Now on view: Louise Bourgeois Paintings at The Met

Louise Bourgeois: Paintings is the first comprehensive exhibition of paintings produced by the iconic, French-American artist Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) between her arrival in New York in 1938 and her turn to sculpture in the late 1940s. Above: Roof Song, 1946-48

While Bourgeois is best known today as a sculptor, it is in this early body of work—created in the decade spanning World War II—that her artistic voice emerged, establishing a core group of visual motifs that she would continue to explore and develop over the course of her celebrated, decades-long career. Informed by new archival research, the exhibition sheds light on a little-known chapter in the artist’s practice.

“Louise Bourgeois’s early paintings are the foundation of her extraordinary artistic oeuvre,” said Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Met. “This exhibition at The Met marks the first significant gathering of her works on canvas in forty years and presents the rare opportunity to explore a little-known period of an iconic artist’s career. The display of this powerful, complex body of work will provide surprises for all, even for those familiar with her sculptures and installations.”  Info

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

April 14, 6:30 est online: The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth at Cooper Union

The Red Deal is a political program for the liberation that emerges from the oldest class struggle in the Americas—the fight by Native people to win sovereignty, autonomy, and dignity. As the Red Nation proclaims, it is time to reclaim the life and future that has been stolen, come together to confront climate disaster, and build a world where all life can thrive. This event is organized in partnership with the Cooper Climate Coalition. Info

The in-person lecture is open to Cooper Union students, faculty, and staff in room 315F only. This event is accessible to the public through Zoom. Zoom registration is required, please register in advance here.

Opening April 16: Our Selves: Photographs by Women Artists from Helen Kornblum at MoMA

An exhibition of 90 photographic works by female artists from the last 100 years takes as a starting point the idea that the histories of feminism and photography have been intertwined. Above: Susan Meiselas, A Funeral Procession in Jinotepe for Assassinated Student Leaders. Demonstrators Carry a Photograph of Arlen Siu, an FSLN Guerilla Fighter Killed in the Mountains Three Years Earlier, 1978

Rather than presenting a chronological history of women photographers or a linear account of feminist photography, the exhibition prompts new appraisals and compelling dialogues from a contemporary, intersectional feminist perspective. African-diasporic, queer, and postcolonial/Indigenous artists have brought new mindsets and questions to the canonical narratives of art history. Our Selves reexamines a host of topics, countering racial and gender invisibility, systemic racial injustice, and colonialism, through a diversity of photographic practices, including portraiture, photojournalism, social documentary, advertising, avant-garde experimentation, and conceptual photography.

Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53^rd Street, New York, NY Info

Continuing to May 1: The Flag Project at Rockefeller Center

In the realm of semiotics, flags are among the most common and often most meaningful representational symbols. Examine the flag of any country around the world; the colors, designs, and imagery hold such immense national sentiment and history.

The designs submitted for this year’s Flag Project — a crowd-sourced art exhibition at Rockefeller Center that calls upon public submissions for flags to be displayed on the flagpoles surrounding The Rink — hope to invoke feelings of awareness and inspiration.

For the Flag Project’s third annual iteration, Rockefeller Center collaborated with the United Nations Environment Programme (@UNEP) and the Climate Museum (@climatemuseum). Artists were invited to submit flag designs that represent this year’s World Environment Day theme, “Only One Earth,” and to express their appreciation for the environment, how they live sustainably and in harmony with nature, and the daily steps they take towards positive climate action.

The collaboration also coincides with World Environment Day, the 50th anniversary of the UNEP and Stockholm+50, an international meeting in June 2022 to recognize global action towards a sustainable society. Info  View the entire Flag Project catalog here.

This year's Flag Project will also be the focal point of Rockefeller Center's Earth Day celebrations on Sunday, April 24th, which will include free programming with the Climate Museum, National Wildlife Federation, NYC Parks Green Thumb, and additional activities. 

On June 6th, the UNEP and Rockefeller Center celebrate World Environment Day with PopUP Forest at The Center. Please note, the Flag Project flags will not be flown April 14 - 17, 2022, due to the grand opening on Flipper's Roller Boogie Palace at The Rink.

I’m happy to share the news that my flag was selected to fly with 192 others from around the globe in celebration of Only One Earth. Based on a painting in acrylics, Crater #1, my flag  (left) celebrates the earth-shaping power of volcanoes. It flies from the fourth pole in from the southeast corner of the Plaza, in front of Kate Spade. @peggy.roalf

Opening April 15, 6-8 pm: Xiao Wang | Liminal Blue at Deanna Evans Projects

Chinese artist Xiao Wang’s solo exhibition opens Friday at Deanna Evans Projects. Based in Brooklyn, Wang gives his canvases a dream-like quality where vegetation in jewel-toned hues of blues and purples obscures figures, usually himself or his friends (below). Depicting scenes with maximalist settings, often inspired by real-life protagonists, in obscure, minimal backgrounds, the paintings lead viewers to feel a sense of uncertainty or disorientation, according to the press release. Info

Deanna Evans Projects, 373 Broadway, E15, New York

Until April 15: Early bird tickets for the Typographics Conference at Cooper Union

Typographics—the design festival for people who use type—is back in person for the MainStage talks and a mix of online and in person events. Now in its eighth year, the 2-day Conference, a series of talks is the central event of the Typographics Festival, focused on the use of type across all design disciplines. Now in its 8th year, the Conference returns in-person (following Covid safety measures) in the Great Hall at Cooper Union in Manhattan. Info

‘In-person’ tickets entitle one attendee entrance to the Conference talks, TypeLab, conference goody bag, and a 10% discount for Type@Cooper workshops scheduled from June 13–23. Early bird Tickets

Closing April 17: Black American Portraits at LACMA

Drawing upon more than two centuries of objects and artworks, the exhibition presents an opportunity to examine significant and often overlooked contributions to portraiture, a medium crucial for building and shaping images of the self and communities, reframing the history of American portraiture to center Black subjects, spaces, and makers. Right: Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, Lady on Blue Couch, 2019

From the exhibition's earliest work—the late-eighteenth-century Portrait of a Sailor (Paul Cuffe?)—to images of the Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, and Black Power eras, and through to contemporary artists' reflections on the tumultuous years of 2020 and 2021, visitors will journey through two centuries of Black self-representation. The works in the show, which include pieces by self-taught artists and several non-Black artist allies, express a variety of mediums, from painting and drawing to sculpture and time-based media, and are organized around themes such as family, legacy, and memory; myth, legend, and futurism; and queer subjects and spaces. Countering a visual culture that often demonizes Blackness and fetishizes the spectacle of Black pain, these images center love, abundance, family, community, and exuberance. Work by Titus Kaphar and Nathaniel Mary Quinn is included. Info

Black American Portraits is presented in conjunction with The Obama Portraits Tour. The exhibitions are presented in adjacent galleries and both are included in General Admission.

Continuing through April 23: Richard Diebenkorn | Works on Paper 1946-1992 at Van Doren Waxter

The exhibition has been organized with the Richard Diebenkorn Foundation and includes rarely seen material from every period of the singular and distinguished American artist’s body of work. The sheets on view evince the artist’s love of mark marking and use of paper as a medium. The retrospective takes place during the artist’s (b. April 22, 1922) centennial celebration #Diebenkorn100, a year-long series of nationwide museum installations spanning his figurative and landscape art to his epic cycle of abstraction, the Ocean Park series. The retrospective is accompanied by a handsome exhibition catalogue with full color reproductions.

On Thursday, April 14 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Instagram Live @vandorenwaxter, the artist’s daughter, Gretchen Diebenkorn Grant and Daisy Murray Holman, Head of Archives at the Richard Diebenkorn Foundation, will discuss from the artist’s former home and studio in Healdsburg, California: the works on view at Van Doren Waxter and a new body of research developed by the foundation during the artist’s centennial year, #Diebenkorn100 that looks at rarely seen photographs taken by the artist between 1963 and 1987. The photographs reveal how the artist was “always looking, framing” and integrating his surroundings into his painting and drawing vocabulary. Info

 Van Doren Waxter Gallery, 23 East 73^rd Street, New York, NY 

Starting April 29: K2 Friday Night at the Rubin Museum

During K2 Friday Nights, the Rubin is open after hours with free admission from 6:00 to 10:00 PM, free exhibition tours at 7:15 PM, and special progras in the theater. Café Serai transforms into the K2 Lounge with a special drinks menu and DJ to accompany the night. Above: Sound Bath with Samer Ghadry

To celebrate the return of K2 Friday Nights, during the first five weeks sponsored by New York Life through the end of May, there will be a free sound bath experience in the theater at 7:30 PM. The sound baths will be hosted by Brooklyn-based musician and sound healing practitioner Samer Ghadry; sound artist Mari Tanaka; and producer, musician, and former artistic director of Brooklyn Raga Massive David Ellenbogen. The first night combines a sound bath with a talk by emotion scientist and director of the Emotion Regulation Lab, Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary. A separate ticket reservation is required for the sound bath experience, which gives visitors access to all the galleries. Info

Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17^th Street, New York, NY Info