The week ahead at SoCal museums, Dec. 16-23: ‘Artful Words: Calligraphy in Illuminated Manuscripts’ and more

Reviews by Leah Ollman (L.O.). Compiled by Matt Cooper.

Openings

New Orleans Second Line Parades: Photographs by Pableaux Johnson Color portraits of members of African American social clubs. Fowler Museum, UCLA, 308 Charles E. Young Drive North, Westwood. Starts Sun.-ends April 28. Closed Mon.-Tue. Free. (310) 825-4361.

Artful Words: Calligraphy in Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibit examines the monetary, cultural and spiritual value placed on handmade books in ages past. The Getty Center, N. Sepulveda Blvd. & Getty Center Drive, L.A. Starts Tue.; ends April 7. Closed Mon. Free. (310) 440-7300.

Titian’s Portrait of a Lady in White This painting by the 16th-century Italian master, on loan from the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, makes its Southern California debut. Norton Simon Museum, 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Starts Fri.; ends March 25. Closed Tue. $9, $12; students, active-duty military and ages 18 and under, free. (626) 449-6840.

Also recommended

The Incongruous Body Humor and the human body serve as brackets loosely containing the sculptural work in this 14-person show. Not all here is comic, and not everything manages to muster heat from the rub of expectation against direct experience — curator Tim Berg’s organizing principle — but the show has enough radiant moments to redeem the whole. Standouts include works by Kim Tucker, Kristen Morgin, Jeremy Brooks, Elana Mann and Robert Arneson. (L.O.) AMOCA, 399 N. Garey Ave., Pomona. Open Wed.-Sat. Ends Jan. 20. $5, $7; 12 and under, free. (909) 865-3146.