Art Knowledge News - Keeping You in Touch with the World of Art... |
- The National Gallery of Denmark to show "Danish and International Art after 1900"
- The American Folk Art Museum shows "Jubilation-Rumination: Life, Real & Imagined"
- Sotheby's Hong Kong Spring Sales of Asian Art & Antiques
- The Peggy Guggenheim Collection shows European Art 1949 - 1979
- "Bertien van Manen: Let's sit down before we go" Now on view at Foam
- Japanese Masterpieces from The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on view in Tokyo
- Sotheby's New York to offer property from the Estate of Theodore J. Forstmann
- Art Naples features Exceptional Contemporary Exhibitions
- Stux Gallery opens "Kathy Ruttenberg ~ The Earth Exhales"
- The Belvedere Museum in Vienna To Show "Hans Makart" Retrospective
- The City Gallery Prague is Staging a Retrospective of Václav Radimský
- Painting: Process and Expansion From the 1950s Until Now at MUMOK
- Donald Baechler: Painting & Sculpture at Fisher Landau Center for Art
- James Cohan Gallery Presents the First Solo Exhibition of Alex Katz' Work in Mainland China
- The Robert Berman Gallery Features Southern California's Illustrator Artists
- ClampArt Shows the best of Stephen Wilkes
- Las Vegas Art Museum displays Collector's Contemporary Collections
- Bonhams Dubai Breaks Records
- The Butler Institute of American Art Hosts the 75th National Midyear Exhibition
- Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"
| The National Gallery of Denmark to show "Danish and International Art after 1900" Posted: 21 Mar 2012 11:02 PM PDT  Copenhagen.- The National Gallery of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst) is proud to present "Danish and International Art after 1900", a new display of the permanent collection, opening on March 30th. Artistic gravitas and innovative modes of presentation are obvious objectives for the National Gallery of Denmark, but in addition to this the Gallery's new displays of the permanent collections aim to establish a clear overview of the collection's key areas. That particular challenge is especially demanding as regards art from the dawn of the 20th century onwards: During this time art explodes and scatters into a wealth of modes of expressions and media at dizzying speeds. "Danish and International Art after 1900" is a multi-faceted display of the main movements within Danish art. Arranged in an overall chronological order, the presentation also allows scope for special focus on major individuals and collective movements. With highlights such as the expressive paintings of Emil Nolde and Robert Smithson's minimalist milestones the display also features major pieces from Modern and contemporary art. The overall focus on periods means that the era's distinctive characteristics and modes of expression are clearly evident. Individual works can be viewed and understood within the context in which they were made, as can the various breaks and shifts that took place along the way. The displays also aim to offer additional detail and perspectives on many different aspects of art. Many of the smaller rooms are dedicated to parallel narratives that focus on alternative trends or groups, or which offer an in-depth, monographic look at a particular artist.  Of course, the chronological display includes familiar highlights from the collections, ranging from works by Edvard Weie, Vilhelm Lundstrøm and Wilhelm Freddie to Per Kirkeby and Bjørn Nørgaard onwards to young artists such as Tal R and Elmgreen & Dragset. At the same time the presentation also endeavours to add new nuances to the familiar story of Danish art by pointing to artists and works that have hitherto remained obscured. For example, fresh attention is di-rected to female artists from the period: Astrid Holm, Sonja Ferlov Mancoba, Lene Adler Petersen, Kirsten Ortwed, Gitte Villesen, and Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen among many more – all of them artists who leave marked impressions on the hitherto decidedly masculine story of Danish art. Space has also been set aside to display a large number of new acquisitions and loans from private collectors; works that have never before been on display at the National Gallery of Denmark. The display does not believe itself to be conclusive. The Gallery has given it a format that allows for frequent substitutions of works in order to provide scope for the variety and dynamism that reflects the collection as such and its continued development. Now, after having spent a number of years on display in the old original building, the modern and contemporary works once again find their home in the two floors of exhibition space provided in the white wing of the Gallery. The exhibition rooms have undergone extensive renovation to allow them to show the many works – more than 500 in all – to their best advantage. During the process the exhibition spaces have been returned to the original layout that the building's Italian-Danish architect Anna Maria Indrio had in mind: a gallery arranged along a central walkway that extends through the full length of a floor in the long, narrow building. The axis acts as a kind of timeline that lets visitors set out on a tour through the realm of art from the early 20th century to the present day. The Statens Museum for Kunst ("Statens Museum" or sometimes "National Gallery of Denmark") is the Danish national gallery located in Copenhagen. The museum collects, registers, maintains, researches in and handles Danish and foreign art dating from the 14th Century till the present day, mostly with their origins in western culture circles. As far as the Danish art is concerned the museum must invest in and maintain representative collections. The collection of the Danish National Gallery originates in the Art Chamber (Danish: Kunstkammeret) of the Danish monarchs. The most important purchase during Morell's term as Keeper was "Christ as the Suffering Redeemer" by Andrea Mantegna. Since then a great variety of purchases have been made. During the 19th century the works were almost exclusively by Danish artists, and for this reason the Museum has an unrivalled collection of paintings from the so-called Danish Golden Age. That the country was able to produce pictures of high artistic quality was something new, and a consequence of the establishment of the Royal Danish Academy of Arts in 1754.  More recently, the collection has been influenced by generous donations and long-term loans. In autumn 1998, an extension was opened designed by the architects Anna Maria Indrio and Mads Møller from Arkitektfirmaet C. F. Møller. This new building was constructed in the park behind the original building and is connected to it by a glass-covered walkway, 'the street of sculptures'. The 'street' stretches along the full length of the museum, and within it concerts and dance performances are held. The old and new buildings are connected by one large-scale amalgamation between past and present. Facing the front is the old building and from Østre Anlæg is a new and modern building - seen from the side is a glass-covered street that connects the old and new buildings. The museum's collections constitute almost 9,000 paintings and sculptures, approx. 300,000 works of art on paper as well as more than 2,600 plaster casts of figures from ancient times, the middle-ages and the Renaissance. The major part of the museum's older collections comes from the art chambers of Danish kings. The museum contains collections of art dating from the twelfth century. In the older European and Danish collections there are represantations by Mantegna, Titian, Tintoretto, Breugel, Peter Paul Rubens, Jordaens, Frans Hals, Bloemaert, Gysbrechts and Rembrandt. The modern collection comprises works by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Fernand Leger, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani and Emil Nolde. Local Danish painters are richly represented with the styles of Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, Oluf Høst, Edward Weihe, Olaf Rude and Haral Giersing as well as the Danish sculptor Carl Bonnesen. Modern art is a substantial part of the Royal Collection of Paintings and Sculpture. The collection is representative, not only of Danish art history, but also of foreign art which has influenced Danish artists. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.smk.dk |
| The American Folk Art Museum shows "Jubilation-Rumination: Life, Real & Imagined" Posted: 21 Mar 2012 10:43 PM PDT  New York City.- The American Folk Art Museum is currently showing "Jubilation|Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined", a selection of almost 100 works from its permanent collection. The exhibition will remain on display through September 2nd. This wonderful show samples all the varieties of artistic expression under the museum's purview, from portraits and quilts by anonymous craftspeople to otherworldly fantasies envisioned by so-called Outsiders like Henry Darger and Martin Ramírez. Life is not lived in black and white: reality may have the tinge of dreams and dreams an air of reality. This provocative tension exists between the experiential nature of early American folk art and the fantastical imagery it often displays—between what is real and what is imagined. The same is true of the work of contemporary self-taught artists, which may introduce unique—and sometimes puzzling—expressions that illuminate the iconoclastic nature that is the flip side of the collective American psyche. |
| Sotheby's Hong Kong Spring Sales of Asian Art & Antiques Posted: 21 Mar 2012 10:36 PM PDT  Hong Kong.- Sotheby's Hong Kong Spring Sales will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from March 31st through April 4th. The sale series will include Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Fine Chinese Paintings, Contemporary Asian Art, 20th Century Chinese Art, Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings, Jewellery, Watches and Wines. A total of over 2,900 lots on offer are expected to fetch in excess of HK$1.8 billion / US$233 million.We are also very privileged to offer the third instalment of the Meiyintang Collection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains, the grandest collection of its kind in Europe. Among the exceptional paintings that we have collected, there is an abstract work by Zao Wou-Ki entitled "25.06.86" as well as an early "Bloodline — Big Family: Family No.2" by contemporary artist Zhang Xiaogang. |
| The Peggy Guggenheim Collection shows European Art 1949 - 1979 Posted: 21 Mar 2012 10:14 PM PDT  Venice, Italy.- The Peggy Guggenheim Collection presents "European Art, 1949 -1979", a selection of works from the museum's holdings of postwar European painting and sculpture, largely from the period 1949 -79, will be installed in the museum's temporary exhibition galleries. This exhibition documents how Peggy Guggenheim continued to collect even after her withdrawal from New York, center of the artistic avant-garde, in 1947, the year she closed her museum - gallery Art of This Century. This exhibition is therefore a celebration of Peggy Guggenheim's Venetian life and her residence in Palazzo Venier dei Leoni. It is also however an opportunity to exhibit donations, works that have entered the Venetian Foundation since Peggy Guggenheim's death in 1979. Several sculptures regularly on view in the museum's Nasher Sculpture Garden belong in this category: by Germaine Richier, Anthony Caro, Bryan Hunt, Jenny Holzer, Mirko, and Barry Flanagan. On view through 6th of May. |
| "Bertien van Manen: Let's sit down before we go" Now on view at Foam Posted: 21 Mar 2012 10:02 PM PDT  AMSTERDAM.- This spring Foam presents the solo exhibition Let's Sit Down Before We Go by Bertien van Manen (1942). More than 60 photos are on show, created between 1991 and 2009. During that time, Van Manen regularly and extensively travelled with a small 35mm camera through Russia, Moldavia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Tatarstan and Georgia. She stayed for long periods with the people she met on her travels, learned their language and usually became friends with them. This produced intimate and sometimes tender photos resulting from a personal and sincere relationship. In Bertien van Manen's humanistic approach, photographer and subject are equals and the mutual respect is palpable. Let sit down before we go, by Bertien van Manen can be seen from 19 March to 24 June at Foam. |
| Japanese Masterpieces from The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on view in Tokyo Posted: 21 Mar 2012 09:46 PM PDT  TOKYO.- Known as a Mecca for Asian art, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston has been collecting Japanese art since the days of Ernest Fenollosa and Okakura Tenshin, and is now said to be home to over 100,000 works. In terms of both quality and quantity, this collection is one of the best in the world and contains many superlative artworks indispensable for an understanding of Japanese art. This exhibition provides an opportunity to view masterpieces from this collection, with a focus on paintings, including several from the Bigelow Collection. The Birth of the Collection The Japanese art collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, first took shape through the contributions of two Bostonians, Ernest Francisco Fenollosa (1853–1908) and William Sturgis Bigelow (1850–1926), who came to Japan in quick succession in the late 1870s and 1880s. During their time in Japan, they conducted surveys of Japanese antiquities and acquired art with intense energy. Their collections encompassed a broad range of periods and genres, from eighth-century Buddhist images to paintings by medieval, early modern, and even Meiji-era artists, as well as ukiyo-e prints, Buddhist sculptures, swords, textiles, and more. After returning to the United States, Fenollosa became the curator of Japanese art and Bigelow a trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and their expansive collections were gifted to the museum. Buddhist Deities and Shinto Manifestations The Buddhist art collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is widely celebrated for its preeminent quality among Western collections. There are 260 of Buddhist paintings—including syncretic images—comprised of a total of 326 individual objects and ranging from the Nara period to the Meiji era, with works from the Bigelow and Fenollosa-Weld collections at their core. An additional eighty-four Buddhist and Shinto sculptures comprised of ninety-seven individual objects date from the Asuka period to the Meiji era and came to the museum primarily from the Bigelow collection and donor gifts. Included among both the paintings and sculptures are major works obtained for the museum by Okakura Kakuzo through funds dedicated specifically for the acquisition of Chinese and Japanese art. This section of the exhibition presents seventeen Buddhist paintings, including Shaka, the Historical Buddha, Preaching on Vulture Peak (Hokkedo konpon mandara, No. 5), and four sculptures, including the standing Miroku, the Bodhisattva of the Future (No. 23) by Kaikei.  Two Great Handscrolls that Traversed the Ocean Two particularly outstanding works in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts collection are the handscrolls of Minister Kibi's Adventures in China (No. 26), which offer a vivid and at times humorous depiction of the activities of Kibi no Makibi, a Japanese envoy to Tang China, and the Illustrated Scrolls of the Events of the Heiji Era (Heiji monogatari emaki) (No. 27), which illustrates scenes from the twelfth-century Heiji Rebellion through a rich and carefully calculated pictorial composition. Documentation in ancient records such as the Kanmon nikki traces the provenance of these works through the care and protection of emperors and noble families, shrines and temples, until, like so many other works of art, they were released onto the art market amidst the social upheaval brought about by the fall of the shogunal government at the end of the Edo period. Whether due to the effects of the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923, global depression, or some other unknown reason, the scrolls of Minister Kibi's Adventures in China went without a buyer for nine years. Eventually, the Events of the Heiji Era and Minister Kibi's Adventures in China scrolls made their way across the ocean after being discovered by Fenollosa and Tomita Kojiro (1890–1976) respectively. Considering how many works of painting were divided up and scattered during the turbulent times of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it is most fortunate that these handscrolls have thus been preserved intact. Stillness and Radiance—Medieval Ink Painting and the Early Kano School Ink painting was introduced to Japan in the latter part of the Kamakura period, primarily through the mediation of Zen monks who conducted exchange with China in various forms. From that time until the early Muromachi period, the majority of Japanese ink paintings were produced by monk painters affiliated with Zen temples, who used Chinese Song- and Yuan-dynasty ink paintings as models. However, the Onin War (1467–77) spurred a gradual transfer of the domain of ink painting from Zen monks to professional painters led by the Kano school. Meanwhile, in addition to ink painting, early Kano school works evolved in diverse styles incorporating gold-ground materials, gold clouds, and even vivid colors. Almost all of the medieval ink paintings and early Kano school works in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, were amassed by Fenollosa and Bigelow and accessioned by the museum in 1911. Medieval ink paintings in this exhibition include Kannon, the Bodhisattva of Compassion (No. 28), a masterpiece of ink painting from the early stage of development, and the exceptional Landscape (No. 33) produced by the Zen painter Shokei based on a Song-dynasty model, as well as masterful early Kano school paintings ranging from those of Motonobu, who established the foundation for the Kano school, to ones by Shoei. The Blossoming of Early Modern Painting The Azuchi-Momoyama period was a golden age of painting that successively witnessed the appearance of Kano Eitoku (1543–90) and other artists of particular talent. The Kano, Hasegawa, Unkoku, Soga, and other Chinese-style painting schools competed to produce the most and the best large-scale screen and panel paintings. Their powerful expressions in ink convey a sense of the heroic ambition of the warring-states generals. In the Edo period, Kano Tanyu (1602–74), who became an official painter to the Tokugawa shogunate, established a refined and graceful style that was to have a significant impact on the entire artistic world. At the same time, there was also a branch of Kano artists who remained in Kyoto and preserved a unique and richly decorative style all their own. On the other hand, the Tosa school, which specialized in Japanese-style Yamato-e painting and had declined in prominence in the Azuchi-Momoyama period, was restored to a central position of authority when Tosa Mitsuoki (1617–91) was appointed head of the imperial painting bureau. Artists with roots in the Kyoto merchant class were also active, including Tawaraya Sotatsu, who opened up a path to a new world of decorative beauty, and Ogata Korin (1658–1716), who followed in the footsteps of Sotatsu's creative style and inaugurated the Rinpa school. This section of the exhibition is comprised of representative works from these major schools of painting dating from the Azuchi-Momoyama to the early Edo periods, as well as genre paintings reflecting an interest in exoticism and a hedonism of the age, and works by Ito Jakuchu (1716–1800), who is renowned today as an eccentric painter. This overview of early modern painting traditions from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, allows us to appreciate fully the superior quality of its Japanese art collection, which is considered unparalleled outside of Japan.  Soga Shohaku—Eccentric Genius It is often said that "one cannot speak of Japanese art without seeing the Boston collection." Among the more than 100,000 works that make up this outstanding collection, the works of Soga Shohaku (1730–81) command a particularly prominent position. At present, the museum owns forty-one paintings (or, when counting each screen or scroll as a single piece, a total of fifty-nine objects) by Shohaku or in his style, making this a Shohaku collection the likes of which is unrivaled. Before the 1930s, when a large number of works were deaccessioned and replaced in an effort to further enrich the Asian art collection, the museum held almost twice as many works attributed to Shohaku. The eleven works exhibited here were all acquired by Bigelow and Fenollosa, and one cannot but be amazed by the discerning eye of these two collectors who recognized the appeal of Shohaku's work long before his relatively recent rise to distinction here in Japan. Swords and Textiles—The Fascination of Japanese Craftsmanship The Japanese collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, reflects Bigelow and Fenollosa's comprehensive attitude toward collecting based on a systematic historical approach. Consequently, it is interesting that decorative and industrial art objects were included among their acquisitions. In Meiji-era Japan, ceramics, lacquer-wares, and metalwork were being produced in large quantities for export to the West, and such works in large part supported the economy of Japan as a modern nation-state. Furthermore, the production of these types of works was possible because of the high level of technical proficiency that had been cultivated in these areas through the Edo period. |
| Sotheby's New York to offer property from the Estate of Theodore J. Forstmann Posted: 21 Mar 2012 09:14 PM PDT  NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby's announced that it will offer Property from the Estate of Theodore J. Forstmann, the legendary financier and well known American philanthropist. Mr. Forstmann was also a collector of great connoisseurship and refinement, whose collecting interests spanned Impressionist and Modern art, Contemporary art, American art and Latin American art. A significant group of works will highlight Sotheby's Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on 2nd May and includes Pablo Picasso's portrait of Dora Maar titled Femme assise dans un fauteuil, which exemplifies the artist's wartime work and his passionate exchange with Dora Maar (est. $20/30 million*). Chaïm Soutine's Le chausseur de chez Maxim's is a masterwork of Expressionism and arguably the crowning achievement of the artist's career (est. $10/15 million), and Soutine's Le Chasseur (est. $4/6 million), both done in Paris in the 1920s will be major highlights, as will be Tête humaine, a prime example of Joan Miró's formative output of the 1930s (est. $10/15 million). Outstanding works by Lichtenstein, Basquiat and Gorky will be included in Sotheby's Contemporary Art Evening Auction on 9th of May. These works will be sold across a series of sales at Sotheby's in New York through May, and are estimated in excess of $75 million. |
| Art Naples features Exceptional Contemporary Exhibitions Posted: 21 Mar 2012 08:57 PM PDT  Naples, Florida.- The second annual Art Naples will return from March 22nd through March 26th at the Naples International Pavilion at Immokalee and Livingston Roads. Inaugurated in 2011, Art Naples introduced international contemporary galleries to the flourishing art scene of Florida's Gulf Coast for the first time. The inaugural fair drew over 12,000 attendees from over 38 states and 13 countries. This year's Fair will again showcase an array of international galleries exhibiting artists spanning 20th century modern masters and 21st century contemporary and emerging artists. The presentations will include a wide breadth of mediums encompassing fine art glass, painting, photography, mixed media, large-scale installation, sculpture and video. Fair organizing firm, International Fine Art Expositions, has always believed that it is not only vital to bring the cultural experience of an international art fair to a community but also an educational perspective of what makes the artworks so fascinating. Therefore this year will continue an informative lecture and panel series. |
| Stux Gallery opens "Kathy Ruttenberg ~ The Earth Exhales" Posted: 21 Mar 2012 08:41 PM PDT New York City.- Stux Gallery is pleased to announce, "The Earth Exhales", new ceramic sculptures by Kathy Ruttenberg, on view at the gallery from March 22nd through May 5th. There will be an opening reception on Thursday, March 22nd from 6 - 8 pm. Working with only "earth, fire and emotions," Kathy Ruttenberg's fairytale-like ceramic sculptures create a world that is immediately captivating, but the viewer might be surprised by what's down the rabbit hole. Her first show at Stux Gallery, "The Earth Exhales", intersects in sensibility with works by artists such as Adriana Varejão, Arlene Shechet, and Kiki Smith, and may recall the theatricality of Mike Kelley, Louise Bourgeois and Mauricio Cattelan. Her violent and devastating visions are disturbingly peaceful, idyllic and sustainable. Erasing the boundary of the metaphorical and the literal, Ruttenberg's world is filled with lush foliage, woodland creatures and puzzling, slightly grim yet open-ended reveries of gender relations. Men are always portrayed as animals in gentlemen's clothing, and women are always well-groomed and dressed in rounded skirts. On one hand, men are literally animal-like savages, but at the same time they are native creatures of the woodlands and the earth itself, whereas the female figures are the outsiders, if not intruders. It is hard to tell if they are men masquerading as animals, or vice versa. Death, in works such as "The Moment After", is the stark aftermath of failed love, but also an opportunity to blossom imaginatively and become one with earth. In "Submission", a man with a deer's head holds a woman in a Pieta fashion, but religious weight or any other references to non-romantic aspects of reality dissipate in Ruttenberg's wonderland. Their love story retreat behind their dead-pan, nonchalant expressions, and is instead narrated in a completely carnal and materialized manner: on the man's back, two windows are carved out to display a mouse and a dog, and an image of a dog man eating her alive is tattooed on his skin. The occurrence of love is commemorated, and her demise and sacrifice are casually noted. "Ladies Chaste", a light sculpture, further complicates this discussion. The piece is composed of women alone, but the freedom from the dogman-ruled earth does not translate into relief. Literally suspended from the earth in a bright chandelier, the ladies are dressed in angelic, beribboned white dresses. The flowers that consumed their bodies in "The Moment After" are now uprooted and purely decorative. However, the women are identical, lifeless and stifled, dangling with detached joints like rack of unused puppets. Instead of imagined vegetation, they are consumed and saturated by real, artificial lighting, and have been reduced to a set of commercial light fixtures in exchange for gaining chastity. The burning bulbs echo the firing clay, and this time the agitating heat is tangible as the light casts on the viewer. Kathy Ruttenberg is a New York based, Chicago born sculptor. She received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York, pursuing advance studies in Morocco and at New York University. She has been exhibited widely in the U.S. and internationally in places such as Korea, Spain and France. Ruttenberg's work has received wide coverage in publications such as The New York Times, Art in America, The Independent and The Boston Globe. The Stux Gallery concentrates on exhibiting mid-career, emerging and well-established artists ranging from painting and photography to sculpture, installation, and performance artwork. The thrust of Stux Gallery's overall program is to cover a broad spectrum of artists from the United States, Europe, the Far East, Australia, Asia, and Africa whose work shares an interest in challenging the boundaries of genre and medium, often with a deeply conceptual bent, always with an aesthetically rewarding engagement with the material and formal presentation of the work. Originally founded more than twenty-five years ago by Stefan and Linda Stux in Boston in 1980, Stux Gallery first established its international profile in 1986 at its New York gallery on Spring Street in SoHo. The gallery's success was recognized early on, with enthusiastic reviews of its emerging artists in the national and international art press, receiving the New York Times' year-end "Best of New York," several years in a row. In this early phase of the gallery, the program emphasized development and promotion of gifted young artists including by now internationally famous artists such as Vik Muniz, Fabian Marcaccio, Lawrence Carroll, Elaine Sturtevant, Doug and Mike Starn and Andres Serrano among others. Relocating from SoHo to Chelsea early on in 1996, Stux Gallery continued this distinctive aesthetic program, introducing noteworthy artists that have since become international stars to the international art scene, such as Inka Essenhigh. More recently, the gallery has been representing additional mid-career and senior artists, such as Dennis Oppenheim, Shimon Okshteyn, Orlan, Kuno Gonschior, Zigi Ben-Haim, Tracey Moffatt, Margaret Evangeline and Joseph Zehrer. This program has been balanced with ongoing interest in discovering exciting young talent working in a variety of media, including Aaron Johnson, Heide Trepanier, Anna Jóelsdóttir, Thordis Adalsteinsdottir, James Busby, Dean Monogenis and Don Porcella. The gallery's historical connections to photography are underscored by Ruud van Empel, Iké Udé, Markus Wetzel, Suellen Parker and Lydia Venieri. Throughout the years the Gallery has fostered international relationships and collaborations over the years with an array of international galleries. Visit the gallery's website at ... www.stuxgallery.com |
| The Belvedere Museum in Vienna To Show "Hans Makart" Retrospective Posted: 21 Mar 2012 07:49 PM PDT  Vienna.- From 9 June until 9 October, the Belvedere Museum in Vienna will be showing a retrospective collection of works by Hans Makart at the Lower Belveder and Orangery. Like no other artist of the nineteenth century, Hans Makart influenced an era whose embodiment he became and which went down in the annals of history as the 'Makart period'. The Belvedere devotes a comprehensive exhibition to this exceptional artist, which is being compiled in cooperation with the Wien Museum and is going to investigate the myth of Makart. Called to Vienna's imperial court when still a young talent, the artist quickly climbed the ladder of success. His paintings were popular among the rising bourgeoisie and were eventually considered an indicator of social recognition and repute. Makart knew how to take advantage of the new possibilities of the emerging industrial age to market his works and use them for his own aesthetic language. His pictures and subjects became emblematic mirror images of his time and attracted attention both at home and abroad. Makart's international recognition and appreciation, but also his painterly approach to colour, which relied on Delacroix, invite comparison with the international art of his period. His intense painterly treatment of Richard Wagner's operas attests to his keen sense of innovative artistic developments. The designs by Gottfried Semper, who was a friend of Richard Wagner's, inspired Makart to conceive his own architectural fantasies, which reflects his interest in the Gesamtkunstwerk or total work of art. Held in great esteem, Markat died in 1884 at the young age of forty-four years.  Makart was the son of a chamberlain at the Mirabell Palace, born in the former residence of the prince-archbishops of Salzburg. Initially, he received his training in painting at the Vienna Academy between 1850 and 1851 from Johann Fischbach. While in the Academy, German art was under the rule of a classicism, which was entirely intellectual and academic—clear and precise drawing, sculpturesque modelling, and pictorial erudition were esteemed above all. Makart, who was a poor draughtsman, but who had a passionate and sensual love of color, was impatient to escape the routine of art school drawing. For his fortune, he was found by his instructors to be devoid of all talent and forced to leave the Vienna Academy. He went to Munich, and after two years of independent study attracted the attention of Karl Theodor von Piloty, under whose guidance, between 1861 and 1865 he developed his painting style. During these years, Makart also travelled to London, Paris and Rome to further his studies. The first picture he painted under Piloty, "Lavoisier in Prison", though it was considered timid and conventional, attracted attention by its sense of color. In his next work, "The Knight and the Water Nymphs", he first displayed the decorative qualities to which he afterwards sacrificed everything else in his work. His fame became established in the next year, with two works, Modern Amoretti and The Plague in Florence. His painting Romeo and Juliet was soon after bought by the Austrian emperor for the Vienna Museum, and Makart was invited to come to Vienna by the aristocracy. The He gradually turned it into an impressive place full of sculptures, flowers, musical instruments, requisites and jewellery that he used to create classical settings for his portraits, mainly of women. Eventually his studio looked like a salon and became a social meeting point in Vienna. Cosima Wagner described it as a "wonder of decorative beauty, a sublime lumber-room". His luxurious studio served as a model for a great many upper middle-class living rooms. The opulent, semi-public spaces of the Makart atelier were the scene of a recurring rendezvous between the artist and his public. The artist became the mediator between different levels of society: he created a socially ambiguous sphere in which nobility and bourgeoisie could encounter one another in mutual veneration of the master, and aestheticized the burgeoning self-awareness of the bourgeoisie by means of historical models drawn from the world of the aristocracy. Makart is considered by many as being the first art star, referred to by contemporaries an "artist prince" (Malerfürst) in the tradition of Rubens. Makart became the acknowledged leader of the artistic life of the Vienna, which in the 1870s passed through a period of feverish activity, the chief results of which are the sumptuously decorated public buildings of the Ringstraße. He not only practised painting, but was also an interior designer, costume designer, furniture designer, and decorator, and his work decorated most of the public spaces of the era. His work engendered the term "Makartstil", or "Makart style", which completely characterized the era.  In 1879, Makart had designed a pageant organised to celebrate the Silver Wedding Anniversary of the Imperial couple, emperor Franz Josef and his wife Elisabeth of Bavaria —he designed, single-handed, the costumes, scenic setting, and triumphal cars. This became known as the "Makart-parade", and had given the people of Vienna the chance to dress up in historical costumes and be transported back into the past for a few hours. At the head of the parade was a float for artists, led by Makart on a white horse. His festivals became an institution in Vienna which lasted up until the 1960s. In the same year as the first parade he became a Professor at the Vienna Academy. Makart's painting "The Entry of Charles V into Antwerp" caused some controversy, because Charles V was depicted arriving in a procession surrounded by nude virgins; the offense was the mistaken idea that the nudes had no place in the modern scene. In the United States, the painting fell under the proscription of Anthony Comstock, which secured Makart's fame there. The American public desired at once to see what Comstock was persecuting, so they could tell whether he was acting correctly or in error. In 1882 emperor Franz Josef ordered the building of the Villa Hermes at Lainz (near Vienna) for his empress and specified the bedroom decoration to be inspired from Shakespeare's Midsummernight's Dream. Makart designed for him a fascinating dreamworld that still exists at the Villa Hermes as a large painting (1882). Unfortunately his design was never executed after his early death in 1884. His collection of antiques and art consisted of 1083 pieces and was put up for auction by art-dealer H.O. Miethke. The Belvedere Palaces, have harbored treasures of art ever since their beginnings, at first the collections of Prince Eugene and, from 1781, extensive parts of the imperial collection, which were also open to the public. Around 1900, since no measures were being taken to build the planned new museum for the state collection of contemporary art, Austrian artists were urging an improvised accommodation of works in the Lower Belvedere. In 1903, the Moderne Galerie was indeed opened there, thus laying the foundation for today's collection. In 1923, the baroque museum was opened in the Lower Belvedere as the first part of the museum's "restructuring". The Galerie des XIX Jahrhunderts (Gallery of the XIXth Century) was set up in 1924 in the Upper Belvedere, with works by international and Austrian artists, meanwhile the Moderne Galerie was accommodated in the Orangerie, where the monumental sculpture found an ideal setting in the adjacent large landscaped garden. During the National-Socialist regime the Moderne Galerie remained closed, which meant that the inventory of so-called "degenerate" works was untouched. Museum operations during the post-Second World War period have been characterized by numerous new acquisitions, extensions and modernization measures. From 1991 to 1996, the Upper Belvedere underwent general refurbishment. The Lower Belvedere and the Orangery are used as the Belvedere's exhibition forum. Medieval at the Upper Belvedere: The Belvedere owns internationally outstanding works of Late Gothic sculpture and panel painting. They offer an overview of the major artistic developments in the International Style from around 1400 to the early sixteenth century. The Baroque Collection of the Belvedere left the Lower Belvedere in 2007 and the most important works of Austrian Baroque are now shown in the east wing of the Upper Belvedere. The 19th century collection encompasses a wide range of masterpieces, including classicism, romanticism and Biedermeier, realism and historicism, and the art of impressionism. Classicism and romanticism are pre-eminently represented in portraits and mood landscapes, especially by Caspar David Friedrich. Besides examples of Austrian mood impressionism, there is a remarkable and exclusive selection of international art with works by Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. Visit the museum's website at : http://www.belvedere.at |
| The City Gallery Prague is Staging a Retrospective of Václav Radimský Posted: 21 Mar 2012 07:48 PM PDT  Prague.- Earlier this year, sixty-five years had elapsed since the death of the landscapist Václav Radimský, and in the year 2012, one hundred and forty-five years will have passed from his birth. To mark these two anniversaries, City Gallery Prague is staging a major retrospective of his work in the galleries of the Municipal Library, and Arbor vitae is publishing Radimský´s first comprehensive monograph. "Vaclav Radimsky (1867 - 1946)" is on view through February 5th 2012. The present exhibition brings together around two hundred paintings, with a special place being assigned to the triptych "View of Kolín", a grandiose work of three by eight-and-a-half metres. Here, it also marks a watershed between the section featuring pictures created in France, and the part showing works painted by Radimský after his return to Bohemia. |
| Painting: Process and Expansion From the 1950s Until Now at MUMOK Posted: 21 Mar 2012 07:47 PM PDT
The tendency–central to modernity–of practitioners to reflect on the medium was already the focus of a presentation of the Daimler collection earlier this year in "Pictures about Pictures". In "Painting: Process and Expansion" this undergoes a re-interpretation and re-weighting. The foreground here is taken up by the reduction to the fundamental processes of painting on the one hand and their expansion and dissolution in sculptural and/or spatially-linked strategies of painting on the other. The presentation represents the continuation of one of the MUMOK programme foci which is aimed at reinvigorating and up-dating the painting discourse. In autumn of this year this focus will be rounded off with the exhibition "Hyper Real" which will be a comprehensive presentation of the USA-based trend in painting that is linked to the realist depictions. The Self-Presentation of Painting One of the various experiments and strategies of processual painting consisted in developing pictorial designs from the fundamental characteristics and interactions of colours instead of deriving them from concepts of narration and composition. Creatively-guided self-presentation of painting is generated in this context by means of painting on and over, by palette knife in-filling, dripping, spraying, dipping, pouring etc. Here the consistency of the pigment and its relation to gravity and the characteristics of the picture support become visible. In their purest and most reduced form the results of processes of this nature are the monochromes by Yves Klein or the pattern-like, all-over structures to be found in Jackson Pollock's "Drip Paintings". The gestural and processual painting of art informel prepared the way but became increasingly academic and thus a target for antagonism for those painters who were revolutionaries. In depicting their principles there was also a belief that a higher truth could be expressed in painting in/of itself and a doubt in the possibility of originality by autonomous individual artists. In the 1950s and 1960s, in what can be considered the final acts, radical positions and inventions, these historical approaches and techniques have proved to have potential for succeeding generations.
 Liberation of the Pictorial Surface The second part of the exhibition follows the incipient redefinition of picture-making and painting per se through the inclusion of real objects and by bonding them to architectural space and installations. Various forms of relating to reality and space were to be seen in Pop Art, Nouveau Réalisme, Fluxus, Viennese Actionism, Arte Povera, Minimal Art, and the geometric abstractionism of former Eastern bloc, all of which were mobilized against picture-fixated painting. While in North America and Western Europe around 1960 reality was integrated into works in the form of quotation and in ways that involved three-dimensional space, in the Eastern European countries it was the picture's geometrical extension into architectural space that was reflected in the art that followed the post-Stalinist political liberalization during the so-called "gentle dictatorships". The criticism levelled at the historical definitions of picture-making and composition led to a redefinition of painting and picture-making in relation to the viewer. Instead of the viewer being confronted with the work, an effort was made to integrate the viewer into the work. This radical realignment of painting in the 1960s and 1970s became the historical foundations for those artists who, from the late 1980s, after the end of neo-figurativism and narrative "New Painting", went on to create modern, up-to date forms of painting. The process created new connections between pictures and everyday objects which expanded both the definition and techniques of painting. The spectrum of the "expansive" works on show runs from historical positions of the 1960s and 1970s–including Pino Pascali, Daniel Spoerri, Otto Mühl, Oswald Oberhuber, Robert Rauschenberg, John Chamberlain, Frank Stella, Robert Morris, Donald Judd, Karel Malich, and Henryk Stazewski–right up to the most recent past and on into the present with such representatives as Imi Knöbel, Heinrich Dunst, Gerwald Rockenschaub, Adrian Schiess, Jessica Stockholder, Bertrand Lavier, Michael Kienzer, Christian Hutzinger, Klaus Dieter Zimmer, John Armleder, Jirí Kovanda, Rosemarie Trockel, and Heimo Zobernig. Visit The MUMOK at : www.mumok.at/ |
| Donald Baechler: Painting & Sculpture at Fisher Landau Center for Art Posted: 21 Mar 2012 07:46 PM PDT  NEW YORK, N.Y.- Fisher Landau Center for Art announces an exhibition exploring a wide range of Donald Baechler's artwork in two and three dimensions, created over the last 25 years. In the mid 1980's, the subject matter of his large-scale paintings began quite literally to jump off the walls, transforming into monumental bronze sculptures. Installed on two floors of the Center, the exhibition is made up of work from Fisher Landau Center for Art, supplemented by work from Donald Baecher's personal collection, highlighting the interplay of recurring motifs as they transform from the painted surface to objects in space. In May of 2010, Mrs. Landau made a historic pledge of 417 artworks by nearly 100 artists, to the Whitney Museum of American Art. Excerpts from "Legacy" a traveling exhibition that highlights the gift to the Whitney Museum, will be on view at the Center concurrently with Donald Baechler: Painting & Sculpture. |
| James Cohan Gallery Presents the First Solo Exhibition of Alex Katz' Work in Mainland China Posted: 21 Mar 2012 07:45 PM PDT  SHANGHAI.- James Cohan Gallery Shanghai presents Alex Katz, the first solo exhibition of the artist's work in mainland China. The exhibition focuses on five recent portrait paintings from 2008 to 2010, along with a selection of prints that feature the artist's lifelong interest in the landscape. A fully illustrated color publication will be available for this exhibition. For further information, please contact Leo Xu at lxu@jamescohan.com or +86-21-54660825. Light is a key and central subject in all of Katz's works. The velocity and subtle, ever-changing shifts of light—'fast light' as Katz calls it—and the way it is articulated and captured is an imperative for the artist. Shrewd attention to detail combined with an unfailing economy of means gives credence to the extraordinary technical demands of Katz's expansive technique, as evident in the five paintings in this exhibition. Each painting embraces its distinctive character and particularities. |
| The Robert Berman Gallery Features Southern California's Illustrator Artists Posted: 21 Mar 2012 07:44 PM PDT  Santa Monica, CA.- The Robert Berman Gallery is proud to present "Paid to Play", an overview of the oft overlooked Southern California artists rooted in illustration, commissioned to create imagery for record albums, magazines, advertisements, et al. A genre dirtily linked to commercialism but nonetheless full of innovation, technique, artistic expression and speed. "Paid to Play" is on view at the gallery until November 12th and is part of the Pacific Standard Time collaboration, initiated by the Getty, brings together more than sixty cultural institutions from across Southern California for six months beginning October to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene. "Fueled by a combination of intense demand, sleepless nights and brutal competition, the four men at the center of LA's airbrush market – Dave Willardson, Charles E. White III, Peter Palombi and Peter Llyod – embarked on careers that produced iconic work for Playboy, Levi's, the Rolling Stones, along with major studio films such as American Graffiti and Tron." From 'Overspray: Riding High with the Kings of California Airbrush Art'. And the wrangler of these men was Mike Salisbury – the art director of West magazine, the Sunday supplement of the Los Angeles Times, beginning in the late 60s – who was for illustrators what Ferus Gallery was for beat artists – a platform to project Los Angeles cool to the world at large. Though the visuals defined a generation, most west coast illustrators never landed the fine art jump with the aplomb of their east coast contemporaries like James Rosenquist, Tom Wesselmann and Andy Warhol. But perhaps the most convincing testament to the relevance of a movement largely branded as irrelevant would be the 1969 West magazine cover painted by Ed Ruscha, commissioned by Salisbury, which fetched $578,500 at auction in 2009. Included in the exhibition are works by Willardson, White, Palombi, Llyod, Lou Beach, Pat Blackwell, Tim Clark, Dante, Sean Douglas, William George, Bill Imhoff, Patrick Nagel, George McManus, Dennis Mukai, Martin Mull, Margo Nahas, Jayme Odgers, Neon Park, Everett Peck, Mark Ryden, Todd Schorr, Millard Sheets, Tommy Steele, Len Steckler, Ben Talbert, John Van Hamersveld, E. Franklin Wittmack, Zox and others.  The Robert Berman Gallery has been in business in Santa Monica, California since 1979. One of the first galleries to be located at Bergamot Station Arts Center, it has occupied two exhibition spaces there for the last thirteen years. Founder and owner Robert Berman was early on in exhibiting artists such as Keith Haring and Raymond Pettibon and has done historical and seminal exhibitions by such artists as William S. Burroughs and Man Ray. The gallery has a rotating exhibition schedule specializing in mid-career and established artists in all mediums. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.robertbermangallery.com |
| ClampArt Shows the best of Stephen Wilkes Posted: 21 Mar 2012 07:43 PM PDT
New York City - ClampArt is proud to present two exhibitions of work by artist, Stephen Wilkes; a selection of his new photographs from China in the main gallery and a suite of his renowned Ellis Island images in the project room. Traveling throughout old and new China, Stephen Wilkes has expertly portrayed a nation amidst rapid and vast transformation. Focusing on both rural and industrial settings—and the increasing number of areas where the two collide—the artist draws our attention to a changing way of life. The large, spectacular imagery speaks of not only a new era in China, but also a shift in global economies already felt in the United States. On exhibition through 12 May, 2007. |
| Las Vegas Art Museum displays Collector's Contemporary Collections Posted: 21 Mar 2012 07:42 PM PDT
Las Vegas, NV - The Las Vegas Art Museum shows the exhibition Las Vegas Collects Contemporary presented by City National Bank. This exhibition features works of contemporary art on loan from Southern Nevada's most important privately held fine art collections. Artists featured in the show include Jean-Michel Basquiat, Uta Barth, Dan Flavin, Andreas Gursky, Michael Heizer, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Donald Judd, Jason Martin, Takashi Murakami, Ken Price, David Reed, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Venske & Spänle, and Andy Warhol among others. |
| Posted: 21 Mar 2012 07:41 PM PDT  DUBAI, UAE. - Bonhams, the UK-headquartered international fine art auction house established since 1793, broke three world records at its inaugural Middle East art auction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The auction achieved total sales of over US$13 million – almost three times the expected result, with a phenomenal 94% of lots sold. |
| The Butler Institute of American Art Hosts the 75th National Midyear Exhibition Posted: 21 Mar 2012 07:40 PM PDT  Youngstown, OH.- Now on exhibit at the Butler Institute of American Art are 100 works of art selected to be included in the 75th National Midyear Exhibition from over 1000 entries. This annual juried exhibition is open to artists over 18 years of age who reside within the United States and/or its territories, artists from 24 States are represented in the exhibition. The 2011 show has now been judged and visitors can the results for themselves. The exhibition runs through August 28th. The facility regularly displays works of art that utilize computers, holography, lasers and other digital media. The Beecher Center houses the Zona Auditorium, a digital media theater designed for performance art and high-definition film presentations. The Butler also operates two satellite facilities in nearby Columbiana and Trumbull Counties. The Salem branch, funded by The Salem Community Foundation, presents selections from the Butler's permanent collection, exhibitions by nationally-known contemporary and historic artists, and the best of regional art talent. The Butler's Trumbull branch, funded in part by Foundation Medici, focuses on important international artists whose works have profoundly influenced America, as well as exhibitions of works by contemporary master painters and sculptors. It was the first museum in the world to focus exclusively on American Art. Founded in 1919, the museum's centerpiece in its permanent collection is "Crack the Whip" by Winslow Homer, called by some the American Mona Lisa. The museum also features works by John Singer Sargent, William Merritt Chase, Mary Cassatt, Romare Bearden, and Robert Rauschenberg, among others. The Museum recently acquired Norman Rockwell's "Lincoln, the Railspliter". "Roadside Meeting", by Albert Pynkam Ryder, "After the Hunt" by William Michael Harnett, and two magnificent portraits by American realist Thomas Eakins are a part of the Butler's 19th century holdings. Hudson River School painters are well represented in the Butler's collection with works by Seth Eastman, Thomas Cole, Asher Brown Durand and Thomas Doughty. All pay poetic tribute to a beloved American region. The Butler's Marine Collection spans four American decades, and includes paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, Martin Johnson Heade, Edward Moran, John Marin and Arthur G. Dove. American Impressionism is well represented in the Butler's collection with "In Flanders Field-Where Soldiers Sleep and Poppies Grow" by Robert Vonnoh taking center stage. Other American Impressionist works on view are by Edward Potthast, Theodore Robinson, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt and Gari Melchers. The Institute's American Western collection includes prized works in this genre. With the Native American portraits and sensitive canvases depicting Hopi life by Elbridge Ayer Burbank, and the beautiful "Oregon Trail" by Albert Bierstadt as its core, this collection has become an historical record of the American experience. Butler paintings by members of The Eight include "Cafe Francis" by George Luks, as well as important works by John Sloan, Robert Henri, Maurice Prendergast and Everett Shinn. Early twentieth century works by Kenneth Hayes Miller, Charles Sheeler, and Georgia O'Keeffe are also featured in this collection. Other important twentieth century works include "Pennsylvania Coal Town", a masterpiece by Edward Hopper that pays tribute to the common man, and "September Wind and Rain" a fantastic landscape by modernist master Charles Burchfield. Contemporary masters including Robert Rauschenberg, Chuck Close, and George Segal are also represented in Butler collection galleries.A tour of the Butler Institute would not be complete without a visit to the Donnell Gallery of American Sports Art. From boxing subjects by George Bellows to an Andy Warhol portrait of baseball great Pete Rose, virtually every sport can be seen in this gallery. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.butlerart.com |
| Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review" Posted: 21 Mar 2012 07:39 PM PDT This is a new feature for the subscribers and visitors to Art Knowledge News (AKN), that will enable you to see "thumbnail descriptions" of the last ninety (90) articles and art images that we published. This will allow you to visit any article that you may have missed ; or re-visit any article or image of particular interest. Every day the article "thumbnail images" will change. For you to see the entire last ninety images just click : here . When opened that also will allow you to change the language from English to anyone of 54 other languages, by clicking your language choice on the upper left corner of our Home Page. You can share any article we publish with the eleven (11) social websites we offer like Twitter, Flicker, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. by one click on the image shown at the end of each opened article. Last, but not least, you can email or print any entire article by using an icon visible to the right side of an article's headline.  |
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