When winter weather hits, there are a few things that suddenly sound a lot more appealing. Of course, curling up on the couch with a good book and a cup of tea is always a good way to beat the cold, but when you get the urge to venture out, there are coffee shops, movie theaters, and one of my personal favorites, museums. If you’re looking for somewhere to get out of the house and get some culture while still staying warm and dry, consider visiting one of these current exhibitions if they happen to be near you or somewhere you’re traveling in the near future.
London Calling: 40 Years of The Clash
Museum of London, London
January 8 – April 19
The Museum of London takes visitors for a walk through the history of this iconic capital city, and it is currently exploring a very London-centric moment in music history. To celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the release of The Clash’s double album London Calling, the Museum of London presents an exploration of the making of the punk masterpiece, including images, instruments (some smashed), hand-written notes and lyrics, and other items that illustrate influences behind the making of the album. Though London Calling: 40 Years of The Clash is centered around the making of the eponymous album, it also explores how London shaped this group of musicians into one of the most popular British bands of the 20th century.
Flesh & Blood: Italian Masterpieces from the Capodimonte Museum
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Until January 26
If you’re a museum nerd like me, you may have noticed some rather sexy advertisements popping up on your social media channels for Flesh & Blood, an exhibit of Renaissance and Baroque works from Italy. The Seattle Art Museum is pushing the sex appeal for good reason; the Renaissance Italians loved a sensual nude painting, and it was easy to justify painting lots of naked women by placing them in mythological settings. Featuring Renaissance masters including Titian and Raphael and Baroque painters such as Cavallino, Reni, and de Ribera, this exhibit gives visitors a comprehensive look at this prolific and important period of Italian art from historic collections.
Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech”
High Museum, Atlanta, Georgia
Through March 8
Fashion afficionados are probably most familiar with Virgil Abloh as the artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear and chief executive officer of Off-White. However, he is an accomplished artist in many mediums, as revealed in Figures of Speech, the first museum exhibition devoted to his work. The exhibit of course includes selections from his fashion designs, but also examines his work in other mediums like furniture design and graphic design, while exploring the inspiration behind his work.
Beauty Rich and Rare
National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC
Through July 5
This exhibition at the National History Museum in DC was commissioned by The National Library of Australia as a celebration of the natural beauty of the Land Down Under. This “immersive sound and light experience” follows the 1768 voyage of Captain James Cook and the search for Australia through the records of the natural scientists who were part of the expedition. Items on display include illustrations, journals, charts, specimens, and artefacts. Visitors may donate to the victims of the brush fires currently ravaging Australia at the museum and through the exhibit’s website.
The Nashville Flood: Ten Years Later
Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN
Through May 17
The Frist Art Museum commemorates the devastating flood of 2010, which saw Nashville sink beneath thirteen inches of rain and a swollen Cumberland River, damaging and destroying homes, historic sites, and other buildings of importance and endangering and sometimes taking the lives of the residents. This exhibit examines the events of the flood, the people affected, and the progress of restoring the areas impacted by the flood. The Nashville Flood: Ten Years Later is a lesson in city history, personal history, heroism and disaster relief, and the inequalities that lurk under the bedazzled surface of the “It City” of the teens.
All images used in this post are from the exhibition websites and are the work of the artists involved.
