Join Whitewall on a scintillating end-of-year journey through the Best of 2024 in exhibitions, including sweeping museum shows, meaningful retrospectives, tender homecoming presentations, and much more.
“Edges of Ailey” at The Whitney
Antonio Lopez and Juan Ramos, “Costume Designs for Studio 54 Opening Night,” 1977 from “Edges of Ailey” at The Whitney Museum of Art; courtesy of The Whitney Museum of Art.
Currently on view through February 9, 2025, “Edges of Ailey” at The Whitney Museum of Art is the first large-scale museum exhibition to reflect on the life, work and legacy of the visionary artist Alvin Ailey. This multimedia cross-disciplinary exhibition—presented in the museum’s 18,000+ square-foot fifth-floor galleries—brings together painting, sculpture, photography, drawings, print, and video made before, during, and after the artist’s lifetime (1931-1989). It crystallizes his incredible influence on the contemporary art world and establishes him as one of the great polymaths and earliest, most celebrated multi-hyphenates of the 20th century.
Many of the most prolific artists of our time are included in the exhibition, some of whom had direct ties to Ailey: Alma Thomas, Barkley Hendricks, Betye Saar, Carrie Mae Weems, David Hammons, Emma Amos, Faith Ringgold, Geoffrey Holder, Glenn Ligon, Gordon Parks, Jacob Lawrence, James Van Der Zee, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jennifer Packer, Kara Walker, Karon Davis, Kerry James Marshall, Kevin Beasley, Lynnette Yiadom-Boakye, Lorna Simpson, Lyle Ashton Harris, Martin Puryear, Maren Hassinger, Melvin Edwards, Mickalene Thomas, Rashid Johnson, Roy De Carava, Sam Gilliam, Senga Nengudi, Terry Adkins, Theaster Gates and Thornton Dial represent merely a sampling of the extensive artist list.
Olga de Amaral at Fondation Cartier
Courtesy of Olga de Amaral and Fondation Cartier.
The inaugural, major retrospective in Europe of proficient artist Olga de Amaral lights up the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain this season, ongoing through March 16, 2025. A pivotal protagonist of the Colombian art landscape, and global pioneer of Fiber Art, de Amaral continues to kindle awe and wonder with her goldleaf treasures and colossal explorations. “I live color. I know it’s an unconscious language, and I understand it. Color is like a friend, it accompanies me,” said de Amaral.
Tyler Mitchell at High Museum of Art
Installation view of “Idyllic Space” by Tyler Mitchell at the High Museum, courtesy of the museum.
Tyler Mitchell has been on a hot streak since 2018, one year after graduating from the film department at New York University. It was then at just 23 years old that he photographed Beyoncé for the cover of American Vogue, marking the first time an African American photographer had captured the magazine’s cover. Meanwhile, Mitchell remains true to his personal life and experiences as a Black American photographer from the South. These meditations are explored in depth in his exhibition which opened this summer: “Idyllic Space” (June 21–December 1) at the High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. This is a major homecoming for the artist, as he was born and raised in Atlanta, and it was the first museum he visited as a child.
Lucas Arruda at David Zwirner in New York
Work by Lucas Arruda; photo by Gui Gomes, courtesy of the artist and Camilla Barella.
This summer, David Zwirner raised the curtain on “Assum Preto” by the masterful Brazilian artist Lucas Arruda at the gallery’s 537 West 20th Street locale. The visionary creative’s thoughtful works fused memory and fantasy into otherworldly, internal landscapes. “The only reason to call my works landscapes is cultural—it’s simply that viewers automatically register my format as a landscape, although none of the images can be traced to a geographic location,” explained Arruda. “It’s the idea of landscape as a structure, rather than a real place.”
“The Time Is Always Now” at Philadelphia Museum of Art
Installation view of The ‘Time Is Always Now,’ with Thomas J Price’s monumental bronze sculpture ‘As Sound Turns to Noise’ (2023) at center (© Thomas J Price. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth). Photo by Sarah Croop, courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art
Currently on view through February 9, 2025 at Philadelphia Museum of Art, “The Time Is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure” unites 28 Black and African diasporic contemporary artists. Beautifully curated by British writer and curator Ekow Eshun, the show’s powerful title is derived from a singular essay by American writer and social rights activist James Baldwin on desegregation. Over 60 diverse artworks are on display in a riveting presentation which places three visceral themes at its heart: Double Consciousness, Past and Presence, and Our Aliveness.
“Tender Loving Care” at MFA Boston
Gisela Charfauros McDaniel, “Tiningo’ si Sirena,” 2021, Oil on canvas, clothing, objects from subject-collaborator, shells, pearls, sound. Irving W. and Charlotte F. Rabb Acquisition Fund for the Department of Contemporary Art. © Gisela McDaniel; Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London. Courtesy of MFA Boston.
With the heartfelt title “Tender Loving Care,” a comprehensive exhibition of over 100 works from MFA Boston’s collection invites viewers to meditate on the acts of care radiating throughout the life of a work of art. Ongoing through January 12, 2025, five momentous themes underpin the must-see show: Threads, Thresholds, Rest, Vibrant Matter, and Adoration. Highlights include the transformational creations of Tiningo’ si Sirena (2021) by Gisela Charfauros McDaniel and Sound Suit (2008) by Nick Cave, as well as textile and fiber art masterpieces by Sheila Hicks, Howardena Pindell, and Jane Sauer.
“Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” at The Met
Published by The Met.
On May 10, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” opened at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The exhibition reveals 220 objects from its collection through themes of nature and presentations created in collaboration with state-of-the-art technology. Dresses from the 17th century that are too fragile to hang on mannequins are seen in glass vignettes, while others are re-created by video animation, complemented by text created by AI, and even joined by data-generated scents particular to each garment’s history. Made possible by TikTok and with support by LOEWE, the show provides guests with a look at the history of fashion from the past four centuries to today.
“Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &…” at Fondation Louis Vuitton
Tom Wesselmann, “Still Life #31,” 1963, Acrylic and collage on panel, television,
120,6 x 152,4 x 27,3 cm, Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles | Photo Courtesy Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles and Fondation Louis Vuitton.
In celebration of the enduring vibrancy of Pop Art, Fondation Louis Vuitton opens a soaring exhibition beckoning visitors into the multi-faceted artistic movement of the 1960s, ongoing through February 24, 2025. Stemming from the mesmeric paintings and investigations of Tom Wesselmann, artworks by 35 luminaries delve into the breadth of “Pop” perceptiveness.
In addition to works by Tom Wesselmann, the exhibition include works by Derrick Adams, Ai Weiwei, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Evelyne Axell, Thomas Bayrle, Frank Bowling, Rosalyn Drexler, Marcel Duchamp, Sylvie Fleury, Lauren Halsey, Richard Hamilton, David Hammons, Jann Haworth, Barkley L. Hendricks, Hannah Höch, Jasper Johns, KAWS, Kiki Kogelnik, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, Roy Lichtenstein, Marisol, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Claes Oldenburg, Meret Oppenheim, Eduardo Paolozzi, Robert Rauschenberg, Martial Raysse, James Rosenquist, Kurt Schwitters, Marjorie Strider, Do Ho Suh, Mickalene Thomas, Andy Warhol, and Tadanori Yokoo.
“Surrealism” at Centre Pompidou
Max Ernst, “L’ange du foyer (Le triomphe du surréalisme),” 1937 © Adagp, Paris. Vincent Everarts Photography. Courtesy of Centre Pompidou.
On view from September 4, 2024 – January 13, 2025, “Surrealism” at Centre Pompidou ebbs and flows through the many hypnotic realms of the Surrealist movement. A prismatic selection of paintings, drawings, films, photographs, and literary documents shed light on the legendary artistry of Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst and Joan Miró. Female visionaries of the movement like Leonora Carrington, Ithell Colquhoun and Dora Maar are also brought into the spotlight. In a skillful presentation balanced between time and thematics, 14 wondrous categories pay homage to the literary founders of Surrealism such as Lautréamont, Lewis Carroll and Sade.
“Angela Lane: Phantom Light” at Anat Ebgi
Angel Lane, “Phantom Light,” 2024, oil on birch plywood, framed, 14 5/8 x 11 1/16 in; courtesy of the artist and Anat Ebgi.
Unveiled this fall, “Angela Lane: Phantom Light” at Anat Ebgi marks the British-born, New Zealand-based artist’s inaugural solo show in New York, on view through December 21, 2024. Visitors have the opportunity to discover her dazzling, pastel-hued landscape paintings which magically illuminate the celestial and atmospheric phenomena that take our breath away. “I want these occurrences to be mostly believable, but I don’t let science or truth get in the way,” said Lane. “I enjoy how the process of painting takes me on a journey and that these real and unreal phenomena have the freedom to be something else that can’t quite be pinned down.”
