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

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• The Barnes Foundation's New Philadelphia Campus Is Now Open
• The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art features the "Decorative Arts at the World's Fairs 1851-1939"
• The National Museum of American Illustration shows "Maxfield Parrish ~ The Retrospective"
• Throckmorton Fine Art hosts "Colors of Passion ~ Dimitris Yeros and Gao Yuan"
• The Bowdoin College Museum of Art to show William Wegman’s Nature-Inspired Works
• Critical Raves for Hans Burkhardt Exhibition at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts
• The Crocker Art Museum opens a Survey of Groundbreaking Artist Judy Chicago
• A LEGACY OF ART: THE TED AND RUTH NASH COLLECTION
• Frankfurt Kunstverein opens " Experimenta FOLKLORE " Exhibition
• The Brevard Art Museum to highlight Mildred Richardson ~ Life and Thoughtful Art
• First Ever Tableau Vivant Created by Acclaimed Artist John Baldessari at Sprüth Magers London
• SMU's Pollock Gallery Presents Simen Johan's "Until the Kingdom Comes"
• Getty Villa presents Treasures from the Republic of Georgia ~ The Land of the Golden Fleece
• New Photography Series by Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao Celebrates the Bronx, NY
• The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College To Show "A Taste for the Modern"
• First Solo Exhibition by Walt Cassidy at Invisible Exports in New York
• Paul Kasmin Gallery Presents Paintings by Simon Hantai
• Latin American Masters on View at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City
• Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"

The Barnes Foundation's New Philadelphia Campus Is Now Open Posted: 11 Jun 2012 12:51 AM PDT Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.- The Barnes Foundation unveiled its new Philadelphia home. In rooms reflective of the intimate layout and unique character of the original Merion galleries, the renowned art collection will be accessible to the public as never before. Located on 4.5 acres, the two-story, 93,000-square-foot building will house the Foundation's art collection. The Barnes Foundation's 93,000-square-foot building designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, conceived as a "gallery within a garden and a garden within a gallery," is set within a four-and-a-half-acre site with landscape design by Olin. The building will provide significant new facilities for the Foundation's core programs in art education, as well as for temporary exhibitions and visitor amenities. At the same time, the legendary Barnes art collection will be presented within a 12,000-square-foot gallery that preserves the scale, proportion and configuration of the original Merion gallery, as well as the founder's conception of a visual interplay between art and nature. While the new campus on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway enables the Foundation to relax previous restrictions on public visitation, admissions will be scheduled so as to maintain an intimate and contemplative atmosphere. The natural light in the gallery, controlled through contemporary technology, will reveal the true beauty of the Barnes Foundation's unparalleled collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings, African sculpture, Pennsylvania Dutch decorative arts and other important works. The seminal painting "Joy of Life" by Henri Matisse will now be placed in an intimate gallery on the second floor. This new placement allows for safe and improved viewing of the painting and maintains the visual relationship between this work and the Matisse mural The Dance, which was commissioned by Dr. Barnes. In keeping with the Foundation's historic environmental mission, which includes its programs in horticultural education and its stewardship of the Arboretum in Merion, the Philadelphia building of the Barnes Foundation features a sustainable design, and utilizes filtered natural daylight, a green roof, grey water re-use, reclaimed Pennsylvania and New Jersey wood and other local materials. "Now, after a long and determined effort to secure the future of the Barnes Foundation, we look forward to welcoming the public to our accessible new campus in Philadelphia," said Dr. Bernard C. Watson, Chairman of the Barnes Foundation Board of Trustees. "The time has come for people to see what we offer, and take advantage of this wonderful institution and its collection and educational programming, which Dr. Barnes intended for all people from all walks of life." Derek Gillman, Executive Director and President of the Barnes, stated, "The Barnes Foundation is rightly celebrated as steward of one of the great achievements of world collecting. We hope the presentation of our collection at the new campus, faithful to the way in which Dr. Barnes displayed it in Merion, PA and, at the same time, shown in a new light, will open the eyes of many more people to these wonderful works of art, and encourage them to engage with the unique educational opportunities now offered in central Philadelphia." The Foundation's Philadelphia campus has been realized at a total cost of $150 million for construction and related expenses. The Barnes Foundation has successfully raised $200 million to pay for construction with $50 million to establish an endowment, in a campaign that will continue after the opening. The collection will be displayed in 12,000 square feet of exhibition space that replicates the scale, proportion, and configuration of the original galleries in Merion. An improved lighting system will enable visitors to see the art in a more natural setting. A 5,000-square-foot special exhibition gallery will feature regular temporary exhibitions of past and contemporary art that complements or responds to works in the Barnes Foundation's collection. Significant space for achieving the Foundation's core educational mission includes two in-gallery classrooms, a 150-seat auditorium, seminar rooms, and an art library. Much-needed facilities for painting conservation and research will ensure effective care of the collection. The new building offers welcoming public spaces to create opportunities for relaxtion and refreshment for all visitors. These include a 50-seat café with a courtyard for outdoor dining; an expanded gift shop; on-site parking; and indoor and outdoor gardens. Visit the foundation's website at ... http://www.barnesfoundation.org

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art features the "Decorative Arts at the World's Fairs 1851-1939" Posted: 11 Jun 2012 12:24 AM PDT Kansas City, Missouri.- The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is proud to present "Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World's Fairs, 1851–1939", a groundbreaking exhibition of extraordinary objects representing the pinnacle of science and artistic ingenuity. The exhibition runs through August 19th, it then travels to Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, where it will be on view from October 13th through February 24th 2013. A full-color catalogue, written by international scholars of the 19th and 20th century decorative arts and co-published by Skira Rizzoli, will accompany the exhibition. Inventing the Modern World includes about 200 objects shown at every major and several minor world's fairs from 1851 to 1939, carefully chosen through a generous research grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The exhibition is co-curated by Catherine L. Futter, the Helen Jane and Hugh "Pat" Uhlmann Curator of Decorative Arts at the Nelson-Atkins, and Jason T. Busch, Curatorial Chair for Collections and the Alan G. and Jane A. Lehman Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at Carnegie. Due to the impermanence of the fairs, decorative arts from them are sometimes the only surviving elements. Decorative arts, particularly objects crafted in ceramic, metal, glass and wood, were the physical manifestation of the progressive ideals embodied in the fairs. In order to compile the comprehensive list of breathtaking objects in the exhibition, Futter and Busch extensively investigated holdings displayed at world's fairs throughout European and American public and private collections. Although every major fair through 1939 is represented, the exhibition is not a march through the fairs but an impressive grouping of objects illustrating the most engaging and forward-thinking innovations of their times. The exhibition will include works made by noted international artists and manufacturers, ranging from a monumental 1850s Gothic Revival cabinet to a 1930s streamlined Art Deco glass chair, to masterworks of jewelry and objects in glass, silver, and porcelain by such world-renowned artisans and designers as Baccarat, Tiffany, Cartier and Sevres. When the massive Beaux Art Nelson-Atkins' Building opened in 1933, newspapers nationwide reported visitors "amazed," "gasping at its innovations and marveling at its luxury."  Still, times being what they were in the Great Depression, operations were modest: only three telephones serviced the entire building; lights in the galleries were turned off when people left a room; at opening and closing times, a huge bell was rung manually. Though the Museum has grown its collection, its audience (and its telephones), just as in 1933, bringing people together with art is central to all current Museum endeavors. And that goes for the major campus transformation project, the new Bloch Building as its jewel. The Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City is recognized nationally and internationally as one of America's finest art museums. The Nelson-Atkins serves the community by providing access and insight into its renowned collection of more than 33,500 art objects and is best known for its Asian art, European and American paintings, photography, modern sculpture, and new American Indian and Egyptian galleries. Housing a major art research library and the Ford Learning Center, the Museum is a key educational resource for the region. The institution-wide transformation of the Nelson-Atkins has included the 165,000-square-foot Bloch Building expansion and renovation of the original 1933 Nelson-Atkins Building. The museum's European painting collection is also highly-prized. It include works by Caravaggio, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Petrus Christus, El Greco, Guercino, Alessandro Magnasco, Giuseppe Bazzani, Corrado Giaquinto, Cavaliere d'Arpino, Gaspare Traversi, Giuliano Bugiardini, Titian, Rembrandt, and Peter Paul Rubens, as well as Impressionists Gustave Caillebotte, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Vincent van Gogh, among others. It also has fine Late Gothic and Early Italian Renaissance paintings by; Jacopo del Casentino (The Presentation of Christ in the Temple), Giovanni di Paolo and Workshop, Bernardo Daddi and Workshop, Lorenzo Monaco, Gherardo Starnina (The Adoration of the Magi), and Lorenzo di Credi. It has German and Austrian Expressionist paintings by Max Beckmann, Karl Hofer (Record Player), Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Oskar Kokoschka (Pyramids of Egypt). The museum is distinguished (and widely celebrated) for its extensive collection of Asian art, especially that of Imperial China. Most of it was purchased for the museum in the early 20th century by Laurence Sickman, then a Harvard fellow in China. The museum has one of the best collections of Chinese antique furniture in the country. In addition to Chinese art, the collection includes pieces from Japan, India, Iran, Indonesia, Korea, and Southeast, and South Asia. The American painting collection includes the largest collection open to the public of works by Thomas Hart Benton, who lived in Kansas City. Among its collection are masterpieces by George Bellows, George Caleb Bingham, Frederic Church, John Singleton Copley, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, and John Singer Sargent. It also has fine Contemporary Paintings and Creations in the Bloch Building by; Willem de Kooning, Fairfield Porter ("Mirror"), Wayne Thiebaud ("Bikini Girl"), Richard Diebenkorn, Agnes Martin, Bridget Riley, and Alfred Jensen. In 2006, Hallmark Cards chairman Donald J. Hall, Sr., donated to the museum the entire Hallmark Photographic Collection, spanning the history of photography from 1839 to the present day. It is primarily American in focus, and includes works from photographers such as Southworth & Hawes, Carleton Watkins, Timothy O'Sullivan, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothea Lange, Homer Page, Harry Callahan, Lee Friedlander, Andy Warhol, Todd Webb, and Cindy Sherman, among others. Outside on the museum's immense lawn, the Kansas City Sculpture Park contains the largest collection of monumental bronzes by Henry Moore in the United States. The park also includes works by Alexander Calder, Auguste Rodin, George Segal and Mark di Suvero, among others. Beyond these, the park (and the museum itself) is well known for Shuttlecocks, a four-part outdoor sculpture of oversize badminton shuttlecocks by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. In addition, the museum also has collections of European and American sculpture, decorative arts and works on paper, Egyptian art, Greek and Roman art, modern and contemporary paintings and sculpture, pre-Columbian art, and the art of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. As well, the museum houses a major collection of English pottery and another of miniature paintings. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.nelson-atkins.org

The National Museum of American Illustration shows "Maxfield Parrish ~ The Retrospective" Posted: 11 Jun 2012 12:05 AM PDT Newport, Rhode Island.- The National Museum of American Illustration (NMAI) is currently presenting a milestone exhibition, "Maxfield Parrish: The  Retrospective", on view through September 2nd. Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966) was best known for romantic images with an unmatched richness, captured by his uncanny use of color incorporating ultra-saturated hues and often times an intense cobalt blue. His paintings were created using alternating layers of color and transparent varnish over a monochromatic underpainting, sometimes totaling as many as 60 layers. This incredible technique was superb for period reproductions using the  four color printing process. The resultant luminosity of Parrish's original artworks must be seen in person to be fully appreciated, for they are uniquely breathtaking with great depth and intense colors unmatched by any other artist before or since. Amongst the works on display will be the artist's magnum opus, the Florentine Fete murals, 18 separate canvases each 10'8" tall, as well as his smallest work, "The Tallwood Pearl", painted on a 1 1/2" diameter Mother of Pearl button. Parrish's work as a professional illustrator encompassed the years between the mid-1890s and mid-1960s. This Retrospective features works from all periods of his career including his early periodical and book illustrations with fantastical romantic images,  compelling commercial advertising works for products which sold well due to his artist's endorsement, depictions of fairy tales like the Brothers Grimm's Frog Prince, and the popular Edison Mazda (General Electric) calendars which hung everyplace one went, from the barber shops to law offices. His 'girls on rocks' images were ubiquitous in the 1920s, with an estimated one of every four American households having a Parrish print on display. In a survey taken in 1925 by a group of art print publishers, findings showed that the three favorite artists were Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Parrish. His art sold a seemingly endless number of products, including Jell-O, Fisk tires, light bulbs, chocolate, soap, cameras, bicycles, silverware, cosmetics, and root beer. Everyone recognizes the magical world woven by Parrish, usually with the color lapiz lazuli in its purest form. His signature use of this color was so powerful that a certain cobalt blue became known as 'Parrish Blue'. His idealized images with figures of feminine pulchritude adorned in classical gowns with backgrounds of electric violets, radiant reds and rich glowing earth tone pigments, created an idyllic world indeed. Other images had scenes embellished with billowing clouds in a fairy tale ambience of maidens and knights lying under porticoes and these were equally harmonic, idealistic, and beloved. Books illustrated by Parrish no longer belonged to their authors, but rather they became 'Parrish' books, just as a generic color became 'Parrish Blue.' As a result of this ability to create such a sublime splendor, Maxfield Parrish became unquestionably the most successful and best-known American illustrator of the early part of the twentieth century. As adults, we long still for such visual images to materialize and we harbor some childish guilt within us for not being able to seek out his scenes of make-believe. We all thought that his paintings were of real places and that these extraordinary people and fire-breathing dragons actually lived and coexisted peacefully. Their images were too realistic not to be believed. Their stark beauty and superb execution denied us any ability to question their existence. They were photographic, mechanical and above all, technically accurate. His lush coloristic effects with extraordinary detail and academic perfection were first broadly recognized by the American public in the 1920's and they rewarded him with an unrivaled national popularity. During the Parrish exhibition, NMAI will continue to exhibit highlights from last year's "Norman Rockwell: American Imagist" traveling exhibition, recently acclaimed in England as  "the best art exhibition in London for 2011." NMAI is also highlighting works by author Tom Wolfe from "In Our Time", his first museum art exhibition ever, comprised of works from his book by the same name, lampooning 1970s American culture. The National Museum of American Illustration (NMAI) was founded in 1998 by  Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence S. Cutler to house their art collection from the 'Golden Age of American Illustration.' The NMAI, a private, nonprofit organization, is an independent, educational, and aesthetic organization with the goal to present the best venue to appreciate the greatest collection of illustration art. Vernon Court, an adaptation of an early 18th century French chateau, was designed and built in 1898 for Mrs. Richard van Nest Gambrill of Peapack, New Jersey. Occupying one full block on historic Bellevue Avenue, Vernon Court was widely heralded as the most spectacular mansion of its kind in America. Author Barr Ferree wrote in American Estates and Gardens (1904) that Vernon Court was "one of the truly greatest estates in America... it has startling beauty and daring originality giving it high rank among the notable houses of America". It was compared with the White House, the Biltmore, The Breakers, and several other mansions as one of the ten greatest mansions in America. Vernon Court stands today as an incredible architectural monument and clearly remains one of the most significant structures in the nation. The late J. Carter Brown, Director Emeritus, National Gallery of Art in Washington remarked in a 1999 letter to our founders, "Vernon Court has to be one of the very most beautiful in Newport, and its state of conservation should be a role model for everyone in the preservation field." The National Museum of American Illustration (NMAI) is a nonprofit independent, educational, and aesthetic organization located in Vernon Court. It is the first national museum devoted exclusively to illustration art, images created to be reproduced in books, periodicals, art prints, and advertisements. The NMAI's American Imagist Collection features paintings by Norman Rockwell, JC Leyendecker, Maxfield Parrish, NC Wyeth, and over 180 others – it is considered a national treasure of art and architecture. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.americanillustration.org

Throckmorton Fine Art hosts "Colors of Passion ~ Dimitris Yeros and Gao Yuan" Posted: 10 Jun 2012 09:20 PM PDT New York City.- From June 14th through September 8th, Throckmorton Fine Art in New York will stage an important exhibition of contemporary photography by two talented figures. "Colors of Passion" pairs the nude figures of the Greek talent, Dimitris Yeros, with the classical nudes of the Chinese photographer Gao Yuan. According to Kraige Block, Executive Director of Throckmorton, "Both artists work with a timeless subject in art—the nude. Yeros is a talented figure in contemporary art, being a photographer, painter, poet, and performance artist. As a photographer, he is considered an heir to the early twentieth century Masters Guelielmo Marconi, Wilhelm von Gloeden, George Platt Lynes, and Bruce of Los Angeles. His nudes portray the beauty of the human body in flawless poses surrounded by classical landscapes, frequently embellishing his compositions with flora and fauna, and a Surrealist twist." Yeros works can be found in many private collections, as well as museums worldwide, including the Tate Modern, the Getty Museum, the International Center of Photography in New York, the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Museum Bochum, and the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. Of the Chinese photographer, Kraige Block says "Gao Yuan's photographs are portraits of cultural identity, using the human body as a subject that lives and moves in a sublime industrial landscape. Her innovative focus on the beauty of the classical nude creates a beautiful but provocative image." Gao Yuan is a rising force in the contemporary Chinese art market. She studied under renowned Japanese photographer Miki Jun, and has extensive experience as a commercial and fashion photographer. "We have selected thirty images for our summer exhibition in New York," Block adds. "Although Yeros and Gao are from different corners of the world, they both fold together classical precepts of art with local and contemporary cultural markers, adding a dash of playfulness and eroticism that we hope visitors will enjoy." For 25 years Throckmorton Fine Art has specialized in vintage and contemporary photography of the Americas with a primary focus on Latin American talents.  The gallery's founder, Spencer Throckmorton, has also pursued a long held interest in Chinese Jades and Pre-Columbian Art and Throckmorton has staged important exhibitions and published numerous publications on these subjects.  Throckmorton Fine Art is a featured exhibitor at the world's leading art fairs.  Spencer Throckmorton and Kraige Block are also recognized for their extraordinary photography collection including strong works of museum quality by luminaries such as Tina Modotti, Manual Alvarez Bravo, Edward Weston and Martin Chambi, among many talents they have supported in the past quarter century.  The gallery also has an extensive inventory of paintings, works on paper and graphics by modern and contemporary Latin American artists, along with a strong collection of male nude photography by various artists; such as Baron Wilhelm Von Gloeden, Vincenzo Galdi, Danny Lyon, George Dureau, Guglielmo Pluschow, and others. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.throckmorton-nyc.com/

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art to show William Wegman’s Nature-Inspired Works Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:53 PM PDT Brunswick, Maine.– This July, a comprehensive exhibition showcasing over thirty years of work by artist William Wegman will be on view at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art . "William Wegman: Hello Nature", on view from July 13th through October 21st, will feature over 100 works in a variety of media including photography, video, painting, and drawing—all of which were produced in or inspired by the state of Maine. Taken together, this body of work  attests to Wegman's rigorous  and sustained engagement with the natural world and places the artist squarely within the American landscape tradition. Among the highlights of the exhibition are Wegman's postcard paintings, canvases that use vintage postcards as their starting points, physically incorporating multiple images into fantastic tableaus. In addition to Wegman's well-known Weimaraners,  William Wegman: Hello Nature also features compilations of collages, drawings, excerpts from the artist's illustrated nature books, and prose that evokes both nineteenth-century transcendentalist literature and the whimsical outdoor recreation guides that Wegman first encountered as a child.

Critical Raves for Hans Burkhardt Exhibition at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:35 PM PDT Los Angeles, CA - Seismic shifts are taking effect in Los Angeles as "Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980," an initiative of The J. Paul Getty Trust with arts institutions across Southern California are underway with museum and gallery openings all over Southern California. Surprisingly, one of the most ambitious exhibitions is presented, not by one of the 60 museum type institutions involved, but by one of L.A.'s long established private galleries, Jack Rutberg Fine Arts.  A just released video sheds light on one of the most compelling components of this major Getty endeavor.  Jack Rutberg Fine Arts' exhibition "Hans Burkhardt: Within & Beyond the Mainstream" brings to light through some 90 works of art and objects, one of the most important artists in L.A.'s 'uncharted' history.  In this fine video of the exhibition's opening night reception, by filmmaker Eric Minh Swenson, the breadth of Burkhardt's provocative work is revealed along with commentary by L.A. art luminaries offering their reflections by critics, art historians and artists in attendance, while Jack Rutberg himself offers insights and context to a history long neglected of this great artist. A Guided Exhibition Walk-Thru by Jack Rutberg on  Saturday, October 22nd at 3 PM is an art event that should not be missed. This expansive exhibition reveals Hans Burkhardt's compelling body of work created in Los Angeles over a period of more than 6 decades. The guided exhibition walk-thru will key upon a history that places Burkhardt in context and discusses his profound impact on the Los Angeles art scene. {youtube}7pRSv-OjVZ0{/youtube} HANS BURKHARDT: "WITHIN & BEYOND THE MAINSTREAM" AT JACK RUTBERG FINE ARTS CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO ON YOUTUBE The video takes the viewer through much of this major exhibition, with works beginning when Burkhardt left New York for L.A. late in 1937, to his final poignant painting of 1993, "The Extra Stripe."  Included are monumentally-scaled works that offer insight into why critics such as Donald Kuspit and Peter Selz have regarded Burkhardt to be one of the major voices in American 20th century art. Hans Burkhardt (1904-1994) was born in Basel Switzerland.  Immigrating to New York in 1924, his artistic training began at Cooper Union and then at Grand Central School, where he met Arshile Gorky. Gorky's role as Burkhardt's mentor soon evolved as Burkhardt became a colleague and trusted friend. Burkhardt shared Gorky's studio for the better part of the years 1928 to 1937, where Willem de Kooning, another Gorky disciple, would frequently visit. When Burkhardt moved to Los Angeles late in 1937, he represented the most significant artistic bridge between New York and Los Angeles, as he was part of the genesis of what became the New York School.  In L.A. he forged an independent course, ultimately pursuing an abstract expressionist style often anticipating the work of his contemporaries and later artists in the East Coast and Europe. Burkhardt's first solo exhibition was in 1939 at the Stendahl Gallery. In the 1940s he regularly exhibited at Frederick Kann's Circle Gallery, where Man Ray was significant in the formation of a short-lived collective of artists called "The Open Circle."  In 1945, the Los Angeles County Museum presented Burkhardt's first museum solo exhibition, which the L.A. Times called an exhibition of "…dynamic power…a striking transfer of feeling into form." Following that museum exhibition, Burkhardt was both critically celebrated and "censored," as his works proved controversial in the years leading up to the McCarthy Era, when modern artists in L.A. were seen as Communist threats. Particularly controversial were his anti-war paintings and Hollywood studio strike paintings, including his "indictment" of then Screen Actors Guild head, Ronald Reagan. "Less incendiary" subjects also proved controversial, such as his Crucifixion Series – condemned for his use of red color and abstract style, regarded as subversive; examples of which are included in "Hans Burkhardt: Within & Beyond the Mainstream".  His painting "One Way Road" (1945), purchased by the County Museum, was removed from its walls shortly thereafter and was finally shown again at LACMA in 2003. Works of the 1950's onward were hugely influential to young artists emerging onto the scene. Artists ranging from Ed Kienholz, John Altoon, Karl Benjamin, Tony Berlant, Melvin Edwards, Michael C. McMillen, etc., were impacted by Burkhardt's independent and provocative works, as he received extensive critical recognition. In the 1950s alone, Burkhardt had an impressive 23 solo exhibitions including a 10-year retrospective at the Pasadena Art Museum, as well as museums in the U.S., Mexico and the Sao Paulo Biennale. In the 1960s Burkhardt continued to exhibit in an impressively large number of major exhibitions including his 30-year retrospective in 1961-62, organized by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, traveling to San Francisco's Palace of the Legion of Honor and Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.  Following a 40-year retrospective at the San Diego Art Institute, the San Diego Museum of Art in 1968 presented a hugely provocative survey of Burkhardt's paintings inspired by his protest of the Viet Nam War, which included his now-famous skull paintings.  These works are now regarded by eminent art historians to be among the major works of the 20th century. Donald Kuspit cites that these paintings  "…make clear that Burkhardt is the master - indeed the inventor - of the abstract Memento Mori." The reactive and prescient nature of Burkhardt's work is evident through the earliest anti-war subjects dating from 1938 through his final painting "The Extra Stripe" from his 1993 "Black Rain Series," included in "Within & Beyond the Mainstream".  Burkhardt's unceasing engagement with contemporary culture over such a remarkably sustained period distinguishes him from other artists, as evidenced by the painting "Sex Pistols," part of his graffiti Basel/Graffiti series of 1981. In 1992 Hans Burkhardt was honored in New York, receiving The American Academy's lifetime achievement award.  Its citation, written by Wayne Thiebaud states:  "Currently at age 87, his works continue to urge us to reflect upon our deepest human concerns about ourselves and our world." The Exhibition, "Hans Burkhardt: Within & Beyond the Mainstream" is currently on view through December 24, 2011 at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts in Los Angeles. JACK RUTBERG FINE ARTS 357 N La Brea Ave                    Los Angeles, CA 90036 Tel. 323-938-5222 jrutberg@jackrutbergfinearts.com

The Crocker Art Museum opens a Survey of Groundbreaking Artist Judy Chicago Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:34 PM PDT Sacramento, California.- The Crocker Art Museum will present a career-spanning exhibition of the work of artist and feminist Judy Chicago in "Surveying Judy Chicago: 1970–2010." Chicago's convention-shattering approach to provocative themes and diverse media is explored in this exhibit of 29 works. The exhibition will be on view at the Crocker from March 3rd through May 13th. This is the first traveling exhibition to include her glass sculpture. Judy Chicago has continuously brought her passion for social dialogue and artistry to bear on many issues. A test plate from "The Dinner Party, 1974–79" is included in this exhibition as are studies completed for "Birth Project, 1980–1985." She has also made innovative use of both traditional and non-traditional media in works that highlight her conceptual and graphic talents, from lithographs to drawings, watercolors, and mixed-media paintings.

A LEGACY OF ART: THE TED AND RUTH NASH COLLECTION Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:33 PM PDT   Oakland, CA - The prized art collection of Ted and Ruth Nash, including work by Robert Arneson, Joan Brown, Roy De Forest, Viola Frey, Ron Nagle, Nathan Oliveira, Richard Shaw, Mary Snowden, Wayne Thiebaud, Peter Voulkos, William T. Wiley and 130 others from Northern and Southern California, has a new home with the Oakland Museum of California. The gift of 275 artworks came to the museum after Mrs. Nash's death, in April 2007.

Frankfurt Kunstverein opens " Experimenta FOLKLORE " Exhibition Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:32 PM PDT   Frankfurt, Germany - The group exhibition "Experimenta FOLKLORE", which is on show from the 12th December 2008 to the 1st March 2009 at the Frankfurt Kunstverein, concerns the phenomenon of folklore as a musical element within contemporary art production. The title of the project refers to the "Experimenta" series that was founded in Frankfurt in the 1970s and conceived as an international, experimental and boundary transcending theatre festival. It is considered to have been an important influence on the experimental music scene of that time. As an idea, folklore not only includes a genre of popular music, but also all folk traditions – from rituals, folk dances and fairy-tales, through to arts and crafts or folk-styled clothing. Folklore can have both a mythical element as well as still contain the capacity to grapple with the worldly traditions of everyday life and the significance that advanced technology has in a post-modern world. The project aims to relate, in a humorous manner, an understanding of tradition and modernity through the particular installations and performances of various artists (- groups); incorporating self-built instruments and costumes. Further, the technical achievements that form part of the research of sound sources is not placed in the foreground, instead it is the investigation of musical anthologies and new forms of staging pop-cultural events, traditions, styles and myths. Thus some of the artists' projects that have been introduced in the exhibition will be questioning the importance that traditional customs, rhymes, rites and harmonies have in our highly technological age. It is both urban conditions as well as situations from the animal and plant world that are being focused on. Besides the work of artists such as Olaf Breuning or Jim Shaw, "Experimenta FOLKLORE" also presents numerous works of lesser-known younger artists, of which some of the works were produced especially for the project. The interplay that exists between the corresponding works allows the musical elements of folklore to function as an artistic language, illustrating ways to document everyday events, tell stories that originate on the periphery of society, decode social inequality or to overcome cultural borders. The Japanese artist Shimabuku, who lives and works in Berlin, investigates the interaction of tradition and modernity by musically overlaying early works with a particular form of Brazilian street music known as "repentistas" (a precursor of rap). His two-channel installation, Asking the Repentistas - Peneira & Sonhador - to remix my octopus works, originated in 2006 during the course of his stay in the Brazilian metropolis with a population of millions, São Paulo; in close cooperation with the street musicians Peneira and Sonhador. These two musicians interweave in their songs, which are structured by improvised rhymes, common cultural elements of Japan and Brazil: These were the experiences of the Japanese immigrant, artist and octopus fishermen Shimabuku with their unique stories from São Paulo from the point of view of the Brazilian inland migrants. With his film Home 2 (2007), the Swiss artist Olaf Breuning presents us with persiflage referring to modern ethno tourism. He intervenes with bizarre self-ironic actions, for example, in indigenous ritual dances especially produced for "third world tourism"; thus staging the whole folkloric scene in an amusing fashion, ad absurdum. The Folk Archive (in 1999-2005) from Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane, is a collection of contemporary folk art from Great Britain consisting of photographs and objects from carnival groups, pop fans, or transparencies of demonstrators. The archive presents an idea of the current situation of British folk art, in the light of present social, technical and cultural developments. In addition, it questions typical exhibition conventions. A work by the Californian artist Jim Shaw Thrift Store Paintings (1974-2004) operates, on the other hand, with the appropriation of widely differing perceptions of the environment through the presentation of a painting collection containing work by unknown artists and Sunday painters. The English artist group juneau/projects/ shows yet another approach again by making use of an amusing caricaturing manner when relating to forms of initiation rituals occurring in urban situations like the skateboard movement. "Experimenta FOLKLORE" presents works of Olaf Breuning, Sung Hyung Cho, Factotum, Jeremy Deller & Alan Kane, Uroš Djuric, Michael Dreher, Lilian Franck, Andy Holden, Honey-Suckle Company & Konrad Sprenger, Dani Jakob, juneau/projects/, Johanna Kandl/H. & J. Kandl, Kostüm Total (Alexander Györfi & Peter Holl), Thomas Kratz, Arto Lindsay, f.marquespenteado, Jonas Ohlsson, Marie-Clémence & Cesar Paes, Georges T. Paruvanani, Claus Richter, Duncan Ross, Jim Shaw, Shimabuku and Nicole Wermers. The exhibition includes an extensive film program, which, besides a series of documentary films within the exhibition, also contains additional screenings of the film Rock My Religion (1982-84) by Dan Graham as well as the film De llama Lâmina (2004) by Matthew Barney. Accompanying the exhibition a journal designed by Duncan Ross will be published, that was realised through the kind support of the Georg und Franziska Speyer'sche Hochschulstiftung.The exhibition was curated by Tobi Maier. Visit Frankfurt Kunstverein at : http://www.fkv.de/frontend_en/startseite.php

The Brevard Art Museum to highlight Mildred Richardson ~ Life and Thoughtful Art Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:31 PM PDT MELBOURNE , FL - An opening reception for Mildred Richardson-Life and Thoughtful Art held Saturday, October 3 at 4:00 p.m. celebrates the painter and teacher with more than 40 years invested in Brevard's art community. Mildred's loose brushstrokes and lush use of color distinguishes her work of landscapes, still lifes, and portraits. An avid sketcher, Mildred's sketchbooks are filled with drawings from her observations and travels; quick, linear notations capture a person or a place.

First Ever Tableau Vivant Created by Acclaimed Artist John Baldessari at Sprüth Magers London Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:30 PM PDT LONDON.- Opening on the eve of his eagerly anticipated retrospective at Tate Modern, Ear Sofa; Nose Sconces with Flowers (In Stage Setting) is the first ever tableau vivant created by acclaimed American artist John Baldessari, a living installation which epitomises the wry wit, visual ingenuity and conceptual vigour which has defined the artist's practice for almost five decades. The installation centres on an ear-shaped sofa, on which a model sits, posed and poised, flanked on either side by a pair of nose-shaped, wall-mounted sconces. The sofa is framed by a large decorative semi-circular arch, and the gallery's glass frontage is shrouded by a sheet of sheer stretched silk. The palette, proportions, and geometrical forms deployed in the construction of the tableau are redolent of an Art Deco aesthetic, which further contributes to a sense of grand theatricality.

SMU's Pollock Gallery Presents Simen Johan's "Until the Kingdom Comes" Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:29 PM PDT Dallas, TX.- The Pollock Gallery of the Division of Art at SMU's Meadows School of the Arts is proud to present "Simen Johan: Until the Kingdom Comes," an exhibition by renowned photographer Simen Johan, from August 29th through October 8th. Born in Norway in 1973 and raised in Sweden, Johan has lived and worked in New York City since 1992. He has received international recognition for his enigmatic large-scale photographs that investigate the often-uneasy relationship between the natural world of animals and the confusion and chaos created by human activity through his hauntingly beautiful scenes of animals seemingly adrift in dreamlike landscapes. The exhibit will include works shown in the recent Simen Johan exhibition at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tenn., and several works from private collections. In an essay that accompanied the catalogue for the Nashville show, Mark Scala, chief curator for the Frist Center, wrote, "Johan's images are completely without people….Yet the works clearly relate to human processes, beliefs, and illusions. The presentations are staged, with animals posing expressively for the camera like actors. Questions of authenticity versus artificiality arise when one recognizes that these are not all animals living in their natural habitats. Some were photographed on location in zoos or wildlife parks, farms, and museums, others show roadkill or taxidermied specimens, posed and Photoshopped into landscape, still others were taken in the wild. Which are alive, and which are uncanny imitations of life? Such ambiguity is symptomatic of the universal dualisms that give life its sense of being contingent, unfixed." In his photographs, Simen Johan explores darkly the human proclivity towards fantasy and our attempts, knowing or otherwise, to craft alternate realities for ourselves. Merging traditional photographic techniques with digital methods, Johan creates each of his images from as many as one hundred negatives, having first constructed or discovered each element and photographed it on film. Across his body of work, the viewer is urged to ponder the relationship between the real and the artificial or imagined. In his most recent images, from the series "Until the Kingdom Comes", Johan depicts animals in scenarios where their actions or demeanor mirror human conventions. The images allude to our inclination to anthropomorphize and domesticate what we see and find around us, and they speak to realms of emotion, our fears and desires, rather than reason. In his earlier work Johan explored the unique relationship that children have with the unknown, constructing complex photographic worlds that seem to grow wild from young imaginations. In some images the children are prominently featured, wrapped up in acts of play or ritual as the makers of their own worlds, while in others they've vanished completely, leaving only the enigmatic traces of their mischief. Simen Johan's work has been widely exhibited internationally, and is in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Cleveland Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and other major institutions. Johan's first monograph, Room to Play, was published by Twin Palms in 2003. Born in Norway and raised in Sweden, Johan earned his B.F.A at the School of Visual Arts, in New York, where he currently resides. The Meadows School of the Arts, formally established in 1969 at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, has achieved prominence as one of the foremost arts education institutions in the United States. The Meadows School of the Arts offers instruction in advertising, art, art history, arts entrepreneurship and arts management, communication studies, dance, film and media arts, journalism, music and theatre. The goal of the Meadows School of the Arts, as a comprehensive educational institution, is to prepare students to meet the demands of professional careers. It is also committed to providing an ongoing opportunity for all SMU students to grow in the understanding and appreciation of the arts. The Meadows School of the Arts serves the public as a significant cultural center by presenting more than 400 events annually for the Dallas community and surrounding region. The cultural and intellectual partnership SMU shares with Dallas continues to flourish, and Dallas citizens form a devoted audience for the more than 400 music, dance and theatre performances, opera productions, and art exhibitions that the Meadows School of the Arts presents each year.  The Meadows Museum houses one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Spanish art outside of Spain. The museum presents major works dating from the Middle Ages to the present, including masterpieces by some of the world's greatest painters: El Greco, Velázquez, Ribera, Murillo, Goya, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso. Highlights of the collection include Renaissance altarpieces, monumental Baroque canvases, exquisite Rococo oil sketches, polychrome wood sculptures, Impressionist landscapes, modernist abstractions and a comprehensive collection of the graphic works of Goya. The museum, located at 5900 Bishop Boulevard at the entrance to the SMU campus, also includes a gift shop, education areas and public event spaces, and offers membership and volunteer opportunities along with a range of public programs throughout the year. The museum also includes the Elizabeth Meadows Sculpture Collection featuring major works by such modern masters as Rodin, Maillol, Lipchitz, Henry Moore, David Smith and Claes Oldenburg. Sculptures are displayed both indoors and outside on the museum plaza. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.smu.edu/Meadows

Getty Villa presents Treasures from the Republic of Georgia ~ The Land of the Golden Fleece Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:28 PM PDT LOS ANGELES, CA.- In a spectacular display of archaeological finds, The Golden Graves of Ancient Vani, on view from July 16 through October 5, 2009, at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa, presents more than 140 objects from one of the most celebrated archaeological sites in the Republic of Georgia, including four recently excavated bronze lamps, shown together for the first time. Vani was an important settlement in the ancient kingdom of Colchis, a region best known as the destination of Jason and the Argonauts in their mythical quest for the Golden Fleece. Even in antiquity, Colchis was renowned as a region rich in gold, and excavations at Vani have confirmed this reputation. Prompted by reports of jewelry that came to the surface following heavy rainfall in the area, archaeologists in the late 1930s began to systematically explore Vani.

New Photography Series by Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao Celebrates the Bronx, NY Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:27 PM PDT BRONX, NY.- The Bronx Museum of the Arts has commissioned the award winning photographer Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao to range throughout the streets, parks, and alleys surrounding the Grand Concourse and create a photographic portrait of the borough of the Bronx as it is today—vital, teeming, and changing. The photographic commission came as part of the Museum's year-long commemoration of the centennial of the storied Grand Concourse. And now the results are in. A bravura series of 12 large-format, technically complex color photographs will go on view at the Bronx Museum beginning Sunday, August 2, 2009 (through January 4, 2010) in Intersections: The Grand Concourse Commissions.

The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College To Show "A Taste for the Modern" Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:26 PM PDT Poughkeepsie, NY.— The summer exhibition at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, "A Taste for the Modern: Gifts from Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller, Edna Bryner Schwab, and Virginia Herrick Deknatel", will showcase 48 paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and photographs that have been donated to the Art Center by three Vassar alumnae. On view from June 24th through September 4th, "A Taste for the Modern", will examine for the first time the modern art collecting of these three generous alumnae - Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller, Edna Bryner Schwab, and Virginia Herrick Deknatel - and the development of their tastes for the modern. In addition, the exhibition, curated by Patricia Phagan, the Philip and Lynn Straus Curator of Prints and Drawings, will explore how all three of their collecting histories have profoundly affected and will continue to influence the visitor's and Vassar student's experience of exploring modern and contemporary art at the college. In the permanent collection of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, works of art by 20th-century modernists vie for attention, providing excellent examples for contemplating the moments and moods associated with artists and movements of that century. Luscious, nature-evoking canvases and watercolors stand out by the circle of American artists around gallery owner and photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Provocative oils and prints by mid-century expressionists project new, alternative, and tense worlds. How did these and many other adventurous modern works come to reside at the Art Center? The answer may be seen through the important gifts to the Art Center from the three generous alumnae to be on view in the exhibition. Several key works will also be on view in the permanent collection galleries. One section of the exhibition will explore mid-century works given by Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller (1909-1992), Vassar class of 1931. The remaining two sections explore works donated by Edna Bryner Schwab (1886-1967), Vassar class of 1907, and Virginia Herrick Deknatel (1906-2009), Vassar class of 1929. Some of the works include: the drawing "Schwanenteich (Swan Pond)" by Paul Klee, "Night Mirror" by William Baziotes, "No 4." by Bradley Walker Tomlin, and "Child and Beast II" by Karel Appel, given to the Art Center by Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller. The turbulent and groundbreaking watercolor "Thirty-Fifth Street and Fifth Avenue at Noon" by John Marin, and several of his transformative landscapes dominate the works given by Edna Bryner Schwab to the college. Virginia Herrick Deknatel's gifts encompass a wide arc, from several works by Pablo Picasso to drawings by Paul Cézanne to bronzes by David Smith and Anthony Caro. All three of these women collected in close concert with authorities in the field of modern art. Blanchette Rockefeller sought advice for her collection primarily from Alfred H. Barr, Jr., the first director of the Museum of Modern Art. Edna Bryner Schwab and her husband Arthur purchased numerous works of avant-garde American art from Stieglitz. Virginia Deknatel partnered with her husband, Frederick Deknatel, professor of modern art at Harvard University, in collecting post-impressionist and modern art. After his death, she continued this tradition. The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center was founded in 1864 as the Vassar College Art Gallery. The current 36,400-square-foot facility, designed by Cesar Pelli and named in honor of the new building's primary donor, opened in 1993. The Art Center's collections chart the history of art from antiquity to the present and comprise over 18,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and glass and ceramic wares. Notable holdings include the Warburg Collection of Old Master prints, an important group of Hudson River School paintings given by Matthew Vassar at the college's inception, and a wide range of works by major European and American 20th-century painters. Vassar was the first U.S. college founded with a permanent art collection and gallery, and at any given time, the Permanent Collection Galleries of the Art Center feature approximately 350 works from Vassar's extensive collections. This January, the Art Center reopened with a new look at its acclaimed permanent collection in newly reinstalled and reorganized galleries. In addition to the permanent collection, the reorganization includes the Focus Gallery that features temporary exhibitions, as well as three galleries devoted to special exhibitions. Visit the museum's website at ... http://fllac.vassar.edu/

First Solo Exhibition by Walt Cassidy at Invisible Exports in New York Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:25 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- Walt Cassidy's works are a personal alphabet—each piece charting a private topography of history, experience, emotion, and thought. "The Protective Motif" is a survey of that inner landscape, rendered in a visual language both intimate and arcane. Ranging from ink drawings and wall sculptures to photographs, the work testifies, with remarkable emotive force, that the most demanding affective experience is often the private one, and that our most urgent expressive imperative is to render it sensibly—to make outer order from inner chaos.

Paul Kasmin Gallery Presents Paintings by Simon Hantai Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:24 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- Paul Kasmin Gallery presents an exhibition of paintings by Simon Hantaï at the 293 Tenth Avenue space. Held from March 19 – April 24th, it will be followed by an exhibition of his earlier works at Galerie Jean Fournier in Paris from April 8 - May 22, 2010. Curated by Molly Warnock, this will be Hantaï's first showing in America since his inclusion in the exhibition "As Painting: Division and Displacement" at the Wexner Center for the Arts in 2001.

Latin American Masters on View at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:23 PM PDT MEXICO CITY.- The term cannibalism, just like Oswaldo Andrade interprets it in 1928, becomes very useful when discussing Modern Art in Latin America. Inspire on the digestive system, Andrade proposed that local culture should devour and transform modern art lessons- mainly European- in order to articulate a regional proposal with its own significance. Even if a proper methodology for Latin American comes out form such proposal, it leaves aside the active role several Latin American artists played in the conformation of artistic discourses and practices, both, in Europe and United States throughout the XX century. On view through 29 September. The exhibition proposes a lecture that, besides considering modern European art assimilation within the Latin American context, emphasizes several regional artists' interference in shaping their artistic practices. It also aims to build relationships between works form different Latin American latitudes in order to underline formal order connections or relations among meanings, purposes and intentions. Redefining visual arts from Post-Impressionism and Cubism Many Latin American artists, who lived in Europe between the late nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century, were attracted by the lessons of post-impressionism, symbolism, and, to some extent, Cubism and Expressionism. Upon their return, immersed in the avant-garde spirit, this group of artists and precursors shaped modern art in Latin America. The Mexican muralism and its painting school Muralism -The first vanguard of the twentieth century originated in a Latin American country with a continental impact-, was characterized by its figurative character and its nationalistic tone, at the service of an ideological discourse of identity. However, it lacked common aesthetic or stylistic precepts. This diversity is also significant in easel painting school that was developed jointly with Muralism in Mexico. Surrealisms Surrealism, as a group defined by a radical internationalism always open its flanks to include writers and artists from different geographies, including Latin America. Surrealism also went into exile in the American continent, as a result of the catastrophic events of World War II. In Latin American art, the echoes of this event, not only reported the emergence of abstraction in many regions of the continent, but also reinforced the gestural aspect, intimate and narrative of several Latin American schools. Leonora Carrington's work reveals the influences of fourteenth-century Italian painting, Celtic literary sources, and English nursery rhymes. She spent many years in Mexico, drawn to its symbolic imagery.Big Badger Meets the Domini Boys  combines humans and animals as did the fairy tales she heard while growing up. She often used animals and surrealism to represent the feminine.  In 1972, Carrington created a Women's Liberation poster,  Mujeres Consciencia, that was carried from Mexico City to New York City to celebrate the feminist art movement. Abstraction models: In-formalism, Geometrics, Constructivism, Kineticism... Following the world war, many artists from Europe or settled there, debtors or participants of movements such as abstraction and constructivism, established in Latin America. This new cutting-edge breakthrough was an irreversible schism in Latin American art in the late 40s. In some cases, their influence hastened the disintegration of great narratives of official identity and gave way to new gestural languages, and more intimate discourses. In others, these influences endorsed the local progressive spirit, with a new art based on logic, constructive abstraction, and rationalization, more akin to modern utopia.

Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review" Posted: 10 Jun 2012 08:22 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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