Stanley Whitney (b. 1946), untitled, 2020, gouache on paper. The Medford and Loraine Johnston collection, promised gift to the High Museum of Art. © Stanley Whitney. Photo courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.
—Through May 25
—Atlanta, Georgia
Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind: The Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection at the High Museum of Art traces the trajectory of the evolution of American abstraction from 1960 to 1990, a time of great innovation and experimentation. The exhibit helps visitors understand the motivations and context for the stylistic exploration of the featured artists such as Brice Marden, Stanley Whitney, Elizabeth Murray, and Martin Puryear.
The museum is located at 1280 Peachtree St. NE. It is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $23.50 for nonmembers ages 6 and up and free for members and for children under 6. For more information, visit (www.high.org) or call (404) 733-4400.
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Pottier & Stymus (active 1859-1919), New York City, side chairs, circa 1866, ebonized cherry, satinwood, and gilt-bronze mounts. Quarry Farm collection, Elmira, New York.
—Through May 31
—Elmira, New York
Grand, Domestic and Truly Comfy: The Langdon Mansion in Elmira at the Chemung Valley Museum re-creates the interior of the Victorian house where Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) and the wealthy Olivia Langdon were married at her family’s residence. Using circa 1875 stereographs and furnishings original to the house, curator Walter G. Ritchie offers the public for the first time since 1939 the opportunity to experience the grandness of a building that stood at the corner of Church and Main Street in Elmira before the last of its furnishings were auctioned off and the house was destroyed.
The museum is located at 415 East Water Street and is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults; $3 for seniors; $1 for students; and free for members and for children under 5.
For more information, visit (www.chemungvalleymuseum.org) or call (607) 734-4167.
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Barbara Shermund (1899-1978),“Well, I guess women are just human beings, after all –,” 25¼" x 22¼", circa 1925, ink and gouache on illustration board. International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection and Records, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.
—Through June 1
—Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund at the Brandywine Museum of Art spotlights the career of an unheralded master of gag cartooning and one of the first women cartoonists to work for The New Yorker. With letters, photographs, and other materials, the exhibition includes over 75 original drawings by the artist that highlight her clever takes on womanhood.
The museum is located at 1 Hoffman’s Mill Road. It is open Wednesday through Monday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $20 for adults; $18 for seniors; $8 for students with ID and children 6 to 18; and free for members and for children 5 and under. For more information, visit (www.brandywine.org) or call (610) 388-2700.
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David Plowden, Great Northern Railway, “Extra 3377 East,” Near Atwater, Minnesota, 1956, 6 1/8" x 17", printed in 2023, inkjet print. Wichita Art Museum. Gift of David Plowden, 2024.6.234.
—Through June 8
—Wichita, Kansas
David Plowden: By the Wayside at the Wichita Art Museum features the photographs of David Plowden, now 92 years old. Plowden’s first camera was a Brownie Reflex with which he began taking pictures of the steam trains crisscrossing his home state of Vermont. The artist documented the last days of steam trains and then went on to photograph ships, steel mills, farms, and fields. Plowden wrote, “I have spent my life glorifying works of an age past.”
The museum is located at 1400 West Museum Boulevard and is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and until 9 p.m. on Fridays. Admission to the exhibit is $12 for adults and free for members, college students with ID, and youths 18 and under. For more information, visit (www.wam.org) or call (316) 268-4921.
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Luigi Lucioni (1900-1988), Ethel Waters, 1939, oil on canvas. Collection of the Huntsville Museum of Art.
—Through June 22
—Louisville, Kentucky
Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900 - 1939 at the Speed Art Museum recaptures the experiences of more than 60 independent, fiercely strong, and unorthodox women who found in Paris the freedom to blaze new trails in their fields, such as art, literature, design, music, and dance. Through vivid portraits and compelling biographies the exhibit reveals the impact that American women had on modernist Paris.
The museum is located at 2035 South 3rd Street. It is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and until 8 p.m. on the first Thursday. From Wednesday through Saturday admission to the exhibit is included with general admission: $20 for adults; $16 for seniors; and $15 for children 4 to 17. On Sundays admission to the exhibit is $10. For more information, visit (www.speedmuseum.org) or call (502) 634-2700.
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William Earle Williams, Monument, Freedom’s Crossing, New York City, 2024, 22" x 22", archival digital ink print. Photo courtesy William Earle Williams.
—Through June 22
—Old Lyme, Connecticut
Their Kindred Earth: Photographs by William Earle Williams at the Florence Griswold Museum presents newly commissioned photographs by the artist highlighting little-known sites across Old Lyme significant to enslavement, emancipation, and black contributions to Connecticut history and culture. Williams’s 120 images honor the lives and contributions of black and indigenous people often overlooked in the state’s (and the nation’s) history.
The museum is located at 96 Lyme Street and is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $18 for adults; $17 for seniors; $16 for students 13 and over; $7.50 for children 5 to 12; and free for members, children 4 and under, and active military and veterans. For more information, visit (www.florencegriswoldmuseum.org) or call (860) 434-5542.
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Eldzier Cortor, Dance Composition #35, circa 1990s, 23 7/8" x 21 5/8", one-color aquatint and line etching, artist’s proof. © Eldzier Cortor/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo courtesy the Kelley collection.
—Through June 29
—Fresno, California
The Harmon & Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art: Works on Paper at the Fresno Art Museum displays 65 works of the Kelley collection, which was first exhibited in 2009 and has traveled to major cities since. Art historian David Driskell calls the collection of drawings, etchings, lithographs, watercolors, pastels, acrylics, and other media by masters and lesser-known artists in the exhibit “one of the finest [collections] that has been assembled tracing the history of African American art.”
The museum is located at 2233 N First Street. It is open Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults; $7 for youths 5 to 17; free for members, active military and veterans with ID, and children 4 and under; and free to all the first and third Sunday of the month. For more information, visit (www.fresnoartmuseum.org) or call (559) 441-4221.
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Installation view of Rodin: Toward Modernity.
—Through July 5
—Lafayette, Louisiana
Rodin: Toward Modernity at the Hilliard Art Museum at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette presents 40 of the artist’s most celebrated bronze sculptures. Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) is universally hailed as one of the greatest sculptors since Michelangelo. Each of the four thematic sections of the exhibit—The Burghers of Calais, The Gates of Hell, Portraiture, and Fragments—illuminates pivotal aspects of the French sculptor’s works and the revolutionary techniques that define his legacy.
The museum is located at 710 East St. Mary Boulevard. It is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults; $8 for seniors; and free for members, children under 10, and University of Louisiana at Lafayette students, faculty, and staff. For more information, visit (www.hilliardmuseum.org) or call (337) 482-0811.
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Admission information for these exhibitions was accurate as of press time. Please note that some venues require advance tickets. Maine Antique Digest welcomes brief announcements of exhibitions at galleries, museums, or other venues. Email to [email protected] or mail to M.A.D., PO Box 1429, Waldoboro, ME 04572.
Originally published in the May 2025 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2025 Maine Antique Digest
