Five Philadelphia Museums Bring the Arts Alive

Art buffs attending APA’s Annual Meeting in Philadelphia are in for a treat: In addition to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the city has a vast, eclectic array of museums and galleries.

The Barnes Foundation, chartered by Albert C. Barnes, M.D., in 1922, is a wonderland of Impressionist, post-Impressionist, and modern paintings. Visitors will find works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amadeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent Van Gogh. Annual Meeting attendees will be in town in time to catch the first major exhibition dedicated to Marie Cuttoli, who befriended and collected works by important modern artists, including Picasso, Georges Braque, and Joan Miró. “Marie Cuttoli: The Modern Thread From Miró to Man Ray” will feature approximately 40 objects, including large-scale tapestries and paintings, drawings, photographs, clothing, rugs, and archival material. The Barnes Foundation is located at 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Click here for more information.

The Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA), famed for hosting Andy Warhol’s first solo museum show, aims to bring underrecognized artists to the attention of the broader world. The Annual Meeting will coincide with exhibitions featuring large-scale sculptures by Philadelphia-based artists Karyn Olivier and Michelle Lopez, as well as a selection of performance artist Trevor Shimizu’s videos and video paintings. The ICA, part of the University of Pennsylvania, is located at 118 South 36th Street. Click here for more information.

Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens is an immersive, mixed-media art environment that is completely covered with mosaics by Isaiah Zagar. The mosaics incorporate bottles, bicycle wheels, mirrors, international folk art, and handmade tiles. The space consists of two indoor galleries and an outdoor sculpture garden. Located in one of the city’s most energetic neighborhoods, Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens resides at 1020 South Street. Visit The Philly Magic Gardens website for more information.

The Rosenbach houses a collection of nearly 400,000 rare books, manuscripts, and fine and decorative art objects. Founded in 1954 by book collector A. S. W. Rosenbach, Ph.D., and his brother Philip, the brothers’ own personal collection is the core of the Rosenbach and features the only surviving copy of Benjamin Franklin’s first Poor Richard’s Almanack and the manuscript of James Joyce’s Ulysses. More recent additions include the papers of poet Marianne Moore and Bram Stoker’s notes for Dracula. The Rosenbach is located at 2008-2010 Delancey Place. Click here for more information.

Woodmere Art Museum is dedicated to the art and artists of Philadelphia. Annual Meeting attendees will be in town just in time for an exhibition about Africa in the city’s arts, featuring the works of visual artists Barbara Bullock, Charles Searles, and Twins Seven Seven. Another exhibition will explore the relationship between art and poetry in the works of Warren and Jane Rohrer. Housed in a 19th-century stone mansion on six acres in Chestnut Hill, Woodmere Art Museum is located at 9201 Germantown Avenue. Click here for more information.  ■