Brian T. Allen

No horse hockey here, only a solid, fascinating history of thoroughbred sport.

Dazzling artists from India, London, Antwerp, Rotterdam, and the Great Beyond.

And more: London’s National Portrait Gallery turns climate crazy, while the Brooklyn Museum turns just plain crazy.

The great writer was also a great designer and decorator of houses, and her beloved ‘cottage’ is a work of art.

An intelligent, provocative show at the National Building Museum looks at D.C.’s Brutalist phase.

Colby College Museum’s summer shows are smart and packed with good art.

For Impressionism’s 150th anniversary, the Clark Art Institute probes an outsized artist’s cryptic impact.

All those babies and pretty ladies are far more intense than we thought.

A show of ’60s movie posters highlights its cinematic chops.

The ‘Bus Stop’ Titian, Dolley Madison, and a tribute to Bill Viola.

A gorgeous building, but ‘transparency’ and ‘belonging’ are pricey abstractions.

A philosophy for all seasons comes with art, nostalgia, and, yes, plenty of snark.

Guillaume Lethière, a specialist in death by virtue, fit right in.

A Vivian Maier show, New York’s first, and looking at People at 50.

Plus why do woke scolds at Boston’s MFA hate Native Americans at prayer?

Conservatives ignore culture scholarship at their peril. Most NEH grants are worthy, but ‘climate resilience’ is for engineers, not humanists.

A worthy exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum tries to cover too much, alas.

On the art of angst, a gender-bending torero, learning as the antidote to hate, and other topics.

In New York, TEFAF is tepid, but the American Art Fair delights.

The Autry Museum goes too far down the atrocity-propaganda road.

In other news, an art fair turns voting-law expert and an art vandal heads to the clink.

A well-told take on a figure hated and adored, plus George Bush’s angst art.

Acquisitions in 2023 include a grand royal portrait and a teacup fit for a French dauphin.

Eclectic architecture, often overlooked, depicted in new portfolio of photographs.

The painter’s final statement — his darkest paintings — under new light.

On offer: Wiggling angels, an anguished Abraham, and densely adorned altarpieces.

Substance is losing out to sparkling, pricey new buildings and lots of ego trips.

The art-and-museum circuit is struggling, changing, but dare we say evolving in some corners, in response to this terrible year’s circumstances.

Great American work from living and dead artists, luscious gardens, and a commitment to serve the public, even amid COVID.