The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Monday, April 11, 2022


 
Winslow Homer: Radical Impressionist

In an image provided by the museum, “Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents, on exhibit through July 2022 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A show of masterworks at the Met snaps into sharp focus the great American artist’s contemporary relevance. Anna-Marie Kellen, Courtesy of The Met via The New York Times.

by Roberta Smith


NEW YORK, NY.- The wondrous exhibition “Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art begins with two picture-window-size holes in the wall: A visitor peers into one opening and then, through it, the other. Together they add a thrilling air of unpredictability. They also “frame” a painting hanging on a third wall deeper in the show: a fraught canvas titled “The Gulf Stream” that many consider Homer’s greatest work. It depicts a muscular, barechested Black man who lies, propped up on his elbows looking grimly into the distance, on the deck of a fishing boat with a broken mast. The hurricane has passed and his craft tilts toward capsizing, as sharks circle in the bloodied waters. “The Gulf Stream” was painted in 1899 and exhibited a year later, but Homer slightly readjusted its drama over the next six years. By 1906, when the Met purchased the painting, he had added a ship on the horizon to the far left, implying that conditions might impro ... More



The Best Photos of the Day
Best Photos of the Day
Tim Van Laere Gallery is presenting Self Portraits and Nudes (Gesamtkunstwerk), Jonathan Meese's fifth solo exhibition at the gallery. Courtesy Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp.







With new museum, officials give techno the stamp of approval   Lost Easter tradition encapsulated in pair of rare oil paintings up for auction   Guildhall Art Gallery presents 'Inspired: Art inspired by theatre, literature and music'


A booth set up to the specifications of the DJ Sven Väth, at the new Museum of Modern Electronic Music in Frankfurt, Germany, April 4, 2022. Felix Schmitt/The New York Times.

by Thomas Rogers


FRANKFURT.- These days, this German city is known as a staid financial capital and home to the European Central Bank. But in the 1980s, it held another, more underground distinction, as a hub for Europe’s budding techno scene. Although the electronic music genre’s origins are largely in Detroit, Frankfurt’s clubs were among the first to bring the sound to Europeans. Among the most influential venues was Dorian Gray, a club with a famously decadent reputation. “It was a place for all the freaks of the night: drag queens, hard-core leather people, the cocaine crowd,” said Alex Azary, the director and a founder of Frankfurt’s new Museum of Modern Electronic Music. “When the subwoofer was turned up, your heartbeat would match the rhythm.” Now Azary has taken on the task of educating the mainstream public ... More
 

The Procession of the Easter Ox / Giving Out the Alms at a Ruined Church (One of a pair) Estimate for pair £20,000-£30,000.

LONDON.- Dreweatts unveiled a lost Easter tradition from the 17th century. The tradition carried out in Holland is encapsulated in a pair of oil works by revered Flemish artist Matthijs Schoevaerdts (1665-1723), coming up for auction in Dreweatts Old Master, British and European Art on May 26, 2022. The scenes show the Dutch tradition of butchers parading their finest animals proudly through the streets, set to drum rolls, where the whole town would come out waving banners and to bet on the weight of the animals. The parade took place a week before Easter, on the day of the Guild’s patron saint, St. Luke, who was symbolized by the winged ox. It celebrated the guild’s most prized cow or bull, which was decorated with gilded horns topped with oranges, as well as ribbons and floral garlands. The celebratory procession was led by pipers and drummers and followed by a chorus of singers and dancers, made up of guild members and townspeo ... More
 

Inspired! The Guildhall Art Gallery. Photo: Paul Clarke Photography.

LONDON.- Guildhall Art Gallery is mounting a fascinating new exhibition examining the ways in which visual artists have taken inspiration from the literary arts. Inspired: Art inspired by theatre, literature and music explores the relationship between poetry, plays, novels and music with the visual arts. Guildhall Art Gallery, which is owned and managed by the City of London Corporation, is situated on an historic and culturally significant location, Guildhall Yard – the site of London’s Roman Amphitheatre – and houses a nationally important art collection. Established in 1886, visitors can view works of art dating from 1670 to the present day, including 17th century portraits, Pre-Raphaelite masterpieces and an extensive range of paintings documenting London’s history. Novels were increasingly popular during the 19th century and, in reaction to Industrialisation, many Victorians valued nostalgic and Romantic novels and poetry, looking to Shakespeare’s history ... More



Exhibition at Paula Cooper Gallery focuses on Robert Grosvenor's smaller works   "15 Positives": Gus Van Sant at Dries Van Noten's The Little House, LA   Juanjo Guarnido at the PAFF! gallery in Pordenone


Robert Grosvenor, Untitled, 2019. Sheet metal, auto body filler, spray paint, 41 x 60 x 28 in. (104.1 x 152.4 x 71.1 cm).

NEW YORK, NY.- Known for large scale sculptural interventions, the current exhibition at Paula Cooper Gallery focuses instead on Robert Grosvenor’s smaller works. Recent sculpture, found objects from the artist’s personal collection, and new photographs underline the elusive nature of Grosvenor’s practice. The exhibition coincides with Grosvenor’s participation in the Venice Biennale, which opens on April 23rd. A prolonged fascination with the aerodynamics of machinery and vehicular shapes has increasingly informed the refined form and vibrant color of Grosvenor’s recent sculpture. An acidic green cone, made from industrial materials shaped by hand, presents a concise summary of these positions. The boundaries between found object and sculpture are further blurred in a pair of yellow fenders fitted with wheels by the artist, transforming the objects–which already exuded Grosvenor’s sculptural sensibilit ... More
 

Gus Van Sant, Patricia Arquette. Silver gelatin prints are signed, numbered and framed, 30x40 inches (76,2x101,6 cm) in a limited edition of 2 + 1 AP. © Gus Van Sant.

LOS ANGELES, CA.- Die Plek is presenting the first U.S. exhibition of Gus Van Sant’s photographic works in over a decade. Some of these portraits were taken in the 1980s and 1990s while casting his provocative and pioneering films Mala Noche, Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, and To Die For. Even as Van Sant successfully works within Hollywood, he is an artist who subverts protocol and pushes standard definitions of character and storytelling, including casting amateur actors alongside Hollywood’s biggest names, as reflected here. 15 Positives is his vision from that periphery. In these oversized portraits one senses the ease and distinct personality of the individual before the camera. At the same time, the viewer forgets what makes each person different from the other. The takeaway is a sense of connection between each portrait and the viewer, and between the seemingly disparate ... More
 

Juanjo Guarnido, BLACKSAD Amarillo, pag 7 vol 5 © Gino Nardo.

PORDENONE.- The PAFF! (Palazzo Arti Fumetto Friuli) gallery opened its doors for the new exhibition of Juanjo Guarnido, from 8 April until 10 July, at Viale Dante 33, Pordenone. The exhibition has been organised in collaboration with 9eme Art Références in Paris, continuing their partnership following the resounding success of previous exhibitions featuring Milton Caniff and Marvel & DC masters. Juanjo Guarnido's talent quickly brought him international recognition. Born in Granada in 1967, he developed a passion for drawing at a young age, devouring the comic-book section of the Salobreña municipal library. In his twenties, he studied painting in Madrid and France, before a successful move to the United States. The height of his fame came with the publication of Blacksad. Each episode, rich in cultural references, stood out for the verve and originality of the scripts and drawings that perfectly convey the expressive variety, gestures and body language ... More



The Städel Museum opens an exhibition dedicated to American art on paper from 1945 to the present   Exhibition at Almine Rech presents a selection of works by artist Eugène Leroy   Prinseps auction: Artist Somnath Hore's artworks to go under the hammer on 29th April


Exhibition view "Into the New. Being Human: From Pollock to Bourgeois". Photo: Städel Museum – Norbert Miguletz.

FRANKFURT.- After more than twenty-five years, the Städel Museum is once again dedicating an exhibition to American art on paper from 1945 to the present. From 6 April to 17 July 2022, some fifty outstanding prints, drawings, and multiples by artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Chuck Close, Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, Bruce Nauman, Jackson Pollock, Larry Rivers, Kiki Smith, or Kara Walker are presented, all of which deal with the theme of being human. American art of the past eighty years is full of boundary crossings and contradictions. It is as unconventional as it is multifaceted: Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Concept Art, Minimal and Performance Art. In a relatively short period of time after 1945, various and at times contradictory aesthetic concepts developed in New York and (later) on the West Coast. Artists chose their media and materials freely and strategically – depending on the message they wanted to convey. ... More
 

Eugène Leroy, Tête, 1998-1999 - Oil on canvas - 61 x 50 cm, 24 1/2 x 19 1/2 in / © Eugène Leroy - Courtesy of the Artist and Almine Rech.

PARIS.- Almine Rech is presenting 'Mythe', a selection of works by artist Eugène Leroy, on view from April 9 to May 28, 2022. Simultaneously, the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris is devoting an important retrospective to Eugène Leroy, from April 15 to August 28, 2022. This exhibition will bring together approximately one hundred and fifty painting and graphic works, significant of the evolution of the artist's practice. Born in 1910, Eugène Leroy spent long hours as a student at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Lille, spending much of his time in front of paintings by Rubens. He soon began to reject the academic conventions that had been instilled in him. Weary of his studies, he continued his education by going to Flemish museums, where he was especially moved by Rembrandt’s work. His wanderings expanded to all of Europe and beyond its borders. He was determined to learn from painters who “see what he would like to be ... More
 

The key highlight of the auction includes Lot 42, Somnath Hore's Untitled (Seated Lady; Flowers, 1942), which depicts a woman seated in a waiting stance. Image courtesy of Prinseps.

MUMBAI.- Prinseps are set to open their auction season with Somnath Hore’s works on paper, which will be open to online bidding, offering 82 lots that will go under the hammer on 29th April 2022. Somnath Hore’s works are considered to be the most expressive objectification of the essence of wounded humanity. The upcoming auction will offer each of Hore’s physical works on paper. All 82 works on paper carry an estimate of INR 50,000 - INR 5,00,000. In Somnath’s vision, it is the spectacle of man’s suffering that steals the show. Hore's paintings, prints, and drawings reveal a torn and injured world depicting a kind of social realism. His body of work is an understanding of the human predicament that took shape from encountering the wars, the Japanese bombings, and the man-made famine he experienced in his early adulthood. The key highlights of the upcoming ... More


The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts opens 'Scottish Women Artists: Transforming Tradition'   Shannon's Fine Art Auction will be held online, April 28th   Kossmanndejong and Morphosis create an immersive art installation around 'Growth, what is that?'


Beatrice Huntington, The Cellist, 1925. Oil on canvas. The Fleming Collection. © The William Syson Foundation.

NORWICH.- Scottish Women Artists: Transforming Tradition brings together more than 50 historical, modern and contemporary works from the Fleming Collection and artists’ loans that span over one hundred years of social transformation, innovation and individualism. Mid-20th-century greats, such as Joan Eardley, Margot Sandeman and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, are displayed alongside their peers and artistic forbears along with contemporary headliners such as Turner prize winner Charlotte Prodger and 2022 Scotland in Venice star, Alberta Whittle. Scottish Women Artists aims to address a wide and eclectic range of themes by focusing on paintings, drawings, assemblages and photography that explore human relationships, encounters with places, structural forms and recognisable objects. In this way, traditional genres such as the still life, landscape and portraiture are reinvigorated by the artists’ imaginative treatment of familiar ... More
 

Oil on canvas by Guy Carleton Wiggins (American, 1883–1962), titled Broad St. and the Sub Treasury, signed, 30 inches by 25 inches (est. $100,000-$150,000).

MILFORD, CONN.- Shannon’s Fine Art Auction planned for Thursday, April 28th, at 6 pm Eastern time, will include leading lots by Charles Burchfield, Francis A. Silva, Guy C. Wiggins and more. A public preview begins on Monday, April 18th at Shannon’s galley in Milford. The full catalog, preview hours and sale information are available now, at shannons.com. Headlining the auction are three exceptional works by Charles Burchfield (American, (1893-1967). Nighthawks and the Moon, (1965) 1966, 35 inches by 26 inches, was exhibited at ACA Galleries in New York in 1970. The watercolor work is a nocturnal scene of nighthawks circling the moon. In the foreground trees and flowers vibrate in the moonlight, lending a mysterious air to the composition. This painting is easily among the artist’s best (est. $200,000-$300,000). Another stellar Burchfield, Fires of Spring in Big Woods, measures 40 inches ... More
 

'Walking through this exhibition, it feels like being submerged in an underwater world.'

MALMO.- Growth is something we all strive for. As something beyond questioning. Meanwhile, exponential growth intrinsically connected to our market system is leading to the collapse of vital systems, jeopardizing our very existence. How to get out of this self-induced trap? This exhibition is approached as an immersive art installation, it is designed as an experimental tool to rethink growth by shedding light on different interpretations of growth more beneficial to humanity. In it, abstract notions and concepts are translated into actual physical shapes and forms. Equally abstract, they challenge visitors to relate both mentally and physically to the questions of growth and what it really means to them. Is what we call growth actually growth? The “market” acts as an authority and point of reference in our lives. It has taken hostage of our common idea of growth. To endure the pain, we collectively embark on a quest of “fixing the problem”, using the same approach that got ... More




Music at the Banquet: A Chen Yifei Masterwork from the Shaw Collection



More News

Gazelli Art House opens first UK solo exhibition of new works by Aida Mahmudova
LONDON.- Gazelli Art House is presenting Liminality, its first UK solo exhibition of new works by Aida Mahmudova. Curated by Alistair Hicks, the Azerbaijani artist presents a new body that comment on her rapidly modernising country's forgotten and marginal corners that uses art as an outlet to give a feeling of stability to co-exist in this unprecedented environment. Art gives no boundaries and opens to any communicational variations for the artist. The concept of space is closely investigated through the lens of the artist. As Mahmudova explains, “we exist within space, we co-exist in parallel, and space exists within us.” Space can be a place where one physically or spiritually exists, creating the concept of one’s reality and illusions. Marc Augé’s concept of non-places explores the idea of transition or the liminal, as a crossroads ... More

India Rose James Guest curates art on a postcard auction to raise funds for Choose Love's ukrainian appeal
LONDON.- Courtney Love has joined the incredible line-up for Art on a Postcard’s April auction with curator and gallerist India Rose James. Love will feature alongside artists including Joe Lycett, Alma Berrow, Danny Fox, Olivia Sterling, Nettle Grellier and Layla Andrews, who have created unique postcard sized masterpieces. A selection of thirty handmade postcards by leading rising talents will be auctioned with bidding starting at just £50. All proceeds will go to CHOOSE LOVE in support of their Ukrainian appeal. “We are so pleased to have Courtney Love, the music icon, contribute to this auction with her striking and emotive style.” - India Rose James Art on a Postcard was founded by Gemma ... More

The Photographers' Gallery opens 'For the Record: Photography & the Art of the Album Cover'
LONDON.- For the Record: Photography & the Art of the Album Cover celebrates the unique ‘object d’art’ that is the Album Cover and reflects upon its role in shaping and making artists - both in front of and behind the camera. From Robert Frank’s legendary imagery for The Rolling Stones, Annie Leibovitz’s visionary work with Cyndi Lauper, Jean-Paul Goude’s unforgettable Grace Jones covers, Herb Ritts’ iconic image of Madonna, Jean Baptiste Mondino’s Prince, Irving Penn’s mesmerising close up of Miles Davies, to Robert Mappelthorpe’s intimate portrait of Patti Smith, the creative collaborations between visual and recording artists is the stuff of musical and photographic history - and the point of departure for this exhibition. For the Record brings together over 200 album covers, highlighting the central role photography plays ... More

National Academy of Design announces publication of completed Eastman Johnson catalogue raisonné
NEW YORK, NY.- The National Academy of Design announced the publication of the Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné: Drawings & Prints on April 5, the anniversary of the artist’s death. The addition of this section completes the catalogue raisonné of American artist Eastman Johnson, following the section dedicated to his paintings that was first published online in July 2021. The Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné (EJCR) is founded and directed by Dr. Patricia Hills, project managed by Abigael MacGibeny, and stewarded by the National Academy of Design. The catalogue is based on Dr. Hills’s decades-long research on Johnson’s artwork, dating to the 1972 monographic exhibition of his work at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Celebrating the artist’s substantial contributions to the development of American genre and portrait ... More

Jonathan Meese's fifth solo exhibition at Tim Van Laere Gallery opens in Antwerp
ANTWERP.- Tim Van Laere Gallery is presenting Self Portraits and Nudes (Gesamtkunstwerk), Jonathan Meese’s fifth solo exhibition at the gallery. Jonathan Meese (b. 1970 Tokyo, lives and works in Berlin and Hamburg) is renowned for his multifaceted work, including wildly exuberant paintings, installations, ecstatic performances and a powerful body of sculptures in a variety of media. Seemingly effortless, he has developed in all genres an independent and at the same time unique vocabulary that gives his work a variety, visual energy and quality, which, according to Robert Fleck, has been unheard of since Picasso. Meese creates an elaborate personal mythology with characters inspired by history, legends and science fiction. In his works you will find a hard to decipher system of signs, badges, neologisms, symbols ... More

For this opera director, a lot is riding on a 'Handmaid's Tale'
LONDON.- Annilese Miskimmon, a British opera director, looked tired and frazzled when she appeared on a recent video call. She was taking a short break from rehearsing “The Handmaid’s Tale” — the first production at English National Opera she is directing since taking over its artistic leadership in the middle of the pandemic. Those rehearsals had not been running smoothly, Miskimmon said, and had been hit by a recent surge in coronavirus cases in England. For a few weeks, the production had been rehearsing partly online. “This is Zoom stress more than opera stress,” she added, with an awkward laugh. She had already canceled two nights of the run, which now consists of just four performances, from April 8 through April 14. Miskimmon said she chose “The Handmaid’s Tale” for her English National Opera debut because ... More

Two musicians of color are creating their own space
NEW YORK, NY.- Several years ago, when bass-baritone Davóne Tines was starring in Kaija Saariaho’s “Only the Sound Remains” at the Paris Opera, he stepped out of his dressing room and saw something surprising: another person of color. It was violinist Jennifer Koh, whom Saariaho had invited to see the show. Koh noticed the same thing. She, an American daughter of Korean refugees, and he, a Black American, were outliers in a crowd of white people. There was, Tines recalled, “a line of connection there that we had without really having met or talked.” “I think that line of connection,” he added, “was the beginning of our relationship, which continued to deepen with the development of this piece.” Tines was referring to “Everything Rises,” an hourlong work that he and Koh have been collaborating on since they met. It has ... More

Ayodele Casel is on tap for 'Funny Girl'
NEW YORK, NY.- When chorus auditions began in December for the buzzy revival of “Funny Girl” on Broadway, many hopefuls struggled with the tap dance combination. Some, recalled a choreographer, stopped midway through, made prayer hands of gratitude and exited. If they came expecting simple eight-counts, they were confronted with a far more intricate, rhythmic “Rubik’s Cube,” according to Jared Grimes, 38, the actor and professional tap dancer who plays the role of Eddie Ryan, mentor to showgirl Fanny Brice, played by Beanie Feldstein. The “mad scientist” — Grimes’ description — behind the rigorous footwork was Ayodele Casel, a master tap dancer who will make her Broadway debut with a unique creative billing: tap choreographer. It’s a credit that rarely, if ever, appears in the mainstream theater world. Ellenore ... More

The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art opens a group exhibition
CHICAGO, IL.- The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art opened a new group exhibition titled Wanting it Both Ways, featuring mixed media works by Bill Conger, Tanya Hastings Gill, Mie Kongo, and Jennifer Mannebach. Before it became synonymous with a defect or shortcoming, the etymology of the word “flaw” related to a fragment, splinter, or piece of something, and was closely associated with the idea of a stray ember. A fragment or “flaw” as a spark, a glowing ember, is an incendiary condition quite different from the more typical notion of a fragment as a leftover or remnant. These insistent fragments may preserve a fleeting moment or memory; something that is not embalmed in time but is a flickering touchstone to revisit and find more–more permutations, more iterations, and more potentialities. These artists contend with the desire to capture a sense of the fugitive, often manifesting in fragmented forms that speak to the ... More

U-M Museum of Art and Monument Lab partner for public art commission
ANN ARBOR, MICH.- The University of Michigan Museum of Art announced a partnership today with renowned nonprofit public art and history studio Monument Lab that will examine the role of historic structures at the University of Michigan (U-M) in upholding social and cultural systems and narratives. The initiative, which will include new research, community engagement, and the development of a newly commissioned art installation, will be led by Dr. Paul Farber, director and co-founder of Monument Lab, and Ozi Uduma, UMMA’s Assistant Curator of Global Contemporary Art, both graduates of U-M. In conjunction with this partnership, Dr. Farber will also serve as the University of Michigan Arts Initiative’s first-ever Curator-in-Residence. The partnership between UMMA and Monument Lab supports critical dialogues ... More

Broadway bets big on a spring rebound. Will the virus cooperate?
NEW YORK, NY.- After a gloomy winter in which the omicron variant shriveled Broadway’s lucrative holiday season, New York’s vaunted theater industry has been betting on a big spring, nearly doubling the number of shows on offer as the pandemic-battered business thirsts for a rebound. Adding all those plays and musicals — 16 new productions plus three returning from hiatuses are opening over a five-week stretch — was always going to be a gamble, since no one knows, in this not-yet-post-pandemic era, whether there are enough tourists and theatergoing locals to sustain that many shows. And now the stubborn persistence of the coronavirus is complicating matters even further. A rising number of cases in New York City, coinciding with the arrival of the virus’s BA. 2 subvariant, has once again rocked Broadway, ... More


PhotoGalleries

Miró. His Most Intimate Legacy

The Wild Game

Murillo: Picturing the Prodigal Son

The 8 X Jeff Koons


Flashback
On a day like today, American artist Chris Burden was born
April 11, 1946. Christopher Lee "Chris" Burden (April 11, 1946 - May 10, 2015) was an American artist working in performance, sculpture and installation art. In this image: Operator Alison Walker watches miniature cars move along the roads in Chris Burden's latest kinetic sculpture, "Metropolis II," at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in Los Angeles.

  
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