like shapes and the illusion of depth, the Austrian self-taught artist Leopold Strobl packs mystery and expressive power into small-scale drawing-collages. Edward M. Gómez

A Statue of Leonard Peltier, Leader of 1970s American Indian Movement, Is Overlooking Alcatraz Artist Rigo 23 was inspired to make the statue after seeing a self-portrait painted by Peltier in prison. Emily Wilson

Closing Soon

Michael Berryhill: Solo Exhibition at Kate Werble Gallery, through November 12At a time when quirkiness often feels contrived, and a widespread attitude seems to all but insist that art deliver its content front and center, Michael Berryhill has developed a powerful, resistant, and important alternative. – John Yau Adebumni Gbadebo: A Dilemma of Inheritance at Claire Oliver Gallery, through November 14Gathering hair, indigo, and artifacts from two South Carolina plantations, Adebunmi Gbadebo: A Dilemma of Inheritance considers the materiality of the past. – Erica Cardwell Feliciano Centurión: Abrigo at the Americas Society Art Gallery, through November 20 Intertwining local folk-art traditions with mass-produced materials, Centurión pioneered a decorative, kitschy, feminized, and decidedly queer aesthetic. – Cassie Packard Leilah Babirye: Ebika Bya ba Kuchu mu Buganda at Gordon Robichaux, through November 22Spanning two galleries at Gordon Robichaux, these objects stand proudly like subjects of a royal court: majestic ceramic and carved wooden heads glazed in variegated earth tones bode dignified smiles. – Daniella Brito

SPONSORED Columbia University Opens Applications for MFA Programs in Visual Arts and Sound Art On November 15, join Columbia University School of the Arts for virtual information sessions on these interdisciplinary graduate programs in New York City.

More from Hyperallergic

Strategies for Embracing the Fabulously Mundane A self-avowed pleasure activist, writer and professor Sami Schalk is building a project that revels in taking simple yet transformative steps towards feeling good, while rejecting ableist frameworks. Dessane Lopez Cassell | November 18, 1–2pm

Watch All the Year's Best Documentaries in One Place The online edition of DOC NYC presents the highlights of 2020’s nonfiction cinema. Dan Schindel

What's Happening?

Art collector Seth Stolbun stepped down from the board of Rhizome after a report revealed accusations of workplace harassment and unhealthy work conditions.On a momentous Election Day, a roving street performance commemorated someone who too many Americans may not be familiar with: Ona Maria Judge Staines.A new sprawling mural based on Carmen Herrera’s “Diagonal” design, painted by middle and high school students, has just been unveiled in East Harlem.The state of New York is suing international auction house Sotheby’s for allegedly helping a wealthy art collector evade sales tax on $27 million worth of artworks.

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