Neil Leifer

3 Winter Exhibits to Love

Pictures of Our Lives

If sports help define us as a society, then images from some of the best moments of the past 50 years feel very much like a family photo album, albeit one crammed with iconic athletes. “Photo Finish: The Sports Photography of Neil Leifer” at the Newseum (Nov. 18–March 18) features nearly 50 of the award-winning photographer’s pictures, including Muhammad Ali’s victory over Sonny Liston and Secretariat bringing home the Kentucky Derby crown. Leifer’s work has appeared on the covers of Sports Illustrated, Time and People more than 200 times—and, yes, expect to see shots from Super Bowls and World Series.

Nice Threads

Long before there were New York and Milan catwalks, the good people of Central Africa’s Kuba Kingdom knew how to weave head-turning fashion. The Textile Museum’s (textilemuseum.org) “Weaving Abstraction: Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa” reveals how staggeringly sublime and intricate 200-year-old tunics, overskirts and ceremonial belts can be. The exhibit runs through Feb. 12.

The Artist, Never Alone

You know the stereotype: artist toiling mightily on stained canvases in a dingy loft, eating his or her weight in SpaghettiOs. “Multiplicity” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Nov. 11–March 11) aims to change that perception. Showcasing contemporary artists who collaborated with professional printers to deliver their vision, the 83-piece exhibit explores repetition and pairing in
thematically stunning ways.