Besides the Munch exhibition, one more incentive to visit MoMA! From the New Yorker:

In “Without Boundary: Seventeen Ways of Looking,” artists from Islamic backgrounds examine their cultures and homelands, mostly from afar. Unexpectedly, perhaps, women reign. Included are works by Mona Hatoum, Shirin Neshat, Ghada Amer, Shahzia Sikander, Shirazeh Houshiary, Emily Jacir, and Marjane Satrapi. Through May 22.

This from today’s Spec:

“Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul” is a thoroughly engaging and entertaining retrospective that follows the recent trend of mounting “audience-proof” exhibitions. Museums try and amass as many great and popular works of art as they can in order to satiate a public that seeks the comfort of the familiar. There’s little revelatory about the show except perhaps to reacquaint New Yorkers with a cross section of Munch’s voluminous body of work. That said, Edvard Munch is beyond a doubt one of the most exciting offerings of the spring.

Full article here. A recap from one previous entry:

The Museum of Modern Art
(212) 708-9400
11 West 53 Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues
New York, NY 10019-5497

“Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul”
The first American museum retrospective of the Norwegian artist (1863-1944) in thirty years. Through May 8th, 2006.

And remember, with your Columbia student ID, admission is free!

The following exhibitions just came to my attention, thanks to the current issue of the New Yorker:

Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street (212-708-9400)

“Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul” is the first American museum retrospective of the Norwegian artist (1863-1944) in thirty years. Through May 8th, 2006.

In “Without Boundary: Seventeen Ways of Looking,” artists from Islamic backgrounds examine their cultures and homelands, mostly from afar. Unexpectedly, perhaps, women reign. Included are works by Mona Hatoum, Shirin Neshat, Ghada Amer, Shahzia Sikander, Shirazeh Houshiary, Emily Jacir, and Marjane Satrapi. Through May 22nd, 2006.

Asia Society
Park Avenue at 70th Street (212-288-6400)
(Open Tuesdays through Sundays, 11 AM to 6 PM, and Friday evenings until 9 PM.)

Photographs accompanying “A Passion for Asia: The Rockefeller Family Collects” show various Rockefeller manses tricked out with Asian booty, and the images register as alarmingly Orientalist at first glance. Then, though, there are the objects themselves–near-priceless metalwork, statuary, textiles, ceramics, manuscripts, screens, scrolls, and costumes–which are tastefully installed in dimly lit, creamily colored galleries that accentuate their beauty, craft, and opulence. Chinese and Japanese vessels, Persian and Indian manuscripts–even a Noguchi sculpture–vie for attention on one floor, while religious works, from Chinese, Nepalese, and Indian bodhisattvas and gods to a simple wooden cross by the American modernist George Nakashima, occupy another. Ultimately, the quality of this collection demonstrates the Rockefellers’ passion for, and commitment to, Asian art, which drove them to found this institution, in 1956. Through September 3rd, 2006.