Sixties Surreal, Filippino Lippi

"Sixties Surreal" at the Whitney Museum of American Art redefines the era’s art history by examining how artists across the United States utilized surrealist theory to confront socio-political turbulence. Curators Dan Nadel and Laura Phipps argue that surrealism served as a vital, flexible framework for artists to address violence and imagine new futures, often through assemblage and non-traditional materials, while deliberately de-centering New York’s influence. Simultaneously, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s "Filippino Lippi and Rome" exhibition investigates the seismic impact of Rome on the Renaissance painter’s work. Curator Alexander J. Noelle details how Lippi’s exposure to ancient sculpture and architectural ruins fundamentally altered his approach to monumentality and spatial composition, as evidenced in the museum’s "Holy Family" tondo, which showcases a sophisticated, ambiguous interaction between divine figures and contemporary armaments.