Major Retrospective of Fred Williams’s work on view at the National Gallery of Victoria

Written by Sidney Danzinger Wednesday, 11 April 2012 00:22

MELBOURNE, AU - The National Gallery of Victoria opened the first major retrospective of Fred Williams’s work in over 25 years. Fred Williams: Infinite Horizons showcases over 100 works from this iconic Australian artist drawn from public and private collections in Australia and overseas, including many works that have never been on public display before. The exhibition highlights Williams’s strength as a landscape artist including important oil paintings and luminous gouaches that reveal his distinctive approach, and his ability to poetically convey a feeling of place. "Infinite Horizons" is a reflection of one of Australia’s most distinctive and recognizable artists providing new insights for those who are familiar with his work. This retrospective showcases the classic Williams works in various series alongside his non-anthology works. On exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria from 7th of April until 22nd July.

Read more: [[Major Retrospective of Fred Williams’s work on view at the National Gallery of Victoria]]

The work of Joseph Beuys goes on view at University Art Gallery

Written by Janice Caldwell Tuesday, 10 April 2012 23:42

SYDNEY, AU - Australia’s largest public collection of the work of Joseph Beuys , one of the late 20th century’s most influential artists, has gone on show at the University of Sydney’s Art Gallery . German-born Beuys (1921-1986) produced works from a range of disciplines including sculpture, performance art, installations and graphic art. Hugely influential on subsequent artists, his own greatest influences include his involvement in the German army during World War II, Rudolf Steiner’s work and mythology. Joseph Beuys and the ‘Energy Plan’ is a free show of works from the University of Sydney’s Power Collection. His Filzanzug (Felt Suit) 1970 is the centrepiece of the exhibition and refers to Beuys’ memories of the war. Joseph Beuys and the ‘Energy Plan’ is being held to mark the 50th anniversary of the Power Collection, from the visionary bequest left by the artist J W Power .

Read more: [[The work of Joseph Beuys goes on view at University Art Gallery]]

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

Written by Editor, Art Knowledge News Monday, 09 April 2012 20:09

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.

The Jewish Museum to feature "Edouard Vuillard ~ A Painter and His Muses"

Written by Conrad Bonsaint Monday, 09 April 2012 23:55

New York City.- The art of Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940) - a painter who began his career as a member of the Nabi group of avant-garde artists in Paris in the 1890s - will be celebrated at The Jewish Museum in the first major one-person, New York exhibition of the French artist's work in over twenty years. "Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940" will include more than 50 paintings as well as a selection of prints, photographs and documents exploring the crucial role played by the patrons, dealers and muses who comprised Vuillard's circle. On view from May 4th through September 23rd, the exhibition will examine the prominence of key players in the cultural milieu of modern Paris, many of them Jewish, and their influence on Vuillard's professional and private life.

The exhibition explores Vuillard's continuing significance from the turn of the 20th century to the onset of World War II. Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940 brings together works from public and private collections in the U.S. and Europe. A quarter of the paintings have never been exhibited publicly in America before. Vuillard's career spans fifty years, from the fin-de-siècle to the German occupation of France. During his lifetime, Paris was the capital of the international avant-garde, the laboratory of new styles in art, music, poetry, and prose. Vuillard was at the heart of this creative ferment. In these decades, the work of vanguard artists was supported by collectors, gallerists, publishers, and theater impresarios who encouraged modernist cultural experiments. Vuillard had unusually close and sustained relationships with his patrons; some became intimate and lifelong friends. In this glittering cultural milieu he became romantically involved with two fascinating women, Misia Natanson and Lucy Hessel, each of whom served as both patron and muse.


"Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940" traces the entire arc of Vuillard's career, in which he pursued painterly experimentation in color, media, and ambience, especially in portraiture. He established his signature themes - interiors and the depiction of modern life - in the 1890s. As his style evolved, he continued to use pattern, texture, and the framing device of windows, doors, and mirrors, while extending his repertoire to the genres of landscape, still life, and especially portraiture. Vuillard's late portraits are a revelation -among the great examples in the twentieth century and of dazzling virtuosity. Experimental, yet deeply committed to the old masters throughout his life, Vuillard maintained a continual tension in his work between tradition and modernism. The exhibition begins with the young artist's involvement in the vibrant cultural landscape of fin-de-siècle Paris. He rapidly established himself in avant-garde circles, joining a groundbreaking group of artists called the Nabis. Taking their inspiration from Paul Gauguin and Odilon Redon, the Nabis ("prophets" in Hebrew) used simplified forms and pure colors to create emotive and decorative pictures. It was during his Nabi period that Vuillard produced some of his best-known work: paintings of friends and families in domestic interiors. While developing his art he created posters and graphic works and designed sets and programs for the avant-garde theater. Soon he attracted the interest of Thadée and Misia Natanson. Descended from a family of Polish-Jewish bankers, Thadée and his brothers Alexandre and Alfred founded and published La Revue blanche, an important cultural magazine. The Natansons were prime movers in Vuillard's circle, bringing together Paris's leading intellectuals and members of the avant-garde, including artists, writers, theatrical impresarios, politicians, and philosophers. The friendship and patronage of the Natansons vaulted the artist to success during the 1890s, and it was through their connections that, in 1892, Vuillard painted the first of his interior decorative murals.


After 1900 Vuillard's style shows an increasing refinement. Paint is applied less thickly, details are less blurred, and the artist introduces more naturalistic perspective into his scenes. The change reflects a shift in his life. He joined the Bernheim-Jeune gallery, one of the most prestigious venues for modern art in Paris, and began to expand his clientele. The gallery was managed by Jos Hessel and his cousins Gaston and Josse Bernheim. Hessel arranged the first group exhibition of the Nabis there in April 1900. He was to remain Vuillard's principal dealer and close friend for the next forty years. During his post-Nabi years, from 1900 until his death in 1940, Vuillard developed a highly personal style of modern naturalism. In the later decades of his career, he largely devoted himself to portraiture, giving equal attention to the sitters and their surroundings, reflecting his belief that the sitters' homes and possessions revealed as much of their identities as the individuals themselves. He continued the themes of landscape and interiors, spending much of his time at the Chateau des Clayes, the Hessel's historic estate near Versailles during the 1930s. A late style blossomed: brushy, gestural, and light in palette.

The Jewish Museum, one of the world's largest and most important institutions devoted to exploring the remarkable scope and diversity of Jewish culture, was founded in 1904 in the library of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where it was housed for more than four decades. In 1944, Frieda Schiff Warburg, widow of the prominent businessman and philanthropist, Felix Warburg, who had been a Seminary trustee, donated the family mansion at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street to the Seminary for use as the Museum. Located along New York's Museum Mile, this elegant former residence has been the home of the Museum since 1947. A sculpture court was installed alongside the Mansion in 1959, and the Albert A. List Building was added in 1963 to provide additional exhibition and program space. In 1989, a major expansion and renovation project was undertaken. Upon completion in June 1993, the expansion doubled the Museum's gallery space, created new space for educational programs, provided significant improvements in public amenities, and added a two-floor permanent exhibition called Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey. The expanded Jewish Museum preserves the French Gothic chateau-style exterior of the original Warburg Mansion, which was designed by architect Charles P.H. Gilbert and completed in 1908. Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated the first gift of 26 objects of fine and ceremonial art to the library of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America with the suggestion that a Jewish museum be formed. Subsequent gifts and purchases have helped to form the Museum's distinguished collection and develop the concept of the institution, whose mission has been to preserve, study and interpret Jewish cultural history through the use of authentic art and artifacts, linking both Jews and non-Jews to a rich body of values and traditions. Today, The Jewish Museum's permanent collection, which has grown to more than 26,000 objects -- paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, ethnographic material, archaeological artifacts, numismatics, ceremonial objects, and broadcast media materials -- is the largest and most important of its kind in the world. The Jewish Museum regularly presents large temporary exhibitions of an interdisciplinary nature. Such exhibitions often employ a combination of art and artifacts interpreted through the lens of social history in order to explore important ideas and topics. The Museum's highly successful The Dreyfus Affair: Art, Truth and Justice (1987), Gardens and Ghettos: The Art of Jewish Life in Italy (1989), From Court Jews to the Rothschilds: Art, Patronage and Power 1600-1800 (1996), ASSIGNMENT: RESCUE, The Story of Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee (1997) and Berlin Metropolis: Jews and the New Culture 1890-1918 (1999) are examples of this type of exhibition. The Museum is also known for its exhibitions of fine arts interpreted in the context of social history, such as Painting a Place in America: Jewish Artists in New York, 1900-1945 (1991) ; social history exhibitions such as Bridges and Boundaries: African Americans and American Jews (1992); and monograph shows of significant artists such as Camille Pissarro (1995), Marc Chagall (1996), Chaim Soutine (1998) and George Segal (1998). The Museum also regularly presents the works of contemporary artists in group exhibitions such as Too Jewish? Challenging Traditional Identities (1996) and one-person shows like Bordering on Fiction: Chantal Akerman's "D'Est" (1997). Its education department presents a diverse and wide-ranging array of programs for individuals, groups, families and schools. For nearly a century, The Jewish Museum has illuminated the Jewish experience, both secular and religious, demonstrating the strength of Jewish identity and culture. Its unparalleled collection and unique exhibitions offer a wide range of opportunities for exploring multiple facets of the Jewish experience, past and present, and for educating current and future generations. It is a source of education, inspiration and shared human values for people of all cultures. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.thejewishmuseum.org

National Academy of Sciences says Cave Painters Were Realists ~ DNA Study Finds

Written by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer Monday, 23 April 2012 19:42

LOS ANGELES, CA - Cave painters during the Ice Age were more like Leonardo da Vinci than Salvador Dali, sketching realistic depictions of horses they saw rather than dreaming them up, a study of ancient DNA finds.  It's not just a matter of aesthetics: Paintings based on real life can give first-hand glimpses into the environment of tens of thousands of years ago. But scientists have wondered how much imagination went into animal drawings etched in caves around Europe. The latest analysis published online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences focused on horses since they appeared most frequently on rock walls. The famed Lascaux Cave in the Dordogne region of southwest France and the Chauvet Cave in southeast France feature numerous scenes of brown and black horses. Other caves like the Pech Merle in southern France are adorned with paintings of white horses with black spots.

Read more: [[National Academy of Sciences says Cave Painters Were Realists ~ DNA Study Finds ]]

Ketterer Kunst's April 26th Auction to feature Old Masters & 19th Century Works

Written by Sebastien Schumacher Tuesday, 10 April 2012 03:27

Munich, Germany.- Ketterer Kunst will be hosting their Old Masters and 19th Century Work auction on April 26th. One of the undoubted highlights of the auction will be Ferdinand Max Bredt’s oil painting ”Muße der Odalisken” (Leisure of the Odalisques) a masterpiece of oriental painting with an estimate of €30,000-40,000. A harem lady should be dressed chastely and by no means tantalizing. Despite the two odalisques’ ostensible innocence, the Leipzig painter Ferdinand Max Bredt masterly manages to animate the observer’s imagination just through the look of the reclined lady.

While, Edmund Herger’s oil painting ”Landsknechte verteilen Beutestücke” (Lansquenets Dividing the Loot) from 1882, estimated at €40,000-60,000 is in strong contrast to the lovely scene, Franz von Stuck’s bronze ”Adam und Eve” obviously seeks to seduce the observer, as the artist rendered the biblical scene as an erotic theme. To Adam, Eve’s promising body is the actual object of desire and the apple, the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil merely serves as a metaphor. The observer is also seduced: Both the bodies’ athletic and sensual forms but also the modest estimate of €30,000-50,000 will have the desired effect.


Quite a contrast to the sinful and lascivious Eve is Stuck’s ”Amazon” cast in bronze. In this work the artist put less of an emphasis on eroticism but rather on the athletic aspect of the spear-throwing warrior. Despite her nudity, she emanates power, self-confidence and pride in a very natural manner. The estimate for the small work, a monumental execution has been adorning the portal of the Villa Stuck in Munich since 1936, is at €14,000-18,000. More exciting works in the section of Art of the 19th Century come from Hermann Corrodi with his oil painting ”Nächtlicher Aufstieg am Berg Athos” (Nocturnal Ascension of Mount Athos) from 1880, (estimate: €25,000-35,000), Carl Spitzweg and the ”Grotte mit badenden Nymphen” (Grotto with Bathing Nymphs, estimate: €18,000-24,000) and from Henri-Edmond Cross with his ”Skabiosen” (Scabiosa, estimate: €14,000-18,000). Other artists represented are, among others, Albert Flamm, Max Klinger, Adolph von Menzel, Wilhelm Schlesinger and Julius Steinkopf. The range of offers is completed by a small but nice collection of works by Friedrich Preller the Younger. Along with two drawings, half a dozen of oil paintigns with estimates between  € 800 and € 8.000 will be called up.


The section of Old Masters is led by a ”Kreuzigungsgruppe” (Crucifixion Group) from the studio of Lucas Cranach the Elder. An infrared reflectography of the work from around 1510 to 1520 shows a free preliminary drawing of the motif, which is characteristic of the Cranach-studio. The oil painting in a size of 43 x 28.5 cm will be called up with an estimate of €30,000-50,000. The triptych ”Anbetung der Könige” (Adoration of the Kings), made in succession of Pieter I Coecke van Aelst, will definitely make for excitement in the auction room. The elaborate painting, particular in terms of the architectural staging, was made towards the end of the 16th  century and has been estimated at €20,000-30,000. Approximately the same is expected for two companion pieces of an idealized river landscape in summer by Pierre Antoine Marchais from 1785, that have been estimated at €12,000-15,000 each. Works by the Parisian artist, who lived in his hometown for all his life, are in possession of, among others, museums in Toulouse and Nantes. While the oil painting ”Der Markusplatz in Venedig” (St Mark's Square in Venice), which has been ascribed to Gabriele Bella enters the race with an estimate of €15,000- 20.000, the late 17th century copy of Cristofano Allori’s masterpiece ”Judith mit dem Haupt des Holofernes” (Judith with Holofernes’ Head) will be called up with an estimate of €18,000-24,000. The work impressively illustrates the contrast between the shiny yellow brocade gown and the anemic facial features of the decapitated. It is a striking document of the fascination that Allori’s creation had stirred in the 17th  century. The range of offerings in this section is completed by Gaspar Pieter Verbruggen’s oil painting ”Großes Blumenstillleben in einer Bronzevase” (Large Flower Still Life in Bronze Vase, estimated at €12,000-15,000) and with, among others, graphic works by Agostino Carracci, Francisco de Goya, Giovanni Piranesi and Adriaen van Ostade.

Since it was founded in 1954, Ketterer Kunst has been firmly established in the front ranks of auction houses dealing in art and rare books, with its headquarters in Munich and a branch in Hamburg. Gallery rooms in Berlin as well as representatives in Heidelberg and Krefeld have contributed substantially to the company's success. Ketterer Kunst has further rounded off its portfolio with the prestigious Ernest Rathenau Verlag, New York/Munich. In addition, exhibitions, special theme and charity auctions as well as online auctions are regular events at Ketterer Kunst. Robert Ketterer is auctioneer and owner of Ketterer Kunst. Visit the auction house's website at ... http://www.kettererkunst.com/

Zee Stone Gallery to show "Born Red" Oil Paintings by Shen Han Wu

Written by Conrad Winkelmann Tuesday, 10 April 2012 01:28

Hong Kong.- Zee Stone Gallery is proud to present “Born Red”, oil paintings by Shen Han Wu, on view at the gallery from May 4th through May 25th. Shen Han Wu is an oil painter specializing in realistic portraiture. He was a Red Guard himself when he was 16 years old, and this exhibition focuses on the subject of the Cultural Revolution, yet also includes portraits of girls from the countryside. He has an outstanding technique, using fine, clear brushwork and subtle, subdued colours which, coupled with his empathy towards his subjects, produces warm, finely modelled paintings. Shen Han Wu was born in Jiangsu, graduated from the Wuhan Art Academy and emigrated to the United States in 2003.Shen Han Wu is an accomplished oil painter working in a realist style. Unlike other artists who choose idealized subjects, he prefers to depict figures from daily life.  Shen Han Wu began to earn his living with his art in 1971. In 1980, he attended the Electronic Education Center of Huazhong Normal University to study art design as an illustrator. During the decade that followed, he was successful, winning many awards and recognitions. In June 1986, he entered the Wuhan Art Academy and became a professional artist.

Read more: [[Zee Stone Gallery to show "Born Red" Oil Paintings by Shen Han Wu]]

Legendary artist Dale Chihuly brings his Iconic Artwork to the Dallas Arboretum

Written by Oscar Heatherington Tuesday, 10 April 2012 01:06

Dallas, Texas.- Renowned artist, Dale Chihuly, brings his dramatic sculptures and installations to the award-winning, 66-acre Dallas Arboretum from May 5th through November 5th. Chihuly’s monumental designs appeal to people of all ages and have been seen in more than 200 museums, gardens and other venues around the world. Inspired by nature, Chihuly’s spectacular installations will be specifically designed to respond to the vistas architecture and magnificent gardens at the Arboretum. Chihuly Nights, powered by Cirro Energy, will feature illuminated sculptures and various dining options three nights a week.  Extended garden hours until 10 p.m. will offer visitors many opportunities to see this exhibit.  During the daytime, the Arboretum will offer educational materials, programs and classes for children and adults. Supported by the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Dallas Morning News, the Chihuly exhibit is expected to attract both local and out of town visitors during its six-month run.

Read more: [[Legendary artist Dale Chihuly brings his Iconic Artwork to the Dallas Arboretum]]

The Knoxville Museum of Art highlights eight American photographers of the turbulent 1960’s

Written by Alison Derleth Tuesday, 10 April 2012 00:58

Knoxville, Tennessee.- The Knoxville Museum of Art is proud to present "Streetwise: Masters of 1960s Photograhy" on view at the museum from May 4th through August 5th. This exhibition highlights the work of a group of eight American photographers who focused their lenses on rapid social and political changes that transformed their nation during the turbulent 1960’s. The featured images present a realistic, sometimes dire, view of America ranging from the “outlaw culture” of bikers and chain gangs, Boston’s red light district known as the Combat Zone, Black Panthers; the gritty streets and neighborhoods of New York, the politically charged South, and fringe communities and sub-cultures around the country. Streetwise builds on Swiss photographer Robert Frank’s ‘snapshot aesthetic’, which gained attention following the release of his groundbreaking book, The Americans in 1959.

Read more: [[The Knoxville Museum of Art highlights eight American photographers of the turbulent 1960’s]]

Monterey Museum of Art opens New Exhibitions including over 150 Works

Written by Dorothy Williamson Tuesday, 10 April 2012 00:27

MONTEREY, CA.- An unparalleled visual feast of Monterey, California and its deep connections to the world beyond awaits visitors at the Monterey Museum of Art. Over 150 paintings, photographs, sculptures, and works on papers—many of which have never been previously exhibited—form a series of ground breaking special exhibitions titled: Monterey Modernism, A New Deal: Art of the Great Depression, and Urban Life: Photography in the City. Organized from the Museum’s holdings, along with loans from prestigious private collections, these exhibitions are the result of several years of meticulous planning and careful conservation of artworks. Together, they tell the fascinating story of Monterey artists who were influenced by the Modern Art trends of Paris and New York in the first decades of the 20th century, the economic collapse of the United States and how visual arts flourished amid this catastrophe, and how our cities—from the 1940s through the 1970s—provided an unending source of subject matter for photographers documenting everyday life and rapid social change.

Read more: [[Monterey Museum of Art opens New Exhibitions including over 150 Works]]

Witzenhausen Gallery to present Jeff Robb's Lenticular Photographs

Written by Chloe Westfinger Monday, 09 April 2012 23:56

New York City.- The Witzenhausen Gallery is proud to present "Thought Experiments", a selection of Jeff Robb's Lenticular Photographs, on view from April 26th through May 24th. The lenticular photographic work of Jeff Robb is collected worldwide. His latest series of 3D moving images, will mark the artist's first solo exhibition in NYC. Robb, explores forces of the natural and unnatural world in 3D space, within a 2D format and has a particular interest in relationships between the known and the unknown. He chooses a familiar subject, often the nude female form, in order to examine the unknown side of 3D image making and unknown aspects of human psychic processes. Like many artists, Robb works in series, where each series is a development from the last in terms of concept and technique. Robb however goes to extraordinary lengths in achieving his images, exploring the effects of the forces of nature - gravity, light and magnetism – on his subject in new ways. The resulting breath-taking images transcend the physical world.

In Robb’s latest work ‘Thought Experiments’, a series of delicate female forms exist in a ‘liminal’ state, between this world and another; between the known and the unknown. As we move to adapt our view, the figures become apparitions, or wraiths, sometimes drained of colour, as if gradually relinquishing life. The figures are at a gateway, or threshold, undergoing a state of metamorphosis, to be witnessed by the viewer. The images transport us into another world, mirroring other states of mind. The title of this series derives from the revolutionary scientific work of Einstein and contemporaries at the beginning of the 20th century, who used ‘thought experiments’ to understand our relationship with the world. Some practitioners of early thought experiments asserted that life can exist in many different states simultaneously, calling this a state of ‘superposition’. These counter-intuitive ideas of the pioneers of thought experimentation inform our understanding the world to this day. Continuing scientific experiments appear to verify that life can indeed exist in different states simultaneously. It is this concept which interests Robb and neatly underpins the latest developments in his work. The success of Robb’s imagery lies in his mastery of the 3D film and photographic process. Indeed the work is hard to classify. Robb himself describes his work as “somewhere between traditional photographic recording and three-dimensional sculpture”.


Lenticular photography dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. The process starts by capturing many images taken around a single subject. Robb himself has designed unique image capture systems which take multiple images simultaneously, capturing real time motion or as a sequence of frames from a single camera. The images are then combined into a single 3D image on a computer. Red, green and blue lasers expose a photographic substrate, which is combined with a very precise optical lens structure to produce the finished fine art image. Every stage of the process is done by hand and requires great skill.

The Witzenhausen Gallery looks for art that is confronting in a certain way. Art that touches upon the issues of life that we all have to deal with, family ties, love, sex, illness, loneliness, death and a society that can be questioned on the way it is developing. In other words: Witzenhausen looks for art that makes us contemplate our life, our relationships with others, the society and the world we live in, the way we live, love and consume. The gallery looks for these artists on an international level. Witzenhausen Gallery gives high priority to being present at well known international art fairs. The artists represented by Witzenhausen Gallery work on an international level as well. By bringing artists of different nationalities together, there will always be an interaction between different points of view on the cultural aspect. Ideas confront each other. We are invited to stop and test our assumptions. Thus the gallery strives to accomplish an international interaction between artists, art lovers and buyers and an interested public. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.witzenhausengallery.nl

Chaumont-sur Loire opens exhibition exploring the relationship between artistic creation & nature

Written by Claude Atkinson Monday, 09 April 2012 22:38

CHAUMONT-SUR-LOIRE, FRANCE - This year once again, the Domaine de Chaumont-sur Loire, the first arts centre devoted to the relationship between artistic creation and nature, has an ambitious programme of contemporary art in store for visitors. Sarkis’ specially commissioned set of 72 stainedglass windows and Giuseppe Penone’s subtle installation are the highpoints of the itinerary, where plastic arts are on display alongside photography. As part of the Centre Region’s special three-yearly commissions, Sarkis has created a work of remarkable power. In 2012, 40 new stained-glass windows have been added to the first series of 32 panes installed in the Château in 2011. Entitled Ailleurs, Ici, the ensemble makes up an imaginary museum in which the artist presents fundamental images of life and death, love and architecture, in a series of “mental windows” as fascinating as they are unexpected, playing with the memory of the place itself, the world’s memory, and the artist’s own memory.

Read more: [[Chaumont-sur Loire opens exhibition exploring the relationship between artistic creation & nature]]

The window in art since Matisse & Duchamp on view at the Kunstsammlung NRW

Written by Wilfred Georgian Monday, 09 April 2012 21:09

DUSSELDORF, GERMANY - For centuries, the window has been found among the most favored artistic motifs. The picture of a "room with a view" in which the window marks the threshold between exterior and interior has long fostered reflections on the medium of painting itself. The observation that a painting resembles a view through an open window dates all the way back to 1435, when it entered a treatise on painting written by the Renaissance scholar Leon Battista Alberti. He coined a metaphor which has for centuries shaped our understanding of the picture which is organized according to the rules of central perspective and which – like a window – reveals to us a delimited segment of the world. While the window remained a favored motif in the 20th century as well, it appeared now more frequently in isolation, deprived of any connection to architectural settings or landscape views, and shorn of figures shown from the back gazing longingly into the distance. In their window paintings, Robert Delaunay, Henri Matisse, and Josef Albers experimented with a pictorial form that is no longer devoted solely to depicting reality, and which instead emphasizes the planarity of the picture support while concentrating on color and line and their interaction.

Read more: [[The window in art since Matisse & Duchamp on view at the Kunstsammlung NRW]]

Johansson Projects shows "Hymns to the Moon ~ Robert Minervini & Tadashi Moriyama"

Written by Claudio Rigoletti Monday, 09 April 2012 20:37

Oakland, California. Johansson Projects is pleased to be showing "Hymns to the Moon: Robert Minervini + Tadashi Moriyama", on view at the gallery through May 5th. In "Hymns to the Moon",  sublime omens haunt everyday spaces, both of the landscape and of the imagination. Robert Minervini and Tadashi Moriyama depict visions of a timeless future. Moriyama's works swarm with details in their depiction of the last judgment for the digital age. Weeds, wires, blood and guts coil around classical sculpture, original sin and corporate headquarters. At the crux of his painted paranoia, viewers are struck with, surprisingly, an overwhelming sense of euphoria. Even amidst all the anxiety and desire, in the heat of the moment there is a great togetherness. His animations follow un-phased individuals reacquainting themselves with the new landscape we have cultivated.

Read more: [[Johansson Projects shows "Hymns to the Moon ~ Robert Minervini & Tadashi Moriyama"]]

Art Knowledge News Presents "This Week In Review"

Written by Editor, Art Knowledge News Sunday, 08 April 2012 21:28

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.

The Meadows Museum to host "Mexican Modern Paintings from the Andrés Blaisten Collection"

Written by Carrie Stableford Monday, 09 April 2012 03:49

Dallas, Texas.- This summer, visitors to the Meadows Museum will have the opportunity to experience one of the greatest collections of modern Mexican art in the world. "Mexican Modern Painting from the Andrés Blaisten Collection" will feature a selection of eighty paintings from this singular group of works and will be on display from April 29th through August 12th. Andrés Blaisten, whose collection is comprised of over 8,000 works of art—including paintings, sculpture, drawings, and print—first began collecting while studying painting at the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City in the late 1960s. At first casually buying paintings from his academy friends, Blaisten soon dropped out of the academy and alongside his business ventures, devoted himself to selecting art that reflected his own relationship with Mexico. Although Blaisten has acquired works from various periods, this exhibition focuses on a predominant interest of his: paintings created in Mexico in the first half of the twentieth century.

By virtue of their diversity, the paintings chosen for the exhibition demonstrate the social, political, and artistic patchwork that shaped Mexico and by extension, its art, from the beginning of the twentieth century until midcentury, when the artists fell into the shadow of the Cold War and their individual voices were swallowed into the machine of Communism. Mexican Modernism was a polyphony of artistic voices, each expressing a particular point of view.


This exhibition disproves the traditionally held idea that Mexican art of the early twentieth century was insular, its artists working for the most part without an awareness of avant-garde European art. In addition to the giants such as Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, all represented in the exhibition, other Mexican artists visited Europe, while many others were aware of the theories and formal elements that informed the various“-isms” taking place on the other side of the Atlantic. At the same time, the Mexican Moderns also took great pride in their indigenous Mexican history, honoring the astonishing achievements and folkloric creation myths of the Aztec Empire and other contingents of pre-Hispanic Mexico. The fascinating juxtaposition of the Old and New World within the context of Mexican Modernism is evident in the display of the Museo Colección Blaisten at the Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco (CCUT), an institution under the auspices of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). The Museo Colección Blaisten, a permanent installation of a portion of the collection at the CCUT, overlooks the archaeological site of Tlatelolco, the sister city of Tenochtitlan. A mural by Siqueiros also happens to be within walking distance from this cultural center. Traditionally, 1921, the year of the first post-revolutionary murals under José Vasconcelos, newly appointed Minister of Public Education, has been considered the benchmark for the genesis of modern Mexican art. However, recent scholarship has shown that the artistic revolution began even earlier in the twentieth century. As early as 1909, Vasconcelos spearheaded a group known as the Athenaeum of Youth which challenged the Eurocentric bias of Mexican determinist politics. Examples of art from these early decades demonstrate that Mexican artists could glean from European art while simultaneously embracing their own identity. In the exhibition are works by Germán Gedovius, who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, and a few of his pupils, including Saturnino Herrán. The ennui of Symbolism and other fin de siècle art movements encountered by Gedovius was adapted by Herrán, who conceived his own symbols of Mexican national identity in his art.


Students protesting artistic academicism helped to fuel the development of the Open-Air Painting School, established between 1913 and 1914. Flourishing in the 1920s, the Open-Air Painting School produced a number of artists represented in this exhibition, including Francisco Díaz de León, Gabriel Fernández Ledesma, Fernando Leal, Fernando Castillo, and Rosario Cabrera, along with several others. Alfredo Ramos Martínez, also represented in the exhibition, established the open-air model, based on the nineteenth-century Barbizon school in France. In this new model, the people, architecture, and landscape of rural Mexico replaced reproductions of Classical and Renaissance art as the focus. A group of artists who challenged the heavy-handed politicized art of the 1920s and 1930s was the Contemporáneos. These artists focused on formal elements of composition rather than the idyll of rural Mexico and related historical or indigenous themes. Associated with the titular journal of literature and art, those counted among the Contemporáneos included Manuel Rodríguez Lozano, Julio Castellanos, Agustín Lazo, Rufino Tamayo, María Izquierdo, and Juan Soriano. The composition of a work, rather than subject matter, was their primary focus. Several of the Contemporáneos incorporated Surrealist elements in their canvases. While these painters did not Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco (CCUT), an institution under the auspices of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). The Museo Colección Blaisten, a permanent installation of a portion of the collection at the CCUT, overlooks the archaeological site of Tlatelolco, the sister city of Tenochtitlan. A mural by Siqueiros also happens to be within walking distance from this cultural center. Traditionally, 1921, the year of the first post-revolutionary murals under José Vasconcelos, newly appointed Minister of Public Education, has been considered the benchmark for the genesis of modern Mexican art. However, recent scholarship has shown that the artistic revolution began even earlier in the twentieth century. As early as 1909, Vasconcelos spearheaded a group known as the Athenaeum of Youth which challenged the Eurocentric bias of Mexican determinist politics. Examples of art from these early decades demonstrate that Mexican artists could glean from European art while simultaneously embracing their own identity. In the exhibition are works by Germán Gedovius, who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, and a few of his pupils, including Saturnino Herrán. The ennui of Symbolism and other fin de siècle art movements encountered by Gedovius was adapted by Herrán, who conceived his own symbols of Mexican national identity in his art.


The Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University houses one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Spanish art outside of Spain. With works dating from the 10th to the 21st century, the internationally renowned collection presents a broad spectrum of art covering a thousand years of Spanish heritage. During business trips to Spain in the 1950s, Texas philanthropist and oil financier Algur H. Meadows spent many hours at the Prado Museum in Madrid. The Prado’s spectacular collection of Spanish masterpieces inspired Meadows to begin his own collection of Spanish art. In 1962, through The Meadows Foundation, he gave SMU funds for the construction and endowment of a museum to house his Spanish collection. The Meadows Museum opened in 1965 as part of a new arts center at SMU. The Meadows Museum collection includes masterpieces by some of the world’s greatest painters: El Greco, Diego Velázquez, Ribera, Murillo, Francisco de Goya, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso. Highlights of the collection include Renaissance altarpieces, monumental Baroque canvases, exquisite Rococo oil sketches, poly-chrome wood sculptures, Impressionist landscapes, modernist abstractions, a comprehensive collection of the graphic works of Goya, and a select group of sculptures by major 20th-century masters, including Auguste Rodin, Jacques Lipchitz, Henry Moore, Claes Oldenburg, David Smith and Fritz Wotruba. At the base of the plaza is a 40-by-90 foot moving sculpture, Wave, designed by Santiago Calatrava. The museum is a unique resource for local schools, colleges, the Dallas-Fort Worth community and visitors from around the world. With an active program of tours, educational outreach, weekend family days and a summer art program for young people, the Meadows Museum plays an important role as an educational and cultural center in North Texas.  Visit the museum's website at ... http://smu.edu/meadowsmuseum