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

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• The Corey Helford Gallery Presents New Works by Ron English
• Bonhams To Auction Warhol, Richard Hamilton, and Basquiat in London
• The New Clyfford Still Museum Opened on November 18th in Denver
• Fred Torres Collaborations Features New Work by Gretchen Ryan
• Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris Shows a Retrospective of Jean-Paul Goude
• German artist Sabine Hornig's "Through the Window" at Pinakothek der Modern
• Alice Springs Photographs ~ Helmut Newton's Wife ~ at Kestnergesellschaft
• Christie's in London offers Rare and Rediscovered Russian Works of Art
• The Ulster Museum in Belfast Celebrates "The Queen: Art and Image"
• Jack Rutberg Fine Arts Hosts a Survey Exhibition ~ "Hans Burkhardt: Within & Beyond the Mainstream"
• The Walt Disney Company to Acquire Marvel Entertainment for $ 4 Billion
• Major Collection of Modern & Contemporary German Art Donated to Harvard Art Museum
• The CAC Malaga Opens "Paintings from the Last Decade of Work by Guillermo Pérez Villalta"
• Latin America: A Theme Auction to be Held at Phillips de Pury & Company in NY
• Our Editor Visits The Magnificent Belvedere Palaces In Vienna, Austria ~ A World Of Breathtaking Art & Architecture
• Landmark Exhibition on Buckminster Fuller at The Whitney Museum of American Art
• National Gallery of Denmark Celebrates 200th Anniversary of Nicolai Abildgaard
• Indonesian Painter ~ Nyoman Masriadi at Paul Kasmin Gallery
• National Gallery of Ireland shows 'Hugh Douglas Hamilton: A Life in Pictures'
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

The Corey Helford Gallery Presents New Works by Ron English Posted: 26 Nov 2011 10:31 PM PST Culver City, California.- The Corey Helford Gallery is proud to present "Ron English: Seasons In Supurbia" on view at the gallery from November 19th through December 10th. This highly anticipated solo exhibition features original new works by Ron English, renowned street artist and master pop surrealist painter. Considered one of the most prolific artists of our generation, English is the father of POPaganda, a term he coined to define his signature mash-up of high and low cultural touchstones, from superhero mythology to totems of art history, creating a visual language of evolution. Recognized for his stunning technique and inventive use of color, English's artistic presence continues to evolve from illegal street murals to movie screens, where he is crowned "the Greatest Living Artist" in Morgan Spurlock's 2011 film "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold." For his first solo exhibition with Corey Helford Gallery, English captures intimate moments in suburban life — dosed with a cocktail of subversive visuals, consumer culture, and POPaganda politics. In this series the artist explores the inability of the 21st century oversaturated American soul to distinguish between political realities and pop culture illusions, constructing doll-house depictions of comic-contrived reality to compete against global belief systems. In short: Suburban Surrealism. Many of English's archetypal characters serve as denizens of Supurbia, including MC Supersized, the corpulent fast-food spokesman, Hulk Baby, the oversized Enfant Terrible, Combrats, the child soldiers, sexualized cowgirls, alien rabbits, proletariat turtles, sad sacks and sinister Grins. Outside, grazing the lawns of Supurbia, are herds of Camo Deer, with coats of camouflage that change with the seasons, protecting them from the hunter's scope while preserving them like a romantic memory from the last days of baby boomer youth. "Seasons In Supurbia" features 18 new paintings, including the original poster artwork for Pearl Jam's recent Vancouver performance. The exhibition follows English 101, English's print, toy and sculpture show at Post No Bills in Venice, California that runs from October 6 through 30. The opening reception for "Seasons In Supurbia" takes place on Saturday, November 19, 2011 at Corey Helford Gallery and is free and open to the public. The exhibition will be on view through December 10, 2011. One of the most prolific and recognizable artists alive today, New York-based painter and street artist Ron English has bombed the global landscape with unforgettable images, on the street, in museums, in movies, books, television, and album covers. In addition to his fine art painting, English is widely considered a catalytic figure in the advancement of street art away from traditional wild-style lettering and into clever statement and masterful trompe l'oeil based art. Creating illegal murals and billboards that blend stunning visuals with biting political, consumerist and surrealist statements, English has hijacked public space worldwide for the sake of art. Featured in the hit movies "Supersize Me" and "Exit Through the Gift Shop," English has also made numerous television appearances worldwide. He is the subject of the 2006 award-winning documentary, "POPaganda, the Art and Crimes of Ron English" and the 2009 documentary "Abraham Obama." His work resides in the permanent collections of Rome's Museum of Contemporary Art (MACRO), Paris' Museum of Modern Art, and others. He is prominently featured in every major book about Street Art and has produced several art books, including "Popaganda," "Son of Pop," "Abject Expressionism," "Lazarus Rising," and "Abraham Obama." Ron English continues to create art that propels unstated cultural norms just beyond the bounds of comfort into a disconcerting realm simultaneously hilarious and terrifying. Located in the Culver City Art District, Corey Helford Gallery was established in April 2006 by Jan Corey Helford and her husband, television producer and creator, Bruce Helford (The Drew Carey Show, George Lopez, The Oblongs). Passionate art collectors, the Helfords are producers on the art documentary The Treasures of Long Gone John and have partnered to open their first gallery. Corey Helford Gallery presents a wide range of artists, from members of the new fine art movement, such as Ron English, Josh Agle (SHAG), Buff Monster, COOP, Natalia Fabia, Korin Faught, Sylvia Ji, Eric Joyner, Chloe Early, Ray Caesar, and award-winning photographer Chris Anthony, to early Modernist William S. Schwartz. Renowned for its notable exhibitions, the gallery has presented "Charity By Numbers," which was co-curated by Gary Baseman and featured an unprecedented lineup of artists including Mark Ryden, Marion Peck, Shepard Fairey, Todd and Kathy Schorr, Camille Rose Garcia, and Michael Hussar, as well as "La Noche de la Fusion," an epic Carnivalesque festival and solo exhibition for Pervasive artist Gary Baseman. In 2010, Corey Helford Gallery partnered with Bristol's City Museum & Art Gallery for the transatlantic collaboration "Art From The New World," a world-class United Kingdom museum exhibition showcasing work by a formidable group of 49 of the finest emerging and noted American artists. Corey Helford Gallery presents new exhibitions approximately every four weeks. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.coreyhelfordgallery.com/

Bonhams To Auction Warhol, Richard Hamilton, and Basquiat in London Posted: 26 Nov 2011 09:43 PM PST LONDON.- Two trial proofs for Andy Warhol's iconic image of a dollar sign are for sale at Bonhams Print sale on 29 November in London. The signed prints, estimated at between £15,000- 20,000, date from 1982 - just five years before the artist untimely death - and are based on paintings executed the year before. They are among the most obvious representations of the link he often drew between art and money, underlined by the high prices paid for them by collectors at the time and ever since. Other works by Warhol in the sale include a fine "Campbell's Soup 1: Pepper Pot" (est £7,000-10,000); 'Mao' at £15,000-20,000 and 'Skull' at £10,000-15,000. The Bonhams sale itself takes place on Tuesday 29 November.

The New Clyfford Still Museum Opened on November 18th in Denver Posted: 26 Nov 2011 09:31 PM PST Denver, Colorado.-  The Clyfford Still Museum opened its doors to the public on November 18th, reintroducing the life and work of one of America's most significant yet least understood artists. The new museum, which houses 94% of Clyfford Still's total creative output, allows the public to explore the full trajectory of the artist's 60-year career for the first time, including his rarely seen figurative works from the 1930s, paintings from the 1960s and 1970s created after Still's retreat from the commercial art world, and the hundreds of works on paper that the artist created, often on a near-daily basis. The museum's collection of approximately 2,400 paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures, the majority of which have never been on public display before, provides an unprecedented opportunity to reflect on the full scope of Still's legacy and his profound influence on American art.

Fred Torres Collaborations Features New Work by Gretchen Ryan Posted: 26 Nov 2011 08:51 PM PST New York City. Fred Torres Collaborations is proud to present "Gretchen Ryan: Cheers In Heaven", on view through January 7th 2012. "Cheers in heaven" will feature new paintings, drawings and photographs by the Los Angeles based artist. This is Ryan's second solo exhibition with the gallery. Gretchen Ryan creates portraits of young girls--often beauty pageant contestants. Many of the girls Ryan has followed over the years have transitioned from the pageant circuit to competitive cheerleading, inspiring Ryan to move in this new direction. Inspired by Baroque illusionistic ceiling painting, mythological, and spiritual themes, Ryan set eleven girls within a photo shoot utilizing smoke machines, lighting, and fans to create the effect of placing them in the "Heavens." Ryan's idea was to literally elevate the girls as if seen from the earth below. The resulting photographs, such as Three Graces, are dramatic visions in which the girls show off their routines, expressing their confidence and skills, but also their vulnerability and mutual support. In other works, like "The Messenger", Ryan transforms the photographs into the realist paintings and drawings for which she is known. Throughout these works Ryan explores notions of innocent beauty, as well as the objectification and precocious sexuality that sometimes accompanies such competitions.

Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris Shows a Retrospective of Jean-Paul Goude Posted: 26 Nov 2011 08:25 PM PST Paris.- Les Arts Décoratifs is pleased to present "Goudemalion: Jean-Paul Goude a Retrospective" on view at the museum until March 18th 2012. The exhibition marks the first time that Jean-Paul Goude's work has been exhibited in a major solo show in Paris and provides a retrospective of the artist's creative vision and oeuvre encompassing all his areas of activity, from fashion and photography to advertising and the live event. His entire forty-year career will be retraced in the nave at Les Arts Décoratifs, featuring his drawings, objects, music, films and photographs. Conceived as a large installation, the exhibition will of course evoke the Bicentenary of the French Revolution. Visitors will be welcomed in the reception hall by one of the gigantic waltzing ladies that caused such a sensation in the 1989 parade, then discover the monumental locomotive in the middle of the nave, installed on conveyor belt surrounded by numerous drawings.

German artist Sabine Hornig's "Through the Window" at Pinakothek der Modern Posted: 26 Nov 2011 08:09 PM PST MUNICH.- Sabine Hornig, born in 1964, is one of the most internationally celebrated German artists of her generation. Her photographic and sculptural work, created at the crossroads between photography, sculpture and site-specific installation, is both artistically independent and artistically unconventional at once and makes a vital contribution to our understanding of photography as a contemporary art form. At the heart of the show, which has been created in close collaboration with the artist herself, is the 'Windows' work group, begun in 2001 and which now comprises some fifty large-scale photographs, several of which featured in a show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2003. The artist constantly re-examines the subtle relationship between picture and space, between image and reality, as seen in the context of the windows of vacated shopfronts in the Berlin district of Mitte.

Alice Springs Photographs ~ Helmut Newton's Wife ~ at Kestnergesellschaft Posted: 26 Nov 2011 07:50 PM PST HANNOVER, GERMANY - In a comprehensive show entitled "People", the Kestnergesellschaft presents around 150 works taken over the past 40 years by the photographer Alice Springs (b. 1923 in Melbourne, proper name June Newton, née June Brown). Using the pseudonym Alice Springs, Helmut Newton's wife began to develop her own photographic oeuvre in 1970. Although international stars take centre stage in the Kestnergesellschaft show, Alice Springs' friends and acquaintances also feature centrally. The exhibition is a joint venture in conjunction with the Helmut Newton Foundation, Berlin. The featured list of artists, actors and musicians photographed by Alice Springs reads like a veritable "Who's Who" of the international cultural scene on both sides of the Atlantic over the past four decades.

Christie's in London offers Rare and Rediscovered Russian Works of Art Posted: 26 Nov 2011 07:28 PM PST LONDON.- On 28 November, Christie's will present an exceptional auction, offering the strongest selection of Russian paintings and works of art on the market this season. The sale will offer rediscovered treasures by many of the most celebrated artists in the field, including Natalia Goncharova, Vasily Vereshchagin, Boris Grigoriev, Filipp Maliavin and Alexander Volkov. This selection is led by Vasily Vereshchagin‟s undisputed masterpiece Crucifixion by the Romans offered on behalf of the Brooklyn Museum and by two pairs of exquisite vases produced by the Imperial Porcelain Factory under Emperor Nicholas I. The sale will also feature over forty works of art by Fabergé, many distinguished by their rare Imperial provenance. Highlighted by masterpieces of tremendous importance and scale, the sale brings together outstanding examples of Russian art, much of which is appearing on the market for the first time in decades.

The Ulster Museum in Belfast Celebrates "The Queen: Art and Image" Posted: 26 Nov 2011 07:05 PM PST Belfast, Northern Ireland.- The Ulster Museum is proud to present "The Queen: Art and Image", on view at the museum until January 15th 2012. To mark The Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the National Portrait Gallery Created this innovative touring exhibition bringing together 60 of the most remarkable and resonant images of Elizabeth II spanning the 60 years of her reign - some on public display for the first time. "The Queen: Art and Image" will tour to British venues before being shown in London in 2012. From Cecil Beaton and Annie Leibovitz to Pietro Annigoni and Andy Warhol , "The Queen: Art and Image" will be the most wide-ranging exhibition of images in different media devoted to a single royal sitter. Formal painted portraits, official photographs, media pictures, and powerful responses by contemporary artists will be shown in an exhibition which explores both traditional representations and works which extend the visual language of royal portraiture. Documenting the changing nature of representations of the Monarch, the exhibition will show how images serve as a lens through which to view shifting perceptions of royalty. This perspective reflects changes in the social scene and historical context, and the exhibition highlights important developments and events: from The Queen's relationship with the press and the miners' strike, to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the advent of new technology. This textured view of the period is supplemented by archival material – from newspapers to film footage, postage stamps to consumer ephemera. Among the highlights from the works from life are Annigoni's hugely popular life-size 1969 commission for the National Portrait Gallery , Lucian Freud 's 2000-01 portrait from the Royal Collection and Justin Mortimer 's painting where The Queen's head floats away from her body against a huge background of flat vibrant yellow. Among the exhibited photographers for whom The Queen sat are Annie Leibovitz, Dorothy Wilding and Cecil Beaton - including his iconic Westminster Abbey Coronation image - and Chris Levine 's highly unusual photograph from 2004 of The Queen with her eyes closed. "The Queen: Art and Image" will show a significant selection of unofficial portraits of the British monarch from major 20th century artists including those of Gilbert and George , Andy Warhol and Gerhard Richter , as well as less formal portraits by such photographers as Eve Arnold , Patrick Lichfield and Lord Snowdon . Collectively, the exhibition celebrates and explores the startling range of artistic creativity and media-derived imagery that The Queen has inspired. It also probes the relation of this imagery to a world of changing values during a reign that has engaged the attention of millions. The Ulster Museum was founded as the Belfast Natural History Society in 1821 and began exhibiting in 1833. It has included an art gallery since 1890. Originally called the Belfast Municipal Museum and Art Gallery, in 1929, it moved to its present location in Stranmillis. The new building was designed by James Cumming Wynne. In 1962, courtesy of the Museum Act (Northern Ireland) 1961, it was renamed as the Ulster Museum and was formally recognised as a national museum. A major extension constructed by McLaughlin & Harvey Ltd to designs by Francis Pym was begun in 1962 and opened in 1964. It is in the Brutalist style, praised by David Evans for the "almost barbaric power of its great cubic projections and cantilevers brooding over the conifers of the botanic gardens like a mastodon". Since the 1940s, the Ulster Museum has built up very good collection of art by modern Irish, and particularly Ulster-based, artists. In 1998, the Ulster Museum, which includes Armagh County Museum , merged with the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and the Ulster-American Folk Park to form the National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland. In July 2005, a £17m refurbishment of the museum was announced, with funding coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL, usually pronounced as 'Dee-Kal'). Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.nmni.com

Jack Rutberg Fine Arts Hosts a Survey Exhibition ~ "Hans Burkhardt: Within & Beyond the Mainstream" Posted: 26 Nov 2011 06:59 PM PST Los Angeles, CA - Hans Burkhardt's (1904–1994) expansive career and influence in L.A. are the focus of a survey exhibition of paintings and drawings entitled "Hans Burkhardt: Within & Beyond the Mainstream" at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts from September 24th through December 24th. The exhibition, part of the October 1 inauguration of the Getty's initiative 'Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945 – 1980", opens with a preview reception on Saturday, September 24th. Arriving in L.A. in 1937, following his association with Arshile Gorky, whose studio he shared in New York from 1928-37, Burkhardt represented L.A.'s earliest and most critical link to the New York School. The exhibition will also juxtapose Burkhardt's works with contemporaneous reviews and rare archival documentation spanning more than six decades. Included in the exhibition are important paintings shown in his first solo exhibition at the Stendahl Gallery, and his first museum exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum in 1945, which the L.A. Times called an exhibition of "…dynamic power…a striking transfer of feeling into form." Following that museum exhibition, Burkhardt was both critically celebrated and "censored," as his works proved controversial in the years leading up to the McCarthy Era, when modern artists in L.A. were seen as Communist threats. Particularly controversial were his anti-war paintings and Hollywood studio strike paintings, including his "indictment" of then, Screen Actor Guild head, Ronald Reagan. "Less incendiary" subjects also proved controversial, such as his Crucifixion Series – condemned for his use of red color and abstract style, regarded as subversive; examples of which are included in the exhibition. Works of the 1950s onward were hugely influential to young artists emerging onto the scene. Artists ranging from Ed Kienholz, John Altoon and Karl Benjamin to Tony Berlant, Michael C. McMillen etc, were impacted by Burkhardt's independent and provocative works, as he received extensive critical recognition. In the 1950s alone, Burkhardt had an impressive 23 solo exhibitions including a 10 year Retrospective at the Pasadena Art Museum, as well as museums in the U.S., Mexico and the Sao Paulo Biennale. In the 1960s Burkhardt was the subject of museum retrospectives at San Diego Art Institute and San Diego Museum of Art and afforded a 30 year retrospective exhibition at the Santa Barbara Museum, San Francisco's Palace of the Legion of Honor and Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. Also shown in the Rutberg exhibition will be Burkhardt's profound anti-war paintings of the 1960s and 70s, reacting to the Vietnam War, prompting art historian Donald Kuspit to cite: "Burkhardt is the master - indeed the inventor of the Abstract Memento Mori." Throughout these years, Burkhardt taught at numerous schools; among them: USC, UCLA, Choinard, Otis, and CSUN where his influence was profound. The reactive and prescient nature of Burkhardt's work is evident in the exhibition, through the earliest anti-war subjects dating as early as 1938 through his final painting included in this exhibition dating 1993. His Graffiti Series of the early 1980s shows Burkhardt to have been among the earliest responses to graffiti art. In 1992 Hans Burkhardt received the American Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award. Hans Burkhardt was born in 1904 in Basel, Switzerland. He arrived in New York in 1924. When he arrived in Los Angeles in 1937, he represented the most critical link between L.A. and the New York School, as he was part of its genesis. Burkhardt lived in Los Angeles until his death in 1994. Jack Rutberg Fine Arts in Los Angeles was established in 1979 as a gallery dealing in Modern and Contemporary art. In that capacity they have acted as dealer, curator, and consultant for more than 25 years, representing a wide range of important American and European artists. Jack Rutberg hismelf has lectured extensively on a wide range of subjects related to Modern and Contemporary art in colleges and universities, including the University of California Los Angeles, California State University Northridge, Utah State University, Pierce College, Fullerton College, Orange Coast College, and Rancho Santiago College. Credited with bringing significant artists to broader public attention, Mr. Rutberg has been particularly responsible for the formidable attention afforded to the Irish contemporary painter Patrick Graham and Swiss born American painter Hans Burkhardt (1904-1994). Both artists are represented internationally by Jack Rutberg Fine Arts. Mr. Rutberg is the exclusive agent for The Hans G. & Thordis W. Burkhardt Foundation. Regarded as an authority on their works, Mr. Rutberg has on frequent occasions lectured on both artists at numerous museums. Mr. Rutberg has published extensively on the works of Hans Burkhardt. Among the many catalogues published to date on Burkhardt, Mr. Rutberg has written the catalogue raisonné, Hans Burkhardt: The War Paintings, published by Santa Susana Press, California State University Northridge. Documented are Burkhardt's paintings created in response to war, spanning the Spanish Civil War through the mid 1980's. Other publications include Hans Burkhardt: Desert Storms, Burkhardt's response to the Iraq Kuwait conflict, published in 1991, and Black Rain documenting Burkhardt's final works dating from 1993 and most recently, Hans Burkhardt: Paintings of the 1960s. In more than 29 years at its La Brea Avenue location, the Rutberg Gallery has featured exhibitions by gallery represented artists Jordi Alcaraz, Hans Burkhardt, Patrick Graham, Reuben Nakian, Ruth Weisberg, Jerome Witkin and Francisco Zuniga in addition to a wide range of solo exhibitions of major international artists: Alexander Calder, Oskar Fischinger, Sam Francis, Arshile Gorky, George Herms, Hundertwasser, Käthe Kollwitz, Georges Rouault, Edward Ruscha, Antoni Tapies, Max Weber and others. The gallery has been particularly noteworthy for its emphasis on education, presenting numerous lectures and panel discussions. Through that endeavor, Jack Rutberg Fine Arts is an important resource for established and beginning collectors, art historians, and museums internationally. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.jackrutbergfinearts.com/

The Walt Disney Company to Acquire Marvel Entertainment for $ 4 Billion Posted: 26 Nov 2011 06:58 PM PST BURBANK, CA.- Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today. Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

Major Collection of Modern & Contemporary German Art Donated to Harvard Art Museum Posted: 26 Nov 2011 06:57 PM PST   CAMBRIDGE, MA - The Harvard Art Museum announced a major gift of German art primarily since 1960 donated by the Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum. The gift comprises 50 to 75 works by contemporary artists and is being assembled under the guidance of art historian Siegfried Gohr in Germany. It celebrates the 25th anniversary of the German-based Friends group and will be donated over the coming years, with the first installment of 26 works this fall. On view through January 4, 2009 at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum.

The CAC Malaga Opens "Paintings from the Last Decade of Work by Guillermo Pérez Villalta" Posted: 26 Nov 2011 06:56 PM PST MALAGA, SPAIN - "The immediacy between thought and reality makes drawing essential for me, as is painting". Pérez Villalta's phrase offers a clear and precise summary of his artistic motivation and his methodical, intellectual and thorough approach. As a result, he has liberated himself from any restrictions on his freedom to imagine, and his creative projects and artistic investigations thus represent an ongoing quest for beauty. His works feature recurring references to Dalí's Surrealism, Oriental art, the Baroque, 1960s Psychedelia and German Romantic painting but are devoid of any realistic or expressionistic representation. They avoid affectation and psycho-analytical research in order to offer the viewer a philosophical type of painting with a considerable degree of autobiographical reference.

Latin America: A Theme Auction to be Held at Phillips de Pury & Company in NY Posted: 26 Nov 2011 06:55 PM PST NEW YORK, NY.- Phillips de Pury & Company presents LATIN AMERICA, a theme auction offering a cross section of quality works of contemporary art, design and photographs for sale on October 3rd at the company's Chelsea galleries in New York. Building on the success of our established core auctions, the theme sales are a new global program which will commence with the first theme auction NOW: Art of the 21st Century in London on September 26, 2009 (viewing date start on the 19th of September).

Our Editor Visits The Magnificent Belvedere Palaces In Vienna, Austria ~ A World Of Breathtaking Art & Architecture Posted: 26 Nov 2011 06:54 PM PST The Belvedere Palaces, as an art museum, have harbored treasures of art ever since its beginnings, at first the collections of Prince Eugene and, from 1781, extensive parts of the imperial collection, which were also open to the public. The various directors of the house resorted to numerous measures to safeguard the works of art, including the glazing of the central wing of the Upper Belvedere in the nineteenth century and extensive reconstruction in 2007. Around 1900, since no measures were being taken to build the planned new museum for the state collection of contemporary art, Austrian artists were urging an improvised accommodation of works in the Lower Belvedere. In 1903, the Moderne Galerie was indeed opened there, thus laying the foundation for today's collection. The enlargement of the Staatsgalerie to include the two palaces and director H. Tietze's restructuring of the former imperial collection. In 1923, the baroque museum was opened in the Lower Belvedere as the first part of this "restructuring". The Galerie des XIX Jahrhunderts (Gallery of the XIXth Century) was set up in 1924 in the Upper Belvedere, with works by international and Austrian artists, meanwhile the Moderne Galerie was accommodated in the Orangerie, where the monumental sculpture found an ideal setting in the adjacent large landscaped garden. During the National-Socialist regime the Moderne Galerie remained closed, which meant that the inventory of so-called "degenerate" works was untouched. New acquisitions since this period have been subject since 1998 to the provenance research department of the Belvedere. Museum operations during the post-Second World War period have been characterized by numerous new acquisitions, extensions and modernization measures. From 1991 to 1996, the Upper Belvedere underwent general refurbishment. The collection of medieval art kept in the Orangery from 1953 to 2006 and the collection of baroque works (former Lower Belvedere) are on show from spring 2008 onwards in the Upper Belvedere. Thus it is possible for the first time in its history to see all sections of the collection under one roof, ranging from the Middle Ages to the mid-twentieth century. The Lower Belvedere and the Orangery are used as the Belvedere's exhibition forum. Medieval at the Upper Belvedere: The Belvedere owns internationally outstanding works of Late Gothic sculpture and panel painting, now being shown as part of the permanent exhibition in the west wing of the Upper Belvedere. They offer an overview of the major artistic developments in the International Style from around 1400 to the early sixteenth century. The prelude to the presentation takes the shape of a sculpture gallery, with works by the Master of Grosslobming, who around 1400 was one of the leading sculptors in the International Gothic Style and probably active in Vienna. The Master of the Albrecht Altarpiece is among the most important Viennese panel painters of the next generation. His depiction of the Annunciation of the Angel to Joachim (c. 1435/50) is a remarkably early example of an artist capturing a phenomenon of light in nature. The Baroque Collection of the Belvedere left the Lower Belvedere in 2007. From spring 2008 on the most important works of Austrian Baroque are shown in the east wing of the Upper Belvedere. The works of Martino Altomonte ring up the curtain for the resplendent show of Austrian High Baroque. These works fuse impulses from Rome and Naples with the colorful fascination of the Venetians. Long years of schooling in Venice are also apparent in Johann Michael Rottmayr's The Sacrifice of Iphigenia (c. 1690/91) and the Lamentation of Abel (1692). He is known as the father of Austrian baroque painting. Among his most outstanding works are the paintings in the Stiftskirche, the monastery church, at Melk, and St Peter's and St Charles's churches in Vienna. Daniel Gran's mythological and allegorical histories, like the Apotheosis of Diana into Olympus (1732) and the Allegory of the Felicitous Government of Moravia (1743), are works from the heyday of High Baroque under Charles V1. Italian models were also obligatory for Paul Troger, the "classical" artist in Austrian baroque painting. The affecting chiaroscuro of his altarpieces accentuates the intensity of baroque piety. The sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt challenged the observer with distortion in human facial features. Works by Vincent Fischer, Lorenzo Mattielli, Karl Georg Merville and Franz Zächerle provide further remarkable encounters with the manifold facets of baroque art in Austria. The 19th century collection encompasses a wide range of masterpieces, including classicism, romanticism and Biedermeier, realism and historicism, and the art of impressionism. Classicism and romanticism are pre-eminently represented in portraits and mood landscapes, especially by Caspar David Friedrich. The Biedermeier Collection has its culmination in the paintings of Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller. The chief representative of historicism in Austria is Hans Makart. Besides examples of Austrian mood impressionism, there is a remarkable and exclusive selection of international art with works by Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. Be sure and visit the website at : http://www.belvedere.at The Upper Belvedere houses the impressive collection of Austrian art dating from the Middle Ages to the present day. At the heart of the displays of "art around 1900" is the world's largest Gustav Klimt collection. The glittering highlights are Klimt's golden pictures The Kiss and Judith I, and masterpieces by Schiele and Kokoschka. Prominent works by the French Impressionists and the outstanding collection of Viennese Biedermeier paintings. The Vienna Secession was founded in 1897 and became synonymous with Viennese art nouveau. The first significant acquisitions by the Moderne Galerie (from 1903) came from Secession exhibitions and formed the basis of the Belvedere collection. After the art of the fin de siècle found its climax in Gustav Klimt's "Golden Period", early expressionism followed, represented among others by Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele. The borderline between symbolism and Secessionism is not always easy to draw. Both trends rejected a naturalist representation of material reality. The main agenda of the symbolists was to express states of mind and soul, irrational forces, dream, ecstasy and vision. Major works of symbolism are The Evil Mothers (1894) by Giovanni Segantini, Half-figure of a Nymph (1896) by Fernand Khnopff and Awe-struckness (1900) by Ferdinand Hodler. The Secessionists wanted to redesign the whole of life artistically, transform the prosaic everyday into an aesthetic experience. Along with Gustav Klimt, Carl Moll was one of the major exponents of Secession art, as seen in works like Twilight (c. 1900). The close personal connections between the Secession and the Wiener Werkstätte led in 1902 to the Beethoven Exhibition, planned as a "temporary Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art)", for which Klimt created the Beethoven frieze. In 1905, a controversy was unleashed about the exclusion of selling activities from the Secession exhibition programme; the "Klimt Group", with Klimt and Moll at its head, left the Secession. In the same year, the "Brücke" was formed in Dresden and the " Fauves" in Paris. Aestheticism was no longer at the forefront, but the innovative, expressive message that left all academic conventions behind it. In Austria, the works of the young painter Richard Gerstl were among the earliest examples of expressionist tendencies. His painting The Sisters Karoline and Pauline Fey (1905) shows the influence of Edvard Munch. Later pictures manifest the example of Vincent van Gogh, such as the Laughing Self-Portrait (1908), which Gerstl painted shortly before his suicide. Soon afterwards, the young Oska Kokoschka shocked the Viennese public with distressingly forthright portraits. Egon Schiele, just turned twenty, painted several portraits around 1910 that were remarkable for their piercing urgency and dramatic gesture, arousing deep and disturbing associations. Max Oppenheimer also belonged to the group of early expressionists; his Klingler Quartet (1916) betrays the confrontation between cubists and futurists. A fellow artist very close to Schiele was Anton Faistauer from Salzburg, showing in his emotive Portrait of a Lady in a White Blouse (1913) a similarly unconstrained handling of colour like Anton Kolig's Portrait of the Wife of the Artists with Flowers (1913). A culmination of this expressive use of colour is seen in the work of the Carinthian painter Herbert Boeckl. His Still Life with Bottles and Fishes (1922) appears as an agitated, pastel configuration that follows its own colour and form structures. With its exhibition DYNAMICS! Cubism / Futurism / KINETICISM, the Belvedere offers a comprehensive insight into abstraction as practiced in Vienna between 1919 and 1929, in the context of European Modernism. The phenomenon of Viennese Kineticism, which has hitherto attracted little attention internationally, is presented alongside masterpieces from all over Europe, including works by František Kupka, Robert Delaunay, Fernand Léger, Carlo Carrà, and Giacomo Balla. In the early 1920s, it was particularly the students in Franz Cizek's class at the Vienna School of Applied Arts who dealt with Cubism and Italian and Russian Futurism - art styles for which, contrary to Paris or Berlin, no tradition had yet been established in Vienna. The exhibition demonstrates how rapidly and innovatively Viennese artists joined in with the European post-war avant-garde during the 1920's. A joint project by the Belvedere and the Vienna University of Applied Arts. On exhibition 10 February to 29 May 2011.

Landmark Exhibition on Buckminster Fuller at The Whitney Museum of American Art Posted: 26 Nov 2011 06:53 PM PST NEW YORK CITY - The Whitney Museum of American Art is presenting Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe, the first major American exhibition in decades devoted to the visionary mind and work of Buckminster Fuller, and the most inclusive show to date of Fuller's work. On view from June 26 to September 21, 2008, the show is co-curated by Michael Hays, Adjunct Curator of Architecture, and Dana Miller, Associate Curator at the Whitney; the curators are working in association with the Department of Special Collections of the Stanford University Libraries and with the cooperation of the Fuller family. The exhibition travels to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, in the summer of 2009.

National Gallery of Denmark Celebrates 200th Anniversary of Nicolai Abildgaard Posted: 26 Nov 2011 06:52 PM PST COPENHAGEN.- Armed with gods, mythological creatures, coarse satire and a modern social outlook, he made his art a mouthpiece for reform in a time of unrest under absolute monarchy, social injustice and stifled freedom of expression. Despite his international orientation and multifaceted, powerful life's work, Abildgaard has long stood in the shadow of his student C.W Eckersberg and the more popular and mild-mannered Golden Age painters who followed. With a solid 150 works, this exhibition at the National Gallery of Denmark, marking the 200th anniversary of Abildgaard's death is the first major presentation of Abildgaard in Denmark since 1916. On exhibition 29 August through 3 January, 2010.

Indonesian Painter ~ Nyoman Masriadi at Paul Kasmin Gallery Posted: 26 Nov 2011 06:51 PM PST NEW YORK, NY- Paul Kasmin Gallery presents the first solo exhibition in the United States of the celebrated Indonesian painter, Nyoman Masriadi. On view at the gallery's 293 Tenth Avenue space, this is Masriadi's first large-scale exhibition since his 2008 survey show at the Singapore Art Museum. On exhibition until 14 May.

National Gallery of Ireland shows 'Hugh Douglas Hamilton: A Life in Pictures' Posted: 26 Nov 2011 06:50 PM PST   Dublin, Ireland - An exhibition to celebrate one of Ireland's most accomplished portraitists of the eighteenth century, Hugh Douglas Hamilton (1740-1808) was formally opened by Dr. Martin Mansergh, TD, Minister of State with responsibility for the Arts, in the National Gallery of Ireland. Born in Dublin in 1740, Hugh Douglas Hamilton is acknowledged as one of the most accomplished portraitists of his generation. On view through the 15th of  February, 2009. Admission is free. Hugh Douglas Hamilton: A Life in Pictures  brings together 62 oils, pastels and drawings by the artist drawn from the National Gallery's collection complemented by loans from public and private collections in Ireland, US, Italy and the UK. The display features full-length portraits, magnificent allegorical paintings, albums, prints, and his trademark small oval pastel portraits. Anne Hodge, exhibition curator and editor of the accompanying catalogue to the show, says: "Though Hamilton was a popular and prolific artist during his lifetime, there has never been a major show devoted to the artist until now. This year, on the occasion of the bi-centenary of his death, we celebrate his life and work with a display of pastels, paintings and drawings which not only demonstrate his skills as an artist and businessman but also illustrate his enduring popularity as a portraitist." Born in Crow Street in Dublin, in 1740, Hamilton began his studies under Robert West at the Dublin Society Drawing School where students were given rigorous instruction based on methods of French teaching. Hamilton's facility in draftsmanship brought him to the attention of the Huguenot cartographer, John Rocque (c.1705-62) who had been commissioned by The Earl of Kildare (later 1st Duke of Leinster) to produce separate volumes of manuscript estate maps for each of the Earl's eight manors. The exhibition will show Hamilton's decorative frontispiece for the Estate atlas of the Manor of Kilkea  (1760), one of the earliest known drawings by the artist. Hamilton quickly made a name for himself in Dublin, developing close links with several important families in Ireland, especially with the La Touche banking family - a relationship which lasted throughout his career. The exhibition shows a number of portraits of the La Touche family, the earliest of which is a pastel portrait of David La Touche (1765), grandson of the founder of the Irish branch of the family. Having established himself as a leading portraitist in pastel, Hamilton moved to London around 1764 where the fashionable set flocked to have their likeness recorded by the gregarious young artist. He soon gained recognition by the Society of Artists in London where he regularly exhibited his pastels. In the early 1780s, Hamilton set off on his first sojourn of Italy receiving commissions for portraits of wealthy English and Irish travelers on their obligatory 'Grand Tour'. During his years in Italy, Hamilton began to paint in oils and his work became bolder in style and scale. Hamilton's finest works were produced for his major patron in Rome, Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry (1730-1803). His full-length oil painting of the Bishop with his granddaughter, Lady Caroline Crichton in the grounds of the Villa Borghese in Rome, was painted around 1790, and is considered one of his masterpieces of the period. During his lengthy stays in Italy, the artist cultivated lasting friendships with prominent artists including the sculptor Antonio Canova, John Flaxman, Gavin Hamilton and Henry Tresham. Hamilton returned to Dublin in 1792 by which time the city was now larger and wealthier and demand by the art-buying public had grown. Although competition for patronage had increased, Hamilton still managed to attract sitters from established Irish society. The exhibition shows examples of his later works, among them portraits of Galway landowner, Richard Mansergh St. George (1756/9-98), Richard Lovell Edgeworth MP (1744-1817); an iconic portrait of Lord Edward Fitzgerald (1763-98), fifth son of the 1st Duke of Leinster and a leading member of the Society of United Irishmen, and John Philpot Curran (1750-1815), renowned barrister and member of Grattan's party in parliament. Exhibition Curator: Anne Hodge, Curator of Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Ireland. Catalogue Edited by exhibition curator, Anne Hodge, the accompanying illustrated catalogue includes commentaries on the 62 works in the show, together with essays by Ruth Kenny (the early pastel portraits c.1760-80); Nicola Figgis (the Italian sojourn), Adrian Le Harivel (Hamilton and his rivals in the 1790s), and Louise O'Connor (Hamilton's pastel portraits, materials and techniques). Published by the National Gallery of Ireland, price €16.95 (ISBN 978-1-904288-35-0). Visit : www.nationalgallery.ie/

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 26 Nov 2011 06:49 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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