Art Knowledge News - Keeping You in Touch with the World of Art...

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• The Tate Britain Presents Peter Paul Rubens and Britain
• World-famous Gouda Windows and Original Drawings on view at MuseumgoudA
• Sotheby's Paris Auction of Impressionist & Modern Art on December 8th
• Glass Design at the Musee de Design et d'Arts appliques Contemporain (MUDAC)
• Matthias Weischer's exhibition at Museo de Arte de Ponce
• The Frick Collection Names Mary L. Levkoff Winner of its Biennial Book Prize
• The Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais Presents Works From the Stein Family's Collections
• Chaïm Soutine and Modernism at the Kunstmuseum Basel
• The Gardiner Museum hosts First Comprehensive Assessment of Viola Frey's Career
• La Fabrica Galeria in Madrid Opens Shows Solo by Shirin Neshat
• Green Cardamom to Show New Work by Pakistani Artist Bani Abidi
• Art 40 Basel ~ Extraordinary Quality; Surprisingly Strong Results With 61,000 Attending
• Ed Ruscha's Iconic Work Highlights Sotheby's Sale of Contemporary Art
• The Best School of London Post-War and Contemporary Art at Sotheby's
• Singapore Tyler Print (STPI) to open "All Editions"
• Migros Museum hosts First Solo Exhibition in Switzerland for Tatiana Trouvé
• Recent Works by Cy Twombly Showcased at the Portland Art Museum
• Portland Art Museum exhibits "The Kimono in Print"
• Ten Famous Works of Art That Were Damaged by Carelessness, Negligence, Anger or Pure Insanity
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

The Tate Britain Presents Peter Paul Rubens and Britain Posted: 24 Nov 2011 09:35 PM PST London.- BP British Art Displays at the Tate Britain present "Rubens and Britain" on view from November 22nd through May 6th 2012. A draftsman of extraordinary imagination, energy and skill, Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) was the leading Flemish exponent of baroque painting and the most successful international artist of the seventeenth century, producing works for several of Europe's crowned heads. A new display at Tate Britain explores this artist's connections with Britain's monarchy and court through a group of fourteen key works. It unites Tate's recently acquired initial sketch for the Banqueting House ceiling at Whitehall c.1628-30 - Rubens's most ambitious British commission - with significant loans such as the iconic self-portrait 1623-4 (The Royal Collection) which Rubens sent over for Charles I, portraits of English courtiers, as well as the dramatic image of England's patron saint A Landscape with St George and the Dragon 1629-30 (Royal Collection). Rubens and Britain briefly traces the origins and development of Rubens's masterpiece in Britain, the ceiling at Whitehall, through analysis of the magnificent large-scale sketch in oil paint, which is the only surviving overall preparatory work, and supporting archive material. Rubens came to Britain as a diplomat in 1629 to pave the way for a peace treaty between England and Spain. King Charles I took this opportunity to conclude the commission (long under discussion) for the vast ceiling paintings at Whitehall in memory of his father James I, perhaps one of the most important artistic commissions of the period in Britain. Rubens's confidence in the face of this epic task is revealed in a letter where he commented 'Everyone according to his gifts; my talent is such that no undertaking, however vast in size or diversified in subject, has ever surpassed my courage'. The nine canvases were produced by Rubens and his assistants in Antwerp and eventually installed in the ceiling in 1637. Rubens was the first to bring the Baroque style to Britain. A businessman, scholar and diplomat as well as an artist, Rubens was in touch with leading art collectors at the English court from at least 1621, including the Duke of Buckingham and Earl of Arundel. Demonstrating Rubens's wider links with English society of the time, his portrait of the Earl of Arundel 1629 (National Portrait Gallery) will be shown alongside an arresting preparatory drawing 1629-30 (Ashmolean Museum) in which the precise delineation of the Earl's facial features crackles with energy. A portrait of James I's physician Sir Theodore Turquet de Mayerne 1629-30 (The British Museum) will also be included. Additional highlights of the display offer insight into the role of the Banqueting House as a cutting-edge example of Palladian architecture in Britain, used as a showpiece for some of the most important court occasions. These include Inigo Jones's original architectural drawing and designs for the Queen's costume for one of the masques held there (Chatsworth Settlement). Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) became the leading baroque painter in northern Europe. After studying in Italy, he fused his original Flemish training with the influence of earlier Italian artists including Michelangelo, Raphael, Veronese and Titian. Based in Antwerp, Rubens only visited Britain once, but the impact of his work on British art was continued through the appointment of his 'best pupil' Anthony van Dyck as Charles I's court painter in 1632. Van Dyck's influence on portraiture in Britain lasted until the early 20th century. Tate Britain is the national gallery of British art. Located in London, it is one of the family of four Tate galleries which display selections from the Tate Collection. The other three galleries are Tate Modern, also in London, Tate Liverpool, in the north-west, and Tate St Ives, in Cornwall, in the south-west. The entire Tate Collection is available online. Tate Britain is the world centre for the understanding and enjoyment of British art and works actively to promote interest in British art internationally. The displays at Tate Britain call on the greatest collection of British art in the world to present an unrivalled picture of the development of art in Britain from the time of the Tudor monarchs in the sixteenth century, to the present day. The Collection comprises the national collection of British art from the year 1500 to the present day, and international modern art. Some of the highlights of the Tate collection of British art include rich holdings of portraiture from the age of Queen Elizabeth I; of the work of William Hogarth, sometimes called the father of English painting; of the eighteenth-century portraitists Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds; of the animal painter George Stubbs; of the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood who revolutionised British art in the nineteenth century; and in the twentieth century of the work of Stanley Spencer, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Francis Bacon and the Young British Artists (YBAs) of the 1990s. The very latest contemporary art is presented through the Art Now programme and the annual Turner Prize exhibition. Special attention is given to three outstanding British artists from the Romantic age. William Blake and John Constable have dedicated spaces within the gallery, while the unique J. M. W. Turner Collection of about 300 paintings and many thousands of watercolours is housed in the specially built Clore Gallery. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.tate.org.uk/britain

World-famous Gouda Windows and Original Drawings on view at MuseumgoudA Posted: 24 Nov 2011 09:03 PM PST GOUDA, NETHERLANDS - The finest working drawings of glass-painter Dirck Crabeth have now been brought together in MuseumgoudA . He designed and painted the most beautiful windows in the Sint-Janskerk , including the famous King's Window. The exhibition sheds light on the consummate skill of this master artist. It also examines the historical, artistic, and technical aspects of both the working drawings and the stained-glass windows, as well as the stages leading from the drawings to the final windows. The exhibition opened to the public on 23 November 2011 until 09 April 2012.

Sotheby's Paris Auction of Impressionist & Modern Art on December 8th Posted: 24 Nov 2011 07:23 PM PST PARIS.- The 73-lot sale of Impressionist & Modern Art to be held at Sotheby's Paris on Thursday 8th December (6pm) will be highly selective, paying tribute to some of the 20th century's most outstanding artists – including Ernst, Matta, Lam, Metzinger and Miró – and featuring numerous works which have a remarkable provenance or which are fresh to the market. After the recent Impressionist & Modern Art sales in New York, where his works were targeted by bidders from around the globe, Max Ernst will again be a focus of attention in Paris, thanks to an exceptional ensemble of market-fresh works. The highlight will be La Carmagnole (1927), consigned from the collection of a major connoisseur, and the most important Ernst painting of the 1920's to appear at auction for many years. The painting's violence, with its fearsome apparitions produced by frottage, harks back to the Middle Age and the Danse Macabre, while simultaneously anticipating the cataclysmic events to come in 1930s Europe (est. €1,500,000–1,800,000 / $2,070,000-2,480,000).

Glass Design at the Musee de Design et d'Arts appliques Contemporain (MUDAC) Posted: 24 Nov 2011 05:51 PM PST LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND - Following upon Post Mortem : dix créateurs repensent l'urne funéraire (ten creators rethink funerary urns) and In vino veritas : a project by Matali Crasset, the Mudac continues to explore glass design editions through the work of Ettore Sottsass and Pierre Charpin. A major figure in the realm of design, Ettore Sottsass, who passed away in 2007, founded the Memphis Group in 1981. Internationally acclaimed for putting a new light on the link between architecture and design, he focused his research on defining forms and space, granting much importance to light and color. Having studied the visual arts, Pierre Charpin's first influences were the conceptual and minimal art theories. Yet in the early 1990s, he set out on the more concrete path of design rather than aesthetic research. A decisive moment came with his discovery of the Memphis outlook of "not thinking of objects only according to their structure but also in terms of surface, color, decor," enabling him to adopt a more sensual than structural approach.

Matthias Weischer's exhibition at Museo de Arte de Ponce Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:58 PM PST PONCE, P.R.- Visitors to Art Basel Miami will have to add a stop on their itinerary to complete the feast of contemporary art, because in its tireless efforts to remain one of the trailblazing art institutions of the hemisphere, the Museo de Arte de Ponce announces the opening of the exhibition "Matthias Weischer: New Work" on Saturday, November 26, at 2:00 pm. This is the first individual exhibition in the Americas of one of the principal representatives of the New Leipzig School, which critics have called the "first art phenomenon" of the twenty-first century. The exhibit will remain open to the public through March 26, 2012, and will be accompanied by a selection of works from the museum that have a connection with Weischer's works.

The Frick Collection Names Mary L. Levkoff Winner of its Biennial Book Prize Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:57 PM PST NEW YORK, N.Y.- The Frick's Center for the History of Collecting has awarded Mary L. Levkoff its Sotheby's Book Prize for a Distinguished Publication on the History of Collecting in America for her critically acclaimed 2008 monograph Hearst the Collector (Abrams and Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Comments Frick Director Ian Wardropper, "Since its inception at the Frick Art Reference Library four years ago, the Center for the History of Collecting has fostered a high-level of discourse through fellowships, research tools, and symposia. Simultaneously the history of collecting art has found acceptance as a formal academic field, and we are very proud to play a role in that development. The Center's book prize further strengthens this area of study by acknowledging—and perhaps inspiring—relevant new publications, and we are grateful to Sotheby's for supporting this vital program. We offer sincere congratulations to author Mary Levkoff for her wonderfully researched publication and look forward to presenting the award to her formally at a reception hosted at The Frick Collection on December 6th."

The Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais Presents Works From the Stein Family's Collections Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:30 PM PST Paris.- The Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais is proud to present "Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso … The Stein Family" on view at the museum until January 16th 2012. This exhibition has been organized by the Rmn-Grand Palais, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. After Paris, the exhibition will travel to New York. The Steins, an American family, moved to Paris in the early 20th century: Gertrude, an avant-garde writer, set up house with her brother Leo, in the rue de Fleurus; her elder brother Michael took a flat with his wife Sarah in the rue Madame. They were the first people to buy Matisses and Picassos and they also received the entire avant-garde into their homes and thus built up one of the most astonishing collections of modern art. The exhibition looks at the history of this out-of-the-ordinary family. It shows how important its patronage was for the artists and how it helped establish a new standard of taste in modern art, through Leo's view of the sources of modernity and his exchanges with the intellectuals of the time; Gertrude's friendship with Picasso; Sarah's relations with Matisse; and the projects that Gertrude developed with artists in the 20s and 30s. It is a major exhibition bringing together an outstanding ensemble of works from the Steins' various collections:  Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse, Henri Manguin, Pierre Bonnard, Vallotton, Marie Laurencin, Gris, Masson, Picabia…. The eight sections shed light on all the members of the family: Leo, Sarah and Michael, and Gertrude and their particular collecting preferences. Sarah and Michael Stein became friends with Henri Matisse and were the first great defenders of his art. They put together an outstanding collection before the First World War. Sarah persuaded  Matisse to open an Academy and joined many other foreign artists in his classes. She supported Matisse's determination to explain his art through writing and teaching. In 1914, the Steins agreed to lend nineteen of their finest canvases to Berlin, for an exhibition in Fritz Gurlitt's Gallery. The war blocked their works in Germany and they were never recovered. In 1928 they moved into a villa that Le Corbusier built for them at Garches and lived there until 1935 when the rising fascist threat prompted their return to the United States. Pablo Picasso offered to paint Gertrude Stein's portrait in 1906 and they became close friends. That was when she began to write her monumental book, 'The Making of Americans',  which was deeply influenced by Paul Cézanne's painting (especially the "Portrait de Femme (Portrait of a Woman)" which she bought from Vollard) and her discussions with Picasso. They were both keenly interested in realism and the object, and developed a relatively hermetic discourse – one was literary, based on repetition and the other was pictorial, based on the decomposition of volumes. Gertrude and Leo both supported Picasso during his experimental work on "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", buying an outstanding book of studies and the large painting, "Nu à la serviette (Nude with Towel)", 1907. When brother and sister went their separate ways in 1913, Gertrude continued to buy Picasso's Cubist paintings. After the war, the artists that the Steins had supported became very famous and financially out of reach. Gertrude Stein, who was close to Kahnweiler, nevertheless continued to support the post Cubist production of artists like Juan Gris, George Braque, André Masson and others throughout the1920s. When Leo moved to Italy, and Michael and Sarah went back to San Francisco, Gertrude divided her time between Paris and her house at Bilignin (Ain). She defended a group of young painters, the neo-Humanists Francis Rose, Christian Bérard, Pavel Tchelitchew, as well as the later work of Francis Picabia, the "Transparents" and hyper realism. Before her death in 1946 she witnessed the emergence of informal abstraction with Atlan's early works. Her engagement alongside her companion Alice Toklas with the American Red Cross during the war made Gertrude Stein a popular figure and her fame was amplified by the publication of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in 1933. The many portraits made of her (by Felix Vallotton, Cecil Beaton, Man Ray, Jo Davidson, J acques Lipchitz, Dora Maar, Louis Marcoussis, Picabia, Rose, Tchelitchew, Elie Nadelman and many others) helped construct a myth that survives to the present day. Constructed in just three years, the Grand Palais is a true architectural achievement. For over a century it has been inseparably associated with key artistic movements, major technological breakthroughs in aviation, the automotive industry, and radio broadcasting, and has hosted a wide range of events from show jumping to high fashion, as well as the most avant-garde and offbeat themes. The Galeries nationales du Grand Palais exhibit artists' monographs, show great artistic movements and original projects, stage fine arts retrospectives encompassing the 20th century and the world's creative arts and civilisations: these major cultural events offer the public a broad and generous view of art history. For 40 years, the Galeries nationales have been a historic venue for major exhibitions, of which nearly 250 have been staged in collaboration with the most important French and foreign museums, on some 5,300 m2 of exhibition space! Recent successes have included the Claude Monet and J M W Turner and his painters exhibitions drawing 913,064 and 455,322 visitors respectively. The RMN-GP oversees the programming and production of all the events staged in the Galeries nationales, publishes all the supporting catalogues and works of reference, provides visitor hospitality, and is responsible for the commercial operation of the facility. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.grandpalais.fr

Chaïm Soutine and Modernism at the Kunstmuseum Basel Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:12 PM PST BASEL - The Kunstmuseum Basel opened the exhibit Chaim Soutine and Modernism through July 6. In comparison to the much more renowned work of friends and contemporaries, such as Amedeo Modigliani or Marc Chagall, Chaïm Soutine's oeuvre still has an aura of discovery. In a representative survey at the Kunstmuseum Basel, a reassessment of Soutine's position as a painter will be presented within the framework of the complex fabric of movements that marks 20th-century art. Born in Belarus in 1893, Soutine was confronted with unimaginable, in part religious opposition to his desire to become an artist. The decision to study art in Vilna showed great daring and courage. His path took him to Paris in 1913, the capital of the European avant-garde. Like many Jewish newcomers from Eastern Europe, Soutine initially found refuge in the sociotope of the studio residence, La Ruche, and later at the Cité Falguière, where he worked alongside such artists as Chagall, Modigliani and Jacques Lipchitz. Beyond this small circle, Soutine led a largely isolated life. While artistic movements, some of them originating in Paris, made waves throughout Europe – Cubism, Futurism, Dada and Surrealism – Soutine remained relatively unimpressed by these ramifications of modernism and instead cultivated a distinctive, highly intense painting of his own, informed with an unprecedented degree of profound and palpable emotion. His pictures are freighted with the tension of collapsing perspective and hyperbolically distorted figuration, reinforced by a powerful, gestural brushstroke. The revolutionary potential inherent in this painting exerted an influence well into the 20th-century and was a seminal force in the work of artists like Francis Bacon or Willem de Kooning. Paradoxically, Soutine is as much a visionary as he is a traditionalist: he was quite indifferent to one of the greatest achievements of modernism, the freedom of subject matter; he maintained an unwavering, lifelong devotion to the triad of still life, landscape and portrait. There is, in fact, not a single subject in Soutine's art for which one could not find a 17th-century model. It almost seems as if art historically sanctioned genres afforded him the security that he needed in order to venture into uncharted territory as a painter. The exhibition comprises some 60 works by Soutine, one point of departure of being the works of the Im Obersteg Collection on permanent loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel. Insightful juxtapositions with paintings by Soutine's friends – Modigliani, Chagall, or Utrillo – and artists like Picasso, Braque or Munch highlight the artistic context of Soutine's oeuvre. The selection clearly shows that Soutine was faced with the same artistic issues as his contemporaries, despite the fact that his extremely idiosyncratic trajectory eludes classification. The exhibition presents a new image of Soutine as the central figure at the intersection of the various artistic tendencies of his day. The Kunstmuseum Basel possesses the worlds largest collection of works by the Holbein family. Further examples of Renaissance art include major pieces by such masters as Konrad Witz, Martin Schongauer, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Mathias Grünewald. Most of these early treasures originally belonged to the collection of a Basel lawyer, Basilius Amerbach. Purchased by the city in 1661, they formed the core of the worlds first public municipal museum. Paintings by Basel-born Arnold Böcklin feature among the 19th-century highlights. In the field of 20th-century art, the accent is on Cubism (Picasso, Braque, Léger), German Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism and American art since 1950. Contemporary art is exhibited at the Museum für Gegenwartskunst (Museum of Contemporary Art).  Visit : www.kunstmuseumbasel.ch/en/home/

The Gardiner Museum hosts First Comprehensive Assessment of Viola Frey's Career Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:11 PM PST TORONTO, ON.- California-based artist Viola Frey (1933 – 2004) broke new ground by creating monumental figurative sculptures in clay that served to elevate the status of ceramics as an art form in the second half of the 20th century. The Gardiner Museum presents Bigger, Better, More: The Art of Viola Frey (September 10, 2009 to January 10, 2010), the first comprehensive assessment of Frey's career and legacy since her death in 2004.

La Fabrica Galeria in Madrid Opens Shows Solo by Shirin Neshat Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:10 PM PST MADRID.- From February 4 and until March 20, La Fabrica Galeria presents the work by Shirin Neshat, who will show, at her first solo exhibition at La Fabrica Galeria, "Faezeh" (2008) and the serie "Games of Desire" (2009). Neshat's work engages the viewer through powerful images, sweeping scores, and evocations of human passions and desires, while examining the social tropes that both stratify and unite. Neshat pitches these dialectics of East/West, man/woman, and oppressor /oppressed, to such a degree that these seemingly immutable polarities become malleable locations for query.

Green Cardamom to Show New Work by Pakistani Artist Bani Abidi Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:09 PM PST LONDON.- Bani Abidi is one of the leading figures from a generation of Pakistani artists who trained during the 1990s and began exploring social contradictions through their artistic practice. Green Cardamom presents two key works by Abidi at this exhibition – Karachi Series 1 (2009), a photographic investigation into, and a lament, of the loss of Pakistan's diverse cultural character in the face of the Islamisation of the nation's society that began in the 1980s. This work was shown for the first time at the recent Xth Lyon Biennale curated by Hou Hanru. On view 26 February through 28 March, 2010.

Art 40 Basel ~ Extraordinary Quality; Surprisingly Strong Results With 61,000 Attending Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:08 PM PST BASEL.- The 40th edition of Art Basel closed on Sunday, June 14, 2009. This year, the annual reunion of the international artworld attracted 61,000 artists, collectors, curators, and art lovers from around the globe, slightly more than last year and the highest number ever. The participating galleries, art connoisseurs, and the media were unanimous in pronouncing this a strong year for the show. Art 40 Basel demonstrated the health of the high-quality segment within the art market: Collectors rewarded excellent material and strong booth presentations with unexpectedly strong sales throughout the week.

Ed Ruscha's Iconic Work Highlights Sotheby's Sale of Contemporary Art Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:07 PM PST NEW YORK CITY - Sotheby's spring Day sale of Contemporary Art on May 15th, 2008, will feature Ed Ruscha's 'I Don't Want No Retro Spective', 1979, an iconic work which recounts a fascinating story about the artist and the American actor, Bud Cort,  (pictured above, est. $1/1.5 million*). Immortalized on the cover for Edward Ruscha's monumental 1982 retrospective, which originated at the San Francisco Museum of Art and later traveled to the Whitney Museum of Art,  New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 'I Don't Want No Retro Spective' will be the Sotheby's cover lot of the upcoming sale.

The Best School of London Post-War and Contemporary Art at Sotheby's Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:06 PM PST LONDON.- Sotheby's announced that its Contemporary Art Evening Auction on Monday, June 28, 2010 will present collectors with a one-off opportunity to acquire some of the best Post-War and Contemporary artworks by the venerated and highly sought-after School of London artists Lucian Freud, Leon Kossoff and Frank Auerbach, as well as Paula Rego, Richard Prince, and Patrick Heron (all born in the inter-war years between 1920 and 1935). These eight paintings of exceptional quality and historic significance come from a distinguished private collection and are estimated to realise in excess of £3,350,000. Discussing the collection, Oliver Barker, Senior Director and Senior International Specialist, Sotheby's Contemporary Art Department, commented: "The appearance on the market of this outstanding group, which showcases pieces by pioneering and celebrated School of London artists, marks a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for collectors and connoisseurs of British Art and an extremely special auction moment. The contributions these artists have made to the changing landscape of Contemporary Art are being fundamentally re-evaluated, and these works are highlights of careers that are increasingly recognised for the true extent of their profound significance and influence." This sale of this exceptional offering follows widespread focus on the extraordinary outputs of Lucian Freud, Leon Kossoff, Frank Auerbach, Paula Rego and Patrick Heron, through acclaimed international exhibitions: Lucian Freud: L'Atelier, currently at the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Frank Auerbach: London Building Sites at the Courtauld Gallery, London in 2009; Leon Kossoff: Drawing from Painting at the National Gallery, London in 2007; the Paula Rego retrospective at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid also in 2007; as well as the major publication of Auerbach's catalogue raisonné last year. This remarkable group of works attests artistic endeavours that have shaped the visual culture of our era, and stand as testament to a generation of astonishing talent. As illustrated by the pieces in the collection, the work is characterised by a recurring and cyclical approach to subject matter. There is also a shared fascination with the material of paint and each of these artists has developed an idiosyncratic and immediately recognisable language. These works reveal the earliest inception of genius in Freud's Memory of London; the most daring and innovative search for new forms of expression in Heron's October Horizon: October 1957; a skilful rendition of newly resolved subject and style in Rego's Untitled; the archetypal analysis of experienced landscape in Kossoff's King's Cross, March Afternoon; and the fully resolved masterpiece of a mature dialect in Auerbach's Mornington Crescent – Summer Morning. Highlighting the collection is Frank Auerbach's (b.1931) Mornington Crescent – Summer Morning. Exhibiting a stunning array of vibrant hues and a striking topography of oil paint loaded onto the canvas, the work is a sublime example of the landscapes for which Frank Auerbach is celebrated as one of the greatest British painters working today. It is central to a grand cycle of works that depict the archetypal vista of Auerbach's London, of which comparable examples are held in major museum collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The painting is among the largest of the artist's canvases ever to appear at auction and delivers a uniquely fulfilling and enthralling visual experience. Close to the Camden studio in which he has worked since taking it over from Leon Kossoff in 1954, the subject of Mornington Crescent has continued to fascinate Auerbach for over forty years. Mornington Crescent - Summer Morning is rooted in both a geographical and psychological place with the result that it is more than a representation. In the hands of Frank Auerbach, Mornington Crescent becomes a gloriously tactile and profoundly affecting entity in its own right. The painting is estimated at £1.5-2 million. Also headlining the group is an exceptionally early oil on canvas painting by Lucian Freud (b. 1922) entitled Memory of London, of 1939-40, which is historically significant and inaugurates many of the characteristics that have subsequently defined his artistic career. The painting captures on canvas the young artist's deep sense of longing for the excitements of the metropolis. It was executed while Freud was in remote North Wales, far from the capital, and renting a miner's cottage at Capel Curig together with his fellow student at the time David Kentish. Memory of London, estimated at £500,000-700,000, hints at the sense of displacement of a double exile - at this moment Freud was an émigré of Nazi Germany and also of the city he would later make his home. The Freuds had abandoned their well-to-do existence in Berlin in the late summer of 1933, departing the early horror of Hitler's Nazi regime that had escalated following his accession as German Chancellor in January of that year. Momentous events in the artist's life resulted in his decision that autumn to voyage to the mountainous seclusion of North Wales, and provide ample analytical architecture to interpret the complex and loaded work Memory of London. Its layers of oil paint represent the earliest formation of the artist's painterly language, while the lone protagonist is a foremost example of Freud's capacity to reveal the inner psyche of his subjects. Works in the collection by Leon Kossoff (b. 1926) include his outstanding 1998 oil on panel landscape King's Cross, March Afternoon, (est. £250,000-350,000), one of the largest works by the artist ever to appear for public sale, and an archetype of his repetitive focus on familiar subject matter. The panel is loaded with a colossal accumulation of paint and recounts his expressive and visceral working practice. This masterful paradigm of his output is joined by the 1968 oil on panel Nude on Red Bed No. 1 (est. £70,000-90,000), an especially intimate and evocative demonstration of his analysis of psychological and physical human form. Paula Rego's (b. 1935) work Untitled, estimated at £350,000-450,000, is composed of an exhilarating display of visceral mark-making engrained in pastel on canvas – a medium Rego has chosen to work exclusively in since 1993 – and is one of the most arresting depictions of the isolated figure from this most important period in her oeuvre. The work was executed in 1995, at a pivotal moment when the artist was between major cycles. The artist's friend Lila Nunes was enlisted by Rego to pose for the present work, continuing to bring the terrific sense of anatomical drama and palpable animalism that had enabled Rego to explore hidden truths of womanhood through bestiality in her previous series Dog Woman. The solidity of the model's form is distinctly palpable and tactile through the heavily-worked, built-up layers of pastel. The surface texture, at once evincing both waxy and chalky qualities, has been endlessly plied by Rego to reveal the corporeal character of her subject. First exhibited in a groundbreaking show at the Redfern Gallery, London in February 1958, Patrick Heron's (1920-1999) oil on canvas October Horizon: October 1957, is a historic work that belongs to a crucial turning point in the development of post-war Abstract art in Britain and the artist's career. With striped fields of vibrant chromatic intensity overlaid on top of each other and their respective pigments seeping into one another, the work encapsulates a courageous and unprecedented working method. Heron had experimented with pure abstraction as early as 1952, but maintained a figurative foundation to his painting until at least January 1956. Thereafter he began to develop a language of strokes of pure colour which moved away from a definite subject. The visual impact of the palette in October Horizon: October 1957 is remarkable and close inspection of the surface sees Heron working in an equally radical way. Over half a century since they were painted, Heron's 'Stripe' paintings are now receiving the recognition they deserve. The auction appearance of October Horizon: October 1957, which carries an estimate of £250,000-350,000, offers collectors an extremely rare chance to acquire a superb example of this body of work which has such significance for British abstraction in the post-war period.

Singapore Tyler Print (STPI) to open "All Editions" Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:05 PM PST SINGAPORE - What happens when artists at the forefront of contemporary art descend onto one of the world's best printmaking workshops?  "All Editions" re-ignites the extraordinary stories of the artist/printer collaboration told by artists, Ghada Amer/Reza Farkhondeh, Ashley Bickerton, Lin Tianmiao, Qiu Zhijie and Hema Upadhyay. Art to have at home, edition prints pull factors such as affordability, manageable size and handling have also found their way into the collections of major museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York and The Tate Modern, London. The edition prints by STPI's collaborating artists represent a variety of artistic strategies, social and political themes, Pop and consumer-based imagery, feminist issues, documentary and staged photography. On view 16 January through 20 February, 2010.

Migros Museum hosts First Solo Exhibition in Switzerland for Tatiana Trouvé Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:04 PM PST ZURICH.- Tatiana Trouvé (born 1968 in Cosenza, lives and works in Paris) became known for her room constructions, architectonic interventions, and snake-like metal sculptural objects that are seemingly solidified in movement – as if frozen. In her artworks Tatania Trouvé often explores the association between the "inner" and the "outer" on both material and psychological levels. Psychological spaces are turned outwards and become concrete, uncanny "inner" spaces. For this, her first solo exhibition in Switzerland, Tatiana Trouvé is exhibiting an installative spatial structure with architectonic interventions and large format drawings. On view at the Migros Museum until 21 February, 2010.

Recent Works by Cy Twombly Showcased at the Portland Art Museum Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:03 PM PST PORTLAND, OR.- Among the most important and influential artists of his generation, Cy Twombly has used mark-making and written language as the core of his artistic practice since the late 1950s. Twombly's work has come to define an important branch of gestural abstraction that conflates painting and poetry, line and word. The exhibition showcases three recent works—two virtuosic paintings and a bronze sculpture—that illuminate the artist's continuing engagement with process and content, the immediacy of materials, and the continuum of history.

Portland Art Museum exhibits "The Kimono in Print" Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:02 PM PST   PORTLAND, OR - Japan's national costume, the kimono, is more than a garment. It is an expressive form of dress that conveys complex social meanings through its details. In Winter, Silk Linings, on view at the Portland Art Museum through February 17, 2008, explores the significance of kimono ensembles as seen in the Museum's distinguished collection of woodblock prints, which reveal the innovative styles and enduring traditions that guide how this robe, obi sash, and other accessories are worn.

Ten Famous Works of Art That Were Damaged by Carelessness, Negligence, Anger or Pure Insanity Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:01 PM PST NEW YORK, NY.- The most impressive works of art often took months or even years to complete. Artists pour their knowledge, creativity and emotions into their projects. Their finished products are filled with meaning and thus personal importance, the value of which cannot be appropriately measured, at least until they sell to the highest bidder. The following famous works of art cost a lot of money, held a lot of significance to the art community, and were unfortunately damaged due to carelessness, negligence, anger or pure insanity, likely causing the creators great despair — or to roll over in their graves. 1. Fountain (1917), Marcel Duchamp: A gifted artist can make almost any object meaningful. Take Duchamp's Fountain, a white Bedfordshire model urinal he purchased in New York in 1917. Initially, there was debate as to whether it was actually art, as he submitted it to a Society of Independent Artists exhibit, which opted not to display it; however, in 2006, it was valued at $3.6 million. That same year, it was vandalized with a hammer by a 76-year-old performance artist, leaving it slightly chipped. The same man urinated in the piece 13 years earlier when it was on display in Nimes, France. The piece remains a hot target today. 2. Night Watch (1642), Rembrandt van Rijn: Night Watch could've used its own militia to watch over it through the years. Showcased at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the painting has been targeted on a few occasions. In 1911, an unemployed navy cook unsuccessfully attempted to cut it with a knife. In 1975, a schoolteacher more effectively slashed zigzag lines into it, and although the painting was restored, traces of the damage are still evident. The man was later determined to have a mental disorder and he subsequently committed suicide. In 1990, a man sprayed it with acid, but guards acted quickly and the painting was saved from destruction. 3. Danae (1636), Rembrandt van Rijn: One of Rembrandt's favorite pieces, Danae depicts the mother of Perseus — from Greek mythology — as she welcomes Zeus, his father. The eight-by-ten-foot painting nearly met its demise in 1985, when a deranged visitor to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, where it has been housed since the 18th century, brandished a knife and proceeded to slash Danae's lower stomach and upper thigh. He capped off the dramatic episode by tossing sulfuric acid onto the canvas, causing the original paint to splatter and run. The painstaking restoration took 12 long years to complete, and fortunately, the painting is again on display. 4. Rokeby Venus (1647-51), Diego Velazquez: Velazquez was a master at realistically depicting human form, as evidenced by his painting Rokeby Venus, in which the goddess Venus is lying in bed in a seductive pose, looking into a mirror held by her son Cupid. Venus was nearly ripped to shreds in 1914 by militant suffragette Mary Richardson — who later in her life became the head of the women's section of the British Union of Fascists — following the arrest of fellow suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. She entered the National Gallery in London despite previous warnings of a possible attack and left seven slashes mostly across Venus's back. Richardson was given the maximum six-month sentence for the deed. 5. The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist (1499-1500), Leonardo da Vinci: Also hanging in the National Gallery in London is The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist, a black and white charcoal and chalk drawing executed by da Vinci more than 500 years ago. It was valued at $35 million in 1987, when a man attempted to shoot it with a sawn-off shotgun intending to show his anger at the "political, social and economic conditions in Britain." The blast shattered the protective glass, causing a six-inch tear in the Virgin's robe. Numerous glass fragments and loose bits of paper were removed in the restoration, which, as usual in such cases, couldn't completely bring it to its original form. 6. Portland Vase (30-20 BC), Maker Unknown: The Portland Vase couldn't make it two millennia without being shattered, but it did outlast most household vases by about 1,865 to 1,875 years. The exquisite cameo-glass vessel, featuring depictions of humans and gods, was discovered near Rome in the 16th century and has been in the British Museum since 1810. In 1845, a drunken man threw another sculpture onto the Portland's case, smashing both. Some fragments of it were lost and later found, but added after its first restoration. Its final restoration occurred in 1988 and 1989, and now little damage is visible. 7. The Little Mermaid (1913), Edvard Eriksen: Because The Little Mermaid is one of Copenhagen's main attractions, the 4-foot statue has been defaced for a multitude of reasons — often political — and as a result, has essentially been rebuilt. Since 1964, its head has been sawed off, stolen, replaced and stolen again; its arm has been sawed off and stolen; it has been blasted off its rock base by dynamite; and it has been covered with just about every color of paint. It's quite possibly the most victimized piece of art in the world. 8. The Pieta (1498-99), Michelangelo: Revered by the religious and those who merely appreciate classic sculptors, Pieta is a prime attraction at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, as it depicts the body of Jesus in the lap of Mary after the Crucifixion. During its more than 500-year history, the most significant damage sustained to the work occurred in 1972, when a crazed geologist attacked it with hammer while yelling "I am Jesus Christ." Many of the pieces, including Mary's nose, were taken by onlookers and not returned. It was restored with material from Mary's back and now is protected by bullet-proof glass. 9. The Actor (1904), Pablo Picasso: Think of the costliest accident in your life in terms of monetary value, and now compare it to the 2010 incident in which a New York woman fell onto The Actor and caused a six-inch tear vertically along its lower right-hand corner. The 4-feet-by-6-feet painting, depicting an actor on stage wearing in a commedia dell'arte, had been on display at Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1952, and is estimated to be worth $130 million. Of course, because it was an accident, she wasn't punished — or required to foot the bill. But she certainly created lots of grief. 10. Le Reve (1932), Pablo Picasso: Four years before The Actor suffered its fate, a painting portraying Picasso's mistress Marie-Therese Walter, was damaged by its owner Steve Wynn, an American casino owner and real estate developer. Just before he intended to sell it to hedge fund manager Stephen Cohen for $139 million, which would've made it the priciest piece of art in history, he punctured the picture with his right elbow, creating a two-inch tear in Walter's left forearm. Wynn, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, decided not to sell the painting. The repair cost $90,000.

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:00 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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