A new exhibition at Kansas City's Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art aims to resurrect the excitement and international flavor of these blockbuster expositions, appealing to nostalgic older generations and curious youngsters alike by celebrating 90 years of beauty and technological innovation in the decorative arts.

Over the phone, curator Catherine Futter explained the show's inspiration, lengthy gestation and throwback structure. Click through the following slide show for a glimpse of the treasures on display.

How did this exhibition come about? How long have you been working on it?

Well, I went to two world's fairs: I went to the 1964 New York World's Fair, and then I went to Expo '67. So my love of world's fairs started when I was very young. And then when I was in graduate school, I wrote a paper about the architecture of the 1867 fair, because it was the first time that there were national pavilions ... Then I worked at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in the '90s, and we started collecting decorative arts that had been shown at world's fairs, and realized that they were sort of the epitome of design, of technological innovation. That got the idea bubbling forward, and then about four years ago, we partnered with the Carnegie Museum of Art [in Pittsburgh], and that really got the exhibition going. That's the timeline.

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A number of Lycett's works will be exhibited in an upcoming show at New York City's Brooklyn Museum. Over email, curator Barbara Veith told me about the artist and his work, putting the vases and other ceramics he created into greater artistic and cultural context. Click through the accompanying slide show for a tour of the Faience Manufacturing Co.'s online showroom.

How did Edward Lycett get into the ceramics business? What is known about his personal history?

Edward Lycett was born in Staffordshire, the epicenter of English ceramic production, in 1833. As a 12-year-old, he apprenticed as a china decorator at Copeland and Garrett, the former Spode manufactory in Stoke-upon-Trent, and later moved to London to continue decorating work.

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The show uses 20th- and 21st-century photographs to examine the experiences and preoccupations of Chinese people living in the U.S. -- visitors, immigrants and residents with multigenerational roots.

Over email, curator Herb Tam explained the exhibition's philosophy and themes. Click through the following slide show for a glimpse of the show's photography.

Where did you get the idea for this exhibition, and why did you choose to put it together now?

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A number of Burtynsky's images will be exhibited and contextualized in a show set to open at Dartmouth College's Hood Museum of Art next month.

Over the phone, curators Juliette Bianco (from the Hood Museum) and Pieter Broucke (from the Middlebury College Museum of Art, where the show will travel next year) spoke to me about the themes of Burtynsky's work, and the added context this particular exhibition brings. Click through the following slide show for a preview.

How did this exhibition come about? How many of these photographs have been exhibited before?

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Some of the most striking images from the exhibition come across like 20th-century updates to the Edo-period prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige. Other items from the show -- which encompasses everything from smoking sets and kimonos to matchbox covers and fountain pens -- paint a picture of "cultured" Japanese home life from the inside out. Indeed, what the entire collection communicates most clearly might be the very vastness of the "deco era" landscape -- and the difficulties of generalizing about the nature of contemporary artistic endeavors.

Over the phone, curator Kendall Brown spoke to me about the themes and influences most evident in the works on show (and the complicated meaning of "art deco"). Click through the following slide show for a tantalizing peek at flapper-era Japan.

Am I right in thinking that most or all of this material hasn't been shown in the U.S. before?

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What distinguishes video games from movies and books, Melissinos argues, is the fact that individuals playing the same game are likely to to have significantly different experiences. In his eyes, it's the player who elevates the game from attractive amusement to art form.

Fittingly, "The Art of Video Games," which opens March 16 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., brings visitors face-to-face not only with still images and video clips from games -- but also with (abbreviated) playable games, including "Pac-Man," "Super Mario Brothers" and "Myst." An accompanying book incorporates imagery and other materials (including a number of illuminating interviews) from the show.

Melissinos spoke to me over the phone about the user's role in creating video game art, and his "separation anxiety" over lending much of his personal collection for the exhibition. Click through the following slide show for a quick spin through 40 years of eye-grabbing digital graphics.

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If pictures could talk, these prints, more than half of which were created under the aegis of the WPA, would preach the testament of the Depression-era workforce with eloquence.

Over the phone, Matthew Basso, director of the University of Utah's American West Center, spoke to me about the democratic qualities of printmaking, the government's role in determining the content of WPA-sponsored art, and the artistic glorification of work in the 1930s and '40s. Click through the accompanying slide show to see some of the exhibition's highlights.

How did this exhibition come about?

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Over the course of his long career at Gotham's first tabloid, Warnecke (and his assistants) captured portraits of everyone from Louis Armstrong and Orson Welles to Dwight D. Eisenhower; 24 of these images, now part of the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., will be exhibited in a show set to open next week.

Curator Ann Shumard spoke to me about Warnecke's long career and complicated photographic technique. Click through the slide show that follows for face time with some of the early 20th century's most magnetic characters.

I'll start with a very basic question: Who was Harry Warnecke?

Harry Warnecke isn't someone we have a great deal of biographical information for. What we really know about is his career. He joined the New York Daily News just two years after its founding; the newspaper was established in 1919, and in 1921 Warnecke was hired as a staff photographer.

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The works on show run the gamut from portraits to still lifes and (rarer) history paintings; the majority of them have never before been exhibited in this country.

Over the phone, curator Jordana Pomeroy spoke with me about the obstacles these female artists faced, and their strategies for coping -- even thriving -- in a time of profound social and political change.

This show spans a highly turbulent time in French history. Can you talk a little about what changed over the course of this period with regard to women's place in the art world?

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"Gauguin & Polynesia: An Elusive Paradise" seeks to broaden our understanding of the artist's exotic works through physical -- rather than merely textual -- explication. By allowing Polynesian art and artifacts equal exhibition space with Gauguin's own creations, the show promises viewers an unprecedented aggregate understanding of this key moment in the artist's career.

In separate interviews, Seattle Art Museum curators Chiyo Ishikawa and Pam McClusky -- experts in European and African and Oceanic Art, respectively -- discussed Gauguin, his Polynesian voyages, and the value of integrated exhibitions such as this. Click through the slide show for a preview.

What is the idea behind this exhibition? What makes it different from other showings of Gauguin's work?

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These images, though diverse in many respects, all have one thing in common: the swimming pool. That, and their mid-to-late 20th-century Southern California backdrop.

The exhibition is part of  "Pacific Standard Time," a multi-institutional project devoted telling the story "of the birth of the Los Angeles art scene and how it became a major new force in the art world," sponsored by the Getty Research Institute. Over the phone, curator Daniell Cornell explained the place of the swimming pool in Southern California's cultural history, and discussed the show's principal themes -- from architecture and suburban idealism to the cult of the Hollywood celebrity. Click through the following slide show for a sun-soaked trip back in time.

Had you considered doing a swimming-pool themed photography exhibition before "Pacific Standard Time"?

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When they did get something, the results were indeed miraculous, as you'll see if you click through the following slide show. Over the phone, Havinga described the processes used by these early photographers, and discussed some of her exhibition's highlights.

Why did you decide to run this exhibition now?

[Early photography] is an area that I am particularly interested in. The MFA has a very nice and growing collection; it's something we've been working on in recent years. It's not the largest or most extensive collection of early photography, but it is choice, and becoming more choice all the time, so we thought it would be great to show the riches that we have in this area now. The exhibition is being displayed thematically: portraits, architectural views, landscapes, still lifes. There will be a number of iconic images and works by very celebrated early photographers.

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Experts believe that there are fewer than 1,000 "lover's eyes" in existence today. Of that small surviving hoard, the largest single collection belongs to the Skiers of Birmingham, Ala. David Skier, an eye surgeon, and his wife, Nan, have been collecting "lover's eyes" for decades -- and their collection will go on display for the first time ever at the Birmingham Museum of Art next month.

Over the phone, curator Dr. Graham Boettcher outlined the history and uses of these petite, jewel-like paintings. The accompanying slide show highlights some particularly splendid examples from an altogether remarkable collection.

Can you give us a brief history of these so-called "lover's eyes"?

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An exhibition currently on display at the Columbus Museum of Art presents more than 100 folk art walking sticks from the collection of the Hill family of Birmingham, Mich. Over the phone, curator Michael Hall explained what these unusual creations can tell us about the nature of sculpture -- and the disposition of folk art more generally. Click through the following slide show to see some of the exhibition's highlights.

First, can you tell me a little about the Hill collection? How and why did the Hills start collecting walking sticks?

The Hills have been collecting folk art in this area for almost 40 years. They also have an art gallery. Their business is two-pronged; their specialties are modern and contemporary art, and then -- equally and oppositely -- American folk art. They were really a part of the whole late-'60s, early-'70s rediscovery of American folk art, and early on -- by the mid-'70s -- they had discovered the idiom of the carved walking stick. At that time, this was not a well-known category of folk art production, but they kept finding these rather remarkable and unique things, and so they started collecting them.

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Over the phone, organizers Michael Carriere and David Schalliol explained why they think Milwaukee in particular is at the "cutting edge" of the 21st-century renewal; check out the following slide show for some of Schalliol's evocative images of life and work in the Wisconsin city's evolving urban landscape.

First of all, can you explain the basic premise of your project? How did the two of you start working together?

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Over the phone, curator Michelle Finamore explained the history behind America's cocktail romance -- and described some of the more distinctive objects in the exhibition. Take a peek at cocktail culture's historical accouterments in the slide show that follows.

What was the inspiration for this exhibition?

Well, the real inspiration came from an exhibition that was done at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. They did a version of this last year, and it was supposed to travel to the Norton. Something fell through, so what they decided to do at the Norton was basically to re-create the exhibition from scratch. They hired me to do that. I'm a fashion historian, and I'm very interested in food history as well, so this was just the perfect fusion of everything I love. And the timing is so perfect for an exhibition like this; there's such a big revival of interest in classic cocktail culture.

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A quick glimpse at some of the J. Paul Getty Museum's most outstanding examples of the form -- including two recent acquisitions proudly shown off in the museum's new exhibition, "Gothic Grandeur: Manuscript Illumination, 1200-1350" -- is enough to remind anyone of the timeless allure (and staggering craftsmanship) that characterize illustrated medieval texts, from Bibles to romances and beyond.

Over the phone, Getty curator Elizabeth Morrison talked to me about Gothic illumination generally, and her exhibition's highlights in particular; click through the following slide show for a taste of the museum's sumptuous collection.

What are the salient features of Gothic manuscript illumination? How is the Gothic style different from earlier or later traditions?

Well, the divisions that we put into these art historical categories -- they're not random, but they're not fully set, either. And they often have to do not only with artistic style, but also with social and political movements. In the middle of the 13th century, you're really starting to see a complete change in the way that manuscripts are made, and also who is commissioning them. And that actually has a great influence on certain aspects of the style, as well.

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Rev. Howard Finster's more than 45,000 artworks -- some primarily religious in nature, others concerned with historical figures such as George Washington or pop-culture icons like Elvis -- are interesting and idiosyncratic examples of 20th century "self-taught art." During Finster's lifetime, his pieces were shown in locations as diverse as his secluded Georgia property and the Venice Biennale.

Now, 10 years after his death, an exhibition featuring his creations is making its way around the South and Midwest (it's currently at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville). Over the phone, the exhibition's curator, Glen C. Davies, told me about his personal connection to Finster -- and discussed the artistic, religious and cultural roots of the reverend's work.

What is your connection to Howard Finster and his work?

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A new exhibition at New York City's Rubin Museum (an institution wholly dedicated to the art of the Himalayas) will show you "the most complete collection of comics related to Tibet ever assembled." A number of them may already be familiar to you; as curator Martin Brauen explained to me this week, popular comic figures like Donald Duck, Lara Croft and Tintin all make appearances. All the comics -- from the obscure and frivolous to the overtly political -- capture Tibet as it has been perceived by artists and readers at different points over the course of past several decades.

Click through the following slideshow for some truly remarkable images from the exhibition.

Why did you decide to do this exhibition now?

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A new exhibition at the San Francisco Art Institute explores this thorny question -- and many others -- through the work of two photographers and videographers who "[fuse] the role of the documentarian with the new role of the artist as global citizen."

Allan Sekula seeks to put a human face on modern globalization, exposing the harsh realities of working-class life on the "forgotten landscape" of the high seas -- "one of the most precarious and exploitative systems of neoliberalism." Bruno Serralongue is drawn to a different element -- fire -- in his quest to document the birth pangs of countries like Kosovo and South Sudan and capture the tenor of strikes, rebellions and social tension internationally.

Over the phone, Sekula and Serralongue -- along with curator Hou Hanru -- discussed their work and the artistic convictions it represents. See the accompanying slide show for a quick exhibition preview.

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