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

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• The National Gallery of Art Launches "NAG Images" a New Online Resource
• The Museum of Florida Art shows "Architectural Counterpoints"
• Irma Stern and J. H. Pierneef Paintings Lead Bonhams South Africa Sale
• The Davis Museum at Wellesley College presents American Lithography Before 1860
• The Ellen Noël Art Museum Presents "People’s Choice ~ From the Vault"
• The Ukrainian Institute of America Hosts JADA ~ An Exhibition by the Japanese Art Dealers Association
• The Warrington Museum to Show "International Woman"
• United States Art Critics Association announces Annual Awards to honor artists, curators, museums, galleries
• The CaixaForum in Barcelona Welcomes Our Editor ~ A Cultural Gem In Spain
• Hearst Art Gallery of Saint Mary’s College to host A Retrospective of Ralph Borge
• MoMA Opens "The Modern Myth: Drawing Mythologies in Modern Times"
• Sotheby's New York to Sell Property from the Meyers Collection Esimated at $30 Million
• Peabody Essex Museum to exhibit 'To the Ends of the Earth' Polar Landscapes
• The Rubin Museum of Art presents "Nagas ~ Hidden Hill People of India"
• Cheekwood Museum exhibits "From Washington to Warhol: Americana Redifined"
• Nassau County Museum of Art hosts ~ Latin American Art: Myth & Reality
• Tennessee State Museum Exhibition Featuring Images by Photographer Jack Stoddart
• Roy Lichtenstein Sculpture
• The National Portrait Gallery Shows Works by Seven Asian American Artists
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

The National Gallery of Art Launches "NAG Images" a New Online Resource Posted: 19 Mar 2012 12:19 AM PDT Washington, DC—The National Gallery of Art announces the launch today of NGA Images, a new online resource that revolutionizes the way the public may interact with its world-class collection at http://images.nga.gov. This repository of digital images documenting the National Gallery of Art collections allows users to search, browse, share, and download images believed to be in the public domain. Many of the open access images have been digitized with the generous support of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. "As the Gallery marks its 71st anniversary, it is fitting that we introduce NGA Images and an accompanying open access policy, which underscore the Gallery's mission and national role in making its collection images and information available to scholars, educators, and the general public," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "In turn this supports research, teaching, and personal enrichment; promotes interdisciplinary research; and nurtures an appreciation of all that inspires great works of art." Designed by Gallery experts to facilitate learning, enrichment, enjoyment, and exploration, NGA Images features more than 20,000 open access digital images, up to 3,000 pixels each, available free of charge for download and use. The resource is easily accessible through the Gallery's website, and a standards-based reproduction guide and a help section provide advice for both novices and experts. Users may search by keyword in the Quick Search box on the home page of NGA Images, or they may browse the regularly updated "featured" image collections prepared by Gallery staff on topics such as 19th-century French Art or frequently requested works. Other features for users include the ability to create one or more "lightboxes," or images sets, and to save, share, and download multiple images at a time. Users may add individual labels and notes to their lightboxes or to images within them. Links to users' customized lightboxes may be shared via e-mail or may be copied and pasted to social media sites. Users may freely browse the NGA Images website and download screen- and lecture-size images without registering an account. Registration is required to use certain features of the NGA Images website, including saving and sharing lightboxes and e-mailing image links to others. Additionally, registration is required to fulfill certain image requests, including direct downloads of reproduction-ready images. With the launch of NGA Images, the National Gallery of Art implements an open access policy for digital images of works of art that the Gallery believes to be in the public domain (those not subject to copyright protection). Under the open access policy, users may download any of these images free of charge and without seeking authorization from the Gallery for any use, commercial or non-commercial. Now visited by more than 4.5 million people annually, the National Gallery of Art is now one of the world's leading art museums. The National Gallery of Art was created in 1937 for the people of the United States of America by a joint resolution of Congress, accepting the gift of financier and art collector Andrew W. Mellon. Since its inception, the mission of the National Gallery of Art has been to serve the United States of America in a national role by preserving, collecting, exhibiting, and fostering the understanding of works of art, at the highest possible museum and scholarly standards. The original West Building, designed by John Russell Pope (architect of the Jefferson Memorial and the National Archives), is a neoclassical marble masterpiece with a domed rotunda over a colonnaded fountain and high-ceilinged corridors leading to delightful garden courts. At its completion in 1941, the building was the largest marble structure in the world. The modern East Building, designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect I. M. Pei and opened in 1978, is composed of two adjoining triangles with glass walls and lofty tetrahedron skylights. The pink Tennessee marble from which both buildings were constructed was taken from the same quarry and forms an architectural link between the two structures. The East Building provided an additional 56,100 m2 of floor space and accommodated the Gallery's growing collections and expanded exhibition schedule as well as housing an advanced research center, administrative offices, a great library, and a burgeoning collection of drawings and prints. The two buildings are linked by an underground concourse featuring sculptor Leo Villareal's computer-programmed digital light project "Multiverse". On May 23, 1999 the Gallery opened an outdoor sculpture garden located in the 6.1-acre block adjacent to the West Building at 7th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W. The garden provides an informal, yet elegant setting for works of modern and contemporary sculpture. The National Gallery of Art has one of the finest art collections in the world. It was created for the people of the United States of America by a joint resolution of Congress accepting the gift of financier, public servant, and art collector Andrew W. Mellon in 1937. European and American paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, and decorative arts are displayed in the collection galleries and Sculpture Garden. The permanent collection of paintings spans from the Middle Ages to the present day. The strongest collection is the Italian Renaissance collection, which includes two panels from Duccio's Maesta, the great tondo of the Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi, a Botticelli on the same subject, Giorgione's Allendale Nativity, Bellini's The Feast of the Gods, the only Leonardo painting in the Americas, Ginevra de' Benci; and significant groups of works by Titian and Raphael. However, the other European collections include examples of the work of many of the great masters of western painting, including Grünewald, Cranach the Elder, Van der Weyden, Albrecht Dürer, Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Goya, Ingres, and Delacroix, among others. The collection of sculpture and decorative arts is admittedly not quite as rich as this, but includes such works as the Chalice of Abbot Suger of St-Denis and a superb collection of work by Rodin and Degas. The National Gallery of Art contains three museum shops, three cafes and a bar as well as the Library, a major national art research center serving the Gallery's staff, members of the Center for Advanced Study, visiting scholars, and serious adult researchers. Visit the museum's thorough website at .. http://www.nga.gov

The Museum of Florida Art shows "Architectural Counterpoints" Posted: 18 Mar 2012 11:27 PM PDT DeLand, Florida.- The Museum of Florida Art is pleased to present "Architectural Counterpoints" on view at the museum from March 23rd through July 15th. Curated by Mary Waldorf, the exhibition features the works of 3 Florida artists; Louise Lieber, Roxanne Horvath and Peter Rumpel. There will be an opening reception for the artists on Friday March 23rd from 5 to 7pm. Roxanne Horvath and Peter Rumpel are both practicing architects and urban planners based in St. Augustine, Florida. Their collaborative creations evoke basic elements of architectural design. Often mixed media, photography and found objects are transformed into furniture-like objects and even people as doll figures. Peter's and Roxanne's work provide an interesting escape for viewers to visit and contemplate. Louise Lieber believes that geometry is eternal, a manifestation of the divine pattern that underlies the world of time and space, where events unfold according to natural laws and the forces of nature continually sculpt and reconfigure the landscape. Elements of weather are suggested and landforms show the marks of shifting planes. The geometry suggests architecture, a site plan, still embryonic, floating above and below the landscape.

Irma Stern and J. H. Pierneef Paintings Lead Bonhams South Africa Sale Posted: 18 Mar 2012 11:26 PM PDT London.- A stunning image from one of Irma Stern's trips to Zanzibar, titled 'The Pink Sari', signed and dated 1947, will be sold by Bonhams in London on March 21st for an estimated £800,000-1,200,000. Never before seen on the open market, the painting was acquired directly from the artist circa 1961 and then passed by direct descent to the current owner. It is the top lot in Bonhams next sale of South African Art which has consistently broken records for South African art over the past five years. Irma Stern's trips to Zanzibar in 1939 and 1945 were life-changing events that would continue to exert influence on her artistic output for years to come. The island's people and colours had etched themselves in her mind and gave her a profound sense of satisfaction in having found precisely what she had been searching out across Africa for several decades previously. To her friends she described the trip as a revelation, the island as a bustling idyll teeming with colour. The pink sari is a stunning example of the beauty Stern encountered on the island. In the women of the Zanzibar in particular, she had found her greatest inspiration. Also among the auction highlights are a series of stunning landscapes by J.H. Pierneef, (1886-1957), one of South Africa's leading 20th century artists, whose work adorns South Africa House in Trafalgar Square. Second to landscape, architecture was J.H. Pierneef's greatest passion and he brought the disciplines of art and architecture to bear on landscape in ways that speak directly to the heart and eye. His 'A view over Chuniespoort', of 1945 (estimate £300,000-500,000) is a perfect example of Pierneef's mirroring of architecture and nature. In using a simplified palette and mimicking the arrangement of the rondavels (huts) with the arrangement of the trees and mountains, Pierneef seamlessly harmonises the two elements. For anyone familiar with South Africa, these haunting images of the country's great interior spaces, often dominated by equally impressive cloudscapes, embody the very spirit of this part of Africa. There is rarely any sign of human life in Pierneef's landscapes. Instead, idealized trees, rocks and mountains are drafted with the simplified skill of an architect to depict an ordered yet detached world in which nature takes on the monumentalism and confidence of line of man-made sculptures or skyscrapers. In 'Bosveld' estimated to sell for £120,000-180,000, one can see how powerfully the Bosveld landscape was a constant source of inspiration to Pierneef. This sub-tropical woodland, found in northwest South Africa, is notable for its tall trees and clusters of shrubs. The artist takes this verdant panorama and transforms it, so that the whole landscape becomes a rhythm absorbing the viewer in the lyrical nature of the scene. The laws of parallelism fascinated Pierneef and the artist's interest in parallel lines and the necessity of rhythm remained constant throughout his career. Another highlight will be William Kentridge's Anti-waste, dating to about 1990, when William Kentridge started work on Mine, the third film in his series 9 Drawings for Projection (1989-2003). South Africa was on the cusp of political change, in the tentative years between the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, the unbanning of political organisations and the free elections of 1994, and Kentridge was gaining renown as one of the country's most important and innovative polymath artists. "Anti-waste" was created as part of the storyboard for the film, and was inspired by Eugène Delacroix's painting "Liberty Guiding the People: 28 July 1830". Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals through two major salerooms in London - New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge - and a further four throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Boston in the USA; Toronto in Canada; and in Switzerland, France, Monaco, Hong Kong and Australia. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. Visit the auction house's website at ... www.bonhams.com

The Davis Museum at Wellesley College presents American Lithography Before 1860 Posted: 18 Mar 2012 10:54 PM PDT Wellesley, Massachusetts. - The Davis Museum at Wellesley College opens "With a French Accent: American Lithography Before 1860", an exhibition that explores the French roots of American lithography on Wednesday, March 14th. Featuring some fifty French and American prints from the collection of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts, the exhibition will be on view through June 3rd in the Morelle Lasky Levine '56 Works on Paper Gallery. The exhibition is free and open to the public. In the early days after its invention in 1798, one of the main appeals of lithography (a printing technique based on the repulsion between grease and water), was that is was ideal for artistic renderings.  Not only was it a medium that was relatively easy for artists to use, but also the range of tones and facility of line allowed for the close copying of paintings and drawings by skilled lithographic artists.

The Ellen Noël Art Museum Presents "People’s Choice ~ From the Vault" Posted: 18 Mar 2012 10:24 PM PDT Odessa, Texas.- The Ellen Noël Art Museum announces the exhibition "People's Choice: From the Vault of the Ellen Noël Art Museum Collection", on view from March 23rd through May 13th. The exhibition , features works chosen from the Permanent Collection vault by members of the community who were asked to select their favorite works of art for this exhibition. These individuals also provided written statements explaining the reason behind their choices. In building its Permanent Collection of art over the past twenty six years, the Ellen Noël Art Museum has elected to focus primarily on acquiring works of American art produced since 1865. The Museum pays particular attention to obtaining American art from the Southwest and Texas. It is hoped that visitors will be inspired by, learn from, and enjoy these works when they are being exhibited and interpreted.

The Ukrainian Institute of America Hosts JADA ~ An Exhibition by the Japanese Art Dealers Association Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:58 PM PDT New York City.– Masterworks of the traditional fine arts of Japan will be on view during New York's Asia Week in "JADA: An Exhibition by the Japanese Art Dealers Association". Held from March 17th to March 21st this year, JADA will present exceptional examples of screens, paintings, scrolls, prints, lacquers, fine ceramics, and tea ceremony accoutrements ranging in date from around the 1st century B.C. to the 19th century.  The unique, collaborative event brings together five of New York's preeminent dealers in a joint exhibition, or mini-fair, with the works of art from the different galleries integrated by material, style, or period. JADA  will be held at the Ukrainian Institute of America, at 2 East 79th Street and is the association's fifth collaborative exhibition.

The Warrington Museum to Show "International Woman" Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:33 PM PDT Warrington, England.- Following the success of "Gossip Well Told" group exhibition that launched the first Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival, Frankie Shea & Tina Ziegler return to Warrington Museum in March with an exhibition called "International Woman". In conjunction with Moniker Projects, "International Woman" brings together a stellar roster of more than 15 artists from 10 countries, being the first exhibition in the UK that highlights the cross-over of the Pop Surrealism and Urban fine art movements under one roof. "International Women" will be on view at the Warrington Museum from March 29th through July 7th. Working in underground art movements these women have forged names for themselves by pushing the boundaries of contemporary art, experimenting with new mediums, ideas and visual concepts. Individually they have enhanced the overall direction of these underground movements, and as a collective they have changed the way women are viewed in urban culture today. Exhibiting artists include, Catalina Estrada, Elizabeth Mcgrath, Faith 47, Hera, Holly Thoburn, Kukula, Mel Kadel, Miss Van, Pam Glew, Sarah Joncas, Stella Im Hultberg, Swoon, Tara Mcpherson and Xue Wang. Born and raised in Colombia, and living in Barcelona since 1999, Catalina Estrada brings all the colours and power of Latin American folklore and refines it with a subtle touch of European sophistication. Her ability for creating fascinating illusive worlds, full of colours, nature, and enchanting characters, bursts in all of her works. Los Angeles-born artist Elizabeth McGrath has always had an eye for the strange beauty in the grotesqueries of life; this appreciation is nowhere more evident than in her work. Inspired by the relationship between the natural world and the detritus of consumer culture, she brings forth a new cavalcade of creatures from the darker corners of the streets, the city, the imagination. It is this melancholy interaction between man-made status symbols and suffering specimens of nature that make up her intricate body of work. South African Faith 47's images reconstruct lost objects, broken-down cars, old factories and dusty side roads of forgotten towns. She investigates how humans interact with their environment, what scratches and memories they leave behind. Hera, female counterpart of the german graffiti duo, Herakut, hails from Frankfurt, Germany, Hera's spontaneous and unrestricted style derived as a reaction to her formal art background and education. Her painting skills became further developed as she began painting in large scale in urban environments in 2001. Born and raised in and around London, Holly Thoburn draws inspiration from inner city life. These influences are evident in her abstracted paintings, and reflected in her edgy style and effusive use of texture and colour. Kukula was born in a relatively isolated village about an hour north of Tel Aviv. Her paintings center on feminine, dolllike figures, often surrounded by objects with sometimes clear, sometimes obscure symbolic meaning. Mel Kadel is originally from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and graduated from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia. She now resides in Los Angeles (and is represented by Richard Heller Gallery), in a log cabin by the 5 freeway. She works using ancient papers, tiny pens, Q-tips and glue. Miss Van started wall-painting in the streets at the age of 18, initiating the feminine movement in street art. Her sultry female characters began to pop up on city centre walls in the mid 1990s, they instantly possessed a timeless quality, as if women had always painted such graffiti in the streets. She is now exhibiting all around the world from NY to LA, Europe, and Asia. Nom Kinnear King born in Bath, England and currently living in Bristol, she creates in oils and Pencil. Her beautifuly painted works mainly feature portraits of girls, inspired by gypies and folk life. Her characters roaming from town to town in a patchwork old fashioned never world, where accordions and clarinets trail their steps, their joyful and curious behaviour shadowed by sweet melancholy. King has exhibited in group and solo exhibition in the UK, Australia and parts of Europe. Known for her one-of-a kind bleaching technique on national flags, Pam Glew creates her bold imagery using dye, acrylic & embroidery among other unusual materials. Inspired by film, her strong cinematic paintings are often based on film stills from Horror and Film Noir movies, capturing that moment when a character is being chased, startled or discovered by the enemy. The result is often compellingly beautiful and yet contains elements of vulnerability. Sarah Joncas was born in 1986 and grew up within both Hamilton and Niagara Falls, Ontario. Her interest in the visual arts developed at an early age, starting with the dedicated drawings of dinosaurs and lizards. Eventually the study and enjoyment of working from existing images stirred up the need in Sarah to create images of her own; ones that could reflect the world, yet also appease the personal feelings/ideas that she herself maintained. With this, her direction changed gradually from the world of animation, towards a path in fine art. Stella Im Hultberg is a painter living and working in Brooklyn, NYC. Born in South Korea, raised in Seoul, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and later in California, she studied Industrial Design and worked as a product designer before serendipitously falling into the art world in late 2005. She has been exhibited across the United States, England and parts of Asia. Swoon is a street artist originally from Daytona Beach, Florida. She moved to New York City at age nineteen, and specializes in life-size wheat paste prints and paper cut-outs of figures. Swoon, real name Caledonia Dance Curry, studied painting at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and started doing street art around 1999. Tara McPherson is an artist based out of New York City. Creating art about people and their odd ways, her characters seem to exude an idealized innocence with a glimpse of hard earned wisdom in their eyes. Xue Wang was born in northern China in 1980, the year of the mischievous monkey. After a BA degree in Fashion in China at Lu Xun Academy of Fine Art in Shenyang she relocated to London aged 22 and to finish her MA at University of Westminster Painting and drawing, playing around with ideas, juxtaposing images and allowing her imagination free reign have all helped guide her development. Although Wang have been sketching ever since she can remember, it is only in the last eighteen months that she has been a serious painter, and already is exhibiting in Europe and the USA. Warrington Museum is a traditional 154 year old museum with outstanding Ethnology, Natural Sciences, Archaeology, History and Art Collections - many displayed within their original cases including a shrunken head, poisoned arrows, a mummy and even mermaids, a real treasure-trove of discovery. In addition to its permanent displays the Museum has a reputation for hosting a cutting edge, award- winning exhibition programme including contemporary art exhibitions with original works by Banksy, Tracey Emin and Sam Taylor-Wood. Visit the museum's website at ... http://museum.warrington.gov.uk

United States Art Critics Association announces Annual Awards to honor artists, curators, museums, galleries Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:30 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- The US section of the International Association of Art Critics /AICA-USA announces its annual awards to honor artists, curators, museums, galleries and other cultural institutions in recognition of excellence in the conception and realization of exhibitions. The winning projects were nominated and voted on by the 400 active members to honor outstanding exhibitions of the previous season (June 2010-June 2011). The 24 winners of first and second places in twelve categories, selected from over one hundred finalists, include exhibitions focusing on contemporary artists Christian Marclay, Sarah Sze and Al Weiwei , the 20th century artists Pablo Picasso, Sonia Delaunay, Kurt Schwitters , and Paul Thek, as well as thematic exhibitions dealing with history of drawing through the twentieth century, contemporary Japanese art, and Fluxus . Awards will be presented by Lowery Sims, Peter Plagens, and Sanford Biggers. This year's Nominating Committee included art critics: Eleanor Heartney (Chair), Marek Bartelik (AICA-USA President), Rebecca Cochran, Peter Frank, Francine Miller, and Susan Snodgrass. Sponsored by ISSEY MIYAKE USA Corp.

The CaixaForum in Barcelona Welcomes Our Editor ~ A Cultural Gem In Spain Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:25 PM PDT One of Spain's top tourist attractions, the CaixaForum has a fascinating history. Inaugurated in February 2002, CaixaForum is the Barcelona headquarters of "La Caixa" Foundation, a social and cultural foundation created by "La Caixa" savings bank. The "La Caixa" Foundation is a non-profit institution, created at the beginning of the 1980s to supervise the bank's charitable works (which had been part of their philosophy since being established at the start of the twentieth century). The foundation is active in a wide range of cultural areas, including providing public libraries, organizing music festivals, the provision of social services and medical research. However, it is for its museums that it is best known. As well as 2 large science museums (in Barcelona and Madrid), the foundation has art museums and exhibition spaces in Madrid, Mallorca, Palma, Lleida, Tarragona and Barcelona, under the "CaixaForum" banner. The Foundation started collecting contemporary art in 1985 and since then it has accumulated over 950 works. CaixaForum Barcelona is based in a former textile factory in Barcelona that serves both as the foundation's headquarters and also as the main art exhibition space. Commissioned by the industrialist Casimir Casaramona i Puigcercós as a textile factory, this art-nouveau style building was designed by the famous Barcelona architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch and opened in 1911. A triumph of modern, enlightened working conditions and stunning architecture, the building immediately became a design icon for the city, winning local design awards and with many locals refusing to believe that behind the fabulous exterior, it hid a mundane textile factory. The bare brickwork is topped by Catalan vaults resting on cast-iron columns and enclosing light-filled, spacious workshops. By necessity, a long and low building, the architect broke its silhouette with battlements and two slender towers. Unfortunately, it only survived as a factory for a few years before becoming first a warehouse and then stables and garages for the National Police Force. "La Caixa" acquired the building in 1963, and in 1992 it was decided to return this building to the people of Barcelona, and the country as a whole, while giving it a new function with social, cultural and educational aims, it thus became the CaixaForum. Local and international architects, including the RIBA gold medal winning Japanese architect, Arata Isozaki, who designed the main entrance (a sculpted structure in the form of metal trees covered by panes of glass) and visitors' reception area in the Centre, contributed to the refurbishment and extension work. The building now provides 3,600 m2 of exhibition space (in 5 exhibition galleries), a 350-seat auditorium, a kids' art workshop, café-restaurant and gallery shop. It has become one of Barcelona's most dynamic, active and lively cultural centers. From the entrance, escalators and the lift run from Isozaki's sculpture down to the open-air English courtyard below, which gives onto the foyer. This part of the building also houses the "Secret garden", a minimalist, intimate, closed-off area that allows the visitor to clear their mind before encountering more of the artworks. Visit the museum's website at: http://obrasocial.lacaixa.es/nuestroscentros/caixaforumbarcelona/caixaforumbarcelona_es.html The permanent exhibition features works from the "La Caixa" Foundation collection. Starting from a small collection of Catalan art (the first purchases were group of works by the Catalan movements "Dau al Set" and "El Paso"), the foundation now contains a selection of works which show Catalan art in context through broader Spanish and international works. Amongst over 150 Spanish artists featured in the collection are Miquel Barceló, Juan Navarro Baldeweg, Txomin Badiola, Cristina Iglesias, Pello Irazu, Albert Rafols Casamada, Susana Solano, Juan Muñoz, Ana Laura Alaéz and Rogelio López Cuenca. These sit alongside international works from Joseph Beuys, Manuel Sáez, Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Saul LeWitt, Richard Serra, Bruce Nauman, James Turell, Richard Long, Mario Merz, Jannis Kounellis and Giovanni Anselmo. In 2010, the "La Caixa" foundation came to an agreement with the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) to share funding and artworks. This will allow shared use by both institutions of a joint collection containing approximately 4,450 works worth about 160 million euros as well as subsequent new acquisitions. The first fruits of this agreement will be exhibitions starting later in 2011 that bring artists works from both collections together. In addition to the permanent collection works on display, exhibited under the title "Once an Art Nouveau factory", the CaixaForum have three temporary exhibitions. Until 20 February, the "Roads to Arabia" exhibition features fascinating archaeological finds from Saudi Arabia that illustrate the country's long history as a crossroads on international trade routes. "Human, All Too Human", which also ends on 20 February 2011 features Spanish Art of the 1950 and 1960s. Inspired by Friedrich Nietzche's book of the same title, the exhibition looks at the work of Spanish artists influenced, directly or indirectly, by Nietzche's confrontation with the German romantic ideal. The exhibition consists of a selection of works from that period from the museum's own collection by Antonio Saura, Manuel Millares, Antoni Clavé, José Guerrero and Equipo Crónica. Alongside their own works, the exhibition also includes a series of paintings by Picasso, Dalí and Tàpies, from other collections, accompanied by a selection of period films by Joaquim Jordà, Juan Antonio Nieves Conde and Frédéric Roussif, among others. Until 17 April 2011, "Building the Revolution: Russian Art and Architecture 1915-1935" highlights Soviet avant-garde works from the 1920s and 1930s. This was a period highlighted by the radical proposals of architects like Konstantin Melnikov and Moisei Ginsburg, and visual artists of the constructivist movement including, Liubov Popova, Vladimir Tatlin, Kazimir Malevich, El Lissitzky and Gustav klucis. The exhibition consists of about 250 paintings, archival photographs of buildings constructed between 1920 and 1930, from the State Museum of Architecture in Moscow Schusev, drawings, paintings and models from the Costakis Collection of the State Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki and a selection color photographs by British photographer Richard Pare taken between 1992 and 2010 and showing architecture of the period in its current forms. If, like me, you really enjoy a well done art exhibition presentation, and really enjoy interesting architecture that was transformed into a visionary cultural center . . .then check out the CaixaForum, you'll get to enjoy both.

Hearst Art Gallery of Saint Mary’s College to host A Retrospective of Ralph Borge Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:24 PM PDT MORAGA, CALIFORNIA - The Hearst Art Gallery of Saint Mary's College of California is pleased to announce the first retrospective of Ralph Borge a monumental symbolic realist who was an influential teacher of artists in the Bay Area for 40 years, opening January 17, 2010 and continuing through Sunday, March 17, 2010. Ralph Borge passed away a year ago at 87, leaving behind a stunning collection of work that shows his vast range and command of media from melancholy figures to elegant landscapes and mysterious interiors filled with symbols of everyday life.

MoMA Opens "The Modern Myth: Drawing Mythologies in Modern Times" Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:23 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- Throughout history, humankind has sought to make sense of their world through myths. These stories, often taking visual forms, have been both preserved and transformed over the years as they have been repictured and retold. Artists have long considered mythology part of their aesthetic language, a tradition continued by modern and contemporary artists who address and reinterpret mythologies in their works. "The Modern Myth" features works on paper from the collection of The Museum of Modern Art that engage elements of ancient mythological narratives, incorporating them into new visual repertoires.

Sotheby's New York to Sell Property from the Meyers Collection Esimated at $30 Million Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:22 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- Beginning this fall, Sotheby's will offer for sale Property from the Collection of Mary Schiller Myers and Louis S. Myers, noted collectors and arts benefactors from Akron, Ohio. Over a period of 40 years Mrs. Myers, with her husband, assembled a classic collection of Contemporary paintings and sculpture comprising a broad spectrum of American artists as well as an interesting group of European and British artists. Among the highlights are two outstanding works by Willem de Kooning: a painting from 1977, Untitled XV (est. $5/7 million) and a sculpture from 1974, Large Torso (est. $4/6 million). Important pieces by Calder, Judd, Mitchell, Neel, Thiebaud, Oldenburg, Noguchi, and others, will also be offered. Approximately twenty works will be included in the Evening Sale on 11 November 2009, with more than fifty being offered the following day. Later this fall, a select group of American and Latin American paintings will be sold, with additional sales in other categories planned for early 2010. Together, works from the Myers' collection are estimated to bring in the region of $30 million. Highlights to be offered in the Contemporary Art Evening Sale will be shown in Hong Kong in early October and in London during Frieze Week. A special exhibition of nearly the entire group of works from the Myers' collection will be presented at Sotheby's in New York from 30 October – 4 November 2009. Anthony Grant, International Senior Specialist of Contemporary Art said, "The Myers' collection represents 40 years of collecting in the days before art fairs, websites and digital images, by collectors who lived in a city that has world class museums and burgeoning kunsthalles, but was not a commercial center for international Contemporary art. It was amassed with integrity to the evolutionary process of collecting that was honed not in their backyard but through travel, publications, and correspondence with artists, critics, dealers, galleries and auction houses." Mary Schiller Myers (1922-2008) and her husband, Louis S. Myers (1913-1993), made their first significant art purchase in the early 1960s. From there commenced a decades-long pursuit of spectacular works of art for their homes as well as a determination to support the arts in Ohio. Mrs. Myers was part a group of forwardlooking women - including Agnes Gund, Nina Castelli Sundell and Marjorie Talalay - that played a significant role in introducing Contemporary art to Ohio in the 1960s. She sat on the board of the Akron Art Museum for 10 years, and was president for two of them. In the 1970s, she commissioned Claes Oldenburg to create a monumental work of art brought the artist to the city for its installation in 1975. The spectacular Inverted Q is installed at the museum in Akron and remains a fixture of each visitor's experience at the institution. As collectors, the Myers bought mainly through a small group of dealers with whom they had forged strong relationships. They also sought out dealers who represented the individual artists that interested them, often purchasing works near their date of execution. Although their home base was in Akron, they spent a considerable amount of time in New York and were among the first to purchase an apartment in Museum Tower, the apartment building which is part of the Museum of Modern Art complex. Among the most important pieces in the Myers' collection are two works by Willem de Kooning from the 1970s. Untitled XV from 1977 is one of the de Kooning's abstract landscapes from perhaps the most exuberant period in the artist's rich and complex career (est. $5/7 million). Coming on the heels of a long period of abstinence from painting, the present work, and other canvases from the mid 1970s explode with vibrant color and are executed in lush, sensuous paint strokes. De Kooning began spending summers in East Hampton in 1959, following the lead of Jackson Pollock and Arshile Gorky. In 1964 the artist permanently relocated to East Hampton, reveling in the nostalgic remembrances of the Netherlands of his youth. The ocean became a part of his daily regime and de Kooning was captivated by the spectacular light in Long Island and its effect on the reflections in the water. Executed in 1977, the Myers' purchased the present work from de Kooning's dealer Xavier Fourcade, in 1979. Also by Willem de Kooning is Large Torso a spectacular bronze which dates from 1974 (est. $4/6 million). Other than Barnett Newman, de Kooning is the only Abstract Expressionist painter to produce major sculptures. For both artists, sculpture served to distill the most quintessential nature of their art: in the case of de Kooning, his role as a master of kinetic touch is rendered as eloquently in bronze as in oil. The present work, along with the full-figured Clamdigger and Hostess, is one of the grandest figurative sculptures created by de Kooning. Knotted, curling sinews of bronze wind themselves through the face, torso and hands of the figure, almost seducing the viewer into touching the surface and following the muscle sense of the artist's presence in the working of the sculpture. Total engagement with the material – with the substance in his hands – is the most striking feature of de Kooning's aesthetic soul. When painting he didn't constrict the paint to his will; instead the pigment flows and swirls across the canvas. The faithfulness to the nature of his material extends to his sculptures. As with Untitled XV, the Myers purchased the present work from Xavier Fourcade in 1980. Among the interesting group of works by British artists are paintings by "School of London" artists Frank Auerbach, whose Head of Julia was executed in 1990 (est. $350/450,000), and Leon Kossoff, whose Dalston Lane Spring was painted in 1974 (est. $250/350,000). A superb group of sculpture from the Myers' collection will also be offered in the November Evening Sale, led by a very early standing mobile by Alexander Calder, Cantilever from circa 1940 (est. $1/1.5 million). Conceived of sheet metal and steel wire, the piece is remarkable for its extreme use of balance. A more recent articulation of the theme of balance in industrial materials is Mark di Suvero's Nux, executed nearly 50 years later in 1992 (est. $350/450,000). In addition to the abstract and the figurative, the Myers' interests also included minimalism as evidenced by the fabulous wall progression by Donald Judd conceived in copper – Untitled from 1970 (est. $800,000/1.2 million). Two works by Isamu Noguchi will also be offered -- Strange Bird, a striking form in cast aluminum from circa 1945-72 (est. $400/600,000), and Basin and Range, conceived in mihara granite and dated 1982 (est. $400/600,000). Works by major female artists in the Myers' collection include a monumental canvas by Joan Mitchell, First Cypress from 1964 (est. $1/1.5 million), as well as Lee Krasner's Twelve Hour Crossing, March Twenty-First, circa 1971-81 (est. $400/500,000), both of which were acquired at the Robert Miller Gallery. One of the most striking works in the collection is Alice Neel's Jackie Curtis and Rita Red from 1970 (est. $400/500,000). The present work is among Neel's earliest portraits of gay couples, which captured various players at Andy Warhol's Factory.

Peabody Essex Museum to exhibit 'To the Ends of the Earth' Polar Landscapes Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:21 PM PDT   Salem, MA -At the limits of geography and physical endurance, artist-explorers found the ultimate inspiration in polar vistas they encountered in the 19th- and early 20th centuries. Featuring more than 50 works depicting the drama and magnificence of setting out to sea in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, To the Ends of the Earth, Painting the Polar Landscape opens at the Peabody Essex Museum. On exhibition 8 November through 1 March, 2009.

The Rubin Museum of Art presents "Nagas ~ Hidden Hill People of India" Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:20 PM PDT NEW YORK CITY - The Rubin Museum of Art presents today Nagas: Hidden Hill People of India. Indian photojournalist Pablo Bartholomew (b. 1955) grew up hearing stories of Naga tribes from his father, who fled persecution by the invading Japanese forces in his native Burma (present-day Myanmar) to India during World War II and encountered Burmese Nagas along the way. On exhibition through 21st September, 2009.

Cheekwood Museum exhibits "From Washington to Warhol: Americana Redifined" Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:19 PM PDT NASHVILLE , TN – From Washington to Warhol: Americana Redefined  is on display at Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art through January 3, 2010.   Drawing from Cheekwood's collection as well some loans, this exhibition presents images of America as revealed through the eyes of artists.   From early portraiture to Pop art, American artists have borrowed from imagery broadly defined as Americana.   Presidents, cowboys, Native Americans, Disney characters, or classic American food items -- artists often turn to what is familiar in American life and then remake it into a new image, something unexpected and fresh.

Nassau County Museum of Art hosts ~ Latin American Art: Myth & Reality Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:18 PM PDT Roslyn Harbor, NY - Expressing rich, fascinating and complex concerns, Latin American art has moved to the forefront of the world of visual arts. This art—ranging stylistically from folk art to the avant-garde movements of Europe and North America—reflects the enormous diversity of Latin culture today. Latin artists such as Wifredo Lam, Roberto Matta, Arnaldo Roche-Rabell and Adriana Varejao have been at the intersection of politics, society and art, using their art to comment on the worlds that surround them and inspiring artists of all cultures. Latin American Art: Myth & Reality, opening at Nassau County Museum of Art on Sunday, August 26 and remaining on view through Sunday, November 4, looks at the diverse inspirations and traditions of Latin American art, particularly the pervasive themes of myth, nature, religion, animals and the mysteries of birth and death. The curators examine the conflicting concerns of these artists, among them Christian themes versus folk traditions and the impact of modernist art. Many of the artists included in the exhibition are of Mexican or Cuban origin, among them the Mexicans, Alejandro Colunga and Sergio Garval, and the Cubans, Carlos Alfonzo and Carlos Luna. Among the significant Latin artists included in the exhibition are Fernando Botero, Roberto Matta, Vik Muniz and Wifredo Lam. Latin American Art: Myth & Reality, sponsored by David Lerner Associates, is jointly curated by Constance Schwartz and Franklin Hill Perrell. In conjunction with the exhibition, NCMA is presenting several stimulating lectures and discussions that will serve to illuminate the works on view. Among the events are Tea & Tour, introduced by Constance Schwartz with an exclusive docent-led tour of the exhibition; What is Latin American Art?, a lecture by Chief Curator Franklin Hill Perrell; Family Fall Festival celebrating the many cultures of Latin America; and Frida Kahlo, a centennial celebration lecture by Hayden Herrera. Additionally, docent-led tours of the exhibition are offered each day at 2 pm and family-walk throughs are offered each Sunday afternoon.  Nassau County Museum of Art is located at One Museum Drive (just off Northern Boulevard, Route 25A, two traffic lights west of Glen Cove Rd.) in Roslyn Harbor. Hours are 11 am to 4:45 pm Tuesday through Sunday. Admission to the main building, the Arnold & Joan Saltzman Fine Art Building, is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors (62+) and $4 for children; includes admission to the Tee Ridder Miniatures Museum. There is a $2 parking fee on weekends (members free). The Museum Shop and Red Room gallery are open all museum hours. Call (516) 484-9337 for current exhibitions, events, days/times and directions or log onto www.nassaumuseum.com.

Tennessee State Museum Exhibition Featuring Images by Photographer Jack Stoddart Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:17 PM PDT NASHVILLE, TN.- An exhibition of compelling photography and video images, created over several decades by nationally known Tennessee photographer Jack Stoddart, opened at the State Museum on November 13th. The exhibition marks the debut presentation of the Plateau Collection, a series of black-and-white, sepia-toned photographs recently acquired for the State Museum's permanent collection, which represent the life of subsistence farmers, beginning with the decade of the 1970s. The exhibit, Renaissance Jack: The Work of Jack Stoddart – Hippies, Hill People & Other Southern Marvels, will be on view in the museum's Changing Galleries through January 3, 2010.

Roy Lichtenstein Sculpture Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:16 PM PDT WASHINGTON, DC - The monumental sculpture "Modern Head" by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), a major figure in the pop art movement, now is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's permanent collection. In 1996, "Modern Head" was installed by the Public Art Fund of New York City in Battery Park City, one block from the World Trade Center. The sculpture survived the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack with only surface scratches and temporarily was used by the FBI as a message board during its investigation.

The National Portrait Gallery Shows Works by Seven Asian American Artists Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:15 PM PDT Washington, DC.- The Smithsonian National portrait Gallery is proud to present "Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter", on view at the museum until October 14th 2012. This exhibition features seven artists, each of whom will show several works. The National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program are collaborating on an exhibition that will be the Smithsonian's first major showcase of contemporary Asian American portraiture. Through the groundbreaking work of seven talented artists from across the country and around the world, the exhibition offers provocative renditions of the Asian American experience. Their portraits of encounter offer representations against and beyond the stereotypes that have long obscured the complexity of being Asian in America. The artists featured are CYJO, Hye Yeon Nam, Shizu Saldamando, Roger Shimomura, Satomi Shirai, Tam Tran and Zhang Chun Hong. This exhibition displays the diversity of contemporary Asian American identity through the groundbreaking work of seven visual artists. Roger Shimomura is a third-generation American of Japanese descent who deconstructs Asian American stereotypes through his art. Born in San Francisco, Shizu Saldamando blends references to youth subculture in Southern California with nods to her Japanese and Mexican heritage. Other artists use concepts of diaspora, migration, and transnationalism to expand the meaning of their Asian American identity. Artists from Asia who work in the United States — like Satomi Shirai, who moved to New York City from Tokyo, or Hye Yeon Nam, who came to this country from Korea to study art, and CYJO, an artist currently based in China — regularly travel back and forth from Asia to the United States and craft unique portraits of encounter from their experiences. The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in Washington, D.C., administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous individual Americans. It resides in the National Historic Landmarked Old Patent Office Building (now renamed the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture), located just south of Chinatown in the Penn Quarter district of downtown Washington. The third oldest federal building in the city, constructed between 1836 and 1867, the marble and granite museum has porticoes modeled after the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The building was used as a hospital during the American Civil War. Walt Whitman worked there and used his experiences as a basis for "The Wound Dresser". The Bureau of Indian Affairs moved into the building after the war ended. Whitman worked as a clerk for the bureau until 1867, when he was fired after a manuscript of "Leaves of Grass" was found in his desk. It was spared from demolition by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958, and given to the Smithsonian, which renovated the structure and opened the National Museum of American Art (later renamed the Smithsonian American Art Museum) and National Portrait Gallery there in 1968.It is the namesake for the Gallery Place Washington Metro station, located across the intersection of F and 8th Streets, Northwest. Hallmarks of the National Portrait Gallery's permanent collection include the famous "Lansdowne" portrait of George Washington; the Hall of Presidents; and its extensive selection of portraits of remarkable Americans from all walks of life. Since its reopening on July 1, 2006, the Portrait Gallery has also focused on contemporary portraiture in its "Portraiture Now" series, and in its triennial contemporary portrait competition, the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. The National Portrait Gallery was closed for extensive renovations and expansion in January 2000; it reopened on July 1, 2006. The renovated museum includes a new, glass-enclosed courtyard designed by Foster + Partners, the architecture firm of renowned architect Norman Foster. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.npg.si.edu/

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 18 Mar 2012 09:14 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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