Summer arts preview: Visual arts photo
(The Richard Diebenkorn Foundation)

Summer arts preview: Visual arts

Philip Kennicott  |  Updated 05/31/2012

There is no sleepy summer, only a barely perceptible slackening in the pace of exhibition and gallery openings. Don't expect blockbusters, but don't settle in for a season of sweet intellectual lassitude, either.

 
 
 
 
 

Richard Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series

Washington, DC  | Through 9/23

First seen at the Orange County Museum of Art, the Ocean Park exhibition features nearly 80 of the more than 140 paintings made by the artist between 1967 and 1988, while a resident in a seaside neighborhood in Santa Monica, Calif. They are magnificent studies in light, color and geometry.

 
 
 
 
 

Jasper Johns: Variations on a Theme

Washington, DC  | Through 9/9

The show focuses on Johns's devotion to printmaking, lithographs and intaglio. The iterative process of printmaking allows for subtle variation, as well as meta-commentary on ideas of originality, authenticity and the role of the artist in manipulating his material. "Variations on a Theme" includes work from the 1960s to the present, with some of Johns's classic imagery (flags, numbers and targets) alongside newer and less well-known work. There are almost 100 works in the exhibition.

 
 
 
 
 

George Bellows

Washington, DC  | Through 10/8

The National Gallery of Art looks back to George Bellows, the American realist painter whose career spanned not only the turn of the 20th century, but the evolution of American art from Victorian to modern inclinations. Perhaps most famous for his boxing and sporting scenes, Bellows was also passionately committed to social and political themes. The exhibition, which includes about 150 works, is billed as the first major retrospective devoted to the artist in three decades -- a period in which scholarly and curatorial appreciation for the realist painters of the last century has grown immensely.

 
 
 
 
 

Worlds Within Worlds: Imperial Paintings from India and Iran

Washington, DC  | Through 9/17

"Worlds Within Worlds: Imperial Paintings From India and Iran" features about 50 works from the literate, sophisticated and cosmopolitan empire that once stretched across what is now India, Pakistan and eastern Iran.

 
 
 
 
 

Nomads and Networks: The Ancient Art and Culture of Kazakhstan

Washington, DC  | Through 11/12

"Nomads and Networks: The Ancient Art and Culture of Kazakhstan," is promising because it draws on the holdings of major museums in Kazakhstan, ensuring that much of what is offered will be new to the vast majority of visitors.

 
 
 
 
 

Public Property

Baltimore, MD  | Through 8/19

The Walters in Baltimore undertakes an experiment in curating: "Public Property" is the museum's effort to involve the public in the complexities of putting together an exhibition (June 17-Aug. 19). The museum will allow the public to choose the title, the focus (it's already decided on "creatures") and the works on display.

 

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