Welcome to This Week in Culture, a weekly agenda of show openings and events in major cities across the globe. From galleries to institutions and one-of-a-kind happenings, our ongoing survey highlights the best of contemporary culture, for those willing to make the journey.
“Winslow Homer: Force of Nature”
National Gallery London
American Realist Winslow Homer has made his way across the pond. The first overview of the painter’s work in the UK is taking place at London's National Gallery. In his lifetime, Homer was captivated by the array of events that surrounded him: the Civil War, the fight for the abolition of slavery, and Reconstruction, to name a few. His ouevre features snapshots of these historical struggles, as well as the less-covered aftermath they left in their wake. “Winslow Homer: Force of Nature” is on view through January 8, 2023 at the National Gallery in London.
“To look without fear” by Wolfgang Tillmans
Museum of Modern Art New York
Wolfgang Tillmans has taken over the top floor of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) with an expansive photography exhibition. Everything, from the art itself to the careful staging of each piece, has the artist’s fingerprints all over it. Overt political iconography is placed in conversation with abstract explorations of form. Pictures arranged in harmony with fire alarms and doorframes veer the experience into site-specific installation art, challenging the traditional notions of what a photography show can and should feel like. “To look without fear” is on view through January 1, 2023 at MoMA in New York.
“Diego Rivera's America”
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Between the 1920s and ‘40s, Diego Rivera traveled across the U.S. and Mexico, developing a sense of what life was like across much of the North American continent. In one of the largest survey’s of the artist’s work, the impressions of his findings are compiled into a tapestry of the region. Over 150 of Rivera’s paintings, frescoes, drawings, and films are currently gracing the walls of the San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), arranged by location, including places like Tehuantepec and Manhattan. “Diego Rivera’s America” is on view through January 3, 2023 at SFMOMA in San Francisco.
“Face of a Woman, Head of a Child” by Karen Kneffel
Gagosian Rome
For the first time in 25 years, Karen Kneffel is returning to Rome with a solo exhibition, this time tackling human portraits. The result is a mix of realism and abstraction, iconic religious iconography and intimate portraits of friends. The pairing of the paintings—each featuring an adult woman and small infant—conjure up feelings and memories about humanity's strongest and perhaps most complex relationships: mother and child. “Face of a Woman, Head of a Child” is on view through January 31, 2023 at Gagosian in Rome.
“The New Bend”
Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles
“The New Bend” began in New York in February, before landing in sunny Los Angeles in October. Curated by Legacy Russell, executive director and chief curator of The Kitchen, the group show highlights textile and quilted art from 13 creatives, including Anthony Akinbola, Eddie R. Aparicio, Dawn Williams Boyd, and Sojourner Truth Parsons. The exhibition's title is an homage to the Gee’s Bend Alabama quilters, a group of Black American women who created an alternative market in their hometown through quilting. The region, formerly home to a cotton plantation, has since become known for its contributions to the Civil Rights movement and forward-thinking political consciousness. “The New Bend” is on view through December 30, 2022 at Hauser & Wirth’s 901 East 3rd Street location in Los Angeles.
