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

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• The de Young Museum Hosts Masters of Venice from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
• The New Mexico Museum of Art Highlights a Solo Show of Works by James Drake
• The Portland Art Museum Displays Three Centuries of Japanese Prints
• The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Shows "The Etching Revival of the 19th Century"
• The Jewish Museum Vienna Shows "Bigger Than Life: 100 Years of Hollywood ~ A Jewish Experience"
• The Green Art Gallery Dubai to Feature Syrian painter Ziad Dalloul
• Imperial Chinese Vase Sold For $14,331,844 US Dollars at Bonhams in London
• The Museum Kunstpalast Spotlights the " World Class Düsseldorf School of Painting"
• U.S. Estimates the Nazis' Stole Twenty Percent of all The Known Art Masterworks in Europe
• The Textile Museum of Canada presents Judy Chicago - - - In Thread
• SFMOA Showcases Eadweard Muybridge's Contributions To The Art Of Photography
• Israel Museum to Display Rare 15th Century Illuminated "Mishneh Torah" by Maimonides
• The Boston Globe Names the ICA ~ "Biggest Arts Story of the Decade"
• Corrigan Gallery Hosts New Works by Mary Walker in "Dreams and Nightmares"
• Artist Daniel Arsham to Take Paris by Storm with Solo Exhibition
• Kunsthalle Bielefeld Revisits the 80s with Exhibition from Bischofberger Collection
• Artist Rigo 23 to Create Site-Specific Installation Inspired by Plight of Political Prisoners for the New Museum
• Eli Klein Fine Art exhibits Two Solos ~ Zhang Gong and Zhao Bo
• Pavilion of Art & Design London to Field World's Most Prominent Dealers
• Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"

The de Young Museum Hosts Masters of Venice from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna Posted: 11 Nov 2011 11:14 PM PST San Francisco, California.- The de Young Museum in San Francisco is proud to present a global exclusive exhibition, "Masters of Venice:  Renaissance Painters of Passion and Power From the Kunsthistorisches Museum , Vienna", on view through February 12th 2012. The exhibition features 50 magnificent paintings by artists such as Titian, Giorgione, Veronese, Mantegna, and Tintoretto, representing the height of Venetian Renassaince painting. Loaned by the Gemäldegalerie (Picture Gallery) of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, these works are among the museum's most celebrated holdings from art collections built over centuries by the emperors and archdukes of the royal house of Habsburg. One of the singular movements in the evolution of Western Art, the Venetian Renaissance forged an artistic vocabulary that took full advantage of the poetic potential of rich atmospheric effects, lustrous color and the sensuous beauty observed in nature.  Venetian painters of the cinquecento transcended the spatial, textural and respresentational realism of their predecessors to create works unsurpassed in their emotional and sensual depictions, velvety surfaces and glorious treatment of light. Artists in this exhibition such as Giorgione, Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto were legends in their own time and their paintings were highly prized by discerning collectors across Europe. Works by painters such as Palma Vecchio , Bordone and Bassano demonstrate the full range of Venetian accomplishment in the Renaissance era. Among the highlights of the exhibition are "Saint Sebastian" (ca.1457–1459) by Andrea Mantegna , which represents early Renaissance painting and is the first of three paintings on this subject by the artist.  In this work Mantegna incorporates details of ancient sculpture and architecture which organizes the pictorial space through linear perspective. The exhibition features four rare works by the enigmatic painter Giorgio da Castelfranco, known as Giorgione . "The Three Philosophers" (ca. 1477–1510), one of the most celebrated works of the 16th century, uses an innovative integration of the figures within the spatial continuum of nature which marks a dramatic advance in the evolution of Western representation imagery. Also featured in the exhibition is his beautiful "Portrait of a Young Woman (Laura)" (1506) and pensive "Youth with an Arrow" (ca. 1508–1510). More than a dozen works by Tiziano Vecellio, know as Titian feature, once Giorgione's assistant, whose talent soon rivaled his master's.  His work is synonymous with the Venetian style — lustrous pigments, sharply graduated light and shadows delineating robust forms such as his sumptuous "Danaë" (1560s) and the mysterious and moody "Bravo (The Assassin)" (ca.1515–1520). The tapestry-like, shimmering and sensuously colored works by Paolo Caliari, known as Veronese including the grand scaled "Annointing of David" (ca. 1555), and the dishonored heroine "Lucretia" (1528–1588), whose creamy skin and sumptuous fabrics divert the viewer's eye from her suicide blade. The Gemädegalerie (Picture Gallery) of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna holds one of the world's most distinguished collections of Old Master paintings.  Collected by the emperors and archdukes of the royal house of Habsburg, this collection is one of the world's four princely collections that rival those in Paris (the Louvre ), Saint Petersburg (the State Hermitage) and Madrid (the Prado ). The Kunsthistorisches Museum was conceived by Emperor Franz Joseph I to house the impressive art accumulated over the many centuries of Habsburg rule and opened on October 17, 1891.  Its collections include paintings, decorative arts, armor, Greco-Roman and Egyptian antiquities, coins and musical instruments.  Located on Vienna's grand boulevard the Ringstrasse, near the Museum of Natural History, City Hall, Parliament, the former Imperial Theater and the Opera House, the Kunsthistoriches Museum's architecture and interior decoration are as magnificent as its collections. The de Young Museum opened in 1895 as an outgrowth of the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894. It was housed in an Egyptian style structure which had been the Fine Arts Building at the fair. The building was badly damaged in the earthquake of 1906 and was demolished and replaced in 1929 with a Spanish Renaissance style structure. This building was originally decorated with cast-concrete ornaments on the façade. As part of the agreement that created the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in 1972, the de Young's collection of European art was sent to the Legion of Honor. In compensation, the de Young received the right to display the bulk of the organization's anthropological holdings. These include significant pre-Hispanic works from Teotihuacan and Peru, as well as indigenous tribal art from sub-Saharan Africa. The building was severely damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It in turn was demolished and replaced by a new building in 2005. Constructed of warm, natural materials including copper, stone, wood and glass, the new de Young blends with and complements its natural surroundings. Ribbons of windows erase the boundary between the museum interior and the lush natural environment outside, and four public entrances segue naturally from the park's pathways, welcoming visitors from all directions. The building's dramatic copper facade is perforated and textured to replicate the impression made by light filtering through a tree canopy, creating an artistic abstraction on the exterior of the museum that resonates with the de Young's tree-filled park setting. The building's copper skin, chosen for its changeable quality through oxidation, will assume a rich patina over time that will blend gracefully with the surrounding natural environment. Currently the de Young's collection exceeds 27,000 works of art and is renowned for its holdings in American art of all periods, including painting, sculpture, decorative arts, and works on paper; the art of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas; and costumes and textiles representing a wide variety of Eastern and Western traditions. Visit the museum's website at ... http://deyoung.famsf.org

The New Mexico Museum of Art Highlights a Solo Show of Works by James Drake Posted: 11 Nov 2011 11:05 PM PST Santa Fe, NM.- The New Mexico Museum of Art is pleased to present "James Drake: Salon of a Thousand Souls" on view through April 22nd 2012. Throughout his career, James Drake has examined the theme of humanity in all of its triumphs, failures, and follies—including war; love and desire; greed, gluttony, and vanity; and the realities of life along the U.S.-Mexico border. The New Mexico Museum of Art exhibition James Drake: Salon of a Thousand Souls includes 19 sculptures and works on paper by the Santa Fe-based artist spanning nearly 25 years. The contrast of baroque embellishment and hard-edge geometry characterizes Drake's work as a whole in the exhibition, whose title suggests a meeting place where ideas and images are gathered for discussion. Salon of a Thousand Souls highlights the recurrent use of guns, mirrors, and vehicles of industry to explore modernity's impact on human civilization. It also includes examples of Drake's use of appropriation and allegory as strategies to underscore the cyclical nature of history.

The Portland Art Museum Displays Three Centuries of Japanese Prints Posted: 11 Nov 2011 10:05 PM PST Portland, Oregon.-  The Portland Art Museum is proud to present "The Artist's Touch, The Craftsman's Hand: Three Centuries of Japanese Prints from the Portland Art Museum" on view through January 22nd 2012. The Portland Art Museum owns an extensive collection of over 2,500 Japanese prints dating from the late 17th century to the present. This fall through January, the museum will mount its first major exhibition of prints selected from the permanent collection. Some of the more historically important pieces in the exhibit were chosen from the Mary Andrews Ladd collection of 750 traditional woodblock prints which was gifted to the museum in 1932. The exhibit will also feature rare prints by iconic Ukiyo-e artists like Suzuki Harunobu, credited as the first to produce full-colour prints, and Katsushika Hokusai, known for his series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. Other rare works include privately commissioned surimono prints that were used for special occasions. Quintessential images of Japanese beauties (bijin-ga) and 18th-century prints of actors are stellar examples from the collection.

The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Shows "The Etching Revival of the 19th Century" Posted: 11 Nov 2011 08:47 PM PST Kalamazoo, Michigan.- The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts is pleased to present "Shimmerings of Light, Mysteries of Shadow: The Etching Revival of the 19th Century", an exhibition of approximately thirty prints, now on view at the Institute.. Etching, the process of drawing on and printing from copper plates, emerged as an important art form in the 17th century. During this period, it reached its pinnacle in the works of Rembrandt, who exploited the medium's expressive possibilities to an unprecedented degree. Yet etching subsequently fell into decline as the Academies, with their strict adherence to the principles of Classical art, came to dominate the artistic life of Europe. By the1850s younger artists were rebelling against this tradition as they sought more personal forms of expression. They discovered that etching was ideally suited to capture the moods and textures of contemporary landscapes, both urban and rural. Drawing directly from nature rather than in the studio, etchers were the forefront of the dramatic changes that came to define 19th-century art.

The Jewish Museum Vienna Shows "Bigger Than Life: 100 Years of Hollywood ~ A Jewish Experience" Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:58 PM PST Vienna.- The Jewish Museum Vienna is proud to present "Bigger Than Life: 100 Years of Hollywood: A Jewish Experience" on view through April 15th 2012. There can be few places in the twentieth century whose star has risen so steeply and whose name evokes so many expectations as Hollywood. It all began with a group of young central and eastern European Jews who came to the USA to seek a better future. They included Adolph Zukor (Paramount), William Fox, Louis B. Mayer (MGM), Carl Laemmle (Universal) and the Warner Brothers. They arrived in New York on overcrowded immigrant ships at the end of the nineteenth century and two decades later they "invented" Hollywood: the studio system, the stars, and the happy ending. How did they manage this cultural revolution? How did they succeed not only in establishing a whole industry but also in reinventing the American myth?

The Green Art Gallery Dubai to Feature Syrian painter Ziad Dalloul Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:57 PM PST Dubai.- The Green Art Gallery is pleased to present the first solo exhibition in the UAE for renowned Syrian painter Ziad Dalloul. Organized in collaboration with Atassi Gallery, Damascus, the exhibition opens on November 13th and will be on view until January 5th 2012. A reception will be held on the 13th of November from 7 - 9 pm in the presence of the artist. The show will feature several large-scale paintings including a triptych, which was featured in this year's Sharjah Biennial, works on paper, and a series of etchings from the artist book entitled "The Book of Cities" made in collaboration with Syrian poet Adonis. Considered to be among the most accomplished Arab painters and printmakers, Dallloul's works merge contemporary disciplines with traditional materials such as ink, sepia and handmade paper.

Imperial Chinese Vase Sold For $14,331,844 US Dollars at Bonhams in London Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:56 PM PST LONDON.- Bonhams took a dominant position on Asian Arts in Europe with outstanding sales of Chinese Art in which the top item was an Imperial Chinese vase which sold for £9,001,250, that is $14,331,844 US Dollars. The outstanding highlight of the huge 700-lot Chinese sale at Bonhams was a magnificent turquoise Imperial vase, decorated with chrysanthemums, which sold for £9,001,250, making it the highest priced Asian artwork in London this year. After keen and protracted bidding by three separate phone buyers it was knocked down for £9m to a round of applause from the packed saleroom. Its pre-sale estimate was £5m to £8m. Other Chinese sale highlights included a blue and white pear shaped vase from the Qianlong period which made £505,250, and a very fine rare enameled nine dragon vase of the Qianlong period at £385,250.

The Museum Kunstpalast Spotlights the " World Class Düsseldorf School of Painting" Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:30 PM PST Düsseldorf, Germany.- The Museum Kunstpalast is proud to present "World Class: The Düsseldorf School of Painting 1819-1918", on view at the museum through January 22nd 2012. The exhibition aims to again bring to light the groundbreaking significance and international influence of this school of painting which was founded in 1819, and to demonstrate its continuity through to Modernism, whilst additionally highlighting the results of new research. In three galleries comprising an exhibition space of 2300 m2, around 450 important paintings of scenes from history and literature, landscapes and seascapes, genre scenes, still lives and portraits will be presented. Drawn not only from the Museum's own collection but also from internationally renowned collections, the exhibition will demonstrate the high quality and diversity of the artists involved in the Düsseldorf School. The monumental history painting by Emanuel Leutze "Storming of the Teocalli by Cortez and His Troops" from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut, which was painted in Düsseldorf, is returning to Europe for the first time for this exhibition. Additionally Albert Bierstadt's painting "El Capitan. Yosemite Valley,  California" from the Toledo Museum of Art is amongst works never before exhibited in Germany. For half a century the Düsseldorf School of Painting was amongst the leading European schools of painting in the 19th Century. What began then, has continued until today: Düsseldorf has developed itself into a lively centre for art of international significance. Under Wilhelm von Schadow the Düsseldorf Art Academy developed itself into an international hub for new artistic ideas and inspiration. This was founded on the style of tutoring, the close bind between the teaching and student community, of masters and pupils, as well as a unity of poetry and nature demonstrated both in style and subject matter. Another factor which greatly contributed to the success of the Academy was that when Schadow moved from Berlin in 1826, his best students, Theodor Hildebrandt, Julius Hübner the Elder, Christian Köhler, Carl Friedrich Lessing, Heinrich Mücke, and Carl Ferdinand Sohn, followed him to Düsseldorf. Artists from across the world were drawn to the Rhine to study either at the Academy or privately, examples being Hans Frederik Gude from Norway, Fanny Churberg from Finland, the US Americans Emanuel Leutze and Albert Bierstadt, both of German descent, Arnold Böcklin from Switzerland, and Ivan Shishkin from Russia. Some stayed for only a few months, whereas others stayed for the remainder of their lives, consequently having an impact on the local Düsseldorf art scene. The native German artists were receptive to  international influences and sometimes worked closely together with those who had chosen Düsseldorf as their new home. The exhibition will be highlighting several generations of immigrant students and comparing the School with other leading schools of painting across Europe and the USA (for example the Hudson River School). The international influence of Düsseldorf's art of the 19th and early 20th Century will be on display for the first time. Under the guidance of the Baltic German Eugène Dücker who was a teacher of landscape painting at the Düsseldorf Academy from 1872, the Düsseldorf School found its way towards Modernism at the end of the 19th Century. Düsseldorf's new generation of painting students oriented itself towards the Hague School, but also increasingly towards French role models such as the Impressionists. In the "Sonderbund" society founded in 1909, the modern movement in Düsseldorf found its most distinct expression. The society's important exhibition at the Düsseldorf Kunstpalast including contributions from the European avantgarde provided particular proof of this. The approximately 450 exhibits will not only comprise oil paintings but will also highlight the variety of the School's graphic work, from preliminary sketches through to book illustrations. Furthermore the inclusion of sculpture will serve to demonstrate the close relationship between painterly and sculptural production in Düsseldorf. In addition to a comprehensive display of works from the museum's own collection, numerous prestigious international loans from both public and private collections will complete an exceptional survey exhibition of the Düsseldorf School and the art of the 19th and early 20th Century. Lenders to the exhibition include such institutions as the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the National Museum in Oslo, the Nationalmuseum Stockholm, and the Terra Foundation for American Art in Chicago. Amongst other works on exhibition is Paul Delaroche's "The Children of Edward" from the Louvre, but also a unique joint presentation of masterpieces from the 19th Century, which originate from various countries but deal with the same subject matter. For example an incunable by the Dresden Romantic painter Ludwig Richter, "Crossing at the Schreckenstein," is being exhibited with five further "crossings," such as "The Bridal Procession in Hardanger" by Johann Fredrik Eckersberg. The Museum Kunst Palast was founded as Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, a typical communal arts collection in Germany. The first exhibits were provided by the popular regent Jan Wellem, Duke of Palatinate, and his wife Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici and some rich citizens of Düsseldorf. The number of exhibits was expanded in the 19th century by the collection of Lambert Krahe, formerly a collection for educational reasons of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. The Düsseldorfer Gallerieverein, founded in 19th century, collected many drawings of the Düsseldorfer Malerschule, later given to that collection. The museum for advanced arts, whose opening was in 1883, merged with that museum later. The Kunstmuseum in its actual form opened in 1913, it became a foundation (in private-public partnership) called the "Stiftung Museum Kunst Palast" in 2000. The museums is housed in the Ehrenhof, built in 1925 for the exhibition "Gesundheit, soziale Fürsorge, Leibesübungen" (health, social care and sports). Plans for the building are crawn up by the architect Wilhelm Kreis. The Communal Arts Collection and the Hetjens-Museum for ceramics moved into the Ehrenhof building in 1928. There is also the NRW-Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft (forum for culture and economy of North Rhine-Westphalia) in the same building complex. The Museum Kunst Palast includes objects of fine arts from Classical antiquity to the present, including drawings, sculptures, a collection of more than 70,000 graphic exhibits and photographs, applied arts and design and one of Europe's largests glass collections. The graphic collection includes 14,000 Italian baroque graphics. The collection presents several works from Europe, Japan, Persia/Iran, beginning with the 3rd century BC. The art collection also include works from periods such as Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, the time of Goethe, the 19th century, the 20th century including a large collection of ZERO works, and the present. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.smkp.de

U.S. Estimates the Nazis' Stole Twenty Percent of all The Known Art Masterworks in Europe Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:20 PM PST   NEW YORK City - One of the most successful documentaries of recent years, The Rape of Europa, with over $1.4 MILLION in domestic US release gross ticket sales making it among the top five 2007-2008 Documentary film highest grossers, has been released on DVD. The DVD will be available through Netflix, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders & Blockbuster on line and in store, as well as directly through the Menemsha Films website at www.menemshafilms.com . Written, Produced and Directed by Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen and Nicole Newnham, and co-produced by Robert M. Edsel, author of the film's companion book, Rescuing Da Vinci, The Rape of Europa, based on Lynn H. Nicholas's landmark book, tells the epic story of the systematic theft, deliberate destruction and miraculous survival of Europe 's art treasures during the Third Reich and World War II. Joan Allen narrates this breathtaking chronicle about the battle over the very survival of centuries of western culture. In a journey through seven countries, The Rape of Europa takes the audience into the violent whirlwind of fanaticism, greed, and warfare that threatened to wipe out the artistic heritage of Europe . For twelve long years, the Nazis looted and destroyed art on a scale unprecedented in history. But young art professionals as well as ordinary heroes, from truck drivers to department store clerks, fought back with an extraordinary effort to safeguard, rescue and return the millions of lost, hidden and stolen treasures. The Rape of Europa begins and ends with the story of artist Gustav Klimt's famed Gold Portrait, stolen from Viennese Jews in 1938 and now the most expensive painting ever sold.  Today, more than sixty years later, the legacy of this tragic history continues to play out as families of looted collectors recover major works of art, conservators repair battle damage, and nations fight over the fate of ill-gotten spoils of war. According to U.S. estimates, the Nazis stole one-fifth of all the known artworks in Europe. While the Allies returned most of the displaced art in the decade following the war, much of the loot is still missing. Tragically, unique masterpieces were destroyed and lost to posterity forever. Other works of art—the last, forgotten victims of the war—survived but remain unidentified, traceable only with costly and difficult investigation. By the mid-fifties the initial, massive restitution effort by the Allies had lost its priority and momentum to the pressures of the Cold War. Hundreds of works of art, their owners unidentified, still lay in government storerooms across Europe, or remained in the hands of unscrupulous dealers who waited for years before disguising their origins and feeding them slowly into the market. But this long quiet period is over. The end of the Cold War and the opening of the archives of Eastern Europe revealed that many works believed lost had survived. The commemorations marking the end of World War II and the development of Holocaust scholarship also led to the re-examination and declassification of forgotten records, inspiring those who had long since despaired of finding their lost possessions to search again. Instrumental in bringing worldwide attention to this long-neglected story was the 1995 publication of The Rape of Europa, Lynn H. Nicholas's landmark book on which the film is based. The documentary film by Actual Films builds on her scholarship by incorporating the latest historical research, examining the legal and political problems presented by contemporary restitution claims, and assessing the lingering effects of this massive cultural displacement, an aspect of the war that still haunts us today. The revival of interest in the subject of looting and restitution has had dramatic results. American museums from Seattle, Washington to Raleigh, North Carolina have had to explain how stolen paintings ended up in their collections after the war. In France, a catalogue of unclaimed art held by the national museums and ignored for years is now available online. Other nations, feeling the pressure, have also revisited the often unjust decisions made by their governments after the war concerning ownership of looted art. Perhaps most notable is the case of the five paintings by Gustav Klimt, long held by the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna, that were awarded in 2006 by a panel of Austrian judges to Maria Altmann, the 90-year-old Los Angeles niece of a Viennese Jew from whom the paintings were stolen in 1938. She subsequently sold the pictures, one of them—the famed Gold Portrait of her aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer—to Ronald Lauder for a record $135 million. Pillage and looting during warfare are not, of course, activities that originated with World War II. Even before the epics of Homer, human history recorded the time-honored tradition of victors seizing plunder from the vanquished. But the massive scale, the unprecedented bureaucratic organization and the legalistic rationalizations offered by the Nazis set their accomplishments apart. Not hundreds or thousands, but millions of visual objects were bought and sold, confiscated and transported around the continent of Europe. Just as the Nazis sought to impose their race-based morality onto the diverse population of Europe, they also sought to redraw the cultural face of Europe by rearranging or destroying its great artworks. Even in the upheavals of war the Nazi leaders devoted precious time and energy to the gathering of works of art. They carried out multiple operations with cross purposes. While Alfred Rosenberg's propaganda unit (ERR) appropriated artworks that would buttress the Party's racist ideology and pilfered the great Jewish collections of Europe, Hitler employed distinguished art historians and corrupt dealers to steal masterpieces that would confer prestige and symbolic legitimacy on the German nation. However diverse, these operations were all linked by an underlying, racist effort by the Nazis to use the expropriation and destruction of cultural property as a means to dehumanize their victims. The Holocaust has become a symbol of the dark side of humanity, and we have spent decades trying to understand what it means to live knowing that average people are capable of complicity in such a horror. The history of what happened to Europe's great art during and after the Second World War provides an important new lens through which to examine these seemingly imponderable themes. In contrast to the wholesale looting of Hitler and the Nazis, the western Allies worked to mitigate the tragic, inevitable toll exacted on art and historic cities during their invasion of Italy, France and Germany. Central to this history is the unprecedented mission of the Monuments Men, mostly American art historians and museum curators who, drafted into military service, mounted a miraculous effort to protect monuments and recover millions of pieces of displaced art. Moving back and forth in time, the film links investigations into looted art back to their wartime origins, tracing the remarkable journeys of individual masterpieces from wartime confiscation to present-day recovery by the families of the original owners. The Rape of Europa offers a privileged entry into the exclusive circles of the contemporary art trade and explores the little-known legacy of World War II that lured many post-war collectors and dealers into a Faustian bargain that continues to present day. We live at a time when the common cultural heritage of humanity continues to be vulnerable to the threats of ideologues and the assaults of armed conflict, from the wanton destruction by Serbs of centuries-old mosques in Bosnia and Kosovo to the televised demolition by the Taliban of the ancient Bamian Buddhas of Afghanistan and the rampant looting that accompanied the American invasion of Iraq. The Rape of Europa is an emotional witness to the destruction wrought on culture and art by fanaticism, greed, and warfare. But it is also a hopeful film that demonstrates how it is possible for humanity to protect the integrity of cultural property in armed conflicts.

The Textile Museum of Canada presents Judy Chicago - - - In Thread Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:19 PM PST Toronto, Canada - Living legend of feminist art, Judy Chicago's place on the landscape of contemporary textile practice is a significant one. Best known for her groundbreaking sculptural installation, The Dinner Party (1974-1979), Chicago has spent decades exploring the possibilities of "thread as brushstroke." This exhibition surveys some of Chicago's most important contributions in cloth, highlighting both key and lesser-known works dating from 1971 to present. From macramé to needle point to airbrushed quilts, Chicago employs "technique as content" in her major projects selected for this survey exhibition including the Birth Project (1980-1985), the Holocaust Project (1993) and Resolutions: A Stitch in Time (1994 to present). This exhibition centralizes the labour-intensive nature of Chicago's textile work as a metaphor for investing in the ideas, values, histories and provocations in her artwork. On view through 7 September, 2009.

SFMOA Showcases Eadweard Muybridge's Contributions To The Art Of Photography Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:18 PM PST San Francisco, CA - The rows of black-and-white photographs, each slightly different, feel like a slow-motion film: two men boxing, a horse and rider galloping, a cockatoo in flight. Eadweard Muybridge's groundbreaking work is the focus of "Helios: Eadweard Muybridge in a Time of Change," which opened Saturday 26th February 2011  at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOA). The fascinating exhibition, which originated at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., includes more than 300 objects created from 1857 to 1893.The series of sequential photographs will be familiar to viewers fond of Muybridge's work; he showed that as horses run, they briefly lift all four hooves off the ground. The show is the first retrospective of the artist's pioneering work. It includes Muybridge's only surviving Zoopraxiscope — a device he designed in 1879 to project motion pictures.

Israel Museum to Display Rare 15th Century Illuminated "Mishneh Torah" by Maimonides Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:17 PM PST Jerusalem – The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, announced today the long-term loan of an extraordinary 15th-century illuminated manuscript, a handwritten copy of the Mishneh Torahby Maimonides, considered by many to be the greatest rabbinical figure in Medieval Spain. On extended loan from Judy and Michael Steinhardt, New York, the manuscript has undergone full restoration in the Israel Museum's Paper Conservation Laboratory and will be presented in the reinstalled galleries of its new Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Wing for Jewish Art and Life, in conjunction with the opening of the Museum's renewed campus on July 26, 2010.

The Boston Globe Names the ICA ~ "Biggest Arts Story of the Decade" Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:16 PM PST BOSTON, MA.- In a round-up of major developments on the Boston art scene, the Boston Globe recently named the Institute of Contemporary Art, ICA "the biggest art story of the decade." Following a string of successful shows, such as Anish Kapoor, Past, Present, Future, Tara Donovan, and Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand, the ICA's latest exhibition, Damián Ortega: Do It Yourself , is on view for just a few more weeks. Called "masterful" (Art Papers), "seductive" (New York Times), and "a kind of magic act" (Boston Globe), it closes Jan. 18th.

Corrigan Gallery Hosts New Works by Mary Walker in "Dreams and Nightmares" Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:15 PM PST Charleston, SC.- The Corrigan Gallery is pleased to present "Dreams and Nightmares: New Works by Mary Walker", on view through October 31st. There was an opening reception on October 7th. Walker has been a constant figure in the Charleston art scene since the 1980s. Series of thoughts, images and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep and those that turn frightening or unpleasant are "such stuff as dreams are made on." Nightmares are those dreams that have turned towards disturbing, uncomfortable imagery and sensations. The unconscious mind puts characters together and sets a theater stage where the bits and pieces of one's life experiences come together in odd ways and bizarre juxtapositions occur. In these new paintings, Walker puts images from her ballad series together with some of her favorite characters – Pinocchio, her dancers, figures from New Mexican petroglyphes and her more recent harpies. Harpies are the winged beast, with the head and breasts of a woman but the body of a bird of Greek mythology.  They are considered to be noisy, filthy and hungry whereas dear Italian Pinocchio was of good intention but always led astray. Nightmares were occurring to the artist and she decided that painting was a way "get them out." These paintings are simple, immediate, potent, sometimes with sketchy images all very reminiscent of a dream. Odd pieces, historic bits and pieces stories that build upon stories, some being scary some being humorous are all part of these works. Is it a glimpse into the artist's psyche?  Is it just snippets of images from her past works coming to her "sleeping" mind? At different times in our lives, during transitions, times of great turmoil around us and even in times of prolific creative production we seem to have increased dream lives. The dreams (or nightmares) provide guidance perhaps or a dumping ground for our worries. Or maybe they only provide fodder for the artist's studio time. If we study the unsettling times around us, bringing life issues of stability into play, it makes sense that the dream world would address these circumstances using images familiar to the dreamer. Walker's images of the stranger returning, the elongated figures like teeth on a stick from the petroglyphes out west, Pinocchio with the lessons learned and taught, although often scary and odd on backgrounds of "danger" yellow with dark shadows and missing limbs are disturbing but not horrifying. The whimsical nature of Walker's work is still present but with an intensity.  The mixing of nightmares with dreams perhaps indicates that the seesaw of life is seeking to create balance in this crazy, topsy turvy world. Mary Walker settled in Charleston after a time studying in New York at the Art Students League. She was raised in North Carolina but attended high school in Charleston.  She taught math early on but has been focused on her artwork for over 34 years. In 2011Walker had prints in the New York International Print show and the "Reconsidering Regionalism" at the Jule Colins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University. She has received many artists' residencies and grants for printmaking. She had an artist's book in the Italian 2008 Libro (di sé ) 9a Rassegna Internazionale di Libro d'Artista in Rome. She taught workshops at the Redux Art Center and at the Bascom Center in North Carolina. Walker accepted a Margo-Gelb Dune Shack residency in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 2007 and was the 2006 winner of the Griffith Lowcountry Artist's Award. The award resulted in a solo show at City Gallery Waterfront in Charleston which then led to her being chosen as the poster artist for the Piccolo Spoleto program "Opera is for Everyone." She has received several grants from the South Carolina Arts Commission and the Lowcountry Quarterly Arts Grant Program. In 2004 she organized "The Scrolls," an anti-war project involving both national and international artists that has been exhibited in Charleston, Cincinnati and Washington, DC. Her work is included in the Medical University of South Carolina new Contemporary Carolina Collection hanging in the Ashley River Tower. Corrigan Gallery opened its doors September 1, 2005 at 62 Queen Street, Charleston, South Carolina, just off the corner of Meeting and Queen streets in the historic area mistakenly called by some the French Quarter. The gallery exhibits works of art both representational and abstract possessing the charm of old Charleston with a contemporary edge. Representing artists whose work is beyond the traditional approach to the southern landscape of marshes and palmettos, there are new works to see on a regular basis. Artistic vision partnered with an intellectual strength and astute handling of the materials describes the work on display. Bowing to the masters and looking to the future, the gallery began with featured artists Beverly Derrick, Kevin Bruce Parent, Sue Simons Wallace, Karin Olah, Kristi Ryba, John Moore, Manning Williams, Daryl Knox, JD Cummings, Lolly Koon, Candice Flewharty and Lese Corrigan. This list includes three photographers, two abstract painters and a printmaker and a mixture of all three.   Koon, Derrick and Olah have since left the gallery for other projects and artists have been added - they can be found on the news page. The gallery is showing art that is just for that - art! Not following this year's fashions but reaching towards the future and showing respect for the past, the presented artwork fulfills the beholder's need for beauty and the collector's wish for strong investments. This is art for the soul; art that lets the eyes breath fresh air. Past visitors watched paintings in process on location and view works that have been done en plein air as well as in situ studio pieces.  The studio has been moved to a new location to leave more room for paintings! The gallery has featured in The New York Times, The Robb Report May 2006, Charleston City Paper, The Charleston Mercury, Carolina Arts, Southwest Art, Art Business News (November 2005 and May 2006), Where Magazine, The Post and Courier, Insiders' Guide to Charleston 2005 and 2007 editions, The Charleston Review January/ February 2009 and mentions in Southern Accents and Charleston Magazine March 2009 as well as many other publications. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.corrigangallery.com

Artist Daniel Arsham to Take Paris by Storm with Solo Exhibition Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:14 PM PST PARIS.-Artist Daniel Arsham is taking Paris by storm in March 2010. Animal Architecture, a solo exhibition of new work at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin Paris that will include three bodies of work— gouache animal drawings, Push Puppets and Pixel Clouds—will open on March 20. In addition, the Paris premiere of Arsham's performance collaboration, REPLICA, with choreographers Jonah Bokaer and Judith Sánchez Ruíz will open at the festival "Avalanche" at Theatre de Vanves on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010. Arsham will also design the scenography for this entire festival (March 23- 27.)

Kunsthalle Bielefeld Revisits the 80s with Exhibition from Bischofberger Collection Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:13 PM PST BIELEFELD, GERMANY - "Of course, the 1980s was an important period in art history—something that we are just beginning to realize. It is only now that we are really starting to understand the beauty, power, and special aspects of these paintings. This kind of art juggles a great deal, all at once, being oriented toward a variety of things. Many artists referred to earlier epochs, not merely to so-called Modernism alone. Suddenly, there were long traditions again. Minimalism and Conceptual art foresaw that painting would come to an end at some point, so from this viewpoint, it was quite astonishing for something like this to happen around 1980." The exhibition 'The 80s Revisited' will run from 21 March to 20 June 2010.

Artist Rigo 23 to Create Site-Specific Installation Inspired by Plight of Political Prisoners for the New Museum Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:12 PM PST NEW YORK, NY.- For nearly 20 years, Rigo 23 has created murals, paintings, drawings, and performances, conducted interventions, and published zines advocating for social and political change. His site-specific installation for the New Museum will be the newest in a series of works that take as their subject political prisoners such as Leonard Peltier, Geronimo ji-Jaga (Elmer Pratt), Mumia Abu-Jamal (Wesley Cook), and the Angola 3. Entitled The Deeper They Bury Me, The Louder My Voice Becomes, the work is inspired by the words of Herman Wallace, a member of the Angola 3. The project is on view in the New Museum's Shaft Project Space through October 11, 2009.

Eli Klein Fine Art exhibits Two Solos ~ Zhang Gong and Zhao Bo Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:11 PM PST NEW YORK, NY - Eli Klein Fine Art is proud to present Zhang Gong's first solo exhibition in the United States. Zhang Gong's work parodies instantly recognizable Western art, demonstrating the effect of Western popular culture on contemporary Chinese society.In his most recent works, Zhang Gong incorporates cartoon characters with scenes from modernist Western paintings and other popular images. Also Zhao Bo's second solo exhibition in New York. Both exhibitions on view through 22 April, 2010.

Pavilion of Art & Design London to Field World's Most Prominent Dealers Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:10 PM PST LONDON.- Now in its third year, the Pavilion of Art & Design London – an expansion of DesignArt London – makes an impressive return to Berkeley Square from 14 to 18 October with the participation of 45 of the world's most prominent dealers in the fields of Modern Art, Decorative Arts and Design from 1860 to the present. The strong presence of international exhibitors combined with a high concentration of London‐based galleries this year makes it the largest and ever‐expanding event of its kind to take place during Frieze week. Galleries from Paris, London, Brussels, Milan, New York, Barcelona and Geneva will bring to the capital the most coveted and iconic design, jewellery, decorative art and fine art pieces, showcased in a rigorously curated and sophisticated setting for an anticipated audience of 25,000 visitors. Rare canvases by 20th Century Masters, from Léger, Picasso, Calder, Soutine and Matisse to Warhol, Fontana, Dubuffet, Hantai and Moore will fill the universe of fine art representatives Lefèvre Fine Art . (London), Galerie Vedovi (Brussels), E&R Cyzer Art (London), Galeria Manuel Barbié (Barcelona), Faggionato Fine Arts (London), Connaught Brown (London), Galerie Jacques de la Béraudière (Geneva), Osborne Samuel (London), Lefèvre Fine Art (London), Galerie Berès (Paris), David Grob (Parracombe, UK), Martin Summers Fine Arts Ltd (London) and Van de Weghe Fine Art (New York). Contemporary works by Gerhard Richter at Custot Gallery Ltd (London), Candida Höfer at Ben Brown Fine Arts (London) and Toshio Shibata and Nobuyoshi Araki at Michael Hoppen Gallery (London) extend the historical panorama to today. Design newcomers Gordon Watson (London) and Galerie Olivier Watelet (Paris) will join returning galleries Anne Autegarden (Brussels), Galerie Downtown François Laffanour (Paris), Galleria Rossella Colombari (Milan), Rapin – Müllendorff (Brussels) and Alain Marcelpoil (Paris) in bringing the finest assortment of post‐war design furniture. Carpenters Workshop Gallery (London) will present radical pieces by contemporary designer Sebastian Brajkovic – winner of last year's DesignArt London‐Möet Hennessy Prize whose creation is now held in the Victoria & Albert collection – and the multi‐functional units of Atelier Van Lieshout. Leading design and art dealers Barry Friedman and Marc Benda (New York) will make a strong first appearance at the fair with outstanding pieces by Wendell Castle, Forrest Myers and Ettore Sottsass. Decorative arts will be represented by Paris‐based Galerie Martel‐Greiner with sculptural steel works by Claude Mercier, while Adrian Sassoon (London) will feature precious glass, ceramic and metal pieces of unparalleled quality, including Michael Eden's parody of traditional vase forms, Julian Stair's minimalist pottery and Giovanni Corvaja's delicate gold masterpieces. The exquisite collection of vintage Art Deco pendants by Jean Desprès and Ruth Franquen at Jean‐David Botella (Paris) will bring jewellery to the fore, a trail culminating with striking contemporary pieces commissioned by Louisa Guinness Gallery (London) from leading artists including Antony Gormley, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, and Anish Kapoor. Complementing this at Didier Antiques (London) will be jewellery created by post‐war artists and sculptors such as Salvador Dalí, Lucio Fontana and Louise Bourgeois. The Moët Hennessy‐Pavilion of Art & Design London Prize, which sponsors the donation of a winning decorative art piece to the prestigious collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, remains a key highlight of the fair. The eminent judging panel, chaired by architect and designer Nigel Coates this year, and including personalities such as Mark Jones, David Collins, Bella Freud, Julian Treger, Tom Dixon, and Allegra Hicks, amongst others, will also honour two galleries with the title of 'Best Exhibit' and 'Best Stand'. To crown this landmark event, the Pavilion of Art & Design London will bring about an extraordinary collaboration between its charity sponsor, the NSPCC and Francis Sultana Ltd. Miniature chairs for children, produced in limited editions and decorated by leading international designers such as Zaha Hadid, Philippe Starck and Mattia Bonetti, will be at the core of this project curated and supported by Francis Sultana, in association with Outset. The chairs will be sold at the fair with all proceeds donated to the NSPCC.

Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review" Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:09 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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