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• Eugene von Guérard ~ "Nature Revealed" at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia
• Philadelphia Museum of Art Shows "Paris Through the Window: Marc Chagall & His Circle"
• "A Brush With War: Military Art From Korea to Afghanistan" Coming To Victoria, B.C.
• The Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts Hosts Paintings by Christina Mastrangelo
• Unconventional New Display at the National Portrait Gallery in London
• The Frans Hals Museum Receives a Gift of Art Worth More than €100 Million
• Renoir Landscapes at the National Gallery of Canada
• The New Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) ~ One Year Later
• Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (CMCP) features Photographer Gabor Szilasi
• Sotheby's London to Sell Four Important Works by British Master L.S. Lowry
• Edmund Yaghjian Retrospective at South Carolina State Museum
• First Major Retrospective for Aldwyth opens at the Ackland Art Museum
• Ackland Art Museum Celebrates Legacy of Eminent Asian Art Scholar Sherman Emery Lee
• Christie's Offers a Monet Water-Lily Painting Worth an Estimated $44-59 Million
• Ackland Art Museum explores Cuban Politics & Culture through Cinema Posters
• The National Gallery of Canada Exhibits the 2010 Governor General's Awards
• Acquavella Galleries Opens Exhibition Documenting the Scull Collection
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

Eugene von Guérard ~ "Nature Revealed" at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia Posted: 17 Apr 2011 09:36 PM PDT Melbourne, AU - The Ian Potter Centre at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne presents "Eugene von Guérard: Nature Revealed" from 16 April – 7 August 2011. Eugene von Guérard (1811–1901) is arguably Australia's, and certainly Victoria's, most important colonial landscape painter. Born in Vienna and trained as a painter in the European art centres of Rome, Naples and Düsseldorf; von Guérard migrated to Australia in 1852.  Von Guérard's meticulous landscapes are remarkable in their detail and much valued for their depiction of Australian and particularly, Victorian, landscapes of the mid-1800s. This exhibition demonstrates how von Guerard's artistic endeavours in Australia were informed by his interest in the geography, geology and vegetation of the Australian 'New World'. His representations of the forests of Gippsland and the Otways, the crater lakes of Victoria's volcanic Western District and the peaks of the Kosciuszko plateau hold important environmental significance today. The work of von Guérard has not been the subject of a dedicated exhibition since 1980. "Eugene von Guérard: Nature Revealed" features over 150 works, including many of von Guérard's beloved iconic landscapes, as well as several beautifully illustrated sketch books, and some never-before-seen paintings. Through his detailed brushstrokes and breathtaking compositions, visitors can explore the magnificent Australian, New Zealand and European landscapes he captured on his expeditions around the world. Born in Vienna, von Guerard toured Italy with his father (a painter of miniatures at the court of Emperor Francis I of Austria) from 1826, and between 1830 and 1832 resided in Rome, where he became involved with the Nazarenes, a group of German expatriate artists. From 1849 to 1854 he studied landscape painting at the Düsseldorf Academy, and travelled widely. Von Guerard's personal artistic style was formed by the heritage of Claude Lorrain, Nicolas Poussin and Salvator Rosa, while at the Düsseldorf Academy he was inspired by the German Romantic landscape tradition exemplified by the art of Caspar David Friedrich, which, like the Nazarenes, attempted to link man and God through nature. In 1852 von Guerard arrived in Victoria, Australia, determined to try his luck on the Victorian goldfields. As a gold-digger he was unsuccessful, but he did produce a large number of intimate studies of goldfields life, quite different from the deliberately awe-inspiring landscapes for which he was later to become famous. Realising that there were opportunities for an artist in Australia, he abandoned the diggings and was soon undertaking lucrative commissions recording the dwellings and properties of wealthy pastoralists. By the early 1860s von Guerard was recognised as the foremost landscape artist in the colonies, touring Southeast Australia and New Zealand in pursuit of the sublime and the picturesque. He is most known for the wilderness paintings produced during this time, which are remarkable for their shadowy lighting and fastidious detail. Indeed, his view of Tower Hill in South Western Victoria was used as a botanical template over a century later when the land, which had been laid waste and polluted by agriculture, was systematically reclaimed, forested with native flora and made a state park. The scientific accuracy of such work has led to a reassessment of von Guerard's approach to wilderness painting, and historians believe it likely that the landscapist was strongly influenced by the environmental theories of the leading scientist Alexander von Humboldt. In 1866 his "Valley of the Mitta Mitta" was presented to the national gallery at Melbourne; in 1870 the trustees purchased his "Mount Kosciusko". In 1870 von Guerard was appointed the first Master of the School of Painting at the National Gallery of Victoria, where he was to influence the training of artists for the next 11 years. His reputation, high at the beginning of this period, had faded somewhat towards the end because of his rigid adherence to picturesque subject matter and detailed treatment in the face of the rise of the more intimate Heidelberg School style. Amongst his pupils were Frederick McCubbin and Tom Roberts. Von Guerard retired from his position at the National Gallery School at the end of 1881 and departed for Europe in January 1882. In 1891 his wife died. Two years later, he lost his investments in the Australian bank crash and he lived in poverty until his death in Chelsea, London, on 17 April 1901. The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. The main gallery is located in St Kilda Road, in the heart of the Melbourne Arts Precinct of Southbank, with a branch gallery at Federation Square. The St Kilda Road Gallery, designed by Sir Roy Grounds, opened in 1968 and was refubished and extended by Mario Bellini in 2003. In December 2003, the Ian Potter Centre at the NGV Australia at Federation Square, designed by LAB Architecture Studio opened to host the NGV's collection of Australian art. At the time that the gallery opened, Victoria was an independent colony for just ten years, but in the wake of the Victorian gold rush, it was easily the richest part of Australia, and Melbourne the largest city. Generous gifts from wealthy citizens, notably industrialist Alfred Felton, made it possible for the National Gallery to start purchasing large collections of overseas works from both old and modern masters. It currently holds over 65,000 works of art. The Ian Potter Centre at the NGV Australia is the world's first major gallery dedicated exclusively to Australian art. It is a spectacular showcase comprising over 20 galleries housed within a landmark architectural complex. NGV Australia presents the history of Australian art from the Colonial period and the Heidelberg School through to contemporary art, and includes photography, prints and drawings, fashion and textiles, decorative arts, and a suite of galleries dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. With special exhibitions and educational programs and new perspectives of the city through its glass matrix, NGV Australia is more than a great place to view art, a completely fresh approach that encourages people from all walks of life to enjoy the world of art. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au Source: Press Notice to editor (reply to: Jemma Altmeier <Jemma.Altmeier@ngv.vic.gov.au>) + museum website+wikipedia (artists biog)+ google image search - byline invented

Philadelphia Museum of Art Shows "Paris Through the Window: Marc Chagall & His Circle" Posted: 17 Apr 2011 09:35 PM PDT Philadephia.- "Paris Through the Window: Marc Chagall and His Circle" is on view at the Philadephia Museum of Art until July 10th 2011. The exhibition is focussed on the works of around eleven artistic émigrés. This includes 40 paintings and sculptures by Marc Chagall and artists like Alexander Archipenko, Marc Chagall, Moïse Kisling, Jacques Lipchitz, Louis Marcoussis, Amedeo Modigliani, Chana Orloff, Jules Pascin, Margit Pogany, Chaim Soutine, and Ossip Zadkine. As a symbol of culture, freedom, and modernity, the city of Paris held a magnetic attraction for artists from around the globe during the early decades of the twentieth century. Most painters and sculptors, as well as poets and writers, settled in a vibrant area of Paris known as Montparnasse, which was sprinkled with art galleries, artists' residences, and cafés.

"A Brush With War: Military Art From Korea to Afghanistan" Coming To Victoria, B.C. Posted: 17 Apr 2011 09:34 PM PDT Victoria, B.C.- The travelling exhibition of works by post World War II Canadian war artists reaches the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, B.C. in June. "A Brush with War: Military Art from Korea to Afghanistan" opens on June 24th and is on view until September 5th 2011. The exhibition explores the two military art programs that started more than twenty years after the Second World War; the Canadian Armed Forces Civilian Artists Program (1968-1995) and the Canadian Forces Artists Program (2001- present).

The Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts Hosts Paintings by Christina Mastrangelo Posted: 17 Apr 2011 09:33 PM PDT SPRINGFIELD, Mass.– Paintings that evoke the work of the "old master" artists of the Renaissance will be on view from April 19 through July 10 at the Michele and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts in the special exhibition In the Footsteps of the Masters: Painting by Christina Mastrangelo. There will be a reception with the artist on Thursday, April 28, from 5 to 7 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public. There will be a lecture by the artist on techniques and materials as passed down in the European tradition on May 5 at noon. "In the Footsteps of the Masters: Painting by Christina Mastrangelo" will present 18 paintings and drawings by the artist, many of them new works.

Unconventional New Display at the National Portrait Gallery in London Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:49 PM PDT LONDON.- Opening this weekend, 'Only Connect' is an unconventional new display at the National Portrait Gallery presenting a web of portraits connecting sitters across three centuries. Comprising paintings, sculpture, photographs, engravings, drawings, miniatures and works in other media from the National Portrait Gallery's holdings, the display uses musical connections to explore new ways of looking at the Collection.

The Frans Hals Museum Receives a Gift of Art Worth More than €100 Million Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:07 PM PDT HAARLEM, NL - The official handover of the largest gift in the museum's recent history took place today in the Frans Hals Museum. The Elisabeth van Thüringen Fund is donating eleven works of art from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries to the City of Haarlem and the Frans Hals Museum. Among the works there is a large and rare group portrait by Frans Hals. The total value of the gift is at least €100 million. The works can be seen in the exhibition 'A Magnificent Gesture' until 10 July. The works, including the spectacular group portraits of the Regents and Regentesses of St Elisabeth's or Groote Hospital by Frans Hals and Johannes Verspronck, have been hanging in the Frans Hals Museum for some time on loan from the Elisabeth van Thüringen Fund. The trustees of this fund are the direct descendants of the men and women portrayed in the paintings by Hals and Verspronck. Thanks to the extraordinarily generous gift from the Elisabeth van Thüringen Fund the most important works from this collection are now the property of the City of Haarlem and part of the museum's collection. Director Karel Schampers of the Frans Hals Museum said, 'A greater or more interesting gift is almost inconceivable – if for no other reason than that iconic group portraits like these by Hals and Verspronck are all in museum collections and will never come on to the market.' Collected over Four Centuries There are several reasons why the Elisabeth van Thüringen Fund decided to gift the eleven most important works from their collection to the Frans Hals Museum and the City of Haarlem. Peter van Barneveld, Senior Trustee of the Elisabeth van Thüringen Fund and Chairman of the Board of the Kennemer Hospital in Haarlem, explained, 'These masterpieces belong to the cultural heritage of Haarlem and the Netherlands. The works need attention and conservation. They belong in a place where they can be exhibited as they deserve and the public will always be able to see them. The Frans Hals Museum is the right place for them.' The collection was created four hundred years ago as the art collection of St Elisabeth's or Groote Hospital (now the Kennemer Hospital). In 1977 the collected paintings and the historical objets d'art were placed in the Elisabeth van Thüringen Fund, which manages the collection. The Kennemer Hospital in Haarlem and Haarlem Local Authority are represented in this fund. A Gift of €100 million As well as the group portraits by Frans Hals and Johannes Verspronck, the gift includes two works by Maerten van Heemskerck, and paintings by Dirck Hals, Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem, Nicolaes Roosendaal, Adriaan Backer, Frans Decker and a follower of Joachim Patenier. The Elisabeth van Thüringen Fund has also donated a decorated charter box of St Elisabeth's Hospital from around 1625. Two paintings, The Regents of St Elisabeth's or Groote Gasthuis by Frans Hals and the View of Rome with the Good Samaritan by Maerten van Heemskerck will be restored by the Frans Hals Museum in the near future. Visit the Frans Hals Museum at : http://www.franshalsmuseum.nl/home/?language=en

Renoir Landscapes at the National Gallery of Canada Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:07 PM PDT   OTTAWA, CANADA - The National Gallery of Canada presents Renoir Landscapes, 1865-1883, on view through 9 September 2007. This is the first major exhibition of the artist's landscape paintings and the National Gallery is its only Canadian stop. The exhibition is presented by Sun Life Financial and jointly organized by the National Gallery of Canada, the National Gallery, London, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The exhibition features 56 paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, on loan from art museums and private collections around the world.

The New Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) ~ One Year Later Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:07 PM PDT   Detroit, MI - Nearly a year ago the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) reopened with a new look and philosophy that was all about helping visitors make personal connections with the art. The resulting larger crowds, increased media attention, awards, and recognition by other museums are evidence that we're making that connection.  Annual attendance for the DIA averaged about 350,000 a year. But since last year's Nov. 10 gala grand opening, 532,273 visitors have explored the new DIA as of Oct. 26. Memberships are up by 23 percent, and there has been a significant increase in earned revenue from the Museum Shop, CaféDIA, group sales and third party events.

Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (CMCP) features Photographer Gabor Szilasi Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:07 PM PDT OTTAWA.- Gabor Szilasi is on a constant quest to capture the ordinary people and places of the present day. He finds beauty in the banal and is interested in documenting a society that is in constant flux. Gabor Szilasi: The Eloquence of the Everyday is co-organized by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (CMCP) and the Musée d'art de Joliette. Presented by Pratt & Whitney Canada, this exhibition of 124 photographs taken by the artist over the past 50 years is on view until January 17, 2010 in the CMCP galleries of the National Gallery of Canada (NGC).

Sotheby's London to Sell Four Important Works by British Master L.S. Lowry Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:07 PM PDT LONDON.- The work of L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) holds a special place in the heart of the British public and Sotheby's sale of 20th Century British Art on Wednesday, 26 May 2010, will present four exceptional works by the much celebrated British master. The pictures come from three different private collections and have never been seen on the auction market before. With a combined pre-sale estimate of £920,000-1,480,000, the four paintings are instantly recognisable as Lowry compositions as they incorporate all of the signature elements of the artist's greatest works. They cast him as an observer of humanity - in all its moods.

Edmund Yaghjian Retrospective at South Carolina State Museum Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:07 PM PDT Columbia, SC - Edmund Yaghjian was born in Armenia, but made his mark - literally, and with a paint brush - in America, and especially in South Carolina.   A major retrospective of Yaghjian's work can be seen beginning March 16 through Sept.16 at the South Carolina State Museum in the exhibit Edmund Yaghjian: A Retrospective.   Providence, R. I. was where the two-year-old Yaghjian landed with his family in 1907, and his natural talent won him a scholarship to the Rhode Island School of Design, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1930.

First Major Retrospective for Aldwyth opens at the Ackland Art Museum Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:07 PM PDT CHAPEL HILL, NC.- For decades, the collage artist Aldwyth has produced her art in relative seclusion from the larger art world. Now seventy-three, her first major retrospective will premiere at the Ackland Art Museum May 31, 2009. "The Ackland is privileged to be the first museum to present an Aldwyth exhibition of this scale," says Ackland Director Emily Kass. "Her remarkable work demands to be seen. It is hard to think of an audience who will not be mesmerized by these extraordinary pieces of art."

Ackland Art Museum Celebrates Legacy of Eminent Asian Art Scholar Sherman Emery Lee Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:07 PM PDT   CHAPEL HILL, NC – The Ackland Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill presents Sage in the Bamboo Grove: The Legacy of Sherman E. Lee (February 28 - September 20, 2009), a multi-gallery exhibition of treasures from the Museum's Asian art collection. The exhibition is mounted in celebration of Sherman Emery Lee, the renowned Asian art scholar and esteemed former director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, whose contributions to the Ackland and UNC-Chapel Hill helped the Museum to build what is now the most significant collection of Asian art in North Carolina, and one of the premier collections in the south.

Christie's Offers a Monet Water-Lily Painting Worth an Estimated $44-59 Million Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:07 PM PDT LONDON (REUTERS).- Auction house Christie's is offering a Monet water-lily painting worth an estimated 30 to 40 million pounds ($44-59 million) this month in what it expects to be the biggest sale it has ever mounted in London. With the international art market booming again after a slump when financial markets crashed, the Christie's sale also includes a Blue Period portrait by Pablo Picasso, offered by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation founded by the composer, and carrying a price tag about the same as the 1906 Monet.The Monet, which is to be unveiled on Thursday, and the Picasso, plus 61 other works on offer, are expected to take the tally on June 23 to 164-231 million pounds.

Ackland Art Museum explores Cuban Politics & Culture through Cinema Posters Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:07 PM PDT CHAPEL HILL, NC – The Ackland Art Museum presents the special exhibition Almost Now: Cuban Art, Cinema, and Politics in the 1960s and 1970s (August 29 – December 6, 2009), offered in conjunction with The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Institute for the Study of the Americas' presentation The Cuban Revolution at 50: Art and Cinema. Featuring sixteen Cuban cinema posters (and a signed and numbered print of Alberto Korda's iconic photograph of Che Guevara) recently given to the Ackland by eminent art historian, collector, and Carolina alumnus David Craven.

The National Gallery of Canada Exhibits the 2010 Governor General's Awards Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:07 PM PDT OTTAWA.- They are sculptors, filmmakers, painters, video artists, photographers, or visionary administrators. Their works and reputations have reached beyond our borders to garner global attention. Today they are being awarded one of the highest national distinctions for their exceptional careers and remarkable contributions to the visual and media arts. They are the winners of the 2010 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts, and their pioneering works will be presented to the public until June 20, in a special exhibition located in the contemporary galleries at the National Gallery of Canada (NGC).

Acquavella Galleries Opens Exhibition Documenting the Scull Collection Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:07 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- On Tuesday April 13th Acquavella Galleries will open an exhibition that documents the amazing, unerring eye and acquisitive passion of the colorful New York couple who dominated the contemporary art world in the 1960s and early 1970s. The exhibition continues through May 27th. Robert and Ethel Scull were to art collectors of the 1960s what Andy Warhol was to the artists. Pioneer collectors of Pop art (known as the Mom and Pop of Pop), they were everywhere in the 1960s, a constant presence on the New York social scene.

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:06 PM PDT 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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