Pop Art, Picasso, and More

The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Tom Hine

Two of the most promising museum shows of the spring take a global perspective and seek to upend what we think we know.

International Pop at the Philadelphia Museum of Art seeks to demonstrate that pop art—fascinated as artists were by American commercialism and Cold War-era mass consumption—was actually a worldwide movement. People in Argentina, Brazil, England, and lots of other places did it too, very well, and with an edge.

Made in the Americas at Winterthur tells the unfamiliar story of expensive goods arriving in the Americas from Asia, where their designs were adapted into cheaper but distinctive items for the home market. It started in the 16th century, so if you want to see Peruvian Ming, here is your chance.

Meanwhile, the Barnes Foundation has a show on Picasso in World War I, the Brandywine will show Hudson River School paintings, and the Princeton University Art Museum is mounting a large show on the English landscape. The Delaware Art Museum and the Allentown Art Museum will host a major traveling exhibition of Latino art. And in April, the Art Museum will continue its international scope with a series of exhibitions on the theme of Creative Africa.