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

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• Egon Schiele's Works from the Albertina on view at Munich's Kunstbau
• The Reynolda House Museum of American Art Shows Modern Masters from the Smithsonian
• Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum Reopens in December After Refurbishment
• The Royal Academy Presents "Contemporary Prints from RA Editions"
• The Farnsworth Art Museum Shows "Beyond Rugs!"
• The San Diego Museum of Art Shows "Mexican Modern Painting from the Andrés Blaisten Collection"
• Tha Agora Gallery Features Contemporary Russian Art
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art Displays ~ Art of the Royal Court
• Paintings from 1967-1975 by Mark Greenwold at DC Moore Gallery
• Kunsthalle Bielefeld Exhibits Works from the Bischofberger Collection
• Major Works by Klein, Doig, Kippenberger and Auerbach Lead Christie's Auction
• "The Louvre and the Masterpiece" ~ A Major Exhibition Opens at MIA in 2009
• BANKSY WORKS IN DEMAND AT BONHAMS' VISION 21 SALE
• LACMA hosts Four BMW Art Cars by Warhol, Stella, Lichtenstein, & Rauschenberg
• Philly’s Comix Pioneer R. Crumb at UArts Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery
• Harvard Analysis Casts Doubt on Works Said to Be Pollocks
• Valencian Institute of Modern Art exhibits Nelson Leirner & Albuquerque Mendes in a Joint Work
• Frank Stella 1958 at Wexner Center for the Arts
• Phillips Collection to Display Masterworks from The Allen Memorial Art Museum
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

Egon Schiele's Works from the Albertina on view at Munich's Kunstbau Posted: 02 Dec 2011 11:08 PM PST MUNICH.- Egon Schiele is one of the most popular modernist artists, who stands like almost no other for the close relationship between an artist's work and life. His early tragic death, his turbulent friendship with his model Wally, and the Neulengbach affair, in which he was imprisoned for twenty-four days in 1912 for allegedly seducing a minor, have all led to ongoing public interest in his private life. His best-known works have therefore often been seen in terms of this narrow focus on the autobiographical – nudes of young women showing their sex in provocative poses, and seemingly pathological self-stylization. On view 3 December 2011 - 4 March 2012. This exhibition in the Kunstbau of the Lenbachhauses opens up a new perspective on the work of this expressionist artist, by for the first time addressing Schiele's philosophical view of the world. A large selection of watercolours and drawings from the Vienna Albertina – the world's most significant collection of Schiele's works on paper – makes it possible to present all the fundamental themes of his art. These show Schiele's independent stance on important debates of his time, with his interest in the crisis of the individual around 1900 a major feature. This exhibition thus focuses on crucial aspects of Schiele's intellectual world, going beyond grouping his works by their motifs alone. It addresses questions of identity, Schiele's understanding of his role as a artist, and his thoughts on processes of perception, in which the influence of Japanese coloured woodcuts – hitherto unresearched – played a key role. By contrasting works of art with excerpts from Schiele's poetical writings, his interest in these themes in various media is made apparent, and new and unusual perspectives on his pictures are revealed. Schiele's self-portraits, for example, must be seen as attempts to comprehend the self as variable, an aspect which the artist also considered in several poems, and which coincides with contemporary ideas of shifting identity. This is not a vain turn to one's own psyche, but a form of sensitivity towards various external impetuses that becomes clear in Schiele's work. There is also an historical reason for this Egon Schiele exhibition in the Lenbachhaus. In spring 1912 the Munich gallery owner Hans Goltz organized two simultaneous exhibitions. One of these was devoted to the Blue Rider (second exhibition, Black-White), and the other to Schiele. This was his first solo show abroad. Nearly one hundred years later the Austrian artist is again a guest in Munich, now in the Lenbachhaus, where he again is very close to the Blue Rider. Egon Schiele June 12, 1890  – October 31, 1918 was an Austrian painter. A protégé of Gustav Klimt, Schiele was a major figurative painter of the early 20th century. His work is noted for its intensity, and the many self-portraits the artist produced. The twisted body shapes and the expressive line that characterize Schiele's paintings and drawings mark the artist as an early exponent of Expressionism.

The Reynolda House Museum of American Art Shows Modern Masters from the Smithsonian Posted: 02 Dec 2011 10:53 PM PST Winston-Salem, North Carolina.- The Reynolda House Museum of American Art is proud to present "Modern Masters from the Smithsonian American Art Museum" on view through December 31st. The exhibition features 43 key paintings and sculptures by 31 of the most celebrated artists who came to maturity in the 1950s. "Modern Masters" examines the complex and varied nature of American abstract art in the mid-20th century through three broadly conceived themes that span two decades of creative genius—"Significant Gestures," "Optics and Order" and "New Images of Man." The decades following World War II were stimulating times for American art. While some vanguard artists began to paint or sculpt in the 1930s as beneficiaries of WPA-era government support, other immigrant artists fled to the United States as Nazi power grew in Germany. A few artists were highly educated; others left school at an early age to pursue their art. Working in New York, California, the South and abroad, these artists blended knowledge gleaned from the old masters and modernists Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse with philosophy and ancient mythology to create abstract compositions that addressed current social concerns and personal history.

Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum Reopens in December After Refurbishment Posted: 02 Dec 2011 09:53 PM PST Exeter, UK.- On December 15th, Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) reopens after a multi-million pound refurbishment with the galleries, facilities and services expected of a truly modern museum. Key to RAMM's project is the way the developed museum will engage with people. The displays aim to do more than re-present the collections, they intend to stimulate thoughts and ideas, seek opinions and contributions, start conversations and encourage debate, making the Royal Albert Memorial Museum home to a million thoughts. When it reopens, RAMM will be inviting people to come together in a comfortable, social space and to engage in a dialogue with the collection and with each other. Visitors will be able to experience the splendour of the original Victorian spaces and to see newly-revealed architectural features. Improved services will make a visit to RAMM more comfortable and a new entrance will allow access from Northernhay and Rougemont Gardens. RAMM's fabulous new displays will do more than represent its collections. They aim to stimulate thoughts and ideas, seek opinions, start conversations and encourage debate.

The Royal Academy Presents "Contemporary Prints from RA Editions" Posted: 02 Dec 2011 09:14 PM PST London.- The Royal Academy is pleased to present "Contemporary Prints from RA Editions" in the Sir Hugh Casson Room for Friends of the Royal Academy through March 8th 2012. This exhibition will present a selection from the RA Editions portfolio of contemporary, limited edition prints by Royal Academicians, graduates and associates.Since 2009, internationally renowned artists have been invited into the RA Schools workshops to make new prints alongside some of the most promising postgraduate art students in the country. It is this uniquely stimulating environment and the bringing together of established and emerging artists within the Schools which makes the RA Editions co-publications so special.

The Farnsworth Art Museum Shows "Beyond Rugs!" Posted: 02 Dec 2011 09:13 PM PST Rockland, Maine.-  The Farnsworth Art Museum is proud to present "Beyond Rugs!", on view at the museum through February 5th 2012. The exhibition is organized by guest curator Mildred Péladeau, author of 'Rug Hooking in Maine 1838-1940', and Farnsworth Assistant Curator Jane Bianco, and is on display in the museum's Crosman Gallery. A design by the innovative modernist, Marguerite Zorach, will introduce selections of artists from throughout the country who set the pace today with hook and fiber. "Beyond Rugs!", which follows last year's successful "Rug Hooking in Maine and Beyond", explores the way the traditional art of hooking is evolving. No longer destined for the floor, hooked rugs today may be wall hangings, sculpture, or components of mixed media.

The San Diego Museum of Art Shows "Mexican Modern Painting from the Andrés Blaisten Collection" Posted: 02 Dec 2011 08:57 PM PST San Diego, California.- The San Diego Museum of Art is pleased to host the exhibition "Mexican Modern Painting from the Andrés Blaisten Collection", on view through February 19th 2012. With the collection's tremendous selection of modern art by many of Mexico's most noted painters, the Andrés Blaisten Collection is one of the premiere collections of twentieth-century Mexican art. Visitors to the Museum will experience a selection of 80 paintings dated between 1907 and 1956, including those from María Izquierdo, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Rufino Tamayo, which offer a diverse representation of Mexican modernism.This exhibition was organized by the Phoenix Art Museum and The San Diego Museum of Art in cooperation with the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México. Additional curatorial support for the exhibition's presentation in San Diego has been provided by Amy Galpin, Project Curator, and Julia Marciari-Alexander, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs at The San Diego Museum of Art.

Tha Agora Gallery Features Contemporary Russian Art Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:12 PM PST New York City.- The Agora Gallery is pleeased to present "The Pursuit of Excellence: an Exhibition of Contemporary Russian Art" on view through December 20th, with an opening reception. The Pursuit of Excellence: an Exhibition of Contemporary Russian Art showcases the work of talented Russian artists whose astounding creations will stir the minds and the hearts of all those who embrace the vitality and wonder that defines these works of art. Courageously facing the reality of the world, yet presenting an inspiring view of what it could be, these artists will leave their mark on all who view their work. Featured artists include; Ivan Erastov , Dmitri Freund , Tamara Grizjuk , Eugeniya Infelicina , Igor Nelubovich , Igor Petrov , Valery Zharkih and Mikhail Zhirmunsky . Ivan Erastov's passionate oil on canvas works reference a number of world issues, among them ecology, over-consumption, energy, war, cataclysm and epidemic. Using the poetic immediacy of color and form to speak to the source of our shared humanity, Erastov addresses the search for a pure source of energy with painterly precision. Abundant use of color paired with a cleverly executed surrealist vernacular creates a powerful visual narrative for a global shift in consciousness.  Adopting simple symbols - often valves, pipes or other conduits – the artist paints the 'limitation of consciousness' in relationship to the harmony of nature, man and the universe. Erastov's cogent optical strategy and his stalwart use of symbolism allow these intensely chromatic, carefully composed portraits to imbue new life into timely cultural issues. Born in 1980 in Moscow, Russia, Ivan Erastov studied art at the Moscow Humanitarian Academy under the tutelage of T.D. Chistyakova. He currently lives and works in Ryazan, Russia. The dramatic, symbolic compositions of American painter Dmitri Freund are borne of a rich confluence of interests, experiences and traditions. His extensive musical training remains evident in the rhythmic silhouettes and patterns of his skylines and landscapes, with their melodic bursts of light. He cites the influence of Russian icon paintings on his work, though it also often evokes 19th century Symbolism and early-20th century American realism, and his palette tends toward bold Fauvist tones. Yet out of these varied precedents, Freund finds new expression in his allegorical compositions. His oil paintings alternate between Edenic nature scenes with exquisite patterns layered into their lush vegetation, and dramatic cityscapes where rows of towering buildings conjure a bustling, overwhelming urban experience. Whether these canvases are optimistic or ominous, Freund imbues them with a brightness that remains defiantly hopeful. His sense of composition and way of harnessing vision echoes the images' brilliance; Freund continually directs our eyes upwards, towards the light, in a kind of devout viewing ritual. There is a bold dichotomy present in Russian artist Tamara Grizjuk's abstractions, a powerful balance delicately poised between colorful, sharply angular shapes and the sensitive, atmospheric softness of the brushstrokes. Moving away from archaic, ethnic motives and the theme of Siberian identity, Grizjuk creates art of freedom and form, focused solely within her bold and enigmatic aesthetic senses. These paintings in oil on canvas draw viewers inward, inviting contemplation into their mysterious vision and meaning. "Painting has always brought me great joy. I find it the best way to communicate my ideas and feelings," she explains. "I use color, rhythm and composition as the most important elements of constructing a canvas." The result is something that expresses a sense of powerful energy, as the artist's state of mind is transformed into a synthesis of color and shape. Tamara Grizjuk was introduced to art watching her father, painter Nikolai Grizjuk, at work in his studio. Now a respected artist in her own right, she has exhibited extensively throughout Russia, Europe, and China. Adroitly nimble in style and subject, Russian painter Eugeniya Infelicina imbues her canvases with a fresh, intoxicating blend of expressionism and Realism.  Muted colors, electrified in hue, grace her canvases, intoxicating the viewer in their subtle totality. Curvilinear, amorphous shapes twist and outline human passions and emotions through poetic visual lexis. Form and color join to articulate universally felt sentiments, creating a global harmony within one canvas. Rousing long forgotten childhood memories and joys, Infelicina sparks an infectious bliss within us, fostering an inherent pleasure of life. Courageous in experimental formalism, combining Henri Matisse -like realism with Pablo Picasso -esque abstractionism, her work exudes a learned sensitivity towards the themes and subjects familiar to a collective audience of young and old, civil and strange. And yet, Infelicina gently acknowledges a delicate sadness innate in human life. In this way the work speaks to the nuances of human experience and emotion. Born in Moscow in 1976, Eugeniya Infelicina enjoyed a successful professional career before dedicating her life and work to painting. Her work has received wide critical acclaim. Bold colors pervade the works of Russian-born painter Igor Nelubovich, startling us with their ethereal beauty. Artistic since early childhood, Nelubovich creates rich, vibrant parallel realities that come alive through his startlingly luscious use of whimsical realism. Using his extensive professional experience as an architect, the artist dexterously builds structured, precise compositions in nuanced, textured brushstrokes. Tempting the edge of abstraction, he blends the marvels of his imagination with the tactile wonders of the tangible world. Through his works, Nelubovich seeks to illuminate otherworldly sensations that are imbedded in the everyday, banal moments of our lives. "I create compositions which bear in themselves an inexplicable sense or are simply decoratively beautiful - laconic, as graphics sometimes turn into a sign, a symbol," he says, describing how his works transform the prosaic into the deeply poetic and poignant. Born in Gorky, Russia, Igor Nelubovich studied at the Gorky Art School, and has been a professional artist for more than twenty years. He has exhibited his paintings worldwide. Igor Petrov's dynamic abstractionism, an unusual and winning style the artist has termed 'space logism,' deals with pictorial space on the basic principle that matter flows from the particular to the general. Creating literal 'mosaics' of time and space, each inch of the composition features energetic and colorful currency for visual perception. Naming Russian analytical-realist Pavel Filonov as an important influence, Petrov's highly saturated and rhythmic oil on canvas works address logic and emotionality, movement and rest, perfection and infinity.  Academically trained as a realist painter, Petrov has also tried his hand at Surrealism and Suprematicism. Nearly half a decade ago he turned to lines, movement, structure and interpositionality as an abstraction of time and space, something that makes him stand out among his national contemporaries. His works explore the overlap between the personal and universal cosmic law. Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Igor Petrov has had five solo exhibitions to date. Dreamscapes of abstraction emerge from Russian artist Valery Zharkih's brushstrokes, bringing to life a visual world of serenity and calm that cannot help but soothe both body and soul. Infused in the richness of the artist's pigments is a positive and uplifting message of healing, a sense of well-being designed to improve viewers' lives. Working in oil on canvas, Zharkih explores issues of color, texture, and form with an invigorating freedom. With a sweeping spiritual energy, the atmospheric hues softly blend and flow with light and motion. Born in a small mining town in southern Russia, Zharkih's life's work has been a career in medicine. This was the original inspiration for pursing art, initially as a hobby, through the realization of its beneficial and therapeutic effects for patients. Self-taught in both oils and watercolors, Zharkih creates works which touch viewers on an emotional and physical level, bringing comfort and a sense of wholeness through art. Russian painter Mikhail Zhirmunsky describes his mixed media paintings as his way of creating art that "simultaneously evokes horror and euphoria." His compositions are certainly exhilarating, and startling in the sheer number and vivacity of visual stimuli each contains. He layers various materials, like different sorts of paper, cloth and board, most marked with numerous paints — oil, acrylic, gouache and distemper among them. The results of these complex processes are similarly hybrid paintings, with figurative, expressionist, text and abstract elements vying for dominance of the visual field. Most pieces feature a border of metallic paint, creating a porous frame within the work that wild brushstrokes of bright colors often spill into, just as bits of covered compositions peek out from under superimposed cloth and paper layers. Bold text sits alongside abstract patterns, partially concealing distorted figurative scenes, collaged shapes and mysterious details. The overall effect is arresting, dizzying, yet mysterious, the layering of multiple images into each stunning piece piquing viewers' interest and provoking their imagination. The late Miki Stiles, MFA established Agora Gallery in 1984 to provide an opportunity to artists who are entering the New York art market. As an artist she faced many hardships while attempting to exhibit her art and wanted to help her fellow artists in their struggle. Ms. Stiles was a visionary who founded the gallery on the principle that all artists, particularly emerging artists, are in need of enhancing their artist biographies/CV through gallery representation and exhibitions, in order to advance their artistic careers. Today Agora Gallery is a fine art gallery located in the heart of New York City's Chelsea art galleries district, close to the Chelsea Museum of Fine Art and the DIA Center for the Arts (map and directions). The gallery is famous for showcasing a spectacular array of talented artists from around the world and around the corner, and for providing quality and original art to a discerning collector base. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.agora-gallery.com

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Displays ~ Art of the Royal Court Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:12 PM PST New York City - The Italian term pietre dure – literally meaning "hard stone" – refers to the artistic cutting of semiprecious stones, such as agate, lapis lazuli, and other colorful hardstones, to fashion extravagant luxury objects, from architectural ornament and furniture to ornate display items and personal jewelry.  Opening July 1 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the landmark exhibition Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from the Palaces of Europe will feature more than 170 masterpieces in carved stone, many of them embellished with gold and silver mounts or decorated with exotic woods and other coveted materials. From the Renaissance to the early 19th century, the affluent societies of Europe were mesmerized by works in pietre dure, both as diplomatic gifts and as objects of desire.  The presentation at the Metropolitan will offer the most comprehensive overview ever dedicated to this magnificent medium.  On view through 21 September, 2008.  Works of art in pietre dure were cherished highlights of many of the royal treasuries that eventually evolved into Europe's most renowned museums.  Art of the Royal Court will feature unique objects that have never been seen in America and have rarely left the museums and palaces to which they belong. Indeed, several examples come from private rooms in palatial settings and are seldom seen by the public. Treasures from the Medici collection, today at the Palazzo Pitti, the Galleria degli Uffizi, and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure (Florence), will be shown alongside stunning examples from the Louvre (Paris), the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), and the Imperial Habsburg collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the state apartments in the Hofburg (Vienna). Also on view will be masterpieces from the Royal Collection of Her Majesty, the Queen of England, that have never before left Buckingham Palace; the Imperial Russian Lapidary Manufactories, today preserved at the State Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg); the presidential suite at the Quirinale Palace (Rome); and the Green Vault at the Royal Palace (Dresden). The Metropolitan Museum's own superb holdings will be represented by more than a dozen works, including the monumental and sumptuous Farnese Table, after a design by Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola for one of the state rooms at the Farnese Palace. Crafted from various marbles, alabaster, and polychrome hardstones, this tour-de-force incorporating sculpture and decorative arts will be shown in the Museum's Italian Renaissance Gallery.   Exhibition Overview The exhibition will be arranged both geographically – according to the center of production – and chronologically. Historical antecedents from the ancient and the medieval world will be shown in an introductory gallery.  Some of the objects in the exhibition will be displayed next to their corresponding design drawing. An actual 18th-century workbench and tools will also be on view. Already highly developed in ancient Rome, the demanding practice of pietre dure enjoyed a spectacular revival in the Renaissance and throughout the Baroque period.  Patronized principally by several princely courts in Italy – mainly those in Florence, Milan, and Papal Rome – pietre dure reached its first pinnacle in the 16th century due to the interest of Grand Duke Ferdinando I de' Medici of Tuscany in decorating architecture with precious and semi-precious stones.  His esteem for these materials led to the foundation of the Grand Ducal workshop, the Galleria dei Lavori, founded in 1588 in Florence and still in operation today as the Opificio delle Pietre Dure.  The elaborate pietre dure panels on the Metropolitan Museum's Barberini cabinet – illustrating Apollo and animals from Aesop's fables – were crafted in the Florentine court workshop in the early 17th century. The cabinet was made for Maffeo Barberini, who became Pope Urban VIII.  The ambition of other princely dynasties to emulate the stylish appearance of Florentine pietre dure is a testament to the great prestige and widespread fame of the stunning works produced by the legendary court workshop. Indeed, the fashion for hardstone objects and decorative panels led to the establishment of similar workshops in Prague, Augsburg, Paris, Madrid, St. Petersburg, and other artistic centers. While Italian hardstone artifacts continued to enjoy broad appeal during the 17th and 18th centuries, the remarkable inventions of the northern European workshops earned their own reputation. In some instances, stones were selected for their color or rarity, but occasionally the choice was due to the healing, mystical, or religious connotations ascribed to them. Lapis lazuli – available during the Renaissance only from quarries in present-day Afghanistan – was treasured both for its scarcity and for its resemblance to the sky. (The pyrite inclusions were thought of as twinkling stars.) Thus, a lapis flask – such as an example made in 1583 for the Medicis after a design by Bernardo Buontalenti and embellished with gold, gilded copper and enamel mounts – would have ranked as a luxury item of the highest degree (Museo degli Argenti, Florence).  Chrysoprase (a light green variety of chalcedony) was believed to be effective against gout, and this certainly influenced the design of the ca. 1765 diamond-studded chrysoprase snuffbox, once owned by Frederick the Great, King of Prussia – a sufferer from gout (The Gilbert Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London). Among the latest pieces in the exhibition will be a monumental malachite bowl that rests on the wings of three fantastic gilded bronze female figures. This bravura design is by Andrei Voronikhin, one of Russia's foremost architect-designers, in the years around 1800. Now in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum, it was once the crowning treasure of the collection of Count Alexander Stroganoff. Catalogue and Related Programs The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue. Published by the Metropolitan and distributed by Yale University Press, the book will be available in the Museum's book shops ($65 hardcover). The catalogue is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Friends of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. Visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art : www.metmuseum.org

Paintings from 1967-1975 by Mark Greenwold at DC Moore Gallery Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:12 PM PST NEW YORK, NY.- Beginning March 17 through 17 April, DC Moore Gallery presents Mark Greenwold Secret Storm: Paintings 1967-1975. This provocative exhibition brings together, for the first time, controversial early paintings made between 1967 and 1975, as well as watercolors and drawings from the period. A catalog including an interview with the artist by Alexi Worth accompanies the exhibition. The six paintings in the show have been virtually un-exhibited, and their overwhelming size, bubblegum palette, and overtly sexual subject matter will surprise even those familiar with Greenwold's more recent, small-scale paintings of friends and family members in unsettling scenarios.

Kunsthalle Bielefeld Exhibits Works from the Bischofberger Collection Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:12 PM PST BIELEFELD, GERMANY - On Sunday, March 13, 2011, the Kunsthalle Bielefeld will open its newest exhibition, The 80s Revisited: The Bischofberger Collection II. This show marks the apex of our two-part presentation of works by the most important painters of the 1980s, on loan from the private collection of Swiss art dealer Bruno Bischofberger.While the first part focused mainly on works by young German and Italian artists, the second part concentrates on major figures from the New York art scene. Andy Warhol is represented by numerous works, as is Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, George Condo, David Salle, Mike Bidlo, and Miquel Barceló. The "Collaborations" by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, and Andy Warhol (which Bischofberger began commissioning in 1984) will also be shown. Here, the differences and similarities among the artists are particularly obvious.

Major Works by Klein, Doig, Kippenberger and Auerbach Lead Christie's Auction Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:12 PM PST LONDON.- Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale will take place on 11 February 2010 at 7pm, and will offer 52 lots with a total pre-sale estimate of £26,290,000 to £38,260,000. The auction will represent a broad spectrum of art from the last 60 years and is highlighted by an important core group of works from the early 1960s including the masterpiece Relief éponge or (RE47II), one of only two gold sponge reliefs ever created by Yves Klein (estimate: £5 million to £7 million), alongside a further important work by the artist, ANT 5, and together with major paintings by Peter Doig, Martin Kippenberger, Raqib Shaw, Neo Rauch, Frank Auerbach, Andy Warhol, and Nicolas de Staël among others.

"The Louvre and the Masterpiece" ~ A Major Exhibition Opens at MIA in 2009 Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:12 PM PST   MINNEAPOLIS, MN - The Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) announced that it will host "The Louvre and the Masterpiece" from October 18, 2009 through January 10, 2010. This exhibition is presented by U.S. Bank and features works of art drawn from all eight of the Musée du Louvre's departments, spanning 4,000 years. Organized by the Musée du Louvre and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the exhibition will premiere at the High from October 12, 2008, through September 6, 2009.

BANKSY WORKS IN DEMAND AT BONHAMS' VISION 21 SALE Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:11 PM PST   London - Eleven artworks by the renowned artist, Banksy soared way over estimate in the Vision 21 sale at Bonhams in Knightsbridge – 24 October 2007. The prices achieved reinforces the artist's ongoing popularity and strength in the contemporary art market. Bonhams specialist of the Vision 21 sale, Gareth Williams says, "Today's results demonstrate that prices for Banksy's work continue to go from strength to strength, and Bonhams are proud to remain at the forefront of this market. Perhaps the most incredible aspect of the Banksy phenomena is neither his meteoric rise, nor the substantial sums of money that his art now commands, but that as a self-confessed guerilla artist, he has been so wholeheartedly embraced by the very establishment he satirizes. We are sure that this irony is not lost on today's buyers." In August 2004 Bansky was in the news again after designing and unveiling a six meter satirical bronze statue, protesting towards the British Legal System. The statue was unveiled to a crowd of several hundred admirers at Clerkenwell Green, London. The location was significant as it once housed the largest courtroom in the country and also because Banksy had previously been arrested there. It was modeled as a modified version of the statue of Justice from the Old Bailey and depicted the female figure in a state of undress; her up lighted robe revealing suspenders, a thong, a garter stuffed with American dollars and a blindfold. A statement was read out by MC Dynamite on Banksy's behalf: "It's the most honest depiction of British justice currently on display in the capital," Banksy said. "I hope it stays there for good." The three and a half ton statue was removed two days later with a crane by the council for health and safety reasons. In the short time that was stood in the square, the sword had been removed by an admirer. When Banksy later reclaimed the statue from the council, footing the bill for its removal, he was also keen to retrieve the missing sword. The present lot was a gift to its previous owner, in thanks for his assistance with the return of the sword. Not only is it a unique work, having the inclusion of the sword in the stencil design and the inscription to the rear, it also represents both a highly personalized and humorous account of the above event. 'Lenin on Rollerskates (Who Put the Revolution on Ice?)', 2003 red stencilled signature to side of canvas, inscribed '10/25/2003/ Thanks Mate/ Banksy' to rear, spray paint stencil on canvas, in perspex frame 40 x 40cm (15 3/4 x 15 3/4in)...Estimate: £20,000-30,000....Fetched: £48,000 'Balloon Girl', 2003 signed on the overlap, also numbered 12/25 to the reverse, spray paint stencil on canvas 40.5 x 40.5cm (15 15/16 x 15 15/16in)......Estimate: £20,000-30,000... Fetched: £57,600 'Avon and Somerset Constabulary' Stenciled, spray paint and oil on canvas ...Estimate: £60,000-80,000.... Fetched: £96,000 Also an important and extensive collection of photographs of the renowned artist, 'Francis Bacon and his Circle', shot by British photographer Peter Stark in the early 1970's sold for £36,000. The collection comprises ninety-two 35mm colour transparencies, mostly in 'Camera Press' slide mounts, fourteen gelatin silver prints and nine 36-exposure rolls of 35mm black and white film negatives cut-up into strips and sleeved. A manuscript letter, dated 30th November 2005, signed by the photographer, confirming his ownership of the 'complete copyright of these shots' as well as his 'absolute right to transfer the copyright' also accompanies this lot. The photographer and poet Peter Stark (born 1943) was casually acquainted with many of the artists, writers and media personalities who formed a key part of the Soho scene in the late 1960's. Around this time Stark met Francis Bacon, who was a fan of his poetry, and this meeting led to an opportunity to photograph the artist. The photographs in the sale were shot over a period of three weeks in the early 1970's at the artist's studio at Reece Mews, as well as at some of Bacon's favourite haunts in and around Soho - The Colony Rooms, the Yorkminister Arms (affectionately known as 'The French') and 'Wheelers' fish restaurant. Also featured are many of the personalities central to Bacon's social life, including Muriel Belcher, the owner of the Colony Rooms, who appears in several of Bacon's portraits. The artist later ordered five hundred prints from the collection and used two of the photographs as the basis for two self portraits, both painted in 1973. On Bacon's death, many of these prints were found scattered on the floor of his studio. This sale also included work by P Caulfield, J & D Chapman, P Doig, L Fontana, S Lucas, T Frost, Gilbert & George, A Gormley, D Hockney, A Micallef, J Opie, L Milroy amongst others. Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America and in August 2003, Goodmans, a leading Australian fine art and antiques auctioneer with salerooms in Sydney, joined the Bonhams Group of Companies. Today, Bonhams is the third largest and fastest growing auction house in the world with a global network of offices and regional representatives providing sales advice and valuation services in 20 countries. It offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further 10 throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston in the USA; and Switzerland, Monaco, and Australia. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of more than 40 Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com

LACMA hosts Four BMW Art Cars by Warhol, Stella, Lichtenstein, & Rauschenberg Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:10 PM PST LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) presented an installation of BMW Art Cars designed by Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg in early, 2009. The unique cars were on view in the BP Grand Entrance, an admission-free area of the museum's campus. LACMA is the first U.S. venue in a major worldwide tour of the cars; they next appeared in New York City's historic Grand Central Terminal, before heading to a three-city museum tour in Mexico.

Philly’s Comix Pioneer R. Crumb at UArts Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:09 PM PST Philadelphia, PA - With coarse humor and keen satire, the irreverent and subversive works of Philly guy R. Crumb come home for their first Philadelphia one-person exhibition, My True Inner Self.  One of the most influential artists of the Underground Comix movement, Crumb is often compared to Durer, Brueghel and Goya.  His sexualized, sexist, anarchistic and perverse drawings have influenced generations of artists from Philip Guston, Oyvind Fahlstrom and Mike Kelley to today's wheatpasters and manga artists.  New York's Paul Morris Gallery and private collectors provided the show's works, which range from small sculptures to self portraits to notebooks full of observational sketches, all from the early 1960s through 2000.

Harvard Analysis Casts Doubt on Works Said to Be Pollocks Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:08 PM PST New York Times - A yearlong scientific analysis by the Harvard University Art Museums of three paintings discovered in 2003 and considered to be possible works by Jackson Pollock has found that some of the pigments used in the paints were not patented or commercially available until long after Pollock died in 1956.

Valencian Institute of Modern Art exhibits Nelson Leirner & Albuquerque Mendes in a Joint Work Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:07 PM PST VALENCIA, SPAIN - The internationally renowned artists Nelson Leirner and Albuquerque Mendes are presenting a joint work that establishes a dialogue between two related cultures, two ways of understanding the transcendence of life. This experience, originating from an exchange of letters between the two artists, has culminated in a grand project which includes over a hundred works. Miniature figures, wooden boats, portraits of saints, paintings and drawings all question the meaning, governing principles and impact of rituals in the installations that feature in the show. On view through 26 April, 2009 at Institut Valencià d'Art Modern.

Frank Stella 1958 at Wexner Center for the Arts Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:06 PM PST Columbus, OH - Zeroing in on a single year, 1958, in the career of influential American artist Frank Stella, the touring exhibition Frank Stella 1958 is at the Wexner Center.  On view until December 31, 2006, this tightly focused exhibition brings together 18 works from this period of tremendous experimentation and productivity, and provides new insight into Stella's career and his development as an artist in the year following his graduation from Princeton University.  The paintings, with their radiant fields of stripes and color, preceded Stella's famous Black paintings that he began at the end of that year and set the course for much of what was to follow in his career (the show does include three of the early Black paintings).  Also in the exhibition is one work owned by the Wexner Center.

Phillips Collection to Display Masterworks from The Allen Memorial Art Museum Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:05 PM PST WASHINGTON, DC.- Illustrating its unconventional approach to displaying art, The Phillips Collection will present loosely themed groupings of some of its own masterworks with 25 masterpieces from Oberlin College's Allen Memorial Art Museum. Half of the 24 paintings and one sculpture on loan from the Allen are old masters, dating from the 16th to the 18th centuries. They include rare works by painters of the British, Dutch, Flemish, French, German, Italian, and Spanish schools. The other Allen pieces are important modern works of the 19th and 20th centuries. Oberlin extended the opportunity to display some of its treasures to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and to the Phillips while the Allen is closed for renovations. Side by Side: Oberlin's Masterworks at the Phillips, opens September 11, 2010, and runs through January 16, 2011. Side by Side highlights defining features of The Phillips Collection: displays that combine works of different periods, nationalities, and styles, and constant rearrangement of the collection to reveal new affinities between works of art. This approach started with its founder, Duncan Phillips (1866–1966), who viewed the history of art as a continuing series of conversations between artists and works. "Duncan Phillips was interested in showing modern art's historical roots," says Phillips Director Dorothy Kosinski. "That is why he bought an El Greco, a Goya, and a Giorgione. Early on, he hoped to have examples of work by several other old masters, including Rubens, who is represented in this selection from Oberlin. Having these truly wonderful works from Oberlin is a special opportunity to expand the context of our own collection and modern art in general." The Allen's Rubens, The Finding of Erichthonius (1632–33), illustrating a story from Ovid's Metamorphoses, will be shown with the Phillips's radiant and enchanting Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880–81), Pierre-Auguste Renoir's great impressionist summary of modern life. Renoir is known to have copied works by Peter Paul Rubens, and in the second half of his career, when Renoir turned away from impressionism, he again looked to Rubens for inspiration. Other works in this part of the exhibition are by artists in The Phillips Collection who frequented the Louvre and copied works of art in it, including Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas, and Ferdinand-Victor-Eugène Delacroix. Other highlights among the old masters in Side by Side include one of the most important examples of northern baroque painting in the United States, Hendrick ter Bruggen's Saint Sebastian Tended by Irene (1625); The Fountain of Life, a superb 16th-century painting probably painted in Spain after a work by Jan van Eyck; and Joseph Wright of Derby's night scene Dovedale by Moonlight (c. 1784–85). Oberlin's modern holdings include works by Alberto Giacometti, Barnett Newman, Pablo Picasso, and Mark Rothko. Landscape is a strong suit at the Phillips, and many works on loan from the Allen play to this strength. Several, like Wright's, show the world at night: Giuseppe Cesari's The Agony in the Garden (Christ on the Mount of Olives) (1597–98) and Pier Francesco Mola's Mercury Putting Argus to Sleep (1645–55). Christ's angelic vision illuminates Cesari's painting, but in the paintings by Mola and Wright, the light source is the moon. These nocturnal scenes find numerous echoes in The Phillips Collection, where silvery moonlight gleams in paintings such as Arthur Dove's Me and the Moon (1937) and George Inness's Moonlight, Tarpon Springs (1892). Joseph Mallord William Turner's shimmering View of Venice: The Ducal Palace, Dogana and Part of San Giorgio (1841) is one of the outstanding landscape offerings from Oberlin. Like his rival John Constable, represented in The Phillips Collection by On the River Stour (1834–37), Turner had a powerful effect on modern landscape painting. Claude Monet, an artist who was profoundly influenced by him, is represented in the Allen's works by Garden of the Princess, Louvre (1867). Painted from a window at the Louvre, with a high vantage point, and a distinctive vertical format, the painting is one of the artist's first views of the city. In a spatially complex composition, looking across an empty expanse of garden, the artist shows a bustling, tree-lined embankment of the Seine, a slice of river, and a cityscape beyond. The painting represents a much earlier stage in Monet's development than The Road to Vétheuil (1879) and Val-Saint-Nicholas, near Dieppe (Morning) (1897), owned by the Phillips. Among other modern landscapes on view in Side by Side, Paul Cézanne's Viaduct at L'Estaque (1882) from the Allen adds another dimension to the rich imagery of the south of France, represented at the Phillips by strong holdings of landscapes by Pierre Bonnard, Cézanne, and Vincent van Gogh, among others. A display of portraits will include one of the most dramatic works in the exhibition, the Allen's Self-Portrait as a Soldier (1915), by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Kirchner painted himself in the uniform of his artillery regiment, his eyes vacant and without pupils, a cigarette dangling from his lips, and his right hand horrifyingly amputated. Painted when Kirchner was recuperating from illness and unfit for active duty, this searing portrait expresses the artist's terror in the face of war. The Phillips's uncompromising Cézanne self-portrait of 1878–80 will hang nearby as will Oberlin's Michiel Sweerts's Self-Portrait (1656). Historic New York school works from the Allen will hang immediately outside the Rothko Room: Mark Rothko's The Syrian Bull, Adolph Gottlieb's The Rape of Persephone, and Barnett Newman's Onement IV. In 1943, The Syrian Bull and The Rape of Persephone were exhibited at the Third Annual Exhibition of Modern Painters and Sculptors. In response, Edward Alden Jewell from the New York Times used these paintings to criticize the incomprehensibility of recent modern art. Within five days, Gottlieb, Rothko, and Newman wrote a challenge to Jewell that in turn set the aesthetic and cultural themes for the New York school. Visit The Phillips Collection at : http://www.phillipscollection.org/

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:04 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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