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

---

• The Musée des Augustins Shows French Genre Painting From the Revolution to the Restoration
• The Gallery at Windsor Features "Beatriz Milhazes ~ Screenprints 1996 – 2011"
• The Cartoon Art Museum Celebrates "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"
• Hermès Diamond Birkin Brings World Record Price of $203,150 at Heritage Auctions
• The Nasher Museum Presents Outsider Art From its Collection
• The Heard Museum Shows Native Artists Visions of Ceremonial Life
• The Tel Aviv Museum of Art Shows Contemporary Israeli Photography
• The Hockaday Museum of Art to Show "Sweat & Steel" by C. David Swanson
• The Model to Show Ireland's Venice Biennale Representative Isabel Nolan
• The Cleveland Museum of Art Shows Fu Baoshi's "Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution"
• Van Gogh Museum hosts Stedelijk Museum with a Fauvists and Expressionists Show
• De Young Museum presents Asian/American/Modern Art 1900-1970
• Smithsonian Institution Libraries Unveils "Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop and Turn"
• "Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe" ~ at The Dayton Art Institute
• V&A Acquires Album of James Gillray Cartoons Hidden for More than 100 Years
• Portland Art Museum opens China Design Now: A Multi-Sensory Experience
• '6 Degrees of Separation' at Edge Gallery
• Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) to Show Survey of Street Artist Shepard Fairey
• Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Celebrates Rosa Schapire's Life Work
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

The Musée des Augustins Shows French Genre Painting From the Revolution to the Restoration Posted: 08 Dec 2011 10:45 PM PST Toulouse, France.- The Musée des Augustins is proud to present "Small Theaters of the Intimate: French genre painting between Revolution and Restoration" on view at the museum until January 22nd 2012. The history of French genre painting from the end of the Ancien Regime to the Restoration of the monarchy reflected changing tastes, fashions and especially foreign influences during this very turbulent period in French history. The story of French painting between the Revolution and the Restoration is one of noise and fury that led gradually from Neoclassicism to Romanticism. But, in actual fact, and despite the upheavals of the time, the majority of paintings exhibited in the Salons were genre paintings, as if the humble activities of women, the elderly and children in the home better illustrated the times than the ancient tragedies and costumes. The greatest artists of the day, such as Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Fragonard, Marguerite Gerard, Louis-Léopold Boilly and Martin Drolling used their talents in a sentimental, humorous, colorful and uplifting portrayal of real life, or at least the image of daily life that they wanted to give. From the first hours of the Revolution, painters had to show that they stood apart from the old tastes and styles predominant under the Old Regime, and turned to other sources of inspiration. They also had to reflect the unprecedented changes that French society was going through, fashion, scientific advancements and a changing clientele meant that the artists had to keep on their toes and try to predict how fashions would change. In the 1770s, artists like Marguerite Gérard and Jean Baptiste Mallet, produced risque scenes in the Dutch vein, but by the time Napoleon was defeated and the monarchy restored, the fashion had changed dramatically, and the same painters were producing pious religious scenes. Throughout the eighteenth century Dutch paintings from the Golden Age (seventeenth) were achieving astronomical sale prices in Paris. Painters of genre scenes as Gerard Dou or Netscher Mieris were then just as well known as Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Vermeer. Under their influence, many French painters of the late eighteenth century imitated their techniques, Jean-Honoré Fragonard was extremely successful with his paintings in this style during the during the 1770s, his paintings of aristocrats at play selling well to a clientele that would all but disappear when the revolution came. After the revolution, he felt it wisest to leave Paris, and although he never again reached the heights of fame and popularity, his pupil and sister-in-law Marguerite Gerard, thrived by producing similar scenes that featured middle or working class families. The sixty paintings featured in the exhibition have been assembled exclusively from private and public collections within France. The Louvre Museum, the National Museum of the Castle Versailles, the museums of the Ville de Paris, Banque de France and major museums oin the provinces has been particularly generous. Since 1793, the Augustins museum (the Musée des Beaux-arts de la ville de Toulouse), has been located at the historical heart of the city in a remarkable former convent building characteristic of the southern gothic style. The museum is home to collections of paintings and sculptures dating from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 20th century.  The variety and richness of the works highlight the most important movements in the history of western art. Particularly rich in sculptures, the Augustins museum owns a unique collection of romanesque sculptures and has an equally superb ensemble of masterpieces representing southern gothic sculpture as well as numerous 19th century sculptures, representative of the vitality of artistic life in Toulouse. The painting collections, on a par with the great museums of France, expanded around an initial core of paintings that consisted of works confiscated during the revolution and those sent by the state, and has been enriched ever since. Alongside the masterpieces of the French and European schools of the 16th to the 18th centuries (Perugino, Guerchin, Rubens, Van Dyck, Tournier, Jouvenet, Bourdon, etc.), the museum displays a superb 19th century collection: Hennequin, Delacroix, Ingres, Corot, Courbet, Laurens, Constant. The works are presented in the sumptuous setting of the church and the chapter houses of the old Augustins convent. They can be admired also in a wing, built at the end of the 19th century based on the drawings of the famous architect Viollet-Le-Duc. This wing is composed of a monumental staircase and vast rooms with overhead lighting. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.augustins.org

The Gallery at Windsor Features "Beatriz Milhazes ~ Screenprints 1996 – 2011" Posted: 08 Dec 2011 10:28 PM PST Vero Beach, Florida.- In the first exhibition of its three-year curatorial partnership with London's famous Whitechapel Gallery, the Gallery at Windsor is proud to present "Beatriz Milhazes: Screenprints 1996 – 2011". Coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach, the exhibition will be on view through February 29th 2012. This is the first time the Whitechapel Gallery has embarked on a partnership of this kind, and provides a new US platform for the Gallery. Beatriz Milhazes is an internationally renowned Brazilian artist, whose exuberantly coloured, rhythmically constructed artworks have been exhibited worldwide. Beatriz Milhazes: Screenprints 1996 – 2011 is the first comprehensive display of the artist's bold and abstract works on paper. Central to the exhibition will be a series of screen and wood block prints Milhazes made with Durham Press in Pennsylvania during the past 15 years.

The Cartoon Art Museum Celebrates "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" Posted: 08 Dec 2011 09:59 PM PST San Francisco, California.- The Cartoon Art Museum is proud to present "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" on view at the museum through April 15th 2012. At the dawn of the 20th century, L. Frank Baum created a world of wonders that was to hold a permanent place in the culture of America: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . Then in 1904, to promote his second book, Baum, along with master cartoonist Walt McDougall, brought his famed characters to Earth in a new medium, the comic strip. Famed Oz illustrators W.W. Denslow and John R. Neill also launched their own syndicated comic strips in the early 20th Century.The Cartoon Art Museum's exhibition will include a selection of tearsheets from these talented artists: McDougall's Queer Visitors from Marvelous Land of Oz, Denslow's Father Goose and Billy Bounce, and Neill's Nip and Tuck, courtesy of historian and publisher Peter Maresca of Sunday Press. Acclaimed writer and artist Eric Shanower's first Oz comic, The Enchanted Apples of Oz, was published in 1986, beginning his 25-year (and counting!) association with Baum's characters.

Hermès Diamond Birkin Brings World Record Price of $203,150 at Heritage Auctions Posted: 08 Dec 2011 07:49 PM PST DALLAS, TX.- An exceptional Hermès Diamond Birkin, with Diamond and White Gold hardware sold for $203,150 on Dec. 6 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, setting a world record price realized for a handbag sold at public auction. The price includes a 19.5% Buyer's Premium. It was sold to a collector who wished to remain anonymous, and was part of Heritage's Luxury Accessories auction. Luxury handbags have emerged in recent years as a sought-after investment-grade collectible, bringing prices that rival certain kinds of art, comic books, coins and sports memorabilia. That a buyer was willing to come forward and bid this much on this particular piece is no surprise. "This is an extraordinary example of one of the world's most exceptional handbags," said Matt Rubinger, Director of Luxury Accessories at Heritage Auctions, "and this was certainly an exceptional price, exceeding our highest expectations at every corner."

The Nasher Museum Presents Outsider Art From its Collection Posted: 08 Dec 2011 06:51 PM PST Durham, North Carolina.- The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University is pleased to present "Angels, Devils and the Electric Slide: Outsider Art from the Permanent Collection" on view from December 10th through July 8th 2012. This installation of works from the permanent collection will complement the upcoming exhibition "Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy". Both Calder and the artists in this exhibition share the practice of incorporating found objects and unusual materials in their work. Outsider Art demonstrates the innovative strategies and imaginative visual languages that result when Outsider artists follow their irrepressible artistic impulses. It includes gifts and promised gifts from Bruce Lineker, New York, and the Rubell Family Collection, Miami.

The Heard Museum Shows Native Artists Visions of Ceremonial Life Posted: 08 Dec 2011 06:24 PM PST Phoenix, Arizona.- The Heard Museum is proud to present "The Art of Ceremony: American Indian Painting of the 20th Century" on view through September 3rd 2012. Drawn from the collection of the Heard Museum and of the Albion P. and Lynne G. Fenderson collection, the exhibition offers insight into Native artists' visions of ceremonial life within their respective communities. Ceremony has been the principal subject of American Indian easel art since the early 1900's. Whether depicting richly detailed single figures or a complex gathering, artists from many different regions have attempted to convey the power and beauty of ceremonies that are central to their lives. "Many of the works were created by people who know the ceremonies intimately," says Dr. Ann Marshall, vice president of curation and education at the Heard. "For example, looking at the regalia depicted by Tonita Peña in her work 'Animal Dancers,' it is clear that she knew exactly and in detail how each figure should be clothed. She was a remarkable artist and the only Pueblo woman painting ceremonial subjects in the early decades of the 1900's.

The Tel Aviv Museum of Art Shows Contemporary Israeli Photography Posted: 08 Dec 2011 06:23 PM PST Tel Aviv, Israel.- The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is pleased to present "Making Room: Contemporary Israeli Photography", a new ongoing exhibition which opened at the beginning of December. Most of the works in the exhibition are new acquisitions made possible by a gift from the Tel Aviv Educational and Cultural Co. The exhibition tackles the discourse about "place" – a major concern and challenge in contemporary Israeli photography – while addressing key issues in contemporary photography, related to the modes of seeing and representation that this medium makes possible. The thirty photographs in the exhibition span a variety of representations of place ranging from landscapes, through military and civilian sites, to the private domestic space and portraits of people taken in their surroundings. These spaces are depicted through a variety of photographic approaches ranging from direct photography, through some measure of digital processing (either overt or indiscernible), to photography that is the product of utter simulation.

The Hockaday Museum of Art to Show "Sweat & Steel" by C. David Swanson Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:44 PM PST Kalispell, Montana.- The Hockaday Museum of Art is proud to present "Sweat & Steel", an exhibition featuring paintings by Livingston artist C. David Swanson . The exhibition opens on January 5th and will be on display through March 10th 2012. Sweat & Steel is a series of oil paintings depicting railroad workers operating and maintaining the locomotives and cars in Livingston, Montana, combined with railroading music, poetry, literature and hands on displays of railroading artifacts. Swanson's work is reminiscent of paintings done in the tradition of the great American realists-- Edward Hopper, Charles Sheeler , and Thomas Eakins . David Swanson interprets the Western landscape in oils and watercolors.

The Model to Show Ireland's Venice Biennale Representative Isabel Nolan Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:43 PM PST Sligo, Ireland.- The Model, Sligo's contemporary arts center, is pleased to present "Isabel Nolan: A Hole Into the Future", on view from December 10th through February 12th 2012. "A Hole Into the Future" will open on Saturday, December 10th at 6pm with a reception at The Model, preceded by a public talk with Isabel Nolan and The Model's Director Séamus Kealy at 5pm as part of The Model Talks Series. The exhibition will feature sculpture, paintings and drawings, and as part of this project The Model has also commissioned a new work by Isabel Nolan, which will be erected outside The Model building. This steel sculpture will be a on long term display in the grounds of The Model and will be unveiled at the opening. This is Nolan's first solo museum exhibition. Alongside the outdoor sculpture and the show is a new publication on the artist's work from 2005 to the present. This book, Intimately Unrelated, was produced in collaboration with Le Musée d'Art Moderne de Saint-Étienne Métropole in France and includes essays on Nolan's work with contributions from philosopher Graham Harman, critic, writer and academic Declan Long, Séamus Kealy and Isabel Nolan. Nolan is a Dublin-based artist, and was one of a small number of artists who represented Ireland at the 2005 Venice Biennale, she has previously exhibited at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Beijing Art Museum of the Imperial City, De Appel and SMART, in Amsterdam, Artspace, Auckland, Le Musée d'Art Moderne de Saint-Étienne Métropole and she is represented by Kerlin Gallery, Dublin.

The Cleveland Museum of Art Shows Fu Baoshi's "Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution" Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:43 PM PST Cleveland, Ohio.-  The Cleveland Museum of Art is showcasing works of art by Fu Baoshi, a preeminent figure in twentieth-century Chinese art, in an exhibition on view through January 8th 2012. "Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution: Fu Baoshi (1904-1965)" is the first retrospective in the Western Hemisphere of the artist who revolutionized the tradition of Chinese ink painting. The exhibition reveals the process of the artist's self-discovery and personal struggle, as well as the complexity of art and politics in Republican and Communist China. Featuring 90 works on loan from the Nanjing Museum, one of the oldest and most comprehensive museums in China, this is the first collaboration between the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Nanjing Museum. "Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution: Fu Baoshi (1904-1965)" considers the full scope of Fu Baoshi's artistic career from the 1920s to 1965 within the art-historical, social, political and cultural contexts. From traditional-style landscape and figure paintings demonstrating Fu's artistic excellence and profundity, to political artwork manifesting state ideology under Chairman Mao Zedong, the wide variety of work that will be exhibited demonstrates the artist's search for an artistic language capable of speaking for both self and the nation. Fu Baoshi's art provides an important insight into the use of native tradition to present modern Chinese ink painting as a discipline distinct from Western and international socialist art of the time. It was symbolic of the Chinese view of their place and national identity in the world during the twentieth century. The exhibition will focus on specific aspects of modern Chinese art during revolutionary change, including the reinvention of a national style of Chinese painting (guohua), the role of Japan in China's modern art discourses and the new meanings of ink painting in the People's Republic of China. It will trace the development and transformation of Fu's paintings at different stages of his life as he embraced Chinese art history and Eastern aesthetics with his early experiences in Japan, developed individual styles in his 1940s landscapes and figure paintings, transformed ink and brush in service to the masses after the Communist victories in 1949, and captured China's territories with patriotic conviction in his late landscapes of the 1950s and 1960s. The Nanjing Museum, which is loaning the works, currently houses the most significant collection of Fu Baoshi's art that escaped destruction during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), because they were preserved by both the Fu family and the museum after the artist's death in 1965. The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) .The museum opened its doors to the public on June 6, 1916, with Wade's grandson, Jeptha H. Wade II, proclaiming it, 'for the benefit of all people, forever.' Wade, like his grandfather, had a great interest in art and served as the museum's first vice-president, and later as president in 1920. Today, the park, with the museum still its centerpiece, is on the National Register of Historic Places. In March 1958, the first addition to the building opened, doubling the museum's floorspace. In 1971 the museum again expanded with the opening of the North Wing. With its stepped, two-toned granite facade, the addition designed by the Hungarian-born modernist architect Marcel Breuer, provided angular lines in distinct contrast with the flourishes of the 1916 building's neoclassical facade. In 1983, a third addition was made to house the museum's now expansive library, as well as to provide sufficient space for nine new galleries. Both the 1958 and 1983 additions, however, would be demolished to make way for the museum's largest expansion to date, a glass and steel structure designed by award-winning Uruguyan architect, Rafael Viñoly. The museum's building and renovation project, "Building for the Future", began in 2005 and was originally targeted for completion in 2012 (now 2013). The $350 million project—two-thirds of which is earmarked for the complete renovation of the original structure—will add two new wings, and is the largest cultural project in Ohio's history. The new east and west wings, as well as the enclosing of the atrium courtyard under a soaring glass canopy, will bring the museum's total floor space to 592,000 square feet (55,000 m2) (an increase of approximately 65%). In June 2008, after being closed for nearly three years for the overhaul, the museum reopened 19 of its permanent galleries to the public in the renovated 1916 building main floor. On June 27, 2009, the newly constructed East Wing (which contains the Impressionist, Contemporary, and Modern art collections) opened to the public. On June 26, 2010, the ground level of the 1916 building reopened and now houses the collections of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Sub-Saharan African, Byzantine, and Medieval art. The expanded museum includes enhanced visitor amenities and a 34,000 square feet (3,200 m2) glass-covered courtyard. The Cleveland Museum of Art divides its collections into 15 departments including Chinese Art, Modern European Art, African Art, Drawings, Prints, European Painting & Sculpture, Textiles & Islamic Art, American Painting & Sculpture, Greek & Roman Art, Contemporary Art, Medieval Art, Decorative Art & Design, Art of the Ancient Americas and Oceania, Photography and Contemporary Art. Artists represented by significant works include Botticelli, Caravaggio, El Greco, Nicolas Poussin, Peter Paul Rubens, Frans Hals, Gerard David, Francisco Goya, J.M.W. Turner, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pail Gauguin, Church, Cole, Corot, Eakins, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, George Bellows. The Museum has been active recently in acquiring later 20th-century art, having added important works by Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Christo, Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Clemente, Kossoff, Chuck Close, Mangold, Tansey and Sol LeWitt, among others.The museum also maintains a schedule of special exhibitions, lectures, films and musical programs. The department of performing arts, music and film hosts a film series and the VIVA! & Gala concert series, which brings creative energies of internationally renowned artists into Cleveland. The department of education at CMA creates programs for lifelong learning from lectures, talks and studio classes to outreach programs and community events, such as Parade the Circle", Chalk Festival and the "Winter Lights Lantern Festival". Educational programs include distance learning, "Art to Go", and the "Educator's Academy". The museum is also home to the Ingalls Library, one of the largest art museum libraries in the United States with almost 431,000 volumes. In addition to its comprehensive collection of fine art, the Cleveland Museum of Art is also home to the Ingalls Library, one of the largest art libraries in the United States. As part of the initial 1913 plan by the museum's founders, a library of 10,000 volumes was to be assembled, to include photographs and archival works. By the 1950s, the collection of books alone had surpassed 37,000 and the photographic collection neared 47,000. Today, with more than 431,000 volumes (and 500,000 digitized slides), renovation of the library space was one of the focal points in the museum's $350 million dollar expansion. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.clevelandart.org

Van Gogh Museum hosts Stedelijk Museum with a Fauvists and Expressionists Show Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:38 PM PST AMSTERDAM - The Van Gogh Museum is hosting the Stedelijk Museum with the presentation Fauvists and Expressionists, on view through April 5, 2009. The Stedelijk's Fauvist and Expressionist collection dates from the directorship of Willem Sandberg (1948-1963). Sandberg was inspired to begin collecting in this field after the museum was given a large number of Van Gogh's works on long-term loan. Originally owned by members of Van Gogh's family, these works were entrusted to the Stedelijk Museum after the Second World War and remained in its safe keeping until the opening of the Van Gogh Museum in 1973. Sandberg and the museum's curator at that time, Hans Jaffé, sought to emphasise Van Gogh's importance for modern art by presenting him as "one of the great figures in modern painting". This is the first time that the Stedelijk Museum's Fauvist and Expressionist works will once again be shown alongside Vincent van Gogh's estate that provided the original impetus for their acquisition. The presentation on the third floor of the Rietveld building comprises a total of fourteen works and includes masterpieces such as Nude girl behind a curtain (Fränzi) by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Willem Wauer by Oskar Kokoschka, Blue foals by Franz Marc and Landscape in Dangast by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. The Stedelijk Museum concentrated mainly on acquiring works by German Expressionists such as those allied to Dresden's Die Brücke (1905-1913) and Munich's Der Blaue Reiter (1911-1914). These groups were influenced by Vincent van Gogh's thinking about the role of the artist, his purity of colour and the eloquence of his work. The museum also purchased works by the French Fauves, who were inspired by Van Gogh's lively use of colour and his thick, pasty application of paint. Although the Expressionist artist Alexej von Jawlensky (1864-1941) never met Van Gogh, he regarded him as a mentor and in 1908 even bought a painting from Van Gogh's sister-in-law, Jo van Gogh-Bonger (The house of père Pilon, 1890, private collection). He later wrote to her: "For many years it has been my ardent desire to own a painting by his hand." Jawlensky was particularly impressed by Van Gogh's use of colour. The presentation shows Van Gogh's influence on Jawlensky, evident for example in the canvas Landscape he painted in 1914. Taking Van Gogh as his example, Jawlensky used bright contrasting colours in order to gain intensity. His landscape can be compared with Van Gogh's Orchards in blossom, view of Arles of 1889, where the principle of complementary colour use is deployed in the same manner. During his early years as an artist the Expressionist painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) was also entranced by Van Gogh's clarity of colour and dynamic brush work. The complementary colour contrasts Kirchner used in his Three nudes in the forest, painted in 1908, clearly identify Van Gogh as his source of inspiration. The canvas bears a striking similarity to Van Gogh's Tree roots (1890), which is also on display in the museum. As a self-taught artist, the Fauvist Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958) identified himself closely with Van Gogh, taking Van Gogh's expressive touch and spontaneous manner of painting as the basis of his artistic career. The exhibition features De Vlaminck's Landscape near Chatou from 1906, in which De Vlaminck instinctively used bright, pure colours applied in thick, pasty brushstrokes. A similar thick and pasty application is favoured by Van Gogh in his landscape Wheatfield from 1888. Visit the Van Gogh Museum at :   http://www3.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp

De Young Museum presents Asian/American/Modern Art 1900-1970 Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:37 PM PST   SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Asian/American/Modern Art: Shifting Currents, 1900–1970, on view October 25, 2008, to January 18, 2009, at the de Young Museum is the first comprehensive survey of Asian American modernism. This exhibition of works by artists of Asian ancestry who lived and worked in the United States seeks to showcase some of the most important individuals contributing to the canon of Asian American art and advance awareness of this under-represented group in American art history. Their art reflects the currents of identity and style that shift between aesthetics of diverse international geographies. Exhibition curator Mark Johnson says, "This body of work is rich in variety and demonstrates the wealth of Asian American art using masterpieces spanning 70 years as examples."

Smithsonian Institution Libraries Unveils "Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop and Turn" Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:36 PM PST WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonian Institution Libraries opens its new exhibition "Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop and Turn" in the National Museum of American History opening June 14. The exhibition features the art of paper engineering in the production of books with moving parts, such as peep shows (pictures viewed through a small hole), volvelles (wheel charts), accordion books and popup books, published from the 15th century to modern times. Viewers will receive an in-depth look at the structure and design of popup and movable books, with more than 50 works demonstrating the diverse methods designers and paper engineers use to magically transform flat, static images into dynamic, multidimensional forms. "Paper Engineering" will be on display through fall 2011.

"Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe" ~ at The Dayton Art Institute Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:35 PM PST DAYTON, OHIO - The Dayton Art Institute presents an exhibition and one-woman play on the life of Marilyn Monroe, on view through June 24.  Marilyn Monroe: Life as a Legend uses a wide range of artists and media to explore the public and private life of one of the world's most recognizable icons.  Through the art of Andy Warhol, Allen Jones, Peter Blake, Richard Avedon, Bert Stern, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and others, this exhibition of nearly 250 photographs, prints, paintings, videos, and sculpture captures Marilyn's rise to stardom.  Nearly 80 artists depict the late movie star in styles ranging from fashion photography to Pop Art.

V&A Acquires Album of James Gillray Cartoons Hidden for More than 100 Years Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:34 PM PST LONDON.- An album of 40 'suppressed' cartoons by leading British caricaturist James Gillray (1756-1815) has recently come to light in the Criminal Law Policy Unit of the Ministry of Justice. It features material judged socially unacceptable in the 19th century - including explicitly sexual, scatological and politically outrageous subject matter. The album was probably seized by police more than a century ago as 'pornographic material' and handed to Government officials. This slim volume of 'Curiosa' has now been transferred to the print collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, V&A. In the 1840s Gillray's plates were acquired by an enterprising publisher, Henry Bohn, who re-issued the caricatures both as single sheets and in large bound volumes. In the narrow moral climate of early Victorian London, Bohn could not publish all the Gillray plates and so printed those considered offensive in much smaller numbers and made them available from his establishment clandestinely. It is one of these clandestine volumes which has now been rediscovered. Initially preserved by the department then dealing with vice and pornography at the Home Office, it recently came to light in the Ministry of Justice. The folio joins one held by the V&A since 1869, containing around 500 caricatures. Both folios can be seen in the V&A's Prints and Drawings Study Room. Bridget Prentice MP, Justice Minister, said: "The Ministry of Justice is delighted to be able to pass this historic find to the V&A where it can be properly preserved and made available to the public and academics. Society's views on what is considered obscene have changed a lot over the century and a half since this would probably have been seized by the authorities – but even so I think these pictures better suit the Museum than hanging in a Ministerial office!" David Pearson, an official in the MoJ's Criminal Law Policy Unit, found the folio during an office move. He said: "The folio was carefully wrapped up alongside a collection of seized material that had been handed to the old obscene publications unit over the years. That material is fairly tame by today's standards, but when I uncovered the folio it was clear that it was something a little out of the ordinary. Even so, after some research, I was amazed to discover it had such historic value and am pleased to now see the prints kept safe in a suitable home." Stephen Calloway, Curator of Prints in the Word and Image Dept at the V&A, said: "We are delighted to receive this extraordinary volume of works by Gillray to complement our existing folio, acquired 140 years ago. This is a significant and exciting find and we're pleased that the public will now have the opportunity to view both together in our Prints and Drawings Study Room." James Gillray James Gillray is generally considered the greatest genius of caricature in Britain working in the late 18th-century. Born in Chelsea, Gillray had a bleak childhood under the influence of a stern father. Aged only five he was sent to be educated at a boarding school run by the Moravian Brotherhood – a strict, extreme Protestant sect which held that the life of mankind was worthless and depraved, and death a release from the wickedness of the world. This upbringing doubtless encouraged a sardonic temperament and the intense cynicism that made Gillray one of the most feared caricaturists of the day. Apprenticed to a specialist in the lettering of copper-plates, he learned the necessary skills to become a journeyman engraver, copying the work of others. Though he aspired to become an artist, by the 1780s he had been drawn to caricature, working for several of the leading print publishers of the day, creating political and social satires with exceptional 'bite'. Moving into the house of the Widow Humphreys, an astute operator in the London publishing world, he thereafter worked for her exclusively, making over 600 plates, which she carefully preserved. Gillray attacked both the Whig and Tory figures of British politics as well as members of the royal family. William Pitt attempted to gag him with the offer of a pension of £200 per annum, whilst agents working for George, Prince of Wales (later George IV) also attempted to suppress Gillray's more scurrilous caricatures. In the 1790s many of his most vicious attacks were directed against the French revolutionary leaders and their supporters in England such as Charles James Fox. Visit The Victoria and Albert Museum, V&A at : http://www.vam.ac.uk/

Portland Art Museum opens China Design Now: A Multi-Sensory Experience Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:33 PM PST PORTLAND, OR.- This October, the Portland Art Museum opens China Design Now, a multi-sensory experience reflecting the new Chinese urban environment and encapsulating the scale, speed, and energy of change in China today. Visitors will embark on a journey of discovery through China, focusing on the graphic design, fashion, interior design, and architecture emerging from three vibrant and rapidly evolving cities. On exhibition 10 October through 17 January, 2010.

'6 Degrees of Separation' at Edge Gallery Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:32 PM PST   Hong Kong - Edge Gallery is pleased to present the second exhibition of the gallery by six Hong Kong Female Artists: Lo Yuen-Man, Yvonne, Lam Yuk-Lin, Pauline, Au Hoi-Lam, Ranee K, Leung Ka-Yin, Joey & Yeung Yu-Ling, Yolanda at Edge Gallery, G/F 60C Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. On exhibition through 20 October.

Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) to Show Survey of Street Artist Shepard Fairey Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:31 PM PST CINCINNATI, OH.- Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand, the first solo show of renowned street artist and political provocateur Shepard Fairey, opens February 20th at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art. An extensive exploration of the artist's 20-year career, the exhibition is mounted in two parts: the works displayed inside the CAC and external projects. The CAC's galleries will house approximately 250 pieces ranging from his early Andre the Giant work to the iconic Obama HOPE image to new mixed-media works and a large-format mural in the lobby.

Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Celebrates Rosa Schapire's Life Work Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:30 PM PST Hamburg, Germany - The Hamburg art historian Rosa Schapire was one of the earliest patrons of the Brücke school of painters. She made it her life's work to struggle tirelessly to promote the recognition of avant-garde artists, in particular the Expressionists, in Germany. She was a close friend of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Erich Heckel, but others such as Franz Radziwill and members of the Hamburg Secession like Karl Kluth and Willem Grimm also benefited from her enormous commitment to their cause. They showed their gratefulness in the form of numerous portraits or artistic postcards. On exhibition 28 August through 15 November, 2009. Schapire was instrumental in organizing exhibitions in renowned galleries, lectured the length and breadth of the country and published many, many reviews and articles. On top of this she supported the sale of expressionist works to major art galleries through the foundation of the Frauenbund zur Förderung deutscher bildender Kunst. This exhibition in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe will show some 130 paintings, drawings, artistic postcards, art magazines, photos, jewellery and personal correspondence to pay homage to Rosa Schapire's life's work. This is the first time that an exhibition has been staged with the aim of reconstructing the character of her progressive collection. Besides works from the Museum's own collections and from the Sammlung Hamburger Sparkasse, works on loan from private and public collections will be on view. It is planned to publish an accompanying monogram, which will be prepared by German and British art historians. Expressionism was a cultural movement originating in Germany at the start of the 20th-century as a reaction to positivism and other artistic movements such as naturalism and impressionism. It sought to express the meaning of "being alive" and emotional experience rather than physical reality. It is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an emotional effect; it is a subjective art form. Expressionism is exhibited in many art forms, including painting, literature, theatre, film, architecture and music. The term often implies emotional angst. In a general sense, painters such as Matthias Grünewald and El Greco can be called expressionist, though in practice, the term is applied mainly to 20th century works. Although it is used as a term of reference, there has never been a distinct movement that called itself "expressionism", apart from the use of the term by Herwald Walden in his polemic magazine Der Sturm in 1912. The term is usually linked to paintings and graphic work in Germany at the turn of the century which challenged the academic traditions, particularly through the Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter groups. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche played a key role in originating modern expressionism by clarifying and serving as a conduit for previously neglected currents in ancient art. More generally the term refers to art that expresses intense emotion. It is arguable that all artists are expressive but there is a long line of art production in which heavy emphasis is placed on communication through emotion. Such art often occurs during time of social upheaval, and through the tradition of graphic art there is a powerful and moving record of chaos in Europe from the 15th century on the Protestant Reformation, Peasants' War, Eight Years' War, Spanish Occupation of the Netherlands, the rape, pillage and disaster associated with countless periods of chaos and oppression are presented in the documents of the printmaker. Often the work is unimpressive aesthetically, but almost without exception has the capacity to move the viewer to strong emotions with the drama and often horror of the scenes depicted. The term was also coined by Czech art historian Antonín Matějček in 1910 as the opposite of impressionism: "An Expressionist wishes, above all, to express himself....(An Expressionist rejects) immediate perception and builds on more complex psychic structures.... Impressions and mental images that pass through mental peoples soul as through a filter which rids them of all substantial accretions to produce their clear essence [...and] are assimilated and condense into more general forms, into types, which he transcribes through simple short-hand formulae and symbols." (Gordon, 1987) Visit the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe at : http://www.mkg-hamburg.de/

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:29 PM PST This is a new feature for the subscribers and visitors to Art Knowledge News (AKN), that will enable you to see "thumbnail descriptions" of the last ninety (90) articles and art images that we published. This will allow you to visit any article that you may have missed ; or re-visit any article or image of particular interest. Every day the article "thumbnail images" will change. For you to see the entire last ninety images just click : here . When opened that also will allow you to change the language from English to anyone of 54 other languages, by clicking your language choice on the upper left corner of our Home Page.  You can share any article we publish with the eleven (11) social websites we offer like Twitter, Flicker, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. by one click on the image shown at the end of each opened article.  Last, but not least, you can email or print any entire article by using an icon visible to the right side of an article's headline.

You are subscribed to email updates from Art News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610