BAUHAUS.PHOTO @ GOETHE-INSTITUT

Product photography is an inescapable part of modern life, but nobody did it quite like the avant-garde tricksters of the Bauhaus movement, founded in 1919 by architect Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany. This exhibit at the Goethe’s new home at 14th and R streets NW features 100 photographs selected from the more than 70,000 prints held by the Bauhaus-Archiv/Museum für Gestaltung in Berlin. Celebrated photographers such as Lucia Moholy, László Moholy-Nagy, and T. Lux Feininger will be featured alongside lesser-known artists such as Kattina Both, Irene Bayer and Max Peiffer Watenpfuhl.
Goethe-Institut, 1377 R St. NW. Through Jan. 31, 2020. Opening reception Dec. 3, 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m. FREE

CHIURA OBATA: AMERICAN MODERN @ SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM

Japanese American artist Chiuri Obata (1885-1975) was born in Okayama and immigrated to San Francisco in 1903. In 1942, anxieties fueled by World War II forced Obata to relocate to an incarceration camp, where he formed an art school to help fellow prisoners cope with the trauma. The Smithsonian American Art Museum presents an exhibition of Obata’s landscapes and other works, which blend Asian and Western traditions in their depiction of the American landscape.
Smithsonian American Art Museum. Through May 25, 2020. FREE

NOW SHOWING: POSTERS FROM AFRICAN AMERICAN MOVIES @ NMAAHC

From Ralph Cooper to Isaac Hayes and beyond, this exhibition is a showcase for movie posters and other advertising material made for films starring black performers and made by black filmmakers. The exhibit, “introduces audiences to some of the pioneers of black cinema, highlights the Museum’s poster collection and its continued dedication to visual culture, and it shows how films geared toward African American audiences have been presented over the years.”
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Center for African American Media Arts. Through November 1, 2020. FREE

RECOLLECTION: REINTERPRETING TRADITION AND HERITAGE @ KOREAN CULTURAL CENTER

This group exhibition features painting, photography, and sculpture by five Korean artists who, “radically reinterpret a variety of classic forms into the visual language of contemporary art.” Featured artists include Jaehyug Choi, Soomin Ham, Hyeon Suk Her, Doo Yeon Jung, and Yoohyun Kim, who each “grapple in personal terms with the apparent contradiction of a modern Korean society still deeply rooted in its cultural history,” according to the museum.
Korean Cultural Center. Dec. 6, 2019-Jan. 4, 2020. Opening reception Dec. 6, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. FREE

WOLF KAHN  @ADDISON/RIPLEY

Painter Wolf Kahn was born in Germany in 1927 and immigrated to the United States in 1940. The now 92-year old artist, who spends his time between New York City and Southern Vermont, was recently awarded the International Medal of the Arts by the State Department, which inspired him to remark, “There’s a certain mystery in making paintings, and I don’t want to destroy that. What people think art’s about is not always what it’s about.” This exhibition showcases Kahn’s recent paintings and pastels.

Addison/Ripley. Dec. 7, 2019-Jan. 11, 2020. Open Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and by appointment. FREE

SPEAKING ACROSS MOUNTAINS: CONTEMPORARY KURDISH ARTISTS IN DIALOGUE @ MEI ART GALLERY

This group exhibition feature nine contemporary Kurdish artists. Artists include Sherko Abbas, Serwan Baran, Kani Kamil, Hayv Kahrman, and Walid Siti of Iraq; Savas Boyraz, Zehra Dogen, and Şener Özmen of Turkey; and Khadija Baker and Bahram Hajou of Syria. Per the museum, these artists, “reflect on themes that have long shaped the Kurdish experience, such as displacement, exile, memory and gender, while giving voice to the resilience of Kurdish communities in the face of decades of persecution.”
MEI Art Gallery. Dec. 6, 2019-Feb. 20, 2020. Opening reception Dec. 6, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. FREE

BARRY BISHOP @ BROOKLAND ARTSPACE LOFTS

Before turning to fine art portraits, Duke Ellington School and Corcoran School of Art graduate Barry Bishop was a mainstay in Washington’s streetwear scene in the 80s. This exhibition showcases Bishop’s portraits of such African-American icons as Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix.
Brookland Artspace Lofts. December 7-10. Opening reception Dec. 7, 7 p.m.-10 p.m. FREE

DEWING’S POETIC WORLD @ FREER GALLERY OF ART

Born in Boston and educated in Paris, Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938) was best known for moody tonalist paintings that featured women lost in contemplation. Yet despite the solitary nature of his canvases, he was part of a buzzing social network of artists and dealers. This exhibition explores Dewing’s social world, including the New Hampshire artist’s colony he founded with his wife, artist Maria Oakley Dewing, and his friendship with museum founder Charles Lang Freer.
Freer Gallery of Art. Through November 2020. FREE

PORTRAITS OF THE WORLD: DENMARK @ NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY