Seven Museums Celebrate Sin

Collaboration is in the cultural air this summer.   

Here in Santa Fe, we have the Summer of Color, with museums each featuring an exhibit celebrating a different color. For example, at the Museum of Internatinal Folk Art, The Red that Colored the World  (through September 13, 2015) is a beautifully curated exhibition that tells the story of the extraordinary global spread of cochineal after its first encounter by Spain in 16th century Mexico. Most people know red, but few know of its most prolific and enduring source: American Cochineal, a tiny scaled insect that produces carminic acid.

On the other side of the country, seven cultural institutions of the Fairfield/ Westchester Museum Alliance (FWMA) are doing a similar thing, concurrently presenting exhibitions that explore the Seven Deadly Sins. Interpretations range from Old Master paintings to cutting-edge contemporary art.

For example, at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich CT, The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride (through October 18) explores the heights of human hubris and vanity -- as well as the sometimes cataclysmic falls that have resulted -- through objects of art and material culture from the Renaissance into the contemporary period. In an exhibition of exquisite master prints, drawings, paintings, rare books, and a video installation the breadth and endurance of the imagery of this deadly sin of arrogance is explored, including the peacocks and lions that have long symbolized the sin.

The other museums participating in this collaboration are

• Sloth: Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum  - through September 19
• Envy: Hudson River Museum - through September 26
• Lust: Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art  -  through July 26
• Gluttony: Katonah Museum of Art - through October 10
• Greed: Neuberger Museum of Art  - through October 11
• Wrath: Wave Hill - through September 07, 2015

The FWMA museums are offering a two-for-the-price-of-one same-day pass. Print it and have it validated when you pay for admission at the admissions desk at any one of the participating museums. The pass will entitle you to free admission at any other one of the eight museums that same day. Simply present the validated pass to receive free admission.

Hot summer day?  Head for a museum!