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• At Fondation Beyeler in Basel First Exhibition in Switzerland devoted to Surrealism
• Paris Photo 2011 Will Open in its New Home at the Grand Palais
• The National Gallery of Art Displays Antico's rare Renaissance Sculptures
• Exhibitions at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art Consider Landscapes & Nature
• The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Installs Claes Oldenburg's "Paint Torch"
• The Balman Gallery Presents Four Exhibtions Featuring Four Artists
• The Victoria and Albert Museum Presents A Postmodernism Retrospective
• Kunsthalle Wuerth in Germany Exhibits a Fascination with Forests
• Vienna Hosts its Seventh Annual Art Week in November
• Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art opens ' Art in the Age of Steam: Europe, America & The Railway, 1830-1960 '
• Royal Ontario Museum shows Isabella Rossellini's Playful Short Film "Green Porno"
• Germany's Largest Photo Festival to Open in Three Cities
• Picker Art Gallery exhibits Woodcuts in Modern China, 1937-2008
• The Musée d'Art Moderne Hosts Major Marc Desgrandchamps Retrospective
• Sotheby's Fall Auction of Russian Art in New York Offers Fine Fresh Works
• Romantics Display Opens at Tate Britain Following Re-Hang of the Clore Galleries
• Sam Fogg to open Exhibition of Precious Objects at Richard L. Feigen & Co. NY
• Galleria Emi Fontana presents Tony Oursler's First Solo Show
• Dublin Contemporary Attracts International and Irish Artists to Ireland's Historic Capital
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

At Fondation Beyeler in Basel First Exhibition in Switzerland devoted to Surrealism Posted: 06 Nov 2011 10:14 PM PST BASEL.- The Fondation Beyeler is devoting the first-ever comprehensive exhibition in Switzerland to Surrealism in Paris. On view will be major works by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Max Ernst , and many more who either belonged to the movement or were associated with it. The show will focus on the innovative forms of expression developed and employed by the Surrealists – especially object art, collage, photography and film. Surrealism was one of the most crucial artistic and literary movements of the twentieth century. After emerging in Paris in 1924, it unfolded a worldwide effect that continues to this day. Major modern artists belonged to the movement, were associated with it, or inspired by it. Its aim was radical change and expansion of the expressive means of art and poetry and their impact on society. Aspects of the psyche and creativity that had previously lay fallow were to be made fertile for artistic activity and human life as a whole. On view through 29 January, 2012. Profoundly shaken by the experience of the First World War and under the leadership of its chief theoretician, André Breton , the Surrealists developed innovative approaches and lent form to an art that tapped poetic imagination, the world of dreams, and the unconscious mind. Their idols included Sigmund Freud and many writers, such as the scandalous Marquis de Sade, the poets Charles Baudelaire, Comte de Lautréamont, and Arthur Rimbaud, Edgar Allan Poe, and the German Romantics. "Dalí, Magritte, Miró – Surrealism in Paris" comprises about 290 masterworks and manuscripts by about 40 artists and authors. These include approximately 110 paintings, 30 objects and sculptures, 50 works on paper, 50 photographs, 30 manuscripts and original editions, 15 pieces of jewelry and four films. The exhibits are arranged in the exhibition spaces partly by artist, partly by theme. The introduction is provided by Giorgio de Chirico , a pioneering predecessor of Surrealism whose cityscapes and interiors of the 1910's can be considered decisive forerunners of the movement. On view as well are valuable manuscripts and editions of Surrealist texts, including manuscript versions of Breton's manifestos. A further emphasis is placed on two major artists of the movement, Joan Miró and Max Ernst. Miró, who opened out entirely new spaces for modern art with his hovering dreamlike colored configurations, is represented by works such as Painting (The Circus Horse), 1927, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Ernst by superb works such as the renowned Wavering Woman (The Slanting Woman), 1923, from the Kunstsammlung NordrheinWestfalen, Düsseldorf. Then follows a room devoted to Yves Tanguy, whose imaginary spaces populated by mysterious objects – as in the monumental The Last Days, 1944, from a private collection – represent one of the most poetic evocations in all Surrealism. The next space is devoted to a key Surrealist medium – the object. The works on view include Meret Oppenheim's famous Ma gouvernante - My Nurse - Mein Kindermädchen, 1936/1967, from the Moderna Museet Stockholm, and Hans Bellmer's major object The Doll, 1935-36, from the Centre Georges Pompidou , Paris. Also brought together here are major drawings and paintings by Victor Brauner. A special feature of the exhibition is the inclusion of two superb private collections of Surrealism. The presentation of that of André Breton and his first wife, Simone Collinet, represents a premiere. The couple amassed the collection in the 1920s, and after they separated Collinet expanded her share. Among the works in the collection are Francis Picabia's large-scale painting Judith, 1929, and de Chirico's The Evil Genius of a King, 1914-15, now in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. On view in a second room are outstanding works from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection , including Max Ernst's The Antipope, 1941-42, which the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice seldom permits to travel. These works constitute an ensemble within the exhibition in which the period of the Surrealists' New York exile during World War II is virtually distilled. In addition, the presentation of the two collections permits us to highlight key aspects of private stagings of Surrealist art. The artists prominently represented in further rooms include Hans Arp, and not least Pablo Picasso , who for a time was closely associated with Surrealism. On view is his highly Surrealist painting The Artist's Studio (The Open Window), 1929. This is followed by an outstanding group of works by the visual magician René Magritte . In an inimitable way, Magritte's art captures visual reality only to subvert it again. Fine examples are the early The Interpretation of Dreams, 1930, and later major works such as The Dominion of Light, 1962, both from private collections. A concise selection of outstanding Surrealist photographs, including works by Man Ray , Raoul Ubac, Dora Maar, and Eli Lotar rounds off the picture. A screening room presents key works of Surrealist cinematic art, including ones by Luis Buñuel and Man Ray The exhibition concludes with the artist who is likely the most famous Surrealist of all, Salvador Dalí. A spectacular group of his masterpieces on view here includes The Enigma of Desire, 1929, from the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, the outstanding Metamorphosis of Narcissus, 1937, from the Tate London, and Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate, one Second before Awakening, 1944, from the Museo Thyssen Bornemisza in Madrid. The exhibition links up with previous Galerie Beyeler and Fondation Beyeler projects. Ernst Beyeler early on devoted various exhibitions to Surrealism in his Basel gallery, including the 1947 "Surréalisme et peinture" and the 1995-96 "Surrealismus: Traum des Jahrhunderts," as well as to individual representatives of the movement, bringing his unique eye for this art into play. Accordingly, the Beyeler Collection now boasts key works by such artists as Arp, Ernst, Miró and Picasso. The Fondation Beyeler can likewise look back on shows of Surrealist art, including "Calder, Miró", 2004, "Picasso surreal," 2005, "René Magritte: The Key to Dreams", 2005, and, with some Surrealist works, " Giacometti ", 2009. These were supplemented by thematic exhibitions in which Surrealist art prominently figured. The current extensive Surrealism exhibition provides a panoramic view of the movement as a whole. The exhibition is curated by Philippe Büttner, Fondation Beyeler Curator Ernst Beyeler collected during his 50-year-old art gallery work always. In the 1980s he began to start thinking about the future of the paintings and sculptures. Lying close to the handover to the Basel Art Museum would have been. But as suggested, the government of the canton of Basel-Stadt, Ernst Beyeler proposals for a new home as a place for the collection, it quickly became clear that none of the rooms could do justice to the artwork. The foundation was established and the idea of ​​building a museum was born. Ernst Beyeler was excited to unite the groups of works of great artists of the past 100 years with the sculptures from Africa and Oceania at any suitable place in one location, it was the first to create. Impressed by the work of Renzo Piano , who is responsible for the construction of the Centre Pompidou in Paris and for the Menil Collection in Houston, was commissioned by Italian star architect without competition to build the museum. Visit : http://www.fondationbeyeler.ch/

Paris Photo 2011 Will Open in its New Home at the Grand Palais Posted: 06 Nov 2011 10:14 PM PST Paris.- Held this year from November 10th through November 13th, Paris Photo celebrates its 15th anniversary by moving to a new location, the Nave of the Grand Palais, a spectacular venue like no other in the French capital for presenting works by photographic artists, thus marking a major turning point for this important international event. Paris Photo 2011 takes African photography as its special theme, paying tribute to the rich breadth and diversity of work produced by the continent's creative talent in this field, from Bamako to Cape Town. A total of 118 international galleries, representing France and 29 other countries, have been selected to present the best of nineteenth-century, modern and contemporary photography in the heart of Paris.

The National Gallery of Art Displays Antico's rare Renaissance Sculptures Posted: 06 Nov 2011 09:49 PM PST WASHINGTON, D.C.- Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, known as Antico (c. 1455–1528), transformed the art of bronze sculpture. His contributions are celebrated in Antico: The Golden Age of Renaissance Bronzes, the first monographic exhibition in the United States devoted to the Italian sculptor and goldsmith. On view at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, from November 6, 2011, through April 8, 2012, the exhibition includes some 40 rare works—medals, reliefs, busts, and Antico's renowned statuettes—more than three-quarters of the sculptor's known works. In 2008–2009, the first monographic exhibition on Antico was presented at the restored apartments of Isabella d'Este in the Ducal Palace in Mantua, Italy. The exhibition presents 37 masterpieces by Antico, grouped thematically and installed with related works by fellow Gonzaga court artist Andrea Mantegna (c. 1431–1506), Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430/1435–1516), and others.

Exhibitions at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art Consider Landscapes & Nature Posted: 06 Nov 2011 08:46 PM PST Virginia Beach, VA.- The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA - formerly the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia) is currently presenting 4 related shows themed around landscape and nature. Three exhibitions dedicated to contemporary artists Kim Keever, Jean-Pierre Roy and Sayaka Suzuki, are showing alongside a selection of landscape paintings by artists of the Hudson River School. All four exhibitions are on view through December 30th. The exhibition "Kim Keever: Mountains, Forests and Ocean Shores" features the artist's luminous photographs from miniature, synthetic landscapes that he initially creates in 200-gallon aquarium tanks. Using props found at hobby stores, in combination with homemade plaster mountains, water, and pigment, the artist builds experimental dioramas that are then photographed. When water and pigment collide within the tank, cloud-like billows and rippling brooks are formed, and the artist must quickly capture the composed scene with his large format camera. Keever is a working artist currently living in Manhattan.

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Installs Claes Oldenburg's "Paint Torch" Posted: 06 Nov 2011 07:48 PM PST Philadelphia, PA.– World-renowned American artist Claes Oldenburg's new sculpture, "Paint Torch", was installed at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia within the new civic space, Lenfest Plaza. The sculpture is positioned between PAFA's Historic Landmark and the Samuel M.V. Hamilton Buildings. The 51-foot "Paint Torch" sculpture, the centerpiece of Lenfest Plaza, honors the act of painting, from the classical masters in the Academy Museum to the students in PAFA's School of Fine Arts. The sculpture at a startling 60-degree diagonal position protrudes into the space on Broad Street, and is visible against the background of City Hall. Situated underneath the paintbrush is a 6-ft paint glob. A site-specific sculpture commissioned by PAFA for Lenfest Plaza, "Paint Torch", is the artist's first large-scale work to incorporate light sources. The glob and the tip of the brush are both illuminated from within at night by changing red hues.

The Balman Gallery Presents Four Exhibtions Featuring Four Artists Posted: 06 Nov 2011 07:47 PM PST Corbridge, Northumberland, UK.- The Balman Gallery is please to present four shows  Matthew Roby's 'The Fateful Fable of 13' Tour and artists Mark Halsey, Norrie Harman and Jim Edwards all featured in the Balman Gallery. Sculptor Matthew Roby's work is at Balman Gallery, Princes Street, Corbridge, from 16th September to November 16th as part of his 'The Fateful Fable of 13' tour.  This original sculpture, literary and illustration travelling extravaganza features Matt's clever mixed media creatures, which will appeal to children and adults alike. This tour is unique to the North East. Fantastic figurative work by Mark Halsey, colourful Jim Edwards' landscapes and Norrie Harman's haunting paintings contrast with Matt's playful sculptures. Matthew Roby is a designer, illustrator and sculptor. With a background in advertising, animation, model making, book illustration and public art, Matthew also set up his own production company, 'Pickled Circus'. 'Ambidextrous', a giant, typewriting millipede, is the most famous of his many public commissions.

The Victoria and Albert Museum Presents A Postmodernism Retrospective Posted: 06 Nov 2011 07:28 PM PST London.- The Victoria and Albert Museum is pleased to present "Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970–1990", on view at the museum through January 15th 2012. Of all movements in art and design history, postmodernism is perhaps the most controversial. This era defies definition, but it is a perfect subject for an exhibition. Postmodernism was an unstable mix of the theatrical and theoretical. It was visually thrilling, a multifaceted style that ranged from the colourful to the ruinous, the ludicrous to the luxurious. What they all had in common was a drastic departure from modernism's utopian visions, which had been based on clarity and simplicity. The modernists wanted to open a window onto a new world. Postmodernism, by contrast, was more like a broken mirror, a reflecting surface made of many fragments. Its key principles were complexity and contradiction. It was meant to resist authority, yet over the course of two decades, from about 1970 to 1990, it became enmeshed in the very circuits of money and influence that it had initially sought to dismantle.

Kunsthalle Wuerth in Germany Exhibits a Fascination with Forests Posted: 06 Nov 2011 07:27 PM PST KUNZELSAU, GERMANY - The fascinations of the forest! Hardly another subject in art history can match the forest for expressive potential and a concomitant multiplicity of meanings. As a favorite setting for fairy tales, forests formed an essential projection screen during childhood. The mostly young heroes and heroines went astray there, encountered unusual creatures, were transformed, enchanted, or gobbled up, only to prevail in the end. The phantasmagorical ideas of Romantic painters, writers, and composers still move us in the twenty-first century and have become embedded in our feeling and thinking. Doesn't a stroll in the woods still hold the promise of time to think and recuperate from humdrum life? On view 7 November through 15 April. 2012.

Vienna Hosts its Seventh Annual Art Week in November Posted: 06 Nov 2011 06:25 PM PST Vienna.- Under the umbrella theme "Reflecting Reality" the Vienna Art Week 2011 – initiated by the Dorotheum and conceived by the Art Cluster Vienna – extends its format through interdisciplinary communication strategies concerned with the exchange of art and science, and focuses on Vienna's world reputation as city of psychoanalysis. From November 14th to 20th, for the seventh time international museum directors, curators, critics and artists meet with personalities from the Viennese art scene in order to exchange views on current trends in the arts and art discourse. "Through its intensive concentration on the program and thanks to the enormous commitment of all its participants, the Vienna Art Week successfully sets lasting impulses and standards for Vienna as international metropolis of art. We can already draw this interim conclusion on the occasion of our seventh edition following the enthusiastic feedback from international collectors, curators, art critics, artists and the increasing number of visiting art lovers," as Robert Punkenhofer, the Artistic Director of Vienna Art Week, and Martin Böhm, President of Art Cluster Vienna, are delighted to say. In 2011, Viennese art institutions, fairs and galleries as well as numerous off-scene program partners of the Art Cluster Vienna surprise with an exciting program. The spectrum ranges from special guided tours of special exhibitions via the Gallery Weekend, panel discussions, lectures and extensive artists' talks, exhibition openings, installations, interventions and performances through to selected events in private enterprises that promote contemporary art. This year for the first time ever, four Viennese design offices open their gates for the Vienna Art Week 2011. The federal studios of the Austrian Ministry for Culture and the Arts (BMUKK) participate for the second time and the meanwhile legendary Studio Visits and many other highlights invite with an inspiring and creative ambience to network and to exchange for a whole week. In the contributions of Reflecting Reality, the view is directed behind the backdrops of the psychological dynamics of art production and collectors' passion. The idea of psychoanalysis has experienced an amazing upswing in art in recent years. In the field of tension between cutting-edge individual, psychic and social issues in art, new aesthetic practices have developed with regard to Sigmund Freud's classical psychoanalysis and his writings on art and culture. The psycho-dynamics that art releases are among its most fascinating qualities: not only does art reflect reality, but it also provides material to deal with the requirements of modern life. Individuality and social relations, the private sphere and public life, the transience of everyday life and the striving for stability, closeness and distance as well as performance and relaxation constitute poles of psychic happening. Art subjects the current upheaval of political systems, the development of parallel worlds and the growth in "psycho-political" argumentation spaces to reflection and analysis. "Reflecting Reality – The Reality Models of Art", the exhibition curated by Ursula Maria Probst, freelance curator, and Robert Punkenhofer, Artistic Director of the Vienna Art Week, (November 15th to November 20th), focuses on site-specific installations that are located at the intersection between institution and public space and form various models of reality. The perception, the sensing and the questioning of reality as reflexive experience are essential components and important impulses of art production. New research findings in neuro-science reveal striking connections between the brain's functioning and the construction of the world in models. Not only perception, but also our assessment of reality takes place through modeling. We do not see and experience the world as it is, but we construct it on the basis of models. Today, scientific and artistic knowledge acquisition are involved in an animated exchange. The aesthetic and thematic ranges of artistic access to reality are now exemplified in media- and genre-crossing methods and in strategies to employ extraordinary materials and psychic principles of organization. On show are installations by Roger Hiorns, Iwajla Klinke, Manu Luksch, Joseph Kosuth, Edgar Honetschläger, Elisabeth von Samsonow. The opening takes place on Monday, November 14th at 5:00 p.m. in the Sigmund Freud Museum, Art institutions participating in the Vienna Art Week include the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, the Albertina Museum, the Austrian Film Museum, Association of Austrian Galleries of Modern Art, Architekturzentrum Wien, the Belvedere Museum, Dorotheum auction house, Essl Museum, Jewish Museum Vienna, the Kunsthalle Wien, Kunst Haus Wein, Leopold Museum, MUMOK, Sigmund Freud Museum, Thyssen Bornemisza Contemporary Art and many others. Special project are being organised by magazines and galleries through the city. Visit the art week's website at ... http://viennaartweek.com

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art opens ' Art in the Age of Steam: Europe, America & The Railway, 1830-1960 ' Posted: 06 Nov 2011 06:19 PM PST   Kansas City, MO – A major international exhibition opening this fall at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art will capture the excitement and range of emotions that steam-powered trains elicited as railroads reshaped culture around the world. The exhibition, Art in the Age of Steam: Europe, America and the Railway, 1830-1960, open from Sept. 13 through Jan. 18, 2009, will feature more than 100 paintings, prints, drawings and photographs drawn from 64 museums and private collections. Art in the Age of Steam   Is the most wide-ranging exhibition ever assembled of American and European works of art responding to the drama of the railroad, from the earliest days when steam trains churned across the landscape through the romance of the Victorian era to the end of the steam era in the 1960s. The exhibition opened first at Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, where it was on view from April 18 to Aug. 10. It drew more than 113,000 visitors and received excellent reviews in general and scholarly publications. Extensive exhibition-related programming has been developed not only at the Nelson-Atkins, but also with eight Kansas City-area community partners. In light of Kansas City's historic position as a railway town, this exhibition has strong local resonance. At the same time, it captures the international fascination with the steam train as both an inspiration for art and a life-changing experience for the world at large, said Marc F. Wilson, Menefee D. and Mary Louise Blackwell Director/CEO of the Nelson-Atkins. It is especially fitting that the exhibition arrives from Liverpool, another city with transportation at the core of its modern history. Among the works of art are modern and Impressionist masterpieces, including Edouard Manet's The Railway,  Claude Monet's Gare Saint-Lazare, Gustave Caillebotte's On the Pont de l'Europe and Rene Magritte's Time Transfixed. The exhibition features works that span a variety of styles, from an early lithograph by John Cooke Bourne, No. 1 Tunnel, to Edward Hopper's modern Railroad Sunset, and Thomas Hart Benton's The Wreck of the Ole 97. Photography, which also came of age during the rise of steam trains, is represented with works by Alfred Steiglitz, Charles Sheeler, André Kertész and O. Winston Link. The exhibition demonstrates how art and technology came together to contribute to the definition of modernity, exemplified by the speeding up of modern life in an increasingly mechanical society, said Ian Kennedy, Louis L. and Adelaide C. Ward Curator of European Painting and Sculpture at the Nelson-Atkins, who co-curated the exhibition with Julian Treuherz, former Keeper of Art for National Museums Liverpool, England. Britain was the cradle of the railroad and Liverpool was a major railroad terminal. The railroad was critical for the westward expansion of the young United States, and Kansas City's Union Station was the nation's second largest railroad station after Chicago. The exhibition will be presented in six sections: The Formative Years in Europe Explores the genesis of railroading in Great Britain and France. The Human Drama of the Railway Focuses on classic topics of the Victorian railroad – the station and the passenger compartment – and includes Augustus Egg's masterpiece Travelling Companions. Crossing Continents: America and Beyond Explores railroad expansion in the American Midwest and West and features the well-known Nelson-Atkins work by Thomas Otter, On the Road, as well as Albert Bierstadt, Donner Pass. Impressionism and Post-Impressionism Demonstrates how artists captured both the power of the iron world and the psychological interplay of people in train stations. States of Mind Surveys the depiction of the railroad in art movements of the late 19th and early 20th century, from Symbolism through Futurism, Expressionism and Surrealism, represented by Wassily Kandinsky, E.L. Kirchner and Giorgio de Chirico. The Machine Age Moves from admiration of the power of steam and locomotive machine to the feelings of nostalgia as it declined in general passenger travel use. The Railway in Art : Early observers viewed the steam train with combined wonder and fear. Many early prints and paintings explored the evolving landscape of the industrial age, punctuated with the bridges and viaducts built to accommodate the new trains. The view from the train car provided a new panoramic—almost cinematic—perspective. Particularly in the American west, broad landscape paintings illustrated the cinematic point of view from a railroad carriage, emblematic of the vast and unexplored frontier now made accessible by train travel. Prints and paintings also focused on train stations themselves as new centers of city life. Reactions were not purely celebratory, though: Honoré Daumier's realist works hinted at the anxieties of mixing with strangers of different classes in the closed compartments of a train car. Later in the 19th century, the French Impressionists latched onto the steam train as a symbol of modernity, simultaneously heralding and expressing anxiety about the fast pace of the new city. The train provided a convenient link between city and country, condensing what had previously been a day of travel time into an hour, and many Impressionist works explored the newly-accessible countryside as a site of leisure, a counterpoint to the bustling city. Stylistically, the bursts of steam spewed by the trains provided stunning illustrations of the emphasis on light and movement that characterizes Impressionism. In the early 20th century, modern artists used the train to explore abstracted depictions of speed and power in an increasingly mechanized society. Russian poster designers celebrated the train as the epitome of strength and power and as a valuable tool for a Socialist system. Art Nouveau travel posters, meanwhile, depicted the train as a sleek bullet and the essence of glamour. The railway continued to serve as a metaphor for power or the restlessness and alienation of modern life well into the 20th century, especially in the works of Hopper and Benton, but eventually with the increasing dominance of new forms of transport – railway art became imbued with nostalgia for a golden age, particularly after steam haulage was superseded by diesel or electric traction. Nostalgia for a vanishing age is poignantly expressed in the photography of O. Winston Link. A full-color catalog published by Yale University Press is directed at both art lovers and railroad enthusiasts. It opens with a historical introduction by Oxford University lecturer Michael Freeman, followed by an essay by University College London lecturer Matthew Beaumont on the railroad and literature. The catalog is divided into six sections written by the co-curators Kennedy and Treuherz, who address the ways in which various artistic schools and artists addressed the subject of railroads. The catalog also includes extensive technical notes on works exhibited, as well as a timeline and bibliography. The catalog will be available at the Museum Store. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City is recognized nationally and internationally as one of America's finest encyclopedic art museums. The Nelson-Atkins serves the community by providing access and insight into its renowned collection of more than 33,500 art objects and is best known for its Asian art, European and American paintings and modern sculpture. Housing a major art research library and the Ford Learning Center, the Museum is a key educational resource for the region and a national model for arts education. The Nelson-Atkins' expansion is also leading a field of new investments in local cultural infrastructure that is becoming known as Kansas City's $6 Billion Renaissance. The recently completed 165,000-square-foot Bloch Building by Steven Holl Architects was a major milestone in the ongoing institution-wide transformation of the Nelson-Atkins. The multi-year project also encompassed the renovation of the original 1933 Nelson-Atkins Building and the expansion of the Museum's renowned Kansas City Sculpture Park, and continues with renovations to the American and American Indian galleries as part of the reinstallation of the encyclopedic collection. The Nelson-Atkins is located at 45th and Oak streets, Kansas City, Mo. Hours are Wednesday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Admission to the Museum's permanent collection is free to everyone. Additionally, newly produced audio guides are free for visitors, presenting art & architecture tours, overall collection highlights, and select special exhibitions tours. For Museum information, phone 816.751.1ART (1278) or visit : www.nelson-atkins.org.

Royal Ontario Museum shows Isabella Rossellini's Playful Short Film "Green Porno" Posted: 06 Nov 2011 06:18 PM PST TORONTO.- The Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) presents Green Porno: Scandalous Sea, an art installation and series of short films written by and starring internationally-renowned actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini. Presented in partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival®: Future Projections, these two- to four-minute films, three of which receive their world premieres, illustrate in a humourously entertaining yet scientifically accurate portrayal the reproductive habits and ecological challenges of marine life. A variety of intricate and oversized paper sculptures and colourful costumes created for the Green Porno series accompanies the films.

Germany's Largest Photo Festival to Open in Three Cities Posted: 06 Nov 2011 06:17 PM PST MANNHEIM.- For the third time now, from September 5–October 25, 2009 the three cities Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, and Heidelberg are hosting Germany's most exceptional photo festival. Titled IMAGES RECALLED – BILDER AUF ABRUF, the festival is dedicated to how photographs order and structure our view of the world. While mass media images usually assume or reinforce these patterns, artistic photography challenges the model that has been established by journalism, scientific, and amateur photography. Rather than simply complaining about drowning in surges of images, the festival tests the thesis that there is a limited repertoire of patterns pre determining the structures through which we view the images in this world. The festival aims to address our interpretation of visual cues by deconstructing patterns of images.

Picker Art Gallery exhibits Woodcuts in Modern China, 1937-2008 Posted: 06 Nov 2011 06:16 PM PST   HAMILTON, NY - The show at the Picker Art Gallery features 60 Chinese woodblock prints: 30 pieces from Colgate's own Herman collection and 30 woodblock prints by eleven contemporary Chinese artists. It is curated by Joachim Homann and Boston-based printmaker and curator Renee Covalucci. This group is one of only four such collections outside of China and represents the first flourishing of the modern Chinese woodcut movement during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. On view through 26 April, 2009.

The Musée d'Art Moderne Hosts Major Marc Desgrandchamps Retrospective Posted: 06 Nov 2011 06:15 PM PST Paris.- The Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris is devoting a solo exhibition to Marc Desgrandchamps, contemporary French painter from May 13th until September 4th. Consisting of forty large paintings and a large selection of works on paper (watercolors, drawings, collages, lithographs and wash), the exhibition traces the artist's works from 1987 until the present day and will be the largest retrospective of the artists work yet held. This retrospective is an opportunity to discover many new and paintings showcase works already present in many public and private collections. Easily recognizable by his evanescent figures, broken objects and undefined space, Desgrandchamps's work is primarily a visual experience. Despite their architectural compositions, the artist's paintings are comprise layers of differing opacity. Fluid colors that appear to be almost liquid and blurred contours combine to give forms an unlikely materiality. The figurative elements seem more juxtaposed than in communication with each other, as if suspended in the pictorial space. They establish doubt and questions in the viewer's mind, rather than provide any certainty.

Sotheby's Fall Auction of Russian Art in New York Offers Fine Fresh Works Posted: 06 Nov 2011 06:14 PM PST NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby's fall auction of Russian Art in New York, comprising fine and applied works of art, will be held on Monday November 2, 2009. The sale is largely drawn from esteemed private collections and estates, offering collectors works that are extremely fresh to the market. Among the highlights is a selection of paintings from the Schreiber Collection, one of the finest groupings of modern and avant-garde Russian art assembled in the United States, which includes works by Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova, Boris Dimitrievich Grigoriev and Vladimir Davidovich Baranov-Rossiné. Sotheby's had the privilege of selling works from this esteemed collection in 2007 and is thrilled to present a second offering. The sale will also feature a number of paintings from other reputed private collections, including works by Ivan Shishkin, Konstantin Korovin and Nicholas and Svetoslav Roerich. A large selection of Russian works of art, Fabergé and icons will also be on offer including a rare, recently discovered Peter the Great award portrait miniature with diamonds, considered among the highest honors that one could receive from the Tsar during his reign. The artist Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova was a favorite of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Schreiber, who began to assemble their collection through reputable galleries and auction houses in the 1970s. The auction will include three important works by Goncharova including "Tournesols," an exquisite still life composition inspired by the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh but rendered in Goncharova's distinctive and geometric Neo-primitivist style (est. $600/800,000). The painting achieves a remarkable sense of power and it is an exquisite example of a still life by the artist. Two other striking and decorative oils by the artist will also be offered - "Vase de Fleurs" (est. $200/300,000) and "Still Life with Flowers and Fish" (est. $400/600,000), a cubist-inspired painting that has not appeared on the market for nearly 25 years. Also from the Schreiber collection are two important works by Boris Dimitrievich Grigoriev, including "Faces of Russia" which was published in the artist's eponymous book from 1923 and comes from his monumental "Faces of Russia Cycle" (Visages de Russie), an extension of his earlier Rasseia portraiture and one of his most profound and psychologically descriptive series (est. $400/600,000). Although Grigoriev left Russia in 1918, the faces of Russian peasants continued to haunt him and he worked tirelessly on this evolved cycle while living in France in the early 1920s. Pont-Aven, Evening also by Grigoriev was executed in the summer of 1924 in Pont-Aven, Brittany, where the artist lived with his family and painted at the villa Ker-Anna (est. $300/400,000). It was over the span of that summer that he painted his "Brittany Cycle", a series of paintings and works on paper that depicted the landscape and faces he encountered there. The painting comes from one of Grigoriev's most productive periods, a time when his reputation had spread as far afield as the United States and Chile. Also from the Schreiber collection is an early oil on canvas by Vladimir Davidovich Baranov-Rossiné. Painted during a time when experimentation in the arts permeated all of Europe and artists such as Chagall, Kandinsky and Delaunay experienced their greatest breakthroughs, "La Route en Campagne" from 1911 represents Baranov-Rossiné's brief Neo-Impressionist period, when his canvases were most boldly colorful and his compositions were fantastically complex (est. $400/600,000). A highlight of the sale coming from another consignor is "The Brook" by Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (est. $650/750,000). More than any other artist, Shishkin gave Russian artists a confidence and pride in painting their own landscape in the same romantic way that others recorded views of Italy, Germany or England. "The Brook" dates from no later than the 1870s and is an extraordinary work from the height of the artist's career. Streaming sunlight, towering trees and glimpses of blue sky contribute to a dazzling picture. A small female figure is illuminated by the sun at the centre of the work; interestingly this figure was only revealed after recent restoration. From a private collection in Germany comes "At the Window" by Konstantin Alexeevich Korovin, an extraordinary double portrait from the artist's brief time in Berlin in 1923, just before he settled permanently in Paris (est. $600,000/800,000). In this composition Korovin combines his characteristic styles of portrait, interior and cityscape painting, meanwhile depicting the brilliant interplay of light and color at night to create a work that is both peaceful and dynamic. Boris Grigoriev's "Mother and Child" is a recently rediscovered masterwork acquired directly from the artist and since kept in a private European collection. The painting is one of only a small number of images the artist created of wife and son together, and its composition expressively captures the intimacy of their relationship (est. $500/700,000). The work was painted in 1918, shortly after the Russian revolution which had brought a public focus on the hardships of the Russian peasantry. It was at this time that Grigoriev started to paint a series of portraits that would become the Rasseia which he displayed at the World of Art exhibition in St Petersburg. This exhibition, which included the current painting, along with the artists self published book Rasseia helped to propel him to the forefront of the international art scene. "Two Women Sitting Among Trees" by Robert Falk (est. $150/200,000) is another work from a major private collection – the estate of Myrrha Frankfurt who was married to the prominent Russian film director Fyodor Otzep. Their social circle included a number of artistic figures such as Mstislar Rostropovich, Sergei Soudeikine and Falk. The present work was given as a gift by the artist to Myrrha Frankfurt in return for her friendship and financial support. "Two Women Sitting Among Trees" is a strong example of Cézanne's influence on Falk; its limited palate and rapid brushstrokes create a scene of leisure and tranquility. A group of paintings by Nicholas and Svetoslav Roerich will also be offered in the auction. The sixteen lots, all of which come from private collections, include a number of landscapes such as "Village" from the "Himalayan Series" from 1924 (est. $30/40,000) from a Private Collection in New York and "Dzong" (est. $60/80,000) from a Private Collection in California. Among the highlights of the dedicated section of and Russian Works of Art, Fabergé and Icons is a Rare Russian Award Portrait Miniature of Peter the Great surrounded by diamonds (est. $80/120,000). As part of the new system of political patronage brought in by Peter awards such as this were given to a very small number of subjects who had performed exceptional acts in service of the Tsar. Research currently suggests that the award of the portrait was an even greater honor than the more common Order of St. Andrew since only ten bejeweled portrait miniatures that were issued. Of these ten, only six are known to exist today, with three in major Russian museum collections. The current miniature is the largest of these remaining awards. It has been tucked away in a private American collection, unknown to scholars, since 1951. The sale will also include a fine selection of items by Fabergé's workmasters. Among the highlights is a Fabergé Gold and Gem-set Kovsh (est. $40/60,000), a rare example of a jeweler adapting the ancient Russian form to a Rococo aesthetic. A number of choice works have been consigned by a Prominent New York Collector including a Fabergé Silver and Wood Multiple Photograph Frame, workmaster Karl Gustav, circa 1910 (est. $30/50,000), a Fabergé Silver Gilt, Translucent Enamel and Jeweled Cigarette Case, emblazoned with an Imperial eagle by workmaster August Hollming, circa 1910 (est. $30/50,000), and a Fabergé Gilded Silver and Translucent Enamel Folding Screen Photograph Frame, workmaster Johan Victor Aarne, circa 1900 (pictured, est. $60/80,000). From another collector comes a Fabergé Silver-Mounted Pendant of Christ Pantocrator, Moscow, circa 1910 (est. $15/20,000).

Romantics Display Opens at Tate Britain Following Re-Hang of the Clore Galleries Posted: 06 Nov 2011 06:13 PM PST LONDON.- This week Tate Britain's Clore Galleries have re-opened to the public following a major re-hang. Romantics, part of the BP British Art Displays, features over 170 key paintings, prints and photographs spread over nine thematic rooms exploring the origins, inspirations and legacies of British Romantic art. Highlights of the new display are eight spectacular hand-coloured etchings by William Blake (1757-1827) which were acquired by Tate for the nation last year. Found hidden in a railway timetable amongst a box of secondhand books in the 1970s, these rare works are images from Blake's now famous series of illuminated books. Originally left to Blake's widow, the prints were gifted to a friend, and their location was unknown until their remarkable rediscovery.

Sam Fogg to open Exhibition of Precious Objects at Richard L. Feigen & Co. NY Posted: 06 Nov 2011 06:12 PM PST NEW YORK, NY.- Sam Fogg, one of the great dealers in Medieval Art, is bringing to New York a rare exhibition of precious objects. The project is undertaken in collaboration with Richard L. Feigen & Co. It is titled "Medieval Art and the Contemporary Spirit" and will be held from Thursday October 29, 2009 to Friday, February 5, 2010. The objective is to orient medieval objects to contemporary concepts and spaces. The works of art Sam Fogg has selected, with Richard L. Feigen & Co., are outstanding examples of their respective fields, spanning from the 12th to the early 16th-centuries and originating in France, Italy, Burgundy and Germany.

Galleria Emi Fontana presents Tony Oursler's First Solo Show Posted: 06 Nov 2011 06:11 PM PST MILAN, ITALY - Galleria Emi Fontana presents Tony Oursler's first solo show: Dum-Dum, Metalbreath, Wadcutter, an extremely articulated site-specific installation, which goes beyond the restrictions imposed by a gallery space. Tony Oursler's practice spans almost three decades during which he has researched different ways of using video. His integration of sculptural elements and projections inside the frame of his installations creates a malleable space in which language and images coexist. At the very core of Tony Oursler's work lies the will to create a dialogue that invites creative engagement on the part of the viewer. Oursler will transform Emi Fontana's gallery space into an abstract 'shooting field'. Spectacular wall video projections of explosions act as background for bullet-shaped sculptural elements of 'talking heads'.

Dublin Contemporary Attracts International and Irish Artists to Ireland's Historic Capital Posted: 06 Nov 2011 06:10 PM PST Dublin, Ireland - One of the most ambitious art exhibitions ever staged in Ireland, Dublin Contemporary is presenting work by over 90 international and Irish artists at multiple locations in the dynamic, historic capital of Dublin. Dublin Contemporary is on view from September 6th through October 31st. In response to the theme "Terrible Beauty—Art, Crisis, Change & The Office of Non-Compliance," the carefully selected presentation of work aims to investigate and reflect on emerging developments in contemporary art. Presenting politically and socially motivated works from local, national and international figures, new and recent works will be exhibited from artists including Willie Doherty, Dexter Dalwood, Jim Lambie, Thomas Hirschhorn and Teresa Margolles. The main exhibition hub at Earlsfort Terrace, former home of University College Dublin, will provide a range of unusual spaces for mini solo exhibitions that range from large-scale installations to smaller intimate hangings. Representing a whole spectrum of artistic practices and approaches, the exhibition will showcase a multitude of new commissions alongside seminal existing works from recent years. Emerging artists will be shown alongside established figures, creating a dialogue between the past and present of contemporary art, which will be fleshed out further in the architectural treatment of the show spaces. Much of the original character of these spaces, as well as the traces of their past use, will be retained, enmeshing both the history of the building and its current use, while providing a platform for artists and audience to engage with this ambitious exhibition. Some of the many highlights at Earlsfort Terrace include the following: a titanic sculpture by Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn, an installation by eminent Greek artist Jannis Kounellis, a series of powerful photographs portraying a wounded Iraq war veteran by American Nina Berman, entitled 'Marine Wedding', new video works by Israeli artist Omer Fast and Irish artist Niamh O'Malley, as well as a major interactive multimedia sculpture by the Chinese artist Wang Du. The Italian painter Alberto Di Fabio, known for his interweaving of biological and cosmological imagery, will present a number of new works, as will Irish painters Mairead O'hEocha and Brian Maguire. Also on exhibit will be an extraordinary large-scale sculpture of a giant squid by German artist David Zink Yi and a striking piece by Bulgarian Nedko Solakov. Emerging artists, including Ella Burke (Ireland), Ludovica Carbotta (Italy), James Deutsher (Australia) and Miks Mitrevics (Latvia), will all present new work side by side with commissions by leading figures such as mounir fatmi (Morocco), Jorge Tacla (Chile) and  Corban Walker (Ireland). Collaborative practices from Ireland and abroad are also well represented in this exhibition. They include, among others, the artist collectives The Bruce High Quality Foundation (USA), Claire Fontaine (France), Goldiechiari (Italy), Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor (Ireland), and Superflex (Denmark). Performance pieces include, among other works, new commissions by the artists Amanda Coogan (Ireland) and Teresa Margolles (Mexico). The Office of Non-Compliance, located within the Earlsfort Terrace exhibition site, will function as a promoter of ideas around a laundry list of non-conformist art proposals. The Office's practice will be fuelled by the idea that not only has the world been transformed in the last few decades, the very concept of change itself has changed utterly. This element of the exhibition looks to highlight less conventional, largely artist-led models of art discourse, production and presentation. The Office of Non-Compliance will include ad-hoc, accessible structures for discourse around art and its place in society, such as a Bank of Problems, a Bank of Possibilities, One Problem a Week and a curated forum exploring one topical problem per week. There are two further intriguing spaces within the Earlsfort Terrace complex: the serene Iveagh Gardens and the light-filled Annex, both adjacent to the main exhibition site. The former will function as an outdoor sculpture garden, while the latter will bring together a multiplicity of sound works under the title All Together Now. Extending its reach across the city, Dublin Contemporary 2011 will partner with four important Dublin galleries:  The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, The National Gallery of Ireland and The Royal Hibernian Academy.  Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane will present a retrospective of the work of renowned Irish artist Willie Doherty. Doherty represented Northern Ireland at the 2007 Venice Biennale and his work has been seen at leading institutions including the Centre Pompidou, Paris, the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, and the Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid. An exhibition of American painter Alice Neel's striking, psychologically penetrating portraits will take place at The Douglas Hyde Gallery. The National Gallery of Ireland will host works by a number of international artists as well as a new commission by the distinguished Irish artist Brian O'Doherty. O'Doherty is renowned for his conceptual and installation art along with his highly influential writings on art and its attendant ideologies. A major retrospective of his work was held at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane in 2006. The Royal Hibernian Academy will host an exhibition of works by American painter Lisa Yuskavage as well as a new commission by Irish artist James Coleman. Yuskavage is highly regarded for her acerbic wit and novel and unsettling treatment of the female form. Major solo exhibitions have included The Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, and the Centre d'Art Contemporain, Geneva. James Coleman's celebrated installation and video work is known for its highly perceptive analysis of social interactions. Solo exhibitions have included a recent trio of shows at The Irish Museum of Modern Art, The Project Arts Centre and the Royal Hibernian Academy, as well as exhibitions at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies in Barcelona and the Dia Art Foundation, New York. Throughout this eight-week event, visitors and Dubliners alike will experience an engaging programme of artworks in the public realm. These will include works by artists Alexandre Arrechea (Cuba), Tania Bruguera (Cuba), and Graham Dolphin (United Kingdom). Innovations in contemporary visual art made on the street will also be celebrated through works by artist Mark Jenkins (United States) and others. Dublin Contemporary facilities will include family area, café, shop and connectivity areas for media and public. These areas will be open to the general public through-out the event. Funded by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin Contemporary aims to position Dublin prominently as an international centre in the field of visual art. As a platform for collaborations with the global arts community, Dublin Contemporary will provide new opportunities for Irish visual artists and arts businesses, and will be a significant opportunity to cultivate deeper public engagement with the arts. It will complement the achievements of other areas of the arts and cultural scene, collectively enhancing Dublin's international image as a vibrant city to live, work, play. Visit the Dublin Contemporary website at ... http://www.dublincontemporary.com

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 06 Nov 2011 06:09 PM PST This is a new feature for the subscribers and visitors to Art Knowledge News (AKN), that will enable you to see "thumbnail descriptions" of the last ninety (90) articles and art images that we published. This will allow you to visit any article that you may have missed ; or re-visit any article or image of particular interest. Every day the article "thumbnail images" will change. For you to see the entire last ninety images just click : here . When opened that also will allow you to change the language from English to anyone of 54 other languages, by clicking your language choice on the upper left corner of our Home Page.  You can share any article we publish with the eleven (11) social websites we offer like Twitter, Flicker, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. by one click on the image shown at the end of each opened article.  Last, but not least, you can email or print any entire article by using an icon visible to the right side of an article's headline.

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