The Buzz: Art

Spencer Finch , "What Time Is it on the Sun?": Part conceptual artist, part poet, and part scientist, Finch employs unconventional materials and methods to register subtleties of perceptual experience. One piece in this 14-year career survey uses the light of nine television monitors playing stills from the movie "The Searchers" to re-create the exact quality of light at sunset in a Monument Valley hotel room he stayed in. Mass MoCA, May 26-Spring 2008. 413-662-2111, massmoca.org.

"For the Love of the Game: Race and Sport in African American Art": Exploring issues of race, class, identity, and politics in athletics, this exhibition will present works by 25 prominent contemporary artists, including David Hammons , Glenn Ligon , Howardena Pindell , and Gary Simmons . Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, June 1-Nov. 30. 860-278-2670, www.wadsworthatheneum.org.

"The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings": It has long been thought that the great Impressionist Claude Monet did not customarily make drawings in preparation for his paintings. The first major exhibition to focus on the artist's graphic works, including pastels, finished drawings, and sketchbooks, proves that drawing often was an important part of his process. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, June 24-Sept. 16. 413-458-2303, www .clarkart.edu.

"Frank Lloyd Wright and the House Beautiful": The great American architect Frank Lloyd Wright focused much creative energy on achieving harmony between the architectural structure and interior design of his houses and the lifestyles of people who lived in them. This exhibition will present approximately 100 objects, including furniture, metalwork, textiles (inset), and drawings. Portland Museum of Art, June 28-Oct. 8. 207-775-6148, portlandmuseum.org.

"Making it New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy ": While living in Paris and on the French Riviera in the 1920s and '30s, the wealthy and stylish Americans Sara and Gerald Murphy (real-life models for Nicole and Dick Diver of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender is the Night") attracted a circle of highly creative friends. Works by some of them, including Picasso, Juan Gris , Jean Cocteau , and Francis Picabia will be featured in this show along with Gerald Murphy's own elegant and poetic Cubist-Precisionist paintings. Williams College Museum of Art, July 7-Nov. 11. 413-597-2429, wcma.org. KEN JOHNSON