Gallery air kiss from Gehry

Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Frank Gehry's birthplace, gave the architect his first big Canadian commission with its renovation. (GEHRY PARTNERS/THE NEW YORK TIMES)

TORONTO

Art Gallery of Ontario: Two weeks ago the gallery opened its $276 million renovation to the public. It more than doubles the museum's exhibition space. As notable a development as that is, what makes the expansion and redesign an art-world event is its architect, Frank Gehry. Gehry's love of sweeping curves and unusual materials has made him today's most celebrated architect. Such Gehry buildings as the Guggenheim Museum, in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, in Los Angeles, have been among the most acclaimed of the past quarter century. (Locally, he designed MIT's Stata Center.) Gehry was familiar with the gallery; he grew up just blocks away. He has called working on the redesign an "emotional experience." The redesign had two main goals. One was to simplify the entrance area and clarify interior foot traffic. The other was to create new space to display highlights from the donation of 2,000 works of Canadian art from collector Ken Thomson. "I honestly did not know the length and breadth and power of Canadian art," Gehry said in a press conference earlier this month. "I know for me, having grown up here, it's a great pride to look at that [Canadian art] and realize how powerful it is, how important it is, and what a thing to have for Canada in the future." 317 Dundas St. West, 877-225-4246, www.ago.net.

THROUGH JAN. 11

VANCOUVER, British Columbia

"WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution": The Vancouver Art Gallery has brought together the work of 120 artists in this first international survey of the collision between feminism and art in the period between 1965 and 1980. 750 Hornby St., 604-662-4719, www.vanartgallery.bc.ca.

THROUGH FEB. 8

LOS ANGELES

"The Belles Heures of the Duke of Berry": This exquisite devotional book executed by the Limbourg brothers in the early 15th century is one of the finest of all illuminated manuscripts. The Getty Museum will present the book unbound, with all its pages available for viewing. 1200 Getty Center Drive, 310-440-7300, www.getty.edu.

JAN. 7-FEB. 21

LONDON

"Complicit": Richard Dreyfuss plays a journalist who finds himself before the Supreme Court in this Old Vic world premiere production of Joe Sutton's drama. Artistic director Kevin Spacey directs. The Cut, 011-44-870-060-6628, www.oldvictheatre.com.

JAN. 18-APRIL 26

WASHINGTON

"Looking In: Robert Frank's 'The Americans' ": This year marks the 50th anniversary of Frank's "The Americans," one of the most - if perhaps the most - influential of all photography books. The National Gallery presents the 83 photographs that made up the book, as well as looking at how Frank's earlier photography led him to "The Americans" and the impact its publication had on his subsequent work. Fourth Street and Constitution Avenue NW, 202-737-4215, www.nga.gov.

JAN. 22-APRIL 19

MONTREAL

"Van Dongen: A Fauve in the City": Montreal's Museum of Fine Arts has organized the first North American retrospective of the brilliant colorist Kees van Dongen (1877-1968). The exhibition comprises some 200 works. There are more than a hundred paintings, as well as drawings, prints, ceramics, and archival documents and photographs. 1379 Sherbrooke Street Pavilion, 514-285-2000, www.mbam .qc.ca/en.

PLAN AHEAD

FEB. 12-MAY 9

"With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition": The Library of Congress, in Washington, observes the 200th anniversary of the president's birth with a wealth of items from the library's holdings. Besides letters, photographs, political cartoons, prints, speeches, and campaign fliers, objects on display include Lincoln's copies of his first and second inaugural addresses and the Gettysburg Address. 10 First St. SE, 202-707-8000, www.loc.gov.

MARK FEENEY

Events are sometimes canceled, rescheduled, or sold out; check online to confirm. Mark Feeney can be reached at mfeeney@globe.com.