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

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• The Flint Institute of Arts Presents "The Art of Collecting"
• With an Art Fund Grant John Piper Artworks Bought for Towner Museum
• The Drents Museum Shows ~ The Golden Age of China: The Tang Dynasty
• Dutch Expressionist Painter Jan Altink at the Groninger Museum
• Miami Beach getting ready for Art Basel Art Fair in its 10th Edition
• The Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny Presents Maurice Denis
• The Museum Of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) ~ Is A World Famous Dynamic Cultural Complex
• Is It Art ? Damien Hirst shows Dead Meat-Doves-and Fishes
• Queensland Art Gallery To Show Henri Cartier-Bresson's "Decisive Moments"
• 'Altermodern', the fourth Tate Triennial opens at Tate Britain
• New Paintings by Tony Bevan at The De La Warr Pavilion
• Metropolitan Museum of Art announces Augustus Saint-Gaudens Exhibition
• Jean Dubuffet Solo on View at The Langen Foundation
• The William Benton Museum of Art Shows "The Art of Dr. Seuss"
• The Clark Art Institute Acquires Important Album of Prints By J.M.W. Turner
• Brigitte Kowanz in Retrospective at MUMOK in Vienna
• Christie's Offers Exceptional Vintage Photographs from the Miller-Plummer Collection
• "Frames / State of the Art"
• Animazing Gallery in SoHo Features New Works of Daniel Merriam
• Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"

The Flint Institute of Arts Presents "The Art of Collecting" Posted: 25 Nov 2011 09:58 PM PST Flint, Michigan.- The Flint Institute of Arts is pleased to present "The Art of Collecting", on view from November 25th through January 8th. This exhibition of more than 125 paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures are on consignment from galleries in New York, Chicago and Detroit and have been selected based on comparisons of price and quality. All of the artworks are available for purchase and represent an outstanding value in the art market and an excellent opportunity for seasoned, as well as novice collectors to purchase high quality artwork with confidence. FIA Director, John Henry, and Coordinator of Collections and Exhibitions, Michael Martin will conduct a preview tour of the exhibition on Wednesday, November 30th, at 5:30 pm and again on Thursday, December 1st at 1:30 pm. They will discuss trends in the art market and the special characteristics of individual works. Reservations are not necessary to attend these informative tours. "This is a unique opportunity to view or acquire art of exceptional quality and in response to public demand, I am delighted to bring this event back after a four year hiatus" said Mr. Henry. A Reception and Silent Auction will be held on Friday, December 2nd. At 6:30 pm, the Director will present trends in collecting and his "Top Ten Picks." The Silent Auction will commence at 7:15 pm, and this year, for one hour, every work in the exhibition will be in the Silent Auction at dealer's cost. Prices range from $150 for prints by emerging artists to more than $250,000 for works by master artists. The Flint Institute of Arts has served an important role in the life of the Flint community since its founding in 1928 and today, continues to play a major role in the growth and revitalization of the city of Flint. Through its exhibitions, interpretive programs, film screenings, concerts, lectures, family events and educational outreach programs, the FIA serves more than 120,000 adults and children annually from all over southeast Michigan. The selection and presentation of exhibitions and related programming is at the heart of the FIA's mission which is to advance the understanding and appreciation of art for all through collections, exhibitions, and educational programs. The FIA has been accredited by the American Association of Museums since 1972 and in 2002 the FIA's collection was designated a National Treasure by the Presidents Committee on the Arts. In 2007, the FIA received the Governor's Award for Arts and Cultural Organization. The FIA's 150,000 sq. ft. facility is a unique space with more than 25,000 sq. ft. of gallery space, a large light-filled and welcoming entrance and lobby area with visitor amenities including a café and gift shop, an Art School, a library, a theater ideal for presentations, films, and lectures, a video gallery, and a large "great hall," seating more than 200 for events of all kinds. The FIA maintains a collection of over 8,000 objects, sustains a membership of 3,200, registers 1,700 students from pre-school age to senior citizens in Museum Art School studio classes, and presents school programs to 25,000 K-12 students annually. The Flint Institute of Arts has assembled outstanding collections of American, European, Native American, African, and Asian art including paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts. Highlights of the collection include: 15th to 18th century English, French, and Italian decorative arts, a rare shaped panel by Peter Paul Rubens, a complete set of 17th century French tapestries; a fine collection of 18th and 19th century paperweights and European glass; American and French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings; Hudson River School paintings; Regional and Great Lakes paintings; Modernist; and, Abstract Expressionist and Photorealist paintings. The collection includes works by renowned artists such as Auguste Renoir, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Thomas Hart Benton, Andrew Wyeth, and Duane Hanson. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.flintarts.org

With an Art Fund Grant John Piper Artworks Bought for Towner Museum Posted: 25 Nov 2011 07:40 PM PST LONDON.- Two key pieces by 20th-century British artist John Piper have been bought for Eastbourne's contemporary art museum, Towner, with help from the Art Fund. Newhaven, The Castle (1934) and Newhaven (1937), which featured in Towner's hit exhibition John Piper in Kent & Sussex earlier this year, were purchased following an Art Fund grant and a public appeal. The Art Fund (formerly the National Art Collections Fund) is an independent membership-based British charity, which raises funds to aid the acquisition of artworks for the nation. It gives grants and acts as a channel for many gifts and bequests, as well as lobbying on behalf of museums and galleries and their users.

The Drents Museum Shows ~ The Golden Age of China: The Tang Dynasty Posted: 25 Nov 2011 07:22 PM PST ASSEN, NETHERLANDS - Since August 2010, the Drents Museum has been closed due to large-scale reconstructions in the existing building, and the addition of a spectacular new exhibition wing, designed by renowned architect Erick van Egeraat. On Thursday November 17, 2011, the Drents Museum reopened to the public with completely renewed presentations of the permanent collections, a new Children's museum, a larger Museum café and a new wing for temporary exhibitions. In this new wing, the Drents Museum presented the major opening exposition 'The Golden Age of China', about the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD), the glorious dynasty with the most open cultural character in all of China's history.

Dutch Expressionist Painter Jan Altink at the Groninger Museum Posted: 25 Nov 2011 07:08 PM PST GRONINGEN, NL - From 19 November 2011 to 9 April 2012, the Groninger Museum displays an overview of the oeuvre of Jan Altink under the title Iconen van het Groningerland (Icons of the Groningen Countryside). This retrospective exhibition in the Ploeg Pavilion presents around seventy paintings and forty works on paper. The work from the collection of the Groninger Museum and of De Ploeg Foundation has been supplemented by loans from private collections and public institutions. The emphasis lies on Altink's paintings and prints from the 1920s and '30s.

Miami Beach getting ready for Art Basel Art Fair in its 10th Edition Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:45 PM PST MIAMI BEACH - Live graffiti painting. A colossal rose bed soaring 20 feet high. Early photos of Andy Warhol , a Picasso up for auction and a naked woman living in a pig pen. They're all part of the lineup for Art Basel Miami Beach , which runs Dec. 1-4, with a host of related events beginning Nov. 30. The pig pen installation will undoubtedly be the most jaw-dropping event at the art fair. Known for photographing herself nude in subway tunnels or in front of graffiti walls, performance artist Miru Kim will be living with pigs for her performance "The Pig That Therefore I Am." The pig pen installation will be among the Primary Flight shows. "Some people are really going to love it. Some are going to be shocked. And a handful won't really get it," said Primary Flight founder Books Bischof.

The Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny Presents Maurice Denis Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:44 PM PST Giverny, France.- The Musée des Impressionnismes is proud to present an exhibition exploring the theme of spring in the work of Maurice Denis (1870-1943). "Maurice Denis: The Eternal Spring" will be on view at the museum through July 15th 2012. The exhibition comprises approximately eighty works – paintings and drawings – and is accompanied by extensive documentation in the form of photographs, publications and correspondence. The works on show include loans from the most prestigious public and private collections, some of which have been displayed publicly only rarely or never at all in France. The exhibition is divided into three main sections: 'The Awakening of Nature in Springtime'; 'Christian Spring and Earthly Paradise'; and 'The First Signs Of Love and The Spring Of Life'. It will also present throughout a little known aspect of Denis's production, that of his talent as a painter-decorator, by recomposing constitutive elements of some of his large decorative projects.Maurice Denis was born November 25, 1870, in Granville, Manche, a coastal town in the Normandy region of France. Waters and coastlines would remain favorite subject matter throughout his career, as would material drawn from the bible. For such an avant-garde figure, Denis had a surprisingly broad religious streak, writing in his notebook at age fifteen, "Yes, it's necessary that I am a Christian painter, that I celebrate all the miracles of Christianity, I feel it's necessary." The Denis family was affluent, and young Maurice attended both the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Julian, where he studied with the French figure painter and theorist Jules Joseph Lefebvre. At the Académie, he met painters and future Nabi members including Paul Sérusier and Pierre Bonnard; through Bonnard he also met the future Nabis Édouard Vuillard and Ker-Xavier Roussel. In 1890, they formed The Nabis. They chose "Nabi"—Hebrew for "Prophet"—because they understood they would be creating new forms of expression. The group would split apart by the end of the decade, and would influence the later work of both Bonnard and Vuillard, as well as non-Nabi painters like Henri Matisse. After the Nabis, Denis went on to focus on religious subjects and murals. In 1922, he published his collected historical and theoretical work as "Nouvelles théories sur l'art moderne, sur l'art sacré"—that is, "New Theories of Modern and Sacred Art." The subjects of his mature works include landscapes and figure studies, particularly of mother and child. But his primary interest remained the painting of religious subjects, like "The dignity of labour", commissioned in 1931 by the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions to decorate the main staircase of the Centre William Rappard. Denis was among the first artists to insist on the flatness of the picture plane—one of the great starting points for modernism, as practiced in the visual arts. In his famous proposal for the definition of painting, offered in 1890, he stated: "Remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a nude, an anecdote or what not, is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order." In 1898, he produced a theory of creation that found the source for art in the character of the painter: "That which creates a work of art is the power and the will of the artist." Denis died in Paris of injuries resulting from an automobile accident in November 1943. (The date of his death is variously listed as the 2nd, 3rd, or 13th.) The musée des impressionnismes in Giverny, a village in Normandy, is dedicated to the history of Impressionism and its continuation in the Giverny art colony and along the Valley of the River Seine. Claude Monet moved to Giverny in 1883. Although he never encouraged other artists to follow him, the village soon attracted a circle of Americans eager to put the principles of Impressionism into practice at the heart of the Norman landscape. Founded by Daniel J. Terra in 1992, the musée d'art américain Giverny generated an unprecedented stream of exhibitions, publications, conferences, lectures, and residencies for art historians and artists on the theme of American art, during its sixteen years of existence. In 2009, a partnership was signed between the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Conseil général de l'Eure, the Conseil régional de Haute-Normandie, the Conseil général de la Seine-Maritime, the Communauté d'Agglomération des Portes de l'Eure, the Municipality of Vernon and the musée d'Orsay, to create the musée des impressionnismes Giverny that replaces the musée d'art américain. This museum is dedicated to the history of Impressionism and its aftermath, together with its more distant impact on the second half of the twentieth century. The Terra Foundation maintains an active presence on the Board of Directors of this institution, and also continues to loan artworks, organize exhibitions on American art, and through grants, participate in developing this venue. The musée d'Orsay provides scientific backing together with its special loans policy. The gallery is dedicated to the Impressionist movement, but also offers an exploration of this aesthetic movement beyond the circle of painters generally recognised as Impressionists, as much leading up to the style (its precursors) as resulting from it (post-World War II movements and even contemporary art). Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.museedesimpressionnismesgiverny.com

The Museum Of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) ~ Is A World Famous Dynamic Cultural Complex Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:42 PM PST Located in the heart of Houston's Museum District, the Museum of Fine Arts (MFAH) is a dynamic cultural complex comprising two gallery buildings, a sculpture garden, visitor's center, library, theater, gift shop, café, two art schools, and two house museums. The MFAH's permanent collection totals 62,172 pieces in 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) of exhibition space, placing it among the largest art museums in the United States. The original 'Caroline Wiess Law' building was designed in phases by architect William Ward Watkin and constructed in 1924 with the east and west wings added in 1926. The 'Robert Lee Blaffer Memorial Wing' was designed by Kenneth Franzheim and opened to the public in 1953. Two subsequent additions, the Cullinan Hall and the Brown Pavilion, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe were built in 1958 and 1974 respectively. This section of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston campus is the only Mies-designed museum in the United States. The 'Caroline Wiess Law' building provides an ideal space in which to exhibit the museum's collection of twentieth and twenty-first-century artworks, as well as installations of Oceanic art, Asian art, Indonesian gold artifacts, and Pre-Columbian and sub-Saharan African artworks. The 'Audrey Jones Beck Building' which opened to the public in 2000 was designed by Rafael Moneo, a Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate and a respected Spanish architect of tremendous range. The museum Trustees elected to name the building after Audrey Jones Beck in honor of the large collection she had donated to the museum several decades prior. The building also doubles as the museum's main campus exhibition space with an additional 158,150 sq ft (14,693 m2). The 'Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden', designed by US-born artist and landscape architect Isamu Noguchi and opened in 1986. The Sculpture Garden houses more than twenty-five masterworks by some of the most acclaimed artists from the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries from the MFAH and other major collections. The garden itself is a sculpture that unites the pathways between the Caroline Wiess Law Building and the Glassell School of Art. Visit the museum's website at : http://mfah.org/ The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 6,000 years of history with more than 62,000 works from six continents. The European Painting and Sculpture collection contains examples from the earliest Christian art to the present day. The museum´s collection is particularly strong in Renaissance and Baroque art. Among the Renaissance highlights are Italian examples by Fra Angelico, Giovanni di Paolo, Sebastiano del Piombo, Antico, and Scarsellino, as well as Flemish masterpieces by Rogier van der Weyden and Hans Memling. Baroque artworks include notable works by Orazio Gentileschi, Guido Reni, Philippe de Champaigne, Luca Giordano, Frans Hals, and Jan van Huysum. The 18th- and 19th-century galleries feature important artworks by Jean-Siméon Chardin, Anton Raphael Mengs, and Canaletto, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Francisco de Goya, William Adolphe Bouguereau, Camille Corot, and Théodore Rousseau. From the Impressionism and Post-Impressionism period, MFAH features key works by Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Gustave Courbet, and Édouard Vuillard. Modern Art highlights include Cubist works by Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger, as well as works by Henri Matisse, Constantin Brancusi, and Piet Mondrian. Art at mid-century is one of the MFAH´s outstanding strengths. The Abstract Expressionist collection deserves particular recognition, as it contains key works by Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and Franz Kline. The next generation is also well represented, with paintings by Helen Frankenthaler and Kenneth Noland. Post-World War II sculpture includes examples by Picasso and Alexander Calder, and Assemblage can be studied through works by Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely. Other styles and approaches represented in the collection include Hard-Edge Abstraction (with examples by Ellsworth Kelly and Agnes Martin), Pop Art (Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, and James Rosenquist), Minimalism (Donald Judd and Jo Baer), and current movements. Recently the collection has been enhanced by the addition of major works by Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Brice Marden, and other modern masters. The Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden displays important sculpture by Auguste Rodin, Aristide Maillol, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, Louise Bourgeois, and other key figures. A particular strength of American art at the MFAH is 19th-century landscape painting, with fine examples by Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, and others reflecting the allure of the American wilderness. The post-Civil War period is well represented at the museum, with works by John Singer Sargent, William Merritt Chase, and Childe Hassam. The holdings in early-20th-century American art include wonderful Ashcan School paintings and important early abstract works. Paintings by Georgia O´Keeffe and other Taos artists are another highlight. The American galleries in the Beck Building surround a sculpture court that features works by Frederick William MacMonnies and Paul Manship. The MFAH collection contains a large number of Frederick Remington paintings, emphasizing his achievements as the creator the American cowboy as an enduring archetype. The museum´s collection of Texas art consists of more than 2,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, and photographs. The collection encompasses representations of the Texas landscape, spiritual and symbolic works, and examples of Modernism and Post-Modernism. These works testify to the rich and varied history of the art of Texas. Among the artists included are John Biggers, Rackstraw Downes, Dorothy Hood, and James Surls. MFAH's collection of Native American Art presents an unbroken visual history of the Pueblo peoples of northern Arizona and New Mexico from pre-hispanic times to the mid-20th century. It also includes works from the last 125 years made by the Navajo, the Apache, and other semi-nomadic peoples. Ceramics, kachina dolls, watercolors, textiles, baskets, stone and silver jewelry and various kinds of wooden objects are represented. The greatest strength of the museum´s Pre-Columbian collection lies in works of the Maya and the cultures of West Mexico. Of particular note are Maya ceramic vessels, limestone reliefs, and exquisite works in jadeite and flint. Other highlights from Mesoamerica include a large stone Aztec figure, a rare Ulúa marble vase, and an elaborate lid for a Teotihuacán incense burner. Examples from other regions include volcanic stone carvings from Costa Rica, ceramic vessels from coastal Peru, and beautiful small objects for personal use made of gold, silver, and inlaid bone and wood. The Glassell Collection of Pre-Columbian Gold includes gold objects that were created as personal ornaments to adorn the face and body, as well as ritual objects, like drinking cups for ceremonies and masks for burials. The MFAH is strategically positioned as an international leader in Latin American art. The museum´s collection includes more than 760 modern and contemporary Latin American works and more than 2,500 Pre-Columbian objects. Building on this momentum and commitment, in 2001 the MFAH became the home of the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA). The center, the only one of its kind in the world, serves as both a curatorial department and a resource center within the museum. The Adolpho Leirner Collection of Brazilian Constructive Art consists of the finest examples of geometric abstraction in paintings, constructions, drawings, posters, and graphic materials by Brazil's foremost artists of the post-World War II era. The works of Asian art range from a Chinese vessel made about 2400 B.C. to contemporary Japanese ceramics made in the 1990s. The arts of India gallery displays 100 artworks representing diverse subject matter and media from India's unique regions and historic eras. In October 2010 the museum opened the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Arts of China Gallery to showcase its growing collection of Chinese works. Objects in the gallery, which was designed to reflect a distinct Chinese aesthetic, range from those created in the ancient Zhou and Shang dynasties to modern installations featuring video. Some of the important works include a 20th-century painting by Wu Changshi titled Flowering Vine and a carved limestone Avalokitesvara dating to between 557 and 618 A.D. The masks, figures, hats, and knives in the museum´s African art collection span some 2,500 years, from Nigeria´s early Nok culture, the first in all of sub-Saharan Africa to produce sculpture, to the mid-1900s. The Oceanic Art collection´s primary strength is in Melanesian works, particularly from the Sepik River region of New Guinea, with a secondary strength in Australian bark paintings. The ancient Egyptian works include a spectacular polychrome coffin of Pedi-Osiris and a rare blue faience sculpture of the god Thoth as a baboon. The MFAH also includes extensive collections of photography and prints and drawings (including 100 early German woodcuts and engravings, including 35 by Albrecht Dürer, and groups of prints by Rembrandt and by Jacques Bellange). Amongst the exhibitions that can currently be seen at the MFAH are "Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space and Time", on view through July 4th 2011. For more than five decades, Carlos Cruz-Diez (born 1923) has experimented intensively with the origins and optics of color. His wide-ranging body of work includes unconventional color structures, light environments, street interventions, architectural integration projects, and experimental works that engage the response of the human eye while insisting on the participatory nature of color. The MFAH and the Cruz-Diez Foundation, Houston, present the first large-scale retrospective of this pioneering Franco-Venezuelan artist. Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space and Time features more than 150 works created from the 1940s to today, including paintings, silk-screen prints, and innovative chromatic structures; room-size chromatic environments, architectural models, and videos; and a virtual re-creation of the artist´s studio. The exhibition introduces international audiences to Cruz-Diez´s extensive production and places his theoretical and artistic contributions to 20th-century Modernism in a broader context than they have traditionally been seen. "Romancing the West: Alfred Jacob Miller in the Bank of America Collection" until May 8th 2011 features works by Alfred Jacob Miller inspired by a six-month journey to the Rocky Mountains in 1837. Originally from Baltimore, Miller had a chance encounter, while living in New Orleans, with Scottish adventurer Sir William Drummond Stewart, who invited the artist to accompany him on a journey from Missouri to the Rocky Mountains of present-day Wyoming. On the expedition, Miller executed more than 100 field sketches, which became the inspiration for his work over the next three decades. The art in this exhibition, mainly studio works at various stages of completion that showcase a sometimes unorthodox fusion of media, provides a window onto how Miller worked and how he envisioned the West. These works depict the early days of westward expansion in lyrical and spirited watercolors that capture the rough terrain, the majestic Rockies, the abundant wildlife, and the mixed cultures that populated the West. The exhibition looks at these brilliant watercolors in the context of 19th-century art in general, Miller's career, and his place in American art as an early, and innovative, painter in watercolor.

Is It Art ? Damien Hirst shows Dead Meat-Doves-and Fishes Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:41 PM PST New York City - Never mind that the world financial markets are in turmoil. A rich artist and a clever developer will prove this weekend that excess endures. Mr. Damien Hirst at Lever House. The work, he says, references several modern artists. Mr. Hirst says the work, which is being purchased for Lever House's collection for $10 million, is an homage to Francis Bacon's "Painting," among others.

Queensland Art Gallery To Show Henri Cartier-Bresson's "Decisive Moments" Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:40 PM PST QUEENSLAND, AU - Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), the French photographer who redefined both photojournalism and his craft as an art form, will be celebrated in a major exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery from August 27th to November 27th. Queensland Art Gallery Director Tony Ellwood said "Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, The Image & The World‟ would feature work from throughout the renowned photographer‟s extraordinary career, which spanned over 70 years. "Cartier-Bresson‟s photography is exceptional for capturing "the decisive moment", an illustration of action, emotion and an entire story through the single frame of the camera lens,‟ Mr Ellwood said.

'Altermodern', the fourth Tate Triennial opens at Tate Britain Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:39 PM PST LONDON - 'Altermodern', the fourth Tate Triennial, which will present some of the best new contemporary art in Britain, opens at Tate Britain on 3 February 2009. It includes works in all media - from photography, film and video, to extraordinary installations - and features many new works being shown for the first time. The exhibition proposes a definition for a new form of art that celebrates a fresh energy and spirit in contemporary culture. Altermodern has been conceived by Nicolas Bourriaud, Gulbenkian Curator of Contemporary Art, and one of Europe's most respected curators. Bourriaud founded the influential contemporary art gallery Palais de Tokyo in Paris and has been working at Tate Britain on the exhibition since 2007.

New Paintings by Tony Bevan at The De La Warr Pavilion Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:38 PM PST BEXHILL ON SEA, UK - Tony Bevan (born in Bradford, 1951) is one of the most important painters working in Britain today. For his new painting installation at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bevan has produced three colossal works specifically to utilize the dimensions of Gallery 2. Inspired by his recent travels to China, in particular his experience of the Giant Buddha of Leshan, and his ongoing interest in the 'character heads' of the 18th century German-Austrian sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, the new paintings continue Bevan's exploration of self-portraiture in his practice. Bevan lives and works in London . He has participated in the Venice and Sidney Biennales and his work is held in public collections such as the National Portrait Gallery, Tate, The British Museum, MOMA ( New York ), The Israel Museum ( Jerusalem ) and IVAM ( Valencia ) amongst others. He is represented by Ben Brown Fine Arts. Bevan has exhibited world-wide with museum exhibitions at the ICA in London, theStaatsgalerie Moderner Kunst Haus der Kunst, Munich, and a major retrospective was presented by the Institut Valencia d'Art Modern (IVAM) in Valencia, Spain in 2005. This year Bevan had the honor of becoming a Royal Academician of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Modern Times - responding to chaos, a survey of drawings and film from the 20th and 21st century, will be showing concurrently in Gallery 1. The De La Warr Pavilion is a Modernist icon for contemporary art situated a pebble's throw from the beach in Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex. This magnificent Grade One listed building has welcomed over half a million visitors since re-opening in October 2005 after a major £9 million refurbishment and redevelopment.  As well as being one of this country's architectural landmarks, it also has an enviable reputation as home to some of the best contemporary art on the international circuit today, exhibited in two beautifully restored galleries. Fresh, locally-sourced food is served in our first floor restaurant overlooking the sea.  Or you can sit in the café/bar or outside on the balconies for a drink and home-made snack from 10am- 5.30pm. There is also a breathtaking roof-top terrace where you can linger to take in the panoramic view. Visit : http://www.dlwp.com/default.aspx

Metropolitan Museum of Art announces Augustus Saint-Gaudens Exhibition Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:37 PM PST NEW YORK, NY - Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) was a French-Irish immigrant who became the greatest American sculptor of his day. From humble roots, through his prodigious talent, he rose in society, eventually counting some of America's most influential people in art and literature, diplomacy and economics, technology and social policy among his friends and clients. The collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art contains nearly four dozen works by the accomplished artist, representing the entire range of his oeuvre, from early cameos to innovative painterly bas-reliefs to character-penetrating portrait busts and statuettes derived from his public monuments.

Jean Dubuffet Solo on View at The Langen Foundation Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:36 PM PST   Neuss, Germany - "There's no art without drunkenness," remarked Jean Dubuffet about his art, in which both the materials and the styles are subject to constant change. The son of a wine dealer, already after gaining his school leaving certificate he started studying painting, but then found his way into his father's vocation. Only in 1942, at the age of 41, did he turn thoroughly to art and become one of the most important stimuli for art in the twentieth century. On exhibition1 February through 24 May, 2009.

The William Benton Museum of Art Shows "The Art of Dr. Seuss" Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:35 PM PST Storrs, CT.- The William Benton Museum of Art is proud to present a retrospective of works by "America's favorite illustrator," a small but comprehensive exhibition of rare original works by Ted Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss. This engaging collection showcases some of his earliest sketches of the Cat in the Hat and Horton the Elephant, and shows how his iconic and beloved characters evolved during his lifetime. The exhibition includes published illustrations, political cartoons, sketches, drawings, sculpture, prints, and whimsical paintings created in the artist's later years, along with panels, labels and music from some of the most popular animated treatments of "The Grinch," "Horton Hears a Who," "Seussical," and "Gerald McBoing Boing." The Art of Dr. Seuss brings together loans from private collections and Animazing Gallery in New York. "The Art of Dr. Seuss" is on view at the museum. Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Theodor Robert and Henrietta (Seuss) Geisel. Geisel attended Springfield's Classical High School, and entered Dartmouth College in fall 1921 as a member of the Class of 1925. At Dartmouth, he joined the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and the humor magazine Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern, eventually rising to the rank of editor-in-chief. While at Dartmouth, Geisel was caught drinking gin with nine friends in his room. As a result, Dean Craven Laycock insisted that he resign from all extracurricular activities, including the college humor magazine. To continue work on the Jack-O-Lantern without the administration's knowledge, Geisel began signing his work with the pen name "Seuss". His first work signed as "Dr. Seuss" appeared after he graduated, six months into his work for The Judge where his weekly feature Birdsies and Beasties appeared. Geisel was encouraged in his writing by professor of rhetoric W. Benfield Pressey, whom he described as his "big inspiration for writing" at Dartmouth. After Dartmouth, he entered Lincoln College, Oxford, intending to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in English literature. At Oxford, he met his future wife, Helen Palmer; he married her in 1927, and returned to the United States without earning a degree. He began submitting humorous articles and illustrations to Judge, Life, Vanity Fair, and Liberty. The July 16, 1927 issue of the The Saturday Evening Post published his first cartoon under the name Seuss. He became nationally famous from his advertisements for Flit, a common insecticide at the time. His slogan, "Quick, Henry, the Flit!" became a popular catchphrase. Geisel supported himself and his wife through the Great Depression by drawing advertising for General Electric, NBC, Standard Oil, and many other companies. In 1935, he wrote and drew a short-lived comic strip called Hejji. In 1937, while Geisel was returning from an ocean voyage to Europe, the rhythm of the ship's engines inspired the poem that became his first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street! As World War II began, Geisel turned to political cartoons, drawing over 400 in two years as editorial cartoonist for the left-leaning New York City daily newspaper, PM. Geisel's political cartoons, later published in Dr. Seuss Goes to War, denounced Hitler and Mussolini and were highly critical of non-interventionists ("isolationists"). His cartoons were strongly supportive of President Roosevelt's handling of the war, combining the usual exhortations to ration and contribute to the war effort with frequent attacks on Congress (especially the Republican Party), parts of the press (such as the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune and Washington Times-Herald), and others for criticism of Roosevelt, criticism of aid to the Soviet Union, investigation of suspected Communists, and other offenses that he depicted as leading to disunity and helping the Nazis, intentionally or inadvertently. In 1942, Geisel turned his energies to direct support of the U.S. war effort. First, he worked drawing posters for the Treasury Department and the War Production Board. Then, in 1943, he joined the Army and was commander of the Animation Dept of the First Motion Picture Unit of the United States Army Air Forces, where he wrote films that included Your Job in Germany, a 1945 propaganda film about peace in Europe after World War II, Our Job in Japan, and the Private Snafu series of adult army training films. While in the Army, he was awarded the Legion of Merit. Our Job in Japan became the basis for the commercially released film, Design for Death (1947), a study of Japanese culture that won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950), which was based on an original story by Seuss, won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film. After the war, Geisel and his wife moved to La Jolla, California. Returning to children's books, he wrote many works, including such favorites as If I Ran the Zoo, (1950), Horton Hears a Who! (1954), Horton Hatches the Egg (1954), If I Ran the Circus (1956),The Cat in the Hat (1957), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957) and Green Eggs and Ham (1960). Although he received numerous awards throughout his career, Geisel won neither the Caldecott Medal nor the Newbery Medal. Three of his titles from this period were, however, chosen as Caldecott runners-up (now referred to as Caldecott Honor books): McElligot's Pool (1937), Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1939), and If I Ran the Zoo (1950). Dr Seuss also wrote the musical and fantasy film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, which was released in 1953. The movie was a critical and financial failure, and Geisel never attempted another feature film. During the 1950s he also published a number of illustrated short stories, mostly in RedBook Magazine. Some of these were later collected (in volumes such as The Sneetches and Other Stories or reworked into independent books (If I Ran the Zoo). A number have never been reprinted since their original appearances. In May 1954, Life magazine published a report on illiteracy among school children, which concluded that children were not learning to read because their books were boring. Accordingly, William Ellsworth Spaulding, the director of the education division at Houghton Mifflin who later became its Chairman, compiled a list of 348 words he felt were important for first-graders to recognize and asked Geisel to cut the list to 250 words and write a book using only those words.  Spaulding challenged Geisel to "bring back a book children can't put down." Nine months later, Geisel, using 236 of the words given to him, completed "The Cat in the Hat". It retained the drawing style, verse rhythms, and all the imaginative power of Geisel's earlier works, but because of its simplified vocabulary could be read by beginning readers. The Cat in the Hat and subsequent books written for young children achieved significant international success and they remain very popular today. Geisel went on to write many other children's books, both in his new simplified-vocabulary manner (sold as Beginner Books) and in his older, more elaborate style. The Beginner Books were not easy for Geisel and reportedly took him months to complete. Geisel died of throat cancer on September 24, 1991, following several years of poor health, in San Diego, California. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered. On December 1, 1995, four years after his death, UCSD's University Library Building was renamed Geisel Library in honor of Geisel and Audrey for the generous contributions they made to the library and their devotion to improving literacy. The William Benton Museum of Art has a proud past, a vibrant present and an exciting future. The Benton opened officially in 1967, but its roots go back to the early twentieth century and the days of the Connecticut Agricultural College, which evolved into the University of Connecticut. The building that housed the original Museum was constructed in 1920 and served as The Beanery,? the campus' main dining hall until the mid-1940s. The small, elegantly designed College Gothic structure, with its gracious sculpture garden, is among the core campus buildings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Museum collection traces its beginnings to College President Charles Lewis Beach who bequeathed his impressive holdings of American art to the University on his death in 1933, along with a trust fund for future acquisitions. It was President Beach's intent that the collection "instill and cultivate an appreciation of works of art in the student body of the College and in such other persons as may avail themselves of said collection." This original collection included works by Childe Hassam, Henry Ward Ranger, Emil Carlson, Charles H. Davis, Ernest Lawson and Guy Wiggins. Since then, the Benton has added works by such renowned artists as Mary Cassatt, Thomas Hart Benton, Fairfield Porter, George Bellows, Rembrandt Peale, Georges Braque, Gustav Klimt, Edward Burne-Jones, Maurice Prendergast and Kiki Smith. In 1965, Dr. Walter Landauer, an internationally recognized geneticist and professor, gave the University 107 Käthe Kollwitz prints and drawings. In 1966, during the Presidency of Dr. Homer Babbidge, these treasures and the Beach Collection, which by then included works by such well-known artists as Mary Cassatt, George Bellows and others, found a home at the Museum later named in honor of prominent Connecticut Senator and University trustee William Benton. His family generously donated to the Museum some of his sizable collection of Reginald Marsh paintings and works by other important 20th century American artists. Today the Museum has an exceptionally fine collection of more than 5,500 works including paintings, drawings, watercolors, prints, photographs, and sculptures. The future is bright for the Benton with the new addition including the Evelyn Simon Gilman Gallery, new and refurbished galleries and lecture areas, an elegant Members Lounge, Café Muse, and The Store. This expansion serves to enhance the Benton's reputation as a museum of significance, a vital part of the University environment, and an important art venue in the Northeast. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.thebenton.org

The Clark Art Institute Acquires Important Album of Prints By J.M.W. Turner Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:34 PM PST   WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute announced the acquisition of a nineteenth-century collector's album of prints from J.M.W. Turner's Liber Studiorum, or Book of Studies. Widely considered to be Turner's "visual manifesto" on the art of landscape, the Liber Studiorum had an enormous influence on artists in the nineteenth century. The new acquisition makes its Clark debut in a special installation, Claude, Turner, Constable: Sir Edwin Manton and the British Landscape. The Liber Studiorum purchase was made possible by a generous donation from the Manton Foundation.

Brigitte Kowanz in Retrospective at MUMOK in Vienna Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:33 PM PST VIENNA.- The Brigitte Kowanz retrospective is a part of a series of exhibitions that the MUMOK is putting on dealing with internationally successful Austrian artists. With the consistent depiction of light and language Kowanz's work is an exception, in both a local and international context. This is the first time that her varied and complex oeuvre from 1984 up to the present has been honoured to this extent with a presentation of representative wall pieces, installations, and interventions in architectonic space. The essential elements of her current creative work are compressed into an intensive light-space experience in a 450 m² 'mirrored hall'. During the exhibition encounters with Kowanz's work in public space have been made possible by two light projects - one on the façade of the MUMOK and one on the Uniqa Tower. On view through 3 October.

Christie's Offers Exceptional Vintage Photographs from the Miller-Plummer Collection Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:32 PM PST NEW YORK, NY..- This fall Christie's Photographs sales will feature The Miller-Plummer Collection of Photographs at Rockefeller Center on October 8. Offered as a single-owner sale and comprising 118 lots, the collection is distinguished for its range and depth from vintage masterpieces to modernist prints, all of impeccable quality. A unique opportunity for collectors around the world, the collection will be offered at a range of attractive estimates starting from $2,000. Harvey Shipley Miller and Randall Plummer began collecting photographs in 1973. Amassed over 20 years, this comprehensive collection was inspired by a commitment to assemble a discerning, encyclopedic ensemble of seminal works that exemplify the history and practice of the medium. Regarded as one of the leading private photography collections in the world, it is characterized for its major early works and represents a veritable survey of photographs that were pivotal to the development and evolution of photography.

"Frames / State of the Art" Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:31 PM PST COPENHAGEN - A forgotten chapter of art history is given new life in a new, major book from Statens Museum for Kunst. The first of its kind, the book offers an in-depth, colourful introduction to the history – in terms of art as well as of ideas – of the picture frame from medieval times to the present. The book is published to tie in with the current, critically acclaimed exhibition Frames. State of the Art at Statens Museum for Kunst.

Animazing Gallery in SoHo Features New Works of Daniel Merriam Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:30 PM PST New York City - The renowned prince of Imaginary Realism, Daniel Merriam returns to Animazing Gallery to autograph copies of his 3rd book, 'Taking Reality by Surprise'. The book-signing took place at Animazing Gallery in Soho, New York on April 16th, before an exhibtion of new works by the artist opens to the public on April 17th.  The exhibition will run until May 15th 2011. 'Taking Reality by Surprise' is a complete catalogue raisonné in a 276 page hardcover coffee-table format book with an astonishing collection of artwork. Daniel Merriam's imagination is unsurpassed in a world where playfulness and beauty are everything. The accompanying exhibition, also called 'Taking Reality by Surprise' is a collection of new works that mark the Artist's fifth year with Animazing Gallery in SoHo as well as the title of the book. "After publishing prints of my works over the years, and being surrounded by countless proofs of my images, I could no longer resist the temptation to play around with them; with paint and brush in hand, I decided to rework the images in my life's portfolio. The foundation of these works is a pigmented print on primed canvas, usually printed lighter than the original. I stretch the canvas on a large easel and begin to paint over it with numerous layers of acrylic paints and glazes. The piece is finished when I arrive at the new vision I have for it. I may later stretch a canvas of the same image again and try a different approach. The process takes a full day and is exhausting, but the end result is invigorating because I have been able to take such risks with my imagery, and something unique has unfolded. Had I performed this by re-creating a new original of this scale each time, it would have taken me several lifetimes to complete. Thank you for indulging my whims and I hope you enjoy these large scale works." - -  Daniel Merriam Widely renowned as one of the world's best watercolorists, Daniel Merriam emerged on the art scene in his early 20's, and has captured the hearts and curiosity of collectors worldwide. Merriam's published works and books are in many important private collections and museums. His paintings were introduced to Europe in a museum exhibition that traveled from Denmark to the Netherlands and Nice. In May 2008 his paintings were showcased with Salvador Dali's in a surrealist exhibition in Sedona, Arizona. Original paintings, bronzes and graphic work by Daniel Merriam are permanently showcased at Animazing Gallery in SoHo, New York and within the Chateau Belcastel in France. Born in 1963 in a rural town in Maine, Daniel Merriam is one of seven artistic children. He taught himself to paint at a very young age, and used his art as a method of reflective play throughout his childhood. Merriam studied mechanical and architectural design at Central Maine Vocational Technical Institute. While still in school, he applied his dimensional skills and passion for architecture to his family's design and construction business. He first turned professionally to the field of architectural design, where his illustrations received numerous awards including several Broderson Awards, a New England Scholastic Press Association Award, and an Honorary Masters of Human Letters from the University of New England in recognition of the potential social contribution of his work. Merriam's true passion always remained painting the expression of his own inner vision. In 1986, Merriam shifted his focus solely to fine art, and later that year had his first solo exhibition in Maine. Since then, his exhibitions throughout the United States have been lauded and achieved critical acclaim. In 1998, Monarch Editions published 'The Art of Daniel Merriam: The Impetus of Dreams', which captured selections from a decade of the artist's work. In 2005 the book was inducted into the permanent archives of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In 2006, 'Eye of the Dreamer' was released, by the same publisher, and has also been included in the library of New York's Society of Illustrators. Merriam's work is displayed in many public collections including The Riverside Museum of Art in California, The Gesundheit! Institute in Virginia and the Manhattan Club in New York. Merriam has painted covers for books by Paula Volsky and Neal Barrett Jr., as well as for international literary journal, The Mid-American Review. The artist's work was used for the playbill of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare produced by the Tony® Award-winning McCarter Theatre in New Jersey. Merriam's paintings were recently acquired for the corporate collection of Merrill Lynch. A SoHo landmark since 1984, Animazing Gallery offers a unique collection of art that indulges the senses and emotions with color, playfulness and beauty. Paintings, sculpture, American illustration, and vintage animation created by some of the most talented and innovative artists of our time are showcased in our New York gallery and within the exhibition halls of the Château de Belcastel in France. Artists & studios represented by the gallery  include Dr. Seuss, Charles M. Schulz, Maurice Sendak, Daniel Merriam, Tim Burton, Tom Everhart, Disney, Warner Bros., Ralph Bakshi, Bill Watterson, D.C. & Marvel Comics, Hanna-Barbera, and many more. Animazing Gallery is located in SoHo, New York and within the Chateau de Belcastel in Aveyron France. Visit the gallery's website at ...  http://www.animazing.com

Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review" Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:29 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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