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• Our Editor Visits The Leopold Museum in Vienna, Austria ~ Home To The Rudolf & Elisabeth Leopold Collection
• Heist-proof museums? U.S. Buildings Aided by Design, Location & Security
• The Andy Warhol Museum Presents ~ The Art of Glenn Kaino
• Marilyn Manson and David Lynch Open Exhibition at Kunsthalle in Vienna
• France's FIAC 2009 Art Fair Signed 196 Contemporary Art Gallery Exhibitors
• Barnaby Furnas opens ~ All At Once ~ at Stuart Shave/Modern Art
• Tony Berlant solos at Barbara Mathes Gallery
• Norton Museum of Art opens a Special Photography Exhibition ~ ' Coming Into Focus '
• Armed Robbers Steal 15 Paintings Made by Antonio Berni in Buenos Aires
• State Russian Museum Presents Pierre and Gilles
• The Park Avenue Bank presents Andy Warhol ~ Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century
• State Russian Museum Exhibits ~ the "Circle of Artists"
• Kunsthalle Bielefeld Revisits the 80s with Exhibition from Bischofberger Collection
• Rice University Art Gallery shows Kirsten Hassenfeld
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

Our Editor Visits The Leopold Museum in Vienna, Austria ~ Home To The Rudolf & Elisabeth Leopold Collection Posted: 29 Jan 2011 09:25 PM PST In 1994, with support from the National Bank of Austria, the Leopold Museum was founded by Professor Rudolf Leopold and the Republic of Austria. The first task of the foundation was to grant public access to the comprehensive collection (over 5,700 artworks from the Leopold's private collection) through the construction of a new 11,500 m2 modern museum. The result, the Leopold Museum, occupies a striking modern building designed by Pritzker Prize winning architects Ortner & Ortner, which opened in 2001. Located in Vienna's Museum Quarter, the building appears as a light-flooded cube of shell-white limestone. The building's interior only allows daylight to penetrate at specific points along the length of the rooms (with side light along the breadth) and only allows one-sixth of the exhibition area to be lit by daylight from above. A few very deliberately positioned picture windows create the kind of randomness found in "bourgeois" homes, consistent with the pictures having been painted for that certain stratum of society. The voluminous building could almost be said to house two museums, one above the other. The part of the building above ground level is entirely dedicated to the Leopold Collection, the three lower floors are mainly used for the graphics collection, temporary exhibitions, communication (the auditorium) and storage. Visitors enter at the high atrium level, and can either take the single-flight staircase to the right, or enter the Klimtsaal (Klimt gallery), the first large gallery on the left. The top of the main stairs overlooks another big gallery which is in fact accessed on a lower floor and is part of the temporary exhibition area. The staggered heights of these galleries create a mezzanine which houses the museum shop, which in turn leads up to the café above the entrance hall. The functional "confusion" of the spatial order in the entrance area is presumably not an artistic principle but a response to a simple need, one which has been translated into an instrument of spatial perception throughout the entire museum. It is on the next floor that the whole concept of the sequence of interlocking rooms becomes clear, both in terms of the simplicity of the arrangement and the variations in the repeated basic configuration. In Addition to featuring the works of the expressionist Egon Schiele, the Leopold Museum has also made a name for itself as the museum of Viennese Art Noveau. No other museum offers a comparable cross section of the exceptional achievements of this uniquely Viennese tradition. The finest examples of turn-of-the-century Viennese craftsmanship are combined with a presentation of painting, graphic art and sculpture, providing insight into this remarkable era. Designed by artists like Kolo Moser or Josef Hoffmann and produced by the Wiener Werkstätte, these objects bear witness to the timeless elegance of art in Vienna around 1900. Visit The Leopold Museum at : www.leopoldmuseum.org/ Professor Rudolf Leopold (1925-2010) was born in Vienna, and obtained his doctoral degree in medicine in 1953. During his medical studies, he began to attend art history lectures and to collect paintings and objects of art at the same time, above all, works of the then little-respected Egon Schiele. He purchased his first painting ("The Hermits" by Egon Schiele) using the 30,000 Austrian Schillings that his mother had promised him for a car as a reward for completing of his medical studies. But Rudolf Leopold decided against the car and bought the Schiele, thus beginning his collecting career with a brilliant coup. Over the years, professor Leopold not only amassed a large and significant collection (extending to other significant Austrian artists), but became the foremost expert on Schiele, curating exhibitions of his work and publishing a critical catalogue of Schiele's works with a detailed list of his motifs. The museum owns 44 oil paintings and 180 gouaches and watercolours by Egon Schiele (the largest collection of Egons Schiele's art in the world), as well as other Austrian art of the 20th century, including key paintings and drawings by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Richard Gerstl, Albin Egger-Lienz, and paintings and prints by Herbert Boeckl, Hans Böhler, Anton Faistauer, Anton Kolig, Alfred Kubin, and Wilhelm Thöny. The historical context is illustrated by major Austrian works of art from the 19th and 20th centuries.The panoramic windows of the museum offer a unique view of the Vienna city centre, with Maria Theresien-Platz and the Imperial Palace. Two exhibitions are currently on view at the Leopold Museum. "Cezanne – Picasso – Giacometti" (extended until 2 February 2011) provides an opportunity to see masterpieces from the Beyeler Foundation in Basel. The main interest of the Beyelers lay mainly in collecting "well-approved" works of art. The approval process entailed a private ambience that allowed the works to be viewed over a long period of time, under varying conditions. The main purpose was not to reflect a history of modern art but rather the deep relationship the couple had built to the work they had collected, the accent lying always on the singularity and permanence of each work. Key works by artists like Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Francis Bacon, Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein or Andy Warhol stand out in an abundance of distinguished names. Over time, a series of work groups emerged, for which the Beyeler Foundation enjoys worldwide acclaim. These include groups of work by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Fernand Leger, Alberto Giacometti, Paul Klee and Jean Dubuffet. A second exhibition, "Florentina Pakosta" (until 18 April 2011) provides an overview of work to date by the contemporary Viennese artist Florentina Pakosta. Her work takes socially critical realism as its starting point. Beginning in the late 1950s, Florentina Pakosta used pencil drawings and India ink works to examine anonymous character types whom she met at inns, on the streets or in train stations. Parallel to this, she was also experimenting with a cubist formal language. Over the course of time, her psychology-focused portrayals of human beings were reduced to stereotypical characters which she sometimes alienated to the point of becoming caricatures, and which occasionally even ended up as monstrosities. In the 1970s, Pakosta began creating the monumental character heads which were to garner her widespread fame. Further themes in Florentina Pakosta's works from the 1980s are uniformity and control. ANNOUNCEMENT: Our Editor has been invited to visit Museums and cultural sites in mainland China, Korea, Vietnam. Myanmar, Thailand (Siam), Singapore, Bali and mainland Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Bhutan, Malaysia, Japan, Mongolia, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and now Austria. Because of the Editor's travel we will be posting many interesting articles from our archives, some of the BEST Articles and Art Images that appeared in your magazine during the past six plus (6+) years . . Enjoy.

Heist-proof museums? U.S. Buildings Aided by Design, Location & Security Posted: 29 Jan 2011 09:19 PM PST Washington, DC - Last week's $123 million heist of cubist and post-impressionist works at the Paris Museum of Modern Art continues a rash of painting pilferage in Europe over the past decade, with sensational headlines vaulting across the Atlantic. Van Goghs vanish in Amsterdam in 2002! "The Scream" swiped in Oslo in '04! Picassos purloined in Paris in '07 and '09! Art crime is at least a $6 billion global business. So, at the risk of tempting fate, one wonders: Why not more theaft here in the U.S.?

The Andy Warhol Museum Presents ~ The Art of Glenn Kaino Posted: 29 Jan 2011 09:18 PM PST PITTSBURGH, PA - The Andy Warhol Museum opens the new exhibition Transformer: The Work of Glenn Kaino. The exhibition,  opens on May 3 and will be on view through August 31, 2008. Glenn Kaino, a Los Angeles-born and based artist, creates large-scale, mixed-media and kinetic sculptures which reflect his strategy of using unexpected formal changes and shifts of meaning to destabilize the viewer's understanding of the familiar objects. The resulting artworks make reference to cultural history, political consciousness, quantum physics and contradiction.

Marilyn Manson and David Lynch Open Exhibition at Kunsthalle in Vienna Posted: 29 Jan 2011 09:17 PM PST VIENNA.- It was in the nineties when Marilyn Manson (born in 1969) became well known as a shock rocker combining brutally hammering industrial sounds with thick theater make-up and controversial texts about serial killers and Satanism to a garish spectacle. His extreme personality, which incited the hatred of parent associations and representatives of the religious right, was soon pushing beyond the boundaries of pop music. Marilyn Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, played numerous minor parts in feature films like David Lynch's "Lost Highway" and became the unofficial mascot of the MTV serial "Celebrity Deathmatch." The exhibtion opens to the public from 30 June to 25 July at The Kunsthalle Wien project space in Vienna, Austria.

France's FIAC 2009 Art Fair Signed 196 Contemporary Art Gallery Exhibitors Posted: 29 Jan 2011 09:16 PM PST PARIS.- The 36th edition of FIAC reasserts the strengths of the fair's identity: its position in the heart of Paris, the close ties it maintains with the protagonists of the Parisian art scene; its generalist vocation manifested in the presentation of a balanced panorama of modern art, contemporary art and cutting edge creation; its focus on different facets of artistic activity, notably by means of the in-situ projects presented in the Tuileries Gardens and in the cycle of artists' performances presented in collaboration with the Auditorium of the Louvre Museum ; and its constantly reiterated ambition to reinforce both the selection of the exhibiting galleries and the quality of the artworks on view. Situated at each extreme of the chronological spectrum covered by the fair, FIAC 2009 is distinguished by two important initiatives:

Barnaby Furnas opens ~ All At Once ~ at Stuart Shave/Modern Art Posted: 29 Jan 2011 09:13 PM PST LONDON - Stuart Shave/Modern Art is pleased to present American artist Barnaby Furnas' second solo exhibition with the gallery. The show will present new and unseen paintings made during the last two years, including works from Furnas' ongoing Rock Concerts, Effigies  and Flood  series. On exhibition 27 June through 27 July, 2008. Furnas' uses the physical action of painting to hold the world in freeze-frame, dissecting the visual and performative landscapes he captures. Using these frozen images to read like film stills of speed Furnas creates complex spatial abstractions, often on an epic scale.

Tony Berlant solos at Barbara Mathes Gallery Posted: 29 Jan 2011 09:13 PM PST New York, NY - Barbara Mathes Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of approximately fifteen recent works by California artist, Tony Berlant.  This will be Mr. Berlant's first solo show with the gallery. Berlant's pictorial vocabulary draws from a wealth of fine art traditions, including Abstract Expressionism, Pop, and the Dada of Kurt Schwitters.  On exhibition through 29 March, 2008.

Norton Museum of Art opens a Special Photography Exhibition ~ ' Coming Into Focus ' Posted: 29 Jan 2011 09:12 PM PST   WEST PALM BEACH, FL - Opening to the public today, October 11, 2008, Coming Into Focus: Jeane von Oppenheim and Photography at the Norton, 1998—2008, celebrates the 10th anniversary of Baroness Jeane von Oppenheim's significant donation of over 650 photographs. Her generous contribution propelled the Norton Museum into collecting photography seriously, and therefore, as having one of the leading photography collections in the southeast. Since the initial 1998 donation, Jeane has continued to support the Norton Museum's photography program and is now the head of the Photography Committee.

Armed Robbers Steal 15 Paintings Made by Antonio Berni in Buenos Aires Posted: 29 Jan 2011 08:45 PM PST BUENOS AIRES - Armed robbers, disguised as policemen stole, 15 paintings made by Argentinean artista Antonio Berni. The paintings have been valued at $2.2 million The news was reported by newspaper La Nacion which said that the robbery happened when a truck was transporting 17 paintings. The truck was detained by two people who simulated being policemen. The newspaper added that very few people knew that the paintings would be transported. The paintings were made between 1934 and 1981 and they were being moved from the outskirts of Buenos Aires to the city center.

State Russian Museum Presents Pierre and Gilles Posted: 29 Jan 2011 08:44 PM PST ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA - The State Russian Museum presents Pierre and Gilles, on view through May 25, 2007.  The exhibition of the famous photographers Pierre and Gilles rather amply presents their oeuvre of the late 1980s — early 2000s.  At the beginning of their career they decorated albums and disks for many pop-stars. Since then among their models there are such celebrities as Marc Almond, Nina Hagen, and Marilyn Manson.  Pierre and Gilles create their own kind of the staged portrait, turning a photograph into a mythological picture.  Pierre and Gilles are sometimes called just P & G.

The Park Avenue Bank presents Andy Warhol ~ Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century Posted: 29 Jan 2011 08:42 PM PST NEW YORK CITY - The Gallery at The Park Avenue Bank presents Andy Warhol: Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century through March 2, 2007.  This edition of silk-screen prints by Andy Warhol (1928-1987), one of the most important artists of the late twentieth century, is from the permanent collection of The Jewish Museum, the preeminent U.S. institution exploring 4,000 years of art and Jewish culture.  The MEET A MUSEUM program offers exhibitions from participating museums in its gallery, located in midtown Manhattan.  The Park Avenue Bank has ushered in a new era for banking by displaying rare artwork pieces to its customers from museums around the globe at its main retail branch right in the heart of New York City.

State Russian Museum Exhibits ~ the "Circle of Artists" Posted: 29 Jan 2011 08:41 PM PST   St. Petersburg, Russia - On June, 28 the State Russian Museum opened the "Circle of Artists" exhibition in the Benois Wing of the Mikhailovsky Palace. The Circle of Artists society is one of the bright, peculiar and, at the same time, utterly typical phenomena of the epoch. The Circle of Artists did not take the leading stand among numerous artistic unions of the 1920s, though the acute character and results of creative quests of its members aroused intense interest. The history of the society can be called an "optimistic tragedy", this is a typically Leningrad history. During the Siege of Leningrad many members of the Circle of Artists perished together with their works. The exhibition will be on display till October, 15, 2007.

Kunsthalle Bielefeld Revisits the 80s with Exhibition from Bischofberger Collection Posted: 29 Jan 2011 08:37 PM PST BIELEFELD, GERMANY - "Of course, the 1980s was an important period in art history—something that we are just beginning to realize. It is only now that we are really starting to understand the beauty, power, and special aspects of these paintings. This kind of art juggles a great deal, all at once, being oriented toward a variety of things. Many artists referred to earlier epochs, not merely to so-called Modernism alone. Suddenly, there were long traditions again. Minimalism and Conceptual art foresaw that painting would come to an end at some point, so from this viewpoint, it was quite astonishing for something like this to happen around 1980." The exhibition 'The 80s Revisited' will run from 21 March to 20 June 2010.

Rice University Art Gallery shows Kirsten Hassenfeld Posted: 29 Jan 2011 08:33 PM PST   HOUSTON, TX - Rice University Art Gallery has commissioned a new installation by New York artist Kirsten Hassenfeld, whose translucent sculptures have been characterized as "extravaganzas of the handmade." Hassenfeld uses the most ordinary of materials, paper, to create ornate, obsessively detailed objects that reference luxury goods, classical architecture, and decorative arts. Described by Hassenfeld as "dreams on the edge of vanishing," her ethereal sculptures are carefully lit to evoke the diaphanous surfaces of precious gems and glass objects.

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 29 Jan 2011 08:32 PM PST This is a new feature for the subscribers and visitors to Art Knowledge News (AKN), that will enable you to see "thumbnail descriptions" of the last ninety (90) articles and art images that we published. This will allow you to visit any article that you may have missed ; or re-visit any article or image of particular interest. Every day the article "thumbnail images" will change. For you to see the entire last ninety images just click : here . When opened that also will allow you to change the language from English to anyone of 54 other languages, by clicking your language choice on the upper left corner of our Home Page.  You can share any article we publish with the eleven (11) social websites we offer like Twitter, Flicker, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. by one click on the image shown at the end of each opened article.  Last, but not least, you can email or print any entire article by using an icon visible to the right side of an article's headline.

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