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

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• The Kunsthalle Bremen Presents Exhibitions Featuring Edvard Munch
• Grimmuseum in Berlin Presents a Text-spaced Exhibition
• The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Shows Clarice Smith's ~ "Nature Reined"
• The Deering Estate Hosts Juried Exhibit of South American Artists
• Monterey Museum of Art Highlights Works from the City of Monterey Collection
• The Bruce Museum Shows the Work of Master Print Maker ~ Martin Lewis
• The Gallerie Jeanne Boucher & Gallerie Jaeger Boucher Show Yang Jiechang
• BMW Tate Live ~ A Major New International Partnership
• The Ayyam Art Center Hosts Dubai Art Auction in October
• Francois Pinault opens The New Punta della Dogana Contemporary Art Centre in Venice
• Sotheby's London Sale of Victorian & Edwardian Art Includes 100 Works by Leading Artists
• The Embassy: A Multi-Disciplinary Group Show will be Held during Frieze Art Fair
• Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts shows Highlights from Bank of America’s Collection
• The John Pence Gallery in San Francisco Shows Realist Painter Dean Larsen
• Villa Grisebach offers Sale of Modern and Contemporary Photographs
• University of Iowa Museum of Art Searches for Museum Director
• Zenith Gallery shows Shelley Laffal and Chris Malone
• Tria Gallery to present Frank Olt ~ Selected Works
• Last Chance to See "Chardin, the Painter of the Silence" at the Museo del Prado
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

The Kunsthalle Bremen Presents Exhibitions Featuring Edvard Munch Posted: 15 Oct 2011 10:45 PM PDT Bremen, Germany.- The Kunsthalle Bremen is proud to present "Edvard Munch – Mystery behind the Canvas" on view at the museum until February 26th 2012. The first exhibition after the reopening of the Kunsthalle Bremen is devoted to an extraordinary discovery of an unknown painting by Edvard Munch Edvard Munch, hidden for more than a century. An exceptional discovery is the starting point for this major exhibition of the Norwegian pioneer of modern art: In 2005, during an examination of Munch's painting "Dead Mother" (1899), a second canvas was found, displaying a previously unknown painting by the artist: "Girl and Three Male Heads" (1895-98). In 1918, the Kunsthalle's Director Emil Waldmann purchased the aforementioned work for 20.000 marks. It was the first painting by the Norwegian artist to be acquired by a German museum and one of the first ever to enter a public collection. He could not have known that the painting harbored another canvas by Munch – hidden beneath the original one. Only when the Munch Museum in Oslo requested that the Bremen work to be closely examined in preparation for the artist's catalogue raisonné, did a conservator at the Kunsthalle discover the second canvas. The original canvas was removed and mounted on its own stretcher with the result that the Kunsthalle Bremen now owns two paintings by Munch. The newly discovered composition "Girl and Three Male Heads" pits a delicate nude girl against three stylized and grotesque male faces. In this painting, Munch unites existential themes such as innocence and desire, love and death, which occupied him throughout his life. At the same time, the painting is unique in Munch extensive body of work with an unusually dark Symbolist composition. The spectacular finding inspired the title of the exhibition: "Edvard Munch – Mystery behind the Canvas". At the same time, the exhibition also deals with the question as to how Munch was able to imbue his paintings with such a commanding intensity. On the one hand – as is the case with our newly discovered painting – he developed a highly artificial symbolism, and on the other hand, he created deeply moving expressive figures, which touch the viewer with an emotional immediacy. The quiet horror of the child before her dead mother turns out to be a variation of the famous painting "The Scream". The exhibition presents 76 major works, including 36 paintings as well as 40 drawings and prints. Loans come to us from such renowned museums as the Munch Museum in Oslo, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Kunstmuseum Basel. For the first time in connection with a special exhibition at the Kunsthalle, the museum also presents a complimentary presentation of works of art drawing mainly from its own collection. The accompanying exhibition, "Love, Fear, and Death in Works by Edvard Munch's Contemporaries. Max Klinger, Odilon Redon, Félicien Rops, Félix Vallotton and others", was curated by Dr. Anne Buschhoff and is presented in the newly extended Kupferstichkabinett (Department of Prints and Drawings). This display further explores the themes and motifs of the Munch exhibition and places them within an international artistic context of the period. On display are 50 prints by more than 20 Belgian, German, and French artists. The history of the Kunsthalle Bremen goes back to 1823, to the foundation of the Kunstverein, and it is one of the oldest museums in Germany. With nearly 8,000 members, it is also one of the biggest membership associations of its type in Germany today. The collection of the Kunsthalle Bremen presents a survey of more than 600 years of European art, beginning with an early European panel painting, the Altar of Masolino dating from 1423, and a large collection of seventeenth-century Dutch painting. The core of the collection is nineteenth-century German and French art – including an extensive holdings of Eugène Delacroix, the School of Barbizon, the Impressionists, the Nabis group, paintings and graphic works by Pablo Picasso, and major groups of works by Max Beckmann, Paula Modersohn-Becker and the German Expressionists. In addition to this, the Kunsthalle houses a collection of prints and drawings with more than 200,000 objects, one of the largest in Europe, including a significant collection of works by Albrecht Dürer and 350 pieces by Pablo Picasso. Media Art is also strongly represented in the collection, including major pieces and installations by John Cage, Otto Piene, Nam June Paik and Olafur Eliasson. Over the past decade the Kunsthalle has staged a number of major exhibitions attracting international attention, such as The Blue Rider, Vincent Van Gogh – Fields and Monet and Camille. After two years of closure, the significantly extended and fully modernised Kunsthalle Bremen reopened on 20 August 2011. Designed by the Berlin architects "Hufnagel Pütz Rafaelian", the museum has increased its floor space by a third with significantly more space for the presentation of the collection and collection as well as improved and expanded facilities for the collection of prints and drawings, the library, education spaces and conservation studios. In July 2011, Dr. Christoph Grunenberg was appointed as Director of the Kunsthalle Bremen, succeeding Prof. Wulf Herzogenrath who retired after leading the museum for seventeen years. Christoph Grunenberg joins the Kunsthalle from Tate Liverpool, where he was Director for ten years. He previously worked at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Kunsthalle Basel, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and Tate in London. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.kunsthalle-bremen.de

Grimmuseum in Berlin Presents a Text-spaced Exhibition Posted: 15 Oct 2011 10:32 PM PDT BERLIN.- Never odd or even is a text-spaced exhibition that unfolds in mental and architectural chapters through perspectives created by textual artworks. The artworks presented derive from Concrete Poetry, Dadaist and Futurist Manifestos, as well as techniques of mind mapping. The exhibition is shaped as a book, formatted in spatial chapters that invite the visitors to become the co-authors. Imaginary space is rendered tangible through text and movement. Artworks appear as wall texts, projections, spoken, enacted and filmed prose, activating the architectural space in ways that amplify the meaning of the words and the worlds inside.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Shows Clarice Smith's ~ "Nature Reined" Posted: 15 Oct 2011 08:50 PM PDT Richmond, Virginia.- The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) is pleased to present "Nature Reined: The Paintings of Clarice Smith", on view at the museum until December 11th. Clarice Smith is an established Virginia artist who has exhibited in America and Europe for three decades, most recently at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC.  This exhibition is selected to complement the works in the adjacent Mellon Collection and includes paintings of horses and horse-racing and still lifes, two of the most persistent themes in Smith's work. In "Nature Reined", Clarice Smith explores two quintessential themes in the history of Virginia painting: flowers and horse racing. She approaches these diverse genres with the same painterly eye, using layers and subtle tonalities of paint to convey both the drama and movement of the thoroughbred horse and the stillness and grace of the floral arrangement.

The Deering Estate Hosts Juried Exhibit of South American Artists Posted: 15 Oct 2011 08:35 PM PDT Miami, Florida.- The Deering Estate is pleased to present "Just North of the South Pole", a juried fine art exhibit focussed on artists from Chile and Argentina, on view from October 15th through November 19th. "Just North of the South Pole," describes the approximate lugar de origen of the vast Andean Mountain range.  This region, encompassing many countries, has a rich history of changing or undefined borders, governments, and most interestingly, self-described identities. The artwork in this exhibit, ranging from works on paper to collaborative metal sculpture, express the emblem of each artists freedom and individuality. Focusing on Chile and Argentina, this invitational exhibit highlights the diversity and personal evolutions of contemporary artists who, by relocation or association, have found themselves in our locale. The artists featured are; Daniel Bottero, Isabel Brinck, Ana Candioti, Alberto Carbi, Andres Dominguez, Carla Fache, Jaime Ferrer, Josepo, and Rosana Tossi.

Monterey Museum of Art Highlights Works from the City of Monterey Collection Posted: 15 Oct 2011 08:09 PM PDT Monterey, California.- The Monterey Museum of Art is proud to present "Monterey Masterworks: Paintings from the City of Monterey Collection" on view at the museum through January 8th 2012. Many of Monterey California's great artistic treasures are owned by the City of Monterey. The Monterey Museum of Art is displaying the crown jewels of the City's collection including works by Charles Rollo Peters, William Keith, George Inness, Armin Hansen, E. Charlton Fortune and Mary De Neal Morgan. The 'Art in the Adobes' signature piece, "Kitty, Sonoma" by Charles Rollo Peters is a focal point in the MMA's new exhibition. The exhibition is a major part of the debut of 'Art in the Adobes', an important new cultural festival that brings Monterey's hidden artistic heritage back into the light.

The Bruce Museum Shows the Work of Master Print Maker ~ Martin Lewis Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:53 PM PDT Greenwich, Connecticut.- The Bruce Museum is proud to present "The Prints of Martin Lewis: From the Collection of Dr. Dorrance Kelly" on view at the museum until February 26th 2012. Recognized as one of the premier American printmakers of the first half of the 20th century, Martin Lewis (1881-1962) left an indelible mark on the landscape of the art world. Lewis was an acknowledged master of the intaglio techniques of printmaking, experimenting with multiple processes including etching, aquatint, engraving, and drypoint. The exhibition features more than thirty prints and several canceled plates by the artist from the private collection of Dr. Dorrance Kelly of West Redding, Connecticut.

The Gallerie Jeanne Boucher & Gallerie Jaeger Boucher Show Yang Jiechang Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:52 PM PDT Paris.- Following Yang Jiechang's solo exhibition "On Ascension" at the Bucher Gallery in 2008, they are pleased to present this coming autumn a two-part exhibition by the artist entitled "Tale of the 11th day" in their two Paris spaces, on both the Left and Right Bank of the Seine. The two-part exhibition marks their commitment to an artist whose work they have been following for over 20 years. The first opening will be in the Galerie Jeanne-Bucher space on the Left Bank on Thursday 13th October and will present a selection of exceptional paintings from the 1990s including the '100 Layers of Ink series'. A second opening will be held on Thursday 20 October in the Galerie Jaeger Bucher's new space on the Right Bank, as part of the evening opening organised by the  galleries in the Marais during the FIAC art fair and will present the artist's latest series of works entitled 'Stranger than Paradise'. the Left bank exhibition will remain on view until Novermber 26th, while the Right Bank show will continue through December 30th.

BMW Tate Live ~ A Major New International Partnership Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:52 PM PDT LONDON.- Tate and BMW announced a major new international partnership, BMW Tate Live which will focus on performance, interdisciplinary art and curating digital space. The four-year programme will be launched with a series of artist performances created specifically to be broadcast 'live' online. BMW Tate Live: Performance Room is the first artistic programme created purely for live web broadcast. The BMW Tate Live: Performance Room series will include five commissions in 2012. The French choreographer, Jérôme Bel, will create the first commission which will take place in March 2012. The programme, which will include both emerging artists and more familiar figures from across the world ranging from visual artists to choreographers, will run on Tate's online channel as BMW Tate Live: Performance Room.

The Ayyam Art Center Hosts Dubai Art Auction in October Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:51 PM PDT Dubai.- Ayyam Auctions is pleased to announce its forthcoming Dubai Sale. To be held on October 24 at Ayyam Art Center in Dubai, this highly anticipated event will feature over 60 lots of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art and is expected to attract collectors from across the region. Offering painting, sculpture, prints and photography as in previous auctions, this upcoming auction will mark the first time that attendees will be able to bid on exceptional conceptual and installation work, notably by such artists as Huguette Caland and Amal Kenawy. Lots can be viewed at the center between October 18th and 23rd. As the market for Arab and Iranian art from the mid twentieth century to the present continues to attract buyers from the global art world, Ayyam Auctions returns this season with a special emphasis on museum-grade works. With institutions and corporations expanding their holdings of the region's masterworks in recent years, Ayyam Auctions has gathered a notable selection of nearly a dozen lots by modernist pioneers Louay Kayyali, Nassir Chaura and Fateh Mouddares—works that speak of the region's significant history of painting. Complimenting this spotlight will be a wide range of examples by contemporary artists who are longtime favorites of both regional and international museums such as Palestinian painter Samia Halaby, whose work is housed in the collections of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum of Art (New York and Dubai) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Relative newcomers who have become increasingly popular among private and public collections include Iraqi artist Halim Al Karim, whose highly recognizable prints are under the custodianship of the Barjeel Art Foundation, the Farjam Foundation and Saatchi Gallery. Other featured artists such as Iranian painter Khosrow Hassanzadeh, Iraqi multidisciplinary artist Sadik Alfraji and Syrian sculptor Lutfi Romhein, boast similar followings. Since its founding in 2006, Ayyam Gallery has become one of the Middle East's leading art spaces. With a selection of cutting-edge painting, sculpture and photography by some of the Arab world's most exciting talent, the gallery has sought to promote the region's dynamic cultural scene both at home and abroad. Its continued commitment to the expansion and progression of local art has led to a number of landmark initiatives including blockbuster exhibitions, original publications, regional auctions and special events. Ayyam Gallery's founding location in Damascus has revitalized contemporary Syrian art by providing artists and collectors with a blue-chip art space that is thoroughly involved with national developments while remaining abreast of international trends. Through its worldwide efforts, the gallery has single-handedly raised awareness of Syrian art, establishing a significant presence in the global art market while garnering outstanding recognition for its artists. The 5,000 square foot Damascus space has also functioned as a sort of regional art meeting place, as it has brought a number of artists from outside Syria to engage with Damascene viewers. The 2009 opening of Ayyam Gallery's Solidere outpost in the cultural center of Beirut quickly made waves amidst the reemergence of Lebanon's art market. Seeking to honor the country's longstanding tradition of art collecting and connoisseurship, Ayyam Gallery launched the Beirut Sale, a local auction of Arab art that was the first of its kind in the country. Organized as a groundbreaking event through which Arab art could be appreciated and valued, the gallery worked closely with a number of Beirut art spaces as it sought to include an authoritative survey of Middle Eastern art with a special focus on Lebanese pioneers and trendsetters. The hosting of solo exhibitions for regional giants such as Safwan Dahoul and Samia Halaby have also demonstrated the many ways in which Ayyam Gallery seeks to stimulate and support Beirut's diverse artistic landscape through the introduction of leading artists that local audiences might not otherwise have immediate access to. In Dubai the gallery's DIFC space hosts a regular rotation of solo exhibitions for some of the Arab world's biggest names. With a solid mix of emerging and established artists, Ayyam Gallery has brought painting and sculpture back to the forefront of the Gulf art scene by supporting both burgeoning movements and influential figures. The Ayyam Art Center in the city's Al Quoz district is devoted to a variety of events, including museum-grade exhibitions of prominent art collections. The non-profit exhibition space also features presentations of new media and conceptual work, as part of a program that seeks to highlight and support every facet of regional art. Other initiatives such as "Shabab Ayyam Project," provide a research-based environment for talented young artists by seeking to foster and support their creativity as they begin their professional careers. Ayyam Auctions, which organizes biannual public sales of Middle Eastern art, has opened the market to budding art patrons while contributing to the further establishment of regional art on global scale. Alongside its highly anticipated exhibitions and events, Ayyam Publications has published dozens of artist's catalogs and monographs. Understanding the importance of documenting this exciting time in regional art, the imprint seeks to contribute to its art historical discourse with multi-lingual texts that provide unique insight into the rapid developments that are occurring and some of the individuals who are behind them. As the Ayyam brand grows, it will continue to find new and innovative ways to further its original mission—to insure that the Arab world's finest artists receive the international recognition they deserve. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.ayyamgallery.com

Francois Pinault opens The New Punta della Dogana Contemporary Art Centre in Venice Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:28 PM PDT VENICE.- Punta della Dogana, the new art center for contemporary art of the François Pinault Foundation, opens its doors after fourteen months of renovation entrusted to the Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The first exhibition Mapping the Studio: Artists from the François Pinault Collection, curated by Alison M. Gingeras and Francesco Bonami, is shown simultaneously at Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi and is shaped in response to the particular atmosphere of each space. With its triangular shape, Punta della Dogana split the Grand Canal from the Giudecca Canal. As center for contemporary art , the former monumental port of the city present a permanent exhibition of works from François Pinault Collection. Undisputed masterpieces of contemporary art by such figures as Jeff Koons, Sigmar Polke, Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Cy Twombly, Takashi Murakami or Jake & Dinos Chapman are presented alongside pieces by emerging talents such as Matthew Day Jackson, Adel Abdessemed, Wilhelm Sasnal, Richard Hughes, Nate Lowman, Mark Bradford and Kai Althoff. Conceived as a single exhibition that will unfold over the two venues, this presentation will be shaped in response to the particular atmosphere of each space: the inward-looking private sphere on one side, and the outward looking, world-at-large on the other. The two halves of the exhibition will constitute a dialogue between artists of different generations, covering a vast range of practices and aesthetic sensibilities. François Pinault has entrusted the renovation of this 17th century edifice to Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Respecting the spirit of the original building, he has renovated the space in order to house a selection of works from the François Pinault Foundation, one of the world's most important collections of contemporary art. Punta della Dogana project Tadao Ando drew up his plans for the new centre quickly. In effect, if one looks at his drawings one sees that, from the first, the broad outlines of the project were clear in his mind. The characteristic layout of the former warehouses, which occupy the triangular tongue of land where the Grand Canal meets the Giudecca Canal, was to be maintained. And while extensive work on the foundations was to be carried out – to safeguard the structure from humidity and high water – the layout of the existing lofts was to be modified in order to create a space able to house the artworks of the François Pinault Collection. At a point almost dead-centre of the triangular floor plan, Ando immediately envisaged the creation of a new space standing the entire height of the building: a sort of pivot for the entire layout, this would occupy one of the middle warehouse aisles and was to be created in smooth and polished cement, a material that is now a recognised leitmotif of Ando's architecture. This axial point – through which run all the routes within the structure – forms a cube, rising vertically within the volume of the building. The work of restoration had to remove the unwanted accretions that had accumulated over time, with the new partition walls, stairs, walkways and service facilities all clearly identified as such. In effect, there is no attempt to disguise these new additions within the old body of the structure. Instead, there is a continual play of juxtaposition – almost as if Ando's intention were to insert within the ancient building new volumes and levels that seem to mark out the stratifications added over time, organising them into a veritable spectacle of the structure's own history. Finally, he had the idea of creating gates for the water entrances that are explicit quotations of the wonderful gate that Carlo Scarpa designed in 1956. The design of these new doors and windows, though very modern, effectively employed Venetian traditional craft. Tadao Ando has thus succeeded in establishing a dialogue between old and new elements, creating a link between the history of the building, its present and its future. François Pinault (born 21 August 1936) is a billionaire French businessman who runs the retail company PPR. He is a friend of former French President Jacques Chirac. According to Forbes List of billionaires (2008) he is ranked 39th in the world, with an estimated fortune of US$16.9 billion. His holding company Artemis S.A., owns (or owned), among others, Converse shoes, Samsonite luggage, Château Latour, the Vail Ski Resort in Colorado, and Christie's auction house. Artemis also owns Executive Life (now Aurora Life) in California, which was sued by policy holders when the company failed. Pinault owns one of the biggest collections of contemporary art worldwide. On the magazine ArtReview's 2006 list of most powerful people in modern art, he was ranked in first place. In 2006 he obtained the ownership of Palazzo Grassi in Venice to display the collection. Pinault led PPR through a long battle over control of Gucci, the Italian fashion house, which began with an attempted takeover of Gucci by LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods company. In March of 1999, Gucci asked PPR to acquire an ownership interest in Gucci to help fend off LVMH. The result was a struggle between the two richest men in France, both self-made billionaires — Pinault and Bernard Arnault, the Chairman of LVMH. The dispute ended in September 2001, when LVMH agreed to sell its shares in Gucci to PPR for $94 a share. As part of the agreement, PPR promised to tender for the balance of the publicly traded shares at a later date. It completed that buy-in in July 2004 and took full control of Gucci. In 1998, Pinault purchased a majority share of Christie's auction house. In February 2000, A. Alfred Taubman, majority shareholder of rival company Sotheby's stepped down amidst a scandal after the Federal Bureau of Investigation had investigated commission-fixing between the two companies. Pinault was not implicated, but rather it was his actions which precipitated the scandal. He fired Christie's CEO Christopher Davidge over an allegation of extravagant spending. Davidge then admitted the collusion, which had gone on since about 1995, to Artemis' CEO Patricia Barbizet. In October 2000, Sotheby's CEO, Diana Brooks admitted her guilt in hopes of receiving a reduced sentence, and implicated Taubman. In December 2001, jurors in a high profile New York City courtroom found Taubman guilty of conspiracy. He served a year and a day in prison and Mrs. Brooks got 3 months of home confinement and a penalty of $350,000. International law permitted Christie's to avoid prosecution (other than civil penalties). Currently partnered to Mexican actress/producer Salma Hayek on March 9, 2007, they confirmed they were expecting their first child. On September 21, 2007, she gave birth to daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. On July 18, 2008, Hayek and Pinault announced the end of their engagement. They later reconciled and were married on Valentine's Day, 2009 in Paris. On April 25, 2009, they were married a second time in Venice.

Sotheby's London Sale of Victorian & Edwardian Art Includes 100 Works by Leading Artists Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:27 PM PDT LONDON.- Sotheby's sale of Victorian and Edwardian Art on Thursday, December 17, 2009 will bring together some 100 works by leading artists of the era and is expected to raise in excess of £4.2 million. Among the categories of works to be offered will be a strong contingent of classical, mythological, genre, landscape and fairy pictures. The sale will include a quintessential work by Charles Spencelayh (1865-1958). Considered his masterpiece, The Old Dealer (The Old Curiosty Shop) was immensely popular at the time of its exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1925. The subject is a purveyor of antiques surrounded by a vast array of objects. Such was the appeal of the bric-a-brac on display that Spencelayh was inundated with letters from admirers enquiring about whether they might be able to purchase the items on view. Estimated at £250,000-350,000, the painting was reproduced on the front cover of the monograph on the artist published in 1978.

The Embassy: A Multi-Disciplinary Group Show will be Held during Frieze Art Fair Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:26 PM PDT LONDON.- The Embassy is a multi-disciplinary group show being held during Frieze Art Fair. A parody of outmoded cultural diplomacy, The Embassy is that of an anonymous country, a dystopia whose tyrannical government has tested the patience of its people and brought them to tipping point. Less than 100 metres from Regents Park, the BBC headquarters and opposite the Chinese Embassy, The Embassy will take place at the former residence of the Sierra Leonean ambassador to Britain, 33 Portland Place, London

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts shows Highlights from Bank of America’s Collection Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:25 PM PDT Philadelphia, PA - This exhibition represents an unusual opportunity to see a large portion of a corporate collection in one place. Organized by PAFA in a fruitful collaboration with Bank of America's Art Exhibition Program, this exhibition presents over 80 highlights from one of the finest corporate collections in the world. On view through 21 September, 2008 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

The John Pence Gallery in San Francisco Shows Realist Painter Dean Larsen Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:24 PM PDT San Francisco.- The John Pence Gallery in San Francisco is hosting a major solo exhibition of works by Dean Larson until June 3rd. Larsen is a resident of San Francisco with roots on the East Coast, where he has long been associated with the resurgence of the American Realist Movement. He has written books, been extensively featured in numerous art periodicals, and has shown in museums and galleries across the U.S. His solo exhibitions with us have been highly successful. In addition, he participates in all of the gallery's prestigious group and theme shows.

Villa Grisebach offers Sale of Modern and Contemporary Photographs Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:23 PM PDT BERLIN.- This year's fall auctions at Villa Grisebach Auktionen in Berlin start off on 26 November 2009 with over 180 lots for sale in Modern and Contemporary photography. The top lot in the Contemporary photography section is Hiroshi Sugimotos's "Sea of Galilee, Golan" (estimate of 24,000-26,000 EUR) followed by a multi-part photo work by the Austrian artist Friederike Pezold entitled "Mundwerk" (estimate of 12,000-15,000 EUR) and Bettina Rheims' "Elizabeth Berkley" (estimate of 10,000-15,000 EUR).

University of Iowa Museum of Art Searches for Museum Director Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:22 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.

Zenith Gallery shows Shelley Laffal and Chris Malone Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:21 PM PDT   Washington, DC – Fantasy and phantasmagoric run through this exhibition featuring the dramatic work of two unique artists, exploring and expressing their mystical selves.  Shelley Laffal and Chris Malone, the former a long-time Zenith Gallery artist and the other, new to the gallery, make a fine pairing in this imaginative show that will grab your attention when you walk through the door. On exhibit Friday May 2 – Sunday, June 1, 2008.

Tria Gallery to present Frank Olt ~ Selected Works Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:21 PM PDT New York City - Tria Gallery is presenting our next exhibition of selected works by Frank Olt: abstract works that cross over between a variety of media and unusual processes encompassing elements in linen, wood, ceramic, linen, encaustic, and oil. Aspects of wrapping, built out from finely constructed surfaces, ingeniously worked through repeated applications, scrapings, abrasions, and re-applications of pigment, define an oeuvre which is without direct comparison. The aesthetic sources are rooted in a love for abstract traditions of the New York School. On view 2 April through 9 May, 2009.

Last Chance to See "Chardin, the Painter of the Silence" at the Museo del Prado Posted: 15 Oct 2011 07:20 PM PDT Madrid.- Since the exhibitions on Jean S. Chardin organised in conjunction with the bicentenary of his death and the tercentenary of his birth, in 1979 and 1999 respectively, there have been no further revisions of the relatively small oeuvre (around 200 works) of this admired and highly original artist. Featuring 57 paintings, "Chardin, the Painter of the Silence" offers a rare opportunity to appreciate Chardin's work and is the first on the artist to be held in Spain, at the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The exhibition is currently on view, and can be seen until May 29th. The exhibition is structured chronologically, covering the most important phases of the artist's career from his beginnings in the second decade of the 18th century to his late pastels of the 1770s. Visitors will encounter some of Chardin's most celebrated paintings, shown alongside other, little known canvases loaned from private collections, and some recently identified compositions. In addition, the version to be shown in the Prado includes 16 works not exhibited in Italy. They include "The Ray", one of Chardin's most important paintings, loaned from the Musée du Louvre; "The Attributes of the Arts", from the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris, which is a large-format composition on an allegorical theme that has never previously been loaned to an exhibition; and the three versions of 'The young School Teacher" (National Gallery London, National Gallery of Art Washington, and National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin), now shown together for the first time in Madrid. The exhibition opens with still lifes from the second half of the 1720s, including the celebrated painting "The Ray", on loan from the Louvre. It was Chardin's entry piece into the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris but the artist was only admitted in the lesser category of "Painter of animals and fruit". At this point he broadened his areas of interest and introduced the motif of live animals in his paintings, as can be seen in the two canvases from the Museo Thyssen on display in this section: "Cat with a Piece of Salmon" and "Cat with a Rayfish". The next section opens with still lifes from the 1730s, including "A green-necked Duck hanging on the Wall and a bitter Orange", and "Still Life with a Porcelain Vessel and two Herrings suspended by pieces of Straw from a Nail in front of a Niche". Shown next, and also from this decade, are three examples from the celebrated "Soap Bubbles" series. Chardin worked in a variety of genres, never completely abandoning one in order to take up another and was continually inventive within all of them. He would also frequently return to earlier themes and simultaneously work on different paintings at the same time. In the 1730s, and influenced by 17th-century Dutch painting, the artist turned his attention to genre scenes. Chardin masterfully conveyed the meditative mood of his figures and the serene dignity of simple domestic tasks, while his stylistic evolution is clearly evident in these works. His brushstroke becomes more vaporous and the soft tonality heralds the pastels of his final years. In addition, he abandoned his use of models from the humbler social classes to focus on the bourgeois circle of his second wife. It was works such as "The young School Teacher", seen here in three versions that have been brought together for the first time, "Boy with a Top", and "Girl with a Shuttlecock", that would bring Chardin true popularity in the second half of the 19th century. The exhibition then turns to works from the 1750s and 1760s and to the artist's return to the still life, a genre that he had almost completely abandoned. These compositions are clearly different to the works of the 1720s due to the presence of a greater variety and number of types of game, species of fruit and objects (costly pieces of porcelain and sophisticated glass ware). Among works from this period in the exhibition are the delightful "Basket of wild Strawberries", "Glass of Water and Coffee Pot", and "Bouquet of Carnations, Tuberoses and Sweet Peas in a white porcelain Vase with a blue Pattern", the latter a masterpiece loaned by the National Gallery of Scotland. Works such of this type reveal a more agile, smoother type of brushstroke and also demonstrate the artist's interest in painting reflections, transparent effects, light and shadow. The exhibition ends with two pastel portraits, the medium to which Chardin turned after he was obliged to abandon oil painting due to failing health and which provoked great surprise at the 1771 Salon. These pastels reveal Chardin's confidence in his own powers and mark the end of his artistic career. The Prado Museum (Museo del Prado) in the Spanish capital, Madrid, is the most prestigious museum in Spain and probably the largest gallery of classical paintings in the world. The museum features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection. The building that is now the home of the Museo Nacional del Prado was designed on the orders of Charles III in 1785 by the architect Juan de Villanueva. Originally designed to house the Natural History Cabinet, construction was delayed by the War of Independence and the building's final function was eventually decided by Charles III's grandson, Ferdinand VII. Encouraged by his wife, Queen María Isabel de Braganza, the building became the new Royal Museum of Paintings and Sculptures. The Royal Museum, which would soon become known as the National Museum of Painting and Sculpture and following nationalization in 1868, the Museo Nacional del Prado (after the area of Madrid in which it is located), opened to the public for the first time in November 1819. Despite the size of the original building, space has always been a problem, and in 1971 the nearby Casón del Buen (which began life in 1637 as a ballroom for the Buen Retiro Palace) was acquired to house the 19th century collections from the Prado and "Guernica" by Pablo Picasso. In 1992, this building was transferred to the Reina Sofia Museum of modern and contemporary art (along with "Guernica"), and the Prado once again had to look for more space. The museum's exhibition area increased by more than 50% in 2007 with a new, modern extension designed by Pritzker prize winning Spanish architect Rafael Moneo. Visit the museum's website at: http://www.museodelprado.es

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