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

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• The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum shows “Georgia O’Keeffe & The Faraway ~ Nature and Image”
• The Centre Pompidou Celebrates Gerhard Richter's 80th Birthday
• The Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery to host "Worlds Within Worlds ~ Exquisite Mughal & Persian Art"
• Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on June 20th
• The Zee Stone Gallery to exhibit "Lin Yuan ~ Light of Tibet”
• Fourth Master Paintings Week announced for London in June
• The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center Hosts Crocker Art Museum's Collection of European Drawings
• The Museum of Fine Arts at FSU shows "Cute and Creepy"
• The National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo Honors Taro Okamoto on the 100th Anniversary of His Birth
• Michael Rosenfeld Gallery Honors the Work of Charles Seliger
• The Yale School of Art to Show "Malcolm Morley: In a Nutshell"
• The Fondation Beyeler Presents a Major Retrospective of Pierre Bonnard
• MoMA Presents the Theatrical Premiere of Emily Hubley's film 'The Toe TacTic'
• The Henry Art Gallery to host Josiah McElheny ~ Big Bang
• After Legal Odyssey ~ Homecoming Show for Looted Antiquities
• Moscow World Fine Art Fair (MWFAF) Celebrates its Fifth Edition
• IVAM Exhibition Features the work of José Manuel Ciria ~ The Last Decade
• The Moscow Museum of Modern Art features Étude to Art Object
• Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"

The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum shows “Georgia O’Keeffe & The Faraway ~ Nature and Image” Posted: 12 Jun 2012 09:57 PM PDT Santa Fe, New Mexico.- The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum is delighted to present "Georgia O'Keeffe and The Faraway: Nature and Image", on view through May 5th. This exhibition is the first to demonstrate how the beauty and elegance of O'Keeffe's paintings were prompted by the intimacy of her ongoing experiences with the Southwest's natural forms, especially because of the camping trips she made to remote areas. The exhibition includes drawings and paintings inspired by the beauty of the painted desert surrounding O'Keeffe's house at Ghost Ranch, which she purchased in 1940, and by the camping and rafting trips she made. Highlights of the exhibition include O'Keeffe's paintings, photographs made by others of places she camped, and a recently made photographic panorama of the "Black Place" that establishes a context for the exhibition's reconstruction of a site where O'Keeffe and her friend Maria Chabot camped in 1944. This includes the tent the two pitched, their lanterns, camping stools, and cooking equipment from the camping gear Chabot bequeathed to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum at her death, in 2001. "O'Keeffe had been passionate about nature since childhood, but living amidst the astonishing beauty of the Ghost Ranch landscape, and making camping and rafting trips in the Southwest allowed her to form an immediate and personal relationship with the area through which she realized her independent spirit and sense of adventure," said Barbara Buhler Lynes, Curator, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. As O'Keeffe herself pointed out, in 1943, "Such a beautiful–untouched lonely feeling place – such a fine part of what I call the 'faraway.' It is a place I have painted before but I wanted to do again - and even now I must do again." The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, opened to the public in July 1997, eleven years after the death of the artist from whom it takes its name. Welcoming more than 2,225,000 visitors from all over the world and being the most visited art museum in the state of New Mexico, it is the only museum in the world dedicated to an internationally known American woman artist. One of the most significant artists of the 20th century, Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) was devoted to creating imagery that expressed what she called "the wideness and wonder of the world as I live in it." She was a leading member of the Stieglitz Circle artists, headed by Alfred Stieglitz, America's first advocate of modern art in America. These avant-garde artists began to flourish in New York in the 1910s. O'Keeffe's images—instantly recognizable as her own —include abstractions, large-scale depictions of flowers, leaves, rocks, shells, bones and other natural forms, New York cityscapes and paintings of the unusual shapes and colors of architectural and landscape forms of northern New Mexico. The Museum's collection of over 3,000 works comprises 1,149 O'Keeffe paintings, drawings, and sculptures that date from 1901 to 1984, the year failing eyesight forced O'Keeffe into retirement. The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum is the largest single repository of O'Keeffe's work in the world. Throughout the year, visitors can see a changing selection of these works. In addition, the Museum presents special exhibitions that are either devoted entirely to O'Keeffe's work or combine examples of her art with works by her American modernist contemporaries.  The Museum also organizes exhibitions of works by her contemporaries, as well as by living artists of distinction. Over 140 artists other than O'Keeffe have been exhibited at the Museum, such as Arthur Dove, Sherrie Levine, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol. The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Research Center opened in July 2001 as a component of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. As the only museum-related research facility in the world dedicated to the study of American Modernism (late nineteenth century – present), it sponsors research in the fields of art history, architectural history and design, literature, music and photography.  Its annual, competitive stipend program awards six stipends to qualified applicants who can spend three to twelve months at the Research Center, which makes its library, collections and unique archives accessible to researchers worldwide as well as to its in-house scholars. The Museum and its Research Center are both Pueblo Revival-style buildings located two blocks from the historic Santa Fe Plaza and were renovated in 1997 and 2001, respectively, by Gluckman Mayner Architects, New York. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/

The Centre Pompidou Celebrates Gerhard Richter's 80th Birthday Posted: 12 Jun 2012 09:16 PM PDT Paris.- Gerhard Richter celebrated his 80th birthday on February 9, 2012. In tribute to one of the most important artists of the present day, declared the 'Picasso of the 21st century' in 2004 by The Guardian, the Centre Pompidou in Paris is holding a comprehensive retrospective of the artist's work. The exhibition, entitled "Gerhard Richter: Panorama", has been organized in conjunction with Tate Modern in London and the Nationalgalerie Berlin, both of whom have already exhibited the show. However, the addition of works from French collections, makes the Centre Pompidou's version the largest. "Panorama" remains on view through September 24th. The term 'panorama' is taken from the Greek and is formed by the combination of the words 'all' and 'seeing'. In English it has come to mean an unbroken view of an entire area. In a panorama, the expanse reveals itself to the viewer as you shift your gaze over time and through space. There is no one single view, rather a series of many views that combine to form a seamless whole. Correspondingly, the exhibition on the upper floor of the Neue Nationalgalerie has been conceived as a broad cyclorama that gradually unfolds in a series of expansive, open rooms. Around 130 paintings and five sculptures, selected in close cooperation with the artist himself, provide an insight into Richter's manifold body of work, amassed over the course of five decades. The exhibition has a chronological structure that gives viewers a very palpable sense of the singular nature of Gerhard Richter's work. What makes it so singular is the much-discussed contemporaneity of abstract and figurative works and the constant interplay of repetition and change, whose mechanisms are laid bare in the chronological sequence of the works on display. It was thus a very conscientious decision not to hang the works according to theme or style. Such a concept would obscure the singular nature of Richter's work, as it would separate the stylistically and thematically disparate even when they had in fact arisen at the same time. Instead of this, the panorama that opens itself up to you presents figurative paintings alongside abstract experiments in colour, landscapes that echo old masters, sea pictures and portraits alongside town views, which, broken down into a series of gestures, are now hardly recognizable as such. Traditional vanitas motives like the candle and skull stand in immediate proximity to expressively dense and complex abstracts. Born in Dresden in 1932, Gerhard Richter studied wall painting at the art academy in his home city and very soon began receiving his first commissions in the still nascent GDR, or East Germany. In 1959 he visited the international art fair, documenta II, in Kassel, orchestrated by Werner Haftmann. It was a decisive moment for the young artist. Abstract works by Jackson Pollock and Lucio Fontana left a deep impression on him. Looking back at the event in 1986, Richter reflects: 'Their sheer impudence! I was deeply fascinated and moved by it. I could almost say that these pictures were the real reason why I left the GDR. I realized that something was wrong with the way I thought.' In spring 1961, just months before the construction of the Berlin Wall, Richter left the GDR together with his wife Ema via West Berlin and finally settled in Düsseldorf. Contrary to what one might expect, however, Richter did not fall in line with prevalent trends in the West; in fact he defied them, just as he would again later during his time as professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1971 to 1993. Richter did not embark down a similar path to the radicalism he so admired in Pollock and Fontana or in the artistic approach developed by the Fluxus movement at the time. He countered the progressive tendencies towards 'liberating' art with the medium of painting, a medium laden with tradition. He would remain true to painting even when pushing its boundaries to the limit. Great artists were treated with an equal degree of irreverence and respect, as seen, for instance, in Richter's answer to Marcel Duchamp's famous analysis of painting from 1912, Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2), with his own work: Ema ( Nude on a Staircase ) from 1966. Richter's reaction to the increasing dominance of photography in contemporary art production was similarly unique. Even by the early 1960s he had begun creating the photo paintings that have become the hallmark of his work. The basis for these works is always a photograph, culled mostly from magazines or family albums, which is then enlarged by the artist and transferred to canvas, before finally becoming blurred by smudging the oil paints while they are still wet. As if shrouded beneath a veil and rendered in a restricted palette mostly of shades of grey, Richter's subjects have the look and feel of memories. Take, for example, the artist's own Aunt Marianne who, suffering from schizophrenia, perished in an institution for the mentally ill under the Nazi's euthanasia programme, or Mr. Heyde, a doctor who actually served in the euthanasia programme and hanged himself in his prison cell in 1964. Instead of capturing or even critically evaluating their motives, Richter renders his source material in a way that points to the conditional and constrained nature of visual depiction itself, as well as to its inherent inability to convey the full truth. This idea on the cultural conditions and meanings of pictures underpins all his art and is the inner thread holding together Richter's oeuvre. Beneath its diverse array of forms, it is, in essence, a profound inquiry into the means of producing art today and a critical review of its possibilities. In Richter's own words it is the 'attempt to probe the possibilities of what painting today still can achieve and may achieve.' One of the questions that has occupied Richter throughout the many years of his career is painting's relationship to reality. Besides the figurative paintings mentioned above, since the 1960s he has also produced non-figurative works, initially colour field paintings that were inspired by the colour charts found in art supplies stores. These lead to chance arrangements of coloured squares, as seen for instance in Richter's window design for Cologne cathedral and the work 4900 Colours. There are eleven versions of this work in total and Version I has been completed for the first time for today's exhibition in Berlin. It forms a ring around the entire show, a huge ribbon comprising 196 square enamel boxes, arranged in random order. Richter's intense study of the colour grey in all its shades is also not limited to his figurative photo paintings, but led in the early 1970s to a versatile exploration of monochrome painting. The 1980s saw Richter liberate himself from a restricted palette. The decade gave rise to brightly coloured, gestural, abstract canvases, usually large in size which the artist created through the ever more frequent use of a giant squeegee, which he would draw across the surface of the picture before the paint had had a chance to dry. The resulting pictures are composed of several layers that are bound together as the various layers of paint applied on top of each other are smudged, dragged and scraped open, in a process over which the artist only has partial control. The inquiry into the medium of painting that Richter has now conducted for more than five decades is not the starting point or goal of his work. Rather, it provides the conceptual framework for it. The exhibition Gerhard Richter: Panorama makes this clear and it also vividly reveals how the artist's probing of the medium of painting has led to consistent transgressions of its traditions and definitions. The idea of the picture as a surface, as a window, as a view onto a scene has led to Richter's exploration of mirrors and panes of glass. The Centre national d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou (Ther Pompidou Center) was the brainchild of President Georges Pompidou who wanted to create an original cultural institution in the heart of Paris completely focused on modern and contemporary creation, where the visual arts would rub shoulders with theatre, music, cinema, literature and the spoken word. Housed in the centre of Paris in a building designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, whose architecture symbolises the spirit of the 20th century, the Centre Pompidou first opened its doors to the public in 1977. After renovation work from 1997 to December 1999, it opened to the public again on 1 January 2000, with expanded museum space and enhanced reception areas. Since then it has once again become one of the most visited attractions in France. Some 6 million people pass through the Centre Pompidou's doors each year, a total of over 190 million visitors in its 30 years of existence. In a unique location under one roof, the Centre Pompidou houses one of the most important museums in the world, featuring the leading collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe, a vast public reference library with facilities for over 2,000 readers, general documentation on 20th century art, a cinema and performance halls, a music research institute, educational activity areas, bookshops, a restaurant and a café. Unswerving in its interdisciplinary vocation and its core mission - to spread knowledge about all creative works from the 20th century and those heralding the new millennium - each year the Centre Pompidou holds thirty or so public exhibitions plus international events - cinema and documentary screenings, conferences and symposiums, concerts, dance and educational activities - many of which go on to other venues in both France and abroad. Under the rules of the competition, the architectural project to create the museum had to meet the criteria of interdisciplinarity, freedom of movement and flow, and an open approach to exhibition areas. The competition was won by two young architects: the Italian Renzo Piano and British designer Richard Rogers who proposed a constraint-free architecture in the spirit of the 1960s. The supporting structure and movement and flow systems, such as the escalators, were relegated to the outside of the building, thereby freeing up interior space for museum and activity areas. Colour-coded ducts are attached to the building's west façade, as a kind of wrapping for the structure: blue for air, green for fluids, yellow for electricity cables and red for movement and flow. The transparency of the west main façade allows people to see what is going on inside the centre from the piazza, a vast esplanade that the architects conceived of as an area of continuity, linking the city and the centre. The centre quickly fell victim to the unexpected scale of its success. With some seven million visitors per year, the building aged prematurely and had to close in October 1997 for 27 months. During this time 70,000 m² were renovated and 8,000 m² added, mainly to display collections. This was possible by relocating the offices outside the centre. When it reopened on 1 January 2000, the centre was an immediate, overwhelming public success again, testifying to the public's inseparable attachment to the site and its spirit. Visit the center's website at ... http://www.centrepompidou.fr

The Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery to host "Worlds Within Worlds ~ Exquisite Mughal & Persian Art" Posted: 12 Jun 2012 08:40 PM PDT Washington, D.C.- India's Mughal emperors, who reigned over a vast and wealthy empire that extended over most of the South Asian subcontinent between the 16th and 19th centuries, were passionate about lavish manuscripts and paintings. Between 1556 and 1657, the greatest Mughal patrons—the emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan—formed grand workshops that brought together and nurtured India's leading painters, calligraphers and illuminators. This remarkable artistic legacy is on view in "Worlds within Worlds: Imperial Paintings from India and Iran" at the Sackler from July 28th through September 17th. The exhibition brings 50 of the finest folios and paintings from the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery collections, which together form one of the world's most important repositories of Mughal and Persian painting. The exhibition's title, "Worlds within Worlds," refers to the complex layering of multiple images within single folios, their many references to Persian and European styles and subjects and the emperors' sense of self as world rulers. The exhibition is a highlight of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's 25th anniversary celebration. For the great Mughal emperors, the arts of the book embodied refinement and imperial identity. Sophisticated connoisseurs, they took a personal interest in their artists and their individual styles. In a constant play of tradition and innovation, court painters, calligraphers and illuminators built upon a Persian cultural heritage, cited European motifs and keenly captured the observed world to create a distinctively Mughal ethos. The greatest Mughal works on paper are intriguing amalgams of portraits, symbols of sovereignty, illuminated borders and calligraphy that announce a distinctive imperial sense of self and dynasty. Their painterly virtuosity can be savored in details ranging from the soft fur of a grazing antelope to the world-weary gaze of a magnificently jewelled emperor. The exhibition opens with a selection of the Persian book arts that the Mughal emperors collected, revered and encouraged their artists to rival and surpass. Among them is an intricately detailed school scene painted in 1486 for a Timurid ruler in the fabled garden city of Herat, in present-day Afghanistan. It has been ascribed to the artist Bihzad—against whom all other Persian and Mughal artists were measured. The second section focuses on the groundbreaking synthesis achieved by Persian emigres and local Indian artists under the emperor Akbar (ruled 1556-1605). The personal dynamism of Akbar and the Mughal fascination for capturing the appearances of people and places shine throughout these foundational works of the Mughal school. Highlights include three dreamlike works by the renowned Farrukh Beg that demonstrate how artists with distinctive styles contributed to the broader imperial image. The final two groups of works were created under Akbar's son and grandson, whose names, Jahangir (Seizer of the World) and Shah Jahan (King of the World), reveal the dynasty's growing sense of imperial power within the world. The emperor Jahangir ruled from 1605-27 when the Mughal empire was stable, vast, incredibly wealthy and globally connected. His artists brought the Mughal aesthetic to its peak of technical refinement, as illustrated in the Gulshan album folios and lacquer book cover that are a highlight of the exhibition. These exquisitely realized works freely appropriate motifs and styles from diverse sources into richly layered tapestries of image and meaning. The exhibition concludes with a selection of superb folios produced for the albums of Jahangir's son, the emperor Shah Jahan (1627-57). Like the palaces and Taj Mahal that he built, these are extraordinary works of perfection. Highlights include six folios from the Late Shah Jahan Album, which have sumptuous borders that exemplify the emperor's love of jewels, flowers and grandeur. In honor of the Sackler's 25th anniversary year, "Worlds within Worlds" will be accompanied by another Sackler milestone: the publication of the revised and expanded Imperial Image, written by the pre-eminent Mughal painting historian and former director of the Sackler, Milo Beach. The revised Imperial Image expands on the original, published in 1981, by including the great Mughal paintings in the Sackler Gallery and Freer acquisitions over the past three decades. The Smithsonian Institution has two museums of Asian art: the Freer Gallery of Art which opened to the public in 1923, and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, which welcomed its first visitors in 1987. Both are physically connected by an underground passageway, and ideologically linked through the study, exhibition, and sheer love of Asian art. In addition, the Freer Gallery contains an important collection of 19th century American art punctuated by James McNeill Whistler's Peacock Room, perhaps one of the earliest (and certainly one of the most controversial) art installations on record. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://asia.si.edu

Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on June 20th Posted: 12 Jun 2012 08:07 PM PDT London.- Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale will take place on June 20th at 7pm and will offer 71 lots with a pre-sale estimate of £86,525,000 to £126,740,000. Representing many of the most celebrated artists of the late 19th and 20th centuries, the auction is led by Baigneuse, 1888, a sumptuous exploration of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's (1841-1919) most celebrated theme, the female nude (estimate: £12 million to £18 million). Exemplifying the timeless demand for true masterpieces - a trend which continues to be demonstrated in the current market - this work has been part of multiple distinguished collections including that of Robert de Bonnières, Adrien Hébrard and the Prince de Wagram; later owned by the prominent Swiss collector Georg Reinhart. It comes to the market for the first time in 15 years; having previously set the current record price at auction for a nude by the artist, selling for $20.9 million in New York. Christie's is honoured to be offering an extraordinary group of fourteen bronze sculptures by Edgar Degas. Coming from a single private collection, these bronzes comprise all of the most celebrated and iconic themes of this trailblazing artist who had been linked to Impressionism, yet whose artistic legacy continues to this day. Sculptures of the thoroughbred horses that so fascinated Degas feature here alongside his other most recognised subjects: bathers and ballerinas. Created over the span of his career as an artist, these sculptures provide the viewer with a crucial perspective upon his work and complex working methods. The highlight of the collection is his Etude de nu pour la "Petite danseuse de quatorze ans", which relates to his single most famous work, the sculpture of the little dancer aged fourteen – the only sculpture that Degas ever showed publicly in his own lifetime. Further Degas highlights include the exquisitely rendered Cheval au galop sur le pied droit revealing the artist's interest in capturing motion and describing musculature; the expressive and formally complex Cheval se cabrant with its bulging eyes, erect ears and quivering nostrils, and the remarkably graceful ballerina holding the position of the Grande arabesque, troisième temps. Five works by Irma Stern, originally from the collection of the American feminist and journalist Rebecca Hourwich Reyher, form a remarkable group of Sterns which will be offered in both the Evening and Day Impressionist and Modern sales at Christie's London on June 20-21. The pictures were all included in Stern's 1925 exhibition at Ashbey's Art Gallery in Cape Town, Stern's second exhibition in South Africa after her return from Germany in 1920. The pictures then all accompanied Reyher on her return voyage from Cape Town to New York in May 1925. Never since seen on the market, they have remained in America until now, and bring with them the story of a brief but intense friendship between the artist and Reyher, the American one of the embattled Stern's earliest supporters in Cape Town in the early 1920s, just as the artist was on the verge of critical acclaim. They are rare works from Stern's years of transition in the early to mid-20s, when she was throwing off the stylistic influences of her German Expressionist peers, those of her mentor Max Pechstein in particular, and beginning to find her own voice, as she immersed herself again in the landscape and peoples of her native land. Here we see her shifting perceptibly from the dry and thinly painted expressionist style towards the more heavily impasto'd work that would mark her work in Africa from the 1930s on, reaching its highpoint in the richly painted works from her journeys to the Congo and Zanzibar in the mid-1940s. Few early works by Stern come onto the market, so this present group will be of special interest to Stern's audience in South Africa and around the world. The group is led by her masterpiece depicting Cape Malay flower sellers in Cape Town, dated 1924, one of the artist's largest and finest canvases to come onto the market in recent years. Christie's, the world's leading art business had global auction and private sales in the first half of 2011 that totaled £2.0 billion/$3.2 billion. In 2010 it achieved global auction and private sales of £3.3 billion/$5.0 billion. Christie's is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and expertise, as well as international glamour. Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie's conducted the greatest auctions of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and today remains a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christie's offers over 450 sales annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie's has 53 offices in 32 countries and 10 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai and Hong Kong. More recently, Christie's has led the market with expanded initiatives in emerging and new markets such as Russia, China, India and the United Arab Emirates, with successful sales and exhibitions in Beijing, Mumbai and Dubai. Visit the auction house's website at ... http://www.christies.com

The Zee Stone Gallery to exhibit "Lin Yuan ~ Light of Tibet” Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:46 PM PDT Hong Kong.- Zee Stone Gallery is proud to present "Light of Tibet", an exhibition of oil paintings by Lin Yuan on view at the gallery from July 6th through July 31st. Lin Yuan's latest series of paintings features the landscape and monasteries of Tibet, the result of several long journeys to the high plateau. The artist uses broad brushstrokes of thick layers of paint to capture the sweep of the landscape and heavy mass of the buildings. A first-time visitor to Tibet is immediately struck by the intensity of the light, and Lin Yuan depicts this particularly well, the brilliant blue sky contrasting with the ochre and whitewash of the buildings. Lin Yuan is an eclectic artist in terms of subject matter, his previous exhibitions at Zee Stone Gallery have been of miniature nudes and urban scenes. Zee Stone Gallery, established in 1991, exhibits a wide range of contemporary artists from mainland China working in both Chinese ink and colour on paper and oil on canvas. The paintings shown in the gallery mirror the rich diversity of contemporary Chinese art: from abstract landscapes to photorealistic portraits, from paintings on rice paper by traditionally trained Chinese masters, to exciting new work in oil, acrylic and mixed media by a younger generation of artists. The gallery also exhibits paintings by artists from Vietnam and Burma, as well as a number of international artists. They continue to expand our repertoire as they aim to show contemporary Asian art to a wider audience, both in Hong Kong and internationally via their website. Regular exhibitions are held in their spacious ground floor gallery located on Hollywood Road in Central, the premier business and entertainment district of Hong Kong. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.zeestone.com

Fourth Master Paintings Week announced for London in June Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:37 PM PDT LONDON.- The fourth Master Paintings Week takes place from 29th June to 6th July, 2012 and is one of the key events in London 's Summer season. This collaboration between twenty-three leading dealers and three auction houses offers an extraordinarily wide selection of European paintings dating from the 15th to the 20th centuries. New to Master Paintings Week in 2012 are Haldane Fine Art, Noortman Master Paintings and Theo Johns Fine Art Ltd. Each of the twenty-three participating galleries, all of which are in the heart of London's Mayfair and St James's, will stage a special exhibition or event or unveil new discoveries, emphasising the unrivalled expertise to be found in London. Auctions will be held at Bonhams on 4 July, at Christie's King Street on 3 and 4 July and Christie's South Kensington on 6 July, while Sotheby's sales will be on 4 and 5 July. Master Paintings Week coincides with another dealer initiative, Master Drawings London (27 June to 5 July). Among the fine Dutch and Flemish works to be shown will be a surprisingly entertaining scene despite its morbid title, The Gates of Hell, by Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1681) and a ravishing oil on copper of A Vase of Flowers in a Window by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1753-1612) both at Johnny Van Haeften. Bosschaert was the first artist to specialise in flower painting and this recently discovered flower-piece is a welcome addition to his relatively small oeuvre. Another wonderful floral depiction is Flowers in a Terracotta Vase by Jan van Huysum (1682-1749) which is being shown by Noortman Master Paintings. A later Flemish flower painting will be shown by Deborah Gage (Works of Art). Flowers in a Glass Vase on a Ledge was painted by Jan Frans van Dael (1764-1840) who settled in Paris where he secured commissions from Empress Josephine and Marie-Louise Bonaparte, Louis XVIII and Charles X, among others. Deborah Gage will also unveil St Catherine of Alexandria, a Gothic panel from an altarpiece originally ascribed to the Master of Sant Quirse and the Master of Riglos but recently attributed to the Catalan artist, Honorat Borrassa (active 1424-1457). Other panels are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Campion Hall, Oxford . Boors Carousing in a Barn by Adriaen Jansz. van Ostade (1610-1685), once in the Russian Imperial collection, will be featured by Fergus Hall Master Paintings, while a typically bucolic Milking scene along a river by Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691) will be seen at Richard Green. New participant Haldane Fine Art will show Noah Entering the Ark by Hans Jordaens III (c. 1595-1643), the support of the panel branded with the coat-of-arms of the city of Antwerp. John Mitchell Fine Paintings unveils Young Woman with Wine Glass, 1663, by Cornelis Pietersz Bega (1620-1664) while another canvas illustrating pleasure and enjoyment is A Drinker with a Flask by Théodor Rombouts (1597-1637), an early Flemish follower of Caravaggio, on view at Whitfield Fine Art. Amongst the works to be shown by Colnaghi will be a newly-discovered Moonlit Seascape by Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714-1789) dating from 1753-4 when the artist was at the height of his powers. The same gallery will feature Spring: a landscape with elegant company on a tree-lined road by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625) and Joos de Momper (1564-1635), which is a splendid example of the collaborative works by these two artists who also feature with the painting A Coastal Landscape with Fishermen with their Catch by a ruined Tower at Sphinx Fine Art. A particular highlight of Sphinx's will be the handsome three-quarter-length portrait of Britain 's youngest-ever Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), by John Hoppner (1758-1810), formerly in the collections of the Marquesses of Londonderry. Another splendid portrait will be found at The Weiss Gallery. This Tudor painting of Catherine Carey, Countess of Nottingham (c. 1547-1603), by Robert Peake (c. 1551-c. 1619) was once thought to represent Elizabeth I. The magnificent costume surpasses the famed portraiture of the Queen and the dress and jewels may well have been gifted or loaned by the Queen to the sitter, who was her closest friend and confidante. Such was their bond of friendship that Catherine's death in February 1603 is said to have precipitated the Queen's own demise only weeks later. Trompe l'oeils will be among the works to be shown by Rafael Valls including one of a violin and a bow hanging from a red silk ribbon by Claes Bellekin (1620-c. 1675). It is possible that the instrument depicted was made by Hendrick Jacobsz (1629-1699), a well-known violin maker and contemporary of the artist. The gallery will also feature a delightful scene of a young boy pleading for his toy by Henri-Pierre Danloux (1753-1809), while equally appealing is an amusing depiction of Venus and Cupid by Benedetto Gennari (1633-1715) on show at Piacenti Art Gallery. Derek Johns will feature St Augustus by the great Venetian painter Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727-1804) while Charles Beddington will show A ruined Ionic Portico and a Tower by an Inlet, a Port and hilltop town beyond and A ruined Doric Portico and a round Tempietto by an Inlet, The Castel Sant' Angelo and Saint Peter's beyond, a pair of capriccios by Antonio Joli (c. 1700-1777) with the figures painted by Francesco Fontebasso (1707-1769). A capriccio of a Mediterranean seaport by Luca Carlevarjis (1663-1730) will be shown by BNB Art Consulting, while on view at Stair Sainty is a Classical Landscape, with Wren's dome of King Charles Court, Greenwich Hospital (today the Royal Naval College, Greenwich) by Marco Ricci (1676-1730), one of several of his works depicting the Greenwich-inspired dome amongst classical ruins. Robilant + Voena will exhibit a delightful Virgin and Child with a Saint by Andrea Solario (c. 1465-c. 1524) while Madonna and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist painted by Lorenzo Lippi (1606-1656) in the early 1630s will be found at Moretti Fine Art. Noli me tangere by Giuseppe Nicola Nasini (1657-1736) is a moving depiction of Jesus and Mary Magdalene being featured by new participant Theo Johns Fine Art, and there is an unusual depiction of Mary Magdalene with a skull by Onorio Marinari (1627-1715) at Riccardo Bacarelli and Bruno Botticelli. As the Winter sales of Old Master paintings demonstrated, the market is strong, especially for rare and beautiful works in good condition. Besides the three international auction houses, London boasts more knowledgeable dealers than any other city in the world. Their galleries are a short walk from one another and will be open during Master Paintings Week on Monday to Friday 10 am to 6 pm, Saturday 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday 12 noon to 5 pm. The auction houses will be open from 9 am to 4.30 pm Monday to Friday, and 12 noon to 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center Hosts Crocker Art Museum's Collection of European Drawings Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:36 PM PDT Poughkeepsie, NY.- The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center is proud to present "A Pioneering Collection: Master Drawings from the Crocker Art Museum", featuring works from the finest early collection of European drawings in the United States. "A Pioneering Collection" will be on view from through December 11th. Previously the exhibition was seen at both the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, CA) and the Portland (OR) Art Museum, however this will be its only East Coast presentation. The exhibition includes 57 rarely seen works by artists such as Albrecht Durer, Fra Bartolommeo, Anthonie van Dyck, Francois Boucher, and Jean-Auguste-Cominque Ingres. The exhibition will be divided thematically into four sections of drawings from Italy, the Low Countries, France, and Central Europe.  These drawings date from the late 15th- to the mid-19th centuries and were purchased between 1869-71 by forward-thinking railroad magnate E. B. Crocker, forming the basis of the Crocker Museum's master drawings collection.

The Museum of Fine Arts at FSU shows "Cute and Creepy" Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:35 PM PDT Tallahassee, FL.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University is proud to present "Cute and Creepy" on view from October 14th through November 20th. With the recent and publicly-celebrated exhibitions of Tim Burton at MoMA and Edward Gorey at the Wadsworth Athenaeum, curator Carrie Ann Baade feels that now is the time to revel in the genre of the macabre. "Cute and Creepy" features works in a variety of media by 25 contemporary artists including Jon Beinart, Kelly Boehmer, Scott G. Brooks, Ray Caesar, Kate Clark, Timothy Cummings, Lori Field, Laurie Hogin, Mark Hosford, Jessica Joslin, Richard A. Kirk, Kris Kuksi, Laurie Lipton, Travis Louie, Chris Mars, Elizabeth McGrath, Kathie Olivas, Marion Peck, Judith Schaechter, Greg Simkins, Heidi Taillefer, Christian Rex van Minnen, Martin Wittfooth, Thomas Woodruff and Chet Zar.

The National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo Honors Taro Okamoto on the 100th Anniversary of His Birth Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:34 PM PDT Tokyo.- The National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo presents an exhibition of works by Taro Okamoto on the 100th anniversary of his birth until May 8th 2011. Taro Okamoto (1911-1996) is probably one of the most well-known artists in Japan during the latter half of the 20th century. He created the 'Tower of the Sun' for Expo '70 held in Osaka, made comments full of impact such as "Art is explosion" and "Art is magic", and frequently appeared on television. Even after his death in 1996, more and more people, especially the young generation, are showing renewed interest in the artist. In 1998, the studio he worked in during his lifetime was opened to the public as the Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum. Topics concerning Okamoto never cease to attract our attention. Furthermore, in recent years, his monumental mural Tomorrow's Mythology was rediscovered in Mexico and installed in Shibuya in 2008. Amidst the posthumous reevaluation of this artist, on the one hand, his positive energy is emphasized. However, on the other hand, the fact that he poignantly said "No" to a variety of existing values and occasionally bewildered the people around him seems to be on the verge of being forgotten. In order to re-appreciate Okamoto, we should not be satisfied simply by taking in his vitality with a passive attitude. Isn't it necessary to confront the arrows of criticism he shot head-on as arrows aimed at ourselves? Okamoto Taro's life was indeed a sequence of "confrontations." With "confrontation" as the keyword, in this exhibition, the opponents he confronted are divided into seven chapters. Approximately 130 works including paintings, sculptures, photographs, and designs produced through tough struggle are introduced. They will provide an opportunity for viewers to consider how we should interpret his "confrontations" today. As far back as the beginning of the Meiji period, there was a movement demanding the establishment of a museum to permanently display contemporary art. Although the petition was taken up several times in parliament, a national facility for the permanent display of modern art was never realized until the opening of this Museum. In 1952, the government purchased the premises of the former headquarters of Nikkatsu Corporation in Kyobashi, Chuo-ku. In June that year, The National Museum of Modern Art was established as an institution governed by the Ministry of Education. The architect Kunio Maekawa directed the refurbishment and the Museum was opened that December. On two later occasions, neighbouring premises were purchased and the Museum was further enlarged and reformed. Due to the growth of the museum collection and the expansion of special exhibitions, the display of works gradually became restricted. Just when the Museum was considering possibilities of moving, Mr.Shojiro Ishibashi,who was a trustee from the founding of the Museum, offered to donate a new building. Thanks to this donation, it was decided that a new wing would be constructed in Kitanomaru Koen. The new building was designed by Yoshiro Taniguchi and opened in June 1969. After 30 years since moving to the present building, it became necessary to update the facilities to meet social demand. For two and a half years from July 1999, the Museum was closed and underwent large-scale extension and renovation designed by Sakakura Associates. The exhibition galleries were enlarged, a library allowing access to the public, a restaurant and museum shop were newly established, and lounge space was increased. In addition to improving the environment for viewing the works of art,construction work to make the building more earthquake-proof was carried out. The renovation work was completed in August 2001 and, in January 2002, an exhibition entitled 'The Unfinished Century: Legacies of 20th Century Art' was held to commemorate the renewal and restart of activities anew. After the devastating earthquake of March 11th, the museum is operating as normally as possible and there are collection boxes for the victims in the lobby. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.momat.go.jp

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery Honors the Work of Charles Seliger Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:33 PM PDT NEW YORK, NY.- For its inaugural exhibition of 2010, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery presents a retrospective honoring the life and work of Charles Seliger. Scheduled to be on view from January 9 to February 27, "Charles Seliger (1926- 2009): A Memorial Exhibition, A Retrospective of Paintings" features approximately thirty-five paintings covering the full span of Seliger's career.

The Yale School of Art to Show "Malcolm Morley: In a Nutshell" Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:32 PM PDT New Haven, Connecticut. - Yale School of Art is proud to present "Malcolm Morley: In a Nutshell: The Fine Art of Painting", on view at the Edgewood Avenue gallery from January 31st through March 31st. The exhibition comprises fifteen paintings (including two painted installations being exhibited for the first time), seven watercolors, and a drawing, all selected from the expansive output of this paradigm-changing artist.Works in the exhibition range from large-scale canvases such as "Cristoforo Colombo" (1965), "Camels and Goats" (1980), and "Rat Tat Tat" (2001), to smaller sketches such as "Hollywood Film Stars and Homes Foldout" (1973) and back to the two new and previously unseen painted installations — "Biggles" and "The Spitfire" (both 2012).

The Fondation Beyeler Presents a Major Retrospective of Pierre Bonnard Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:31 PM PDT Basel, Switzerland.- The Fondation Beyeler is pleased to present "Pierre Bonnard", on view from January 29th through May 13th. With the exhibition "Pierre Bonnard", the Fondation Beyeler celebrates one of the most fascinating of modern artists. With more than 60 paintings by the renowned French colorist on loan frominternational museums and private collections, the show provides a fresh review of Bonnard's oeuvre and development. It covers his entire career from his beginnings with the Nabis through Symbolism and Impressionism to his ever more colorful and abstract late works. The paintings depict familiar scenes with bathers, views of the artist's garden, everyday life, and the bustle of the Paris streets. Born in Fontenay aux Roses near Paris, Bonnard (1867–1947) worked principally in his private residences and studio apartments in Paris. The main locations were his house "Ma Roulette" in Vernnonet, Normandy (1912-39), and the villa "Le Bosquet" in Le Cannet on the Côte d'Azur (1927-47) and their respective gardens. In these personal surroundings Bonnard found the scenes and inspirations for his compositions in color as well as his preferred subjects, to which he remained faithful throughout his life while varying them in different ways. Marthe, his lover and, from 1925, his wife, was his favorite model. The wedding ended the ménage à trois among Marthe, Bonnard and Renée Monchaty - the painter's model, muse and lover from 1918 onwards - who reacted by taking her own life. At the onset of the twentieth century, Bonnard practiced his own personal style, a "different modernism" beyond all "isms" beholding to French classicism, and never questioned the centrality of objectivity. Yet he broke through the traditional barriers between genres and developed them further. He created unconventional still lifes that included human figures and animals. Landscapes depicting "wild nature" stood in contrast to vibrant Parisian cityscapes. In his representations of interiors he oscillated between intimate depictions of his wife at her toilette and views of their bourgeois dining room. The vitality of his often luminous palette soon set Bonnard off from the Impressionists. Turning away from their attempts to capture the fleeting moment, he represented the permanence and memorableness of things. With the aid of color composition, he lent his paintings an unusual sense of space as perceived by the human eye rather than the camera lens. In the end, he was concerned to convey the whole range of sensory impressions through color. If shortly after his death in the middle of the past century Bonnard was viewed as a representative of a superficial harmony and an "innocent" chronicler of haute bourgeois life, ever since the 1984 travelling exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (which was also on view at the Zurich Kunsthaus), he has figured as an artist who captured the profound disquiet of a society destined to vanish. By means of subtle aesthetic nuances, Bonnard delved beneath the ostensible harmony of the day. This is seen in his color dissonances, interpenetrating spaces, ambiguous locations and alogical figure placements. In the exhibition, conceived as a "maison immaginaire de Bonnard," his paintings are grouped in association with certain spaces that provided his favorite motifs: "La rue," "La salle à manger," "Intimité", "Le miroir," "Le passage entre intérieur et extérieur," and "Le grand jardin." The exhibition opens with the room "La rue." Bonnard painted Parisian street scenes especially in his early phase. He repeatedly chose a busy traffic intersection in northwestern Paris not far from his studio, as evidenced by two outstanding paintings of the same title - Place Clichy (1906-07 and 1912) - from a private collection and the Musée national d'Art moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris. The next room features depictions of Bonnard's "Salle à manger" with its very special atmosphere. This dining room offered him many opportunities to cast an often humorous eye on the bourgeois interior, as in the major painting Le Café (Coffee), 1915, from the Tate London and La Nappe blanche (The White Tablecloth), 1925, from the Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal. The dining room still lifes mark a contrast with the intimate interiors of the bedrooms and bathrooms on view in the room "Intimité". The nude was one of Bonnard's favorite motifs. The major examples on view here include L'Homme et la Femme (Man and Woman), 1900, from the Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Depicting the artist and his lover, Marthe, this early work marked a first transition point in Bonnard's oeuvre, possessing a very modern-looking naturalness with which he left the stark simplifications of the Nabi phase behind. Besides the other rooms in his house, Bonnard was particularly inspired by the bathroom, from 1908 focusing increasingly on the subject of a woman at her toilette. An outstanding example, on account of its condensed spatial structure, is Le Cabinet de toilette (The Bathroom), 1932, from the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Bonnard's bathtub motifs are renowned. A full five works in this genre are on view: La Source (Nu dans la baignoire), (The Source (Nude in the Bathtub)), 1917, from a private collection; Baignoire (Le Bain), (The Bath,) 1925, from the Tate; Nu à la baignoire (Sortie du bain), (Nude by the Bathtub (Getting out of the Bath)), 1931, from the Musée national d'Art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Nu dans le bain (Nu dans la baignoire), (Nude in the Bath), 1936-38, from the Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, and La Grande Baignoire (Nu), (The Large Bathtub (Nude)),1937-39, from a private collection. A further section comprises solely pictures with the mirror motif, which expands the pictorial space and simultaneously questions it. Here, in addition to Le Cabinet de toilette au canapé rose (Nu à contre-jour), (The Dressing Room with Pink Sofa (Nude in Contre-Jour)), 1908, from the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, we find two self-portraits made in front of the mirror in the artist's bedroom: Autoportrait (Le Boxeur), (Selfportrait (The Boxer)), 1931, from the Musée d'Orsay, and Portrait de l'artiste dans la glace du cabinet de toilette (Autoportrait), (Portrait of the Artist in the Bathroom Mirror (Self-Portrait)), 1939-45, from the Musée national d'Art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Then comes a room devoted to the important relationship between interior and exterior space in Bonnard's art. Windows intrigued him throughout his career. His views through windows are always recognizable as such, the outside world being clearly perceived from an interior point of view. This leads to an integration of the environment in the interior realm, as seen to good effect in Fenêtre ouverte sur la Seine (Vernon), (Open Window towards the Seine (Vernon)), 1911-12, from the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nice, and Grande salle à manger sur le jardin, (Dining Room on the Garden), 1934-36, from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. The exhibition also includes a rather large number of garden depictions from all phases of the artist's career. After the turn of the century, nature advanced to become a key motif in Bonnard's visual repertoire. In his eyes the garden represented an order in which the human relationship to nature in general was reflected. In the early La Partie de croquet, (The Croquet Game), 1892, from the Musée d'Orsay, the landscape still serves as a foil for an ornamental harmony. In his later nature depictions Bonnard interlocked the landscape and garden with his house, as seen in the famous painting Le Jardin sauvage (La Grande Terrasse), (The Wild Garden (The Large Terrace)), 1918, from the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., and Décor à Vernon (La Terrasse à Vernon), (The Terrace at Vernon), 1920/39, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The "Pierre Bonnard" exhibition continues the Fondation Beyeler tradition of devoting exhibitions to artists represented in our collection. Ernst Beyeler dealt in Bonnard works and in 1966 mounted a Bonnard show in his gallery. With Le Dessert, (The Dessert), 1940, the Beyeler Collection possesses one of the artist's major late still lifes. During his fifty years as an art dealer Ernst Beyeler was constantly collecting art. In time, this required him to make provisions for the future of his pictures and sculptures. The most obvious solution would have been to bequest the works to the Kunstmuseum Basel. However, when the government of the canton Basel City put forward suggestions for a new home for the collection, it soon became apparent that none of these locations could do justice to the works of art. So the foundation was launched and with it came the idea of building a museum specifically to house the collection. Ernst Beyeler was excited by the vision of combining groups of works by major artists from the last hundred years with sculptures from Africa and Oceania in a compatible setting. However, this setting had yet to be created. Having been highly impressed by the work of Renzo Piano, who designed the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Menil Collection in Houston, he commissioned the acclaimed Italian architect without competition to design the new museum. The beautiful grounds of the Villa Berower estate, provided by the municipality of Riehen, offered ideal surroundings for a museum intended as a home for Claude Monet's Water Lilies. The idea of creating an exciting synthesis of nature, daylight and art could not have met with more favourable conditions. There was something altogether painterly about the meadow parkland with its richly varied vegetation. Ernst Beyeler and Renzo Piano engaged in an extensive exchange of ideas throughout the entire process of planning and building the museum. From the outset Renzo Piano proposed building a museum tract that would consist of three sections integrated into the terrain in a series of steps. A section was added along the building's eastern side – like the side deck of an aircraft carrier – which also screened the museum from the main road. To the west, an adjoining winter garden opens up a view of the countryside as it sweeps down towards the river Wiese at the foot of the Tüllinger Hill. Renzo Piano paid considerable attention to the design of the roof, seeking ways of allowing the changing phases of daylight to be experienced inside the galleries while abiding by conservation requirements. The building was designed to radiate simplicity while maintaining harmony with its setting. Ernst Beyeler's wish that visitors should be able to experience the museum and its collection on a single floor without the need to climb stairs, and that a pond be created outside the south-facing façade, was fulfilled by sinking the entire complex to a lower level in the ground. This draws the museum into closer communion with the landscape as well as lending it a more intimate character. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.fondationbeyeler.ch

MoMA Presents the Theatrical Premiere of Emily Hubley's film 'The Toe TacTic' Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:30 PM PDT   NEW YORK, NY - The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) presents the theatrical premiere of Emily Hubley's feature debut, The Toe Tactic, a nimbly creative film that brings to life a layered world of reality and imagination through the combination of Hubley's distinctive, handdrawn animation and live action. Hubley, who has been making animated shorts for 30 years, unspools the whimsical story of a young woman engulfed by loss and the mystical events she encounters over the course of a problematic but magical weekend. By juxtaposing different views of reality, The Toe Tactic addresses themes of memory, loss, and renewal.

The Henry Art Gallery to host Josiah McElheny ~ Big Bang Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:29 PM PDT   Seattle, WA - Josiah McElheny has grafted a distinguished art career out of two far-flung strands of contemporary art practice: conceptual art and the studio glass movement. Deploying the most sophisticated and virtuoso glass-working techniques, he makes installations and discrete sculptures that explore crucial moments in the development of modernity, its visual and theoretical undercurrents. Since his celebrated An Historical Anecdote about Fashion, commissioned by the Henry Art Gallery in 1999, McElheny's work has focused primarily on comparing art to the history of the 20th century.  On exhibition 5 April through 13 July, 2008.

After Legal Odyssey ~ Homecoming Show for Looted Antiquities Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:28 PM PDT   ROME, ITALY - In Greek, the word nostos means homecoming; the plural is nostoi. Hence the title of an exhibition that Italy has organized to trumpet the return of dozens of ancient artifacts that until recently adorned showcases in American museums and private galleries. "Nostoi: Recovered Masterpieces" does not pull its punches in explaining how those objects made their way abroad: They were looted from Italian archaeological sites. Excavated "from the bowels of the earth," "deprived of their identity" and "reduced to mere objects of beauty, without a soul," these pieces "conclude their odyssey here today," Francesco Rutelli, Italy's culture minister, told reporters at a press briefing on Monday at the Quirinale, or presidential palace, where the show is to open on Friday. He called the exhibition, which is free to the public, "a Christmas present." The sprawling effort by Italy to negotiate the return of the antiquities is reflected in the exhibition placards: "Attic black-figure amphora with Heracles fighting Geryon, circa 540 B.C., formerly J. Paul Getty Museum." "Marble statue of Vibia Sabina, second century A.D., formerly Museum of Fine Arts, Boston." "Proto-Corinthian oinochoe" — a wine jug — "with snake, 700-675 B.C., formerly Princeton University Art Museum." "Apulian red-figure dinos" — a mixing bowl for wine and water — "with the myth of Busyrides, circa 340-320 B.C., formerly Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York." And so on. All told, 69 objects have been included in the exhibition. For Italian cultural officials and negotiators, the show is a declaration of victory in their long and often contentious negotiations for the return of such artifacts. Along with the pieces from the four American museums (most, nearly 40, from the Getty's antiquities villa in Pacific Palisades, Calif.), are 5 of 8 pieces that were returned this year from the Royal Athena Galleries in New York. The Greek government lent a statue from the sixth century B.C. of a kore, or maiden, to thank Italy for its help in pressing its own separate claims to items it says were looted. Some objects in the show are the result of other recoveries, like the fragment from the first century B.C. of an ivory head that was seized in 2003 from the collection of a London dealer. While the show clearly celebrates the success of the Italians' strategy — a mix of legal threats and moral suasion bolstered by a news media campaign — officials insisted that it was not meant to be triumphal in tone. At the news conference Mr. Rutelli pointed out that Italy had made its own acts of restitution, returning hundreds of objects to their countries of origin, most prominently Pakistan and Iran. If Italy has reason to be proud, he said, it is for the role it played in "bringing about radical changes in the trade of looted antiquities." Statements from the four American museums in the introduction to the exhibition similarly suggested no public ill will. "An exhibition such as this serves to remind us all that we share a common heritage, and a reverence for artistic achievement that cannot but unite, rather than divide, us in the future," wrote Phillippe de Montebello, the Met's director. While the Getty Villa will "greatly miss" the "carefully tended" objects returning to Italy, wrote that museum's director, Michael Brand, the Getty can celebrate the long-term loans offered by Italy as part of their accord. "This exhibition stands as a significant milestone in the complex international debate over cultural patrimony," Mr. Brand said. One placard in the show was bereft of its object: the 2,500 year-old Euphronios krater. This showpiece, a vessel for mixing water and wine, is being returned by the Met but will not join the other artifacts until Jan. 15. (The exhibition runs through March 2.) It is arguably the most emblematic piece in the exhibition, given that the Met led the way for the other American museums in brokering an accord, and the Italians had intermittently sought its return for more than three decades. The museum relinquished the item, along with 20 other artifacts, after Italian negotiators presented evidence that they said confirmed its illicit provenance. Such evidence of wrongdoing also spurred the other pacts. Adding to the pressure was the Rome trial of the antiquities dealer who sold the Met the piece, Robert Hecht, and of Marion True, the former curator of antiquities at the Getty. Both are charged with conspiracy to traffic in looted artifacts but deny the charges. Mr. Rutelli said on Monday that the show could expand as investigations continued into the practices of other European, Asian and American institutions that he declined to name.  But rather than a sign of capitulation by the American museums, Italian officials said, the handovers reflect a sea change in attitudes in the museum world. "It would be a little sad if in the end all of this was just the result of the prosecutors' threats and that American museums had only reacted because of legal questions," said Stefano De Caro, the culture ministry's director general of archaeology.  If that were so, he said, years' worth of discussions "would have been for nothing." By . . .Elisabetta Povoledo

Moscow World Fine Art Fair (MWFAF) Celebrates its Fifth Edition Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:27 PM PDT MOSCOW.- The Moscow World Fine Art Fair (MWFAF) celebrates its fifth edition in May with a return to the historic Manège, the Russian capital's largest cultural complex from 27th May to 2nd June, 2008. One of the most exclusive and exciting fairs in Europe, the Moscow World Fine Art Fair embellishes the Russian contemporary art market this year, whilst still remaining a world recognized showcase for fine jewellery, sculpture and the fine and decorative arts.

IVAM Exhibition Features the work of José Manuel Ciria ~ The Last Decade Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:26 PM PDT VALENCIA, SPAIN - The director of the IVAM, Mrs. Consuelo Ciscar; the artist, José Manuel Ciria, and the curator of the exhibition, Kara Van der Weg, inaugurated the exhibition 'Ciria. States of opposition (2001-20011) which will run until on 8 January. The exhibition, sponsored by Telefónica, gathers 28 paintings and 82 drawings series between abstraction and figuration, with features ranging from the spontaneous gesture to the precise rigor of the grid. The artist works between Madrid and New York in the decade from 2001 to 2011. Over the last decade, the paintings of Jose Manuel Ciria have moved between abstraction and figuration, their markings ranging from animated gesture to the precise rigor of the grid. On exhibition at the Valencian Institute for Modern Art (IVAM).

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art features Étude to Art Object Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:25 PM PDT Moscow, Russia - The main building of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art at 25 Petrovka Street is hosting "Étude to Art Object", a large-scale experimental display focused on works by Russian artists from the Museum's permanent collection. For the first time ever, the Museum exhibits its holdings united by a single thematic program that allows demonstrating a considerable variety of artworks assembled by the Museum and unveil a number of pieces unseen by the public. On view 14 February through 10 May, 2009. The main reference point of the project is étude, or study. In the strict sense of the word, it is a "subordinate" type of visual art that is executed from nature with a goal of learning its rules. To this day, étude plays a crucial role in academic fine arts education. To match the traditional notion of étude with pioneering practices of contemporary art – here lies the main intrigue of the "Étude to Art Object" display. In this case, étude is a metaphor for a distinctive creative method of the artist, which aims at exploring not only really existing objects, but conceptual features as well. The novelty of curatorial approach consists in a wider interpretation of the étude phenomenon, in its understanding as a flexible and many-sided aesthetic category that can be applied both to preparatory sketches and to finished works of art. The versatile Museum collection and the thoroughly planned itinerary of the display make it possible to trace how certain traits of étude reveal themselves in the contradictory world of the 20th and 21st century art. Among these traits are: photographic verisimilitude, repetition of motifs, references to classical tradition, demonstration of laws of motion, the issue of artistic language as such. The route of the intellectual journey through the display is logically structured by three general thematic sections: "Canon", "Natura" and "Metamorphoses". The first section presents model examples of étude, such as graphic studies and academic paintings. In the next zone, the notion of the étude receives a broad interpretation: works that are on view here may belong to different genres, but all of them explore nature and its principles. Finally, the visitor enters into the space of play and fantasy, where the very idea of the étude is splintered into several conceptual aspects summarized in certain tag-words. Accordingly, the "Metamorphoses" section includes six consecutive parts: "Hyper-reality", "Repetition", "Classics!", "Motion Mechanics", "Geometry of Form", and "Language Exercises". All these aspects, illustrated by works from the Museum's holdings, reveal at times surprising affinity with dominant interests of contemporary artists. The display consists of more than three hundred works executed in various media: from traditional painting, graphics, sculpture and photography to kinetic objects and video installations. In direct proximity, artists are arrayed who often seem to stand at polar extremities in terms of their creative intentions. Among them are: AES+F, Alexander Archipenko, Konstantin Batynkov, Leonid Borisov, Pavel Chistyakov, Semyon Faibisovich, Andrey Goncharov, Eduard Gorokhovsky, Andrey Grositsky, Francisco Infante, Vyacheslav Koleychuk, Valery Koshlyakov, Oleg Kulik, Mikhail Larionov, Igor Makarevich, Kazimir Malevich, Tatyana Nazarenko, Timur Novikov, Viktor Pivovarov, George Pousenkoff, Leonid Purygin, Oskar Rabin, Aidan Salakhova, Vasili Shukhaev, Sergey Shutov, Igor Snegur, Vinogradov and Dubosarsky, Dmitry Zhilinsky, and many others. Apart from works from the collection of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the display is enriched with pieces from the Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg and the Surikov Moscow State Academic Arts Institute. The design of the display was created by Boris Bernaskoni, one of the most promising young architects in Moscow, praised for his singular approach to exhibition architecture. His stylish and purist solution, without distracting attention from the artworks on view, helps to clarify the structure of the project and guides the visitor on the way from "Étude to Art Object". Moscow Museum of Modern Art / 25/1 Petrovka St., 107031, Moscow, Russia / Visit : http://www.mmoma.ru

Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review" Posted: 12 Jun 2012 07:24 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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