Earth Day does not officially arrive until the spring, but this winter several museums are getting things started early with ecologically minded exhibitions. The São Paulo Museum of Art is continuing its yearlong series of environmentalist art exhibitions with a solo show by Minerva Cuevas, the Jeu de Paume in Paris is positioning Martin Parr as an artist concerned about our climate, and the Vancouver Art Gallery is surveying Emily Carr’s paintings with a focus on her portrayals of roiled nature.
Other forward-looking institutional shows explore how artists project themselves into the future. A Museum of Modern Art exhibition about African photography considers how the medium reflected the desire for newfound autonomy in postcolonial nations, and a National Gallery Singapore survey singles out five women artists who conjure alternate societies in search of gender equity.
Other institutions are gazing back at the past to understand history anew. The Metropolitan Museum in New York is seeking to expose an under-appreciated historical gem with its survey for Helene Schjerfbeck, a Finnish painter who has yet to find her place in the Western canon. The show highlights how much art-historical work is only just now getting done, with far more study of the sort still needed in the years to come. Maybe the winter, an introspective period when many prefer to stay indoors amid cold weather in the global North, is the best time for that kind of soul-searching.
Below, a look at 36 exhibitions and biennials to see this winter.
