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Museums have a reputation for saving their "serious" exhibitions for the winter, spring, and fall"the Whitney Biennial, the Shchukin Collection at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the David Hockney retrospective at the Tate, for instance. Summer, when patrons and donors and critics are on vacation, is supposedly the time for low-budget follies. 

But spared the spotlight of international scrutiny or the pressure of serving as a ticket-office bonanza, many museums make use of their excellent, often unseen permanent collections to create quiet, highly creative shows that are well worth a visit.

The following 10 exhibitions are all cases in point: They range in scope and scale and content, but each, in its own way, is proof that summer is still a season for art.