At Worcester Art Museum, “Photo Revolution,” including this: Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #7, 1978, gelatin silver print, courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures, New York.
Curators are usually tasked with creating informative exhibitions of an artist’s work. When the artist does it, exhibitions take on a different quality.
The Peabody Essex Museum (pem.org) opens just such an exhibition, “Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle,” this month. Re-uniting Lawrence’s own series of paintings—the artist called it “Struggle: From the History of the American People”—the exhibition details Lawrence’s efforts to create his own epic sweep through small paintings of forgotten citizens.
Lawrence imagined an American history that embraces its unnamed participants, and researched his subjects assiduously before painting. His detailed exploration, with his own extensive captions, opens Jan. 18 and remains on view through April 26. Contemporary work from Derrick Adams, Bethany Collins and Hank Willis Thomas complements Lawrence’s series.
The Cape Ann Museum’s new collections space won’t open until this summer, and the historically popular “Homer at the Beach” has departed. CAM’s latest exhibition has longtime Rockport artist Tom Nicholas sharing gallery space with his son, T.M. Nicholas, in a generational show of traditional Cape Ann artists, beginning Jan. 11. Gloucester artist Jeff Weaver’s illuminating retrospective remains on view at Endicott College’s Heftler Gallery through March 2 (endicott.edu).
The Animation Show of Shows has for two decades created compilations of limited release films, mainly for industry professionals. The 19th version of the show comes to Beverly’s Montserrat Gallery (montserrat.edu/galleries), opening Jan. 11; view the irresistible trailer here (youtube.com/watch?v=pQH9zrb6V9Q).
Salem’s Punto Urban Art Museum has enough outdoor visual appeal to make the neighborhood walk worth it, even in the winter months. First get an idea of the spectacular al fresco art on the museum’s site (puntourbanartmuseum.org), then making finding the colorful works part of the tour.
Photography occupies galleries in multiple museums the next few months. The deCordova (decordova.org) doesn’t have a new exhibition until April’s “Visionary New England,” which runs concurrently with similarly themed shows at the Fitchburg Art Museum (fitchburgartmuseum.org) and at Fruitlands (fruitlands.thetrustees.org). But multiple exhibitions remain on view at the deCordova through March, including “Truthiness and the News,” an insightful look at photojournalism.
Wellesley College’s Davis Museum also exhibits photography, with two shows, “Going Viral” (vintage candids) and “Making, Not Taking,” on view when the museum re-opens on Feb. 6 (wellesley.edu/davismuseum). “Photo Revolution” at the Worcester Art Museum (worcesterart.org) looks at boomer-era social concerns through prominent photographers (Sherman, Warhol, Goldin; on view through Feb. 16).
Liz Albert’s snapshots in “Family Fictions” also revisit the past at the Danforth Museum (danforth.framingham.edu), which reopens Jan. 11. Becca Albee photographs, re-photographs, overlays and otherwise re-contextualizes images in List Projects 20, on view only through Feb. 9 at MIT’s List Visual Arts Center (listart.mit.edu).
Boston College’s McMullen Museum of Art (bc.edu/sites/artmuseum) also reopens soon (Jan. 27), with “Indian Ocean Current.” The exhibition investigates post-colonialism, environmental concerns and the many ramifications through the eyes of six artists, working variously in painting, sculpture, photography and interactive installations.
At Fuller Craft Museum: John Christian Anderson, “Sacrificial Lamb,” 2019. Wood, steel, ceramic, paint, plaster, ink.
Brockton’s Fuller Craft Museum creates a unique juxtaposition—artists, and the opioid epidemic—to explore stories of the ruinous effect of substance abuse (fullercraft.org).