FINE ART
Sculpture of Devotion
Rubin Museum
Through July 7, 2014
This summer the Rubin Museum becomes a hub for tracing the spread of Buddhism across Asia. The journey begins with “From India East,” an exhibition that features highlights from the Brooklyn Museum’s stunning collection of Asian art selected by the Rubin Museum to tell this fascinating story of cultural exchange. The exploration of this topic continues in the new series of talks Exporting Enlightenment, and Lunch Matters, a weekly lunchtime film screening and discussion.
www.RMANYC.org
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FINE ART
William Trost Richards
National Academy Museum
May 23–Sept. 8
William Trost Richards is regarded today as one of our finest landscape and marine painters of the 19th century. The ground breaking retrospective of the Philadelphia native’s work held exactly forty years ago at the Brooklyn Museum of Art played a pivotal role in setting in motion the current estimation of the artist’s talents and accomplishments. This was the first of many significant exhibitions of Richards’ work that have been organized by the art historian and curator Linda Ferber, whose efforts have played a critical role in blazing the trail for the recognition of his achievements as a painter, watercolorist and draftsman. A talk with the curator will take place on July 12, at 3 p.m.
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MUSEUMS
Museum Mile Festival
Fifth Avenue from 82nd to 105th streets
June 11
Ten museums—Museum for African Art; El Museo del Barrio;
Museum of the City of New York; The Jewish Museum, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution; Guggenheim Museum; Neue Galerie; German Cultural Center; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art—are participating in the 35th annual Museum Mile Festival. Entertainment and kids’ activities are open to the public free of charge.
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ILLUSTRATION
The Center for Book Arts
Franco-Belgian Comics
Until June 29
Along with American comics and Japanese manga, bande dessinée (drawn strip) is one of the great comics traditions. In French, bande dessinée, often abbreviated as “BD,” refers to comics in general and to francophone European comics in particular. This exhibition presents key moments in the evolution of dessinée volumes, from their initial standardization to contemporary explorations into the possibilities offered by the book as three-dimensional object, blurring the distinction between comic books and artist’s books.
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MUSEUMS
New York State Museum Week
Statewide
June 10–16
During New York State Museum Week, museums across the state will feature special events, exhibits, activities and promotions for Museum Week, co-sponsored by the N.Y. State Council on the Arts and Museumwise: Museum Association of New York, which provide grants and shared resources for cultural activities and museums in the state.
www.loveny.com/summer/themes/museum-week
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PRESENTATION
Powerful Women, Great Actors
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Bruno Walter Auditorium
June 10
A presentation by Alan Pally, focusing on the series he produced, celebrating the donation of the Lillian Gish, Katharine Hepburn, and Uta Hagen Papers to the Library’s Billy Rose Theatre Division. Video excerpts from the programs will feature Barbara Barrie, Julie Harris, Barnard Hughes, David Hyde Pierce, Sam Waterston, Fritz Weaver, Irene Worth, Teresa Wright, and others.
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BALLET
Romeo and Juliet
The Metropolitan Opera
June 10 - 15
Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s masterful interpretation of Shakespeare’s enduring romantic tragedy has become one of ABT’s signature productions. Against a sumptuous setting in Renaissance Italy, MacMillan weaves a dance tapestry rich in character nuance and sensuality, and Sergei Prokofiev’s instantly recognizable music underscores the lyric beauty and passion of this beloved ballet’s star-crossed lovers. Featuring Barker; Vishneva, Gomes.
www.metopera.org
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THEATER
The Comedy of Errors
Shakespeare in the Park
Delacorte Theater, Central Park
Through June 30
Directed by Daniel Sullivan, this new production of The Comedy of Errors concerns two sets of identical twins who were separated as children and now live as master-servant pairs in rival neighboring cities. When one pair crosses the border to find the other, so begins an exquisitely enjoyable mess of mistaken identity, wrongful imprisonment, questionable flirting and general mayhem. Returning to Central Park for the first time in 20 years.
www.shakespeareinthepark.org
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THEATER
The Audience
NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
June 13-14, 7 p.m.
Helen Mirren reprises her Academy Award winning role as Queen Elizabeth II in the highly anticipated West End production of “The Audience,” broadcast as part of National Theatre Live. For sixty years Elizabeth II has met each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a private weekly audience at Buckingham Palace. Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said—not even to their spouses. The Audience breaks this contract of silence—and imagines a series of pivotal meetings between the Downing Street incumbents and their Queen.
www.nyuskirball.org