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• The Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City ~ One Of The World’s Leading Collections of Mexican Art
• The Centre Pompidou Dedicates An Exhibition to Women: elles-at-centrepompidou
• The Jewish Museum Recaptures the Brilliance of a Vanguard Theater, Cut Short
• Art Gallery of South Australia displays 'The Golden Journey'
• Hauser & Wirth announces the First UK Exhibition of the Berlin-based Artist Martin Eder
• MOCA exhibits Major Survey of Works by Pioneering Artist Louise Bourgeois
• Brooklyn Museum presents A New Installation of Contemporary Art
• Large Selection of Old Master, American & European Prints at Swann Galleries
• Columbia Museum of Art shows Its Collection of Art Spanning 1000 Years
• Jules-Adolphe Breton Masterpiece Returns to the Frick Art & Historical Center
• Discovered Korean Jar brings nearly $4.2-million at Bonhams & Butterfields
• Wexner Center for the Arts hosts "Andy Warhol / Other Voices, Other Rooms"
• Philadelphia Museum of Art Surveys the Surrealist Photographer Frederick Sommer
• World Record Price for a Modigliani Sculpture Sold at Auction at Christie's in Paris
• 'Kimono Style' at the Immigration Museum
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

The Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City ~ One Of The World’s Leading Collections of Mexican Art Posted: 20 Mar 2011 11:10 PM PDT The Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL) is the Mexican national art museum, located in the historical center of Mexico City. The museum was founded in 1982 as the Museo Nacional de Arte, and after being closed for an intense program of remodeling and technological upgrades, reopened in 2000, when it also took its current name. MUNAL is a subdivision of the 'Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes' and as part of this organization is involved in projects concerning the conservation, exhibition and study of the fine arts of Mexico, MUNAL specializing in Mexican and international art from the 16th century to the first half of the 20th century. MUNAL is located in the old 'Palace of Communications'. In the early part of the 20th century, the government hired Italian architect Silvio Contri to design and build this "palace" to house the Secretariat of Communications and Public Works, with the intention of showing Mexico's commitment to modernization. The Palace was constructed on the former site of the hospitals of San Andres and of Gonzalez Echeverria. The architectural design is eclectic, characteristic of that time period, and mixes elements of various past architectural styles. The decorative elements of the building were done by the Coppedé family of Florence, who designed the door knockers, window frames, leaded crystal, stonework, furniture, lamps and ironwork among many other elements. Over the years, much of the Palace deteriorated, until around 2000, when the MUNAL project restored the palace to its original look while adding the latest technology for the preservation of artistic works. Two rooms that stand out are the Reception Hall and the sculptures in the Patio de los Leones. The Reception Hall is on the second floor and designed to imitate the splendor of similar halls in Europe. It is profusely decorated with precious metal and crystal ornaments as well as allegorical murals dedicated to themes such as science, the arts, liberty, history, work and progress. The work devoted to the concept of progress subdivides into four themes of force, justice, wisdom and wealth. This hall became the preferred place for President Porfirio Diaz to perform public declarations and receive dignitaries from abroad. Like the rest of the building the Patio of the Liones synthesizes a number of different architectural styles. The two primary styles seen here are Classic and Gothic with other styles introduced in the forms of sculptures, lighting and sculpted stonework. In the center is a large semicircular staircase to the upper floors. Later in the 20th century, the building served as the Archivo General de la Nación and from 1982 as the Museo Nacional de Arte. The plaza in front of the building is named after Manuel Tolsá, who created the statue of Carlos IV there, also known as 'El Caballito'. Today almost all of the building is used to house the permanent collection of MUNAL with the Reception Hall and the Patio de los Leones used for events such as concerts, book-signings and press conferences. MUNAL's permanent collection contains more than 3,600 pieces displayed in more than 5,800 square meters of exhibition space and the museum also has a museum shop and very good café. Visit the MUNAL's website at … http://www.munal.com.mx The museum's permanent collection is designed to give a panoramic view of the development of the fine arts in Mexico from the early colonial period to the mid-twentieth century. The artwork is subdivided into three distinct periods. The first covers the colonial period from 1550 to 1821. The second covers the first century after Independence and the third covers the period after the Mexican Revolution to the 1950s. Works created after that time period are on display at a number of museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in Chapultepec Park. The collection of art from the colonial period is entitled "Asimilación de occidente" (Assimilation of the West) and is contained within Salons 1-14 on the second floor. This collection shows how western-style painting transferred over and synthesized in Mexico, eventually leading to the establishment of Mexico's own fine arts institution, the Academy of San Carlos, the first of its kind in the Americas, and from which many of the works in the MUNAL collection came. Works from this period include noted paintings by Juan Correa, Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz, Miguel Cabrera, Cristóbal de Villalpando, the brothers Rodríguez Juárez and Tolsá Valencia. Art from the first century of Mexican Independence (1810–1910) is entitled "La construcción de la Nación" (Construction of a Nation) and housed in Salons 19-26 of the second floor. Coinciding with the Romanticism period, most paintings have themes such as Mexican customs and landscapes and attempt to present a distinct Mexican identity. Among the artists represented are major works by Eugenio Landesio, José María Velasco Gómez, Leandro Izaguirre, Luis Monroy, José Guadalupe Posada and Julio Ruelas and a collection of early Mexican photography. The last time period in the collection is titled "Estrategías plásticas para un México moderno" (Strategies for the fine arts in modern Mexico) and housed in Salons 27-33 on the first floor. Historically, this period is from the end of the Mexican Revolution when questions of modernity and nationalism were foremost. It also coincides with the development of the Mexican muralist movement. Artists featured in this section of the museum include, Ramón Cano Manilla, Saturnino Herrán, Gerardo Murillo, Francisco Goitia, Rufino Tamayo, Juan O'Gorman and Diego Rivera. Among the artists represented in the MUNAL's collection of post-Mexican Revolution, Diego Rivera is perhaps the most well known. Born on December 8, 1886, in Guanajuato, Mexico, Rivera became famous for his expansive and politically-charged murals, and for his love affair with artist Frida Kahlo. Rivera was born a twin, but his brother, Carlos María, died before he turned two. Rivera studied painting in Mexico before going to Europe in 1907. While in Europe he took up cubism and had exhibitions in Paris and Madrid in 1913 before showing in New York City in 1916. In 1921 he returned to Mexico, where he undertook government-sponsored murals that reflected his communist politics in historical contexts. He married Kahlo in 1929, and their tempestuous marriage got to be as famous as their art. In the 1930s and '40s Rivera worked in the United States and Mexico, and many of his paintings drew controversy. His 1933 mural for the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan featured a portrait of Communist Party leader V.I. Lenin; the resulting uproar led to his dismissal and to the mural's official destruction in 1934. Similarly, a 1948 mural for the Hotel de Prado in Mexico that included the words "God does not exist" was covered and held from public view for nine years. Even so, Rivera's talent for historical murals and his tributes to earthy folk traditions made him one of the most influential artists in the Americas and one of Mexico's most beloved painters. One of his most famous works is a tribute to workers in Detroit, Michigan, commissioned in 1932 by Henry Ford. Never very faithful romantically, Rivera was married four times to three different women, Guadalupe Marin (1922-27), to Kahlo (1929-39, then again from 1940 until her death in 1954), and to art dealer Emma Hurtado (from 1955 until his death in 1957). He also lived with the artist Angelina Beloff for many years in Paris, and she is sometimes counted among his spouses as a common-law wife. Currently the Museo Nacional de Arte is showing, "Image, Rhythm and Movement: Fine Art, Music and Dance", including a careful selection of pieces with themes of dance and music produced by Mexican and foreign artists working in Mexico. Mexican paintings from the last 160 years have been selected from the collections of the Museo del Pueblo, Guanajuato and the Museo Nacional de Arte, which show the cultural importance of music and dance to the Mexican people. Featured artists include Casimiro Castro, José Guadalupe Posada, Edouard Pingret, Pablo O'Higgins, Ernesto Garcia Cabral, Miguel Covarrubias, Maria Izquierdo, Raul Anguiano, Fermin Revueltas and Federico Cantú. The exhibition is curated in collaboration the José Limón National Center for Dance Research, Documentation and Information, and was presented first at the Museo del Pueblo, Guanajuato before moving to MUNAL. The exhibition runs from 17 February to 15 May 2011. The next temporary exhibition to be hosted by MUNAL will be "The Image of Flight of Images: Feather art in Mexico and Europe", starting in April 2011. This exhibitions will together more than 250 objects that reflect the symbolism and ritual use of feathers and birds among indigenous Mexican cultures, both ancient and contemporary. It will showcase works from 1400 to 1800 AD, such as paintings, sculptures, medieval manuscripts, Mesoamerican manuscripts, works of gold and precious stones, from collections in Italy, England, Germany, United States U.S., Canada, Austria and Mexico. In addition, the exhibition will include a selection of contemporary feather art from Mexico. 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

The Centre Pompidou Dedicates An Exhibition to Women: elles-at-centrepompidou Posted: 20 Mar 2011 11:09 PM PDT PARIS - The new hang of the permanent collection of the Musée National d'Art Moderne is to be entirely devoted to modern and contemporary women artists – the first time such a thing will have been done by a national museum of art. The exhibition, drawing on one of the world's greatest collections of modern and contemporary art, the largest in Europe, represents a vigorous affirmation of the Museum's commitment to women artists of every nationality, across all the disciplines, returning them to their rightful place at the centre of the modern and contemporary art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The Jewish Museum Recaptures the Brilliance of a Vanguard Theater, Cut Short Posted: 20 Mar 2011 11:08 PM PDT   NEW YORK, NY.- During the artistic ferment following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, major artists joined actors, choreographers, writers, and musicians in creating a daring new theater. This collaboration gave rise to extraordinary productions with highly original stage designs that redefined the concept of theater itself, attracting large, diverse audiences and garnering international critical praise. In Chagall and the Artists of the Russian Jewish Theater, 1919-1949, on view from through March 22, 2009, The Jewish Museum tells the little-known and tumultuous story of this vanguard artistic flowering, which thrived on the stage for thirty years before being brutally extinguished during the Stalinist era.

Art Gallery of South Australia displays 'The Golden Journey' Posted: 20 Mar 2011 11:05 PM PDT ADELAIDE, AU - Exclusive to the Art Gallery of South Australia, The Golden Journey is a stunning display of nearly 300 diverse objects revealing the astonishingly rich heritage of Japanese art held in Australia's major public and private collections. The exhibition, which is the first comprehensive survey of its kind in Australia, tells the story of Japanese art from prehistoric times until Japan opened its doors to the West in the late nineteenth century. On view 6 March through 31 May, 2009.

Hauser & Wirth announces the First UK Exhibition of the Berlin-based Artist Martin Eder Posted: 20 Mar 2011 10:57 PM PDT LONDON.- Hauser & Wirth presents the first UK exhibition of the Berlin-based artist Martin Eder. Populated by naked young women and saccharine fluffy cats, Eder's semi-surrealistic paintings exude an engaging perversity. His scenarios have a nightmarish feeling and explore the uneasy interdependence of culture, kitsch and commerce in contemporary art. 'My paintings are actually battle scenes,' Eder has said. 'They are filled with murder and they are incredibly bloodthirsty.' To coincide with the exhibition at Hauser & Wirth, there will be a concert given by Martin Eder's alter-ego Richard Ruin at midnight on 12 September 2009 at The Bathhouse.

MOCA exhibits Major Survey of Works by Pioneering Artist Louise Bourgeois Posted: 20 Mar 2011 10:54 PM PDT   LOS ANGELES.- The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), presents the first major travelling survey of the work of pioneering artist Louise Bourgeois (b. 1911) in more than two decades. Louise Bourgeois is organized by Tate Modern in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou and curated by Frances Morris, head of collections, Tate Modern; Marie-Laure Bernadac, chief curator of contemporary art, Louvre; and Jonas Storsve, curator, Musée national d'art moderne, Cabinet d'art graphique, Centre Pompidou. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, is the fourth venue of an ambitious international tour that includes Tate Modern, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.

Brooklyn Museum presents A New Installation of Contemporary Art Posted: 20 Mar 2011 10:52 PM PDT BROOKLYN, NY.- A new installation of contemporary art presents recent acquisitions displayed along with notable works that have entered the collection over the past five decades. The recent acquisitions range from younger artists such as Nina Chanel Abney, Shinique Smith, and Isca Greenfield-Sanders to more established figures such as Mary Heilman, Mitch Epstein, and Lorraine O'Grady. The presentation focuses on familial relationships, broadening the definition of family to include larger groups or communities united by shared values, identities, lifestyles, or emotional needs. Extended Family: Contemporary Connections, now on view through summer of 2010, includes some forty works.

Large Selection of Old Master, American & European Prints at Swann Galleries Posted: 20 Mar 2011 10:50 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- On Tuesday, April 27, Swann Galleries will offer a large selection of Old Master Through Modern Prints at auction, beginning with nearly 150 desirable Old Master Prints, followed by sections devoted to 19th-century prints, American prints, and European prints. Of special note among the Old Masters are works by Albrecht Dürer, including "The Prodigal Son", engraving, circa 1496 (estimate $15,000 to $20,000); "The Four Horsemen", woodcut from "The Apocalypse", 1498, in unusually good condition ($20,000 to $30,000); and "Virgin and Child Seated by the Wall", engraving, 1514 ($15,000 to $20,000).

Columbia Museum of Art shows Its Collection of Art Spanning 1000 Years Posted: 20 Mar 2011 10:48 PM PDT COLUMBIA, SC.- Highlights from the Collection opens on Saturday, January 10 and runs through June 7. The exhibition includes approximately 80 works of art spanning 1000 years pulled from the Columbia Museum of Art's galleries and storage. The exhibition encompasses the breadth of the collection from Ancient art to Contemporary and from paintings to silver.

Jules-Adolphe Breton Masterpiece Returns to the Frick Art & Historical Center Posted: 20 Mar 2011 10:46 PM PDT PITTSBURGH, PA.- Beginning October 20, 2009, "The Last Gleanings" by acclaimed 19th-century French painter Jules-Adolphe Breton (1827–1906) will be installed over the mantel in the dining room at Clayton, the restored home of the Henry Clay Frick family at the Frick Art & Historical Center in Pittsburgh's historic East End. Thanks to a six-month loan from The Huntington Library, Art Collection and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, visitors to the Frick will have the opportunity to view the painting as it was displayed at Clayton during the years 1895–1903.

Discovered Korean Jar brings nearly $4.2-million at Bonhams & Butterfields Posted: 20 Mar 2011 10:42 PM PDT   San Francisco, CA - A rare Joseon Dynasty Korean blue and white porcelain jar set a world record at auction on (9 December 2008) in the San Francisco salesroom of Bonhams & Butterfields.  Sold over the telephone to an undisclosed Asian buyer, the crowd burst into applause after a hotly contested bidding war among more than 12 clients – bidding from the salesroom floor and via telephones. Additional strong selling lots at the auction include: $144,000 paid for an 18th/19th century white nephrite tripod covered censer; $120,000 paid for a massive huanghuali 17th/18th cupboard; and $120,000 paid for a fine Republic Period six-panel hardwood floor screen inset with famille rose porcelain plaques, attributed to Wang Yeting (1884-1942).

Wexner Center for the Arts hosts "Andy Warhol / Other Voices, Other Rooms" Posted: 20 Mar 2011 10:40 PM PDT   COLUMBUS, OH - The Wexner Center's presentation of Andy Warhol : Other Voices, Other Rooms—the only U.S. installation of this show—will feature dynamic, multimedia, environments that immerse the viewer and offer a fresh look at the persona and practice of the celebrated Pop Art master. On view at the Wexner Center from September 13, 2008 through February 15, 2009, Other Voices, Other Rooms will showcase more than 700 works and items dating from 1949 to 1987, including films and TV programs, paintings, photographs, drawings, prints, wallpaper, installations, objects, seldom heard audio recordings, and extraordinary archival material—together focusing on concepts at the heart of Warhol's work: consumer culture, sexual identity, social transgression, and the eradication of distinctions between high and low culture. Giving equal weight to all media that Warhol used, the exhibition will shed new light on the cinematic sensibility that pervades his work.

Philadelphia Museum of Art Surveys the Surrealist Photographer Frederick Sommer Posted: 20 Mar 2011 10:34 PM PDT PHILADELPHIA, PA.- Frederick Sommer (1905-1999) crafted a vision inflected by Surrealist ideas, elements of surprise and chance, and an acute sense of design. He experimented with many forms of art while making photography his primary endeavor. The Philadelphia Museum of Art presents Frederick Sommer Photographs, a survey of his art over five decades, with some 40 photographs shown along with drawings and collages, including all of his central motifs and many of his best-known works. Among the images on view are several of his desert landscapes from the 1940s, horizon-less images that only gradually resolve their components into landscapes. Other highlights include a rare suite of macabre and humorous yet poignant photographs the artist made in 1939 using chicken parts collected from his butcher, and which reflect the artist's determination to find mystery and grace in the most debased aspects of physical existence. There are also numerous examples of Sommer's later experiments photographing other artworks, including his own elegant paper cutouts of the 1960s and '70s. On view through 3 January, 2010.

World Record Price for a Modigliani Sculpture Sold at Auction at Christie's in Paris Posted: 20 Mar 2011 10:32 PM PDT PARIS (AP).- A sculpted stone head by artist Amedeo Modigliani sold at Christie's in Paris on Monday for euro 43.18 million ($52.8 million), breaking the record for a work by the Italian artist, the auction house said. It was also the highest-priced work sold at an auction in France, Christie's said. An anonymous buyer bid for the piece by telephone. The piece, sculpted between 1910 and 1912, depicts an elongated head with almond-shaped eyes and flowing hair, and it is reminiscent of the artist's paintings. Modigliani, who lived from 1884 to 1920, originally focused on sculpture but switched to painting in part because of health problems.

'Kimono Style' at the Immigration Museum Posted: 20 Mar 2011 10:29 PM PDT Melbourne, Australia - A new exhibition of breathtakingly beautiful kimono and accessories direct from Japan is on show for the first and only time in Australia at the Immigration Museum. Kimono: Osaka's Golden Age showcases the sumptuous culture of the traditional kimono – its style, design, meaning and forms, as well as how to wear one.

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 20 Mar 2011 10:28 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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