Exhibition note

Portals: The Visionary Architecture of Paul Goesch,” an exhibition of works on paper by the German artist Paul Goesch, is tucked into the recesses of the Clark Art Institute—so much so, it can be difficult to find. Go through the permanent collection, I was told, just past the Renoirs. Easier said than done: only Albert C. Barnes collected the sunny Impressionist in as much abundance as Sterling and Francine Clark. Turn right at an inauspicious passageway, go down a set of stairs, get distracted by a side gallery dominated by a magnificent Turner, and then gawk at the museum’s spacious library and its shelves lined with books. At which point “Portals,” or rather its exit, becomes evident. The entrance proper, a congenial docent informed me, was around the corner. In the end, this herky-jerky trajectory seemed fitting for an artist whose work lies outside of a...