A journalist walks by two paintings by Vincent Van Gogh entitled "Landscape under a stormy sky" (L) and "The stevedores in Arles" at the Thyssen Bornemisza museum in Madrid, during the exhibition "Impressionism and Open-air Painting. From Corot to Van Gogh". AFP PHOTO / PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU.
MADRID.- By the time the First Impressionist Exhibition opened to the public in 1874, open‐air painting had been in existence for almost a century. While not the inventors of this type of painting, it was undoubtedly the Impressionists who took it to its maximum expression. The aim of the first exhibition at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza is to analyse the origins and growth of this new approach in art, starting with its earliest manifestation among late 18th‐century landscape painters and concluding with late, expressionist interpretations dating from the early years of the 20th century. Impressionism and open‐air Painting. From Corot to Van Gogh is presented in the Museum’s temporary exhibition galleries from 5 February and brings together 113 works. Among the artists represented are pioneers of open‐air oil painting such as Pierre‐Henri Valenciennes and Thomas ... More
The Best Photos of the Day
ROME.- A visitor takes photos of a painting during the Peters Journey exhibition held at the Castel SantAngelo museum in Rome. The exhibit, opened until May 1, 2013, is one of the initiatives of the Pope Benedict XVIs Year of Faith (October 11, 2012-November 24, 2013) Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.
Restoration employees work on Dioscuri's House an archeological site on February 6, 2013 in Pompeii. AFP PHOTO / CARLO HERMANN.
By: Gildas Le Roux
POMPEII (AFP).- Conservation workers at the long-neglected Roman city of Pompeii began a 105-million euro ($142-million) makeover partly funded by the EU on Wednesday, a day after former site managers were put under investigation for corruption. The project, which is being funded to the tune of 41.8 million euros from the European Union and is to be completed by 2015, is seen as crucial for the survival of Pompeii after a series of collapses at the 44-hectare site in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. The giant erupting volcano devastated Pompeii nearly 2,000 years ago in 79 AD but the ash and rock helped preserve many buildings almost in their original state, as well as enveloping the curled-up corpses of victims of the disaster. The hugely popular site near Naples has come to symbolise the decades of mismanagement of many of Italy's cultural treasures, as well as the fallout from recent austerity cuts in budgets for ... More
A replica of Michelangelo's Renaissance masterpiece sculpture David at a public park in Okuizumo town. AFP PHOTO / OKUIZUMO GOVERNMENT.
TOKYO (AFP).- A replica of Michelangelo's Renaissance sculpture David that was erected suddenly last summer is unnerving residents of a Japanese town, with some calling for the naked masterpiece to be given underpants. Okuizumo town in western Shimane prefecture received five-metre (16-foot) replicas of David and of Greek treasure the Venus de Milo, as donations from a businessman who hails from the area. The statues were put up in a large public park that also includes a full-size running track, a baseball stadium, tennis courts, a mountain bike course and a play area with apparatus for children. "Some people have told the town's legislators that toddlers are afraid of the statues because they are so big and they appeared unexpectedly over the summer," town official Yoji Morinaga told AFP. "They are statues of unclothed humans, and such pieces of art work are very rare in our area. Some people apparently said the statues might not be good for their children," he said. While man ... More
An art lover's 1,400 euro antique shop purchase could turn out to be worth 40 million euros ($53.6 million), weekly Paris Match reported on Thursday. Photo Philippe Petit
PARIS (AFP).- A French art expert believes he has solved the mystery of the model in a celebrated 19th century painting as a result of an art lover's 1,400 euro antique shop purchase that could turn out to be worth 40 million euros ($53.6 million), weekly Paris Match reported on Thursday. "The Origin of the World" (1866) by French painter Gustave Courbet depicts female genitalia but does not show the woman's face. Courbet expert Jean-Jacques Fernier said the discovery came after he was contacted by an art collector who in January 2010 purchased an unsigned oil painting in a Paris antique shop showing the face of a woman. After doing some research, the man, identified only as John, became convinced it showed the woman in Courbet's work and turned to Fernier who sent the painting for laboratory analysis. Fernier initially had reservations but now says he believes that it is indeed the face of the woman in the work who he identifies as Jo Higgerman, ... More
ZURICH.- From 8 February to 12 May 2013 the Kunsthaus Zürich is staging an exhibition featuring some 90 paintings and works on paper by Marc Chagall (1887–1985). Chagall is one of the best known and most popular artists of the 20th century. His images of Russian village life, floating figures, flying cows and roosters are world-famous. Now the Kunsthaus Zürich is dispelling some of the clichés on which his belated fame is based and recognizing his contribution to the avant garde. The exhibition is also open on Mondays and offers an audioguide specially designed for families with children. The exhibition focuses on the years from 1911 to 1922 – a formative period in Chagall’s artistic career. It covers ... More
ROME.-Gagosian Gallery announces an exhibition that juxtaposes paintings by Joan Mitchell and sculptures by John Chamberlain. Born just one year apart in the Midwestern United States, Mitchell and Chamberlain were inspired by the muscular spontaneity of Abstract Expressionists such as Franz Kline and Willem De Kooning. Mitchell is considered a principal figure in the second generation of Abstract Expressionists as well as one of the few female exponents. Her lively and impassioned paintings laud the beauty of the natural world. Chamberlain is best known for his metal sculptures constructed from discarded automobile-body parts and other modern metal detritus, where the industrial origin of materials is underscored ... More
Safavid carpet, Isphahan, Central Persia, 16.5 x 7.2. Est. $500,000/700,000. Sold for $1,930,500. Photo: Sotheby's.
OAKLAND, CA.-Jan David Winitz, an eminent art dealer who specializes in antique Oriental rugs, today commented that the sale of a 16th century Isfahan Persian carpet for nearly three times its high estimate was another indication that art collectors continued to focus on the “best of the best.” The carpet, which attracted a bid of $1.93 million (U.S.), was the highlight of last week’s Sotheby’s “Masterworks” auction, an assemblage of 22 items curated from a variety of collecting segments. Its value was fully 36 percent of the total sales for the auction. Last week, Claremont Rug Company, which Winitz founded in 1980, mounted its third annual, online “Best of the Best” antique Persian rug exhibition and the “response from clients and visitors to our website has been extremely ... More
El Anatsui (Ghanaian, born 1944). Earth’s Skin, 2007. Aluminum and copper wire, 177 x 394 in. (449.6 x 1000.8 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Photograph by Joe Levack, courtesy of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
BROOKLYN, NY.- The first solo exhibition in a New York museum by the artist El Anatsui will be presented at the Brooklyn Museum from February 8 through August 4, 2013. Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui will feature over 30 primarily large-scale works in metal and wood that transform appropriated objects into site-specific sculptures. Anatsui converts found materials into a new type of media that lies between the bounds of sculpture and painting. In so doing, he combines aesthetic traditions from his birth country Ghana, his home in Nsukka, Nigeria, and the global history of abstraction. His works can take on radically new shapes with each installation. Anatsui gives curators and designers the opportunity to install his art in ways that make use of their particular ... More
Clara Peeters. Bodegon con panecillos, arenques, cerezas y jarra de barro, 1612. Oil on board. Private collection.
MADRID.- Continuing with the model of small-format exhibitions such as those held over the past few years on Giandomenico Tiepolo and Giorgio Morandi, this February the Fundación Juan March is presenting a small exhibition featuring eleven, 17th-century Dutch and Flemish still lifes by Osias Beert, Pieter Claesz., Willem Heda, Floris van Dijck, Jan Davidsz de Heem and Clara Peeters. These were some of the most important artists to make the so-called still-life one of the most characteristic genres within northern European painting. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication that includes an insightful essay written by Teresa Posada Kubissa, Curator of Flemish Painting and Northern Schools (to 1700) at the Museo Nacional del Prado –The "table with an arrangement of objects and food-stuffs". A type of Flemish and Dutch still-life painting–, as well as the biographical profiles of the ... More
Dress from Burnout '88 collection designed by Stephen Sprouse. 2012.38.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN.-The Indianapolis Museum of Art announced today that it acquired 201 objects in 2012. The new works enhance the Museum’s encyclopedic collection and span curatorial departments including Asian, Contemporary, Design Arts, and Textile and Fashion Arts. Additionally, 81 items were added to the IMA’s Miller House and Garden collection in Columbus, Ind. “Thanks to the generous support of many donors, the Indianapolis Museum of Art continues to strengthen its encyclopedic collection,” said Dr. Charles L. Venable, The Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO of the IMA. “These acquisitions allow the Museum to further its research in various curatorial areas while offering the community new and exciting artworks to discover.” Highlights among the year’s acquisitions include: • Birds and Pine Tree by Kano Eitoku. With the acquisition of this painting, the IMA becomes one of a few ... More
Vanuatu, Penama province, Pentecost Island, Chubwan [mask] 15th–17th centuries (1448–1635 AD), wood, patina. National Gallery of Australia , Canberra. Purchased 2011.
CANBERRA.-The National Gallery of Australia today opened Kastom: Art of Vanuatu, on show only in Canberra until 16 June 2013. Comprised of over fifty extraordinary works the exhibition examines traditional indigenous art of Vanuatu created for community practices, commonly known as kastom. It is the first major survey exhibition of the art of traditional Vanuatu in Australia. The practice of kastom is at the heart of all cultural values and practices in Vanuatu - it is a way of thought and expression. It is a spiritual connection to ancestors and to land. Today it is observed in tandem with Christian beliefs; it is a concept that encompasses every aspect of life. The exhibition reflects the many stages of ritual life in Vanuatu, from art created for initiation events, to art which celebrates the ascension of life beyond the physical being and ... More
LOS ANGELES, CA.-The Los Angeles County Museum of Art presents Shinique Smith: Firsthand at Charles White Elementary School as part of its ongoing engagement with the museum’s surrounding community. Drawing upon Smith’s upbringing in the urban grit of Baltimore and her early exposure to the vibrant realm of fashion design, Shinique Smith: Firsthand combines objects the artist selected from LACMA’s Costume and Textiles collection, new work based on her experience within the school and community, and art produced by Charles White Elementary School students. Smith’s capacity to view childhood memories and her daily environment differently—through the lens of an artist—motivated the students to consider the effects of their surroundings and identify sources of inspiration in their ... More
Jim Dine, A Heart Called Paris Spring, 13-colour aquatint, 1982 (est. €4,000-5,000 / $5,500-6,800). Photo: Sotheby's.
PARIS.- On 25 February 2013, Sotheby’s Paris will be offering for auction the Collection of Aldo Crommelynck, Picasso’s printmaker for over twenty years. The sale’s 257 lots pay homage to the diversity and virtuosity of Crommelynck’s work as a printmaker, with prints of great artistic and technical quality bearing witness to his collaboration with many of the leading artists of the 20th century – from Picasso to David Hockney. All the prints are signed and in pristine condition, most of them final proofs (marked bon à tirer) and/or with dedications. Estimates start from as low as €50 / $70 and rise to €60,000 / $82,000. Aldo Crommelynck is described by his daughter Corinne Buchet-Crommelynck as a ‘discreet, cultivated and refined gentleman who called himself the artist’s hand – the craftsman at the artist’s service, and always available. He led an extraordinary career, fr ... More
Quote Art doesn't transform. It just plain forms. Roy Lichtenstein
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Bonhams to sell finest single-owner collection of European glass from 350 year period 1500-1850 LONDON.- The Mühleib Collection of European Glass from 1500 -1850, a fantastic selection of rare quality glass, will be sold by Bonhams in London on Thursday 2nd May in New Bond Street at 10.30am. Dr. Horst Mühleib assembled his collection of Venetian, German, Austrian and Dutch glass over a period of forty years. Representing some of the finest examples of the period, the Mühleib Collection is one of the first of such a wide-range to be offered on the international market in recent times with over 70 lots for sale. Amongst a number of pieces fresh to the market are several important examples from the significant 1980s sales of the Helfried Krug and Fritz Biemann Collections. Amongst Dr.Mühleib’s rare Venetian Renaissance glass is a small group of cold-enamelled pieces from the Austrian glasshouse at Innsbruck (circa 1550-1600). Further highlights include a fabulous Baroque ... More
Mark Wallinger unveils largest art commission ever for London Underground's 150th anniversary LONDON.- In the largest ever commission of its kind, Mark Wallinger today unveiled Labyrinth, 270 unique works, one for each of the 270 stations on the London Underground network. The commission, from Art on the Underground, is one of the highlights of a series of special events and commissions in 2013 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the London Underground. Inspired by the lexicon of the symbols of London Underground that have become some of the most recognised in the world, Mark Wallinger chose the ancient symbol of the Labyrinth with its single path, as the theme of the work. Each station will have its own unique Labyrinth design, emblazoned in black and white on a single 600mm² vitreous enamel panel, located in a prominent position, representing the journey through the network taken by millions of individuals each year from that place. Labyrinth launched on 7 ... More
Cristina Iglesias' largest retrospective to date opens at Museo Reina Sofia MADRID.-Museo Reina Sofía presents the largest retrospective to date, in Spain and abroad, on Cristina Iglesias (San Sebastian, 1956). This anthology includes more than fifty works and examines the broad production of the artist, from her beginnings in the mid-eighties to present days. Cristina Iglesias: Metonymy is a unique occasion to go deep into the work of some of the Spanish creators with the widest international recognition and acquaint with the fundamental contribution that she has done to sculpture, both public and private. From the moment that her work was first exhibited in the mid-1980s, Spanish sculptor Cristina Iglesias has employed a wide-ranging aesthetic that is as indebted to poetry, literature and architectural theory as it is to the discourse of sculpture proper. She has consequently explored key issues relating to sculpture, first, as an art form —an object— ... More
A new body of work by R. H. Quaytman on view at the Renaissance Society CHICAGO, IL.-The Renaissance Society is presenting Passing Through The Opposite of What it Approaches, Chapter 25, a new body of work by R. H. Quaytman. Quaytman’s practice creates installations of painted panels termed ‘chapters.’ The ongoing chapters, begun in 2001, explore formalist and conceptual variations of ideas about painting, as well as the poetic and grammatical possibilities of photographically-based imagery. The installations combine abstraction, often with optical effects, and images related to the sites in which the paintings are first exhibited. For The Renaissance Society, the artist has been researching the history of the museum from the 1970s and 80s, a time when the museum’s director, Susanne Ghez, was presenting important early exhibitions of conceptual art, at the beginning of what would come to be her internationally influential career. Ghez is celebrating ... More
Solo show by Swedish artist Martin Thelander on view at Galleri Lars Olsen COPENHAGEN.-Galleri Lars Olsen is presenting the solo show ’Standing Woman’ by Swedish artist Martin Thelander. Thelander’s text based works explore the role and status of women in both a historical and contemporary perspective. Taking as a starting point the Danish election campaign of 2011 which led to the nomination of Helle Thorning-Scmidt as the first female Prime Minister of Denmark, Thelander outlines the history of feminism and ‘highlights’ a number of female figures within Danish art and culture as well as politics and social science, who hold a central position in their respective field. In the series of watercolors, from which the title of the exhibition is taken, Thelander for instance repeats the words ”STÅENDE KVINDE, Astrid Noack, 1941” as a direct reference to a work by sculptor Astrid Noack, which in 2006 was included in The Canon of Danish Art and Culture. Thela ... More
Ut pictura poesis? Emily Dickinson's esthetic environment goes digital AMHERST, MASS.- Amherst College's Mead Art Museum and Emily Dickinson Museum announce the completion of an important project to make the art collection of The Evergreens - the best-preserved visual environment of the famously reclusive poet - available to an international community of viewers through the Five College Art Museums/Historic Deerfield Collection Database. Researchers may browse the entire list of 218 artworks by clicking here. The Evergreens was the home of Austin and Susan Dickinson, Emily Dickinson's brother and sister-in-law. Unlike the adjacent Emily Dickinson Homestead, which no longer retains its nineteenth-century furnishings, The Evergreens presents the original furniture, accoutrements, and works of art displayed by the Dickinson family. Jane Wald, Executive Director of the Emily Dickinson Museum, notes, "A significant strand in Dickinson ... More
Phoenix Art Museum exhibits internationally-acclaimed Halle Collection of Contemporary Latin American Art PHOENIX, AZ.-Phoenix Art Museum is presenting Order, Chaos, and the Space Between: Contemporary Latin American Art from the Diane and Bruce Halle Collection. This expansive exhibition of many of the most cutting-edge, contemporary works produced in Latin America today, as well as works from the post-war period, is drawn from the Halle Collection, internationally renowned as one of the most significant collections of art of this region. It includes more than 50 works from across Latin America, by artists including Gego, Félix Gonzalez-Torres, Matthias Goeritz, Jorge Macchi, Hélio Oiticica, and Doris Salcedo, as well as other many other innovative artists whose works figure prominently in today’s global contemporary art scene. Beginning in 1995, Diane and Bruce Halle, longtime Phoenix residents and supporters of Phoenix Art Museum, began collecting the art of Latin America ... More
Pacific Standard Time: Moby riffs on LA architecture
On a day like today, German painter Franz Marc, was born
February 8, 1880.- Franz Marc (February
8, 1880 – March 4, 1916) was a German painter and printmaker,
one of the key figures of the German Expressionist movement. He was
a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a journal
whose name later became synonymous with the circle of artists collaborating
in it. In this image: An employee stands in front of Franz Marc's
'Weidende Pferde III,' or 'Grazing Horses III, at Sotheby's in London,
Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008. AP Photo/Akira Suemori.
 Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.');)
 Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.');)
 Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.');)
 Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.');)
 Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.');)
 Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.');)
 Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.');)
 Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.');)
 Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.');)
 Year of Faith, a collaborative effort between nine countries that will include pieces ranging from the 4th and 5th centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th. AFP PHOTO / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE.');)
