Critic's picks - visual arts

SEDRICK HUCKABY: A LOVE SUPREME

Four massive paintings of hanging quilts by the young Texan painter recall Monet's late water-lily paintings, but in an idiom more earthy than ethereal. Each painting is based on a season. Through March 1. Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham. 508-620-0050, www.danforthmuseum.org

PHOTOGRAPHIC FIGURES

This exhibition from the permanent collection inaugurates the Herb Ritts Gallery, the museum's first space dedicated to photography. The theme is the human body; the photographers include Stieglitz, Weston, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and many other great names of the medium. Through May 10. Museum of Fine Arts. 617-267-9300, www.mfa.org

HANS HOFMANN: CIRCA 1950

Hinging on a series of painted studies for murals Hofmann made for the architect Josep Lluis Sert's Peruvian city plan, the Chimbote Project, this is one of the Boston area's most ambitious shows of modern art in recent times. Curator and Rose Art Museum director Michael Rush wants to stake a claim for Hofmann as a great painter in his own right, not just the influential teacher of more famous Abstract Expressionists. Through April 5. Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham. 781-736-3434, www.brandeis.edu/rose

EMULATION OR IMITATION: THE CASE OF DÜRER VS. RAIMONDI

A small show comparing prints by Albrecht Dürer with those by the Venetian printmaker Marcantonio Raimondi. Dürer brought a lawsuit against Raimondi for plagiarizing his series "Life of the Virgin." The suit marked a turning point in attitudes toward artistic originality and individual genius. Through April 19. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton. 413-585-2760, www.smith.edu/artmuseum

SEBASTIAN SMEE