| The
First Art Newspaper on the Net |
Established in 1996 |
Monday, May 14, 2012 |
| |
Czech Art Nouveau gem by Alfons Mucha goes on view at the National Gallery in Prague
|
|
|
|
A visitor looks at the "Slav Epic", a cycle of 20 allegories tracing the history of the Slavic people and inspired in part by mythology, by Art Nouveau Czech artist Alfons Mucha, at the National Gallery in Prague."The Slav Epic" by Alfons Mucha, a Czech Art Nouveau gem, went on display in Prague, fulfilling the wish of the artist who spent 18 years on the series of paintings from 1910 to 1928. AFP PHOTO / MICHAL CIZEK.
PRAGUE.- Alfons Mucha (1860–1939) was the most famous Czech modern artist. He attained international fame in Paris at the turn of the 20th century for his original Secessionist decorative art. He saw his own purpose in life, however, in a project that he regarded as much more important: The Slav Epic, a collection of twenty monumental paintings that he worked on between 1912 and 1926. The complete collection was presented to the Prague public for the first time in 1928 on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the independence of the Czechoslovak state. That exhibition took place in the just built Veletržní palace (Trade Fair Palace) and it has returned to that location today. The current installation is based on Mucha’s original arrangement of the Slav Epic following the chronology of the themes in the paintings. This arrangement brings out the inherent ties between the paintings, underscores the rhythm of the series, and highlights the main aim of this grand w ... More |
| Surrealist masterpiece by Roberto Matta to be offered at Christie's Latin American sale |
|
Some of the most iconic artists of the 20th century included in Impressionist and Modern art sale at Sotheby's |
|
Ai Weiwei's massive Fragments on view at the Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery |
Matta (Chilean 1911-2002), La révolte des contraires (detail). Oil on canvas, 38 x 50 in. Painted in 1944. Estimate: $ 1,800,000-2,500,000.
NEW YORK, NY.- Roberto Matta was an influential figure in the New York art world of the early 1940s. Energetic and charismatic, he was able to translate European surrealism to a generation of young American artists in a way that would galvanize them to experiment with its techniques, ultimately encouraging a new phase of American art, Abstract Expressionism. La révolte des contraires of 1943 is a masterful example of Matta's utilization of thin washes of pigment, undulating lines, and flame-like breakouts of prismatic color to portray a non-Euclidean space he dubbed "inscapes." Matta left his native Chile in 1935 and the ensuing years were a time of intense change and artistic development for him. Arriving in Paris, he began to work for the rationalist architect Le Corbusier, but was soon led in a vastly different direction. His new friendships with a series of poets, the Spanish Federico García ... More |
|
Man Ray, Two-Faced Image (1959). Estimate €1.5-2 million. Photo: Sotheby's.
PARIS.- Sotheby’s announced a highly selective auction of Impressionist & Modern Art to take place in Paris on 30 May 2012. This prestigious 65-lot sale pays tribute to some of the most iconic artists of the 20th century, including Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst. Pablo Picasso’s oil on canvas Tête de Femme (1939-41) is the sale’s most outstanding lot. This portrait of Dora Maar, consigned from a private European collection (est. €3-5m / $3.9-6.5m), is being offered at auction for the first time. Picasso’s Seated Woman, from the same European collection, will be sale’s other star lot (est. €2-4m / $2.6-5.2m); it was painted in Royan on 13 October 1939, just three days before Tête de Femme. Quayside in the Port of Bastia (1907) is a work of exceptional quality that marks the apotheosis of Auguste Herbin’s Fauvist style. The composition’s vibrant pa ... More |
|
Fragments by Ai Weiwei (China, b. 1957), 2005. Iron wood (tieli), tables, chairs, parts of beams and pillars from dismantled temples of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Courtesy of the Sigg Collection. Installation view at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 2012. Photo: Hutomo Wicaksono.
WASHINGTON, DC.- Wood from dismantled temples finds its next incarnation as part of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s massive “Fragments,” on view in the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery May 12–April 7, 2013. “Fragments” explores the role of tradition amidst the reality of living in today’s rapidly changing China. The work, on view for the first time in the U.S., is part of “Perspectives,” the Sackler’scontemporary art series. “‘Fragments’ reminds us that our relationship to the past and notions of heritage is fluid and complex” said Carol Huh, associate curator for contemporary art and curator of the “Perspectives” series. “The ironwood began life hundreds of years ago; Ai has brought these disassembled ... More |
|
| Important printed books and Americana from The Albert H. Small Collection at Christie's New York |
|
Exhibition of rare, early salt prints on view at James Hyman Photography in London |
|
Visions of Enlightenment: Buddhist Art at the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology |
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Edited by F. S. Ellis. Hammersmith, 8 May 1896. Estimate: $120,000-180,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2012.
NEW YORK, NY.- On May 18, Christie’s will offer the sale of Important Printed Books and Americana from The Albert H. Small Collection. This wide-ranging collection features original historical and presidential letters and documents including a hand-drawn survey by the 18-year-old George Washington. In another letter, written in 1789, Washington congratulates James Madison on his election to serve in the first Congress. An early edition of Thomas Paine’s revolutionary Common Sense is part of the collection, as are letters and documents of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, with several large-format editions of the Declaration. The Small collection contains an excellent copy of a striking print by Paul Revere, depicting the Boston massacre in 1770, an incident which contributed to the rift between the American colonies and Great Britain. Revere’s ... More |
|
Charles Nègre’s intimate depiction of a priest seated at prayer.
LONDON.- James Hyman Photography presents one of the most substantial exhibitions of rare, early salt prints ever staged by a commercial gallery in London. A specially curated presentation brings together two of the greatest achievements of Western civilization: Gothic architecture and the invention of photography. This museum quality exhibition includes loans as well as works for sale. The exhibition title references the religious significance of the portal programmes of Gothic cathedrals with their multiple biblical scenes as well as the gargoyles of Notre Dame that were the mid-nineteenth century invention of Viollet-le-Duc. The exhibition traces the ways in which the great Gothic churches and cathedrals of France were placed at the heart of their work by the most important French photographers of the 1840s and 1850s. The artists presented will include Edouard Baldus, Edmond Bacot, Hippolyte Bayard, Bisson Frères, ... More |
|
Buddha, Gandhara, 4th-5th century. Grey schist. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Horton. Art Gallery of Greater Victoria 2009.004.001
VANCOUVER.- As Buddhism spread across Asia, symbols and sacred images developed to represent the Buddha and support his teachings. These images offer the devotee and viewer both consistency in the forms of Buddhist art, and a vast array of subtle and obvious differences. The latter illuminate the variety of rituals, religious texts, and beliefs generated over time, culture, and geography. They offer a window into Buddhist philosophy, aesthetics and values, in a marriage of beauty and meaning. Works included in this exhibition focus on basic Buddhist concepts and images, and reflect the purpose of Buddhist art: why it is made, who made it, for whom, and how it is used; for example, in teaching, facilitating meditation, gaining merit, and for devotional purposes. The content is presented in 'theme clusters,’ according to such topics as: the Three Treasures of Buddhism, that is the Buddha, Dharma (Teaching), and Sangha (Community); the role of the bodhisattva ... More |
| Smithsonian temporary exhibit examines the design history of Apple co-founder |
|
Marc Quinn opens major exhibition of his works at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco |
|
Light Sensitive: Aargauer Kunsthaus exhibition presents works from its collection |
Apple II Computer. Photo: Harold Dorwin, Smithsonian.
WASHINGTON, DC.- In recognition of Steve Jobs’ contributions to technology, the Smithsonian’s S. Dillon Ripley Center is displaying the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s exhibit, “The Patents and Trademarks of Steve Jobs: Art and Technology that Changed the World.” In 1976, Jobs co-founded Apple Computer Inc. in his parents’ garage. He sold his Volkswagen microbus to finance the project—an attempt to build a small computer for personal use. More than three decades later, the technological advancements of Apple have changed the way people communicate and interact on a daily basis. The exhibit, a display of 30 4-by-8-foot panels made to resemble iPhones, showcases more than 300 patents and trademarks granted to Jobs throughout this career. Each panel displays facsimiles of the front pages of 12 patents granted to Jobs, totaling 312 of the 317 he acquired in his lifetime. The traveling exhibit was designed and created by the National Inventors Ha ... More |
|
British artist Marc Quinn poses in front of his work "Planet". AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau.
MONACO.- A major exhibition of works by Marc Quinn has gone on show at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco from 12 May to 15 October 2012. "The Littoral Zone" exhibition includes Sculptures, paintings and installations by the artist which arel being shown throughout the museum, alongside its collection of marine specimens and underwater fauna, setting up a fascinating dialogue between art and science. Over 60 works by Marc Quinn are being shown both inside and outside the museum including new works such as the The Origin of the World (Cassis madagascariensis) Indian Ocean, 310, a huge 3 metre bronze shell, new underwater paintings from the series The Zone and the unveiling of the latest version of Marc Quinn's Self sculptures, Self 2011. Other pieces in the show include Planet, a 10m bronze baby and a series of burning sculptures which thanks to new technology, can burn with real fire inside the museum without a flue. The rel ... More |
|
Andreas Tschersich, peripher 130 (Berlin), 2004 (detail). C-Print / acrylic glass, 219 x 170 cm.
AARAU.- The exhibition Light Sensitive presents works from the rich photography holdings of the Aargauer Kunsthaus. In addition, it shows photographs of urban spaces by Andreas Tschersich and works by Bianca Dugaro. Light Sensitive is a presentation of works from the collection of the Aargauer Kunsthaus that focuses on the medium of photography. The exhibition delves into the museum’s rich and quite substantial holdings of over 800 photographic works, sounding out core themes. In the process, two thematic focus areas come to the fore: on the one hand an exploration of the human body and on the other an examination of abstract, architectural or public space. The 20th century has seen a major shift in the status of photography as an artistic medium, a change reflected by the holdings of the Aargauer Kunsthaus. Starting out with rather small-scale works of a documentary nature, photography graduated to photo art ... More |
 |
|
| Pieces, pattern Lines, collage: An exhibition from the collection of the Valencian Institute for Modern Art |
|
Aperture Foundation celebrates its sixtieth anniversary with Robert Delpire exhibitions |
|
New Museum presents largest exhibition in New York ever of works by Tacita Dean |
Jos Leonard, Untitled, 1925.
VALENCIA.- A hundred years have passed since collage was invented and popularised in the international art world as a surprising and skilful figurative strategy openly at odds with the tradition of illusion: the constructive canon of European visual representation. This seems to be a timely moment, therefore, for the presentation of a kind of inventory of the splendid collection at the Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, an institution that from the very outset, in this and many other areas of experimental art, displayed a strong commitment to the understanding and interpretation of the emerging artistic ideas formulated in the fray of the radical aesthetic battle at the beginning of the twentieth century. Collage was an idea – a playful notion, perhaps, in the first attempts – formed in 1912 from a mélange of chance and irony by Picasso, who encountered the immediate complicity of Braque. It instantly aroused the enthusias ... More |
|
Portrait of Robert Delpire by Sarah Moon. © Sarah Moon.
NEW YORK, NY.- As part of its sixtieth anniversary celebration, Aperture Foundation, in collaboration with its partners presents the exhibition Delpire & Co. featuring a half century of achievement in the life and career of visionary French publisher, editor, and curator Robert Delpire, who has realized some of the most groundbreaking projects—in books, magazines, exhibitions, and advertising campaigns—in the history of photography. Over the past sixty years, the eyes and instincts of Robert Delpire have shaped much of the world’s understanding of photography. A prolific publisher and exhibition organizer, with a razor-sharp comprehension of the graphic arts, Delpire has had a defining hand in the careers of many of the master photographers of recent history. Delpire & Co. (Delpire et Cie, in the original French) was one of the highlights of the Rencontres d’Arles in summer 2009, and was subsequently give ... More |
|
Tacita Dean, Manhattan Mouse Museum, 2011. 16mm film, color, optical sound. 16 min. Courtesy the artist, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York / Paris and Frith Street Gallery, London.
NEW YORK, NY.- The New Museum is presenting an exhibition of works by British artist Tacita Dean—the most substantial presentation of the artist’s work in New York to date. The presentation focuses on a group of recent pieces that capture five important American artists and thinkers of the last fifty years and features Merce Cunningham, Leo Steinberg, Julie Mehretu, Claes Oldenburg, and Cy Twombly. These works are beautifully crafted portraits of each individual, opening a lens onto their artistic processes and personal memories. This installation, organized in close collaboration with Dean, brings together an under-recognized strand of her practice and provides insight into the way in which her filmmaking intersects with painting, sculpture, writing, and dance. This exhibition ... More |
|
| More News |
 First exhibition of Laurie Anderson's paintings in New York opens
NEW YORK, NY.- Vito Schnabel presents Laurie Anderson: BOAT, the first exhibition of the artist’s paintings in New York. On display are a new series of paintings that bring the scale of the theater onto the canvas. The show also includes a video installation, “From the Air”, in which Anderson has created a three dimensional holographic reality. A series of drawings titled “Lolabelle in the Bardo” depicts the forty-nine day transition described in “The Tibetan Book of the Dead” as the period between death and rebirth. Painting is like improvising in music. Making these big gestures feels like playing the violin. So many of my projects lately have become screen based or extremely theoretical. I wanted the physicality and scale of painting. Making paintings is the closest I’ve come to making songs. Even though they take up a lot of room I love them as unwieldy things. Much ... More Hans Josephsohn has first solo exhibition in Ireland at Lismore Castle Arts
CO WATERFORD.- Lismore Castle Arts announces the main exhibition for 2012 is a solo show by Hans Josephsohn, which opened on 12 May and continues until 30 September at Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore, Co Waterford, Ireland. Staged in collaboration with Hauser & Wirth and Kesselhaus Josephsohn, the exhibition features works dating from 1950 to 2011, specially selected for Lismore including pieces in the gallery and the historic Castle Gardens. Josephsohn’s sculptures focus on the figure in its many guises – standing, sitting, and reclining, as well as numerous interpretations of the human head. But Josephsohn is not endeavouring to capture any sense of likeness. Rather he is searching for something deeper, something enduring almost permanent. Many of his works evoke art from classical societies, including the Moai sculptures on Easter Island ... More Flora and Fauna: 400 years of artists inspired by nature at the National Gallery of Canada
OTTAWA.- Nature has been an enduring subject for artists for millennia and across all cultures. From the bulls painted in the Lascaux caves and Palace of Knossos, to the garden frescoes at Pompeii, Dutch still lifes, 19th-century botanical studies and 21st-century land art projects, nature has been either a simple fact of life or a source of curiosity, consolation and spiritual regeneration. Artists have persisted in expressing nature’s complexity in forms that are intimate or epic, analytical or expressive. The National Gallery of Canada presents, until September 9, 2012, Flora and Fauna: 400 Years of Artists Inspired by Nature, an exhibition that features more than 100 works dating from the 16th to the 21st centuries, it explores the myriad ways in which artists respond to the natural world. "The Gallery's collection is filled with outstanding works that visitors rarely have the chance ... More Solo exhibitions by Chitra Ganesh and Simone Leigh on view at Tilton Gallery
NEW YORK, NY.- Tilton Gallery is presenting two solo exhibitions, The Ghost Effect in Real Time by Chitra Ganesh and jam packed and jelly tight by Simone Leigh, on view through June 23rd, 2012. Chitra Ganesh is known for her paintings, drawings and large installations that take inspiration from the traditions of mythology, science fiction, Bollywood films, and comics. In beautifully executed narrative works, she reveals and comments upon many of the underlying, often concealed, issues such as those defining femininity, eroticism, or violence that pervade our culture. The Ghost Effect in Real Time features a new body of large scale charcoal drawings and a mixed media photographic collaboration between Chitra Ganesh and Christopher Myers. Ganesh's charcoal drawings are inspired by the early silent cinema productions of India, Germany, and the U.S. These works ... More Rare and spectacular Kashmir sapphire brings $527,500 to lead Heritage Auctions' $4.1+ million jewelry event
NEW YORK, NY.- A stunning 8.99 carat Kashmir Sapphire, Diamond, Platinum Ring, AGL certified, Kashmir, No heat, brought $527,500 on Monday, April 30, as the centerpiece of Heritage Auctions’ $4.1+ million Jewelry Signature® Auction, setting a house record for jewelry. All prices include 25% Buyer’s Premium. “This amazing sapphire was certainly the highlight of the auction,” said Jill Burgum, Director of Jewelry Auctions at Heritage. “It more than doubled its pre-auction estimate and was the chief indicator of the fierce competition we saw on many colored diamonds and gemstones in the auction.” The spirited bidding on the large Kashmir sapphire was closely matched by the impressive contest for a dramatic Colombian Emerald, Diamond, Platinum Ring, which tripled its pre-auction estimate of $100,000+ to finish the day at $302,500, while bidders also showed substantial interest in ... More Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait prize 2012 call for entries opens and new commission announced
LONDON.- The National Portrait Gallery announced the Call for Entries for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2012, a major international photographic award. Entry forms are now available and the closing date for entries is 9 July 2012. To enter, visit www.npg.org.uk/photoprize and complete the online application form. The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2012 is open to all photographers over the age of 18 and provides an important platform for portrait photographers of all ages including professionals, gifted amateurs and students. Around 60 photographers will be selected for the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, and the winner of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2012 will receive £12,000. The exhibition will run at the National Portrait Gallery, London, from 8 Nov 2012 – 17 Feb 2013. New for this year, the John Kobal New Work Award, ... More Nationalmuseum in Stokholm announces Gripsholm Castle opens for the season
STOCKHOLM.- From Tuesday 15 May until the end of summer, Gripsholm Castle will be open daily from 10 am – 4 pm. The castle, which is celebrating its 475th anniversary, offers something for everyone – from a floor dedicated to a princess, an 18th-century theatre, an armoury and a prison tower to one of the world’s biggest portrait collections. This year the family tours will start at 1 pm. Celebrating its 475th anniversary this year, GripsholmCastlestarted life in 1537 and still retains typical rooms from the Vasa Renaissance. Since the 16th century, the castle has undergone several renovations in various styles. The interiors therefore offer an intriguing mix from different eras. Duke Karl’s chamber from the 16th century and King Gustav III’s theatre from the 18th century are among the unique rooms on show. One of Gripsholm’s greatest treasures is the National Portrait Gallery, ... More |
|
|
|
|
|
|
