Megan and Murray McMillan

Anna Gaskell, That’s All I Remember, 2006, stills [source]

Two weeks ago, I was able to sneak in a quick trip down to Texas to visit one of my favorite museums: The Modern in Fort Worth. Pretty Baby, the current exhibition, is a fascinating exploration of childhood from numerous lenses. From Catherine Opie’s nursing Self-Portrait to Miranda July’s audio interviews of children to Loretta Lux’s idealized and slightly subversive portraits, Pretty Baby is a thought-provoking, as well as simply provoking, investigation of a time-frame in human experience that so rarely finds itself under the microscope.

The exhibition runs through June 24 and isn’t scheduled to travel, so it’s worth a trip if you can swing it. Good exhibition non-withstanding, it’s hard to overshadow the Modern’s lovely Ando-designed building, which seems to float on a still pool of watery glass, or its mouth-watering permanent collection. Here are a few of my favorites to whet your appetite for a trip to Cow Town.

Gerhard Richter, Ferrari, 1964

Martin Puryear, Ladder for Booker T. Washington, 1996

Vija Celmins, German Plane, 1966

Ron Mueck, Untitled (Seated Woman), 1999

Pretty Baby
February 25–June 24, 2007
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
www.themodern.org