Summer 2024
Exploring New and Old Perspectives in Nature, Art, and History
The New York Times published a 46-paged special section on museums in their print edition on April 28, 2024. A few of the articles showed up on their digital platforms, but most did not. My neighbor shared her copy of the printed publication with me.
“Museums” presented a swooping overview of summer exhibitions at major museums throughout the country, with an emphasis on New York City. While looking through the issue I thought about how many Tania Talks Museums readers saw the special publication. I know some of my readers also read The New York Times, but fewer read the printed version. I decided to come up with a summer recommendations list of my own.
Rather than paraphrasing The New York Times special issue, I decided to tailor my list to Tania Talks Museums newsletter readers, which includes people from 18 US states, and 8 countries! Myreaders skew to the Southeast, with Georgia leading the pack (no surprise!) at 52%, followed by South Carolina at 18%. Those numbers are reflected in my exhibition recommendations. Most of my readers travel, so the list will be of use to many or most of you.
Following geographical parameters, my choices were subjective. I would like to see every exhibition on the list. One exhibition—Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other—I saw previously at the High Museum of Art. You’ll notice that I have included exhibitions at smaller, lesser known museums. Most people tend to seek out big museums and blockbuster exhibitions, but some of the most thoughtful, visually compelling experiences take place at museums off the beaten path.
I have arranged the list in two parts: a quick guide followed by comments, thoughts, and explanations. You may want to read everything, skip ahead to a particular exhibition that caught your eye, or nothing. True to the “bit of memoir” portion of my newsletter, you’ll find some personal nuggets in the second section.
Notes: The list begins in Georgia, and spirals outwards, following my readers. Also, the list is not exhaustive. I’m sure I’ve missed some good shows. Please share your summer exhibition recommendations in the comments. Also, if you visit one of the exhibitions mentioned here, please let the rest of us know what you think!
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Summer 2024: The List
Our Own Work, Our Own Way: Ascendant Women Artists in the Johnson Collection
Through September 8, 2024 The Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia
More Than Brave. The Life of Henry Aaron
Through September 2025 Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, Georgia
The Language of Clay: Catawba Indian Pottery & Oral Traditions
Through February 22, 2025 Morris Heritage Center, Ridgeland, South Carolina
To Take Shape and Meaning: Form and Design in Contemporary American Indian Art
Through July 28, 2024 North Carolina Museum of Art
A Grand Menagerie: The Sculpture of Anna Hyatt Huntington
Through October 6, 2024 Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center at Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Virginia
Rimer Cardillo … and the deep ecology of a sacred nature
Through August 25, 2024 Taubman Museum, Roanoke, Virginia
Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other
Through September 22, 2024 Museum of Arts and Design, New York City
The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism
Through July 28 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
You Are Here: California Stories on the Map
Through 2026 Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California
Frye Salon
Through July 25, 2025 Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920
Through October 13, 2024 Tate Britain, London, England
Closer to Nature: Building with Mushroom, Tree, Clay
Through October 14, 2024 Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Pharaoh
June 14 – October 6, 2024 National Gallery Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Summer 2024: Further Reading
Our Own Work, Our Own Way: Ascendant Women Artists in the Johnson Collection
Through September 8, 2024 The Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia
In Audrey Flack’s new memoir With Darkness Came Stars, the veteran artist shares stories about the struggles she and her female colleagues faced as they made art in the shadows of their white, male peers, including many superstars in the abstract expressionist movement. While I have a general understanding about the issues women, and more specifically women artists, faced throughout the 20th century, I knew few details. Reading Audrey Flack’s account quickens their experiences, and serves as a reminder that we must remain vigilant in our efforts to give access to artistic expression to anyone called to make art, regardless of gender or any other identifier.
Nearly 30 years ago, in 1996, I co-curated an exhibition titled Exposed! Telfair Women Artists and Patrons with my colleague Colleen Rice. The exhibition featured works made by and/or donated to the museum by women. Telfair Director Diane Lesko wrote in her foreword to the exhibition brochure: “Recognition and sensitivity are the first steps to eliminate labels such as “woman artist” and “African-American artist.” We still have a long way to go to achieve equal measure. As the online description for Our Own Work, Our Own Way attests: “many of these artists are just beginning to receive critical attention.”
More Than Brave. The Life of Henry Aaron
Through September 2025 Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, Georgia
What could be better than a summertime exhibition about America’s favorite pastime?! More Than Brave will be on view long after summer so if you are passing through Atlanta in the next year, make sure you add this exhibition to your list.
More Than Brave tics off many of my interests—biography, American, African American, and Southern history, and of course, baseball. I’m a baseball fan thanks to my dad. He grew up playing, and even had a short stint in the minor leagues. Later he played for the Ford Motor Company. My dad made sure I knew how to throw, catch, and hit a ball, then dashed my own baseball dreams when he would not allow me to play little league. “Girls don’t play baseball,” he told me. As angry and confused as I was about the situation (given that I did play baseball, and like him, was a great hitter), I still loved the game. I watched games with him on television, and attended little league and high school games to see my brothers and friends play from the stands. Occasionally we would go to a Cincinnati Reds game.
I remember my father telling me about Hank Aaron. In particular, he told me he was a great hitter. I was eight when Aaron retired, around the time of my peak baseball years. If my dad were alive, I’d take him to see this exhibition.
The Language of Clay: Catawba Indian Pottery & Oral Traditions
Through February 22, 2025 Morris Heritage Center, Ridgeland, South Carolina
A friend of mine recently told me that she felt angry that so much history was kept from us in school. She especially lamented not knowing or understanding about Native American history. I agree. Today students have opportunities to learn more about the people who first inhabited North America, but with over 500 tribes accounted for in North America alone the amount of information taught in schools is scant. Museums help fill in the blanks.
I realized the extent of my ignorance when I first visited the Anthropologie Museum in Mexico City. That museum gave me a completely different understanding of the Americas, and now I take any opportunity I can to learn more. This summer I’m especially excited about The Language of Clay and To Take Shape and Meaning, two exhibitions featuring the work of Native Americans. Both are on view in the Southeast.
To Take Shape and Meaning: Form and Design in Contemporary American Indian Art
Through July 28, 2024 North Carolina Museum of Art
A Grand Menagerie: The Sculpture of Anna Hyatt Huntington
Through October 6, 2024 Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center at Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Virginia
Anna Hyatt Huntington was a powerhouse. She made grand-sized sculptures at a time when few women tackled the medium, and she was mostly self-taught. Animals were her subject of choice. A Grand Menagerie features over 100 pieces made by Huntington.
The Torggler’s first director Holly Koons curated the exhibition. Holly and I met through Telfair Museums in Savannah many years ago. Now she’s my best friend. We can talk for hours about museums, art, history, nature, etc. Although I’m biased about Holly’s talents as an art historian—she’s incredibly creative and insightful—I know many others would agree. Also, she’s an animal lover, so I know this exhibition, and its accompanying catalogue, will capture the essence of Anna Hyatt Huntington and her work. To Holly, Anna is a kindred spirit.
Rimer Cardillo … and the deep ecology of a sacred nature
Through August 25, 2024 Taubman Museum, Roanoke, Virginia
I have spent the past several months working with artists for Waves of Wonder, an upcoming exhibition I’m curating at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum in Savannah (see future post). What I have loved most about my work is talking with artists who are looking and thinking deeply about the environment. Rimer Cardillo does the same, and has throughout his career. Roanoke is not a usual stop for me, but I have been to the Taubman Museum several times, and will make the effort to see this show this summer. Please let me know if you do too.
Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other
Through September 22, 2024 Museum of Arts and Design, New York City
Add Sonya Clark’s name to the growing list of Black American women who are having a tremendous impact on our collective understanding of America. Sonya Clark brings us profound understanding and perspective through her art.
I have seen a few examples of Clark’s work over the years, and was impressed by them all, but this exhibition demonstrates to me that she is a creative genius. Her ideas seem boundless. I saw We Are Each Other at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta last fall, and was blown away by the exhibition’s statement. We Are Each Other.
If you are in New York, you must see this exhibition. If you walk away from We Are Each Other without some clarity about America, then I suggest you go back and look again.
The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism
Through July 28 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
The Metropolitan Museum of Art does not have a great reputation for collecting and displaying African American art, but in the past couple of years they have made strides to remedy their omissions. For example, they served as one of the lead organizers for Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina, which I wrote about in March. With works mostly borrowed from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other institutions who hold large African American collections, such as the Smithsonian and the Schomburg Center, The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism gives an in-depth look at Harlem and other American cities settled by Blacks migrating from the South in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. I have heard good things about this exhibition. Have you seen it?
You Are Here: California Stories on the Map
Through 2026 Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California
I can get lost in a map (in a rabbit hole kindof way), and I’m sure I’d get lost in this exhibition about maps. I hope I can visit before this show closes in 2026. If you go, please let me know what you think.
Frye Salon
Through July 25, 2025 Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
Sometimes I like to walk into a museum and sit quietly with art. The Frye Salon looks to be the perfect place for such an experience. The floor-to-ceiling installation features a salon-style hanging featuring traditional European and American paintings from the museum’s original collection. Museum founders Charles and Emma Frye began collecting art after visiting the Columbia Exposition in Chicago in 1893. They displayed their art in the salon style, referencing the method of display popularized in Paris beginning in the 17th century.
Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920
Through October 13, 2024 Tate Britain, London, England
Now You See Us recalls the 1976 exhibition Women Artists: 1550-1950 curated by Ann Sutherland Harris and Linda Nochlin. I did not see that exhibition—I was only eight years old at the time and had yet to discover museums, but I own a first edition copy of the exhibition catalogue. Women Artists was first exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and traveled to the University Art Museum at the University of Texas, Austin, Museum of Art at Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, and The Brooklyn Museum.
The preface to Women Artists: 1550-1950 states: “We look forward to reading the many articles, monographs, and critical responses that we hope this exhibition will generate.” Certainly curator Tabitha Barber, curator of Now You See Us, referenced Women Artists as she created her exhibition. Barber’s particular take looks at women artists who pursued art as a profession.
Closer to Nature: Building with Mushroom, Tree, Clay
Through October 14, 2024 Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Exploring sustainable solutions in architecture, what could be more pertinent? If you won’t be in Berlin this summer and have an interest in this subject, go to the link above for images and more information. Reading about three-dimensional work is not the same as experiencing the real thing, but I like knowing that there are people in the world thinking, experimenting, and implementing sustainable solutions to climate issues.
Pharaoh
June 14 – October 6, 2024 National Gallery Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
I have yet to make it to Egypt, a destination on my bucket list, but I seek opportunities to see Egyptian art when I have the chance—usually at large museums such as the Louvre, the British Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Additionally, I have yet to make it to Australia, but I have friends there, and know people who are traveling there. For them I alert them about Pharaoh. Chances are very slim that I’ll get to this exhibition, so please tell me what you think if you go!
This list of museum recommendations for this summer is a huge gift. Thank you for gathering all this info into one place. Your newsletter offers a high-value product. Much obliged.