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

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• The Contemporary Jewish Museum to Show "Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought"
• The Katherine Cone Gallery Exhibits New Works by Sean Cheetham
• Exhibition at the Princeton University Art Museum to Explore the Gothic Revival
• Corcoran Gallery of Art presents Photojournalist "Tim Hetherington ~ Sleeping Soldiers"
• Corey Helford Gallery Features New Works by Josh Agle (Shag)
• Museum of Fine Arts in Houston features career of Jules Olitski leading Color Field painter
• Dallas Museum of Art exhibition celebrates 100 years of Art Donations
• Exhibition in Bonn presents three of the most influential artists of the 1980's
• The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Offers "Clark Remix" to Explore Their Collection
• The Newark Museum Shows "Ajiaco: Stirrings of the Cuban Soul"
• Expanding Investment Options ~ Trading and Borrowing Against Fine Art
• New Catalogue to Explore Riches of National Gallery of Scotland's Collection of English Drawings
• Brainstem & Spinal Cord Images Hidden in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Fresco
• The Ulster Museum in Belfast Celebrates "The Queen: Art and Image"
• The Frans Hals Museum Presents Master Painters Side by Side
• Renovated Albertinum Museum in Dresden Unites Past and Present
• Japan Art Association Announces 2011 Praemium Imperiale Laureates in London
• Raoul De Keyser ~ Watercolors exhibited at Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art
• Carlos Nadal's Fauvist Paintings at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

The Contemporary Jewish Museum to Show "Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought" Posted: 13 Feb 2012 12:38 AM PST San Francisco, California.- The Contemporary Jewish Museum is pleased to present "Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought", an exhibition and the Dorothy Saxe invitational, on view at the museum from February 16th through May 28th. From the very first chapters of the Torah where one encounters them in the Garden of Eden, to the commandment Bal Tashchit (do not destroy) found in Deuteronomy forbidding their wanton destruction during wartime, trees occupy a particularly potent and symbolic place in Jewish literature and lore as expressions of paradise, regeneration, shelter, the bounty of the earth, longevity, and even as a precursor to the coming of the Messiah. "Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought", explores the role of the tree in Jewish tradition and beyond through the lens of contemporary artists, offering fresh perspectives on ritual practice and our connection to the natural world. The companion exhibitions include the continuation of The Dorothy Saxe Invitational, an exhibition series in which artists from diverse backgrounds and working in a range of media are invited to explore Jewish ritual objects (this year focusing on the holiday of Tu B'Shevat, the New Year for the Trees), as well as a selection of work examining the tree more widely in contemporary art practice by international artists including Gabriela Albergaria, Zadok Ben David, Joseph Beuys, April Gornik, Charles Labelle, Rodney Graham, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, Yoko Ono, Roxy Paine, Tal Shochat, and more. The third component is the expansion of the exhibition beyond the walls of the Museum on to the Jessie Square Plaza with a commission by the San Francisco-based environmental design firm Rebar. Building upon the Museum's long-standing tradition of asking artists from a variety of backgrounds to explore a Jewish ceremonial object, holiday, or concept within the context of their own mediums and artistic philosophy, over 50 contemporary artists from across the United States have created new works of art in response to a broad range of themes inspired by the holiday Tu B'Shevat (the New Year for the Trees). Tu B'Shevat, a minor holiday that falls in the middle of winter (this year occurring February 7-8), has become increasingly important for many Jews, especially here in the Bay Area, who have integrated faith and concern for the natural environment in a practice of environmental Tikkun Olam (making the world a better place). Originally a 2nd century holiday necessary for tithing crops to the temple, Tu B'Shevat was revived in the 16th century by mystical Kabbalists who observed the holiday with a feast of fruits in a special vegan seder that celebrated the life-giving properties of trees. In the 20th century, the meaning of the holiday shifted again as the planting of trees in Israel became crucial to inhabiting the land and gaining independence. Today, Tu B'Shevat has gained momentum with young Jews in particular who connect with Judaism through environmentalism and social justice. For the exhibition, each participating artist was asked to incorporate reclaimed wood into their work in some way. San Francisco designer Yves Behar fashioned the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph, from a piece of bay laurel driftwood found on the beach at Bolinas. Behar's piece is meant to suggest a reordering of our priorities. "Our awareness of nature needs to be first, like the first letter Aleph," says Behar. Colorado sculptor Yoshitomo Saito used a found aspen root as the basis for a work in bronze. Saito discovered that this iconic Colorado tree spreads through a root system that supports a colony of trees. While an individual tree may only live for 40-150 years above ground, the root system can survive for thousands of years. Says Saito, "The aspen root … represents not only the foundation of life but also means of survival and thriving of community." Also echoing this idea of endurance and its opposite, fragility, is a piece by Stanford-based artist Gail Wight who has fashioned handmade paper–a delicate and ephemeral medium–on which she has created an image of a cross section from a Devonian tree from over 400 million years ago. Luke Bartels, a member of the Woodshop collective in San Francisco's Sunset district, contributed a piece entitled The Wood Standard. The piece, a stack of wood shaped like bars of gold, questions the manner of ascribing value to particular materials over others–in this case positing trees or wood as valuable as gold. Michigan artist Lynne Avadenka took inspiration from a verse in the Book of Psalms that equates happiness, equanimity, and faith with a tree: "And he shall be like a tree planted by streams of water that brings forth fruit in its season and whose leaf will not wither." Avadenka used twigs from a fallen elm in front of her house to write out the Hebrew words of this passage, photographing them and fusing the images onto glass tiles. San Francisco artist Lisa Congdon was most interested in the symbolism associated with the Tu B'Shevat seder, and particularly the progression of four glasses of wine, from white to rose to red, that are part of the ritual feast. Made up of rows of triangles of reclaimed wood, the piece reflects on the layers of meaning she saw in the wine: "feminine to masculine, light to dark, creation and growth." Additionally, the Museum is working with Israeli artist/designer Dov Abramson to create an installation exploring how Jewish life and the cycles of trees are intertwined. This graphic wall will take visitors through an orchard of images, ideas, and language that illuminate the Jewish relationship to trees through ancient texts, contemporary rituals, and mystical ideas. Other participating artists and designers include Gale Antokal, Tor Archer, Helène Aylon, John Bankston, Bennett Bean, Garry Knox Bennett, Terry Berlier, Harriete Estel Berman, Johanna Bresnick + Michael Cloud Hirschfeld, Jeff Canham, Topher Delaney, Kiki Probst & Joel Cammarata of SEAM Studio, Richard Deutsch, Paul Discoe, Josh Duthie, Lauren Elder, David Ellsworth, Tamar Ettun, James Gouldthorpe, Beth Grossman, Grace Hawthorne, Tobi Kahn, Lisa Kokin, Paul Kos, Naomie Kremer, Daniel Libeskind, Deborah Lozier, Ron Lutsko, Liz Mamorsky, Jane Martin, Matthew McCaslin, Tucker Nichols, Josh Owen, Lucy Puls, Amy Klein Reichert, Galya Rosenfeld, Elliot Ross, Ellen Rothenberg, Kay Sekimachi, Nancy Selvin, Cass Calder Smith, Harley Swedler, David Tomb, Merav Tzur, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Lawrence Weiner, Allan Wexler, and David Wiseman. Presented in the "Do Not Destroy" exhibition is a selection of more than 20 works by international artists who have examined the tree–conceptually or formally–in their work in either an ongoing, almost systematic way like Rona Pondick, Roxy Paine, Zadok Ben David, April Gornik, and Gabriela Albergia or those who have investigated the tree in more discrete projects like Rodney Graham, Yuken Teruya, Yoko Ono, and Charles Labelle. The earliest work in the exhibition is documentation of Joseph Beuys' 7,000 Eichen (7,000 Oaks). Beuys dedicated much of his artistic career in the 1960s and 70s to broadening the definition of art to include social activism, created a lasting significant public arts project–the realization of the planting of 7,000 oak trees in the city of Kassel, Germany that was inaugurated at the international art fair documenta 7 in 1982. Five years later at the opening of documenta 8 in June 1987, some eighteen months after his father's death, and five years after Beuys planted the first tree, Beuys' son Wenzel planted the last tree. The project was a real gesture towards urban renewal as Beuys improved the urban landscape. Beuys effort is echoed in the work of later artists like Natalie Jeremijenko, documentation of whose One Tree(s) project is on view. In 2003, she engineered a group of cloned trees and planted them in different parts of San Francisco to examine the long-term effect of the different neighborhoods' environmental conditions on the trees' size and general health. Kim Abeles, in her 2011 work Enchanted Forest (and City Hall), combines satellite photography with model trees to create miniature landscapes that call attention to the absurdities of urban development in Los Angeles. Other artists in the exhibition are less activist in their approach, opting rather to create a visceral and immersive aesthetic experience like April Gornik's Light in the Woods (2011), a dense forest painting of monumental scale and depth. Claire Sherman's painting Night and Trees II (2011) is unsettling in its ruggedness, indicating the precarious state of nature while Robert Wiens' meticulously rendered Butternut (2008) is a colossal to-scale drawing of a fallen tree from his property. Marcel Odenbach's mixed media work You Can't See the Forest for the Trees (2003) is a meditation on the idea of trees as silent witnesses to history–a birch forest from Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp. Jason Lazarus' video The top of the tree gazed upon by Anne Frank while in hiding (Amsterdam) (2008) also acts as a witness to history–specifically to a young girl in hiding, writing to preserve her memory. Blackfield (2011) by Zadok Ben David evokes the title of the exhibition Do Not Destroy in its disproportionate scale–the viewer hovers menacingly over a frail but delightful pygmy forest. Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba's video The Ground, the Root, and the Air: The Passing of the Bodhi Tree (2004-2007) shows how a tree's spiritual power can emotionally affect the faithful. Yoko Ono's participatory Wish Tree also elicits belief from its subscribers who are invited to write their wish on a tag to be hung on the tree. In a departure from traditional landscape photography, both Charles LaBelle and Tal Shochat enhance the drama of the tree through artifice. In his 2000 series Illuminated Trees, LaBelle documents the lone trees that dot the resolutely urban environment of contemporary Los Angeles, illuminating them with a high-powered spotlight. Shochat's Five Fruit Trees (2010) are idealized images of bountiful fruit trees at the peak of ripeness that are devoid of any real context. Rodney Graham's photographs of inverted trees defy gravity causing a disorienting rupture of reality. A photograph from his 1998 series Welsh Oaks will be on view. The sculptors in the exhibition are almost God-like in their approaches, conjuring trees from their imaginations that delight with their super-natural physicality. Roxy Paine's larger-than-life tree sculptures resemble the formal structure of trees to a point, but eventually evidence of human intervention becomes apparent, as one notices odd growths, unrealistic proportions, and improbable growth directions. Models of his Palimpsest (2004) and Askew (2007) will be on view. Over the years, Rona Pondick has carefully cast her entire body, which she fuses together with flawlessly cast parts of tree branches. Her Head in Tree (2006-2008) is included in the exhibition. Yuken Teruya contributes two works: Notice–Forest (2006), a delicate tree cut out that stands firmly in the illuminated interior of a disposable bag, and The Giving Tree Project (2006), in which Teruya has cut into Shel Silverstein's book to add trees to its pages, perhaps compensating for the protagonist's neglect in planting for the next generation. Gabriela Albergaria is creating a site-specific work for the exhibition. Using downed trees and branches collected from Golden Gate Park with the help of San Francisco Recreation and Parks, Albergaria will create a hybrid tree sculpture in the gallery using faux grafting techniques based on traditional methods. With the opening of its new building on June 8, 2008, the Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) ushered in a new chapter in its twenty-plus year history of engaging audiences and artists in exploring contemporary perspectives on Jewish culture, history, art, and ideas. The facility, designed by internationally renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, is a lively center where people of all ages and backgrounds can gather to experience art, share diverse perspectives, and engage in hands-on activities. Inspired by the Hebrew phrase "L'Chaim" (To Life), the building is a physical embodiment of the CJM's mission to bring together tradition and innovation in an exploration of the Jewish experience in the 21st century. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.thecjm.org

The Katherine Cone Gallery Exhibits New Works by Sean Cheetham Posted: 12 Feb 2012 11:46 PM PST Los Angeles, California.- The Katherine Cone Gallery is pleased to present "Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams" on view at the gallery from February 11th through March 10th. There was an opening reception on Saturday, February 11th from 6-9 pm. "Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams" is a solo exhibition of new works by artist Sean Cheetham. "Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams," an ostentatious way of wishing some one the best in life, is an ironic, yet perfect title for Cheetham!s new series of classical, but edgy paintings of the figure. He is a skilled and accomplished draftsman, and his painting approach pays homage to academic painting traditions.

Exhibition at the Princeton University Art Museum to Explore the Gothic Revival Posted: 12 Feb 2012 07:59 PM PST Princeton, New Jersey.- The Princeton University Art Museum is pleased to present "Princeton and the Gothic Revival: 1870–1930", on view from February 25th through June 24th. This exhibition of 40 works explores America's changing attitudes toward the art and architecture of the Middle Ages around the turn of the 20th century. Organized by Dr. Johanna G. Seasonwein, the Museum's Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow for Academic Programs, Princeton and the Gothic Revival investigates the adoption of the Gothic Revival as a style appropriate for American universities, as seen through the lens of Princeton University's campus and collections. "Princeton and the Gothic Revival" covers the years between the dedication of the first High Victorian Gothic building on the Princeton campus, Chancellor Green Library, and the completion of the extraordinary University Chapel.

Corcoran Gallery of Art presents Photojournalist "Tim Hetherington ~ Sleeping Soldiers" Posted: 12 Feb 2012 07:40 PM PST WASHINGTON, DC.- The Corcoran Gallery of Art presents Tim Hetherington: Sleeping Soldiers on view through May 20th, an exhibition of work by the late photographer and multimedia artist Tim Hetherington, highlighting his work chronicling the Afghan War. Sleeping Soldiers is organized by Philip Brookman, chief curator and head of research at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The exhibition includes photographs as well as Hetherington's three-screen video installation Sleeping Soldiers (2010), which juxtaposes chaotic scenes of combat with still images of soldiers at rest. Between 2007 and 2008, photographer Tim Hetherington (1970–2011) was embedded with U.S. Army soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team at Outpost Restrepo, a remote and dangerous post in the Korengal Valley of northeastern Afghanistan. Living with the soldiers during their 15-month deployment, Hetherington recorded all aspects of their experience, from construction of the camp to scenes of intense combat, and through frequent passages of boredom and waiting.

Corey Helford Gallery Features New Works by Josh Agle (Shag) Posted: 12 Feb 2012 07:39 PM PST Los Angeles, California.- Corey Helford Gallery is proud to present the highly-anticipated exhibition of new works by Southern California artist Josh Agle, better known as "Shag". Entitled "Animal Kingdom," his second solo exhibition with the gallery was named while painting in his studio during the Kentucky Derby. "I heard that a Thoroughbred named Animal Kingdom had won the Kentucky Derby. Since the painting I was working on had a horse in it, and all the paintings for the exhibit featured animals, it seemed to sum up the body of work I was making". "Animal Kingdom" will be on view at the gallery from February 11th through March 7th. Recognized worldwide, Agle's iconic imagery celebrates commercial art from the 1950s and 1960s and is infused with playful narratives about consumerism and hedonism. "Ironic humor, impending trouble, or unexplained situations are common elements in most of my work," Agle notes.

Museum of Fine Arts in Houston features career of Jules Olitski leading Color Field painter Posted: 12 Feb 2012 06:06 PM PST HOUSTON, TX.- Revelation: Major Paintings by Jules Olitski draws together more than 30 monumental canvases from public and private collections, profiling the career of Jules Olitski, a major figure in 20th-century art. Organized by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and curated by E. A. Carmean Jr., Alison de Lima Greene and Karen Wilkin, this incisive survey will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, February 12th–May 6th, before traveling to the Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, and the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, D.C. Jules Olitski (1922–2007) has long received international acclaim for his maverick Color Field paintings of the 1960s. However, the larger arc of his career remains to be fully appreciated—an opportunity addressed by Revelation. The exhibition examines five decades of creative endeavor, highlighting the series that define Olitski's major advances: Stain paintings, Spray paintings, Baroque paintings, High Baroque paintings and concludes with the last great series titled With Love and Disregard.

Dallas Museum of Art exhibition celebrates 100 years of Art Donations Posted: 12 Feb 2012 06:05 PM PST DALLAS, TX.- The Dallas Museum of Art celebrates more than one hundred years of benefaction from its major donors with the release of a new collection handbook this February documenting the Museum's transformative growth since its founding in 1903. The 368-page full-color handbook provides an overview of the quality, breadth, and depth of the Museum's encyclopedic collection, and emphasizes the tremendous impact of the Museum's longtime patrons on the DMA, who enabled the Museum to grow from a regional resource into one of the nation's leading arts institutions. With an introduction by former Museum director Bonnie Pitman, the guide highlights more than four hundred works of art with new photography and scholarship, and showcases in particular recent gifts and major acquisitions from the past fifteen years, including the Museum's strengthened holdings of contemporary art, European and American art, decorative arts and design, African art, Indonesian art, and the work of Texas artists.

Exhibition in Bonn presents three of the most influential artists of the 1980's Posted: 12 Feb 2012 05:36 PM PST BONN, GERMANY - The New York art scene of the 1980's is the stuff of legend. Buoyant and creative, it was open to all kinds of new media and offered young talents a spectacular arena of opportunity. The quest for innovation meant that all traditions were up for grabs and relentlessly questioned. Graffiti artists took art to the streets, others brought the everyday into their studios. Painters and painting were at the forefront of this tremendous creative ferment. This exhibition presents three of the most influential artists of the period: Andy Warhol (1928–1987), Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988) and Francesco Clemente (b. 1952). At the heart of the show are the collaborative works by the three artists. The product of a period of intense interaction in the years between 1983 and 1985, they bear witness to the artists' mutual appreciation. To highlight the three very different artistic temperaments, the exhibition also presents a wide range of non-collaborative works by each of the artists that exemplify their individual style.

The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Offers "Clark Remix" to Explore Their Collection Posted: 12 Feb 2012 05:35 PM PST Williamstown, Massachusetts.- The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute presents its renowned permanent collection in an entirely new way with "Clark Remix", a dynamic salon-style installation featuring some 80 paintings, 20 sculptures, and 300 of the institute's finest examples of decorative arts. Two new interactive programs, uCurate and uExplore, accompany the exhibition, offering visitors a unique opportunity to actively engage in the curatorial process and providing virtual access to the Clark's collection. These innovative applications will allow visitors to learn more about the collection using computers, tablets, and touchscreens available in the galleries, or on their own personal devices. Clark Remix is one of the ClarkNOW exhibitions that the Clark announced last October in conjunction with the launch of its campus expansion project. ClarkNOW is a series of more than 60 programs that the institute will present in Williamstown, New York, and abroad over the next two years as it extends its reach during a time of transformation on its campus. Opening February 12th, Clark Remix will be on view through 2013 in the Manton Research Center on the Clark's campus. "Clark Remix represents one of many programs that the Clark is developing to engage audiences in exciting ways," said Michael Conforti, Director of the Clark. "Clark Remix allows us to present our permanent collection in an installation that is both beautiful and innovative.  Our salon-style presentation provides a very different and intriguing perspective on many of the works that have become familiar favorites for Clark visitors. Adding virtual components to the exhibition allows us to reach new audiences and invite them to discover and interact with our collection". Inspired by intimate sixteenth-century Kunstkammern (private displays of art) and visually dynamic nineteenthcentury salon exhibitions, Clark Remix features surprising groupings of works from different periods and places hung in close proximity. Paintings of Roman ruins are displayed alongside paintings of American seascapes; a Renaissance Madonna painting rests amidst femmes fatales; and silver teapots are displayed opposite bronze ballerinas, inspiring visitors to consider juxtapositions among the works. The digital applications uCurate and uExplore spark inspiration and provide information on the works featured in the exhibition. Accessible at touchscreens and computer kiosks in the galleries, uCurate invites users to choose from more than 250 works featured in Clark Remix to create their own virtual exhibitions in a 3D version of one of the Clark's special exhibition galleries. Users are afforded the opportunity to make decisions about their installations in much the same way that curators design an exhibition: choosing which works to incorporate, the arrangement of works on walls and on pedestals, the color of the walls, and the development of an introductory curator's statement. Users may post their designs on the Clark website and share them online via social media outlets. The Clark's curatorial team will regularly review the submissions and will select several for actual installation in one of the Clark's galleries. The "guest curators" who are selected will be invited to act as part of the curatorial team that will bring the virtual arrangement to reality, including working with Clark staff to create labels and wall text and participating in the installation process. uExplore, which can be accessed on tablet computers in the galleries and on the Clark's website, provides detailed information on each of the 400 works on view, along with related video or audio programs. Visitors can access both programs on their own personal devices through the Clark's website, clarkart.edu/remix. Clark Remix incorporates a full range of works from the Clark's collection, including Old Master, American, and Impressionist paintings, as well as a selection of portrait busts that represent the four traditional materials used in sculpture—marble, bronze, terra cotta, and plaster. In addition to paintings and sculpture, the exhibition includes several hundred works of decorative art drawn from the Clark's collections of English and American silver, European porcelain, and American glass displayed in floor-to-ceiling cases. Elaborate silver objects made for aristocratic English sideboards confront the more restrained but equally proud wares made in the American colonies; dainty teacups and saucers surround boldly modeled bronze ballerinas; an English milk jug once owned by Benjamin Franklin sits beside salt dishes balanced on the backs of grasshoppers. The Clark created uExplore and uCurate in collaboration with Swim Design Consultants and Virtual Gallerie. In 1950 Sterling and Francine Clark chartered the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute as a home for their extensive art collection. Opened to public in 1955, the Institute has built upon this extraordinary group of works to become one of the most beloved and respected art museums in the world, known for its intimate galleries and stunning natural environment. One of the few institutions in the United States that combines a public art museum with a complement of research and academic programs, including a major art history library, the Clark is now a leading international center for research and discussion on the nature of art and art history. Building upon the founders' legacy, the Institute has recently unveiled its master plan for the twenty-first century, which fosters the Clark's commitment to providing space for its expanding research and museum programs while maintaining the unique character of its beautiful rural setting. Although the collections have expanded greatly since the opening of the Clark in 1955, their scope and character continue to represent the taste and interests of Sterling and Francine Clark. Thus the collections focus almost exclusively on European and American painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative art from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. The Institute's greatest strengths lie in nineteenth-century European and American painting, especially the French Impressionists; English silver; master drawings and prints; and, in recent years, the Institute's growing collection of early photography. In March 2011, a number of nineteenth-century French paintings from the Clark's noted collection began a three-year international tour. While these paintings are on exhibition elsewhere, many of the Clark's other beloved works, including exceptional works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Winslow Homer, and John Singer Sargent continue to delight visitors. A rigorous program of special exhibitions further complements the Clark's esteemed permanent collection. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.clarkart.edu

The Newark Museum Shows "Ajiaco: Stirrings of the Cuban Soul" Posted: 12 Feb 2012 05:19 PM PST Newark, NJ.- The Newark Museum is proud to present "Ajiaco: Stirrings of the Cuban Soul", survey of modern and contemporary Cuban artists that explores the rich cultural roots of Cuban art. This exhibition consists of more than fifty objects, including paintings, works on paper, photographs, sculpture, installations, and audio works by 22 artists. "Ajiaco: Stirrings of the Cuban Soul" features such major figures in Cuban art as Wifredo Lam, Manuel Mendive, Jose Bedia and Sandra Ramos. "Ajiaco: Stirrings of the Cuban Soul" is on view at the museum until August 14th. After Newark, the exhibition is tentatively scheduled to travel to two additional venues: the Chelsea Art Museum in New York City and the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Ajiaco seeks to interpret the diverse social dimensions of Cuban art in a global context through the exploration of its relationship with African, Asian, European, and Indigenous influences and belief systems. The art incorporates the tales of the Orisha of Africa, the calligraphy of Chinese Tao Te Ching, and the rituals of indigenous peoples. The formats change, the materials vary, but the mix remains constant in both Cuban and Cuban American art. Ajiaco: Stirrings of the Cuban Soul is not necessarily about one group however; it explores diaspora, embracing those aspects of Latin American culture that are sympathetic to all. In broader terms, this project addresses both the immigrant experience and the expression of cultural identity in a new place. The curator, Dr. Gail Gelburd, writes, "Isolated and yet educated, restricted and yet heralded, the Cuban artist embodies the angst of their situation and yet embraces the loftiest of goals. Their syncretist tradition and heritage allows them to go beyond the monotheistic traditions in order to find the origins of their soul, the geist or inner spirit of their art." In 1939, anthropologist Fernando Ortiz characterized Cuban culture as ajiaco, a rich stew consisting of a large variety of ingredients. The ingredients of the "stew" include Catholicism brought in by the Spaniards; the spirituality of the Yoruba slaves and their cultural traditions from Africa; and the Chinese indentured servants who brought Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. The base of the stew is the indigenous people, such as Tainos, who were almost wiped out by the Spaniards. This exhibition is a survey of modern and contemporary Cuban artists that explores these rich cultural roots of Cuban art. In contemporary society, the "stew" has become thicker and richer as the influences become more complex and intermixed: the artist now borrows not only from the traditional cultures that populated the island, but also appropriates from contemporary everyday life. The exhibition includes works by leading artists in a variety of media, from paintings, works on paper and photography to mixed-media sculpture and installations. The Newark Museum, established as the largest New Jersey museum, invites you to enjoy unforgettable experiences in the arts and natural sciences. Take an inspirational journey through 80 galleries of world-class collections including American, Asian, African and Classical. Experience another era in the Victorian Ballantine House — a National Historic Landmark, and stroll through the beautiful sculpture garden. The Newark Museum operates, as it has since its founding, in the public trust as a museum of service, and a leader in connecting objects and ideas to the needs and wishes of its constituencies. In 2009, the Museum celebrated its 100th anniversary. The Newark Museum has been committed to collecting contemporary American art since its founding. The American Art collection at the Newark Museum, numbering over 12,000 paintings, sculptures, works on paper and multimedia art, is one of the finest in the country. Surveying four centuries, the Museum's American holdings include important Colonial and Federal portraits and a superb collection of Hudson River landscape paintings by artists including Thomas Cole, Frederic Church and Albert Bierstadt.  A pioneer in collecting and exhibiting American folk art, the Museum boasts outstanding examples by 19th century masters Ammi Phillips and Edward Hicks. The collection of American Impressionism and later 19th century art is equally distinguished, including major works by Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, George Inness and Winslow Homer. The comprehensive collection of 19th century sculpture includes well-known works by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French and John Rogers as well as Hiram Powers' The Greek Slave. The Museum began its commitment to African American art in 1929 with the acquisition of an important painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner.  It has continued to build a strong collection in this area adding works by Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence and Robert Thompson as well as the work of more contemporary African American artists including Melvin Edwards and Carrie Mae Weems. One of the collection's core strengths is early American modernism, in part the result of the Museum's commitment from its founding in 1909 to collect the work of living artists.  America's foremost modernists are represented, including Edward Hopper, Max Weber, Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, Robert Henri, John Sloan, Arthur Dove, Theodore Rozsak, Charles Sheeler and Alexander Calder. The collection also possesses one of the great landmarks of American art, Joseph Stella's monumental Voice of the City of New York Interpreted, and holds one of the greatest collections of geometric abstraction in the country. In addition, the Museum is the largest repository of works on paper created under the auspices of the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA ), and possesses over 100 vintage prints by the photographer Berenice Abbott as well as important photographs by Edward Steichen and Edward Weston. The Museum's commitment to folk and outsider art continues in its 20th century holdings, maintaining the world's largest collection of sculpture by William Edmondson as well as important works by Bill Traylor, David Butler and William Hawkins. The collection boasts a fine selection of mid-century paintings by Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, Wayne Thiebaud and others as well as important sculptures by Andy Warhol, Louise Nevelson and George Segal.  The Museum's post-war photography collection is especially strong with major examples by Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson and Andres Serrano.  The Museum continues to collect the art of its time, building an important contemporary collection that includes work by Martin Puryear, Chakaia Booker, Elizabeth Murray among others, as well as multiple works in a variety of media by such artists as Alexis Rockman, Willie Cole and Alison Saar.  New media is represented by examples of video installations by Nam June Paik and Pepón Osorio. The museum also has world class collections of African, Asian and Classical art. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.newarkmuseum.org

Expanding Investment Options ~ Trading and Borrowing Against Fine Art Posted: 12 Feb 2012 05:18 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The uncertainty in today's market has caused many investors to look outside the box. The stock market's volatility has had many investors looking elsewhere for investment options. Many grandfather companies that have been our staple, reliable investments have crumbled. This ongoing phenomenon had leveled the playing field for investments. Commodities that were not considered viable investment alternatives in our past are having a new lease on life. This is where art enters the playing field. Many of today's investment portfolios look more like this: stock, real estate, and, an Early American artist painting grandma gave me.

New Catalogue to Explore Riches of National Gallery of Scotland's Collection of English Drawings Posted: 12 Feb 2012 05:17 PM PST EDINBURGH.- The rich and diverse collection of English drawings and watercolours in the National Gallery of Scotland will be the subject of a beautifully designed and generously illustrated catalogue, to be published this summer. Featuring outstanding examples of work by the most celebrated British artists, such as William Blake, J.M.W. Turner and Thomas Gainsborough, the collection is surprisingly little known; this landmark catalogue will for the first time make its full scope and importance clear. English Drawings and Watercolours 1600-1900 - the first in a new series of authoritative and scholarly catalogues about the Scottish national collection - will become a key reference work for a wide range of enthusiasts for British art, including art historians, students, collectors, dealers, artists and picture researchers.

Brainstem & Spinal Cord Images Hidden in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Fresco Posted: 12 Feb 2012 05:16 PM PST BALTIMORE.- Michelangelo, the 16th century master painter and accomplished anatomist, appears to have hidden an image of the brainstem and spinal cord in a depiction of God in the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers reports. These findings by a neurosurgeon and a medical illustrator, published in the May Neurosurgery, may explain long controversial and unusual features of one of the frescoes' figures. Michelangelo is known to have dissected numerous cadavers starting in his teenage years, these anatomic studies aiding him in creating extremely accurate depictions of the human figure in his sculptures and paintings, notably the statue of David in Florence and paintings of God and other figures from the Book of Genesis in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel in Rome. Â Although the vast majority of subjects in this painting are considered anatomically correct, art historians and scholars have long debated the meaning of some anatomical peculiarities seen on God's neck in the part of the painting known as Separation of Light From Darkness. In this image, the neck appears lumpy, and God's beard awkwardly curls upward around his jaw. "Michelangelo definitely knew how to depict necks - he knew anatomy so well," says Rafael Tamargo, M.D., a professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "That's why it was such a mystery why this particular neck looked so odd." To investigate, Tamargo enlisted the help of his Hopkins colleague Ian Suk, B.Sc., B.M.C., a medical illustrator and associate professor in the Department of Neurosurgery. Together, the researchers realized that the unusual features in the neck strongly resemble a brainstem, the portion of tissue at the base of the brain that connects to the spinal cord. "It's an unusual view of the brainstem, from the bottom up. Most people wouldn't recognize it unless they had extensively studied neuroanatomy," says Suk. Suk adds that the strategically placed brainstem might also explain another unusual feature of the painting. In this same image, God is depicted in a red robe with an odd tubular structure depicted in the chest. Although God wears the same red robe in other images in the fresco, this tubular structure is absent elsewhere. The structure has the right placement, shape, and size to be a spinal cord, say the researchers, suggesting another piece of hidden anatomy in the artwork. Tamargo and Suk explain that, if their proposition is correct, it wouldn't be the first time that such concealed anatomical depictions have been proposed to exist in the Sistine Chapel's ceiling. In 1990, Frank Lynn Meshberger, an obstetrician based in Indiana, published a paper suggesting that the shroud surrounding the image known as the Creation of Adam strongly resembles an anatomically correct brain. "It looks like the central nervous system may have been too good a motif to use only once," Tamargo says. The two researchers plan to continue searching for other hidden pieces of anatomy elsewhere in the Sistine Chapel painting. Sistine Chapel (Italian: Cappella Sistina ) is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture, evocative of Solomon's Temple of the Old Testament, and its decoration which has been frescoed throughout by the greatest Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, and Sandro Botticelli. Under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) of the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. He resented the commission, and believed his work only served the Pope's need for grandeur. However, today the ceiling, and especially The Last Judgement, are widely believed to be Michelangelo's crowning achievements in painting.

The Ulster Museum in Belfast Celebrates "The Queen: Art and Image" Posted: 12 Feb 2012 05:15 PM PST Belfast, Northern Ireland.- The Ulster Museum is proud to present "The Queen: Art and Image", on view at the museum until January 15th 2012. To mark The Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the National Portrait Gallery Created this innovative touring exhibition bringing together 60 of the most remarkable and resonant images of Elizabeth II spanning the 60 years of her reign - some on public display for the first time. "The Queen: Art and Image" will tour to British venues before being shown in London in 2012. From Cecil Beaton and Annie Leibovitz to Pietro Annigoni and Andy Warhol , "The Queen: Art and Image" will be the most wide-ranging exhibition of images in different media devoted to a single royal sitter. Formal painted portraits, official photographs, media pictures, and powerful responses by contemporary artists will be shown in an exhibition which explores both traditional representations and works which extend the visual language of royal portraiture.

The Frans Hals Museum Presents Master Painters Side by Side Posted: 12 Feb 2012 05:14 PM PST HAARLEM, NL - The Frans Hals Museum is presenting a work by the British artist Francis Bacon flanked by two monumental paintings by Cornelis van Haarlem. What links these artists is their admiration for Michelangelo. This Italian painter, sculptor, architect and poet was a great source of inspiration for them both. The exhibition Conversation Piece II is on view from 3 July to 10 October 2010. With the series 'Conversation Piece', the Frans Hals Museum wants to encourage visitors to take a fresh look at the 16th and 17th-century collection of paintings. By juxtaposing these works with modern and contemporary art, surprising links are laid between highly varied styles and periods in the history of art. The museum demonstrates that even though certain perceptions and opinions have a long history they are nevertheless still valid today and continue to be revisited and explored.

Renovated Albertinum Museum in Dresden Unites Past and Present Posted: 12 Feb 2012 05:13 PM PST DRESDEN.- After thorough-going restoration and refurbishment, the new Albertinum now presents itself as a centre of art from the Romantic period to the present day. The new exhibition halls are shared by the Galerie Neue Meister and the Skulpturensammlung. The holdings of both museums, with paintings ranging from Caspar David Friedrich to Gerhard Richter and sculptures ranging from Rodin to the 21st century, have an outstanding worldwide reputation. Huge glass-fronted display storerooms provide visitors with unprecedented insights into the internal workings of the museum and will open previously hidden works to view on a permanent basis. Within the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden the new Albertinum constitutes a bridge between the past and the future. Today's Albertinum has little in common with the gabled Zeughaus, or arsenal, that was built between 1559 and 1563 and fulfilled important military functions over the following centuries. The most important remaining architectural features of the Renaissance building with its immense ground-floor vaults are the basement, the two-aisled hall with Tuscan pillars on the ground floor, two portals and parts of the rusticated façade. In the late 19th century a new arsenal was built in the Albertstadt district of Dresden and the old Zeughaus was no longer needed for its original purpose. In just four years (1884-1887) the building was converted for use as a museum to house the Skulpturensammlung. It was given its present Neo-Renaissance appearance and named after the reigning monarch at the time, King Albert of Saxony. In the bombing of Dresden in 1945 the Albertinum was less severely damaged than the city's other museum buildings. When the works of art that had been confiscated by the Red Army and transported to the Soviet Union after the war were returned to Dresden in the 1950s, the Albertinum became the collecting point for the art treasures. In the damaged building exhibitions were held of the precious objects belonging to the Grünes Gewölbe, of sculptures and porcelain, of coins and medals from the Münzkabinett, and of treasures from the Rüstkammer. The museums presented their most beautiful items together. The Porzellansammlung and the Rüstkammer soon moved out, but the others remained. After the restoration of the upper floor (1961–65) they were joined by the Galerie Neue Meister. In 2004 and 2006 respectively, the Münzkabinett and the Grünes Gewölbe moved into new premises in the Residenzschloss. Today the Albertinum is home to the Galerie Neue Meister and the Skulpturensammlung, two of Dresden's most illustrious art museums. Flood disaster and reconstruction: What began as a disaster turned out to be a new opportunity for the old Albertinum. In August 2002 flood water threatened the priceless museum treasures, and within a matter of hours unique paintings and sculptures had to be evacuated from the basement storerooms. This rescue mission would not have been possible without numerous helpers. The underground storerooms did not provide adequate protection for the precious cultural assets. Now a flood-proof workshop and storeroom complex hovers above the inner courtyard of the sandstone-clad building. That, too, would not have been feasible without the assistance of generous partners. The foundation stone for the new structure and for the complete refurbishment of the Albertinum was laid at an art auction in November 2002 for which 40 renowned artists donated their own works. The auction raised the fantastic sum of 3.4 million Euros. Planning worked commenced. The total costs for the new structure and the restoration work eventually amounted to 46.7 million Euros. Through procedures conducted under the aegis of the state-owned enterprise Sächsisches Immobilien- und Baumanagement, an architectural solution was found which enabled a new structure to be built without altering or destroying the original fabric of this historic building. The 60 metre long two-storey workshop and storeroom building, which weighs 2700 tonnes, is borne by a steel latticework structure that spans the inner courtyard like a bridge. The central space within the four-wing complex is not affected at all. With this unique and aesthetically pleasing technical solution, the architect Volker Staab and his team have succeeded in creating a flood-proof location in which to store works of art and at the same time generated a high-grade multifunctional inner courtyard. What is more, the spectacular new structure above the inner courtyard is hardly perceptible to visitors. From below it looks like a canopy and from outside it cannot be seen because it does not protrude above the roof of the building. The thoroughly refurbished exhibition halls, on the other hand, do look surprisingly new. What really is new for visitors is the entrance on the side of the building close to the Frauenkirche on Georg-Treu-Platz, and the entrance on the Brühlsche Terrasse has also changed. As before, you can turn left or right to start viewing the exhibitions, but now you can also go straight on. Then you find yourself on a kind of balcony in the inner courtyard, the ground floor of which is one storey below. The visitor also sees the display storerooms behind large panes of glass. However, the storeroom and workshop building is not visible even though the visitor in the courtyard is right under it. With the new Albertinum, Dresden's museum architecture has well and truly arrived in the 21st century: spectacular but unobtrusive.

Japan Art Association Announces 2011 Praemium Imperiale Laureates in London Posted: 12 Feb 2012 05:12 PM PST LONDON.- The 2011 winners of the prestigious Praemium Imperiale arts awards, announced today by the Japan Art Association in the ballroom of Claridge's Hotel in London, include Academy and Tony Award-winning actress Dame Judi Dench, New Media artist Bill Viola and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Seiji Ozawa. Carrying prizes of 15 million yen (approximately $182,000) each, the awards recognize lifetime achievement in the arts in categories not covered by the Nobel Prizes. The Japan Art Association also named The Royal Court Young Writers Programme and Southbank Sinfonia as the co-recipients of its annual Grant for Young Artists award. Each of the London-based groups will receive an award of 2.5 million yen (approximately $30,000). The grant is presented to groups or institutions that encourage the involvement of young people in the arts.

Raoul De Keyser ~ Watercolors exhibited at Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art Posted: 12 Feb 2012 05:11 PM PST Porto, Portugal  - The Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art presents Raoul De Keyser: Watercolors, on view through May 3, 2009. Raoul De Keyser is a painter, born in 1930 in Deinze, Belgium, where he still lives. His works have been exhibited since the 1960s, and since the middle of the 1980s his painting has enjoyed the highest international acclaim. While Raoul De Keyser tries to avoid the glamorous side of the contemporary art world, his work is shown regularly by the leading museums and private galleries on both sides of the Atlantic. The present show presents 60 watercolours from 2001 to 2008 many of which have never been exhibited before.

Carlos Nadal's Fauvist Paintings at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery Posted: 12 Feb 2012 05:10 PM PST Leeds, UK - The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery at the University of Leeds are pleased to present "Carlos Nadal: Paintings in Yorkshire Collections" from June 7th until Auguist 20th. The exhibition contains a fascinating collection of paintings by Carlos Nadal (1917-1998). The Catalan artist was one of the last 'Fauvist' artists with connections to Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, René Magritte, Georges Braque and other major European artists of the twentieth century. The exhibition brings together over 40 paintings and drawings in Yorkshire collections. A range of his favourite subjects will be selected, from rolling green landscapes, lively beach scenes, bold still life and figure studies, or ornate civic buildings – all in executed in his characteristically bold colours, wild brushstrokes and naïve style. Carlos Nadal, known and admired for his deep vibrant blues and rich reds, once commented in an interview that he discovered colour when he moved to Northern Europe; according to the Catalan artist, in his native southern Spain colour is wiped and bleached by the glare of the sun, and it took the soft light of the North (he lived in Belgium) to reveal its subtlety and nuances for him. Perhaps it was the fine northern light in Yorkshire that captivated his imagination when he travelled to Harrogate for his first retrospective show in England — perhaps it was his love of stunning architectural detail. His paintings of the Royal Pump Room from 1984 show the verve of Nadal's artistic expression at its best. Nadal married a young Belgian art student, Flore Joris at the end of the Second World War; they lived between Paris, Brussels and Barcelona. He widely exhibited in Spain, Belgium and France where he received many scholarships and awards, among others 'Grand Premio de Spa' in Belgium. He also exhibited at The Royal Academy in London. The travelling artist painted landscapes, cityscapes, studio interiors and beaches across France, Belgium, Moscow and New York. His special relationship with Yorkshire and England started with the 1984 retrospective show in Harrogate, which was followed by commissions for a poster and lithograph for the Harrogate International Festival in 1985, a one-man exhibition in London at the Solomon Gallery in 1987, and further shows in Harrogate and London between 1988 and 1996. A hidden gem at the heart of the University of Leeds campus, the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery offers both innovative temporary exhibitions and displays treasures from the University Art Collection. Entrance is free for visitors to experience the University's exceptional art collection. The collection includes stunning examples of European and British painting, drawings and prints, dating from the 17th century up to the present day, as well as small collections of sculpture, ceramics, miniatures and photographs. A new Education Room houses the University's collection of drawings and works on paper, and provides space for educational activities - from University teaching to school and community group activities. The Gallery offers a lively programme of public events - including artist talks, roundtable discussions, and art workshops. Join our mailing list to get invitations to our events and exhibitions. Accumulated over more than a hundred years, the Collection consists mainly of European, principally British paintings, drawings and prints, dating from the 17th century up to the present day, with small collections of sculpture, ceramics, and photographs. Outstanding elements are the Sadler Gift of early 20th-century British art, the collections of drawings and paintings by artists of the Camden Town and Bloomsbury groups and their contemporaries, and works by former Gregory Fellows in Painting and Sculpture, and the recent gift of works from the late Stanley & Audrey Burton's personal collection of 20th-century British art. The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery was refurbished in 2008 with funds from the Audrey & Stanley Burton Charitable Trust. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.leeds.ac.uk/gallery

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 12 Feb 2012 05:09 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 . 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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