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

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• The Winnipeg Art Gallery hosts "American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell"
• MoMA Presents "Exquisite Corpses ~ Drawing and Disfiguration"
• The Vanderbilt University exhibits Adriaen van Ostade's Dutch Golden Age Etchings
• The Chrysler Museum displays Contemporary African American Art in "30 Americans"
• The Annual IAAC “Erasing Borders" exhibition Showcases Art from the Indian Diaspora
• The Brooklyn Museum presents "Keith Haring ~ 1978-1982"
• The San Jose Museum of Art shows "Frank Lobdell ~ Wonderland"
• Eleven Fine Arts displays Limited Edition Prints by Prominent Artists
• The Kunsthal Rotterdam Shows a Sir Stanley Spencer Major Retrospective
• New Work by Rineke Dijkstra at Marian Goodman Gallery
• High Museum of Art Acquires Major New Works By Alex Katz and Anish Kapoor
• John Constable: the Great Landscapes at Tate Britain
• Robert Weingarten's "Portraits Without People" at the Craig Krull Gallery
• Tate Modern hosts First Major Survey of the Work of the Danish Artist Per Kirkeby
• The Braverman Gallery in Tel Aviv Shows "Shay Id Alony ~ Visions"
• THE JEWISH MUSEUM SHOWS 'DATELINE ISRAEL ~ NEW PHOTOGRAPHY'
• Christie's To Launch Landmark International Exhibition & Sale in Abu Dhabi
• Corning Museum of Glass Unveils 2009 Rakow Commission by Isabel De Obaldía
• The World's Most Expensive Painting - Pablo Picasso's "Green Leaves, Nude and Bust" At Tate Modern
• Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"

The Winnipeg Art Gallery hosts "American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell" Posted: 15 Mar 2012 10:31 PM PDT Winnipeg, Manitoba.- The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is pleased to present "American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell", on view at the gallery from March 2nd through May 20th. WAG is the only Canadian venue for this travelling exhibition. The exhibition features over 40 major paintings, the complete set of 323 Saturday Evening Post tear-sheet covers, and a group of rarely seen preparatory works and artifacts – all from the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts."This historic touring exhibition is the first ever major retrospective of Rockwell's paintings in Canada," says Director Stephen Borys. "The show is attracting significant crowds on its American circuit, such as at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, which saw over 106,000 visitors. This is your chance to view this important exhibition and take in an exciting array of related programs and events, the details of which can all be viewed at wag.rockwell.ca, a new micro-website dedicated to the show." One of the most popular American artists of the past century, Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) chronicled our changing society in the small details and nuanced scenes of ordinary people in everyday life, providing a personalized interpretation—often an idealized one—of American identity. Rockwell's contributions to our visual legacy, many of them now icons of North American culture, have found a permanent place in our psyche. His images tell stories that still resonate today, reminding us what is important in our lives. Produced through the Norman Rockwell Museum and made possible by the Mauro Family Foundation Inc., audio guides narrated by Rockwell's son Peter are included with Gallery admission. Peter Rockwell will also be in Winnipeg in late April presenting two talks (April 25 & 27) and a tour (April 25) in conjunction with the show. Visitors will enjoy an interactive zone set up in the Galleries, complete with a life sized Saturday Evening Post cover backdrop, and the chance to relax in period furniture provided by Lindsey Steek & Company. Youth ages 18 and under are invited to enter the Rockwell Art Contest by designing a magazine cover, the winner of which will have their design featured in the Winnipeg Free Press. The public can even Adopt-A-Rockwell to pay tribute to someone special like never before. Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York City to Jarvis Waring Rockwell and Anne Mary "Nancy" (born Hill) Rockwell. His earliest American ancestor was John Rockwell (1588–1662), from Somerset, England, who immigrated to America probably in 1635 aboard the ship Hopewell and became one of the first settlers of Windsor, Connecticut. He had one brother, Jarvis Waring Rockwell, Jr., older by a year and half. Jarvis Waring, Sr., was the manager of the New York office of a Philadelphia textile firm, George Wood, Sons & Company, where he spent his entire career. Norman transferred from high school to the Chase Art School at the age of 14. He then went on to the National Academy of Design and finally to the Art Students League. There, he was taught by Thomas Fogarty, George Bridgman, and Frank Vincent DuMond; his early works were produced for St. Nicholas Magazine, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) publication Boys' Life and other juvenile publications. Joseph Csatari carried on his legacy and style for the BSA. As a student, Rockwell was given smaller, less important jobs. His first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age eighteen with his first book illustration for Carl H. Claudy's Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature. In 1913, the nineteen-year old Rockwell became the art editor for Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America, a post he held for three years (1913–1916). As part of that position, he painted several covers, beginning with his first published magazine cover, Scout at Ship's Wheel, appearing on the Boys' Life September 1913 edition. During the First World War, he tried to enlist into the U.S. Navy but was refused entry because, at 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 140 pounds (64 kg), he was eight pounds underweight. To compensate, he spent one night gorging himself on bananas, liquids and doughnuts, and weighed enough to enlist the next day. However, he was given the role of a military artist and did not see any action during his tour of duty. Rockwell's family moved to New Rochelle, New York when Norman was 21 years old and shared a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe, who worked for The Saturday Evening Post. With Forsythe's help, he submitted his first successful cover painting to the Post in 1916, Mother's Day Off (published on May 20). He followed that success with Circus Barker and Strongman (published on June 3), Gramps at the Plate (August 5), Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (September 16), People in a Theatre Balcony (October 14) and Man Playing Santa (December 9). Rockwell was published eight times total on the Post cover within the first twelve months. Norman Rockwell published a total of 322 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years. His Sharp Harmony appeared on the cover of the issue dated September 26, 1936; depicts a barber and three clients, enjoying an a cappella song.Rockwell's success on the cover of the Post led to covers for other magazines of the day, most notably The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life Magazine. In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms series, which was completed in seven months and resulted in his losing 15 pounds. The series was inspired by a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he described four principles for universal rights: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were published in 1943 by The Saturday Evening Post. The United States Department of the Treasury later promoted war bonds by exhibiting the originals in 16 cities. Rockwell himself considered "Freedom of Speech" to be the best of the four. That same year a fire in his studio destroyed numerous original paintings, costumes, and props. Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing. King Features Syndicate is reported to have promised a $1,000/week deal, knowing that a Capp-Rockwell collaboration would gain strong public interest. However, the project was ultimately aborted as it turned out that Rockwell, known for his perfectionism as an artist, could not deliver material as fast as required of him for a daily comic strip. During the late 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent the winter months as artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Students occasionally were models for his Saturday Evening Post covers. In 1949, Rockwell donated an original Post cover, "April Fool," to be raffled off in a library fund raiser. In 1959, his wife Mary died unexpectedly, and Rockwell took time off from his work to grieve. It was during this break that he and his son Thomas produced his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, which was published in 1960. The Post printed excerpts from this book in eight consecutive issues, the first containing Rockwell's famous Triple Self-Portrait. Rockwell married his third wife, retired Milton Academy English teacher, Molly Punderson, in 1961. His last painting for the Post was published in 1963, marking the end of a publishing relationship that had included 322 cover paintings. He spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration. In 1968 Rockwell was commissioned to do an album cover portrait of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper for their record, The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper. During his long career, he was commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as those of foreign figures, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. One of his last works was a portrait of Judy Garland in 1969. A custodianship of his original paintings and drawings was established with Rockwell's help near his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the Norman Rockwell Museum is still open today year round. Norman Rockwell Museum is the authoritative source for all things Norman Rockwell. The Museum's collection is the world's largest, including more than 700 original Rockwell paintings, drawings, and studies. The Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies at the Norman Rockwell Museum is a national research institute dedicated to American illustration art. When he was concerned with his health he placed his studio and the contents with the Norman Rockwell Museum, which was formerly known as the Stockbridge Historical society and even more formerly known as the Old Corner house, in a trust. For "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country," Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor, in 1977. Rockwell died November 8, 1978 of emphysema at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. First Lady Rosalynn Carter attended his funeral. The WAG was established in 1912 when a group of Winnipeg businessmen, recognizing "the civilizing effects of art," each contributed $200 and rented two rooms in the old Federal Building at the corner of Main and Water Streets. Thus, the WAG was born, becoming the first civic art gallery in Canada. Now approaching its centenary in 2012, the Winnipeg Art Gallery has developed from a small civic gallery to Canada's sixth largest gallery with an international reputation. As it expanded, the WAG relocated premises several times to accommodate its growing collection, including its former residence in what is now the Manitoba Archives Building on St. Mary Avenue. The 1950s witnessed the beginning of several of the WAG's specialized collections, including that of Inuit Art. The WAG is now home to the largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world with over 10,730 works. The Decorative Arts collection, another area of specialized collecting, also began in the 1950s since when the WAG has amassed over 4,000 pieces of decorative art, covering diverse media of ceramic, glass, metal, and textiles dating from the 17th century to the mid-20th century. The third specialized collection began considerably later in the 1980s with the designation of the photography collection which now numbers some 1,300 works, largely of contemporary Canadian origin. Designed by Winnipeg architect Gustavo da Roza, built of pale Manitoba Tyndall stone, the current WAG building rises like the prow of a ship on its own triangular "ocean." It was opened by Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, on September 25, 1971. In addition to eight galleries, the building contains a 320-seat auditorium, a rooftop sculpture garden and restaurant, a research library, a gift shop, and extensive meeting and lecture space. The WAG footprint expanded in October 1995 with the opening of the new WAG Studio Building next door in the renovated Mall Medical Building. Home to the Gallery's art classes, the WAG facility is the largest program of its kind in Canada, offering children and adults art classes taught by professional artists. Visit the museum's website at ... http://wag.ca

MoMA Presents "Exquisite Corpses ~ Drawing and Disfiguration" Posted: 15 Mar 2012 10:30 PM PDT New York City.- The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is proud to present "Exquisite Corpses: Drawing and Disfiguration" on view at the museum through July 9th. In a collaborative, chance-based drawing game known as the exquisite corpse, Surrealist artists subjected the human body to distortions and juxtapositions that resulted in fantastic composite figures. This exhibition considers how this and related operations – in which the body is dismembered or reassembled, swollen or multiplied, propped with prosthetics or fused with nature and the machine – recur throughout the twentieth century and to the present.

The Vanderbilt University exhibits Adriaen van Ostade's Dutch Golden Age Etchings Posted: 15 Mar 2012 10:05 PM PDT Nashville, Tennessee.- The Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of "Reflections of the Dutch Golden Age: Etchings by Adriaen van Ostade from the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery", on view at the gallery from March 15th through May 11th. After Rembrandt, Adriaen van Ostade was the major Dutch etcher of the seventeenth century, a period often referred to as a Holland's "Golden Age." According to Arnold Houbraken's biography of the artist from the period, Ostade studied concurrently with Adriaen Brouwer and Frans Hals in Haarlem. Hals influenced Ostade very little, whereas Brouwer, who was described as "known far and wide" as early as 1627, had a decisive influence on the evolution of Ostade's portrayal of peasant life. Many seventeenth-century Dutch artists developed specialties to help them gain an edge in the highly competitive contemporary art market. Some artists, for instance, focused exclusively on the representations of landscapes, still-lifes, or animal subjects.

The Chrysler Museum displays Contemporary African American Art in "30 Americans" Posted: 15 Mar 2012 09:42 PM PDT Norfolk, Virginia.- The Chrysler Museum presents "30 Americans", an exhibition of contemporary African-American art of the past three decades. From Robert Colescott and Jean-Michel Basquiat to Kehinde Wiley and Iona Rozeal Brown, works by some of the most important African-American artists of our time will take over the Chrysler Museum this spring. The provocative—and at times controversial—exhibition goes on view from March 16th to July 15th, admission is free. Drawn from the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, 30 Americans brings together 75 works by 31 emerging and established artists who work within a variety of mediums including painting, sculpture, photography, video, and installation. While some works probe the notion of racial and social difference in a candid manner, others evoke universal concepts and emotions using a sophisticated blend of visual beauty, humor, and irony.

The Annual IAAC “Erasing Borders" exhibition Showcases Art from the Indian Diaspora Posted: 15 Mar 2012 09:41 PM PDT New York City.- The Indo-American Arts Council's 9th Annual "Erasing Borders Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art of the Diaspora" features work by 41 artists who confront issues like sexuality, terror, disease, the environment and racial politics through various artistic mediums like paintings, prints, installations, video and sculpture. This eclectic mix of artists is chosen by curator Vijay Kumar and is free and open to the public. The resulting works often meld Indian and Western ideas about color, form and subject. The opening reception will take place at Crossing Art Queens on March 17th from 3pm to 6pm and the exhibition will then remain on display through April 20th.Twenty million people of Indian origin shifted countries in the 20th and 21st centuries. Implicit in the term Diaspora are the concepts of change and adaptation. Cultural dislocation can produce unexpected and powerful results.

The Brooklyn Museum presents "Keith Haring ~ 1978-1982" Posted: 15 Mar 2012 09:01 PM PDT Brooklyn, New York.- "Keith Haring: 1978-1982", the first large-scale exhibition to explore the early career of one of the best-known of American twentieth-century artists, will be presented at the Brooklyn Museum from March 16th through July 8th. Tracing the development of the artist's extraordinary visual vocabulary, the exhibition includes 155 works on paper, numerous experimental videos, and over 150 archival objects, including rarely seen sketchbooks, journals, exhibition flyers, posters, subway drawings, and documentary photographs. Organized by the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, by Raphaela Platow, Director and Chief Curator, and the Kunsthalle Wien, Austria, the Brooklyn presentation will be coordinated by Associate Curator of Photography Patrick Amsellem. The exhibition chronicles the period in Keith Haring's career from the time he left his home in Pennsylvania and his arrival in New York City to attend the School of Visual Arts, through the years when he started his studio practice and began making public and political art on the city streets. Immersing himself in New York's downtown culture, he quickly became a fixture on the artistic scene, befriending other artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kenny Scharf, as well as many of the most innovative musicians, poets, performance artists, and writers of the period. Also explored in the exhibition is how these relationships played a critical role in Haring's development as a facilitator of group exhibitions and performances and, as a creator of strategies for positioning his work directly in the public eye. Included in Keith Haring: 1978-1982 are a number of very early works that had previously never before been seen in public, twenty-five red gouache works on paper of geometric forms assembled in various combinations to create patterns; seven video pieces, including his very first, Haring Paints Himself into a Corner, in which he paints to the music of the band Devo, and Tribute to Gloria Vanderbilt; and collages created from cut-up fragments of his own writing, history textbooks, and newspapers that closely relate to collage flyers he created with a Xerox machine. In 1978, when he enrolled in the School of Visual Arts, Keith Haring began to develop a personal visual aesthetic inspired by New York City architecture, pre-Columbian and African design, dance music, and the works of artists as diverse as Pierre Alechinsky, Jean Dubuffet, Pablo Picasso, Willem deKooning, and Jackson Pollock. Much influenced by the gestural brushwork and symbolic forms of the abstract expressionists, his earliest work investigated patterns made of geometric forms, which evolved as he made new discoveries through experimentation with shape and line as well as the media. He meticulously documented his aesthetic discoveries in his journals through precise notes and illustrations. In 1980 he introduced the figurative drawings that included much of the iconography he was to use for the rest of his life, such as the standing figure, crawling baby, pyramid, dog, flying saucer, radio, nuclear reactor, bird, and dolphin, enhanced with radiating lines suggestive of movement or flows of energy. The exhibition also explores Haring's role as a curator in facilitating performances and exhibitions of work by other artists pursuing unconventional locations for shows that often lasted only one night. The flyers he created to advertise these events remain as documentation of his curatorial practice. Also examined is Haring's activity in public spaces, including the anonymous works that first drew him to the attention of the public, figures drawn in chalk on pieces of black paper used to cover old advertisements on the walls of New York City subway stations. Keith Haring died in 1990 from AIDS-related complications. His goal of creating art for everyone has inspired the contemporary practice of street art and his influence may be seen in the work of such artists as Banksy, Barry McGee, Shepard Fairey, and SWOON, as well as in fashion, product design, and in the numerous remaining public murals that he created around the world. The Brooklyn Museum is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. Its roots extend back to 1823 and the founding of the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library to educate young tradesmen (Walt Whitman would later become one of its librarians). First established in Brooklyn Heights, the Library moved into rooms in the Brooklyn Lyceum building on Washington Street in 1841. Two years later, the Lyceum and the Library combined to form the Brooklyn Institute. The Institute announced plans to establish a permanent gallery of fine arts in 1846. By 1890, Institute leaders had determined to build a grand new structure devoted jointly to the fine arts and the natural sciences. The original design of the new museum building, from 1893, by the architects McKim, Mead & White was meant to house myriad educational and research activities in addition to the growing collections. The ambitious building plan, had it been fully realized, would have produced the largest single museum structure in the world. Although the scope of that envisioned complex of parks, gardens, and buildings changed after the once-independent Brooklyn was absorbed into New York City in 1898, many features of the plan were eventually realized and are reflected in what can be seen today. In the area of land once designated as the Brooklyn Institute Triangle can be found not only the Brooklyn Museum but also such other institutions and facilities as the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Prospect Park Zoo, Mount Prospect Park, and the Central Library of the Brooklyn Public Library system. Just beyond the western edge of the Institute Triangle complex stands the monumental entrance to Prospect Park, marked by the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch (1892) in the center of Grand Army Plaza. The Brooklyn Museum has been building a collection of Egyptian artifacts since the beginning of the twentieth century. The museum's collection of American art dates back to its being given Francis Guy's "Winter Scene in Brooklyn" in 1846. In 1855, the museum officially designated a collection of American Art, with the first work commissioned for the collection being a landscape painting by Asher B. Durand. Items in the American Art collection include portraits, pastels, sculptures, and prints; all items in the collection date to between circa 1720 and circa 1945. Represented in the American Art collection are works by artists such as William Edmondson (Angel, date unknown), John Singer Sargent (Paul Helleu Sketching with His Wife, ca. 1889), Georgia O'Keeffe (Dark Tree Trunks, ca. 1946), and Winslow Homer (Eight Bells, ca. 1887). Among the most famous items in the collection are Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington and Edward Hicks' "The Peaceable Kingdom". The museum also has vast holdings of African, Islamic and Pacific Islands art. The museum's center for feminist art opened in 2007 and is dedicated to preserving the history of the movement since the late 20th century as well as raising awareness of feminist contributions to art and informing the future of this area of artistic dialogue. Along with an exhibition space, and library, the center features a gallery housing a masterwork by Judy Chicago, a large installation called "The Dinner Party". Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.brooklynmuseum.org

The San Jose Museum of Art shows "Frank Lobdell ~ Wonderland" Posted: 15 Mar 2012 08:25 PM PDT San Jose, California.- Frank Lobdell conjures dreamlike landscapes of mystery and longing. His images—vibrantly colored and fantastical—are simultaneously mechanical, yet anthropomorphic. Though best known for his intense, brooding paintings and personal symbology, Lobdell has in recent years given color primary importance in his work. "Frank Lobdell: Wonderland" is on view at the San Jose Museum of Art through August 5th. Lobdell's monumental painting 3.3.96-12.17.96 Bleeker, 1996, is the keystone of this exhibition. It is accompanied by a selection of his prints, drawings, and paintings from the 1960s to the 1990s that were recently given to the Museum from Morgan and Betty Flagg and the Morgan Flagg Administrative Trust.

Eleven Fine Arts displays Limited Edition Prints by Prominent Artists Posted: 15 Mar 2012 08:09 PM PDT London.- Eleven Fine Arts is pleased to present "Printed Matter" on view from March 23rd through May 4th. The exhibition will feature work by prominent contemporary artists including Peter Blake , Jake & Dinos Chapman , Damien Hirst , Gary Hume, Sarah Morris , Grayson Perry , Marc Quinn and George Shaw . The exhibition also includes gallery published prints by Kent Christensen, Daisy de Villeneuve, Natasha Law, Ben Turnbull and Jonathan Yeo . Prints act as an important avenue for an artist to make their work more widely available. The production of prints is a practice the gallery has supported and encouraged since opening in 2005. Peter Blake's Marilyn (2010) depicts the star at the peak of her appeal. Blake highlights the starlet's trademark features - her luscious red lips, perfectly coifed blonde hair, and sensual gaze. The print is covered in diamond dust further remarking on her timeless celebrity.

The Kunsthal Rotterdam Shows a Sir Stanley Spencer Major Retrospective Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:50 PM PDT Rotterdam, Netherlands.- The Kunsthal Roitterdam is proud to present "Sir Stanley Spencer: Between Heaven and Earth" on view at the museum through January 15th. "Between heaven and Earth" is the first major retrospective of Sir Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) to be held in contintal europe androfiles one of the most important British painters of the twentieth century. His work is characterized by a wealth of topics such as Bible stories, landscapes, portraits and domestic scenes. Through his figurative, narrative painting and its subject matter Spencer has made a significant contribution to the development of modern art. The exhibition includes more than eighty paintings and drawings in a broad art-historical context by the addition of some twenty works by English contemporaries including Lucian Freud and Dora Carrington. Spencer's artistic influence in the Netherlands is shown through several works of his admirers Dick Ket and Charley Toorop. Generous loaned for the exhibition is a generous selection of Stanley Spencer's finest works made from museum collections and private collections including Andrew Lloyd Webber. Tate Britain and the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham set very generously of their biggest and most important works available. The exhibition is the result of new research by guest curator Dr. Alied Ottevanger. Spencer was born and spent much of his life in Cookham in Berkshire. From 1908 to 1912, Spencer studied at the Slade School of Art at University College, London under Henry Tonks and others. His contemporaries at the Slade included Dora Carrington, Mark Gertler, Paul Nash, Edward Wadsworth, Isaac Rosenberg and David Bomberg. After a long period of agonising whether or not to join up, in 1915 Spencer volunteered with the Royal Army Medical Corps and worked as an orderly at the Beaufort War Hospital. In 1916, the 24-year-old Spencer volunteered for service with the RAMC in Macedonia, and served with the 68th Field Ambulance unit. He subsequently volunteered to be transferred to the Berkshire Regiment. His survival of the devastation and torment that killed so many of his fellows indelibly marked Spencer's attitude to life and death. Such preoccupations come through time and again in his religious works. Towards the end of the war he was commissioned by the War Artists Advisory Committee to paint what became "Travoys Arriving with Wounded at a Dressing Station at Smol, Macedonia, September 1916" (now in the Imperial War Museum). A further major commission was to paint murals for the Sandham Memorial Chapel in Burghclere dedicated to the war dead. The altarpiece depicts the Resurrection of the Soldiers. In 1939, he went on a painting holiday at the suggestion of one of his friends, William Rothenstein, to Leonard Stanley in Gloucestershire. This holiday extended to two years, Stanley stayed at the White Hart Inn and created many of his important works in his room above the bar which he used as a studio including 'Us in Gloucestershire' and 'The Wool Shop'. Spencer's work as a war artist in the Second World War included his epic depiction of shipbuilding workers and their families at Port Glasgow on the Clyde. When the war ended he again took up, as did certain other British neo-romantic artists of the time, his visionary preoccupations—in Spencer's case with a sometimes apocalyptic tinge. In 1925, Spencer married Hilda Carline, then a student at the Slade and sister of the artist Richard Carline. A daughter, Shirin, was born in November of that year and a second daughter, Unity, in 1930. Spencer met the artist Patricia Preece in 1929 in Cookham. He became infatuated with her. Carline divorced Spencer in 1937. A week later he married Preece, who persuaded him to sign over his house to her; she, however, was a lesbian. She continued to live with her partner, Dorothy Hepworth, and though she frequently posed nude for her husband, she refused to consummate the marriage. When Spencer's bizarre relationship with Preece finally fell apart (though she would never grant a divorce), he would visit Hilda, an arrangement that continued throughout the latter's subsequent mental breakdown. Hilda died from cancer in November 1950. Spencer was knighted in 1959. He died of cancer at nearby Cliveden later that year. Spencer has been described as an early modernist painter. His works often express his fervent if unconventional Christian faith. This is especially evident in the scenes that he envisioned and depicted in Cookham. Very evident in these too is the compassion that he felt for his fellow residents. His quirky romantic and sexual obsessions were also expressed within this home environment, but it is a mistake to regard him merely as some sort of quaint village innocent, inextricably tied to small-town England. His works originally provoked great shock and controversy. Nowadays, they still seem stylistically avant-garde, whilst the nudes that arose through the futile relationship with Patricia Preece, such as the Leg of mutton nude, foreshadow some of the much later works of Lucian Freud, who has expressed admiration for Spencer. Spencer's early work is regarded as a synthesis of French Post-Impressionism, exemplified for instance by Paul Gauguin, plus early Italian painting typified by Giotto. This was a conscious choice, and Spencer was a key member of a group who called themselves the "Neo-Primitives." Allied with him were David Bomberg, William Roberts and other young contemporaries at the Slade. The Kunsthal is a museum in Rotterdam, which opened its doors in 1992. The museum is situated in the Museumpark of Rotterdam next to the Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam, and in the vicinity of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The Kunsthal has no permanent collection, but organises a wide range of temporary exhibits. The large space available 3,300 m2 (36,000 sq ft) allows various exhibits in parallel. The Kunsthal stages some 25 exhibitions a year, presenting culture in the widest sense of the word: old art, new art, design, photography - from elitist to popular. The Kunsthal frequently experiments with themes which in many cases provide the first impulse for an exhibition. This approach has resulted in an exciting and varied exhibition repertoire highlighting Impressionism, lingerie, Leonardo da Vinci, Blackfoot Indians, Jewels of the Orient, Pop-art. More than 3300 square metres of exhibition space are available in the striking building designed by Rotterdam architect Rem Koolhaas - a work of art in its own right, making a visit to the Kunsthal well worth your while. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.kunsthal.nl

New Work by Rineke Dijkstra at Marian Goodman Gallery Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:49 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- Marian Goodman Gallery presents an exhibition of new work by Rineke Dijkstra which will run through August 21st. On view are three new video installations as well as related portraits. In the North Gallery the three-channel projection I See A Woman Crying (Weeping Woman), 2009-2010 and single channel Ruth Drawing Picasso, 2009-2010 are being presented. In the South Gallery, The Krazyhouse, Liverpool UK (Megan, Simon, Nicky, Philip, Dee), 2009-2010 are on view. This new work continues the artist's relationship with the city of Liverpool, where her celebrated early video work The Buzz Club, Liverpool, UK /Mysteryworld, Zaandam, NL (1996/97) was first created and where her work was recently on view in The Fifth Floor: Ideas Taking Space at Tate Liverpool.

High Museum of Art Acquires Major New Works By Alex Katz and Anish Kapoor Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:48 PM PDT ATLANTA, GA.- "The High's collection of contemporary art is growing in exciting and diverse ways, and signals our commitment to creating an anthology of important 21st-century works," commented Michael Shapiro, the High's Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr. Director. "We are grateful to Alex for his generous gift of 'Twilight' and look forward to adding to our holdings of his work; his extraordinary paintings bridge the Museum's fine collection of post-painterly abstraction with its expanding collection of Pop art."

John Constable: the Great Landscapes at Tate Britain Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:47 PM PDT London - This major exhibition offers the first opportunity to view John Constable's seminal six-foot exhibition canvases together.  The 'six-footers' are among the best-known images in British art and comprise the famous series of views on the river Stour, which includes The Hay Wain 1820-1, as well as more expressive later works such as Hadleigh Castle 1829 and Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows 1831. These paintings lie at the very heart of Constable's achievement and not even in the artist's lifetime were they ever brought together.  The exhibition is sponsored by AIG. Constable's decision to start painting six-foot landscapes around 1818-19 marks a significant turning point in his career.  He was determined to paint on a larger scale (about six foot by four and a half) both to attract more notice at the Royal Academy exhibitions but also, it seems, to project his ideas about landscape on a scale more in keeping with the achievements of classical landscape painting.

Robert Weingarten's "Portraits Without People" at the Craig Krull Gallery Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:46 PM PDT Santa Monica, CA.- The Craig Krull Gallery is pleased to show its fourth solo exhibition of the work of Robert Weingarten. "Robert Weingarten: Portraits Without People" will be on exhibit until June 11th. In his previously exhibited bodies of work, Weingarten's photographic practice has been characterized by the proposition of a thesis that is tested and explored via a rigorous photographic methodology of the artist's own device.  In his "6:30am" series, Weingarten set out to demonstrate that the mind develops visual stereotypes and assumes that the sky and ocean are generally blue, when in actuality, they are a constantly changing array of colors. He set up a tripod and made exposures at precisely 6:30 am every day for a year from the exact same spot, using the same aperture and film. Weingarten's "experiment" produced an extraordinary series of images of the Santa Monica Bay at sunrise - with sky and water ranging in hue from pink to orange, and green to violet. Weingarten's next project, "Palette Series", expanded upon a question raised during the creation of his 6:30am photographs.  The artist wondered how local light affected the palettes of painters.  He arranged to visit the studios of noted artists such as Ed Moses, Jasper Johns, Ed Ruscha, Chuck Close and many others, photographing extreme details of their palettes and enlarging them to dramatic proportions.  Although he did not recognize a direct correlation of palettes to local light, he reveled in the ironic ability of photography to further abstract painting. In his current body of work, entitled "Portraits Without People",  Robert Weingarten addresses the very nature of the centuries old tradition of portraiture by posing the question, "Can you express a person's being and character photographically without showing them?"  He began making his own portrait by compositing images of objects and places of personal significance; his violin, his childhood home, a calculator, and other items. Julian Cox, curator of Weingarten's exhibition of this work at The High Museum in Atlanta, wrote, "Weingarten adds to the tradition [of photocollage] by moving beyond the instant of the photographic moment to conjure a more synthetic, impressionistic kind of picture that blurs the boundaries between fact and fantasy."  In order to create a resonant series of these "portraits without people", Weingarten recognized that his subjects should be prominent individuals of high accomplishment and general public recognition. He sought out icons of our society such as Stephen Sondheim, Frank Gehry, and Joyce Carol Oates, asking them for a list of 10 objects and places that define who they are. Weingarten made photographs of the items on each list, then created the individual portraits by layering his images digitally. As Julian Cox observed, "light passes through specific objects and elements in the composition, creating a new kind of depth perception and the suggestion of a three-dimensional space."  Weingarten has identified this digital practice and work as a "translucent composite." The gallery was established in 1991 as Turner/Krull Gallery in West Hollywood. During the gallery's three years on Melrose Avenue, the program was exclusively photo-based. The inaugural exhibition, "Photographing L.A. Architecture," demonstrated Krull's interest in the cultural history of Southern California and also marked the beginning of his representation of noted L.A. artists such as Julius Shulman, James Fee, and Edmund Teske. The program also included exhibitions of prominent photographers whose work had not been widely exhibited in the area, including, William Eggleston, Robert Adams and Frederick Sommer. Curatorial projects included, "Action/Performance and the Photograph," a group exhibition examining the relationship of still photography to performance art. In 1994, Craig Krull became one of the founding galleries at the new Bergamot Station Art Center. Since that time, the gallery has expanded its scope, no longer exclusively photo-based, it now represents major Southern California painters and sculptors such as Peter Alexander, Dennis Hopper, Llyn Foulkes, Astrid Preston, Dan McCleary and Don Bachardy. Sharing the poet Gary Snyder's belief that, "our place is part of what we are," the gallery is characterized by "place oriented" work, that which demonstrates a relationship between the artist and their environment or cultural milieu. Curatorial efforts reflecting this interest included, "Photographing the L.A. Art Scene: 1955-1975," which explored that seminal period in L.A. art history. The gallery has also re-introduced artists such as photographer, Charles Brittin, an important chronicler of the Beat Generation. For this exhibition, Krull collaborated with Walter Hopps, producing the only catalogue of Mr. Brittin's work. The gallery is divided into three interconnected exhibition spaces of differing sizes. Exhibitions may focus on a single artist, but are more often comprised of two or three concurrent "solo" shows that explore complimentary themes, issues, or aesthetics. In fact, as simple as it may sound, beauty has always been a fundamental aspect of the gallery's program. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.craigkrullgallery.com

Tate Modern hosts First Major Survey of the Work of the Danish Artist Per Kirkeby Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:45 PM PDT LONDON.- Tate Modern presents the first major survey in the UK of the work of the Danish artist Per Kirkeby (b. 1938). The exhibition will explore the exceptional diversity of Kirkeby's career spanning four decades. Focusing on key moments in the artist's oeuvre, it will bring together his Pop-inspired paintings from the 1960s with early paintings on canvas from the late 1970s, an extensive group of blackboard works, sculptures and a selection of the monumental canvases for which Kirkeby is best known. Tate Modern's survey will offer a long overdue opportunity for audiences to discover the work of this highly original artist. The show will feature 146 works including paintings on masonite and canvas, bronze sculptures and rarely-shown works on paper as well as a comprehensive selection of the artist's extensive writings. On exhibition 17 June through 6 September, 2009.

The Braverman Gallery in Tel Aviv Shows "Shay Id Alony ~ Visions" Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:44 PM PDT Tel Aviv, Israel - The Braverman Gallery is proud to present "Shay Id Alony: Visions" from April 21st until June 2nd. Shay Id Alony's solo exhibition "Visions" is the culmination of his research into the personal-figurative-cultural connection between inner space and everyday life. Alony created a site-specific installation, in which he assembles a landscape of objects that allow an anonymous audience to create their own personal space within the distorted frame of the Gallery.  The viewer is able to wander through various interior spaces, moving between partial objects, hybridizations and facades, ultimately joining Alony's personal journey through his collection of images that represent his inner world. The pieces at "Visions" are strangely intimidating but at the same time nostalgically familiar.

THE JEWISH MUSEUM SHOWS 'DATELINE ISRAEL ~ NEW PHOTOGRAPHY' Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:43 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY – Over the nearly 60 years since the founding of the State of Israel, people outside the country, informed mainly by media accounts, see it primarily as a place of conflict.  What does this mean for art about Israel?  Dateline Israel: New Photography and Video Art, on view at The Jewish Museum through August 5, 2007, focuses on photography and video art made after the year 2000.  Expressing the diverse outlooks of nearly two dozen artists, these images represent the life and culture of a nation where political realities influence every aspect of creative endeavor.  What is revealed is a complicated view of Israel and its people. Photographers and video artists were among the first to react to events such as the second Intifada, a wave of violence and political conflict which began in 2000 between Israel and the Palestinians.  Their art became an effective medium for mining the day to day life in Israel.  The exhibition at The Jewish Museum is comprised of nearly 45 works by 23 artists who view Israel as a society that has outgrown the utopian model of its settlement and statehood.  Dateline Israel: New Photography and Video Art presents evocative landscapes and powerful reportage, formal portraits, quickly composed snapshots, and video. Artists represented include Boaz Arad, Yael Bartana, Rina Castelnuovo, Rineke Dijkstra, Barry Frydlender, Ori Gersht, Amit Goren, Michal Heiman, Noel Jabbour, Miki Kratsman, Leora Laor, Gillian Laub, Yaron Leshem, Motti Mizrachi, Orit Raff, Guy Raz, Igael Shemtov, Wolfgang Tillmans, Mark Wallinger, Wim Wenders, Pavel Wolberg, Sharon Ya'ari, and Catherine Yass.  Sixteen of the participating artists are Israeli and seven are from other parts of the world.  This reflects the growing emergence of Israel as a subject of widening interest among artists.  Contested land, religious ideology, and the rights and needs of Israelis and Palestinians are concerns that these artists negotiate as they seek to portray a nation often divided against itself.  The exhibition reveals a country in flux that only a multiplicity of perspectives can bring into focus.  While Dateline Israel may reinforce the impression of a place where conflict can overwhelm daily life, the photographs and videos in this exhibition also offer a richer and more nuanced view. National identity and geographical conflict are explored in the work of Amit Goren, Miki Kratsman, Boaz Arad, and Yaron Leshem, each offering a singular perspective on the Israeli political system.  The photographic work of Michal Heiman confronts the realities of terrorist violence.  Layers of meaning in the land itself – its sacred sites and contested zones – are embedded in the landscape photography of Wim Wenders, Sharon Ya'ari, and Ori Gersht, each exploring the ways in which human intervention has altered the terrain.  While Wolfgang Tillmans provides a new vision of the dense urban cityscape of Tel Aviv, Mark Wallinger seeks to illuminate centuries of complex history that impact venerated sites in Jerusalem.  The security barrier between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is featured in photographs and video art by Noel Jabbour and Catherine Yass, who link the artistic act to political awareness.  The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a subject for Pavel Wolberg, Rina Castelnuovo, and Miki Kratsman, whose photographs convey moments of paradox and social tension in the lives of Israelis and Palestinians.  Portraits by Rineke Dijkstra and Gillian Laub bring a human perspective to individuals caught up in long-term political strife. The exhibition has been organized by Susan Tumarkin Goodman, Senior Curator at The Jewish Museum.  Accompanying the exhibition is a 120-page catalogue by Ms. Goodman, with essays by Andy Grundberg and Nissan N. Perez, co-published by The Jewish Museum and Yale University Press, featuring 24 full-color plates.  The hardcover book sells for $35.00 at The Jewish Museum's Cooper Shop and bookstores everywhere. Dateline Israel: New Photography and Video Art is made possible by a leadership grant from the Andrea & Charles Bronfman Philanthropies and through endowed funds from the Melva Bucksbaum Fund for Contemporary Art.  Additional support was provided by the Alfred J. Grunebaum Memorial Fund and Israel National Lottery Council for the Arts.  Transportation assistance was provided by EL AL Israel Airlines. S pecial thanks to the Department of Cultural Affairs, Consulate General of Israel in New York. About The Jewish Museum The Jewish Museum as established on January 20, 1904 when Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated 26 ceremonial art objects to The Jewish Theological Seminary of America as the core of a museum collection.  Today, The Jewish Museum maintains an important collection of 25,000 objects – paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, archaeological artifacts, ceremonial objects, and broadcast media. Widely admired for its exhibitions and educational programs that inspire people of all backgrounds, The Jewish Museum is the preeminent institution exploring the intersection of 4,000 years of art and Jewish culture. Museum hours are Saturday through Wednesday, 11am to 5:45pm; and Thursday, 11am to 8pm. Museum admission is $12.00 for adults, $10.00 for senior citizens, $7.50 for students, free for children under 12 and Jewish Museum members.  Admission is free on Saturdays.  For general information on The Jewish Museum, the public may visit the Museum's Web site at http://www.thejewishmuseum.org or call 212.423.3200.  The Jewish Museum is located at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, Manhattan.

Christie's To Launch Landmark International Exhibition & Sale in Abu Dhabi Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:42 PM PDT   LONDON - Christie's announced that it will stage a historic international exhibition in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates in October under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman, Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage. This exhibition is a vital component of Christie's global exhibition programme which tours selected masterpieces to international locations such as London, New York, Hong Kong and Moscow, and will be the first of its kind held in the Middle East.

Corning Museum of Glass Unveils 2009 Rakow Commission by Isabel De Obaldía Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:41 PM PDT CORNING, NY.- The Corning Museum of Glass last week unveiled its annual Rakow Commission: Rey del Cenote, by Panamanian artist Isabel De Obaldía. The distinctive sand-cast sculpture by De Obaldía draws on ancient and tribal art. The title of her commission refers to the crocodile as the king of the cenote, which is a deep natural well. In ancient times, sacrifices to the gods often took place at a cenote. Each year the Museum awards the Rakow Commission to an emerging or established artist working in glass.

The World's Most Expensive Painting - Pablo Picasso's "Green Leaves, Nude and Bust" At Tate Modern Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:40 PM PDT London (BBC).- The world's most expensive painting ever sold at auction is going on public show in the UK for the first time. "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" was painted by Pablo Picasso in 1932 and based on his muse, Marie-Therese Walter. The painting became the most expensive in the world when it was auctioned in New York by Christies in 2010, selling for for $106.5m (£65.5m). As of Monday 7 March 2011, it can be seen on display at the Tate Modern in London. Tate director Nicholas Serota: "This is an outstanding painting by Picasso. I am delighted that through the generosity of the lender we are able to bring it to the British public for the first time." Mr Serota said: "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" is one of the sequence of paintings of Picasso's muse, Marie-Therese Walter, made by the artist at Boisgeloup, Normandy, in the early months of 1932. They are widely regarded as amongst his greatest achievements of the inter-war period." The painting has been borrowed from the unnamed private collector who bought it. It is not known what security precautions have been taken at the gallery to protect it from thieves and vandals. A complete Picasso exhibition will open at Tate Britain next year. Picasso first met Ms Walter, a model in 1927 and she became his mistress. He began to paint her four years later. She died in 1977, four years after Picasso. The Tate's permanent collection contains 45 drawings, paintings and sculptures by Picasso, including a number that featured in the very sucessful "Picasso: Peace and Freedom" exhibition at the Tate Liverpool between May and August 2010. Created in 2000 from a disused power station, the Tate Modern displays the national collection of international modern art. The Bankside power station (a striking and distinguished building in its own right), was redesigned by the Swiss firm of Herzog and De Meuron. The turbine hall became a dramatic entrance area, with ramped access, as well as a display space for very large sculptural projects. The boiler house became many of the galleries. These galleries are on three levels running the full length of the building, disposed in separate but linked blocks, on either side of the central escalators. Above the original roofline of the power station Herzog and De Meuron added a two-storey glass penthouse, known as "the lightbeam". In total, the Tate Modern has 34,500 square meters of floorspace, including over 9,800 m2 of display and exhibition space, plus 3,300 m2 for specific installations in the turbine hall. The Tate Modern opened in 2000 and became an instant hit with visitors from worldwide. Designed to handle up to 2 million visitors a year, it rapidly became one of the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 5 million visitors every year. Further expansion of the gallery has been a priority for some time, and a new extension is scheduled to open in 2012. Also designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the new extension will take the form of a ziggurat or pyramid with a sloping brick facade to match the original building. When completed, this will include galleries dedicated to photography, video, exhibitions and the community. Visit the museum's website at: … http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/

Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review" Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:39 PM PDT 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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