The Modern Art Notes Podcast

Episode No. 614 features curatorKate Clarke Lemay and artist Maia Cruz Palileo.

With Taína Caragol, Lemay is the co-curator of "1898: US Imperial Visions and Revisions" at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington. (Carlina Maestre assisted them.) The exhibition examines late-nineteenth-century US imperialism, especially the War of 1898 (often called the Spanish-American War), the Congressional Joint Resolution to annex Hawai'i (which was passed in July 1898), the Philippine-American War (1899-1913) and the US extension of its sphere to include Cuba, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The exhibition particularly -- but not exclusively -- looks at how portraiture was used by the US in an attempt to define peoples, and by both the US and by the leaders of other countries to establish status within the community of nations, and to project power. "1898" is on view through February 25, 2024.

The forthcoming exhibition catalogue features an essay by Caragol that looks at how several contemporary artists are addressing the legacies of US imperialism in their work. Among the artists on whom Caragol focuses is Palileo, whose work often addresses their family’s arrival in the United States from the Philippines, as well as the colonial relationship between the two countries. (The other artists Caragol addresses in her essay areStephanie Syjuco, Gisela McDaniel, and Miguel Luciano.)

Palileo's work often extends from research she conducted at the Newberry Library in 2017. The library holds significant research collections related to the US imperial project in the Philippines, including a watercolor album by Damián Domingo and photographs made by Dean C. Worcester, a US zoologist who worked in the Philippines. Worcester's work was influential in shaping US public opinion about Filipinos. Palileo's work has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Katzen Arts Center at Washington's American University and at the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts at the California College for the Arts in San Francisco. They have been in group shows at institutions such as the Moderna Museet in Sweden, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, the Bemis Center, Omaha, and the NPG.

On September 8-9 the NPG will convene over 40 scholars and artists from the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, Hawai‘i, Cuba, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the US for a two-day symposium. In addition to panel discussions and gallery talks, the event will feature a keynote address by Pulitzer Prize-winner Ada Ferrer. All panels and the keynote address will take place in the McEvoy Auditorium in the Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture in Washington. RSVP here (it's free).

Instagram: Kate Lemay, Tyler Green.

Episode No. 613 features authorPrudence Peiffer and museum director Timothy Potts.

Peiffer is the author of "The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever." The book, out this week from Harper, is a group biography of seven artists -- Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, James Rosenquist, Delphine Seyrig, Lenore Tawney, and Jack Youngerman -- who worked on Coenties Slip in the 1950s and '60s. Coenties Slip was a street that overlooked the East River in lower Manhattan. Peiffer's book argues for not only the importance of the artists themselves, but for where and how they worked as being important to the development of post-war art in New York. Peiffer is director of content at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Amazon and Bookshop offer "The Slip" for $22-36.

Potts discusses the J. Paul Getty Museum's co-acquisition (with the National Portrait Gallery, London) of Joshua Reynolds' Portrait of Mai (ca. 1776). The painting, among Reynolds' finest works, is on view at the National Portrait Gallery. The first presentation at the Getty will be in 2026.

An as-yet-unidentified error at Liberated Syndication, which publishes The MAN Podcast to RSS feeds and podcatchers, is preventing the uploading of this week's show to this feed. We're working with them to solve the issue.

If you're eager, see manpodcast.com for this week's show!

Episode No. 612 features curatorsSusan Davidson and Stephanie Schrader.

Davidson is the curator of "Robert Motherwell: Pure Painting," which is at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth through September 3. The exhibition is the first Motherwell paintings retrospective in a quarter-century. Motherwell was a New York-based painter prominent in the development of abstract expressionism. The exhibition catalogue was published by Hatje Cantz Verlag. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for about $55. From Fort Worth, "Motherwell" will travel to the Bank Austria Kunstforum in Vienna.

Along with Freyda Spira and Thomas Lederballe, Schrader is a co-curator of "Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in 19th-Century Danish Art," which is at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, through August 20. The exception looks at the development of Danish art across both paintings and drawings, and shows how artists helped develop the nation's cultural identity. The excellent catalogue was published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which originated the show. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for about $45.

Episode No. 611 features artistWendy Red Star.

The Columbus Museum of Art is presenting the career-length survey "Wendy Red Star: A Scratch on the Earth." It's on view through September 3. The exhibition was curated by Tricia Laughlin Bloom and Nadiah Rivera Fellah, and is accompanied by a publication from the Newark Museum of Art, which originated the exhibition.

An enrolled member of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Tribe, Red Star's work explores both Native American ideologies and colonialist structures in ways that point to both the past and the present. Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at The Anderson Collection at Stanford University, the Joslyn Art Museum, MASS MoCA, the Missoula (Mont.) Art Museum, and more.

Episode No. 610 features artistDyani White Hawk and curator Kelly Montana.

White Hawk is included in "Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America" at the African American Museum in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. The exhibition presents new works that examine the question, "Is the sun rising or setting on the experiment of American democracy?" The exhibition was organized by a six-person curatorial team and is on view through October 8.

White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota) makes works multiple media that often foreground Lakota art forms and cultural knowledge and blend both Native American and non-Native interests and art histories. Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston. She's also been in group shows at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Ark., and more.

Montana is the curator of "Si Lewen: The Parade" which is at the Menil Drawing Institute in Houston through September 3. The Parade is an epic narrative that unfolds across 63 drawings. Lewen, a Polish-born immigrant who lived and worked in New York and Pennsylvania, witnessed the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945 while serving in the United States Army. In the 1950s he published a graphic novel that responded to the horrors he encountered as part of his war-time experience. This exhibition is the first in the United States to bring together the complete set of works from The Parade.

Episode No. 609 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast is a summer clips episode featuring artist Virginia Jaramillo.

The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City is presenting "Virginia Jaramillo: Principle of Equivalence," the first retrospective of Jaramillo's work. The exhibition includes 73 paintings and handmade paper works extending back over 70 years. The exhibition was curated by Erin Dziedzic and will be on view through August 26. A catalogue is forthcoming.

This episode was recorded on the occasion of “Virginia Jaramillo: The Curvilinear Paintings, 1969-74” which was at the Menil Collection in 2020. The show was the first solo museum exhibition of Jaramillo’s career. Curated by Michelle White, it featured a series of paintings that Jaramillo made featuring the joining of line to color against mostly monochromatic backgrounds.

See Episode No. 469 for images.

Episode No. 608 is a holiday clips episode featuring artistEbony G. Patterson.

The New York Botanical Garden is presenting "…things come to thrive…in the shedding…in the molting…," a site-specific exhibition that immerses Patterson's work in the NYBG's spaces. It is on view in the Bronx through October 22.

This episode was taped in 2020 on the occasion of“Ebony G. Patterson… while the dew is still on the roses…”, a survey of work Patterson had made in the previous decade that was on view at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.

Patterson’s installations, tapestries, videos and sculptures wield beauty to address disenfranchised communities, violence, masculinity and the impacts of colonialism. “… while the dew” especially examines her consideration of gardens. Patterson’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art, The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Bermuda National Gallery, and more.

For images, see Episode No. 436.

Episode No. 607 features curatorC.D. Dickerson III and artist Griselda Rosas.

With Emerson Bowyer, Dickerson is the co-curator of "Canova: Sketching in Clay." The exhibition features more than 30 of the 60 surviving sketch models Antonio Canova made in clay, handsy works which helped him plan his designs for his large sculptures. In addition to clay models, the exhibition also includes a number of plaster works and final marbles, such as Canova's iconic, influential 1805/07 portrait of Letizia Bonaparte, often known asMadame Mère."Canova" is at the National Gallery of Art through October 9. The excellent catalogue was published by the NGA. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for $60-65.

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego is presenting "Griselda Rosas: Yo te cuido" an exhibition of Rosas' textile drawings and sculptural installations that explore themes of inheritance, colonialism, and intergenerational knowledge. The exhibition, which was curated by Anthony Graham with assistance from Jill Dawsey, is on view through August 13.

Episode No. 606 features curatorsSamantha Friedman and Jonathan Stuhlman.

Friedman is the curator of "Georgia O'Keeffe: To See Takes Time" at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. (Laura Neufeld and Emily Olek also worked on the exhibition.) The exhibition presents works on paper that O'Keeffe made in series. Some of these series informed paintings, several of which are also included. The exhibition is on view through August 12. A catalogue was published by MoMA. Bookshop and Amazon offer it for about $40.

Stuhlman is the curator of "Southern/Modern," a survey of modernism from artists who were from, worked in, or visited the American South that opens this weekend at the Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia. It will remain on view through December 10. The exhibition is accompanied by an excellent catalogue published by University of North Carolina Press. Bookshop and Amazon offer it for about $30-75.