Art Knowledge News - Keeping You in Touch with the World of Art... |
- Our Editor Tours The Saatchi Gallery In London ~ Always Controversial - Always Cutting Edge Fine Art
- McDonald's Fast Food Restaurant to Become Mona Lisa's New Neighbor
- Peabody Essex Museum hosts ~ Wedded Bliss: The Marriage of Art and Ceremony
- The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) shows "American Chronicles ~ The Art of Norman Rockwell"
- Guggenheim Bilbao shows Selections of Installations
- André-Charles Boulle Retrospective at the Museum of Decorative Arts of Frankfurt
- VMFA Announces Exhibition Lineup to Follow Grand Opening in May
- Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery presents “Falnama:The Book of Omens”
- The Frick Collection to display James Abbott McNeill Whistler ensemble
- Johnathan Shahn solos at the Noyes Museum of Art
- Museo Picasso Málaga Opens Sophie Taeuber-Arp Retrospective
- Artists Represent Most Powerful Emotion / LOVE at the National Gallery in London
- JEAN PROUVÉ’S MAISON TROPICALE ~ A REMARKABLE CHRISTIE’S PUBLIC EXHIBITION
- The World War II Watercolors of Norman S. Rothschild
- This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News
| Our Editor Tours The Saatchi Gallery In London ~ Always Controversial - Always Cutting Edge Fine Art Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:29 PM PST The Saatchi Gallery is the product of one man's devotion to contemporary art. Charles Saatchi, one of the wealthiest advertising moguls in the world, started to collect contemporary art in 1969, amassing a huge collection over the years that followed. When the Saatchi Gallery first allowed Charles Saatchi's personal collection to be seen by the public in 1985, it occupied a disused paint factory in St John's Wood, North London with 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) of space. Dedicated to providing an innovative forum for contemporary art, presenting work by largely unseen young artists or by international artists whose work had rarely or never been exhibited in the UK, the gallery made an immediate impact, the first exhibition featuring works by American minimalist Donald Judd, American abstract painters Brice Marden and Cy Twombly and American pop artist Andy Warhol. This was the first U.K. exhibition for Twombly and Marden. In April 2003, the gallery moved to County Hall, the Greater London Council's former headquarters on the South Bank of the Thames, occupying 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) of the ground floor. 1,000 guests attended the launch, which included a "nude happening" of 200 naked people staged by artist Spencer Tunick. The opening exhibition included a retrospective by Damien Hirst, alongside work by other young British artists, such as Jake and Dinos Chapman and Tracey Emin alongside some longer-established artists including John Bratby, Paula Rego and Patrick Caulfield. In October 2008 the gallery moved to its current location, the 70,000 sq. ft. Duke of York Headquarters building on King's Road, Chelsea. The Duke of York's Headquarters was built in 1801 to the designs of John Sanders (architect), who also designed the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In 1969 it was a declared a Listed building, due to its outstanding historic or architectural special interest. The building was originally called the Royal Military Asylum and was a school for the children of soldiers' widows. In 1892 it was renamed the Duke of York's Royal Military School. In 1909, the school moved to new premises in Dover, and the Asylum building was renamed the Duke of York's Barracks. After being sold, the site was redeveloped to plans from Paul Davis and Partners as the Duke of York Square. The development includes a public square, upmarket housing and retail outlets, and part of it is the new premises for the Saatchi Gallery. The new site opened with an exhibition dedicated to new art from China. Free admission to all shows, including temporary, curated exhibitions has been enabled through the Gallery's corporate partnership with the leading contemporary art auction house Phillips de Pury & Company. You must visit the museum's website at: … http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk The Gallery also includes a dedicated space for Saatchi Online artists to exhibit and sell their work commission free. Corporate sponsorship and Charles Satchi's vested interest in the artworks has caused controversy over the years, the gallery (and travelling exhibitions) courted publicity and never backed away from negative publicity, if it produced headlines and promoted the art, whilst some artists complained about the (private) collection selling works that formed part of public exhibitions. However, it has certainly been extremely successful in promoting new artists and their works, with names such as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin now extremely well known and collectable. In 2010, Charles Saatchi announced that the 70,000 sq ft gallery would be renamed MOCA London (Museum of Contemporary Art, London) when he retires, and would feature "a strong, rotating permanent collection of major installations", including 200 works (worth an estimated £25m) that would be donated to the nation. Since there is already a "Museum of Contemporary Art" in London (who are not best pleased about the appropriation of their name), this announcement continued the gallery's headline-grabbing traditions. Another news making affair was the "Sensation Show" in New York which offended Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, because of Chris Ofili's painting, Holy Virgin Mary, which incorporates elephant dung.Giuliani, who had seen the work in the catalog but not in the show, called it "sick stuff" and threatened to withdraw the annual $7 million City Hall grant from the Brooklyn Museum hosting the show, because "You don't have a right to government subsidy for desecrating somebody else's religion." John O'Connor, the Cardinal of New York, said, "one must ask if it is an attack on religion itself," and the president of America's biggest group of Orthodox Jews, Mandell Ganchrow, called it "deeply offensive". However, even without the spice of controversy, a visit to the Saatchi gallery will astonish, confound and delight, with an ever-changing selection of the best works from cutting-edge artists from around the world, as the 1.25 million visitors annually will attest to. Since the gallery exhibits work from a private collection, and the owner's tastes have changed with time, the exhibitions have changed accordingly. Initially, the gallery had a strong focus on US artists, including, Sol LeWitt, Frank Stella, Richard Serra, Jeff Koons, Philip Guston and Cindy Sherman amongst others. However, in the 1990's the focus changed to new, young British artists, and this focus has remained ever since, complimented with works by international artists. The permanent collection includes a large number of works from young British artists, including, Damien Hirst's iconic "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living" (the famous "shark in formaldehyde"), Mark Quinn's "Self", Richard Wilson's "20:50" (the "Oil Room" installation), "Tragic Anatomies" by Jake and Dinos Chapman as well as works by Tracey Emin, Emily Prince, Jitish Kallat and Kader Attia. Works from the permanent collection have always featured in themed gallery shows. In 1998 Saatchi launched a two part exhibition entitled Neurotic Realism. Though widely attacked by critics, the exhibition included many future international stars including; Cecily Brown, Ron Mueck, Noble and Webster, Dexter Dalwood, Martin Maloney, Chantal Joffe, Michael Raedecker and David Thorpe. In 2000 Ant Noises (an anagram of "sensation"), also in two parts, tried surer ground with work by Hirst, Lucas, Saville, Whiteread, the Chapmans, Turk, Emin and Chris Ofili. During this period the Collection was based at '30 Underwood St' an artist Collective of 50 studios and four galleries, the gallery made several large philanthropic donations including 100 artworks in 1999 to the Arts Council of Great Britain Collection, which operates a "lending library" to museums and galleries around the country, with the aim of increasing awareness and promoting interest in younger artists; 40 works by young British artists through the National Arts Collection Fund, now known as The Art Fund, to eight museum collections across Britain in 2000; and 50 artworks to the Paintings in Hospitals program which provides a lending library of over 3,000 original works of art to NHS hospitals, hospices and health centers throughout England, Wales and Ireland in 2002. On view until 17 April 2011, the gallery is exhibiting "Newspeak: British Art Now, Part II". This is the second installment of the Gallery's museum-scale survey of emergent British contemporary art, providing an expansive insight into the art being made in the UK today. Far from manifesting a visual language in decline, which the Orwellian title might suggest, the exhibition celebrates a new generation of artists for whom the stimulus of our hyper-intensified, codified, contemporary world provides a radical pathway to a host of new forms and images. From sculpture and painting, to installation and photography, artists here employ a hybrid of traditional and contemporary techniques and materials to create a new language with which to articulate the wikified world around them. In this melting pot, east merges with west, celebrity with classicism, fantasy with obsessive formalism. This explosion of new and vigorous forms is an exciting indicator of the ongoing and future strength of contemporary art in Britain. The exhibition includes works by Alan Brooks, Alexander Hoda, Anna Barriball, Anne Hardy, Ansel Krut, Anthea Hamilton, Arif Ozakca, Caragh Thuring, Carla Busuttil, Caroline Achaintre, Clarisse D'Arcimoles, Dan Perfect, Dean Hughes, Dick Evans, Edward Kay, Gabriel Hartley, Gareth Cadwallader, Graham Durward, Graham Hudson, Henrijs Preiss, Idris Khan, Jaime Gili, James Howard, Jonathan Wateridge, Juliana Cerqueira Leite, Kate Groobey, Luke Gottelier, Luke Rudolf, Maaike Schoorel, Marcus Foster, Maurizio Anzeri, Mustafa Hulusi, Nicholas Hatfull, Nicholas Byrne, Nick Goss, Olivia Plender, Paul Johnson, Peter Linde Busk, Renee So, Robert Fry, Spartacus Chetwynd, Steve Bishop, Systems House, Tasha Amini, Tessa Farmer, Toby Ziegler, Tom Ellis and Ximena Garrido-Lecca. On display from 27 May until 16 October 2011, the main exhibition will be "Shape of things to come: New sculpture" and will feature works by artists David Altmejd, John Baldessari, David Batchelor, Matthew Brannon, Peter Buggenhout, Bjorn Dahlem, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Folkert De Jong. Martin Honert, Thomas Houseago, Joanna Malinowska, Kris Martin, Matthew Monahan, Anselm Reyle, Sterling Ruby, Dirk Skreber, David Thorpe, Oscar Tuazon, Rebecca Warren and Yeesookyung amongst others.
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| McDonald's Fast Food Restaurant to Become Mona Lisa's New Neighbor Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:26 PM PST
The pairing could serve the interests of both. The Louvre is the world's most visited museum; France is McDonald's top market outside the United States. In France and elsewhere, McDonald's is emblematic of U.S.-driven globalization and the homogenization of cultures. However, the fast food chain's chief executive, Jim Skinner, said in an interview published Monday that the reason McDonald's is such a hit in France, where it has over 1,000 outlets, is that "we are perceived as a French enterprise." The McDonald's on the famed Champs-Elysees Avenue is the most profitable in the world, he said. The interview was published in the economic daily Les Echos. The Louvre refused comment on the expected arrival of its new neighbor. Spokeswoman Aggy Lerolle said only that it is not up to the museum veto McDonald's arrival since the Carrousel is run by a private company rather than the state-run museum. However, some French are indignant about mixing French fries and art treasures in the backyard of the former palace of the Sun King, Louis XIV. The Web site www.louvrepourtous.fr, which is aimed at keeping museum visitors informed, is among those whose hackles have been raised at the coming of McDonald's, even in a food court where a variety of restaurants offering cuisines of the world are present. "Rendezvous in December for a Mona Lisa Extra Value Menu," it wrote, contending that the Louvre could have, and should have, put its foot down. Some saw McDonald's taste for art coming long ago. In January 2007, the culture wing of the large CFDT union decried what it said was the "Disleylandization" of French culture, claiming the state is looking to turn museums into theme parks. It cited plans for the so-called desert Louvre, to open in 2013 in the United Arab Emirates, and the arrival of a Starbucks coffee house near the Louvre. "When will McDonald's set up shop?" the union asked, perhaps more presciently than it wished. McDonald's says no date has been set for its opening at the Carrousel du Louvre. European art and what passes for American cuisine have crossed paths before. The former chief of Italy's McDonald's chain, Mario Resca, now supervises that country's chain of illustrious museums. / Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. | |
| Peabody Essex Museum hosts ~ Wedded Bliss: The Marriage of Art and Ceremony Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:25 PM PST
"The concept of marriage manifests in Wedded Bliss as a universal cultural phenomenon that serves as a powerful touchstone for creativity. Our curator, Paula Bradstreet Richter, has organized an exhibition that is as ambitious in its artistic scope as it is in its global reach and contemporary relevance," said Dan L. Monroe, executive director of the Peabody Essex Museum.  Works by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Winslow Homer, Benjamin West, William Hogarth, Cecily Brown, Claes Oldenburg and Jacob Lawrence are presented together with an array of objects created for wedding rituals around the world. These include historical and contemporary couture gowns, ceremonial items and rare jewelry including the diamond nuptial crown of Alexandra, the last Russian empress. Just as every couple has its story, each work in the exhibition reveals its artistic significance and unique history as a token of promise, an expression of love won or lost, a ceremonial object, a social statement or a memento of this important rite of passage. Performing arts and forms of perishable aesthetic expression related to weddings, such as culinary and floral artistry, will be explored through programming related to the exhibition. Artful Negotiations, Remembrances and Everything in Between ; Conceived in five thematic sections, the exhibition addresses joy or disillusionment from the earliest sparks of attraction through remembrance of the wedding ceremony after many years of marriage. The first section, Wedding in White, features wedding gowns as art transporting individuals from ordinary daily existence into timeless roles for the occasion of marriage. The historical roots of the white wedding tradition are addressed here, exploring symbolism, conformity and resistance to it. Dresses by contemporary and historical designers including Priscilla of Boston, exemplify the Euro-American wedding ideal, while others dismantle it. Lesley Dill's sculpture, Dada Poem Wedding Dress, a paper wedding gown inscribed with a poem by Emily Dickinson, was worn originally as performance art at an AIDS benefit, an iconic wedding symbol drawing attention to issues in contemporary life. Artful Negotiations documents the early stages of a romantic relationship and the agreement to wed, and includes Winslow Homer's Rustic Courtship, a depiction of the uncertainty of courtship and unrequited love in the 1870s. Also in this section are John Clevely, Sr.'s monumental 1762 painting of Queen Charlotte's arrival for her marriage to King George III, and 19th-century spade-blade currency shown as a symbol of bride price in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They may not at first glance seem to have much in common with each other, yet suggest marriage negotiation and arrangement, rather than a romantic union. Color and Symbolism in Wedding Attire presents alternatives to the white wedding, with selected examples of handcrafted textiles from around the world, and America's past. International wedding films put the garments in cultural context. Art and Ceremony features the use of art both in marriage ceremonies and as a means of creating ritual space. The art quilt, Shekhinah by Ricky Tims, is a full-size wedding chupa or canopy enabling visitors to enter an area uplifted from the everyday to the extraordinary, at the ready for a wedding ceremony. The concluding section, Remembrance, features art commemorating the wedding, reliving the experience or marking the passage of time. An especially poignant example is a gold, enamel and diamond bracelet by Tiffany & Co., given as an anniversary gift from a Civil War general to his wife. The bracelet is composed of hourglasses inscribed with each battle he fought, symbolizing the long hours of separation from his wife during his military service. Visit The Peabody Essex Museum at : www.pem.org/ | |
| The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) shows "American Chronicles ~ The Art of Norman Rockwell" Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:24 PM PST
DETROIT, MI -Family … innocence … heroism. These are the core themes interwoven throughout the work of Norman Rockwell, one of America's most recognized and beloved artists. American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) through May 31, 2009, explores Rockwell the artist, his images, and their impact and influence on American culture. The exhibition will also display photo murals of one of Rockwell's studios and his working process. He often posed for his own paintings and viewers will get a glimpse into his technique of preparing to create a painting. From idyllic childhood scenes to commentaries on the post-war era and segregation, many paintings in Rockwell's six decades of work have become American icons. A number of Rockwell's signature works are among the 44 paintings and 323 original Saturday Evening Post covers in the exhibition: No Swimming (1921); Four Freedoms (1942); Christmas Homecoming (1948); Triple Self Portrait (1959) and the famous The Problem We All Live With (1963), dealing with school desegregation, and was painted to mark the 10th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. "Rockwell's pictures grow in meaning and significance because of his profound impact on American culture," said Graham W. J. Beal, DIA director. "As part of the mass media for decades, Rockwell's images have come to be seen as defining the core American experience. To our 21st-century eyes, they present complex questions about who and what is American. We invite you to take another look at one of America's most well-known artists."
When Rockwell wanted to express innocence, he painted children , portraying American childhood as carefree and charming. His cheerful pictures of happy kids untouched by hard realities prompted viewers to recall similar feelings—if not similar scenes—from their own childhoods. These desirable, happy scenes were ones people wanted to associate themselves with, and the images were advertising gold for products like cereal and magazines. However, s ome of Rockwell's most poignant and affecting images portray innocence lost, where the idealization of childhood is contrasted against the far more complicated world of adults. Girl at Mirror (1954) shows a young girl tentatively applying make-up with a celebrity magazine on her lap. Another moment of lost innocence is seen in The Discovery (1956), which shows a little boy with a shocked expression who has just found a Santa suit in his father's dresser drawer. When depicting heroism, Rockwell focused on reassuring images of leaders, such as President Dwight D. Eisenhower or John F. Kennedy, but he also cast everyday Americans as heroes, focusing on their personal sacrifice and duty to the nation. Some of his most powerful images are those made in support of America's involvement in World War II. Rockwell's heroes are rarely shown on the front-line; he preferred to portray the quiet heroism of those who waited for loved ones left behind, such as the miner with two sons in the military featured in the poster Mine America's Coal (1945). When Rockwell created images for the extremely successful war bond posters Four Freedoms, he shows citizens at home enjoying the liberties that America fought to preserve.
A fully illustrated catalog is available in the Museum Shop: soft cover, $30; hard cover, $45. American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell has been organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. American Chronicles has been made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, American Masterpieces Program. Publication support has been provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Media sponsorship has been provided by the Curtis Publishing Company and by the Norman Rockwell Estate Licensing Company. Hours and Admissions Museum hours are 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. Fridays, and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is $8 for adults, $4 for ages 6-17, and DIA members are admitted free. For membership information call 313-833-7971. The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), one of the premier art museums in the United States, is home to more than 60,000 works that comprise a multicultural survey of human creativity from ancient times through the 21st century. From the first van Gogh painting to enter a U.S. museum (Self Portrait, 1887), to Diego Rivera's world-renowned Detroit Industry murals (1932–33), the DIA's collection is known for its quality, range, and depth. Programs are made possible with support from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the City of Detroit. Visit : www.dia.org/ | |
| Guggenheim Bilbao shows Selections of Installations Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:23 PM PST
BILBAO, SPAIN - One of the major developments of recent art history, installation art came to prominence in the early 1990s as a mode of art production centered on the creation of an immersive physical experience. Looking back to the pioneering Happenings of the 1950s, as well as Minimalist and Post-Minimalist artists like Richard Serra, who highlighted bodily awareness through sculptural interventions, artists in the 1990s expanded the work of art into a multimedia environment of installations. In these works, interaction and exploration replace modernism's ideal of distanced viewing, as audiences enter entire worlds constructed from painting, sculpture, sound, video, and other media. To varying degrees, the artists featured in Installations: Selections from the Guggenheim Collections transform the space of the museum into an open-ended zone where visitors can discover personal narratives, private mythologies, new social configurations, or cosmic revelations. Drawn from the global collection of the Guggenheim museums, this presentation also attests to the strength of the museums' holdings in this vital field of contemporary art. The four works in this presentation highlight different ways recent artists have used installation practices. The diverse components of Matthew Ritchie's The Hierarchy Problem (2003) create an all-encompassing visual metaphor for the creation and history of the universe. Viewers can imagine invisible lines connecting the dark, curling branches of the various elements—a hint at the vast portion of the universe that lies beyond human comprehension.  This sense of ongoing discovery is also present in David Altmejd's The University 2 (2004), a large-scale model into which viewers peer, only to discover a cryptic iconography. Dead and decomposing werewolves sprout crystals and jewels, promising the possibility of rebirth amidst a dark vision of horror and death. A similar mood of dark sensuality pervades Javier Pérez's Mask of Seduction (Máscara de seducción) (1997), an installation consisting of relics from a performance staged by the artist. Employing materials such as horse hair and silk, Pérez weaves a private mythology focusing on the tentative boundaries that distinguish the interior of the body from the world that surrounds it. Finally, Rirkrit Tiravanija's Untitled 2002 (he promised) (2002) transforms the notion of artwork into a platform for interaction and improvisation that the public enters into and directly engages. A chrome and steel recreation of modernist architect Rudolf M. Schindler's 1921-22 open-plan residence and studio, Tiravanija's sculpture is activated by the audience's experiences, and will be accompanied by a full program of events. Together these works express the manifold possibilities that installation offers as a mode of artistic expression. Visit Guggenheim Bilbao at : www.guggenheim-bilbao.es | |
| André-Charles Boulle Retrospective at the Museum of Decorative Arts of Frankfurt Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:21 PM PST
Even before he was 30 years old, the name of André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732), Founder, Chaser, Gilder, Sculptor and Marqueter Ordinary to the King, was famous throughout Europe. In 1672 Louis XIV granted him a workshop inside the Louvre palace. His totally innovative genius in the concept of forms is paired with an unheard of virtuosity in the use of gilt bronze, which he was the first to unite with marquetry on a background of tortoiseshell. His creations were the absolute summit of opulence and elegance, combining extraordinary forms with materials verging on the precious, and a technical excellence never achieved again since.  He worked for the Queen, the King, the Grand Dauphin and for the princes of the royal family. Eminent bankers of the kingdom vied for his works to furnish their mansions on the Place Vendome. The Princes Electors of Saxony, Bavaria and Cologne, the King of Spain, were among his clients. Displayed today in the greatest museums of the world, and symbols since three centuries of financial and social success, André Charles Boulle's furniture is inseparable from other expressions of French art avidly sought after by the foremost European courts at the time of the Sun King. The exhibition everyone has been waiting for … The exhibition « André Charles Boulle (1642-1732) and the Art of his Time, A new Style for Europe » is the fruit of the combined expertise of a French group, The Association André-Charles Boulle and the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Museum of Decorative Arts) of Frankfurt hosts this event unique of its kind. Most of the works are shown for the first time, and some have never before left the countries where they are conserved. This is the case for the loans from the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, the Mobilier National in Paris, the Château of Versailles et des Trianons, the Banque de France, the Castle of Mannheim, the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston, the Swedish Royal Collection, and other major cultural institutions. In all, nearly thirty international museums whose names bring to mind the treasures of Western civilisation, and a few eminent private collectors, from seven countries (France, Germany, Great Britain, Slovenia, Sweden, Russia, and the United States of America) will have permitted the coming together of these masterpieces. Through their loans they reveal to the public an unprecedented image of a decisive evolution of Western art. The exhibition assembles some sixty exceptional pieces in floral marquetry, in tortoiseshell and brass marquetry or gilt bronze, witnesses to André-Charles Boulle's talent. Displayed side by side with bronzes, tapestries and paintings, they illustrate the cultural beacon that was Paris at that time, and the genesis of a new European aesthetic. A rare collection of original drawings by André-Charles Boulle's contemporaries from the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris and Berlin will complete this ensemble. The Manufacture des Gobelins, founded by Louis XIV in 1662, which has since become the Mobilier National, will also exhibit its latest works by the most committed contemporary designers, from Le Corbusier to the brothers Bouroullec, furniture and tapestries symbols of its continuity of creation. Fully supported by international cultural institutions  In a city considered to be one of the crossroads of Europe, this exhibition reflects the age-old economic and cultural ties between Germany and France. By the presence of remarkable works of art it shows how a community of taste and thought was established between the two countries, but it also illustrates the cultural cooperation between them and the other European countries, and in a larger sense, the United States. Monsieur Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, has granted his High Patronage to the exhibition. A prestigious international honour committee brings its support to this event. Present among its members are particularly H.E. Bernard de Montferrand - French Ambassador to Germany, H.E. Reinhard Schäfers - German Ambassador to France, but also H.E. Alexander Avdeev, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation. The exhibition also receives the support from the City of Frankfort and the State of Hessen, and the French Heritage Society (U.S.A.), and solicits the participation of firms and private patrons wishing to assert their engagement in favour of a strong European cultural policy through this emblematic project. An eminent scientific committee guarantees the quality of this event. In addition to Jean Nérée Ronfort, Jean Dominique Augarde and Ulrich Schneider, it is composed of other specialists in Decorative Arts ; Arnauld Bréjon de Lavergnée - Director of the collections of the Mobilier National et des Manufactures des Gobelins ; Joan Dejean - Trustee Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia ; Theodore Dell - American historian, author of the catalogue of André-Charles Boulle's furniture at the Frick Collection of-York ; Peter Hughes - Former Curator of the Wallace Collection in London ; Hans Ottomeyer - General Director of the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin ; Tamara Rappe - Director of European Decorative Arts at the State Hermitage Museum of Saint Petersburg ; Sigrid Sangl - Curator at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Münich ; Gillian Wilson -Curator Emeritus of Decorative Arts of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. A scenography signed Juan Pablo Molyneux The building of The Museum für Angewandte Kunst which hosts the exhibition is emblematic of the city of Frankfort. Conceived by Richard Meier in 1985, it was to influence the design of the J. Paul Getty Museum and became the model of all future creations by the architect. In this building, bathed in light, Juan Pablo Molyneux situated the exhibition. He created the proper setting to enshrine the aesthetic to which Boulle has given birth, and which was to become a paradigm of art for centuries to come. A fierce proponent of engaged classicism, Molyneux conceives scenographies that find their origins in History, without however being simple reconstitutions. "I try to distil that which is expected in order to transform it into something unexpected "he says. The exhibition is also the starting point for a cycle of symposiums to take place over a period of two years in Germany, England and the United States. | |
| VMFA Announces Exhibition Lineup to Follow Grand Opening in May Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:20 PM PST
"American Art from the McGlothlin Collection" celebrates the opening of VMFA's $150-million expansion and pays tribute to donors James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin. All works in the exhibition are promised gifts to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "German Expressionist Art from the Fischer Collection" May 1, 2010-July 18, 2010 The Fischer Collection - one of the most important private holdings of German Expressionist art - was acquired by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 2009. It includes works by such major figures as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Wassily Kandinsky, Max Pechstein, Conrad Felixmüller, Otto Müller and Lyonel Feininger. Selected highlights of the collection will be displayed during the opening of the museum's McGlothlin Wing. "Matisse, Picasso and Modern Art in Paris" May 1, 2010-July 25, 2010 The exhibition marks the first time in five decades that selections from a significant Virginia art collection are reunited.  The collector was T. Catesby Jones (1880-1946), who descended from a prominent Tidewater family and grew up in Petersburg. He built a successful career as a maritime lawyer in New York City. He was also a discerning collector of early 20th-century painting, sculpture and works on paper. Jones, who was a VMFA trustee, bequeathed the bulk of his collection to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the University of Virginia. The works have not been seen together since the late 1940s. Jones acquired most of his collection between 1924 and 1939. He purchased works from the best known figures of the era - Matisse, Picasso, Braque, Masson and Lipchitz - as well as works by artists who are less widely known today, including Marcel Gromaire, André Lhote and Jean Lurçat. Jones began donating works to VMFA in 1941, and, with his final bequest of paintings, sculptures and drawings six years later, VMFA moved to the forefront of American museums with collections of contemporary European work. Jones left the majority of his prints to the University of Virginia. Among the exhibition's 51 works will be Picasso's "Woman with Kerchief" (1906), Matisse's two portraits of "Lorette" (both 1917), a Cubist collage by Juan Gris, and a three-part folding screen by Lurçat. The exhibition was on view at three other Virginia venues during VMFA's expansion construction. Visit The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, VMFA at : www.vmfa.state.va.us/ | |
| Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery presents “Falnama:The Book of Omens” Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:19 PM PST
Arresting images, supersaturated color and dazzling detail confronted seekers of omens in these oversized books. Adam and Eve ride out of paradise on the backs of a spectacular, dragon-like serpent and an equally fanciful peacock while startled angels look on. On another page, the angel of death in the guise of a ferocious gray demon drops out of the sky to pounce on Shaddad ibn Ad, who, according to the Koran, transgressed by daring to recreate paradise on Earth. On yet another page, the most celebrated physician of antiquity, Hippocrates, looks calmly over his shoulder as he travels through deep azure skies on the back of a mythical bird.  "Falnama illustrations possess a theatricality that sets them apart from other contemporary works," said Massumeh Farhad, chief curator and curator of Islamic art at the Freer and Sackler galleries and organizer of the exhibition. While some versions of Falnama were popular in the streets and marketplaces of Isfahan, Iran, and Istanbul, Turkey, where fortunetellers improvised divinations for paying customers, four "monumental" volumes, notable for their scale, bold compositions and brilliant palette, were created for use in more affluent and courtly circles. Three of these volumes will be on display in the exhibition. The works on view come from the Topkapı Palace Library in Istanbul, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Freer Gallery of Art. The exhibition will include more than 20 of the 29 folios of the so-called dispersed Falnama, created during the reign of the Safavid ruler Shah Tahmasb (reigned 1524-76), as well as never-before-seen folios from Ahmed I's copy and a third unpublished volume. The most widely published and now dispersed copy of the Falnama was created in the late 1550s to early 1560s at the court of Shah Tahmasb at a time when he had become increasingly preoccupied with his legacy and recounted his memoirs in seven vivid dreams. Another copy of the Falnama was compiled and illuminated by Kalender Pasha, a vizier at the court of Ahmed I (reigned 1603-17), the Ottoman sultan and patron of the celebrated "Blue" mosque. To consult the wisdom of the Falnama, a seeker would first perform ritual ablutions and recite certain prayers before opening the manuscript randomly to an image and its accompanying text. Much like a talisman or a planetary configuration, the image was the key to unlocking the meaning of the omen. "They appeal to our common desire to know what the future holds and our need for guidance and protection in an uncertain world," said Farhad. The manuscripts contain a range of images, from planets and zodiac signs to the lives and deeds of Abrahmic and Islamic saints and prophets, and were meant to aid a seeker in the process of making difficult decisions—from embarking on a voyage to waging war against an enemy. When seen as a group, the images suggest a vibrant and shared religious culture, embracing universal moral and ethical values. Seekers were encouraged to emulate the ethical and moral behavior of the prophets and saints portrayed in the Falnama. "People clearly enjoyed the more fanciful aspects of divination, but they also took seriously the precepts of religion and morality reinforced in these very powerful images and prognostications," said Farhad. Visit the Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at : http://www.asia.si.edu/ | |
| The Frick Collection to display James Abbott McNeill Whistler ensemble Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:17 PM PST
Whistler's oeuvre clearly had a special appeal for Henry Clay Frick, who acquired more works by this artist than by any other. This presentation, drawn from the institution's celebrated holdings and accompanied by several gallery talks, marks the first time in more than twenty years that they will be exhibited together. Senior Curator Susan Grace Galassi notes, "Perhaps because we have not shown these paintings, etchings, and pastels together for more than twenty years, it may come as a surprise that Whistler—an American and a near contemporary to Frick—is actually one of the best represented artist in our collection. We look forward to welcoming the public to enjoy these works together this summer in galleries adjacent to the Old Master paintings for which the institution is best known." The installation is organized by Curatorial Assistants Joanna Sheers and Caitlin Henningsen, in conjunction with Galassi. A Dandy to Rival Wilde, A Painter of Aristocrats and Bohemians Having left the United States as a young man in order to pursue his artistic ambitions in Europe, Whistler spent most of his life in London, where his reputation for dandyism rivaled that of Oscar Wilde. As one of the chief proponents of Aestheticism, he sought the harmonious synthesis of art's formal and representational qualities. He was influenced by Baudelaire's notion of the correspondence between music and painting and often likened his works to musical compositions, entitling them Symphony, Harmony, or Nocturne. With his avant-garde approach to painting, Whistler deliberately provoked more traditional members of London's art world. In 1877, the critic John Ruskin ridiculed the artist's nearly abstract Nocturne in Black and Gold, accusing him of "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face."  Whistler worked as a portraitist throughout his career, securing commissions from members of the aristocratic and bohemian circles of London and Paris. His portrait of the actress Lady Meux (front page), whose scandalous marriage to a wealthy baronet made her notorious, captures all her sensual flair. Titled Harmony in Pink and Grey: Portrait of Lady Meux (1881–82), the painting is as much an exploration of color and texture as it is a perceptive likeness. Whistler's mature portraiture is well represented at the Frick by four canvases from the last three decades of his life. In addition to Lady Meux, they depict Frances Leyland (painted 1872–73), the wife of Whistler's patron, portrayed as the embodiment of his aesthetic ideals; Rosa Corder (1876–78), a fellow artist and the mistress of Whistler's unofficial agent, Charles Augustus Howell; and Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac (1891–92), a poet and member of the Parisian social and intellectual elite. Displayed in close proximity to the Dutch and English "Grand Manner" portraits generally favored by Henry Clay Frick, these paintings reveal Whistler's respect for—and transformation of—the art of the past. Vibrancy and Atmospheric Effect Whistler was a master etcher, and he returned to this medium again and again. Following a financially disastrous libel suit against Ruskin, he traveled to Venice to complete a commission from the Fine Arts Society for twelve etchings, which came to be known as the First Venice Set. Whistler took a unique approach to the subject of Venice. Choosing to represent the city and its inhabitants in quiet moments glimpsed from narrow canals and second-story windows, he departed from the tradition of "vedute," views of popular tourist spots such as San Marco and the Grand Canal. In Frick's day, the Venice etchings were objects of competition for print collectors, who thought of Whistler as Rembrandt's heir in the great tradition of painter-etchers. At the Frick, three plein-air pastels provide a colorful counterpoint to the etchings, in which Whistler translates Venice's vibrancy in a restricted palette of black, brown, white, and gray. He achieved striking atmospheric effects with his virtuosic graphic style—at times densely hatched, to suggest a shadowy recession, his use of line is elsewhere economical. Whistler later described these effects as "painting with exquisite line." The exhibition invites viewers to consider Whistler's exploration of the expressive possibilities of painting, pastel, and etching in pursuit of his aesthetic ideals. Visit The Frick Collection at : www.frick.org/ | |
| Johnathan Shahn solos at the Noyes Museum of Art Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:15 PM PST
OCEANVILLE, N.J. – New Jersey sculptor Jonathan Shahn opens a solo exhibition on November 16 at the Noyes Museum of Art in Oceanville, N.J. The exhibition, titled Jonathan Shahn: Imaginary Portraits, includes sculpted heads, human forms and figures. Working primarily in wood, Shahn literally creates expressions of life - drawing inspiration from classical busts and sculptures, which he merges with faces of people he knows. The sculptures will be on display through January 6, 2008. Shahn has been creating sculptures and drawings representing the human figure since the early 1960s. His life-sized sculptures, carved from enormous wood blocks or formed from plaster, express the honesty and simple elegance of the human figure. Suggestive of Picasso and Giacometti, Shahn's oversized heads, often perched on elongated or thick neck-like pedestals or placed within boxes, function as portraits of common people. He prefers to work with wood because it is a "slower, more resistant" material that allows his figures to evolve naturally, but he is also known for his smooth plaster sculptures. Most of his wooden sculptures are completed over months. The rough-hewn figures sometimes receive a paraffin coat or brush marks that the artist describes as "directional patterns" and "anatomical suggestions," implying African, Egyptian and medieval art that is both classical and clean.In a recent interview in Logos, a journal of modern society and culture, Shahn explains, "You make so many assumptions about things that you look at, whether it is people, animals, trees, or anything. You make assumptions, but the more arcane something is to you, the more likely you are to look at it, rather than to know it." Shahn continues, "With the human head there is the opposite extreme. You have got so many preconceived ideas about it. However, you are constantly substituting what you think you know for what you see or obliterating what you see with what you think you know." Born in Columbus, Ohio, Shahn was surrounded by art. His father, Ben Shahn, was a distinguished American painter and his mother, Bernarda Bryson Shahn, had an artistic career that spanned eight decades and included paintings, illustrations, lithographs and books. He received his bachelor's degree from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania in 1957 and a master's in fine arts from Boston Museum School in 1961. He has taught sculpture and drawing at Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy, Boston University, the Maryland Institute and Art Students League of New York, among others. He has exhibited extensively in the United States and abroad. His work is in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., Princeton University Art Museum, and the Vatican Museum, Rome, Italy. Shahn currently lives and works in Roosevelt, N.J and now teaches at the Art Students League in New York. The Noyes Museum of Art was founded in 1983 to collect, preserve and exhibit American fine art, crafts and folk art with an emphasis on New Jersey artists and folk art forms, reflecting the area's long traditions, history, landscape and culture. General funding for The Noyes Museum of Art is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Arts; the Mr. and Mrs. Fred Winslow Noyes Foundation; the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; the Odessa F. and Henry D. Kahrs Charitable Trust and the Shop Rite LPGA Classic. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 5:00 p.m. and closed on Mondays and major holidays. The Noyes Museum of Art is located one and a half miles south of Historic Smithville Village, off Route 9, on Lily Lake Road in Oceanville, New Jersey. Admission fees are $4 for adults and $3 for seniors and students. For more information, please call (609) 652-8848 or visit : www.noyesmuseum.org This event was selected by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts as part of the American Masterpieces Series in New Jersey. American Masterpieces is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Please visit www.njartscouncil.org or www.arts.gov for more information on the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. | |
| Museo Picasso Málaga Opens Sophie Taeuber-Arp Retrospective Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:14 PM PST
In her keenness to transform the world, to design it in order to change it, the curiosity of Sophie Taeuber-Arp (Davos, Switzerland, 1889 – Zurich, 1943) embraced such wide-ranging forms of expression as painting, dance, tapestry, drawing, embroidery, furniture and interior design, photography, architecture, set design and puppet-making, all with equal intensity. With each one, she examined, resolved and reconciled the contradictory extremes that served as the backdrop for modern art: Figurative art and Abstraction, Dada and Geometric Abstraction, disorder and harmony, art and craft… Was it possible for a Dada artist to be a Constructivist? Could a Figurative artist be an Abstract artist? These initially irreconcilable approaches coexisted in the work of Sophie Taeuber-Arp, who frequently served as the hinge between two different eras, surrounded by artistic proposals which found in her the logical, productive nexus. For this reason, her name was linked to the key formative moments of the Avant-garde movement, from her stunning first appearance in radical Dada, to her visual works and research on geometric abstraction, which were closely associated with the French movement Cercle et Carré (Circle and Square).  Sophie Taeuber-Arp belonged to a generation of socially-committed women who were anxious to transcend the limits traditionally imposed on women. Daughters of the "new women" of the 19th century, who had helped to initiate the feminist and suffragette movements, these independent women almost all came from the upper and middle classes and had pursued advanced studies. Their influence on the cultural scene in the 1920s and 1930s was considerable. They played an essential role in the artistic and literary production of their time and brought forth a new vision of the world driven by their staunch desire to challenge the established order. Sophie Taeuber-Arp. Avant-garde Pathways The exhibition that the Museo Picasso Málaga is devoting to Sophie Taeuber-Arp, from October 19, 2009 to January 24, 2010, will demonstrate the highly modern and radical duality that was at the heart of her work. Like a dance sequence, it is a journey through the artist's work, with over 130 exhibits that include paintings, drawings, collages, textiles, puppets, plans, photographs, sculptures and furniture. "The Sophie Taeuber-Arp. Avant-garde Pathways" exhibition has been divided into three sections. Broken Rhythm examines the work from her earliest period, in which Dada and Constructivism coexist openly, side by side; Inhabiting Spaces explains the artist's contribution to interior design and architecture; and Living Geometry focuses on her actual geometric compositions, which were always infused with her passion for integrating opposites. Each of the works contains movement that is created by the tension between contradictory territories—the integration of life and art that is the most extraordinary feature of Sophie Taeuber-Arp's work. The exhibition is curated by Estrella de Diego, Professor of Contemporary Art at the Complutense University in Madrid . De Diego has been a guest lecturer at universities in Spain and abroad, and has curated numerous exhibitions, including "Lost Bodies." "Photography and the Surrealists" (Fundación La Caixa, 1996) and "Warhol on Warhol" ( La Casa Encendida , 2007). Her research focuses on gender theory and visual studies, subjects on which she has written widely. Her books include Tristísimo Warhol (Very Sad Warhol), Editorial Siruela, Madrid, 1999; Querida Gala. Las vidas ocultas de Gala Dalí (Dear Gala. The Hidden Lives of Gala Dalí), Espasa, 2003; and Maruja Mallo, Fundación Mapfre, 2008. "Sophie Taeuber-Arp. Avant-garde Pathways" has been made possible thanks to the contributions made by seventeen museums, public and private collections from France, Germany, Switzerland and the USA that have loaned their works. Three of these institutions are foundations related to Taeuber-Arp: Fondation Arp, in Clamart, France; Stiftung Hans Arp und Sophie Taeuber-Arp eV, in Rolandswerth, Germany; and Fondazione Marguerite Arp, in Locarno, Switzerland. Visit the Museo Picasso Málaga at : http://www2. | |
| Artists Represent Most Powerful Emotion / LOVE at the National Gallery in London Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:13 PM PST
Encompassing divine and mortal love, chaste and unchaste love, family love and charity, it demonstrates how artists such as Raphael, Cranach, Vermeer, Holman Hunt and Marc Chagall have described or responded to love in all its complexities, across the centuries and in a variety of styles. Tracy Emin's Those who Suffer Love (I'm OK Now) connects the agony of the creative process and the intricacies of human relations. Similar tensions seem evident in the iconic Astarte Syriaca painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti over one hundred years previously.  From the excitement and aspirations of a newly-formed couple, to the comfort and complicity of a long-standing relationship, each stage of love has its pleasures. Some of these are present in works by Stanley Spencer and Joseph Wright of Derby; more broadly, a work by Marc Quinn considers the perception of couples in society. The embrace of Kiss questions concepts of beauty and preconceptions about entitlement to affection – while, caught in a moment of passion, the close-knit pair seem oblivious to the outside world. Love's power to beat all kinds of adversity is also revealed in the exhibition. In The Good Samaritan by Jacopo Bassano, as a traveler tends to the wounds of a total stranger, neighborly love overcomes racial and religious prejudice. In David Hockney's 1961 painting We Two Boys Together Clinging, meanwhile, a locked embrace suggests how love can grow stronger in a hostile world. Paintings by the Singh Twins juxtapose the dissatisfaction of celebrity worship with the joy of love reciprocated; Lord Frederic Leighton paints two women whose friendship will be ruined by their love for the same man – these works serve to remind us that love is not always a source of happiness and can sometimes lead to jealousy and betrayal. In Medea – most dramatically – Anthony Frederick Sandys indicates how Jason's rejection of the Scythian princess will result in deception and death. Love is the seventh in a series of exhibitions organized in partnership with Bristol's Museums, Galleries & Archives Service and Tyne & Wear Museums. The National Gallery Touring Partnership (2006–2008) is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Northern Rock Foundation, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and in London by the Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation. Visit The National Gallery, London at : www.nationalgallery.org.uk/ | |
| JEAN PROUVÉ’S MAISON TROPICALE ~ A REMARKABLE CHRISTIE’S PUBLIC EXHIBITION Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:12 PM PST
New York City – Christie's New York's Spring 20th Century Decorative Art & Design sales take place on June 5-6 at the Rockefeller Galleries and are led by one of Jean Prouvé's visionary pre-fabricated constructions, a Prototype Maison Tropicale. This 20th century architectural icon is one of only three ever produced by the legendary French designer and will be sold on June 5 (estimate: $4 to $6 million). A remarkable Christie's public exhibition, held in partnership with the Long Island City Cultural Alliance, to celebrate the 1951 Prototype Maison Tropicale is set at the foot of the Queensboro Bridge at the site of the future home of Silvercup West. On the banks of the East River in Long Island City, the space offers stunning views of the city skyline and the free public exhibition runs until June 4, including weekends. Joshua Holdeman, Christie's Senior Vice President, 20th Century Art says, "Christie's prides itself on being at the forefront of the 20th century collecting categories – for fine art, design, photographs, prints and the decorative arts. We are delighted to work with the Long Island City Cultural Alliance on this remarkable three-week exhibition, and offer the people of New York City a chance to share in the excitement of having one of the greatest 20th century architectural designs in the heart of the city." Alyson Baker, President of the Long Island City Cultural Alliance and Executive Director of Socrates Sculpture Park, says: "We are thrilled to be working in partnership with Christie's and thank them for presenting such a remarkable architectural masterpiece in our neighborhood. For the next three weeks, Prouve's Maison Tropicale will enhance the rich cultural landscape of Long Island City. It is a spectacular presentation on the banks of the East River: an icon of mid-century design installed beside the magnificent structure of the Queensboro bridge against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline." Jean Prouvé is widely acknowledged as one of the 20th century's most important and influential designers. His work, ranging from household and institutional furniture to commercial buildings and residential projects, consistently expresses his signature industrial aesthetic and relies upon traditional metals such as sheet steel and aluminum. The three industrially produced Tropical Houses he manufactured and designed for West Africa from 1949 to 1951 are the most striking and sophisticated of all his architectural achievements and are exemplary of his oeuvre. In designing a habitat for an equatorial climate, the Brazzaville tropical house is surrounded by a veranda equipped with an adjustable aluminum sun screen which reflects the sun and creates an outer skin. The facade of the actual house, which serves as an inner skin, is made up of both fixed and sliding panels; some include what have become Prouvé's signature round windows or portholes. The roof is equipped with a built in ventilation system to counter the extreme heat. The Brazzaville buildings suffered the abuse of over forty years of daily use, treacherous weather conditions and a civil war, which left a number of bullet holes in the aluminum siding. In 2001 the two structures were dismantled and shipped to France. The smaller structure, after a lengthy period of repair and restoration, was exhibited at Yale University in New Haven and The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and is now in the collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. The larger house, also subject to a meticulous restoration process, was exhibited on the Port des Champs-Elysees in Paris during the winter of 2006 (on the very site where the Niamey prototype had been exhibited in 1949) and is now being offered for sale by Christie's. Auction: Jean Prouvé's Prototype Maison Tropicale and Works by Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret from the Collection of Eric Touchaleaume . . June 5, 2007 at 5p.m Viewing: 41-98 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, 11101 May 17 – June 4, 10a.m to 5p.m. | |
| The World War II Watercolors of Norman S. Rothschild Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:10 PM PST
COLUMBUS, GA - This exhibition features over 40 watercolors depicting views of the South Pacific during World War II as seen through the eyes of Columbus native Norman S. Rothschild, at The Columbus Museum. On exhibition through 2 February, 2008. A long-time donor to, and supporter of, the Columbus Museum, Rothschild was a talented amateur artist who devoted much of his life to making art. He worked with such luminaries as Diego Rivera in Mexico and Peggy Guggenheim in New York before coming home to Columbus. He was especially active during his period of service in the Army Air Corps during World War II, when he produced the pieces on display in this exhibition. On public display for the first time, they offer a unique look at the people and places Rothschild came into contact with as well as the military operations of which he was a part. This exhibition is made possible by the friends and family of Norman S. Rothschild. Memories of World War II: Photographs from the Archives of The Associated Press and Chattahoochee Valley World War II Home Front and The World War II Watercolors of Norman S. Rothschild For more information, please visit www.columbusmuseum.com . | |
| This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 10 Feb 2011 09:09 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 .  |
American Chronicles explores the themes of family, innocence and heroism that permeate Rockwell's work. His paintings of families include storylines filled with love, affection and humor, and are free of difficulties such as disease, loneliness, and death. Rockwell knew that uplifting sentiments appealed to people's emotions, and he used them effectively in his commercial and advertising work during his 47 years with the Saturday Evening Post.
At the height of his fame and recognition, Rockwell sought out difficult themes of the day in what he referred to as "big pictures." Up until the early 1960s, Rockwell's illustrations served the needs of the conservative Saturday Evening Post, which during the early- and mid- 20th century celebrated white, middle class, small hometown values to the exclusion of many other kinds of American experience. Rockwell left The Post for Look magazine in 1964, where he was able to take on issues of social consciousness, such as war, racism, poverty and injustice. He used his illustrative and storytelling skills to make injustice visible. His image of Ruby Bridges in The Problem We All Live With (1963) or three civil rights workers in Murder in Mississippi (1965) are still powerful reminders of America's struggle for civil rights for all.
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