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By LENNIE BENNETT, Times art criticSome of the bay area's art museums are in the middle of makeovers or moves, but that won't slow the parade of quality exhibitions over the next year.
Those heralded museum blockbusters of years past are giving way to news of bricks-and-mortar projects, with the three largest museums in our area in varying stages of expansion.
The Museum of Fine Arts and Salvador Dali Museum, both in St. Petersburg, will grow in the next few years. In the Dali's case, it will also move to a site a few blocks north on the waterfront.
The big news in the coming season will be the February opening of a new wing at the John and Mable Ringling Museum in Sarasota. Those galleries will add 30,000 square feet to the museum for special exhibitions, and the inaugural ones should be stunners: paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and a jewelry collection from the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore that spans 4,500 years.
The Tampa Museum of Art's plans for a new building remain in flux. The Tampa Gallery of Photographic Arts next month gets a new name, the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, and a new location.
We have nine arts museums in our west-central Florida area, most with fine permanent collections ranging from antiquities to contemporary works in many mediums. Our weekly calendar, on Page xxW, describes those collections.
This annual calendar lists current and upcoming rotating exhibitions. The variety and quality attests to our growth as an arts destination.
Not included in this calendar are student exhibitions, which will explain some gaps in the schedules of several museums.
- LENNIE BENNETT, Times art critic
Salvador Dali Museum
1000 Third St. S, St. Petersburg, (727) 823-3767 www.salvadordalimuseum.org.
"Dali by the Decades," continuing through Jan. 21
A chronological exhibition of oil paintings, drawings, watercolors and objects from the permanent collection with interpretive material including photographs, text and graphics showing the changing context in which Dali lived and created.
"Illumined Pleasures: Dali and Early Cinema," through Nov. 22
Small exhibition with video excerpts from filmmakers who influenced Salvador Dali, paving the way for his successful cinematic collaborations. A small theater-style space loops Dali's Un Chien Andalou and his dream sequence for Spellbound.
"Dali and the Zodiac," through Dec. 31"
The Dali Zodiac is explored through his own work and historical information about astrology.
"Traces of the Avant-garde: Mabel Palacin," Dec. 9 through March 4
Catalan videographer Mabel Palacin will create a collection of video images interpreting the artist and collection
Museum of Fine Arts
255 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg (727) 896-2667 www.fine-arts.org
"1950 to Now: Works from the Collection," through Sept. 24
Much of this exhibition consists of art brought out from storage every summer, but it is augmented and freshened with several new gifts, including an Andrew Wyeth watercolor, and loans.
"Sosaku Hanga: Modern Japanese Prints," through Sept. 24
A group of woodblocks and lithographs created during a seminal time for Japanese artists who were enjoying new, wider exposure to Western art.
"Keris Invincible: Sword Handles from Indonesia," through Sept. 10
Demons, gods, plants and animals are fashioned from precious metals, bone, ivory and wood, said to confer mystical powers on their owners, through several centuries.
"Harold Edgerton: Photographs at the Speed of Light," through Nov. 5
A collection of dramatic stop-action photographs by a pioneer of the process.
"Rembrandt and his Time," through Nov. 12
A small exhibition of etchings by the master plus works by his contemporaries.
"From the Fire: Contemporary Korean Ceramics," Oct. 7 through Dec. 31
Korea has a long tradition of making ceramics which continues today. It's emerging as a major scene of contemporary art, and the 54 artists represented demonstrate its growing diversity.
"Natura Morta: Still Life Painting and the Medici Collections," Jan. 19 through March 18
Forty-three works, including mosaics, paintings and watercolors created in the 17th and 18th centuries, lent by the Uffizi Gallery, Pitti Palace and Medici Villa in Florence, Italy Most were originally part of the vast private collection of the Medicis, the Renaissance's most famous family.
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
5401 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota (941) 359-5700 www.ringling.org
"Encore! Art of the Historic Asolo Theater," through Jan. 7
This exhibition includes memorabilia and art associated the newly restored Asolo Theater.
"Master Drawings from the Yale University Gallery," Oct. 19 through Jan. 7
An impressive collection of European works on paper by old masters from the Yale University Gallery.
"Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art," Feb. 3 through April 30
More than 70 works chronicle the evolution of a distinctly American art, from its infancy as a democracy through World War II.
"Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry from the Walters Art Museum," Feb. 3 through April 30
The Walters in Baltimore owns a world class collection of jewels dating from antiquity and is sending a lot of gems that include early pieces up to dazzlers from Tiffany.
"In Our Time: The World as Seen by Magnum Photographers," May 19 through Aug. 7
The famous agency owned and operated by photographers celebrates 50 years with works from its archives.
Tampa Museum of Art
600 N Ashley Drive, Tampa (813) 274-8130 www.tampagov.net/dept_museum
"What Does This Mean (The Narrative Tradition)" continues through Oct. 1
Works from the permanent collection illustrate how stories are told in a variety of ways by art from ancient times to the present. Includes interactive stations for adults and children.
"Minimal to Max: The Brownstone Collection," Oct. 15 through Jan. 7
American and European minimalism is represented by paints, drawings, prints and sculptures by Josef Albers, Andy Warhol, Robert Mangold, Sol LeWitt and others.
"Traveling with Frederic Church, Winslow Homer and Thomas Moran: Tourism and Landscape in America," Jan. 21 through April 15
Paintings and drawings from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum tell the story of Americans' growing fascination with their natural landscape, from the Atlantic coast to Western wildness, and the growth of tourism. Includes 130 paintings and drawings and 150 supplemental materials such as travel brochures and books.
"Robert Stackhouse: The New Florida," Jan. 7 through April 1
Stackhouse, an artist with an international reputation who lives in St. Petersburg, works on a large scale in his paintings, drawings and sculptures. The Tampa Museum is one of six area museums and arts organizations that will simultaneously exhibit his work.
"Purvis Young from the Tampa Museum of Art's Collection," April 29 through July 8
The Rubell family of Miami are consistently on lists of top contemporary art collectors in the U.S., and in 2004 they donated 91 paintings by Purvis Young, a famous "outsider painter." Their gift will be on display.
"Puerto Rican Art: Image of a Culture, from the Contemporary Art Collection of Seguros Multiples," July 22 through Sept. 30
Seguros Multiples is a nonprofit, government-sponsored insurance cooperative in Puerto Rico that has amassed a large collection of Puerto Rican art which will be on view.
University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum
4202 E Fowler Ave., Tampa (813) 974-2849 www.usfcam.usf.edu
"Vik Muniz: Reflex," through Oct. 7
Muniz's engaging visual sleights of hand mimic famous images in unconventional materials. A peanut butter and jelly Mona Lisa, anyone?
"Berni Searle," Oct. 27 through Dec.16
Internationally celebrated South African artist Berni Searle works in photography, video, performance and installation to address racial and gender inequities through the use of her body, her personal histories, and the construction of personal mythologies.
"Trisha Brown & Company," Jan. 12 through March 3
Trisha Brown has been artistic director of her dance company for 35 years but she's also known for her work in the visual arts, including improvisational works combining dance and drawing, and collaborations with artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and John Cage. Trisha Brown & Company will present Brown's new improvisational drawings, a selection of collaborative works with artists, and new prints commissioned by Graphicstudio.
"Stereo Vision," June 7 through Aug. 4
The exhibition will juxtapose vintage stereographs with contemporary photographically-based works selected from Florida collections. The idea is to examine historical and contemporary issues dealing with the often conflicting expectations and aspirations of the cultural tourist and the host communities.
Florida Museum of Photographic Arts
200 N Tampa St., Tampa (813) 221-2222 www.fmopa.org
Aaron Siskind: Harlem Document (1932-1940)," Sept. 15 through Nov. 5
Siskind's groundbreaking photography inaugurates the new name and location for the former Tampa Gallery of Photographic Arts.
"Technology into Art: The Photogravure from 1850 to Today," Nov. 10 through Jan. 28
Compare early examples of the medium with contemporary interpretations in an exhibition organized by University of South Florida's Institute for Research in Art.
"Thomas J. Abercrombie, National Geographic Magazine Photographer," Feb. 1 through April 15
The magazine organized the exhibition to honor one of their best and most daring photographers who died in April.
"Portraits of Ethnic Diversity: The Art of Judy Dater," April 20 through July 1
A respected contemporary photographer best known for her portraits of women.
Gulf Coast Museum of Art
12211 Walsingham Road, Largo (727) 518-6833 www.gulfcoastmuseum.org
"The Emergent Garde: Diran Lyons, Engulfed," through Sept. 3
An annual exhibition focusing on young artists now features Lyons, who pays homage to other contemporary artists in a series of installations.
"Edgar Sanchez Cumbas: Poetical Observations," through Sept. 3
Lyrical paintings that combine elements of mysticism, political and environmental concerns.
"Dimitri Kozyrev: Space/Vision/Perception," Sept. 16 through Oct. 29
The paintings of this Russian artist has been described as a "visual junk yard" in which fragments of images of commerce pile up and blend, "volumes flatten, things fall apart and chaos reigns."
"Clyde Butcher: The American Wilderness," Nov. 10 through Jan. 28
A perennial favorite of collectors, Butcher, who gained fame for his large-scale black-and-white photographs of the Everglades, has turned his lens on the beauty of national parks in the western U.S.
"Pablo Siebel: Symbolic Surface," Nov. 10 through Jan. 28
Playful, complex paintings and sculptures.
"Guild Hall: An Adventure in the Arts," Feb. 9 through April 30
From the collection of Guild Hall in East Hampton, N.Y., come paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs by George Bellows, Childe Hassam, Thomas Moran, Chuck Close, Willem deKooning, Max Ernst and Andy Warhol.
"Marlene Rose: Form and Luminosity," May 13 through July 15
Cast glass sculptures combining ancient and contemporary forms.
Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art
600 Klosterman Road, Tarpon Springs (727) 712-5762 www.spcollege.edu/museum
"Weird and Wonderful: Graphics by Leonard Baskin," Sept. 3 through Oct. 29
The artist's take on our founding fathers, men of arts and letters and American Indians.
"Picasso Ceramics from the Bernie Bercuson Collection of the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale," Nov. 12 through Jan. 7
Ceramics created by Picasso in the south of France after World War II plus prints, posters, paintings and vintage photographs.
Thirty-second annual International Miniature Art Society Exhibition, Jan. 14 through Feb. 4
Hundreds of artists working in miniature in various styles compete for best of show.
"Focus on Five: The Patricia A. and Thomas J. Lehnen Family Art Collection," Feb. 18 through April 15
The Lehnens have been generous donors to the museum through the years and this show highlights recent gifts of work by Alexander Calder, Dale Chihuly, Victor Vasarely and others.
"Fragments: Portraits of Survivors from the Collection of the Florida Holocaust Museum," April 29 through June 24
Black and white photographs by Jason Schwartz and testimonials by Holocaust survivors.
"Art of the Whimsical: Fabricated Sculptures by Esther Gentle" and "Art of the Ordered: Reverse Painting by Roy Witlin," July 8 through Aug. 26
A visual dialogue between two artists working against type.
Polk Museum of Art
800 E Palmetto St., Lakeland (863) 688-7743 www.polkmuseumofart.org
"Women Only! In their Studios," through Oct. 15
Twenty major female artists are represented including Jennifer Bartlett, Jenny Holzer, Miriam Schapiro, Faith Ringgold, Elizabeth Murray, Elizabeth Catlett, Amalia Mesa-Bains and Flo Oy Wong.
"Herman Leonard: Artistic Stylings," through Nov. 12
A one-time apprentice of Yousuf Karsh who went on to become a portrait photographer himself, Leonard photographed jazz greats including Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and others, on view here.
"James Michaels: Passion for Paint," Oct. 21 through Jan. 28
Michaels is one of the region's finest painters and this exhibition brings together one of his series.
"Gary Bolding: From Window to Wall," Oct. 21 through Jan. 28
New paintings by a pop appropriation artist that venture into more abstract forms.
"The Art Resource Trust Selects Works on Paper," Dec. 2 through Feb. 21
Members of the museum's support group, the Art Resource Trust, organize a show of works on paper from major galleries.
"Ansel Adams: Celebration of Genius," Feb. 3 through April 1
From the collection of the George Eastman House come 150 prints from the great landscape photographer.
"Monica Naugle," March 3 through May 20
Naugle is known for her delicate sculptures, often dresses and women's accessories, rendered in hard materials such as wire.
"Kickin' It with Joyce J. Scott," April 7 through May 27
African and American Indian experiences and pop culture influences combine in sculpture, jewelry, prints and books.
"Mamie Holst," May 26 through Aug. 5
The Fort Myers artist, who has Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction, interprets her experiences in a series of somber paintings.
"Japanese Textiles from the Permanent Collection," June 2 through Aug. 12
A recent acquisition of 30 textiles gets its inaugural viewing.
"Fruits and Flowers: Dali's Botanical Prints," June 2 through Aug. 12
Twenty-four prints in the artist's FlorDali series on loan from the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg.