I think I can count the number of museums that I visited in 2024 on one hand. I suppose that if I included libraries and gardens in that figure, I might extend a few more fingers. Still, it’s not a sum of which I am proud.
Whenever I make up my mind to go to a museum, I seem to suddenly find myself without a single pair of clean socks, necessitating a laundry day without delay—and then there’s the auto-renewing gym membership that watches me with dollar sign eyes, its neglect Dickensian in degree. And so, at the end of another year in this cultural tapestry of a city, I find myself cut out of the artistic conversation by my very own shears.
Perhaps I am alone in my mismanagement of time and sieve-like memory for household chores, but I do think that of all my excuses for not making the most of this city’s cultural institutions, there is one on which we can all agree…
Perhaps it’s a perennially over-played card, but tourism truly does trump the inclination, and sometimes even the interest, of most would-be museum-goers I know. And it’s not just stereotypical New York snootiness—consider for a moment the crowds, the cameras flashing, the matching Michelin Man coats. Have you ever tried to really take in a Rothko under the duress that defines the MoMA mid-December? I couldn’t even enjoy a simple can of Cambell’s soup!
But what luck, then, that tourism subsides just slightly after the winter holidays! And such a miracle, too, that many of the shows that I wanted to see in December are still on for a few weeks in January…
In 2025, I am resolved to remember that exhibitions outlast FSA funds—even if only slightly. Let us make haste, then, and meet a friend for afternoon tea this January at the Neue Galerie! I cannot promise a complete parting of the tourist sea, but at least we won’t have to crane our necks quite so awkwardly.
If I manage to attend at least two of the shows on the following shortlist, I will likely let myself off the hook for all my other resolutions!
In the spirit of Robert Burns, I think it right to start the new year with a nostalgic adventure. The Museum of the City of New York held its third annual holiday baking competition this past December, inviting twenty skilled New Yorkers to create gingerbread miniatures of city scenes, architecture, and landmarks. All five boroughs were represented this year and the judges encouraged competitors to interpret the “iconic” theme personally, resulting in a quaint and convenient tour of the city that takes the viewer down many different memory lanes.
I am determined to catch a train uptown and let the frosted skyscrapers, fondant taxis, and gingerbread pizza boxes melt my icy heart. “The Great Borough Bake-Off 2024” entries are on display through January 12th. Visitors are invited to exercise their right to vote in candy competitions.
For tickets, times, and directions, visit The Museum of the City of New York website: mcny.org.
My artistic appetite whet, I shall set sail for the Crete of New York City’s cultural institutions: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you can keep your wits about you and I can secure some suitably long string, I am fairly confident that we can navigate the labyrinth of galleries well enough to take in at least one exhibition before it expires—or we do…
I suggest starting with the two shows that close on January 12th. Mandalas: Mapping the Buddhist Art of Tibet looks lovely to me, though I am a sucker for fragmentary leaves and jewelry fit for a deity. If we’re quite lucky, the Himalayan devotional art will offer us a sliver of enlightenment, which we can use to locate the next exhibition on the list: Mary Sully: Native Modern. I may be a bit of an art bumpkin, for I had not heard of the Dakota artist prior to my researching this piece, but I like to think that I have something of an eye—two, actually, and both went wide with delight when I saw Sully’s patterned triptychs previewed on the Met’s website. The artist’s abstract depiction of dear old Mayor La Guardia alone merits a trip.
Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350 closes on January 26th and Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876-Now, which features live performances among its many media, ends its run on February 17th. Lest we fall prey to the Minotaur of the Met—that fatal urge to cram all 2.2 million square feet into a single Saturday afternoon, to which we have all fallen sacrificial victim at one point or other—I propose a second trip, soon after the first. Two trips will also allow us to visit the gift shop twice, whether we want to practice restraint or excess in our plundering.
For tickets, times, and directions, visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art website: metmuseum.org.
I suspect that we will both be quite exhausted after two consecutive trips to the Met. Personally, I plan on recuperating at one of this city’s several botanical gardens. If I am not thrown into a catatonic depression by the grey sameness of the city on any given winter’s day, I may even go to two!
Now, I have failed to attend the New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show this year—quelle surprise. So, naturally, there is a strong case for my going to see those charming wooden miniatures, and that teensy Metro-North, before they put the train tracks away on January 20th. That said, if I’ve seen “The Great Borough Bake-Off” then I can probably afford to prioritize something other than a festive miniature… Brooklyn & Queens it is!
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden advertises a host of classes, tours, and courses this time of year, so perhaps I will learn to identify trees or perfect my plant propagation techniques! Additionally, on the 24th & 25th of January the garden will be celebrating the Lunar New Year with Walk & Talks through the conservatory. Meanwhile, the Queens Botanical Garden’s Lunar New Year festivities on February 8th will feature a lion dance performance, crafts, and more. Lektrik: A Festival of Lights is also on at QBG, though it remains open through March.
For tickets, times, and directions, please consult the gardens’ websites: nybg.org, bbg.org, queensbotanical.org.
Last but certainly not least, my personal favorite: The Neue Galerie. The permanent collection, including Klimt’s famously gilded portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer and the most darling Deco tableware, is always worth a trip up the marble staircase. But right now—and only through January 13th—the Galerie is showing Egon Schiele: Living Landscapes.
If you’ve only seen Schiele’s contorted portraits, the agony of which I admit I adore, you do not know the full scope of his artistic genius. Schiele’s landscapes are stark, vivid, lovely, cruel—there’s something so terribly human in their unhumanity. When last I visited Vienna, I proved myself quite the standard American tourist by weeping before Klimt’s infamous kiss. But as soon as I had dried my eyes, I found myself once more a watering pot—thanks to a cluster of leafless trees, rendered most existentially. Ardent admirer that I am of Egon Schiele, I simply must visit the Neue Galerie before they send the loaned landscapes home on January 13th.
For tickets, times, and directions, visit the Neue Galerie website: neuegalerie.org.
Wish me luck as I try to visit as many of the above exhibitions as I can, now that the holiday crowds are starting to clear. In return, I wish you a year full of art, even at the cost of clean laundry.
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