Isn’t “still life” pretty much a dead issue for art by the final decade of this century? Not so, according to Margit Rowell, who has curated what is being touted as “the first extensive survey” of the genre as it has made its way through the twentieth century. Bringing together work by those typically associated with the genre, such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, and some whose concerns seem alien to the category, like Cindy Sherman and Kiki Smith, the exhibition showcases some seventy major Modern artists while expanding the boundaries of this most conventional of genres. May 25-Aug. 26; travels to Hayward Gallery, London, Oct. 9-Jan. 4, 1998

— Mary Anne Staniszewski