Isamu Noguchi’s Mississippi Fountain, 1961-62, in New Orleans’ K&B Plaza.

Monumental Noguchi sculpture
The New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) was recently gifted a monumental work by sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Titled Mississippi Fountain (also known as The Mississippi), the work was created for what has long been known as K&B Plaza. Designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and built in 1961 to 1962, the building is one of New Orleans’ most prominent examples of midcentury modern architecture. Mississippi Fountain is Noguchi’s poetic distillation of the river as a symbol of a vast American landscape, of its elemental power and of relationships between earth, water, movement and culture. The sculpture has been located at K&B Plaza (formerly the John Hancock Insurance Company headquarters) since its construction. As of this August, NOMA has begun preparations to install the work in front of the museum this fall.

A view of the Thomas Cole Historical Site in Catskill, New York.

Metaphysical Maze
A joint exhibition of work by acclaimed French conceptual artist Laurent Grasso will open on November 22 at the historic homes of Frederic Church and Thomas Cole, organized by the Olana Partnership, the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. Metaphysical Maze: Laurent Grasso at Frederic Church’s Olana and the Thomas Cole Site is a capstone celebration of Frederic Church 200, a year celebrating the bicentennial of Church’s birth. The exhibition—which will accompany a primary exhibition of Grasso’s work at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art—aims to engage with the histories of both sites by introducing contemporary works into spaces shaped by other periods. It remains on view through March 28, 2027. 

William Merritt Chase (1949-1916), The Big Bay Berry Bush (The Bayberry Bush), ca. 1895. Oil on canvas, 25½ x 331/8 in. Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, N.Y., Littlejohn Collection, 1961.5.5.

William Merritt Chase & Walter Granville-Smith show
William Merritt Chase and Walter Granville-Smith: American Impressionists of the East End at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York, explores the work of two master American artists who found renewed creative inspiration on Long Island during the 19th and 20th centuries. Focusing on how Chase and Granville-Smith each shared interest in the region, the exhibition will present an exciting dialogue between the painters’ work—ranging from depictions of the social atmosphere of the bourgeoisie to more intimate depictions of family life and landscapes. The show hangs from November 14, 2026, to March 21, 2027.