Six Great Art Shows to See This Fall

There is something for everyone. If you like ripped-from-the-headlines news photographs hustle to the Howard Greenberg Gallery. Archeological finds from the Dragon City are on view at the China Institute Gallery. Following are six exhibits that our art columnist has dubbed “must see” for the fall.

| 20 Sep 2024 | 12:53

Extra! Extra!: News Photographs From 1908-1975

Newspaper editors know that a picture can sometimes be better than a thousand words. Iconic images by some of the most renowned photographers of the 20th century capture joy and rage, successes and failures, fun and angst–the zeitgeist and growing pains of decades of American culture. From the Wright brothers to Amelia Earhart to presidents, wars and Woodstock, to Muhammad Ali and The Beatles, pictures by Robert Capa and W. Eugene Smith as well as unknown photographers capture moments that shaped our history.

Through November 16

Howard Greenberg Gallery, 41 E. 57th St.; howardgreenberg.com

Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300–1350

The Metropolitan Museum of Art gets a chance to show off one of its shining stars in this exhibition examining the role of the medieval city of Siena, Italy in the development of the Renaissance. When the Met purchased Duccio di Buoninsegna’s “Madonna and Child” in 2006 for a then staggering $45 million, some art world denizens heads were admittedly flummoxed. Now it’s time to find out why this glittering, otherworldly, diminutive devotional panel along with other works from the time are central to the story of European art as we know it.

October 13, 2024–January 26, 2025

The Met Fifth Avenue, 1000 Fifth Ave. (82nd St.); metmuseum.org

Harmony and Dissonance: Orphism in Paris, 1910–1930

The Guggenheim takes a deep dive into the swirly, zig-zaggy, Technicolor experiments of a group of Parisian artists at the beginning of the 20th century. If the sliced up circles and triangles of pink and purple of the summer’s Olympic banners looked familiar, take a glance at these early works to see why. Sonia and Robert Delaunay, a husband and wife pair of painters dominated the movement and carried the tenets of abstract art into clothing, costume and set designs, but others like Marcel Duchamp, Mainie Jellett and Francis Picabia participated. Over 90 works will infuse the museum’s rotunda galleries with colors and forms.

November 8, 2024–March 9, 2025

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave. (88th/89th Streets); guggenheim.org

Line & Thread: Prints and Textiles from the 1600s to the Present

Take a look at fiber art in the hands of contemporary artists. Louise Bourgeois made books of embroidery. Kiki Smith’s monotype print “Given” is based on patterns of lace. Gee’s Bend quilters opened the eyes of critics to a world of sophisticated homespun abstraction, and Loretta Pettway’s “Remember Me” dazzles in wobbly stripes of bold primary colors. The exhibition juxtaposes contemporary fiber art with historical textiles that stretch back to the 17th century.

Through January 12, 2025

Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, New York Public Library, 476 Fifth Ave.; nypl.org/events/exhibitions

Gold from Dragon City: Masterpieces of Three Yan from Liaoning, 337 AD to 436 AD

Seen for the first time in New York, the results of nearly seven decades of archeological digs will be on view at the China Institute. Silk road traders traveled for centuries through Chaoyang, known then as “Dragon City,” but objects dating from the 4th and 5th centuries lay undiscovered until the 20th. The jewelry, ceramics, sculptures, and imperial seals unearthed in the region show the influence of extensive and expansive cross-cultural contact and the development of a highly skilled artisan class.

Through January 5, 2025

China Institute Gallery, 100 Washington St.; chinainstitute.org

Lubaina Himid: Make Do and Mend

Before she won the 2024 Suzanne Deal Booth / FLAG Art Foundation Prize, Lubaina Himid was awarded Britain’s Turner Prize (2017) and named “Commander of the Order of the British Empire” (2018) for her “services to Art.” If you don’t know her art, this is the perfect time to get acquainted. Himid’s paintings of individuals in groups and situations express themes that are simultaneously personal and universal, based in history and of the moment, mysterious and self-explanatory. Himid’s towering canvases tell stories, and, like all good stories, they carry more than their own weight.

Through February 8, 2025

Flag Art Foundation, 545 W. 25th St.; flagartfoundation.org