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

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• American artist Cindy Sherman Awarded the 2012 Roswitha Haftmann Prize
• The Bourdelle Museum Presents "Antoine Bourdelle ~ All Drawing"
• The Crawford Art Gallery Celebrates Barrie Cooke's 80th Birthday
• The Lyons Wier Gallery to Present Jazz-minh Moore Solo Show
• Christie's New York Features Unique Photographs Sales
• The Henie-Onstad Art Centre ~ Norway’s Largest Museum Of Modern Art
• Conner Contemporary Art Shows Patricia Piccinini and Victoria F. Gaitán
• Tiancheng International Presented its Inaugural Contemporary Asian Art Auction
• The Museum at Guild Hall Surveys the Works of Rafael Ferrer
• The South Bend Museum of Art to Show "Adrian Hatfield ~ King of the Impossible"
• Salvador Dali and Contemporary Surrealism on View at the Kunsthalle Vienna
• Kunsthalle Bielefeld to showcase World-renowned Chinese Artist Fang Lijun
• Extended Drawing: Exhibition by Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Bruce Nauman & Richard Serra
• Famous Chinese Modernist Painter Wu Guanzhong Dies at 90
• Singapore Art Museum & Yayasan YDY Nusantara’s Partnership to Promote Southeast Asian Art
• First Exhibition Ever to Focus on Queen Victoria & Prince Albert's Enthusiasm for Art
• At Villa Grisebach ~ Max Beckmann Painting Sells for A Record 2,618,000 Euros
• The Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art Shows Nebraska's Artist ~ Dale Nichols
• Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe presents Saul Steinberg ~ Retrospective
• Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"

American artist Cindy Sherman Awarded the 2012 Roswitha Haftmann Prize Posted: 15 Dec 2011 10:53 PM PST ZURICH.- The Board of the Roswitha Haftmann Foundation has awarded the 2012 Roswitha Haftmann Prize – worth CHF 150,000 – to the American artist Cindy Sherman (born 1954). Sherman is one of the leading exponents of staged photography. She uses mostly herself – her own body – as her model; yet the concept underlying her work is anything but self-referential. She has reinvented role photography. Her roleplay, which begins in the studio as a performance, ultimately reaches its audience in the form of a photograph. Her works transcend the boundaries of the exhibitionistic, and are all the more provocative because they are not intended to be viewed as self-portraits. Rather, through her alternating roles, Sherman parodies stereotypical representations of womanhood and explores the meaning of female identity in a male-dominated society. She investigates the processes of physical, psychological and sexual repression and the taboos that surround them, depicting them in the form of sometimes garish, overdrawn 'reproductions'. Sherman references the techniques and forms of advertising, cinema and classical painting, but moves freely within these creative parameters. Her initial breakthrough came with a series of black and white photographs created between 1977 and 1980: the 'Untitled Film Stills' seemingly emulating images from Italian Neo-Realism and American film noir. They were followed by her first photo series in colour that dealt with the issue of sexual objectification, in which prosthetic limbs and mannequins were her preferred props. Later came the 'History Portraits' that replicated the composition of celebrated paintings easily recognizable to the viewer, as well as series on topics such as Hollywood and clowns. Sherman draws her audience into conflict-laden situations. The individual identity that she presents is confronted with a collective sub-conscious, artificial beauty with natural brutality. Sherman's particular talent lies in her ability at once to attract and repel the viewer with works that are both profoundly unsettling and enduringly fascinating. In the opinion of the Roswitha Haftmann Foundation jury, she is the leading artist of filmic and photographic self-exploration after Andy Warhol. It is in recognition of these artistic achievements that she has been awarded the Roswitha Haftmann Prize. PRIZEWINNER AND AWARD CEREMONY Cindy Sherman was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey in 1954. She studied painting at the State University College in Buffalo, New York and, during that time, also began working with photography. Her first important work, 'Bus Riders' (1976), was created while she was still a student. She currently lives and works in New York. Her works appear in the collections of some of the world's most prestigious art museums, not only in the US but also in Europe and, indeed, Mexico and Israel. Cindy Sherman is the twelfth artist to receive Europe's most valuable art prize and the fourth woman to do so, after Maria Lassnig, Mona Hatoum and Vija Celmins . The award, worth CHF 150,000, will be presented on 10 May 2012 at the Kunsthaus Zürich. SPECIAL ACCOLADE FOR HARUN FAROCKI The Prize was originally the initiative of Roswitha Haftmann (1924-1998), whose Foundation has awarded it since 2001 to a living artist who has created an oeuvre of outstanding quality. The winner is chosen by the Foundation Board, which includes the directors of the Kunstmuseum Bern , the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne and the Kunsthaus Zürich as well as other members co-opted by the Board. The deed of foundation provides for the jury to award special prizes at its discretion. It has now chosen to do so for the third time, and is bestowing on film director Harun Farocki a prize of CHF 75,000. Author, lecturer and filmmaker Harun Farocki was born in 1944 in what is now the Czech Republic and from 1966 to 1968 studied at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin, where he now lives. He has established a reputation as a film critic and screenwriter and has completed more than 100 productions since 1966, predominantly documentaries, essay films and story films. Many of the works he has created since 2000 have been shown in exhibitions and museums ranging from the São Paulo Art Biennial to documenta 12. He curates exhibitions for art societies and museums.

The Bourdelle Museum Presents "Antoine Bourdelle ~ All Drawing" Posted: 15 Dec 2011 10:29 PM PST Paris.- The Bourdelle Museum is pleased to present "Antoine Bourdelle: All Drawing" on view at the museum through January 29th 2012. Compelling and passionate, disciplined or an outlet, the daily practice and incessant drawing by Antoine Bourdelle (1861 - 1929) created a burgeoning graphic production. In this exhibition, the museum reveals the Bourdelle through the first major exhibition of drawings ever devoted to the sculptor, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of his birth. Two hundred works, including many previously unpublished have been selected from among the nearly seven thousand contained in the museum's collection. Together, these trace the artist's path from 1875 to 1929, revealing, in his own words, "The essential part of the design in [his] life as an artist." The exhibition does not present the works chronologically, but instead groups them according to their nature and intent that governed their creation. It provides access keys to the approach of Bourdelle as a designer, but also to his secret garden, lighting the multiple facets of both the artist and the work, which is incredibly prolific and varied, both in terms of style, themes, and techniques (pencil, charcoal, ink, watercolor and pastel).

The Crawford Art Gallery Celebrates Barrie Cooke's 80th Birthday Posted: 15 Dec 2011 10:16 PM PST Cork, Ireland.- The Crawford Art Gallery is pleased to present "Barrie Cooke" on view through January 14th 2012. This exhibition celebrates the work of Barrie Cooke's immense career and prodigious achievements as he reaches his 80th Birthday this year. Karen Sweeney, Assistant Curator at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, curated the Barrie Cooke exhibition. After opening in the Irish Museum of Modern Art in June of this year, a selected group of works have been chosen to tour to the Crawford Art Gallery and then Centre Culturel Irlandais Paris in February 2012. The Barrie Cooke exhibition showcases works, from both private and institutional lenders, that span his entire career as an abstract expressionist painter. The exhibition explores Cooke's continuous reference of the natural world; from the breathtaking paintings of an ancient Irish elk found in a bog and the bone boxes of the 1970s to the energetic paintings of rural Irish landscape and the famous nude portraits.

The Lyons Wier Gallery to Present Jazz-minh Moore Solo Show Posted: 15 Dec 2011 09:22 PM PST New York City.- Lyons Wier Gallery is pleased to present "Is That All There Is", its second solo exhibition with Jazz-minh Moore, on view at the gallery from January 5th through January 28th. There will be an artist's reception on Thursday January 5th from 6 - 8 pm. Moore's new series of paintings features her sister, Asia Kindred, amidst the ruins of a deteriorating cabin. The primarily naturalistic pallet is infused with distortion and bright color, causing the compositions to hover between physical and psychological space.  The cabin depicted was the first structure built on the land where the artist was born, deep in the Oregon woods. Over the years, Moore has watched the dilapidated structure fall into a nest-like geometry that she finds beautiful. The external post and lintel structure has given way to the kind of forgotten, mythical space that a teen might build her fort in; a space wherein secrets can be told and tasted, where the patchy, uneven ground is both soft and solid. It is within this context that Asia is found squatting, or absentmindedly doodling on the fallen boards with a sharp stick.

Christie's New York Features Unique Photographs Sales Posted: 15 Dec 2011 09:14 PM PST NEW YORK, N.Y.- Christie's to conclude the year of sales in New York with Photographs including Crossing America: Photographs from The Consolidated Freightways Collection, Part II, taking place on December 19th. The Various Owners sale incorporates a wide range of 145 enticing works, which include a robust selection of fashion photography, a rare set from the highly coveted artist Miroslav Tichý, a unique group of Polaroids by Ansel Adams and an excellent representation of contemporary and modern photography. The Various Owners sale is expected to realize in excess of $525,000 with estimates that range from $1,000-30,000. In addition to the Various Owners sale, Christie's presents the second installment of Crossing America: Photographs from the Consolidated Freightways Collection. This exceptional corporate collection, which hails from the freight transportation giant, was built to reflect the American Landscape as it might be seen from the cab of a truck.

The Henie-Onstad Art Centre ~ Norway’s Largest Museum Of Modern Art Posted: 15 Dec 2011 09:14 PM PST Henie-Onstad Art Centre is Norway's largest museum of international modern art was established by famous ice skater Sonia Henie and her husband in 1968. It is also a centre for the performing arts, film and literature. The museum collection comprises work by artists from Picasso to Matisse and from Beuys to Christo, as well as by contemporary Norwegian artists. The 'sculpture walk' in the large Sculpture Park connected to the arts centre is a place for regular Sunday activity throughout the Summer for children and adults alike. The centre also exhibits Ms Henie's extensive trophy collection. The centre hosts several temporary exhibitions each year, focusing on Norwegian and international contemporary art. In 1994, the building was extended, and a two-story wing with exhibition spaces and technical rooms was added. This project was designed by noted architects—the new wing abuts the main body of the building as an organic extension. In 2003, another extension was made, this time in the form of an annex that extends into the outdoor park, connected to the main building by a passage leading from the lower level. In addition to six exhibition halls, the Centre also has an auditorium and smaller meeting rooms. Today, the total building area is approximately 9,500 square metres, of which 4,500 are occupied by exhibition spaces. The museum is the owner of a unique collection of Fluxus art that consists of 700 works. In 2007 Ken Freidman made a significant donation to the Art Centre. This was groundbreaking for the center's continued work with the collection, which in recent years have included a full photograph and registration of the material. Henie-Onstad Art Centre has Norway's largest collection of international modern art. A studio, a well-equipped workshop and dark room facilities are also available. Also available to the public is a library, which contains one of Norway's largest collections of literature on modern and contemporary art. Art center is visited by around 200,000 people each year. The centre celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2008. The Henie Onstad Art Centre was the first significant manifestation of Neo-Expressionism construction design in Norway. Though architecture continues to change and develop as it has always done, important buildings have qualities that survive, and retain their meaning. The Art Centre at Høvikodden is such a building. Jon Eikvar and Sven Erik Engebretsen's winning proposal for the architecture competition represented a conscious effort to create a more "expressive" form of architecture. Around the 1960s, modern architecture was certainly in need of a renaissance such as this. The building swiftly gained an international reputation when it first opened, and, to this day, it remains one of the nation's most important cultural sites. The sheer number of new buildings erected during the post-war period had revealed modernism's limited possibilities, and both in Norway and abroad our surroundings had become characterless and schematic. However, there were also positive tendencies. In Scandinavia in particular, a more "organic" view of architecture was evolving. The now renowned originator of this view was the Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto, who had enriched the stark, visual language of modernism with the use of natural forms and materials as early as 1930. Aalto's aim was twofold: to create an architecture that was more humane, and to create the kind of architecture that was firmly rooted in a cultural tradition that centered around Scandinavia. These aims came to have a significant impact on the other Nordic countries. Although his buildings were essentially "Finnish", the principles that lay behind them were of common interest to the Nordic countries in particular. As a continuation of this concept, Jørn Utzon created a similarly "Danish" style of architecture. Related tendencies also existed in other countries in Europe. At the beginning of the1950s, the French architect Le Corbusier began work on Ronchamp – a church for Catholic pilgrims. The result of his efforts was extraordinarily "expressive". He himself described the building as a space specially created for spiritual concentration and meditation, and believed that the traditional, Spartan language of modernism was inappropriate. His solution was a sort of cave-like interior, where "mystical" light streamed into the building through small holes and slits. A kind of vaulting spans the interior – it seems to hover above the space, yet has a feeling of weight about it. To give the building presence and solidity, Le Corbusier designed a tower, which rose out of the sculptural mass of the building.

Conner Contemporary Art Shows Patricia Piccinini and Victoria F. Gaitán Posted: 15 Dec 2011 07:50 PM PST Washington, D.C.- Conner Contemporary Art is very pleased to present Patricia Piccinini's first solo exhibition in Washington, DC: "The Welcome Guest." The selection of works ranges in date from 1997 to the present, including video and small- to largescale sculptures (made of silicone, fiberglass, human and animal hair, taxidermied peacocks, polyester, nylon, wool, plastic and bronze). Using natural and artificial media to create realistic and grotesque forms, the world renowned Australian artist visualizes humanity's challenges in navigating between nature and biotechnology.  The exhibition title comes from its signature piece, "The Welcome Guest" (2011), Piccinini's most recent creation, which recalls Goethe's statement, 'Beauty is everywhere a welcome guest.' The artist explains that this work "reflects on the beauty and strangeness of nature." In this compelling sculptural grouping, a fleshy mutant creature embraces a cute little girl as a graceful peacock looks on from atop an icy perch. Here Piccinini asks: Who will we become as technology refashions the relationship between people and the natural world? Other works in the exhibition elaborate on what kinds of emotional connections could emerge between us and the strange yet vulnerable life forms our science may yet create.

Tiancheng International Presented its Inaugural Contemporary Asian Art Auction Posted: 15 Dec 2011 07:23 PM PST Hong Kong.- Tiancheng International was delighted to present 'Contemporary Literati',  a special theme sale of modern and contemporary Asian art. Tiancheng International's inaugural auction was held at at 30/F of Bank of China Tower, Central, Hong Kong. Prior to the auction, highlights of the sale will be exhibited in Shanghai, Beijing, Xiamen and Taipei and Hong Kong. 'Literati' refers to ancient Oriental scholars and intellectuals who saw various forms of creative expressions as a way of life. This 'Contemporary Literati' auction comprises works by contemporary artists who express the spirit and value of the ancient literati through modern mediums such as photography, sculpture, video, oil or mixed media, as well as artists who express contemporary subject matters using traditional tools such as ink and brush.  A selection of masterpieces by these modern masters is included in the theme sale, such as "Raincloud over Wushan", a splashed ink painting by Zhang Daqian. Zhang Daqian is highly regarded for his innovative spirit and his breakthroughs in introducing the abstract concept and use of colour in western paintings into his ink and brush works. This piece, executed between the 60s to the 70s, is a signature work by Zhang with green and blue splashed ink in his mature style, showing the powerful force of nature amongst the moving clouds and air (Estimate: HK$9,000,000-12,000,000).

The Museum at Guild Hall Surveys the Works of Rafael Ferrer Posted: 15 Dec 2011 07:22 PM PST East Hampton,New York.- The Guild Hall is proud to present "Rafael Ferrer: Contrabando", on view at the museum through January 16th 2012. The show celebrates Ferrer's many significant and diverse artistic contributions and continues the recognition he so richly deserves following his well-received one person show at the El Museo del Barrio in New York City. Guild Hall will feature works from the early 70s to the present, including new pieces and there will be a 12-page, full-color bilingual catalogue that will include the curatorial essay by guest curator Esperanza León,  Ferrer's biography, and acknowledgements "Rafael Ferrer is an acute observer of past and current events.  He accurately and justifiably comments on all that surrounds him, 'smuggling' information through his artwork with an attentiveness to detail, fact, sentiment, and opinion that results in stimulating, insightful, and inciting visual and conceptual statements," says Esperanza León, guest curator.  "Contrabando" furnishes a renewed opportunity for complicity with and regard for the artist."

The South Bend Museum of Art to Show "Adrian Hatfield ~ King of the Impossible" Posted: 15 Dec 2011 07:04 PM PST South Bend, Indiana.- The South Bend Museum of Art is pleased to present "Adrian Hatfield: King of the Impossible" on view at the museum from December 17th through February 26th 2012. Hatfield's multi-media work examines the modes of visual communication developed within religion, science and fine art and the role they play in humanity's attempt to understand itself and its place in the universe. The large-scale piece, KT and The Second Coming, is a metaphorical depiction of the moment the KT asteroid, which caused the mass extinction ending the reign of the dinosaurs, struck the earth. The artist invites viewers to enter a world via fantastical imagery, reminiscent of Sci-fi illustration, wherein Godzilla meets the Hudson River School of grandiose landscape. "My recent work examines the modes of visual communication developed within religion, science and fine art in order to answer seemingly unanswerable questions. It highlights the beauty and absurdity of the human compulsion to assign meaning to "life" and the greater universe, as well as the impossibility of attaining a complete understanding of the world. Central to this is the way science's visual language endeavors to make huge amounts of information digestible, creating the illusion of a more complete understanding of the subjects than actually exists. This has parallels within religion as well as nineteenth-century Romantic landscape paintings in the exploration of vast and mysterious subject matter in an attempt to address sublime subjects and reduce them to a more manageable scale. The presence of pop culture references such as Godzilla and Freddie Mercury in my work challenges the accepted hierarchy in visual culture and examines the way lowbrow figures are imbued with meaning. An example of this is how Godzilla, a man in a rubber monster costume, can simultaneously exist as a popular B-movie icon, a complex symbol of the U.S./Japan political relationship, and as a metaphor for the destructive potential of nature and nuclear power. I am not suggesting that science, religion, fine art and pop culture are equivalent. Rather, I am interested in how the aspect of human nature that yearns for meaning, comprehension and control affects the development and function these disciplines. This sometimes causes a blurring where one or more of these areas begin tooperate in a way traditionally reserved for another." The title of the exhibition, King of the Impossible, is, according to the artist, "a reference to a lyric Freddie Mercury sings in the Queen song "Flash Gordon".  I think it hits on a number of elements in this body of work including Freddie Mercury, space, God and questions of His nature/existence.  It also seems to capture my "tongue in cheek but not kidding" was of approaching these vast subjects." Adrian Hatfield received his M.F.A. from Ohio University in 2003 and has been Assistant Professor of Painting at Wayne State University since 2005. He has been showing his work both nationally and internationally for almost 10 years. Recently, he was invited to take part in the NES Artist Residency in Skagastrond, Iceland. The South Bend Museum of Art affirms the enduring power of the visual arts to reflect and create community, engage minds, and nurture growth through exhibitions, collections and educational programs. Since its founding in 1947, the SBMA has provided insight into the art, history and culture of the region and nation. Since 1987, the museum has been accredited by the American Association of Museums, which recognizes that it has achieved the highest levels of professional standards. Located inside the Century Center, the SBMA is an architectural delight. Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, the museum occupies three levels in the northern wing of the building. A full spectrum of historical and contemporary art is featured in six galleries, and a wide-range of artistic traditions are taught in their world-class art studios. The Permanent Collection of the South Bend Museum of Art presents over 60 years of acquisition. The collection features the work of historical Indiana artists, and significant contemporary regional artists, which makes it a unique collection for the community it serves. The collection grew out of a community based creation called the South Bend Art Association, founded in 1947. The "Hoosier Group" were among important artists featured by this organization, and spurred interest in the visual arts in the area. The collection was founded by an initial gift from Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Morris, and continued to grow through purchases, gifts and donations. Artists included in this initial gift of the Morris's include William Forsyth, Clifton Wheeler, Daniel Garber, Theodore Clement Steele, Karl Bradner, and George Jo Mess. Included in the collection of regional art are works by early Indiana Impressionist painters, also called the Hoosier School, or Brown County School. Some of these artists include T. C. Steele, Frank Dudley, George Ames Aldrich, Clarence Ball, and Alexis Fournier. A long term loan from the Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame features approximately 30 paintings by some of these historical Indiana artists, as well as others such as Emil Jacques, Homer Davisson, Frank Dudley, Luigi Gregori, and Ivan Mestrovic. Some of these artists were important educators at the university. Another group of works focuses on Indiana-born artists of note such as William Merritt Chase, Daniel Garber, Sam Gilliam, and Robert Indiana. The remainder of the collection features art by nationally recognized American artists including Lynda Benglis, Thomas Hart Benton, Mark di Suvero, Audrey Flack, Robert Henri, Jacob Lawrence, Louise Nevelson, Larry Rivers, and John Storrs. A small but important group of paintings of national scope is their collection of works from the Chicago Imagists, also known as the Hairy Who. Some of these artists include Roger Brown, Ed Paschke, Gladys Nilsson, and Ray Yoshida. These nationally recognized works provide a context for the regional collection. Comparisons between trends and movements, and aesthetic considerations such as subject and media, allow for interpretation on the idea of regional style. Much of the work by nationally recognized artists are works on paper. Other stylistic periods of American art represented by the collection include late 19th century genre painting, the Ash Can School , Urban Realism, Regionalism, Pop Art, New Realism, and Photo-Realism. Acquisition of several series of prints has allowed the museum to collect some of these nationally recognized artists, and also to address socio-political work pertaining to issues of racism, feminism, and tolerance. Examples of these suites of prints include the Kent Bicentennial Portfolio: "Spirit of Independence" which includes works by Robert Indiana, Alex Katz, Jacob Lawrence, and Marisol Escobar. Another suite from this period is the Boston Massacre Portfolio featuring Larry Rivers. These prints celebrate our country's history while addressing issues of tolerance, diversity and political dissent. The 10x10: Ten Women/Ten Prints includes works by Hung Liu, Yolanda Lopez, Carrie Mae Weems, and Faith Ringold. These prints address current feminist issues and highlight works by prominent minority artists of Chinese, Latino, and African-American backgrounds. Collection activity has been sustained through several means: purchase awards for sculpture and craft biennial exhibitions as well as full-media shows; gifts and donations; the Zisla Acquisition Fund; and the General Acquisitions Fund. Visit the museum's website at ... http://southbendart.org

Salvador Dali and Contemporary Surrealism on View at the Kunsthalle Vienna Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:59 PM PST Vienna.- The Kunsthalle Vienna is proud to present "Le Surréalisme, c'est moi!" from June 22nd through October 23rd. "Le Surréalisme, c'est moi!" continues the Kunsthalle Vienna's series of exhibitions which presents the work of major artists from the first half of the twentieth century in a fascinating dialogue between Modernism and present day art based on philosophical, art historical and sociological questions in order to reassess the role of art and the artist in society and popular culture. "Le Surréalisme, c'est moi!" presents the works of Salvador Dalí alongside the contemporary artists Louise Bourgeois, Glenn Brown, Markus Schinwald and Francesco Vezzoli. Eccentric, madman, or genius? Both with his oeuvre and his provocative manner, Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) abandoned the boundaries between art and life, originality and commercialism as nearly no other twentieth century artist did. He gave form to his visions of Surrealism, the aesthetic fusion of dream and reality, which manifests itself in delusions, states of fever and intoxication or delirium, in almost all media of art, but also in the way he presented himself. Translating the principles of his so called paranoiac critical method and being recognized all over the world with such motifs as the melting clock, the burning giraffe, or endlessly vast landscapes steeped in cool sunshine, Dalí not only ranks among the most famous painters. He was also one of the first artists who devoted himself to design, cinema, and the sphere of mass media and pursued marketing strategies that have come to be primarily associated with the name of Andy Warhol. Dalí countered the method preferred by the Surrealists around André Breton, who strove to evoke images of the unconscious through a passive state of the ego by means of the écriture automatique, with an ostentatious individualism and reacted polemically to the group's accusations denouncing him as a fascist and his expulsion: "I am not a Surrealist. I am Surrealism. Surrealism is not a party or a label; it is a state of mind, unique, to each his own, that can be affected by no party line, taboo, or morality. It is the total freedom to be and the right to absolute dreaming." Surrealism was regarded as a way of living by the multimedia artist, who engaged himself in almost every field of cultural production, designed stage sets, perfume bottles and jewelry, worked with Luis Buñuel, Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney, shot commercials, appeared in TV shows, and made his paintings available as cover motifs to Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Country House. Dalí made scores of different roles his own and cultivated his appearance which became a trademark and, finally, a caricature. On the occasion of the artist's one hundredth birthday, Peter Bürger wrote: "Dalí, who died in 1989, has not found a place in twentieth century art yet." The Kunsthalle Wien's exhibition reaccentuates Dalí's controversially perceived production in the mirror of contemporary art and highlights the affinities revealing manifold points of contact with today's art scene: about seventy selected works by Salvador Dalí are confronted with the internationally established positions of Louise Bourgeois, Glenn Brown, Markus Schinwald, and Francesco Vezzoli. The visitor follows the exhibition's course through a mise en scène of atmospheric rooms in which four exemplary artistic positions enter into a dialogue with Dalí for a discussion of current tendencies and variants of Surrealist aesthetics. The work developed by Markus Schinwald specifically for the exhibition deals with perspective and weightlessness. His installation of a showcase filled with water reminds us of Dalí's popularly surreal space of experience at the World's Fair in New York in 1939 for which the artist designed a swimming pool with live mermaids. Presented as objects in a kind of cabinet of curiosities, the sculptures and drawings by Louise Bourgeois visualize the psychoanalytic approach to art, the unconscious coming to light in dreams. Glenn Brown thematizes the history of art and the tradition of painting: technically brilliant paintings unfolding illusionist color surfaces center on the concepts of reception and appropriation, post modernism and mannerism. Francesco Vezzoli's work takes its inspiration from the phenomenon of renown and relies on medially constructed projection surfaces for fantasies and desires. It is the interest in the visualization of irrational knowledge and the fascination for a world between dream and reality which the selected artists share with Dalí. The Kunsthalle Wien is the exhibition institution of the City of Vienna for international contemporary art. It established itself as one of the most vital facilities for contemporary art in Vienna at two locations in the centre of the city (Karlsplatz and the MuseumsQuartier). In the interest of an expanded understanding of art, the Kunsthalle Wien emphasizes cross-genre, cross-border trends in the arts. Program highlights range from photography, video, film, and installations to new media. Large, subject-specific exhibitions present developments and correlations from Modernism to the present-day art world. Other program elements are dedicated to retrospectives of important contemporary artists and significant contributions in Austrian art after 1945. The Kunsthalle Wien considers itself a workshop, a lab, a forum for contemporary aesthetic and social positions and as a hot zone of communicative transfer. And as a bridge between classical modernity and the visions of the future that redefine the strategies, venues, and materials of present-day art. The idea of temporariness was an integral part of the Kunsthalle history from the very beginning. Designed by architect Adolf Krischanitz as a temporary building shaped like a cargo container, the Kunsthalle Wien on Karlsplatz was opened in 1992. Fiercely controversial in its beginnings, the yellow container was not only an element that changed the cityscape of downtown Vienna, but also brought a lasting new impulse to the local art and gallery scene. Since 1992, more than two million visitors have seen exhibitions at the Kunsthalle Wien. 160 exhibitions presented almost 10,000 works by more than 2,000 different artists, which makes the Kunsthalle Wien one of the best-frequented, but also on e of the most active exhibition venues for contemporary art in Europe. In 2002, the Italian arts magazine ARTE ranked the Kunsthalle Wien among the six best modern art institutions in Europe (together with Tate Modern, London, the Kiasma, Helsinki, the Centre Pompidou, Paris and the Bilbao Guggenheim). The New York Times called the Kunsthalle simply an 'art mecca' (NY Times, March 11, 2001). The new Kunsthalle Wien building located in the in the Museum Quarter opened in 2001. In order to create public awareness of the Museum Quarter as the new home of the Kunsthalle Wien, a number of exhibitions have already been shown in the provisional Kunsthalle premises in the Museum Quarter ever since December 1995. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.kunsthallewien.at

Kunsthalle Bielefeld to showcase World-renowned Chinese Artist Fang Lijun Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:58 PM PST BIELEFELD, GERMANY - Born in 1963 in the Chinese province of Hebei, Fang Lijun is a world-renowned artist who has been exhibiting steadily in France, Japan, the Netherlands, and New York since 1995. He made his European debut in the international art world in 1993, with the Biennale di Venezia and in Berlin at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Two retrospectives in China and the presentation of his large-format woodcut at Berlin's Kupferstichkabinett in 2006 demonstrated to what extent he has become one of the art world's most influential figures. On exhibition 30 August through 8 November, 2009.

Extended Drawing: Exhibition by Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Bruce Nauman & Richard Serra Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:57 PM PST MAASTRICHT, NL - Extended Drawing focuses on a specific aspect of the work of American artists Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Bruce Nauman and Richard Serra. The exhibition shows works in which line and drawing are taken beyond their original boundaries. The exhibition brings four artists together, who belong to the 'classical' generation that gave direction to American art from the mid-sixties. These four artists have consistently used drawing in their zeal to strip art of easy (false) sentimentality and an over-emphasized subjectivity. Their endeavour to achieve universality leads them to a far-reaching objectification of visual means. Extended Drawing stands for the art that transcends the limitations of all the traditional values that are part and parcel of the various mediums. For some time already, painting and sculpture have demonstrated all sorts of 'extended' forms, including significant contributions by these four artists. However, until now, the inclusion of drawing has not been on the agenda.

Famous Chinese Modernist Painter Wu Guanzhong Dies at 90 Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:56 PM PST BEIJING, CHINA -  Wu Guanzhong, known as one of the fathers of modern Chinese art for combining western and Chinese elements in black and white oil paintings, has died. He was 90. He died in Beijing on Friday. Wu's works have become very valuable in recent years. Earlier this month, his oil painting from 1974 depicting the Yangtze River sold for $8.4 million at a Beijing auction. For decades he had been exploring ways of reconciling the two traditions, and in his work shows a mutual influence of Chinese and Western styles. He was a most respected artist and played an important role in contemporary art history, as an artist, a teacher, and an essayist.

Singapore Art Museum & Yayasan YDY Nusantara’s Partnership to Promote Southeast Asian Art Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:55 PM PST   Singapore - Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and Yayasan YDY Nusantara of Indonesia are proud to announce the formation of a partnership resulting in inter-institutional programme collaborations, exchanges and development in research and scholarship for Singapore, Southeast Asian and Asian art, at a new facility – New Contemporary Art Centre (NCAC) located in Songzhuang, Beijing. Says Mr Budiardjo Tek, "Art gives special meaning and inspiration to life.  Being an Indonesian educated in Singapore, I am passionate about Asian contemporary art.  I see cross inspirations across Asia fueling a new cultural renaissance."

First Exhibition Ever to Focus on Queen Victoria & Prince Albert's Enthusiasm for Art Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:54 PM PST LONDON.- This exhibition is the first ever to focus on Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's shared enthusiasm for art. Bringing together more than 400 items from the Royal Collection, it celebrates the royal couple's mutual delight in collecting and displaying works of art, from the time of their engagement in 1839 to the Prince's untimely death in 1861. The exhibition also challenges the popular image of Victoria – the melancholy widow of 40 years – and reveals her as a passionate and open-minded young woman. On view 19 March through 31 October, 2010. For Victoria and Albert, art was an important part of everyday life and a way they expressed their love for each other. Around a third of the objects in the exhibition were exchanged as gifts between the couple to mark special occasions. They range from the simple and sentimental, such as a set of jewellery in the form of orange blossom, to superb examples of early Italian painting, including Bernardo Daddi's The Marriage of the Virgin and Perugino's Saint Jerome in Penitence, both given by the Queen to the Prince for his birthday in 1846. Prince Albert's taste was influenced by his German ancestry and his experience as a student in Florence and Rome. He led a revival of interest in early German and Italian painting at a time when 'the Primitives' were largely ignored. Among his acquisitions were Duccio's Triptych, the first acknowledged work by the artist to enter an English collection, and Apollo and Diana by Lucas Cranach. Albert was also interested in how paintings were displayed, and several of the pictures in the exhibition are shown in the frames he commissioned for them. The Queen's tastes were more mainstream than those of her husband. She appreciated the narrative qualities of pictures such as Ramsgate Sands: 'Life at the Seaside' by William Powell Frith. Her fondness for portraiture is shown through paintings and drawings of her family, and her own sketches of her children. The royal couple were regular visitors to the annual Royal Academy exhibition and frequently made purchases. In 1855 Victoria bought Cimabue's Madonna Carried in Procession by Frederic Leighton, the first work by the artist to be shown at the Academy. Other paintings, such as John Martin's The Eve of the Deluge, were acquired during visits to artists' studios, while George Cruikshank's The Disturber Detected was bought in an unfinished state when it was sent on approval to Buckingham Palace. Prince Albert's profound admiration for the work of Raphael and the 'Raphaelesque' in contemporary art can be seen in The Madonna and Child by William Dyce and the drawing Religion Glorified by the Fine Arts by Johann Friedrich Overbeck. The artist Edwin Landseer's skilful depiction of animals greatly appealed to Victoria and Albert, who surrounded themselves with a large assortment of pets. In Landseer's charming portrait of Eos, Prince Albert's favourite greyhound, the dog stands poised and alert, guarding her master's possessions. The German painter Franz Xaver Winterhalter received by far the greatest number of royal commissions. Over two decades of patronage, he produced numerous formal portraits, such as The Royal Family in 1846 (described as 'sensual and fleshy' by one contemporary critic) and The First of May 1851. He was also entrusted with more private work. In 1843 Victoria commissioned 'the secret picture' from Winterhalter as a surprise for her husband's 24th birthday. The artist presents the Queen in an intimate pose, leaning against a red cushion with her hair half unravelled from its fashionable knot. Victoria and Albert were important patrons and collectors of the new art of photography, and lent their support to the Photographic Society, which was established in 1853. They commissioned hundreds of photographs of their family, friends and Household, and used the medium to record places they had visited together – a counterpart to their Souvenir Albums of watercolours and drawings. The exhibition includes work by the photographers Roger Fenton, William Edward Kilburn, Francis Bedford, William Bambridge, Gustave le Gray and the Comte de Montizon. Queen Victoria was the first monarch to live at Buckingham Palace. Under the direction of the Prince's artistic adviser, Ludwig Gruner, the Palace's State Rooms were expanded and decorated in colourful neo-Renaissance style. In the new Ballroom, Victoria and Albert enjoyed private performances of favourite operas and hosted costumed balls. Guests were encouraged to commission elaborate fancy dress in support of the declining Spitalfields silk industry. The exhibition includes the most sumptuous of Queen Victoria's surviving dresses, designed by Eugène Lami for the 1851 Stuart Ball. Music played an important part in Victoria and Albert's life. The day after her proposal to Albert, the Queen wrote in her Journal, '…he sang to me some of his own compositions, which are beautiful, & he has a very fine voice. I also sang to him.' The couple were accomplished musicians and played fourhanded arrangements of orchestral and operatic work. A beautifully decorated Erard piano, commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1856, is shown in the exhibition. They particularly admired the work of Mendelssohn, who visited the Palace on several occasions. Shortly before his death in 1847, the composer presented Prince Albert with the manuscript of Song Without Words as a Piano Duet. Albert also composed music from an early age. The exhibition includes his song with piano accompaniment, Dem Fernen (To the Distant One), annotated by Victoria: 'Composed by dear Albert at Windsor Castle & sent to me by him Jan. 5. 1840.' In 1845 Queen Victoria purchased Osborne House on the Isle of Wight as a private family retreat from London. Osborne's views of the Solent reminded Prince Albert of the Bay of Naples and inspired his plans to replace the existing house with an Italianate villa. The new building, the result of the close collaboration between the Prince and the architect Thomas Cubitt, was designed to display art, particularly Victoria and Albert's unrivalled collection of contemporary sculpture. The royal couple commissioned a large number of pieces from young sculptors working in the classical style, among them William Gibson, Emil Wolff, Richard James Wyatt and William Theed. Queen Victoria's love of Scotland stemmed from the novels of Walter Scott that she had read as a child, and the Highland landscape reminded Albert of his native Franconia. The couple's deep interest in Scottish customs and traditions found full expression at Balmoral Castle, which Albert helped design and was completed in 1856. The all-encompassing Highland style of the interiors can be seen inwatercolours by James Roberts. Among a number of objects from Balmoral is a set of candelabra in the form of Highlanders holding trophies, a collaboration between Landseer and two leading manufacturers, Minton of Stoke-on-Trent and Winfield of Birmingham. Even at Osborne there were reminders of life in Scotland, including Carl Haag's Morning in the Highlands and Evening at Balmoral, and an extraordinary suite of stag-horn furniture. Prince Albert's abiding interest was the marriage of good design with new manufacturing techniques. In 1850 a royal commission was established, with the Prince as its chairman, to organise an international exhibition celebrating technological and artistic accomplishments. Housed in Sir Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace in London's Hyde Park, 'The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations in 1851' was perhaps Albert's greatest achievement. The royal couple lent many pieces to the Exhibition, and the Queen spent some £4,000 on works of art. Among her purchases were porcelain by Sèvres and Minton, sculpture and furniture, including an extraordinary carved writing table of Swiss manufacture. The Directors of the East India Company presented Victoria with a dazzling selection of jewels from the Indian section of the Exhibition. Among them were the 352.5-carat Timur Ruby and three spinels, which the Queen had set into a necklace by Garrards. Visit The Royal Collection at : http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/

At Villa Grisebach ~ Max Beckmann Painting Sells for A Record 2,618,000 Euros Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:53 PM PST BERLIN.- Max Beckmann's painting "View of the Outskirts at the Sea near Marseille", formerly in the possession of the famous collector and friend of the artist Stephan Lackner (California), surpassed all expectations at auction in Berlin; it sold for 2,618,000 Euros, the new world record auction price for a landscape by Max Beckmann. After intense bidding, the work was purchased by a Southern German private collection. This result was only part of the extraordinary sales total of Villa Grisebach's fall auctions.

The Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art Shows Nebraska's Artist ~ Dale Nichols Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:51 PM PST David City, NE.- "Dale Nichols: Transcending Regionalism" a major retrospective exhibition will be available to a national audience over the next fourteen months at museums in Nebraska, Georgia, and Alabama. Curated by the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art, David City, Nebraska, this exhibition displays a body of work by internationally known painter Dale Nichols. Nichols became famous for his Americana scenes of Midwestern homesteads with picturesque red barns and white snow. These have become the prized works on which Nichols built his career and from which contemporary collectors have built their collections.  However, there is much more to the story of Dale Nichols. "Transcending Regionalism" gives credit to these commemorative artworks and events and describes how these early works explain Nichols' exploration of style. The exhibition can be seen at the Bone Creek museum of Agrarian Art until November 18th.

Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe presents Saul Steinberg ~ Retrospective Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:50 PM PST Hamburg, Germany - Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg presents Saul Steinberg - Illuminations, on view March 13th through June 1st, 2009. Saul Steinberg (1914-1999) is probably the greatest draughtsman of the 20th century; he is one of the most eminent American artists. With his unerring sense of line he created satirical drawings depicting everyday life in post-war America, including something like 1,200 drawings (over 5 decades) for the American cultural magazine The New Yorker. They made him world-famous. His breakthrough in the international art world came in 1958 with his 80-metre long wall painting The Americans for the World Exhibition in Brussels. His most celebrated work, The world as seen from 9th Avenue (1976) caricatures the world view of the inhabitants of Manhattan: On 9th Avenue people are only interested in their immediate surroundings; the rest of the world beyond shrinks to a few horizons. Whilst Steinberg is well-known to many as a draughtsman and cartoonist, few people realize what a broad range his creative oeuvre covers. This is precisely what this exhibition will point out: in addition to his most important and finest drawings, you will also be able to see sculptures, photographs, prints, paper masks, postcards and collages – many of them on display for the first time. Born in Romania, Steinberg studied architecture in the 1930s in Milan, where he gained early fame as a cartoonist. In America after World War II, he became a propagandist, illustrator, fabric and card designer, muralist, fashion and advertising artist, stage designer and the tireless creator of image-jammed books. In the 1960s he decided to concentrate on art for gallery shows and for The New Yorker. The exhibition covers the whole range of his work, from high art to low, from murals to magazines, from caricature to cartography. To see the full scope of Steinberg's career is to get a close-up of the energy and contradictions of the 20th century. The exhibition will also will make the visitor smile a lot. The MKG is proud to be the presenter of the first Steinberg retrospective in Germany. Hamburg is the only German venue of this overview of his work, which has also been seen in the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris, the Kunsthaus Zurich and the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London. The catalogue to the exhibition will be published by Hatje Cantz Verlag (288 pages, 310 illustrations, 175 of them in colour). Visit Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg at : http://www.mkg-hamburg.de/mkg.php/en/

Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review" Posted: 15 Dec 2011 06:49 PM PST This is a new feature for the subscribers and visitors to Art Knowledge News (AKN), that will enable you to see "thumbnail descriptions" of the last ninety (90) articles and art images that we published. This will allow you to visit any article that you may have missed ; or re-visit any article or image of particular interest. Every day the article "thumbnail images" will change. For you to see the entire last ninety images just click : here . When opened that also will allow you to change the language from English to anyone of 54 other languages, by clicking your language choice on the upper left corner of our Home Page.  You can share any article we publish with the eleven (11) social websites we offer like Twitter, Flicker, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. by one click on the image shown at the end of each opened article.  Last, but not least, you can email or print any entire article by using an icon visible to the right side of an article's headline.

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