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

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• The Leopold Museum Celebrates Gustav Klimt's 150th Birthday
• The National Gallery to exhibit "Titian’s First Masterpiece: The Flight into Egypt"
• The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts opens "Birds of a Feather ~ John Costin & John James Audubon"
• Rotimi Fani-Kayode first solo exhibition in NYC at the Walther Collection
• The ICN Gallery presents a Series Of Exhibitions Centering on Ukiyo-e
• The Grand Palais brings together more than 200 photographs by Helmut Newton
• Important Edward Hopper painting in private hands just acquired by SFMOMA
• The Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin shows "Art and Press"
• Kettle's Yard to feature "Alfred Wallis ~ Ships and Boats"
• The Kröller-Müller Museum to Highlight 21 Years of Acquisitions
• Saltfineart to display Andriy Halashyn's War & Fashion Series
• International Center of Photography (ICP) to Open Third Triennial of Photography and Video
• The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art Hosts "Surrounding Bacon and Warhol"
• Jeu de Paume shows Agusti Centelles' Photographic Journal of War and Exile 1936-1939
• Puerto Rico’s Museo de Arte de Ponce ~ The Largest Art Museum In The Caribbean
• MARCUS ANTONIUS JANSEN SELECTED FOR INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL RUSSIA
• The Deering Estate Hosts Juried Exhibit of South American Artists
• Christie's to Auction Two Magnificent Masterpieces By Canaletto
• Kunsthaus Zürich shows ‘Rodin’ ~ A Retrospective
• Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"

The Leopold Museum Celebrates Gustav Klimt's 150th Birthday Posted: 24 Mar 2012 12:15 AM PDT Vienna.- The Leopold Museum is proud to present "Klimt Up-Close and Personal: images - Letters - Insights" on view at the museum through August 27th. Home to an extraordinarily rich collection of eminent works by Gustav Klimt, the Leopold Museum is delighted to celebrate the artist's 150th  birthday with an exhibition dedicated to this important exponent of fin-de-siècle Vienna, who is among the most celebrated artists of the 20th century. One might assume that this presentation is merely one amongst the numerous special exhibitions held this year to commemorate the artist, many of which will shine the spotlight on different genres of his oeuvre, such as his landscapes or portraits, while others will focus on his drawings, on particular periods in the artist's oeuvre or on special furnishing projects. However, the Leopold Museum has decided on a deliberately different approach to this, its first monographic exhibition dedicated to Gustav Klimt. Showing "Klimt: Up Close and Personal" the presentation reveals the artist's private and personal life – something that has never been done in this way before. While the oeuvre of Gustav Klimt is now world-renowned, the man and artist behind it has remained almost completely hidden. The anniversary exhibition "Klimt: Up Close and Personal. Images – Letters – Insights" shows Klimt in a different light, with select works being presented in juxtaposition with quotes from the artist himself. For this exhibition, the museum can draw upon its rich Klimt collection, which includes chief works such as the allegory "Death and Life", landscapes such as "Lake Attersee", "The Still Pond" or "The Large Poplar II" as well as more than one hundred drawings. These renderings are complemented by other important works loaned to the museum and are presented side by side with statements made by the artist. By weaving together his life and his oeuvre, the exhibition reveals hitherto unknown aspects of Klimt's personality. The artist caused many a controversy during his lifetime, which prompted him to increasingly retreat within himself. Klimt's contemporary, the art historian Hans Tietze, wrote on this subject in 1919: "The circumstances placed Klimt right at the center of the boisterous Viennese art scene, but he was actually a shy individual who abhorred making public appearances. […] Even his friends were hardly ever allowed to glimpse behind the wall that Klimt had built around himself." (Hans Tietze, Gustav Klimts Persönlichkeit, 1919, p. 1). It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the man and artist Gustav Klimt has become enshrouded in countless clichés and myths, many of which this exhibition seeks to dispel. Along with renderings from its own collection, the Leopold Museum will present approximately 400 postcards written by Klimt to Emilie Flöge throughout his life, which constitute the bulk of his correspondence known to us today. More than half of these belong to the Leopold Collection II, while the other half is housed by the Austrian National Library. Both parts are now being reunited for this exhibition. Written in Klimt's characteristic hand, these documents give an impression of great originality already in their outward appearance. The postcards form a timeline which will span throughout the entire exhibition. This long thread of postcards weaving its way through the exhibition will be complemented by 20 select original quotes displayed on the walls. Klimt was disappointed time and again with the sights and collections that were offered to him as big attractions. This makes his rare positive assessments, which he communicated to Emilie Flöge in short notes, all the more precious. Often reduced to little more than a few words, these appraisals afford eye-opening insights into the master's views on art. They were pointed, surprising reflections which were to sometimes manifest themselves in Klimt's own works. In December 1903 Klimt reported from Ravenna: "Much of Ravenna is very poor – the mosaics are of incredible splendor." During his stay in Madrid in the autumn of 1909 he wrote to Emilie from Toledo with much enthusiasm: "Thought of you most intensely – You would have shared my delight. Greco is also splendid!" Especially interesting is a 1914 message from Brussels, where Klimt stayed at Stoclet Palace owing to a commission and where he experienced sub-Saharan African tribal art at the nearby Musée du Congo belge. While he was not much impressed with the museum itself, he raved: "What is really striking are the sculptures of these Congo Negros! They are stunning and magnificent – it makes one ashamed to think that they in their way can do so much more than we can. I was completely blown away!"It is rather surprising that the Jugendstil artist Klimt would respond to African and Oceanic tribal art with such unreserved enthusiasm. Almost all the landscapes Klimt created from the turn of the century onwards were inspired by motifs from his summer stays in the countryside. Very often the weather would thwart his plans, however, as he described in his letters to his mistress Mizzi Zimmermann, who had stayed behind in Vienna, writing that he would have to finish the paintings he started on site in his Vienna studio for lack of time. Showcased in this presentation are particularly striking examples of Klimt's magnificent landscapes, including some notable loans from national and international collections. Numerous historical photographs are also presented in the exhibition, showing Klimt in a relaxed atmosphere surrounded by his loved ones, either in his typical painter's coat on the lakeshore or on his quests for suitable motifs for his paintings. The exhibition seeks to underscore the contrast between Vienna and Lake Attersee, between his working in the studio and en plain air, between Klimt as a public figure and in his private retreats. Another emphasis of the exhibition is on the reconstruction of Klimt's studios, which again serves to highlight the artist's private, non-public persona. Between 1892 and 1911 Klimt worked in a secluded studio cottage situated in the backyard of a town house in the Josefstädter Straße. Around 1903 the Wiener Werkstätte fitted Klimt's workshop with expensive furniture designed by Josef Hoffmann, which the master also used to furnish his later studio in Hietzing, where he worked from 1912 until his death in 1918. The studio was a refuge for the artist, a place where he could withdraw from the public and be himself. It also served as his private kingdom, where the female nude models captured by Klimt in thousands of drawings congregated, earning it the reputation of a myth-enshrouded "hortus conclusus" already during the artist's own lifetime.  The paintings and drawings presented in the exhibition "Klimt: Up Close and Personal: Images – Letters – Insights" are complemented by a wealth of contemporary Klimt photographs, which are unprecedented in their number, density and quality. These historical photographs also explore the constant tension between the artist's public persona and his private life. On the one hand, they show Klimt in a relaxed atmosphere among his friends in his typical painter's coat on the lakeshore or on his quests for suitable motifs for his paintings. On the other hand, the exhibition presents photographs taken in the artist's studio in Vienna by the most renowned Viennese photographers of the time, including Moriz Nähr, Josef Anton Trcka or the Benda-D'Ora Studio. These pictures reveal to what an extent Klimt used photography as a means of self-stylization. The Leopold Museum is a unique and active museum awash with light in the heart of Vienna and the biggest cultural magnet in the MuseumsQuartier. Besides exciting special exhibitions, it not only houses the most substantial and most important collection of Egon Schiele worldwide but also priceless masterpieces by Gustav Klimt, including what is probably most important figurative painting "Death and Life". In no other museum in Vienna one can get so close to the fabled "Fin de siècle Vienna" and witness the birth of Modernity. The collection shows how the art of the Habsburg Empire changed from strict Historicism and romantic impressionism within a few years to the unique "Wiener Moderne" which encompasses Klimt and Schiele as well as Oskar Kokoschka, Richard Gerstl, Koloman Moser and many other artists who are all well represented with major works at the Leopold Museum. A further focus of the museum is on the Austrian interwar period, which brought out many important artists like Albin Egger-Lienz, Anton Kolig and Herbert Boeckl and partly points in the direction of the second half of the twentieth century. This is why Austrian artists of the post war generation or exceptional works of the nineteenth century by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Friedrich Gauermann, August von Pettenkofen, Anton Romako, Emil Jakob Schindler, Carl Schuch and others are repeatedly presented. Substantial and amazingly modernly designed into the everyday objects of the Fin de Siècle round up the collection, especially works by Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, Dagobert Peche and the founders of the Wiener Werkstätte Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moserall of whom can be seen in the museum. And since all the great artists of the Wiener Moderne met on a regular basis in the epochal coffee houses for inspiring exchanges, it goes without saying that the Leopold Museum also has a coffee house. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.leopoldmuseum.org

The National Gallery to exhibit "Titian’s First Masterpiece: The Flight into Egypt" Posted: 24 Mar 2012 12:14 AM PDT London.- The National Gallery is proud to present "Titian's First Masterpiece: The Flight into Egypt", on view from April 4th through August 19th. The exhibition will examine the young artist's creation of this ambitious and innovative work, believed to be one of his earliest paintings. The choice of his subject allowed Titian to display his skills in landscape painting and reveals bold brushwork and exhilarating use of colour. The painting, which has been generously lent by the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, will go on display after years of skilled restoration. This exhibition is accompanied by the National Gallery book Titian: A Fresh Look at Nature. "The Flight into Egypt" is generally agreed to be one of Titian's earliest works, probably painted when he was still a teenager. The first large-format picture of this subject in Italian art, it is an extraordinarily ambitious and original painting for such a young artist.  The choice of this particular subject allowed Titian to display his precocious skills in landscape painting; in the picture, landscape occupies most of the composition, and the viewer's eye is attracted not only by the bold handling and exciting colour but by the numerous paintings of animals.

The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts opens "Birds of a Feather ~ John Costin & John James Audubon" Posted: 23 Mar 2012 11:56 PM PDT Kalamazoo, Michigan.- The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA) is pleased to present "Birds of a Feather: John Costin and John James Audubon" on view from March 24th through June 24th. Separated by two centuries, artists John James Audubon and John Costin are joined by a love of birds and a compulsion to share the thrill of seeing these magnificent creatures in the wild. Nearly 200 years after publication of his monumental Birds of America (1827-1838), Audubon is still America's most famous ornithologist. Nineteenth-century subscribers to Birds of America received 435 oversized plates, illustrating 1,065 individual birds of over 400 species. Inspired by Audubon's presentation of native birds, John Costin is creating his own series: Large Florida Birds. When complete, his project will present 20 of the state's most remarkable birds in similarly life-like poses and oversized format.

Rotimi Fani-Kayode first solo exhibition in NYC at the Walther Collection Posted: 23 Mar 2012 11:33 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- The Walther Collection presents Rotimi Fani-Kayode: Nothing to Lose, the first solo exhibition in New York of photographs by the British-Nigerian artist, featuring large-scale color and black-and-white portraits from the late 1980s. Fani-Kayode's images interpret and reveal sexuality across racial and cultural differences, vividly merging his fascination with Yoruba "techniques of ecstasy" and homoerotic self-expression through symbolic gestures, ritualistic poses, and elaborate decoration. The exhibition, on view at The Walther Collection Project Space from March 23rd through July 28th, will focus on the influences of exile, religion, sexuality, and death on the artist's last works. As a Nigerian-born photographer who lived and worked in the U.K., Fani-Kayode was active in the gay political response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, and was a leading voice among black British artists during the flourishing queer culture of the late 1980's.

The ICN Gallery presents a Series Of Exhibitions Centering on Ukiyo-e Posted: 23 Mar 2012 11:02 PM PDT London.- ICN Gallery proudly presents to you a series of exhibitions that centres on the theme of ukiyo-e. This exhibition, which is the first in the series, serves as an introduction to ukiyo-e that will hopefully enable visitors to better understand its historical origins and influence on Japanese art. The word "Ukiyo"(fleeting life) means "modern-style". Ukiyo-e is the most popular print describing people's everyday life and every things which became popular in the Edo. The bold compositions and vibrant colours attracted European painters such as van Gogh and Monet, hence an unprecedented boom of Japonism. Part 1 of the series, "What is Ukiyo-e?", featuring works by Hokusai, Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, Sharaku and Otamar opens on April 5th and remains on view through April 28th. This exhibition features brilliantly coloured woodblock paintings executed in a particular technique known as nishiki-e, the latter of which is commonly administered in ukiyo-e works. The pieces showcased are also accompanied by interpretations that advise the viewer on how best to comprehend and appreciate the charm of ukiyo-e. A total of 67 works are being exhibited, all of which are for sale. These pieces were created by different Edo-period artists such as Hokusai and Kuniyoshi who were interested in a variety of subject matter, ranging from themes of beauties, kabuki, samurai, landscapes and caricature. Traditional woodcut print making is a composite art from in which the individual, specialist skills of artists, wood carvers and print makers are combined to create a delicate and beautiful work of art known as Ukiyo-e (pictures of the modern world). The world of woodcut printmaking is one of grace and warmth that is not found in any other form of printing. Through the skillful hands of master craftsmen of the Heisei era, this traditional art form has been inherited by the current age. Returning to the past, it is notable that it was not the Japanese upper-classes, but rather the common people, who cherished Japanese Ukiyo-e prints and nurtured the development of the woodcut printing techniques necessary to produce them. The mass production and circulation of woodcut prints underlay the blossoming of Japanese popular culture that occurred during the Edo era(1600-1867). Ukiyo-e prints are widely appreciated both within and outside of Japan. Indeed, woodcut print making techniques are said to have had a strong influence on the European impressionist painters of the 19th century. ICN gallery is contemporary art gallery based in London that actively seeks to showcase and share with the UK public upcoming & young contemporary artists from Japan and other Asian countries. Neither seeking to imitate the West nor call for a return to pure tradition, the ICN gallery artists' works present messages on today's dynamically changing world of Asia. Producing works of pure creativity, they expand beyond established art boundaries, incorporating the ideas of art, culture and philosophy with originality and skill. Besides organising exhibitions, ICN also host events, seminars and workshops offering the public a chance to have a more personal engagement with creative work. By basing ourselves in Japan and UK, specifically London, not only are they able to discover new talent, but also able to lend support to more local artists; extending their ever-growing network for creative distribution. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.icn-global.com The ICN Gallery presents a Series Of Exhibitions Centering on Ukiyo-e

The Grand Palais brings together more than 200 photographs by Helmut Newton Posted: 23 Mar 2012 10:49 PM PDT PARIS.- Since Helmut Newton's death (1920 – 2004), there has been no retrospective of his work in France, although he did much of his work there, particularly for the French edition of Vogue. Provocative, sometimes shocking, Newton's work tried to capture the beauty, eroticism, humour – and sometimes violence – that he sensed in the social interaction within the familiar worlds of fashion, luxury, money and power. The exhibition bring together more than two hundred photographs, mostly original or vintage prints made under Helmut Newton's supervision: Polaroid, working prints in various sizes, monumental works. It will be supported by a film made by his wife of sixty years, the photographer June Newton: Helmut by June. This show on view until June 17th at the Grand Palais.

Important Edward Hopper painting in private hands just acquired by SFMOMA Posted: 23 Mar 2012 10:18 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art announced today the acquisition of Edward Hopper's "Intermission" (1963), among the artist's largest and most ambitious paintings, and one of the last significant of Hopper's works remaining in private hands. Intermission was acquired from Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, in part through gifts from the Fisher and Schwab families, and will immediately go on view to the public at SFMOMA on Friday, March 23rd. In the last years of his life, Edward Hopper, who was never prolific, made only two complete works each year—one in the spring and one in the fall. Intermission was painted in March and April of 1963, and was one of the last four paintings that Hopper finished before his death in 1967. Measuring 40 by 60 inches, it is among his largest paintings and evokes the artist's signature dramatic cropping of cinematic camera angles, and the high-keyed lighting of stagecraft, both of which add an emotive and artificial sensation to his tightly controlled, understated narrative.

The Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin shows "Art and Press" Posted: 23 Mar 2012 10:04 PM PDT BERLIN.- The newspaper has served as material and subject matter for art since the mid-19th Century. Artists deal with this medium in many ways, whether in its function as an instrument of information or of manipulation. The motivations and meanings behind the use of the medium are always different. The exhibition ART and PRESS shows 56 artistic positions on this issue. Many artists have created new work especially for the exhibition or have selected pieces from their oeuvre. Anselm Kiefer, for example, shows his view on the subject of media change in a large installation in the central atrium of the Martin-Gropius-Bau. On view from 23rd March through 24th June.

Kettle's Yard to feature "Alfred Wallis ~ Ships and Boats" Posted: 23 Mar 2012 09:17 PM PDT Cambridge, England.- Kettle's Yard is pleased to present the latest in its "Artist in Focus: series. "Alfred Wallis: Ships and Boats" will be on view at the museum from April 7th through July 8th. Alfred Wallis (1855 - 1942) is one of the most original and inspiring British artists of the 20th Century. Kettle's Yard owns nearly 100 works by Alfred Wallis and this new display, curated by Director, Andrew Nairne is a unique opportunity to see 40 of Wallis's remarkable paintings, some of which have rarely been shown. This is the first opportunity for over 20 years to see all these works together at Kettle's Yard. Living in St. Ives, Cornwall and with no art training, Wallis took up painting late in life 'for company' after the death of his wife. In the 1870's he had been a 'mariner, merchant service' crossing the Atlantic and later working smaller fishing boats closer to shore. Using household and ship oil paint in a limited supply of colours on found bits of card, Wallis made works that are, as he said himself, more experiences and events than paintings. 'i do most what used To Be what we shall never see no more', he wrote to Jim Ede, the creator of Kettle's Yard, and one of his most ardent collectors. Promoted by the artist Ben Nicholson and others, Wallis's paintings are often valued for their influence on the development of British art at a key moment, but they have a powerful expressive reality to them that is both deeply personal and enduring. When the artist Peter Lanyon asked him about a detail in one of his paintings, Wallis replied revealingly: 'Mind your own business'. What shines out is Wallis's exceptional natural talent. His paintings are of what he knew, remembered and imagined. They continue to speak movingly about how we relate to the world about us. This display is a new selection of about forty paintings of what Wallis knew best: from three masted brigantines and sailing boats to lug boats and motor vessels, often battling with an unpredictable sea that held sway over life and death. Some paintings have been moved from the part of the Kettle's Yard House currently closed due to building work, others are usually in store and rarely seen. Between 1958 and 1973 Kettle's Yard was the home of Jim and Helen Ede. In the 1920s and 30s Jim had been a curator at the Tate Gallery in London. Thanks to his friendships with artists and other like-minded people, over the years he gathered a remarkable collection. At Kettle's Yard Jim carefully positioned these artworks alongside furniture, glass, ceramics and natural objects, with the aim of creating a harmonic whole. His vision was of a place that should not be "an art gallery or museum, nor ... simply a collection of works of art reflecting my taste or the taste of a given period. It is, rather, a continuing way of life from these last fifty years, in which stray objects, stones, glass, pictures, sculpture, in light and in space, have been used to make manifest the underlying stability." Kettle's Yard was originally conceived with students in mind. Jim kept 'open house' every afternoon of term, personally guiding visitors around his home. In 1966 he gave the house and its contents to the University of Cambridge. In 1970, three years before the Edes retired to Edinburgh, the house was extended, and an exhibition gallery added. Today, the house is preserved as the Edes left it, making a very informal space to enjoy the permanent collection and live music. The gallery has longer opening times and displays a programme of visiting exhibitions, principally by 20th century and 21st century artists. A £5,000,000 appeal to help extend and enhance the gallery is under way. As part of raising these funds, it was announced on 29 March 2011 that the Heritage Lottery Fund has granted £2.32 million for these building projects. Kettle's Yard Gallery is a major centre for 20th century and contemporary art. Built in 1970, it was designed by architects Sir Leslie Martin and David Owers. It has since been extended three times, most recently in 1993-94. It presents a changing programme of exhibitions, with a variety of one person and group exhibitions which include: 20th century historical exhibitions which frequently have a bearing on the collection or architecture of the house and exhibitions which explore connections with other disciplines or between works of different periods. The permanent collection is composed of paintings, sculptures and objects collected by Ede. It is largely based on associations and friendships formed when Ede was curator at Tate Gallery, as such it is biased towards works from the British avant-garde of the first half of the 20th century. Notable artists represented in the collection include, William Congdon, Ben Nicholson, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Winifred Nicholson, Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis, Constantin Brâncusi and Joan Miró. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk

The Kröller-Müller Museum to Highlight 21 Years of Acquisitions Posted: 23 Mar 2012 08:58 PM PDT Otterlo, Netherlands.- The Kröller-Müller Museum is proud to present "Longing for perfection - 21 years of collecting by the Kröller-Müller Museum" on view from April 1st through October 28th. In "Longing for perfection", the museum takes stock of 21 years of collecting by the Kröller-Müller Museum under the directorship of Evert van Straaten. Acquisitions since 1991 will be presented in all the exhibition spaces, the sculpture garden and in a tent complex built specially for the occasion. Many of the pieces have hitherto rarely been shown or are even on display for the first time, such as a recently acquired spectacular installation with tigers by Cai Guo-Qiang. In 1935 Helene Kröller-Müller donated her whole collection to the state of the Netherlands. In 1938, the museum, which was designed by Henry van de Velde, opened to the public.

Saltfineart to display Andriy Halashyn's War & Fashion Series Posted: 23 Mar 2012 08:36 PM PDT Laguna Beach, California.- Saltfineart is proud to present "Selections From the War & Fashion Series" highlighting the seminal project in the rising career of Costa Rican painter Andriy Halashyn . With a biting sense of wit, striking color choices and classical rendering ability turned on its ear, these paintings are as stunning in their beauty as they are in the meaning behind them. "Selections From the War & Fashion Series" will be on view from April 5ht through April 30th, with an artist's reception on Thursday April 5th from 6 to 9 pm. The exhibition will be comprised of 5 works from the series including an exclusive commissioned work that has never before been exhibited. The choice to merge images from major wars with posh fashion models presents a wide spectrum of human influence over other human beings.

International Center of Photography (ICP) to Open Third Triennial of Photography and Video Posted: 23 Mar 2012 08:17 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY. - The International Center of Photography will present Dress Codes: The Third ICP Triennial of Photography and Video, a global survey of today's most exciting and innovative photography and video art. As ICP's signature exhibition—and the only one of its kind in America—this year's Triennial promises to be the most dynamic yet, featuring over 100 recent works by 34 artists from 18 countries. The newly released roster of artists includes such rising stars as Mickalene Thomas, Yto Barrada, Kimsooja, and Thorsten Brinkmann, as well as established artists such as Cindy Sherman, Stan Douglas, and Lorna Simpson. Dress Codes opens to the public on October 2, 2009, at the International Center of Photography (1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street), and remains on view through January 17, 2010. As with previous ICP Triennials, this year's exhibition has a thematic focus: fashion. The artists in Dress Codes understand fashion as a form of social communication, and use costume, clothing, and disguise to create a rich visual language filled with specific references to history, culture, gender, and geography. They cast a curious eye on the issues evoked by fashion and the past year's exhibitions: How do we construct the selves that we show to the rest of the world? How is cultural identity or individuality expressed in an era of global culture? How can clothing, beauty, and style be employed to define community, fabricate fantasies, or signal power? And, in the midst of widespread economic crisis, how do we now regard the aesthetic of excess and high style that pervaded the past decade? The 2009 Triennial marks the culmination of ICP's Year of Fashion—a series of groundbreaking exhibitions that explored fashion photography in its widest social and cultural contexts. Following a series of extraordinarily well-received exhibitions of historical and contemporary fashion photography—such as Avedon Fashion 1944–2000, Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, The Condé Nast Years 1923–1937, and Weird Beauty: Fashion Photography Now—Dress Codes shifts the spotlight to image-makers who critically examine fashion's relationship to art and other social phenomena. Against this background, the works that have been selected for Dress Codes engage notions of fashion, costume, and personal style in innovative and unexpected ways. The curatorial team responsible for this selection is comprised of Vince Aletti, Kristen Lubben, Christopher Phillips, Carol Squiers, and curatorial assistant Judy Ditner. They will contribute to the exhibition's wide range of educational materials and programs, including tours, lectures, outreach programs, and an online photo gallery, as well as a fully-illustrated exhibition catalogue published by ICP/Steidl. Bringing together photography and video works in a lively mix, it will underscore the new attention being directed to the relation of still and moving images by many artists today. Dress Codes Highlights Valérie Belin's color portraits of striking but eerily vacant-looking fashion models examine the artifice of the beauty industry. Her unsettling images blur the line between living model and manufactured mannequin. Clothing becomes a metaphor for concealment in Yto Barrada's sequence of photographs of an elderly female smuggler who demonstrates how to transport contraband goods into Morocco. In the online "virtual world" Second Life, Cao Fei's avatar China Tracy stars in an elaborately costumed high-fashion shoot. Using in-gallery computer stations, museum visitors will be able to explore Cao Fei's RMB City, an ambitious urban environment built in cyberspace. Through an array of female characters who race frantically through outfit changes, animation artist Nathalie Djurberg's New Movements in Fashion looks at the unpredictable ways in which attire shapes individual identity. In the large-format color tableau Hastings Park, 16 July 1955, Stan Douglas conjures up a crowd of Canadian race-track patrons whose detailed period clothing conveys subtle indications of their working-class status. Taking an ironic look at the luxury auto industry, Jacqueline Hassink's video BMW Car Girls follows the interplay of female greeters and male visitors at the exclusive Paris Auto Show. Kimsooja's four-channel video installation Mumbai: A Laundry Field is a meditation on the ubiquity of brilliantly hued textiles in the Indian cityscape, and their place in the life of the city. Culling imagery from fashion, ethnographic, and pornographic magazines, Wangechi Mutu creates elaborate photo-collages that scramble representations of race and gender to question current conventions of beauty. In her recent multifigure portraits, Cindy Sherman presents aspiring fashionistas whose elaborate attempts at individual style run comically awry. Lorna Simpson's newest work, Please remind me of who I am, comprises one hundred black-and-white photobooth images and inkwash drawings, individually framed and arranged in a loose cluster on the wall. The photos depict anonymous African-American subjects from midcentury America who created portraits of themselves using the private mirror of the photobooth. In his Unbranded series, Hank Willis Thomas searches through decades of print advertisements for clues to the changing public image of African-American life. By removing the typography and other product information from these images, he enables an unexpected vision of race, class, and history to emerge from these commercial photographs. Mickalene Thomas's vivid color photographs of African-American women in household settings explore black identity from the 1970s to the present, using exuberant patterns of clothing, wall coverings, and upholstery to suggest a provocative blend of femininity and power. The stunning life-size portraits in Pinar Yolaçan's series Maria depict women from Itaparica, an island off the Brazilian coast. These women, ranging in age from twenty-seven to ninety, are shown wearing bizarre but visually stunning garments that the artist, a trained fashion designer, created by ingeniously combining fabrics with gleaming slices of raw meat obtained from local markets. Visit the International Center of Photography (ICP) at : http://www.icp.org/

The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art Hosts "Surrounding Bacon and Warhol" Posted: 23 Mar 2012 08:16 PM PDT Oslo.- The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art is proud to present "Surrounding Bacon and Warhol", on view at the museum until October 2nd. This exhibition takes Francis Bacon (1909–1991) and Andy Warhol (1928–1987) as its starting point. Bacon and Warhol were two great artists of the 20th century with very different approaches to creativity, to the processes of working, to the nature of images and to the notion of art in general. Bacon, who painted in the first person, transferred his visceral energy and enigmatic symbols and metaphors directly to the canvas, while Warhol, who worked in the third person, adopted existing forms and figures from the media and made them his own through various techniques of reproduction. And while Bacon belonged to a long and rich tradition of Expressionistic painters, Warhol marked the beginning of a new, more distanced development in contemporary art – Pop. Both produced meaningful works, however, that are ambiguous, complex and highly influential.

Jeu de Paume shows Agusti Centelles' Photographic Journal of War and Exile 1936-1939 Posted: 23 Mar 2012 08:15 PM PDT PARIS.- This exhibition retraces the career of Catalan photographer Agustí Centelles (Valencia, Spain, 1909-Barcelona, 1985) between 1936 and 1939, including his experience of the Spanish Civil War and his internment in the Bram camp in France. A renowned photojournalist in the troubled pre-war period, Centelles reacted to the putsch of the Extreme Right by joining the Democratic defence effort in 1936. In 1937 he was taken on by the government propaganda office, becoming one of the great image-makers of the Republican resistance. The exhibition presents some hundred photographs, taken during the Civil War and during the nine months at Bram. Most photos have never been seen in France. There is also a collection of documents (magazines, letters and notebooks).

Puerto Rico’s Museo de Arte de Ponce ~ The Largest Art Museum In The Caribbean Posted: 23 Mar 2012 08:14 PM PDT Founded in 1959 in Ponce, Puerto Rico, the Museo de Arte de Ponce (MAP) includes almost 5,200 works of art from Europe, Latin America, and Puerto Rico and is the largest art museum in the Caribbean. The museum owes its existence to one man, Luis A. Ferré (1904–2003), a native of Ponce, who conceived of the museum after his first trip to Europe in 1950. Ferré was a successful industrialist, philanthropist, and gifted pianist who served as governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from 1968 to 1972. Of his many accomplishments, he considered MAP to be the most important. With a limited budget and the advice of art historian Julius S. Held, a specialist on Rubens and professor of Art History at Barnard College and Columbia University, and René Taylor, art and architecture enthusiast and professor at the University of Granada, Yale, and Columbia, Ferré compiled a collection of works of art based on their value instead of their popularity. He wanted the collection to impart a sense of discovery for scholars, artists, and especially the general public. On January 3, 1959, Ferré opened the museum in a small house at 70 Cristina Street in Ponce, at what is today the Centro Cultural de Ponce (Ponce Cultural Center). Some of those original paintings are still on display in the current museum. As time passed and the museum gained popularity, the space quickly became inadequate. Ferré then acquired a tract of land on Las Americas Avenue in Ponce to build the museum, and recruited architect Edward Durell Stone to design it. On April 23, 1964 the first stone was placed and the construction of the museum began. It was finished in 1965 and officially opened on December 28, 1965. Edward Durell Stone's impressive building earned the International Design Award of Honor of the American Institute of Architects in 1967. One of the main features of the museum is its hexagonal galleries, which allow natural light to pour through its corners bringing a unique illumination to them. The Durell Stone building has a total of 14 galleries, two gardens, and an amphitheater. The main entrance with its bifurcated staircases is another of the main features of the museum. However, due to the growth of the museum's collection, by 2004 the facilities were again in dire need of renovation and expansion. This led to the Renovation and Expansion project and a Capital Campaign to raise the necessary funds. The design of the new Annex building was entrusted to Luis A. Gutierrez Arquitectos PSC and the renovation and expansion of the Durell Stone Building to PRAR Arquitectura CSP and architect Brigida Hogan. The Museo de Arte de Ponce reopened on November 14th, 2010. The museum now enjoys a new 37,745 square feet building alongside the renovated Durell Stone building (with 40,000 square feet). Exhibition space has been increased by almost 50% and the museum now has facilities for workshops, seminars, cultural activities, and private functions to generate additional income. The museum's library and the Luis A. Ferre Historical Archive have also gained more space, as has the. Conservation Center. The Anton J. Konrad conservation center is located in an area of 3,420 square meters on the second floor of the new annex building. The Centre is the first conservation center established in Puerto Rico and has the dual purpose of preserving the museum's collections and rendering professional service to museums, historical societies, cultural institutions, private collectors, and local and international artists. These maintenance services include: consulting, needs assessment collections, study condition, restoration treatments, conferences and training opportunities. The museum also has a museum shop and restaurant. Visit the Museo de Arte de Ponce website at … www.museoarteponce.org

MARCUS ANTONIUS JANSEN SELECTED FOR INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL RUSSIA Posted: 23 Mar 2012 08:13 PM PDT Southwest Florida resident and internationally acclaimed artist Marcus Antonius Jansen was selected for the VIII Biennial Contemporary Art "Dialogues" starting August 4 - 14. 2007 at the MANEGE in St. Petersburg Russia.  The MANEGE Central Exhibition Hall possesses a comprehensive collection of Contemporary art works, and hosts over 2000 art pieces.  This is the result of the hall's fifteen-year activities.  The collection was started in 1991 and has been since formed as the fund of the future St. Petersburg Museum of Contemporary Arts.

The Deering Estate Hosts Juried Exhibit of South American Artists Posted: 23 Mar 2012 08:12 PM PDT Miami, Florida.- The Deering Estate is pleased to present "Just North of the South Pole", a juried fine art exhibit focussed on artists from Chile and Argentina, on view from October 15th through November 19th. "Just North of the South Pole," describes the approximate lugar de origen of the vast Andean Mountain range.  This region, encompassing many countries, has a rich history of changing or undefined borders, governments, and most interestingly, self-described identities. The artwork in this exhibit, ranging from works on paper to collaborative metal sculpture, express the emblem of each artists freedom and individuality. Focusing on Chile and Argentina, this invitational exhibit highlights the diversity and personal evolutions of contemporary artists who, by relocation or association, have found themselves in our locale. The artists featured are; Daniel Bottero, Isabel Brinck, Ana Candioti, Alberto Carbi, Andres Dominguez, Carla Fache, Jaime Ferrer, Josepo, and Rosana Tossi. Daniel Bottero, graduated from the National School of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires. He earned his Master's Degree at the Academia Italiana di Belle Arti, Lucca, Italy. From 1986 to 1990 Bottero resided and worked in Paris. Since 1990 he has lived and worked in New York. Bottero's work has been shown throughout the world. His paintings are featured in the corporate collections of Citibank, Xerox, Avon, Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan Chase Bank as well as many famous private collectors. The artist has exhibited at the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art, Museum of Latin American Art, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico and the Cultural Center Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Isabel Brinck is a native Chilean, and originally a Graphic Designer from Universidad de Chile. Her knowledge of Graphic Design has been the foundation of her serious and prolific work that strives for compositions with pleasing balance between form, color, and space. A professional artist since 1999, she has applied her design knowledge with her experiences teaching art to children. As she helped  guide their artistic expression, she relearned from them the joys and spontaneity of play. Her exhibition career began in 2002 within"In Vivo" in Chile. This show featured 24 acrylic and oil paintings in several sizes bringing honor to Eve, the first woman. Now living in Miami, she paints under the direction of the Chilean artist, Jaime Ferrer. Isabel has shown her work throughout the U.S. and Latin America. She has had numerous solo and group exhibitions and her work is part of private collections around the globe. Ana Candioti is an Argentinian Contemporary Painter. A US Citizen, she has a strong academic background, several awards and numerous exhibitions in her own country and internationally. Representative of an artistic line that following the tradition of Social Realism in Argentina initiated by the master Antonio Berniin the 30's, continues his work the artistic concept of the Mexican muralists. From the investigations initiated in the 80's, Ana captures the culture and lifestyle of different ethnic (indigenous and African) developing her work in Series according to the various researched communities, thus unifying a style under the concept of Art and Testimony. Alberto Carbi was born in Buenos Aires, Carbi is an architect, artist, designer and associate Professor at Undergraduate and Graduate levels since year 1999. He resided in Munich, Paris, London, from 1974 to 2005 in Rio de Janeiro and is a U.S. resident since 2006. Among the most notable Architecture and Design quoted projects are the World War II Museum on board the destroyer Baurú commissioned by the Brazilian Marine Ministry and his last exceptional residence in Buenos Aires. Participating in numerous individual, collective and museum exhibits since 1973, both his award winning art and architectural works are exhibited in private and public collections. Andres Dominguez was raised in Santiago, Chile where his passion for art began at a young age. He attended Architecture School at Universal Finis Terrae, while also studying fine art at Art School in Pontificia Universidad Catolica. His exhibition carrer began with a 2005 invitational to the Gallery of Clinica Maitenes in Melipilla, Chile. Soon after came exhibits in Centro de Arte Alameda and Centro Cultural Estacion Mapocho in Santiago, Chile and Banco de Comercio, Lima, Peru. In November 2007 Andres Dominguez established a studio and in Miami, Florida. His first exhibit in the United States was for the Chilean and US Chamber of Commerce, followed by other exhibitions around the US. He has completed residencies at Art Center South Florida.-USA and the prestigious 2010 The Foutainhead Residency in The Miami Design District. Carla Fache, a visual artist from Santiago, Chile makes abstract works characterized by the use of color, spaces, layers and shapes. She studied Visual Art at Colegio Artistico de las Condes in Chile and Painting at Florida International University. Showing her work in the United States since 2001, First in the Design District then in The Wynwood Art District, she later launched the Fache Arts Studio and was part of premier group in the Nomi Art District 2007 – 2011. Her work has been featured in several publications as well as exhibited at major museums, and art fairs including, Art Miami, Art L.A. Art Philadelphia, CIFO-The Cisneros Fontanels Arts Foundation, The Bass Museum of Art, Lowe Art Museum, Latin American Art Museum,  Museum of Contemporary Art, DCOTA Design Center of Americas, Museo de Bellas Artes de Cordova and Piag Museum. To date she has had 72 solo art exhibitions and 127 group exhibitions. Fache's search for the universal, the primitiveness, the essential, the convergence and the endless power of color, have influenced her work. Her recent paintings explore the use of geometric shapes to confront the visual paradigms of the viewer. Jaime Ferrer, was born in the Chilean capital of Santiago and studied there at the School of Fine Arts, Escuela de Bellas Artes. There he developed, inspired by mentors and contemporaries like Augusto Barcia, Adolfo Couve, Luis Lobos, Rodolfo Opazo, Matias Pinto D'Aguiar, Jorge Tacla and others. Upon completion of his studies, he painted and showed his work locally while longing to travel and explore beyond his native land. Since 1982 he has based his studio in the United States exhibiting his work in the Nationally and internationally in Canada, Italy, Japan and at his home, Chile. In an exploration of Italy in 1987,  he experienced for the first time the ties that people have to their pictorial culture. Ferrer's works are included in the collections of The Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport Conn., as well as in The Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Conn. The State of Connecticut commissioned Ferrer to create a mural for the Windham Regional Vocational-Technical School in the city of Willimantic. He currently lives in Miami, Fla. where he creates, teaches and serves as an art consultant for the private sector. He is involved in the development of diverse projects including sculpture/music media events which range from sculpture to painting and mixed media. Working under the moniker Josepo, Jose Pablo Ravinet is a self-taught, Chilean artist and sculptor who has called Miami his home since 1974. Taking advantage of his experience in the construction industry, he applies various sculpting, casting, and welding techniques to give new life and artistic direction to his medium, steel. Rosanna Tossi was born in Alberti, B.A Argentina and lives and works in Chivilcoy, B.A Argentina. She has participated in numerous exhibitions including "Desde el Jardín" at Museo del Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, and Galerie Rive Gauche at Coconut Grove in Maimi, Florida, USA. Located along the edge of Biscayne Bay, the 444-acre Deering Estate at Cutler is an environmental, archeological and historical preserve. From canoe tours to butterfly walks and guided nature hikes, the Deering Estate has diverse activities for the whole family to enjoy. The Estate offers daily tours of the historic houses – the Stone House and Richmond Cottage, as well as tours of the lush natural areas where fossil bones have been found as far back at 50,000 years. The Estate is part of the Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Space Department, which manages the Estate on behalf of the State of Florida. The Deering Estate at Cutler has emerged as a thriving cultural art center, fulfilling an enduring dream of the late industrialist Charles Deering, who as an avid art collector, philanthropist, and amateur artist, sought to support artists and create a cultural haven. Charles Deering's tradition and innovative spirit continues on the Estate today through the Artist Village, a place where South Florida's natural and historic treasures are interpreted through the creative talents of visual, literary, and performing artists. Housed in a unique collection of buildings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Artist Village has become a cultural hub for exciting collaborative cultural arts programs that include: Fine Art & Historic Exhibitions: The Deering Estate at Cutler's Art on Loan Program has been successful in attracting art and artifacts for public display or exhibition, which has included all forms of historical documents and artifacts, fine art created for aesthetic purposes and fine craft created for functional purposes. Artist in Residence Program: A prestigious daily residential program for emerging literary, visual and performing artists to seek inspiration from the Estate and each other. Living Artist Concert Series: For music enthusiasts, the Deering Estate Chamber Ensemble presents intimate concerts in the historic Stone House Ballroom. Internationally acclaimed musicians collaborate with world-renowned guest composers, artists, and talented youth performers. SoBay Festival of the Arts: The annual festival is a two-week celebration of the arts featuring concerts, exhibits, intellectual discussion and discoveries, concerto competitions and theatrical productions.Visiting Artist Outreach Programs: Utilizing current Artists in Residence and alumni of the program, artists are partnered with local elementary, middle and high school arts, social studies and sciences classes to speak, interact, present their work and reflect on how their experiences at the Deering Estate at Cutler or as an artist have shaped their lives. Visit the estate's website at ... http://www.deeringestate.org Courtesy of Art Pulse magazine.

Christie's to Auction Two Magnificent Masterpieces By Canaletto Posted: 23 Mar 2012 08:11 PM PDT   LONDON - Christie's announced that they will offer two masterpiece views of Venice by Canaletto at the auction of Important Old Master and British Pictures on 2 December 2008 in London. Believed to have been commissioned in 1738 through the artist's agent Consul Smith, whose own collection of the artist's works was sold to King George III, the paintings have since passed by family descent and are offered for sale for the first time. The pictures will be on public exhibition at Christie's London from 29 November to 2 December, and are expected to realise a combined total in excess of £7 million.

Kunsthaus Zürich shows ‘Rodin’ ~ A Retrospective Posted: 23 Mar 2012 08:10 PM PDT Zurich, Switzerland - In the late 19th century Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) revolutionized sculpture. On exhibition until 13 May 2007,  Kunsthaus Zürich is showing a retrospective comprising almost 160 bronzes, works in plaster, and drawings – including such renowned pieces as 'The Kiss' and 'The Thinker', but also rarely seen marble sculptures such as 'The Earth and the Moon'. Rodin was one of the first artists who elevated fragmentation to an artistic principle. When the wider public first saw his work exhibited in Paris in 1889, there was as much astonishment at his dynamic treatment of sculptural surfaces as there was at the fragmentation of the human form and the absence of plinths. The natural, uncontrived postures of his late figures were entirely at odds with the prevailing sculptural ideals that were still in thrall to the traditionally 'acceptable' poses. The innovative, uneven, furrowed surfaces of his forms, so unsettling to the contemporary eye, resulted from Rodin's unique working of the figure's bones, muscles and nerves, which in turn led to a very particular interplay of areas of light and shade. FROM PRIVATE SKETCHES TO PUBLIC MONUMENTS This retrospective – positively monumental in its size and scope – has been conceived in close collaboration with the Musée Rodin, Paris, and the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The selected works range from Rodin's production at the time of his 'discovery' in the early 1880s by a group of writers and artists to his ground-breaking designs for public memorials and monuments. THE THINKER, THE KISS, THE GATES OF HELL Visitors coming to the Kunsthaus are already greeted outside by the 6.80-metre high 'Gates of Hell' – a doorway inspired by Dante's 'Divine Comedy' which Rodin continued to work on as long as he lived. For this piece – which was to remain unfinished – Rodin created 186 small figures, some of which he also executed as separate sculptures: witness his outstanding piece, 'The Thinker', which represents Dante Alighieri, whom Rodin greatly admired. This work, in its monumental version, was the first of his sculptures to be installed in a public space. It forms the heart of this exhibition which also includes other magnificent pieces such as 'The Burghers of Calais' and 'Victor Hugo'. The loans – some of them very rarely seen large-format sculptures and original plaster casts – come from leading international collections. With its numerous sculptures, drawings, photographs and other documents, the exhibition will take the viewer on a journey into Rodin's life and work. THE QUEST FOR RECOGNITION Rodin's striving for success was legendary. He was constantly seeking understanding and backing for his art, hoping for recognition from politicians, the aristocracy and the wider public. Ninety years after his death all this and more is his. Generations of sculptures have been crucially influenced by his work and it is studied at every level of art education. A GENEROUS EXHIBITION CONCEPT In their pursuit of the artist who took sculpture down from its pedestal and captivated the bourgeoisie of his day, visitors will have the chance to peruse almost 160 bronzes, works in plaster and colored drawings distributed through 1,300 square metres of exhibition space. In this generously laid out presentation by Curator Christoph Becker, the open, modern architecture of the Kunsthaus offers the viewer both longer vistas and more intimate close-ups of the work, creating connections between different periods of the artist's work. Audio guides provide in-depth information on the works themselves in several different languages and at no extra cost to the visitor. The exhibition catalogue (published by Hatje Cantz, 320 pages) includes profoundly informative essays by Catherine Lampert and Antoinette Le Normand-Romain. With over 360 reproductions of Rodin's work, the catalogue also provides the reader with additional facts and sketches relevant to his life. It is available at the Kunsthaus Shop or online at www.kunsthaus.ch/shop. Visit Kunsthaus Zürich, Heimplatz 1, CH–8001 Zurich : www.kunsthaus.ch

Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review" Posted: 23 Mar 2012 08:09 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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