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

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• The Animazing Gallery Presents the Works of Brian, Wendy and Toby Froud
• "The Wine of Saint Martin's Day" by Bruegel the Elder on display at the Museo del Prado
• Asia Society Museum in New York opens works by Artist Sarah Sze
• The Montclair Art Museum Presents "George Inness: Private Treasures"
• The Jason McCoy Gallery Exhibition Inspired by Pollock Family Letters
• The Bakersfield Museum of Art Shows Prints from the Clark Foundation for Mexican Folk Art
• The DePaul Art Museum Shows a Century of Chicago Artists
• The Lumiere Brothers Photogallery Shows American Photographer "Ruth Orkin: Retrospective"
• The Dennos Museum Center Shows Eric Daigh's Pushpin Art
• The National Gallery of Australia Exhibition Surveys Art From Western Australia
• Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza ~ A Jewel In The "Golden Triangle of Art" In Madrid
• Montenegro Pavilion at Palazzo Zorzi showcases the famous Dado ~ "The Zorzi Elegies"
• Booth-Clibborn Editions Presents New Book on the History of The Saatchi Gallery
• Leopold Museum in Vienna accused over Nazi-looted art
• New York's Fenimore Museum To Unveil John Singer Sargent's Women
• Acclaimed Artist and Filmmaker Gerry Fox Exhibits at Eleven Fine Art
• Ron Mueck's Monumental Sculpture "In Bed" to Tour to Five Queensland Galleries
• Hollywood Foreign Press Gives $75,000 to LACMA for Film Program
• Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza opens Monographic Exhibition Devoted to Henri Fantin-Latour
• Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"

The Animazing Gallery Presents the Works of Brian, Wendy and Toby Froud Posted: 13 Dec 2011 09:46 PM PST New York City - The Animazing Gallery is pleased to present "Brian, Wendy & Toby Froud: Visions for Film & Faeire", on view at the gallery through February 12th 2012. This is the first U.S. exhibition of Brian Froud's paintings and drawings, including original artworks from his published, international best-selling books and all of his concept drawings from Jim Henson's film 'Labyrinth'. As well as Brian Froud's artworks, the exhibition also includes a site-specific installation by Wendy Froud and their son, Toby Froud; both renowned doll and puppet-makers. Toby was the baby "Toby" in 'Labyrinth' and is presently a puppet fabricator and sculptor at Laika Entertainment, the celebrated studio specializing in stop motion/animation film and television. Wendy is the fabricator of "Yoda" from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. She sculpted and fabricated "Kira" & "Jen" from The Dark Crystal as well as some of the Pod People, and sculpted and fabricated some of the goblins in Labyrinth. For this inaugural exhibition, Wendy Froud has recreated the Gelfling, Kira from The Dark Crystal. Kira stands 33" tall, and was sculpted using original hair and beading from original The Dark Crystal production. Brian Froud is regarded as the pre-eminent fairy artist of today and has redefined the image of Faeries in the 21st  century. Froud is part of a long lineage of faerie painters and illustrators including Arthur Rackham, Richard Dadd, Walter Crane and Edmund Dulac and his work has hung alongside these exceptional artists - the greats of the genre - in museum exhibitions throughout the U.K.  Froud's imagery; sensual, humorous and at times frightening, has rescued fairies from the Victorian nursery, to which they were relegated for so many years, and returned them to the dark, elusive and mysterious world of Faerie where they belong. In November, 1998, Sotheby's  "Realm of the Mind: Fantasy Art and Illustration" featured the work of such artists as; Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Bell Scott, Richard Doyle, John Anster Fitzgerald, Walter Crane, Simeon Solomon and George Cruikshank. Brian Froud's painting from Good Faeries/Bad Faeries was chosen for the auction catalogue cover. With over 30 books in publication and over 8 million books sold to date, Brian Froud's best sellers include Good Faeries/Bad Faeries (Hugo and Chesley  Awards), Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book (Hugo Award), the  Faeries' Oracle and Lady Cottington's Fairy Album. His international best-selling book, Faeries with fantasy and Tolkien illustrator Alan Lee, published in 1978 and reissued in 2002 and again in 2010, is considered a modern classic and has sold more than 3 million copies. Brian Froud has influenced a whole new generation of magical painters, book illustrators and filmmakers. Froud's landmark work with Jim Henson as conceptual designer on feature films  The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1987), set new standards for design, puppeteering and animatronics in film and are, today, considered landmarks in the evolution of modern day special effects. Both films have achieved an international cult following. A SoHo landmark since 1984, Animazing Gallery offers a unique collection of art that indulges the senses and emotions with color, playfulness and beauty. Paintings, sculpture, American illustration, and vintage animation created by some of the most talented and innovative artists of our time are showcased in our New York gallery and within the exhibition halls of the Château de Belcastel in France. Artists & studios represented by the gallery  include Dr. Seuss, Charles M. Schulz, Maurice Sendak, Daniel Merriam, Tim Burton, Tom Everhart, Disney, Warner Bros., Ralph Bakshi, Bill Watterson, D.C. & Marvel Comics, Hanna-Barbera, and many more. Animazing Gallery is located in SoHo, New York and within the Chateau de Belcastel in Aveyron France. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.animazing.com

"The Wine of Saint Martin's Day" by Bruegel the Elder on display at the Museo del Prado Posted: 13 Dec 2011 09:45 PM PST MADRID.- The Museo del Prado is presenting to the public for the first time "The Wine of Saint Martin's Day" by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the leading figure within 16th-century Flemish painting. Following the recent acquisition and subsequent restoration of the painting, it will be displayed in Room D in the Jerónimos Building until 25 March. In addition to highlighting the exceptional nature of a new discovery and acquisition of a work by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (of whom only 41 paintings are known), the presentation of the painting alongside an x-ray of it and an explanatory video detailing its restoration will allow the visiting public to appreciate the key phases within its complex restoration and to assess the final results of that process. The definitive attribution to Pieter Bruegel the Elder of The Wine of Saint Martin's Day represents one of the most important discoveries in many years with regard to the oeuvre of this artist, a figure of even greater importance than Quintin Massys and Joachim Patinir, the two other leading Flemish painters of the 16th century.

Asia Society Museum in New York opens works by Artist Sarah Sze Posted: 13 Dec 2011 09:18 PM PST NEW YORK, N.Y.- Sarah Sze (born 1969, U.S.) is known for her elaborate installations in which everyday materials—such as plastic bottle caps, sheets of paper, strings, tape measures, cotton swabs, and scissors—are hung from the ceiling, mounted in corners, or nestled into discreet spaces. Sarah Sze: Infinite Line is the first exhibition to focus specifically on Sze's work from drawings to sculpture to installation. The exhibition is on view on view December 13, 2011 through March 25, 2012. Sarah Sze combines spontaneity and systemization in her work, which often suggests movement and the ephemeral. Energized chaos becomes painstaking order, when, upon closer inspection, seemingly turbulent scenarios reveal precisely placed objects. Her intimate, sculptural installations invite viewers to reevaluate their relationship to their surroundings.

The Montclair Art Museum Presents "George Inness: Private Treasures" Posted: 13 Dec 2011 08:32 PM PST Montclair, New Jersey.- The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) proudly presents "George Inness: Private Treasures", opening Sunday, November 6th, as the first special exhibition to be held in the George Inness Gallery, a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Martucci. The gallery is the only space in the world dedicated to the work of George Inness (1825-1894) and customarily houses an installation of rotating selections from the Museum's renowned collection of America's greatest landscape painter. "George Inness: Private Treasures", on view through April 1, 2012, will consist of 10 works, nine from private collections as well as one from the Montclair Historical Society. The local lenders are from various towns in New York and New Jersey, including Montclair, Glen Ridge, Essex Fells, Verona, and Irvington. Additionally, "George Inness Sketching Outside His Montclair Studio", a painting from the Museum's collection by Inness's son, George Inness, Jr., will be on display. Inness, often called the "father of American landscape painting," was a visionary artist whose renderings of nature were profoundly personal and inspired by his belief in Swedenborgianism, the philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). According to the teachings of the Swedish scientist-mystic Swedenborg, God speaks to humanity through nature, connecting the spiritual and material worlds. Inness referred to this spiritual dimension as "the reality of the unseen." Inness's considerable contribution to American art at the turn of the century greatly influenced 20th-century art movements, and brought recognition to American artists in their own right as peers of their European counterparts. Inness settled in Montclair in 1885 and the town of Montclair was frequently the subject of his art. As a nationally and internationally recognized artist during his lifetime, Inness's presence attracted other well-known artists, helping to establish the town's reputation as an intellectual community and artists' colony, one of the earliest in the country. In addition to the Museum's holdings of 18 paintings, 2 watercolors, and an etching, Inness is well represented in local collections. The forthcoming exhibition provides a rare opportunity to view significant works that span the artist's career from his productive trip to Italy in 1870–74 to the year of his death, in 1894. The lyrical, intimate landscapes of the 1880s and 90s reveal Inness at the height of his expressive powers as the artist employed softly brushed, broadly generalized forms to evoke the mystical unity of material and spiritual existence. A master of essentials, Inness felt that a literal copying of nature would record only its transitory and fragmentary aspects. He therefore evolved a harmonious, eternal style of broad, expressive brushwork that unifies all aspects of the pictorial composition. The Montclair Art Museum was one of the country's first museums primarily engaged in collecting American art (including the work of contemporary, nonacademic artists) and among the first dedicated to the study and creation of a significant ethnographic art collection. This pioneering spirit still reverberates in the Museum's pursuit and presentation of high-quality art that characterizes and celebrates America's diversity. The collection has grown to over 12,000 works. The American collection, which began with a gift of 30 paintings from William T. Evans, a Montclair civic leader, comprises paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, and sculpture dating from the 18th century to the present, and features excellent works by Benjamin West, Asher B. Durand, George Inness, John Singer Sargent, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein, as well as younger and emerging artists such as Louise Lawler, Chakaia Booker, Whitfield Lovell, and Willie Cole. The Museum's superb holdings of traditional and contemporary American Indian art and artifacts represent the cultural achievements in weaving, pottery, wood carving, jewelry, and textiles of indigenous Americans from seven major regions—Northwest Coast, California, Southwest, Plains, Woodlands, Southeast, and the Arctic. The collection was begun by Annie Valentine Rand and carried on by her philanthropic daughter Florence Rand Lang, one of the Museum's founders, and continues to grow with commissioned works, gifts, and purchases that celebrate the vitality and modernity of traditional forms and beliefs. Among the contemporary American Indian artists represented are Tony Abeyta, Dan Namingha, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Allan Houser, Bentley Spang, and Marie Watt. The Museum's extensive education programs serve a wide public and, often in collaboration with cultural and community partners, bring artists, performers, and scholars to the Museum on a regular basis. MAM's Yard School of Art is the leading regional art school, offering a multitude of comprehensive classes for kids, teens, adults, seniors, and professional artists. One of the first museums to be accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Montclair Art Museum welcomes more than 65,000 visitors annually to its acclaimed exhibitions and programs. The expansion and progress of the Museum has been made possible by the participation, generosity, and farsightedness of its founders, trustees, members, and friends. Their support has helped to make the Montclair Art Museum the vital institution it is today. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.montclairartmuseum.org

The Jason McCoy Gallery Exhibition Inspired by Pollock Family Letters Posted: 13 Dec 2011 08:13 PM PST New York City.- In collaboration with the Charles Pollock Archives, Paris, Jason McCoy Gallery is pleased to present "American Letters 1927-1947: Jackson Pollock & Family", an exhibition comprising painting, sculpture, works on paper, photographs and letters. The exhibition celebrates this year's release of the book with the same title (Polity Press, April 2011), a compilation of the personal correspondence between the five Pollock brothers (Charles, Marvin Jay, Frank, Sanford and Jackson), their parents, and wives. "American Letters" now on view at the gallery.  While making a significant contribution to the literature on Jackson Pollock, 'American Letters' also provides an intimate overview of the unique social, political, and intellectual currents of an era devastated by the Great Depression and the Second World War. Through fragmented accounts of several individuals a somewhat cohesive tale emerges that introduces a family who, despite long distances and financial hardships, remained united and engaged with the world.

The Bakersfield Museum of Art Shows Prints from the Clark Foundation for Mexican Folk Art Posted: 13 Dec 2011 07:59 PM PST Bakersfield, California.- The Bakersfield Museum of Art is pleased to present "Estampas de la Revolución Mexicana: Prints from the Clark Foundation for Mexican Folk Art" on view at the museum from December 8th. The 85 linoleum block prints presented in this exhibition portray important episodes of the Mexican Revolution by 16 artists from the Taller de Gráfica Popular, People's Graphic Workshop or TGP.  Founded in 1937 by artists Leopoldo Mendez, Pablo O'Higgins, and Luis Arenal, Taller was a vibrant collective of established and emerging artists committed to the direct use of visual art in the interest of social change.  Many of the artists in Taller had fought in the Revolution and their ideals are strongly imbued in these powerful prints.  Fame was not an objective for these artists; rather, they saw the value in the collective process and were primarily focused on educating the masses about the struggles and triumphs that surrounded the Mexican Revolution.

The DePaul Art Museum Shows a Century of Chicago Artists Posted: 13 Dec 2011 07:45 PM PST Chicago, Illinois.- The DePaul Art Museum's new $7.8 million home at 935 W. Fullerton Ave., just east of the CTA's Fullerton "L" stop, is showing "Re: Chicago." The exhibition, which runs through March 4, 2012, examines the careers and artistic reputations of Chicago artists over more than a century. Artworks in the exhibition were chosen by asking leading figures in the Chicago art world – from critics to scholars to collectors – to name a famous artist or one who should be famous. "We wanted to explore how reputations are made, and also to give attention to how art is seen and talked about," said Museum Director Louise Lincoln. "People understand art in a lot of different ways. If you're a collector, you see it differently from how a scholar would see it. It's all about the interaction between the viewer and the work. This seems obvious, but it is rarely addressed in exhibitions."

The Lumiere Brothers Photogallery Shows American Photographer "Ruth Orkin: Retrospective" Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:45 PM PST Moscow.- The Lumiere Brothers Photogallery in Moscow is proud to present " Ruth Orkin : Retrospective", on view at the gallery until January 29th. The exhibition includes 50 photographs reflecting different milestones in Ruth Orkin's creative life. The 18-minute film "Ruth Orkin: Frames of Life" (1995, USA) dedicated to the life and work of the photographer (and including interviews with Cornell Capa and Mary Ellen Mark among others) will also be shown as part of the exhibition. The exhibition is organized jointly with her daughter Ruth Orkin, Mary Engel, and is a part of "American seasons in Russia", with bilateral support from the Russian-American Presidential Commission (Medvedev - Obama) and the U.S. Embassy in the Russian Federation.

The Dennos Museum Center Shows Eric Daigh's Pushpin Art Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:44 PM PST Traverse City, Michigan.- The Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College is proud to show "Eric Daigh: Happiness is a Target", on view through April 1st 2012. Portraitist Eric Daigh of Traverse City presents a collection of works spanning his career to date. Claiming to be a photographer sometimes and a painter at others, Daigh is probably best placed in the category of mosaic. His works often include an arrangement of small pixels, most notably pushpins that form a larger picture. Daigh won acclaim in 2009 by taking 3rd place in the inaugural ArtPrize competition, held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Since then, Daigh has gone on to group and solo shows nationwide, commissions, collections, larger works, etc. This show will features works from the very beginning of Daigh's career in pushpins, as well as recent work involving sculptural installations and street art.

The National Gallery of Australia Exhibition Surveys Art From Western Australia Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:43 PM PST Canberra, Australia.- The National Gallery of Australia is proud to show "Out of the West" on view at the gallery through April 1st 2012. "Out of the West" is the first survey exhibition outside Western Australia to present a large sample of Western Australian art from pre-settlement until today. It includes well known images and new discoveries. Works by established early artists, Robert Dale, Thomas Turner, James W R Linton, A B Webb and Kathleen O'Connor, as well as those by more recent artists such as Herbert McClintock, Harald Vike, Elise Blumann, Guy Grey-Smith, Robert Juniper, Howard Taylor, Brian Blanchflower, James Angus and Rodney Glick, will be shown, alongside significant works by many less familiar names. When settlers started arriving in Western Australia nearly two centuries ago, they were mesmerised by the light, heat, long horizons, and vast expanses. By the twentieth century art societies had formed and local traditions had developed. Out of the West presents a starting point for visitors to the National Gallery of Australia to explore the art made from these responses to Western Australia, through a diverse range of media including painting, sculpture, drawing, print-making, photography, video installation, jewellery, furniture, decorative arts and design. Vital to the exhibition are important historical works from the National Gallery's recently acquired The Wordsworth Collection. This collection has been lovingly assembled over more than 40 years by Marie Louise Wordsworth, one of Western Australia's most passionate and respected collectors. Based on Marie Louise's deep knowledge of Western Australian history and her family heritage, the collection covers the period from Western Australia's beginning as a free-settlement colony in the early mid-nineteenth century, through the importation of convict labour in the 1850s, and the discovery of gold in the 1890s. It includes rare views of Albany, Augusta, Bunbury, Esperance, Gingin, Rottnest and Toodyay. Her passion for Western Australian colonial furniture was pursued with a singular intensity, with the best aims in mind. These items are highly important for their rarity. The exhibition is a curatorial selection of work drawn from the National Gallery's collection, rather than a full survey. Some works by Western Australian artists remain on display in the Gallery's collection displays of Australian art as well as the newly opened Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander galleries. The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery. The building has 23,000 m2 of floor space. The design provides space for both the display and storage of works of art and to accommodate the curatorial and support staff of the Gallery. The collection of Australian art incorporates art made in Australia or about Australian subjects since European settlement in 1788, with the greatest strength in the 20th century. Australian art also includes the art of Australia's Indigenous people. The collection encompasses paintings and sculpture, prints and drawings, photographs, the decorative arts, sketchbooks, posters and installation art. Included are significant works by artists such as Tom Roberts, Charles Conder, Frederick McCubbin and Arthur Streeton, members of what has been widely regarded as the national school of Australian painting, the Australian Impressionists. Sidney Nolan's paintings constitute an important part of the Gallery's representation of the art of postwar Australia. Works by Arthur Boyd are another great strength of the collection, along with works by Margaret Preston, John Perceval, Albert Tucker and Joy Hester. The Gallery also holds comprehensive collections of the works of major 20th century photographers such as Harold Cazneaux, Olive Cotton and Max Dupain. Sculpture is also well represented, with major works by artists such as Bertram Mackennal and Robert Klippel. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art collection at the National Gallery of Australia comprises over 7500 works and is the largest in the world. The National Gallery of Australia has collected art from Australia's Pacific neighbours since 1969 in order to display historical traditional objects from the Pacific as art rather than artefact. The collection spans one-third of the world's surface, encompassing Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia with myriad cultures stretching from Papua New Guinea to New Zealand and Easter Island. It also ranges in scope from 3500 BCE to the present day. The European and American art collection is essentially modern; the representation of European and American art parallels the recorded history of Australian art over the past 200 years and finds its strength in the 20th century. The collection develops from the beginning of the 19th century in a variety of media which includes painting and sculpture, a strong collection of prints, posters, illustrated books and drawings, a near–complete representation of the history of photography, and an excellent representation of theatre arts, and decorative arts and design. One of the Gallery's best–known works is Jackson Pollock's Blue poles1952, acquired in 1973. Other highlights include Willem de Kooning's Woman V 1952–53 and Constantin Brancusi's two versions of Bird in Space 1931–36. Works of Asian art in the national collection range from Neolithic and early Metal Age ceramics from Iran, Japan, Thailand and China, to installations created in the last decade by Thailand's Montien Boonma, Wenda Gu, a Chinese artist based in New York, and Yukinori Yanagi from Japan. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.nga.gov.au

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza ~ A Jewel In The "Golden Triangle of Art" In Madrid Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:38 PM PST The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Spanish), is one of the three Madrid museums that make up the "Golden Triangle of Art", which also includes the Prado and the Reina Sofia (modern and contemporary) galleries. The collections's roots lie in the privately owned Thyssen-Bonremisza collection, once the second largest private art collection in the world (after the British Royal Collection). The collection started in the 1920s as a private collection by Heinrich, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon (1875–1947). In a reversal of the movement of European paintings to the United States during this period, one of the Baron's sources was the collections of American millionaires coping with the Great Depression and inheritance taxes, from which he acquired such exquisite old master paintings as Ghirlandaio's 'Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni' (once in the Morgan Library) and Carpaccio's 'Knight' (from the collection of Otto Kahn). The collection was later expanded by Heinrich's son Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (1921–2002), who re-assembled most of the works from his relatives' collections (distributed after his father's death) and proceeded to acquire large numbers of new works. In 1985, the Baron married Carmen Cervera (a former Miss Spain 1961) and introduced her to art-collecting. Carmen's influence was decisive in persuading the Baron to decide on the future of his collection and cede the collection to Spain. When Baron Thyssen decided to open his collection to the public, he initially tried to have his museum in the Villa Favorita in Switzerland expanded, when this proved impossible, a Europe-wide search for a new was home started. The competition was won in 1986 when the Spanish government came to an agreement to provide a home for the collection (the 19th century Villahermosa Palace close to the Prado in Madrid) and fund the museum in return for the loan of the collection for a minimum of nine and a half years. Pritzker prize winning Spanish architect, Rafael Moneo was employed to redesign and extend the building and the museum opened in 1992. However, so impressed were the Thyssen-Bornemiszas with the building and Spain's commitment to the collection, that even before it opened, they were negotiating with the Spanish government to make the museum permanent. In 1993, the Spanish government agreed to buy the collection (valued at up to 1.5 billion dollars) for $350 million and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum became a permanent fixture in Madrid. The museum currently houses two collections from the Thyssen-Bornemiszas, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, acquired by the Spanish government from Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza on permanent display since the museum opened in 1992 and the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, owned by the baron's widow and held by the museum since 2004 on loan. These two collections comprise over one thousand works of art (mostly paintings), with which the museum offers a stroll through the history of European painting, from its beginning in the 13th century to the close of the 20th century. The Baroness remains involved with the museum, deciding the salmon pink tone of the interior and in May 2006 campaigning against plans to redevelop the Paseo del Prado as she thought the works and traffic would damage the collection and the museum's appearance. A collection of works from the museum is housed in Barcelona in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. Visit the museum's website at … http://www.museothyssen.org One of the key characteristics of the Thyssen-Bonemisza Museum is that it complements the Prado's collection of old paintings and the modern art housed at the Reina Sofía Museum, featuring movements and styles such as the Italian and Dutch primitives, German Renaissance art, 17th century Dutch painting, Impressionism, German Expressionism, Russian Constructivism, Geometric Abstraction and Pop Art. And, setting it apart, its singular display of 19th century North American painting (practically unknown in any other European museum), which occupies two halls of the museum. With the museum's own acquisitions, it now contains over 1,600 paintings and sculptures, which are laid out in chronological order. One of the focal points is in early European painting, with a major collection of trecento and quattrocento (i.e. 14th and 15th century) Italian paintings by Duccio, and his contemporaries. Among the highlights are paintings by Luca di Tomme, Benozzo Gozzoli , Piero della Francesca, Paolo Uccello ("Crucifixion among saints"), Cosimo Tura, Ercole de'Roberti, Bramantino ("Christ Risen"), Antonello da Messina and "The Young Knight" by Vittore Carpaccio, generally considered the first full-length portrait painted in Europe. Works of the early Flemish and Dutch painters include masterpieces by Jan Van Eyck, Albrecht Dürer, and Hans Holbein. Later Renaissance and Baroque works include significant paintings by Italian, Dutch and Flemish masters such as Titian, Sebastiano del Piombo, Caravaggio, Rubens, Tintoretto, El Greco, Van Dyck, Jan Brueghel the Elder, Claude Lorrain, Murillo, Rembrandt and Frans Hals as well as wonderful portraits by Domenico Ghirlandaio and Vittore Carpaccio. The artistic shift from rococo through to realism and romanticism is reflected in works of European artists including Watteau, Boucher ("The Toilet"), Nicolas Lancret, Fragonard, Hubert Robert, Jean-Marc Nattier, Chardin ("Still Life with Cat and Stripe"), Giambattista Tiepolo ("Death of Jacinto"), Canaletto, Bernardo Bellotto and Pietro Longhi ("Tickle"), English paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, Thomas Lawrence and Johann Zoffany and the works of Goya, Delacroix ("The Arab Horseman"), Géricault, Courbet and Caspar David Friedrich marking the transition to realism and romanticism. In line with museum policy, from 1960 onwards different parts of the collection began to travel all over the world and a major programme of loans to other galleries was put in practice, meaning that the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection was nearly always present, in some form or another, in the big collective exhibitions. The collection of nineteenth century artworks includes all the masters, Manet, Renoir, Monet, Degas ("Green Dancer" and others), Pissarro, Bonnard, Berthe Morisot, Gaughuin, Toulouse-Lautrec ("Redhead with White Blouse") and important works by Van Gogh. American nineteenth century art includes examples by Gilbert Stuart, John Singleton Copley, Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent. The twentieth century section has a significant role in the Thyssen Museum, and includes Fauvist works by Henri Matisse ("Yellow Flowers") and André Derain, but it is in Cubism, Russian Constructivism and German Expressionism where the collection is concentrated. Of note is the abundant collection of works such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner ("Alley With Woman in Red"), Emil Nolde, Max, Franz Marc, Ludwig Meidner and Erich Heckel among others. The jewel is possibly "Metropolis", a masterpiece by George Grosz. The ground floor is devoted entirely to twentieth century art, from Cubism to Pop Art. Examples of analytic cubism include noteworthy pieces by Pablo Picasso ("Man With Clarinet"), Georges Braque ("Woman With Mandolin") and Juan Gris. "Harlequin Mirror" and "Bullfight" are highlights from Picasso's blue period. Surrealism is well represented, including a number of important works by Salvador Dali. Highlights from the 1960s and 1970s include "Moon Over Alabama" by Richard Lindner, works by David Hockney , Tom Wesselmann ("Large Nude # 1") and Roy Lichtenstein ("Women in the Bathroom"). A "Portrait of Baron Thyssen" painted by Lucian Freud in the early 1980s is the latest work, and one of three Freud's in the collection. Other important artists amongst the incredible collection of 20th century artistic trends include, Edvard Munch, James Ensor, Paul Klee, Kandinsky, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele, Lyonel Feininger, August Macke, Otto Dix, Albert Gleizes, Frantisek Kupka, Gino Severini, Fernand Léger, Rodin, Liubov Popova, El Lissitzky, Francis Picabia, Yves Tanguy, Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg, Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, Edward Hopper, Joan Miró, Kurt Schwitters, Balthus, Paul Delvaux, Magritte, Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Ronald Kitaj, Alberto Giacometti, Lucio Fontana, Francis Bacon, Roberto Matta, Richard Estes and Robert Rauschenberg, representing almost every artistic movement from impressionism to hyper-realism. Temporary exhibitions, educational activities, conferences, publications, voluntary, corporate and promotional programmes, are just some of the initiatives that have been put in practice over these years, aimed at progressively increasing the cultural services on offer to promote the collection, as well as to involve an ever broader section of society in the life of the museum. Two major temporary exhibitions can currently be viewed at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Until 22 May 2011, "Jean–Léon Gérôme (1824-1904)" provides an in-depth retrospective of this controversial French artist. Jean-Léon Gérôme was one of the most famous French painters of his day, but in the course of his long career, he was the subject of controversy and bitter criticism, in particular for defending the conventions of the waning genre of Academic painting. However, as this exhibition shows, Gérôme was not so much heir to that tradition as he was the creator of totally new pictorial worlds, often based on a strange iconography. This exhibition, the first retrospective of this artist's works to be held in Spain, sheds light on the most noteworthy features of his painting and sculpture from his early career in the 1840s up to his last works. "Heroines" from 8th March to 05th June 2011 is a joint exhibition, hosted between the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Fundación Caja (both in Madrid). The history of Western art is full of images of seductive, indulgent, submissive, defeated and enslaved women. But the women whom this exhibition centers on are strong women. The focus is on active, independent, defiant, inspired, creative, domineering and triumphant women as depicted in art. Following a non-chronological but thematic order, the exhibition explores the backgrounds and aspirations of heroines, through the iconography of solitude, work, delirium, sport, war, magic, religion, reading and painting (the first 5 at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, the latter 4 at the Fundación Caja). In each "chapter" artworks from different periods, languages and artistic environments are juxtaposed, providing food for thought on what has changed and what has remained the same over time. And in each chapter, one or several voices of women artists, particularly contemporary women, respond to images created by their male counterparts. From June 28th until 25th September 2011 the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza will be holding a comprehensive exhibition of the work of the Spanish artist Antonio López (born Tomelloso, 1936). It will feature oil paintings, drawings and sculptures of some of his most typical subjects such as the interior of houses, the human figure, landscapes and urban views (principally of Madrid), as well as his still life depictions of fruit and other subjects. In the reality that surrounds him López looks for everyday aspects that he can reproduce in his work, using a slow, highly meditated creative process that aims to capture the essence of the object or landscape.

Montenegro Pavilion at Palazzo Zorzi showcases the famous Dado ~ "The Zorzi Elegies" Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:37 PM PST VENICE.- For half a century, the well-known Montenegrin-born artist Dado (b. Cetinje, 1933) has been creating a world of delicate horror and intricate fantasy in every medium from painting and fresco to drawing, engraving and book illustration. The commissioner for the exhibition is Michael Peppiatt, formerly editor of 'Art International' and best known for his books and exhibitions on Francis Bacon, Alberto Giacometti and other major 20th-century artists.

Booth-Clibborn Editions Presents New Book on the History of The Saatchi Gallery Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:36 PM PST LONDON.- Edward Booth-Clibborn knew the time was right to celebrate the vision of Charles Saatchi. The History of the Saatchi Gallery is the first book to chronicle the collection since it opened a gallery in 1985. It is important as a document, because many of the works included are no longer owned by The Saatchi Gallery, and a vital source of information for collectors, scholars and all those interested in contemporary art.

Leopold Museum in Vienna accused over Nazi-looted art Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:35 PM PST BOSTON, MA -  The Leopold Museum in Vienna is holding art that was stolen by Nazis from Jewish owners, according to allegations by Austria's Green Party and the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde (IKG), Austria's main Jewish legal body. After the museum opened an exhibition of work by the Austrian artist Albin Egger-Lienz on 14 February, Wolfgang Zinggl, a member of Austria's Green Party, issued a statement saying that 14 Nazi-looted works were included in the display. An additional painting not in the show but held in the museum's permanent collection, Houses on the Lake, 1914, by Egon Schiele, was also alleged to have been stolen by the Nazis from Jewish owner Jenny Steiner

New York's Fenimore Museum To Unveil John Singer Sargent's Women Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:34 PM PST NEW YORK (REUTERS).- The Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York, will exhibit portraits of women by American artist John Singer Sargent starting in May in what curators say is the first major exhibition of its kind. The exhibition will show 25 of Sargent's women from May 29 through to the end of the year. The exhibition will appear alongside the Fenimore's permanent collection of American Art housed in a scenic country home in Cooperstown, a small town about 200 miles north of New York City.

Acclaimed Artist and Filmmaker Gerry Fox Exhibits at Eleven Fine Art Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:33 PM PST BERLIN.- For his first exhibition at Eleven Fine Art, acclaimed artist and filmmaker Gerry Fox will realize a brand new series of video works based on 19th century paintings. While in Venice making a large-scale installation about this contemporary city last year, Fox came across a series of works by famous painters including Turner, Sargent, Manet, Monet and Renoir all featuring gondolas in the city's canals. He set out to recreate these paintings on the highest quality 35 mm film, bringing them to life as cinematic tableaux. Each piece was shot at the exact location of the original painting including the Grand Canal, with all traces of the 21st century painstakingly avoided – including the ever-present vaporetti and constant passers-by, no mean feat in this bustling, tourist city. Fox also used the only 19th century gondola left in Venice and colourful replica costumes. He almost literally filmed the past. Once shot, the works were digitally manipulated using the most sophisticated, up-to-date techniques available to re-evoke the brush strokes and painterliness of the originals. The final works – framed like old-master paintings – appear initially to be oil paintings on canvas, but are in fact slow-motion "impressionist" representations of Venice, modern-day video evocations of the painted past. At once films and paintings, these works bridge the gap between old and new art technology: works in oil in high-definition! The works also wittily reference the practice of artists borrowing from each other across the centuries, while paying homage to the "Queen of the Adriatic". Fox's video works will be shown 24/7 for the duration of the exhibition. At night, the visitors will be invited to look at them from the street outside, peering into bright vistas of Venice glowing in the dark of the gallery. The artist attempts here to reinvent the temporality of exhibitions often dictated by regular opening hours. The works will be available for contemplation at any times of day or night, their effect changing as they echo or contrast with natural light, and very much in the tradition of Fox's successful film installations of the last few years. Gerry Fox has won major awards (including the BAFTA, The Royal Television Society Best Arts Film, the Grierson Best Arts Documentary, the Prix Italia and The Festival of Films on Art in Montreal Grand Prize) for his innovative films about artists, including Gilbert and George, Robert Frank, Claes Oldenburg, Marc Quinn, Gerhard Richter and Bill Viola. In recent years he has begun making large-scale, site-specific film installation works that have received wide public attention and critical acclaim. He was the first artist in residence at 176 in Camden from 2007-2008; and the resulting exhibition, Living London, was Exhibition of the Week in Time Out, Critics Choice in The Times and Pick of the Week in The Guardian. His six-screen immersive work, Favela Descending was exhibited in Shoreditch as part of the Concrete and Glass Festival in 2008 and was featured in Time Out, The Guardian and on Channel 4. Venice in Venice, a multi-screen film installation about the city in all its guises, made over five years, was displayed at the Palazzo dona della Rose during the Venice Biennale in 2009 and was the subject of a short documentary by Waldemar Januszczak. Visit : http://www.elevenfineart.com/

Ron Mueck's Monumental Sculpture "In Bed" to Tour to Five Queensland Galleries Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:32 PM PST QUEENSLAND, AU - Arts Minister Rachel Nolan today announced monumental sculpture "In Bed" by Ron Mueck will tour five regional Queensland galleries in 2011-2012, as part of the Gallery of Modern Art's (GoMA) fifth birthday celebrations. "Queensland Art Gallery is touring the breathtakingly life-like sculpture from September 2011 until July 2012, beginning with Ipswich Art Gallery, 10 September – 13 November, before traveling on to Thuringowa, Cairns, Mackay and Hervey Bay," Ms Nolan said.

Hollywood Foreign Press Gives $75,000 to LACMA for Film Program Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:31 PM PST Los Angeles, CA - The beleaguered film program at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art got a welcome infusion of cash on Wednesday when the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. announced at a special luncheon that it is donating ( another) $75,000 to the museum in support of the endangered screening series. A spokeswoman for the HFPA said that the new donation to LACMA is intended to go toward a "three-year strategic plan to build a sustainable film program." The donation is the same amount that the HFPA gave the museum last year for the series.

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza opens Monographic Exhibition Devoted to Henri Fantin-Latour Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:30 PM PST MADRID.- The Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid is presenting Fantin-Latour (1836-1904), the first major monographic exhibition to be devoted in Spain to this French painter. It has been organized in conjunction with the Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon, where it can be seen this summer. The exhibition features a comprehensive selection from the artist's oeuvre comprising 70 paintings, drawings and prints loaned from museums and institutions around the world. Using a chronological arrangement that follows Fantin-Latour's career through the second half of the 19th century, the exhibition includes some of his most famous paintings, among them group portraits of family members and friends, interiors with figures and realist still lifes, as well as allegorical and musical fantasies. On exhibition 29 September through 10 January, 2010. Fantin-Latour was a pupil of Courbet for a short period, a travelling companion of Whistler and a friend of Monet and Degas. Henri Fantin-Latour (Grenoble, 1836 – Buré, 1904) is an artist difficult to position within the history of French painting in the second half of the 19th century. His group portraits, conceived almost in the manner of manifestoes, suggest an artist passionately committed to a new approach to painting, his still lifes are close to realism, while his mythological and allegorical scenes convey the idea that he was allied to academic Symbolism. Fantin-Latour's work coincided with the birth and development of Impressionism but he declined to participate in the group's first exhibition and was never involved in the movement as an active member although he shared many of its aesthetic aspirations. Possibly for this reason, Fantin-Latour has been less studied and is less celebrated than his Impressionist contemporaries, and few major exhibitions have been devoted to him in recent years. The present one, which is the first to be seen in the Iberian Peninsula, aims to reassess and champion the figure and work of this French painter whose oeuvre has been unjustly eclipsed and who has not been judged over time as one of the great figures of modern art. Fantin-Latour's illustrious contemporary, the writer Émile Zola, said that his canvases "do not arouse an immediate attraction; it is necessary to look at them carefully, introducing oneself into them so that one fully grasps and is captivated by their mood and the simplicity of their truth." The exhibition's aim is thus to do justice to Henri Fantin-Latour and to reveal him to the visiting public not just as an exquisite, refined and elegant painter but also as an artist of great quality, subtlety and profound sensibility. This is the intention behind the ambitious selection of works made by Vincent Pomarède, Curator at the Musée du Louvre and curator of the exhibition. The works are arranged with a dual chronological and thematic presentation, organized into seven sections: Flowers and fruits Flowers are a constantly recurring motif in the work of Fantin-Latour and his flower paintings could be described as the genre that he most brilliantly mastered. Particularly appreciated in England, these works are characterized by their balanced, elegant and disciplined compositions, constructed through meticulous relations of forms and colors. Fantin-Latour executed his first still lifes in 1861 for the surgeon and printmaker Francis Seymour Haden during a period in England. Seymour Haden's enthusiastic promotion of these works was largely responsible for the success that the artist enjoyed in that country. In France, however, these works were ignored or even maligned due to their subject matter and because any sort of commercial success was synonymous with mediocrity in the opinion of French writers and critics of the day. They only appreciated Fantin-Latour's largescale "homages", his group portraits, single figures and musical compositions, almost entirely disregarding the flower paintings. Self-portraits Self-portraits were the primary focus of Fantin-Latour's activities during his early years and he engaged in this genre in a regular manner between 1854 and 1861. This introspective activity, which recalls that of other artists such as Rembrandt and Dürer, resulted in around 50 self-portraits in the form of paintings, drawings and prints. They reveal the artist's profound investigation into the expression of emotions based on a study of his own image. This was an almost daily activity in which it was possible to discern an increasing reduction in the motifs that the artist would select to paint, as well as his need for solitude and for time given over to reflection and study. "How beautiful nature is! I come back from the Louvre, have dinner, and from 5 to 8 in the evening I sit down in front of my mirror and alone with nature, we say things to each other that are a thousand times more worthwhile than anything the most beautiful woman could have to say. Oh art!", he wrote to his friend Whistler in 1859. This almost obsessive passion for depicting himself could also, however, be explained in more practical terms, such as the advantages offered by the genre of portraiture with its "always available model", "which is precise, obedient and already familiar with itself before being painted", as the artist noted. More flexible and available than a professional model, his own physiognomy seemed to him better suited to the freedom that he was looking for in his work. At the Louvre Fantin-Latour's activities as a copyist were motivated not just by the need to survive financially at the outset of his career. As was the case with other artists of his generation such as Manet and Degas, this activity was a preferred method of study, interpretation and creation. For more than twenty years, Fantin-Latour was an almost daily visitor to the Louvre, where he undertook commissions for copies of works by the great masters, notably Titian, Veronese, Rubens and Delacroix, his "spiritual master". The influence of these painters is reflected in his conception of portraiture, in which he constantly referred to a wide range of Dutch and French models. It is also evident in his still lifes, which synthesise all the known examples of 16th- and 17th-century flower painting. Musical and poetic allegories Henri Fantin-Latour loved music almost as much as painting. Far from being an inhibiting and competitive factor, this passion constantly enriched his sources of pictorial inspiration and he established a close relationship between the two art forms in a manner imbued with Romantic sentiments but one that heralded his Symbolist interests. These musical "adaptations" in painting were the only subjects that encouraged him temporarily to abandon realistic themes and devote himself to the creation of imaginary, poetic and totally original worlds. Schumann, Brahms, Berlioz and above all Richard Wagner were his sources of inspiration. In 1864 Fantin-Latour presented Scene from Tannhäuser (Venusberg) at the Paris Salon. This was the first of his pictorial variations based on a musical source. With this work the artist had clearly found the subject and aesthetic mood that would enable him to achieve his desired end, that of creating the "painting of the future". To do so he consciously looked to Wagner, whose aim was to create "the music of the future". From 1880, Fantin-Latour's work was initially indebted to Romanticism then subsequently came close to realism and to the "painters of modern life" before moving on to reveal an interest in the work of the early Symbolists. When he returned to "themes of the imagination" at the end of his career the artist revived the idea of contributing to the "painting of the future", championing the pre-eminent role of the dream in art through works inspired by religious, mythological and allegorical themes. In addition, the works of this late period are characterized by a vitality and evident sense of joy, expressed in the use of refined, pleasing colors and intense luminosity. In particular, they express a vibrant, sensual eroticism. Reading The principal themes of these works, reading and study, were subjects that encouraged a focus on a pictorial description of concentration, mental reflection and silence. They are intimate portraits, imbued with a sense of mystery and complicity, that evolved into genre compositions that look back to the restrained tradition of Dutch 17th-century painting. They are formally realist works of an almost photographic nature, but behind their apparent order they conceal an unexpected disorder that is conveyed in the self-absorbed poses of the figures, which seem to conceal a mystery. In the words of the writer Anatole France, these scenes "expressed a gentle seriousness, bathed in a calm light", adding that: "in them, the figures are involved in a life that is at once domestic and sublime." Portraits Fantin-Latour's sisters, friends and the individuals whom he admired received his full attention and the artist devoted himself to them unreservedly when he painted their portraits. However, when he moved away from this close circle and had to execute portraits of unknown sitters he lost all interest and his powers of formal and psychological analysis disappeared. This marked difference between his private and public works is almost unparalleled in the history of art and is even more surprising in the case of an artist whose reputation is largely based on his brilliance as a portraitist. Besides, Fantin-Latour produced some of the most notable group portraits within the history of art, returning at the end of the 19th century to the lessons of Rembrandt and Frans Hals. This is clearly evident in A corner of the Table, loaned by the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, which is one of the four large-scale compositions executed by Fantin-Latour as a celebration of painting, literature and music and which can be seen as true artistic manifestoes. Fantin-Latour paid homage to the art of painting on two occasions in his work and also felt the need to pay tribute to literature. So enthusiastic was he about this project that he declared: "I am painting for myself." The central figure was originally intended to be Baudelaire, but a row in the Parisian literary world resulted in a complete change in the concept, and the painting ultimately became a homage to the poets of the nouvelle vague, with Verlaine and Rimbaud as the central figures. Portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Edwards (1875), of whom the latter was one of his most notable supporters and promoters in England, together with others from the 1880s such as those of his sister-in-law Charlotte Dubourg and of his friend León Maître, can be considered among the artist's masterpieces. Fantin-Latour endowed French portraiture with a unique aesthetic due to the special attention he paid to his models, his interest in a truthful representation, the simplicity of the clothes in which they are depicted and his exquisitely refined palette. His canvases were restrained, subtle and austere without being somber. They reflected the mood of the late 19th century in a way that few other artists were able to achieve. Henri Fantin-Latour (1836 – 1904) Son of Théodore Fantin, a painter and drawing master, Henri Fantin-Latour was born in Grenoble on 14 January 1836. In 1841 his family moved to Paris where he trained as a painter, first in the studio of Lecoq de Boisbaudran and later at the École des Beaux-Arts. For a period of a month he also studied at Courbet's "School of Realism" but it would seem that the artist learned most from the Louvre where he executed numerous copies. With no personal fortune and without an acquaintance that could become his patron, Fantin-Latour was thus forced to paint copies throughout his life, and then flowers, to make a living. Soon, the young artist gained reputation as a copyist of the works of the masters, particularly specializing in the Venetian School, above all Titian and Veronese, but also Delacroix, Géricault, Rubens, Murillo or Rembrandt. He was admired but his skill as a copyist somewhat worried his friends, who were afraid he would turn it into a career. Nonetheless, the Louvre was for Fantin, for over twenty years, a place of sometimes lucrative work, but also and especially a place of study, interpretation and creation. In 1859 he went to England for the first time in the company of Whistler and he came back in 1861 and 1864. In this country he found the best purchasers for his flowers and still lifes paintings. He painted also portraits and group portraits of members of his family and friends. In 1836 Fantin-Latour participated in the Salon des refusés and in 1864 exhibited Homage to Delacroix, the first of his group portraits of writers, painters and musicians. Despite his friendly relations with the Impressionists, in 1874 he declined to exhibit with them in the group's first exhibition. Fantin-Latour's compositions on musical themes and "themes of imagination", from the last period of his career, associate him with Symbolist tendencies. The artist retired in 1876 to his country house at Buré (Orne) where he died on 25 August 1904. Visit : http://www.museothyssen.org/thyssen/home

Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review" Posted: 13 Dec 2011 06:29 PM PST This is a new feature for the subscribers and visitors to Art Knowledge News (AKN), that will enable you to see "thumbnail descriptions" of the last ninety (90) articles and art images that we published. This will allow you to visit any article that you may have missed ; or re-visit any article or image of particular interest. Every day the article "thumbnail images" will change. For you to see the entire last ninety images just click : here . When opened that also will allow you to change the language from English to anyone of 54 other languages, by clicking your language choice on the upper left corner of our Home Page.  You can share any article we publish with the eleven (11) social websites we offer like Twitter, Flicker, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. by one click on the image shown at the end of each opened article.  Last, but not least, you can email or print any entire article by using an icon visible to the right side of an article's headline.

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