One of the most telling exhibit quotes by the artist is as follows: “Always speak out and keep forging ahead.  The man who cannot find a new person within himself is not a man.”  For Modigliani, the decisive move toward metaphorical abstraction was absolute.  One senses in the later paintings and sculpture a no-turning-back sensibility; he was ready to toss his hat in with the gods of the ancients. French colonialism was making West African sculptures and other ritualistic objects available for study back home and Picasso and Matisse took note. 

From the streets of Flatbush, Brooklyn to the lofty runways of high fashion, designer Isaac Mizrahi broke all the rules.  Just consider:  Adidas sneakers in place of spike heels, handbags worn as hats, a simple T-shirt paired with a taffeta ball gown skirt.  On view at The Jewish Museum in Manhattan, this mesmerizing new exhibit Isaac Mizrahi: An Unruly History, shows how one man turned the fashion world on its head and put it back on its feet—his way.  

Simmons made a name for herself in the ‘70s and ‘80s by constructing dollhouse rooms and photographing them. They were a subversive reflection on the Marxist notion of the fetishizing commodity and were done through a feminist lens. She was not interested so much with creating a narrative in her photographs, though her subject matter may have reflected otherwise. Rather, she refers to the early works as “doll still life work” and they became as such after she stared at the created spaces until they became void of meaning and abstract to her. 

From her small town beginnings in the Jewish Poland of 1872, Helena Rubinstein grew a cosmetics empire that spanned four continents.  By her death in 1965 at 92, this self-made magnate of beauty had not only amassed a world-class collection of Western, African and Oceanic art, but transformed how millions of women thought about themselves.  The Jewish Museum’s gorgeously-mounted exhibit, Helena Rubinstein: Beauty is Power, is aptly titled.