23 Essential New York Museum Shows to See This Fall, From Vija Celmins at the Met to Pope.L at MoMA

We’ve already put together guides to knockout institutional
shows to see across the US this fall and what you need to check out
in Europe, so now it’s time to take a look at what’s going on
this season in museums in New York, where you’re never far from a
great exhibition.

“Paris, Capital of Fashion” at Museum at
FIT
September 6, 2019–January 4, 2020

This show of around 100 objects looks at Paris as the center of
the fashion World. Tracing its history from 18th-century
pre-Revolutionary Versailles through the haute couture of more
recent days, the exhibition puts a historical frame around a
phenomenon that continues to boom.

The Museum at FIT is located at 227 West 27th Street;
general admission is free.

“Modernisms: Iranian, Turkish, and
Indian Highlights from NYU’s Abby Weed Grey
Collection” at the Grey Art Gallery
September
10–December 7, 2019

Drawing from the esteemed holdings of Modern Asian and Middle
Eastern art from the Abby Weed Grey collection, this show will
include between 30 and 40 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and
prints from multiple countries, exploring nuances of heritage and
identity. Among the artists included are Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu
and Nevzat Akoral.

The Grey Art Gallery is located at 100
Washington Square East; general admission is $5 suggested
donation. 

“Wang Dongling: Ink in Motion” at the Asia
Society
September 10, 2019–January 5, 2020

Perhaps the most well-known and celebrated living calligrapher,
Wang Dongling will debut a new painting, Laozi, Dao De
Jing, Chapter I & II, in this exhibition. His
signature “chaos script” style renders the elegant lettering almost
unreadable, flexing ancient technique towards nearly pure
abstraction.

The Asia Society is located at 725 Park Avenue; general
admission is $12.

“Creatures from the Land of
Thra: Character Design for The Dark Crystal: Age of
Resistance” at the Museum of the Moving Image

September 11, 2019–February 23, 2020

The Museum of the Moving Image’s permanent Jim Henson exhibition
is a celebration of the artist, filmmaker, and puppeteer’s storied
career. Now, in honor of the release of The Dark Crystal:
Age of Resistance, Netflix’s prequel to the 1982 Henson
film, The Dark Crystal, the museum presents concept
art, maquettes, puppets, and behind-the-scenes images for the new
film.

The Museum of the Moving Image is located at 36-01 35
Avenue, Astoria, Queens; general admission is $15.

“The World of Anna Sui” at the Museum of Arts and
Design
September 12, 2019–February 23, 2020

Designer Anna Sui has been widely respected in the fashion world
for decades, and is known for her particular way of imparting an
entire narrative with her collections. This show will trace her
career, from her punk-inflected ready-to-wear clothes, to her
art-inspired couture.

The Museum of Arts and Design is located at 2 Columbus
Circle; general admission is $16.

“Memory Palaces: Inside the
Collection of Audrey B. Heckler” at the American Folk Art
Museum
September 17, 2019–January 26, 2020

The American Folk Art Museum has scored a major coup with this
exhibition of works from the collection of Audrey B. Heckler, who
has bought some 500 artworks by self-taught since 1993. Two years
ago, New York dealer Sara Kay held a gem of a show drawn
exclusively from Heckler’s holdings, but the Folk Art museum will
go much bigger, showcasing some 160 works by more than 70 artists,
including Aloïse Corbaz, Martín Ramírez, Thornton Dial, and Anna
Zemánková.

The American Folk Art Museum is located at 2 Lincoln Square;
admission is free.

“Bertoldo di Giovanni: The Renaissance of Sculpture in
Medici Florence” at the Frick Collection
September 18,
2019–January 12, 2020

This exhibition dedicated to the
Florentine sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni will feature more than 20
statues, reliefs, maquettes, and statuettes showing off the style
beloved by Lorenzo Medici. Bertoldo learned under the tutelage of
Donatello, and passed on his skills to Michelangelo, but outside of
Europe, he is less well-known, which makes this show a sure
revelation.

The Frick is located at 1 East 70th Street in New York;
general admission is $22.

“Jason Moran” at the Whitney Museum of
American Art
September 20–January 5, 2020

Jazz musician Jason Moran gets his first museum show, organized
by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, where it debuted last
year. It features sculptures, drawings, a performance series, and
collaborations with famed visual artists such as Joan Jonas, Kara
Walker, Lorna Simpson, and Julie Mehretu.

The Whitney Museum of American Art is located at 99
Gansevoort Street; general admission is $25.

“Carmen Argote: As Above, So Below” at the New
Museum
September 24, 2019–January 5, 2020

This first New York museum solo show for Mexican-born, Los
Angeles-based artist Carmen Argote features a selection of
paintings, works on paper, and a new sculpture that reflect the
architecture and natural environments in Mexico, where she spent
time as an artist-in-residence at two programs.

The New Museum is located at 235 Bowery; general admission
is $18.

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

Before the Metropolitan Museum of Art hands the Breuer Building
over to the Frick Collection next year, the museum
welcomes a retrospective of Latvian-born artist Vija Celmins,
organized with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Her finely
rendered pencil drawings of waves and starry night skies are
stunning in their perfect photo realism.

The Met Breuer is located at 945 Madison Avenue;
admission is $25.

“Henry Chalfant: Art vs. Transit” at the Bronx
Museum
September 25, 2019–March 8, 2020

Henry Chalfant (along with Martha Cooper) was the greatest
documentarian of the rise of graffiti in New York in the 1980s, and
his photographs of exuberantly painted subway cars serve as a
perfect summary of the moment in New York City. The transit cars
have long been buffed clean and replaced, but Chalfant’s images
capture the epoch-making works of Lee Quinones, Lady Pink, Seen,
Dondi, and other legendary artists.

The Bronx Museum of the Arts is located
at 1040 Grand Concourse in the Bronx; general
admission is free.

“Urban Indian: Native New York Now” at the
Museum of the City of New York
September 27,
2019-February 15, 2020

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the founding of American
Indian Community House, a community organization dedicated to
supporting Native Americans who live in New York, this show
highlights the artists and activists whose work touches on the
experiences of Native peoples living in the city.

The Museum of the City of New York is located at 1220 Fifth
Avenue at 103rd Street; suggested general admission is
$20.

“On Our Backs: The Revolutionary
Art of Queer Sex Work” at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and
Lesbian Art
September 28, 2019–January 19, 2020

The Leslie-Lohman Museum never shies away from difficult
subjects. This exhibition looks to illuminate queer sex work’s deep
connections with art and activism, challenging perceptions that all
gay and transgender sex workers necessarily exist on the margins of
society. Instead, this is a story of personal agency and
self-empowerment.

The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, 26 Wooster
Street; suggested admission is $8.

“Ernst Ludwig Kirchner” at the Neue
Galerie
October 3, 2019–January 13, 2020

This show focuses on Kirchner’s career between 1930 and 1937, a
period in which he traveled across Europe, from Dresden to Berlin
and even to Davos. Each city is reflected in his signature and
evolving style.

The Neue Galerie is located at 1048 Fifth Avenue (at
86th Street); general admission is $25.

“JR: Chronicles” at the
Brooklyn Museum
October 4, 2019–May 3, 2020

French artist JR’s Brooklyn Museum outing, his first US museum
show, will feature documentation of his early graffiti work and
well as his recent monumental photographic portrait murals. A new
one, The Chronicles of New York City, featuring over
1,000 denizens of the Big Apple, will be on view, along with audio
recordings of his interviews with his subjects.

The Brooklyn Museum is located at 200 Eastern Parkway,
Brooklyn; admission is $16.

“Pia
Camil: Fade Into Black: Sit, chill, look, talk, roll, play, listen,
give, take, dance” at the Queens Museum
October 6,
2019–February 16, 2020

In Pia Camil’s latest project, the Mexican-born artist recycles
and alters items of clothing and other textiles to reflect the
class difference among the people that produce them and those that
purchase (and ultimately dispose of) them. The titular
piece, Fade Into Black, is a 341-foot-long curtain
made up of found t-shirts.

The Queens Museum is located at New York City Building,
Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens; suggested general admission
is $8.

“The Pencil Is a Key:
Drawings by Incarcerated Artists” at the Drawing
Center
October 11, 2019–January 5, 2020

Throughout history, prisoners have turned to art-making during
prolonged periods of isolation. The Drawing Center takes a look at
this phenomena, bringing together historical and contemporary work
from World War II-era Japanese American internment camps, Soviet
Gulags, Apartheid-era South Africa, and the US government’s
Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, as well as from other
prisons from around the world.

The Drawing Center is located at 35 Wooster Street;
admission is $5.

“member: Pope.L, 1978–2001” at the Museum of
Modern Art
October 21, 2019–January 2020

When the newly expanded MoMA reopens after a complete overhaul,
most of the attention will be focused on the re-hang of the
museum’s collection. One of the opening exhibitions, however, will
feature the interdisciplinary performance art of Pope.L, who made
his reputation with provocative street interventions as
his Tompkins Square Crawl a.k.a. How Much Is That Nigger
in the Window (1991). The show will follow on the heels
of a new urban crawling performance by the artist, Conquest,
presented by the Public Art Fund on September 21.

MoMA is located at 11 West 53rd Street; admission is
$25.

“Illusions of the Photographer: Duane Michals” at the
Morgan Library & Museum
October 25, 2019-February 2,
2020

This show is the first full retrospective on the photographer to
be hosted in a New York institution, and also includes
an “artist’s choice” selection of examples from the Morgan’s
own archive selected by Michaels.

The Morgan Library & Museum is located at 225 Madison Avenue
at 36th Street; general admission is $22.

“Félix Vallotton: Painter of
Disquiet” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
October 29, 2019–January 26, 2020

Co-organized with the Royal Academy of Arts in London, where it
debuted in June, “Painter of Disquiet” makes the case that Swiss
painter and printmaker Félix Vallotton has been unfairly
overlooked. One of “Les Nabis,” along with the better-known Pierre
Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard, Vallotton
captured fin-de-siècle Paris in witty, often
subversive woodcuts that reflected his left-wing politics.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is located at 1000 Fifth
Avenue; general admission is $25.

“Rachel Feinstein: Maiden, Mother, Crone” at the
Jewish Museum
November 1, 2019–March 22, 2020

This is the first museum survey for Rachel Feinstein, and
includes 30 years-worth of paintings, sculptures, drawings, and
videos. As is often the case with her work, female figures appear
often, reflecting her interest in exploring ideas of femininity,
and how they change from the public to the private realms.

The Jewish Museum is located at 1109 5th Ave at
92nd St; general admission is $18.

“Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars
1991–2011” at MoMA PS1
November 3, 2019–March 1, 2020

Though the 1991 Gulf War was brief, it touched off a sustained
period of US military involvement in Iraq, from the 2003 invasion
to the official end of the Iraq War in 2011. The conflict has been
a source of inspiration for artists including Paul Chan, Harun
Farocki, and the Guerrilla Girls, who have all touched on the
reality of the extended conflict as well as attendant ideas of
imperialism and violence.

MoMA PS1 is located at 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Queens;
admission is $10.

“Shahidul Alam: Truth to
Power” at the Rubin Museum of Art
November 8, 2019–May 4, 2020

Bangladeshi photographer, writer, and activist Shahidul
Alam gets his first major US museum survey. The artist, who rejects
the notion of the so-called “third world,” reframing it as the
“majority world,” will show more than 40 images spanning his
four-decade career documenting daily life in Bangladesh.

The Rubin is located at 150 West 17th Street; general
admission is $19.

The post 23 Essential New York Museum Shows to See This
Fall, From Vija Celmins at the Met to Pope.L at MoMA appeared
first on artnet News.