Art Knowledge News - Keeping You in Touch with the World of Art... |
- Our Editor Re-Visits The Musee du Louvre In Paris ~ The Most Visited Art Museum In The World ~ More than 8 Million Visitors Every Year
- Vincent van Gogh’s influence on Expressionism at Van Gogh Museum
- 'Tigers of Wrath': Watercolors by Walton Ford at Brooklyn Museum
- Delaware Art Museum to feature Paintings from the Royal Holloway Collection
- The Eye of the Collector ~ The Jewish Vision of Sigmund R. Balka at the Tyler Museum of Art
- The Boca Raton Museum Of Art displays 75+ Works By Andrew Stevovich
- Centre Pompidou in Paris hosts Comprehensive Overview of Russian Artist Wassily Kandinsky
- University of Virginia Art Museum to show Modern Art in Paris
- Tyler Museum of Art shows Etchings & Lithographs by William B. Montgomery
- Matisse: Painter as Sculptor at Baltimore Museum of Art
- Sister presents " Giotto's Dream " by Jeni Spota
- Philip Gurrey solos at Madder 139
- Art Gallery of Alberta Reveals New Logo Designed by Vision Creative Inc.
- Eva Zeisel / The Shape of Life
- This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News
| Posted: 14 Feb 2011 08:15 PM PST  The Musee du Louvre has dominated central Paris since the late 12th century. Originally built for Philip II of France as an arsenal in 1190, it formed part of the defences built to ensure that Paris would remain safe while Philip II went to fight in the third Crusade. In the years that followed, Paris expanded and enclosed within the growing city, the Louvre lost its defensive function. In 1364, Raymond du Temple, architect to Charles V, began transforming the old fortress into a splendid royal residence. Contemporary miniatures and paintings show marvelous images of the ornately decorated rooftops that graced the new building. A majestic spiral staircase, the "grande vis," served the upper floors, and a pleasure garden was created at the north end. The sumptuous interiors were decorated with sculptures, tapestries, and paneling. In 1546, Francis I renovated the site in French Renaissance style. Francis acquired what would become the nucleus of the Louvre's holdings, his many acquisitions including Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa". Improvement and extension work on the royal palace continued through to the reign of Louis XIV. After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, construction work slowed, but still continued. During this period the Louvre was joined to the nearby Tuileries palace by new wings. In 1791, following the French Revolution, the revolutionary Assemblée Nationale decreed that the "Louvre and the Tuileries together will be a national palace to house the king and for gathering together all the monuments of the sciences and the arts.'' The Louvre first opened its doors to the public on August 10, 1793. Admission was free, with artists given priority over the general public, who were admitted on weekends only. The works, mostly paintings from the collections of the French royal family and aristocrats who had fled abroad, were displayed in the Salon Carré and the Grande Galerie, whilst other parts of the building were used for government offices. Through treaties and the spoils from Napoleon I's conquests, France acquired numerous paintings and antiquities, including major collections from the Vatican and the Venetian republic, all of which went into the newly opened Louvre Museum. The museum was renamed the Musée Napoléon in 1803 and a bust of the emperor by Bartolini was installed over the entrance. Although the collection was diminished by restitutions following Napoleon's defeat, the Louvre remained a public museum and continued to expand. During the Restoration of the monarchy (1814–30), Louis XVIII and Charles X between them added 135 artworks and created the department of Egyptian antiquities. After the creation of the French Second Republic in 1848, the new government allocated two million francs for repair work and ordered the completion of the Galerie d'Apollon, the Salon Carré, and the Grande Galérie. In 1861, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte bought 11,835 artworks including the 641 paintings of the Campana collection. During the Second French Empire, between 1852 and 1870, the French economy grew and by 1870 the museum had added 20,000 new pieces to its collections, and the Pavillon de Flore and the Grande Galérie had been remodelled under architects Louis Visconti and Hector Lefuel. In May 1871, during the last days of the Paris Commune, as the army was poised to retake the city the Communards raced to destroy the Hôtel de Ville (city hall), the Cour des Comptes (the seat of France's public finance watchdog), and the Tuileries palace, a potent symbol of monarchy. The resulting fire gutted the palace buildings and threatened the Louvre itself. The demolition of the Tuileries in 1882 marked the birth of the modern Louvre. The palace ceased to be the seat of power and was devoted almost entirely to artworks and culture. Slowly but surely, the museum began to take over the whole of the vast complex of palace buildings.  Throughout the twentieth century, the Louvre continued to expand and improve, the French Maritime Museum moved out in 1919, post 1848 artworks moved to the Pompidou Center (modern and contemporary art) and the Musee d'Orsay (impressionist and post-impressionist works) as these opened in 1977 and 1986 respectively. Although the Louvre now specializes in pre-1848 artworks, it has never been afraid to embrace the modern, a prime example of this being the George Braque creation of three ceiling paintings. Commissioned to complement those in the former royal antechamber (produced in 1557 by the wood-carver Scibec de Carpi), the resulting decorative design, The Braque Birds, were inaugurated in 1963. In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed the "Grand Louvre" plan to renovate the building and relocate the Finance Ministry, allowing displays throughout the building. Pritzker Prize winning architect I. M. Pei was awarded the project and proposed a glass pyramid to stand over a new entrance in the main court, the Cour Napoléon. The pyramid and its underground lobby were inaugurated on 15 October 1988. The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. As of 2002, attendance had doubled since completion. The Musée du Louvre contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 37,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 60,600 square metres (652,000 sq ft) dedicated to the permanent collection. The Louvre exhibits sculptures, objets d'art, paintings, drawings, and archaeological finds. It is the world's most visited museum, averaging more than 8 million visitors per year. Visit the museum's website at … http://www.louvre.fr  The Greek, Etruscan, and Roman department displays pieces from the Mediterranean Basin dating from the Neolithic to the 6th century. The collection spans from the Cycladic period to the decline of the Roman Empire. This department is one of the museum's oldest; it began with appropriated royal art, some of which was acquired under Francis I. The Louvre holds masterpieces from the Hellenistic and Roman eras, including The Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC) and the Venus de Milo, portraits of Agrippa and Annius Verus and the bronze Greek God Apollo of Piombino. The Islamic art collection, the museum's newest, spans "thirteen centuries and three continents". These exhibits, comprising ceramics, glass, metalware, wood, ivory, carpet, textiles, and miniatures, include more than 5,000 works and 1,000 shards. Among the works are the "Pyxide d'al-Mughira", a 10th century ivory box from Andalusia; the Baptistery of Saint-Louis, an engraved brass basin from the 13th or 14 century Mamluk period, and the 10th century "Shroud of Josse" from Iran. The collection contains three pages of the "Shahnameh", an epic book of poems by Ferdowsi in Persian, and a Syrian metalwork named the "Barberini Vase". The Egyptian department comprises over 50,000 pieces, including artifacts from the Nile civilizations between 4,000 BC and the 4th century. The collection, among the world's largest, overviews Egyptian life spanning Ancient Egypt, the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom, Coptic art, and the Roman, Ptolemaic, and Byzantine periods. The department's origins lie in the royal collection, but it was augmented by Napoleon's 1798 expeditionary trip to Egypt. After Jean-François Champollion translated the Rosetta Stone, King Charles X decreed that an Egyptian Antiquities department be created. Champollion advised the purchase of three collections, the 'Durand', 'Salt' and 'Drovetti', which added 7,000 works. Guarded by the Large Sphinx (c. 2000 BC), the collection is housed in more than 20 rooms. Holdings include art, papyrus scrolls, mummies, tools, clothing, jewelry, antique games, musical instruments, and weapons. Near Eastern antiquities, the second newest department, dates from 1881 and presents an overview of early Near Eastern civilization and "first settlements", before the arrival of Islam. The department is divided into three geographic areas: the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Persia (Iran). The museum contains exhibits from Sumer and the city of Akkad, with monuments such as the Prince of Lagash's Stele of the Vultures from 2,450 BC and the stele erected by Naram-Suen, King of Akkad, to celebrate a victory over barbarians in the Zagros Mountains. The 2.25-metre "Code of Hammurabi", discovered in 1901, displays Babylonian Laws prominently, so that no man could plead their ignorance. The Persian portion of Louvre contains work from the archaic period, like the Funerary Head and the Persian Archers of Darius I. This section is also contains rare objects from Persepolis in Persia.  The sculpture department comprises work created before 1850 that does not belong in the Etruscan, Greek, and Roman department. The Louvre has been a repository of sculpted material since its time as a palace. The collection's overview of French sculpture contains Romanesque works such as the 11th century "Daniel in the Lions' Den" and the 12th century "Virgin of Auvergne". In the 16th century, Renaissance influence caused French sculpture to become more restrained, as seen in Jean Goujon's bas-reliefs, and Germain Pilon's "Descent from the Cross" and "Resurrection of Christ". The 17th and 18th centuries are represented by Étienne Maurice Falconet's "Woman Bathing" and "Amour menaçant" and François Anguier's obelisks. Neoclassical works includes Antonio Canova's "Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss". The collection of sculptures by non-French artists includes Michelangelo's "Dying Slave" and "Rebellious Slave" and Adriaan de Vries' "Mercury and Psyche". The Objets d'art collection contains the coronation crown of Louis XIV, Charles V's sceptre, and a 12th century porphyry vase. The Renaissance art holdings include Giambologna's bronze Nessus and Deianira and the tapestry "Maximillian's Hunt". From later periods, highlights include Madame de Pompadour's Sèvres vase collection and Napoleon III's apartments. The painting collection has more than 6,000 works from the 13th century to 1848. Nearly two-thirds are by French artists, and more than 1,200 are Northern European. The collection began with Francis, who acquired works from Italian masters such as Raphael and Michelangelo, and brought Leonardo da Vinci to his court. Exemplifying the French School are Enguerrand Quarton's "Avignon Pieta", an anonymous painting of King Jean le Bon (possibly the oldest independent portrait in Western painting to survive from the postclassical era), Hyacinthe Rigaud's "Louis XIV", Jacques-Louis David's "The Coronation of Napoleon" and Eugène Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People". Northern European works include Johannes Vermeer's "The Lacemaker" and "The Astronomer", Caspar David Friedrich's "The Tree of Crows", Rembrandt's "The Supper at Emmaus", "Bathsheba at Her Bath", and "The Slaughtered Ox". The Italian holdings are notable, particularly the Renaissance collection. The works include Andrea Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini's "Calvarys". The High Renaissance collection includes Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa", "Virgin and Child with St. Anne", "St. John the Baptist", and "Madonna of the Rocks". Caravaggio is represented by "The Fortune Teller" and "Death of the Virgin". From 16th century Venice, the Louvre displays Titian's "Le Concert Champetre", "The Entombment" and "The Crowning with Thorns". The prints and drawings department encompasses works on paper. The origins of the collection were the 8,600 works in the Royal Collection (Cabinet du Roi), which were increased via state appropriation, purchases such as the 1,200 works from Fillipo Baldinucci's collection in 1806, and donations. The department opened on 5 August 1797, with 415 pieces displayed in the Galerie d'Apollon. The collection is organized into three sections: the core Cabinet du Roi, 14,000 royal copper printing-plates, and the donations of Edmond de Rothschild, which include 48,000 prints, 3,200 drawings, and 5,500 illustrated books. The holdings are displayed in the Pavillon de Flore; due to the fragility of the paper medium, only a portion are displayed at one time. The Louvre is currently showing 2 comparative exhibitions of sculpture, both of which are showing concurrently until the 25th of April 2011. In the Richelieu wing exhibition gallery is a collection of artworks by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt allowing the visitor to explore the world of this great German sculptor and expert portraitist, whose caustic humor and audacity won the hearts of the contemporary public. Franz Xaver Messerschmidt was active in Vienna and Pressburg (now Bratislava) in the late 18th century. As a court sculptor, he executed portraits of members of the imperial family as well as notable intellectuals of his time, but is most celebrated for his series of violently expressive, bizarre and fascinating "character heads", whose originality and verve still captivate viewers today. Sculpted in metal (using alloys composed largely of tin and/or lead) and in alabaster, these heads convey the expressiveness of a master sculptor keen to depict the torments of the soul in all their extreme emotional variety. As a counterpoint to Franz Xaver Messerschmidt retrospectve, the museum plays host to a group of sculptures by the leading British contemporary artist Tony Cragg, under the title "Tony Cragg - Figure out / Figure in". In addition to existing works, the exhibition features a monumental sculpture by the artist, commissioned especially for the exhibition and displayed under the pyramid. The visual dialogue across the centuries between Tony Cragg and Messerschmidt's "character heads" is limited to a single bronze sculpture by this major contemporary sculptor, "Untitled" (2010) which, like the masterpieces of his 18th-century predecessor, through its distortions and superimposed layers, depicts a particularly expressive human face, from a very specific viewpoint. The seven other sculptures selected by Cragg to inhabit the space formed by the Cour Marly and the Cour Puget are of varying dimensions, shapes and types, thus reflecting this sculptor's broad use of materials (bronze, marble, fiberglass, wood), colors (white, red, black) and methods (circumvolutions around a central axis, displacement of oblique and overhanging elements along a lateral plane, accumulation of numerous fine layers, puncturing of surfaces). Sculptures conceived on the same themes, but of different sizes, allow visitors to consider the question of scale, and a sculpture in two parts, Runner, resonates with a number of works in the Louvre's collections.
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| Vincent van Gogh’s influence on Expressionism at Van Gogh Museum Posted: 14 Feb 2011 08:14 PM PST Amsterdam, NL - The Van Gogh Museum presents Vincent van Gogh and Expressionism which is jointly organized with the Neue Galerie New York. This is the first show to highlight the impact of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) on German and Austrian Expressionists and comprises almost a hundred paintings, prints and drawings from the Van Gogh Museum and the Neue Galerie, as well as loans from other major international museums and private collections. USG People is the main sponsor of this exhibition. On exhibit until 4 March 2007. Museum directors and private collectors in both Germany and Austria were among the first to start buying the work of Vincent van Gogh and by 1914 there were no less than 164 works by Van Gogh in German and Austrian collections. The many traveling exhibitions that were organized helped expose an entire generation of young, modern artists to Van Gogh's expressive works. Early purchases, such as Van Gogh's Poppies in the Field (1889, Kunsthalle Bremen) which led to tumultuous debates after the Bremen museum had acquired the painting, and Vineyards at Auvers (1890, Saint Louis Art Museum), are featured in this exhibition. Van Gogh's influence is evident in many Expressionist works as painters emulated the pure, bright colors of his paintings in their own art. Van Gogh's emphatic brushwork and his contrasting color combinations also made a profound impression. By showing works by Van Gogh side by side with works by young Expressionists the exhibition reveals the full extent of this influence. Original letters, pre-1914 exhibition catalogues as well as an audiovisual presentation further enrich the display. The show is divided into four themes:
Van Gogh and Der Blaue Reiter Van Gogh and Vienna
Following its debut in Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh and Expressionism can be seen in the Neue Galerie New York, from 23 March to 2 July 2007 (www.neuegalerie.org). Catalogue A richly illustrated catalogue, Vincent van Gogh and Expressionism accompanies the exhibition, written by guest curator Jill Lloyd, 160 pages, 125 illustrations, available in English, Dutch, German and French, published by Hatje Cantz Verlag, in cooperation with Waanders Publishers and Gallimard. On sale at the Van Gogh Museum, via www.vangoghmuseum.com  | |
| 'Tigers of Wrath': Watercolors by Walton Ford at Brooklyn Museum Posted: 14 Feb 2011 08:12 PM PST Brooklyn, NY - More than fifty of Walton Ford's meticulously rendered, large-scale watercolors of vividly imagined birds, animals, and flora will be on view in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum through January 28, 2007. Tigers of Wrath: Watercolors by Walton Ford, which will tour to venues to be announced, comprises watercolors created between 1990 and the present exploring such themes as colonialism, the naturalist tradition, and the extinction of species. Using the animal kingdom as a mirror of the human world, Ford employs his skill as an artist and observer to communicate his views on society. In The Starling, 2002, he depicts an enormous European starling presiding over a desert-like landscape and being fed by exotic birds from around the world.
Ford drew his early inspiration from the work of nineteenth-century artist and naturalist John James Audubon—particularly his prodigious Birds of America series–as well as from visits to the American Museum of Natural History. Other influences include J.J. Grandville and Sir John Tenniel, the French artists whose caricatures of part-human, part-animal subjects satirized nineteenth-century French and British society; Edward Lear, an artist and writer known for his nonsensical poetry and limericks; George Catlin, a self-taught painter of Native Americans; and Francisco Goya, the Spanish artist working at the turn of the nineteenth-century.
In conjunction with Tigers of Wrath, four prints from the original edition of John James Audubon's Birds of America series (1827-1838) will be presented in the American Identities galleries on the Museum's fifth floor. They will remain on view throughout the run of the exhibition. Tigers of Wrath: Watercolors by Walton Ford is organized by Marilyn Kushner, Chair and Curator, Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Brooklyn Museum. The exhibition is made possible in part by Bloomberg, with additional support from the Prints, Drawings, and Photographs Council of the Brooklyn Museum. Visit : www.brooklynmuseum.org/  | |
| Delaware Art Museum to feature Paintings from the Royal Holloway Collection Posted: 14 Feb 2011 08:11 PM PST
Wilmington, DE - The Delaware Art Museum presents Paintings from the Reign of Victoria: The Royal Holloway Collection, London, an exhibition of 60 of the most important paintings from the Victorian period, encompassing the full range of subject matter and style, on view February 1, 2009 – April 12, 2009. The paintings were acquired by Thomas Holloway and installed in the women's college he founded in 1879, which is still in operation today as Royal Holloway, University of London. The collection includes scenes of contemporary life, historical events, landscapes, animal studies, and marine subjects. Holloway believed art could be a teaching tool, equating beauty with morality. He bought only the best paintings, with an established provenance, paying the highest prices at auction. Artists represented include, among others, Sir Edwin Landseer, William Powell Frith, and Pre-Raphaelite painter Sir John Everett Millais.
Thomas Holloway (1800-1883) made his fortune in patent medicines. After he began a public debate on "How best to spend a quarter of a million or more," his wife Jane suggested he start a college for women. He founded Royal Holloway College in 1879, and it was opened by Queen Victoria in 1886. Royal Holloway and Bedford College were admitted as Schools of the University of London in 1900, and both Royal Holloway and Bedford admitted male students for the first time in 1965. Royal Holloway, University of London continues to provide a home to the Royal Holloway Collection. Organizer Paintings from the Reign of Victoria: The Royal Holloway Collection, London is organized and circulated by Art Services International, Alexandria, Virginia. About the Museum Founded in 1912, the Delaware Art Museum holds a world-renowned collection that focuses on American art and illustration from the 19th century to the present as well as the British Pre-Raphaelite movement. Located at 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, DE 19806, the Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Sunday noon – 4:00 p.m. Admission fees are charged as follows: adults (18 – 59) $10, seniors (60+) $8, college students $5, and youth (7 – 17) $3, with children 6 and under entering for free. Admission fees are waived every Sunday thanks to support from AstraZeneca. For more information, call 302-571-9590 or 866-232-3714 (toll free), or visit the website at www.delart.org.  | |
| The Eye of the Collector ~ The Jewish Vision of Sigmund R. Balka at the Tyler Museum of Art Posted: 14 Feb 2011 08:10 PM PST TYLER, TX - A panoramic view of a cultural identity spread across a broad canvas of history is the focus as the Tyler Museum of Art opens its next major exhibition, The Eye of the Collector: The Jewish Vision of Sigmund R. Balka. Celebrating more than five decades of collecting and study by celebrated attorney and civic activist Sigmund Ronell Balka of New York, the exhibition continues through Aug. 10.  Assembled over a period of more than 50 years, the Balka Collection provides an expansive impression of Jewish life and cultural production during a golden era of creativity. The more than 80 works assembled for the TMA exhibition – selected from among more than 200 pieces in the collection – spotlight the contributions of Jewish artists including Marc Chagall, Josef Israëls, Abel Pann, Herman Struck and Ben Shahn, as well as works by Max Beckmann, Lyonel Feininger and Robert Motherwell. In 2006, Balka donated his encyclopedic survey of the major European and American Jewish artists and themes in Jewish art during the 19th and 20th century to Manhattan's Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, which awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree to the benefactor in April 2008. "It's almost impossible to overstate the scope of Sig Balka's contribution through his insight and generosity – not only in its celebration of Jewish culture, but to the art world in general," TMA Director Kimberley Bush Tomio said. "His gift to Hebrew Union College and the exhibitions that have been organized as a result, including ours, are the foundation for an indelible legacy which this Museum is honored to celebrate." Featuring works that vary widely from nostalgic scenes of 19th-century Eastern European shtetls, to Depression-era social realist paintings, to contemporary abstract responses to the Holocaust, The Eye of the Collector reflects a philosophy about acquiring and "living with art" that has animated the life of Balka, who first decided to pursue his passion for collecting while working for the U.S. Department of the Interior during the Kennedy presidential administration. "Being a collector enhances my opportunity to capture my own little worlds that hopefully represent more than just things of interest to me, but that have a significance that stems from the spring of the human spirit to be the force that helps to regenerate mankind," he said. "In this past century of Holocaust and destruction it is my link with man's creative spirit, which in the end must prevail or we will extinguish ourselves." "Art is not of value if it is not presented so that people have the opportunity to interact with it," Balka continued. "I don't think I am anything but a custodian during my lifetime. Art speaks for itself. And the more public the opportunity to have it speak for itself, the better society is, in general." Visit the Tyler Museum of Art at : www.tylermuseum.org/  | |
| The Boca Raton Museum Of Art displays 75+ Works By Andrew Stevovich Posted: 14 Feb 2011 08:09 PM PST  Andrew Stevovich (born in Austria in 1948-) may consider himself to be an abstract painter more concerned with meticulous composition than with narrative, but don't tell that to the highly figurative characters appearing on his canvases. The deadpan paintings, with their frozen moments of social interactions, are set in the contemporary world, though their crisp design, brilliant color and precise surfaces recall the early Italian Renaissance masters from Giotto to Botticelli. One could surmise that Stevovich's interest in the theatrical – he considered studying filmmaking while an undergraduate at the Rhode Island School of Design – has influenced his work. Many of the paintings – including the title piece of the exhibition, "The Truth About Lola" – delve into the realm of theatre, parties and entertainment, often with seemingly less-than-satisfactory results. This exhibition of more than seventy-five paintings and drawings will explore Stevovich's relationship and inspiration drawn from twentieth-century German Expressionism. Lurking behind the figures' shifty gazes are nightclubs, neon, card games, and cocktails, all captured with an air of alienated decadence linking Stevovich directly to the tradition of artists like George Grosz and Max Beckman, known for their jaundiced looks at café society. Andrew Stevovich: The Truth About Lola has been organized by the Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York. Since its humble beginnings, the Museum has continuously played a key role in enhancing the cultural, educational, and economic vitality of Boca Raton and its surrounding communities, and has gained the reputation of being one of South Florida's leading cultural institutions, attracting more than 200,000 visitors annually to its galleries and programs. In 2005, the City of Boca Raton passed a Resolution naming the Museum "The Official Fine Arts Museum for the City of Boca Raton."Visit : http://www.bocamuseum.org/  | |
| Centre Pompidou in Paris hosts Comprehensive Overview of Russian Artist Wassily Kandinsky Posted: 14 Feb 2011 08:07 PM PST  Through some hundred exceptional paintings, this unique exhibition examines Kandinsky's contribution to modern art, its chronological organisation revealing the logical unfolding of his ideas and his relationship to his time. On exhibition 8 April through 10 August, 2009.  At the Centre Pompidou, the retrospective is complemented by a selection of recent additions to the Centre's own holding of Kandinsky's work: watercolours and manuscripts of the so-called "Russian" period from 1914 to 1917, and the Bauhaus portfolio celebrating his 60th birthday in 1926. The last major Kandinsky exhibition in Paris was held at the Centre Pompidou in 1984, to mark the accession of the Nina Kandinsky Bequest. Kandinsky is curated by Tracey Bashkoff, Associate Curator for Collections and Exhibitions at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Christian Derouet, Curator at the Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Annegret Hoberg, Curator at the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich. Karole Vail, Assistant Curator, assisted with the organization of the New York presentation. The exhibition will offer a comprehensive chronological survey of Kandinsky's work through a selection of his most important canvases, including examples from his series of Improvisations, Impressions and Compositions, while investigating his formal and conceptual contributions to the course of abstraction in the twentieth-century. The unprecedented collaborative efforts of the Guggenheim, Pompidou, and Lenbachhaus will assemble works that have rarely traveled together, such as Munich's early masterpiece, A Colorful Life (1907), or the Guggenheim's Light Picture (1913)—a seminal work among the first of Kandinsky's truly abstract canvases which has not even been exhibited in the museum's own galleries since the 1970s—offering new contexts and comparisons for those works that have been held apart. The survey will trace Kandinsky's vision through thematic motifs, such as the horse and rider, mountainous landscapes and tumultuous seascapes, apocalyptic imagery and other religious subjects, and follow the artist's painted realizations of his well-developed aesthetic theories, allowing a re-examination of the geographical- and time-based periods traditionally applied to his oeuvre. Wassily Kandinsky (b. 1866, Moscow – d. 1944, Paris ) was one of the pioneers of abstraction and great theorists of Modernism. His seminal pre-World War I treatise, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, published in Munich in 1911 lays out his program for the development of art independent of observations of the objective world. Interested in synesthesia, and more particularly in the relationship between painting and music, Kandinsky strove to give painting the freedom from nature he felt in music. Kandinsky's discovery of a new subject matter based only on the artist's "inner need" would occupy him throughout his life. Visit Centre Pompidou in Paris at: http://tinyurl.com/clvmpq  | |
| University of Virginia Art Museum to show Modern Art in Paris Posted: 14 Feb 2011 08:05 PM PST
 The selection of 88 works from the Jones collections at VMFA and the U.Va. Art Museum includes masterpieces of modern French art from the years 1904–1946. The exhibition encompasses many of the key artists, innovative styles, and central themes that emerged and developed during a crucial period in the history of modern art. The artists represented include such figures as Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Raoul Dufy, Juan Gris, Jacques Lipchitz, André Masson, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Georges Rouault. "The exhibition has great scope and depth. It begins with the flowering of new modernist movements before and during World War I, with highlights in the work of Matisse and in cubism. Next are presented the diversity of major interwar art currents, with a strong suit in surrealism," said Matthew Affron, curator of modern art at the U.Va. Art Museum and co-curator of the exhibition. "The show concludes with the tragic and transformative World War II period, when many of the best known French modernists fled Paris for New York. Jones was personally acquainted with several of these emigré artists, including Masson and Lipchitz, and he continued to collect their newest work until the time of his death in 1946." The collector T. Catesby Jones (1880–1946) came from a family with a long and distinguished history in Virginia's Tidewater region. He graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in the class of 1902 and had a prominent career in New York as an admiralty lawyer. Jones' greatest passion was modern French art. He collected the work of his favorite artists in depth and across media: not only paintings and sculpture but also drawings, prints, artists' books, and textiles. In 1947, the paintings, sculptures, and some works on paper went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, of which Jones was a trustee. In the same year, his very significant holdings in prints and illustrated books went to the University of Virginia; a major portion of that gift was transferred to the U.Va. Art Museum in 1975. Matisse, Picasso, and Modern Art in Paris is the first comprehensive assessment of Jones' legacy as a collector. The exhibition is co-organized by the two Virginia institutions that Jones favored in his bequests. It represents a major research and curatorial collaboration between those two institutions. Co-curator John B. Ravenal, the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, says "the exhibition and catalogue demonstrate the mutual benefits of collaboration. Both institutions gained enormously from the partnership, which brought fresh scholarly perspective to a treasure trove of important art." Visit The University of Virginia Art Museum at : http://www.virginia.edu/artmuseum/  | |
| Tyler Museum of Art shows Etchings & Lithographs by William B. Montgomery Posted: 14 Feb 2011 08:04 PM PST
William B. Montgomery was born in Tyler in 1953 to former mayor J.R. "Bob" Montgomery and author Rosalis Montgomery, and raised in East Texas. He studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and the University of New Mexico as the foundation for a career that has spanned more than three decades of exhibitions throughout the U.S., including Dallas' Valley House Gallery and Clifford Gallery, San Antonio's McNay Art Museum, the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, and a 1988 solo show at the TMA.  Nature Under Pressure celebrates a quarter-century of variations on Montgomery's recurring theme of animal life in situations ranging from the bucolic to the bizarre – with particular emphasis on the reptile etchings for which the artist has received his widest acclaim. The TMA exhibition encompasses works ranging from 1983's Reptile House – Corallus to 2008's Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, punctuated by surrealistic snapshots of other creatures such as fish (1981's The Grinnel), birds (2002's Adventures in Paradise) and even crustaceans (2000's Limulus Christus, State II). "Sharing the contributions of Texas artists, particularly native East Texans, is an absolutely essential part of the Museum's mission," Ms. Tomio said. "That's why we devote time in the exhibition schedule to showcase the work of a unique Texas talent such as Bill Montgomery. Of course, his influence extends well beyond our state's borders, but we're particularly proud to call him one of our own. It's no coincidence that the Museum has several of Bill's works in its Permanent Collection." TMA members are invited to meet the artist during a reception and gallery talk scheduled from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9 at the Museum. Special events open to non-members in conjunction with the exhibition includes a First Friday Art Tour at 11 a.m. on Feb. 6. Tour admission is free, but reservations are requested by calling (903) 595-1001. Visit the Tyler Museum of Art at : http://www.tylermuseum.org/  | |
| Matisse: Painter as Sculptor at Baltimore Museum of Art Posted: 14 Feb 2011 08:02 PM PST
BALTIMORE, MD - The Baltimore Museum of Art is the last stop on the national tour for Matisse: Painter as Sculptor, the first major exhibition of Henri Matisse's sculpture in the U.S. in nearly 40 years. On view through February 3, 2008, this widely acclaimed exhibition brings together more than 160 sculptures, paintings, and drawings from museums and private collections around the world to reveal for the first time how the insights Matisse gained in one medium led to innovations in another. "This landmark exhibition, which draws on the BMA's world-renowned collection of works by Matisse, is a testimony to the Museum's dedication to shedding new light on this great artist," said BMA Director Doreen Bolger. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Matisse's genius represented in bronze, on canvas, and on paper with works from around the world."  The exhibition is organized chronologically around nearly 50 of Matisse's great sculptural masterworks created from 1899 to 1950. Early works are presented in an atelier-like setting with large-scale reproductions of archival photographs of Matisse working in his studio. The dynamic relationship between Matisse's two- and three-dimensional objects is revealed as early as 1900 with the Rodin-inspired sculpture The Serf and dramatic Male Model painting. For these works, Matisse hired a well-known Italian model who posed for some of Rodin's most famous sculptures, and worked obsessively on the sculpture for at least three years. The artist's fascination with the female figure in bronze begins with Madeleine I and II (1901–03), two variations bestowed with undulating curves and rippling surfaces that attract light. Matisse also incorporated representations of his own sculptures within paintings, including the celebrated Still Life with Geranium (1906) and Still Life with Plaster Figure (1906). The second half of the exhibition highlights the artist's work in series such as the five portrait busts of Jeannette (1910–1914), three busts of Henriette (1925–29), and four monumental bronze reliefs known as The Backs (1909–30), Matisse's brilliant exploration of the abstraction of the human form. The artist's iconic reclining nudes are represented in bronze with the Large Seated Nude (1922–29) and Reclining Nude I, II, and III (1907–29), and on canvas with Blue Nude: Memory of Biskra (1907), Odalisque with a Tambourine (1925–26), and Large Reclining Nude/The Pink Nude (1935). The exhibition concludes with a selection of cut-outs such as Blue Nude I (1952), Matisse's final treatment of the reclining nude theme, that demonstrate how he transformed his sculptural ideas into brilliantly colored paper on canvas. All of the works in the exhibition are complemented by rarely shown drawings by Matisse that explore similar themes and a selection of works by Constantin Brancusi, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, and other artists are included to provide a vivid context for Matisse's achievements.  The first comprehensive technical examination of Matisse's sculpture was conducted in preparation for the exhibition. With the support of a Samuel Kress Curatorial Fellowship for Research in Conservation and the History of Art and The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Foundation, BMA Associate Curator of European Painting & Sculpture Dr. Oliver Shell and BMA Objects Conservator Ann Boulton compared the BMA's bronze casts with other casts by Matisse in the collections of the Musée du Louvre, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, and the Musées Matisse in Nice and Cateau-Cambresis in France and the Museum of Modern Art, NY; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Philadelphia Museum of Art in the U.S. Differences in patina between sand-cast works and those made in lost wax were also identified, contributing to the knowledge of how Matisse created various casts. This project reflects the active research on sculpture techniques and conservation at The Baltimore Museum of Art. The exhibition includes two multimedia presentations that demonstrate how to look at sculpture and show how the three-dimensional laser technology was used to compare multiple casts of the same work and reveal differences unseen by the human eye. The laser scanning was conducted by Direct Dimensions, Inc. of Owings Mills, Maryland, and the multimedia displays were created by the Imaging Research Center of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, which previously worked with the BMA to create the interactive virtual tour of the Cone Sisters' apartments, on view in the Cone Wing at the Museum. In conjunction with the exhibition, a fully illustrated catalogue co-produced with Yale University Press presents new scholarship through a series of essays that offer insights into Matisse's sculptural work. Dr. Steven Nash discusses Matisse's patronage and the reception of his sculpture in America; Dr. Dorothy Kosinski probes the art historical context of Matisse's sculpture in dialogue with tradition and the avant-garde; Jay Fisher explores the use of drawing in the evolution of Matisse's sculptural ideas, and Dr. Oliver Shell examines the artist's ideas about the viewing of his sculpture, as revealed by his deliberate placement of sculpture in exhibitions. Dr. Shell and BMA Objects Conservator Ann Boulton also summarize technical studies undertaken during a joint fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art. The catalogue is available only in hardback at The BMA Shop for $60. Matisse: Painter as Sculptor is co-organized by The Baltimore Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Art, and the Nasher Sculpture Center. The exhibition tour opened in Dallas at both the DMA and the Nasher (January 21–April 29, 2007), and is presented at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in June.  | |
| Sister presents " Giotto's Dream " by Jeni Spota Posted: 14 Feb 2011 07:59 PM PST
Los Angeles, CA - Sister is pleased to present " Giotto's Dream " an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Jeni Spota. Using Passolini's interpretation of Boccaccio's medieval allegory The Decameron, specifically Giotto's dream sequence, Spota's paintings blend traditional religious painting with a hallucinatory vibrancy. While the framing and size of each piece remains consistent, each is unique and frenzied with dozens of characters built up through a dense application of oil paint. On exhibition October 20 - November 17, 2007. Spota's imagery takes on it's own character through the insertion of contemporary structures and its deviance in narrative, each dreamscape is given a life of its own through a variety of iconic images, character interactions, structures and situations. Together the paintings form a vague narrative, steeped in religious tradition, yet they maintain informality and remain cryptic. This is Jeni Spota's first solo exhibition. Her work has been featured in group exhibitions at SWINGR in Vienna, Austria, Fifty50 Gallery in Chicago, and Priska Juschka in New York. Spota received her MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Visit SISTER - 437 GIN LING WAY - LOS ANGELES, CA 90012 - p 213.628.7000 - www.sisterla.com  | |
| Philip Gurrey solos at Madder 139 Posted: 14 Feb 2011 07:58 PM PST London - MADDER 139 is delighted to announce the first solo show of PULSE Prize New York 2008 winner and Glasgow School of Art graduate, Philip Gurrey. In a series of oil paintings Gurrey concentrates on the bridge between contemporary culture and visual art and its historical precedents. Reminiscent of a DJ, Gurrey pieces together portraits from the Enlightenment period and like a surgeon with his scalpel, sculpts a new vision. By extracting components from a multitude of artworks; from Hennell's photographs of reconstructive surgery to WW1 soldiers to Van Dycks, Lawrences, Reynolds and Tonks, Gurrey constructs faces that comprise the elegance of a Velazquez, with the painterly deftness of a Saville.  Some of Gurrey's work specifically underlines certain characters; Robert Manners, (an English soldier and nobleman), Margaretha de Geer, (a wife of a wealthy merchant whom Rembrandt painted on more than one occasion) and Viscount Castlereagh, (the Foreign Secretary for a decade and later leader of the House of Commons) in their titles. Other works reflect on and hint at key philosophical and musical works, like 'The Fall' by Albert Camus or 'Lost and Found' a jazz composition by Dave Holland, and some are simply nondescript in their titling; 'Eye', 'Face', 'Smile' and 'Vanity'. By deliberately toying with his titles Gurrey achieves a certain 'absurd creation'; a juxtaposition of identifiable references alongside unknown quantities; provoking the spectator to reflect more personally upon the work.Painting in an androgynous manner Gurrey concentrates on making the eyes the most highlighted part of his victims, hinting at Donne's, Shakespeare's and many others' affirmation that the "eyes are the windows to the soul". Most of the portraits glower out at the viewer in a Western Custom of total honesty, as each self seeks to be exposed. Yet others like 'Aperture' are more reticent; the right eye is swollen shut, but is the left eye simply closed as the sitter does not want to reveal anything of his character? Often dissecting his portraits in two Gurrey highlights the concept of the 'split self' and the notion of many different personalities in one face. Goya is also renowned for this, most noticeably in 'Two Old Men, 1821-23', where Goya himself is depicted as an ageing man, confronted by a dark demon (his alto ego) whispering in his ear. The dichotomy is further exacerbated in the ageing man's face where the eyes are visibly different, the right eye gawking out in a challenging manner, glaring directly upon the viewer, while the left cowers evasively in the clinical, vacant shade. Philip Gurrey was born in 1984 and lives and works in Scotland. On exhibition through 21 June, 2008. Visit Madder 139 Gallery at : www.madder139.com/ Open Wednesday Thursday Friday 12–6 Saturday 12–5 Nearest tube Old Street or Barbican  | |
| Art Gallery of Alberta Reveals New Logo Designed by Vision Creative Inc. Posted: 14 Feb 2011 07:56 PM PST
"Our vibrant logo reflects the personality and direction of the new AGA. By using themes of surprise, openness, innovation and connection, it reinforces our renewed commitment to bringing together art, people and ideas," says Gilles Hébert, AGA Executive Director. Designed by Edmonton-based Vision Creative Inc., the logo is based on brand research findings on the public's perception of the Gallery, as well as the AGA's re-envisioned approaches to programming and engaging existing and new audiences. "Exhibitions and programs at the new AGA will provoke, inspire and surprise. The AGA will be a place where people of all ages can connect with art, artists and ideas in an atmosphere intended to stir the imagination and encourage creativity and critical thinking," says Catherine Crowston, AGA Deputy Director/Chief Curator.  The new AGA will be a forum for the discussion of ideas in the public realm, through initiatives such as artists' and idea forums, visiting lecturers, art history classes. The AGA hopes to support the interdisciplinary nature of the local arts community through the incorporation of film and performance-based programming into its activities. A diverse array of exciting public programs for families, youth and adults, ranging from hands-on art activities, guided tours and late night events will be offered through out the year. The AGA's exhibitions reflect the diversity of media and conceptual approaches that exist within art today. Through this range of exhibitions, Alberta audiences have the opportunity to see significant work by artists from around the world as well as the work of Alberta artists through such projects as the Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art and the RBC New Works Gallery initiative. In the new building, the AGA's exhibition programming focus will expand to feature more international exhibitions produced in partnership with Canadian and international museums. The AGA curatorial staff will continue to develop original exhibitions for Alberta audiences that will also tour to national and international museums. Inaugural exhibitions include major works by Edgar Degas and Francisco Goya, celebrated Canadian photographers Yousuf Karsh and Edward Burtynsky internationally renowned Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. The new AGA opens on January 31, 2010 with a two-day free public event. Timed tickets will be issued to accommodate the large numbers anticipated and to ensure quality visits. AGA Members will receive advance access to the limited timed-tickets. Visit : http://www.artgalleryalberta.  | |
| Eva Zeisel / The Shape of Life Posted: 14 Feb 2011 07:55 PM PST
TYLER, TX.- A "perfect union of form and function" awaits visitors as the Tyler Museum of Art gets set to unveil its major fall exhibition, Eva Zeisel: The Shape of Life. The exhibition, showcasing close to 100 pieces designed by the Hungarian-born artist who revolutionized ceramic design throughout the world and brought an original brand of modernism into American homes beginning in the 1940s continues through Dec. 9 in the TMA's North Gallery. "Eva is perhaps best known in the design world for bringing warmth and feeling to the cold formalism of Bauhaus, and what is most remarkable about her work in general is the emotional connection," TMA Curator Kentaro Tomio said. "Her designs, no matter how modernistic or intricate, display a genuine intimacy and distinct personality. Anyone can own and use the pieces based on her designs, yet they beautifully illustrate how artistically designed, mass-produced objects can be comparable to fine art." The exhibition guides the viewer through Zeisel's vast array of design ideas and changes of style since the late 1920s, as well as narrating her long and eventful life – which included escaping a death sentence in the Soviet Union after being falsely accused in a plot to assassinate Josef Stalin. (That experience later was recounted in the novel "Darkness at Noon" by her friend Arthur Koestler.) The Shape of Life includes Eva Zeisel's well known ceramic work for Hallcraft, Sears and Red Wing Pottery, as well as glass, metal and furniture design, and examples of her famed Town and Country series of modern stoneware. The exhibition also showcases her work for companies such as KleinReid, The Orange Chicken, and Crate and Barrel, the latter of which in 2005 introduced "Classic Century," a reissue of her 1952 china collections.  | |
| This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 14 Feb 2011 07:54 PM PST This is a new feature for the subscribers and visitors to Art Knowledge News (AKN), that will enable you to see "thumbnail descriptions" of the last ninety (90) articles and art images that we published. This will allow you to visit any article that you may have missed ; or re-visit any article or image of particular interest. Every day the article "thumbnail images" will change. For you to see the entire last ninety images just click : here .   |
Van Gogh and Die Brücke
Van Gogh and (self) portraiture
Also included in the exhibition are Dirty Dick Burton's Aide de Camp, 2002, in which a monkey represents the nineteenth-century naturalist Richard Burton, who employed primates in his house to learn their language; Jack on His Deathbed, 2005, in which the primate is a stand-in for the eighteenth-century British ambassador to Naples, Sir William Hamilton, a diplomat who owned a pet monkey; and Delirium, 2004, which makes reference to John James Audubon's practice of killing animals in order to study them more closely. In this image the golden eagle, still attached to a trap, flies to freedom, while the tiny figure of Audubon lies flat in the snow below. 
Born in Larchmont, New York, in 1960, Walton Ford is a 1982 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. He is the recipient of several national awards and honors including fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Royal Holloway Collection will complement the Delaware Art Museum's Bancroft Collection of Pre-Raphaelite Art, which is the largest Pre-Raphaelite collection in the world outside the United Kingdom. Samuel Bancroft, Jr. (1840-1915), a Wilmington textile mill owner, was "shocked with delight" upon viewing his first Pre-Raphaelite painting in 1880, and he began assembling his collection with the purchase of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Water Willow in 1890. Bancroft's family bequeathed his Pre-Raphaelite holdings to the Delaware Art Museum in 1935. The Bancroft Collection is particularly strong in the late works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, which depict beautiful, seductive women, often called "stunners," as well as works representative of the Arts & Crafts Movement. The Royal Holloway Collection opens a window to the environment that the Pre-Raphaelites lived and worked in and allows visitors to see the Pre-Raphaelites alongside the best of their contemporaries.
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