Wednesday June 29, 2022

Press Release

July 2022 Exhibitions and Event Listings for the Cleveland Museum of Art

Exhibitions

Opening This Month
FRONT International 2022
Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows
July 16 to October 2, 2022
Multi-venue exhibition featuring seven installations at the Cleveland Museum of Art

Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows, the second iteration of FRONT International, is a multi-venue exhibition that embraces art as an agent of transformation, a mode of healing and a therapeutic process. The title is an homage to the 1957 poem “Two Somewhat Different Epigrams” by Langston Hughes. A tender, brutal and provocative prayer, the poem meditates on the inseparability of joy and suffering. Expanding on Hughes’s invocation, FRONT 2022 explores how art making offers the possibility to transform and heal people—as individuals, as groups and as a society. The triennial also demonstrates how aesthetic pleasure—sharing joy through movement, music, craft and color—can bridge differences between people to bring them together. Finally, the exhibition suggests ways that art making can speak with power: showing people how to recognize and reimagine the invisible structures that govern contemporary life.

The CMA is a presenting partner and will be one of the principal venues for FRONT International, with five exciting contemporary art installations and performances, each on view at the museum from mid-July until early this fall.

CMA FRONT Artists

More details will be announced by FRONT International.

The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion
Through September 11, 2022
Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Gallery

The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion features vibrant portraits and conceptual images that fuse art and fashion photography. The exhibition opens conversations around the representation of the Black body and Black lives as subject matter and challenges the idea that Blackness is homogenous. In Cleveland, the exhibition has a unique addition to the photographs on the walls: mannequins dressed in fashionable looks created by three of the stylists represented in the show. Arielle Bobb-Willis and Daniel Obasi, who work both as stylists and photographers, and stylist Jermaine Daley each produce a special look that highlights the important role played by stylists in creating the narratives that audiences consume from fashion and photography.

Exhibition Tickets
Adults $12; seniors, students and children ages 6 to 17 $10; children 5 and under and CMA members FREE

Tickets are expected to book quickly and are not guaranteed. The CMA highly recommends reserving exhibition tickets in advance online by visiting The New Black Vanguard exhibition webpage. Tickets can also be reserved by phone at 216-421-7350 or on-site at one of the ticket desks.

The exhibition is organized by Aperture, New York, and is curated by Antwaun Sargent.

The New Black Vanguard is made possible in part by Airbnb Magazine.

Major support is provided by PNC Bank. Generous support is provided by Donald F. and Anne T. Palmer.

All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Generous annual support is provided by an anonymous supporter, Dick Blum (deceased) and Harriet Warm, Dr. Ben H. and Julia Brouhard, Mr. and Mrs. Walter R. Chapman Jr., the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Michael Frank in memory of Patricia Snyder, the Sam J. Frankino Foundation, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, William S. and Margaret F. Lipscomb, Bill and Joyce Litzler, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, Anne H. Weil, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art and Claudia C. Woods and David A. Osage.

Medieval Treasures from Münster Cathedral
Through August 14, 2022
Gallery 115
FREE

Gold and silver reliquaries, jeweled crosses, liturgical garments and illuminated manuscripts are among the rare treasures kept in the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Münster, in northwestern Germany. Many of Münster’s reliquaries, created between the 1000s and 1500s, were permanently displayed on the altar, while others were brought out only during liturgical celebrations. Medieval Treasures includes eight of these reliquaries.

All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Major annual support is provided by the Estate of Dolores B. Comey and Bill and Joyce Litzler, with generous annual funding from Mr. and Mrs. Walter R. Chapman Jr., the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Ms. Arlene Monroe Holden, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, William S. and Margaret F. Lipscomb, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia C. Woods and David A. Osage.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is funded in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

This exhibition is supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Cycles of Life: The Four Seasons Tapestries
Through February 19, 2023
Arlene M. and Arthur S. Holden Textile Gallery | Gallery 234
FREE

Cycles of Life: The Four Seasons Tapestries offers visitors an in-depth look at a rare, complete set of tapestries in the museum’s collection that has not been displayed since 1953 because of the tapestries’ fragile condition. Each tapestry depicts seasonal activities: fishing and gardening (Spring), grain harvesting (Summer), wine making (Autumn) and ice skating (Winter). When viewed together, the tapestries represent a full cycle of life.

Art historical research for this exhibition was a collaboration with Case Western Reserve University graduate students in the museum’s joint art history graduate program.

Generous support is provided by the Thompson Family Foundation.

The conservation of the Four Seasons tapestries was made possible with support from Emma Lincoln (deceased).

Collection Exhibitions

Martial Art of India
Through August 21, 2022
Indian Painting Gallery | Gallery 242B
FREE

Scenes of battles and portraits of soldiers in Indian painting include both historical and mythical, real and idealized images—and often in combination. This selection of paintings from the museum’s permanent collection reveals a range of depictions from historical documents to illustrations of epic tales.

Japan’s Floating World (日本の浮世)
Through October 2, 2022
Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Japanese Art Galleries | Galleries 235A–B
FREE

A significant share of paintings, prints and decorative arts made in Japan from the mid-1700s to mid-1800s captured artists’ responses to urban sex and entertainment districts unofficially known as the ukiyo (浮世), or “floating world.” Ukiyo-e (浮世絵), or “pictures of the floating world,” inspired by these exceptional spaces and their occupants, eschewed the grim realities of sex work, instead marketing beauty, celebrity, pleasure and fashion, often in combination with allusions to famous literature or historical episodes. The term “ukiyo” was repurposed in the late 1600s from its much older use in Buddhism, where it described human frailty in the face of constant change. The new floating world, designed as an escape from the constraints of daily life for male government servants, thrived on ephemeral experiences and suggested a kaleidoscope of enjoyable possibilities. In addition to paintings, prints of courtesans and musicians vie with those of Kabuki actors and a sumo wrestler for attention in the spring installation (April 8–July 10), while prints of boating parties on the Sumida River feature in the summer installation (July 12–October 2). The exhibition also presents a feminist work by Oda Mayumi (b. 1941), whose work is rooted in the ukiyo-e tradition.

Creating Urgency: Modern and Contemporary Korean Art
Through October 23, 2022
Korea Foundation Gallery | Gallery 236
FREE

Creating Urgency: Modern and Contemporary Korean Art sparks a stimulating discussion about contemporary Korean artists and their expressive language of defining diasporic artistic identities. Korean-born French painter Ungno Lee (1904–1989) reimagined traditional Korean ink painting and its conventional methods through his exploration of Art Informel (French Abstract Expressionist approaches of the 1940s and ’50s). The Berlin-based Korean artist Haegue Yang (b. 1971), on the other hand, invites the audience to critically explore issues of identity, migration and displacement. The selected works on display share each Korean artist’s experiences and challenges in the global art scene.

Escaping to a Better World: Eccentrics and Immortals in Chinese Art
Through November 6, 2022
Clara T. Rankin Galleries of Chinese Art | Gallery 240A
FREE

In times of a pandemic, migration crises, and frequent natural and humanitarian disasters, the theme of Escaping to a Better World may resonate with many of us. In fact, this idea has long been part of China’s culture, embedded in the country’s religious and philosophical thinking. China’s legendary eccentrics and immortals often exhibit unconventional appearances and behaviors, expressing supernatural power and a rejection of everyday norms. By doing this, they embody the longing for an ideal world. This installation presents paintings, porcelain and metalwork, all mediums in which these popular figures and their stories were depicted throughout the ages, including today.

Native North America
Through December 4, 2022
Sarah P. and William R. Robertson Gallery | Gallery 231
FREE

Works on display in the Native North American gallery include a group of objects from the Great Plains—a child’s beaded cradle; a woman’s hair-pipe necklace, one of the most memorable of Plains ornaments; and several beaded or painted bags that served varied purposes. A basket rotation features creations that Timbisha Shoshone (Panamint) weavers of California’s Death Valley made for the early 20th-century collector’s market. Finally, for the first time in at least 20 years, two works by contemporary Inuit artists of the Canadian Arctic make an appearance. One is a 1972 stone-cut print by Alec (Peter) Aliknak Banksland, a founding member of the Holman Eskimo Arts Cooperative, now the Ulukhaktok Arts Centre in Ulukhaktok, Canada.

Ancient Andean Textiles
Through December 4, 2022
Jon A. Lindseth and Virginia M. Lindseth, PhD, Galleries of the Ancient Americas | Gallery 232
FREE

The textiles represent several different civilizations that flourished in the ancient Andes, today Peru and parts of adjacent countries. Though unrelated by cultural affiliation, they are unified by being special in some way, whether through rarity, complexity of execution or luxuriousness of materials.

Arts of Africa
Through December 18, 2022
Galleries 108A–C
FREE

Seventeen rarely seen or newly acquired works are installed in the African arts galleries. These 19th- to 21st-century works from northern, central and western Africa support continuing efforts to broaden the scope of African arts on view at the CMA.

Special Loan

The Cleveland Museum of Art is honored to feature Kerry James Marshall’s masterpiece Bang (1994), on loan from the Progressive Corporation, in Toby’s Gallery for Contemporary Art (229A). The artwork is included in the recent contemporary gallery installation featuring several new artworks.

On-site Programs

Who Curates Contemporary Art?
Wednesday, July 20, 7 p.m.
Gartner Auditorium
FREE; ticket required

Hear from young creatives, artists and entrepreneurs who approach curating contemporary art with new perspectives and operate outside the traditional confines of the art museum. Antwoine Washington and Michael C. Russell II of the Museum of Creative Human Art, Lique Gates and Britney Kuehm of Current Cleveland and young creatives who are part of the CMA’s Currently Under Curation (CUC) Fellows program discuss their practices, experiences and goals when crafting exhibitions. CAN Triennial curator Thea Spittle moderates the discussion. This event also recognizes the accomplishments of the CMA’s CUC fellows, part of the CAN Triennial curatorial team.

All education programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Education. Generous annual support is provided by Gail Bowen in memory of Richard L. Bowen, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Mr. and Mrs. Walter R. Chapman Jr., the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., the Sam J. Frankino Foundation, Florence Kahane Goodman, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, Pamela Mascio, Sally and Larry Sears, the Thompson Family Foundation, and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Lunchtime Lecture: “Lights! Paintbrush! Action!” Reginald Marsh’s A Paramount Picture
Tuesday, July 5, 2022, noon
Gartner Auditorium
Speaker: Mark Cole, Chair of Modern, Contemporary and Decorative Art and William P. and Amanda C. Madar Curator of American Painting and Sculpture
FREE; ticket required

Come to the CMA for a quick bite of art history. Every first Tuesday of each month, join curators, conservators, scholars, and other museum staff for 30-minute talks on objects currently on display in the museum galleries.

Movies have a long history in providing escapist fare from everyday life. Set amid the Great Depression, Reginald Marsh’s A Paramount Picture presents a scene in New York’s Times Square, where people have gathered around a theater showing the Cecil B. DeMille blockbuster Cleopatra. This lecture offers a “behind-the-scene” look at the painting, incorporating material from the artist’s archive to explain how it came into being.

On-site Collection Tours

Guided Tours
Tuesday through Sunday, 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., with an additional tour at 11 a.m. on Tuesdays
FREE; ticket required

Join a public tour to learn new perspectives and enjoy great storytelling about the works in the museum’s collections. Tours depart from the information desk in the Ames Family Atrium. Tickets may be reserved at cma.org or on-site at the ticket desk. Tours are limited to 15 participants per group.

CMA Community Arts Center On-site Activities

2937 West 25th Street, Cleveland, OH 44113
Free parking in the lot off Castle Avenue | Estacionamiento gratis en la Avenida Castle

Family FUNdays | Día De Alegria Familiar
Every first Sunday of the month | Cada Primer Domingo del mes, 1–4 p.m.

Enjoy free family fun and explore art celebrating community. This event features family-friendly games, movement-based activities, art making and even a family parade! All activities are COVID conscious and open to all ages and abilities.

Únase a nosotros para divertirse con familia, mientras exploramos el arte celebrando comunidad. Gratis para participar. Juegos para toda la familia, actividades basadas en movimientos, creación de arte e incluso un desfile familiar. Todas las actividades son conscientes por el covid y abiertas a todos los edades y habilidades.

Open Studio | Al Arte Libre
Every Saturday | Cada Sabado, 1–4 p.m.

Enjoy free, drop-in art making for the whole family. A monthly theme connects community, art and exploration.

Disfrute actividades de arte gratuita para toda la familia. Un tema mensual conecta la comunidad, el arte y la exploración.

Community Arts Center
Hours | Horario
Friday, 2–7 p.m. | Viernes, de 2 a 7 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. | Sábado y Domingo, de 10 a.m. hasta las 5 p.m.
Closed Monday to Thursday | Cerrados Lunes a Jueves

Free drop-in art making and gallery exploration.

Creación de arte gratuita y exploración de galerías.

Additional Information

The CDC updated its guidelines regarding the need to wear face coverings in public settings for protection against COVID-19. The CMA recommends, but no longer requires visitors to wear a face covering inside the building.

The CMA’s current hours of operation are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays. Updated hours will be announced as decided. Visit cma.org to stay up to date on this information.

Contact the Museum's Media Relations Team:
(216) 707-2261
marketingandcommunications@clevelandart.org