[Rick Mullin]

I really enjoyed The Harlem Renaissance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's expansive and beautifully curated, including paintings by many artists whose work I love, notably William H. Johnson. His paintings of Jitterbugs and portraits are likely familiar, even if his name isn't. One of his early paintings hangs in the exhibit next to a landscape in the Met's collection by Chaim Soutine, a painter Johnson emulated when he lived in Europe early in his career. He was one of the first expatriate Black artists in Paris. There is also a small gouache by Ernest Chrichlow, whose night class I attended at the Art Student's League of New York in the 1990s. I was delighted to see him represented, along with other underrepresented painters. This painting by Palmer Hayden is tremendous: The Janitor Who Paints. There was no huge crowd trying to get in when I went on a Monday afternoon, which is rare for a major special exhibit at the Met. If you're in or near NYC, you are no doubt planning to visit. You will probably go more than once.