Arts Agenda: Performance, visual arts fill late-summer landscape

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From photography to film to exhibits of old masters, Impressionists and modern artists, late summer offers a full range of artistic experiences, including festivals of every kind. Several exhibits focus on the relationship between different art forms.  

Domestic

Boston -- Over 175 black-and-white photographs by one of Americas most noted photographers are on display in Ansel Adams at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston from Aug. 21 to Dec. 31. While visiting the museum, catch Sounds of the Silk Road: Musical Instruments of Asia, through Jan. 5, featuring more than 100 musical instruments and works on paper.

Dallas -- The works of another famed photographer are on view at the Dallas Museum of Art through Sept. 4. Gordon Parks, Half Past Autumn: Selections From the Collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art is a retrospective showing some 130 photographs taken by Parks between 1940 and 1977.

Davenport, Iowa -- Theres excitement in the Quad Cities area with the recent debut of cultural attractions, including the 100,000-square-foot, modernist, glass Figge Art Museum, on the banks of the Mississippi River. The $46.9 million facility opened on Aug. 6. The museums inaugural exhibition, The Great American Thing: Modern Art and National Identity, 1915-1935, is on display from Sept. 17 to Jan. 1. It includes works by such artists as Georgia OKeeffe, Marsden Hartley and Arthur Dove.

Opened in June and just steps away from the museum is the glass-enclosed, $7 million Skybridge. Jutting out into the Mississippi River, it presents a shower of changing colors nightly.

The nearby Bucktown Center for the Arts, with artists studios and galleries, opened July 22. Down the street, another museum, the year-old River Music Experience, features music exhibits and live performances.

Hawaii -- All of the islands celebrate the annual Aloha Festivals from Aug. 27 to Sept. 21. On the Big Island, theres music, art, a paniolo parade and a hula competition for couples.

Los Angeles -- For Your Approval: Oil Sketches by Tiepolo, at the Getty Center through Sept. 4, features sketches by the 18th-century artist used to develop his full-scale frescoes and altarpieces. The museum also is displaying works by another master in Rembrandts Late Religious Portraits through Aug. 28.

New York -- Drawings From the Modern, 1945-1975, at the Museum of Modern Art through Aug. 29, focuses on key periods in the development of modern art, showing a range of styles represented by such artists as Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol and Agnes Martin.

If youre looking for something different, try Governors Island in New York Harbor. Closed to the public for over 200 years, the historical island features a pair of early 19th-century forts and offers tours Mondays through Saturdays.

Festivals are on tap throughout the city. The New York International Fringe Festival, from Aug. 12 to 28, features productions by more than 200 groups, and the free Lincoln Center Out of Doors from Aug. 13 to Sept. 4 includes performances several times a day and night by well-known groups such as the Paul Taylor Dance Company and little-known groups from around the world.

Several of New Yorks specialized museums offer interesting and unusual exhibitions. The Neue Galerie looks at the horrors of war in a series of prints by two noted German artists of the early 20th century. War/Hell: Master Prints by Otto Dix and Max Beckman runs through Sept. 26.

The Dahesh Museum of Art celebrates its 10th anniversary with The Dahesh Collection: Celebrating a Decade of Discovery, through Sept. 22. The Rubin Museum of Art features two new exhibitions, Eternal Presence: Handprints & Footprints in Buddhist Art, through Sept. 4, and Female Buddhas: Women of Enlightenment in Himalayan Art through Jan. 15.

Omaha, Neb. -- The Joslyn Art Museums Mir Iskusstva: Russias Age of Elegance, through Sept. 14, showcases works from the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. Never before seen in the West, the exhibition focuses on the Russian art movement in the decades before the Russian revolution.  The museum also is showing Frederick J. Brown: Portraits of Music I Love through Sept. 4, with paintings from the African-American artists Jazz and Blues series.

Philadelphia -- Poussin to Cezanne: French Drawings From the Prat Collection, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 25, includes works from a notable, private collection by some of Frances greatest artists, including Edgar Degas, Georges Seurat and Claude Manet.

Phoenix -- Surrealism USA, which originated at the National Academy of Design in New York, is making its only other stop at the Phoenix Art Museum through Sept. 25. Included are paintings, sculptures and works on paper by such artists as Salvador Dali, Alexander Calder and Mark Rothko.

Santa Ana, Calif. -- Personal artifacts, clothing and video and audio footage focus on one of the 20th centurys most fascinating figures, Argentinas Eva Peron. Evita: Up Close and Personal is at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art through Oct. 16.

Washington -- The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden explores the relationship between music and modern art in Visual Music: Synaesthesia in Art and Music, through Sept. 11.

Williamstown, Mass. -- Film buffs will enjoy Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film, 1880-1910 at the Williams College Museum of Art, through Dec. 11. The exhibition, with 50 early films and 100 paintings by Thomas Eakins, Childe Hassim and others, explores the ties between film and art.

International

 

Budapest, Hungary -- The festival season is very much alive with several on the agenda in upcoming weeks. The youth-oriented Sziget Festival, from Aug. 10 to 17, highlights modern music, including rock, jazz and theater, film and classical music. From Aug. 28 to Sept. 4, the Budapest Jewish Summer Festival at sites throughout the city explores the range and diversity of Jewish culture, including music, dance, books and film.

Cobham, England -- The art is horticultural at Painshill Park, one of Europes premier 18th-century parks. The new exhibition, through Oct. 30 in the parks Walled Garden, should appeal to U.S. visitors. American Roots at Painshill Park showcases North American plants of the 18th century.

Dubrovnik, Croatia -- The 56th Dubrovnik Summer Festival, through Aug. 28, showcases music, theater and dance.

Edinburgh, Scotland -- Overlapping the citys mammoth Fringe Festival, which ends on Aug. 29, is the Edinburgh International Festival from Aug. 14 to Sept. 4, featuring performances by troupes from around the world.

London -- The Royal Academy of Arts is featuring works from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in an exhibition exploring the influence of French Impressionist painters on Bostons art scene at the turn of the 20th century. Impressionism Abroad: Boston and French Painting runs through Sept. 11.

Toronto -- The 20th annual Toronto International Film Festival from Sept. 8 to 17 includes features from around the world, including a number of North American premieres. 

Venice -- The 62nd Venice International Film Festival runs from Aug. 31 to Sept. 10.

Long-time arts and tourism writer Alvin H. Reiss is editor of the Travel Arts Partnership Newsletter (TAP), which is published by Museums Magazine, the Arts & Business Council and the Art Knowledge Corp. For more details, visit www.travelartspartnership.com.

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