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

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• The Art Gallery of Hamilton features "Nature and Spirit: Emily Carr’s Coastal Landscapes"
• Bert Green Fine Art presents rarely seen photographs by Ansel Adams
• The National Museum of Wildlife Art shows “Rugged Impressionism: The Masterful Field Studies of Carl Rungius”
• The New Mexico Museum of Art exhibits 14,000 Years of Art in New Mexico
• The National Gallery of Victoria to Host "Napoleon ~ Revolution to Empire"
• Last Chance to See "Chardin, the Painter of the Silence" at the Museo del Prado
• Reynolda House Museum Exhibition Provides New World Views
• Columbia Museum of Art donated gift of 594 works from Dorothy and Herbert Vogel
• The Smithsonian Associates Commissions "Museum Moment" Print by Sam Gilliam
• Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston shows Best American Design
• The Montclair Art Museum Presents "George Inness: Private Treasures"
• Herb Kawainui Kane ~ Artist & Historian Treasure Of Hawai'i ~ Dies At 82
• The Andy Warhol Museum Presents the Comic Book Art of Alex Ross
• Pop Art ~ Now and Then at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery
• Fantastic Miniature Rooms Create Magic at the Art Institute of Chicago
• The Chrysler Museum Displays Works From Local Private Collections
• 6 ~ Goya ~ 6
• Fred Torres Collaborations Hosts David LaChapelle's "Earth Laughs In Flowers"
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

The Art Gallery of Hamilton features "Nature and Spirit: Emily Carr’s Coastal Landscapes" Posted: 01 Jun 2012 09:08 PM PDT Hamilton, Ontario.- A new exhibition of 38 masterworks by the celebrated Canadian artist Emily Carr opened at the Art Gallery of Hamilton on May 12th and will be on view through October 28th. Several of the works exhibited in "Nature and Spirit: Emily Carr's Coastal Landscapes" have never been seen before in Hamilton. The Art Gallery of Hamilton is the only stop in Eastern Canada for this significant new touring exhibition, which is organized and circulated by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Ian Thom, Senior Curator, Historical, Vancouver Art Gallery. "Nature and Spirit" traces Carr's evolution as an artist and includes many of the painter's recognized masterworks. The exhibition examines her artistic development from her early experiments with European modernism, to her powerful first encounters with Canadian First Nations art and culture, through her mature landscapes, to a final series of works from the period 1940 to 1942 when she returned to First Nations subjects. "The Vancouver Art Gallery holds the most significant collection of Emily Carr works in the world," said Tobi Bruce, Senior Curator, Canadian Historical Art, Art Gallery of Hamilton. "To present such an impressive selection – from all periods of her painting career – is a rare opportunity and privilege. These are works of such stature that you've seen them reproduced over the years, but the ability to see these paintings firsthand is to really experience them for the first time." In recent years, Carr has gained international renown for her works and has been increasingly celebrated as a singular figure in Canadian culture. Before her death in 1945, Emily Carr's sizeable reputation as an artist, writer and creative innovator was nationally recognized with solo exhibitions, award winning publications and the admiration of her peers. In recent years Carr has gained international renown for her paintings and has been increasingly celebrated as a singular figure in Canadian culture. The significant touring exhibition of works by Emily Carr, "Nature and Spirit" traces her evolution as an artist and includes many of the painter's recognized masterpieces. The works span Carr's early experiments with European modernism, to her powerful first encounters with Canadian First Nations art and culture, through her mature landscapes, to a final series of works from the period 1940-1942 when she returned to First Nations subjects. Highlights of the exhibition can be seen in Carr's early translations of European ideas to a Canadian context in a superb series of paintings made in 1912, including Totem Poles, Kitseukla. The major works of her maturity such as Zunoqua of the Cat Village, Big Raven, and The Little Pine form the central section of the exhibition and are complemented by a series of oil on paper works from the 1930s. These remarkably free studies of the landscape were painted directly from life and illustrate a more expressive and fluid style than in her works on canvas. Finally, the exhibition presents a series of paintings from 1940-1942 when the artist returned to First Nations subjects with a new confidence and strength. Carr's paintings from this period celebrate nature and landscape as living entities and convey her profound identification with the land of her birth. The Art Gallery of Hamilton, is located in the heart of downtown Hamilton, Ontario on King Street West and is one of Canada's oldest galleries with a collection of over 9,000 works of art. Artist William Blair Bruce, born and raised in Hamilton and successful internationally, died suddenly in 1906. In 1914, his family, including his widow, sculptor Caroline Benedicts-Bruce bequeathed 29 of his paintings to the city of Hamilton, with the understanding that a properly equipped art gallery be established to house and present the collection. Today, the William Blair Bruce memorial donation is displayed in a dramatic salon-style hanging in what is the Art Gallery of Hamilton's third home. From 1914 until 1953, the Gallery's first home was the second floor of the Hamilton Public Library building located on Main Street West near James Street. In 1947, the Gallery was a founding member of the Southern Ontario Gallery Group, now the Ontario Association of Art Galleries. In December 1953, a new purpose-built gallery was opened at Forsyth Avenue and Main Street in west Hamilton. A little over a decade later, McMaster University unveiled plans to expropriate the lands on which the Gallery was built, halting plans to expand the Gallery in this location. In 1977, the Gallery opened in its present location in the heart of the city as part of a downtown redevelopment project. In 2005, a renovated Gallery reopened, with new gold-coloured steel cladding protecting the building, a glass-enclosed front entrance on King Street, a new multi-purpose pavilion, and larger and renovated exhibition spaces.The AGH primary collection is based on Canadian historical, Canadian contemporary and European historical art. Each year, the Gallery organizes, hosts and/or circulates approximately 25-30 exhibitions throughout the world. The Art Gallery of Hamilton's collection of modern Canadian art is one of the strongest in the country, due, in no small part to the vision and efforts of Thomas Reid (T.R.) MacDonald (1908–1978), the Gallery's first full-time director and curator. MacDonald soon inaugurated the Annual Winter Exhibition at the Gallery; this yearly exhibition was held from 1948-1973. These juried exhibitions provided artists with an important exhibition venue and also brought works to Hamilton that might be acquired by the Gallery. Usually about one hundred works were featured in each exhibition, with the purchase prize (generally donated by a local patron or business) entering the AGH permanent collection. In this way, such important works as A.J. Casson's "First Snow", Lilias Torrance Newton's "Keith MacIver", and the iconic "Horse and Train" by Alex Colville. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.artgalleryofhamilton.com

Bert Green Fine Art presents rarely seen photographs by Ansel Adams Posted: 01 Jun 2012 08:36 PM PDT Los Angeles, California.- Bert Green Fine Art is honored to present, in association with drkrm in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), "Ansel Adams Los Angeles", rarely seen photographs that reveal the lost landscape and lifestyle of a prewar Los Angeles. Following its exhibtition in Los Angeles at drkrm gallery, "Ansel Adams Los Angeles" is now on display at Bert Green Fine Art in Chicago through June 30th, and available for viewing by appointment after the closing of the exhibition. These nostalgic images from the archives of The Los Angeles Public Library Ansel Adams Collection represent Ansel Adams as a photojournalist on assignment for Fortune Magazine in 1940. In 1940 Los Angeles had a population of 1.5 million. The cost of gas was 10 cents and a new car was $700. The U.S. began rearming for World War II and the prestigious Ansel Adams was commissioned by Fortune Magazine to photograph a series of images for an article covering the aviation industry in the Los Angeles area. For the project, Adams took over 200 black & white photographs showing everyday life, businesses, street scenes and a variety of other subjects. But when the article, City of the Angels, appeared in the March 1941 issue, only a few of the images were included (a copy of the original magazine is on display at the gallery).

The National Museum of Wildlife Art shows “Rugged Impressionism: The Masterful Field Studies of Carl Rungius” Posted: 01 Jun 2012 08:13 PM PDT Jackson Hole, Wyoming.– Carl Rungius famously said, "If you paint outdoor scenes in the studio, your color gets too hot. Only if you paint outdoors do you see the cool, silvery tones that are the true colors of nature."  A new exhibition, mounted by the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole explores Rungius's approach to working en plein air that made him a veritable "Monet of the Mountains" according to Curator of Art Adam Duncan Harris. "Rugged Impressionism: The Masterful Field Studies of Carl Rungius", on view through October 7th, provides visitors with a rare view of artwork the renowned wildlife artist created while out in the wilderness and shows how those studies later informed the finished large-scale works he created in his studio. "The landscape studies Rungius left behind were, in many ways, working documents for him, but they have long been prized by admirers for their fresh and immediate take on the landscapes Rungius loved," says Harris. "Being able to see these rarely exhibited field works side by side with the finished paintings they inspired offers an interesting window into his creative process."

The New Mexico Museum of Art exhibits 14,000 Years of Art in New Mexico Posted: 01 Jun 2012 07:33 PM PDT Santa Fe, New Mexico.- The New Mexico Museum of Art is pleased to present "It's About Time: 14,000 Years of Art in New Mexico", on view through January 2014. The exhibition celebrates the centennial of statehood by presenting a social history of the art in the Southwest. New Mexicans have always made art — they have always made aestheticized objects that reflect our world views. From beautifully made, 14,000-year-old Paleo-Indian tools to contemporary imagery, New Mexico art has reflected our changing technologies, embodied our ways of making a living, and personified our spirituality. And where else but New Mexico has art reflected everything from the creators of stone tools to the invention of the atomic bomb? Curated by Joseph Traugott, Ph.D., the museum's curator of twentieth century art, the exhibition begins with the earliest yet-discovered art—Clovis points—and proceeds in an unbroken continuum to the present. "It's About Time: 14,000 Years of Art in New Mexico" displays 120 works of art that include Native American, Hispanic American, and European American works as a single, holistic tradition, not three separate traditions that never interact. Most of the objects in the exhibition were made to be art, others became art by metamorphosis when objects were understood in new cultural contexts. The works range from representational images to abstractions like Raymond Jonson's paintings N and M, an obvious reference to New Mexico. The two paintings are part of his series of 26 works based on the letters of the alphabet. As markers of the past and present, the works of art in It's About Time spur aesthetic responses and a deeper understanding of the region's diverse cultures—how the art of the early santeros evolved from the more baroque originally imported from Mexico to a more simplified expression to accommodate indigenous art-making materials and beliefs. Yet, innovation by Native artists was discouraged by early anthropologists who placed a premium on the artistic styles of the past which they considered to be more "authentic" and culturally pure; fortunately Maria and Julian Martinez did not hear this message influencing generations of artists who followed. T.C. Cannon, Gerald Cassidy, Judy Chicago, E. Irving Couse, Robert Henri, Marsden Hartey, Luis Jimenez, Raymond Jonson, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Georgia O'Keeffe, Agnes Pelton, Florence Miller Pierce, Diego Romero, and Luis Tapia are some of the well-known artists in the exhibition. This centennial study encourages viewers to rethink the meaning of art and aesthetics in an intercultural manner. By doing so, we can transcend our personal perspectives and appreciate alternative aesthetic visions. The New Mexico Museum of Art building dates only to 1917, but its architects looked to the past, and based the design on the 300 year-old mission churches at Acoma and other pueblos. It shares the graceful simplicity of pueblo architecture and the sense of being created from the earth. In turn, the building established the Pueblo Spanish Revival style of architecture, for which Santa Fe is known. It was built to become the art gallery of the Museum of New Mexico, which had been founded in 1909 by archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett. He had begun holding art shows in the historic Palace of the Governors, then realized that an art gallery would be needed to effectively promote art throughout the region. The architects, Rapp and Rapp, had built the wildly successful New Mexico pavilion for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego. They enlarged and modified that design and proposed it for the new art gallery. The Art Gallery of the Museum of New Mexico opened in 1917, and many of the works that were exhibited at the opening remain in the collection today. The early Art Gallery's "open door" policy encouraged artists working in New Mexico to exhibit their work, since Santa Fe's commercial gallery network was years away. That welcome, mixed with the excitement about New Mexico that was generated by the tourism industry, enticed artists with formal training from other parts of the country. The resulting blending and cross-influences of Native American, Hispanic, and European-based cultures created a unique body of work that is the basis of the New Mexico Museum of Art collection. The museum changed its name over the years, as it grew and redefined its mission. The current name, The New Mexico Museum of Art, was adopted in 2007 to reflect the breadth of New Mexico art. Its previous name, "The Museum of Fine Arts" had been adopted in 1962. The museum's collection spans the historic art colonies of Taos and Santa Fe of the past hundred years to cutting-edge contemporary art from around the region and the world. Highlights of the museum's 20,000 works of art include extensive collections of the Cinco Pintores; the Taos Society of Artists; the largest collection of Gustave Baumann; the Lucy Lippard Collection; major American photographers, including the Jane Reese Williams Collection of women photographers; new media, including video installations; and an important collection of Georgia O'Keeffe paintings. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.nmartmuseum.org

The National Gallery of Victoria to Host "Napoleon ~ Revolution to Empire" Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:59 PM PDT Melbourne, Australia.- Exclusive to Melbourne this winter "Napoleon: Revolution to Empire" will bring the legend to life, majestically telling the story of Napoleon Bonaparte, a man who emerged from the chaos of the French Revolution to become one of the world's most powerful and visionary rulers. He not only changed the politics of Europe forever, but had a profound influence on taste and style. "Napoleon: Revolution to Empire" will be on view at the National Gallery of Victoria from June 2nd through October 7th. This panoramic exhibition features nearly 300 works, examining French art, culture and life from the 1770s to the 1820s, bringing to Australia for the first time hundreds of objects of breathtaking opulence and luxury – paintings, drawings, engravings, sculpture, furniture, militaria, textiles, porcelain, gold and silver, fashion and jewellery. Dr Gerard Vaughan, Director NGV, said: "Napoleon: Revolution to Empire continues the tradition of spectacular NGV exhibitions which have become a winter highlight in Victoria's cultural calendar. This year visitors will be intrigued by the life of Napoleon, a man who held the world captive to his ambition. He had a vision of a united Europe, but a Europe controlled by France and united through conquest. Napoleon is well known as a master military strategist; this exhibition reveals that he was also a passionate lover and dedicated patron of the arts, sciences and literature."

Last Chance to See "Chardin, the Painter of the Silence" at the Museo del Prado Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:30 PM PDT Madrid.- Since the exhibitions on Jean S. Chardin organised in conjunction with the bicentenary of his death and the tercentenary of his birth, in 1979 and 1999 respectively, there have been no further revisions of the relatively small oeuvre (around 200 works) of this admired and highly original artist. Featuring 57 paintings, "Chardin, the Painter of the Silence" offers a rare opportunity to appreciate Chardin's work and is the first on the artist to be held in Spain, at the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The exhibition is currently on view, and can be seen until May 29th. The exhibition is structured chronologically, covering the most important phases of the artist's career from his beginnings in the second decade of the 18th century to his late pastels of the 1770s. Visitors will encounter some of Chardin's most celebrated paintings, shown alongside other, little known canvases loaned from private collections, and some recently identified compositions. In addition, the version to be shown in the Prado includes 16 works not exhibited in Italy. They include "The Ray", one of Chardin's most important paintings, loaned from the Musée du Louvre; "The Attributes of the Arts", from the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris, which is a large-format composition on an allegorical theme that has never previously been loaned to an exhibition; and the three versions of 'The young School Teacher" (National Gallery London, National Gallery of Art Washington, and National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin), now shown together for the first time in Madrid. The exhibition opens with still lifes from the second half of the 1720s, including the celebrated painting "The Ray", on loan from the Louvre. It was Chardin's entry piece into the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris but the artist was only admitted in the lesser category of "Painter of animals and fruit". At this point he broadened his areas of interest and introduced the motif of live animals in his paintings, as can be seen in the two canvases from the Museo Thyssen on display in this section: "Cat with a Piece of Salmon" and "Cat with a Rayfish". The next section opens with still lifes from the 1730s, including "A green-necked Duck hanging on the Wall and a bitter Orange", and "Still Life with a Porcelain Vessel and two Herrings suspended by pieces of Straw from a Nail in front of a Niche". Shown next, and also from this decade, are three examples from the celebrated "Soap Bubbles" series. Chardin worked in a variety of genres, never completely abandoning one in order to take up another and was continually inventive within all of them. He would also frequently return to earlier themes and simultaneously work on different paintings at the same time. In the 1730s, and influenced by 17th-century Dutch painting, the artist turned his attention to genre scenes. Chardin masterfully conveyed the meditative mood of his figures and the serene dignity of simple domestic tasks, while his stylistic evolution is clearly evident in these works. His brushstroke becomes more vaporous and the soft tonality heralds the pastels of his final years. In addition, he abandoned his use of models from the humbler social classes to focus on the bourgeois circle of his second wife. It was works such as "The young School Teacher", seen here in three versions that have been brought together for the first time, "Boy with a Top", and "Girl with a Shuttlecock", that would bring Chardin true popularity in the second half of the 19th century. The exhibition then turns to works from the 1750s and 1760s and to the artist's return to the still life, a genre that he had almost completely abandoned. These compositions are clearly different to the works of the 1720s due to the presence of a greater variety and number of types of game, species of fruit and objects (costly pieces of porcelain and sophisticated glass ware). Among works from this period in the exhibition are the delightful "Basket of wild Strawberries", "Glass of Water and Coffee Pot", and "Bouquet of Carnations, Tuberoses and Sweet Peas in a white porcelain Vase with a blue Pattern", the latter a masterpiece loaned by the National Gallery of Scotland. Works such of this type reveal a more agile, smoother type of brushstroke and also demonstrate the artist's interest in painting reflections, transparent effects, light and shadow. The exhibition ends with two pastel portraits, the medium to which Chardin turned after he was obliged to abandon oil painting due to failing health and which provoked great surprise at the 1771 Salon. These pastels reveal Chardin's confidence in his own powers and mark the end of his artistic career. The Prado Museum (Museo del Prado) in the Spanish capital, Madrid, is the most prestigious museum in Spain and probably the largest gallery of classical paintings in the world. The museum features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection. The building that is now the home of the Museo Nacional del Prado was designed on the orders of Charles III in 1785 by the architect Juan de Villanueva. Originally designed to house the Natural History Cabinet, construction was delayed by the War of Independence and the building's final function was eventually decided by Charles III's grandson, Ferdinand VII. Encouraged by his wife, Queen María Isabel de Braganza, the building became the new Royal Museum of Paintings and Sculptures. The Royal Museum, which would soon become known as the National Museum of Painting and Sculpture and following nationalization in 1868, the Museo Nacional del Prado (after the area of Madrid in which it is located), opened to the public for the first time in November 1819. Despite the size of the original building, space has always been a problem, and in 1971 the nearby Casón del Buen (which began life in 1637 as a ballroom for the Buen Retiro Palace) was acquired to house the 19th century collections from the Prado and "Guernica" by Pablo Picasso. In 1992, this building was transferred to the Reina Sofia Museum of modern and contemporary art (along with "Guernica"), and the Prado once again had to look for more space. The museum's exhibition area increased by more than 50% in 2007 with a new, modern extension designed by Pritzker prize winning Spanish architect Rafael Moneo. Visit the museum's website at: http://www.museodelprado.es

Reynolda House Museum Exhibition Provides New World Views Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:29 PM PDT WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Reynolda House Museum of American Art will open a new exhibition, New World Views: Gifts from Jean Crutchfield and Robert Hobbs, on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 in the Museum's Babcock Gallery. The exhibition, which includes 10 works dating from 1971 to 1996, highlights the expanding global view of American art during the last 30 years.

Columbia Museum of Art donated gift of 594 works from Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:28 PM PDT COLUMBIA, SC.- The Columbia Museum of Art is the recipient of 594 works of art from Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, internationally recognized collectors of contemporary art. This substantial collection represents work in various media by 27 different artists including Richard Artschwager, Michael Lucero, Lucio Pozzi, Pat Steir, Daryl Trivieri, among others. Thirteen of these artists are not currently represented in the Museum's collection. The work of Trivieri and Pozzi comprises the bulk of the gift, and each artist is a master of a variety of media. Trivieri is at home with a ballpoint pen as he is with a motor-driven airbrush. His subjects include fantastic animals rendered with uncanny technical precision as well as ghostly, cloud-like portraits that fade away at the edges. Pozzi is an artist of limitless energy, at one moment creating a series of squares arranged on boldly painted blue backgrounds, and the next moment painting a brightly-colored seascape from up high on an Italian bluff. It is characteristic of contemporary artists that they drift from one medium to another, experimenting with many and mastering several.

The Smithsonian Associates Commissions "Museum Moment" Print by Sam Gilliam Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:27 PM PDT WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonian Associates Art Collectors Program announces the 2009 commission of Sam Gilliam to create a limited-edition screen print. "Museum Moment" is on display at the Graphic Eloquence exhibition in the Smithsonian's Ripley Center. This signed and numbered print is available for purchase through the Art Collectors Program. Proceeds support the educational and cultural programs of The Smithsonian Associates. "Museum Moment" is a 90-color, screen print limited edition of 105, printed on Rising two-ply acid-free paper. Produced by master printer Lou Stovall of Workshop Inc., each unframed print is numbered and signed by the artist and comes with a certificate of authenticity from the Smithsonian.

Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston shows Best American Design Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:26 PM PDT   Boston, MA - The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston will present a large-scale exhibition of innovative contemporary American design. Organized by the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Design Life Now: National Design Triennial is part of an ongoing series that presents the best work from the prior three years in product design, architecture, furniture, film, graphics, new technologies, animation, science, and fashion. On exhibition from September 28, 2007, through January 6, 2008. "As we've learned from working in our exceptional new building, design profoundly affects the way we experience the world," says Jill Medvedow, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art. "Design Life Now continues this exploration in a variety of disciplines and follows in the ICA's long tradition of presenting exemplary exhibitions and programs on design." Organized by Cooper-Hewitt curators Ellen Lupton and Matilda McQuaid and former curatorial director Barbara Bloemink, along with guest curator Brooke Hodge of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the exhibition features the work of more than 80 designers and firms, from emerging designers to established brands such as Apple and Nike. Featured architect Michael Meredith, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, has designed and adapted the exhibition for the ICA's galleries. "This exhibition encompasses the wide range of design objects affecting our culture, from the advanced technologies of robotics and artificial intelligence to the things that are part of our everyday lives, like pill bottles, iPods, and Google," says Emily Moore Brouillet, Assistant Curator at the ICA. "At the same time, we can see our society reflected back in the design world in trends like blogging and do-it-yourself projects." Among the themes of the exhibition is design that emulates the natural world. Objects such as Apple's iPod are highly adaptive, while others mimic natural organisms, from Dr. Joseph Ayers's Robolobster, an underwater robot which behaves like a real crustacean, to Nike's Free running shoe, which simulates the range of motion that occurs in the toes and feet when running barefoot. Design Life Now also investigates the role of community, whether online communities that come together through blogging about design, the collaborative practice of firms like Field Operations, who integrate art, architecture, ecology, urbanism and economic development for their landscape projects, or Herman Miller's workplace environments which seek to foster creativity and teamwork. Another group of objects shows the renewed appreciation for hand-crafted and do-it-yourself design. Examples include prefab housing such as Charlie Lazor's FlatPak house and Craig Konyk's Up!House, the intricate handwork of Ralph Rucci's couture gowns, and publications and resources that are part of a broad social movement encouraging design education for everyone, like Readymade magazine and Howtoons, a science web site for children. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog, Design Life Now, published by Cooper-Hewitt's new self-publishing venture. The publication includes a foreword by Cooper-Hewitt director Paul Warwick Thompson; original essays by co-curators Barbara Bloemink, Brooke Hodge, Ellen Lupton, and Matilda McQuaid; a designer profile of each of the 87 designers featured in the exhibition; and more than 300 color and black-and-white images. Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, a branch of the Smithsonian Institution since 1967, is the only museum in the nation devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design. Cooper-Hewitt programs and exhibitions demonstrate how design shapes culture and history—past, present and future. Holdings encompass one of the most diverse and comprehensive collections of design works in existence, tracing the history of design through more than 250,000 objects spanning 24 centuries. The Institute of Contemporary Art, located at 100 Northern Avenue, is open Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 am – 5 pm; Thursday and Friday, 10 am – 9 pm; and Saturday and Sunday, 10 am – 5 pm. Admission is $12 adults, $10 seniors and students, and free for members and children 17 and under. Free admission on Target Free Thursday Nights, 5-9 pm. For more information, call 617-478-3100 or visit our Web site at www.icaboston.org .

The Montclair Art Museum Presents "George Inness: Private Treasures" Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:25 PM PDT Montclair, New Jersey.- The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) proudly presents "George Inness: Private Treasures", opening Sunday, November 6th, as the first special exhibition to be held in the George Inness Gallery, a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Martucci. The gallery is the only space in the world dedicated to the work of George Inness (1825-1894) and customarily houses an installation of rotating selections from the Museum's renowned collection of America's greatest landscape painter. "George Inness: Private Treasures", on view through April 1, 2012, will consist of 10 works, nine from private collections as well as one from the Montclair Historical Society. The local lenders are from various towns in New York and New Jersey, including Montclair, Glen Ridge, Essex Fells, Verona, and Irvington. Additionally, "George Inness Sketching Outside His Montclair Studio", a painting from the Museum's collection by Inness's son, George Inness, Jr., will be on display.

Herb Kawainui Kane ~ Artist & Historian Treasure Of Hawai'i ~ Dies At 82 Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:24 PM PDT Honolulu (SF Chronicle). - The art of Herb Kawainui Kane is synonymous with the renaissance of Hawaiian culture, and both have become ubiquitous to the point of sometimes being taken for granted, which is ironic, considering that ignorance and neglect of Hawaiian history and traditions was a prime motivator of Kane's authoritative illustrations and powerful paintings. Kane was the obvious choice to design the 2009 U.S. stamp marking the 50th anniversary of Hawai'i statehood. But now with the sad news of the death of Kane, 82, on Tuesday 8th March, the appreciation for his art, and its role in the revival of the culture he celebrated, is rightfully on the rise. As the Honolulu Star-Advertiser obituary notes, his official Web site cites Kane as saying, "If my work contributes to our comprehension of Hawai'i's past, that will ultimately become the greatest reward."

The Andy Warhol Museum Presents the Comic Book Art of Alex Ross Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:24 PM PDT Pittsburgh, PA.- The Andy Warhol Museum is proud to present "Heroes & Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross" on view at the museum through January 8th 2012. "Heroes & Villains" is the first museum exhibition celebrating the artwork of Alex Ross, today's foremost comic book artist. Ross, acclaimed for the photorealism of his work is often referred to as "the Norman Rockwell of the comics world." Heroes & Villains features over 130 works represented as paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculptures from Ross's personal collection. The pieces range from a crayon drawing of Spider-Man that he created at the age of four through to today's paintings. This exhibition outlines Ross's career of redefining comic books and graphic novels for a new generation of followers of Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and other classic comic book superheroes. The exhibition also includes original artwork by Frank Bez, J.C. Leyendecker, Andrew Loomis, Norman Rockwell, and Lynette Ross (Ross's mother and a successful commercial illustrator), as well as artworks and archival material from The Andy Warhol Museum collection. Born in Portland, Oregon in 1970 and raised in Lubbock, Texas, Alex Ross grew up in a world of colorful, painted images. His interest in the difference between right and wrong was influenced by his father Clark, a minister, who instilled a strong moral framework in Ross. Ross's mother, Lynette, was a successful illustrator in the 1940s and 1950s, the same time that Warhol was creating his commercial illustrations in New York City. By the time Ross was 13 years old he was drawing and scripting comic books.  At the age of 17, Ross went on to study painting at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, where he was influenced by Salvador Dali's hyperrealism, as well as by such classic American illustrators as Norman Rockwell and Joseph Christian Leyendecker. Ross began his professional career as a storybook artist for an advertising agency. At the age of 19 Ross received his first comic assignment from Marvel Comics – a comic titled 'Terminator: The Burning Earth'. Five years later, Ross created the illustrations and cover art for 'Marvels', a full feature comic book, designed along with writer Rick Busiek. Ross's photorealistic gouache technique showcases superheroes and villains such as Spider-Man, the Human Torch, Captain America and Galactus. His sophomore project, 'Kingdom Come', is a comic in which an alternate DC Universe is filled with aging superhero forces including Superman, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern, who come out of retirement to fight modern superhumans. Thanks to his talents, Ross would go on to win the Comic Buyer's Guide Award for Favorite Painter seven times in a row, resulting in the retirement of the category. Ross has graciously prepared an original artwork for The Warhol – a painting of Andy Warhol flying in the air with swans.  This original artwork will be available to the public in a limited edition poster exclusively at The Warhol Store. In addition, Warhol's uncompleted film Batman/Dracula (1964), which has not been on view since 1964, is also included in the exhibition. The Andy Warhol Museum, located on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist. Over the course of his career, Andy Warhol transformed contemporary art. Employing mass-production techniques to create works, Warhol challenged preconceived notions about the nature of art and erased traditional distinctions between fine art and popular culture. The Andy Warhol Museum's permanent collection is comprised of more than 8,000 works of art by Warhol including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, film, videotapes, and an extensive archives that consists of ephemera, records, source material for works of art, and other documents of the artist's life. Together, the art and archives make The Andy Warhol Museum the most comprehensive single-artist museum in the world. The Andy Warhol Museum is one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and is a collaborative project of the Carnegie Institute, the Dia Art Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (AWFVA). The museum is located in an 88,000-square-foot (8,200 m2) facility on seven floors. Containing 17 galleries, the museum features 900 paintings, close to 2,000 works on paper, over 1,000 published unique prints, 77 sculptures, and 4,000 photographs. In addition to its Pittsburgh location the museum has sponsored 56 traveling exhibits that have attracted close to 9 million visitors in 153 venues worldwide since 1996. Plans for the museum were first announced in October 1989, about 2½ years after Warhol's death. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.warhol.org

Pop Art ~ Now and Then at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:23 PM PDT Wolverhampton, UK - Exploring the relationships and connections between the Pop Art of the 1960s and contemporary art today. The third Pop Art exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery features outstanding contemporary artists like David Mach, Takashi Murakami and Gavin Turk amongst familiar Pop Artists, Roy Lichenstein, Patrick Caulfield, Andy Warhol and many more.

Fantastic Miniature Rooms Create Magic at the Art Institute of Chicago Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:23 PM PDT CHICAGO, IL (AP).- Third-grader Jillian Beckman and her grandmother Sally Beckman peered through the glass, looking at the miniature rooms at The Art Institute of Chicago before deciding that their favorite tiny pieces in the intricately crafted historic spaces were the beds. The 68 rooms showcase European, American and Asian interiors and furnishings from the 17th century through the 1930s. They were largely created and commissioned between 1933 and 1937 by Chicago socialite Narcissa Ward Thorne (although she largely went by Mrs. James Ward Thorne).

The Chrysler Museum Displays Works From Local Private Collections Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:22 PM PDT Norfolk, VA.– The Chrysler Museum of Art is proud to present "Our Community Collects: From Durer to Warhol and Beyond" on view through January 29th 2012. Featuring 163 works of art from 42 private collections, this new exhibition feels like a museum within a museum, progressing from Old Masters to cutting-edge contemporary art in one leisurely stroll. The overall strength of the show reflects the sophistication of the collectors and there are almost too many highlights to list. These exceptional pieces include work by Ansel Adams, Thomas Hart Benton, Albert Bierstadt, Dale Chihuly, Winslow Homer, Roy Lichtenstein, Georgia O'Keeffe, Lino Tagliapietra, Grant Wood and more. It's rare to see contemporary glass and contemporary art in the same gallery. In terms of lighting, it's quite difficult to evenly and beautifully illuminate 2D art and 3D glass side by side. This exhibition is quite notable for this seamless integration. Its been nearly two decades since the Chrysler presented an exhibition of works gathered from private collections, and as our curators started the yearlong process of organizing the show, they reported incredible advances in the range, depth, and quality of privately held art in our region. The number of new collectors has grown significantly, and veteran collectors have refined and expanded their holdings. The result is a display of tremendous quality and diversity, one that highlights the strength and sophistication of the collecting impulse in Hampton Roads. A region's cultural health is gauged not only by the vigor of public institutions like the Chrysler, but also by the knowledge, commitment, and taste of its private collectors. The history of the Chrysler Museum starts with more than a century of hard work and dedication by many, many residents of Hampton Roads who believed in the civic virtue of art and art education. Those rewarding efforts moved to an entirely different level 40 years ago, with what is now considered one of strongest and most varied gifts ever made in American history to a single museum by a single person. Walter Chrysler Jr., scion of the automotive company founder, donated nearly 10,000 objects as part of an arrangement where the Norfolk Academy of Arts and Sciences became the Chrysler Museum of Art. The story of his gift goes far beyond the sheer numbers. It's what his collection contained that remains breathtaking to this day. A late, legendary New York Times art critic called Chrysler the most underrated American collector of his time, and it's easy to see why. As a young man he met the top avant-garde artists of Paris (including Pablo Picasso) and was soon purchasing works by them all. He spent his summers in American artist colonies (such as Provincetown, Mass.), and bought works from many future art stars well before they way famous. He was known for buying against fashion, as he had confidence that the special qualities he saw in various pieces would gain acceptance later. Perhaps what's most remarkable is the almost impossible-to-define sense of knowing which one to buy; that is, if you can have only one example of a certain style, if you can have only one item from a certain artist, which one would you pick and why? Such judgments are completely subjective, of course, but a lot of art experts believe Walter Chrysler had the knack for getting the right one. By 1976, the city of Norfolk had added 20 galleries to hold the works. There were further building additions in the 80s, including the George and Linda Kaufman Theatre. Walter Chrysler chaired the Museum Board of Trustees until 1984, and he died in 1988 after a long battle with cancer. In the history of the Museum, donations from collectors such as Edgar and Bernice Chrysler Garbish, Emile Wolf, Goldsborough Serpell, Erwin and Adrianne Joseph and the family of Joel  Cooper have dramatically enriched the Museum's collection. Members of the Mowbray Arch Society have contributed great works to the Chrysler, and the Norfolk Society of Arts remains active to this day. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.chrysler.org

6 ~ Goya ~ 6 Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:21 PM PDT Madrid, Spain - Only on a few occasions have the Goyas in the custody of the Prado Museum left their galleries. Yesterday, during the afternoon, one of those times happened when the famous painter, played by actor Cales Canut, gave six of his Works of art (The Third of May, 1808, The Nude Maja, The Clothed Maja, The Family of Charles IV, Queen Maria on Horseback,) to the mayor, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, as a starting point for the spectacle 6 Goya 6, created by Pere Pinyol to conmemorate the 200th anniversary of the 2nd of May.

Fred Torres Collaborations Hosts David LaChapelle's "Earth Laughs In Flowers" Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:20 PM PDT New York City.- From February 23rd through March 24th, Fred Torres Collaborations will present "Earth Laughs In Flowers", an important new series of ten large-scale photographs by David LaChapelle. First shown at the Kestnergesellschaft Museum in Hannover, Fred Torres Collaborations will exhibit the entire series for the first time in the United States. On the occasion of this exhibition, Fred Torres Collaborations (FTC) announces that it now represents David LaChapelle in New York. FTC has managed LaChapelle's fine art career since 2005. In "Earth Laughs In Flowers" David LaChapelle appropriates the traditional Baroque still life painting in order to explore contemporary vanity, vice, the transience of earthly possessions and, ultimately, the fragility of humanity. Expectations of the still life are satisfied through the inclusion of symbolic objects such as fruit, flowers and skulls, but also upended by the insertion of everyday items such as cell phones, cigarette butts, balloons, Barbies, and a Starbuck's iced coffee cup. This last effect is exacerbated by a tortuous disorderliness overwhelming the composition. The resulting photographs achieve a painterly, almost sculptural quality, thereby challenging the traditions of painting. The title Earth Laughs in Flowers comes from the poem "Hamatreya" (1846) by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), in which flowers articulate nature's ridicule and contempt for human arrogance in the pretense to dominion over earth: "Where are these men? Asleep beneath their grounds: And strangers, fond as they, their furrows plough. Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs; Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet, Clear of the grave." The titles of the works refer to the cycles of the seasons and of life: Springtime, Late Summer, Early Fall, Deathless Winter, and Concerning the Soul. In typical memento mori fashion, the works invite us in, beg our self-reflection, and remind us to enjoy life before it's over. In collaboration with Robilant + Voena and St. Moritz Art Masters, Earth Laughs In Flowers is also on view at St. Moritz Art Masters, Reformierte Dorfkirche, Via Maistra 18, St. Moritz 7500, from February 11th through 26th; Robilant + Voena Gallery, 38 Dover Street, London W1S4NL, between February 14th and March 24th; and Robilant + Voena Gallery, Via Fontana 16, Milano 20122, February 16th until March 24th. David LaChapelle is known internationally for his exceptional talent in combining a unique hyper-realistic aesthetic with profound social messages. LaChapelle's photography career began in the 1980's when he began showing his artwork in New York City galleries. His work caught the eye of Andy Warhol, who offered him his first job as a photographer at Interview Magazine. His photographs of celebrities in Interview garnered positive attention, and before long he was shooting for a variety of top editorial publications and creating some of the most memorable advertising campaigns of his generation. LaChapelle's striking images have graced the covers and pages of Italian Vogue, French Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, Rolling Stone and i-D, and he has photographed personalities as diverse as Tupac Shakur, Madonna, Amanda Lepore, Eminem, Philip Johnson, Lance Armstrong, Pamela Anderson, Lil' Kim, Uma Thurman, Elizabeth Taylor, David Beckham, Paris Hilton, Jeff Koons, Leonardo DiCaprio, Hillary Clinton, Muhammad Ali, and Britney Spears, to name a few. His stage work includes Elton John's The Red Piano and the Caesar's Palace spectacular he designed and directed in 2004. His burgeoning interest in film led him to make the short documentary Krumped, an award-winner at Sundance from which he developed RIZE, the feature film acquired for worldwide distribution by Lion's Gate Films. The film was released in the US and internationally in the summer of 2005 to huge critical acclaim, and was chosen to open the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. In 2006, LaChapelle decided to minimize his participation in commercial photography, and return to his roots by focusing on fine art photography. Since then, he has been the subject of exhibitions in both commercial galleries and leading public institutions around the world. He has had record breaking solo museum exhibitions at the Barbican Museum, London (2002), Palazzo Reale, Milan (2007), Museo del Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City (2009), the Musee de La Monnaie, Paris (2009), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei, Taiwan and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel. In 2011, he has had a major exhibition of new work at The Lever House, New York and retrospectives at the Museo Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (through March 2012), the Hangaram Design Museum in Seoul (through February 2012) and Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague (through February 2012). The galleries he has exhibited in include Tony Shafrazi and Paul Kasmin galleries in New York, Robilant + Voena in London, Alain Noirhomme Gallery in Brussels, Galerie Thomas, Munich and de Sarthe, Hong Kong. Next year, LaChapelle will break new ground in his own career by showing an exhibition titled Earth Laughs in Flowers at four different international galleries simultaneously: Reformierte Dorfkirche in St. Moritz, branches of Robilant + Voena in London and Milan, and Fred Torres Collaborations in New York. David LaChapelle continues to be inspired by everything from art history and street culture, to the Hawaiian jungle in which he lives, projecting an image of twenty-first century pop culture through his work that is both loving and critical. He is quite simply the only photographic artist working today who has transitioned flawlessly from the world of fashion and celebrity photography to be enshrined by the notoriously discerning contemporary art intelligentsia. Founded in 2005, Fred Torres Collaborations (FTC) works with artists, galleries, curators, and museums in producing and promoting exhibitions in New York and around the world.  In 2008, FTC opened an exhibition space in Chelsea, which serves as an incubator for emerging artists, an experimental space for established artists, and a venue to host other arts related programming. FTC complements its exhibition program with guest-curated shows such as Assembly, organized by LACMA curator Edward Robinson. To date, over 43 artists have been exhibited at the gallery space. Artists in the program have gone on to exhibit at galleries and museums around the world, collected by important private and public institutions, and featured in numerous national and international publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time Out New York, Village Voice and W. Upcoming exhibitions include Lynda Benglis, Guy Bourdin, Madeleine Gekiere, Courtney Love, Alessandro Twombly, and Dare Wright. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.fredtorres.com

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 01 Jun 2012 06:19 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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