The DIA will display some of the best examples of American "Royal Marionettes," from its Paul McPharlin Puppetry Collection from June 29, 2011 to Jan. 1, 2012. Artists and puppeteers Walter Deaves, Daniel Meader and others followed a tradition of marionette theater introduced to America by English puppeteers in the 1870s. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these puppets were part of large troupes that performed in music halls and vaudeville theaters around the world in acts that featured strange and surprising characters.

Brooklyn-based artist William Lamson (b. 1977) forges a captivating exploration of forces of nature and the passage of time through his inventive, often poetic interventions into natural and man-made environments. Hear from the artist and curator Sarah Green about Divining Meteorology and how it works.

June 29 2011
Painters of the Venetian Renaissance are best known for their monumental altarpieces, narrative and mythological canvases, and intimate works for private devotion. Many of the same masters engaged in the ornamental arts as well, painting panels for integration into beds, chests, musical instruments, and doors. Susannah Rutherglen describes this less familiar genre, traces the fortunes of surviving artifacts, and discusses their themes, styles, and relevance to the history of Italian Renaissance art.

These are among the most celebrated works ever created in Africa and for the first time they have been brought together with other objects from the same era, resulting in a fascinating depiction of Ife. Terra-cotta and brass figures show it to have been a dynamic society where idealized and serene citizens coexisted with their opposites—the diseased, the malformed, the old, and the imprisoned. Trade items illustrate Ife’s ancient prosperity. Its prized glass-beads—worn by royalty—were also exported across north and west Africa.

Silver bowl, spoon, and glass from the Sasanian empire. (Modern day Iran.)

In Body in Flight (Delta) and Body in Flight (American), Allora & Calzadilla appropriated the forms of state-of-the art elite business class seats and reproduced full-scale wooden replicas stained like polychromatic religious icons. In Body in Flight (Delta) the artists substitute the airline seat replica for a balance beam to be used by a female gymnast from USA Gymnastics—the national governing body for gymnastics in the U.S.—who will perform a routine that emphasizes flexibility and fluidity.

In Body in Flight (Delta) and Body in Flight (American), Allora & Calzadilla appropriated the forms of state-of-the art elite business class seats and reproduced full-scale wooden replicas stained like polychromatic religious icons. In Body in Flight (Delta) the artists substitute the airline seat replica for a balance beam to be used by a female gymnast from USA Gymnastics—the national governing body for gymnastics in the U.S.—who will perform a routine that emphasizes flexibility and fluidity.

DIA Director Graham Beal takes viewers on a personal tour of some of his favorite works in the museum.With one of the largest (over 60,000 works) and most significant collections of any art museum in the nation it's hard to narrow down to just a few.