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

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• The Leopold Museum Presents Egon Schiele "Melancholy and Provovation"
• Diego Rivera Murals Reunited after 80 Years at the Museum of Modern Art
• The Singapore Tyler Print Insitute Showcases BMW Young Asian Artists
• The Art Museum of Myrtle Beach Melds Music & Visual Art in New Exhibition
• Kunsthaus Zürich opens "Encoding Reality" ~ An Exhibition Featuring A.R. Penck
• The New Dezer Collection Museum & Pavilion to Host Bunny Yeager's Pin-ups
• The Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig Presents Max Beckmann's Portraits
• The Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego Shows its 'Greatest Hits' from the '60s and '70s
• Cheekwood Museum of Art shows The 3rd Annual Exhibition of "Scarecrows"
• Cuban-American Jorge Pardo to Exhibit at the Irish Museum of Modern Art
• Booth-Clibborn Editions Presents New Book on the History of The Saatchi Gallery
• Exhibition Highlights Images of King David from the Getty Museums Collection of Psalm Illustrations
• The Frist Center Last Stop for Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay
• The Portland Museum of Art to feature Art of Maine's Cranberry Isles
• The Frist Center to display Twilight Visions: Surrealism, Photography, and Paris
• Major Exhibition of Works by George Grosz announced at Berlin's Akademie der Kunste
• Two Exhibitions Of Jean-Antoine Watteau Art Compete in London
• The Louvre exhibits Danish Master Artist ~ Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

The Leopold Museum Presents Egon Schiele "Melancholy and Provovation" Posted: 12 Nov 2011 09:07 PM PST Vienna.- On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of its opening, the Leopold Museum dedicates its autumn exhibition 2011 to the works of Egon Schiele. "Melancholy and Provovation" is on view at the museum through January 30th 2012. The title of the exhibition is a reference to the artist's state of mind, especially during his early oeuvre between 1910 and 1915. Schiele's early works of 1910 hit his audiences like "an ice-axe breaking the frozen sea within us" (Franz Kafka), upsetting the idyllic world of the conservative bourgeoisie. His renderings depict thin, emaciated men, their bodies in unnaturally bright colors and absurd contortions, with poses and movements serving both the composition and as a provocative expression of inner emotions. While these depictions are shocking in their originality, they do bear a resemblance to the slender youths created by the sculptor George Minne and "The Dreaming Boys" of Oskar Kokoschka who himself was inspired by Minoan art. Egon Schiele also incorporated his impressions derived from Javanese shadow puppets into his works, and later the gestures of contemporary expressionist dance. Schiele broke away from this stylistic phase already at the end of 1910; one could say that he turned inwards. His depictions became increasingly soft, Schiele began to draw with his brush and ventured deeper into a new and unreal dreamworld, both in terms of his manner of painting and in terms of his motifs. The resulting works are wondrous and idiosyncratic visions. In the work "Landscape with Ravens" Schiele left behind the traditional pattern of fore-, middle- and background. He interpreted the pictorial space as an integral representation of emotions, rediscovering it as an intellectual in-between world. Oneiric images and visions served as the basis for the figures in "Lyricist" and "Self-Seer". Schiele also invented fairytale-like and psychological scenes, including "Dead City" and the work "House and Wall in Hilly Landscape" (modeled on the deserted summer house which he used as a studio before he was expelled from the city by the people of Ceský Krumlov). The rendering "Dead City" provides the key to understanding all of Schiele's works. Schiele exhibited these works created in 1911 in his first solo exhibition held that year at the Galerie Miethke. They included the painting "Melancholia", which he would later paint over, the five-fold self-portrait "Ravings", which is now lost, as well as the demonic portrait of Eduard Kosmack. These works, as well as later ones such as "Dead Mother", "Procession" and "Revelation", show Schiele as a dreamer, as an imaginative genius – an impression that is also reflected in his poems. Schiele's works of the following years continued to be created in this spirit of dreamy rapture. His erotic works should also be viewed from this perspective – as metaphors and allegorical fantasies. In the painting "Cardinal and Nun" the stirring theme of sexuality is captured within a stringent compositional framework. Schiele's works from this period are cryptic renderings on which the artist remarked that one had to "look into" them. The stooped posture of the figures in his main work "The Hermits" is meant to express the sorrow of the world. The artist wrote about the painting that "it was created out of an inner necessity". All these paintings are moving artworks whose melody strikes a chord with the soul of the beholder, echoing their own feelings, experiences and dreams. In 1914 Schiele created anthropomorphic renderings of houses such as "Houses by the Sea" which conveys a devastating atmosphere, as if the world had come to an end. In his largest work "Levitation" of 1915, Schiele depicted hovering figures as a metaphor of dying, for death accompanied the artist all his life. Schiele's works are presented in juxtaposition with the metaphorical, archaic world of Oskar Kokoschka, with the poster for his play "Murderer, the Hope of Women" and with allegorical renderings such as the gruesome-looking "Skinned Mutton" and the skulllike portrait "Father Hirsch". Oskar Kokoschka's "Self-portrait at the Easel with Doll" concludes the presentation. The Leopold Museum is a unique and active museum awash with light in the heart of Vienna and the biggest cultural magnet in the MuseumsQuartier. Besides exciting special exhibitions, it not only houses the most substantial and most important collection of Egon Schiele worldwide but also priceless masterpieces by Gustav Klimt, including what is probably most important figurative painting "Death and Life". In no other museum in Vienna one can get so close to the fabled "Fin de siècle Vienna" and witness the birth of Modernity. The collection shows how the art of the Habsburg Empire changed from strict Historicism and romantic impressionism within a few years to the unique "Wiener Moderne" which encompasses Klimt and Schiele as well as Oskar Kokoschka, Richard Gerstl, Koloman Moser and many other artists who are all well represented with major works at the Leopold Museum. A further focus of the museum is on the Austrian interwar period, which brought out many important artists like Albin Egger-Lienz, Anton Kolig and Herbert Boeckl and partly points in the direction of the second half of the twentieth century. This is why Austrian artists of the post war generation or exceptional works of the nineteenth century by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Friedrich Gauermann, August von Pettenkofen, Anton Romako, Emil Jakob Schindler, Carl Schuch and others are repeatedly presented. Substantial and amazingly modernly designed into the everyday objects of the Fin de Siècle round up the collection, especially works by Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, Dagobert Peche and the founders of the Wiener Werkstätte Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser all of whom can be seen in the museum. And since all the great artists of the Wiener Moderne met on a regular basis in the epochal coffee houses for inspiring exchanges, it goes without saying that the Leopold Museum also has a coffee house. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.leopoldmuseum.org

Diego Rivera Murals Reunited after 80 Years at the Museum of Modern Art Posted: 12 Nov 2011 09:06 PM PST NEW YORK, NY - Five murals by Mexican artist Diego Rivera will go on display on Sunday in a new exhibit that reunites works that struck a chord across a broad social spectrum when they were unveiled during the Great Depression. The works, which were first shown in 1931 and 1932, are the highlight of "Diego Rivera, Murals for The Museum of Modern Art," which opens on 13th  November and runs through May 14, 2012. The murals were painted at MoMA, which sold all but one. Museum director Glenn Lowry said the works, particularly "Frozen Assets" still find resonance today. "What is interesting about Rivera today is how prescient his observations about New York 80 years ago were," he said. "There is no better metaphor for what is taking place with the various Occupy Wall Street movements around the country and the world than the stratification that is revealed in Rivera's painting, which shows you the homeless juxtaposed with bank vaults and the wealthy," Lowry said..

The Singapore Tyler Print Insitute Showcases BMW Young Asian Artists Posted: 12 Nov 2011 08:21 PM PST Singapore.- The Singapore Tyler Print Institute is proud to present "BMW Young Asian Artists Series III" on view at the institute from November 12th through December 17th. The exhibition features rising stars: Genevieve Chua (Singapore), Lyra Garcellano (Philippines), R.E. Hartanto (Indonesia) led by Chief Curator, Heman Chong (artist from BMW YAAS first series), in collaboration with co-curators, Joselina Cruz and Agung Jenong. Started in 2005, this programme identifies and enables young and promising Asian artists to make their mark. Each artist spent two weeks working alongside STPI's workshop team exploring new ideas and print techniques to create fresh, innovative and cutting-edge works.

The Art Museum of Myrtle Beach Melds Music & Visual Art in New Exhibition Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:50 PM PST Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.- Two of the most expressive of human endeavors – music and the visual arts – join forces in a unique exhibit coming to the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum of Myrtle Beach through December 30th. "Story, Song and Image: A Collaborative Project of Paintings and Music by Glen Miller and John Fowler", an exhibition designed by John Fowler and Glen Miller, focuses on 10 musicians and singing groups who represent different genres of roots music that are important to South Carolina's regional musical traditions. The opening reception was held, with entertainment by musicians featured in the exhibit. The musicians and singers represented in "Story, Song and Image" are drawn from different geographical regions throughout the state. The exhibition aspect of the project encompasses the historical and cultural traditions of the genres of music as well as the musicians' personal stories, which are the subject of the contemporary narrative paintings.

Kunsthaus Zürich opens "Encoding Reality" ~ An Exhibition Featuring A.R. Penck Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:49 PM PST ZURICH.- From 11 November 2011 to 12 February 2012 the Kunsthaus Zürich is staging the exhibition 'Encoding Reality,' the latest in the 'Picture Ballot!' series. Taking as its starting point the painting 'Weltbild' (World Picture, 1961) by A.R. Penck and the pictographically encoded visual idiom in modern art, it explores works from Paul Klee, Joan Miró, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Dubuffet, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and others. Like Penck, these artists developed a language that was part figurative representation and part abstraction. The exhibition reveals the methods chosen by artists in different generations and programmes to encode reality. A.R. Penck, 'Weltbild' (1961). 'Weltbild was created while the artist was still in the GDR.  In 1980, Penck moved to the West, and now lives and works in London, Dublin and Berlin.

The New Dezer Collection Museum & Pavilion to Host Bunny Yeager's Pin-ups Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:26 PM PST Miami, Florida.-  The Dezer Schauhalle Miami (the Museum & Pavilion's contemporary art showcase) marks the initial phase of the multi-faceted facility with the exhibition " Bunny Yeager : Retrospective to the Future", on view from November 18th through February 29th 2012. The exhibition provides a retrospective of this Miami photographer and includes never-before-seen works. Curated by international art critic and Berlin-based curator, Helmut Schuster, the Dezer Schauhalle will be the initial phase of the 250,000-square-foot art and automobile museum developed by prominent New York/South Florida developer and collector Michael Dezer.  International art collectors and enthusiasts, as well as local influencers, will be in attendance to pay tribute to one of the leading figures of twentieth-century photography and view 220 of her photos, including self-portraits and photos of Bettie Page , taken from the fifties, sixties and seventies.

The Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig Presents Max Beckmann's Portraits Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:25 PM PST Leipzig, Germany.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig is proud to present "Max Beckmann: Face to Face" on view at the museum through January 22nd. With 2 other exhibitions of Max Beckmann at major museums ("Beckmann and America" in the Städel Museum Frankfurt and "Max Beckmann. The Landscapes" in the Art Museum Basel), 2011 is offering an unprecedented opportunity to view the full range of the artist's ouvre. The Leipzig exhibition is the first since the 1960s to focus entirely on Beckmann's portraits. 58 paintings, loans from Germany and abroad, are shown alongside over 160 preparatory sketches, studies and related prints. The "Beckmann Dialogue" complements the exhibition with works by Marlene Dumas (born 1953 in Cape Town) and Alex Katz (born 1927 in New York). Both artists have provided important stimuli for contemporary portrait painting and list Max Beckmann as one of their central role models. People from Beckmann's circle of family and friends, all of whom were of pivotal importance in the artist's path through life, are brought together in a classic portrait gallery, a Who's Who of Beckmann's life. In its genre-hopping presentation, the exhibition offers the fascinating opportunity to trace Beckmann's creative process through almost all phases of a work, from the first flighty sketch to the completed painting.  Max Beckmann's lifework contains a plethora of portrait types: individual and double portraits, family and group portraits and also "hidden" portraits in the allegorical works, many of which are characterised by group depictions, teasing observers to discover familiar faces from other parts of the Beckmann oeuvre. Numerous persons found in the paintings have been identified for the first time thanks to the academic research on the lexicon contained in the catalogue, listing roughly 240 people who accompanied Beckmann on the individual stages of his life. Beckmann's work contains a large number of portraits depicting his two wives, Minna Beckmann-Tube, whom he divorced in 1925, and the significantly younger Mathilde (Quappi) von Kaulbach, whom he meets in Vienna in 1923. Quappi's face and figure above all challenged him time and again, as we see not only in the number of her portraits found in paintings, drawings and prints, but also the fact that many female figures in Beckmann's work bear a facial resemblance to Quappi. Beckmann repeatedly draws and paints friends such as Ugi and his wife Fridel Battenberg, members of the inner circle in Frankfurt am Main, where he taught at the Städel School in the 1920s. These are the years in which he strengthened his position as one of Germany's outstanding artists and enjoyed international success. In his portrait painting, Max Beckmann reflected a very personal fabric of relationships – to his family, his wives and to his large circle of friends of acquaintances. The portraits of befriended artists, gallery-owners, publishers and art dealers confirm just how well-connected Beckmann was in the art business. The Museum der bildenden Künste (Museum of Fine Arts) has over 7,000 square meters of display area and a collection containing some 3,500 paintings, 1,000 sculptures and 60,000 graphic works. It covers artworks from the Late Middle Ages to Modernity. The museum dates back to the founding of the "Leipzig Art Association" by Leipzig art collectors and promoters in 1837, and had set itself the goal of creating an art museum. On 10 December 1848, the association was able to open the "Städtische Museum" in the first public school on the Moritzbastei. Through major donations including from Maximilian Speck von Sternburg, Alfred Thieme and Adolf Heinrich Schletter the collection grew with time. In 1853, businessman and art collector Adolf Heinrich Schletter donated his collection under the condition that the city build a municipal museum within five years. Shortly before the deadline expired the museum was inaugurated on 18 December 1858. It was located on the Augustusplatz and was designed by Ludwig Lange in the style of the Italian Renaissance. From 1880 to 1886 the building was extended by Hugo Licht to accommodate the ever-growing collection. At the beginning of the 20th Century, Fritz von Harck donated a part of his collection to the museum. In 1937 the Nazis confiscated 394 paintings and prints mainly of Expressionism as "Degenerate art". In the night of 4 December 1943, the building was destroyed by a British air raid, but fortunately, most of the collection had been removed for safe storage. After the destruction of the building on Augustusplatz, the museum began a 61-year odyssey through several interim arrangements. By the mid-1990s, the city decided to give the museum back their own building. On 4 December 2004, exactly 61 years after the destruction of the "Städtischen Museum" on Augustusplatz, the new museum opened at the former Sachsenplatz (Saxony Square). The rectangular building of the museum cost 74.5 million euros and was designed by the architects Karl Hufnagel, Peter Pütz and Michael Rafaelian. Today's collection includes approximately 3,500 paintings, 1,000 sculptures and 60,000 graphic sheets.OIt includes works from the Late Middle Ages to the present, focusing on Old German and Early Netherlandish art of the 15th and 16th Century, Italian art from the 15th to 18th Century, Dutch art of the 17th Century, French art of the 19th and German art from the 18th to 20th Century. Important parts of the collection are works by Dutch and German Old Masters like Frans Hals and Lucas Cranach the Elder, Romantics like Caspar David Friedrich, and representatives of the Düsseldorf school of painting such as Andreas Achenbach. The highlight of the sculpture collection is the Beethoven sculpture by Max Klinger. One entire floor of the museum is dedicated to a comprehensive display of the works of Max Klinger and Max Beckmann. In the field of Modern Art, the museum is has a large colleciton of Leipzig School works by artists such as Werner Tübke, Bernhard Heisig, and Wolfgang Mattheuer as well as significant works by Neo Rauch and Daniel Richter. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.mdbk.de/

The Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego Shows its 'Greatest Hits' from the '60s and '70s Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:21 PM PST San Diego, CA.- "High Fidelity: Selections from the 1960s and 1970s" at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, showcases more than 50 of the "greatest hits" from MCASD's collection. The featured works represent formative decades in the Museum's own maturation and a period of artistic ferment in the United States. While reflecting different styles, such as minimalism, pop art, and assemblage, the works on view all reflect the experimental spirit of the period. Artists continued to challenge long-held stylistic conventions and allow room for contemporary content. Primarily an exhibition of paintings, High Fidelity includes many works which hone their focus on the formal components of art. Abstraction is represented in many variations from gestural efforts, reflecting the pull of mid-century abstract expressionism, to refined monochromes, which rejected that very approach. "High Fidelity: Selections from the 1960s and 1970s" is on view from May 28th through September 5th. Exhibiting artists, including John Altoon, Robert Irwin, and John McLaughlin, explore surface tension, positive and negative space, and push the limits of painting itself. Other artists such as Sol Lewitt, Alfred Jensen, and Donald Judd employ systems to determine their compositions. Alongside the refinement of such approaches, other works on view reflect a grittier, often informal quality. Artists such as Vija Celmins, Bruce Connor, Edward Kienholz, and John Baldessari use found materials, expanses of text, and prosaic imagery to reference the real world as much as the art world. Together, these images and references recall and represent a period of recent history with "high fidelity." High Fidelity will honor the late Murray A. Gribin (1923-2011), an inspired trustee and patron of the MCASD since the 1970s. A passionate advocate for the arts, Gribin and his wife Ruth settled in California in the 1940s. Together they built a lively collection of recent art from the West Coast. At MCASD, the collection was the subject of a 2006 exhibition La Dolce Vita. The show highlighted the range of Gribin's collecting even as it underscored his dedication to certain artists over time. In his lifetime, Gribin donated more than 75 works to MCASD. High Fidelity will feature selections of these gifts with an emphasis on his early acquisitions including works by Sam Francis, Joe Goode, and Ed Ruscha. With two locations, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) is the region's foremost forum devoted to the exploration and presentation of the art of our time, presenting works across all media created since 1950. Located in the heart of downtown San Diego and in the coastal community of La Jolla, MCASD provides an unprecedented variety of exhibition spaces and experiences for the community, showcasing an internationally recognized collection and a dynamic schedule of exhibitions and public programs. At MCASD in Downtown, experience contemporary art in a historic setting - the Jacobs Building, formerly the Santa Fe Depot baggage building - and view site-specific installations by artists Jenny Holzer and Richard Serra. At MCASD in La Jolla, take in the fabulous ocean view from the Edwards Garden Gallery, or lunch on the patio at the Museum Cafe. The La Jolla location also houses the Museum's X Store, filled with a selection of contemporary art books, apparel, and innovative design objects. The collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego includes more than 4,000 works created after 1950, representing a variety of media and genres: painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, video, and installation. MCASD is known for collecting works by promising emerging artists and under-recognized, mid-career artists, as well as by major figures in international contemporary art. Among the greatest strengths of the MCASD collection are minimalism and Pop Art of the 1960s and 1970s, conceptual art from the 1960s to the present, installation art, art from Latin America, and art from California and the San Diego/Tijuana region. Many works in the collection are the result of artists' residencies or works commissioned for MCASD exhibitions. In response to new local, national, and international developments in art, the Museum continually seeks to enhance its strengths and to expand the representation of artistic trends in its collection. At the same time, MCASD preserves, presents, documents, and interprets its holdings for current and future audiences. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.mcasd.org

Cheekwood Museum of Art shows The 3rd Annual Exhibition of "Scarecrows" Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:20 PM PST NASHVILLE , TN – Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art is pleased to announce the final list of participants for the third annual exhibition, Scarecrows, on display through November 1, 2009.   This year is bigger than ever with sixty-five fabulous and funny, small and tall, sweet and scary, silly and sophisticated scarecrows lurking along Cheekwood's garden paths. The community was invited to participate by designing one of the many scarecrows that will be displayed.   Scarecrows is generously sponsored by SunTrust.

Cuban-American Jorge Pardo to Exhibit at the Irish Museum of Modern Art Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:19 PM PST DUBLIN.- The Cuban-American artist Jorge Pardo, widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of his generation, returns to the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) with his first major solo exhibition in Ireland on Wednesday 17 February 2010. Jorge Pardo is a challenging retrospective that uses the architecture of the Museum to embrace the world of swiftly changing technology and question how art can be innovative and relevant in the 21st century. The exhibition, which follows the artist's notable participation in the group exhibition .all hawaii eNtrées / luNar reGGae at IMMA in 2006, comprises a single work in the form of photomural wallpaper covering the walls of the entire East Wing Galleries. The exhibition continues until 3 May 2010. Admission is free.

Booth-Clibborn Editions Presents New Book on the History of The Saatchi Gallery Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:18 PM PST LONDON.- Edward Booth-Clibborn knew the time was right to celebrate the vision of Charles Saatchi. The History of the Saatchi Gallery is the first book to chronicle the collection since it opened a gallery in 1985. It is important as a document, because many of the works included are no longer owned by The Saatchi Gallery, and a vital source of information for collectors, scholars and all those interested in contemporary art.

Exhibition Highlights Images of King David from the Getty Museums Collection of Psalm Illustrations Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:17 PM PST LOS ANGELES, CA.- Whether sung, spoken, or silently read, the Psalms and their illuminations played a central role in medieval Christianity. On view at the J. Paul Getty Museum, June 9 through August 16, 2009, Temptation and Salvation: The Psalms of King David features splendidly illuminated manuscripts and leaves from the Museum's collection that reveal the importance of the Psalms in medieval devotion. The 150 Psalms of the Bible, believed to be the work of King David, were essential to Christian religious life throughout the Middle Ages, and their elusive poetry attracted both written interpretation and painted decoration.

The Frist Center Last Stop for Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:15 PM PST NASHVILLE, TN.- The Frist Center for the Visual Arts will open The Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d'Orsay Friday, Oct. 15, 2010, and the exhibition will remain on view in Nashville through Jan. 23, 2011, when the works in the show return to Paris. The Frist Center is one of only three cities in the world to host this exhibition. It opened in Madrid at MAPFRE in January 2010, and is currently on view at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, where it will remain until Sept. 6, before traveling to the Frist Center. The exhibition includes 100 paintings from the permanent collection of the Musée d'Orsay and tells the story of the development of Impressionism through the magnificent works of artists living in Paris in the mid-to-late 19th century. Among the highlights of the exhibition are important works, including 2 by Adolphe-William Bouguereau, 2 by Gustave Courbet, 6 by Edgar Degas, 15 by Édouard Manet, 6 by Claude Monet, 7 by Camille Pissarro, 11 by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 5 by Alfred Sisley and James Abbott McNeill Whistler's Arrangement in Gray and Black, No. 1: Portrait of the Painter's Mother (1871), the painting best known as Whistler's Mother. While the majority of the works in this exhibition have been seen in Madrid and San Francisco, the exhibition boasts 17 paintings from the Musee d'Orsay's collection that will travel only to Nashville, including: The Dance Foyer at the Opera on Rue Le Peletier by Edgar Degas (1872) Ballet Rehearsal on the Set by Edgar Degas (1874) Argenteuil by Claude Monet (1875) Church at Vétheuil by Claude Monet (1879) Émile Zola by Édouard Manet (1868) The Woman with a White Jabot by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1880) William Sisley by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1864) Also included in the exhibition: The Fifer by Édouard Manet (1866) Family Reunion by Frédéric Bazille (1867) Birth of Venus by Adolphe-William Bouguereau (1879) The Floor Scrapers by Gustave Caillebotte (1875) Racehorses before the Stands by Edgar Degas (1866–68) Nude with White Dog by Gustave Courbet (1861–62) Boy with a Cat, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1868) The Musée d'Orsay has made its works available throughout the world in several traveling exhibitions, including The Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d'Orsay, while the museum undergoes renovation and refurbishing prior to the institution's 25th anniversary in 2011. "The Musée d'Orsay has the finest collection of French mid-to-late 19th-century art in the world," said Frist Center Executive Director Susan H. Edwards, Ph.D. "In sharing these masterworks with the cities of Madrid, San Francisco and Nashville, the Musée d'Orsay offers an unparalleled cultural experience to people who might not have the opportunity to travel to Paris. Beyond including works of breathtaking attainment, the exhibition teaches about the complex intersections between academic art and the avant-garde, conveying the creative vitality of a particularly fertile moment in French intellectual and social development." "We are delighted to be one of only three cities in the world to host this truly magnificent exhibition," said Nashville Mayor Karl Dean. "Nashville has long been known as a city of music, and because of exhibitions such as The Golden Age of Couture and The Birth of Impressionism, many are recognizing that we are becoming known as a great city for the visual arts as well. We look forward to welcoming visitors from around the region to Nashville to sample our cultural landscape and all our great city has to offer." Stylistically, the exhibition examines various cross-currents in painting. These include a consideration of the influence of Spanish artists such as Francisco de Goya and Diego Velázquez on Édouard Manet and James Abbott McNeill Whistler; the connection between the lively palettes of the Batignolles school—which included Manet, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir—and the development of the classical Impressionist style and the threads linking the Realism of the Salon to the Impressionism that was pursued by artists such as Jules Breton and Jean-François Millet, whose works celebrated the beauty, luminosity and dignity of the rural landscape. At the Frist Center, the exhibition is divided into 13 themes: The Salon of Paris examines themes of allegory and myth, classical antiquity and the links between French culture and past civilizations. Included in this section are works by William Bouguereau, Elie Delaunay, Gustave Moreau and others. The Allure of Nature: Millet, Courbet, and the Rise of Realism looks at the appeal of rural living and the celebration of everyday life in paintings by Jules Breton, Jules Bastien-Lepage, Jean-François Millet and Gustave Courbet. The Terrible Year: War and Civil War 1870–1871 examines the devastating effects of France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the ways in which the war and France's need for renewed national pride served as agents of cultural and artistic change; this section features paintings by Gustave Doré, Ernest Meissonier and Pierre Puvis du Chavannes. Naturalism in the Salon focuses on the rise of Realism in the Salon exhibitions. Everyday subjects depicted in realistic new styles appealed to a rising middle class audience with little taste for the antique. Manet: Between the Salon and the Avant-Garde illustrates Édouard Manet's rejection of the overly literary and allegorical flavor of the Salon in favor of a more direct and unadorned representation of "the ordinary" in everyday life, as depicted in such works as The Fifer (1866). One of Manet's masterpieces, Émile Zola (1868), confirms the links between Realism and the naturalistic literature of the period, while showing a wide range of influences, including Spanish and Japanese art. The Portrait Tableau features the motif of a figure in an interior unified through harmonious orchestrations of form, value, color and space. A manifestation of the "art for art's sake" concept, this is exemplified in by James Abbott McNeill Whistler's Arrangement in Gray and Black, No. 1: Portrait of the Painter's Mother (1871). Manet and The Batignolles School illustrates how Édouard Manet's pioneering artistic achievements made him a leader of the emerging avant-garde that congregated in Paris's Batignolles neighborhood to formulate the ideas that would eventually lead to Impressionism. In this gallery are works by Henri Fantin-Latour, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frédéric Bazille and other artists active in the 1860s. Degas and Caillebotte: Images of Modern Life features the aesthetic realism of Edgar Degas and Gustave Caillebotte, who balanced an interest in light and color with a desire to portray everyday life through carefully planned compositions and finely controlled drawing. Highlights of this gallery are two of Degas's ballet paintings and Caillebotte's The Floor Scrapers (1875). Artists Painting Artists features works in which artists of the avant-garde such as Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro and Édouard Manet painted each other's portraits, providing fascinating insight into their personal relationships. Toward the Impressionist Landscape reveals the influence of plein air painters Eugene Boudin and Johann Jongkind on Édouard Monet's early development in the 1860s. Classic Impressionism is the largest section of the exhibition, containing masterpieces of landscape painting created throughout the 1870s by Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Berthe Morisot. Pissarro and Cézanne explores the friendship and shared influences shaping the works of two of the earliest Impressionists, who painted similar subjects, often employing patterns of regularly applied brushstrokes, close tonalities and the frequent simplification of planes to define volume, weight, and space. Eventually, Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne would both depart from classic Impressionism— Pissarro to the pointillist technique of the younger artist Georges Seurat and Cézanne to an ever more geometric faceting. Manet: Impressionism and Beyond brings the exhibition full circle, showing that Édouard Manet not only influenced the Impressionists, but was in turn influenced by them to paint out of doors, lighten his palette, and explore increasingly gestural brushwork. These innovations appear in the artist's luminous On the Beach (1873) and the modern history painting The Escape of Rochefort (ca. 1881). Visit The Frist Center for the Visual Arts at : http://www.fristcenter.org/site/default.aspx

The Portland Museum of Art to feature Art of Maine's Cranberry Isles Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:14 PM PST   PORTLAND, MAINE - For the first time, the Portland Museum of Art will present an exhibition of work by the close-knit group of artists that have been active on Maine's Cranberry Isles for the past 50 years. Art of the Cranberry Isles will explore the close relationship between these artists and their love of the natural topography and people of the Cranberries through a vivid sense of color, a strong feel for atmosphere, and a vigorous quality of graphic design. The exhibition of 25 works, drawn primarily from the Museum's permanent collection, will feature paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs-all ranging in style from the figural to the abstract. Art of the Cranberry Isles will be on view February 21 through June 28, 2009.

The Frist Center to display Twilight Visions: Surrealism, Photography, and Paris Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:13 PM PST PROVIDENCE, RI.- The Frist Center for the Visual Arts will present Twilight Visions: Surrealism, Photography, and Paris, opening Sept. 10, 2009, in the Upper-Level Galleries. The show, which offers a unique perspective on Surrealism by examining the intersection of documentary photography, manipulated photography and film, will be on exhibition.  It will travel to the International Center of Photography in New York followed by the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Ga. Paris was a hotbed of creative activity at the dawn of the 20th century, attracting artists and writers to its vibrant and wildly fertile art scene. Numerous galleries flourished during this period, fueling the immigration of many of the world's most talented artists.

Major Exhibition of Works by George Grosz announced at Berlin's Akademie der Kunste Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:12 PM PST BERLIN.- For the first time, the Akademie der Künste (Academy of Arts) is presenting a large-scale selection of the abundance of material on George Grosz preserved in its art collection and archive. Two hundred sketchbooks, drawings from his youth up to the time of the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), including such famous pictures as "Friedrichstraße" and "Christus mit Gasmaske" (Christ with a Gas Mask), portfolio works, journals, collages, photographs and written documents allow a glimpse into the life and artistic workshop of George Grosz. The incorruptible view of the ingenious draughtsman and political artist, who influenced our image of the Weimar Republic more than any other, thus becomes clear.

Two Exhibitions Of Jean-Antoine Watteau Art Compete in London Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:11 PM PST London (Reuters).- Whether by coincidence or design, French 18th century artist Jean-Antoine Watteau has two major London shows dedicated to him, both opening on Saturday 12 March 2011. The Royal Academy's show "Watteau: The Drawings" focuses on the artist as draughtsman, an important element of his work which acquaintances said he preferred to painting. At the nearby Wallace Collection, the museum has re-displayed its extensive Watteau canvases including examples of the "fete galante" (an elegant social gathering in parkland setting) for which the artist is probably best known today. To accompany the re-hanging, the Wallace Collection put on a separate exhibition on Jean de Jullienne, one of the most important art collectors of his time who edited a collection of prints of Watteau's works which appeared after the artist's death. While both galleries stressed that their exhibitions should be seen as complementary rather than in competition, privately sources said they would have preferred to avoid such a clash.

The Louvre exhibits Danish Master Artist ~ Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:10 PM PST   PARIS - The Louvre offers the public a unique chance to discover the master Danish artist, Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard, a leading exponent of Northern European art in the late 18th century. A traveling exhibition (Paris, Hamburg, Copenhagen) on the singular yet universal career of this painter, who was also an architect, draughtsman and decorator, has been mounted for the first time in Europe. The Louvre has brought together about 40 paintings and drawings, as well as a some of his furniture. On exhibition through 9 February, 2009. Abildgaard, witness of his time, open to the spirit of his era, his paintings, classical in form but latently Romantic, also contained a glimmering of religious and social criticism. Nothing in his modest origins suggested the career Abildgaard would lead. His father, a self-taught man with a passion for natural science, was entrusted with the task of listing ancient Danish monuments. His growing reputation as a scholar did not, however, spare the family from financial hardship, which compelled the two sons to exercise manual trades in order to pursue their studies. Christian became a veterinary surgeon, while Abildgaard gained admission to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen. Based on the French model, the Academy regarded history painting as the highest form of art. Abildgaard completed his artistic training in Italy (1772-77), where he met two people who had a decisive impact on his life: the Swedish sculptor Johan Tobias Sergel, who introduced him to the Swiss-born Romantic painter associated with the English school, Henry Fuseli. At the time, these two artists were moving away from neoclassicism. However, while Sergel's influence could be seen in the profoundly psychological situations portrayed in Abildgaard's Roman paintings, such as The Wounded Philoctetes, the Danish artist's numerous depictions of single figures, executed with precision amongst symbolic accessories, probably resulted from the drawing sessions he attended at the French Academy, in Rome. On his return from Italy, Abildgaard stopped in Paris, where he studied the painting of Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), the artist he considered to be the finest exponent of history painting. Despite their underlying Romanticism, most of Abilgaard's works belonged in the elevated intellectual spheres of history painting, with all the lofty erudition and disciplined ambition which that implied. He thus played a major role in neoclassicism's development in Denmark and was regarded as the "painter philosopher" of the period. Erudition and lofty vision were, in fact, the hallmarks of his art, in varying degrees. However, in Abildgaard's painting, history and political satire went hand in hand: tradition vied with rebellion. Though he was a subject of the Dano-Norwegian absolute monarchy, his production was inspired by the political ideas then spreading across Europe, during the Age of Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Open to the spirit of his era, his paintings, classical in form but latently Romantic, also contained a glimmering of religious and social criticism. Exhibition curators: Elisabeth Foucart-Walter, head curator, Department of Paintings, at the Louvre, and Thomas Lederballe, curator Department of Graphic Arts, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen. "Open to all since 1793": From the outset, the Louvre has embodied the concept of a truly "universal" institution. Universal in the scope of its collections, it is also universal in its appeal to some 6 million visitors every year: a 21st-century museum rooted in 200 years of innovation. Visit The Lourve at : www.louvre.fr

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 12 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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