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

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• Harvard Art Museums to show "Lyonel Feininger: Photographs, 1928–1939"
• Eight Modern to Show "Rebecca Shore ~ All in One"
• The Nationalmuseum shows the "Four Seasons ~ Paintings from its Collection"
• The Miami Dade College Art Gallery features Jean Marc Calvet
• Art Seasons New Gallery to Present "NewScape I ~ A Study on Landscape"
• The de Young Museum opens "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier"
• The sensory world of Pipilotti Rist at the Kunsthalle Mannheim
• Oldest U.S. natural history museum, the Academy of Natural Sciences Bicentennial
• Exhibition of masterpieces from the Prado Museum at the Museo de Arte de Ponce
• Guggenheim in Bilbao exhibits "All the Histories of Art ~ Kunsthistorisches Museum"
• Art Beatus Gallery shows Sara Tse
• Copy of 14th-Century Hebrew Manuscript Acquired by Nelson-Atkins Museum
• Helen Frankenthaler, most esteemed abstract artist for six decades, Dies at 83
• Kresge Art Museum opens The Story of Exodus: The Passover Haggadah
• Collectors' Evening Secures New Acquisitions for the High Museum of Art
• Old Masters & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors at Christie's
• Berlin-based artist Haris Epaminonda has First Solo Show at MoMA
• Ackland Art Museum shows " Circa 1958: Breaking Ground in American Art "
• Eli Klein Fine Art hosts The Best of Chinese Contemporary Artists
• Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"

Harvard Art Museums to show "Lyonel Feininger: Photographs, 1928–1939" Posted: 26 Mar 2012 12:43 AM PDT Cambridge, Massachusetts.- Harvard Art Museums are proud to present "Lyonel Feininger: Photographs, 1928–1939", on view at the Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum from March 30th through June 2nd. A selection of the artist's drawings and watercolors from the Busch-Reisinger Museum's permanent collection complements the exhibition. One of the most versatile talents of the modern art movement in Germany, the American-born Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956) is celebrated as a master of caricature, figurative painting, and a distinctive brand of cubism, but he also created a fascinating body of photographic work that is virtually unknown. Drawn primarily from the collections at Harvard University's Houghton Library, the exhibition offers the first opportunity to consider his achievement within the medium. Around 60 of Feininger's photographs, as well as related works on paper and two of his early cameras, are on display. The photographs are complemented by an installation of around 25 of the artist's drawings and watercolors, plus a major painting from the collection of the BuschReisinger Museum. The works on paper are all drawn from the recent bequest of William S. Lieberman to the Busch-Reisinger. The painting, "Gross Kromsdorf III (1921)", was a gift from Feininger's wife, Julia, in 1964. The exhibition focuses on the rich and productive period between 1928 (when Feininger first took up the camera) and the late 1930s, when he was exploring an array of avant-garde photographic techniques and making his own prints. Despite his early skepticism about this "mechanical" medium, the painter was inspired by the enthusiasm of his sons Andreas and T. Lux as well as the innovative work of his fellow Bauhaus master and Dessau neighbor László MoholyNagy. In the fall of 1928 the 57-year-old Feininger began to conduct his own experiments, discovering in photography a new means of energizing and advancing his artistic program. Lyonel Feininger: Photographs, 1928–1939 was curated by Laura Muir, Assistant Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Division of Modern and Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums. Muir also authored the accompanying catalogue. The exhibition and catalogue are based on new research on the collection of the artist's negatives and slides in the Busch-Reisinger Museum's Lyonel Feininger Archive, which has only recently been catalogued and digitized, making it fully accessible for the first time. Muir's research also draws on Feininger's extensive correspondence housed at Houghton Library and her interviews with the artist's recently deceased son T. Lux. The majority of Feininger's photographs, which he shared with only a few close friends and family, remained in his private collection until his death in 1956. In 1987 his son T. Lux donated them to Houghton Library. The exhibition also includes key loans from other US and German lenders, including the Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin. "When he took up the camera at the Bauhaus in 1928, Lyonel Feininger was at the height of his fame as a painter. While he remained committed to that practice, he saw photography as a new means of exploring his interests in reflections, transparency, and the effects of light and shadow," said Muir. "Experimenting with night imagery, negative printing, multiple exposures, and radical enlarging and cropping, he created a strikingly modern yet surprisingly personal body of work that has remained virtually unknown." Feininger's first photographs were atmospheric night views of the Bauhaus Building and the nearby neighborhood, including Untitled (Night View of Trees and Streetlamp, Burgkühnauer Allee, Dessau) (1928) and Bauhaus (Mar. 26, 1929). In Halle, while working on a painting commission from the city, Feininger recorded architectural sites in works such as Halle Market with the Church of St. Mary and the Red Tower (1929–30), and experimented with multiple exposures in photographs such as Untitled (Street Scene, Double Exposure, Halle) (1929–30), a hallucinatory image that merges two views of pedestrians and moving vehicles. One of his Halle paintings, Bölbergasse (1931), makes an appearance in Untitled (Unfinished Painting in Studio, Halle) (1931), an image that explores the relationship between the canvas and the space in which it was created.  In the months after the Nazis closed the Bauhaus and prior to Feininger's departure from Dessau in March 1933, he made a series of unsettling views of mannequins and reflections in shop windows such as Drunk with Beauty(1932). In 1937 the American-born Feininger permanently settled in New York City after a nearly 50-year absence, and photography served as an important means of reacquainting himself with the city. The off-kilter bird's-eye view he made from his studio Untitled (Second Avenue El from Window of 235 East 22nd Street, New York) (1939) is a dizzying image of an American subject in the style of European avant-garde photography, and mirrors the artist's own precarious and disorienting position between two worlds and the past and present. The Harvard Art Museums, among the world's leading art institutions, comprise three museums (Fogg, BuschReisinger, and Arthur M. Sackler) and four research centers (Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, the Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art, the Harvard Art Museums Archives, and the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis). The Harvard Art Museums are distinguished by the range and depth of their collections, their groundbreaking exhibitions, and the original research of their staff. The collections include approximately 250,000 objects in all media, ranging in date from antiquity to the present and originating in Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Integral to Harvard University and the wider community, the art museums and research centers serve as resources for students, scholars, and other visitors. For more than a century they have been the nation's premier training ground for museum professionals and are renowned for their seminal role in developing the discipline of art history in this country. In June 2008 the building at 32 Quincy Street, formerly the home of the Fogg and Busch-Reisinger museums, closed for a major renovation. During this renovation, the Sackler Museum at 485 Broadway remains open and has been reinstalled with some of the finest works representing the collections of all three museums. When complete, the renovated historic building on Quincy Street will unite the three museums in a single state-of-the-art facility designed by architect Renzo Piano. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.harvardartmuseums.org

Eight Modern to Show "Rebecca Shore ~ All in One" Posted: 26 Mar 2012 12:36 AM PDT Santa Fe, New Mexico.- Eight Modern is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition, "Rebecca Shore: All in One", on view from March 30th through May 5th. This is the artist's first show with the gallery. Shore's art is driven by systems, not because of an unusually systematic process – she adeptly moves between methods and mediums – but because of her interest in organization, the attribution of meaning, and the visual connections and relationships between forms. Shore has assembled a wide-ranging compilation of silhouettes and "shape quotations"  of varying degrees of ambiguity and tantalizing familiarity.

The Nationalmuseum shows the "Four Seasons ~ Paintings from its Collection" Posted: 25 Mar 2012 11:57 PM PDT Stockholm.- The Four Seasons, a thematic exhibition of works from Nationalmuseum's own collections is on view through May 27th. The exhibition focuses on depictions of the seasons in paintings of the fin de siècle period and on artists' attempts to capture the essence of the changing seasons. Featured artists include Bruno Liljefors, Anders Zorn, Carl Larsson, Prince Eugen, Anna Boberg, Gustaf Fjæstad, Hanna Pauli, Helmer Osslund and Elsa Beskow. The Four Seasons presents a number of paintings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries depicting the changing seasons. Visitors will see how the artists devoted their efforts to capturing the distinctive features of each season. How many different colours can snow be? How do the colours change in a twilight image? How to depict autumn leaves, or spring light trickling through tender foliage? Exhibits comprise over 100 works from Nationalmuseum's collections.

The Miami Dade College Art Gallery features Jean Marc Calvet Posted: 25 Mar 2012 11:35 PM PDT Miami, Florida.- Miami Dade College's (MDC) renowned Art Gallery System, in collaboration with Monkdogz Urban Art Gallery, the Americas Collection, and the Miami International Film Festival, presents Jean Marc Calvet's exhibition, "Invasion Invasión, l'invasion", currently on view through April 28 at MDC's National Historic Landmark Freedom Tower. Featuring 33 large-scale paintings and an installation of miniature sculptures, invasion invasión l'invasion, is Calvet's first solo exhibition at the Freedom Tower. A legitimate self-taught artist, his work and passion as an artist are marked by sophistication yet maintain the spirit of the true brut style. Based in Granada, Nicaragua, Calvet has exhibited his work in Europe, the United States and Latin America, including several solo shows in New York and Nicaragua.

Art Seasons New Gallery to Present "NewScape I ~ A Study on Landscape" Posted: 25 Mar 2012 11:17 PM PDT Singapore.- Art Seasons Gallery is pleased to announce the group show "NewScape I: A study on Landscape" in their new gallery at PoMo. "Landscape" is an indispensable art subject matter since ancient times. It is from the ancient times idealism landscape with religious functions, to the impressionism landscape with emphasis on the artistic science and individual emotions, to modernism landscape with fully expression of the social humanities that contribute to the development of the entire art history. The exhibition opens on April 11th and will remain on display through April 29th.

The de Young Museum opens "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier" Posted: 25 Mar 2012 10:54 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Opening on March 24th and continuing its strong track record of exhibitions highlighting the work of the innovators and iconoclasts of the world of fashion, the de Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park presents, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, the first exhibition devoted to the celebrated French designer and his personal themes of "equality, diversity and perversity." The de Young is the exclusive west coast venue for this critically acclaimed international exhibition after its premier at the organizing institution, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and its presentation at the Dallas Museum of Art. The exhibition will be on view at the de Young in the Herbst Exhibition Galleries from March 24th through August 19th. Dubbed fashion's "enfant terrible" from the time of his first runway shows in the 1970s, Jean Paul Gaultier is indisputably one of the most important fashion designers of recent decades. Very early on, his avant-garde fashions reflected an understanding of a multicultural society's issues and preoccupations, shaking up—with invariable good humor—established societal and aesthetic codes. More of a contemporary installation than a fashion retrospective, this major exhibition—which the couturier considers to be a creation in its own right—features approximately 140 ensembles spanning over 35 years from the designer's couture and ready-to-wear collections, along with their accessories, and numerous archival documents. Many of these extraordinary pieces have never before been exhibited. "Was there ever a more perfect match than Jean Paul Gaultier and San Francisco?" asked John E. Buchanan, Jr., the recently deceased director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "This exhibition fuses the energy of street culture with haute couture craftsmanship and presents it through the lens of cutting edge multimedia that is synonymous to the Bay Area. As the exclusive venue for previous exhibitions of the work of Vivienne Westwood, Yves Saint Laurent and Cristobal Balenciaga, we know the Bay Area is ready to explore the oeuvre of yet another master of design, Jean Paul Gaultier." FAMSF curator of costume and textile arts Jill D'Alessandro expands, "Gaultier catapulted on to the fashion scene with his unconventional approach that drew inspiration from television, film, music, and street culture. For the last four decades he has remained a catalyst for our times. This dynamic exhibition is a truly multi-media extravaganza complete with animated mannequins, runway clips, and video excerpts from his extensive film and music collaborations, and succeeds in capturing the raw, sometimes chaotic energy that defines our contemporary lives and Gaultier's world." Keenly interested in all the world's cultures and countercultures, Gaultier has picked up on the current trends and proclaimed the right to be different, and in the process conceived a new kind of fashion in both the way it is made and worn. Through twists, transformations, transgressions, and reinterpretations, he not only erases the boundaries between cultures but also the sexes, creating a new androgyny or playing with subverting established fashion codes. A celebration of Gaultier's daring inventiveness and humanist vision, this exhibition pays tribute to his cutting-edge fashion and explores the audaciously eclectic sources of his ideas. "Jean Paul Gaultier," notes Thierry-Maxime Loriot, originating curator, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, "initiates trends rather than following them, which explains why he is still relevant after more than 35 years of creation. The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk is not simply reminiscent of the past, but rather a link to the present as seen through the eyes of the couturier. By paying tribute to different cultures, mixing pop culture and couture, breaking the codes of fashion and taboos of society, you realize how open-minded and generous Gaultier's fashion is. This unique exhibition offers visitors access to the world of Jean Paul Gaultier and haute couture, as well as articulating the strong social message behind his work, which truly defines his very own distinctive aesthetic." The multimedia installation is organized along six different thematic sections tracing the influences, from the streets of Paris to the world of science fiction, that have marked the couturier's creative development: • The Odyssey of Jean Paul Gaultier – begins the exhibition with an exploration of several signature Gaultier motifs – the blue and white striped sailor shirt in all its themes and variations, spectacular mermaids and virgins, and welcomes the visitor with singing mannequins and a special cameo by the designer himself. • The Boudoir – explores Gaultier's fascination with lingerie and underpinnings culminating in his signature collaboration with Madonna for her Blonde Ambition tour. • Skin Deep – a risqué, provocative gallery featuring garments inspired by themes of bondage and body art. • Punk Cancan – features the dichotomy between the typical upscale French couture client and the street punks of London. • Urban Jungle – a multicultural clash of influences including Hussars, Mongolians, Hassidic Jews, Frida Kahlo and China. This gallery includes highlights of Gaultier's haute couture detailing with unusual materials and techniques on view. • Metropolis - concludes the exhibition with a presentation of Gaultier's work for film, performance pieces and his relationships with pop icons such as Kylie Minogue and Tina Turner. Sketches, stage costumes, excerpts from films, runway shows, concerts, videos, dance performances, and even television programs on view further explore how his avant-garde fashions challenged societal and aesthetic codes in unexpected, and often humorous ways. The many legendary artistic collaborations that have characterized Gaultier's global vision are examined in film (Pedro Almodóvar, Peter Greenaway, Luc Besson, Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet); contemporary dance (Angelin Preljocaj, Régine Chopinot and Maurice Béjart); and within the realm of popular music through performers such as Madonna, whose friendship with Gaultier has led her to graciously lend two iconic corsets from her 1990 Blonde Ambition World Tour that launched the cone bra into fashion iconography. Fashion photography is also a major focus of attention, thanks to loans of never-before-seen prints from contemporary photographers and renowned contemporary artists including Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Erwin Wurm, David LaChapelle, Richard Avedon, Mario Testino, Steven Meisel, Steven Klein, Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott, Pierre et Gilles, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Paolo Roversi, and Robert Doisneau.  An innovative exhibition design by the Paris-based architectural and stage design company Projectiles, showcases the couturier's designs, as well as prints and video clips, illustrating many of Gaultier's artistic collaborations. Throughout the galleries, thirty unique mannequins wearing remarkable wigs and headdresses by Odile Gilbert, founder of the Atelier 68 in Paris, come 'alive' with interactive faces created by technologically ingenious audiovisual projections, surprising visitors with their lifelike presence. Poetic and playful, the production, design and staging of this dynamic audiovisual element has been produced by Denis Marleau and Stéphanie Jasmin of UBU/Compagnie de création. A dozen celebrities, including Gaultier himself, have lent their faces –projected on to the mannequins – and often their voices to this project.

The sensory world of Pipilotti Rist at the Kunsthalle Mannheim Posted: 25 Mar 2012 10:34 PM PDT MANNHEIM, GERMANY - Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist is a pioneer of video art, acclaimed for her innovative installations. Pipilotti Rist: Eyeball Massage is her first major public survey show, presenting videos, sculptures and installations, and bringing together over 30 works spanning her career from the 1980s to today. Highly accomplished technically and rich in dazzling colour, Rist's practice fuses sensual images, music, and sometimes text to create mesmerizing works. Opening 24th March and running until 24th June the exhibition transforms the museum and features new works including an audio-video installation and an outdoor light sculpture at The Kunsthalle Mannheim

Oldest U.S. natural history museum, the Academy of Natural Sciences Bicentennial Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:57 PM PDT PHILADELPHIA, PA - The Academy of Natural Sciences has never been one to brag. Its 225,000 annual visitors may associate the nation's oldest natural history museum solely with dioramas and dinosaurs, but behind the scenes there is groundbreaking research conducted by world-renowned scientists and an enviable collection of some 18 million specimens representing all manner of animal, vegetable and mineral. In celebration of its bicentennial this year, the museum has finally decided that it's OK to boast a little. For what's believed to be the first time in 200 years, curators will bring the public into the labyrinthine museum's normally off-limits nooks and crannies for daily tours. "This is a rare opportunity to get a firsthand look at some of the most stunning, and sometimes bizarre, creatures you've ever seen," said Academy president and chief executive officer George Gephart Jr. "We can't wait to open our doors and show off nature's, and the Academy's, wondrous bounty."

Exhibition of masterpieces from the Prado Museum at the Museo de Arte de Ponce Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:37 PM PDT PONCE, Puerto Rico - Museo de Arte de Ponce announced El Greco to Goya: Masterpieces from the Prado Museum, a historic exhibition that marks the beginning of an important cultural exchange between the Old World and the New. The exhibition will be open to the public from March 25th through July 9th. For the first time in The Americas, the public will be able to view an exhibit comprised entirely of masterworks from the collection of the Prado Museum in Madrid. With Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico as its venue, this unprecedented exhibit will showcase 25 works by some of the great masters of Spanish painting, including Francisco de Goya, El Greco, Diego Velázquez, Peter Paul Rubens, Francisco de Zurbarán, Bosch and Tiziano . As part of the Museo de Arte de Ponce's educational program, the museum will offer thematic tours, art workshops, curricular-integration workshops for teachers and art experts, and a series of lectures on the works and the main themes that run through the exhibit. The educational component of the exhibit is sponsored by the Banco Santander, with additional funding by Goya de Puerto Rico. With the support of these corporations, the Museo de Arte de Ponce will be able to provide a full range of educational and cultural activities to complement the exhibit.

Guggenheim in Bilbao exhibits "All the Histories of Art ~ Kunsthistorisches Museum" Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:20 PM PDT   BILBAO, SPAIN - The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents All the Histories of Art: Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna , the first and most comprehensive and innovative show ever presented in Spain about the collection of Kunsthistorisches Museum , one of the oldest museums in the world. The close relationship between the history of Austria and Spain, which for centuries shared the same dynasty, the Hapsburgs, underscores the relevancy of this exhibition and the cooperation between these two institutions, both of which are aware of the major cultural and artistic mark that the Austrians left in Spain. With a selection of almost 200 works and around one hundred artists ranging from Egypt and the ancient world to the 18th century, the show, which has been generously sponsored by Iberdrola, is divided into six major sections that correspond to the main artistic genres in art history. However, these genres are not limited solely to the examples provided by what are traditionally called the "major arts", as they also include samples of the art dubbed "industrial", "sumptuary" or "decorative". Curated by Carmen Giménez, 20th Century Art Conservator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and Francisco Calvo Serraller, Professor of Art History at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the exhibition features works by great masters such as Arcimboldo, Dürer, Holbein, Tintoretto, Titian, Rubens, Velázquez and others. It is especially relevant given the common shared history between Austria and Spain and the cultural and artistic mark that the Habsburg dynasty left on both countries. All the Histories of Art presents such disparate works as paintings, works from the ancient world, coins, armour, sculptures and objects from what were called cabinets of curiosities (Kunstkammern), which give insight into the taste of the Hapsburg emperors and archdukes, avid collectors and sponsors of the arts for over five centuries. The entire third floor of the museum will house a painstakingly culled selection of 197 works, which revolve around the main artistic genres in art history according to a more up-to-date discourse: portraiture; history, religion and mythology; the nude; everyday scenes; still lifes; and landscapes. All of these genres are illustrated with a fascinating juxtaposition of paintings and objects. The first section of the exhibition is devoted to the genre of portraiture, which over the centuries has been represented in a vast variety of media and supports. The museum's halls give spectators the chance to admire everything from sculptures from ancient Egypt and the classical world to canvases by the great painting masters including Holbein, Titian, Tintoretto, Rubens, Van Dyck and Velázquez. This section also includes sculptures, armour, decorative objects and an extensive array of commemorative medals and coins. In all these works, the different schools, periods and disciplines blend and contrast with each other, forging a dialogue that highlights the unique nature of each of them. Sculptures from the Early, Middle and Late Kingdoms of ancient Egypt and the classical world are displayed alongside portraits as famous as Holbein's Jane Seymour (1508/9–1537) (ca. 1536/37), Tintoretto's Portrait of a White-bearded Man (ca. 1570/78) and Velázquez's Infanta Margarita Teresa (1651–1673) in a Blue Gown (1659). Along with Foot-Combat Helmet of Maximilian I and Philip the Handsome (ca. 1500), the sculptures of Charles V and Mary of Hungary crafted by Leoni, and the decorative objects, coins and medallions, together they are clear examples of the quality of the collections presented in the genre of portraiture. The second section, devoted to the "painting of history", is one of the most outstanding in the exhibition, not just because of the sheer number of works but also because of their quality and the dialogue that is forged among them. Examples of some of the most acclaimed paintings in this section are Dürer's Madonna Nursing the Child (1503), Titian's Christ and the Adulterous Woman (ca. 1512/15), Cranach the Elder's Lot and his Daughters (1528), Carracci's Pietà (ca. 1603), Rubens' The lamentation over Christ (1614) and Penitent Mary Magdalene and her Sister Martha (ca. 1620), and Gentileschi's Penitent Magdalene (ca. 1621/23). These paintings are accompanied by bronze sculptures such as Leone Leoni's The Man called "Chained Barbarian" (1550–60), precious ivories from the Kunstkammer such as the Adoration of the Magi (ca. 1650) crafted by an anonymous artist who drew his inspiration from one of Rubens' works, and two magnificent tapestries from the late 17th century. The nude, the focal point of the third section in this exhibition, complements and culminates the "painting of history" through such illustrious artists as Palma il Vecchio, Titian, Bartholomeus Spranger, and Veronese. Their paintings are joined by wonderful sculptures and decorative objects coming from both the private cabinets of the Hapsburgs, the Kunstkammer and Wunderkammer, and the collections of the different emperors and archdukes from the dynasty. The most outstanding works in this section include Palma il Vecchio's Nymphs at their Bath (ca. 1525–28) about the subject of bathing, along with Giambologna's Venus after Bathing (ca. 1580–85?), Titian's Mars, Venus and Cupid (after 1546) and a sumptuous ivory jug cover dating from the mid-17th century. Popular everyday and costumbrist scenes are represented by the magnificent works of Adriaen van Ostade, Bernardo Strozzi, David Teniers the Younger and Alessandro Magnasco. Villages and streets, markets, taverns and popular festivities are reflected in such outstanding works as Adriaen van Ostade's Village Barber (ca. 1637), Bernardo Strozzi's Lute Player (ca. 1640–44) and Alessandro Magnasco's Interrogation in Jail (ca. 1710–20), as well as a small funerary limestone statue crafted during the 6th dynasty of the Old Kingdom and discovered in Giza, which portrays a Servant Grinding Grain. To illustrate the subject of still lifes, Hall 302 will house works by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Jan Brueghel the Elder and Jan Davidsz. de Heem, alongside objects from the Kunstkammer or cabinets of art. This section is where the taste for collecting and the objects housed in the Kunstkammer are best represented. The scientific and decorative objects shed light on the universe that remained concealed inside these tiny cabinets of curiosities for the emperors' private pleasure. Along with them, you can also see Giuseppe Arcimboldo's Fire (1566), part of a series that the artist rendered about the four elements: fire, water, air and earth, only three of which remain today (two in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna). The tour around All the Histories of Art: Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna comes to an end in the sixth section, which houses views of country life, seascapes and cityscapes by such prominent painters and Patinir, Bril, Van Goyen, Van Ruisdael, Gainsborough and Bellotto. This section also showcases three magnificent commessi in pietre dure (hard rock mosaics) by Castrucci and three small objects dating from the 16th century showing animal shapes that accompany Savery's painting entitled Landscape with Birds (dated 1628). This selection of works illustrates the evolution of this genre from the 16th century until the second half of the 18th century. With this varied assembly of subjects from historical works, which stand in striking contrast to the singular contemporary space of Frank Gehry's building, the goal of this exhibition is to showcase the diversity of the encyclopaedic collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna in an effort to provide visitors with a unique chance to enjoy its extraordinary collections. The Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna houses the royal collections amassed by the Hapsburg dynasty, avid collectors and sponsors of the arts for more than five centuries. The current museum was officially opened by Emperor Franz Josef (1830-1916) in 1891. The core of this collection are the Kunstkammer (Collection of Sculpture and the Decorative Arts) and Wunderkammer (Cabinet of Curiosities) of Archiduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol and Emperor Rudolph II, both of which are represented in this show. Furthermore, the museum's collection also includes exquisite samples of Egyptian, Greek and Roman art and antiques, mediaeval art, and Renaissance and Baroque art. The museum has eight different collections, some of which are housed in the Hofburg and Schönbrunn palaces in Vienna. Under the reign of Charles VI (1685-1740), the collection was united in Vienna and organised into a detailed presentation of the works. Later on, under the influence of the leading figures from the Enlightenment, the collection was catalogued in the 18th century, systematising its organisation according to the different schools. At that time, too, the collections were opened to the public for the first time three days a week. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated publication that includes essays by Francisco Calvo Serraller and Franz Pichorner (Deputy Director of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna), as well as overview commentaries on the works on display written by the conservators and researchers at the Kunsthistorisches.

Art Beatus Gallery shows Sara Tse Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:19 PM PDT HONG KONG - Sara Tse continues her artistic journey down the memory lane, preserving fragments of reminiscences and experiences with her works.  In French Landscape - Connection and Collection, Tse gives an account of her conceptual interpretations of France. Tse is a talented Hong Kong artist and her works have received many acclaims, including a grant from the Fonds des Artistes de L'Alliance Française. She spent about a month last year in France to heighten her inspirations for this exhibition.  On exhibition April 27 to May 25, 2007.

Copy of 14th-Century Hebrew Manuscript Acquired by Nelson-Atkins Museum Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:18 PM PDT KANSAS CITY, MO.- A rare copy of the Barcelona Haggadah edition, which was printed in 1992 in London through a special project with the British Museum and is the only copy in a four-state region, has been acquired by the Spencer Art Reference Library of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. The funding to acquire the work was given by longtime Museum supporters Sybil and Norman Kahn in memory of Thomas W. Levitt, a former two-term chairman of the Nelson-Atkins Society of Fellows.

Helen Frankenthaler, most esteemed abstract artist for six decades, Dies at 83 Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:17 PM PDT NEW YORK, N.Y.- With profound sadness, the family of Helen Frankenthaler announces the death of Ms. Frankenthaler on December 27, 2011, at age 83, following a lengthy illness. Frankenthaler, whose career spanned six decades, has long been recognized as one of the great American artists of the 20th century. Heir of the first-generation Abstract Expressionists, she brought together in her work—always with prodigious inventiveness and singular beauty—the idea of the canvas as both an arena of gesture and a formal field. She was eminent among the second generation of postwar abstract American painters and is widely credited for playing a pivotal role in the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Color Field painting. One of the foremost colorists of our time, she produced a body of work whose impact on contemporary art has been profound. Frankenthaler, who received the National Medal of Arts from President George W. Bush in 2002, is survived by her husband, four stepchildren and six nephews and nieces. Frankenthaler, daughter of New York State Supreme Court Justice Alfred Frankenthaler and his wife, Martha (Lowenstein) Frankenthaler, was born on December 12, 1928, and raised in New York City. She attended the Dalton School, where she received her earliest art instruction from Rufino Tamayo. In 1949, she graduated from Bennington College, where she was a student of Paul Feeley, following which she went on to study briefly with Hans Hofmann. Frankenthaler's professional exhibition career began in 1950, when Adolph Gottlieb selected her painting Beach (1950) for inclusion in the exhibition titled Fifteen Unknowns Selected by Artists of the Kootz Gallery. Her first solo exhibition was presented in 1951, at New York's Tibor de Nagy Gallery, and she was also included that year in the landmark exhibition 9th Street: Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture. Renowned art critic Clement Greenberg immediately recognized her originality. Her work went on to garner growing international attention. As early as 1959, she began to be a regular presence in major international exhibitions, and in 1960 she had her first museum retrospective, at The Jewish Museum, in New York City. In 1952, Frankenthaler created "Mountains and Sea", a seminal breakthrough painting of American abstraction. Pioneering the "stain" painting technique, she worked by pouring thinned paint directly onto raw, unprimed canvas laid on the studio floor, working from all sides to create floating fields of translucent color. Mountains and Sea was immediately influential for the artists who formed the Color Field school of painting, notable among them Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland. Thereafter, Frankenthaler remained a defining force in the development of American painting. This method of applying paint from above had been pioneered by Jackson Pollock a few years earlier, but the 23-year-old Frankenthaler had replaced the older artist's looping and whipping lines of intense, brooding colors with gentle pools of luxuriant pink, blue and green that had been subtly nudged here and there with a sponge. The painting was a revelation to the two visitors: as Noland subsequently wrote: "We were interested in Pollock but could gain no lead from him. He was too personal. Frankenthaler showed us a way to think about and use color." Throughout her long career, Frankenthaler experimented tirelessly, and, in addition to unique paintings on canvas and paper, she worked in a wide range of media, including ceramics, sculpture, tapestry, and especially printmaking. She was a significant voice in the mid-century "print renaissance" among American abstract painters, and in particular is renowned for her woodcuts. Her distinguished and prolific career has been the subject of numerous monographic museum exhibitions, including major retrospectives at The Jewish Museum in 1960; the Whitney Museum of American Art, and European tour, in 1969; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and tour, in 1985 (works on paper); The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and tour, in 1989; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and tour, in 1993 (prints); the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, and the Naples Museum of Art, Florida, and tour, in 2002 (woodcuts); and the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, and the Royal Scottish Academy, in 2003 (works on paper). In addition to the many scholarly essays and articles on her work by renowned art historians, curators, and critics, Frankenthaler was the subject of three monographs: Frankenthaler, by Barbara Rose (1971); Frankenthaler, by John Elderfield (1989); and Frankenthaler: A Catalogue Raisonné, Prints 1961–1994, by Suzanne Boorsch and Pegram Harrison (1996). Important works by the artist may be found in major museums worldwide, among them the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Helen Frankenthaler was the recipient of twenty-six honorary doctorates and numerous honors and awards, among them: First Prize for Painting, Première Biennale de Paris (1959); the first woman elected Fellow at Calhoun College, Yale University (1968); Art and Humanities Award, Yale University (1976); New York City Mayor's Award of Honor for Arts and Culture (1986); Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement, College Art Association (1994); Lifetime Achievement Award, 25th Anniversary, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York (1999); National Medal of the Arts (2001); Skowhegan Medal for Painting (2003); Gold Medal of Honor, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (2005); and the inaugural Nelson A. Rockefeller Award in Art from Purchase College, State University of New York, School of Arts (2007). Most recently, she was appointed as an Honorary Academician of the Royal Academy of Arts in London (2011). From 1985 to 1992, she served on the National Council on the Arts of the National Endowment for the Arts. Her many memberships included the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1974–2011), where she served as Vice-Chancellor in 1991. It is strange that the sculptor John Chamberlain and the painter Helen Frankenthaler should have died within a week of each other — he on Dec. 21, and she on Tuesday — considering that they occupy such similar positions within the history of American art. Both emerged in the 1950s and provided crucial links between art styles, specifically helping to forge the transition from Abstract Expressionism to what lay beyond.

Kresge Art Museum opens The Story of Exodus: The Passover Haggadah Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:16 PM PDT EAST LANSING, MI - MSU hosts a collection of over thirty-five historical and modern PassoverHaggadot in The Story of Exodus: The Passover Haggadah, on display March 21 through April 15, 2009. An opening reception for the exhibition at Kresge Art Museum will be held on Tuesday, March 24th, 5-7 p.m., including a 5:30 p.m. gallery talk by Illana Blumberg, Jewish Studies and James Madison College.

Collectors' Evening Secures New Acquisitions for the High Museum of Art Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:14 PM PDT ATLANTA, GA.- The High Museum of Art hosted its first ever Collectors' Evening on Saturday, January 30. The participants at the event voted to secure four new acquisitions for the museum, including a collection of twenty photographs from the "Robert F Kennedy Funeral Train Rediscovered" portfolio by Paul Fusco; the painting "Thiogo Oliveira do Rosario Rozendo" by Kehinde Wiley; an African art sculpture titled "Ntadi;" and a round-back chair and table from the "Sketch Furniture" series by Front Design.

Old Masters & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors at Christie's Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:13 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.-Following the record-breaking success of its Old Master & 19th Century Art sale in December in London,Christie'spresents its flagship New York sale of Old Master & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings, and Watercolors in a two-part auction on Wednesday, January 27. This extraordinary sale of over 320 works presents the best examples of European art from the 15th to the 19th century, and features master works and recent rediscoveries from Lucas Cranach the Elder, Jan Brueghel II, Thomas Gainsborough, Gaetano Gandolfi, Louis Léopold Boilly, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, and Samuel Palmer, among others. Total sales are expected to achieve in excess of $48 million. Nicholas Hall, International Co-Head of Old Master & 19th Century Art, comments: "The record prices achieved at Christie's London last month for Raphael's "Head of a Muse", Rembrandt's "Portrait of a man with arms akimbo", and Domenichino's "Saint John the Evangelist" galvanized the art market and renewed collector interest in this exciting field. Now, perhaps more than ever, our clients are seeking the optimal mix of quality, rarity, scholarship, condition, and provenance in their fine art investments, whether it is an early 15th century altarpiece panel such as Granacci's majestic "Madonna delle Cintola," or a 19th century rediscovery, such as Corot's "Evening Star." The upcoming sale was crafted with these collecting criteria in mind, and we are delighted to present a robust selection of superb works, including a number of exciting rediscoveries, fresh-to-market works from prominent collections, and truly exceptional career masterpieces that seldom come to market." Property of a Private Collector Christie's is honored to present a selection of eleven top-quality works from a distinguished private collector of Old Master and 19th century paintings and drawings. A highlight of the collection – and the top lot of the upcoming sale – is The Entrance to the Turkish Garden Café, 1812 by Boilly (1761-1845), a brilliantly executed Parisian street scene recognized as one of the most ambitious and technically accomplished paintings of the artist's career (estimate: $3-5 million). The painting depicts the crowd gathered outside of the Café Turc, a popular restaurant of the day located on the Boulevard du Temple in the Marais. From a compositional standpoint, the painting is a veritable tour-de-force of figural painting that introduces more than sixty individual characters in rich detail and great variety of dress, gesture, posture and expression. Boilly even inserts his own self-portrait into the scene; he is the man in round spectacles and a top hat on the right-hand side of the canvas who gazes out directly at the viewer. The painting was first exhibited at the Paris Salons of 1812 and 1814, and more recently at the Kimbell Art Museum and the National Gallery of Art. The upcoming sale marks the first time it will be offered at auction since 1902. Re-Discovered Works Among the exciting rediscoveries in this sale is Wooded Rocky Landscape with Mounted Peasant, Drover and Cattle (estimate: $2-3 million) by Gainsborough (1727-1788), a tranquil scene of cattle and a herdsman that is set amidst a lush, verdant landscape. The painting is one half of a pair Gainsborough completed in 1786 and sold to Robert Palmer, a successful London solicitor. The paintings remained together for 130 years until 1916, when they were sold at auction and later dispersed. In 2008, the companion work entitled A Wooded Landscape with a Herdsman, Cows, and Sheep near a Pool re-emerged at Christie's New York, where it sold for $5.75 million - a record price for the artist at auction. The present work, Wooded Rocky Landscape, remained in a private collection until 2009, when an anonymous donor gifted the painting to the Tacoma Art Museum with the expressed intent of selling the work to generate funds for art acquisition. Similarly, Diana and Callisto, (estimate: $800,000-1.2 million) by the 18th century Italian master Gandolfi (1734-1802) emerged from a private American collection in 2009 and was instantly recognized as a painting previously known only from photos stored in the archives at the Louvre. Exquisitely drawn and masterfully painted, this depiction of Diana's banishment of Callisto is believed to be one of two paintings originally commissioned in the late 1780's by the Russian prince Nicholay Yusupov (1751-1831), a preeminent collector of European art. The upcoming sale represents not only the first appearance of the painting at auction, but also the first known public exhibition of this groundbreaking discovery. Old Master Highlights A gloriously eccentric work by Cranach (1472-1553), Bacchus at the Wine Vat, 1530 (estimate: $2.5-3.5 million), reimagines the typically youthful wine god Bacchus as a balding old man with tankard in hand amidst a rollicking group of putti grouped around a vat of wine. Enabled by an old crone who serves them, the cherubs engage in messy antics that wryly warn the viewer of the perils of excess drink – fighting, falling down, vomiting, and even passing out. Interestingly, the work is believed to be one of the earliest references in painting to the process of wine-making. Given the German origins of the work and the surrounding landscape depicted within it, the white wine inside the vat may specifically reference German Riesling wine, a varietal first recorded in royal ledgers in 1435. Also among the Old Master highlights is The entry of the animals into Noah's ark, circa 1625 by Brueghel (1601-1678), a majestic composition in excellent state consigned from the personal collection of Peter Tillou, a prominent American antiques dealer (estimate: $2.5-3.5 million), and The Four Elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Air, a four-panel collaboration by Breughel and Frans Francken II (1581-1642) that descended through the royal family in Belgium and was previously owned by King Albert I, among others (estimate: $2-3 million). Executed in the years between 1632 and 1642, this epic series of lush narrative scenes is the only known collaboration on this theme between the two artists. At over 20 feet in width, Le pont sur le torrent (estimate: $2-3 million) by the 18th century French master Hubert Robert (1733-1808) is one of the largest Old Master paintings ever to be offered at Christie's New York. This vast painting, which depicts a wild torrent of roaring waters descending into a waterfall below an arched stone bridge, was originally commissioned by the Duc de Luynes (1748-1793) for the dining room of his opulent Paris townhouse. Subsequent owners include the American newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst, who installed the painting and its equally massive mate La cascade in his beachfront castle in Sands Point, Long Island. Though the pair was separated in later years, Le pont sur torrent survives in its original state as a masterpiece of decorative painting with a dominating presence that is nearly cinematic in effect. Given its immense size, the canvas will be stretched on-site and installed in Christie's Rockefeller Center galleries – the first time in more than 50 years that the painting will be publicly displayed. Old Master Drawings and Watercolors With over 65 individual works, the sale features one of the strongest selections of Old Master drawings and works on paper to be offered in New York in recent years. The lead highlight is The arrival of Aeneas at Pallanteum, 1673 by Claude Lorrain (1600-1682), a narrative scene portraying the mythological founding of Rome. This signed, dated, and highly-finished drawing (estimate: $300,000-500,000) is related to one of the most important and beautiful commissions of Claude's late career, a painting completed for Don Gasparo Altieri (1646-1720), the prominent Roman patron. The drawing bears an intriguing American provenance; among its previous owners is Henry Brooks Adams (1838-1918), grandson and great-grandson, respectively, of U.S. Presidents John Quincy Adams and John Adams. Scholars believe it may well be the earliest example of a drawing by Claude in an American collection. Additional drawing highlights include The Fall of Preveza, by Jacopo Ligozzi (1547-1632), a preparatory drawing for a painting commissioned for the ceiling of the church of Saint Stefano dei Cavalieri in Pisa (estimate: $150,000-250,000) and The head of a young woman wearing a bonnet and facing left by Jean Baptiste Greuze (1725-1825), a rare pastel portrait by the artist that is believed to depict his wife (estimate: $60,000-80,000). Additional Highlights Hailed as primary force in the revival of an Irish cultural identity, Sir William Orpen, R.A., R.H.A. (1878-1931) is perhaps best known as a sought-after society portraitist. The upcoming sale features an early-career work by the artist, 'In Dublin Bay': Portrait of the Artist's Wife (estimate: $700,000-1 million). Well-documented by critics and scholars, this visually-arresting portrait remains one of the most celebrated of the works painted during Orpen's summer holidays at Howth Head, a point north of Dublin Bay. Described as "a harmony of greys and blues", the painting portrays Orpen's wife Grace standing on the cliff-top above the bay, her direct stare shadowed by the angle of the sun. The wind catches the scarf at her neck, lending a swirling sense of motion that is re-inforced by scudding clouds in the sky behind her. Last offered at auction in 1992, the painting is one of several excellent works in the sale consigned from a prominent American collection, the Thomas J. Carroll Revocable Trust. Late 19th century highlights include two paintings by the renowned French masters William Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) and Jean François Raffaelli (1850-1924). Amour voltigeant sur les eaux (Love flying over the waters), 1900 by Bouguereau is a late-career depiction of the young god Eros that was exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1901 (estimate: $500,000-700,000) and Élégante sur le Boulevard des Italiens, Paris, circa 1899, by Raffaelli is an intimate street-level scene that captures the essence of contemporary Parisian society (estimate: $300,000-500,000). The latter painting comes from the Collection of the late Raymond and Miriam Klein, prominent Philadelphia-based collectors and long-time supporters of the fine and decorative arts. Rounding out the sale's offerings is a magnificent selection of sporting art, including many exceptional examples from the private collection of Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery Fisher. Featuring more than 35 equestrian paintings by the most sought-after artists of the genre, the section is led by top-quality works by Sir Alfred Munnings, P.R.A., R.W.S. (1878-1959) including A Park Meeting (estimate: $400,000-600,000), Millicent Baron on 'Magpie', 1929 (estimate: $800,000-1.2 million), and Study for 'Why Weren't You Out Yesterday' (estimate: $400,000-600,000). Admired for his unique understanding of the equestrian world, Munnings's most celebrated works demonstrate equal skill in depicting horses, people and the landscape around them, whether the setting is a racetrack or an open field. Auction: Old Master & 19th Century Art (Parts I & II) January 27, 2010 at 10am & 2pm / Viewings: Christie's Rockefeller Galleries January 23-28, 2010

Berlin-based artist Haris Epaminonda has First Solo Show at MoMA Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:12 PM PDT NEW YORK, N.Y.- For her first solo museum exhibition in the United States, Berlin-based artist Haris Epaminonda (b. 1980, Cyprus) constructs a world based on connections between a three-channel video projection—part of her work titled Chronicles (2010)—and a museological-style installation of antique pottery, columns, plinths, niches, and pictures culled from old magazines and books. Among the books are travelogues about archeological sites that are visually related to one another but separated by centuries of history. Composed of short Super 8 films (transferred to video) that the artist shot over several years, Chronicles eschews narrative in favor of fragmented images that probe the nature of time and assert the permeability of memory. On view until February 20, 2012 at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Ackland Art Museum shows " Circa 1958: Breaking Ground in American Art " Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:11 PM PDT   Chapel Hill, NC -1958 was a remarkable year. It was a time of transition and experimentation in American art and culture, and for the United States, a time of unbridled optimism yet one of uncertainty. The country was experiencing an unprecedented rate of economic growth, prosperity, and international leadership following World War II. But at the same time, world events offered sobering reminders of the fragility of peace and the prevalence of the Cold War.

Eli Klein Fine Art hosts The Best of Chinese Contemporary Artists Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:10 PM PDT New York - Eli Klein Fine Art is pleased to present our 2010 Winter Show. This group exhibition features the work of some of the Gallery's most-established artists as well as our highly promising emerging artists. This eclectic group includes Cathy Daley, Chen Qiang, Hung Tung-lu, Jiang Huan, Liu Yan, Luo Qing, Meeson Pae Yang, Miao Xiaochun, Sophie De Francesca, Wei Dong, Zhang Lujiang, Zhao Kailin, and Zhang Dali. On exhibition through 1 March, 2010. Eli Klein Fine Art has, over the last year, hosted several important solo exhibitions at the Gallery for artists Zhang Peng, Luo Qing, Xiao Se, and Ma Bing. For each of these artists, our show was their first solo exhibition in the United States and represented a major step in the advancement of their careers. In addition to these landmark shows, Eli Klein Fine Art has produced several significant group shows over this past year, including, Redefining Surrealism, Passing by China, and Chasing Flames. Each exhibit brought together some of China's finest contemporary artists, showcasing some of their work for the first time in the United States. Thus, this exhibition celebrates our past while looking toward the future. Eli Klein Fine Art remains steadfast in its promotion of contemporary Chinese art. Eli Klein Fine Art is at the forefront of America's contemporary Chinese art scene. With a particular focus on the visual arts of contemporary China, Eli Klein Fine Art is committed to exhibiting the work of prominent and emerging Chinese artists--promoting awareness of China's ever-transitioning culture as it's reflected through the country's innovative art. Eli Klein Fine Art is located in the heart of SOHO on West Broadway, situated amongst many of New York's finest galleries and art establishments. Its street-level location boasts 4,000 square feet of exhibition space spread over two floors. Eli Klein Fine Art's strong curatorial department collaborates with prominent museums, private collections and galleries across the world, allowing new Chinese art to become more accessible to a larger audience. Eli Klein Fine Art's artists are represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and many other internationally renowned museums. Below is the artist statement of artist Zhao Kailin. One of the most important and critically acclaimed Chinese masters of contemporary realism working today, painter Zhao Kailin was born in 1961 in Bengbu in southeast China. Zhao Kailin felt, even as a young child, that he wanted to be an artist. "By the age of eight, I knew I wanted to be a painter," Zhao relates. "It was my second grade teacher in elementary school who taught me basic painting skills and encouraged and challenged me. Most important, she taught me how to soar with imaginary wings through the secret world of art." Under her tutelage, Zhao's painting abilities matured, so much so that his work began appearing in children's juried art exhibitions in Bengbu. In 1988, Zhao Kailin was accepted for graduate studies at the prestigious oil painting department of Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts, China's most illustrious and rigorous fine arts institution. "From 1988 to 1990, I studied there and learned traditional western-style oil painting," states Zhao. "It was the most important period of art studies in my life." During this period of intensive training, Zhao was exposed to the galvanizing portraits of Dutch Renaissance master Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) and was immediately taken with the work's luxuriant brushwork, jewel-like color and commanding manipulation of light and shadow inspired by Italian Renaissance painter Carravagio (1573-1610). It was during this same time that Zhao also became enamoured of the elegantly voluptuous society portraiture of American painter John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). Sargent's Madame X (1884), a full-figure portrait of a mysterious porcelain-skinned woman dressed in a long black dress that scandalized Paris's Salon of 1884, most certainly has left its silky mark on many of Zhao Kailin's portrait paintings. More recently, Zhao's work has concentrated on depicting beautiful, introspective young women, most of whom are Asian and dressed in traditional Chinese attire. Several of the latest pieces feature females with musical instruments. These paintings capture the essential aura of young women suspended between the innocence of childhood and the smoldering sexuality of womanhood, evoking a sense of longing, dreams and desire. "Every painting I do involves personal stories and memories," Zhao explains. "I am always striving to communicate not only the beauty and unspoken personal narratives of these women, but also the inherent beauty of Chinese culture and life." Zhao Kailin's work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Asia, Europe and the U.S. and is a part of notable public and private art collections. Winner of a number of awards for his work, and has been an influential mentor to a number of other painters. For further information, please contact the gallery at (212) 255-4388 or info@ekfineart.com.  Eli Klein Fine art is located at 462 West Broadway in between Prince and Houston streets, New York, NY 10012. Please visit our website at: www.ekfineart.com .

Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review" Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:09 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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