From the architecture of Playboy and the photography of Irving Penn to modern art’s influence on early television and the role of designers in the Cold War, there is a fresh crop of art exhibits across the country, just waiting to be picked.

ARIZONA
Phoenix Art Museum
Defining Moments: Fifty Years of Fashion at Phoenix Art Museum

ILLINOIS
Elmhurst Art Museum
Playboy Architecture, 1953–1979

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Surrealism: The Conjured Life

IOWA
Figge Art Museum, Davenport
The Art of Architecture: LEGO Sculptures by Adam Reed Tucker with Photographs by J. Hunt Harris II

GEORGIA
Museum of Design Atlanta
Make Believe America: U.S. Cultural Exhibitions in the Cold War

Related article from Introspective magazine: How Mid-Century Designers Became Unlikely Diplomats

MAINE
Portland Museum of Art
Edward Curtis: Selections from the North American Indian

MASSACHUSETTS
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover
Revolution of the Eye: Modern Art and the Birth of American Television

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Ruined: When Cities Fall

MICHIGAN
Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills
Tours of Saarinen House and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Smith House run May through September.

NEW YORK
Bard Graduate Center Gallery
Artek and the Aaltos: Creating a Modern World

Museum of Art and Design
Atmosphere for Enjoyment: Harry Bertoia’s Environment for Sound (Opens May 3.)
Bent, Cast & Forged: The Jewelry of Harry Bertoia (Opens May 3.)

MoMA
Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty

Cooper Hewitt
Beauty: Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial

ONTARIO
Art Gallery of Ontario
Outsiders: American Photography and Film, 1950s–1980s

TEXAS
Dallas Museum of Art
Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Frank Stella: A Retrospective

WASHINGTON
Seattle Art Museum
Mood Indigo: Textiles from Around the World