Top New York Exhibitions: Picasso, Lichtenstein, and More

While visiting the vibrant Armory Show in New York this September, be sure to explore concurrent exhibitions at iconic venues throughout the city, such as The Whitney, Brooklyn Museum, and more.

June 28, 2023 — February 2024
Over 43 groundbreaking artists present rarely seen works for “Inheritance,” a captivating group show at The Whitney. Sculptures, photographs, paintings, and more unfold throughout the sixth-floor galleries in thematic categories, as celebrated artists such as Faith Ringgold, Carrie Mae Weems, Thaddeus Mosley, and Kara Walker reveal deeply personal moments of generational and historical storytelling. Guided by Rujeko Hockley, the Arnhold Associate Curator at The Whitney, the exhibition offers a variety of interpretations for the term inheritance, from the exchange of treasured childhood memories to painful cycles of racial violence. Ringgold’s lithograph United States of Attica (1971) and Walker’s experiential video installation, ...calling to me from the angry surface of some grey and threatening sea, I was transported (2007), contemplate harrowing legacies of enslavement.

August 19, 2023 — February 2024
Currently on view at The Whitney, “Trust Me” brings together 11 artists for a beguiling exhibition of photographic works. Through the use of nimble experimental techniques, and with great sensitivity to the theme of human connection, creatives such as Genesis Báez, Moyra Davey, Barbara Hammer, and Mary Manning offer powerful images of romance, friendship, and community. Alvin Baltrop’s gripping series chronicles the lives of gay and transgender New Yorkers as they found sanctuary on the decaying piers of the Hudson River in the 1970s. D’Angelo Lovell Williams uses self-portraiture as a rumination on fierce self-expression in homage to the enslaved Igbo people, while Muriel Hasburn rephotographed dental x-rays of Salvadoran civil war casualties in a haunting exploration of transcendent interconnectedness.

June 2 — September 24, 2023
In a collaboration between Brooklyn Museum’s senior curators Catherine Morris and Lisa Small, with Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby, “It’s Pablo-matic” delves into art history’s long ignored misogyny through a collage of renowned works by Picasso and pieces by contemporary feminist creatives. Inspired by the 2018 comedy special Nanette, the cutting-edge exhibition welcomes Gadsby’s insightful wit as a means of unpacking Picasso’s iconic status and problematic legacy. Artists such as Mickalene Thomas, Nina Chanel Abney, Cindy Sherman, Marilyn Minter, Joan Semmel, and Dara Birnbaum feature robust alternatives to traditional masculine dialogues. Works such as Renee Cox’s Yo Mama (1993) and Thomas’s Marie: Nude Black woman lying on a couch (2012) place Black women at the center of the conversation, in reclaimed positions of power and self-love.

September 9 — October 21, 2023
Celebrating 100 years since the birth of artist Roy Lichtenstein, Gagosian debuts an energetic show of sculptures and studies at 980 Madison Avenue this September. Curated by Irving Blum, alongside the Estate of Roy Lichtenstein, with exhibition design by Bill Katz, the extensive presentation displays the surreal, multi-dimensional creations which elevate everyday objects to sharp witted and sensual works of the imagination. Desk Explosion (1965) delights in porcelain enamel and steel, with fireworks of red and yellow, spotlighting use of the famed Benday dot. Desk Explosion (Study) (c. 1965) displays the same subject as a deft pencil sketch, revealing the visionary’s meticulous process and the collaboration with his assistant, sculptor Carlos Ramos.