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

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• The Smithsonian American Art Museum shows “Abstract Drawings” from the Collection
• The Moderna Museet Showcases its Collection in a New Way
• The Getty Museum features "Heaven, Hell, and Dying Well ~ Images of Death in the Middle Ages"
• The Carnegie Museum of Art to show "Whistler and Rebellion in the Art World"
• The Penlee House Gallery and Museum Shows Walter Langley and the Birmingham Boys
• LewAllen Galleries Present New Paintings by Michael Roque Collins
• Moscow Museum of Modern Art presents "Future Depends On You" ~ A Touring Exhibition
• The Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny Presents Maurice Denis
• PowerHouse Books announces "Here We Are: by photographer Panos Kokkinias
• The Clark explores the art of copying ~ "Copycat: Reproducing Works of Art"
• The Indian Highway Contemporary Art Exhibition Reaches MAXXI in Rome
• The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum Features Collages by John Stezaker
• Bass Museum of Art exhibition to Feature Works by Today's Leading Russian Artists
• David Prentice 'London Cityscapes' at the John Davies Gallery, UK
• The Denver Art Museum Presents Two Chinese Themed Exhibitions

The Smithsonian American Art Museum shows “Abstract Drawings” from the Collection Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:17 PM PDT Washington, D.C.- "Abstract Drawings", on view through January 6th 2013, presents a selection of 46 works on paper from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's permanent collection that are rarely on public display. From simple sketches to highly finished compositions, these works represent the rich possibilities of abstraction as a mode of artistic expression. American artists began to experiment with abstraction in the early 20th century. The installation includes works from the 1930s to 2009 by artists such as Joseph Cornell, Gene Davis, Jacob Kainen, Willem de Kooning, Man Ray, Theodore Roszak and Sean Scully. Most abstract drawings were created as independent works of art in which the artist explored an idea or the relationship of forms and colors, as in "Bones" (1987) by Andrea Way or "Saber Dance" (1952) by Davis. In many of the drawings, references to objects, figures or places remain visible, but they have been transformed into compositions that have only a passing resemblance to their source of inspiration, such as Charles Seliger's 1945 series of 14 illustrations for the unfinished satire "An Island in the Moon" by poet William Blake. The collages on display in the installation by Cornell were based on Rorschach inkblots that were then transformed into images by the artist's imagination and deft addition of line. Some of the featured drawings were preparatory for works of art in another medium, such as Al Held's "Untitled (Study for Order/Disorder/Ascension/Descension)" (1975), which he created for an enormous two-part mural commissioned for the Social Security building lobby in Philadelphia. The artworks on display were selected by Joann Moser, senior curator. The Smithsonian is the world's largest museum complex and research organization, comprising 19 museums and nine research centers. The Smithsonian American Art Museum, begun in 1829, is the first federal art collection and is dedicated to the collection and display of American Art (art produced by American artists or in America by others). The museum began with gifts from private collections and art organizations established in the nation's capital before the founding of the Smithsonian in 1846. The museum has grown steadily to become a center for the study, enjoyment, and preservation of America's cultural heritage. Today the collection consists of artworks in all media, spanning more than 300 years of artistic achievement. The collection began modestly in 1829 when a Washingtonian named John Varden set out to form a permanent museum for the nation with his collection of European art. At first, the art was placed in a room he added to his own house near the U.S. Capitol. In 1841, Varden's collection was displayed in the newly constructed Patent Office Building (coincidentally, the museum's home today). The establishment of the Smithsonian in 1846 eclipsed the prestige of the institute, which later disbanded. By 1858, many items in the Smithsonian Art Collection on view at the Patent Office Building were moved a few blocks to the newly completed Smithsonian Castle. The remainder of the collection followed in 1862. But a destructive fire there in 1865 increased the Smithsonian's reluctance to build cultural collections. For the rest of the century, most of the artwork was placed on loan to the Library of Congress and to the Corcoran Gallery of Art. A turning point in the history of the collection came in 1906. That year the probated will of Harriet Lane Johnston, an art collector and niece of President James Buchanan, forced an important decision in a federal court: the recognition that the Smithsonian's collection formed a "National Gallery of Art." Coined during a national art-collecting boom, the official name soon attracted major gifts. Highly prized were diverse artworks owned by John Gellatly and American impressionist paintings and Barbizon landscapes collected by William T. Evans. Plans to build a permanent home for the museum on the National Mall came and went, among them a prize-winning modernist structure that shocked federal officials. The competition had been organized after Andrew Mellon gave his European-focused art collection to the nation in 1937 with the stipulation that his new museum be called the "National Gallery of Art" in emulation of the National Gallery of Art in London. To comply with Mellon's wishes for a National Gallery of Art to house his European collection, the Smithsonian museum known as the National Gallery of Art for the previous thirty-one years was renamed the National Collection of Fine Arts in 1937. It was given a new mission based on New Deal idealism: to promote the work of living artists and to build a national audience. The Smithsonian American Art Museum, the nation's first collection of American art, is an unparalleled record of the American experience. The collection captures the aspirations, character and imagination of the American people throughout three centuries. The American Art Museum is the home to one of the largest and most inclusive collections of American art in the world. Its artworks reveal key aspects of America's rich artistic and cultural history from the colonial period to today. More than 7,000 artists are represented in the collection, including major masters, such as John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt, Georgia O'Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence, Helen Frankenthaler, Christo, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Lee Friedlander, Nam June Paik, Martin Puryear, and Robert Rauschenberg. The Museum has been a leader in identifying significant aspects of American visual culture and actively collecting and exhibiting works of art before many other major public collections. American Art has the largest collection of New Deal art and the finest collections of contemporary craft, American impressionist paintings, and masterpieces from the Gilded Age. Other pioneering collections include historic and contemporary folk art, work by African American and Latino artists, photography from its origins in the nineteenth century to contemporary works, images of western expansion, and realist art from the first half of the twentieth century. In recent years, the Museum has focused on strengthening its contemporary art collection through acquisitions and by commissioning new artworks. Visit the museum's website at ... http://americanart.si.edu/

The Moderna Museet Showcases its Collection in a New Way Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:16 PM PDT Stockholm.- Until December 30th, the Moderna Museet is proud to present "The Moderna Museet Collection: Presented in a new way 2012!". The permanent collection belonging to the Moderna Museet in Stockholm is one of the best in the world. The collection's core is made up of the great names in visual art history, beginning with 1900 and up to the present day. Among them are works by Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Salvador Dali and Robert Rauschenberg, not to mention a slew of young, promising artists active today. Which is why art lovers the world over ardently follow any news that arises about the Stockholm museum's permanent collection. This spring Moderna Museet welcomed guests with the traditional exhibition of the permanent collection, which will be open until December 30. This year's exhibition has been divided into three successive parts: the first featured works created in the time period spanning from the end of WWII to the middle of the 1970's; the second part will be on the early modernism of the 1930's (until June 21st); and the final part will cover minimalism, from its very birth through to the present day (opening at the end of the summer). The collection is comprised of paintings, sculptures, films, photographs and various forms of graphic art. Works by world-famous artists will be displayed alongside those by lesser-known artists, just waiting to be discovered. The first presentation is of works that were inspired by either war or the aftermath of war – under the influence of depression and social criticism. Included artists are Germaine Richier, Robert Rauschenberg and Francis Bacon. One room is dedicated to the captivating imagery of the Swedish painter and creator of objects, Dick Bengtsson. Pop art is represented by Andy Warhol, Öyvind Fahlström, Lee Lozano and Claes Oldenburg, whereas conceptualism is exemplified by the works of Joseph Kosuth, Mary Kelly and Martha Rosler. The next presentation in the series, opening at the start of summer, will feature works that fall into the genre of between-the-wars modernism, with pieces by artists such as Georges Braque, Sigrid Hjertén, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Wassily Kandinsky, and Lyubov Popova. Last, but not least, will be the exhibition of works by prominent artists of the current day, including Mike Nelson, Fia Backström and Doris Salcedo. This year's presentation of the permanent collection is only roughly chronological, with thematic guidelines which will be explained to viewers through the use of the latest technologies, films, texts and stories. These aids will illustrate the time periods in which the works were created, and will help tie in their significance to the present day. Moderna Museet has one of the world's finest collections of 20th and 21st century art. The photography collection contains works produced since 1840. Moderna Museet is commissioned to collect, preserve, exhibit and organise learning activities relating to all forms of 20th and 21st century art. Moderna Museet in Stockholm originally opened on 9 May, 1958, in what used to be a drill hall on Skeppsholmen. The Spanish architect Rafael Moneo designed the new building for Moderna Museet, after winning an international competition for the assignment. The new building was inaugurated, according to plan, in connection with Stockholm Cultural Capital in 1998. The event took place on 12 February, 1998. Moderna Museet Malmö opened on 26 December, 2009. The museum's aims are to promote artistic and cultural regeneration, promote knowledge in art history and understanding and interest in contemporary art, preserve, catalogue and research the Moderna Museet collection and procure new works to enhance it, make the collection accessible to the public, organise exhibitions and learning activities, and operate lending and deposition activities, research other government-owned or government-funded art collections and promote international contacts by organising exhibitions of Swedish contemporary art abroad, and be responsible for Swedish participation in international art biennials. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.modernamuseet.se

The Getty Museum features "Heaven, Hell, and Dying Well ~ Images of Death in the Middle Ages" Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:15 PM PDT Los Angeles, California.- The Getty Center is currently presenting "Heaven, Hell, and Dying Well: Images of Death in the Middle Ages", on view through August 12th. In the Middle Ages, hope mingled with fear concerning death and the afterlife, providing stirring subjects for manuscript illumination. Depictions of souls in paradise, the rewards of the blessed, and God's mercy reassured Christian audiences, while sometimes horrific illustrations of funerals, demons, and the punishment of the wicked prompted the pious to repent for their sins. At the core of visual devotion stood images of the crucified Christ, promising resurrection and eternal salvation. This exhibition—which includes not only manuscripts but also printed books, a panel painting, stained glass and other media—explores medieval images that reflect imagined travels to the netherworld and attempts to map what awaited humankind beyond this earthly existence. In Denise Poncher before a Vision of Death, the young owner of the manuscript is shown kneeling with her prayer book before a terrifying spectacle: the walking corpse of Death and three of his victims. The image likely served to remind the viewer that Death could arrive at any time and that prayer could prepare one's soul. The morbid imagery found in late medieval prayer books sheds light on the intense preoccupation with matters of death. Lavish depictions of deathbed scenes, funeral rites, and the uncertain fate of departed souls focused attention on the viewer's own mortality and the transience of material wealth. Prayer cycles recorded in such manuscripts include the Office of the Dead, recited to ensure repose for the deceased and shorten their time in purgatory. The intimate scale of prayer books was appropriate, encouraging devout Christians to prepare themselves inwardly and contemplate death in solitude. In The Three Living and the Three Dead, expressions of stark terror appear on the faces of noblemen on horseback as several corpses risen from the dead suddenly block their path. On the page's borders, disguised among golden leaves and beautiful flowers, a skull stares out at the viewer as a reminder that death is hidden in all worldly delights. Hell. Where is it? What does it look like? What horrors await the sinners there? In widely read stories such as The Visions of the Knight Tondal and The Divine Comedy, medieval audiences followed the main characters into the depths of the underworld, closely observing the infernal spectacle. These vivid accounts were frequently illustrated with terrifying images that exceeded even the most gruesome textual descriptions. The dialogue between the artistic imagination and a burgeoning scientific interest in the afterlife produced an idea of hell as a real, physical place infused with wild fantasies. Originally written in the 1100s, The Visions of the Knight Tondal is the story of a wayward Irish knight whose dreamlike journey through hell and heaven teaches him the value of penitence. In the only known illustrated version of this tale, the Flemish artist Simon Marmion faithfully followed the text by depicting hell as a terrifying underground place with regions devoted to various sins—and punishments for them—and the awe-inspiring realms of heaven reserved for those who lived good and honest lives. The inventive images bring the story to life through atmospheric effects and expressive characters. A divine moral order shaped the medieval understanding of time as a linear narrative from the Creation to the Last Judgment. In the face of God's final ruling over each soul, Christ's death on the cross to redeem the sins of mankind offered hope. In book illumination, panel painting, stained glass, and sculpture, artists turned Christian beliefs into arresting images of damnation and salvation intended to unsettle and motivate their audiences. Viewers of Giuliano Amadei's colorful yet somber Crucifixion, a leaf from a missal used by the Pope in the Sistine Chapel, were intended to empathize with Christ's suffering and share in the historic event. As Christ dies on the cross, the lamenting figures of the Virgin Mary and Saint John stand on either side, while Mary Magdalene falls to her knees in grief. Christ's voluntary sacrifice at the Crucifixion was the defining moment of Christianity, making eternal salvation a possibility for true believers.  The J. Paul Getty Center, in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, is a campus for cultural institutions founded by oilman J. Paul Getty. The Center sits atop a hill, connected to a visitor's parking garage at the bottom by a three-car, cable-pulled tram. With more than 1.3 million visitors annually, the Getty Museum is one of the most visited art museums in the USA. It is one of two locations of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the second being the 'J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa in Malibu', dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. The 'J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Centre' is the branch of the museum specializing in "pre-20th-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts; and 19th- and 20th-century American and European photographs". Besides the Museum, the Center's buildings house the Getty Research Institute (GRI), the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Foundation, and the administrative offices of the J. Paul Getty Trust, which owns and operates the Center. The Center was designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Richard Meier and includes a central garden designed by artist Robert Irwin. GRI's separate building contains a research library with over 900,000 volumes and two million photographs of art and architecture. Originally, the Getty Museum started in J. Paul Getty's house located in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, when in 1954, he expanded the house with a museum wing. In the 1970's, Getty built a replica of an Italian villa on his property to better house his collection, which opened in 1974. After Getty's death in 1976, the entire property was turned over to the Getty Trust for museum purposes. However, the collection outgrew the site, which has since been renamed the Getty Villa, and management sought a location more accessible to Los Angeles. The purchase of the land upon which the Center is located (a campus of 24 acres on a site in the Santa Monica Mountains, surrounded by 600 acres kept in a natural state) was announced in 1983. The top of the hill is 900 feet (270 m) above Interstate 405, high enough that on a clear day it is possible to see not only the Los Angeles skyline but also the San Bernardino Mountains to the east as well as the Pacific Ocean to the west. The Center opened to the public on December 16, 1997. After the Center opened, the villa closed for extensive renovations, and reopened on January 28, 2006. The Center museum building consists of a three-level base building that is mostly closed to the public and provides staff workspace and storage areas. Five public, two-story towers on the base are called the North, East, South, West and the Exhibitions Pavilions. The Exhibitions Pavilion acts as the temporary residence for traveling art collections and the Foundation's artwork for which the permanent pavilions have no room. The permanent collection is displayed throughout the other four pavilions chronologically. The first-floor galleries in each pavilion house light-sensitive art, such as illuminated manuscripts, furniture, or photography. Computer-controlled skylights on the second floor galleries allow paintings to be displayed in natural light. The second floors are connected by a series of glass-enclosed bridges and open terraces, both of which offer views of the surrounding hillsides and central plaza. Sculpture is also on display at various points outside the buildings, including on various terraces and balconies. The lower level (the highest of the floors in the base) includes a public cafeteria, the terrace cafe, and the photography galleries.Visit the museum's website at ... www.getty.edu/museum

The Carnegie Museum of Art to show "Whistler and Rebellion in the Art World" Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:14 PM PDT Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.- The Carnegie Museum of Art is pleased to present "Whistler and Rebellion in the Art World", on view at the museum from August 4th through December 9th. James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) was one of the most deliberately contentious, witty, and fiercely independent artists of his generation. Whistler rebelled against the established art world and resisted allegiances with avant-garde movements such as Impressionism. One of the most eminent advocates of the "art for art's sake" philosophy of Aestheticism, he is considered by many to be among the best printmakers in art history. This exhibition presents Carnegie Museum of Art's major painting and impressive collection of Whistler's aesthetically radical prints and drawings revealing the evolution of his career in relation to his towering persona and place in the 19th-century art world. James Abbott McNeill Whistler was born in in 1834 in Lowell, Massachusetts, the third son of West Point graduate and civil engineer Major George Washington Whistler, and his second wife Anna Matilda McNeill. After brief stays in Stonington, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts, the Whistlers moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, where the Major served as an civil engineer for the construction of a railroad line to Moscow. James Abbott was aged nine when his family moved to Russia, and he spent several of his childhood years there, studying drawing at the Imperial Academy of Science.

The Penlee House Gallery and Museum Shows Walter Langley and the Birmingham Boys Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:12 PM PDT Penzance, UK.- In the late 19th Century, one of Britain's foremost art movements centred around the tiny fishing village of Newlyn, on Cornwall's far western shores.  According to the Magazine of Art in 1898, "It was Birmingham that first discovered Newlyn", and the acknowledged pioneer of the 'Newlyn School' was the Birmingham born and trained artist Walter Langley, who first visited in 1881.  Langley was just one of many West Midlands artists who were to spend time in Newlyn, and this summer, Penlee House Gallery & Museum in Penzance is mounting the first ever survey of their contribution to this important artists' colony. "Walter Langley and the Birmingham Boys" brings together a large selection of work by Langley with examples of works by some of his fellow Birmingham Newlyners. The show includes much-loved works from public collections across the UK, together with virtually unknown works from private collections.  As with many of the exhibitions at Penlee House Gallery, the show will give a rare opportunity for paintings that have seldom been on public display to be seen 'back home' in Cornwall, in the context of the landscape and community which inspired them. The exhibition is on view at the museum until September 10th. Walter Langley may not be a household name today, but in his day, he was greatly acclaimed.  He was the only British artist of his generation invited to contribute a self-portrait to the Uffizi's famous collection of portraits of great artists, where it hangs alongside those of Raphael, Rubens and Rembrandt. Proving that he appealed across the board, he was also singled out by Leo Tolstoy in his 1897 publication 'What is Art?' for producing works of art that were 'beautiful and true'. Born in Birmingham in 1852, Langley initially trained at Birmingham School of Design before winning a scholarship to study at the South Kensington Schools, London.  By 1879, he had become a professional artist and travelled to Newlyn in 1880 in search of artistic inspiration, which he found aplenty – a later arrival, Henry Scott Tuke, described it as "simply reeking with subjects".  Still known today as a vibrant fishing port, Newlyn at that time was full of picturesque charm, with the fishing and farming communities living their lives in the same way as their forebears, barely touched by the industrial revolution which had so radically changed Langley's hometown. 1880 saw terrible storms along the Cornish coast, and many fishermen lost their lives. The worst incident involved the fishing lugger 'Jane' from the Newlyn's neighbouring village of Mousehole, which was lost with all hands within sight of the village. As with the Penlee Lifeboat disaster in 1981, this not only devastated the local community, but also moved people across the country, and a national campaign to aid fishermen was launched. In 1881, Langley received a commission from a wealthy Birmingham patron – perhaps stirred by the 'Jane' disaster – to spend a whole year in Newlyn, documenting the difficult lives of the fisherfolk. Coming from a very poor, working class background himself, Langley was particularly touched by the hardship faced by the fishing community. His paintings are filled with tales of tragedy and loss, painted with an astonishingly accomplished watercolour technique, capturing the full emotion of his subjects as well as their physicality. For much of the early 1880s, Langley divided his time between Birmingham and Newlyn, returning to exhibit his works at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and continuing to play a leading role in the city's artistic life.  Artist friends and acquaintances soon learned of Newlyn's charms and fellow members of the Birmingham Art Circle (which Langley co-founded in 1880) started to make the trek to the far south west.  Close friend Edwin Harris had accompanied Langley on one of his earliest Newlyn trips, and others including William Wainwright, William Banks Fortescue, William Breakspeare and Frank Richards followed on to become recognised members of the School. Founded in 1839, the Penlee museum collections cover 6000 years of history in west Cornwall, from Penwith's awe-inspiring archaeological sites to the area's more recent social history.  The recently refurbished social history gallery houses a wealth of artefacts covering the area's fascinating and often quirky heritage. Built in 1865 as a gracious Victorian home, Penlee House has been converted to create a first class gallery and museum set within an attractive park. It specialises in showing the area's unique, rich cultural heritage incorporating the historic collections of Penzance Town Council, Penwith District Council (now incorporated into Cornwall Council) and Newlyn Art Gallery.  A programme of changing exhibitions celebrates the skill and craftsmanship of painting in west Cornwall in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, usually including the world famous 'Newlyn School' and Lamorna Group artists, such as Stanhope and Elizabeth Forbes, Walter Langley, Harold Harvey, Lamorna Birch and Laura Knight. Penlee House has a permanent collection of paintings which is actively being developed. Some of the best known works include "The Rain it Raineth Every Day" by Norman Garstin, "School is Out" by Elizabeth Forbes, "Among the Missing" by Walter Langley and "On Paul Hill" by Stanhope Forbes. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.penleehouse.org.uk/

LewAllen Galleries Present New Paintings by Michael Roque Collins Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:11 PM PDT Santa Fe, New Mexico.- LewAllen Galleries is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition, "Michael Roque Collins: Tides of Memory", on view from November 4th through December 11th. This exhibition marks the first public presentation of the artist's recently inaugurated sculptural practice and features important new paintings exemplifying the sustained relevance of the mythic in contemporary art. Through a dynamic engagement with these media, Collins cultivates complex  relationships between cultural memory and personal history, mythology and the quotidian, abstraction and representation, as well as the spiritual and concrete. Most recently, Collins was awarded a Bioethics and Human Rights Global Art Competition prize from the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization; and, his work was selected for an exhibition sponsored by that organization that will tour between venues in Paris and Houston. The artist lives and works in Houston, Texas, where he has held numerous esteemed teaching positions and is current Director of the School of Art of Houston Baptist University.

Moscow Museum of Modern Art presents "Future Depends On You" ~ A Touring Exhibition Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:10 PM PDT MOSCOW.- Moscow Museum of Modern Art hosts a large-scale exhibition project "Future Depends on You. New Rules" nominated as "Regional project" for "Innovation" award. "Future Depends on You. New Rules" is a touring art exhibition, that was shown in 7 Russian cities: Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk, Novosibirsk, Ekaterinburg, Samara, Krasnodar. It comprises a contemporary art show, an educational program, an alternative Russian film festival, meetings with the participants – famous Russian artists and social activists. Total attendance figures mount to 120,000 people, 700 publications came out – it all reflects broad public response. The project is rightly considered one of the most significant art initiatives in the history of contemporary Russian art in the past 50 years. On exhibition May 30 – August 2 2009.

The Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny Presents Maurice Denis Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:09 PM PDT Giverny, France.- The Musée des Impressionnismes is proud to present an exhibition exploring the theme of spring in the work of Maurice Denis (1870-1943). "Maurice Denis: The Eternal Spring" will be on view at the museum through July 15th 2012. The exhibition comprises approximately eighty works – paintings and drawings – and is accompanied by extensive documentation in the form of photographs, publications and correspondence. The works on show include loans from the most prestigious public and private collections, some of which have been displayed publicly only rarely or never at all in France. The exhibition is divided into three main sections: 'The Awakening of Nature in Springtime'; 'Christian Spring and Earthly Paradise'; and 'The First Signs Of Love and The Spring Of Life'. It will also present throughout a little known aspect of Denis's production, that of his talent as a painter-decorator, by recomposing constitutive elements of some of his large decorative projects.Maurice Denis was born November 25, 1870, in Granville, Manche, a coastal town in the Normandy region of France. Waters and coastlines would remain favorite subject matter throughout his career, as would material drawn from the bible. For such an avant-garde figure, Denis had a surprisingly broad religious streak, writing in his notebook at age fifteen, "Yes, it's necessary that I am a Christian painter, that I celebrate all the miracles of Christianity, I feel it's necessary." The Denis family was affluent, and young Maurice attended both the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Julian, where he studied with the French figure painter and theorist Jules Joseph Lefebvre. At the Académie, he met painters and future Nabi members including Paul Sérusier and Pierre Bonnard; through Bonnard he also met the future Nabis Édouard Vuillard and Ker-Xavier Roussel. In 1890, they formed The Nabis. They chose "Nabi"—Hebrew for "Prophet"—because they understood they would be creating new forms of expression. The group would split apart by the end of the decade, and would influence the later work of both Bonnard and Vuillard, as well as non-Nabi painters like Henri Matisse. After the Nabis, Denis went on to focus on religious subjects and murals. In 1922, he published his collected historical and theoretical work as "Nouvelles théories sur l'art moderne, sur l'art sacré"—that is, "New Theories of Modern and Sacred Art." The subjects of his mature works include landscapes and figure studies, particularly of mother and child. But his primary interest remained the painting of religious subjects, like "The dignity of labour", commissioned in 1931 by the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions to decorate the main staircase of the Centre William Rappard. Denis was among the first artists to insist on the flatness of the picture plane—one of the great starting points for modernism, as practiced in the visual arts. In his famous proposal for the definition of painting, offered in 1890, he stated: "Remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a nude, an anecdote or what not, is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order." In 1898, he produced a theory of creation that found the source for art in the character of the painter: "That which creates a work of art is the power and the will of the artist." Denis died in Paris of injuries resulting from an automobile accident in November 1943. (The date of his death is variously listed as the 2nd, 3rd, or 13th.) The musée des impressionnismes in Giverny, a village in Normandy, is dedicated to the history of Impressionism and its continuation in the Giverny art colony and along the Valley of the River Seine. Claude Monet moved to Giverny in 1883. Although he never encouraged other artists to follow him, the village soon attracted a circle of Americans eager to put the principles of Impressionism into practice at the heart of the Norman landscape. Founded by Daniel J. Terra in 1992, the musée d'art américain Giverny generated an unprecedented stream of exhibitions, publications, conferences, lectures, and residencies for art historians and artists on the theme of American art, during its sixteen years of existence. In 2009, a partnership was signed between the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Conseil général de l'Eure, the Conseil régional de Haute-Normandie, the Conseil général de la Seine-Maritime, the Communauté d'Agglomération des Portes de l'Eure, the Municipality of Vernon and the musée d'Orsay, to create the musée des impressionnismes Giverny that replaces the musée d'art américain. This museum is dedicated to the history of Impressionism and its aftermath, together with its more distant impact on the second half of the twentieth century. The Terra Foundation maintains an active presence on the Board of Directors of this institution, and also continues to loan artworks, organize exhibitions on American art, and through grants, participate in developing this venue. The musée d'Orsay provides scientific backing together with its special loans policy. The gallery is dedicated to the Impressionist movement, but also offers an exploration of this aesthetic movement beyond the circle of painters generally recognised as Impressionists, as much leading up to the style (its precursors) as resulting from it (post-World War II movements and even contemporary art). Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.museedesimpressionnismesgiverny.com

PowerHouse Books announces "Here We Are: by photographer Panos Kokkinias Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:08 PM PDT BROOKLYN, N.Y.- "Here We Are" is an anthology of Panos Kokkinias' widely exhibited fine-art photography, from 1994 through 2007. The monograph consists of four sections, each representing different bodies of work linked by a common theme: Kokkinias' personal, ongoing obsession with existential subject matter. Panos Kokkinias was born in 1965 in Athens, Greece. He studied photography at the School of Visual Arts, and then at Yale University, where he received his MFA in 1996. He earned a PhD in Photography in 2009 from Derby University, Great Britain. The recipient of grants from the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation and Yale University, among others, Kokkinias has exhibited his work worldwide, including shows in Athens, Paris, and New York. His photographs have been published in Vitamin Ph: New Perspectives in Photography, (Phaidon Press, 2006) and in Panos Kokkinias (Galerie Xippas, 2004). He lives and works in Athens.

The Clark explores the art of copying ~ "Copycat: Reproducing Works of Art" Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:08 PM PDT WILLIAMSTOWN, MA.- The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute opened its latest exhibition, Copycat: Reproducing Works of Art, on January 29. Exploring the line between innovation and imitation, the exhibition features 50 prints and photographs that are both original works of art and repetitions of drawings, prints, paintings, sculptures, and architecture created by other artists. The exhibition highlights the complex process of copying by studying replications of many rarely seen works from the Clark's permanent collection, including those by Albrecht Dürer, Paul Cézanne, Eugène Delacroix, Rembrandt van Rijn, Roger Fenton, and Édouard Manet, among others. The exhibition also marks the first public presentation of one of the Clark's recent acquisitions, Jean Dughet's series The Seven Sacraments. Copycat will be on view in the Clark's Manton Research Center building through April 1st.

The Indian Highway Contemporary Art Exhibition Reaches MAXXI in Rome Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:07 PM PDT Rome.- MAXXI (the National Museum of the 21st Century Arts) is proud to present "Indian Highway", on view from September 22nd through January 29th 2012. Consisting of 60 works by 30 different artists, and including 4 site-specific installations, the exhibition describes the boom, the contradictions and the myriad facets of the "Indian miracle" through the eyes of contemporary Indian artists. This major touring group show coproduced with the Serpentine Gallery in London and the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo has been touring Europe for the past 2 years, but takes a new spin with every stop it takes. The exhibition can essentially be divided into three macro areas. The first is 'Indian Identity and Histories', which investigates political, social and religious themes such as the war between India and Pakistan, the religious struggles, the transience of the national borders. Among the works on show: the large painting by Fida Husain (recently deceased, a protagonist on the Indian art scene for over 70 years, to whom the entire exhibition is dedicated) refers to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008. The video "The Lightning Testimonies" by Amar Kanwar recounts the war between India and Pakistan through the testimonies of raped women. The video "I Love My India" by Tejal Shah tackles the repression of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, while "100 Hand Drawn Maps of Indi"a by Shilpa Gupta reflects the sense of insecurity and the instability of the national borders. The disturbing installation by the same artist "Untitled – Skewers" features 185 lances looming from the ceiling and arousing a sense of fear. ' Exploding metropolises' examines urban expansion and chaos and the abandonment of the rural areas. The symbol of the exhibition, the wallpaper installation "Dream Villa 11" by Daynita Singh is virtually a luminous sign repeated for 80 metres on MAXXI's external wall at the first floor level: it reproduces a contemporary metropolis from above, shrouded in a blue light, with the great highways like rivers of fire. Among the works on show: the sculpture "Transit" by Valay Shende, the huge truck in aluminium discs contrasting with "Autosaurus Tripous", the skeleton of a traditional rickshaw in resin bones by Jitish Kallat, while the 27-metre-long installation by Subodh Gupta composed of pots and pans alludes to the workers' lunch. 'Contemporary Tradition', the third anf final area, explores the revisiting of ancient forms of expression from Indian culture such as miniatures, ceramics and ink paintings. The site-specific installations Strands by N.S. Harsha and "Growing" by Hemali Bhuta are examples, as are the large enamelled panels by Nalini Malani that allude to the mythological stories. The show Nineteen Mantras produced by Fondazione Musica per Roma and Fondazione MAXXI and co-produced with the Accademia Teatro alla Scala, is also part of the project conceived for MAXXI Art. Executive production is by Fattore K with direction by Giorgio Barbiero Corsetti, music by Riccardo Nova, chroeogrpahy by Shantala Scivalingappa and the contributions of Indian dancers, musicians and singers. The show will be staged in the Auditorium Parco della Musica in January 2012 and then in Milan. A choreographical, musical and video work, it recounts the impetus of myth, transporting it into the contemporary through mantra verse. Previews of the work may be seen in the exhibition thanks to three multi-media stations. The MAXXI (the National Museum of the 21st Century Arts) is a national museum dedicated to contemporary creativity, located in the Flaminio neighbourhood of Rome, Italy. It is managed by a foundation created by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities. It was designed as a multidisciplinary space by Zaha Hadid and committed to experimentation and innovation in the arts and architecture. The project was first announced in 1998 and took over 10 years to complete, during which time there had been six changes of national government in Italy. The Royal Institute of British Architect's (RIBA) Stirling Prize for architecture 2010 was been awarded to MAXXI and Zaha Hadid. The building is a composition of bending oblong tubes, overlapping, intersecting and piling over each other, resembling a piece of massive transport infrastructure. The MAXXI consists of two museums: "MAXXI art" and "MAXXI architecture". In addition to the two museums, the MAXXI also features an auditorium, a library and media library specialized in art and architecture, a bookshop, a cafeteria, a bar/restaurant, galleries for temporary exhibition, performances, educational activities. The large public square designed in front of the museum is planned to host art works and live events. The MAXXI has been acclaimed by The Guardian as "Hadid's finest built work to date" and a masterpiece fit to sit alongside Rome's ancient wonders. The permanent collections of these two museums grow through direct acquisitions, as well as through commissions, thematic competitions, awards for young artists, donations and permanent loans. The collection includes works by Alighiero Boetti, William Kentridge, Kara Walker, Ed Ruscha, Gilbert & George, Gino De Dominicis, Michael Raedecker, Anish Kapoor, Gerhard Richter, Francesco Clemente, Lara Favaretto, Marlene Dumas, Maurizio Cattelan, Gabriele Basilico, Kiki Smith, Thomas Ruff, Luigi Ghirri, Manfredi Beninati, Vanessa Beecroft, Stefano Arienti, Francis Alys, Ugo Rondinone, Thomas Schutte and archives of architects Carlo Scarpa, Aldo Rossi and Pier Luigi Nervi. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.fondazionemaxxi.it

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum Features Collages by John Stezaker Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:05 PM PDT St. Louis, Missouri.- The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum is pleased to present "John Stezaker" on view at the museum from January 27th through April 23rd. Breaking through the onslaught of images in contemporary culture, British artist John Stezaker (b. 1949) subverts the familiar through collage in a way that is at once captivating and unsettling. "John Stezaker" - the first US museum exhibition of this influential artist's work - reveals his lifelong fascination with the potent force of images, showcasing his investigations into the ways visual language can create meanings that vary dramatically according to context. Stezaker transforms classic movie stills and vintage postcards, magazines, and book illustrations by inverting, slicing, and combining them to challenge and complicate the original connotations. With over ninety works on paper from the 1970s to today, John Stezaker offers an in-depth survey of the artist's ability to produce compelling new images by juxtaposing disparate images from found photographs.

Bass Museum of Art exhibition to Feature Works by Today's Leading Russian Artists Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:04 PM PDT   MIAMI, FLORIDA - " Russian Dreams "presents a selection of cutting-edge works by contemporary artists from Russia. On view at the Bass Museum of Art from December 4, 2008 to February 8, 2009, the exhibition explores Russian art's evolution from the pre-Glasnost era to the present day. The exhibition is curated by Olga Sviblova, Director of the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow and the curator behind the Russian Pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale, who is partnering with designer Yuri Avvakumov for the installation. 'Russian Dreams' is a collaboration between the Bass Museum of Art and the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow. "This is an extraordinarily fecund time for Russian art, with a diverse group artists producing exciting and innovative work," said Olga Sviblova, curator of Russian Dreams... "To truly understand this incredible moment in contemporary art, we need to look back to the generation of artists who had been categorized in an oddly romanticized way simply as 'underground.' Russian Dreams… allows us to reexamine the works of these influential Sotsart artists in their own right and, in doing so, appreciate their impact upon artists working today." The exhibition juxtaposes the work of modern Russian artists: icons like AES+F Group, Alexander Ponomarev, Vladimir Dubossarsky and Alexander Vinogradov, Dmitri Gutov, Alexei Kostroma, and the new generation of young artists – Julia Milner, Rostan Tavasiev, Haim Sokol, and MishMash Project. The first group of artists came to prominence in the 1980-90s, the epoch of the Russian underground and Perestroika—Mikhail Gorbachev's program of economic, political, and social restructuring which unintentionally catalyzed the toppling of Stalin's totalitarian state. This was a time when Sotsart—a satiric blend of Socialist Realism and Pop Art that parodied official stateproduced art—was the dominant artistic mode. The latter group of artists–currently between 20 and 30 years old–developed their work in a new, post-Perestroika Russia when government bans on personal expression were lifted, changing the scope of established artists' work. Many of the pieces in Russian Dreams... are intimate, personal narratives, while others look back, referencing the bolder Sotsart of Yuri Albert and Yuri Avvakumov who participated in the underground art movement during the Perestroika era. Today, after seventeen years of living in a new socio-economic reality, Russian Dreams… reflects ambivalence towards a lost Utopia, as well as a sense of contradiction and tension that is today's twenty-first century Russia. The works in this exhibition resonate with the disconnected, random associations of dreams, and a sense of profound melancholy over what has been lost. Russian Dreams… brings the latest in contemporary Russian painting, photography, video, and installation art to Miami Beach, and explores the mindset of a new generation. Highlights of Russian Dreams… include: Defile, 2000-2007 by the artists' collective AES+F (Tatiana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich, Evgeny Svyatsky and Vladimir Fridkes) is a collage of video and digital photography, which blends images of unclaimed corpses in a morgue with images of haute couture dresses. Mimicking the runway shows of Paris, Milan, and London, the anonymous dead bodies, clothed in high fashion garments, float over an invisible catwalk. This bizarre fashion ritual will form the basis of a larger multimedia performance, The Dead Line Ball, which is still being developed.  Olga Chernysheva, whose work has been featured at the 2007 Moscow Biennale, the 2001 Venice Biennale, and the 2006 Biennale of Sydney, offers a reflective series of images displayed in light-boxes, entitled Dream Street, 2000. These black and white images, taken outside of Moscow in 1999, hauntingly capture quotidian life in contemporary Russia. Julia Milner, a former high fashion model turned photographer, was awarded the Silver Wreath prize for "Discovery of the Year" at the international festival Fashion and Style in Photography in Moscow and exhibited at the 2007 Venice Biennale. In Russian Dreams…., she presents the dynamic video installation Universe, 2008, which depicts the correlation among human beings, creation, and the galaxy. Leonid Tishkov and photographer Boris Bendikov collaborated to produce the series Private Moon, 2003-2005. This visual poem--a series of sensitive, melancholy photographs--traces one man's journey through the world's boundaries and into dreams to protect his inner spirituality. The artists, borrowing from their personal histories, capture moments in their protagonist's path to enlightenment. In the work, Tishkov seeks his private moon as he transforms himself into a mythic creature who lives in the real world as if in a fairytale. Alexei Buldakov will show two, short animated films SEXLISSITZKY, 2007 and XXX MALEVICH, 2008, which offer a critique on pornography and parodies art-market pieties. A soundtrack of grunting and panting lovers accompanies the vivified, fragmentary images from Russian Suprematist paintings. The fragments mutate into limbs and body parts to form a shockingly primal cartoon. Yuri Avvakumov created Black Bone Mausoleum, 2008 in homage to the acclaimed Russian architect Aleksey Schusev. The piece is comprised of 3,500 dominoes set with Swarovski crystals. The work will have its world premiere in Miami as part of Russian Dreams… Andrei Molodkin seeks to expose the export of democracy for oil's sake. His liquid sculpture Democracy, 2000 is a series of transparent, bubble letter vessels filled with light, sweet, crude oil. By transforming oil from a natural resource into an aesthetic material, Molodkin questions the role of oil in Western democracies and explores the troubling intersection between art and money.  The purpose of the Bass Museum of Art is to collect and exhibit the finest art the world has to offer from the past through the present, thereby enriching lives and educating residents and visitors in the City of Miami Beach.  Visit : www.bassmuseum.org/

David Prentice 'London Cityscapes' at the John Davies Gallery, UK Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:02 PM PDT Moreton-in-Marsh, UK - David Prentice: City Paintings is the title of a small exhibition of magnificent large canvases depicting the City of London as viewed from the top of King's Reach Tower. The show runs from April 19th – May 10th at John Davies' new 3,000 sq. ft. gallery located in Moreton-in-Marsh, the Cotswolds. Landmarks in the paintings include The London Eye, Swiss Re Tower (The Gurkin), St Paul's, and Tower Bridge, to name a few.

The Denver Art Museum Presents Two Chinese Themed Exhibitions Posted: 15 Jun 2012 10:01 PM PDT Denver, Colorado.- The Denver Art Museum is proud to present "Xu Beihong: Pioneer of Modern Chinese Painting", the first exhibition in the United States to explore the work of the 20th century artist who is widely recognized as the father of modern Chinese painting. One of the first Chinese artists to study in Europe, Xu integrated Western techniques with traditional styles, creating a new, modern style of Chinese painting. As a prominent teacher and global ambassador for Chinese art whose work was exhibited widely throughout Asia and Europe, he is credited with revolutionizing the nation's arts institutions and reshaping international perceptions of Chinese painting. On view through January 29th 2012, DAM's landmark exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see major works from  Beijing's Xu Beihong Memorial Museum, most of which have never before been on view in North America. The 61 works, including ink paintings, oil paintings, drawings, pastels, and calligraphy, trace the full arc of Xu's career — from early landscape paintings and drawings created during his studies in Europe, to portraits of political leaders including Mao Zedong and Mahatma Gandhi and his iconic horse paintings. Key works on view in the exhibition include, "Six Galloping Horses" (1942) – This large ink brush painting is an example of Xu's iconic horse paintings, which became a symbol of China's future in a time of national peril. The work incorporates Western perspective, and the compositional arrangement and control of ink throughout a complete grayscale range demonstrate Xu's skills and rich imagination. "Spring Rain on the Lijiang" (1937) – In this depiction of the beautiful Lijiang (Li River), Xu takes a fresh Impressionist approach to Chinese ink brush landscape painting, replacing lines with ink washes and watery strokes, and using few contour lines. Ink patches of varying tones overlap one another, creating the subtle impression of the riverbank, the dock and the huts in the spring rain. "Male Nude" (1924) – This refined drawing, created during Xu's studies in France, demonstrates the artist's drawing skills. The background is omitted in order to focus on the figure study. Using varied contour lines, Xu portrays the structure of the figure and the transitions between light and shade along the edges. Sketching, particularly of figures, was not part of the artistic tradition in China before Xu. Drawing on his training in Europe, he became the first artist to introduce Western practices of sketching from life to traditional Chinese painting, and established sketching as the foundation for students at major art institutions in China. Xu Beihong was born into a poor family on July 19,  1895 in Yixing, Jiangsu Province. He studied Chinese classics, calligraphy, seal engraving and traditional Chinese painting from his father, a selftaught artist and portrait painter. Xu gained a government scholarship to study in France and attended the Académie Julian and the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. Between 1919 and 1927, he studied sketching and oil painting in France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland. Returning to China in 1927, he was determined to renew the tradition of learning from nature in traditional Chinese painting by integrating Western techniques. In order to revitalize the Chinese tradition, he was the first to systematically incorporate European sketching and oil painting methodology into the curriculum at major art institutions. From 1927 until his death in 1953, Xu trained students in this new direction. Many became accomplished artists and art educators who continued to influence Chinese painting in modern times. In addition to his important role as an educator, Xu exhibited widely in Asia and the Europe throughout his lifetime. In 1926, he held a large-scale retrospective in Shanghai that firmly established his reputation as a modern Chinese master. During the 1930s, his work was featured in successful solo exhibitions in Brussels, Lyon, Berlin and Frankfurt. In 1933, he organized a group exhibition of paintings by contemporary Chinese artists that traveled to Europe, raising the international profile and understanding of Chinese art among European audiences. While in India in 1940, he presented an individual exhibition in Calcutta. Xu Beihong's influence extended beyond his art when he became the first president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 1949. His influence can be seen today in the artists that study and teach at the Central Academy. Alongside this exhibition, the museum will also be showing "Threads of Heaven: Silken Legacy of China's Last Dynasty". Drawn exclusively from the DAM's collection of Chinese textiles and costumes, "Threads of Heaven: Silken Legacy of China's Last Dynasty" presents a glimpse into the latter years of the court and culture of the Qing Dynasty and the final days of empire in China. Among the approximately 100 pieces on view are court robes and accessories, many of which denote the wearer's specific rank. In addition to objects from the museum's Charlotte Hill Grant collection, acquired by the donor in China during the early 20th century, there are numerous pieces either never before exhibited or not seen for many years. The Denver Art Museum is a private, non-profit, educational resource for Colorado.  The mission of the museum is to enrich the lives of Colorado and Rocky Mountain residents through the acquisition, preservation, and presentation of art works in both the permanent collections and temporary exhibitions, and by supporting these works with exemplary educational and scholarly programs. Since its beginnings in the 1890s as the Denver Artists' Club, the Denver Art Museum has had a number of temporary homes, from the public library and a downtown mansion to a portion of the Denver City and County Building. The museum opened its own galleries on 14th Avenue Parkway in 1949, and a center for children's art activities was added in the early 1950s. In 1971, it opened what's now known as the North Building. Their most recent expansion, the Frederic C. Hamilton Building, opened in October 2006. Today, the 356,000-square-foot museum complex includes collection gallery space, three temporary exhibition venues, and the Lewis I. Sharp Auditorium. In addition to its art collections, the Denver Art Museum is internationally recognized for our family-friendly environment, and has received critical acclaim for encouraging art appreciation through interactive activities. The museum has nine curatorial departments: architecture, design & graphics; Asian art; modern and contemporary; native arts (American Indian, Oceanic, and African); New World (pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial); painting and sculpture (European and American); photography; Western art; and textile art. The modern and contemporary collection of 20th-century art contains over 4,500 works with an emphasis on both internationally known and emerging artists. The department also includes the Herbert Bayer collection and archive, an important Bauhaus artistic and scholarly resource, containing some 2,500 items including works by artists such as Man Ray, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Robert Motherwell, Damien Hirst, Philip Guston, Knox Martin, Dan Flavin, John DeAndrea, Gottfried Helnwein and Yue Minjun. The European collection is richest in Renaissance and 19th-century French paintings. The American collection consists of paintings, sculpture, prints, and drawings representing all major periods in American art before 1945. Artists represented include Sandro Botticelli, Defendente Ferrari, Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Georgia O'Keeffe. Other painters represented include; Jacopo del Casentino ("Madonna and Child"), Bernardo Zenale, Niccolò di Pietro Gerini ("4 Crowned Saints Before Diocletan"), Filippino Lippi, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Berthe Morisot, Max Beckmann, Juan Gris,and Georges Braque. Visit the museum's website at ... www.denverartmuseum.org

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