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• Gino Severini Retrospective at The Orangerie Museum in Paris
• The Lasar Segall Museum in Sao Paulo Shows the Artist's Paintings
• Ronald Feldman Fine Arts displays "Split Second" by Todd Siler
• American Photographers Exhibition at the New Mexico Museum of Art
• Houston Fine Art Fair Announces Galleries for Inaugural Fair
• Mounties and World War II at the Tweed Museum in Duluth
• Bonhams Sale of Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art in London
• Precocious Paintings by Nir Hod at Paul Kasmin Gallery
• Christie's London Offers Superb Russian Sale On June 6th
• Ron Mueck's Sculpture at the Museu de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey
• Sculpture by Painters - Painting in Dialogue with Plastic Art at Museum Frieder Burda
• A Collaboration between VIWA & Tomoaki Tarutani at the Karin Weber Gallery in Hong Kong
• Karin Weber Gallery to show Lydia Velasco ~ "Les Femmes"
• Ahlen Art Museum to Present a Special Exhibition "Intimacy! Bathing in Art"
• Dance of Colours: Vaslaw Nijinsky's Eye and Abstraction at Hamburger Kunsthalle
• Museum Ludwig presents 'Looking for Mushrooms and Counterculture'
• University of Iowa Museum of Art Searches for Museum Director
• MOCA exhibits Major Survey of Works by Pioneering Artist Louise Bourgeois
• Wifredo Lam in North America at the Museum of Latin American Art
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

Gino Severini Retrospective at The Orangerie Museum in Paris Posted: 19 May 2011 09:56 PM PDT Paris.- The Orangerie Museum in Paris presents "Gino Severini (1883 - 1966): Futurist and Neoclassicist" until July 25th. This is the first retrospective of the work of the Italian painter Gino Severini since that organised in 1967 at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris. It brings together some 70 works from private collections, European and American museums including the Triton Foundation Netherlands, Peggy Guggenheim Collection Venice, Centre Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, Estorick Collection in London, Thyssen Foundation in Madrid and MOMA, New York. As Severini said, "Cortona and Paris are the cities I am most bound to : I was physically born in the first, intellectually and spiritually in the second", Paris is therefore a particularly fitting home for this retrospective. Severini originally trained under pointillist painter Giacomo Balla and at first remained close to his style, with an emphasis on Luminist effects and the contrast of light and shade. He arrived in Paris in 1906 keen to find out more about the work of Seurat. In 1910, Raoul Dufy, who had the neighbouring studio, introduced him to scientific Divisionism. His urban views, painted in quite a free Pointillist style, are reminiscent of Signac but also seem quite close to the landscapes painted by Van Gogh in Paris in 1887 with their broken brushwork and lighter palette. His few pastel portraits are closer in style to Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec. He continued the Divisionist experiments in his early Futurist works by integrating coloured planes and adding sequins to his dancers. In 1911, Gino Severini joined the Futurist movement, having already signed the Manifesto in 1910. His large painting, The Dance of the Pan Pan at the Monico, was the highlight of the 1912 Futurist exhibition. He acted as mediator between the artists from Milan and those of the Parisian avant-garde, and joined the Futurists on their European tour. His preferred subjects at this time were crowds, urban scenes and places of entertainment, very different from the themes of his artist friends (The Boulevard, Estorick Collection, London). He also represented movement in his series of dancers produced in 1912-1913. In 1914 - 1915, at the invitation of Marinetti, Severini produced a series of paintings on the war ("Train Blindé (Armoured Train)", MOMA, New York). In 1916, after abandoning Futurism, he became part of the Cubist movement until 1919. He rubbed shoulders with Cocteau and Matisse, and met Juan Gris to whom he was very close both personally and stylistically. During this period, he painted still lifes that included real fragments of wallpaper, newspapers, musical scores, etc., basing them on a set of complicated calculations. His Cubism stood out for the subtlety of colour harmonies. It was at this time that he produced many theoretical works on geometry, the Golden Section and harmonic lines, resulting in the publication in 1921 of his book From Cubism to Classicism on the relationship between art and mathematics. He sought a return to the traditional values of painting by concentrating on "construction". From 1920 to 1943, his art entered a new phase with the "Return to the Figure". With his Portrait de Jeanne et sa Maternité, dating from 1916 and representative of a classical and realist style, he became part of the "Return to Order" movement. Just like other artists of the time, Picasso, Gris and Derain, Severini was fascinated by the characters of Harlequin and by the Commedia dell' Arte. His still lifes at this point became more decorative. This new transformation in his painting style, so far removed from Cubism, is evident in the decorations he created for the Sitwel family at Montefugoni in Tuscany. In the 1930s, he also worked on a number of religious mosaic murals for the churches of Tavannes and Saint Pierre de Fribourg in Switzerland. Severini painted relatively few easel paintings at that time. His subjects were more intimate and family-orientated. He alternated between hieratic portraits and still lifes (musical instruments, pigeons, ducks and fish) inspired by the decorations in Pompeii and by Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna. Along with other artists like De Chirico, Picabia, and Ernst, he was involved with the decoration of Rosenberg's house. Between 1928 and 1930, he exhibited with the Italian artists in Paris. His "Harlequin" from 1938 completes an exhibition that presents the many different aspects of an artist who was much more multi-facetted than his fame as a Futurist painter would have us believe. His work fits perfectly with the Musée de l'Orangerie collections, particularly in his desire for a classic "return to order" and his numerous representations of Harlequin that unquestionably bring him closer to André Derain. The Musée de l'Orangerie is an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings located on the Place de la Concorde in Paris. It contains works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Rousseau, Chaim Soutine, Alfred Sisley and Maurice Utrillo, among others. As its name suggests, the Orangerie Museum is housed in a former orangery, built in 1852 by architect Firmin Bourgeois and completed by his successor, Ludovico Visconti to house the orange trees of the Tuileries Gardens. Used by the Third Republic as a depository for materials, examination room, accommodation for mobilized soldiers, versatile arena for sporting events, musical or patriotic concerts, industrial exhibitions, dog-shows, horticultural and rare art exhibitions, it was finally devoted to the administration of Fine Arts in 1921. A cycle of Monet's water-lily paintings, known as the Nymphéas, was arranged on the ground floor of the Orangerie in 1927. The museum has housed the Paul Guillaume collection of impressionist paintings since 1965. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.musee-orangerie.fr

The Lasar Segall Museum in Sao Paulo Shows the Artist's Paintings Posted: 19 May 2011 09:36 PM PDT Sao Paulo, Brazil.- The Lasar Segall Museum in Sao Paulo presents a selection of paintings by Lasar Segall until June 26th. The exhibition features 20 paintings, many of which are not usually on show. The organization of this exhibition is not only chronological, but also critical, because it shows the great changes occurring in the artistic work of Lasar Segall, from his early work to the last production of the 1950's.

Ronald Feldman Fine Arts displays "Split Second" by Todd Siler Posted: 19 May 2011 09:11 PM PDT New York City.- Ronald Feldman Fine Arts presents "Split <-> Second", Todd Siler's ninth exhibition at the gallery until June 18th. The exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, and drawings that take as their subject the processes of the brain and its connection with the physical laws of nature. An artist with a background in brain science, Todd Siler transforms the gallery space into an observatory for contemplating what our eyes may not see but our intuitions can sense: life-changing events happen in less than a split-second. This rapidly changing reality makes countless critical decisions increasingly difficult especially as we respond to global challenges that impact our present-future.

American Photographers Exhibition at the New Mexico Museum of Art Posted: 19 May 2011 08:30 PM PDT Santa Fe, NM.- The New Mexico Museum of Art presents "Earth Now: American Photographers and the Environment" on view until October 9th. The exhibition brings to the fore a group of nearly seventy contemporary photographs, many shown for the first time, to examine how American artists of our time are engaging with issues of environmental concern. This varied and lively group of photographs invites visitors to enjoy the visual pleasures of photography by masters as well as newcomers, as well as to ponder their own relationship to the landscape and their thinking about some of the present-day social issues in the context of an industrialized society—energy consumption, changing agricultural practices, waste management, land use. Using strategies such as beauty, humor, and horror to engage attention, these photographers provoke questions about the environment while pointing toward new directions such as local farming, new energy source technologies, green roofs, and a renewed connection with the landscapes we inhabit.

Houston Fine Art Fair Announces Galleries for Inaugural Fair Posted: 19 May 2011 08:12 PM PDT HOUSTON, TX.- The prestigious starting line-up of galleries participating in the inaugural Houston Fine Art Fair, Sept. 15 – 18, 2011, was announced at a cocktail reception yesterday at The Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Over 150 art patrons, collectors and gallery supporters were on hand as the first wave of local, national and international galleries was unveiled by Hamptons Expo Group, the fair organizer.

Mounties and World War II at the Tweed Museum in Duluth Posted: 19 May 2011 07:43 PM PDT Duluth, MN.- "Working on the Homefront: Potlatch Royal Canadian Mounted Police Illustrations and World War II" is a new exhibition at the Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota Duluth, featuring twenty paintings, four WW II posters and a selection of 1940s trade magazine ads, all focused around the regionally famous ad campaign of Northwest Paper/Potlatch Corporation. Now Sappi Paper, the Cloquet, Minnesota-based company pulled itself out of Depression-era obscurity by using the red-coated Canadian police officer as a brand for its fine printing papers. In the process, it commissioned 16 artists to produce an estimated 400 illustrations and paintings, over a 40-year period between 1930 and 1970. The collection outgrew their corporate offices, and in 1981 Potlatch Corporation (formerly Northwest Paper, now Sappi) donated it to the Tweed Museum at UMD. "Working on the Homefront" begins on May 24th and runs through September 4th.

Bonhams Sale of Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art in London Posted: 19 May 2011 07:30 PM PDT LONDON.- Work by Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern and South Asian artists from eight countries – Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, India, Pakistan and Sri-Lanka - will be on sale at Bonhams on June 1st. Among the notable names are works by Sual al-Attar, Fadi Barrage, Ismael Fattah, M.F. Hussain, Sadanand K. Bakre, Raza, and George Keyt.

Precocious Paintings by Nir Hod at Paul Kasmin Gallery Posted: 19 May 2011 07:14 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- Paul Kasmin Gallery presents their first solo exhibition with the artist Nir Hod. Entitled Genius, it will include new paintings and sculpture from Hod's series of precocious and melancholic young men and women. Continuing the artist's longtime fascination with beauty and loneliness, glamour and death, Hod's aristocratic young Geniuses inhabit a world of paradox, where their cherubic cheeks contrast with their scornful expressions and lit cigarettes. Philosopher Roy Brand describes them as "…little demons without disguises. But they are also yearning, beautiful, and charming, and their narcissism is more a sign of internal happiness than of vanity." Like sculptures in a wax museum that aim to dramatically freeze time, these paintings explore art's power to capture life while simultaneously elevating it to depict an unattainable ideal.

Christie's London Offers Superb Russian Sale On June 6th Posted: 19 May 2011 06:50 PM PDT LONDON.- Ilya Repin's magnificent A Parisian Café will lead Christie's forthcoming Russian sale, which will take place on Monday 6 June in London. Painted in 1875, the work depicts a lively French café scene and represents a daring deviation from Repin's celebrated Russian subjects. The picture was exhibited at the 1875 Parisian salon and is extensively recorded in the literature on the artist. It was acquired by the present owner's grandfather, who was personally acquainted with Repin, in 1916 and appears now on the market for the first time in almost a century. It will be offered with an estimate of £3-5 million.

Ron Mueck's Sculpture at the Museu de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey Posted: 19 May 2011 06:49 PM PDT Monterrey, Mexico.- The first time that the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO) ever presented a work by Ron Mueck was in 1999, in the exhibition, "Casa de la Escultura". The sculpture was an elderly woman, "Untitled (Seated Woman)", and caught the attention of the public not just for the exacting copy of a human being, but also for the sullen and tired face of the woman who was inviting a reflection on old age. This year, MARCO is honored to exhibit the sculptor's first large scale show in Latin America. "Ron Mueck" is on view to the public until Sunday, 31st July. The artist captured the attention of the critics with "Dead Dad" (1996-1997), a small-scale sculpture of the sculptor's father naked and lying down. He also received notable acclaim at the 2001 Venice Biennale when representing his country with "Boy" (2000), a gigantic almost five-meter tall figure of an adolescent. Mueck has won an outstanding place in the world art scene in a relatively short time thanks to the impressive verisimilitude of the most incredible anatomical details of his personages that cause the spectator to reflect on the limits between reality and fiction. His works have the particularity of showing the individuals in the most exposed and vulnerable states generating a profound physical and emotional empathy. The majority evoke fundamental human experiences, like birth, childhood, maternity, childbirth, maturity, old age and death. Others offer an enigmatic narrative impregnated with metaphors and allegories. In "Man in a Boat" (2002), one sees an unclothed man inside a boat with carefully combed hair whose expression denotes expectation and apprehension. In spite of the meticulous details of the scene, it seems more like an image of a materialized dream that might be interpreted as a metaphor of life, a journey without a defined destination. Ron Mueck utilizes scale in his sculptures to provide emotive and expressive effects. The space also plays a crucial role in the interaction with the work and the action that it represents. The monumental scale gives the spectator an advantageous position to study the expressions and to analyze each detail of the body language. After the initial intense reaction to the giant scale and its realistic appearance, the familiarity of the scene allows the observer, for example, to identify themselves with similar situations of introspection, as is the case with "In the Bed" (2005), or to admire the fragility and vulnerability of the human being in "A Little Girl" (2006). The encounter with Mueck's work produces a constant sensation of being an intruder or a snoop who is interrupting an intimate moment. His pensive figures capture moments of solitary reflection, with eyes open and a gaze lost in apparent indifference to the world around them, of the spectator who is observing them. Mueck is able to express in them the notion of introspection and masterfully reveal the level of sophistication of a thought. Each one of Ron Mueck's sculptures communicates a panorama of the rich and complex interior life that develops in that moment and challenges the intellect to think that is does not matter how real some images may seem, in the end they are merely representations. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Monterrey, MARCO, is one of the most important cultural centers in Latin America whose efforts are aimed at the promotion of international contemporary art, emphasizing the dissemination of Latin American visual arts. MARCO is distinguished by its beauty, created by Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta recognized internationally famous for the modern application to domestic issues. Legorreta creates different environments and atmospheres at each corner, prompting a visit to the Museum is a unique experience. The permanent collection is composed of Latin American paintings. Many Mexican artists has been exhibited in the temporary exhibitions, among them: Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Hermenegildo Bustos, Julio Galán, Matthias Goeritz, Teodoro González de León, Enrique Guzmán, Ricardo Legorreta, Ricardo Mazal, Miriam Medrez, Armando Salas Portugal, Rodolfo Morales, Paula Santiago, Alberto Vargas and Frida Kahlo. international artists including Joan Brossa, Jenny Holzer, Ana Mendieta, Antony Gormley, Henry Moore, Cory Hanson, Michael Ray-Von and Isamu Noguchi have also exhibited at MARCO. MARCO has 16 thousand square meters of construction, 5 000 are distributed in 11 exhibition halls, the rest are the spaces as the central courtyard with its impressive water mirror, the Auditorium, Shop, Restaurant and Patio of sculptures. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.marco.org.mx

Sculpture by Painters - Painting in Dialogue with Plastic Art at Museum Frieder Burda Posted: 19 May 2011 06:41 PM PDT BADEN-BADEN, GERMANY - This year's comprehensive exhibition at the Museum Frieder Burda puts the emphasis on the dialogue between painting and sculpture. The show, that runs from July 5 to October 26, 2008, is entitled "Sculpture by Painters – Painting in Dialogue with Plastic Art". It displays approximately 140 20th century art works by Degas, Miró, Picasso, Modigliani, Giacometti, Chagall, Kirchner, Beckmann and Baselitz. For the first time ever, the Museum in Baden-Baden presents an exhibition combining painting with sculpture on a large scale.

A Collaboration between VIWA & Tomoaki Tarutani at the Karin Weber Gallery in Hong Kong Posted: 19 May 2011 06:40 PM PDT Hong Kong.- In the wake of the Japan earthquake and tsunami the world was in awe of the of the Japanese. Many said it was the root values of politeness and service to the greater good of society in their culture and national identity that helped them face such adversity with such resolve and order. And while these community values do exist, Japan is not simply about the group; the country is as much about the individual as it is the collective. A brief walk down the streets of Harajuku or Shibuya confirms this as you're brought face to face with the colorful characters of those trend-setting districts. Though unintended, it feels rather timely that from May 24th until June 14th the Karin Weber Gallery is showing the works of artists VIWA and Tomoaki Tarutani who represent this duality in modern Japanese culture.

Karin Weber Gallery to show Lydia Velasco ~ "Les Femmes" Posted: 19 May 2011 06:39 PM PDT Hong Kong - Lydia Velasco, a well known artist from the Philippines, has pursued the female form as her subject matter for the past twenty years of her career.  Often featured in rural settings engaging in physical activity, her women are both sensual and assertive. The artist liberates them from the canvas, their bodies elongated and voluminous, their skin tone is so Gaughin-like.  Lydia believes in strong and seductive women.  An art critic once commented on her works saying "…a visual journey into the rich polychromes of figures, fashion and fantasy."

Ahlen Art Museum to Present a Special Exhibition "Intimacy! Bathing in Art" Posted: 19 May 2011 06:38 PM PDT BERLIN.- The Ahlen Art Museum will be presenting in this exhibit the historical developments, contextual significance, and especially the artistic reflections of the topic 'bathing.' In the exhibit, 140 works by 90 artists will be presented, including Pierre Bonnard, Louise Bourgeois, Gustave Caillebotte, William N. Copley, Gregory Crewdson, Edgar Degas, Albrecht Dürer, Eric Fischl, Marie-Jo Lafontaine, Xenia Hausner, David Hockney, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Édouard Manet, Bettina Rheims, Norbert Tadeusz, and Bill Viola. On view 31 January through 25 April, 2010.

Dance of Colours: Vaslaw Nijinsky's Eye and Abstraction at Hamburger Kunsthalle Posted: 19 May 2011 06:37 PM PDT HAMBURG,GERMANY - The Russian dancer Vaslaw Nijinsky (1889-1950) and the ballet company Les Ballets Russes had their European premiere in Paris. Nijinsky immediately became an unrivalled star on the stages of Europe, and ranks as the most important dancer of the twentieth century until today. Apart from his exceptional career as a dancer and choreographer, Nijinsky also created large numbers of coloured paintings and gouaches in 1918 and 1919. These works are here for the first time presented comprehensively. With finely-drawn coloured circles and ellipses and strongly-coloured plane surfaces, Nijinsky produced series of images where space and line are interwoven and rhythm and colour are transformed into a painted choreography of intense emotions. On view through August 16th, 2009.

Museum Ludwig presents 'Looking for Mushrooms and Counterculture' Posted: 19 May 2011 06:36 PM PDT   Cologne, Germany - Museum Ludwig presents Looking for Mushrooms - Beat Poets, Hippies, Funk and Minimal Art: Art and Counterculture in San Francisco 1955 - 1968, on view through March 1, 2009. Forty years on from 1968, the year that spelt radical change for society, it is time to turn our minds back to the art scene in a city that was regarded in the 1960s and 1970s as the Mecca of experimental culture and lifestyles (beat poets, hippie movement, counterculture).

University of Iowa Museum of Art Searches for Museum Director Posted: 19 May 2011 06:35 PM PDT IOWA CITY, IA.- Replacing the University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA) must be a top priority so the entire permanent art collection can return to the UI, according to a report by the UI Museum of Art Envisioning Committee. The report also recommends that the new museum enhance the UI's academic and research mission by making its collection and expertise accessible to faculty and students across the disciplines, as well as to Iowans. President Sally Mason, who requested the report, said she would carefully review the recommendations before determining next steps. Meanwhile, a national search is under way for a Museum of Art director who will help plan and begin major fundraising for the new facility.

MOCA exhibits Major Survey of Works by Pioneering Artist Louise Bourgeois Posted: 19 May 2011 06:34 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.

Wifredo Lam in North America at the Museum of Latin American Art Posted: 19 May 2011 06:33 PM PDT LONG BEACH, CA - The Museum of Latin American Art (MoLAA) is proud to be the only venue on the West Coast to present Wifredo Lam in North America. This comprehensive national traveling exhibition of Lam's work is the first in over 30 years to be seen in the United States. Also on view, will be Carlos Luna: El Gran Mambo. Both Lam, the first Cuban to be recognized as a master among the mid-20th century modern artists, and Luna, a contemporary rising star, share a Cuban nationalism in their art which is filled with the rhythms of religious ritual, political satire and cultural heritage. Both exhibitions will be on display through August 31, 2008.

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 19 May 2011 06:33 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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