The Bonnefantenmuseum to host "Live Forever ~ Elizabeth Peyton", a Retrospective |
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| Written by Roxy Handleman |
| Tuesday, 11 August 2009 05:50 |
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 The exhibition starts with portraits of
Napoleon Bonaparte, pop icons Sid Vicious and Kurt Cobain, and fashion designer
Marc Jacobs, and shows a development towards an increasing eclecticism and
anachronism in Peyton's choices of subject, ranging from her personal circle of
friends to admired predecessors from the history of art, such as Georgia
O'Keeffe and Frida Kahlo. Peyton's intimate portraits often appear unrealistic,
compared to the public star status of many of her models. Peyton makes them
small – both literally and figuratively – in order to visualize a more genuine
beauty. Elizabeth Peyton belongs to a select group of artists who developed a unique mix of realism and conceptualism in their work in the early 1990's, in which Peyton consciously reverted to narrative figurative techniques in contemporary painting. Her work pays tribute to the 19th-century French modernist painting of Gros up to Manet, and is directly reminiscent of the work of David Hockney, Alex Katz and Andy Warhol – particularly their celebrity portraits. Peyton's dedication to reviving a new sort of popular art that attempts to forge a link between art and life is authentic, and her work is pervaded with the times we live in. In her work, which is small in size but makes a large gesture, Peyton has breathed new life into the ancient genre of portrait painting. In collaboration with the New Museum, New York, and Phaidon, a catalogue has been published: Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton, containing a broad selection of works, photos and source material by the artist. The catalogue is available from the museum shop. Peyton's miniature portraits capture the spirit of the times in an artistic language that unmistakeably reflects late 20th-century urban sensitivity. Last year the Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht inaugurated Rijksmuseum Maastricht, an alliance between the Bonnefanten and the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. A special display featuring masterworks from the Rijksmuseum's permanent collection, entitled Palazzo: Collecting Early Italian Art in the Netherlands (1900--1940), showcases masterworks acquired by the important collector of Renaissance art Otto Lanz and is augmented by works acquired by other Dutch collectors during the interwar period. Visit The Bonnefantenmuseum at : http://www.bonnefanten.nl/en/ Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~ |
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