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

---

• The Uffizi Gallery In Florence ~ The Finest Collection Of Renaissance Art In The World
• Annie Leibovitz Breaks Attendance Records
• The Dali Collection in St. Petersburg, Florida to Move to Hurricane-proof Building
• Mystic Masque ~ Georges Rouault, 1871-1958 at The McMullen Museum of Art
• Painting That Survived German Bombing offered at Bonhams Greek Sale
• Centre Pompidou in Paris hosts Comprehensive Overview of Russian Artist Wassily Kandinsky
• Antony Gormley Sculpture "Transport"
• Christie's New York to offer Prints & Multiples: A Range of Style the Summer Sale
• Moscow Museum of Modern Art exhibits Avant-garde Renaissance of Vladimir Dubossarsky & Alexander Vinogradov
• Sotheby’s Sale of Surrealist Art in February
• Agora Gallery features Shifra in "Altered States of Reality"
• Sunken Bugatti Sold
• Swiss curator Hans Ulrich Obrist #1 / Damien Hirst Down / Whitechapel Gallery Reassert Itself
• Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery presents “Falnama:The Book of Omens”
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

The Uffizi Gallery In Florence ~ The Finest Collection Of Renaissance Art In The World Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:35 PM PST The Uffizi Palace is one of the most loved monuments in Florence and contains the world's leading collection of renaissance art. Originally commissioned by Cosimo I, Duke of Florence and the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, the Uffizi was designed by Giorgio Vasari in the middle of the 16th century. The intention of Cosimo I was to build a palace that could host the thirteen administrative and judicial Magistrature or Uffizi, from which the palace would take its name. Vasari was also responsible for the building, five years later, of an overhead corridor passing above Ponte Vecchio and the Church of Santa Felicità, to link the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace, the new residence of the Medici family, and which provides stunning views of the palace courtyard and Arno river. The building has an unusual and singular horseshoe shape, which opens towards the Arno River. The two floors of the building, rise above a pillared portico that runs along the whole length of the palace. The portico niches contain statues of Florentine dignitaries and artists from the middle Ages to the 19th century. It was Francesco I de' Medici, Cosimo I's son, who first created an art Gallery on the second floor of the Palazzo degli Uffizi to entertain himself, during his walks, with the collection of paintings, sculptures and arrases belonging to the Medici family. The key point in the history of the Uffizi came in 1737, when the last Medici heiress, Anna Maria Luisa moved to France and signed an agreement that all the Medici artworks were not to be removed from Florence. The gallery had been open to visitors by request since the sixteenth century, and in 1765 it was officially opened to the public. Over the years, the Uffizi has survived wartime bombing, flooding in 1966 and 2007 and a terrorist car bombing (attributed to the Sicilian Mafia) in 1993 which damaged some frescoes in the Niobe room beyond repair. In addition to its galleries, the Uffizi contains teaching facilities, an art restoration laboratory, photographic studio and research center. Rennovations are currently under way on parts of the building, under the "New Uffizi" project. When completed these will increase the gallery space, allow more of the collection to be put on public display and reduce the overcrowding caused by almost 2 million visitors every year. Visit the Uffizi's website at … http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/english/musei/uffizi/ The exhibition rooms are composed of over 45 rooms containing about 1,700 paintings, 300 sculptures, 46 tapestries and 14 pieces of furniture and/or ceramics. The Uffizi actually owns about 4,800 works, the remainder are either in storage or on loan to other museums. On the ground floor, is the series of frescoes by Andrea del Castagno as well as an Annunciation by Botticelli (a fresco detached from the church of S. Martino alla Scala). A large staircase, built by Vasari, leads to the second floor, were the Medici theatre once stood. This area now contains the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe, an exceptional graphic collection comprising more than 120,000 works, from the 14th to the 20th century. On the third floor are two vestibules, which lead into the galleries and which contain a collection of busts of grand dukes and Roman statues. Three corridors on this floor contain the bulk of the visible collection. The first corridor contains the religious art of the Renaissance and the artworks by Flemish artists. Along the perimeter of the corridor is the Medicean collection of head moulds, on the vaulted ceilings are frescoes representing animals, imaginary monsters, satyrs and the Medicean achievements. The first rooms are dedicated to the art of the 13th and 14th centuries, including "The Madonna d'Ognissanti" by Giotto, "The Maestà di Santa Trinita" by Cimabue and "The Maestà" by Duccio di Buoninsegna. From the 14th century the "Triptych of San Matteo" by Andrea di Cione, the "Polyptych of San Pancrazio" by Bernardo Daddi and the "Presentation to the Temple" by Ambrogio Lorenzetti lead into the collection of international Gothic works. These include "The Adoration of the Magi" by Lorenzo Monaco. Among the artworks of the early Renaissance the "Coronation of the Blessed Virgin" by Beato Angelico, the "Battle of San Romano" by Paolo Uccello, "Portrait of the Dukes of Urbino" by Piero della Francesca and "The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin" by Filippo Lippi. These are followed by the collection of Boticelli masterpieces, including "La calunnia", "Primavera", "The Birth of Venus", "The Adoration of the Magi", "Madonna della Melagrana", and "Coronation of the Blessed Virgin". The Renaissance is celebrated by two magnificent paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, "l'Adorazione dei Magi" and "The "Annunciation" alongside works by Pietro Perugino and Piero di Cosimo. Superb examples of Florentine portraiture from the 16th century include Medici portraits by Pontormo, 'l'Angiolino musicante' by Rosso Fiorentino and 'la Dama col Petrarchino' by Andrea del Sarto. In a series of adjoining rooms are the works of German art from the 15th and 16th century and paintings from Lombardia and Emilia that evoke mythological tales and detailed Flemish landscapes, including "Adam and Eve" by Lucas Cranach, "Adoration of the Magi" by Andrea Mantegna and "The Blessed Virgin adoring the Child" by Correggio. The second corridor contains Roman statues and portraits under the frescoed vaulted ceilings. The miniatures Cabinet opens off this corridor. The third Corridor contains the 16th century artworks by Michelangelo ("The Tondo Doni") and Rafael ("Madonna of the Goldfinch" and "Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de' Medici and Luigi de' Rossi"), Titian ("Flora" and "Venus of Urbino), Parmigianino ("The Madonna of the Long Neck") amongst others. From the 17th century works, highlights include, Peter Paul Rubens ("Judith with the Head of Holofernes", "Portrait of Isabella Brant", "Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry", "Self-Portrait without a Hat" and others), Caravaggio ("The Sacrifice of Isaac" and "Medusa"), Rembrandt Van Rijn ("Self-portrait as a Young Man", "Self-portrait as an Old Man" and "Portrait of an Old Man") and views by Canaletto. The Uffizi now houses a huge artistic heritage consisting of thousands of paintings from medieval to modern times, a great number of antique sculptures, illuminations, and tapestries. It is also famous for its collection of self-portraits, which constantly grew through new acquisitions and donations of contemporary artists, as well as for another remarkable collection, that of the Cabinet of Drawings and Prints. Throughout the 19th century, new rooms were opened and the picture gallery continued to expand through the addition of major works including Botticelli's famous The Birth of Venus (acquired in 1815) and Leonardo da Vinci's Annunciation (acquired in 1867). The acquisition of the Primavera, the splendid panel painted by Botticelli around 1482, dates to 1919. The 20th century led to the re-arrangement of the works, on various occasions, much restoration and, in recent times, the definitive arrangement of the Contini Bonacossi collection. From March 11th 2011 until June 12th 2011, the Uffizi is hosting "Figure, memory, Space", a selection of drawings from the 15th century taken equally from the Uffizi and British Museum collections. The exhibition unites two of the most important graphics collections in the world in a partnership symbolically using an identical number of loans from each collection. The intention is to focus on the decades from the start of the fifteenth century to the early years of the sixteenth when drawing established its role as an independent artistic expression. The artists featured are all outstanding and include Florentine and central Italian artists such as Lorenzo Monaco, Beato Angelico, Filippo and Filippino Lippi, the Pollaiolo, Verrocchio, Botticelli, Perugino and Ghirlandaio right through to Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo. Alongside these, northern Italian artists represented include Pisanello, Amico Aspertini, the Ferrara school, Jacopo and Gentile Bellini, Mantegna and Titian. Each of them offers their own interpretation of drawing, an intimate expression of their individual draughtsmanship, elaboration of a style, experimentation of a technique and meditation on the subject. In conjunction with this exhibition, in the Reali Poste, the Prints and Drawings Department will be displaying a further selection of fifty drawings, engravings and jewelry, again inspired by the three categories of Figures, Memories and Space. These are works visible only in Florence (the main exhibition had previously been on show at the British Museum), such as Mantegna's Judith or the small cartoon for the Equestrian Monument to Sir John Hawkwood by Paolo Uccello and two small sketches once attributed to Cimabue, possibly by Giorgio Vasari himself. Finally, in the actual Gallery around twenty paintings by Renaissance artists have been provided with informative panels designed to connect the paintings with the preparatory studies on show in the Reali Poste. The shows are accompanied by two catalogues published by Giunti. The first of these is an Italian version of the preceding English publication, while the second is devoted to the works on display in the Prints and Drawings Department and to issues connected with collecting, taste and the critical reception of fifteenth-century Italian drawings and Florentine prints from Vasari to Berenson. ANNOUNCEMENT: Our Editor has been invited to visit Museums and cultural sites worldwide, and they are featured on our Home Page (center). Because of the Editor's travel we will be posting many interesting articles from our archives, some of the BEST Articles and Art Images that appeared in your magazine during the past six plus (6+) years . . and we are publishing current art news articles on the left hand side under RECENT NEWS .. Enjoy

Annie Leibovitz Breaks Attendance Records Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:35 PM PST Annie Leibovitz Exhibition Breaks Museum of Contemporary Art Attendance Records SYDNEY, AU - The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) announce that its exhibition of works by internationally renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz is now the most popular ticketed exhibition ever presented at the MCA. Just twelve weeks since its opening on 19 November 2010 and only half-way through its run, Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life 1990–2005 has attracted 95,118 visitors. During the summer period, attendances have peaked at nearly 2,300 people per day. The previous MCA record for a ticketed exhibition was set by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson whose works attracted 63,080 visitors in 2010. MCA also announced that the MCA is extending the exhibition by another month. It will now close on Tuesday 26 April 2011, providing more opportunity for Sydney-siders and interstate visitors to enjoy this moving and inspiring exhibition.

The Dali Collection in St. Petersburg, Florida to Move to Hurricane-proof Building Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:32 PM PST ST. PETERSBURG, FL.(EFE) - The largest collection of Salvador Dali works outside of his native Spain is being moved to a more secure location, a hurricane-proof, cement and glass building located just blocks away from its original location in St. Petersburg, Florida. The collection of 2,140 pieces, including 96 paintings by the "enfant terrible" of Surrealism, as well as numerous etchings and drawings, will be relocated in a new, $35 million structure in that west-central Florida city that will have a sturdier structure and be less exposed to the elements. The most unique aspect of the new Salvador Dali museum will be its 45 centimeter-thick (18-inch-thick) walls, capable of resisting the impact of a Category 5 hurricane packing winds of up to 265 kilometers (165 miles) per hour.

Mystic Masque ~ Georges Rouault, 1871-1958 at The McMullen Museum of Art Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:30 PM PST CHESTNUT HILL, MA.- The McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College hosts an exclusive exhibition, Mystic Masque: Semblance and Reality in Georges Rouault, 1871-1958, on view August 30 through December 7, 2008. It marks the fiftieth anniversary of the 1958 death of the French Fauvist and Expressionist painter and printmaker, and aims to recover the artist for a new generation by uncovering dissonant aspects of his work, which exhibition curator Stephen Schloesser, SJ, an associate professor in BC's History Department, argues have been obscured by "forced conventional consonances."

Painting That Survived German Bombing offered at Bonhams Greek Sale Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:29 PM PST   LONDON - `The Painter's Family', (1920-21) a masterpiece by Dimitrios Galanis, will be sold at Bonhams next sale of Greek Art in New Bond Street on 10th November for an estimated £200,000 to £300,000. Although it has not been seen for in public for 80 years its provenance includes time in the Collection Girardin, France and the George Stringos collection in Athens. It was first exhibited in Paris in 1921 and again in1922, and in Athens in 1928.

Centre Pompidou in Paris hosts Comprehensive Overview of Russian Artist Wassily Kandinsky Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:28 PM PST PARIS.- This exhibition offers, for the first time in 25 years, a comprehensive overview of the work of Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky, documenting the key periods of his artistic career (Munich, Paris / Munich/ Moscow / Weimar, Dessau, Berlin / Paris) through a selection of major paintings dating from 1907 to 1942. Thanks to the unprecedented collaboration between the Centre Pompidou, the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, this international retrospective, showing in Munich, Paris and New York, has been able to draw on the three largest public collections of Kandinsky's work, as well as loans from other institutions and private collections.

Antony Gormley Sculpture "Transport" Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:26 PM PST A New Antony Gormley Sculpture "Transport" Unveiled at Canterbury Cathedral KENT, UK - "TRANSPORT" a new sculpture created by the artist Antony Gormley was unveiled at Canterbury Cathedral. Antony Gormley is credited with a radical re-investigation of the body as a zone of memory and transformation. The two metre long work uses hand made antique iron nails from the Cathedral's repaired south east transept roof to construct a delicate filter-like membrane outlining the space of a floating body. The membrane is pierced with nails passing through it from inside to outside and vice versa. The work is suspended above the site of Thomas Becket's vestry place in the Eastern Crypt of the Cathedral.

Christie's New York to offer Prints & Multiples: A Range of Style the Summer Sale Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:24 PM PST NEW YORK, NY.- Christie's presents the mid-season Prints & Multiples sale on July 22. Comprised of a cross section of movements and styles, this well selected offering includes work by James Jacques, Joseph Tissot, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Paul Gauguin, Joan Miró, Sam Francis, Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha and Rachel Whiteread, among others. This sale is the ideal opportunity to begin or expand collections for new bidders and seasoned print enthusiasts alike. A broad selection of Pop and abstract art complete the Prints & Multiples sale. A unique example is A Dedicated Follower of Fashion (estimate: $3,000-5,000) by Richard Hamilton, a founder of the Pop movement in Britain.

Moscow Museum of Modern Art exhibits Avant-garde Renaissance of Vladimir Dubossarsky & Alexander Vinogradov Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:23 PM PST MOSCOW.- As an institution, the art museum accumulates a large amount of powerful energy from various dynamic and creative spirits, which it then shares with the audience. Vladimir Dubossarsky and Alexander Vinogradov reveal the secret life of an imaginary museum hidden from the viewer's eye. Renaissance, avant-garde and mass- media images are synthesized in the monumental paintings created for this project. The texture of large canvases and the smell of oil are still regarded as essential attributes of the Old Masters, which refer to the heritage of Raphael, Tintoretto, Durer, Veronese, daVinci, Titian, Rembrandt and many other great masters.

Sotheby’s Sale of Surrealist Art in February Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:21 PM PST LONDON - Sotheby's sale of Surrealist Art on the evening of Monday, February 5, 2007 will include 21 works that are together estimated to realise more than £9 million, making this one of the biggest such sales ever staged.  All the masters in the field are represented, among them René Magritte, Francis Picabia, Max Ernst, Paul Delvaux, Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dalí, André Masson and Matta.

Agora Gallery features Shifra in "Altered States of Reality" Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:19 PM PST NEW YORK, NY -The Agora Gallery  is proud to present Shifra in Altered States of Reality: an Exhibition of Analog and Digital Fine Art Photography. Scheduled to run from November 19th through December 9th, the collection will feature a captivating selection of Shifra's dynamic photographs.  Shifra's photographic explorations of the city highlight dynamic attributes of steel, stone, and glass that are easily overlooked in daily life. Dissembling space and skewing the conventions of perspective, her large format photography allows audiences to encounter the world from unusual points of view.

Sunken Bugatti Sold Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:18 PM PST PARIS.- The Bugatti Type 22 that had lain submerged 53 metres below the surface of Lake Maggiore for over 70 years had attracted much pre-sale publicity. A number of telephone bidders sparred against those in the room. The winning bidder - a European collector representing the Peter Mullin Collection in California - will show the car in its present condition in his museum, whereas the underbidder - an American - had intended to restore the car.

Swiss curator Hans Ulrich Obrist #1 / Damien Hirst Down / Whitechapel Gallery Reassert Itself Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:14 PM PST LONDON (REUTERS).- Several prominent collectors disappeared altogether and Britain's Damien Hirst went into freefall in the latest list of contemporary art's 100 most powerful figures. But while the financial crisis claimed plenty of victims from a year ago, a group of well-connected, flexible and hitherto lesser known figures rose to the top, including Swiss curator Hans Ulrich Obrist who took the number one position. Obrist, ranked 35th in 2008, is co-director of exhibitions and programs and director of international projects at London's Serpentine Gallery, and is also a writer and promoter.

Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery presents “Falnama:The Book of Omens” Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:10 PM PST WASHINGTON, DC. A group of unusual, illustrated manuscripts called the Falnama that were once used by sultans, shahs and commoners to explore the unknown will be on view October 24 through January 24, 2010, at the Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. "Falnama: The Book of Omens" is the first exhibition ever to be devoted to these rare works, which were created in 16th- and 17th-century Iran and Turkey. The Sackler Gallery will be the sole venue for this international exhibition featuring works of art from public and private collections.

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 12 Mar 2011 09:09 PM PST This is a new feature for the subscribers and visitors to Art Knowledge News (AKN), that will enable you to see "thumbnail descriptions" of the last ninety (90) articles and art images that we published. This will allow you to visit any article that you may have missed ; or re-visit any article or image of particular interest. Every day the article "thumbnail images" will change. For you to see the entire last ninety images just click : here . When opened that also will allow you to change the language from English to anyone of 54 other languages, by clicking your language choice on the upper left corner of our Home Page.  You can share any article we publish with the eleven (11) social websites we offer like Twitter, Flicker, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. by one click on the image shown at the end of each opened article.  Last, but not least, you can email or print any entire article by using an icon visible to the right side of an article's headline.

You are subscribed to email updates from Art News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610