Rabu, 04 April 2012

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

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


The Bundeskunsthalle features Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat & Francesco Clemente

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 11:58 PM PDT

artwork: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente and Andy Warhol - "Ex-Ringeye", 1984 - Oil on canvas - 122 x 168 x 3.5 cm. - The Würth Collection. © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat / ADAGP, Paris, 2011, © Francesco Clemente & © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. On view at the Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn in "Ménage à trois: Warhol, Basquiat, Clemente" until May 20th.

Bonn, Germany.- The Bundeskunsthalle is pleased to present "Ménage à trois: Warhol, Basquiat, Clemente", on view at the museum through May 20th. Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francesco Clemente – three of the main protagonists of the 1980s New York art scene are presented in this major exhibition. 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 will also present a wide range of non-collaborative works by each of the artists that exemplify their individual style. Whereas Andy Warhol, one of the Pop Art's main figures, focused on the graphic and serial aspects of art, working in a clear and often seemingly detached manner, young Jean-Michel Basquiat burst upon the scene with a style that was as furious as it was expressive, a raw mix of symbols, pictograms and letters rooted in the urban graffiti idiom. The paintings by the Transavanguardia artist Francesco Clemente, on the other hand, often seem dream-like, mystical and almost surreal. The exhibition was conceived in cooperation with ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Denmark.


For Andy Warhol, the 1980s represented a re-emergence of critical and financial success, partially due to his affiliation and friendships with a number of prolific younger artists, who were dominating the "bull market" of 1980s New York art: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, David Salle and other so-called Neo-Expressionists, as well as members of the Transavantgarde movement in Europe, including Francesco Clemente and Enzo Cucchi. During this time Warhol created the Michael Jackson painting signifying his success attributed to his best-selling album Thriller. By this period, Warhol was being criticized for becoming merely a "business artist". In 1979, reviewers disliked his exhibits of portraits of 1970s personalities and celebrities, calling them superficial, facile and commercial, with no depth or indication of the significance of the subjects. They also criticized his 1980 exhibit of 10 portraits at the Jewish Museum in New York, entitled Jewish Geniuses, which Warhol – who was uninterested in Judaism and Jews – had described in his diary as "They're going to sell." In hindsight, however, some critics have come to view Warhol's superficiality and commerciality as "the most brilliant mirror of our times," contending that "Warhol had captured something irresistible about the zeitgeist of American culture in the 1970s." Warhol also had an appreciation for intense Hollywood glamour. He once said: "I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They're so beautiful. Everything's plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic."

artwork: Jean-Michel Basquiat - "Brown Spots (Portrait of Andy Warhol as a Banana)", 1984 Acrylic and oil on canvas - 193 x 213 cm. - Bischofberger Collection. - ©  The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat/ADAGP, Paris, 2011.  -   At the Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn

Francesco Clemente has been influenced by thinkers as diverse as Gregory Bateson, William Blake, Allen Ginsberg, and J Krishnamurti, the art of Francesco Clemente is inclusive and nomadic, crossing many borders, intellectual and geographical. Dividing his time between New York and Varanasi, in India, he has adopted for his paintings a vast variety of supports and mediums, exploring, discarding, and returning to oil paint, watercolor, pastel, and printmaking. His work develops in a non linear mode, expanding and contracting in a fragmentary way, not defined by a style, but rather by his recording of the fluctuations of the self, as he experiences it. The goal is to embrace an expanded consciousness, and to witness, playfully, the survival of the ecstatic experience in a materialistic society. Following his architectural studies in Rome, Clemente travelled to Afghanistan with his friend Alighiero Boetti. Throughout the 1970s he exhibited works that reflected his interest in the contemplative traditions of India, where he lived for several years. Since 1981 he has spent his time between New York City and India, where he collaborates with local artists. He has participated in numerous collaborative projects, painting with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, and illuminating poetry by Robert Creeley, Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners, Rene Ricard and Salman Rushdie.

In 1976, Basquiat and friends Al Diaz and Shannon Dawson began spray-painting graffiti on buildings in Lower Manhattan, working under the pseudonym SAMO. The designs featured inscribed messages such as "Plush safe he think.. SAMO" and "SAMO as an escape clause." On December 11, 1978, the Village Voice published an article about the graffiti. The SAMO project ended with the epitaph "SAMO IS DEAD," inscribed on the walls of SoHo buildings in 1979. In 1979, Basquiat appeared on the live public-access television cable TV show TV Party hosted by Glenn O'Brien, and the two started a friendship. Basquiat made regular appearances on the show over the next few years. That same year, Basquiat formed the noise rock band Gray with Shannon Dawson, Michael Holman, Nick Taylor, Wayne Clifford and Vincent Gallo. Gray performed at nightclubs such as Max's Kansas City, CBGB, Hurrah, and the Mudd Club. In 1980, Basquiat starred in O'Brien's independent film Downtown 81, originally titled New York Beat. That same year, O'Brien introduced Basquiat to Andy Warhol, with whom he later collaborated. The film featured some of Gray's recordings on its soundtrack. Basquiat also appeared in the Blondie music video "Rapture" as a nightclub disc jockey. In June 1980, Basquiat participated in The Times Square Show, a multi-artist exhibition sponsored by Collaborative Projects Incorporated (Colab) and Fashion Moda. In 1981, Rene Ricard published "The Radiant Child" in Artforum magazine, which brought Basquiat to the attention of the art world. In late 1981, he joined the Annina Nosei gallery in SoHo. By 1982, Basquiat was showing regularly alongside other Neo-expressionist artists including Julian Schnabel, David Salle, Francesco Clemente, and Enzo Cucchi. He was represented in Los Angeles by the Larry Gagosian gallery and throughout Europe by Bruno Bischofberger. He briefly dated then-aspiring performer, Madonna, in late 1982. That same year, Basquiat also worked briefly with musician and artist David Bowie. In 1983, Basquiat produced a 12" rap single featuring hip-hop artists, Rammellzee and K-Rob. Billed as Rammellzee vs. K-Rob, the single contained two versions of the same track: The single's cover featured Basquiat's artwork making the pressing highly desirable among both record and art collectors. Basquiat often painted in expensive Armani suits and would even appear in public in the same paint-splattered suits. By 1986, Basquiat had left the Annina Nosei gallery, and was showing in the famous Mary Boone Gallery in SoHo. On February 10, 1986, he appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in a feature entitled "New Art, New Money: The Marketing of an American Artist". He was a successful artist in this period, but his growing heroin addiction began to interfere with his personal relationships. When Andy Warhol died on February 22, 1987, Basquiat became increasingly isolated, and his heroin addiction and depression grew more severe. Despite an attempt at sobriety during a trip to Maui, Hawaii, Basquiat died on August 12, 1988, of a heroin overdose at his art studio in Great Jones Street in New York City's NoHo neighborhood. He was 27.

artwork: Francesco Clemente  -  "Ritz",  1983  -  Watercolour on paper  -  36 x 51 cm. - Bischofberger Collection. © Francesco Clemente   -   At the Bundeskunsthalle in "Ménage à trois" until May 20th.

In 1992 the Bundeskunsthalle (Art and Exhibition Hall) of the Federal Republic of Germany was founded as an institution for changing exhibitions and has since then offered a varied programme of international significance. During the first eighteen years over 170 exhibitions have been organized in the areas of art, cultural history, science and technology. An exhibition on the Bronze Age is just as suited to be presented here as a retrospective on a contemporary artist. Exhibitions on architecture, design, photography are offered to the public just as those on genetic engineering or the weather. The program is directed to adults, youths and children. Guided tours, workshops for various age and interest groups are regularly organized to accompany the exhibitions. Concerts, performances, readings and conferences are held in the Forum, a space dedicated to organized events and offering seating for up to 500 persons. In the summer months, international stars give show appearances on the covered open air stage situated on the museum square. A further attraction is the roof garden, which is often the site of sculpture exhibitions. The roof garden is a place where visitors can recuperate and stroll, and in the summer a beer garden offers additional refreshment. Further attractions and stimuli are offered in the library, book store, museum shop as well as in the restaurant of the Art and Exhibition Hall. Visit the exhibition hall's website at ... http://www.bundeskunsthalle.de

The Affordable Art Fair Returns to New York for its Spring Edition

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 11:57 PM PDT

artwork: Patricia McClung - "St. Marks Place NYC", 2008 - Archival pigment print - 32" x 40" - Courtesy Julie Nester Gallery, Park City, Utah On view at AAFNY from April 19th until April 22nd.

New York City.- Affordable Art Fair (AAF) NYC continues to grow, having reached new highs in attendance numbers and sales. At last year's Spring New York fair, they had an attendance of 10,500, including over 3,000 people at the Private Preview alone, resulting in $2.2 million worth of art sales. This year's edition, which runs from April 19th through April 22nd at 7 West 34th Street, will offer over 75 galleries from the U.S. and almost a dozen countries internationally. With high-quality, original contemporary works from over 500 artists, you are sure to discover something you love. The Affordable Art Fair attracts a diverse audience including those who may never have bought original art before, as well as experienced buyers and collectors looking for new galleries and emerging artists. AAF are a young, fresh and accessible fair that opens the doors to buying original art to all audiences.


JoAnne Artman Gallery to exhibit Anja Van Herle ~ "Girls, Girls, Girls"

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 11:38 PM PDT

artwork: Anja Van Herle - "Strawberry" - Acrylic on Panel - 50" x 65" - Courtesy JoAnne Artman Gallery - Laguna Beach, California On view in "Girls, Girls, Girls" from April 5th until May 31st.

Laguna Beach, California.- The JoAnne Artman Gallery is proud to present "Girls, Girls, Girls" on view from April 5th through May 31st. The exhibition features new works by Belgium-born artist Anja Van Herle. Anja Van Herle specializes in large-scale portraiture featuring beautifully expressive women with a powerfully enticing presence. Anja's "Girls" originate from the combination of working with models and pure whimsical fantasy, creating women of tangible imagination: beauty that is both born and bred. Born in Belgium in 1969, Anja Van Herle combines a European sense of high fashion in her artwork with an American sense of wonder. Her childhood years were devoted to exploring the fundamentals of her art using crayons, pencils and watercolors. Anja Van Herle's work will inspire, provoke, engage and mesmerize.


Hirschl & Adler Modern to show New Works by David Ligare

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 11:20 PM PDT

artwork: David Ligare - "Still Life with Rooster and Fruit", 2012 - Oil on canvas - 20" x 24" - Courtesy Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York. On view in "David Ligare: New Paintings" from April 12th until May 12th.

New York City.- Hirschl & Adler Modern is proud to announce the opening of "David Ligare: New Paintings" on April 12th. The artist's first solo exhibition with the gallery will feature over 15 new  paintings in oil, remains on view through May 12th and will be accompanied by a 16 page catalogue with illustrations in color. David Ligare has spent the last thirty years painting, studying, and thinking about  what he calls "recurrent Classicism" – the tenets of Greco-Roman Classicism as they have appeared and reappeared over the centuries. The photographic intensity of his vision is decidedly modern, even as he explores the ancient ideals of measure, harmony, and rich philosophical content.


Fourth Master Paintings Week announced for London in June

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 10:31 PM PDT

artwork: Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714-1789) - "A Moonlit Seascape", 1754  -  Oil on canvas, 101 x 138 cm. Colnaghi Old Masters, London  -  Colnaghi the world's oldest commercial art gallery, 250+ years.

LONDON.- The fourth Master Paintings Week takes place from 29th June to 6th July, 2012 and is one of the key events in London 's Summer season. This collaboration between twenty-three leading dealers and three auction houses offers an extraordinarily wide selection of European paintings dating from the 15th to the 20th centuries. New to Master Paintings Week in 2012 are Haldane Fine Art, Noortman Master Paintings and Theo Johns Fine Art Ltd. Each of the twenty-three participating galleries, all of which are in the heart of London's Mayfair and St James's, will stage a special exhibition or event or unveil new discoveries, emphasising the unrivalled expertise to be found in London. Auctions will be held at Bonhams on 4 July, at Christie's King Street on 3 and 4 July and Christie's South Kensington on 6 July, while Sotheby's sales will be on 4 and 5 July. Master Paintings Week coincides with another dealer initiative, Master Drawings London (27 June to 5 July).

Among the fine Dutch and Flemish works to be shown will be a surprisingly entertaining scene despite its morbid title, The Gates of Hell, by Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1681) and a ravishing oil on copper of A Vase of Flowers in a Window by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1753-1612) both at Johnny Van Haeften. Bosschaert was the first artist to specialise in flower painting and this recently discovered flower-piece is a welcome addition to his relatively small oeuvre. Another wonderful floral depiction is Flowers in a Terracotta Vase by Jan van Huysum (1682-1749) which is being shown by Noortman Master Paintings.

A later Flemish flower painting will be shown by Deborah Gage (Works of Art). Flowers in a Glass Vase on a Ledge was painted by Jan Frans van Dael (1764-1840) who settled in Paris where he secured commissions from Empress Josephine and Marie-Louise Bonaparte, Louis XVIII and Charles X, among others. Deborah Gage will also unveil St Catherine of Alexandria, a Gothic panel from an altarpiece originally ascribed to the Master of Sant Quirse and the Master of Riglos but recently attributed to the Catalan artist, Honorat Borrassa (active 1424-1457). Other panels are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Campion Hall, Oxford .

Boors Carousing in a Barn by Adriaen Jansz. van Ostade (1610-1685), once in the Russian Imperial collection, will be featured by Fergus Hall Master Paintings, while a typically bucolic Milking scene along a river by Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691) will be seen at Richard Green. New participant Haldane Fine Art will show Noah Entering the Ark by Hans Jordaens III (c. 1595-1643), the support of the panel branded with the coat-of-arms of the city of Antwerp. John Mitchell Fine Paintings unveils Young Woman with Wine Glass, 1663, by Cornelis Pietersz Bega (1620-1664) while another canvas illustrating pleasure and enjoyment is A Drinker with a Flask by Théodor Rombouts (1597-1637), an early Flemish follower of Caravaggio, on view at Whitfield Fine Art.

artwork: Adriaen Van Utrecht (1599-1652) - "Still Life of Fruit and Game" 1620's  - Oil on panel  -  67.2 x 92.7 cm, 26 ⅜ x 36 ½ inches Courtesy of Noortman Master Paintings Ltd

Amongst the works to be shown by Colnaghi will be a newly-discovered Moonlit Seascape by Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714-1789) dating from 1753-4 when the artist was at the height of his powers. The same gallery will feature Spring: a landscape with elegant company on a tree-lined road by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625) and Joos de Momper (1564-1635), which is a splendid example of the collaborative works by these two artists who also feature with the painting A Coastal Landscape with Fishermen with their Catch by a ruined Tower at Sphinx Fine Art. A particular highlight of Sphinx's will be the handsome three-quarter-length portrait of Britain 's youngest-ever Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), by John Hoppner (1758-1810), formerly in the collections of the Marquesses of Londonderry.

Another splendid portrait will be found at The Weiss Gallery. This Tudor painting of Catherine Carey, Countess of Nottingham (c. 1547-1603), by Robert Peake (c. 1551-c. 1619) was once thought to represent Elizabeth I. The magnificent costume surpasses the famed portraiture of the Queen and the dress and jewels may well have been gifted or loaned by the Queen to the sitter, who was her closest friend and confidante. Such was their bond of friendship that Catherine's death in February 1603 is said to have precipitated the Queen's own demise only weeks later.

Trompe l'oeils will be among the works to be shown by Rafael Valls including one of a violin and a bow hanging from a red silk ribbon by Claes Bellekin (1620-c. 1675). It is possible that the instrument depicted was made by Hendrick Jacobsz (1629-1699), a well-known violin maker and contemporary of the artist. The gallery will also feature a delightful scene of a young boy pleading for his toy by Henri-Pierre Danloux (1753-1809), while equally appealing is an amusing depiction of Venus and Cupid by Benedetto Gennari (1633-1715) on show at Piacenti Art Gallery.

artwork: Evaristo Baschenis, (1617-1677) - 'Musicians and musical instruments' Rafael Valls Gallery, Ltd.- an enviable reputation for trompe l'oeil paintings.

Derek Johns will feature St Augustus by the great Venetian painter Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727-1804) while Charles Beddington will show A ruined Ionic Portico and a Tower by an Inlet, a Port and hilltop town beyond and A ruined Doric Portico and a round Tempietto by an Inlet, The Castel Sant' Angelo and Saint Peter's beyond, a pair of capriccios by Antonio Joli (c. 1700-1777) with the figures painted by Francesco Fontebasso (1707-1769). A capriccio of a Mediterranean seaport by Luca Carlevarjis (1663-1730) will be shown by BNB Art Consulting, while on view at Stair Sainty is a Classical Landscape, with Wren's dome of King Charles Court, Greenwich Hospital (today the Royal Naval College, Greenwich) by Marco Ricci (1676-1730), one of several of his works depicting the Greenwich-inspired dome amongst classical ruins.

Robilant + Voena will exhibit a delightful Virgin and Child with a Saint by Andrea Solario (c. 1465-c. 1524) while Madonna and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist painted by Lorenzo Lippi (1606-1656) in the early 1630s will be found at Moretti Fine Art. Noli me tangere by Giuseppe Nicola Nasini (1657-1736) is a moving depiction of Jesus and Mary Magdalene being featured by new participant Theo Johns Fine Art, and there is an unusual depiction of Mary Magdalene with a skull by Onorio Marinari (1627-1715) at Riccardo Bacarelli and Bruno Botticelli.

As the Winter sales of Old Master paintings demonstrated, the market is strong, especially for rare and beautiful works in good condition. Besides the three international auction houses, London boasts more knowledgeable dealers than any other city in the world. Their galleries are a short walk from one another and will be open during Master Paintings Week on Monday to Friday 10 am to 6 pm, Saturday 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday 12 noon to 5 pm. The auction houses will be open from 9 am to 4.30 pm Monday to Friday, and 12 noon to 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Strong sales & attendance at Japanese Art exhibitions during Asia Week

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 09:43 PM PDT

artwork: "A Glimpse at the Premises of the House of the Fan: Hashidate, Ayakoshi, and Hanabito" by Hosoda Eisho, a color woodblock print.(Hosoda Eisho / Courtesy of JADA)

NEW YORK, NY.- With exhibitions at over 10 galleries, a collaborative exhibition held by the five members of the Japanese Art Dealers Association, auctions at two houses, the opening of Japan Society's Deco Japan: Shaping Art and Culture, 1920-1945, and the sold-out symposium at the Frick Collection's Center for the History of Collecting, The Dragon and the Chrysanthemum: Collecting Chinese and Japanese Art in America, Japanese art has once again had a strong presence in Asia Week. An Exhibition by the Japanese Art Dealers Association (JADA), a collaborative exhibition among JADA's five members, brought to the market exceptional examples of screens, paintings, scrolls, prints, lacquers, fine ceramics, and tea ceremony accoutrements ranging in date from around the 1st century B.C. to the 19th century. In addition to the gallery exhibitions, Bonhams held an auction of Fine Japanese Works of Art on March 20, 2012, which realized $1.49 million, and Christie's held an auction of Japanese and Korean Art on March 23, 2012, that totaled $1.73 million. Overall, the galleries in the exhibition sold works of art for a total of $2.7 million, and with post-exhibition sales eclipsed $3 million. Attendance for the five-day show, which was held at the Ukrainian Institute of America from March 17 to March 21, 2012, was 1,960, up 10 percent over the previous year.

Rare and antique arms & armor at Bonhams in San Francisco this June

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 09:26 PM PDT

artwork: An extraordinary cased exhibition grade pair of Liegoise percussion pistols. - Est. $30,000-40,000. - Photo: Courtesy of Bonhams.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The Antique Arms and Armor auction at Bonhams, June 11th, will feature such highlights as a sword presented to Civil War Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, as well as a cased pair of the earliest known dueling pistols made by the prestigious English gun-maker, James Purdey. The historic figural hilt presentation sword was given to Major General Ambrose E. Burnside by the United States Sanitary Commission at the New York Metropolitan Fair, April 22, 1864, and is estimated to fetch $200,000-$300,000. It is one of a well-known group of swords given to prominent Union soldiers and sailors by the USSC. The Burnside sword has descended through the family of his aide-de-camp, Captain Richard Hales Ives Goddard. Scion of a prominent Rhode Island family, Captain Goddard became General Burnside's aide in 1862. His complete staff officer uniform grouping is also being offered in the sale, est. $20,000-$30,000.

Sotheby's Orientalist Sales to present important works in April

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 09:10 PM PDT

artwork: "The Scholar" by Osman Hamdy Bey - Oil on canvas, 1878 - Estimate: £3,000,000-5,000,000. - Photo: Sotheby's.

LONDON.- Sotheby's Orientalist Sale will take place in London on Tuesday, 24 April 2012. Showcasing paintings, drawings and sculpture depicting Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa, the auction will be led by masterpieces by the Russian artist Ivan Aivazovsky and the Turkish painter and polymath Osman Hamdy Bey. Comprising 33 lots, the sale is estimated to bring in excess of £6 million. The Ottoman Empire and Turkey have fascinated Western artists for centuries. As early as the eighteenth century, official painters attached to Western embassies and missions to the Ottoman Court began recording local landscapes, costumes, and diplomatic encounters, thus giving rise to a whole new genre in Western art called Orientalism. It is a genre that spread rapidly in the nineteenth century beyond the Ottoman lands, to encompass North Africa, and Egypt, and the Levant. Today, these paintings form an invaluable visual record of the manners and mores of Turkish and Middle Eastern culture before the dawn of photography. This style of painting was later adopted by Turkish painters themselves to depict their own culture in new ways.

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art ~ Denmark's Most Visited Art Museum ~ Greets Our Editor

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:15 PM PDT

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an international private museum with a considerable collection of superior modern art. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark. The name of the museum derives from the first owner of the property, Alexander Brun, who named the villa after his three wives, all named Louise. Situated 45 minutes outside Copenhagen, the museum opened in 1958. It was founded by Knud W. Jensen, who wanted to create a museum where Danes could see modern art, which until then had no special place in the Danish museums and show the interaction between visual art, architecture and the landscape. From the mid-60s on, Louisiana changed its approach from being a predominantly Danish museum to a museum with a renowned international collection. Its permanent collection includes more than 3700 works and is one of the largest in Scandinavia. It starts in the period after 1945 with artists like Picasso, Giacometti, Dubuffet, Yves Klein, Rauschenberg, Henry Moore, Louise Bourgeois, Philip Guston, Morris Louis, Jorn, Baselitz, Polke, Kiefer, and Per Kirkeby. Every year Louisiana offers 4-6 temporary exhibitions, presenting both great modernist artists and the latest international contemporary art. Throughout the years the museum has persisted in taking the international view as a premise for its exhibitions and Louisiana's status implies that the museum is able to attract future exhibitions and artists of a high standard available to only very few Scandinavian museums. Louisiana has become well known and recognized for what Knud W. Jensen called the sauna principle. He divided the exhibitions into 'hot' and 'cold' – the hot ones featured the artists that people knew and could recognize, the cold ones those they had never heard of, the 'difficult', often contemporary artists. The trick was to link the two so that people would be attracted to the city of Humlebæk by the popular exhibitions. It has never been Louisiana's goal to represent the whole chronological line through the art of the epoch. Louisiana's collection is characterized by concentrating on more compact groups of works and artists into which they offer the viewer deeper insights. This is especially true of artists like Giacometti and Asger Jorn, who are both represented by several very fine works – and it is also true of a number of artistic periods: European Nouveau Réalisme with Yves Klein, American Pop Art with Warhol and Lichtenstein, German art of the 1980s with Kiefer and Baselitz, as well as video art from the 1990s until today with important installations by, among others, Bill Viola and Gary Hill. Louisiana also displays a collection of Pre-Columbian art. Consisting of more than 400 objects, the collection was a donation from the Wessel-Bagge Foundation in 2001. The grounds around the museum houses a landscaped sculpture garden. It is made up by a plateau and the sloping terrain towards Øresund and is dominated by huge, ancient specimens trees and sweeping vistas of the sea. It contains works by such artists as Jean Arp, Max Ernst, Max Bill, Alexander Calder, Henri Laurens, Louise Bourgeois, Joan Miró and Henry Moore. The sculptures are either placed so that they can be viewed from within, in special sculpture yards or independently around the gardens, forming a synthesis with the lawns, the trees and the sea. There are also examples of site-specific art by such artists as Enzo Cucchi, Dani Karavan and George Trakas. Several times a week – in spring and autumn – Louisiana goes 'live'. Louisiana Live offers museum guests a series of engaging and highly interesting evenings that make the museum a cultural meeting-place. The Louisiana Café has one of Denmark's most beautiful panoramic views of the Øresund sound. Throughout the summer season, one can enjoy the food and the view outdoors from the Calder Patio. The museum is included in the Patricia Schultz book: "1,000 Places to See Before You Die." Website:_ www.louisiana.dk/


artwork: Walton  Ford - "From the Royal Menagerie", 2009, © Walton Ford Watercolor, gouache, pencil, and ink on paper, 152.4 x 303.5 cm.

The Louisiana Museum on Modern Art is the forum for the first presentation in Scandinavia of American artist Walton Ford. The exhibition is opened from December 8th to March 6th 2011. His large-scale watercolours are melodramatic, powerful, and wondrous depictions of the way human civilization and our imagination has perceived and treated the animal world. Walton Ford is a brilliant artist in the classical sense and at the same time an impressive and truly contemporary storyteller. His large, masterful watercolours of animals are at once seducing and alarming – full of vivid colours, bizarre clues and surreal symbolism. Walton Ford paints watercolours populated with animals of all kinds: birds, fish, monkeys, oxen, tigers and lions, either consuming and fighting one another bestially or being mutilated by human beings in a grim, inscrutable yet beautiful universe. Everything in the artist's pictorial fables is painted with a wealth of details and accuracy that lures the viewer into a close study of almost every brush stroke. Stylistically, Walton Ford's animal tales recall classic naturalistic, zoological illustrations from a bygone age, executed with technical perfection; but on close examination they are far from the objectivity to which science aspires; rather, they are strangely horrifying representations, and sometimes with a humorous angle. . . Louisiana Museum has links between the exhibition activities and the development of the collections and the exhibitions often leave traces in the collection thanks to acquisitions or donations. The museum has gained a reputation of being in touch with the zeitgeist of the contemporary art world that draw in the crowds. The Lousiana Museum is a singular building designed with fundamental idea of joining architecture with art and nature. In 1958, architects Jørgen Bo and Wilhelm Wohlert were commissioned to design the museum taking as their point of departure the old patrician villa. Over the years they have been responsible for the ongoing expansion of the museum. The Louisiana today stands as a masterpiece of Danish modernist architecture. An architecture particularly famous for the way the new extensions have been added to the old main building all the way adapting to the beautiful park landscape with its trees, forest lake, lawns and the Øresund sound. In 1966 and 1971 the museum was gradually extended with the West Wing. Then in 1976 this was followed by the Concert Hall. In 1982 the South Wing was built, and for many years it housed the museum's own collection. The South Wing was built into the landscape to maintain Louisiana's 'low-lying' look. With construction of the East Wing, which was completed in 1992, the buildings of the museum have been linked in a kind of circle. In 1994 the Children's House was built; it helps children and the young to develop close ties with the museum. Outside the landscape windows of the Children's House lies the Lake Garden with its winding paths, steep slopes and architectural works by a number of international architects such as Ralph Erskine, Joseph Paul Kleihues, Aldo Rossi and Dominique Perrault. New stylistic elements have been introduced here and there, but the continuity has been retained.


artwork: Anselm Kiefer is one of the post-war period's greatest and most famous German artists, and for many years he has enjoyed a central place in the Louisiana's collection. Now Kiefer's major exhibition features works from four decades from Kiefer's outstanding artistic voyage, the most comprehensive show of his work in Scandinavia on view until 9 January, 2011.

The Louisiana Museum is exhibiting the works of Anselm Kiefer until 9 January 2011. Kiefer is one of the post-war period's greatest and most famous German artists, and for many years he has enjoyed a central place in Louisiana's collection. This major exhibition features works from four decades from Kiefer's artistic voyage. This is the first major showing of this important artist in Scandinavia and at the same time forms a grand finale in Louisiana's showings of the post-war German 'gang of four': Polke, Richter, Baselitz and now Kiefer. A central theme of the exhibition is found in the artist's particular insistence on the relevance of grand narratives. Kiefer (born 1945) uses myths that to a considerable extent absorb classical material, but which must be called both the myths of the age and his own myths, often with a starting point in the artist's own traumatized nationality. The exhibition presents around 90 works ranging from the earliest years after the Academy of Art in Karlsruhe in 1969 and all the way up until today, showing brand new pictures by Kiefer, who in 2008 was honored with "Der Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels" (The Peace Prize of the German Booksellers), which was thus awarded for the first time to a visual artist. There are five loosely demarcated themes, each of which clarifies artistic concerns to which Kiefer's works offer central contributions: New Works, Landscape as Myth, World Time – Life Time, Iconoclasm and The Book. A brand new film about Anselm Kiefer with the title "Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow" is shown in the museum cinema. The film is by Sophie Fiennes and was shown to great acclaim outside the competition at this year's Cannes Festival. The film documents Kiefer's working processes and can be experienced as a personal journey into the universe that Kiefer has built up since 2000 in the mountains in the south of France. Kiefer's works also form part of the educational museum's educational program. The Museum has a long history of cultural-historical exhibitions and of presenting large photo, design and architecture shows, and their publishing program produces exquisite catalogs to accompany their exhibitions. When Louisiana celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008, some of the artists who had exhibited at the museum were asked to design a print to be sold in support of Louisiana. A visit to this Dane jewel is a must for any art lover.

MoMA celebrates The Philippe de Montebello Years ~ Three Decades of Acquisitions

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:14 PM PDT

artwork: Edward Hicks, (American, 1780-1849) - Noah's Ark, 1846 - Oil on canvas

New York City - To celebrate Philippe de Montebello's 31 years as Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the curators of the Museum organized an exhibition of approximately 300 of the more than 84,000 works of art acquired during his tenure. This unique project – The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions, which will be on view in The Tisch Galleries through February 1, 2009 – is a collaboration of the curators currently working in the Museum's 17 curatorial departments.  Mr. de Montebello – the eighth and longest-serving Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art – announced in January his plans to retire at the end of the year.

" Op Art Revisited " exhibited at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:13 PM PDT

artwork: Victor Vasarely - Vega-Nor,1969 - Oil on canvas - Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery

BUFFALO, NY - Organized by Albright-Knox Art Gallery Associate Curator Holly E. Hughes, the exhibition includes 43 paintings and sculptures from artists central to the Op Art or Optical Art movement, such as Josef Albers, Richard Anuskiewicz, Bridget Riley, Julian Stanczak, and Victor Vasarely. Through the use of parallel lines, concentric circles and electric colors, these artists manipulated depth, perspective, space, and color to create an "optical illusion."

Lyons Wier Gallery To Display "Under the Radar" a Group Exhibition

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:12 PM PDT

artwork: Mitra Walter - "Exceeding Expectations", 2011 - Oil on panel, 5.75 x 7.5 in / 101.6 x 76.2 cm. - Courtesy of Lyons Wier Gallery, NYC

NEW YORK, NY.-
As expressed by its title, Under the Radar features eight New York based artists who have yet to surface prominently on the art scene but whose talent will surely rise to the top. The select eight are: Tobias Batz, Aleksander Betko, Dina Brodsky, Maya Brodsky, Talia Segal Fidler, Cobi Moules, Aristides Ruiz, and Mitra Walter. On exhibition at Lyons Wier Gallery in New York City from July 21st through August 20th.

artwork: Tobias Batz - "Bound Prayer", 2011 Inkjet print on Rives BFK paper with spray paint 20 x 16 in / 50.8 x 40.6 cm. Lyons Wier Gallery, NYTobias Batz' work, a fusion of fashion photography and street art, is a respectful celebration of the female sprit. It reflects the urban landscape of New York City and its inhabitants. His cutting edge use of photography, body painting, spray paint and experimental methods of digital processing pays homage to Andy Warhol, Frederico Fellini, Man Ray and edgy fashion photographers such as Helmut Newton and Richard Avedon.

Aleksander Betko captures the definition of life in New York City. His paintings are of introspective moments that define the resiliency and strength it takes to live one's life on their own terms in a seemingly cold and unforgiving city that provides the backdrop to some of the triumphs of the human condition.

In Dina Brodsky's series of paintings "Desert Places," the artist utilizes 17th century oil painting techniques to achieve a range of tonality in which light and shadow, as well as observation and imagination meld concordantly. Like the Robert Frost poem it references, Brodsky's panels explore the beauty that can be found in nature's most isolated places. The artist reveals the dichotomy of feeling that affects one in such settings. In these works, desolation is a siren that tempts our anxieties about loneliness to surface. Although fear suffuses the landscapes, their beauty is never overshadowed.

artwork:Talia Segal Fidler - "Motzetz", 2009, Oil and collage on canvas 26 x 18 in / 66 x 45.7 cm. Lyons Wier Gallery, NYCMaya Brodsky's work is inspired by notions concerning the connection between past and present and how one's memory of the past is formed and changed visually. Her paintings allow the viewer a glimpse into her personal vision and present, which she considers ephemeral and precious. By depicting the specific form of her personal experience, the artist protects it from the obscuring effects of time, implying the existence of something that transcends the particular forms of her subjective reality.

Cobi Moules creates a fantasy world in which only he exists. Throughout, there are many different narratives, coexisting to create an alternate world with a sense of excitement, self worth and play. Through the figure's multiplication and overwhelming presence within the landscape, it takes precedence over the landscape and integrates into it. The landscape, based off the Hudson River School style, is a stand in for the artist's own Christian upbringing, seeking to renegotiate his relationship, as a queer and transgender person, with his religious upbringing and of being seen as 'unnatural' through such Christian lens. The importance becomes the experiences of his multiple and overall presence in the landscape; engaging in different activities: playing, exploring his selves and nature, and thus becoming part of it.

Talia Segal Fidler applies personal experiences and her immediate surroundings into her hybrid compositions. As a collector of "stuff," she applies what she collects to add textural and decorative elements to her portraits such as jewels, pills, feathers, hair, an old wood palette or a pair of panties. The artist breaks the flat canvas surface and goes beyond simple paint and canvas in order to immerse the work into her everyday life, touching on personal topics such as body image, beauty, consumption, and the passage of time.

Aristides Ruiz' intricate ballpoint drawings of urban life and every day scenes capture the feelings and presence of a particular aesthetic moment in time, a single episode of a much longer tale. His 'snapshot' imagery attests to the undeniable presence of human life within the gritty landscape and their consequence on a broader scale.

Mitra Walter's small, intimate portraits focus on women and children as she explores ways in which figuration can reveal contextualized perceptions of human nature.

Visit the Lyons Wier Gallery in New York City at : http://lyonswiergallery.com/Home.html

Volker Hueller's Hand-Coloured Etchings at Timothy Taylor Gallery

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:11 PM PDT

artwork: Volker Hueller - 'Barflies', 2010. Etching with watercolour & shellac on paper. Paper: 11 1/2 x 9 1/2 in./29.5 x 24 cm. Image: 9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in./24.8 x 19.7 cm. ©Volker Hueller; Courtesy, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London.

LONDON.- Timothy Taylor Gallery presents the first solo exhibition in London by Berlin-based artist Volker Hueller as part of the gallery's The Viewing Room programme. Hueller's hand-coloured etchings exploit all the associative power of the etched line: spidery trails mordantly tracing care-worn physiognomies and smoke-filled rooms. The atmospheric remains of a dark European history lurk within the cracks and crevices of these complex drawings, made up of interlocking fragments and planes. Jaundiced, cruel and complacent faces emerge from these jagged forms, drawing on numerous historical references, such as the élan of Beardsley's fin de siècle drawings or Klee's expressive poetics of line. On view 28 April through 21 May.

MoMA P.S. 1 announces a Solo Exhibition of Darren Bader

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:10 PM PDT

artwork: Darren Bader (b. 1978) - "Time and touch are the beginnings of all encounters" - Courtesy of MoMA P.S. 1

LONG ISLAND CITY, NY.- Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana Marx / Stuff: the precise affinity between the generic and the specific.Sculpture's everywhere. It's space and space is everywhere. Space is in your thought, space is in front of your eyes and around you, it fills your mouth and infiltrates your hearing. Space is the stuff on the other side of contact. Our hands—which is to say, our eyes ears tongue nose respiration language—are all over the place/space. There's this stuff called art. I'm really into it, or at least I was and think I still am. This stuff is a way to infuse space. Art is not sculpture somehow. Sculpture comes to establish a place; art subsists on space, but also transcends it. Art might be sleeping in the parking lot, but could also drive up and take you out for dinner. Art somehow happens inside of you—it's any of your proverbial hands being guided by art's specific and unlocatable contours. On view January 29th—May 14th.


Grand Rapids Art Museum shows Richard Avedon ~ ' Larger Than Life '

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:09 PM PDT

artwork: Richard Avedon (1923-2004) - Ingrid Bolting, Coat by Dior, Paris, January 1970 - Gelatin silver print ©2008 The Richard Avedon Foundation - Courtesy The Richard Avedon Foundation

GRAND RAPIDS, MI.- The Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM), presents the work of Richard Avedon in an exclusive exhibition by one of the most important American photographers of the modern era. Richard Avedon: Larger Than Life traces the artist's dynamic career from the postwar years of the late 1940s in Europe to the early 21st century. Avedon set new precedents in fashion and portrait photography with his innovative approach to the medium. He also established a reputation as one of the greatest camera portraitists of our time.

artwork: Richard Avedon - Bob Dylan, Musician, Central Park, NY 1965 -  © 2008 The Richard Avedon Foundation.

Richard Avedon: Larger Than Life is organized by the Grand Rapids Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography for an exclusive presentation at the Grand Rapids Art Museum through January 4, 2009. The exhibition includes over 80 photographs drawn from the collection of the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona, which houses the Richard Avedon Archive. A  Membership Drive launched with a Special Guest Speaker attending the Members Exhibition Preview on October 2, 2008: Nigel Barker, renowned photographer and judge on the hit television show America's Next Top Model, was Guest Speaker for the Exhibition Preview.

After World War II, Avedon began taking photographs of street performers in Italy while doing freelance fashion photography for Harper's Bazaar, where he subsequently served as chief photographer until 1966. During his years at Harper's, Avedon created a new kind of fashion photography that transformed models from posed mannequins into actresses. He set his models in the city streets, bistros, and urban landmarks of Paris. In the studio, he required them to move and leap like dancers. The 1957 film Funny Face, starring Audrey Hepburn, cast Fred Astaire as fashion photographer, Dick Avery, a character based on Avedon, who consulted on the film and designed the opening titles.

In 1966 Avedon left Harper's for Vogue and shifted his focus to portraiture, which he had begun in the late 1950s. Through the rest of his life, Avedon created powerfully engaging and unsparing portraits of actors, artists, writers, politicians, and intellectuals. His portraits are distinguished by their minimalist style. Posed in front of a sheer white background, the subject looks squarely into the camera. Avedon considered portrait photography a collaborative process. He admired his subjects and captured them in revealing moments as they paused in conversation with him. Avedon's subjects were often larger than life personalities. His photographs of President Gerald Ford, Rose Kennedy, The Beatles, and Louis Armstrong are portraits that document the 20th century. The famous and familiar people that he photographed were distinctly un-glamorized, yet their images are monumental in presence. His subjects also included sitters such as the Napalm victims he photographed on his 1971 visit to Vietnam. Avedon's series In the American West, 1979–84, included drifters, miners, field hands, and working people from the western United States. However anonymous these subjects were, they have the same psychological presence and dignity as Avedon's portraits of the powerful and celebrated.

artwork: Richard Avedon - Provo, Utah 1980 - © 2008 The Richard Avedon Foundation.

Richard Avedon died suddenly in 2004 from a brain hemorrhage while shooting in San Antonio, Texas, for The New Yorker magazine. His project was titled On Democracy, befitting an American photographer who defined the stylish optimism of postwar modernism and immortalized the forthright faces of people who, in their time, were larger than life.

For the past two decades Nigel Barker has been taking the world of fashion by storm. He began his career as a model working for top designers and photographers and collaborating with the industry's elite. As his love for fashion grew, so did his desire to create beautiful images as a photographer.

In 1996, Nigel opened his photo studio in Manhattan's hip Meat Packing District. His photography career took off, with his work appearing in such publications as GQ, Interview, Paper, Lucky, Seventeen, (t)here, Cover, Zink!, Razor Red and People. Nigel raises the bar with every project by leading with an infectious enthusiasm and ceaseless dedication for capturing the essence of his subjects. This success has led him to create advertising campaigns for brands such as Beefeater Gin, Sean John, Leviev Jewelry, Pierre Cardin, Pamella Roland, Nicole Miller, OP, Ted Baker, Land's End, Lexus and Frederick's of Hollywood.

Coming full circle, Nigel has once again stepped in front of the lens, as a judge and photographer in the hit television show, "America's Next Top Model." With 10 seasons under his belt, Nigel has redefined the photography industry by giving it new meaning to the millions around the world who tune in each week to see and hear his take on beauty and fashion.

Nigel's celebrity has enabled him to bring new dimensions to all his projects, including his work with several charities. Nigel is partnered with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and has shot groundbreaking ad campaigns for the foundation and regularly grants wishes. He also shoots and promotes charitable projects for Edeyo, Do Something and The Humane Society of the United States. Nigel Barker lives in New York City with his wife, Cristen, and their son Jack.

Visit Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) at : www.artmuseumgr.org/

Museum Huis Marseille in Amsterdam Shows "Adam Fuss ~ A Survey of His Work"

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:08 PM PDT

artwork: Adam Fuss - "For Allegra", from the series My Ghost, 2009. - Daguerreotype, 70 x 105 cm. - Collection Richard Edwards, Colorado © Adam Fuss.

AMSTERDAM.- What immediately stands out with the work of Adam Fuss is that, both in terms of the chosen subject matter and in his approach to the photographic technique, he has greatly dissociated himself from conventional photography. That which Fuss produces is, in fact, still a photograph; but in order to achieve that, he did rid himself of all the finer luxuries available to users of the medium nowadays. Like a present-day alchemist, Fuss has mastered the medium's most elementary and primitive forms; he sees just as much potential for creativity in technical knowledge as in the imagination, or the visionary power of the photographer.


Kiefer & Rembrandt: Rijksmuseum Inspires Anselm Kiefer

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:07 PM PDT

artwork: Anselm Kiefer - "La berceuse", 2010 (detail). - Photo by Myra May.


AMSTERDAM.- One of Germany's most well-known and influential artists, Anselm Kiefer, was invited by the Rijksmuseum to create a work of art inspired by The Night Watch. The result, the spectacular La berceuse (for Van Gogh), for which he was given complete free rein, will be on display in the Rijksmuseum's Night Watch Gallery in the Philips Wing from 7 May.

Photographer Susan Silas Retraces A Holocaust Death March ~ 'Helmbrechts Walk'

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:06 PM PDT

artwork: Susan Silas - Day 1, Monday 13 April 1998, Helmbrechts to Schwartzenbach Saale, 1998 - Courtesy of The Hebrew Union College Museum

New York, NY - Susan Silas' work Helmbrechts Walk, 1998-2003 , is a memorial testament to the forced march of 580 female Jewish prisoners at the end of the Second World War. The march began on April 13th 1945 in order to evacuate Helmbrechts, a small satellite unit of the Flossenbürg concentration camp before American troops arrived. Silas' work acts as a visual representation of the 225 miles that the prisoners were forced to walk from the camp in Germany into occupied Czechoslovakia. On view at the Hebrew Union College Museum through 30 June.

The Mauritshuis Presents Modern Masters "Dalí Meets Vermeer"

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:05 PM PDT

artwork: Claude Monet - "Quai du Louvre", 1867 - Oil on canvas - Collection of the Haags Gemeentemuseum, the Hague, Netherlands. On view at the Mauritshuis, The Hague in "Dalí Meets Vermeer: Modern Masters Come to Visit" from September 15th through December 11th.

The Hague.- The Mauritshuis is proud to present "Dalí Meets Vermeer: Modern Masters Come to Visit" on view at the museum from September 15th through December 11th. The Mauritshuis, which is renowned for its magnificent collection of seventeenth-century Dutch paintings, presents modern and old masters together this autumn. Masterpieces by artists such as Van Gogh, Claude Monet and Salvador Dalí will be exhibited alongside highlights from the museum's own collection. "Dalí Meets Vermeer: Modern Masters Come to Visit" couples old and modern paintings in refreshing combinations, and displays one pair in each room of the museum. The confrontations will invite comparison and closer examination, revealing how painters of different eras grappled with the same artistic problems.


artwork: Peter Paul Rubens - "Old Woman and a Boy With Candles" - circa 1616-1617 Oil on panel - 79 x 61 cm. Collection of the Mauritshuis, The Hague.- On view  through Dec11th.The Mauritshuis owns a world-famous collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings from the seventeenth century, including masterpieces by Dutch artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Steen and Hals, Flemish painters such as Rubens and Brueghel, and the German artist Holbein. This autumn, a number of these seventeenth-century masters will be joined by a selection of international modern artists. All of these loans come from Dutch museum collections and were created during the period 1860-1960. For example, Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" will be installed next to Dalí's "Couple aux têtes pleines de nuages" (from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen), paintings that reveal surprisingly similar silhouette and colouring effects. Rogier van der Weyden and Francis Bacon both give their own interpretation of the Passion of Christ. For Rembrandt and Charley Toorop, the self-portrait represented a key artistic challenge, while Jan Both and Paul Cézanne both captured Mediterranean light beautifully in their landscapes. Juan Gris and Jan Davidsz de Heem show remarkable similarities in the compostions of their still-lifes, if not the styles, while Peter Paul Rubens and Max Beckman both use unusual light effects in their portraits. Eleven pairs of paintings will be displayed throughout the museum, occupying one wall in every room. Mauritshuis Director Emilie Gordenker explains: "The interplay and combined effect of the artworks offers an opportunity to look at 17th-century painting in a fresh way. The exhibition will also demonstrate the richness of Dutch art collections, and has been made possible thanks to the collaboration of modern art museums throughout the Netherlands."

The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis (English: "Maurice House") is an art museum in The Hague, the Netherlands. Previously the residence of count John Maurice of Nassau, it now has a large art collection, including paintings by Dutch painters such as Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jan Steen, Paulus Potter and Frans Hals and works of the German painter Hans Holbein the Younger. In 1631, army officer John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen (1604–1679), who was a cousin of stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, bought a plot bordering the Binnenhof and the adjacent pond named Hofvijver (English: "Court's Pond") in the The Hague, Holland, Dutch Republic. At that time, The Hague was the political center of the Dutch Republic and the States-General assembled in the Binnenhof. The Mauritshuis was named after Prince John Maurice and was built between 1636 and 1641, the period when he was the governor of Dutch Brazil. The Dutch Classicist building was designed by the Dutch architects Jacob van Campen and Pieter Post. The two-storey building is strictly symmetrical contained four apartments and a great hall. Each apartment was designed with an antechamber, a chamber, a cabinet, and a cloakroom. Originally, the building had a cupola, which was destroyed in a fire in 1704. After the death of Prince John Maurice in 1679, the house was owned by the Maes family, who leased the house to the Dutch government. In 1704, most of the interior of the Mauritshuis was destroyed by fire. The building was restored between 1708 and 1718. In 1820, the Mauritshuis was bought by the Dutch state for the purpose of housing the Royal Cabinet of Paintings.

artwork: Salvador Dalí - "A Couple with their Heads Full of Clouds", 1936 - Oil on wood - 87 x 66 cm. Collection of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. On view at the Mauritshuis, The Hague.

In 1822, the Mauritshuis was opened for the public and housed the Royal Cabinet of Paintings and the Royal Cabinet of Rarities. In 1875, the entire museum was available for paintings. The Mauritshuis was a state museum until it was privatised in 1995. The foundation set up at that time took charge of both the building and the collection, which it was given on long-term loan. This building, which is the property of the state, is rented by the museum. The museum collaborates regularly with museums in other countries. In 2007, the museum had almost 250,000 visitors. The collection of paintings of stadtholder William V, Prince of Orange was handed over to the Dutch state by his son king William I. This collection formed the basis of the Royal Cabinet of Paintings of around 200 paintings. The collection is currently called the Royal Picture Gallery. The current collection consists of almost 800 paintings and focusses on Dutch and Flemish artists, such as Pieter Brueghel, Paulus Potter, Pieter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jacob van Ruisdael, Johannes Vermeer, and Rogier van der Weyden. There are also works of Hans Holbein in the collection in the Mauritshuis. Visit the museum's website at ... www.mauritshuis.nl

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:04 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 .

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