Visual art

STRONG WOMEN IN RENAISSANCE ITALY Last chance for this exhibition that seems an extension of the MFA’s recent “Women Take the Floor” project. For three years, it put on view the works of woman artists with the explicit purpose of examining its own collection for its historic deficiencies in acquiring and showing work by women. This show reaches back as far as the 14th century to make a similar amendment: The recent superstar turn of Artemisia Gentileschi helped break open an underexplored realm of woman artists of the Renaissance. Here, you’ll see her comrades in arms like Sofonisba Anguissola, Isabella d’Este, or Lavinia Fontana among the more than 100 works on view. Through Jan. 7. Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 465 Huntington Ave. 617267-9300, www.mfa.org

DIALOGUES, DIASPORAS, AND DETOURS THROUGH AFRICA

This exhibition comes out of the museum’s Black Art Residency, created by a partnership between the museum and the Bostonbased artist-collective WHERE ARE ALL THE BLACK PEOPLE AT (WAATBPA). The show is the product of seven artists’ deep, yearlong dive into the museum’s archives and collections. For the project, Archy LaSalle, George Annan, bashexo, Digi Chivetta, Sharon Dunn, Reginald Jackson, and Lou Jones each chose an object from the museum’s African holdings, and created a response to share gallery space alongside it. Through Jan. 14. Fitchburg Art Museum, 185 Elm St., Fitchburg. 978-345-4207, fitchburgartmuseum.org

POPE.L: SMALL CUP A legendary performance artist known for inserting himself unceremoniously in the public sphere — a well-known series had him literally crawl on elbows and knees through the streets of Manhattan — Pope.L, who died just a few weeks ago at 68, described himself as “a fisherman of social absurdity.” That absurdity has often been the raw material of a strident critique of racial inequity in the US, and recently made him more visible and relevant than ever. In 2019, New York’s Museum of Modern Art mounted a survey of more than 20 years of his work. Concurrently, the Whitney Museum of American Art installed a massive new work, “Choir,” an industrial water tank installed amid a soundscape that evoked Black Americans being denied basic access to clean drinking water. “Small Cup,” a homecoming of sorts — the artist was a lecturer at Bates College in nearby Lewiston from 1992 to 2010— is very much of a piece. In the video of a live 2008 performance, a herd of goats demolishes a small-scale replica of the US Capitol building, an eerie resonance that these days cuts close to the bone. Through Feb. 4. Farnsworth Art Museum, 16 Museum St., Rockland, Maine. 207596-6457, www.farnsworthmuseum.org

ARNE SVENSON: THE FUTURE PASSED The photographer’s images bring us to sun-splashed houses, ritzy mansions, and apartment buildings both gritty and swank. His text coolly narrates death at the residence — anonymous children killed by guns. Svenson followed gun violence data and located these sites on the internet, and used that imagery, which sometimes looks as inviting as a real-estate listing. The stories, which read like police reports, shatter the quiet. Through Feb. 3. Robert Klein Gallery, 38 Newbury St. 617-2677997, www.robertkleingallery.com