Lois Mailou Jones, “Negro Student,” 1934. Charcoal on paper. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts
The Museum of Fine Arts reveals several Bostons in its current exhibitions.
The MFA’s main passageway—straight through the museum from Huntington Avenue to the Fenway—symbolically joins two quite different cities: the south-side Boston, and the Back Bay Boston, if you will.
Along that passageway—through the rotunda, the information area, and out to the Fenway entryway—the MFA has installed brilliant works, curated by ambitious Boston-area students, to bring attention to artists whose creations sit right in our midst and have been perpetually ignored.
It’s a beautiful gesture, in synch with the times, coupling outside perspectives with the museum’s own collections. The project, “Black Histories, Black Futures,” was conceived for the museum’s 150th anniversary celebration last year, which was largely thwarted by the pandemic.
“Black Histories, Black Futures” includes substantial paintings by artists like Lois Mailou Jones, Allan Rohan Crite, and Eldzier Cortor. Pause for a moment here, and investigate the rich, unbounded lives those artists led. Even a cursory search will show you that their work is under-valued.
Trying to move even farther afield, “The Mural Project,” another venture that the MFA has handed over to Boston-area artists, leads visitors outside the museum’s walls and into city neighborhoods. Rob Stull and Rob “Problak” Gibbs conceived of a multipart project inspired by the Basquiat exhibition.
Other shows, upstairs and downstairs in the museum, illustrate the challenges and possibilities of being a legacy institution in a city with a convoluted legacy.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, “Hollywood Africans,” 1983. Acrylic and oil stick on canvas. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts.
Downstairs, “Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation” enlivens the MFA in the best possible way. Street art/graffiti art/aerosol art blends organically with the written word, with music, with graphic arts and with popular culture—and this exhibition proves it.
This show, including some works by Basquiat and others by A-One, ERO, Fab 5 Freddy, Keith Haring, Lady Pink, Rammellzee, Toxic and others—becomes everything an exhibition should be: inviting, allusive, stimulating. The galleries look like performance-art installations. The show has thankfully been extended through July 25.
Upstairs, the Monet machine purrs along. With a second consecutive exhibition entitled “Monet and Boston,” the MFA bets that another helping of the French impressionist will satisfy its core audience.
A broad selection of the artist’s paintings gets re-positioned as Monet and Japonisme, Money and Millet, Money and Rodin. It’s a classic exhibition, aimed at a traditional audience. Tellingly, “Paul Cézanne: Influence”—a second consecutive show for that artist as well—gets tucked away in a smaller side gallery.
The museum feels entirely safe to visit. Timed admission keeps crowds manageable. Contactless entry, and vigilance by the staff for distancing and cleanliness, remove any worry. The café remains open, with well-spaced seating, but the downstairs cafeteria is closed. Seating throughout the museum has been reduced. Coat checks are closed—if you bring it, you’ll carry it. Wear a mask.
A brief stop outside for screening and contact tracing moves along quickly. It’s not the carefree atmosphere that museum visits should have, and will, but the MFA has established excellent protocols for the current visitor experience.
Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts is open Wednesday–Sunday, 10:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. Adults $25, students and members free. Some galleries are closed, and all open galleries have limited capacity. Reserved tickets for timed entry are required, as well as for the Monet and Basquiat shows, which have separate fee ($32 includes general admission). Visit mfa.org or call 617 267-9300.
Keith Powers covers music and the arts for Gannett New England, Leonore Overture and Opera News. Follow @PowersKeith; email to keithmichaelpowers@gmail.com.