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

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• The 43rd Art Basel Fair ~ Almost 300 Galleries Will Exhibit
• MASS MoCA features a Comprehensive Survey of Canadian Contemporary Art
• The Laing Gallery to display "Quentin Blake ~ As Large as Life"
• The Meadows Museum honors artist Jerry Bywaters ~ A Texas Legend
• The Oceanside Museum of Art shows "Cruisin' Califas ~ The Art of Lowriding"
• The National Gallery Of Art In Washington D.C. ~ A US Treasure Of European & American Art That Attracts 4.5 Million Visitors Annually
• Exhibition of Frida Kahlo's Work Announced by Martin Gropius Bau
• The Utah Museum of Fine Arts presents Las Artes de México Exhibition
• Stanley William Hayter's Surrealist & Abstract Prints at the National Gallery of Art
• Laumeier Sculpture Park Explores the Complex Dog-Human Relationship
• Gerard Hemsworth's "Hidden Agenda" on View at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art
• MoMA presents Compass in Hand ~ Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Collection
• Artsicle Website Launches "Try Before You Buy" Contemporary Art Gallery
• Jeff Koons’s " Blue Diamond " at Christie's 13 November
• The Muskegon Museum of Art Kicks Off its 100th Year Celebrations
• The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum Features Contemporary Art From Germany
• ' Fables ' at The Institute of Contemporary Art
• The D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts Exhibits "The Real Housewives of Currier & Ives"
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

The 43rd Art Basel Fair ~ Almost 300 Galleries Will Exhibit Posted: 09 Jun 2012 08:29 PM PDT Basel .- The world's premier international art show for Modern and contemporary works, Art Basel features nearly 300 leading galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. More than 2,500 artists, ranging from the great masters of Modern art to the latest generation of emerging stars, are represented in the show's multiple sections. The exhibition includes the highest-quality paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, photographs, video and editioned works. 5,000 people attended Art Basel in 2011, the last edition of this favorite rendezvous for the global artworld, including art collectors, art dealers, artists, curators and other art enthusiasts. With its world-class museums, outdoor sculptures, theaters, concert halls, idyllic medieval old town and new buildings by leading architects, Basel ranks as a culture capital, and that cultural richness helps put the Art Basel week on the agenda for art lovers from all over the globe. During Art Basel, from June 14th through June 17th, a fascinating atmosphere fills this traditional city, as the international art show is reinforced with exhibitions and events all over the region. Located on the banks of the Rhine, at the border between Switzerland, France and Germany, Basel is easily navigated by foot and trams. This year's Art Unlimited sector will for the first time be curated by Gianni Jetzer, Director of the Swiss Institute in New York. The sector will feature 62 projects by artists representing a cross-section of the leading figures from several generations of today's international art scene. Many pieces have been created especially for Art Unlimited and are marked both by their ambition and the relative youth of the artists creating them. The new curation will also be expressed in a very new design and architecture for the sector. In the 17,000-square-meter exhibition space of Hall 1, Art Unlimited offers artists and galleries a platform for works that surpass the possibilities of the conventional gallery booth, showcasing outsize sculptures, video projections, installations, wall paintings, photographic series, and performance art. Since its launch in 2000, many of the world's leading contemporary artists have exhibited in the Art Unlimited sector, which is generously supported by UBS. The number of projects proposed by gallerists for this edition increased significantly, signaling the importance of these works and the sector. A third of those proposals were selected for this year's edition. This year, works by artists including Jeremy Deller, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Hamish Fulton, Gilbert & George, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Tristan Bera, Douglas Gordon, Roni Horn, Anthony McCall, Ryan McGinley, Bruce Nauman, Mike Nelson, Olaf Nicolai, Walid Raad, Ugo Rondinone, Sterling Ruby and Franz West will be on show. The Art Parcours sector at Art Basel presents site-specific artworks and performances in the historical quarters of Basel. In its third year, the 2012 edition of Art Parcours has moved to the St. Johann neighborhood of Basel. From Wednesday, June 13 to Sunday, June 17 thirteen locations will be transformed by renowned international artists, including Pawel Althamer, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Rodney Graham, Aleksandra Mir, Maria Nordman, Pedro Reyes and Dieter Roth. The array of high-caliber works, again curated by Jens Hoffmann, Director of the CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco, will engage with Basel's past and present, weaving artistic interventions into the fabric of the city. Venues in Basel's St. Johann area include Druckerei Ackermannshof, which once was a medieval printing shop; Dieter Roth's former studio; a hidden water-pumping station; Predigerkircher (Preacher's Church), one of the first Gothic churches in the Upper Rhine region; opulently decorated Renaissance dining rooms at the Philosophicum; and the Restaurant Zur Mägd, where in 1538 a banquet was held in honor of the painter Hans Holbein the Younger, as well as various public sites throughout the area. On Wednesday June 13, from 8pm to midnight, the Art Parcours Night presents an evening of performances conceived by Los Angeles based artist Kathryn Andrews. During "Voix de Ville" performances by clowns, acrobats, musicians, jugglers and various Vaudevillian acts will take over the banks of the River Rhine Art Salon - a dense program of artist talks, panels, and other presentations - will again be presented every afternoon at Art 43 Basel from June 14 to June 17th. Taking place in the Hall 1 auditorium, the Art Salon program, curated by Maike Cruse, focuses on the most current artworld themes and spotlights the artists, curators, collectors, and experts influencing the visual arts at this moment and in the future. Since its inception in 2002, the Art Basel Conversations program has staged discussions about current aspects of the international artworld featuring distinguished artists, art collectors, museum directors, curators, critics, gallerists, architects, and publishers. Acclaimed artists Heinz Mack and Otto Piene, founders of the legendary group ZERO, will inaugurate this year's Art Basel Conversations series with the traditional Premiere 'Artist Talk'. The collectors focus panel, 'Asia's New Private Institutions' presents Monique Burger, Dr. Oei Hong Djien, Budi Tek and Rakhi Sarkar, who have founded and worked closely with private institutions across Asia, and is chaired by Asia Art Archive's Claire Hsu. On Friday morning, the 'Public/Private' panel will discuss 'Inventing the Museum' and will feature Lars Nittve, Roger Mandle and Juan Ignacio Vidarte. Saturday's 'The Future of Artistic Practice' series, hosted by Hans Ulrich Obrist, focuses on 'The Artist as Activist', bringing together artists and architects Yael Bartana, Santiago Cirugeda, Theaster Gates, Huda Lutfi to discuss activism and the arts. On Sunday, Jannis Kounellis, Santiago Sierra and Gilberto Zorio will explore Arte Povera, and how it influences artists today. Art Basel Conversations is free and open to the public. Curated by Maike Cruse, the program takes place every morning at 10am in the Auditorium in Hall 1. After each talk the audience can meet the panellists informally. Art Basel Conversations is presented by Absolut Art Bureau, responsible for The Absolut Company's international art initiatives. Absolut Art Bureau will make all talks available in high quality video on www.absolutartbureau.com and at the fair's website ... www.artbasel.com.

MASS MoCA features a Comprehensive Survey of Canadian Contemporary Art Posted: 09 Jun 2012 08:04 PM PDT North Adams, Massachusetts.- To assemble the exhibition "Oh, Canada" at MASS MoCA curator Denise Markonish visited nearly every province and territory in Canada.  In her travels (comprising over 400 studio visits) Markonish discovered a fascinating world of art, rich in craftsmanship with a deep interest in landscape and identity. Oh, Canada showcases the vast expanse of art made in the country, spanning all media and crossing generations and geography. Acknowledging that this is one curator's view and by no means acomprehensive picture of Canadian art today, Oh, Canada focuses mostly on artists less recognized outside of Canada, providing a fresh glimpse of a vibrant art scene that is too little known in the United States.  "At a moment in the international art scene that is particularly attuned to the exotically remote and embracing of 'anti-aesthetics', this is a show of art from close to the United States, often beautifully made," said Joseph Thompson, director of MASS MoCA. "Canada's proximity, and shared North Americanism, is a source of interesting friction.  It's so close and familiar, yet we sometimes barely know it." New commissions for "Oh, Canada" include an EP of songs by art-alternative folk rock band The Cedar Tavern Singers  AKA Les Phonorealistes, such as Oh Canada, Oh Canada, which is an absurdist romp through imagined genres of Canadian art like Neo-lumberjack Abstraction, Relational Lacrosse, and Beaver Dam Earthworks; Gisele Amantea's Democracy, which adapts a Louis Sullivan design in flocking down a 90'-long gallery; Micah Lexier's A Coin in the Corner, in which a series of newly minted coins will be installed treasure hunt-style throughout the museum; and Michel de Broin's Tortoise, an outdoor installation constructed of oversized picnic tables. Other artists creating new works for the exhibition include: Daniel Barrow, Rebecca Belmore, BGL, Janice Wright Cheney, Michael Fernandes, Eryn Foster, David R. Harper, Terrence Houle, Craig Leonard, Divya Mehra, Graeme Patterson, Ed Pien, and John Will. Through her research Markonish identified several trends prevalent in contemporary Canadian art some of which include artists examining identity like First Nations artists Rebecca Belmore, Ruth Cuthand, Wally Dion, Terrence Houle, Kent Monkman, and Joseph Tisiga. Many of these artists address the history of Aboriginal peoples throughout Canada's history, from early colonialism and land ownership debates to the Indian Act, which took away many rights, including the right to vote and participate in cultural practices. Other artists addressing identity are Mario Doucette, who examines the Acadian history of the Maritime Provinces, and Annie Pootoogook and Shuvinai Ashoona who depict lnuit life in Nunavut. Close looking at the landscape is a trend also evident in "Oh, Canada". Artists like Amalie Atkins, David Hoffos, and Graeme Patterson examine surreal/uncanny elements in this landscape, whereas Ned Pratt, Kim Morgan, and Rita McKeough explore memory and politics. Morgan and Pratt probe the coastal landscape: Morgan's cast latex lighthouse becomes a memorial to a time long gone, while Pratt emphasizes where the man-made meets nature. Rita McKeough's Alternator addresses the controversy over the oil sands in northern Alberta. Another key element of the Canadian landscape is the North, as exemplified in Charles Stankievech's LOVELAND. This work comments on the militarization of the landscape by Cold War paranoia and the North American Air Defense (NORAD) Defense Early Warning (or DEW Line), installed in the late 1950s as a defense against Russian invasion. Canada has a long history of conceptual art practices, from early collectives like the Vancouver-based N.E. Thing Co and Toronto's General Idea, to the visiting artist and printmaking programs at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) that brought well-known conceptualists like John Baldessari and Sol LeWitt to Halifax. Senior artists Garry Neill Kennedy (who was once president of NSCAD) and Michael Snow continue to explore the conceptual - Kennedy, in his installation Spotted which addresses CIA planes used to transport suspected terrorists, and Snow in his video Solar Breath [Northern Caryatids] which contemplates subtle natural phenomena through the framing device of the camera. Other conceptual-based practices include those of Craig Leonard, Eryn Foster, Michael Fernandes, Hans Wendt, and Eric Cameron. In Canada there has been a notable return to the emphasis on craft materials and labor-intensive techniques like felt, ceramics, paper-cutting, and embroidery. A new generation of artists has emerged who borrow from these media and processes, using them to create contemporary works that speak to varied ideas such as beauty, the grotesque, history, and materiality. This group includes: Luanne Martineau who works with handmade felt; Ed Pien whose use of intricately cut paper was inspired by a 2004 trip to China; Shary Boyle who extends the themes of craft and the body; Clint Neufeld who uses traditional craft to explore gender; and Janice Wright Cheney and David R. Harper who both employ taxidermy as their launching point. References to the vernacular are frequent in the exhibition: Kim Adams' materials come from hardware stores, dollar stores, and even car dealerships. Valerie Blass and Diane Landry transform the mundane into the magical, using materials like artificial hair on mannequins (Blass) and water bottles filled with sand (Landry). Both Nicolas Baier and Kristan Horton use photography to explore the commonplace, creating portraits of the artists through studio objects. The trends listed here are just a few of the sub-themes present in Oh, Canada. Other artists in the exhibition include Patrick Bernatchez, Bill Burns, Douglas Coupland, DaveandJenn, Marcel Dzama, Brendan Fernandes, Noam Gonick and Luis Jacob, Hadley+Maxwell, Allison Hrabluik, Sarah Anne Johnson, Wanda Koop, Myfanwy MacLeod, Kelly Mark, Chris Millar, Andrea Mortson, Janet Werner, Mitchell Wiebe, and Etienne Zack. MASS MoCA is the largest center for contemporary arts in the United States. The institution is dedicated to the creation and presentation of provocative visual and performing arts pieces, and of works that blur conventional distinctions between artistic disciplines. In addition, MASS MoCA functions as a laboratory for the contemporary arts, fostering experimentation by artists, encouraging collaborations among institutions, and allowing visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process. MASS MoCA is housed on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings in North Adams, Massachusetts. The complex occupies nearly one-third of the downtown business district. By coupling the versatility and size of its spaces with the latest digital, fiber optic, and new media technologies, MASS MoCA is able to present and catalyze the creation of works that can be shown nowhere else in the world. These facilities serve as a testing ground to expand and redefine the nature of contemporary art. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.massmoca.org

The Laing Gallery to display "Quentin Blake ~ As Large as Life" Posted: 09 Jun 2012 07:39 PM PDT Newcastle, England.- Quentin Blake is one of Britain's best-loved and most successful illustrators, having won countless awards and appointed Britain's first Children's Laureate. He is known by young and old alike, his name having been synonymous with his illustrations for Roald Dahl's books. Recently Quentin Blake has been commissioned by hospitals and health centres in the UK and abroad to produce works which have a therapeutic effect on their residents. This Summer, Quentin Blake's work arrive at the Laing Art Gallery and bring together over 50 works forvisitors to experience the effects for themselves. "Quentin Blake: As Large as Life" opens on July 7th and remains on view through October 14th. The idea of bringing art into hospitals is one currently being taken forward again by Stephen Barnham and Dr Nick Rhodes of the Nightingale Project, a charity, founded in 1988, whose aim is to brighten up mental health hospitals through the arts. As an early commission, they asked Children's Laureate and well-loved illustrator, Quentin Blake (born 1932), perhaps best known for his collaborations with Roald Dahl, to produce a series of pictures for the walls of the mental health ward for older adults in Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow. Blake soon settled on the theme of the circus, wanting to highlight that his fellow seniors were still full of beans and not necessarily ready to kowtow to the rules of every day life! Fire breathers, tightrope and stilt walkers, acrobats, all a mix of colours and ages, cavort amongst performing animals in a carnivalesque and celebratory manner. This is certainly not a scene one would associate with a glum NHS old person's hospital ward.

The Meadows Museum honors artist Jerry Bywaters ~ A Texas Legend Posted: 09 Jun 2012 07:13 PM PDT Dallas, Texas.- Thanks to the most generous gift of Jerry Bywaters Cochran, the Meadows Museum has recently added more than forty works by Mrs. Cochran's father, Jerry Bywaters, to its collections. These works, which span the length of Bywaters's career, demonstrate an array of subject matter and a range in medium, from oil paintings and watercolors to pastels, graphite drawings, and prints. The Museum has recently recognized Bywaters's contributions to the art world through two concurrent exhibitions, held in 2007, the centennial of the artist's birth: Jerry Bywaters: Interpreter of the Southwest and Jerry Bywaters: Lone Star Printmaker. Now, a more tangible acknowledgement of Bywaters's significance will become a part of the Museum as well. The gifted works will join with other works already in the University Art Collection, including Bywaters's painting Where the Mountains Meet the Plains (1939), which is considered one of his greatest landscapes, and will significantly augment the University's holdings of Texas regionalist art. The exhibition "The Collection of Calloway & Jerry Bywaters Cochran: In Honor of a Lone Star Legend" featuring these works will be on view at the museum through August 19th. Williamson Gerald (Jerry) Bywaters (1906-1989) was born in Paris, Texas, and spent his childhood there until his parents moved the family to Dallas in 1917. Bywaters attended SMU as an undergraduate student from 1922 to 1927, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Journalism in 1926, and another Bachelor of Arts degree in General Literature in 1927, and unwittingly started what would be a lifelong relationship with the University.  In 1936, at the age of thirty, Bywaters began teaching at SMU, and he would continue to teach art without interruption, along with art history courses, for the next forty years. From 1943 to 1964, when Bywaters served as the Director of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (now the Dallas Museum of Art), he continued to teach one class per semester at SMU, and in 1965, no longer at the DMFA, Bywaters resumed teaching fulltime. In addition to his classes, Bywaters also served as the chairman of the Division of Fine Arts at SMU from 1965 to 1967, and as Director of the Pollock Gallery on campus from 1965 to 1971. The SMU sponsored accolades continued for Bywaters when he was appointed professor emeritus in 1971, bestowed with the Distinguished Alumni award in 1978, and received an honorary Doctorate of Arts degree in 1987. With his dedication to teaching and devotion to the University throughout his life, in conjunction with the many years he spent at the helm of the DMFA, it is surprising that Bywaters found additional time to produce art. But art was a passion for him from an early age, and when he was not promoting the work of others, Bywaters was creating his own. Following his graduation from SMU, Bywaters spent two years traveling and living outside of Texas, the only time in his life when he would do so. He first traveled to Europe—to France and Spain—in July of 1927, beginning his trip in Paris. The artist later remembered this time, saying, "As soon as possible I grew a scraggly beard and walked the streets, night and day, painting some small pictures reflecting influences from Degas through Monet…" Bywaters's recollection of his Parisian time is substantiated with a small self-portrait sketch, Impressionistic in style and complete with beard, which he completed during this period. Likewise, other works inspired by this trip present various Spanish locales in the same manner, such as San Millán Iglesia, Segovia, Spain (1929). These sites were visited after his time in France, when Bywaters traveled to Spain, first visiting Burgos, Segovia, and Madrid, and then moving further south to Cordova, Seville and Granada, cities that supposedly reminded him of West Texas. Bywaters also traveled to Mexico during these two years of exploration, in February of 1928, to study the work of Mexican muralists, such as José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and above all, Diego Rivera. Writing about the experience a few months later, in the July edition of the Southwest Review, Bywaters remarked, "…I know now that art, to be significant, must be a reflection of life; that it must be understandable to the layman; and that it must be a part of a people's thought…." With this inspiration Bywaters returned to Dallas where he quickly re-settled and began working on what would become his signature artistic language. This language, which portrayed Bywaters's interest in landforms and the people who inhabited them, was also influenced by the social effects brought on by the Great Depression. Bywaters frequently produced scenes of rural life, which sometimes focused on isolated and aging buildings and other times portrayed only the desolate landscape, with mountains in the background or a storm in the distance. He also cultivated an interest in figure types—oil-field workers, Mexican women, Navajo men—which could stand in for the everyman, and in this manner, seemingly local subjects portrayed themes that were universally understood, as seen in works such as Sharecropper's Wife (1937), Mexican Mother (1936), and Navajo Man (1941). This was Bywaters's own version of art inspired by the layman, for the layman, just as he had witnessed Rivera doing a few years earlier in Mexico. In this fashion, Bywaters emerged as the leading figure for the Regionalist artists working in Dallas, and for the group known as the Dallas Nine, which included artists John Douglass, Otis Dozier, Lloyd Goff, William Lester, Charles McCann, Perry Nichols, Everett Spruce, and Buck Winn. This group expanded to include, among others, Ed Bearden, Barney Delabano, Alexandre Hogue, DeForest Judd and Florence McClung. Works by many of these artists are housed within the Museum's University Art Collection, and sixteen additional works by artists such as Ed Bearden, Barney Delabano and DeForrest Judd, are also included with Mrs. Cochran's gift. This magnificent gift of Bywaters works, a fairly complete collection of the artist's oeuvre in and of itself, will join another important group of Bywaters holdings on the SMU campus: the Jerry Bywaters Collection on Art of the Southwest, the artist's archives. Now housed within the Jerry Bywaters Special Collections Wing of the Jake and Nancy Hamon Arts Library at SMU's Meadows School of the Arts, these archives, first initiated by Bywaters himself in 1980, include full records of both his life and career. The documents maintained within vary from his many different roles—artist, teacher, museum administrator, writer, critic and historian—and serve to present a complete understanding of not just Bywaters, but also of his peers and the society at large. Together, these two complementary holdings on SMU's campus of art and archives will provide a fully comprehensive view of the large legacy left behind by Jerry Bywaters. The Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University houses one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Spanish art outside of Spain. With works dating from the 10th to the 21st century, the internationally renowned collection presents a broad spectrum of art covering a thousand years of Spanish heritage. During business trips to Spain in the 1950s, Texas philanthropist and oil financier Algur H. Meadows spent many hours at the Prado Museum in Madrid. The Prado's spectacular collection of Spanish masterpieces inspired Meadows to begin his own collection of Spanish art. In 1962, through The Meadows Foundation, he gave SMU funds for the construction and endowment of a museum to house his Spanish collection. The Meadows Museum opened in 1965 as part of a new arts center at SMU. The Meadows Museum collection includes masterpieces by some of the world's greatest painters: El Greco, Diego Velázquez, Ribera, Murillo, Francisco de Goya, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso. Highlights of the collection include Renaissance altarpieces, monumental Baroque canvases, exquisite Rococo oil sketches, poly-chrome wood sculptures, Impressionist landscapes, modernist abstractions, a comprehensive collection of the graphic works of Goya, and a select group of sculptures by major 20th-century masters, including Auguste Rodin, Jacques Lipchitz, Henry Moore, Claes Oldenburg, David Smith and Fritz Wotruba. At the base of the plaza is a 40-by-90 foot moving sculpture, Wave, designed by Santiago Calatrava. The museum is a unique resource for local schools, colleges, the Dallas-Fort Worth community and visitors from around the world. With an active program of tours, educational outreach, weekend family days and a summer art program for young people, the Meadows Museum plays an important role as an educational and cultural center in North Texas.  Visit the museum's website at ... http://smu.edu/meadowsmuseum

The Oceanside Museum of Art shows "Cruisin' Califas ~ The Art of Lowriding" Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:49 PM PDT Oceanside, CA.- The Oceanside Museum of Art presents "Cruisin' Califas ~ The Art of Lowriding", on view through September 30th. The personalized automobiles known as "Lowriders," are part of a subculture whose aesthetic tendencies cross over into the world of fine art. Lowrider describes a car that is typically customized with a hydraulic setup to be low to the ground, with an elaborate paint job, striking chrome features and uniquely designed upholstery. But this term reaches beyond cars, and has become a cultural phenomenon and way of life for many people. Today Lowrider culture can be seen not only in cars and motorcycles, but also in sculptures, photography and paintings as a way for people to express their individuality and cultural pride. This exhibition will feature a display of several full-size cars and motorcycles that have been created in the Lowrider style. Accompanying the vehicles will be paintings and sculptures made by the vehicle designers and owners and other prominent artists influenced by Lowrider culture in their artwork. Featured artists include Teen Angel, Mike Pickel, Gilbert "Magu" Lujan, Jae Bueno, David Avalos, Bobby Ruiz, El Moises, D.A. Garcia, Victor Cordero, Eddie "Swoopy" Galindo, Aztek, Howard Gribble, Pedro "Rooster" Rayos, Salvador Gonzalez, Ulises Vasquez, Armando Flores, Estevan Oriol and Eriberto Oriol, among others. This exhibition is guest curated by Carlos C. de Baca and David C. de Baca.

The National Gallery Of Art In Washington D.C. ~ A US Treasure Of European & American Art That Attracts 4.5 Million Visitors Annually Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:27 PM PDT Now visited by more than 4.5 million people annually, the National Gallery of Art is now one of the world's leading art museums. The National Gallery of Art was created in 1937 for the people of the United States of America by a joint resolution of Congress, accepting the gift of financier and art collector Andrew W. Mellon. Since its inception, the mission of the National Gallery of Art has been to serve the United States of America in a national role by preserving, collecting, exhibiting, and fostering the understanding of works of art, at the highest possible museum and scholarly standards. The original West Building, designed by John Russell Pope (architect of the Jefferson Memorial and the National Archives), is a neoclassical marble masterpiece with a domed rotunda over a colonnaded fountain and high-ceilinged corridors leading to delightful garden courts. At its completion in 1941, the building was the largest marble structure in the world. On March 17, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the completed building and the collections on behalf of the people of the United States of America. The paintings and works of sculpture given by Andrew Mellon have formed a nucleus of high quality around which the collections have grown. Mr. Mellon's hope that the newly created National Gallery would attract gifts from other collectors was soon realized in the form of major donations of art from Samuel H. Kress, Rush H. Kress, Joseph Widener, Chester Dale, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, Lessing J. Rosenwald, and Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch as well as individual gifts from hundreds of other donors. The modern East Building, designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect I. M. Pei and opened in 1978, is composed of two adjoining triangles with glass walls and lofty tetrahedron skylights. The pink Tennessee marble from which both buildings were constructed was taken from the same quarry and forms an architectural link between the two structures. The East Building provided an additional 56,100 m2 of floor space and accommodated the Gallery's growing collections and expanded exhibition schedule as well as housing an advanced research center, administrative offices, a great library, and a burgeoning collection of drawings and prints. The two buildings are linked by an underground concourse featuring sculptor Leo Villareal's computer-programmed digital light project "Multiverse". On May 23, 1999 the Gallery opened an outdoor sculpture garden located in the 6.1-acre block adjacent to the West Building at 7th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W. The garden provides an informal, yet elegant setting for works of modern and contemporary sculpture. The National Gallery of Art contains three museum shops, three cafes and a bar as well as the Library, a major national art research center serving the Gallery's staff, members of the Center for Advanced Study, visiting scholars, and serious adult researchers. Visit the museum's thorough website at .. http://www.nga.gov The National Gallery of Art has one of the finest art collections in the world, including an outstanding and highly representative collection of European art. The permanent collection of paintings spans from the Middle Ages to the present day. The strongest collection is the Italian Renaissance collection, which includes two panels from Duccio's "Maesta", the great tondo of the "Adoration of the Magi" by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi, a Botticelli on the same subject, Giorgione's Allendale "Nativity", Bellini's "The Feast of the Gods", the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the Americas, and significant groups of works by Titian and Raphael. Other European collections include examples of the work of many of the great masters of western painting, including Mattias Grünewald, Cranach the Elder, Rogier van der Weyden, Albrecht Dürer, Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer, El Greco, Francisco Goya, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Anthony van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens, John Constable, J. M. W. Turner and Eugène Delacroix, among many others. American artists featured in the collection include Gilbert Stuart, Winslow Homer, Thomas Chambers, Fitz Henry Lane, Martin Johnson Heade, Frederic Edwin Church and Mary Cassatt among many others. The collection of sculpture and decorative arts includes such diverse works as the "Chalice of Abbot Suger of St-Denis", a superb collection of work by Rodin and Degas, Honoré Daumier's entire series of bronze sculptures, including all 36 of his caricatured portrait busts of French government officials, superb modern sculpture by Henry Moore and others and wonderful examples of Chinese porcelain. The east wing is a showcase for the museum's collection of 20th-century art, including works by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Joan Miró, Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston and Mark Rothko as well as hosting the gallery's special exhibitions. The National Gallery of Art is home to fifteen diverse permanent exhibits that highlight artworks by Henri Matisse ("cutouts"), Alexander Calder (untitled mobile, commissioned for the East Building atrium), Andy Goldsworthy ("Roof", a sculpture installed on the ground level of the East Building) and other specially commissioned pieces or highlights from the collection. Three major exhibitions are now on view at the National Gallery of Art. "From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection" (until 2 January 2012) highlights works from Chester Dale's magnificent bequest to the National Gallery of Art in 1962. This special exhibition features some 83 of his finest French and American paintings. Among the masterpieces on view are Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's "Forest of Fontainebleau", Auguste Renoir's "A Girl with a Watering Can", Mary Cassatt's "Boating Party", Edouard Manet's "Old Musician", Pablo Picasso's "Family of Saltimbanques", and George Bellows' "Blue Morning". Other artists represented include Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, and Claude Monet. Dale was an astute businessman who made his fortune on Wall Street in the bond market. Portraits of Dale by Salvador Dalí and Diego Rivera are included in the show, along with portraits of Dale's wife Maud (who greatly influenced his interest in art) painted by George Bellows and Fernand Léger. A selection of works from the museum library entitled "Collections Frozen in Time" (until 24 July 201) focuses on historic private collection catalogues held by the National Gallery of Art's own library. From the Middle-Ages until the 19th century, rulers, nobles, and wealthy merchants acquired and sold paintings, classical sculpture, gems, vases, and numismatics. As these private libraries grew they became a way to demonstrate an individual's wealth and sophistication and had to be documented. Some collectors wrote their own catalogues, others sought noted scholars to catalogue the works. In the days before photography, artists were commissioned to produce lavish engravings depicting the assembled objects in fine detail. The private collection catalogue soon became as much a luxury object as the items it described, and as collections were dispersed over time, these catalogues often remained the only record of the collections' original contents. Until the 15th of May 2011, the National Gallery of Art is spotlighting Ter Brugghen's "Saint Sebastian Tended by Irene" (on loan from the Allen Memorial At Museum of Oberlin College) hanging it alongside their own, famous "Bagpipe Player". Although these paintings belong to different genres, they reveal the sure fluidity of brush, exquisite color harmonies, and sophisticated compositional orchestration for which Ter Brugghen is renowned. "Saint Sebastian Tended by Irene" depicts an episode from the life of Sebastian, a third–century Roman soldier. After refusing to renounce Christianity he was bound to a tree and shot by archers. Irene, along with her maidservant, rescued him, removed the arrows from his flesh, and nursed his wounds. The circumstances prompting the creation of this work are not certain, but it is probable that Ter Brugghen painted it for a hospital in Utrecht. Major forthcoming exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art include "Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals" from 20th February 2011. Organized jointly with the National Gallery, London, this exhibition will explore the 18th century art inspired by the city of Venice. The exhibition celebrates the rich variety of these Venetian views, known as 'vedute', through some 20 masterworks by Canaletto and more than 30 by his rivals, including Michele Marieschi, Francesco Guardi, and Bernardo Bellotto. Responding to an art market fueled largely by the Grand Tour, these gifted painters depicted the famous monuments and vistas of Venice in different moods and seasons. From February 27thth 2011, "Gauguin: Maker of Myth will feature nearly 120 works by Gauguin in the first major look at the artist's oeuvre in the United States since the blockbuster National Gallery of Art retrospective of 1988–1989, "The Art of Paul Gauguin". Organized by Tate Modern, London, in association with the National Gallery of Art, the exhibition will bring together self-portraits, genre pictures, still lifes, and landscapes from throughout the artist's career. It will include not only oil paintings but also pastels, prints, drawings, sculpture, and decorated functional objects. Organized thematically, the exhibition will examine Gauguin's use of religious and mythological symbols to tell stories, reinventing or appropriating narratives and myths drawn both from his European cultural heritage and from Maori legend. Opening on April 17th 2011, a retrospective of work by Gabriel Metsu will featue some 35 paintings. Gabriel Metsu (1629–1667) is one of the most important Dutch genre painters of the mid-17th century. His ability to capture ordinary moments of life with freshness and spontaneity was matched only by his ability to depict materials with an unerring truth to nature. Although his career was relatively short, Metsu enjoyed great success as a genre painter, but also for his religious scenes, still lifes, and portraits. This exhibition will be the first monographic show of Metsu's work ever mounted in the United States.

Exhibition of Frida Kahlo's Work Announced by Martin Gropius Bau Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:26 PM PDT BERLIN.- The year 2007 was the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the artist Frida Kahlo. She attained cult status through an art that combined the colourful, cheerful culture of Mexico with the traumatic experiences of her own life. Although this made her the most famous female artist of the first half of the 20th century, in Germany her work was very seldom to be seen in the original. The over 120 paintings and drawings on display in the Martin-Gropius-Bau will be the most extensive exhibition of Frida Kahlo's oeuvre to date.

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts presents Las Artes de México Exhibition Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:25 PM PDT SALT LAKE CITY, UT.- The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) presents Las Artes de México, an exhibition celebrating more than 3,500 years of Mexican art, history, and culture. On loan from the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this exhibition will be on view in six of the UMFA's first-floor galleries during the summer of 2010, untol 26 September.Las Artes de México offers a dynamic look at Mexico's ancient, folk, and modern cultures, showcasing art from many different eras and regions. From ancient Mesoamerican artifacts to groundbreaking twentieth century artworks by modern masters, Las Artes de México examines the rich historical roots that have developed into the country's cultural landscape today.

Stanley William Hayter's Surrealist & Abstract Prints at the National Gallery of Art Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:24 PM PDT WASHINGTON, DC.- English chemist Stanley William Hayter's innovative prints—from the surrealist works of the 1930s to vividly colored abstractions of his later years—reveal his remarkable talent and range of success in the medium of printmaking. On view at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, from May 31 through August 30, 2009, Stanley William Hayter: From Surrealism to Abstraction traces the artist's development as a printmaker through 44 of Hayter's finest prints shown with 10 prints by major artists who worked at Hayter's shop. "Hayter has been celebrated as one of the most influential printmakers of the 20th century," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "This exhibition recognizes that important contribution but focuses more on Hayter's achievement as an artist. Drawn primarily from the Gallery's holdings, the exhibition would not be possible without the generous contribution of works by Ruth Cole Kainen, widow of artist Jacob Kainen." Stanley William Hayter (1901–1988) Born in England, Hayter studied chemistry and geology at King's College, London, and subsequently spent three years working for an oil company. He pursued his long-standing desire to become an artist in 1926 when he moved to Paris, took up with the surrealists, painted, and learned printmaking—in particular, the age-old technique of line engraving. Hayter was captivated by the surrealists' dream­like imagery and their reliance on the subconscious mind to spur creativity. In Paris in 1927 Hayter set up a print workshop, Atelier 17, where he invited artists to investigate the expressive and technical potential of engraving and etching. With the outbreak of World War II, Hayter joined the exodus to New York, where he taught at the New School for Social Research and reestablished Atelier 17 in lower Manhattan. European surrealists found a community of émigrés there while American artists were inspired by the European avant-garde. Hayter returned to Paris in 1950 and was making inventive abstractions by the early 1960s that rival the visual brilliance of op art, many imbued with electric, even dissonant, color and dazzling moiré patterns. Hayter was knighted and received the Légion d'honneur in 1951, and was chosen to represent Great Britain at the 1958 Venice Biennale. He became Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 1967. Exhibition Highlights Stanley William Hayter: From Surrealism to Abstraction includes early black-and-white surrealist engravings, outstanding examples of his technical innovations, unique proofs and color variations, late linear abstractions inspired by motion and mathematics, and a fully worked copper plate and plaster cast, which he deemed artistic creations in their own right. Among the first works in the show are Rue de la Villette and Père Lachaise (1930), from the portfolio Paysages urbains, which reflect Hayter's early response to surrealism, and Combat (1936), created at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, in which Hayter uses tangled, whiplash lines to suggest the frenzy of warriors and horses in battle. Myth of Creation (1940) is an example of Hayter's experimentation with plaster reliefs, which were cast from the same engraved and etched copper plates he used to make prints. After the work was cast, he carved into the plaster to enhance its three-dimensionality. Centauresse (1944) is Hayter's first multicolor print using a single copper plate, a method he called "simultaneous color print­ing." Instead of working in the customary method with multiple plates, each inked in a different color, he printed multiple colors using a single plate in one run through the press. This group of five impressions illustrates Hayter's gradual development of the plate and his investigations with color. Shoal Green (1967) is representative of Hayter's late abstract style in which he rendered elements of the natural world, such as light, water, and motion. He continued to make prints until the end of his life. His line was less vigorous after 1986 but no less elegant or expressive, as seen in his final print, Downward (1988). Select prints by some of the best–known artists to work at Hayter's print shop, either in Paris or in New York – Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, André Masson, Joan Miró, and Jackson Pollock are installed throughout the exhibition. Giacometti's engraving Hands Holding the Void (1934) relates to his bronze sculpture The Invisible Object (Hands Holding the Void) (1935), on view in the Gallery's collection on the upper level of the East Building. Masson, who worked at Atelier 17 in New York between 1941 and 1945, is represented by The Genius of the Species (1942). Pollock made 11 plates at Atelier 17 in New York between 1944 and 1945, two of which are included in the exhibition. Visit the National Gallery of Art at : http://www.nga.gov/

Laumeier Sculpture Park Explores the Complex Dog-Human Relationship Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:23 PM PDT ST. LOUIS, MO.- Laumeier Sculpture Park presents an exhibition that examines the complex intersection between our human behavior and that of our domesticated partners. Dog Days of Summer features the work of ten artists spanning nearly three centuries in both the indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces at Laumeier. The show explores the relationship between humans and canines as depicted in visual art, from an 18th century drawing to a 21st century site specific installation. The mutual impact humans and dogs have had on each other over time is a particular focus.

Gerard Hemsworth's "Hidden Agenda" on View at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:22 PM PDT RIDGEFIELD, CT.- Although his paintings are seemingly unproblematic, simple and innocent, upon closer examination the works of British artist Gerard Hemsworth become confrontational, disconcerting, and provocative in a slightly uncomfortable way. The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum presents fifteen works comprising Hemsworth's first solo museum exhibition in the United States. His long career has been devoted to a careful consideration of painting's options, meanings, and tactics. Hemsworth's visual language is comprised of line drawings of cartoon-like images, open spaces, and flat muted colors; representational works that have the familiarity of both modernist paintings and storybook pictures. He has developed a project that has allowed him to undermine the seriousness of high modernist art and cultural values, while at the same time providing a space that questions their possibility. On view through 1 January, 2010.

MoMA presents Compass in Hand ~ Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Collection Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:21 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY - The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) presents Compass in Hand: Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection, an exhibition that features 300 works by over 150 artists from this collection. This exhibition, the largest drawings exhibition ever mounted at MoMA, features selections from the donation of approximately 2,500 works on paper by more than 650 artists that entered the Museum's collection in 2005. The exhibition surveys the collection for the first time and shows the various methods and materials within the styles of gestural and geometric abstraction, representation and figuration, and systems-based and conceptual drawings. It will be on view in the Museum's second floor Contemporary Galleries from April 22 to July 27, 2009. Brought together are historical works by Lee Bontecou and Joseph Beuys, Minimalist and Conceptual works by Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, and Hanne Darboven, detailed narrative drawings by Elizabeth Peyton and John Currin, collages by Amelie von Wulffen, Mona Hatoum, and Lucy McKenzie and Paulina Olowska, and large-scale installations by Nate Lowman and Ján Mancuška. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Collection of Contemporary Drawings, the largest gift ever made to the Museum's Department of Drawings, was assembled over a two-year period and ranges from the 1930s to 2005 with a heavy focus on contemporary practice. The collection was formed by the Foundation's sole trustee, Harvey S. Shipley Miller, who is also a MoMA trustee, in consultation with Gary Garrels, who was MoMA's Chief Curator of Drawings and Curator of Painting and Sculpture from 2000 to 2005. Mr. Rattemeyer states, This exhibition speaks first and foremost to the vitality of drawing today, documenting a resurgence of the medium's importance to contemporary art practice over the past two decades. The recent work in the exhibition suggests a new approach to working on paper, or rather with paper as a reconfigured material, with assemblage techniques assuming a major role. To understand this recent activity, certain historical trajectories were established: one through figurative works, and the other through abstract, minimal, and conceptual works. Compass in Hand is laid out along this dual trajectory, with each path following a rough chronology from the 1950s to the present. The central galleries of the exhibition explore the most current tendencies in drawings today. The galleries are organized by time periods, artistic movements, and geographic locations, the principles on which the collection was generally based, and features contemporary works by artists including Kai Althoff, Peter Doig, Marcel Dzama, Mark Grotjahn, Charline von Heyl, Christian Holstad, Roni Horn, Jasper Johns, Nick Mauss, Paul McCarthy, Jennifer Pastor, Kara Walker, and Andrea Zittel. An exceptional selection of Minimal and Conceptual drawings from the 1960s and 1970s by artists including Jo Baer, Bridget Riley, and Fred Sandback, and works by significant outsider artists such as Henry Darger, James Castle, and Pearl Blauvelt, form thematic groupings of historic abstraction and figuration, respectively, addressing both sides of the exhibition's focus. Selectively pairing works by artists from similar geographic centers—such as New York, Los Angeles, Great Britain (with London and Glasgow as the centers), and Germany (with Berlin as the current center, and Cologne and Düsseldorf as historically significant cities)—or different generations—comparing, for instance, the work of the young American artist Elizabeth Peyton to that of David Hockey—the exhibition suggests genealogies and influences, highlighting the ways in which certain basic genres and methods have endured over time. The title, Compass in Hand, refers to the exhibition's ambition for geographical exploration and discovery (the navigational compass) and its attention to modes of making (the compass as a drafting tool). Compass in Hand also addresses the ever-shifting role of drawing between the sketch and finished object and introduces a wide range of material practices, from pencil drawings to vividly colored paintings on paper, from experimentation grounded in innovative processes and materials to collage and appropriation practices that do away with the hand of the artist entirely. Bringing together works by over 150 artists, the exhibition contrasts masterworks with more surprising and unexpected works by lesser known and emerging artists. The exhibition features many works that are emblematic of this expanded definition of drawing. The works of New York–based artist Kelley Walker (American, b. 1969) contain newspaper photographs and references to art history, as in Black Star Press: Black Star, Black Star Press, Star (2004), and they make conscious use of the role of these sources as secondary images. Walker commonly draws on his sources with coloring agents, such as toothpaste, mouthwash, and other artificially, brightly colored and readily available consumer products, and then he scans the result into a computer; often, the end result is a digital file that can be further reworked and reconfigured, as in the work nine disasters (Florida City; Maui; Moran; San Fernando Valley; Anchorage; Kobe; Elba; Los Angeles; TWA Flight 800) (2002). Christian Holstad (American, b. 1972), another New York–based artist, also employs newsprint, magazines, and other widely distributed printed products, selectively erasing parts of photographs and in the process radically altering the appearance of the original, as in Mt. Rushmore (2003). The incorporation of appropriated materials into drawings has also significantly expanded the medium's spatial boundaries, resulting in installation arrangements of works on paper, as in Nate Lowman's (American, b. 1979) Untitled (History of the SUV – No Blond Jokes) (2003). The work fills a wall with modified images and text from articles about Lizzie Grubman, a New York publicist and socialite who drove her car into a crowd outside a nightclub on Long Island in 2001. With this collection of poster-sized news clippings, some pinned to the wall and others laminated on foam core, Lowman pushes the definition of drawing well into the sphere of sculpture and installation. The exhibition also features an impressive selection of works by Isa Genzken, Richard Hawkins, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Sherrie Levine, Paul McCarthy, Cady Noland, Marcel Odenbach, Jack Pierson, Franz West, and David Wojnarowicz—artists who are seen as predecessors for this recent generation of artists working in collage and assemblage, many of whom were active in the late 1970s and 1980s. Collage and assemblage have not entirely supplanted the more traditional forms of drawing, but they have expanded the perception of what a drawing can be, dramatically altering the notion of mark making and image making, of autographic and ideational procedures. Visit The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at : http://www.moma.org/

Artsicle Website Launches "Try Before You Buy" Contemporary Art Gallery Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:20 PM PDT New York, NY - Artsicle is a new virtual contemporary art gallery that allows buyers to rent artworks, before buying them, or returning them if they don't match the decor. They provide invitation-only access to some of New York's top emerging artists, adding selected pieces to a collection that can be browsed on-line. With Artsicle, For $50 a month, art lovers can choose a painting, sculpture or print they like from the collections of 30 emerging and more established artists, hang it in their homes and decide whether they like it or not. If they do, they can purchase the art, prices range from $500 to $5,000. If they don't, they can send it back or rent another one. Artsicle believe in supporting today's artists today, and helping them to grow their careers. All of their artists are hand-selected for their talent and unique style in New York's ever changing art scene. Collecting their work allows you to support these talented individuals and own a piece of tomorrow's art history. Alexis Tryon says that so far about 90% of customers are renting and 10% are buying the art immediately, with 20% of renters deciding to purchase the piece within the first month of living with it.

Jeff Koons’s " Blue Diamond " at Christie's 13 November Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:19 PM PDT   New York City – Dazzling, magnificent, gigantically grotesque and staggeringly beautiful, Jeff Koons's Blue Diamond, 2005 (estimate on request) will be the spectacular centerpiece of Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale on November 13 in New York. Part of the famed Celebration series, Blue Diamond – a sculpture that occupies not only a seminal place in Koons's body of work but also in his personal life – will present collectors with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire an oeuvre clef by one of the most important artists of our time.

The Muskegon Museum of Art Kicks Off its 100th Year Celebrations Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:18 PM PDT Muskegon, Michigan.- The Muskegon Museum of Art kicked off the celebration of its 100th Year on December 11 with the unveiling of "The First 100 Years", a set of new exhibitions on display throughout the museum that highlights masterworks from the extensive museum collections. Exhibitions of "The First 100 Years" will be open through January 29, 2012. The museum's history began with a gift from lumber baron Charles Hackley, who made his fortune in during the 1980s Michigan lumbering boom. Hackley believed that the growth of Muskegon—the young city he adopted as home—would benefit from progressive new schools, a library and a hospital, and an art museum. Hackley died in 1905 before realizing his dream of an art gallery. However, he left an expendable trust of $150,000, through a bequest in his will, to the Board of Education of Muskegon Public Schools. The fund, now known as the Hackley Picture Fund, was to be used to purchase "pictures of the best kind." By 1910 some of the most treasured and valuable works of art still in the Museum's present day collection were purchased and then displayed at Hackley Public Library, and the Board of Education determined that the time had come to build a museum-quality facility to house the growing art collection. The new museum, called the Hackley Art Gallery, was built and, in June 1912, opened its doors to the public. The news was broadcast nationally and internationally. The young museum, eventually renamed The Muskegon Museum of Art, was and is still regarded as one of the finest regional art museums in the United States. The MMA's 100th Year schedule includes "The First 100 Years", a set of four exhibitions throughout the museum that highlight masterworks from the extensive museum collections. The exhibitions include Pictures of the Best Kind, Portfolios, Series, and Collections; Contemporary Works; and Tiny Treasures. "1934: A New Deal for Artists", a Michigan-exclusive showing of the nationally touring exhibition from the Smithsonian American Art Museum that will open at the MMA on February 16, 2012. "New Art for the New Century". In May, the MMA will unveil a remarkable and not-yet-seen collection of art newly acquired for in honor of its centennial year in this exhibition. The exhibition will open to the public May 4, 2012. The 84th Regional Exhibition. This annual juried show will be open to artists throughout the state of Michigan and will be on display throughout the summer, starting May 31. The MMA 100th Anniversary Gala will be held June 9. An elegant and special evening is planned for the black-tie event that will include a cocktail party, dinner, music, and silent and live auctions."50 X 50:  A Glass Invitational" is a major exhibition of contemporary studio glass opening August 23, just in time to mark the 50th anniversary of the studio glass movement, will feature 50 glass artists working in the field today. "Songs in Steel and Other Dreams" opens September 6, 2012. This exhibition features work by Caroline Lee, a sculptor renowned for her monumental work in Paris, who is returning to the U.S. for this exhibition. "Festival of Trees", a popular community event, will help to celebrate the 100th Year. It will be open November 23 through December 2, 2012. The 100th Year will then close out with an exhibition organized by the Muskegon Museum of Art featuring some of the very best fiber and textile artists from around the country, called Innovators and Legends: Generations in Textiles. The opening reception is set for December 13, 2012. Muskegon was a prosperous and booming town during the 1870s and 80s.  Charles H. Hackley and other local leaders were determined to save Muskegon after the sawmills closed by making this town "one of the most distinctive cities of its size in the country."  In the next eleven years, Hackley invested a good part of his fortune towards meeting that goal. Hackley was convinced that emphasis on such public projects as progressive new schools, a library and a hospital would attract new growth.  The idea of building an art museum for Muskegon was always high on Hackley's list of priorities.  Hackley died in 1905 before realizing his dream of an art gallery. However, Hackley left to the Muskegon Public Schools Board of Education, through a bequest in his will, an expendable trust of $150,000, to be used to purchase "pictures of the best kind". By 1910, having begun with Hackley Picture Fund the acquisition of some of the most treasured and valuable works of art still in the Museum's present day collection, the Board of Education wisely determined that a museum-quality facility should be built. They then proceeded to purchase the lots next to Hackley Public Library and began construction of a facility for their growing and important art collection. Upon completion, the Board of Education chose to honor the inspiration for the project, which, of course, was Charles Hackley, and named their newest building the Hackley Art Gallery. In 1979, ground was broken for a $1.6 million addition to the Hackley Art Gallery, also funded by the L.C. & Margaret Walker Foundation.  Construction was completed in 1980 and with that, the Hackley Art Gallery changed its name to the Muskegon Museum of Art with the Hackley Galleries and the Walker Galleries. The museum's permanent collection is the envy of many and their changing exhibition schedule is rich with opportunities for our community to experience art and artists from around the world. Masterevorks by Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Frederic Remington, James Abbott McNeill Whistler and others are enhanced by a wide range of educational programs, services and temporary exhbits designed to make art accessible to a variety of audiences. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.muskegonartmuseum.org

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum Features Contemporary Art From Germany Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:17 PM PDT St. Louis, MS.- The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum is pleased to present "Precarious Worlds: Contemporary Art From Germany", on view at the museum through January 9th 2012. This exhibition will feature the first five works acquired thanks to an extraordinary gift from the David Woods Kemper Memorial Foundation to support the acquisition of new works by artists living and working in Germany. "Over the last two decades, Germany has reemerged as an intellectual and creative center of the international art world," says Sabine Eckmann, the William T. Kemper Director and Chief Curator of the Kemper Art Museum. "These new acquisitions will strongly enhance the museum's outstanding collection of contemporary German art. They also provide a fresh opportunity to explore how artists have responded, both explicitly and implicitly, to the acceleration of globalization and its broad effects on culture, commerce and society."

' Fables ' at The Institute of Contemporary Art Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:16 PM PDT Philadelphia, PA - The Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to present "Fables," a group show of artists who have either fabricated personal histories, or reconsidered history through their own fanciful imaginings, in order to break free of the very conditions of historic and cultural narrative.  "Fables" is on view through December 17, 2006 in the Project Space at ICA.

The D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts Exhibits "The Real Housewives of Currier & Ives" Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:15 PM PDT Springfield, Massachusetts.- The D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts is pleased to present "The Real Housewives of Currier & Ives", on view at the museum until June 24th. Just as contemporary television and other media portray and define popular culture today, the ideals of Victorian culture permeated the visual media of that era, often in the form of art work designed by the publishing firm of Currier & Ives. The Real Housewives of Currier & Ives shows women engaged in family life, maintaining the home and wearing the latest fashions. The care of home and family was seen as the duty and fulfillment of all women, and Currier & Ives carefully depicted women as nurturers. However, Currier & Ives could not ignore important events such as the Civil War and the early Women's Rights Movement. Instead, they chose to depict popular trends and political movements in a guarded, sentimental and often overly-optimistic manner, portraying women as a stabilizing influence during troubling times. Currier & Ives presented a view of women that ranged from idyllic and sensual to amusing. Though these portrayals may seem far from the "real housewives" of the twenty-first century, they reflected the early foundations of the cultural phenomenon of the American housewife. The Springfield Museums, located in the heart of downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, is comprised of five world-class museums; the Michele & Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts., the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, the Springfield Science Museum, the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum and the Museum of Springfield History. The Museums Association is proud to be home to the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden, a series of full–scale bronze sculptures of Dr. Seuss's whimsical creations, honoring the birthplace of Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss. The D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts is one of the two Springfield Museums dedicated to fine and decorative arts. The Art Deco-style museum was erected in response to a bequest from Mr. & Mrs. James Philip Gray, who left their entire estate for the "selection, purchase, preservation, and exhibition of the most valuable, meritorious, artistic, and high class oil paintings obtainable," and for the construction of a museum to house them. The museum opened in 1934. The first floor of the museum is dedicated to American art ranging from "Portrait of Nymphas Marston" by John Singleton Copley to "Promenade on the Beach" by Winslow Homer to Contemporary glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly. The American collection also includes the country's only permanent museum gallery dedicated to the lithographs of Currier & Ives. The second floor is a chronological tour of the museum's fine European art collection. Beginning in the Middle Ages with an intricate 15th-century, Hispano-Flemish Fuentes Retable (altarpiece), the galleries lead visitors through the Renaissance and subsequent centuries with fine paintings from Italy and France. The Dutch and Flemish collection is particularly strong. Familiar names in the Impressionism Gallery include Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro and Paul Gauguin. Traveling exhibitions can be found in the Wheeler Gallery. Performances, lectures and presentations are offered in the Davis Auditorium. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.springfieldmuseums.org/

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 09 Jun 2012 06:14 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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