BEARDEN AND NOGUCHI. A surefire way for a New Yorker to feel like a dope is to wait until the last minute to go to a local museum blockbuster. After all, one reason for putting up with the city is to be able to go to museums early, at one's convenience, and not stand with the suckers who wait on seemingly endless lines to crane and strain their necks getting glimpses of awesome artworks obscured by the crushing crowd.

Phew. Anyway, if you care about art and you haven't seen the The Art of Romare Bearden and Isamu Noguchi: Master Sculptor at the Whitney Museum of American Art, it's time to swallow your pride and feel like a dope. The former closes on January 9 (this Sunday!) and the latter closes on January 16 (next Sunday!). Both shows are excellent.

The Bearden show is packed with dense, dynamic, and colorful collages. The use of perspective in those collages is impressive, but make sure you also spend time with the relatively placid and bright tropical fantasies in the last room, along the wall with the sign "Late Works."

The Noguchi show is a delight, offering a diverse sampling of the artist's sculptural output. The museum has done a good job in arranging each room, doing tasteful justice to Noguchi's talent for drawing out the "personality" of his materials. Look up to see Noguchi's ceiling lamps. Also, read the commentaries to learn about Noguchi's techniques and his responses to lynching and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Samples of Bearden's collages can be found here. Click here for the Noguchi Museum website.