The Tel Aviv Museum of Art Presents "Twentieth-Century Art ~ The Second Half"

Written by Stuart Ogilvie Monday, 14 May 2012 22:32

Tel Aviv, Israel.- The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is pleased to present "Twentieth-Century Art: The Second Half", a rehanging of the museum's contemporary art collection. The display of the collection now follows the chronological development of modernism and its varied expressions in Europe and the USA of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s: American Abstract Expressionism, Art Informel, Post-Painterly Abstraction, Pop and Nouveau Realisme and minimal and conceptual art. Also presented are prominent trends of the creative pluralism that developed during the 1980s and characterizes post/neo-modernism. Each year, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art welcomes more than 500,000 visitors, offering them over twenty annual Israeli and international art exhibitions.

Different manifestations of Art Informel that developed in post-war Europe, favored an intuitive approach, spontaneous brushwork and tactile surfaces (Jean Dubuffet, Jean Fautrier and Karel Appel). At the same time, American Abstract Expressionism, inspired by European Surrealist immigrant artists, conceived the canvas as a field of action, with emphasis on the artist's gesture (Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning) or as a field of color that expresses sublime-transcendental themes (Mark Rothko). A more concise and reductive approach becomes evident during the 1960s in geometric abstraction, Post-Painterly Abstraction and Minimalism, when the components of the work of art—material, form, color, format—became its sole subjects (Morris Louis, Ellsworth Kelly). Concurrently, a return to dealing with reality evolved—in Europe through the use of readymades in Nouveau Réalisme (Arman, Mimmo Rotella) and in the USA through relating to the mass media in Pop Art (Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein). The display highlights examples of Conceptual art, in which the ideas underlying the work of art take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns (Joseph Kosuth, Lawrence Weiner). Also represented are trends of the creative and eclectic pluralism that developed during the 1980s and 1990s and characterizes post/neo-modernism (Frank Stella, Peter Halley).

The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is Israel’s leading museum of modern and contemporary art, and home to one of the world’s largest collections of Israeli art. Since its founding in 1932, the Museum has served as one of Tel Aviv’s major cultural hubs, displaying a vibrant mix of permanent collections and temporary exhibitions in a wide variety of fields – painting, sculpture, prints and drawings, photography, video, architecture and design. Situated in an impressive architectural complex, the Museum is an integral part of the city’s major cultural center – the Golda Meir Cultural and Art Center – home to the Israeli Opera and the Cameri Theater. One of the most diverse and dynamic cultural institutions in Israel, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art serves as a hub of activity for the local arts scene. In addition to its collections, the Museum presents performances of music and dance, film, and lecture series on philosophy and art. The fully computerized art library and its Documentation Center for Art in Israel serve over 15,000 students, scholars and curators each year. The library subscribes to the major art journals and receives the latest catalogues of exhibitions of Israeli art, modern and contemporary art, photography, design and architecture. It is the most comprehensive reference center in the Middle East. The Museum’s original building on Rothschild Boulevard has great historical significance: it was there that Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948. The Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art, an adjunct to the main building, functions as a showcase and platform for young talents. Opened in 1959, it was beautifully renovated in 1989 with funds provided by the Helena Rubinstein Foundation and the Municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo. The Danek and Jadzia Gertner Gallery specializes in changing long-term exhibitions of decorative art. Each week some 1,500 children, youth and adults from all walks of life attend classes in painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture, photography, video and computer art, and printmaking at the Museum's Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Art Education Center. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.tamuseum.com

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