The Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art opens a Retrospective of F C B Cadell

Written by Scott Anderson Sunday, 05 February 2012 21:15

Edinburgh.- The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is proud to present the first in aseries of exhibitions on the 'Scottish Colourists". "The Scottish Colourist Series: F C B Cadell" will be on view at the museum from October 22nd through March 18th 2012. Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937) is one of the four artists popularly known as ‘The Scottish Colourists’ (the others being J. D. Fergusson, G. L. Hunter and S. J. Peploe). He was born in Edinburgh, where he lived for most of his life, and studied in Paris and Munich. Cadell is celebrated for his stylish portrayals of Edinburgh interiors, his vibrantly coloured still lives of the 1920s, and for his evocative landscapes of the west of Scotland and the south of France.This retrospective exhibition includes approximately 70 paintings, from public and private collections.

Francis Cadell was born in Edinburgh, the son of a surgeon and was educated at the Edinburgh Academy. His sister was Jean Cadell a well-known actress. From the age of 16 he studied in Paris at the Académie Julian, where he was in contact with the French avant-garde of the day. While in France, his exposure to work by the early Fauvists, and in particular Matisse, proved to be his most lasting influence. After his return to Scotland, he was a regular exhibitor in Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as in London. Cadell was a left-handed painter. While a student, the President of the Royal Scottish Academy tried to stop him painting with his left hand because 'No artist ever became great who did so.' Cadell swiftly replied 'Sir and did not the great Michelangelo paint with his left hand?' The President did not respond and left the room quickly. A fellow student asked Cadell how he had known that Michelangelo was left-handed. Cadell confessed 'I didn't know but nor did the president.' Cadell spent much of his adult life in Scotland and had little direct contact with many of the new ideas that were being developed abroad. He therefore tended to use subjects and environments that were close at hand – landscapes, fashionable Edinburgh New Town house interiors, still life and figures in both oil and watercolour. He is particularly noted for his portraits of glamorous women whom he painted in a loose, impressionistic manner, depicting his subject with vibrant waves of colour. He enjoyed the landscape of Iona enormously, which he first visited in 1912 and features prominently in his work. During the 1920s he spent several summers with Samuel Peploe, another Scottish Colourist, on painting trips to Iona, and was also friends with the Scot architect Reginald Fairlie. During World War I he served in the 9th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the 9th Royal Scots regiments. He lived at 6 and 22 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh from 1920-1932. He then lived at 30 Regent Terrace from 1932-1935 where he found it more and more difficult to sell his paintings because of the economic climate. He finally moved to Warriston Crescent where he died in poverty in 1937. Caddell's Estate is represented by Portland Gallery inLondon.

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, holds the national collection of modern art. When opened in 1960, the collection was held in Inverleith House, at the Royal Botanic Gardens. In 1980 it moved to its current home: a Neo Classical building in the west of Edinburgh, near the Water of Leith, built in 1825-1828 by William Burn for John Watson's Hospital, a school now incorporated in George Watson's College. The Sculpture garden to the front of the building contains work by Henry Moore, Rachel Whiteread, Tony Cragg and Barbara Hepworth. In 2002 the front lawn was converted into the giant "Landform" sculpture by Charles Jencks, in collaboration with Terry Farrell and Duncan Whatmore of Terry Farrell and Partners. The sculpture is said to be inspired by chaos theory or Seurat's La Grand Jatte. In 2004 the gallery won the £100,000 Gulbenkian Prize for the Landform. In 2005 with the help of the Art Fund, the gallery added a significant selection of 20 monoprint drawings by leading British artist Tracey Emin to their collection, called the Family Suite (1994) displaying the "archetypal themes in Emin's art: sex, her family, her abortions, and Margate". These works will be displayed from August 2008 at the gallery as part of a major solo show by Emin which has been called the Summer Blockbuster exhibition. The collection includes work by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Piet Mondrian, Ben Nicholson, Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, The Scottish Colourists, Peter Howson, Levannah Harris, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Boyle Family and Douglas Gordon. Due to space constraints, the work that is displayed is often rotated. The gallery also holds temporary exhibitions. Surrealist and Dada art, as well as work by Eduardo Paolozzi are kept at the adjacent Dean Gallery. The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is one of the museums which comprise the National Galleries of Scotland. Visit the museums' website at ... http://www.nationalgalleries.org

Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"

Written by Editor, Art Knowledge News Sunday, 05 February 2012 21:14

This is a new feature for the subscribers and visitors to Art Knowledge News (AKN), that will enable you to see "thumbnail descriptions" of the last ninety (90) articles and art images that we published. This will allow you to visit any article that you may have missed ; or re-visit any article or image of particular interest. Every day the article "thumbnail images" will change. For you to see the entire last ninety images just click : here .

When opened that also will allow you to change the language from English to anyone of 54 other languages, by clicking your language choice on the upper left corner of our Home Page.  You can share any article we publish with the eleven (11) social websites we offer like Twitter, Flicker, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. by one click on the image shown at the end of each opened article.  Last, but not least, you can email or print any entire article by using an icon visible to the right side of an article's headline.

"Georges Rouault: Circus of the Shooting Star" at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Written by Daniel Somerville Sunday, 05 February 2012 02:42

SALT LAKE CITY, UT.- The Utah Museum of Fine Arts presents Georges Rouault: Cirque de l’Etoile Filante (Circus of the Shooting Star), an exhibition of etchings and wood engravings organized by the Syracuse University Art Galleries. The exhibition, which will be on view in the UMFA Emma Eccles Jones Education Gallery from February 3rd to May 13th, encourages adults and children to explore circus themes through art, art making, and programs. French artist Georges Rouault (1871-1958) was fascinated by the world of the circus, a place where superficial spectacle was often underscored by the performers’ sadness. From 1926-1938 Rouault worked with Parisian art dealer and publisher Ambrose Vollard to write and create an illustrated book project called Cirque de l’Etoile Filante (Circus of the Shooting Star).

The portfolio includes an introduction of 17 color etchings with aquatint, followed by 82 wood engravings illustrating the text. Rouault intended to strip away the “spangles” of the clown’s costume and reveal the “reflection of paradise lost,” adding a humanizing element to a subject that had been represented in art since antiquity.

Rouault associates a lot with other artists, including Matisse and Marquet, whom he had met during their studies at Gustave Moreau’s studio at the École des Beaux Arts. The creators of alternative art, whose pictures are barred from the official Academy of Arts exhibitions, they founded the Salon d’Automne, the first exhibition of which opened on October 31, 1903, at Petit Palais in Paris. In 1905 Rouault contributed his pictures of the circus and girls to the Salon des Independents. He was referred to as a Fauvist, yet he retained an individual style of his own. In 1906 Rouault exhibited at the Galérie Berthe Weill. In 1907 Ambroise Vollard suggested that Rouault make designer faience pieces.

During the Second World War and the postwar period in the solitude of his studio Rouault concentrates on the play of lines, shapes and colors and finishes a large number of important works. More and more his works reflect his dreamlike interior world, and his painting becomes more spiritual and elevated.

Rouault captured the essence of the circus in his artwork with thick black lines, jewel-tone colors, and curvilinear forms. Often categorized as a Fauvist or Expressionist artist, Rouault’s artistic style was influenced by his early apprenticeship in a stained glass studio and his interest in medieval art. He believed that form, color and harmony were hallmarks of the circus, and he strove to create a similar energy in his illustrated book.

"My favorite thing about this exhibition is the way it shows the dual nature of the circus,” says Jenny Woods, UMFA museum services liaison. “At first glance you see the bright colors, the acrobats and the costumes; but when you look closer, especially at the portraits of performers, you see personalities and a range of emotions–sadness, boredom, longing and love."

In the last years of his life Rouault enjoyed well-deserved recognition. He exhibits successfully at the 1948 Venice Biennale. The Centre Catholique des Intellectuels Français celebrates his eightieth birthday at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris in 1951 while the government promotes him to the rank of Commander of the Legion of Honor.  When Rouault dies in February 1958, he is given a state funeral.


At the UMFA, Georges Rouault: Circus of the Shooting Star will feature all 17 aquatint etchings and a selection of 18 wood engravings from the portfolio. Families may explore the exhibition by using a special gallery guide, making clown or ballerina puppets in the gallery, and putting on their own circus with a special puppet theater.

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is Utah's primary cultural resource for global visual arts. It is unique in its dual role as a university and state art museum. It is Utah's only visual arts institution that collects, exhibits, interprets, and preserves a comprehensive collection of original art objects. Visit : http://umfa.utah.edu/

The Georgia Museum of Art Exhibits Will Henry Stevens From the Collection

Written by Horace Micheldeever Sunday, 05 February 2012 00:21

Athens, Georgia.- The Georgia Museum of Art is proud to present "Will Henry Stevens", on view in the Boone and George-Ann Knox Gallery II through March 25th. In 2001, The Will Henry Stevens Memorial Trust via Janet Stevens McDowell, the artist’s daughter, presented the Georgia Museum of Art a large gift of diverse work by the American painter. Stevens emerged as a regional artist whose works were primarily known in the South until the 1940s. During the 1930s and 1940s, Stevens painted in three modes: an American Scene style, an American abstraction that retained elements of naturalism and a geometric abstraction. In many of the images in this special display, Stevens creates work that demonstrates his interest in the harmonious interconnection between the visible planet and the universal world that exists beyond human physical senses.

Will Henry Stevens was born in Vevay, Indiana, a town along the Ohio River. His father was an apothecary and taught Stevens the elements of chemistry and techniques of emulsions, which were later to play a large part in Stevens' experiments with different media. Stevens studied at the Cincinnati Art Academy for three years before leaving the Academy to begin working at the Rookwood Pottery as a painter/designer beginning in 1904. In 1906, Stevens made the first of many visits to New York. He studied for a while at the Art Students League, but was dissatisfied by the classroom style of William Merritt Chase, and soon dropped out. Stevens was featured in several exhibitions at the New Gallery on 30th Street, which displayed an active interest in the more contemporary art movements under the guidance of its owner, Mary Beacon Ford. At the New Gallery, Stevens met and received the encouragement of Jonas Lie, Van Dearing Perrine, and Albert Pinkham Ryder. Stevens received his first one-man exhibition at the New Gallery in March 1907. Stevens took a teaching position in Louisville, KY around 1912 and remained there for nearly a decade. He exhibited regionally, and by the early 1920s had shown in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and New Orleans. For many years, Stevens made annual trips to New York to keep in touch with colleagues and stay abreast of contemporary art. He also spent every summer in the mountains of North Carolina, teaching summer classes and painting the woods and hillsides. In 1921, he was invited to join the faculty of Newcomb College in New Orleans where he remained until his retirement in 1948. As in New York, Stevens quickly became part of a community of painters and writers, through which Stevens maintained an active contact with a wide range of ideas and cultural changes, while still quietly pursuing his own idiosyncratic path.


As an artist, Stevens' interest in nature as subject matter was inspired by his well-documented enthusiasm for the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman. During his years at the Cincinnati Art Academy, Stevens recalled little he liked except the subtly abstracted works of the Impressionist John Henry Twactman, whose influence is apparent in Stevens’ early landscapes. Other influences at that time included James Abbott McNeill Whistler. During a trip to Washington, D.C. in the early 1900s, Stevens discovered an exhibition of Chinese paintings on silk from the Sung Dynasty at the Freer Gallery. Stevens admired their abstract qualities. Regarding the bold black and white linearity, rendered with authority on such a tentative, soft ground, Stevens remarked, "I could not look at Sung without realizing that it had the same kind of philosophy that I had discovered in Whitman." Stevens clearly experienced in the Sung aspect of oriental art that which the impressionists found in Japanese prints, an affirmation of the two-dimensionality of the picture plane. Art historian, Jessie Poesch wrote that, "the selection by the Sung artists of the salient essences of forms, rather than the explicit and detailed delineation of them, obviously appealed to Stevens, as did, apparently, the sense of line on the surface, the network of lines and forms that suggested distance, rather than clearly defined sense of recession found in most western painting up to the early twentieth century. Seeking more information on Oriental Art and philosophy, Stevens eventually came to the teachings of Lao-Tzu, in which Stevens saw creative parallels to the poetry of Walt Whitman. What Stevens felt all of these diverse sources held in common was an attitude toward the world, summed up in Stevens' own statement, "The best thing a human can do in life is to get rid of his separateness or selfness and hand himself over to the nature of things—to this mysterious thing called the Universal Order, that any artist must sense...In human nature we are consciously trying to achieve an order. And we are distressed by it, by the task of patterning it on an Order that is not personal or human—that is what I call spiritual." In the late 1920s and early 1930s during visits to New York Stevens discovered the works of Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. Their works, particularly, were a revelation, and confirmation of Stevens' own sense of aesthetic direction. Stevens began to work in a "non-objective" mode while he continued to produce his more "objective" landscapes. In a taped interview with Bernard Lemann, Stevens observed,"I do not draw a line between objective and non-objective (painting)...I am doing both and will continue to, so long as either seems vital to me."


The Georgia Museum of Art, on the campus of the University of Georgia, in Athens, is both an academic museum and, since 1982, the official art museum of the state of Georgia. The permanent collection consists of American paintings, primarily 19th- and 20th-century; American, European and Asian works on paper; the Samuel H. Kress Study Collection of Italian Renaissance paintings; and growing collections of southern decorative arts and Asian art. From the time it was opened to the public in 1948 in the basement of an old library on the university’s historic North Campus, the museum has grown consistently both in the size of its collection and in the size of its facilities. Today the museum occupies a contemporary building in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex on the university’s burgeoning east campus. There, 79,000 square feet house more than 8,000 objects in the museum’s permanent collection—a dramatic leap from the core of 100 paintings donated by the museum’s founder, Alfred Heber Holbrook. Much of the museum’s collection of American paintings was donated by Holbrook in memory of his first wife, Eva Underhill Holbrook. Included in this collection are works by such luminaries as Frank Weston Benson, William Merritt Chase, Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Georgia O’Keeffe, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Jacob Lawrence and Theodore Robinson. Over the years it has been impossible to separate the history of the museum from the story of Holbrook’s generosity. Holbrook retired from an active New York law practice at the age of 70. He began a personal quest to learn about the world of art, an interest piqued by his passion for visiting museums. In his retirement he was determined to study art in a gentle southern climate. A trip to Athens in the mid-1940s led to his introduction to Lamar Dodd, head of the university’s art department. Instantly, the two began a friendship, sharing a joint vision of enriching the visual arts environment in Georgia. Holbrook, clad in a knee-length pink artist’s smock with pipe in hand, attended art classes at the university. The Georgia Museum of Art was founded in 1945, and Holbrook became its first director and one of the university’s and the state’s most beloved citizens. Holbrook continued to serve as the museum’s director past his 90th birthday.

Exhibitions from international museums such as the National Gallery of Scotland, the Palazzo Venezia in Rome, the Rembrandt House and the San Carlos National Museum in Mexico City have all been displayed in the galleries of the museum over the past decade.. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.georgiamuseum.org

The National Gallery of Denmark adds a new chapter to The Story of Vilhelm Hammershøi

Written by Beatrice Danielson Saturday, 04 February 2012 23:30

COPENHAGEN.- This year’s major spring exhibition at the National Gallery of Denmark adds a new chapter to the story of Vilhelm Hammershøi and marks the first time that a major selection of his works are shown side by side with masterpieces by some of the greatest European artists of his day. Loneliness, intimacy, and alienation. With his timeless and universal subject matter and his unmistakable, carefully restricted palette Vilhelm Hammershøi is one of the most important and distinctive figures in the history of Danish art. His reputation reaches farther beyond his native soil than that of any other Danish painter, and over the course of the last 15 years a number of retrospective exhibitions in Europe, USA, and Japan has firmly established Hammershøi’s position as the equal of the other main artists from the period. On exhibition 4 February until 20 May.

Read more: [The National Gallery of Denmark adds a new chapter to The Story of Vilhelm Hammershøi ]

Kunsthaus Zürich shows 'Hot Spots: Rio de Janeiro / Milan - Turin / Los Angeles, 1956 - 1969'

Written by Christine Hammond Saturday, 04 February 2012 23:15

 

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - Kunsthaus Zürich presents ‘Hot Spots: Rio de Janeiro / Milan – Turin / Los Angeles, 1956 – 1969’, on view through May 3, 2009. The exhibition is devoted to the artistic avant-garde of the 1950s and 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Milan and Turin, and Los Angeles. The show features outstanding works of art, photography, architecture and design by such world-renowned figures as Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Mario Merz, David Hockney, Ed Ruscha and James Turrell.

The postwar period saw Paris and New York, the traditional capitals of the creative world, joined by fresh hot spots on the artistic landscape.

RIO DE JANEIRO: NEW CONCRETISM, BOSSA NOVA, CINEMA NOVO Rio de Janeiro’s all-pervasive creative atmosphere during the 1950s and early 1960s produced a hotbed of culture. The buzzword was new, as in neoconcretism in art and architecture, bossa nova (new wave) in music, and cinema novo in the film world. A specifically Brazilian design was created, featuring formal concision and an emphasis on construction. The artistic movement known as neo-concretism was Brazil’s first contribution to a universal visual idiom. Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark and other pioneers of the geometrical abstract style reinterpreted the work of Piet Mondrian and Max Bill for a new generation, with an increasing focus on issues of space and spatiality.

MILAN/TURIN: FROM THE INFORMALE TO ARTE POVERA Milan and Turin, in which the new Italian artistic identity emerged between 1958 and 1968, are emblematic of a decisive moment in Italian art. Milan led the way, as Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni developed the monochrome, minimalism, and a painting style which went beyond the frame to occupy space, and thus broke with Italy’s artistic legacy. Turin, a vibrant industrial centre, was next to take up the mantle as Italy’s artistic Mecca, as the Informale gave way to Arte Povera. The new movement was characterized by its use of ‘poor’ materials, whether natural or artificial (as represented by Mario Merz), as well as by its utopian stance on politics and the ecology (as evidenced by Michelangelo Pistoletto).

LOS ANGELES: POP, MINIMALISM, ARCHITECTURE The postwar art scene in Los Angeles interspersed dreams of felicity with nightmarish visions. The promise of ‘sun and surf’ and happiness in Hollywood was juxtaposed with the exploitation of people and their dreams, as artists in L.A. oscillated between utopian projections and sarcastic responses to popular culture. James Turrell and Robert Irwin, for instance, drawing their inspiration from the light and landscape on the Pacific coast and in the deserts of the southwest, celebrated immateriality and physical liberation, while Ed Ruscha and David Hockney, among others, took southern California’s cults of the body, the automobile, and the star literally and began to play with the symbolic vocabulary arising from these phenomena. This same interplay was also reflected in contemporary Californian architecture, as represented by ‘Case Study Houses’, documented by Julius Shulman in iconic architectural photographs.

The exhibition is a collaboration with the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, where Paulo Venancio Filho and Annika Gunnarson (Rio de Janeiro), Luca Massimo Barbero and Cecilia Widenheim (Milan/Turin), and Lars Nittve and Lena Essling (Los Angeles) conceived it as ‘Time and Place’, a series of three independent presentations. Tobia Bezzola will coordinate curatorship of the show at the Kunsthaus Zürich, which unites three snapshots of as many artistic centres into an impressive triptych. A catalogue will be available at the Kunsthaus Shop and in book stores. Supported by Zurich Insurance Company.

Visit Kunsthaus Zürich at : http://www.kunsthaus.ch/

Aspen Art Museum features Fred Tomaselli's Largest Museum Survey to Date

Written by Sol Tammauz Saturday, 04 February 2012 23:14

ASPEN, CO.- Beginning with a free public reception with the artist at 3:00 p.m., on Saturday, August 1, 2009, the Aspen Art Museum is proud to announce the debut of internationally celebrated American artist Fred Tomaselli’s largest museum survey exhibition to date—featuring a curatorial selection of the artist’s two-dimensional work from the late 1980s to the present. Fred Tomaselli is organized by the Aspen Art Museum and the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College.

Read more: [Aspen Art Museum features Fred Tomaselli's Largest Museum Survey to Date]

Andrew Witkin the Winner of 2008 James & Audrey Foster Prize at ICA

Written by Martha Longfellow Saturday, 04 February 2012 23:13

 

BOSTON, MA - Boston artist Andrew Witkin is the winner of the 2008 James and Audrey Foster Prize, the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) announced. This biennial award recognizing a Boston-area artist of exceptional promise includes a $25,000 prize and an opportunity for the finalists to present their work in an exhibition at the ICA. Andrew Witkin's poetic installation blurs the lines between his art and daily life, provoking questions about how these activities overlap and intersect. Witkin's exhibition, along with work by the three other finalists—Catherine D'Ignazio, Rania Matar, and Joe Zane—are on view at the ICA through March 1, 2009.

Read more: [Andrew Witkin the Winner of 2008 James & Audrey Foster Prize at ICA]

MoMA's 7th Annual International Festival of Film Preservation Showcases Restored Masterworks

Written by Robert Carmichael Saturday, 04 February 2012 23:12

NEW YORK, NY.- The Museum of Modern Art presents To Save and Project: The Seventh MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation, its annual festival of preserved and restored films from international film archives and studios around the world, from October 24 through November 16, 2009. Spanning more than 75 years of film history, from 1921 to 2000, the festival comprises over 25 films, virtually all of them having their New York premieres, and some shown in versions never before seen in the United States. To Save and Project is organized by Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator; Anne Morra, Assistant Curator; and Katie Trainor, Film Collections Manager; all of the Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art.

Read more: [MoMA's 7th Annual International Festival of Film Preservation Showcases Restored Masterworks]