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

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• Fine Art Asia Fair Brings The World's Leading Dealers to Hong Kong
• Galería MÜ Presents Surreal Photographs by Kahn & Selesnick and Carolina Montejo
• The State Russian Museum Celebrates the 150th Anniversary of Konstantin Korovin's Birth
• The Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts Shows Printmakers From the Bauhaus School
• Kunsthal KAdE's "MarklinWorld" Shows Models of the World by 40 International Artists
• Swann Galleries To Feature An Auction of African-American Fine Art
• The Yorkshire Sculpture Park Shows Rachel Goodyear's Drawings
• The National Gallery of Art Celebrates "Harry Callahan at 100"
• Christie's Post-War & Contemporary Art Auction To Feature Gerhard Richter
• Richard Green Galleries Hosts John Atkinson Grimshaw's Moonlight Paintings
• Our Editor Tours The Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and Its Renowned Vast Collection
• First Online Bilingual Guide to Chinese Contemporary Art Launches
• 'Pop Life' at Hamburger Kunsthalle Proves that "Good Business is the Best Art"
• Statens Museum for Kunst hosts Wilhelm Freddie ~ Stick the Fork in Your Eye!
• Diego Rivera’s Fame Lives On in Mexico City
• New Zealand Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki Previews Robertson Gift
• MoMA Opens "The Modern Myth: Drawing Mythologies in Modern Times"
• Jessica Lange Awarded George Eastman House Honors and Museum Exhibition
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents Spanish Painting
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

Fine Art Asia Fair Brings The World's Leading Dealers to Hong Kong Posted: 03 Oct 2011 11:28 PM PDT Hong Kong.- Fine Art Asia is now firmly established as Asia's leading annual fine art fair presenting a unique combination of Art and Antiques. This year the fair has grown in breadth and depth, providing an authoritative world-class platform for the most renowned galleries to exhibit in Asia. Fine Art Asia 2011 will showcase an outstanding array of museum-quality exhibits spanning 15,000 years. These range from ancient Chinese bronzes and stone wares, Himalayan bronzes, Chinese ceramics and works of art, furniture, textiles and jades, to exquisite fine art jewellery, rare antique silver and exceptional paintings, sculptures and objets d'art from Old Masters to Impressionism and Modern Art, and exciting contemporary artworks from both Asia and the West. Fine Art Asia 2011 will be held in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), spectacularly located overlooking Victoria Harbour in Wanchai, on the north shore of Hong Kong Island from October 3rd through October 7th. Over 100 leading, carefully selected dealers from Asia, Europe and the USA will be exhibiting at Fine Art Asia 2011, the 7th edition of the fair. Their participation reflects the international nature of this quality event and the crucial role of Hong Kong as the hub of art business in Asia as well as the gateway to China, currently the world's most dynamic art market. Fine Art Asia takes place during the important Autumn art auction season in Hong Kong, and attracts major collectors, dealers and connoisseurs as well as art lovers and appreciative enthusiasts from around the world. Fine Art Asia is unique, the only fair in Asia presenting a combination of Fine Art and Antiques. It aims to emulate TEFAF Maastricht, the most renowned fine art fair in the world. Now in its 7th edition, Fine Art Asia 2011 has grown in size and stature, with more participation by leading international galleries and a high level of quality of exhibits never seen before under the same roof in Hong Kong or anywhere in Asia. More than 5,000 works of art will be exhibited, with a total value of over HK$2 billion. This indicates a significant turning point in the appreciation of Western and Oriental fine art among many informed collectors in Asia. Asian and Mainland Chinese collectors in particular are widening their scope of interest to include a whole range of new collecting categories, including Western art. Fine Art Asia The fair will showcase Asian and Western Art and Antiques, Fine Art Jewellery and Silver, and Modern and Contemporary Art. The outstanding array of museum-quality exhibits ranges from ancient Chinese bronzes and stone wares, Himalayan bronzes, Chinese ceramics and works of art, furniture, textiles and jades, to fine art jewellery, antique silver and exceptional Old Masters, Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary paintings and sculpture from both Asia and the West. Contemporary art dealer, Sundaram Tagore, who has supported Fine Art Asia since its inception in 2006, said, "I have participated in this fair for many years. I believe this is the most important and beautifully presented fair in Asia and that is why it is billed as the "Maastricht of Asia". Lewis Smith of Koopman Rare Art, London, a new exhibitor, said, "With the recent excitement in great English silver developing in the Far East, we are thrilled to find a high-quality exhibition to show rare and highly-collectible pieces of great English silver." Cui Xian Dong of Da Peng Ge, a new exhibitor from Beijing dealing in antique jades, said, "The appeal and authority of Hong Kong's Fine Art Asia fair is now well recognized by serious Asian collectors and dealers." Andy Hei, the founder and director of Fine Art Asia, said: "We are delighted that Fine Art Asia 2011 has attracted a record number of leading international galleries from all over the world. Our policy has always been to develop the fair gradually by concentrating on quality, in order to promote Fine Art Asia confidently as the authoritative fair in Asia for dealers and collectors who are working at the top end of the market." A highlight of Fine Art Asia 2011 will be Project Discovery, a special contemporary art exhibition which will feature solo exhibitions by a group of selected emerging Asian artists. Project Discovery aims to serve as a platform for these artists to showcase their cutting-edge, inspiring and highly collectible works, while providing collectors and visitors with a chance to explore the infinite possibilities of contemporary art. This year Fine Art Asia 2011 is delighted to donate a booth to the Hong Kong Cancer Fund, which will present "Vision", showcasing the work of a new generation of 20 contemporary Hong Kong artists. HKCF strongly believes in the power of art not only to express emotions but also to heal. A charity auction of the works displayed will be held in support of the Hong Kong Cancer Fund's Pink Revolution to raise funds for free breast cancer services and research. An Academic Programme of lectures and seminars by leading art experts from Hong Kong and overseas will be held during the fair. Speakers include Jay Xu, Director of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and his colleagues Joseph Chang and Michael Knight. The programme helps to promote art knowledge and appreciation, as well as providing an opportunity for discussion and dialogue on the latest developments in the global art scene. Art & Antique International Fair Ltd (AAIF) was founded in 2006 by Hong Kong art experts to provide a vibrant new platform in the Hong Kong for the art world in Asia and worldwide. The company is the pioneer of art fairs in Hong Kong: its inaugural fair in 2006 was the first international art fair in Hong Kong in more than a decade. The fair has now become a key annual fixture in the international art calendar. AAIF has a firm belief in Hong Kong's significant role as the centre of the art market in Asia. Visit the fair's website at ... http://www.fineartasia.com

Galería MÜ Presents Surreal Photographs by Kahn & Selesnick and Carolina Montejo Posted: 03 Oct 2011 11:14 PM PDT Bogota, Colombia.- Galería MÜ, the first gallery in Colombia dedicated solely to photography is proud to present its fifth exhibition, "Sueños Salados (Salt Dreams)". The exhibit presents Kahn & Selesnick and Carolina Montejo, contemporary artists whose work explores imaginative and surreal environments within the photographic medium. "Salt Dreams". The imagination, subconscious, and mythology have been almost inseparable since the beginning of man. Their coexistence has produced stories, images, and social and political revolutions that have defined the way that we visualize the intangible and surreal. Within the history of photography, the presentation of the real was of the utmost importance.

The State Russian Museum Celebrates the 150th Anniversary of Konstantin Korovin's Birth Posted: 03 Oct 2011 10:38 PM PDT St. Petersburg, Russia.- The State Russian Museum is proud to present "Konstantin Korovin 1861-1939", on view at the museum until November 8th. This special exhibition, being held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Korovin's birth, brings together for the first time almost 250 of the artist's works. Spanning his work from the 1880s, when he was considered one of the key innovators in Russian painting through to his final works created in exile in France, the exhibition demonstrates Korovin's mastery of landscape, stil life and portraiture as well as featuring the newly restored painted panels that he created for the Russian Pavillion at the Paris World Fair in 1900.

The Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts Shows Printmakers From the Bauhaus School Posted: 03 Oct 2011 10:14 PM PDT Springfield, MA.- An exhibition of prints by American and European artists associated with the Bauhaus School in Germany is on view at the Michele and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts through October 30th. The Bauhaus School, or school of architecture, was one of the first colleges of design. It was the result of a merger between the Weimar Academy of Arts and the Weimar School of Arts and Crafts in Germany. Founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 during the Industrial Revolution, the Bauhaus School brought together many international contemporary artists. The school combined crafts and fine arts and was famous for its design curriculum. Industrial design was an important component of the movement.

Kunsthal KAdE's "MarklinWorld" Shows Models of the World by 40 International Artists Posted: 03 Oct 2011 09:35 PM PDT AMERSFOORT, NL - 'MärklinWorld' is Kunsthal KAdE's new exhibition, set to run through 8 January 2012. The show features photographs, paintings, models and videos of urban and rural landscapes by forty international contemporary artists who all share a fascination with the world as a construct. Märklin is the name of a German company that has been producing model railways ever since 1891. Its products sell to hobbyists who build their own miniature railways at home (often hidden away in the attic). They turn themselves into the producers and directors of an often nostalgic Märklin world of their own creation: an idealised imitation of the real world. In 'MärklinWorld', KAdE shows how landscape is a major source of inspiration for artists. In his or her own individual way, each of the participants in the exhibition translates it into works of art that at once refer to the real world and play with its artificiality. By doing so, they constantly highlight different aspects of it and in passing underline the visual richness of our surroundings.

Swann Galleries To Feature An Auction of African-American Fine Art Posted: 03 Oct 2011 08:53 PM PDT New York City.— Swann Galleries' autumn auction of African-American Fine Art on October 6th features many exciting discoveries—significant works by important artists that were previously unrecorded or never exhibited. The earliest piece in the sale is one of these recent findings, an Untitled (Landscape) oil on canvas painting by Robert S. Duncanson. This large example of the 19th-century painter's mid-career landscapes employs many of the romantic motifs Duncanson is known for, with figures relaxing in an idyllic, park-like landscape and classical buildings in the background (presale estimate: $60,000 to $90,000). The works of art will be on public exhibition at Swann Galleries on Saturday, October 1st from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and then from Monday, October 3rd through Wednesday, October 5th from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park Shows Rachel Goodyear's Drawings Posted: 03 Oct 2011 08:26 PM PDT Wakefield, Yorkshire, UK - The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is proud to present the work of Rachel Goodyear in a new exhibition created for the Bothy Gallery, featuring commissioned works alongside recent drawings. Goodyear's extraordinary drawings have rapidly attracted award nominations, public and private collectors, and critical acclaim. The compelling cast of characters she has created inhabit a strange and complex world of contradictions, existing somewhere between the macabre and mundane. Exploring themes of fear, desire, vulnerability and isolation, Goodyear invites the viewer into a dark place where human psychologies and animal behaviour collide and merge. Just like the mythological trickster the drawings are slipping through holes and crossing into unfamiliar territory... fragile, delicate, yet  defiant and tricky... accompanied by hand drawn animations featuring characters trapped in repetition. "Rachel Goodyear at the Bothy Gallery" is on view at the park through January 3rd 2012.

The National Gallery of Art Celebrates "Harry Callahan at 100" Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:53 PM PDT Washington, DC.- The year 2012 marks the centenary of the birth of Harry Callahan(1912–1999), whose highly experimental, visually daring, and elegant photographs made him one of the most innovative artists of the 20th century. On view in the West Building of the National Gallery of Artfrom October 2nd through March 4th 2012, "Harry Callahan at 100" will explore all facets of his work in some 100 photographs, from its genesis in the early 1940s Detroit to its flowering in Chicago in the late 1940s and 1950s, and finally to its maturation in Providence and Atlanta from the 1960s through the 1990s. In 1996, the Gallery organized the exhibition Harry Callahan, which traveled to Philadelphia, Atlanta, Detroit, and Chicago, and included numerous works on loan from the artist.

Christie's Post-War & Contemporary Art Auction To Feature Gerhard Richter Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:53 PM PDT LONDON.- Coinciding with Gerhard Richter's Retrospective at Tate Modern (October 2011 to January 2012), Christie's is to offer five definitive works by the artist in the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction on 14 October. The group is led by the artist's seminal Kerze (Candle) painted in 1982, which has not been seen publicly since 1986 and is estimated to realize £6,000,000-9,000,000 / US$9,100,000-14,000,000 / €6,800,000-10,000,000. It also includes four exceptional abstract paintings by the artist including Abstraktes Bild (1992), Grat (5) (1989), Abstraktes Bild (1988) and Sumpf (Marsh) (1983) charting his investigations of the medium over a decade.

Richard Green Galleries Hosts John Atkinson Grimshaw's Moonlight Paintings Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:26 PM PDT London.- The Richard Green Gallery on Bond Street is proud to present "John Atkinson Grimshaw", on view at the gallery through October 23rd. The exhibition devoted to the Victorian artist John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836 – 1893) is the autumn highlight at Richard Green's flagship Mayfair gallery. Grimshaw began his career painting in the style of the Pre-Raphaelites but his mature works are more romantic conjuring up leafy lanes of suburban Leeds and the shadowy dockyards of Liverpool and London. Famous for his moonlight scenes, it was of these that James Abbott McNeill Whistler is reputed to have said: "I thought I had invented the Nocturne, until I saw Grimmy's moonlights." Grimshaw was a self-taught artist who worked in the North of England in the second half of the nineteenth century. He defied his strictly religious parents and left a good job with the railway to become an artist, and rapidly made a name for himself as a painter; first of all for Pre-Raphaelite style landscapes, and then for his interpretation of the Victorian city and the new urban experience of its inhabitants. Grimshaw enjoyed considerable success in his career, and took his brood of children to live in some splendour at Knostrop Hall, a large old rented house in Leeds, with a spell of several years spent in similar style living in Scarborough. He worked prolifically and gathered to him a group of dedicated patrons and collectors. Grimshaw was constantly on the lookout to find ways of making money in order to support his large family. He was not afraid to experiment, making theatrical fairy paintings and allegorical portraits of fashionable women, who could as easily have stepped out of a painting by the French artist, James Tissot. In his early career in the 1860s, Grimshaw's principal subject matter was the landscape, which he homed in on with a Pre-Raphaelite eye for detail. The Lake District was a favourite early source of inspiration, producing such early masterpieces as "Blea Tarn, First Light", 1865, and The "Bowder Stone, Borrowdale", c.1865. Yorkshire, in particular the beauties of Wharfedale, was omnipresent in his work, from classically picturesque subjects such as Bolton Abbey, to the public parks and woods around the city of Leeds. One of the most compelling aspects of Grimshaw's painting is his ability to evoke a particular atmosphere, often of melancholy. He painted many pictures where the main subject is an old building surrounded by trees. There is not a figure in sight, yet there is a palpable presence in the painting. "Autumn Glory: the Old Mill Cheshire", 1869, is one of these paintings, and one of Grimshaw's best known masterpieces. The old mill in the painting has since been identified as a specific location, but in many cases Grimshaw's settings are inventions. For the greater part of his career, from the 1870s until the end of his life, Atkinson Grimshaw explored the effects of mist and moonlight and the dying light of an autumn afternoon. The Mercer Art Gallery's "Silver Moonlight", 1880, is a classic of its kind: the solitary figure of a girl walks in the moonlight down a wide, walled, lane towards an imposing looking house, a few windows glowing orange in contrast to the overall grey/green tone of the painting. Grimshaw's work stands out among that of his contemporaries for his preoccupation with the new urban life. Not just the darkened drama of  industrial smoke, steam and city clutter, as in "Leeds Bridge", 1880, but also with the suburban street, as in "October Gold", 1893, and of course with the city itself. True drama comes to the foreground in Grimshaw's paintings of the sea, most famously in his beloved Scarborough and Whitby. "In Peril", 1879, depicts the anguish of windswept figures on the harbour front as they burn a beacon to guide the crew of a boat battered by a storm out in the bay. In "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi", 1876, the Spa Saloon is burnt to the ground by man-made disaster. In the 1870s and 1880s, Atkinson Grimshaw introduced female figures into his paintings, sometimes suggesting an historical period, as in "Ye Ladye Bountifulle", 1884, but more often attempting different depictions of the 'modern woman'. These works, such as "Autumn Regrets", 1882, are very much influenced by the work of the fashionable French exile artist, Jean Jacques Tissot. "The Chorale", 1878, explores the subject of the pretty woman in an aesthetically appropriate interior. At the end of his life, Grimshaw was more preoccupied than ever with questions of colour, tone and light. He produced a series of tiny, subtly toned oil paintings that captured the extraordinary light of sun, snow and mist on the beach, a series of small symphonies in green and grey that link him forever with his close contemporary, James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). Grimshaw died of liver disease at the age of 57. He may be regarded as self-taught in all that gave character and distinction to his art. His methods, treatment and colouring were quite unlike anything in ordinary practice. Originality stamped his work from the first, and some of the effects which, early in his career, were successfully attempted, excited considerable controversy among contemporary artists. They showed no marks of handling or brushwork, and not a few artists were doubtful whether they could be accepted as paintings at all. Richard Green is an international family business of great distinction, his three galleries are in the heart of the London art world. For three generations, Richard Green has dealt in traditional and classical Post War paintings of the highest quality dating from the 17th through to the 21st Century. Forming a collection of paintings is a most interesting and rewarding experience. However, art must be wisely selected with professional advice. Richard Green assists collectors to make their choices, providing the scholarly background to each painting, and advising on framing, hanging, insurance and all other aspects of collecting. The gallery exhibits a selection of paintings from its unrivalled stock at the principal International art fairs, and maintains close contact with clients. Connoisseurs marvel at the collection of Fine Old Masters, 18th Century British, Sporting, Marine, Orientalists, French Impressionist, Victorian, European and Modern British paintings. This is an exciting time for Richard Green, as the third-generation family art firm celebrates fifty-five years in business and sees the construction of a new building at 33 New Bond Street, the first purpose-built art gallery on the street since the early twentieth century. Richard Green opened its premises at 147 New Bond Street in 1998, after two years' complete renovation of the five storey building which had been occupied by Wildenstein since 1936, and which had once been the home of Lord Nelson. The spectacular main gallery, with its beautiful glazed ceiling, has displayed to advantage our shows of Sporting, Impressionist and Modern British paintings, and this year plays host to the Old Master show, while 33 New Bond Street is being rebuilt. The new millennium saw the rapid development of the market for the leading British artists of the twentieth century, and the gallery found the light, airy spaces of 147 New Bond Street ideal for showing the works of Henry Moore, William Scott, Patrick Heron, Ivon Hitchens and Frank Auerbach. Having acquired the freehold of 33 New Bond Street in 1995, Richard Green has now taken the opportunity to redevelop the premises, creating six floors of galleries and offices. We have commissioned an entirely new building, designed by George Saumarez Smith of Robert Adam Architects and brilliantly fusing modernity and tradition. The sculpture on the façade is being created by the distinguished Scottish sculptor Alexander Stoddart, whose commissions include the bas-reliefs for The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace. The gallery is scheduled to open in eighteen months' time and will provide a flexible space for our stock from Old Masters to twentieth century paintings, as well, we hope, as giving Bond Street a wonderful new building. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.richard-green.com

Our Editor Tours The Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and Its Renowned Vast Collection Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:18 PM PDT The Municipal Museum (Dutch: Gemeentemuseum Den Haag) is an art museum, located in The Hague, Netherlands. The museum was built by the Dutch architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage (1856-1934) . It is renowned for its large Piet Mondrian collection, the largest in the world. His last work, Victory Boogie-Woogie, along with his earlier paintings and drawings are on display at the museum. There is a modern art collection which provides a varied overview of developments in the fine arts since the early 19th century. In the Modern Art Department’s print room you will find a large collection of drawings, prints and posters dating from the 19th and 20th century.The Gemeentemuseum also possesses one of the world's leading collections of fashion items. It includes both historical costumes and contemporary designs. The present-day music collection includes an extensive collection of instruments, illustrative visual materials and a splendid music library, which together document the history of (mainly European) music."GemAc" is a space for the development of arts and political awareness, set up within the Free Academy of The Hague in a cooperative venture with the Gemeente Museum (Municipal Museum of The Hague). GemAc offers contemporary artists, intellectuals and journalists the opportunity to embark on large-scale experimental projects using the workshops, the trainees and the exhibition space of the Free Academy and the professional support and network of the GemeenteMuseum. The organisation of GemAc is part of the GemeenteMuseum. The Modern Art Department's print room has a large collection of drawings, prints and posters dating from the 19th and 20th century. Most are by Dutch artists, but there are also major groups of foreign works. These include a fine collection of 19th-century French graphic art with an emphasis on work by Bresdin, Redon and Lautrec. German Expressionism is also well represented. The entire collection numbers around 50,000+ items. Parts of it are regularly on show in the print room. The Gemeentemuseum possesses one of the world's leading collections of fashion items. It includes both historical costumes and contemporary designs. Exhibitions focus not just on changing fashions in the Netherlands, but also on landmark designs from abroad. Accessories, jewellery, fashion drawings and prints all help to place the garments in a broader perspective. The present-day music collection includes an extensive collection of instruments, illustrative visual materials and a splendid music library, which together document the history of (mainly European) music. Finally, the music archives (in the KoninklijkeBibliotheek) contain countless manuscripts by Dutch composers. Visit website at : www.gemeentemuseum.nl/ In his design for the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Berlage reserved a important place for a handful of historic interiors. They still provide a place in which to exhibit examples of the applied arts in the kind of setting for which they were originally made. The complex of historic interiors includes a set of rooms representing different periods and a covered courtyard. Most of the interiors were salvaged from houses which were being demolished. The walls, chimneypieces and ceilings were reconstructed inside the museum, sometimes with the addition of stylistically appropriate components brought from elsewhere. Berlage solved the problem of the difference in ceiling height between the historic room interiors and the museum by lowering the floor of this section of the museum and providing access to it down an antique staircase. The gilt leather room (circa 1680). The first of the historic interiors was reconstructed using components from two different houses in The Hague. The staircase with its richly carved handrails, balustrade and fanlight was once part of a house facing onto the Buitenhof. The woodcarving is attributed to Hague sculptor Johannes Sonnemans and dates from around 1697. The chimneypiece and ceiling came from a house on the Groenmarkt. The paintings, by a Hague artist called Theodorus van der Schuer, represent scenes from the life of the mythological hero Hercules. The overmantel painting is signed and dated 1680. Gilt leather wall coverings were very common at this period: the sheets of embossed calfskin probably came from a house in Amsterdam. The Gobelin Room - Until 1931, this was the principal reception room of a house (at no. 143) on the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam. The interior was transferred to the Gemeentemuseum in its entirety, including the monumental chimneypiece, mirrors, console table and panelling. It is a splendid example of an interior from the period around 1710. The painted ceiling suggests a cupola with a glimpse of open sky and the hovering Roman goddesses of wisdom (Minerva) and justice (Justitia). The walls are decorated with tapestry hangings woven by Alexander Baert of Oudenaarde. They feature a fantasy wooded landscape, predominantly in shades of green, and are of the kind sometimes called 'verdures'. The distant views of buildings and water are typical, as are the exotic birds flitting between the trees. The covered courtyard provides daylighting for the last of the historic interiors: the Louis XVI room. The walls incorporate eighteenth-century stucco reliefs brought from the same house on the Westeinde that was the source of the Louis XV room. The rectangular reliefs represent the four elements: earth, air, fire and water. The circular ones show Apollo as the god of music and his twin sister Diana as the goddess of the chase. The heavy door decorated with rococo carving dating from around 1760 came from a house in Haarlem. The delicate wrought iron railing (dating from the third quarter of the eighteenth century) was probably once part of a staircase. The courtyard accommodates a number of statues. The Gemeentemuseum Den Haag has acquired Louise Bourgeois' penetrating Cell XXVI (2003): a contemporary masterpiece by an internationally renowned artist. While it is not unusual for Dutch museums to purchase major works by earlier artists, from Rembrandt to Manet, acquisitions of contemporary works of this stature have been few and far between over the last twenty years. This move is therefore not only a notable feat on the part of the Gemeentemuseum, but also a rarity in the context of the entire Dutch art world. Benno Tempel, Director of the Gemeentemuseum, is delighted with the acquisition, which was achieved via Cheim & Reid with the advice of Jorg Grimm of Grimm Gallery (Amsterdam) and funded via contributions from BankGiro Lottery, the Mondriaan Stichting, Vereniging Rembrandt, VSB Fonds, SNS Reaal Fonds and the Friends of the Gemeentemuseum. Cell XXVI will feature in the exhibition Hans Bellmer – Louise Bourgeois Double Sexus, which opens at the Gemeentemuseum on exhibition through 16 January 2011. Louise Bourgeois died on 29 May of 2010. It was in 1986 that she began to make what she called her 'Cells', installations which form the most important section of her late oeuvre. They bring together many aspects of her earlier work: the human body, sexual ambiguity and the search for personal identity. The Cell acquired by the museum consists of an oval cage constructed of steel trellis-work. Inside the cage is a large standing mirror, a suspended human figure made of textile and two delicate hanging dresses. The nature of the Cell is ambiguous: on the one hand, it is a place of refuge from the outside world; on the other, it has associations with imprisonment. At another level, the Cell plays with voyeurism: the tension between looking and being looked at. The mirror involves the viewer, whose eye is drawn in and allowed to see corners that would otherwise remain hidden. The trellis-work, on the other hand, distances the viewer from what is inside the Cell. The effect of gazing through the trellis is hallucinatory, making the viewer feel slightly off-balance. The resulting sense of physical unease is an important feature of this Cell because it creates a real relationship between the viewer and the work.

First Online Bilingual Guide to Chinese Contemporary Art Launches Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:17 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- ArtSpeakChina (ASC), the first online, collaboratively authored bilingual encyclopedia of Chinese contemporary art officially launched today. Now online at both www.artspeakchina.org  and www.tanyishu.cn , the Wikipedia-style reference guide provides both English and Mandarin speakers with hundreds of in-depth articles on Chinese artists and the world of Chinese contemporary art. ASC's bilingual, collaborative character helps overcome the language barrier and is already improving the global availability, exchange and quality of information about Chinese contemporary art.

'Pop Life' at Hamburger Kunsthalle Proves that "Good Business is the Best Art" Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:16 PM PDT HAMBURG.- The exhibition Pop Life takes Andy Warhol's famously provocative claim that "good business is the best art" as the starting point for a completely new interpretation of the legacy of Pop art and the influence of its chief protagonists. Pop Life shows the various ways in which artists since the 1980s have engaged with the mass media, often involving the deliberate creation and cultivation of an artistic persona as a 'brand'. The exhibition features works by Andy Warhol alongside key pieces by Keith Haring, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Richard Prince, Martin Kippenberger, Tracey Emin, Takashi Murakami and others. Some 320 exhibits will be on display, including paintings, drawings, photographs, magazines, sculptures, videos, merchandising products, spatial installations and a shop.  On view through 9 May, 2010 at the Hamburger Kunsthalle.

Statens Museum for Kunst hosts Wilhelm Freddie ~ Stick the Fork in Your Eye! Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:15 PM PDT COPENHAGEN, DENMARK - Statens Museum for Kunst presents Wilhelm Freddie - Stick the fork in your eye! Scandal-ridden provocateur, notorious self-promoter and visionary artist, Wilhelm Freddie is a unique figure in Danish art. He was an artist who was in stubborn opposition to the etiquette of the age and was inspired by the new trends of the international art scene. He became one of the major surrealists in Scandinavia and in the rest of Europe. The major exhibition at Statens Museum for Kunst celebrates the centenary of his birth. On exhibition 28 February through 1 June, 2009.

Diego Rivera’s Fame Lives On in Mexico City Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:14 PM PDT   MEXICO CITY - It's easy to forget that at the height of Diego Rivera's fame, in the 1920s and '30s, he had star power. A Communist who painted murals for the great capitalists of his day, he offered an epic view of history and a cosmic vision of human potential. But in the last few decades here, his reputation has been vastly eclipsed by Fridamania, the cult status of his third wife, Frida Kahlo.

New Zealand Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki Previews Robertson Gift Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:13 PM PDT AUCKLAND, NZ - In May 2009 Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki announced a promised gift of 15 works of art through its Foundation, including paintings by Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse, Gauguin and Mondrian – the largest gift ever made to an art museum in Australasia. The gift, from New York art collectors and philanthropists Julian and Josie Robertson, represents some of the major European artists of the modern era. Its cultural value places it among the most generous philanthropic acts in New Zealand history. Now, for the first time in New Zealand and for one week only, New Zealanders have the chance to see 5 of these works FREE as a sneak preview to the Robertson's Promised Gift.

MoMA Opens "The Modern Myth: Drawing Mythologies in Modern Times" Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:12 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- Throughout history, humankind has sought to make sense of their world through myths. These stories, often taking visual forms, have been both preserved and transformed over the years as they have been repictured and retold. Artists have long considered mythology part of their aesthetic language, a tradition continued by modern and contemporary artists who address and reinterpret mythologies in their works. "The Modern Myth" features works on paper from the collection of The Museum of Modern Art that engage elements of ancient mythological narratives, incorporating them into new visual repertoires.

Jessica Lange Awarded George Eastman House Honors and Museum Exhibition Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:11 PM PDT ROCHESTER, NY.- George Eastman House International Museum of Photography & Film celebrates Oscar®-winning actress Jessica Lange this summer, with a photography exhibition of her work, a film series, and the awarding of the George Eastman House Honors. Lange visited Eastman House Saturday, July 25, when she introduced her recent film Grey Gardens and also took part in a tribute evening, where she discussed her photography and film career. Lange's filmography includes King Kong, Tootsie, Blue Sky, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Grey Gardens. A book of Lange's work was published last year (powerHouse, $60) titled 50 Photographs by Jessica Lange, with an introduction by musician Patti Smith. The images were shot mostly during Lange's considerable travels as an actress and as a volunteer for charities in Russia and Africa, as well as in the northern part of her native Minnesota, where she still has a home. There's even one photo from the first roll she took with her Leica, while in Romania, in the early 1990s.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents Spanish Painting Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:10 PM PDT New York City - The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso: Time, Truth, and History, a panoramic overview of the history of five centuries of Spanish art, on view through March 28, 2007.  Approximately 140 paintings by Spanish masters, including El Greco, Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Zurbarán, José de Ribera, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Francisco de Goya, Juan Gris, Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso, have been culled from private and public collections throughout Spain, Europe, and the U.S., in this first historical overview of Spanish painting to be seen in New York. Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso: Time, Truth, and History brings together for the first time works by the great Spanish masters of the 16th through the 20th centuries: Francisco de Zurbarán, Diego Velázquez, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Francisco de Goya, Juan Gris, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, and many others, as well as El Greco and Pablo Picasso.  Unlike other overviews that display paintings in a strictly chronological order, this exhibition is broken into fifteen distinct sections, each based on a theme running through the past five centuries of Spanish culture.  These thematic axes highlight affinities between the art of the old masters and that of the modern era, and challenge conventional art histories that would seek to separate them.  Accordingly, works from different periods appear side by side within each section, offering often radical juxtapositions that cut across time to reveal the overwhelming coherence of the Spanish tradition. Until recently art historians bracketed Spanish painting between El Greco and Goya, maintaining that 20th-century avant-garde movements such as Cubism and Surrealism—both of which were pioneered by artists of Spanish origin—broke completely with the traditions that preceded them.  Today we have sufficient historical perspective to see that, despite their revolutionary aesthetic leaps, the great artists of the early twentieth century were nourished by traditional models that were, furthermore, local in character.  These models found their source in the Spanish School of the late-16th and 17th centuries, an era commonly regarded as the Golden Age of Spanish painting.  The aesthetic styles developed during these years—from the visionary opulence of El Greco to the intimate naturalism of Velázquez—dominated artistic production in Spain throughout the following two-and-a-half centuries, as the nation's imperial power declined and Spain became increasingly isolated internationally.  Even Goya, arguably the greatest Spanish painter of the 19th century, could break free from his forerunners only by looking them square in the eye; as the French romantic poet Théophile Gautier observed, "In his desire for artistic innovation, Goya found himself confronted by the old Spain." By the late 19th century, following Goya and the spirit of romanticism, a national critical conscience had awoken in Spain's artists and intellectuals, but the country's antiquated political, social, and economic structures largely thwarted this modernizing impulse.  This began a long period of exile or simple emigration, which marked the careers of all the 20th-century masters exhibited here. During this time many stereotypical treatments of recurring subjects that had formed in the wake of Spain's Golden Age were cast in a new light, as Europe rediscovered the art of the Spanish School and began to write its history for the first time.  Chief among these characteristics was Spain's resolute anticlassicism, which was reflected in its timeless customs, its culture, and its art, and which came to be seen as a source of resistance to the overwhelming homogeneity associated with an industrialized, modern world.  Thus as Spanish artists stigmatized the ideological clichés of traditional Spain, they also realized that formal innovation could only come if these same aesthetic values were brought up to date.  It is this endless return and reappropriation on a formal and iconographic level that binds together the works of Spanish artists, from Picasso, reaching back through Goya, to the masters of the Golden Age.  These connections become especially apparent in particular themes of subject matter, whether established genres, such as still life, landscape, or portraiture, or apparently simple depictions of children, nudes, crucifixions, or domestic scenes.  Each of these themes originates in the culture of 16th-century Spain, which was especially influenced by the Counter-Reformation, during which the Catholic Church reaffirmed its dogma, structure, and social role in response to the burgeoning threat of Protestantism.  Despite this foundation in the past, the themes play out over the ensuing centuries, setting the basic terms for Spanish painting even as historical contexts and stylistic tendencies change dramatically. Visit The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum at : www.guggenheim.org/

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:09 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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