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• Director Toni Stoops of The Museum of Modern Art Salzburg In Austria ~ Guides Our Editor On Tour
• Sotheby's Amsterdam Presents Paintings of Historical Value
• The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum to Showcase The Binney Collection of Indian Art
• Frida Kahlo ~ Her Myth, Her Art, Her Influence . . Lives On
• Collector Sues Gagosian Gallery for Selling a Tansey Painting Partially Owned by MET
• Rijksmuseum Announces "Tavern Scenes Exhibition" to Open in December
• Morton´s Auction House Sale of Important Latin-american Works of Art
• Christie's Auction of Post-War and Contemporary Art in London Tops $31.8 Million
• Winners of Global Design Competition Visit the Guggenheim Museum
• MoMA Features Pivotal Moments in Henri Matisse's Radical Invention
• Mount Rushmore's famous faces goes Virtual with in-depth Tours Online
• Alte Pinakothek’s 175th Jubilee Exhibition on Pietro Perugino
• Saint Louis Art Museum Presents Artist Francesco Clemente's "High Fever"
• Fifty Important Works by Andy Warhol on View at Hay Hill Gallery
• Morris Museum Announces New Exhibition "On the Head and In the Hand"
• Mingei International Museum presents "Viva Mexico!"
• Asheville Art Museum hosts A Retrospective of Paintings by John Baeder
• Phoenix Art Museum Hosts Major Retrospective of Ernest L. Blumenschein
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

Director Toni Stoops of The Museum of Modern Art Salzburg In Austria ~ Guides Our Editor On Tour Posted: 28 May 2012 06:20 PM PDT The Museum of Modern Art Salzburg consists of two buildings in two spectacular locations. The Museum of Modern Art on monk mountain is located in a prominent position above the old town and presents itself as a new, modern architectural building for major exhibitions and displays from the permanent collection in an international context. Our own extensive collection as well as possession of a large international exhibitions of contemporary art can be presented in an appropriate context. The Museum of Modern Art Rupertinum, originally built as an Archbishop's baroque mansion, next door to the Festival Hall and Cathedral precinct, has been adapted for the presentation of modern art. Both buildings of the Museum der Moderne Salzburg have 3,800 m2 of exhibition space for thematic and monographic exhibitions of art from the 20th and 21st Centuries, but which are also available for presentation of graphics and photography. The idea of founding a museum of modern art and the collection itself goes back to the initiative of Salzburg art dealer Friedrich Welz, who donated much of his private collection to the nation. Through his personal friendship with Oskar Kokoschka a considerable body of work was created to form the great Austrian Expressionist collection; the Rupertinum. In 1983 the Rupertinum became the Salzburger Museum of Modern Art and Print Room and was opened to the public. Under the founding director, Otto Breicha, the Rupertinum became the most important collection of contemporary art and photography in Austria. In October 2004, the Museum of Modern Art on Monk's Mountain was opened and integrated with the Rupertinum as the Joint Museum der Moderne Salzburg. With the increase in exhibition space to the nearly ten times the original size, the opportunities and programs at the two locations became world class. The local museum in its elegant old town house provides excellent facilities to display fine exhibitions of graphic works of the most classic modern art, whilst the new international institution created spectacular spacious rooms and presentation facilities for large formats, installation works, media arts and its extensive collection. The Museum of Modern Art architects were particularly sensitive to the view of the historic city of Salzburg with reference to the distinctive appearance of the water tower from the 19th Century was decisive for the choice by the glass staircases, the view of the historical buildings remained as a view for visitors to enjoy. In three and a half years of construction was a most modern museum that offers four levels greatest possible flexibility for a variety of exhibition formats. The interior offers a generously structured area of 2600 m² best conditions for exhibitions of art from the 20th and 21 Century, with their different requirements. The development of open space in the planes is a spacious staircase and an elevator. Level 3: opens from the central exhibition space in a large picture window to the sculpture terrace, allowing the dialogue between exhibits indoors and outdoors. Artificial light and natural light are mixed here. At this level, is also the restaurant equipped by the international star architect Matteo Thun with about 190 seats and a large terrace overlooking the city. Level 4: offers the largest continuous exhibition space with large skylights that can be darkened as needed. The premises of the Rupertinum built in 1633, has been remodeled several times over the years, especially 1999, according to international standards and adapted to allow many unique exhibitions. This museum was a first forum for photographic activities in one Austrian made, both to the teaching of art photography as well as to build a contemporary photo-based international collection. The Museum of Modern Art Salzburg defined today reinforced the role of a mediator existing reservations in dealing with art are to be reduced, and especially the next generation does not even arise. Therefore, any exhibition of a diverse, individual, age-appropriate program designed to. A particular focus is on art education for young museum visitors. Children have the opportunity to participate in special programs on weekends or during holidays to participate. Visit the museum's website at : http://www.museumdermoderne.at The Museum of Modern Art Salzburg sees its task in an active program of exhibitions, an extensive mediation and in a systematic collection and acquisition policy. In an exhibition area of 3,800 m2 presents the Museum der Moderne Salzburg in their two houses year-round national and international exhibition projects to classical modern to contemporary art since the end of the 2nd World War II and for contemporary art. Thematic exhibitions are as much in the program as monographic projects, group exhibitions as well as individual shows. One focus is from their own collections, which are shown in thematic presentations. As the interface of cultural clashes investigated the Museum der Moderne Salzburg , the intensive cooperation with national and international public on the artistic, media, social and economic levels. The collection of the Museum der Moderne Salzburg is a relatively young collection. Its foundation is the gift of gallery Friedrich Welz, of his personal art collection (including the almost complete graphic oeuvre of the famous Oskar Kokoschka). With the "gift Welz" was primarily a large cadre of graphic and prints of such famous artists as Herbert Boeckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Gustav Klimt, Alfred Kubin, Giacomo Manzù, Egon Schiele, and Wilhelm Thöny which is why it was especially at the beginning designated as "Albertina the West." The roots of modern art in the 19th Century demonstrate some important pages of Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, as well as a number of major cycles of prints by Francisco de Goya and Max Klinger. Despite the emphasis on the graphical techniques stocks were gradually increased in paintings as well as sculptures and sculptural works. Despite limited financial resources but due to the consistent observation of the Austrian art scene early works by Siegfried Anzinger, Erwin Bohatsch, Gunter Damisch, Kocherscheidt, Alois Mosbacher, Peter Pongratz, Franz Ringel and Hubert Schmalix came into the museum collection. Wotruba who was recalled in 1945 from his Swiss exile to Austria, is responsible for an increasing diversity in the domestic plastic. Both his work and the subsequent generations of students (Joannis Avramidis, Oskar Bottoli, Otto Eder, Roland Goeschl, Alfred Hrdlicka, Erwin Reiter, Andreas Judgement) highlight numerous statues and sculptures owned by the museum. The collective activity is always motivated by the changing roles and needs of a museum of modern art. With the opening of the MdM monk mountain in the fall of 2004, with the enormous increase in exhibition space, the collection was examined for its holdings in the direction of paintings and large formats back and launched a re-orientation. No more graphic collection is important, but the holdings of paintings, installations, sculptures and large-scale media art. From an initially local museum in the old house a cultural institution with two houses, that look of young contemporary artists of national and international artists to make was far beyond national borders, a sensation. Accordingly, the current collection strategy is the acquisition of important works of contemporary art (Bertram Hasenauer, Jakob Mattner, Gil Shachar, Nicole Schatt, Hubert Scheibl, Erwin Wurm) and the opening of the collection of abstract art movements (Christian Hutzinger, Imi Knoebel, Thomas Reinhold, Gerwald Rock Schaub, Leo Zogmayer). The collection of the Museum der Moderne Salzburg has obtained significant long-term loans of international standing in a fundamental way complements and extends its collection to a high degree. Through the generous support of private lenders, institutions, galleries and artists have the MdM Salzburg remarkable works of classic modern and contemporary art, which would acquire in-house. The collection of MAP from German private property is the Museum of Modern Art a large body of works by internationally renowned artists such as entrusted to James Lee Byars, Förg, Helmut Newton, Jörg Immendorff, Anselm Kiefer, Markus Lüpertz, AR Penck and others, the impressive one overview of the work and the development of individual artists and their positions are exhibited. The collection of Ernst Ploil provided the MdM works important representative of Austrian, German and international contemporary art available, including works by Christian Ludwig Attersee, Dan Flavin, Krystufek, Otto Muehl, Muntean / Rosenblum, Elizabeth Peyton, Rockenschaub, Lisa Ruyter, Rosemarie Trockel, Franz West and Heimo Zobernig. In addition, other lenders such as the Kasser Art Foundation in Montclair, New Jersey, with bronzes by Auguste Rodin and Henri Matisse and a hand of Jackson Pollock. From the renowned Salzburg Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac originate loans from Anthony Gromley, Peter Halley, Mark Lüpertz, Tim Noble and Sue Webster. Similarly, the gallery Budja the MdM important works by Erwin Wurm is on loan. In addition, other private and institutional lenders have come with high-grade artwork. The vast collection of photography and media at MdM SALZBURG divided into two parts of the collection: "The Austrian Gallery" and "The collection FOTOGRAFIS Bank Austria"

Sotheby's Amsterdam Presents Paintings of Historical Value Posted: 28 May 2012 06:18 PM PDT AMSTERDAM.- The Battle of Lepanto (lot 35) by Andries van Eertvelt (1590 – 1652) is one of the highlights of the Old Master paintings sale which will be held Tuesday 18 May 2010 at Sotheby's Amsterdam. The Battle of Lepanto took place on 7 October 1571 in the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece, and was perhaps the most significant sea battle in European history. It was fought between the forces of the Ottoman Empire, under Uluç Ali Pasha and those of the Christian Holy League (a coalition between Venice, the Papacy, Spain, the Republic of Genoa, the Knights of Malta and others) under John of Austria, at a time of growing Ottoman expansion in the west. The victory at Lepanto was a landmark in the history of western Christendom, for at one stroke it stemmed Ottoman expansion in the Mediterranean and prevented their influence from spreading west.

The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum to Showcase The Binney Collection of Indian Art Posted: 28 May 2012 06:15 PM PDT MADRID - The Binney Collection of Indian Art in the San Diego Museum of Art (USA) is one of the world's Most Important collections of 12th to 19th-century South East Asian art. A selection of 105 paintings, prints and manuscripts will now be Shown in Europe for the first time, visitors to the Introducing work of local artists produced for rulers and for the Persian, Central Asian and European merchants who Arrived in India during this period. The works on display Demonstrate These artists' remarkable Ability to Adapt and modify traditional style without losing their distinctively Indian character. The San Diego Museum of Art will premiere 106 works of art from its Edwin Binney 3rd Collection in an exhibition titled Into India: South Asian Paintings from The San Diego Museum of Art at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art in Madrid, Spain. On view from 28th February through 20th May.

Frida Kahlo ~ Her Myth, Her Art, Her Influence . . Lives On Posted: 28 May 2012 06:13 PM PDT   MEXICO CITY - Frida Kahlo spun her own life into a myth. She was so good at it that her art almost got lost along the way. Her persona, fashioned over almost three decades of self-portraits, fused physical suffering and emotional isolation. Her frank depiction of a woman's psychic pain made her a feminist icon. She became a Chicana heroine and an unintended purveyor of Mexican kitsch. She is an emblem of confessional painting at a time when nothing is intimate anymore. Among the 354 pieces on display are some of Kahlo's most famous self-portraits, but through lesser-known self-portraits, still lifes, portraits, drawings and watercolors, she emerges as an artist who gathered multiple influences into her own language.

Collector Sues Gagosian Gallery for Selling a Tansey Painting Partially Owned by MET Posted: 28 May 2012 06:11 PM PDT New York, NY - Mark Tansey's 1981 painting "The Innocent Eye Test," a crisply realistic rendering of a bunch of experts showing a live cow a crisply realistic portrait of a couple of other cows, has long been seen as a hilarious send-up of the art world. But the painting is now the subject of an art-world dispute that has none of the combatants amused. A British collector who lives in Monaco, Robert Wylde, filed suit Thursday in federal court in Manhattan against the Gagosian Gallery, contending that the gallery sold the painting to Mr. Wylde in 2009 without telling him that the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the work had once been on display, already owned 31 percent of it and had been promised by its longtime owners that the museum would eventually get the whole thing. In its particulars, the suit, which also contends that the gallery agreed to sell Mr. Wylde a Richard Prince painting for $2.2 million in 2009 and then canceled the sale because it got a higher offer, represents a fairly conventional sales dispute. But it is likely to draw unusual attention if it wends its way through the court system because the Gagosian Gallery, widely viewed as the most successful in the world, rarely finds itself in a position of having to disclose its business in public. According to the suit, Mr. Wylde was taken by a Gagosian Gallery salesman to see "The Innocent Eye Test" at the SoHo apartment of Charles Cowles, the former publisher of Artforum and a longtime art dealer who closed his Chelsea gallery that same year. The suit contends that the Gagosian Gallery told Mr. Wylde that the painting was owned by Mr. Cowles and had been returned to him by the Met. (Mr. Cowles' mother, Jan, has also had an ownership stake in the painting, though the nature of that stake at the time of the sale is not clear in the court papers.) Mr. Wylde paid $2.5 million for the painting on Aug. 5, 2009, according to the suit, and it was sent to him. But in the spring of 2010, the suit adds, a lawyer for the Gagosian Gallery got in touch with Mr. Wylde to inform him that the gallery had learned that the MET already owned a 1/3rd of the painting. Mr. Wylde, who still has it, is asking for several million dollars in damages. Virginia Coleman, a spokeswoman for Gagosian, said in a statement that the gallery would "vigorously defend itself." Of the Tansey sale, the statement added: "Charles Cowles represented that he had clear title to the painting, which was viewed for sale in his apartment, and the gallery acted in good faith at all times in selling the painting." Mr. Cowles, reached at his apartment Friday, said that he considered the whole dispute his mistake. He said that after the museum returned the painting to him "I didn't even think about whether the Met owned part of it or not." "And one day I saw it on the wall and thought, 'Hey, I could use money' and so I decided to sell it," he added. "And now it's a big mess." Mark Tansey (born 1949- in San Jose, California) is an American postmodern painter best known for monochromatic works, elaborate paintings incorporating hidden text, images and symbols and his invented "color wheel" approach to painting, in which a large, wooden wheel consisting of three rows of ambiguous words is spun—the results noted for Tansey's next work's subject. In the 1970s, influenced by the work of Rene Magritte's eight methods, he began to search for ways of displaying oppositions and contradictions as the motivation for a painting. From this he decided that illustration and representation were fundamentally necessary to heal the rift between art and practice, between symbol and meaning. The implication is that Tansey as an artist was searching for a "drive" to incorporate in his subjects, that would engage the viewer intellectually, while avoiding simple visual methods and opting for a more subtle and, consequently, more sophisticated and effective approach. Most of his paintings can readily be used as examples of that approach, where at first glance nothing is out of ordinary, but then it becomes apparent that certain elements are out of context, while remaining coherent visually, thus creating the conflict.

Rijksmuseum Announces "Tavern Scenes Exhibition" to Open in December Posted: 28 May 2012 06:08 PM PDT AMSTERDAM.- The Rijksmuseum's Tavern Scenes exhibition gives an idea of what it was like to be in a tavern in the 16th and 17th-century. Taverns, fairs, village revelries and the accompanying feasting and fighting were favorite themes in art of the Low Countries in the 16th and 17th-centuries, and were meant to be both entertaining and educational. This graphic pub-crawl in 18 prints and drawings takes in some of the most colorful watering-holes in the Rijksmuseum Print Room collection. "Tavern Scenes" runs from December 1, 2009 to March 1, 2010 at the Rijksmuseum. Since March 2009, the permanent presentation at the Rijksmuseum, "The Masterpieces", has featured a rotating small exhibition of prints and drawings from the museum's magnificent collections of art and historical objects.

Morton´s Auction House Sale of Important Latin-american Works of Art Posted: 28 May 2012 06:07 PM PDT Mexico City.- On very few occasions have so many important works of art from Mexican and Latin-American painters have been offered in the same auction. This November 10th in Morton Casa de Subastas the different faces of Latin-American art will all be present, from portraits to still lives, to monumental pieces from the great masters of contemporary abstracts. The expressions of colour manifest the spirit of this land, one which surpasses the frontiers of the region and bring an added value to their voices. All of these works of art will be offered, works of art from renowned artists from the caliber of: Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Francisco Zúñiga, Juan Soriano, Guillermo Meza and Ricardo Martínez, to name but a few. Great female artists are lso represented with works by María Izquierdo, Cordelia Urueta, Lilia Carrillo, Valetta Swann and Silvia H. González. Latin-American art at its finest by Kcho, Eduardo Kingman,  Fernando de Szyszlo, Roberto Fabelo and Santiago Rebolledo. Boris Viskin, José Antonio Farrera, Héctor de Anda and Gabriel Orozco, will be under the hammer as well.

Christie's Auction of Post-War and Contemporary Art in London Tops $31.8 Million Posted: 28 May 2012 06:05 PM PDT LONDON.-Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction took place this evening and realised £19,063,350 / $31,778,604 / €22,513,816 selling 88% by lot and 86% by value. The top price was paid for Night Playground by Peter Doig (b.1959), 1997/98, an exemplary large scale painting described by the artist as one of his own favourites. It was offered at auction for the first time and realised £3,009,250 / $5,016,420 / €3,553,924, the second highest price for the artist at auction (estimate: £1.5 million to £2 million). A particularly rare urban view, the painting shows night falling on a city playground and portrays the contrast between nature and the man-made. At this evening's auction, 4 works of art sold for over £1 million / 11 for over $1 million, and buyers (by lot / by origin) were 65% UK and Europe, 29% Americas and 6% Asia.

Winners of Global Design Competition Visit the Guggenheim Museum Posted: 28 May 2012 06:04 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- The winners of this summer's Design It: Shelter Competition—an online competition that asked participants to create and submit designs for virtual 3-D shelters using Google SketchUp and Google Earth—visited the Guggenheim Museum and Google offices in New York. As part of their competition prize, David Eltang, the Juried Prize winner, and David Mares, the People's Prize winner, first met with Google staff at their New York offices and were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the block-long office building and treated to lunch in Google's cafeteria.

MoMA Features Pivotal Moments in Henri Matisse's Radical Invention Posted: 28 May 2012 06:00 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913–1917, a large-scale investigation into a pivotal moment in the career of Henri Matisse (1869–1954), presents an important reassessment of the artist's work between 1913 and 1917, revealing this period to be one of the most significant chapters in Matisse's evolution as an artist. On view from July 18 through October 11, 2010, at The Museum of Modern Art, the exhibition examines paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints made by the artist between his return to Paris from Morocco in 1913 to his departure for Nice in 1917. Over these five years, he developed his most demanding, experimental, and enigmatic works: paintings that are abstracted, often purged of descriptive detail, geometrically composed, and dominated by blacks and grays. Comprising nearly 110 of the artist's works, Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913–1917 is the first exhibition devoted to this period, thoroughly exploring Matisse's working processes and the revolutionary experimentation of what he called his "methods of modern construction." Organized by The Museum of Modern Art and The Art Institute of Chicago, the exhibition is curated by John Elderfield, Chief Curator Emeritus of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, and Stephanie D'Alessandro, Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator of Modern Art at The Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition is the result of a five-year collaboration between MoMA and The Art Institute of Chicago, combining new archival and art-historical research, fresh physical examinations of artworks, and innovative methods of scientific investigation to generate an unprecedented understanding of Matisse's work during these years. Technical examinations have revealed the evolution of objects from this period and illuminated previously unknown relationships among them. Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913–1917 is organized chronologically, and begins with the immediately preceding years of 1907–1912. When Matisse was 22 years old, he began to study under Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau, who sent his pupils to make copies of Old Master paintings in the Musée du Louvre. Matisse pursued a similar practice in his independent work, reusing compositions and a range of subjects and poses in an effort to pare down forms to what he called "a truer, more essential character." On view is Paul Cézanne's (French, 1839–1906) Three Bathers (1879–82), a work Matisse had acquired in 1899 which then became a touchstone for the artist as he worked on issues of color and construction in his own bathers compositions. Also on view are Matisse's Nude with a White Scarf (1909) and Bathers with a Turtle (1908), which inaugurated Matisse's new practice of extensively reworking his canvases. By 1909 Matisse had formed relationships with a number of important and supportive collectors, including Sergei Shchukin, who commissioned decorative panels by Matisse for the stairway of his Moscow home. For this project Matisse initially suggested imagery of dance and bathers, subjects that would allow him to synthesize his evolving interests in harmonious colors, arabesques, and flat, overall designs with the tradition of décorations, pictures of mythical subjects intended to evoke tranquility. The composition of bathers begun that year would be transformed over the following nine years to become Bathers by a River, on view in the final gallery of the exhibition. Also in 1909, Matisse continued to work on his largest sculpture to that point, the bas-relief Back, begun in 1908, which he would return to several times over the next 21 years. On each occasion Matisse began with a new plaster cast of the relief; but instead of destroying the previous states when he moved on to the next version, Matisse preserved them, resulting in Back (I), Back (II), Back (III), and Back (IV), each of which is on view within the exhibition. The last gallery of the exhibition also includes a digital presentation illustrating the known states of Bathers by a River and Back, exploring the techniques that provided the foundation for the artist's most radical inventions of this period. 1914, New Ambitions On January 1, 1914, Matisse and his wife, Amélie, moved into an apartment on the fourth floor of 19 quai Saint-Michel in Paris, directly beneath the studio he had occupied from 1894 to 1907. Matisse wanted a break from his studio in Issy in order to better focus on his artistic exploration. The new space energized him, and in just over six months he produced almost a dozen canvases. Although Matisse used a different visual approach in almost every painting, the works are united by palette and size, giving them the quality of a series. These remarkably bold works constitute Matisse's response to Cubism's new challenge to the representation of form and space. On view is Interior with Goldfish (1914), the first of four great canvases from this period that picture the artist's studio. The form and position of the fishbowl, furniture, grillwork, and planter within the work underwent multiple revisions, many of which are visible in the finished painting. He reprised this composition in Goldfish and Palette (1914–15) simplifying the vertically banded format of the earlier work into a single broad black band. Also on view is View of Notre Dame (1914) and Woman on a High Stool (1914), the latter of which shares its simplified geometric forms, heavy contouring, and austere palette with the work of Cézanne and the Cubist paintings of Matisse's own peers. In View of Notre Dame (1914), which depicts the Paris cathedral as seen from Matisse's studio window, he reworked features of the canvas before covering almost the entire surface in blue, leaving early compositional elements visible beneath the paint. The section concludes with Portrait of Yvonne Landsberg (1914): startling even to its maker, it is one of the most dramatic of Matisse's canvases from early 1914. After many campaigns of wiping, incising, and repainting, work on this canvas ended with the artist scraping the lines that radiate from the figure, echoing the curve of the subject's hairline and the arms of her green chair. This painting is joined by Branch of Lilacs (1914), and Still Life with Lemons (1914), a work that demonstrates Matisse's interest in the visual vocabulary of Cubism. August 1914–1915, Interruptions and Returns Matisse's daring achievements in 1914 came to a dramatic and abrupt end with the outbreak of World War I. The period between August 1914 and the end of 1915 was full of stops and starts, interruptions and returns, as the artist tried to negotiate the challenges of wartime and satisfy his own creative ambitions. In summer 1915 Matisse and his family moved from Paris back to Issy, which they had left the previous year when their home there was requisitioned by the French military. While reorganizing his studio, the artist was inspired by the rediscovery of his 1893 canvas La Desserte (After Jan Davidsz. de Heem), on view in this section, which he had copied from the 1640 original in the Musée du Louvre when he was a student. He remade the composition with Still Life after Jan Davidsz. de Heem's "La Desserte" (1915) "adding everything I've seen since," he said, and working with "the methods of modern construction." He was most likely referring to Cubism, which he used to toughen his visual approach, though continuing to privilege detail and brilliant color. In his new work he also returned to still lifes, portraits, and open windows or doors—familiar subjects that he could easily set down on canvas and then develop when time allowed. On view is Composition (1915), in which Matisse returned to his earlier mode of working, drawing the composition and then filling it in with color. In contrast, the surface of Head, White and Rose (1914–15), reveals the extent of the artist's revisions; the scraping and overlapping layers of paint as Matisse reworked a naturalistic image into an abstracted face. These canvases are joined by The Italian Woman (1916), which demonstrates how, even in his most daring and austere paintings of this period, Matisse continued to reuse and repeat themes, this work being the first of a series of over 50 paintings and drawings of the Italian model Laurette that Matisse would make over the next year. This section also focuses on Matisse's printmaking. In fall 1913, after a six-year hiatus, Matisse returned to printmaking; and when he relocated to his quai Saint-Michel studio, he purchased a hand etching press with which to make his own prints. Through early 1917 he produced eight lithographs, 66 drypoints and etchings, and at least 69 monotypes, the latter for the first and only time in his career. Their modest subjects reflected the world around him—everyday life in the studio, and especially his family and friends. The format, tools, and techniques of printmaking had a great impact on Matisse's practice, and in its potential for simplification of color and form the medium complemented the artist's formal goals. January–November 1916, The Challenge of Painting The year of 1916 was one of the worst of the war for France, punctuated by the terrible battles of Verdun and the Somme. That year, Matisse made progress on some of the most difficult but pivotal works of his career, notably The Moroccans (1916) and Bathers by a River (1909–17). In The Moroccans, he employed his demanding "methods of modern construction" on an ambitious scale. Its surface is thick with the trails of repeated reworking, products of the artist's attempt to reconsider and adjust his approach to familiar motifs. Matisse conceived this "souvenir of Morocco" in 1912, stretched a canvas for it in 1913, returned to his composition on an enlarged scale in 1915 and started this new canvas in 1916. Black is the principal agent in The Moroccans, at once simplifying, dividing, and joining the three zones of the canvas: the still life of melons and leaves on a tiled pavement, bottom left; the architecture with domed marabout, top left; and the figures, right, among them a seated Moroccan seen from the behind and, above the shadowed archway, figures in two windows. Matisse built up the surface with thin layers of pigment, with the color of the underlying layers modifying those on top. Other paintings of this time demonstrate that the artist had begun to loosen his approach in certain ways, with the works in this gallery suggesting that Matisse was slowly beginning to experiment with a new process while preserving the same formal concerns: paring down what he had previously painted not by scraping it away but by applying new paint to cover and reshape what lay below. In The Window (1916), light from the outside powerfully enters the room. Turquoise merges floors and walls, flattening deep space and solid forms into a single plane. The thick band of white paint signals the powerful, dematerializing nature of light. In Bowl of Oranges (1916), the still life fills the canvas's visual field, producing an effect of colossal size. Matisse reinforced this sense of monumentality through near-sculptural handling of paint, applying coarse, hatched strokes, layering new pigment over dry layers, reserving the heaviest paint for areas of reflected light, and employing a thinner application in the dense, dark shadows. This compressed composition echoes the dense, compacted areas of the surface of The Moroccans and recalls its vivid yellow melons and other circular motifs. 1916–1917, Changing Course In spring, summer, and fall 1916 Matisse returned yet again to Bathers by a River and his Back series, both of which were by then significantly altered from their 1913 states. The artist built upon his earlier processes of scraping and incising while adding new material, reducing and fragmenting form. He also painted The Piano Lesson (1916), the most ambitious of his interiors in this whole period, and, in early 1917, the starkest of this period's portraits, Portrait of Auguste Pellerin (II). While these works make no direct reference to the war in style or subject, they were physical and mental challenges for the artist, pushing his art to levels of extremity and difficulty that may be considered his responses to the conflict. The Piano Lesson depicts the living room of Matisse's home at Issy-les-Moulineaux, with his elder son, Pierre, at the piano. The painting also features, at bottom left, the artist's sculpture Decorative Figure (1908) and, at upper right, his painting Woman on a High Stool. The artist began with a naturalistic rendering which he then purged of detail as he worked, scraping down areas and rebuilding them in broad fields of color. His incising on the window frame and stippling on the left side produced a pitted quality that suggests the eroding effects of light or time, a theme reiterated by the presence of the metronome on the piano. The artist's major preoccupation in 1916–17 was the advancement of Bathers by a River. He transformed the almost monochrome canvas of 1913 into a composition of vertical bands with now greatly enlarged and abstracted figures confined within the rigid geometric structure. His changes closely relate to those that he made in transforming Back (II) into Back (III) at the same time in the Issy studio. In the painting, a central black band both divides and coheres its two halves, one filled with verdant foliage, the other void of incident. Matisse's final work on the canvas was to revise the colored band between the third and the fourth figure, and to lightly scrape into the paint at the left side to reveal the layers beneath. The incising of the foliage here relates to that of the contemporaneous landscapes Shaft of Sunlight, the Woods of Trivaux (1917) and Garden at Issy (1917). Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913–1917 concludes with a digital presentation illustrating the known states of Bathers by a River and Back, exploring the techniques that provided the foundation for the artist's most radical inventions of this period. Visit MoMA at : www.moma.org/

Mount Rushmore's famous faces goes Virtual with in-depth Tours Online Posted: 28 May 2012 05:58 PM PDT SIOUX FALLS, SD (AP).- Virtual visitors to Mount Rushmore can now explore even more remote areas of the memorial than some who see it in person. Three-dimensional laser technology scans that captured every nook of the four presidential faces and other features of the monument last year mean that starting Tuesday, visitors will be able to take in-depth tours online of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in western South Dakota. The portal, comprised of models of the monument, allows people remote access to the site to plan a visit or explore unusual areas, said Maureen McGee-Ballinger, the memorial's director of interpretation and education. The monument draws about 3 million in-person visitors a year. Online users are able to manipulate or dissect the three-dimensional models in various ways to learn more about the 60-foot granite carvings of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln , McGee-Ballinger said.

Alte Pinakothek’s 175th Jubilee Exhibition on Pietro Perugino Posted: 28 May 2012 05:57 PM PDT MUNICH.- As a highlight and to conclude the Alte Pinakothek's 175th jubilee celebrations, the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen are staging the first exhibition on Pietro Perugino – one of the most successful artists of the Italian Renaissance – to be held outside Italy. It unites more than 30 works from all phases of the master's creative output, focussing in particular on the heyday of the artist's career in the late 15th century. 'The Vision of Saint Bernard', an altarpiece completed around 1490 which King Ludwig I of Bavaria, the founder of the Alte Pinakothek, managed to acquire in 1829, was the initial impetus behind this exhibition and forms its focal point. Although generally underestimated today, contemporaries heralded Pietro Perugino (c. 1450–1523) as the best painter of his generation. Prominent patrons courted his attention even some distance from Florence and Perugia, the centres in which he worked. Popes, cardinals, dukes and wealthy merchants were among his clients. He managed his workshop with astute business acumen, dealing with a surprising number of major commissions for the Church and municipalities in Umbria and Tuscany.

Saint Louis Art Museum Presents Artist Francesco Clemente's "High Fever" Posted: 28 May 2012 05:55 PM PDT ST. LOUIS, MO.- The Saint Louis Art Museum presents the exhibition Focus on the Collection: Francesco Clemente's "High Fever", which brings together a series of nine dark and mysterious woodcuts that explore the beauty, pleasure and pain of love by contemporary Italian artist Francesco Clemente . Influenced by the mysticism of India, Clemente conveys both the sensual and spiritual aspects of love, including childbirth and motherhood. Clemente exploits the natural grain of his woodblocks to dramatic effect, allowing it to become part of the repertoire of expressive marks found in each of the compositions. The grain and the dark tones of the ink reference the Northern European history of the woodcut.

Fifty Important Works by Andy Warhol on View at Hay Hill Gallery Posted: 28 May 2012 05:53 PM PDT LONDON.- Fifty important works by Andy Warhol are on view at the Hay Hill Gallery this summer. The exhibition offers a rare and fascinating insight into Warhol's creative mind and working processes, with an unprecedented number of works juxtaposed with their preparatory drawings. On exhibition through 17 July, 2010. Highlights include a unique collection of Andy Warhol's Indians (Native Americans) (1986), exhibited alongside the working drawings. These seventeen works of art form an important part of Warhol's oeuvre. They provide a rounded study of Warhol's graphic process in the 1980s and a fitting manifestation of his later obsession with American culture, particularly the stories, myths and legends of the American West. Based on publicity and archival photographs as well as postcards, Warhol romanticizes stereotyped and exploited images of American Indians including Mother and Child, Indian Head Nickel, Plain Indian Shield, Kachina Dolls, Sitting Bull, Geronimo and Northwest Coast Mask. There is also a range of highly collectable works including The Scream (after Edvard Munch) (1984), part of a series of works based on the paintings of the Norwegian artist and Shadows (1978), from Warhol's monumental Shadow series. In the 1970s Warhol embarked on a remarkable and ambitious project, creating 102 paintings based on eight photographs of shadows that he had taken in his studio. The result is a compelling and almost hypnotic series, drifting into the abstract. Additionally there are iconic images such as Double Marilyn (1981); Hammer & Sickle (1977) and Mobilgas (1985) as well as portraits of the collector Sidney Janis (1967) and dancer Merce Cunningham (1963). "While screen-printing is one of Andy Warhol's more familiar techniques, this exhibition separates the layers of Warhol's final images to give a new and special perspective on their creation. When shown alongside the completed works, his detailed preparatory drawings reveal how hand-drawn outlines and painted brushstrokes provide a foundation for the printing process to create the final image," says Hay Hill Gallery director Mikhail Zaitsev. Hay Hill Gallery:  5a Cork Street, London W1S 3NY Tel: +44 (0)20 7439 1001, Tel/Fax: +44 (0)20 7439 2299 Fax: +44 (0)87 0056 8948,  +44 (0)87 0051 8410 E-mail: info@hayhill.com,  tmg@sirin.co.uk  Website : http://www.hayhill.com/index.html

Morris Museum Announces New Exhibition "On the Head and In the Hand" Posted: 28 May 2012 05:51 PM PDT MORRISTOWN, NJ.- The Morris Museum unveiled its rich costume collection to present an exhibition of 87 hats and 52 purses representative of style eras from the 1770's to the 1970's. On the Head and In the Hand: 200 Years of Hats and Purses from the Morris Museum Collection opened on March 31 and is on view through September 25, 2011. Twenty Judith Leiber bags from a private collection will also be on view as of April 8, 2011. The accessories selected for On the Head and In the Hand are grouped by decade, and show the changes not only in fashion, but also the influence of technology, for example in the availability of the sewing machine for home use in mid 19th century; of history, as reflected by style changes after women went to work outside the home in the 20th century; and of culture, such as the Egyptian design influences in accessories after the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922.

Mingei International Museum presents "Viva Mexico!" Posted: 28 May 2012 05:45 PM PDT Balboa Park, CA - ¡VIVA MÉXICO! — Heroes and Artisans, at the International Museum in Balboa Park, celebrates the 200th anniversary of Mexican independence (1810), the 100th of the Mexican revolution (1910) and the folk art that colorfully and vitally expresses the nation's spirit. Just as the heroes of independence and the revolution were great artisans in crafting the nation's constitution, laws and institutions, so are its many artisans also cultural heroes, vibrantly perpetuating Mexico's historical memory and its distinctive, exuberant and vital artistic tradition.

Asheville Art Museum hosts A Retrospective of Paintings by John Baeder Posted: 28 May 2012 05:43 PM PDT Asheville, NC - 'Pleasant Journeys and Good Eats Along the Way' : A Retrospective of Paintings by John Baeder  surveys John Baeder's (1938-) 35-year obsession with roadside architecture, especially America's diners. On exhibition at the Asheville Art Museum through 26 October, 2008. This exhibition is organized by the Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA.

Phoenix Art Museum Hosts Major Retrospective of Ernest L. Blumenschein Posted: 28 May 2012 05:40 PM PDT Phoenix, AZ – Phoenix Art Museum celebrates the career of one of the most successful American artists of the early 20th century with the opening of In Contemporary Rhythm: The Art of Ernest L. Blumenschein. A founder of the famed Taos Society of Artists, Blumenschein rocketed into the spotlight with his modernist approach to capturing the American West.  This major retrospective, on view March 15 through June 14, 2009, covers every aspect of the artist's career and is the first Blumenschein exhibition in 30 years and the first in Arizona. "In Contemporary Rhythm is the most comprehensive exhibition to ever assemble, study and celebrate Blumenschein's remarkable work," commented Jerry Smith, associate curator of American Art, Phoenix Art Museum.  "It features masterworks by the artist that reveal his daring aesthetic, his proto-modernist style, his social sensitivities and his influence on regional as well as national trends in art." The exhibition follows Blumenschein's life, tracking the artistic, social and political dimensions of his art.  It features his major landscape and figural paintings of the Southwest, for which he is best known today, as well as early works from the beginning of his career when he worked in France and as a professional illustrator. As Blumenschein developed as an artist, he also formed a stance on social issues that included pictorial testimonials of the cultural identity of the native people of Taos and respect for their lands. Blumenschein landed in Taos, New Mexico, as the result of a fortunate accident.  He was traveling with fellow artist Bert G. Phillips on a sketching trip from Denver to northern Mexico when a wheel of their carriage broke, leaving them stranded in Taos Valley.  The delay gave the artists time to take in the spectacular countryside and interesting cultures of the area.  They decided to stay and work in the area, later founding the Taos Society of Artists to promote the splendor of Taos and the art of the American West to larger audiences. Academically trained in New York and Paris, Ernest L. Blumenschein painted in a style that combined traditional and realistic means of expression with subtle undercurrents of modernism, particularly in his bold use of color and the manner in which he constructed his compositions. In addition to founding the Taos Society of Artists (1915-27), Blumenschein's interests in modernism also led him to establish the New Mexico Painters (1923-27), one of the region's earliest groups of modernist painters.  At the height of his career, he was one of the few artists to have paintings purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Blumenschein's work has been treasured by collectors and museums since the early 20th century," commented Smith.  "In Contemporary Rhythm exemplifies why curators and critics alike have heralded Blumenschein as the most distinctive of the Taos artists." Exhibition Details This exhibition is organized by Phoenix Art Museum, in collaboration with the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, and the Denver Art Museum. This exhibition is presented at Phoenix Art Museum in the Steele Gallery, March 15 through June 19, 2009. A substantial catalog tracing the artist's career, artistic achievements and role within modernism will accompanies the exhibition and is available in the Museum Store.  The catalog, written by Peter H. Hassrick and Elizabeth J. Cunningham, includes a foreword by Phoenix Art Museum director James K. Ballinger and a contributing essay by Associate Curator of American Art, Jerry N. Smith. Admission to the exhibition is included in general museum admission, which is $10 for adults, $8 for senior citizens (65+), $8 for full-time college students with ID, $4 for children ages 6-17 and free for children under 6 and for museum members.  Admission is also free on Tuesdays from 3:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. and for everyone on First Fridays, 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Phoenix Art Museum is located in downtown Phoenix at the corner of Central and McDowell Road.  Museum hours are Tuesday, 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. and Wednesday – Sunday from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.  The museum is closed on Mondays and major holidays. About Phoenix Art Museum Phoenix Art Museum is the Southwest's premier destination for world-class visual arts.  Popular exhibitions featuring artists such as Rembrandt, Norman Rockwell, Annie Leibowitz and Monet are shown along side the Museum's outstanding collection of more than 18,000 works of American, Asian, European, Latin American, Western American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design.  A community epicenter for nearly fifty years, Phoenix Art Museum presents festivals, live performances, independent art films and educational programs that enlighten, entertain and stimulate. Visitors also enjoy PhxArtKids an interactive space for children, vibrant photography exhibitions through the Museum's landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography, the lushly landscaped Sculpture Garden, dining at Arcadia Farms at Phoenix Art Museum, and shopping at The Museum Store. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit : www.PhxArt.org, or call the 24-hour recorded information line at (602) 257-1222.

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 28 May 2012 05:39 PM PDT This is a new feature for the subscribers and visitors to Art Knowledge News (AKN), that will enable you to see "thumbnail descriptions" of the last ninety (90) articles and art images that we published. This will allow you to visit any article that you may have missed ; or re-visit any article or image of particular interest. Every day the article "thumbnail images" will change. For you to see the entire last ninety images just click : here . When opened that also will allow you to change the language from English to anyone of 54 other languages, by clicking your language choice on the upper left corner of our Home Page.  You can share any article we publish with the eleven (11) social websites we offer like Twitter, Flicker, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. by one click on the image shown at the end of each opened article.  Last, but not least, you can email or print any entire article by using an icon visible to the right side of an article's headline.

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