In New York for the Holidays? There’s Still Time to Catch These 8 Stunning Museum Shows

The best part of being in New York during the holidays is the
chance to enjoy the hush that settles over the city as everyone
else heads home. So take advantage and find some inspiration with
these eight museum shows at some of the city’s best
institutions.

“Artistic License: Six Takes on the Guggenheim
Collection” 
Through January 12, 2020

What would you do with access to the entirety of the
Guggenheim’s vast and impressive collection, with all its major
artworks at your fingertips? That’s exactly what “Artistic License”
seeks to answer through the eyes of six artists-turned-curators:
Jenny Holzer, Paul Chan, Julie Mehretu, Richard Prince, Cai
Guo-Qiang, and Carrie Mae Weems. The show is a treasure box of
delights.

The Guggenheim Museum is located at 1071 5th
Avenue.

“Vija Celmins: To Fix the Image in Memory” at the Met
Breuer
Through January 12, 2020

In the midst of holiday hustle and bustle, the New York
presentation of 114 works by Vija Celmins is the perfect
opportunity to engage in slow, contemplative looking. With a steady hand
and laser-beam vision, Celmins redescribes life’s little of
banalities—envelopes, space heaters, lamps—as well as sublime ocean
waves, starry skies, and seashells, into revelatory sculptures and
drawings.

The Met Breuer is located at 945 Madison
Avenue.

“Vera Paints a Scarf: The Art and Design of Vera
Neumann” at the Museum of Arts and Design
Through
January 26, 2020

The artist and designer Vera Neumann is best known for her
simple—perhaps even iconic—signature, written in jaunty script
accompanied by a little ladybug. Over the course of her career,
Vera built a more than $100 million empire through the sale of
textiles, scarves, and tabletop pieces that brought color and
pizzaz to consumers around the world. Both Grace Kelly and Marilyn
Monroe were repeat customers, and First Lady Bess Truman used Vera
fabric to upholster furniture in the White House.

The Museum of Arts and Design is located at 2 Columbus
Circle.

“Illusions of the Photographer: Duane Michals” at the
Morgan Library & Museum
Through February 2, 2020

In the first New York career retrospective for veteran
photographer Duane Michals, the artist’s own work is juxtaposed
with selections he made from the Morgan’s holdings. Michals is best
known for his innovations within the medium, using multiple
exposures and incorporating texts to create cinematic works that
are humorous, insightful, and poetic.

The Morgan Library & Museum is located at 225 Madison
Avenue.

“Agnes Denes: Absolutes and Intermediates” at
The Shed
Through March 22, 2020

This sprawling exhibition of more than 150 artworks takes
viewers through the arc of Hungarian artist Agnes Denes’s 50-year
career. Denes is best known for transforming an abandoned
landfill in downtown Manhattan into a thriving two-acre wheat
field. Other herculean projects came later, including
the construction of the first human-made forest in Finland,
which was dedicated by the country’s president and set to be
legally protected for 400 years. This retrospective, though long
overdue, is perfectly timed to our moment.

The Shed is located at 545 West 30th Street.

“Surrounds” at the Museum of Modern Art
Through January 4, 2020

If you haven’t yet made it to the revamped MoMA 2.0, now is
perhaps the best time, when the city has emptied out and you can
soak up all of the art at your leisure. Start out on the top floor,
and dive into the immersive artwork on display in “Surrounds,” a
show featuring works by living artists made over the past two
decades, representing pivotal points in each of their careers.

MoMA is located at 11 West 53rd Street.

“Power Mode: The Force of Fashion” at the FIT
Museum
Through May 9, 2020

What makes a garment powerful? This show seeks answers through
five sections, with each one devoted to different representations
of power. From examples of military uniforms throughout the
decades, to the idea behind the “power suit,” this show considers
the many ways in which what we wear reveals points of view,
political values, and how we power ourselves up to make it through
the world.

The Museum at FIT is located at 227 West 27th
Street.

“Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019” at the
Whitney Museum
Through January 2021

This is not your mother’s craft show. Works by more than 60
artists, including Mike Kelley, Simone Leigh, Ruth Asawa, and
Howardena Pindell, help to redefine narrow conceptions of craft in
this important show, which includes Liza Lou’s standout work,
Kitchen. The work is the result of a five-year
project to build a full-sized replica of a kitchen, complete with
papier-mâché furniture, cereal boxes, and props. The result is
as surreal as it is impressive.

The Whitney is located at 99 Gansevoort Street.

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