Art Knowledge News - Keeping You in Touch with the World of Art... |
- The Winnipeg Art Gallery hosts "American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell"
- Massive Artwork Stolen from Witte de With Facade in Rotterdam
- Storm King Art Center ~ One of the World's Most Distinguished Sculpture Parks
- Virginia Miller Galleries Debuts Nine Emerging Chinese Artists
- Christie's NY to offer Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture
- Cheim & Read Exhibit Late Paintings by Abstract Painter Joan Mitchell
- It’s Baselmania Week in Miami Beach
- The Grosvernor Vadehra Gallery Exhibits Dhruva Mistry's Bronzes
- Silences ~ by Marin Karmitz at Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAMCS)
- The Royal Ontario Museum to Host "Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008"
- A Selection of Recent Acquisitions, 2005-2011 on view at S.M.A.K.
- Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein opens 'Modernism as a Ruin ~ An Archaeology of the Present'
- Sotheby's NY Auction of American Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture to Feature George Catlin, Edward Hopper & Winslow Homer
- Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"
| The Winnipeg Art Gallery hosts "American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell" Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:57 PM PDT Winnipeg, Manitoba.- The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is pleased to present "American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell", on view at the gallery from March 2nd through May 20th. WAG is the only Canadian venue for this travelling exhibition. The exhibition features over 40 major paintings, the complete set of 323 Saturday Evening Post tear-sheet covers, and a group of rarely seen preparatory works and artifacts – all from the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts."This historic touring exhibition is the first ever major retrospective of Rockwell's paintings in Canada," says Director Stephen Borys. "The show is attracting significant crowds on its American circuit, such as at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, which saw over 106,000 visitors. This is your chance to view this important exhibition and take in an exciting array of related programs and events, the details of which can all be viewed at wag.rockwell.ca, a new micro-website dedicated to the show." One of the most popular American artists of the past century, Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) chronicled our changing society in the small details and nuanced scenes of ordinary people in everyday life, providing a personalized interpretation—often an idealized one—of American identity. Rockwell's contributions to our visual legacy, many of them now icons of North American culture, have found a permanent place in our psyche. His images tell stories that still resonate today, reminding us what is important in our lives. Produced through the Norman Rockwell Museum and made possible by the Mauro Family Foundation Inc., audio guides narrated by Rockwell's son Peter are included with Gallery admission. Peter Rockwell will also be in Winnipeg in late April presenting two talks (April 25 & 27) and a tour (April 25) in conjunction with the show. Visitors will enjoy an interactive zone set up in the Galleries, complete with a life sized Saturday Evening Post cover backdrop, and the chance to relax in period furniture provided by Lindsey Steek & Company. Youth ages 18 and under are invited to enter the Rockwell Art Contest by designing a magazine cover, the winner of which will have their design featured in the Winnipeg Free Press. The public can even Adopt-A-Rockwell to pay tribute to someone special like never before.  Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York City to Jarvis Waring Rockwell and Anne Mary "Nancy" (born Hill) Rockwell. His earliest American ancestor was John Rockwell (1588–1662), from Somerset, England, who immigrated to America probably in 1635 aboard the ship Hopewell and became one of the first settlers of Windsor, Connecticut. He had one brother, Jarvis Waring Rockwell, Jr., older by a year and half. Jarvis Waring, Sr., was the manager of the New York office of a Philadelphia textile firm, George Wood, Sons & Company, where he spent his entire career. Norman transferred from high school to the Chase Art School at the age of 14. He then went on to the National Academy of Design and finally to the Art Students League. There, he was taught by Thomas Fogarty, George Bridgman, and Frank Vincent DuMond; his early works were produced for St. Nicholas Magazine, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) publication Boys' Life and other juvenile publications. Joseph Csatari carried on his legacy and style for the BSA. As a student, Rockwell was given smaller, less important jobs. His first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age eighteen with his first book illustration for Carl H. Claudy's Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature. In 1913, the nineteen-year old Rockwell became the art editor for Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America, a post he held for three years (1913–1916). As part of that position, he painted several covers, beginning with his first published magazine cover, Scout at Ship's Wheel, appearing on the Boys' Life September 1913 edition. During the First World War, he tried to enlist into the U.S. Navy but was refused entry because, at 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 140 pounds (64 kg), he was eight pounds underweight. To compensate, he spent one night gorging himself on bananas, liquids and doughnuts, and weighed enough to enlist the next day. However, he was given the role of a military artist and did not see any action during his tour of duty. Rockwell's family moved to New Rochelle, New York when Norman was 21 years old and shared a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe, who worked for The Saturday Evening Post. With Forsythe's help, he submitted his first successful cover painting to the Post in 1916, Mother's Day Off (published on May 20). He followed that success with Circus Barker and Strongman (published on June 3), Gramps at the Plate (August 5), Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (September 16), People in a Theatre Balcony (October 14) and Man Playing Santa (December 9). Rockwell was published eight times total on the Post cover within the first twelve months. Norman Rockwell published a total of 322 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years. His Sharp Harmony appeared on the cover of the issue dated September 26, 1936; depicts a barber and three clients, enjoying an a cappella song.Rockwell's success on the cover of the Post led to covers for other magazines of the day, most notably The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life Magazine. In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms series, which was completed in seven months and resulted in his losing 15 pounds. The series was inspired by a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he described four principles for universal rights: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were published in 1943 by The Saturday Evening Post. The United States Department of the Treasury later promoted war bonds by exhibiting the originals in 16 cities. Rockwell himself considered "Freedom of Speech" to be the best of the four. That same year a fire in his studio destroyed numerous original paintings, costumes, and props. Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing. King Features Syndicate is reported to have promised a $1,000/week deal, knowing that a Capp-Rockwell collaboration would gain strong public interest. However, the project was ultimately aborted as it turned out that Rockwell, known for his perfectionism as an artist, could not deliver material as fast as required of him for a daily comic strip. During the late 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent the winter months as artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Students occasionally were models for his Saturday Evening Post covers. In 1949, Rockwell donated an original Post cover, "April Fool," to be raffled off in a library fund raiser. In 1959, his wife Mary died unexpectedly, and Rockwell took time off from his work to grieve. It was during this break that he and his son Thomas produced his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, which was published in 1960. The Post printed excerpts from this book in eight consecutive issues, the first containing Rockwell's famous Triple Self-Portrait. Rockwell married his third wife, retired Milton Academy English teacher, Molly Punderson, in 1961. His last painting for the Post was published in 1963, marking the end of a publishing relationship that had included 322 cover paintings. He spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration. In 1968 Rockwell was commissioned to do an album cover portrait of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper for their record, The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper. During his long career, he was commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as those of foreign figures, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. One of his last works was a portrait of Judy Garland in 1969. A custodianship of his original paintings and drawings was established with Rockwell's help near his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the Norman Rockwell Museum is still open today year round. Norman Rockwell Museum is the authoritative source for all things Norman Rockwell. The Museum's collection is the world's largest, including more than 700 original Rockwell paintings, drawings, and studies. The Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies at the Norman Rockwell Museum is a national research institute dedicated to American illustration art. When he was concerned with his health he placed his studio and the contents with the Norman Rockwell Museum, which was formerly known as the Stockbridge Historical society and even more formerly known as the Old Corner house, in a trust. For "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country," Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor, in 1977. Rockwell died November 8, 1978 of emphysema at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. First Lady Rosalynn Carter attended his funeral.  The WAG was established in 1912 when a group of Winnipeg businessmen, recognizing "the civilizing effects of art," each contributed $200 and rented two rooms in the old Federal Building at the corner of Main and Water Streets. Thus, the WAG was born, becoming the first civic art gallery in Canada. Now approaching its centenary in 2012, the Winnipeg Art Gallery has developed from a small civic gallery to Canada's sixth largest gallery with an international reputation. As it expanded, the WAG relocated premises several times to accommodate its growing collection, including its former residence in what is now the Manitoba Archives Building on St. Mary Avenue. The 1950s witnessed the beginning of several of the WAG's specialized collections, including that of Inuit Art. The WAG is now home to the largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world with over 10,730 works. The Decorative Arts collection, another area of specialized collecting, also began in the 1950s since when the WAG has amassed over 4,000 pieces of decorative art, covering diverse media of ceramic, glass, metal, and textiles dating from the 17th century to the mid-20th century. The third specialized collection began considerably later in the 1980s with the designation of the photography collection which now numbers some 1,300 works, largely of contemporary Canadian origin. Designed by Winnipeg architect Gustavo da Roza, built of pale Manitoba Tyndall stone, the current WAG building rises like the prow of a ship on its own triangular "ocean." It was opened by Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, on September 25, 1971. In addition to eight galleries, the building contains a 320-seat auditorium, a rooftop sculpture garden and restaurant, a research library, a gift shop, and extensive meeting and lecture space. The WAG footprint expanded in October 1995 with the opening of the new WAG Studio Building next door in the renovated Mall Medical Building. Home to the Gallery's art classes, the WAG facility is the largest program of its kind in Canada, offering children and adults art classes taught by professional artists. Visit the museum's website at ... http://wag.ca  |
| Massive Artwork Stolen from Witte de With Facade in Rotterdam Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:56 PM PDT
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| Storm King Art Center ~ One of the World's Most Distinguished Sculpture Parks Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:54 PM PDT  MOUNTAINVILLE, N.Y.- Storm King Art Center, one of the world's most distinguished and best-loved sculpture parks, opened to the public for its 2011 season on April 1. Located about an hour north of New York City, in the Hudson Valley, Storm King encompasses over 500 pristine acres of rolling hills, fields, and woodlands. These provide space for more than 100 large-scale sculptures by some of the preeminent artists of our time, including Alexander Calder, Mark di Suvero, Andy Goldsworthy, Maya Lin, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi, Richard Serra, David Smith, and Ursula von Rydingsvard, among others.  |
| Virginia Miller Galleries Debuts Nine Emerging Chinese Artists Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:51 PM PDT  Coral Gables, FL - "Under the Radar: First Florida Exhibition—Nine Chinese Artists Interpret the Figure," the new exhibition at ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries in downtown Coral Gables, might as well be called "U.S. Debut of Contemporary Chinese Artists." It's the first show in the United States for eight of the nine artists, mostly in their 20s and 30s with only a handful of exhibitions in their biographies. "We thought it was the first U.S. show for all the artists until we found out that Lu Qi Ming was in two group exhibitions in New York and at the Smart Museum of the University of Chicago," says gallery owner Virginia Miller.  The work is very different from the gallery's last exhibition, which featured pioneering Chinese neo-pop artists. "Each of the artists in this show has a very different style and unique subject matter," Miller says. "Several are subtly critical of their government. It's a fascinating look into their world." The most spectacular work in the show is a triptych by Liao Zhenwu stretching across 27 feet. Its three panels are a stylized, painterly depiction of the motorcyclists in the artist's gray, gritty hometown in Sichuan. Zhenwu's other paintings, also rendered in shades of gray, white and black, either show other motorcyclists or are one of his series inspired by the mannikins in Beijing's showroom windows. Senior artist in the group, in terms of exhibitions, is Lu Qi Ming, whose oils depict a barely clad figure dangling above the sea on a single rope. According to the artist, "The politics of our society keep us dangling above a mysterious future, leaving us all at the mercy of the hands that hold our strings." The lone sculptor in the exhibition is Liao Yibai, whose stylized, fabricated stainless steel figures represent a traveler's angel, a worker's angel, and a particularly blessed angel being drenched in an apparent rainstorm, whose symbolic splashing represents holiness, goodness and brightness to traditional Buddhists.  The last work, a highly complex piece with numerous individual splashes of raindrops, is the first to be completed in Yibai's usual series of eight in this size. Confronting visitors to the gallery as they step inside is a six-and-a-half foot painting by Liang Haopeng titled "The Bicycle Thieves." His first work exhibited outside China, the painting depicts a stripped bicycle surrounded by five thuggish men, each rimmed in red, with their mouths open and hands caught in mid-gesture, apparently reacting to their imminent arrest. Haopeng's paintings generally show unruly behavior, chaotic gatherings or arguments, capturing tense and anxious moments. Two canvases by Li Jia, each nearly six feet tall, show a female puppet dangling from a red rose and another sitting on a thorny rose with tears in her oversized eyes, their large eyes and doll-like heads reflected the influence of anime, the wildly popular Japanese comics. The artist's vision is clarified by her statement that "our vision of beauty is manipulated by the marketplace." Because of the color and wilting condition of the roses, some viewers wonder whether they might be a visual metaphor for China's socialist government. Clearly, some contemporary Chinese artists take humorous potshots at their government. As an example, Zhu Yan's cartoon-like characters belie his politically charged, sarcastic titles. "I Love Tiananmen Square," for example, shows a chorus of rigid, tight-lipped men in front of the square, with another clutching a bouquet tightly to his chest—clearly, a picture devoid of affection for the subject of its title. Moreover, a picture of Mao Zedong hangs at the entrance to the Forbidden City buildings, and two  fighter jets leave prominent contrails overhead, further references to the Cultural Revolution and its military emphasis.Most enigmatic of the works in the exhibition is a five-foot painting by Cui Jin. Titled "Wait Behind and Wait For," it shows a full-length female figure, enveloped in what appears to be crinkled translucent paper or plastic wrap, and wearing elbow-length scarlet lace gloves and an opaque, fringed scarlet hood with an embellished mouth. The symbolic coverings, suggestive of those worn by brides on their wedding day, have been interpreted as referring to the sense of entrapment of women entering marriage. Compared to Cui Jin's eerie, anonymous figure, the three paintings by Wang Limin appear to be straightforward portraits of attractive young women, each wearing the military-style uniforms of the Cultural Revolution era. Those familiar with the symbolism of the red chrysanthemum and red medal on their chests, however, suspect that the artist is subtly contrasting the flower's representation of joy and success with the unhappy regimentation of the Mao Zedong era. He Zubin, another of the artists being shown outside China for the first time, has been called a "quintessential Chinese artist." His figurative works, like the landscapes of the Thomas Hart Benton, curl into graceful compositions, and feature elongated, elegant fingers and faces, all rendered in muted colors. "All of these are highly promising emerging artists with accomplished techniques," said Miller. Located at 169 Madeira Avenue in downtown Coral Gables, ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and by appointment. For more information, call 305-444-4493 or visit the gallery's web site, www.virginiamiller.com where you can take a virtual tour of the exhibition.  |
| Christie's NY to offer Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:50 PM PDT
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| Cheim & Read Exhibit Late Paintings by Abstract Painter Joan Mitchell Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:48 PM PDT  NEW YORK, N.Y.- Cheim & Read presents an exhibition of late paintings by Joan Mitchell. The show brings together 13 works, dating from 1985–1992, that represent Mitchell's exploration of painting in the last decade of her life. The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color catalogue with a text by Richard D. Marshall. Joan Mitchell (1925–1992) moved from Chicago to New York in 1947. Early in her career, she was included in the historically significant 1951 Ninth Street Exhibition. Organized by Leo Castelli, the show was renowned for its championship of Abstract Expressionism, and positioned Mitchell with older, mostly male painters: Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline among them. Mitchell met de Kooning early on—inspired by his painting, she sought out an introduction—and was a rare female participant in artistic debates at the notorious Cedar Tavern. In 1952, she had her first solo exhibition at the New Gallery.  |
| It’s Baselmania Week in Miami Beach Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:46 PM PDT MIAMI BEACH , FL — It's Baselmania week in Miami Beach : the week the art world gets high on art fairs, its current drug of choice. This year there are said to be 13 additional fairs grouped around the mother ship, Art Basel Miami Beach, now in its fifth year. Once, an art fair was a concentrated event; more and more it is a catalyst for diffuse, ancillary, tag-along, glamour-by-association shop-a-thons. There are spin-off art fairs and design shows, museum openings, gallery exhibitions, private collection viewings, book signings, product introductions, fashion events and sundry art parades — all unfolding amid a good deal of social to-ing and fro-ing, seeing and being seen at parties, dinners, receptions and brunches. Art Basel Miami Beach alone now offers more than any one person can see: in addition to nearly 180 exhibitors in the Miami Beach Convention Center, there are panels, lectures, a video lounge, a sound-art lounge, artist projects and Art Positions, the minifair held in containers on the beach. It is probably de rigueur to note, at this point, the insatiable appetite for art at fairs like this: the mindless buying frenzy, the herd-like pursuit of certain names, the trophy hunters with hedge fund money, the 100 museum-led groups that have descended on Miami this week, according to The Art Newspaper (which swings into a daily publication schedule for this fair). But the most valuable commodity at an art fair is information, and that is available to anyone. The information has a particular intensity here. Unlike London, where the major museums are setting their exhibition clocks to Frieze Art Fair time, or New York, where the art machine is big enough to swallow almost any art fair whole, Miami offers what might be called a level playing field for different viewing circumstances: i.e., fairs, museums, the private collector/alternative spaces and a few other ventures. All contribute equally to the flow of information. All sorts of new stuff fills the NADA fair, which occupies a sprawling white stucco building in the Wynwood section of Miami. At the London dealer Dicksmith's booth, for example, the Japanese-born video artist Meiro Koizumi has a short video titled "Amazing Grace," in which his face serves as whipping post, lead character and stage set all at once. For something more restrained, try Emily Wardill's equally engaging, if more abstract, films at Jonathan Viner, another London dealer. Yet at Leo Koenig, a big, gaudy new painting by Peter Saul, now in his 70s, is in full cry.
Also on the periphery, crowds of people gawked at the sight of a simple crushed Camel cigarette pack tripping the light fantastic at Gavin Brown's. The piece, by Urs Fischer, shares the large corner booth with a long, L-shaped bench by Mark Handforth. The bench, of course, was also popular, given the general shortage of seating at an art fair. The tripping was provided by fishing wire that extended to an enormous multijoined aluminum arm rotating on the ceiling. (The piece sold for $160,000.) Farther inside the convention center you can find older, strikingly unfamiliar works: three recently discovered large watercolors by the visionary American landscapist Charles Burchfield at D C Moore and "Send Me Back to the Congo," a wonderful 1966 fabric wall hanging by the prescient Oyvind Fahlstrom that shows Africa as a kind of twisted tan pretzel. Krugier has pulled out all the stops with a jaw-dropping display of Picassos — as if this were Basel Basel, not Basel Miami Beach. There are moments of disjointed dazzle: John Bock's video/sculpture/performance set that protrudes in four different directions at Klosterfelde; David Altmejd's imposing aggregate of fur, resin and mirrored cubes at Rosen, which turns out to be an enormous werewolf head; and the entire Neugerriemschneider booth, where works by Isa Genzken, Franz Ackermann, Pawel Althamer and Tobias Rehberger are pulled into inharmonic convergence by lots of chrome, courtesy of several works by Rirkrit Tiravanija. Miami museums are offering a lot this year, most notably the bracing exhibition of Bruce Nauman's neon light pieces at the Museum of Contemporary Art and, at its Goldman Warehouse, "Artificial Light," which often reflects the long shadow that Mr. Nauman casts on contemporary art. Mr. Nauman is also represented in an exhibition of videos from the Pompidou Center, on view at the Miami Art Center.
"The Red Eye: L.A. Artists From the Rubell Family Collection," at the Rubell Family Collection, has some wonderful works by familiar artists, including John Baldessari, Jason Rhoades, Charles Ray and, especially, Paul McCarthy, who emerges here as a generous eminence grise. But the real news is the physically inventive, figuratively inclined sculptural appropriation by several younger artists, including Aaron Curry, Thomas Houseago and Nathan Mabry. Art fairs will continue to flourish until the bottom falls out of the art market, or until dealers, who invented them, decide that there is a better way to do things. Two dealers already on this quest are Ronald Feldman, a longtime SoHo gallerist, and Joe Amrhein of Pierogi, a Williamsburg fixture. They have rented a raw one-story building in the Wynwood district here and filled its 12,000 square feet with works by artists they represent. The show is uneven, but it is suffused with pioneering courage, epitomized by a spectacularly ambitious piece by Tavares Strachan, a Bahamian artist represented by both galleries. Mr. Strachan's "Distance Between What We Have and What We Want" is a four-and-one-half-ton block of Arctic ice in a pristine steel-and-glass industrial freezer ( solar powered). It calls attention to Matthew Henson, the black explorer who discovered the North Pole with Robert Peary. Seeing it in the dim light of an unrenovated Florida warehouse is a humbling experience. It functions as a kind of relic of the shrinking Arctic ice cap and a clear statement of what one person — in this case, an artist — can will into existence. By Roberta Smith...NY Times  |
| The Grosvernor Vadehra Gallery Exhibits Dhruva Mistry's Bronzes Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:45 PM PDT  London.- The Grosvenor Vadehra Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of bronze sculptures by Dhruva Mistry from the collection of Nigel Greenwood. These include important works that the artist made while living in London from 1987-1990. The exhibition will be on view from May 6th to May 20th. A few of Mistry's sculptures in this exhibition like Hanuman, Spatial Diagram 2, Woman 3 (Study for river), and Study for the Object are maquettes he made for larger public sculptures. Woman 3 is a study for one his most important large scale pieces called The River, which is located in Birmingham. This sculpture has been affectionately nicknamed 'Floozie in the Jacuzzi' by the locals. In this sculpture Mistry depicts a bold classical idealised form of a reclining female nude sitting in the middle of a large fountain. Whilst this is perhaps the most used form in sculpture, Mistry was able to add to some qualities to it that were truly his.  |
| Silences ~ by Marin Karmitz at Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAMCS) Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:44 PM PDT  |
| The Royal Ontario Museum to Host "Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008" Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:42 PM PDT Throughout its 95-year history, Vanity Fair magazine has helped define the public persona of some of the most influential individuals in the world. The exhibition brings together a collection of captivating images of cultural icons from the magazine's vintage and modern periods. Sitters range from Claude Monet, Amelia Earheart and Jesse Owens to David Hockney, Arthur Miller and Madonna, as well as legendary Hollywood personalities from Charlie Chaplin and Greta Garbo, to Demi Moore and Tom Cruise. The magazine's mix of artistic seriousness and popular celebrity means that portraits of writers, artists and leaders of the avant-garde will be displayed alongside images of actors, musicians and athletes, providing a fascinating range of high and popular culture. "We are delighted to bring Vanity Fair Portraits to the ROM. Across its history, the magazine has been a barometer of the cultural mood of the time. This exhibition succeeds in channelling a mixture of the bygone days of Hollywood glamour, as well as newsmakers in art, business, politics and sport - all captured by some of the best portrait photographers in history. We are grateful to the National Portrait Gallery in London and Vanity Fair magazine for the opportunity to show this beautiful exhibition in Canada. It will be the centrepiece in an upcoming series of programming on the nature of celebrity," said William Thorsell, ROM Director and CEO.  Vanity Fair Portraits was mounted to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the modern-era magazine and the 95th anniversary of the original magazine's founding. The exhibition is divided into two parts, 1913-36, the magazine's early period, and 1983 to the present. In addition to the portraits, the exhibition will include vintage and modern editions of Vanity Fair magazines. The magazine was launched in 1913 by visionary publisher Condé Nast and editor Frank Crowinshield. From its inception, the magazine strove to engage its cosmopolitan and discerning audience with the vibrant modern culture that sparkled at the beginning of the 20th century. The birth of modernism, the dawning of the Jazz Age, and the 1913 Armory Show that introduced avant-garde art to the American public, all marked the beginning of this sophisticated new era. Vanity Fair magazine became a cultural catalyst, introducing and providing commentary on contemporary artists, personalities and writers. In these early years, Vanity Fair was the showcase for what was to become the most accessible art form in the 20th century, and an alluring array of portraits were commissioned from the greatest photographers of the period. Edward Steichen (1879-1973), the magazine's chief photographer for 13 years (from 1923 to 1936), became America's leading photographer of style, taste and celebrity. Steichen is best remembered for his timeless images of actors, whose likenesses in print and onscreen helped shape popular culture during the first quarter of the 20th century. A selection of his iconic photographs will be shown in the exhibition. From the magazine's beginning, British, Irish and American literary figures were frequently profiled in the magazine along with their writings. Among the vintage portraits shown in the exhibition are iconic images of H.G. Wells, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, Rebecca West, Ernest Hemingway and George Bernard Shaw. Vanity Fair Portraits offers a rare opportunity to see some of the definitive portraits of the Jazz Age. Memorable images of men and women of the day are presented, such as Albert Einstein, Collette, Pablo Picasso and English playwright Noel Coward, whose images were captured by legendary photographers such as Martin Hölig, Cecil Beaton, Baron De Meyer, Man Ray and Edward Steichen. In 1936, Vanity Fair suspended publication, laying dormant for almost half a century. In the early 1980s, the vibrant cosmopolitan spirit streaming through the culture of the time persuaded Condé Nast Publications to resurrect the magazine. Once again, the magazine succeeded in immortalizing the newsmakers of the day - individuals of talent, stature and culture who were firmly embedded in the popular culture. And, as in the early period, portrait photography was the graphic bedrock of the magazine. Tina Brown, editor from 1983 to 1992, notably imbued the magazine with a mixture of personality profiles and first-rate reportage. When Brown moved on to the New Yorker in 1992, Graydon Carter took the editorial reigns at Vanity Fair and expanded the magazine's coverage of news and world affairs, and, amongst a variety of new franchises, inaugurated the now annual Hollywood Issue along with the much-celebrated annual Oscar party. The section of the exhibition representing the period 1983 to the present illustrates how the revived monthly followed in the tradition of its first editor, Frank Crowninshield, and commissioned the world's leading portrait photographers, among them Helmut Newton, Nan Goldin, Herb Ritts, Harry Benson, Mario Testino, Bruce Weber and Annie Leibovitz, Vanity Fair's principal photographer since 1983. Leibovitz, the most famous imagemaker of her generation, first came to prominence while she was working as a photographer for Rolling Stone magazine, eventually becoming chief photographer. Her Vanity Fair covers have left us with unforgettable images of prominent figures in American pop culture. From vintage to contemporary prints, Vanity Fair Portraits captures viewers' imagination, taking them on a journey of nearly 100 years of popular culture. The glamour of the golden age of cinema shines in portraits of American actresses Gloria Swanson, Anna May Wong and the Gish sisters; an incandescent portrait of Jean Harlow three years before her death; and beloved icons of the silver screen, Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. With a nod to modernity – a significant element of the magazine's inception - the Jazz Age is represented by classic studies of trumpeter Louis Armstrong and entertainer Josephine Baker. The selection also includes unpublished images, including a portrait of 1930s actress Alice White by Florence Vandamm and a study of Weimar era artist George Grosz by Emil Bieber. Bringing the exhibition to the 21st century, we are invited to look into the eyes of firefighters near Ground Zero (2001); a powerful image of actress Hilary Swank running on a beach (2004) and Annie Leibovitz's Hollywood Issue cover (2001), featuring Nicole Kidman, Catherine Deneuve, Meryl Streep, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, Vanessa Redgrave, Kate Winslet, Chloe Sevigny, Sophia Loren and Penelope Cruz. From the world of music, portraits of Philip Glass (2002) and Liza Minnelli (2002) are juxtaposed with images of Run DMC (2005) and Radiohead (2000). Vanity Fair's iconic photographs continue to make news. Post-1983 cover images include the Reagans dancing (1985), a very pregnant Demi Moore (1991), a formal portrait of President George W. Bush's Afghan War Cabinet (2002) and, most recently, actresses Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley photographed nude (2006). Exclusive to the ROM is a Jonathan Becker portrait of Conrad Black with his wife, Barbara Amiel.  |
| A Selection of Recent Acquisitions, 2005-2011 on view at S.M.A.K. Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:41 PM PDT  GHENT, BELGIUM - The collection is S.M.A.K.'s DNA and reflects the museum's core identity as the pivot between recent art history and current trends. S.M.A.K.'s acquisition policy has developed organically over the years and has three distinct levels. Firstly, the museum strives to form an ensemble around the oeuvre of a select group of artists. Instead of representing an artist with just a single work, S.M.A.K. aims to collect an oeuvre in depth in order to present it in all its complexity. Secondly, there is a substantial interaction with the temporary exhibitions, which can be seen as the engine of the collection policy. Finally, by acquiring the work of emerging artists the museum attempts to give a major boost to further developing young artistic practices. Thus, through expanding clusters, S.M.A.K. seeks to arrive at constellations which enter into dialogue with each other within the collection.  |
| Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein opens 'Modernism as a Ruin ~ An Archaeology of the Present' Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:38 PM PDT
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| Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:35 PM PDT  New York City.- Sotheby's New York auction of American Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture on 1st December 2011 will feature a strong selection works across the diverse genres that the category encompasses, with many of the highlights on offer from distinguished institutions and celebrated collections. Following Sotheby's 2004 sale of a group of 31 George Catlin paintings, on offer from The Field Museum in Chicago and originally in the collection of Benjamin O'Fallon, the December 2011 sale will be led by four additional works from the collection that represent the finest from the original group. The sale will be on exhibition in Sotheby's York Avenue galleries beginning 26th November. George Catlin was a 19th century painter who specialized in depicting Native American tribes of the Old West, and Benjamin O'Fallon – nephew of William Clark and the 'United States Indian Agent' for the Missouri River Tribes – was one of his first patrons. The collection that O'Fallon assembled is remarkable for including only works that Catlin painted in the West during the first two years of his effort to visit every tribe in the United States, as opposed to those he painted later from Europe. The paintings have resided in the collection of The Field Museum in Chicago since 1894, when it purchased the 35 surviving Catlin paintings from Benjamin O'Fallon's collection. In December 2004, the museum consigned 31 of the canvases to Sotheby's, which sold them at auction as a single lot to a private collector. At the time of the 2004 sale, the Field Museum retained what were arguably the four finest canvases from the O'Fallon Collection, which are the four works on offer this December in New York. The group features two portraits and two scene paintings. "One Horn, Head Chief of the Miniconjou Tribe, Teton Dakota (Western Sioux)" is one of the first portraits that Catlin made in the field (estimate $1/1.5 million), while "Black Hawk, Prominent Sauk Chief, Sauk and Fox" depicts the man who gave his name to a brief but bloody war in the summer of 1832 (estimate $1/1.5 million). "Interior of a Mandan Lodge" is one of six surviving pictures from the collection that depict Mandan sitters (estimate $800,000/1.2 million), and "Buffalo Chase, a Surround by the Hidatsa" is a dramatic and chaotic hunting scene that is among the most dynamic of Catlin's canvases (estimate $800,000/1.2 million).  The December sale will feature Winslow Homer's rare oil painting "Reverie" (estimate $1.2/1.8 million) from the collection of Joan Whitney Payson. The work is from a small series of four canvases executed in the summer of 1872, while the artist was staying in Hurley, New York. Each shows a young woman in a dark interior, beside a bright window view of the outdoors – the composition and costume of the girl recalling the tradition of 17th century Dutch interiors. The works stand alone in Homer's career, as nothing the artist did before or after these works directly refers to them. Relatively small in scale, they are gem-like in execution. They are the work of an artist who had already made his mark critically both in the United States and abroad, but was still striving to find his own voice and to establish his own market. Another rare work from the 19th century will be "Red Hollyhocks" by John La Farge, an artist whose works infrequently appear at auction (estimate $500/700,000). La Farge was known for experimenting with color and technique, and in this spirit he painted his 1860s hollyhock compositions in encaustic – a mix of oil and wax credited to the ancient Greeks that gives the present work its unique texture and striking coloration. Sotheby's is honored to offer a group of 18 works from the highly personal collection of Helen Marx this December. As a successful publisher under the imprint Helen Marx Books, she specialized in literary fiction, biographies and works in French. Over a period of 30 years, Mrs. Marx assembled a collection that reflected both her sophisticated taste and lifelong dedication to the arts, including beautiful examples by several of the most notable American artists of the 19th century. Property from the Estate of Helen Marx will be led by works from Martin Johnson Heade and Winslow Homer. Heade's "Orchids and Hummingbirds" is an example of the artist's coveted pairings of the flora and fauna he first witnessed in Brazil in 1863 (estimate $500/700,000). "Orange Trees and Gate" is one of a series of watercolors executed by Homer during his first trip to Nassau, Bahamas in 1884-85 (estimate $500/700,000). Recognized as one of the 19th century's most gifted masters of this medium, Homer's work captures the brilliant sunshine and the abundant tropical foliage of the islands. The Marx collection will also feature still lifes by artists including Severin Roesen and William Michael Harnett, as well as a charming group of genre paintings. The American Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture auction will feature two works executed in 1946 by iconic American artists visiting Mexico. Made after a three-month long trip to Mexico in that year, "Crucifixion" exemplifies Milton Avery's ability to create works appealing to serious and popular audiences, while responding to a contemporary cultural dialogue between the United States and Mexico around the time of World War II (estimate $1/1.5 million). The work depicts a local woman worshipping in the Parrochia church of San Miguel de Allende. To escape the tense climate of New England, Edward Hopper and his wife Jo began visiting Mexico for their summers in 1943. On their first trip they discovered the small town of Saltillo, and they returned there each summer for several years. Always painting en plein air and after 5 pm in order to record the best late afternoon light, Hopper produced an impressive group of watercolors inspired by the old town, including "Construction in Mexico" in 1946 (estimate $800,000/1.2 million).  In addition to the Catlin paintings from the Field Museum, Sotheby's is pleased to offer works from several additional museums as part of the December auction. Property from the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery features Marsden Hartley's "Untitled (Still Life)" from 1919, which depicts a blooming cactus in a Pueblo Indian blackware olla, set on a red and white striped table cloth with a view of the New Mexico landscape behind (estimate $700/900,000). Johan Oscar Thorsen – a colleague of artist Birger Sandzén at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas – had purchased the work directly from Hartley after a trip to Santa Fe, and on his death it was bequeathed to the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery at Bethany. Property from the Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. will include a bronze portrait medallion of Robert Louis Stevenson that documents his friendship with the artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the acclaimed sculptor of the monument to Civil War hero David Farragut installed in Madison Square Park (est. $100/150,000). Property from the Amerind Foundation Collection features Robert Henri's "Untitled [Alanna]" from 1928 (estimate $400/600,000). The work is among Henri's last paintings, and depicts a young girl from Achill Island, Ireland, where the artist and his wife lived in the 1920s. And Property from the Israel Museum, Jerusalem will offer works by Thomas Hart Benton and Marsden Hartley. American Illustration in the sale will be led by a group of eight works by quintessential American artist Norman Rockwell. The group will feature the Saturday Evening Post cover "Couple with Milkman", which depicts a couple on their way home from an evening event, stopping a milkman to check the time (estimate $1.2/1.8 million). The work reflects the central role that young romance had come to play in Rockwell's life – after divorcing his first wife Irene O'Connor in 1930, he married the young schoolteacher Mary Barstow – and further conveys the inherent humor the artist found in all walks of daily American life. The December auction will also feature Rockwell's work in advertising. "Whispering sweepstakes" is a group of four paintings commissioned by the Corn Products Company for use in ads for Skippy peanut butter (estimate $200/300,000), while both "Young Husband Checking Grocery List" (estimate $250/350,000) and "Pregnant Woman Drinking Tea" (estimate $200/300,000) were commissioned by the Brooke Bond Foods Company for use in ads for its Red Rose Tea label. Sotheby's was founded in London on March 11, 1744, when Samuel Baker auctioned "several Hundred scarce and valuable books" from the library of the Rt Hon Sir John Stanley for a few hundred pounds. The story of Sotheby's expansion beyond books to include the best in fine and decorative arts and jewellery is also the story of the global auction market, defined by extraordinary moments that continue to capture the world's attention. Since 1744, Sotheby's has distinguished itself as a leader in the auction world. Their auctions, conducted in the venerable salerooms in London and Paris, the museum-quality galleries of their headquarters in New York and the spirited environs of Hong Kong rivet audiences worldwide. Season after season, the depth and excellence of Sotheby's offerings have produced watershed, record-breaking sales. They were the first international auction house to expand from London to New York in 1955, and the first to conduct sales in Hong Kong and the then–Soviet Union. Today they maintain 90 locations in 40 countries and they conduct 250 auctions each year in over 70 categories. In addition to their four principal salerooms, the company, recognising the potential in new markets, also conducts auctions in six other salerooms around the world, further expanding its global reach. Visit the auction house's website at ... http://www.sothebys.com  |
| Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review" Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:34 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.   |
At Art Basel Miami Beach the outer ring of the convention center, called Art Nova, is devoted to younger galleries and feels livelier than NADA. One of the dealers there, Catriona Jeffries from Vancouver, is introducing the artist Judy Radul with "Five Pieces of Relation," an elaborate yet tight multimedia sculpture installation. The work sets the mind to thinking about the souls of animals, employing a teleprompter, a live camera, several small monitors and music. All along the Art Nova pipeline, you run into pockets of resistance to the art world's consumer culture. At the Maccarone booth you enter a small room and see (along with the artist himself) Anthony Burdin's latest hallucinatory excursion into video, sound and the desert landscape. At Susanne Vielmetter, Rodney McMillian bucks the system with 15 identical photographs of a rather beat-up plaster bust honoring some forgotten businessman. As Ms. Vielmetter explained, quite happily, she expects to confirm Mr. McMillian's theory that people won't buy what is clearly plentiful. 
The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (which also sponsors the Miami Art Center) has organized "The Sites of Latin American Abstraction" from its holdings. This in-depth show of works by nearly 70 artists, most from the 1950s, '60s and '70s, is especially remarkable for the way that photography holds its own with painting and sculpture.
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