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

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• The Yale School of Architecture to feature Massimo Scolari's Drawings
• Art Gallery of Ontario "Chagall & the Russian Avant-Garde" attracted New Members
• The Mourners ~ Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
• The Missoula Art Museum to Present "Doug Russell ~ Confluences"
• Bonhams to sell work by Francis Newton Souza ~ UK based Indian artist
• Telefónica Renews Grant to The Prado, Coinciding with new 7-days-a-week opening hours
• Tobin Theatre Arts Exhibition on show at the McNay Art Museum
• L.A. RAW: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles 1945-1980 at the Pasadena Museum of California Art
• National Gallery Of Art exhibition Honors Chester Dale & His Major Gifts
• Tate Movie Project "The Itch of the Golden Nit" Seen Across the UK
• The De la Warr Pavilion Showcases Major Art Innovators
• First Large-scale Showing of Futurism in Thirty Years at the Tate Modern
• Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Opens "Picasso's Response to Degas"
• Picasso Museum in Barcelona Exhibits Pablo Picasso as Lithographer
• The Kreeger Museum Is Showing "Tom Wesselmann Draws"
• The Art Gallery on the Portland Campus of the University of New England Shows "Critters"
• The Portraits of Henri Matisse featured at Bucerius Kunst Forum
• Wener Herzog's New Film Brings The Oldest French Art To Life In 3 Dimensions
• The Muskegon Museum of Art Kicks Off its 100th Year Celebrations
• Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"

The Yale School of Architecture to feature Massimo Scolari's Drawings Posted: 22 Jan 2012 09:49 PM PST New Haven, Connecticut.- The Yale School of Architecture is proud to present "Massimo Scolari: The Representation of Architecture, 1967–2012", on view at the school's gallery from February 6th through May 4th. The exhibition is the first U.S. retrospective since 1986 of the eminent Italian architect, artist, and designer. The exhibition explores the arc of Scolari's career from 1967 to 2012, with some 160 paintings, watercolors, and drawings, most with architectural and urban subjects; a scaled-down iteration of a monumental sculpture created for the 1991 Venice Biennale; and ten architectural models. Together, these illuminate the complex, ongoing interaction in Scolari's work between architecture and its methods and mediums of representation. Curated by Mr. Scolari, "Massimo Scolari: The Representation of Architecture, 1967–2012" includes 57 display panels, each devoted to a specific project or recurring theme within Scolari's lifetime of work. The exhibition makes clear Scolari's radical questioning of some of the most deeply rooted assumptions of architecture, especially those that link architectural representation to the physicality of its constructions. To show how Scolari developed his theoretical position, and to trace some of the key moments in his artistic trajectory, the retrospective highlights the diverse contexts in which his work has unfolded, ranging from his time as a student at the Politecnico di Milano, in the late 1960s, to his collaboration with Aldo Rossi, from 1968 to 1972; his participation in the landmark 1980 Venice Biennale, Strada Novissima; and his teaching at the Universitario di Architettura Venezia, from 1973 to 2006. Since 2006, Scolari has been Davenport Visiting Professor of Architecture at Yale. Massimo Scolari is an educator, scholar, editor, artist and designer. He was Professor at the University Institute of Architecture in Venice until 2000. He has served as Visiting Professor at Cornell University , the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, Cooper Union, Royal College of Art London, Technische Universitaet Wien, Harvard University , Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura Barcelona , UCLA, and the Royal Danish Academy Copenhagen. He has written extensively about the history of architectural representation. He has been on the editorial staff of Controspazio, Casabella and Lotus International. He was editor of Eidos and the Architecture Series by Franco Angeli. Scolari's paintings, drawings and installations have been exhibited in Europe , Japan and the U.S. He participated in the Trienale in Milan and the Biennale in Venice . He has designed furniture for Giorgetti and products for Allessi. After retiring from his professorship in Venice , Scolari earned his pilot's license. He currently lives in Venice . Yale's architecture programs are an outgrowth of a longstanding commitment to the teaching of the fine arts in the university. "Art was first taught at an American college or university in 1869 when the Yale School of the Fine Arts was established. Yale alumnus and educator Andrew Dickson White was offered the post as the first dean of the school, but turned it down to be the first president of Cornell University. Even earlier, in 1832, Yale opened the Trumbull Art Gallery, the first college-affiliated gallery in the country. The Department of Architecture was established in the School of the Fine Arts in 1916. In 1959 the School of Art and Architecture, as it was then known, was made into a fully graduate professional school. In 1972 Yale designated the School of Architecture as its own separate professional school." The School is housed in the masterwork of its former Dean, Paul Rudolph. Rudolph Hall, formerly the Yale Art and Architecture Building, was rededicated and reoccupied in November 2008 following an extensive renovation and addition. Yale's core program has always stressed design as a fundamental discipline. While initially associated with Beaux Arts pedagogy, the school adopted a close affiliation with other modes of fine art, including sculpture, graphic design, painting and furniture design. One of its most illustrious early graduates, Eero Saarinen, produced a wide variety of student projects ranging from medals and currency to campus and monumental buildings. When the Art and Architecture Building became its home, Paul Rudolph's design reflected this close integration between various fine art departments. The famed department of Graphic Design contributed consistently to architecture posters, publications and exhibits, particularly to Perspecta, Yale's ground breaking student journal. Exhibitions at the Yale School of Architecture are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The Gallery is closed on Sunday. Visit the school's website at ...http://www.architecture.yale.edu

Art Gallery of Ontario "Chagall & the Russian Avant-Garde" attracted New Members Posted: 22 Jan 2012 08:39 PM PST TORONTO.- The exhibition that brought the magic, whimsy and wonder of Marc Chagall and other visionaries of Russian modernism to the Art Gallery of Ontario drew 152,637 visitors during its 13-week run, ranking as the eighth best-attended exhibition in the AGO's history. Hailed by the Toronto Star as "a story of colour, motion and mystery" and by CBC News as a "rare treat," Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde: Masterpieces from the Collection of the Centre Pompidou, Paris was on view at the AGO from Oct. 15, 2011 to Jan. 15, 2012. Over the course of the exhibition, the AGO acquired 6,850 new members. Strong membership renewals driven by visitor engagement with Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde, as well as last summer's blockbuster Abstract Expressionist New York: Masterpieces from The Museum of Modern Art, have set the stage for the Gallery to achieve an all-time high of more than 78,000 members by the end of the fiscal year.

The Mourners ~ Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Posted: 22 Jan 2012 08:05 PM PST RICHMOND, VA.- The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy, an exhibition of 37 of the extraordinary Mourners of the Dukes of Burgundy from the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon, France, is being shown at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts January 21st through April 15th, on the final leg of a multi-city U.S. tour. The elaborate tombs of the first Valois dukes of Burgundy, Philip the Bold and his son, John the Fearless, are among the masterpieces of late medieval sculpture in Europe. These monuments feature the sculpted figures of the deceased rulers lying in state atop the tombs, while below a procession of mourning figures appears to slip in and out of the arcades of a cloister.

The Missoula Art Museum to Present "Doug Russell ~ Confluences" Posted: 22 Jan 2012 08:04 PM PST Missoula, Montana.- The Missoula Art Museum (MAM) is delighted to present "Doug Russell: Confluences", on view at the museum from February 16th through April 22nd. Doug Russell is a visual artist who lives and works in Laramie, WY. His exhibition, "Confluences", is a large, concise body of work encompassing three separate series of drawings. Each series explores the passage of time and cyclic changes through Russell's visual language of layered, evolving marks and transparency centered on monumental compositions. MAM is excited to introduce Missoula to Doug Russell with this exhibition of original drawings. More often than not, drawing is used as a tool by artists to explore ideas that are later formalized in other media, be it painting, sculpture or printmaking. Russell, on the other hand, readily absorbs the influences from these media to educate his visual investigation and inform his visual language while remaining rooted in the traditions of drawing. The body of work exhibited in Doug Russell: Confluences leaves no doubt that drawing is a powerful and beautiful medium on its own.

Bonhams to sell work by Francis Newton Souza ~ UK based Indian artist Posted: 22 Jan 2012 07:38 PM PST LONDON.- One of India's most talented and prolific artists of the 20th century, Francis Newton Souza, spent a significant part of his career working in the UK, living for a while in Hampstead. His paintings of the area are among some of his finest from that period. Having moved to London in 1949 Souza produced some of his best work in the capital in the late 1950s and early 1960s whilst represented by Victor Musgrave's Gallery One in Mayfair. Souza's work, influenced by his surroundings as much as his Christian upbringing in Goa, features a variety of subjects, including landscapes, portraits as well as works referencing Christian iconography. "Souza had a wonderfully sour colour sense and slashing line. His erotic pictures were to do with the mutual and equal pleasures of sex; they were not, in the contemporary sense, at all pornographic, but they were open and honest and clearly conceived by a believer in the joy available to lovers without inhibition or guilt."

Telefónica Renews Grant to The Prado, Coinciding with new 7-days-a-week opening hours Posted: 22 Jan 2012 07:12 PM PST MADRID.- José Ignacio Wert, the Minister of Education, Sport and Culture, presided over the signing of an agreement through which Telefónica is renewing its sponsorship of the Museo del Prado for another four years. Telefónica's renewal of its commitment as sponsor of the Prado's Visitor Attention programme is particularly significant today, when the Museum has increased its opening hours to every day of the year with the exception of three major public holidays. This initiative, which is a direct response to the general growth in interest in the Museum's collections and activities that has manifested itself over the last few years in a marked rise in visitors, starting from the time of the inauguration of the Prado's extension in October 2007, can be directly associated with the improvements and increase in visitor services that have been made over this period, the implementation of which has been possible thanks to Telefónica. Since 2007, more than 13 million visitors have directly benefited from the Visitor Attention service. More than 2.9 million of them visited the Museum last year, which was the year that saw a record number of visitors to the Museo del Prado.

Tobin Theatre Arts Exhibition on show at the McNay Art Museum Posted: 22 Jan 2012 07:11 PM PST SAN ANTONIO, TX.- In Baroque to Bauhaus (on view through June 10th) scene and costume designs, gilded ornaments stand out against steel girders and lace mantillas against oilskin raincoats, all of which embrace extremes of artistic expression and human emotion. For his late baroque operas Marriage of Figaro (1786) and Così fan tutte (1790), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed music as playfully complex as their amorous intrigues and ornate settings. By contrast, at the interdisciplinary Bauhaus workshops in Germany (1919-1933), Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and other artist-designers explored the mechanical movements of human form in space and time. This exhibition was organized by the McNay Art Museum and is a program of the Tobin Theatre Arts Fund. On exhibition through 10th of June.

L.A. RAW: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles 1945-1980 at the Pasadena Museum of California Art Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:30 PM PST PASADENA, CA.- The Pasadena Museum of California Art presents L.A. RAW: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles, 1945-1980, From Rico Lebrun to Paul McCarthy on view from January 22, 2012 to May 20, 2012. The figurative artists, who dominated the postwar Los Angeles art scene until the late 1950s, have largely been written out of today's art history. This exhibition, part of the Getty Foundation's initiative "Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945–1980," traces the distinctive aesthetic of figurative expressionism from the end of World War II, bringing together over 120 works by forty–one artists in a variety of media—painting, sculpture, photography, and performance. L.A. RAW surveys the continuing presence of dark expressionistic work in Southern California, providing a fresh local heritage for the figurative art of today. The exhibition fills in a gap in knowledge about post World War II art, tracking figurative art through post-war existentialism, the Beat movement, 1960s politics, and 1970s feminism and performance—the forces that led to the explosion of body–oriented art in the 1980s.  The exhibition includes commanding figurative works by Rico Lebrun , Howard Warshaw, Jack Zajac, and William Brice that provide a fascinating heritage for the darker side of the Ferus Gallery scene, exemplified with work by Edward Kienholz, Wallace Berman, Llyn Foulkes , and John Altoon. Artists such as Hans Burkhardt , David Hammons, Judith Baca, and Charles White use their work to vent political outrage, while Eugene Berman, June Wayne, John Paul Jones, and Joyce Treiman convey more melancholic, contemplative assessments of mankind. L.A. RAW also includes four artists associated with the important venue, Ceeje Gallery: Charles Garabedian, Roberto Chavez, Ben Sakoguchi, and Les Biller. Judy Chicago , Barbara T. Smith, and Carole Caroompus present deeply personal feminist expressions, while performance artists Chris Burden , Kim Jones, and Paul McCarthy develop a new kind of physical expressionism. The passionate consistency of all the artists—whose work often depicts a boldly honest, stripped–down view of humanity in its rawest, most elemental state—demonstrates the ongoing relevance of expressionism as a primary approach to art making. L.A. RAW: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles 1945-1980, From Rico Lebrun to Paul McCarthy places both lesser– and better–known artists in a historical context, giving unique insight into the reactions to World War II and the atomic bomb; to the repressions of the Eisenhower Era; to the fallout of 1960s idealism; and to ongoing racial and gender struggles. The exhibition is curated by art writer and independent curator Michael Duncan, a Corresponding Editor for Art in America whose writings have focused on maverick artists of the twentieth century, West Coast modernism, twentieth century fi guration, and contemporary California art. L.A. RAW: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles 1945–1980 will be accompanied by a 200 page catalogue, a much–needed reference for the study of post–war American fi gurative art. It will include essays by Duncan and art historian Peter Selz who have each written extensively on many of the most the most prominent fi gures of twentieth century West Coast art history and many of the L.A. RAW artists. Co-published by PMCA and Foggy Notion Press, the volume will also feature short biographical essays on each of the artists written by Duncan. The Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) is dedicated to the exhibition of California art, architecture, and design from 1850 to the present. Informed by the state's rich mixture of cultures and inspired by its impressive geography, California art has long been defined by a spirit of freedom and experimentation. PMCA exhibitions and educational programs explore the cultural dynamics and influences unique to California that have shaped and defined art in all media. Ground was broken for the building in December 2000, and the museum became open to the public in June of 2002. "With the Oltmans, we had the freedom to make a statement with a public institution that we anticipate will become a cultural centerpiece in the redevelopment of the historic Playhouse District," said Steve Johnson, the museum project manager and principal partner. PMCA, located just north of Colorado Boulevard at 490 East Union Street in Pasadena, is a 30,000 SF three-story, mixed-use facility. An open-air staircase accentuated by ever-changing natural light from an oculus above creates a dramatic entrance into the museum. The stairs lead to the second-floor lobby, 8,000 square foot gallery spaces, a bookstore, and a community room. The third floor includes a 2,000 square foot Founders' Gallery and a vast rooftop terrace (4,000 square feet) that is accessible to the public during scheduled hours. The terrace commands a breathtaking vista of the 1927 City Hall dome and the San Gabriel Mountains to the north. Visit : http://pmcaonline.org/index.html

National Gallery Of Art exhibition Honors Chester Dale & His Major Gifts Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:20 PM PST WASHINGTON, DC.- New York investment broker Chester Dale's 1962 bequest made the National Gallery of Art one of the leading repositories in North America of French art of the late-19th and early 20th centuries. From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, on view in the Gallery's West Building from January 31, 2010 through July 31, 2011, will bring together 81 of the finest French and American paintings that Dale and his wife Maud, an artist and critic, assembled from the 1920s through the 1950s. The exhibition and its accompanying book will explore the Dales' passion and talent for acquiring great art. Many of the works in the show are among the most renowned masterpieces in the history of art, but due to a stipulation in the bequest, may only be seen at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. "It is impossible to overestimate the transformative impact of the collection of Chester Dale and his wife Maud on the National Gallery of Art," said Earl A. Powell III, director. "Their legacy has not only enriched the Gallery but the nation as well, by sharing these extraordinary works of French and American art with the American public and the world."Exhibition Organization and Highlights From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection coincides with the Gallery's renovation of the northeast Main Floor galleries, where many of the Dale works are usually displayed chronologically and by artist. The exhibition in the Ground Floor central galleries, however, will be organized thematically for the first time—a nod to the exhibitions dedicated to still lifes, portraiture, and other subjects that Maud Dale arranged in New York City during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Viewing the works through the lens of these themes provides a fresh look at the scope of the Dales' collection. The first gallery showcases key works by some of the Dales' favorite artists: Henri Matisse's The Plumed Hat (1919)—his first major purchase of French modern art—Auguste Renoir's A Girl with a Watering Can (1876), Vincent van Gogh's Girl in White (1890), and Amedeo Modigliani's Gypsy Woman with Baby (1919). A section displaying paintings of women includes portraits by Renoir, Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, and Pablo Picasso, as well as nudes and studies of the female form by Renoir, Cassatt, Matisse, and Gustave Courbet. Portraits of men are also featured, with works by Degas, Picasso, Paul Cézanne, and Edouard Vuillard. A room devoted to landscapes and cityscapes includes two of Claude Monet's celebrated views of Rouen Cathedral (1894), George Bellows' Blue Morning (1909), Eugène Boudin's The Beach at Villerville (1864), and Robert Henri's Snow in New York (1902). Another room is dedicated to the genre of still lifes, with examples by Cézanne, Matisse, Georges Braque, and Henri Fantin-Latour. The centerpiece of a gallery devoted to the idea of "monumental modernity" is the rich pairing of two large-scale works by two of the art world's major figures: Edouard Manet's The Old Musician (1862) is hung opposite Picasso's Family of Saltimbanques (1905). The synergy in subject and composition between these two masterworks creates a dramatic pairing. The room also features Paul Gauguin's Self-Portrait (1889), Van Gogh's La Mousmé (1888), and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's A Corner of the Moulin de la Galette (1892). Rounding out the exhibition are portraits of the collectors themselves, by four of the key artists whose work they championed. Chester Dale is painted by Salvador Dalí and Diego Rivera; while Maud is depicted by George Bellows and Fernand Léger. A new 15-minute documentary film profiling Chester and Maud, produced by the National Gallery of Art on the occasion of this exhibition, will be shown continually in the galleries, along with informational text about the Dales and a chronology of their collection. A selection of books from the Chester Dale Collection and related documentary material from the Gallery Archives will be installed in Gallery G-21 of the West Building. Additional works of art from the Chester Dale collection on display throughout the East and West Building galleries will be identified by a special icon for visitors who wish to explore this collection further. Chester Dale and the National Gallery of Art An astute businessman who made his fortune on Wall Street in the bond market, Dale thrived on forging deals and translated much of this energy and talent into building his art collection. His purchases were guided by his personal tastes as well as by his wife Maud. Initially the couple began collecting American paintings; among their favorite artists was their neighbor, George Bellows, who painted portraits of both of them. By 1925, Maud had begun to steer Dale towards French art, and it was at her urging that he concentrated his collecting in the area of French art from the time of the Revolution to the present, together with earlier artists whom she called "ancestors." They purchased many works on regular trips to Europe after World War I. Dale often commented that he had the inquisitiveness and Maud had the knowledge. Even after Chester Dale became a partner in the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris in the late 1920s, Maud continued to advise and direct their acquisitions. Dale continued to make remarkable purchases in the early years of the Great Depression. Although he curtailed his activity by the mid-1930s, Dale added outstanding examples of both French and American art to his already spectacular collection in the years that followed. Maud Dale died in 1953. On May 27 of the following year, the 71-year-old Dale married his late wife's longtime secretary, Mary Towar Bullard. Dale served on several museums' boards of trustees during his lifetime, starting with The Museum of Modern Art in 1929, the year it opened, and remaining in the post until 1931. In 1943 he became a trustee for three other museums: the Art Institute of Chicago (until 1952), the Philadelphia Museum of Art (until 1956), and the National Gallery of Art. For Dale, the nascent National Gallery of Art offered the rare opportunity to put his mark on a major international institution, becoming a founding benefactor rather than one of many donors competing for wall space. In 1941 Chester Dale loaned seven American paintings for the dedication of the National Gallery of Art and later in the year added 25 of his most important French paintings selected to illustrate the development of French art. Further loans would follow. Dale made his first gift to the National Gallery in 1942, donating three old master paintings. This was followed by two substantial gifts in 1943: one comprising eight American canvases; the other, 11 of his greatest old master works, including paintings by El Greco and François Boucher. Dale would donate an additional 14 works to the Gallery during his lifetime, including three paintings by Bellows and the first work by Monet to enter the museum's collection. These gifts, combined with loans already in place, seemed to make the National Gallery of Art the obvious candidate to receive Dale's collection; but he continued to make substantial loans to other museums, with large segments of his collection lent to both Chicago and Philadelphia in the 1940s. Nonetheless, in 1951 and 1952, Dale recalled these works, lending them instead to the National Gallery. At his death in 1962 he bequeathed to the Gallery the core of his still-substantial collection of modern art, comprising 223 paintings, seven sculptures, and 23 works on paper—among the single most valuable gifts ever given to the National Gallery. Subsequently, 17 works were donated by Dale's estate, bringing the total number of works in the Chester Dale Collection to 306. As a result of Dale's generosity, the Gallery's permanent holdings of 19th-century French paintings nearly tripled in size. "It's not just the backbone," the former Gallery director John Walker is reputed to have said, but "the whole rib structure of the modern French school here." In addition to shaping the Gallery through the donation of his collection, Dale also served as president of the National Gallery from 1955 until his death. Visit : http://www.nga.gov/

Tate Movie Project "The Itch of the Golden Nit" Seen Across the UK Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:19 PM PST LONDON.- The Tate Movie Project's The Itch of the Golden Nit premiered Wednesday 29 June in Leicester Square. The film is the first of its kind – an animation made by and for children. Thousands of drawings, sound effects and story ideas by children from across the UK make up the action-packed, half hour animation as part of the Cultural Olympiad. David Walliams, Miranda Hart, Catherine Tate and Rik Mayall lead the stellar cast providing the voices for the children's characters from Evil Stella to Captain Iron Ears. Funded by Legacy Trust UK and BP, with additional support and resources from the BBC, the film has been brought together by Tate and the creative magic of Aardman Animations.The film recently won Best Content Partnership Award at the Broadcast Digital Awards.

The De la Warr Pavilion Showcases Major Art Innovators Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:18 PM PST EAST SUSSEX., UK - This spectacular exhibition comprises drawings, prints and experimental films, and explores the recurring tension between figuration and abstraction throughout the 20th century and the ways by which ideas and concepts evolve. Presented non-chronologically, it encompasses movements such as Russian Constructivism, Futurism and Vorticism, Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism, and comprises works by key artists, as well as works of artists who have been sidelined in the mainstream of art history. The exhibition will be on view at De la Warr Pavilion through June 13, 2010.

First Large-scale Showing of Futurism in Thirty Years at the Tate Modern Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:17 PM PST LONDON - This exhibition will be the first large-scale showing of Futurism in Britain in thirty years. The movement set out to modernise Italian art and social attitudes and its influence spread across Europe and beyond, revolutionising the response to the dynamism of modern life. Its master of ceremonies was the poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and this exhibition celebrates the centenary of his publication of The Founding and First Manifesto of Futurism in 1909. On view at the Tate Modern 12 June through 20 September, 2009.

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Opens "Picasso's Response to Degas" Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:16 PM PST WILLIAMSTOWN, MA.- Throughout his life Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) was fascinated with the life and work of Edgar Degas (1834–1917). Picasso collected the Impressionist's pictures, continually re-interpreted his images, and at the end of his life, created scenes that included depictions of Degas himself. Picasso Looks at Degas, a ground-breaking exhibition at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute during the summer of 2010 brings together over one hundred works from international museums and private collections. The exhibition is the first to explore Picasso's direct response to Degas's work and includes never-before-exhibited archival material that sheds new light on his relationship with the ballet. The Clark is the exclusive North American venue for the exhibition which is curated by well-known Picasso expert Elizabeth Cowling and recognized Impressionist scholar Richard Kendall. Picasso Looks at Degas is on view at the The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute June 13 through September 12, 2010; it will be presented at the Museu Picasso in Barcelona in the fall of 2010. "This exhibition is the culmination of five years of research," said Michael Conforti, director of the Clark. "Curators Elizabeth Cowling and Richard Kendall began discussing the exhibition ten years ago and have met with members of the Picasso family, studied hundreds of works by Picasso and Degas, and visited archives, museums, and private collections in the United States and Europe. Their insightful work will change our view of Picasso as an artist. This fresh look at two of the greatest artists of the modern period will fascinate visitors as well as scholars and art historians." Picasso and Degas shared many acquaintances and lived in close proximity in Paris until the older artist's death in 1917, through they probably never met. Picasso Looks at Degas examines Degas through Picasso's eyes and the ways the Spanish artist's response varied over time from emulation to confrontation and parody to homage. The artists shared a lifelong obsession with women, visible in their portraits of friends and images of singers, laundresses, ballet dancers, bathers, and prostitutes. It is widely acknowledged that these are Degas's signature themes, but all of them are echoed in Picasso's work. While usually identified as painters, both Degas and Picasso were innovative sculptors, printmakers, and extraordinary draftsmen, and the exhibition brings together works in these different media to examine Picasso's reaction to the challenge of Degas. The exhibition opens with Picasso's early years when he received an academic training similar to that of Degas, whose art he had yet to discover. It then leads into the bohemian world of early twentieth-century Paris where Picasso first directly encountered Degas's work and began to respond to the Impressionist's imagery of modern life. During this period Picasso experimented with a subject particularly associated with Degas—the laundress—and made it his own in Woman Ironing (1904, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum). In pictures such as End of the Performance (1900–01, Museu Picasso, Barcelona), Picasso pays tribute to Degas's café-concert scenes by depicting singers in mid-performance on stage. The depth of Picasso's fixation is revealed through dramatic pairings and groupings of art that have never been brought together in this ambitious way. Degas's In a Café (L'Absinthe) (1875–76, Musée d'Orsay) is placed alongside Picasso's Portrait of Sebastià Junyer i Vidal (1903, Los Angeles County Museum of Art); Picasso's oil on canvas The Blue Room (The Tub) (1901, Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.) is paired with The Tub (c. 1889, Collection Jacques Doucet, Paris), a monotype by Degas that may have served as a prototype; and Picasso's 1905 Portrait of Benedetta Canals (Museu Picasso, Barcelona) is hung beside Degas's Woman with an Umbrella (c. 1876, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa). The ballet, a central theme in Degas's work and paintings such as Dancers in the Classroom (c. 1880, the Clark), established him as the Impressionist artist of dance. Picasso Looks at Degas examines Picasso's depiction of the ballet at various points in his career. In a striking example of how the artists' unspoken dialogue unfolded, the Clark's iconic sculpture Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (1880–81), considered shocking and radical in its time, is juxtaposed with Picasso's Standing Nude (1907, Civiche Raccolte d'Arte, Milan), which heralded Cubism. Shortly after Degas's death, Picasso married Olga Khokhlova, a dancer from the Ballets Russes, and embarked on a passionate exploration of the dance that culminated in a number of sculptures emulating Degas's celebrated series of dancers executing arabesques. Picasso also inherited and transformed another of Degas's favorite themes—women bathing or doing their hair—returning to it repeatedly over a period of more than fifty years. The exhibition will reveal how both artists explored this intimate female world in all media and in formats ranging from the diminutive to the monumental. In one exceptional pairing Picasso's dramatic blue-gray Nude Wringing Her Hair (1952, Private Collection) is juxtaposed with Degas's late red-pink Combing the Hair (c. 1892–1896, The National Gallery, London). The exhibition also brings together sculptures by both artists which explore the unusual subject of a heavily pregnant nude woman. In the late 1870s Degas created a series of monotypes depicting prostitutes and their customers in brothels. Relishing the subject, Picasso particularly admired these prints and eventually acquired nine of them for his own collection. At the end of his life he directly engaged with them in a series of humorous and poignant etchings in which Degas himself appears in the guise of a wary and inhibited but fascinated client. The exhibition closes with this series and with the portrait of Degas Picasso painted in 1968 as a tribute to the great Impressionist. Read about the exhibition with more images : http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/article.cfm?request=972

Picasso Museum in Barcelona Exhibits Pablo Picasso as Lithographer Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:15 PM PST BARCELONA.- Shown in the Engraving Exhibition Rooms of the museum is a selection of lithographs by Pablo Picasso developed between 1945 and 1972, when the artist really developed his interest in this printmaking technique. As he usually did when exploring a technique, he used several kinds of plates - stone, zinc, transfer paper - and tried a variety of traditional media - grease pencil, pen, wash -as well as introducing new materials and radically transforming the old established practices of the craft.

The Kreeger Museum Is Showing "Tom Wesselmann Draws" Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:14 PM PST Washington, DC.— The Kreeger Museum is pleased to announce that "Tom Wesselmann Draws" will be on view through July 30th. In the 1960s, Tom Wesselmann was one of the key figures in the Pop Art Movement along with Andy Warhol, Roy Lichenstein, James Rosenquist and Robert Indiana. He was a brilliant colorist, superior draftsman and innovator of new techniques, who devoted his life to his art and his family. Tom Wesselmann Draws is the most comprehensive exhibition of drawings by the artist that has ever been assembled. The exhibition includes over 60 works, many of them large in scale and created from materials not usually associated with drawing, including steel, aluminum, fabric, and molded plastic. In addition, many of the pieces on view have never been seen outside the artist's studio in New York City.

The Art Gallery on the Portland Campus of the University of New England Shows "Critters" Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:13 PM PST Portland, ME.- The Art Gallery on the Portland Campus of the University of New England in Portland, Maine presents "Critters", a mammoth show that fills all three floors of the gallery, the foyer and the grounds. It includes about 300 works by almost 100 artists. "Critters" represents three groups of work – wildlife, farm animals, and pets – in situations that may be heartwarming, entertaining, or even poignant for the viewer. The exhibition is on view through 20 July. The show not only includes the "critters" we interact with every day, but also those that may have been forced from their habitats as our human territory expands, and others that may soon disappear forever. "Critters" features local artists from Maine beside works from artists from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Florida. The exhibition includes a broad selection of indoor and outdoor sculptures by Jeff Barrett, Lise Becu, Peter Beerits, Rush Brown, James Budish, Clara Cohan, Nantz Comyns, Squidge Davis, Donna Dodson, Dan Falt, Edwin Gamble, Eva Goetz, Don Gove, Craig Berube Gray, Carole Hanson, Charles Jenkins, Mark Kendschi, Nance Kahn,  Al Kronk, Bernard Langlais, Cheryl Lichwell, Steve Lindsay, Lin Lisburger, Cabot Lyford, Lou Mastro,  Andy Moerlin, Marjorie Moore, Bryce Muir, Jean Noon, Leo Osbourne, Elizabeth Ostrander, Patrick Plourde, Roger Prince, Riv Pyne, Andy Rosen, Merle Ruth, Sharon Townsend, Edith Tucker, Tacha Vosburgh, Kitty Wales, Sharon Wandell, Rebekah Raye, John Wilkinson and many more. The Art Gallery on the Portland Campus of the University of New England in Portland, Maine, sometimes called "the Little Jewel," was built in 1977. The Art Gallery mounts six exhibitions annually, ranging from contemporary fine art photography, international themes to works by women and Maine artists, in a variety of mediums. In addition, from June through October, an Annual Sculpture Garden Invitational is featured around the Gallery's exterior.  On occasion, exhibitions are arranged at other locations on both campuses, such as the current installation, "Into the Present," featuring works on long-term loan from Dr. Gary D. Astrachan in and around the Parker Pavilion. The Art Gallery also houses a permanent collection of paintings, drawings, photographs and sculpture by nationally and internationally known artists.  Selections are shown on a rotating basis on the Gallery's Lower Level as well as in special exhibitions every 3rd year. The University of New England's Art Gallery at the Portland Campus has a diverse and eclectic permanent collection of works of art. Acquired over the years by Westbrook College and, more recently, by the University, most of the collection has been the result of the generosity of artists, collectors and Westbrook College alumni who have donated these works to the College and University. The collection ranges from a pair of primitives, circa 1840 of unknown origin, and two nineteenth century Franklin Stanwood oils to contemporary work by artists Maggie Foskett and Louise Peabody. The collection also includes works from the mid-twentieth century by such Maine artists as Thomas Crotty, George deLyra, Stephen Etnier, Vincent Hartgen, Dahlov Ipcar, John Muench and Laurence Sisson. There are bronze plaques by William Zorach, paintings by Alexander Bower and Maurice Utrillo, and works on paper by Hans Hofmann, Paul Klee, Kaethe Kollwitz, Leonardo Lasansky, Leo Meissner, and James McNeill Whistler. The Art Gallery also has a fine photography collection with works by Berenice Abbott, Todd Webb, Verner Reed, Lotte Jacobi, Lisette Model, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Arthur Rothstein, Lewis Hine, and Eugene Atget, among many others, including a number of contemporary Maine fine arts photographers. Visit the university gallery's website at ... http://www.une.edu/artgallery

The Portraits of Henri Matisse featured at Bucerius Kunst Forum Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:12 PM PST   Hamburg, Germany - 'Matisse. People, Masks, Models' is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on Henri Matisse's portraits. Matisse (1869 – 1954) not only created colorful interior scenes and still life paintings but also very expressive portraits. He regarded portraits as his most important artistic challenge. For Matisse, a "true" likeness was not achieved merely by capturing a sitter's features, but was expressed through the "entire arrangement" of a portrait in which he used his encounter with his models to inspire his imagination. On view in Hamburg from January 31 to April 19, 2009.

Wener Herzog's New Film Brings The Oldest French Art To Life In 3 Dimensions Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:11 PM PST London, England (CNN).- Untouched for 20,000 years, the awe-inspiring Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc cave in Southern France is now brought to life in 3D by visionary German director Werner Herzog. As the camera drops into the cave, to the sounds of eerie chanting, breath-taking scenes of glittering, calcite formations and large halls littered with the bones of now extinct cave bears are not only illuminated but made to seem close enough to touch. Most important are the numerous paintings on the undulating walls of the cave, of animals including rhinoceros, bison, mammoths, lions, hyenas and horses, some painted up to 32,000 years ago and which are so vivid as to seem alive. "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" is Herzog's first foray into 3D filmmaking and he says in this case for format was an obvious choice. "The films I have made so far should not have been made in 3D but I think in this case that it was imperative," he said. "I am still in general skeptical about 3D." His approach has allowed the viewer into Chauvet cave, which was only discovered in 1994 and is otherwise shut off to the public for fear of upsetting its delicate climate and damaging the irreplaceable wall paintings. And for Herzog, the medium also lent itself to the cave's layout: "If you look at the formation of the cave, it's not that there are flat walls and paintings on them; there's a great drama in the formation of wild, undulating walls, and bulges and niches, which were all used and utilized by the artists." Herzog's film was completed in September 2010, only just in time for its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was the first 3-D film to screen at the festival's Bell Lightbox theatre.  It is expected to go on general release in Spring 2011 and will be shown on the History Channel who part-funded it.

The Muskegon Museum of Art Kicks Off its 100th Year Celebrations Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:10 PM PST Muskegon, Michigan.- The Muskegon Museum of Art kicked off the celebration of its 100th Year on December 11 with the unveiling of "The First 100 Years", a set of new exhibitions on display throughout the museum that highlights masterworks from the extensive museum collections. Exhibitions of "The First 100 Years" will be open through January 29, 2012. The museum's history began with a gift from lumber baron Charles Hackley, who made his fortune in during the 1980s Michigan lumbering boom. Hackley believed that the growth of Muskegon—the young city he adopted as home—would benefit from progressive new schools, a library and a hospital, and an art museum. Hackley died in 1905 before realizing his dream of an art gallery. However, he left an expendable trust of $150,000, through a bequest in his will, to the Board of Education of Muskegon Public Schools. The fund, now known as the Hackley Picture Fund, was to be used to purchase "pictures of the best kind." By 1910 some of the most treasured and valuable works of art still in the Museum's present day collection were purchased and then displayed at Hackley Public Library, and the Board of Education determined that the time had come to build a museum-quality facility to house the growing art collection. The new museum, called the Hackley Art Gallery, was built and, in June 1912, opened its doors to the public. The news was broadcast nationally and internationally. The young museum, eventually renamed The Muskegon Museum of Art, was and is still regarded as one of the finest regional art museums in the United States. The MMA's 100th Year schedule includes "The First 100 Years", a set of four exhibitions throughout the museum that highlight masterworks from the extensive museum collections. The exhibitions include Pictures of the Best Kind, Portfolios, Series, and Collections; Contemporary Works; and Tiny Treasures. "1934: A New Deal for Artists", a Michigan-exclusive showing of the nationally touring exhibition from the Smithsonian American Art Museum that will open at the MMA on February 16, 2012. "New Art for the New Century". In May, the MMA will unveil a remarkable and not-yet-seen collection of art newly acquired for in honor of its centennial year in this exhibition. The exhibition will open to the public May 4, 2012. The 84th Regional Exhibition. This annual juried show will be open to artists throughout the state of Michigan and will be on display throughout the summer, starting May 31. The MMA 100th Anniversary Gala will be held June 9. An elegant and special evening is planned for the black-tie event that will include a cocktail party, dinner, music, and silent and live auctions."50 X 50:  A Glass Invitational" is a major exhibition of contemporary studio glass opening August 23, just in time to mark the 50th anniversary of the studio glass movement, will feature 50 glass artists working in the field today. "Songs in Steel and Other Dreams" opens September 6, 2012. This exhibition features work by Caroline Lee, a sculptor renowned for her monumental work in Paris, who is returning to the U.S. for this exhibition. "Festival of Trees", a popular community event, will help to celebrate the 100th Year. It will be open November 23 through December 2, 2012. The 100th Year will then close out with an exhibition organized by the Muskegon Museum of Art featuring some of the very best fiber and textile artists from around the country, called Innovators and Legends: Generations in Textiles. The opening reception is set for December 13, 2012. Muskegon was a prosperous and booming town during the 1870s and 80s.  Charles H. Hackley and other local leaders were determined to save Muskegon after the sawmills closed by making this town "one of the most distinctive cities of its size in the country."  In the next eleven years, Hackley invested a good part of his fortune towards meeting that goal. Hackley was convinced that emphasis on such public projects as progressive new schools, a library and a hospital would attract new growth.  The idea of building an art museum for Muskegon was always high on Hackley's list of priorities.  Hackley died in 1905 before realizing his dream of an art gallery. However, Hackley left to the Muskegon Public Schools Board of Education, through a bequest in his will, an expendable trust of $150,000, to be used to purchase "pictures of the best kind". By 1910, having begun with Hackley Picture Fund the acquisition of some of the most treasured and valuable works of art still in the Museum's present day collection, the Board of Education wisely determined that a museum-quality facility should be built. They then proceeded to purchase the lots next to Hackley Public Library and began construction of a facility for their growing and important art collection. Upon completion, the Board of Education chose to honor the inspiration for the project, which, of course, was Charles Hackley, and named their newest building the Hackley Art Gallery. In 1979, ground was broken for a $1.6 million addition to the Hackley Art Gallery, also funded by the L.C. & Margaret Walker Foundation.  Construction was completed in 1980 and with that, the Hackley Art Gallery changed its name to the Muskegon Museum of Art with the Hackley Galleries and the Walker Galleries. The museum's permanent collection is the envy of many and their changing exhibition schedule is rich with opportunities for our community to experience art and artists from around the world. Masterevorks by Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Frederic Remington, James Abbott McNeill Whistler and others are enhanced by a wide range of educational programs, services and temporary exhbits designed to make art accessible to a variety of audiences. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.muskegonartmuseum.org

Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review" Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:09 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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