On View

The humble public bench has undergone a radical revamp at Design Miami this year, thanks to artist and designer Samuel Ross. The British wunderkind has crafted a series of 12 innovative benches—in three styles—for use by the Miami Design District, currently and permanently installed along its posh promenades.
The site-specific installation—previewed at Design Miami Paris in October—comes just in time for Miami Art Week, with its throngs of well-heeled visitors parading about the slick galleries, luxury boutiques, and tony restaurants of the 16-acre district. Ultramodern and utilitarian, the sculptures will no doubt offer welcome respite for the crush.
A Samuel Ross bench located in the Miami Design District.
Yet despite their futuristic appearance, the benches sit in the canon of British sculpture, according to Ross. “When you view the work,” he explained via video from his London studio, “you can see the relationship to [Anthony] Caro, [Barbara] Hepworth, and [Henry] Moore, which is purposeful. I’m extending the lineage of British sculpture and abstraction.”
In particular, he said, the benches are a nod to Moore’s The Arch (1979–1980), a travertine marble monolith in Kensington Gardens that deftly combines architectural and anatomical forms. As a child, his father would often take him to see the sculpture. “Being raised by two artists, one who went to Central Saint Martins and the other who paints religiously, will have that effect.”
A Samuel Ross bench located in the Miami Design District.
Ross started the bench designs as charcoal sketches before translating them into 3D format and shaping the CNC steel in his workshop. In all, the process took 12 weeks to cycle through numerous iterations and prototypes. In addition to form, Ross also gave a lot of thought to human haptics, allowing for a smooth interaction between the benches and their use by people.
“Housing the body is so interesting,” he said, “and the way temperature, elevation, texture, and materials come into play.” He considered “local variations that I don’t have to think about in England.” In other words, color absorption and heat on a steel sheet surface. He ultimately went with a chalk-white surface and a gloss veneer to reflect the sun’s rays.
Sketches of benches by Samuel Ross.
“The tension between the sculptural and the functional is an obsession of mine. The line between the two is very exciting to push and pull.” Ross, however, is no stranger to pushing boundaries. It’s at the core of his product and industrial design company, SR_A, which is taking on increasingly complex commissions, most recently a tourbillon wristwatch for Hublot and headphones for Beats, leading Apple to offer him a newly created plum position, that of Principal Design Consultant for Beats.
SR_A is only part of his design ambitions. During Paris Fashion Week, his fashion line A Cold Wall has become a must-see runway event, particularly for its collaborations with brands including Nike, Dr. Martens, and Timberland. In fact, launched in 2015, the label was first on his to-do list of career objectives—at the urging of his mentor and friend, the late Virgil Abloh.
Samuel Ross with his new faucet for Kohler.
Fortuitously, one of the first actions Ross took upon finishing graduate school was contacting the celebrated architect-turned-artistic director of Louis Vuitton men’s. What began as an internship at Abloh’s own label, Off-White, led to the creation of A Cold Wall—which, in 2022, was the subject of a fashion exhibition at London’s V&A museum.
Ross’s forays into abstract painting are finding success, too. His exhibition at London’s White Cube in April was well-received. So, too, was a show of granite sculptures at Friedman Benda in May in New York, his second solo show with the gallery.
Bench by Samuel Ross at ‘Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design’ at Chatsworth House, U.K.
There is another reason Ross has come to Miami, and that’s to present his inaugural collaboration with Kohler, the American bathroom company. Debuting at Design Miami, Ross has designed a distinctively angular double faucet, the Formation 01, that dispenses a smooth sheet of water. It’s cast entirely in a recycled epoxy, a new material developed by SR_A that “enables better angulation.” Created in solid orange, Ross’s signature hue, the striking tap will be sold in a limited edition of 299. In April 2024, Kohler will also host an installation by Ross at Salone del Mobile in Milan, taking over the Kohler palazzo.
This isn’t the first time Ross has participated in Miami Art Week. He started visiting Art Basel and Design Miami in 2020, he said, when “there was this shift happening, a convergence of commerce and artistry that was coming to a head, the coalition of all of these corporate entities and creative communities coming together that really defines Art Basel for me. It seems to have quite a serrated edge to it.”

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The mysterious conceptualist Lutz Bacher is having her first posthumous institutional show at Raven Row in London. The artist herself initiated the concept for the exhibition with curator Anthony Huberman as a mixed presentation of audiovisual pieces which featuring old VHS footage from Princess Diana’s funeral and the voices and imagery of legendary figures from pop culture, including Leonard Cohen—but also Darth Vader. Eerie installations, including a pit of sand, fill the gallery rooms. After Bacher’s passing in 2019, the non-profit exhibition center Raven Row worked with the artist’s estate and Galerie Buchholz to deliver the exhibition.
A California native, Bacher lived in the Bay Area and later New York. She was known to be highly secretive and never publicly revealed basic biographical information, like her birth name or age (although it is known that she was born in 1943). Nonetheless, she received widespread institutional recognition with solo shows at MoMA PS1 in 2009, the ICA in London in 2013, and the Secession in Vienna in 2016.
At Raven Row, Bacher’s blend of found material, digital ephemera, and appropriated sounds and images is quintessential Bacher. In one gallery, panes of glass shimmer with projected images of the Empire State Building lit up with bright colors at night. In the lobby, the visitor is affronted by loud traffic noises, whereas upstairs, bible passages are blared out of a huge speaker while tinny radios play run-of-the-mill pop hits over each other. These strange works, that are tricky to categorize or contextualize, manage to disorientate the viewer in much the same way as our information-oversaturated world often succeeds in doing.
“Lutz Bacher: AYE!” runs through December 17. Check out more installation views of the exhibition below.
Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Marcus J Leith.
Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Anne Tetzlaff.
Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Anne Tetzlaff.
Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Marcus J Leith.
Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Marcus J Leith.
Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Marcus J Leith.

Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Anne Tetzlaff.

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A pair of Japanese national treasures that are considered among the world’s most important Zen Buddhist masterpieces are heading to San Francisco this week, where they will be part of a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at the Asian Art Museum.
The two ink paintings, Persimmons (popularly known as Six Persimmons) and Chestnuts, are attributed to the famous Chinese artist Muqi, a Song Dynasty monk who lived from about 1210 to 1269. The paintings also gained prestige when Japanese government designated them as important cultural property in 1919.
“When I was taking art history courses in school, these paintings were always discussed and in the textbooks,” the museum’s associate curator of Japanese art, Yuki Morishima, said, admitting she “was kind of starstruck” to learn they would be coming to the Bay Area.
”The use of dark and light tones within the brushwork is really something to marvel at. It seems very simple, but actually they’re quite complex and would be difficult to achieve by someone who wasn’t quite skillful in their handling of the brush,” Laura Allen, the museum’s senior curator of Japanese art, added. “It’s interesting to look at the composition and the use of negative space, and to see how carefully placed each of the persimmons is and how the chestnuts are arranged.”
Attributed to Muqi, Chestnuts (13th century), detail. China, Southern Song Dynasty. Lent by Daitokuji Ryokoin Temple, Kyoto. Photo © Kyoto National Museum
They are on loan from the Daitokuji Ryokoin temple in Kyoto, which has owned them since the early 1600s. The two works haven’t left the country since their arrival at some point in the 1400 or 1500s, and the Zen Buddhist temple is not open to the public, making this a unique opportunity to experience a pair of paintings that have been famous for generations. (Both pieces were seen briefly at the Miho Museum, about an hour outside of Kyoto, in a 2019 exhibition.)
The San Francisco show has been in the works since 2017, when the temple’s abbot, Kobori Geppo, came to the Asian Art Museum while in town for a symposium. By the end of the visit, he had shocked everyone by proposing a historic loan of Muqi’s work. “We were quite surprised by the proposal and very honored,” Morishima said.
The works will be on view for just three weeks each, overlapping for only three days in the center of the run, betwen December 8 and 10. Loaning the works required approval from the Japanese government’s Bureau of Cultural Affairs, with all sorts of restrictions designed to ensure the paintings’ safety, including carefully monitoring the lighting and humidity at the galleries.

Attributed to Muqi, Persimmons (13th century), detail. China, Southern Song Dynasty. Lent by Daitokuji Ryokoin Temple, Kyoto. Photo © Kyoto National Museum
Though the paintings have become famous in the West as the best-known example of Zen Buddhist art, the two hand scrolls originally would not have been seen as particularly spiritual. Instead, they would have served a decorative function, displayed during tea ceremonies in an alcove called the tokonoma, intended for artworks.
What has been special about the works from the beginning was the artist, who remains incredibly renowned in Japan—even more so than in his native China.
“Muqi is a big name in Japan and has been for centuries. He was popular in China, but it was a short-lived popularity,” Morishima said. “The Japanese tend to like more atmospheric brushstrokes while the Chinese historically prefer more precise brushstrokes and naturalism.”
The artist’s outsized influence in Japan made him a likely starting point when Western scholars began studying the field, and helped solidify the now-outsize reputation of Persimmons and Chestnuts.
“Early in the early 20th century, and certainly by the 1920s, there was a kind of  fascination with the idea of Zen Buddhism in the West,” Allen said. “These paintings became part of the literature of quote-unquote ‘Zen art’, and at a certain point attained the status of being iconic works. The idea was that their simplicity and the perceived spontaneity of the paintings was characteristic of Zen and its expression in art.”
“The Heart of Zen” will be on view at the Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, California, November 17–December 31, 2023. Six Persimmons will be displayed November 17–December 10, 2023, and Chestnuts will be displayed December 8–31, 2023.
“Japanese Tastes in Chinese Ceramics: Tea Utensils, Kaiseki Dishes, and More” will be on view at the Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, California, December 21, 2023–May 6, 2024.
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To celebrate the launch of its Madison Avenue flagship, its largest in the world, Valentino is exhibiting the work of renowned Italian painter Mario Schifano in the hyper-modern, concrete-clad mezzanine that presides over the new space.
The gleaming showcase is part of a collaboration with Magazzino Italian Art, a unique nonprofit museum and research center located upstate in the Hudson Valley—Cold Spring, to be exact—dedicated to Italian art, particularly Arte Povera. The only American museum specializing in Italian art, Magazzino was the natural choice as Valentino’s art partner in the Empire State.
Installation view of the Mario Schifano exhibition at Valentino’s new Madison Avenue flagship. Courtesy of Magazzino.
“The ethos of this collaboration is education,” said Magazzino’s executive director Vittorio Calabrese on a preview tour before the store’s November 10 launch. We’re “inviting a new community into the vibrant world of Italian art while supporting our programs.”
“Recognizing Valentino’s embodiment of quintessential Italian and Roman heritage,” he added, “we saw the maison as the ideal partner to explore a collaboration in support of our exhibition. Their creative team embraced the idea, and together with our conservators, exhibition designers, curators and art preparers, we crafted this project to introduce Mario Schifano [and] Rome during the decades of the ’60s and ’70s to a broader audience.”
Interior view of Valentino’s new Madison Avenue flagship. Courtesy of Magazzino.
Schifano, who died in 1998 at the age of 63, is one of the most significant artists of Italian postmodernism, known for his vibrant paintings that combine elements of Pop Art, Arte Povera, and Surrealism, and explored themes of consumerism and mass media. While few in number, his five paintings at the Valentino store bridge the worlds of art and fashion, Magazzino and Valentino, New York and Rome—and not just because the central work is rendered in the house’s signature shade of pink. 
The collaboration comes with a major expansion of Magazzino, too, which was founded in 2017 by the collecting couple of Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu. In September, the institution opened its Robert Olnick Pavilion (named after Nancy’s father) to further its curatorial and scholarly pursuits and increase its indoor space by two-thirds. The new building—designed by Alberto Campo Baeza and Miguel Quismondo—brings new auditorium capabilities, a store, and a cafe serving Italian cuisine by chef Luca Galli, straight from Livigno in the north of Italy.
Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli and Florence Pugh attend the 2023 Met Gala. (Photo by Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Valentino is well-versed in high-level art patronage. In 2022, the brand sponsored the Italian Pavilion at the 59th Biennale di Venezia. Pierpaolo Piccioli—the brand’s celebrated creative director since 2016—worked closely with the pavilion’s curator, Eugenio Viola, to develop a compelling narrative for the pavilion. The resulting exhibition, “History of Night and Fate of Comets,” featured the work of multidisciplinary artist Gian Maria Tosatti, whose immersive, evocative installations explored themes of time, memory, and the human condition.
Valentino has conversed with the art world in other ways, too. Over the years, its On Canvas initiative has shed light on contemporary and emerging painters and sculptors. For example, in Shanghai in 2020 and Beijing in 2021, the brand staged physical experiences in which its codes were interpreted by contemporary local artists, offering fresh perspective on the house’s history and DNA.
Installation view of the Mario Schifano exhibition at Valentino’s new Madison Avenue flagship. Courtesy of Magazzino.
In addition, Valentino participated in Frieze in Singapore and Seoul, again asking artists to reinterpret its iconic codes through their own prisms, producing novel works. Meanwhile, Valentino and Triennale Milano have partnered to present the exhibition “Pittura Italiana Oggi” (Italian Painting Today) that is currently on view (through February 11, 2024). The exhibition, curated by Damiano Gullì, features works by 120 Italian artists from the 1960s to the 2000s.
Further, convinced that painting is to contemporary art what couture is to fashion, Pierpaolo Piccioli recently brought a group of painters of all ages and backgrounds into the atelier to help design the Fall/Winter 2021-22 couture collection. The experimental process saw grandiose ball gowns and enormous hats loaded with vibrant colors and sinuous draping, trademarks of Valentino. As Calabrese said, “Valentino, like Magazzino, consistently champions new contemporary expressions while staying rooted in Italian heritage, captivating a global audience.”
Installation view of the Mario Schifano exhibition at Valentino’s new Madison Avenue flagship. Courtesy of Magazzino.
Valentino Garavani himself, the brand’s namesake (though no longer part of the company), is well-known in collecting circles. According to the Artnet Price Database, his colossal 1983 canvas by Jean-Michel Basquiat brought over $67 million at Christie’s in May. The painting, El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile), depicts floating skulls and figures set against scrawled phrases alluding to pharaohs and ancient Egyptian sites. It lived in Garavani’s personal collection for 18 years, and appeared in a 2010 issue of Vanity Fair, in which Garavani also spoke of owning works by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, Fernand Léger, and Richard Prince. 
Following Schifano in its new Madison Avenue space, Valentino plans to host a series of exhibitions with Magazzino in the coming months, highlighting a range of Italian artists. Though he can’t say who exactly, Vittorio Calabrese did say that “Rome and New York will still be at the center of this dialogue. The collaboration serves as an avenue to delve deeper into Italy’s contemporary art landscape, amplifying its relevance on the global scene—the best of Italian culture.”
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Three miles north of the Manhattan court room where Sam Bankman-Fried went on trial, a very different investigation into the nature of money is taking place—the setting is the Morgan Library & Museum and the examination in question is an exhibition into the rise of the monetary economy in Medieval Europe. The centralized systems that FTX rebelled against were, in some ways, born in the 12th and 13th centuries as agricultural advancements—helped by an ecological “warm period” during the Middle Ages—and expanding trade routes that brought an economic revolution to the continent.
Banks were established in Spain, Northern Europe, and the Italian city-states to facilitate increasingly complex and widespread financial transactions. Coin production duly boomed, a fact apparent in the first display visitors encounter at “Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality”: a dull pile of low-value coins, the likes of which were minted in high volume to lubricate the economy.

Coins from the Chalkis hoard in Greece, late 14th century. Photo: courtesy of American Numismatic Society, New York.
“Previously mints produced few coins and these were of high value. This situation couldn’t sustain growth at all levels of the economy,” said exhibition curator Diane Wolfthal. “After the year 1100, more coins, including lower-value coins, began to be produced, which were essential for market penetration into the everyday life of ordinary people.”
As money flowed into every facet of Medieval life, uplifting some and indebting others, it brought forth a litany of ethical complications. Chief among these was the quandary over how to pursue wealth and yet lead a good Christian life. Fitting then that the former personal library of J. Pierpont Morgan should play host to such questions.
The American banking giant was a devout Episcopalian and, if the 16th-century tapestry that still hangs over his East Room is anything to go by, he may have grappled with the inherent corruptions of wealth. Triumph of Avarice, designed by Netherlandish artist Pieter Coecke van Aelst, shows the personification of the deadly sin riding out of Hell and past the corpses of the gluttonous.
Triumph of Avarice, Willem de Pannemaker ca. 1534-1536. Photo: courtesy The Morgan Library & Museum.
Elsewhere, Hieronymus Bosch chimes in through Death and the Miser, a work on loan from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It is, as ever, a work of anguish, trickery, and—to modern eyes at least—searing wit. Death slips a slender ankle across the threshold and tempts a dying man to ignore the angel lingering at his shoulder. Will he choose the gold in his strongbox or turn to God? Bosch leaves the decision to the viewer.
Characteristically, works from Morgan’s collection ground the exhibition, which runs through March 10. There’s a register frontispiece from a Bologna lending society that shows a goldsmith at work in a room swirling with the precious metal. A kindly Hans Memling portrait of an Italian merchant holding a pink flower serves as a clear, if obvious, reminder that the Northern Renaissance was largely funded by a class of newly minted merchants.
Hieronymus Bosch, Death and the Miser (ca. 1485–90). Image: courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Most notable, however, are the Medieval manuscripts, of which Morgan was a greedy collector. Together, they show how money slipped into seemingly every aspect of Medieval life. It made financial planning possible, as shown in a 16th-century calendar commissioned by royal chamberlain Philibert de Clermont, which recommends men to begin gathering their retirement resources at the age of 48.
It fueled urban vice and gambling, presented in the illustration of an epic German poem on sin showing three criminals huddled around a dice game. It deepened social inequalities which prompted the church to act as a financial benefactor to the poor and give alms, as depicted in the prayer book of Queen Claude of France.
Gerard of Villamagna Soliciting Alms for the Poor, from Vita Christi (Life of Christ). Illuminated by Pacino di Bonaguida and workshop Italy, Florence, ca. 1300–25. Image: courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum.
Although concerns of money’s corrupting power became more pressing in this period, they weren’t, of course, entirely new. There were lessons aplenty in the Bible with the virtues of frugality preached by Jesus, St. Francis, and St. Antony, all of whom are portrayed at the Morgan.
It’s a reminder not of a simpler time, but rather of a world gripped by the same questions and stereotypes as today. Take the stigmatization of Jews, Wolfhal says, or the categorization of poor people as undeserving, or religious narratives used to justify the extraordinary wealth of a few (think of today’s prosperity theology or indeed effective altruism).
“I hope visitors will see how complex Medieval discussions of money were, and think about the role money plays in their own lives,” Wolfhal said. “We have much to learn from the Medieval past.”
See more images from the exhibition below.
Frontispiece from a register of creditors of a Bolognese lending society Illuminated by Nicolò di Giacomo di Nascimbene (ca. 1394–95). Image: courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum.
Hans Memling, Portrait of a Man with a Pink (ca. 1475). Image: courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum.
Hugo von Trimberg Der Renner (The Runner), Gamblers and Criminals (1476–99). Image: courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum.
Andrea di Bartolo, Joachim and Anna Giving Food to the Poor and Offerings to the Temple, Sienna (ca. 1400–05). Image: courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Hans Holbein the Younger, Der Rychman (The Rich Man) (1523–26, published 1538). Image: courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

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The throne is an almost outmoded object in an age of fading monarchy. Still, the idea of a piece of furniture that confers a higher authority continues to hold sway in today’s political and cultural imagination. Consider the fancy seat Emmanuel Macron occupied during his inauguration, or the iconic sword-backed perch that anchored HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones. 
At the Paleis Het Loo in the Netherlands, a new exhibition is examining the symbolism—and surprising staying power—of the throne. Featuring about 70 objects, “The Power of the Throne” explores the history and contemporary relevance of this power seat, while questioning exactly what elevates a humble chair into a symbol of sovereignty.  
The show, said curator Niels Coppes in a statement, “will tell stories of different cultures through the lens of the throne: the defining symbol of divine and secular rule as a claim to power and authority. It will also invite visitors to reflect on the theme: ‘Is there a future for the throne?’” 
The Iron Throne from the TV series Game of Thrones, installed at “The Power of the Throne” at Paleis Het Loo. Photo courtesy of Paleis Het Loo.
The thrones gathered here range from historic examples, including an artifact of the Ashanti Empire in Ghana, to contemporary specimens like the East River Chairs, which accommodated speakers at 2019’s G20 Women’s Summit. The royal throne of King Willem-Alexander, the current Dutch monarch, serves as one of the show’s centerpieces, on loan from the Hague for the first (and apparently only) time. 
According to Coppes, the participation of the Dutch king has spurred the loan of another—possibly more beloved—chair. A replica of the Iron Throne, the coveted seat of the Seven Kingdoms in Games of Thrones, joins the exhibition as a prime example of how popular culture has shaped our appreciation of royal furniture.  
The chairs in the show are also accompanied by throne-centric artworks from the museum’s collection. Nicolaas Pieneman’s c.1840 painting immortalizing the inauguration of King Willem II depicts the grandeur of royal authority, just as Claes Jacobsz van der Heck’s The Judgement of Solomon (1616) captures its rare sagacity. A historical cartoon cheekily portraying the elder Willem I on a throne of cheese, however, dismantles that aura.
Claes Jacobsz van der Heck, The Judgement of Solomon (1616), installed at “The Power of the Throne” at Paleis Het Loo. Photo courtesy of Paleis Het Loo.
Alas, most of the thrones included in the show aren’t for sitting in. However, visitors are invited to plonk themselves on two seats: the Iron Throne and Alfred van Elk’s work Troon (Throne). The latter is a four-seat sculpture, crafted by the industrial designer with 288 wooden planks for the 2016 edition of Symposion Gorinchem. Its form, he said, was intended to reflect the “multiple truths and multiple beliefs” of his “ideal society.”  
According to Van Elk, he had the opportunity to speak with then Queen Beatrix about the work. “Of course, she is the one with experience when it comes to thrones,” he wrote of their interaction. “Even Queen Beatrix felt that the one sitting on a throne does not necessarily hold the truth.” 
See more views of the exhibition below. 
Alfred van Elk, Troon (Throne), installed at “The Power of the Throne” at Paleis Het Loo. Photo courtesy of Paleis Het Loo.
Installation view of “The Power of the Throne” at Paleis Het Loo. Photo courtesy of Paleis Het Loo.
Helen Verhoeven, The Family (2021), installed at “The Power of the Throne” at Paleis Het Loo. Photo courtesy of Paleis Het Loo.
Installation view of “The Power of the Throne” at Paleis Het Loo. Photo courtesy of Paleis Het Loo.
Installation view of “The Power of the Throne” at Paleis Het Loo. Photo courtesy of Paleis Het Loo.
“The Power of the Throne” is on view at Paleis Het Loo, Koninklijk Park 16, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, through March 10, 2024. 
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In Diego Velázquez’s cryptic Las Meninas (1656), a portrait session appears to be in progress. The young Infanta Margaret Theresa, King Philip IV of Spain’s first child, is resplendently posed in the center of the frame, encircled by her entourage and a dog. Velázquez himself, brush and palette in hand, is standing off to the side and gazing at a large canvas, suggesting that he is painting the scene we are seeing. Or maybe not. The only glimpse we get of the depicted canvas, alas, is its reverse.  
But for artist Miguel Ángel Blanco, Las Meninas invited a tantalizing contemplation of a rarely seen aspect of paintings. That thought has led him to curate a new exhibition at the Prado Museum in Madrid, which makes the case that a work of art is more than what’s on its face. 
“On the Reverse” features about 100 works by the likes of René Magritte, Vincent van Gogh, Goya, Sophie Calle and Michelangelo Pistoletto—pulled from the collections of the Prado and 29 other museums—displayed so their backs face the viewers. The rears of these canvases reveal whole other realities: some bear the artist’s sketches or seals, some are stamped with reminders of the work’s provenance, and others contain whole other paintings.
A possible self-portrait, attributed to Orazio Borgianni (1600–10). Courtesy of the Prado Museum.
“Works of art are three-dimensional,” the museum’s director, Miguel Falomir, told The Guardian. “When we focus solely on the image, which is a reproduction of a given moment frozen in time, we get some information, but we miss a lot when it comes to everything that the work means as an object.” 
The show is split into 10 chapters that variously explore the symbolism of the stretcher, painted trompe l’oeils depicting the rear of works, and the cuts and folds made to a canvas—still visible on its back—to adapt it to new locations or functions.  
Most intriguing are the sections exploring how the backs of paintings serve as extensions of its face, or the artist’s creative process. For instance, Annibale Carracci’s The Ecstasy of Mary Magdalene (1585–1600) has on its back drawings etched in black chalk by the Italian painter’s students. The reverse of a Vicente Palmaroli canvas, meanwhile, is jotted with the artist’s landscape and figure notes.
Martin van Meytens, Kneeling Nun (obverse) (c. 1731). Stockholm, Nationalmuseum. Courtesy of the Prado Museum.
Martin van Meytens, Kneeling Nun (reverso) (c. 1731). Stockholm, Nationalmuseum. Courtesy of the Prado Museum.
On view in a segment focused on two-sided paintings is a striking work that goes to the heart of the show. In Kneeling Nun (c. 1731), Swedish-Austrian court painter Martin van Meytens captured his titular figure bent over her devotional book in mid-prayer. Cheekily, on the reverse, he painted the same nun from the back, her habit pulled up to reveal her bare bottom.  
“It’s an excellent example of a pornographic image half-hidden on the reverse that belonged to the Swedish ambassador to Paris, who kept it hidden and only showed it to special guests,” Blanco explained. 
Vik Muniz, Verso (Las Meninas) (2018). Courtesy of the artist and the Elba Benítez Gallery
Las Meninas also shows up here. No, not the actual canvas, which is on view in the Prado’s Villanueva building, but a faithful reproduction of its back. The facsimile was created over a period of two years by Vik Muniz, who meticulously matched the dimensions and materials of the rear of this Velázquez work. The Brazilian artist even reproduced the same stains and rivets on the pinewood body, as well as the small plaque bearing the Prado’s inventory number.  
“The exhibition aims to remind us of something that I think Velázquez would also want us to consider if he were here,” said Falomir, “which is that art—and painting in particular—isn’t just about the image itself.” 
See more images from the exhibition below.  
Installation view of “On the Reverse” at the Prado Museum. Photo © Museo Nacional del Prado.
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, Artist in his Studio (c. 1628). Boston, Museum of Fine Arts. Zoe Oliver Sherman Collection given in memory of Lillie Oliver Poor. Courtesy of the Prado Museum.
Sketches of figures on the reverse of Annibale Carracci, The Ecstasy of Mary Magdalene (1585–1600). La Coruña, Museo de Belas Artes da Coruña, depósito del Museo Nacional del Prado. Courtesy of the Prado Museum.
Salomon Koninck, A Philosopher (reverse) (1635). Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado. Courtesy of the Prado Museum.
Zacarías González Velázquez, Two Fishermen, one with a Rod and the other seated (reverse) (1785). Madrid, Cuartel General del Ejército, depósito del Museo Nacional del Prado. Courtesy of the Prado Museum.
Installation view of “On the Reverse” at the Prado Museum. Photo © Museo Nacional del Prado.
Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior with the Artist’s Easel (1910). Copenhagen, SMK, National Gallery of Denmark. Courtesy of the Prado Museum.
Anonymous artist, The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John / Christ presented to the People (reverse) (c. 1500). Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado. Courtesy of the Prado Museum.
“On The Reverse” is on view at the Prado Museum, C. de Ruiz de Alarcón, 23, Madrid, Spain, through March 3, 2024. 
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Encountering Earthly Paradise, Colombian sculptor Delcy Morelos’s fragrant dirt wall sculptures at the 2022 Venice Biennale, was an indisputable highlight of the international exhibition. Navigating the maze-like installation encouraged viewers to appreciate and engage with the earth—blended with hay, cassava flour, cacao powder, cloves, and cinnamon—in an entirely unexpected way, elevating the humble soil to the realm of fine art.
“The soil as a sacred element has been forgotten by contemporary civilization,” Morelos told me, speaking through a translator. “I like to show the earth/soil in a way that is has not been seen, so it appears very delicate, soft, and that it smells delicious. I make beautiful sculptures so that the earth/soil can be seen as beautiful.”
Though the biennale was something of a breakthrough moment for Morelos on the art-world stage, work was already well underway on her first U.S. solo show, which opened last month at the Dia Art Foundation in Chelsea.
“This has been one of the most complex projects that I have done,” Morelos said of the exhibition, which features two monumental new installations, Cielo terrenal (Earthly Heaven) and El abrazo (The Embrace). “We spent four years finding a way to make it happen.”
Delcy Morelos, Earthly Paradise (2022) at the Venice Biennale international exhibition, “The Milk of Dreams.” Photo by Ben Davis.
Both pieces continue to explore our relationship to the earth, and Morelos’s desire to make it more sustainable, in keeping with her indigenous heritage, descended from the Emberá, the native people of Panama and Colombia, on her grandmother’s side.
“Those who are making use of the land are not operating from a space of care and respect towards Mother Earth. The people who do are the ancestral cultures, for example in the Amazonian jungle, because they maintain thousand of years of traditions, caring for the jungle and the soil,” she said. “But it is not easy because people are always thinking about making money not protecting the earth. They don’t realize that when they destroy the land, they are destroying themselves, because we nourish ourselves from the earth, and we will return to the earth when we die.”
The show at Dia came about after a group trip that the foundation arranged to Colombia in 2019, on the occasion of Dan Flavin’s first show in the nation, at the Museo del Moderno de Medellin. Flavin, of course, is one of the artists at the core of Dia’s collection, which is focused on Minimalism and Land Art. But in recent years, the foundation has worked hard to expand its purview beyond the white male artists traditionally associated with those movements.
Colombia “was a learning trip,” said exhibition curator Alexis Lowry, who recently started a new job as curatorial director at Hauser and Wirth. “We visited Delcy’s studio and Jessica [Morgan, the director of Dia] and I walked out and immediately said ‘Well, that’s a show.’”
Delcy Morelos, Cielo terrenal (Earthly Heaven), 2023, at Dia Chelsea, New York (detail). Photo by Don Stahl, ©Delcy Morelos.
Visitors to the exhibition are first greeted by Cielo terrenal, in which Morelos has painted the floors and lower third of the gallery walls—up to the level of flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012—with a thin layer of water and acrylic binder mixed with soil sourced from Goshen, New York.
“Goshen is part of what’s known as the Black Dirt Region in the Hudson Valley. It’s incredibly rich in nutrients and some of the most fertile soil in the country,” Lowry said.
Morelos also used the soil mixture to coat various pieces of wood and lumber sourced from dumpsters at Dia’s outpost in Beacon, New York—remnants of construction projects from past exhibitions laid out in neatly stacked piles on the floor. The effect is a stark, monochromatic black.
“Delcy is really breathing new life into this material,” Lowry added. “She’s always done these earth-lined rooms with a consideration of life cycles and the idea that death fertilizes life—what is beneath the ground is composed of decay, but also constitutes growth.”
Delcy Morelos, El abrazo (The Embrace), 2023, at Dia Chelsea, New York (detail). Photo by Don Stahl, ©Delcy Morelos.
“The earth is expressed as the transforming matter of life in death and death in life,” Morelos agreed. She also wanted to incorporate earth from her native country, but import/export laws prevented her from shipping soil across international borders. Instead, the Dia fragments are paired with ceramics she made in Colombia from local black earth.
“They were made using this ancestral technique where you fire the clay over an open flame, so it both literally colors the ceramic, but also that color is then augmented naturally, with vegetal pigments,” Lowrey said.
“These elements are more organic, and they are remnants that are found in the jungle,” Morelos added. “It turns out that these elements that can be seeds, shells, and tree trunks that will nourish the plants that will be born in the future. There is a difference in form, but just the same, the elements from Dia can nourish the plants of the future.”
Less than two weeks after the artist’s New York debut, Morelos also opened her first solo show in France at Marian Goodman in Paris, where she just joined the roster. It is also the first time the 56-year-old artist has had formal gallery representation, despite having appeared in numerous biennials and institutional exhibitions.
There, Morelos created another site-specific installation for the gallery’s lower level, again painting part of the floor and walls with soil. But the exhibition also includes more market-friendly pieces, including hanging textiles and works on paper made over the past 20 years.
Installation view of “Delcy Morelos: El oscuro de abajo” at Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris. Photo courtesy of Marian Goodman.
These earlier works showcase Morelos’s first forays into natural materials, such as red pigments and jute fiber. A reverence for the earth and the cycle of life is the through line across her practice.
“I am a witch—a witch is a woman of wisdom who learns from nature and its secrets,” Morelos said. “I come from a lineage of ancestral knowledge, and I understand that the soil is nourishment.”
At Dia, the second gallery is the show’s titular work, El abrazo, a towering mound of earth liberally studded with individually placed stems of Hudson Valley hay. Lowry helped with the nearly two-month-long install process, and was chastised by the artist for attempting to insert multiple pieces at a time. “Delcy is the most detail-oriented artist you could possibly imagine,” the curator said.
Delcy Morelos installing El abrazo (The Embrace), 2023, at Dia Chelsea, New York. Photo by Don Stahl, ©Delcy Morelos.
Made from top soil recycled from a Manhattan roof garden, mixed with clay, an organic landscaping compound used to keep grass seed in place, and ground coconut husks, the piece is designed to be touched. Morelos found people were inevitably drawn to the earth at the Venice Biennale, and decided to embrace that impulse. She hopes this creates a sense of intimacy in the work, reminding the viewer of our ties to the earth.
In El abrazo, “the earth is a mountain that embraces you, because I think that people feel very alone living in the city and sometimes they need a hug,” Morelos said.
But the installation also appears to float above the gallery floor, its heavy mass improbably levitating in space in something of an engineering miracle.
“Because the earth is something that we always walk on, I wanted to elevate it,” the artist added, noting that the large scale is also meant to dwarf the viewer.
Both Dia installations take up the entirety of a dimly lit gallery. The aroma of Morelos’s earthen creations, which incorporate spices such as cinnamon and clove, hit your nose before your eyes adjust to the light, which is filtered through scrims installed on the skylights. (The artist recommends return visits with the changing seasons, to encounter the works under different lighting conditions.)
Delcy Morelos, El abrazo (The Embrace), 2023, at Dia Chelsea, New York (detail). Photo by Don Stahl, ©Delcy Morelos.
Olfactory elements have been a key part of her practice for least a dozen years, after Morelos was inspired to try and use soil to make cookies that recalled the scent of maternal milk, mixing in cacao butter, brown sugar, beeswax, cinnamon, and cloves. Over the years, she’s refined that process to give her more control over the organic elements, to prevent fermentation, mold, or fungus.
For Morelos, it’s important that her work activates the “senses that we have forgotten, such as the sense of touch and smell—too much importance is given to vision” she said. “The sense of smell activates our memories, and the memory will take you to those happy moments where you once were in the forest.”
But the artist is also looking to the future, with a career survey set to open at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis in March. It will feature work from the 1990s through to today, including a site-specific monumental earth work.
“The sculpture at the Pulitzer is about the obsession of being owners of the land. People put up nets, fences, and railings to delineate and separate land, saying this is ‘mine’ and that is ‘not mine,’” Morelos said. “But it is absurd to think that we can be owners of the earth. We form part of the earth and we are united with her—we are not her proprietors.”
Quotes from Morelos were translated by Amparo Vollert.
“Delcy Morelos: El abrazo” is on view at Dia Chelsea, 537 West 22nd Street, New York, New York, October 5, 2023—July 2024.
“Delcy Morelos: El oscuro de abajo” is on view at Galerie Marian Goodman, 79 and 66 Rue du Temple, 75003 Paris, October 14–December 21, 2023.
“Delcy Morelos: Interwoven” will be on view at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, 3716 Washington Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri, March 8–August 4, 2024.
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