EXHIBIT "To every age its art and to art its freedom." This call was inscribed (in German) 111 years ago over the doors to the Secession building, an exhibition hall in Vienna for the reformist art and design movement of the same name. Rebel creatives were similarly engaged in the United States and England, bucking Victorian revivalism for the purity of arts and crafts. The Arts and Crafts Movement: Masterworks from the Max Palevsky and Jodie Evans Collection at LACMA features a selection from 45 promised gifts to the museum. The show includes usual American suspects (Wright windows and this Cube Chair designed by Harvey Ellis for Gustav Stickley) but also a few rarities from around the world. Through March 10. lacma.org
LACMA EXHIBIT "To every age its art and to art its freedom." This call was inscribed (in German) 111 years ago over the doors to the Secession building, an exhibition hall in Vienna for the reformist art and design movement of the same name. Rebel creatives were similarly engaged in the United States and England, bucking Victorian revivalism for the purity of arts and crafts. The Arts and Crafts Movement: Masterworks from the Max Palevsky and Jodie Evans Collection at LACMA features a selection from 45 promised gifts to the museum. The show includes usual American suspects (Wright windows and this Cube Chair designed by Harvey Ellis for Gustav Stickley) but also a few rarities from around the world. Through March 10. lacma.org
BOOK Fifteenth century Romans picnicked in the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, animated by vino and the grottoes' fanciful first century frescos, which they coined "grotesques." Despite the prevailing restrained classicism, the grotesques' visions of hybrid creatures and whimsical buildings didn't stay underground for long. Ornament and the Grotesque: Fantastical Decoration from Antiquity to Art Nouveau, a new book by Alessandra Zamperini, examines their countercultural staying power. Thames & Hudson. $95
Charlie Brown BOOK Fifteenth century Romans picnicked in the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, animated by vino and the grottoes' fanciful first century frescos, which they coined "grotesques." Despite the prevailing restrained classicism, the grotesques' visions of hybrid creatures and whimsical buildings didn't stay underground for long. Ornament and the Grotesque: Fantastical Decoration from Antiquity to Art Nouveau, a new book by Alessandra Zamperini, examines their countercultural staying power. Thames & Hudson. $95
OBJECT Henry P. Glass escaped the Nazis' Buchenwald prison camp and came to America in 1939 to apply his Bauhaus training to industrial design. After the war, consumerism was at a giddy high, and some designers could draw like salesmen talk. Glass' "Desk Lamp" (1946, $1,500 at Chicago's ArchiTech Gallery) and other designers' drawings from the mid-1940s to the late 1960s are on display and for sale at ArchiTech. Through March 28. architechgallery.com
Courtesy Architech Gallery OBJECT Henry P. Glass escaped the Nazis' Buchenwald prison camp and came to America in 1939 to apply his Bauhaus training to industrial design. After the war, consumerism was at a giddy high, and some designers could draw like salesmen talk. Glass' "Desk Lamp" (1946, $1,500 at Chicago's ArchiTech Gallery) and other designers' drawings from the mid-1940s to the late 1960s are on display and for sale at ArchiTech. Through March 28. architechgallery.com
EXHIBIT For one more month, see unexpected decorating in the Graham Foundation's Sullivan-esque Madlener House in Chicago: 5,000 feet of metal chain and other sculptures by engineer Cecil Balmond. He uses mathematical principles, fine-tuned while running Arup's experimental Advanced Geometry Unit, to defy gravity.or at least make it look that way. Through Feb. 14 grahamfoundation.org
Michelle Litvin EXHIBIT For one more month, see unexpected decorating in the Graham Foundation's Sullivan-esque Madlener House in Chicago: 5,000 feet of metal chain and other sculptures by engineer Cecil Balmond. He uses mathematical principles, fine-tuned while running Arup's experimental Advanced Geometry Unit, to defy gravity.or at least make it look that way. Through Feb. 14 grahamfoundation.org
EXHIBIT Columbia University's Studio-X and curator Mimi Zeiger, an ARCHITECT contributor, open a time capsule from the mid-'90s—A Few Zines: Dispatches from the Edge of Architectural Production. The show features full runs of Zeiger's Loud Paper and other indy pubs, which lent the era's stuffy architectural discourse an edginess that still resonates. Through Feb. 28 www.arch.columbia.edu/studiox
Mimi Zeiger EXHIBIT Columbia University's Studio-X and curator Mimi Zeiger, an ARCHITECT contributor, open a time capsule from the mid-'90s—A Few Zines: Dispatches from the Edge of Architectural Production. The show features full runs of Zeiger's Loud Paper and other indy pubs, which lent the era's stuffy architectural discourse an edginess that still resonates. Through Feb. 28 www.arch.columbia.edu/studiox
EXHIBIT Cecil Balmond already enjoys star status among architects, and the latest show at the Center for Architecture in New York may make stars out of several other engineers. Make it Work: Engineering Possibilities celebrates the science behind new designs by Foster + Partners, Zaha Hadid, Herzog & de Meuron, and other firms. The exhibition is curated by engineers who promise to change the way architects build and practice. Jan. 22.—April 25 aiany.org By Hannah McCann
Courtesy Center for Architecture EXHIBIT Cecil Balmond already enjoys star status among architects, and the latest show at the Center for Architecture in New York may make stars out of several other engineers. Make it Work: Engineering Possibilities celebrates the science behind new designs by Foster + Partners, Zaha Hadid, Herzog & de Meuron, and other firms. The exhibition is curated by engineers who promise to change the way architects build and practice. Jan. 22.—April 25 aiany.org By Hannah McCann
EXHIBIT See the world through Renaissance eyes. German publisher Taschen takes a break from titles like The Big Penis Book to reprint Civitates Orbis Terrarum, or Cities of the World, produced by theologian Georg Braun and cartographer Franz Hogenberg between 1572 and 1617. A Grand Tour of communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and, of course, Europe, circa 1600, the new edition includes reproductions of 564 engraved plans, maps, and views, and a very, very brief introduction by Rem Koolhaas. Taschen; $200
Taschen EXHIBIT See the world through Renaissance eyes. German publisher Taschen takes a break from titles like The Big Penis Book to reprint Civitates Orbis Terrarum, or Cities of the World, produced by theologian Georg Braun and cartographer Franz Hogenberg between 1572 and 1617. A Grand Tour of communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and, of course, Europe, circa 1600, the new edition includes reproductions of 564 engraved plans, maps, and views, and a very, very brief introduction by Rem Koolhaas. Taschen; $200
EXHIBIT To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett's Plan of Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago is displaying 32 of Jules Guerin's spectacular Beaux-Arts renderings of "Paris on the Prairie." It's a don't-miss: The drawings are extremely fragile and rarely on view. Fortunately, the exhibit is up for the whole year. Through Dec. 15 artic.edu
Art Institute of Chicago EXHIBIT To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett's Plan of Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago is displaying 32 of Jules Guerin's spectacular Beaux-Arts renderings of "Paris on the Prairie." It's a don't-miss: The drawings are extremely fragile and rarely on view. Fortunately, the exhibit is up for the whole year. Through Dec. 15 artic.edu
OBJECT To comprehend the strange sensibility of designer, craftsman, and artist Roy McMakin, imagine Shaker furniture with an '80s Memphis twist: scales shifting, proportions distorting, and colors mixing. At last month's Design Miami/, Matthew Marks Gallery showed a group of McMakin's chairs, tables, bureaus, and other funny case pieces, including this "3D Chest" (2008, $20,000). matthewmarks.com
Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery OBJECT To comprehend the strange sensibility of designer, craftsman, and artist Roy McMakin, imagine Shaker furniture with an '80s Memphis twist: scales shifting, proportions distorting, and colors mixing. At last month's Design Miami/, Matthew Marks Gallery showed a group of McMakin's chairs, tables, bureaus, and other funny case pieces, including this "3D Chest" (2008, $20,000). matthewmarks.com