At The Met – Fictions of Emancipation: Carpeaux Recast

New York’s most famous art museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is currently featuring a groundbreaking exhibition called “Fictions of Emancipation: Carpeaux Recast.” The exhibition is centered around a single sculpture – a marble bust by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux entitled Why Born Enslaved! (1868). The bust, featuring a Black woman with tied arms and a defiant expression, became very popular in Europe when it was created. The Met’s exhibition explores the idea that antislavery imagery often reinforced the colonial power structures that they were meant to critique. It is “the first exhibition at the Met to examine Western sculpture in relation to the histories of transatlantic slavery, colonialism, and empire.” The exhibition is thoughtfully and expertly curated to challenge “institutional narratives… bringing race to the forefront of discussions about art and culture.”

Minimalism/Maximalism at FIT

The Fashion Institute of Technology’s Minimalism/Maximalism exhibit  examines the interplay between minimalist and maximalist aesthetics throughout history. While some styles are decidedly simple in color and design, other items openly celebrate extravagance and spectacle. Spanning from the eighteenth century to the present, the exhibit features garments and accessories from “alternating periods of excess and restraint,” which connect to larger social and economic trends of their times.

Minimalism/Maximalism will be on view through November 16, 2019 at FIT’s Fashion & Textile History Gallery on the corner of 28th Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan.