Jane Freilicher: 50s New York
Paul Kasmin, New York 18 April-9 June
The poet Frank O’Hara described the paintings of Jane Freilicher (1924-2014) as “true and silently risqué”, while the painter Fairfield Porter called them “traditional and radical”. Paul Kasmin’s first solo show of the Greenwich Village painter’s estate (formerly represented by Tibor de Nagy) concentrates on work from the 1950s, revealing quiet intensities beneath the humble, Bonnard-like interiors, still-lifes and portraits. Freilicher’s contemplative work from the 50s calls attention to a mid-century painting alternative. Prices range from $40,000 to $250,000.
Yup’ik mask from Napaskiak in Alaska (around 1890–1905) Di Donna Galleries
Moon Dancers: Yup’ik Masks and the Surrealists
Di Donna Galleries, New York 26 April-29 June
The Surrealists were not particularly well-informed admirers of the material culture of the Yup’ik people of Alaska. Their appreciation of Yup’ik masks was more for their expressive aesthetic than for their ritual significance. Nevertheless, it proved a fruitful encounter. In collaboration with the dealer Donald Ellis, the specialist in Native American Indian art, Di Donna explores the connections between these objects and the painting and sculpture they inspired by Max Ernst, Joan Miró and Yves Tanguy, among many others. Some of the masks once belonged in the collections of André Breton and the Italian-born painter Enrico Donati. Prices range from $100,000 to $4m.
Nevin Aladag, Social Fabric, Blue Petrol Yellow, 2017 The artist and Wentrup. Photo: Trevor Good
Nevin Aladag
Wentrup Gallery, Berlin 28 April-16 June
Coinciding with Berlin Gallery Week, Wentrup’s latest solo exhibition with the Turkish-born, Berlin-based Nevin Aladag concentrates on her new Social Fabric series. Gathering tapestries from across the globe, including from the Maghreb, Iraq, China, Ireland, the US and Germany, Aladag slices fragments and places them in geometric compositions that echo Modernist painting. The complex, intricate results are comments on cultural fragmentation and exchange. The show also includes examples of the artist’s glazed ceramic lattice sculptures, which have similar aims. Prices range between €30,000 and €40,000. James H. Miller