National Portrait Gallery in London 'Love Stories' exhibit highlights Baker Museum season

The Baker Museum is receiving a family album like no other this coming season: Works from The National Portrait Gallery in London.

The exhibition, "Love Stories from the National Portrait Gallery, London," is among the highlights of the Artis—Naples 2022-2023 season announced over the weekend.

"It is closed for renovation right now, and that's why we have the tremendous good fortune of being able to take some of their masterworks that never travel, ever," said Courtney McNeil, The Baker Museum director and chief curator. "This is the largest presentation of their collection to travel, and it's designed for an oversears tour specifically." 

"It does have a primary lens through British history. There's a British story about any one of the subjects featured in the show," she said.

"The narrative of the exhibition, however, transcends one country's history to really look more broadly to look at passions and relationships in a way that I think will be relatable to modern-day audiences anywhere."

Among the subjects are John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, along with 20th-century composer Benjamin Britten and tenor Peter Pears. For voyeurs, there is Lord Horatio Nelson's mistress, Emma Hamilton. There are of course, royals, and sports figures like David Beckham as well. 

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Artists include Sir Joshua Reynolds, Angelica Kauffmann, David Hockney and Thomas Gainsborough, among others. 

That exhibition is from February through May 2023. McNeil said it's a major delight among a number coming next year, such as exhibitions of the museum's recent acquisitions and Helen Frankenthaler's late works. 

"I'm really thrilled to be presenting a range of household names, whether it's artists'  household names or partnering museums that are household names, and folks that will be newer surprises to our audiences," she said. 

One of those is Ran Hwang, whom McNeil said is bringing her largest exhibition ever in "Becoming Again." The South Korean-born artist divides her time between New York and Seoul.

Art lovers familiar with Blue Miami's experiential art will welcome the chance to once again be surrounded by the filigree of forms that change color and shape as video images float across, over and down. There is an audio component as well in its music. 

"Every one of her installations is a re-creation because of the unique nature of the projections and how they interplay with the physical elements of the work," McNeil said. "It's not an exhibition where you can get a checklist of the works and my team figures out where to put them."

"I'm excited about the surprise that this exhibition will have for most audiences," she continued, adding that there may be some unique companion programming, some "meditation-mindfulness programming of some kind or another to really accentuate the beautiful and thought-provoking nature of her work."

Here are the exhibition highlights for the upcoming season:

"Helen Frankenthaler: Late Works, 1990-2003" The innovative soak-stain paintings of Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) in her later years. The artist's works from an earlier period have been at The Baker Museum previously. September-November 2022

"Envisioning Evil: 'The Nazi Drawings'" by Mauricio Lasansky. The son of Jewish immigrants in Argentina, Mauricio Lasansky (1914-2012) created work that often explored themes of war and violence. In 1961, coinciding with the televised trial of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, he began a series of monumental drawings to grapple with the Holocaust. September 2022-February 2023

Recent Acquisitions: 2019-Present: The museum has made significant additions of American, Latin American and European art from the 1880s to the present day. September 2022 through January 2023

"Ran Hwang —Becoming Again": South Korean-born, New York-and Seoul-based artist Ran Hwang (born in 1960) creates installations using buttons, beads, pins and video projections. Her work demonstrates her preoccupation with the cyclical nature of life and fleeting moments of beauty. October 2022 through January 2023

Florida Contemporary 2022-23: This annual exhibition celebrating the diversity of artistic approaches to personal, local and global themes by Florida artists. October 2022 through July 2023

"Naples Collects 2022-23": As a follow-up to the popular "Naples Collects" exhibition of 2016, this exhibition is developed to share inspiring and engaging art from among the collections in Southwest Florida. December 2022 through fall 2023

"Love Stories from the National Portrait Gallery, London": Masterpieces from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London, from the 16th century to the present. February through May 2023

"Three Degrees of Separation — Artistic Connections in the Permanent Collection": Giving glimpses into how artistic ideas were exchanged and shared, avant-garde styles spread and cross-cultural artistic pollination occurred in the early and mid-20th century. March through fall 2023

Harriet Howard Heithaus covers arts and entertainment for the Naples Daily News/naplesnews.com. Reach her at 239-213-6091.

What's there now:

The Baker Museum

What: Among the current exhibitions:

• Through May 15. "Baseball Heroes" and "Love in All Forms — Selections from the Art Collection of Patty and Jay Baker." Baseball memorabilia from great moments in the sport and works from the singular collections of collectors/philanthropists Patty and Jay Baker, including selections from Monet to Henry Moore.
• Through July 24. "Ocean Gleanings." Debris art from Pam Longobardi, an artist who works with found objects on beach shores.
• Through July 24. "Another World: The Transcendental Painting Group." 20th-century artist group whose goal was to create works with a spiritual, rather than a physical, reality. Also, "Invisible Thread," works of contemporary artists who use metaphorical represenation and abstraction to depict the spiritual and subconscious.
• Ongoing. "Magritte: Reflections of Another World." Works by Belgian Surrealist Rene Magritte, in their first showing in North America .

When: Hours 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, noon-4 Sundays. Docent tours 11 a.m. and 2  p.m.; 1 p.m. only on Sundays.

Where: 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples:

Admission: $10, $5 active military and full-time students 18 and older; SNAP EBT card entry, $1. 239-597-1900 or artisnaples.org