DOMENICO TIEPOLO (1727–1804): A NEW TESTAMENT
The Frick Collection

Around 1785, when Tiepolo was nearing 60, he embarked on the largest-known New Testament cycle produced by a single artist. Working five or more years and probably without commission, Domenico produced 313 large, vertical, finished drawings in ink and wash on handmade paper. The narrative cycle — which is anchored by the Old Testament’s “The Sacrifice of Abraham,” then proceeds to the lives of Joachim and Anna (Mary’s parents), and moves through the acts of Peter and Paul — is a cinematic tour de force that thoroughly and inventively illustrates the Life of Christ. An unprecedented grouping of nearly 60 drawings from Domenico Tiepolo’s New Testament cycle has been brought together at the Frick Collection.

-Lance Esplund

Until January 7 (1 E. 70th St., between Fifth and Madison avenues, 212-288-0700).

‘WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?’: THE PHOTO LEAGUE AND ITS LEGACY (1936–2006)
New York Public Library

This is exactly the sort of photographic exhibition we should hope for from the New York Public Library. The exhibition of almost 100 pictures, drawn from the 400,000 items in the library’s photographic collection, presents a coherent overview of the Photo League, an institution of significant importance to the history of 20th-century American photography. And it was a New York phenomenon, started in the midst of the Great Depression by the children of immigrants — mostly Jewish — who had limited financial resources, but great New York ambitions. Until February 18 (Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, 212-930-0800).

-William Meyers

BRICE MARDEN: A RETROSPECTIVE OF PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS
Museum of Modern Art

What comes across in Brice Marden’s lyrical, sumptuous paintings and works on paper is an epicurean principle, an art born of rich aesthetic memories, of manifest pleasures in making. His retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, curated by Gary Garrels, launches with stark, sleek monochromatic canvases of the mid-1960s, made in New York after Mr. Marden graduated from Yale and returned from a year in Paris. Several rooms later there is an abrupt shift in style, as wayward linearity takes over from sheer planes as his principle means of expression. But there’s consistency, too, as pared-down means, depersonalized mark-making, and a restricted palette continue to prevail.

-David Cohen

Until January 15 (11 W. 53rd St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-708-9400).