Last Chance! These must see 2019 shows are closing soon: Don’t miss ICA Watershed Purple (installation view above) closing September 2;  DeCordova New England Biennial and the Provincetown Art Association & Museum’s 1945 Chaim Gross exhibition close September 15; and catch Renoir at the Clark before it’s gone September 22nd.

A few of the listed upcoming exhibitions to note: the NEW building and exhibits at PEM are opening September 2019; Homer at the Beach is on display at Cape Ann Museum thru December 1 (and catch a Richard Ormond lecture on John Singer Sargent’s Charcoals Sept.28 at Cape Ann Museum (ahead of the Morgan exhibition opening October);  three new shows opening at MFA; Gordon Parks at Addison; and Alma Thomas at Smith. A Seuss-focused experience was pronounced destined for Boston, ahead of its TBD venue, by the LA entertainment company co-founders. Some shows I’ve already visited and may write about, mostly from a dealer’s perspective as that is my background. Exhibition trends continue to evolve and reveal new directions. A few patterns I see in the exhibition titles: what’s annointed for display and how it’s contextualized (corrective labels); immersive exhibits; revisiting colonial methodologies and themes; major solo surveys; women artists (and this upcoming season boost underscoring womens’ suffrage and 100th anniversary of the ratification of women’s right to vote); illustration; environment; and issues of humanity and migration. The list is illustrated with images of the sites. All photographs mine unless otherwise noted. Right click or hover to see info; click to enlarge. – Catherine Ryan

The guide – Massachusetts Museum Guide, Fall 2019

Note from author: The list below is alphabetized by town, and details upcoming exhibitions at each venue as well as some that are closing soon. Click the word “website” (color gray on most monitors) for hyperlinks that redirect to venues. For a list alphabetically sorted by venue, see my Google Map (with a Candy Trail overlay) “Art Museums in Massachusetts” here and embedded at the end of this post. I pulled the map together several years ago. No apps to download or website jumping. Easy scroll down so you don’t miss an exhibit that’s closer than you think to one that you may already be exploring. A few are open seasonally (summer) or weekends only–call first to check before visiting. Major new architectural building projects are underway at BU (closed) and MIT. The 54th Regiment Memorial on Boston Common will undergo restoration. Get ready for close observation of conservation in process.  – Catherine

AMESBURY

1. John Greenleaf Whittier historic Home and Museum website 

AMHERST 

2. Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art website

• September 7, 2019- March 1, 2020 Under the Sea with Eric Carle
• Through October 27, 2019 The Picture Book Odysseys of Peter Sis video of exhibition
• November 10, 2019 – April 5, 2020 The Pursuit of Everything: Maria Kalman’s Books for Children
• Through December 1, 2019 William Steig’s Sylvester and the Magic Pebble: A Golden Anniversary

3. Emily Dickinson Museum website ongoing special guided tours through two historic house museums- Homestead and Evergreens, and programs

4. Eli Marsh Gallery – Amherst College website

• September 16-October 11, 2019 Do Things to Images: An Exhibition by Odette England

5. Mead Art Museum –  Amherst College website

• Opening September 12, 2019 Rotherwas Project 5 | Christopher Myers: The Red Plague Rid You for Learning Me Your Language
• Through September 11, 2019 Fleeting Nature: Selections from Collection
• Fall 2019 Ten Years of Trinkett Clark Memorial Student Acquisitions
• Opening December 2019 Students’ museum seminar exhibition
• Through January 5, 2020 Constructing Collage

ANDOVER

6. Addison Gallery of American Art Philips Andover website

• September 1, 2018- July 31, 2020 A Wildness Distant from Ourselves: Art and Ecology in 19th-Century America press release
• September 1, 2018 – December 15, 2019 The Art of Ambition in the Colonial Northeast press release
• September 1 – November 15, 2019 George Washington: American Icon press release
• October 5, 2019 – January 5 2020 Men of Steel, Women of Wonder press release
• February 1 – April 26, 2020 Gordon Parks: The New Tide, Early Work 1940-1950 press release

ARLINGTON

7. Cyrus E. Dallin (1861-1944) Art Museum website

ATTELBORO

8. Attleboro Arts Museum (like NSAA) website

BELMONT

9. The Belmont Woman’s Club & 1853 Winslow Homer (seasonal) website historic house museum

BEVERLY

10. Montserrat College of Art website

• Through September 13, 2019 Montserrat Gallery | Julian Howley: Building Better Mobs
• Through September 21, 2019 Ashley Brown Durand: It’s Ok to Feel Things
• Through October 12, 2019 301 Gallery | Adrian Fernandez Milanes

11. Murals, Cabot Street Beverly

12. Beverly Public Library website

13. Long Hill historic home and gardens 114 acres website 

BOSTON

14. Boston Athenaeum website

• September 17, 2019 – March 14, 2020 Required Reading: Reimagining a Colonial Library on display in the Norma Jean Calderwood Gallery press release

15. Boston Black Heritage Trail, NPS website

photo info: Visitors will see the Robert Gould Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial undergoing conservation beginning fall 2019

16. Boston Children’s Museum website

• Through September 30th HUMAN GARDEN | Handmade Installation by Lani Asuncion on display in The Gallery
• Through Fall 2019 Pickup Music Project www.pickupmusicproject.com
• iconic permanent public art/architecture, i.e. Hood Milk Carton; mini temporary displays and/or art commissions integrated every floor

17. Boston Freedom Trail website

18. Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park website

(photos show info gateway on the Greenway near the ferry access to Boston Harbor Islands)

• Summer 2019 public art: Boston Harbor [Re]creation The Project: Artists Marsha Parrilla; Robin MacDonald-Foley; Brian Sonia-Wallace more(Jury: Luis Cotto MCC; Lucas Cowan, The Greenway; Celena illuzzi, National Parks; Caroly Lewenberg; Denise Sarno-Bucca DCR; Courtney Shape, City of Boston; Rebecca Smerling Boston Harbor Now; Kera Washingon; Cynthia Woo, Pao Arts Center)

19. Boston Public Library website

• Through November 10, 2019 America Transformed: Mapping the 19th Century, special exhibitions, more

20. Boston Society of Architects website

• Through October 25, 2019 Canstruction 2019
• Through December 31, 2019 2019 BSA Design Awards 
• December 6 – January 2, 2019 8th Annual Gingerbread House Design Competition
• January 10, 2020- May 15, 2020 The Architecture of Time
• February 14 – April 5, 2020 Women in Design Award of Excellence 20th Anniversary celebratin and exhibition
• February 21 – May 31, 2020 Durable: Sustainable Material Ecologies Vilna Shul website

21. Boston University BU Art Galleries website

• Reopening Fall 2020 – 808 Gallery (temporary closures)
• Reopening Fall 2020 – Faye G., Jo & James Stone Gallery (temporary closures)
• Annex

22. Design Museum, Boston website

23. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway website 

• Unveiled 2019 – Super A (Stefan Thelen) Resonance, 2019, latex and spray paint
  • Note to Greenway (see photo notes below): food trucks by the stop should be relocated to other food truck areas (and maybe one tree) to optimize and welcome sight line to the Greenway and public spaces from streets, sidewalk, and South Station. There are pauses elsewhere along the lattice park links, and a generous approach past the wine bar. The temporary commissioned mural could extend verso (or invite a second artist) so that the approach from Zakim Bridge/RT1/93North is as exciting as the approach from Cape Cod.

• Skip the app AI download– swamped my phone battery despite free WiFi on the Greenway.
• See complete list of 2019 public art currently on view at The Greenway here
• The Greenway packs a lot of punch in a compressed area; its lattice of dynamic public spaces and quiet passages are an easy stroll into the North End or along the HarborWalk to the ICA, roughly similar in size and feel as walking Battery Park and Hudson River Park in New York City.

24. Innovation and Design building (aka Boston Design Building makeover in process in winter 2016 photos posted here) website

25. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum website

• Through September 15, 2019 BIG PLANS: Picturing Social Reform more
• Through October 20, 2019 Contemporary Art  Joan Jonas: i know why they left more
• Through January 14, 2020 Anne H. Fitzpatrick Facade Laura Owens: Untitled 
• October 17, 2019 – January 20, 2020 In the Company of Artists featuring Sophie Calle, Bharti Kher, Luisa Lambri, Laura Owens, Rachel Perry, Dayanita Singh, and Su-Mei Tse

26. Guild of Boston Artists website

• Through September 28, 2019 Annual Regional Juried Exhibition 2019 Winners announced September 21, 2019. The 2018 gold winner, Leon Doucette of Gloucester, exhibiting again, and Melissa Cooper. more

27. ICA Institute of Contemporary Art website

• On display at The Water Shed ICA Boston venue

• Through September 2, 2019 at The Water Shed, ICA Boston John Akomfrah: Purple more 

• What’s coming in 2020 to The Water Shed? Still TBA
• Through September 22, 2019 ICA Less Is a Bore: Maximilist Art & Design more

Nice installation with a few surprises and thoughtful connection to other exhibtions on view. (The LeWit and Johns selections triggered what about that work or artist? I wish May Stevens and Harmony Hammond were included and my list grew from there. That’s part of the fun of the exhibit.)

• September 24 – February 7, 2021 ICA Yayoi Kusama: Love is Calling more
• September 24 – February 7, 2021 ICA Beyond Infinity: Contemporary Art after Kusama more
• October 23, 2019 – January 26, 2020 ICA When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art more
• Through December 31, 2019 ICA 2019 James and Audrey Foster Prize Boston area artists: Rashin Fahandej; Josephine Halvorson; Lavaughan Jenkins; Helga Roht Poznanski more 

• Through December 31, 2019 ICA Vivian Suter more 

• January 17, 2020 – March 15, 2020 ICA Fineberg Art Wall | Nina Chanel Abney mural more

• January 20, 2020 – July 5, 2020 ICA Tschabalala Self: Around the Way more
• January 20, 2020 – July 5, 2020 ICA Carolina Caycedo more
• February 26 – May 17, 2020 ICA Sterling Ruby more
• July 1, 2020 – October 18, 2020 ICA Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech more

28. John F. Kennedy JFK Presidential Library & Museum, UMASS Boston website

• Through November 28, 2019 JFK 100: Milestones & Mementos  more
• Through December 31, 2019 Freedom 7 Space Capsule more

29. Massachusetts State House art collection website  and Boston Commons public arts and spaces

30. McMullen Museum of Art BC – Boston College website

• September 9, 2019 William Trost Richards: Hieroglyphs of Landscape more
• September 9, 2019 Simon Dinnerstein: “The Fulbright Triptych” more
• September 9, 2019 Alen MacWeeney and a Century of New York Street Photography more 
• September 9, 2019 Mary Armstrong: Conditions of Faith more

31. MAAH – Museum of African American History, Boston website

32. MFA – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston website 

• September 13, 2019 – May 3, 2021 Women Take the Floor (The fugitive textiles and printmaking sections will rotate out Part 1 May 2020) at the MFA more 

• October 12, 2019 – August 9, 2020 Weng Family Collection of Chinese Painting: Family and Friends at the MFA more
• October 13, 2019 – January 20, 2020 Ancient Nubia Now at the MFA more 

• Through October 14, 2019 Community Arts Mindful Mandlas at the MFA
• Through December 15, 2019 Viewpoints: Photographs from art dealer Howard Greenberg Collection at the MFA more 

• Through January 20, 2020 Make Believe: Five Contemporary photographers at the MFA more
• Through January 20, 2020 Kay Nielsen’s Enchanted Vision at the MFA more

• Through February 20, 2020 Hyman Bloom: Matters of Life and Death at the MFA more
• Through February 23, 2020  Jackson Pollock |  Katharina Grosse Abstraction on a Massive Scale at the MFA more

• March 1, 2020  – May 25, 2010 Lucian Freud: The Self Portraits at the MFA more 
• Through March 8, 2020 Collecting Stories: Mid Century Experiment at the MFA

• Through March 29, 2020 Boston Made Arts and Crafts Jewelry and Metalwork at the MFA more

• Through June 30, 2020 Conservation in Action: Japanes Buddhist Sculpure at the MFA

33. Otis House Museum, Historic New England website historic house museum

34. Paul Revere House website

35. Society of Arts & Crafts, at Pier 4 Boston website 

• Sepember 10 2019 – November 10, 2019 Kogei-Kyoto x SA+C, Boston more
• save the date: Society visits Gloucester, Mass

36. USS Constitution, NPS website

BREWSTER 

37. Cape Cod Museum of Natural History website

• Long term display in the Naturescape Gallery James Prosek and Barbara Harmon (see also Thornton Burgess in East Sandwich) 

BROCKTON

38. Fuller Craft Museum heads into 51st season website

• Opens September 7, 2019 Striking Gold: Fuller at Fifty press release 
• Opens September 7, 2019 Gleam: Golden Selections from the Permanent Collection press release
• Through September 8, 2019 Mano-Made: New Expression in Craft by Latino Artists
• Opens September 28, 2019 Human Impact: Stories of the Opiod Epidemic
• Through October 6, 2019 Brockton Youth Creates
• Opens October 19, 2019 Stitch by Stitch: Activist Quilts from the Social Justice Sewing Academy
• Through October 27, 2019 Take It Outside: Works from the Boston Sculptors Gallery
• Through October 27, 2019 Maine Crafts Association: Ten Years of Master Craft Artistshttps://larzanderson.org/exhibits/goldenage/
• Through November 17, 2019 Elizabeth Potenza: “Look up,” she said, “there is more color than you ever imagined.
• Opens January 25, 2020 Stephanie Cole: Secular Cathedral
• Opens May 2, 2020 Another Crossing: Artists Revisit the Mayflower Voyage
• Through May 3, 2020 Tending the Fires: Recent Acquisitions in Clay

BROOKLINE

39. Larz Anderson Auto Museum website

• Through mid April 2020 Golden Age – Era of Distinction, Style and Grace 1915-1948 more
• Permanent display – The Anderson Collection 

CANTON

40. Eleanor Cabot Bradley Estate  website

41. Museum of American Bird Art at Mass Audubon website

• Through September 15, 2019 Under Pressure– Birds in the Printed Landscape: Linocuts by Sherrie York more
• Through September 29, 2019 The Shorebird Decoys of Gardner & Dexter more

CAMBRIDGE

Harvard – 

42.  Harvard Art Museums (Fogg; Busch-Reisinger; and Arthur M. Sackler) website

Why do any of the Harvard museums charge an entrance fee?

• Through January 5, 2020 Winslow Homer: Eyewitness (in conjunction with Cape Ann Museum Homer exhibition) University Research Gallery
• Through January 5, 2020 Early Christian Africa: Arts of Transformation
• Through January 5, 2020 Critical Printing
• Through January 5, 2020 Crossing Lines, Constructing Home: Displacement and Belonging in Contemporary Art
• Through November 14, 2021 On Site Clay — Modeling African Design

43. Harvard – Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts website

• Through September 29, 2019 Anna Oppermann: Drawings

The Carpenter Center was closed for an event on the day I scheduled to see the Oppermann exhibition – good reminder to call first for the must see shows on your list.

•  Jonathan Berger: An Introduction to Nameless Love
• Harvard Film Archive weekly film series

44. Harvard – ‘The Cooper Gallery’ / The Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African and African American Art website

• September 16 – December 13, 2019 The Sound of My Soul: Frank Stewart’s Life in Jazz photography, curated by Ruth Fine
• the Gordon Park exhibition that recently closed was on my list of top shows for 2019

45. Harvard – Gutman Gallery website

• Through August 30, 2019 Sneha Shrestha (aka Imagine), Ed.M.’17

46. Harvard –  Graduate School of Design Gund Hall Exhibition website

47. Harvard – Ernst Mayr Library website

48. Harvard – Houghton Library website

49. Harvard – Lamont Library (Harvard ID required) website

• Through March 29, 2020 Harvard College International Photo Contest Winners

50. Harvard –  Museum of Natural History website

• September 25, 2019 – December 31, 2019 Rotten Apples: Botanical Models of Diversity and Disease at Harvard Museum of Natural History more
• Ongoing, Glass Flowers Gallery

51. Harvard – Peabody Museum of Archaeology website

• Through December 31, 2019 Harvard’s Peabody Museum and the Invention of American Anthropology more

52. Harvard- Pusey Library Exhibition Gallery website

• Through October 31, 2019 Mapping the Moon in Black and White Harvard Map Collection

• Through January 22, 2020 The Rittase Touch: Photographic Views of Harvard in the 1930s

53. Harvard – Widener Library (Harvard ID required) website

• Though September 30, 2019 Colonial North America: Portals to the Past

54. Central Square Murals, Cambridge website

MIT –

55. MIT Museum website  **OCTOBER 2021 MIT Museum moving to KENDALL SQUARE**

• Through September 1, 2019 Arresting Fragments: Object Photography at the Bauhaus  more
• Opens October 11, 2019 The Polaroid Project: At the Intersection of Art and Technology more 
• Opens November 7, 2019 Making Digital Tangible more
• Through May 1, 2021 Lighter, Stronger, Faster: The Herreshoff Legacy design and engineering and the Hereshoff Manufacturing Co. more
• Ongoing Harold Edgerton exhibit; Holography collection; and Gestural Engineering: The Sculpture of Arthur Ganson

56. MIT List Visual Arts Center website– MIT Media Lab more

• Through September 15, 2019 Student Lending Art program more
• Through October 20, 2019 List Projects: Farah Al Qasimi more
• October 18, 2019 – January 5, 2020 Alicja Kwade: In Between Glances more
• December 12, 2019 – February 9, 2020 List Projects: Becca Albee more
• February 7, 2020 – April 12, 2020 Christine Sun Kim: Off the Charts more
• February 7, 2020 – April 12, 2020 Colored People Time: Mundane Futures, Quotidian Pasts, Banal Presents more
• March 17, 2020 – May 17, 2020 List Projects: Rami George more

57. MIT Hart Nautical Gallery website

58. MIT Museum Studio and Compton Gallery student projects website

59. MIT School of Architecture Galleries website

• September 1 Gallery 9 SA+P Thesis show website
• School of Architecture Dean’s Gallery website
• School of Architecture Keller Gallery website
• Rotch Library Exhibition space website
• Through September 30 GRAND CANYON: Geology, Exploration Tourism and Architecture more 
• Through October 4, 2019 A theater without theater on display Maihaugen Gallery and Rotch Library more
• Opens December 9, 2019 ACT Fall Studio Final exhibit
• PLAZmA Digital Gallery website

60. MIT Wiesner Student Art Gallery website Stratton Student Center

• Through September 15, 2019 Surrounded by Digitized Faces and Bodies 

61. Mount Auburn Cemetery website 

62. Museum of Science, Boston website

• Temporary art and photography exhibitions top floor moments of excellence
• Ongoing George Rhodes 1987 commission, Archimedean Excogitation, mesmerizing audiokinetic sculpture (Relocated to lobby 2015- I prefered lower level.)
• Ongoing Katherine Lane Weems (1899-1989) animal sculptures. MoS is the largest repository of her work.
• Historic Eames installation dismantled 😦

CLINTON

63. Museum of Russian Icons website

• Through October 20, 2019 Wrestling With Angels Icons from the Prosopon School of Iconology and Iconography more
• November 15, 2019 – March 8, 2020 Emil Hoppe: Photographs from the Ballet Russes more

CONCORD

64. Louisa May Alcott Orchard House 399 Lexington Road, Concord, Massachusetts 01742, United States (978) 369-4118 guided tours year round plus special events

65. Ralph Waldo Emerson House (seasonal) website

66. Walden Pond State Reservation – Henry David Thoreau website

67. Concord Museum website

• Opening October 19, 2019 Concord Collects 
• February 14, 2020 Beyond Midnight: Paul Revere press release

COTUIT

68. Cahoon Museum of American Art website

• September 6 – October 30, 2019 Through the Looking Glass: Daguerreotype Masterworks from the Dawn of Photography
• October 6 – October 30, 2019 Cahoon Contemporaries: Jodi Colella, Jackie Reeves, Kimberly Sheering
• November 8 – December 22, 2019 Soo Sunny Park: Boundary Conditions installation
• November 8 – December 22, 2019 Gretchen Romey Tanzer Weaver
• Rotating – Highlights from the collection; New Acquisitions; Cahoon studio tours; and historical installation designed by Mary Ann Agresti  

DALTON

69. Crane Museum of Papermaking website Founded in 1930. Mill venue dates to 1844, built after papermaker Zenas Crane’s retirement

DENNIS 

70. Cape Cod Museum of Art – 39th year website

• Through October 6, 2019 Milton Teichman sculpture
• Through October 20, 2019 Ship of State…Paintings by Robert Henry
• Through December 21, 2019 Interpreting Their World: Varujan Boghosian, Carmen Cicero, Elspeth Halvorsen and Pual Resika

DUXBURY 

71. The Art Complex Museum (Weyerhaeuser collection) website

• August 18 – November 10, 2019 Steve Novick: Approximation 
• September 15 -January 12, 2020 Draw the Line
• September 15 – January 12, 2020 Rotations: Highlights From the Permanent Collection Nocturne including Lowell Birge Harrison (American, 1854–1929), Suzanne Hodes (American, b. 1939), Kawase Hasui (Japanese, 1883–1957), George Inness (American, 1825–1894), Johan Barthold Jongkind (Dutch, 1819–1891) Martin Lewis (American, 1881–1962), and Henri Eugene Le Sidaner (French, 1862-1939)
• November 17 – February 16, 2020 George Herman Found Paintings

EAST SANDWICH

72. Thornton W. Burgess Society Green Briar Nature Center & Jam Kitchen website *may join Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster to combine and become the Cape Cod Museums of Natural History

ESSEX

73. Essex Shipbuilding Museum website

• September 8th and 15th, 2019 Clam Basket Making Workshop
• September 12-13th,2019  The Great Rowing Adventure, the first collaborative rowing program with Lowell’s Boat Shop and the Essex Shipbuilding Museum

74. TOHP Burnham Town Hall & Library, Essex website don’t miss Alexia Parker paper collage

FITCHBURG

75. Fitchburg Art Museum (FAM) website

• Through September 1, 2019 84th Regional Exhibition of Art and Craft
• Through September 1, 2019 Broad Strokes: American Painting of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries from the FAM collection
• September 7, 2019 – January 5, 2020 Sage Sohier/David Hilliard: Our Parents, Ourselves more
• September 21, 2019 – November 10, 2019 Adria Arch: Reframing Eleanor more
• September 21, 2019 Daniela Rivera: Labored Landscapes (Where Hand Meets Ground) more 
• September 21, 2019 – January 12, 2020 David Katz: Earth Wares more
• Ongoing Evoking Eleanor; Discover Ancient Egypt; Thurston sculpture by Douglas Kornfeld

FRAMINGHAM

76. Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham State Univ.  website

• September 7 – October 13, 2019 Populux Steven Duede | Sean Sullivan on display in the works on paper gallery
• September 7 – December 30, 2019 Dressed! Exhibiting artists include Catherine Bertulli, Jodi Colella, Merill Comeau, Mia Cross, Nancy Grace Horton, and Marky Kauffmann
• September 7 – May 2020 Highlights from the Permanent Collection

GLOUCESTER

Continue reading “Massachusetts Museum Guide: upcoming art exhibits at 150 institutions” →