Holiday arts: "Winter Lights"

Nov. 26-Jan. 2: Bye-bye to "Holiday Traditions in the Period Rooms." After decades of decorating its historic rooms for the holidays, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts is canceling the faux-Christmas trees and launching a new docent-led or self-guided tour spotlighting objects throughout the museum that can be linked to winter festivals, religious celebrations or seasonal activities. Featured objects range from an 1865 Japanese snowscape to a 1907 painting of a bear digging into a tasty box of Cream of Wheat, a Minnesota product that was supposedly so good it would lure a bear out of hibernation. Max Beckmann's 1932 painting "The Skaters" recalls a winter scene in Germany of that era. To mark the transition to spring, the museum is filling two galleries with floral-themed art drawn from every department. The museum's Purcell Cutts house, a 1913 Prairie School home near Lake of the Isles, will also be decorated with period ornaments and open for special weekend tours through Jan. 2. ("Winter Lights" tours, 1 p.m. Tue.-Fri.; 1 & 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun. 2400 3rd Av. S., 612-871-3131 or www.artsmia.org. Call 612-870-6323 for Purcell-Cutts house tours.) MARY ABBE