GRACIELA ITURBIDE’S MEXICO @ NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS

Photographer Graciela Iturbide has been making bold, sensitive, and sometimes visceral photographs of her native Mexico for half a century. The NMWA presents the artist’s most significant exhibition in more than 20 years, with 140 photographs from throughout her career.
Feb. 28–May 25, 2020 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. $10.

RAPHAEL AND HIS CIRCLE @ NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

The Italian painter Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (1483-1520), known as Raphael, was one of the great artists of the Western classical canon. The National Gallery of Art celebrates the 500th anniversary of his death with an intimate and intense exhibition of 25 prints and drawings. These include a worksheet for his well-known 1506 painting of Saint George and the Dragon. The five Raphael paintings in the Gallery’s permanent collection—the largest selection outside of Europe—will be on view on the West Building’s main floor to complement this exhibition.
Feb. 16–June 14, 2020 at the National Gallery of Art, West Building. FREE.

RENDITION BY ZOË CHARLTON @ UNION MARKET

On a recent visit to a Baltimore antique store,  Zoë Charlton acquired a life-sized African figure from Cameroon that she came to think of as her doppelgänger. The sculpture, which the D.C. and Baltimore-based artist named “Sib,” is a central figure in her new exhibition, Rendition at Cultural DC’s mobile art gallery, which will be set up outside Union Market this month. “My hope is that this installation sparks a conversation about the commercialization of culture and how race and cultural identity play a role in so many aspects of our lives, frequently without us even noticing,” Charlton says in her artist statement.
Feb. 8-March 22 in the Mobile Art Gallery at Union Market, 5th Street entrance. FREE.

MOTHER TONGUE FILM FESTIVAL @ NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

Since 2016, the Smithsonian’s Recovering Voices program has put together this annual showcase of films about the cultural richness of Indigenous and endangered languages. This year’s lineup includes 21 feature-length and short films in 28 languages. The fifth edition of this festival opens at the National Museum of the American Indian with the 2019 film Restless River, directed by Marie-Helene Cousineau and Madeline Ivalu, about an Inuk woman assaulted by a soldier after World War II.
Feb. 20-23 at various locations. FREE.

TRUE TO NATURE: OPEN-AIR PAINTING IN EUROPE, 1780–1870 @ NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

A crucial part of education for art students in 18th or 19th century Europe was training to observe the shifting light and textures of landscapes (even an erupting volcano—see above). Prospective artists would make long journeys all over the world to paint en plein air: in the open air.  This exhibition presents 100 such oil sketches made outdoors across Europe by such artists as as Carl Blechen, Jules Coignet, André Giroux, Anton Sminck Pitloo, Carl Frederik Sørensen, and J. M. W. Turner.
Through May 3 at the National Gallery of Art, West Building. FREE.

MOIRA DRYER: BACK IN BUSINESS @ THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION

The Phillips presents Back in Business, which it says is the first “comprehensive museum exhibition” dedicated to the early work of this Toronto-born artist. Dryer worked as a set designer for the avant-garde theater company Mabou Mines before she turned to painting full-time. As the Phillips writes, “Dryer infused her works with a level of pathos that allowed her to play with stillness and animation, reference and abstraction, and real and represented space.”
Feb. 8-April 19 at The Phillips Collection. $10.

RISE 2020 @ HILLYER

The artists in this group exhibition were selected from Hillyer’s annual open call for proposals, whose work will be shown at the museum from April 2020-April 2021. This show is a preview of their work, and includes Baltimore artist Lee Nowell-Wilson, as well as Kristin Adair, Lynn Alleva Lilley, Magdolene Dykstra, Caley English, Nava Levenson, Noah McWilliams, Rogelio Baez Vega, and others.
First Friday opening reception, with an artist’s talk, takes place Feb. 7, 6 p.m.-9 p.m. at Hillyer. FREE.

THE ENIGMATIC WORLD OF CHOSONHWA @ AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

The American University Museum hosts a book signing and talk by BG Muhn. The Georgetown University art professor has published the first study of the traditional North Korean ink wash painting method known as chosonhwa, which is typically a vehicle for Socialist Realism. Muhn will place the work in cultural, historical and political context. (Disclaimer: American University holds the license for DCist’s parent company, WAMU.)
Feb. 15, 3 p.m. at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center. FREE.

NATURAL BEAUTIES @ HILLWOOD MUSEUM

Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Hillwood estate may be best known for its peerless collection of Russian Imperial art. Yet the American businesswoman was also fond of precious objects made from precious hardstones. This exhibition at the estate features nearly 100 objects from Hillwood’s dazzling collection of gems and minerals.
Feb. 15-June 7 at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. $18.