| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Thursday, January 2, 2020 |
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| | The Belle Ãpoque comes to life through stunning exhibition in Vero Beach | |
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Eugène Grasset, La Marque Georges Richard/Cycles & Automobiles, 1899, color lithograph, Photograph by John Faier, © 2015, The Richard H. Driehaus Museum.
VERO BEACH, FLA.- The Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL is presenting LAffichomania: The Passion for French Posters, a colorful exhibition of lithographic posters and ephemera that brings to life the exuberant spirit of Frances Belle Ãpoque. LAffichomania is on view at the Vero Beach Museum of Art through January 12, 2020. Celebrating the inexhaustible energy of fin-de-siècle Paris, LAffichomania: The Passion for French Posters features lithographic prints by the five grand masters of the medium: Jules Chéret, the father of the modern poster; Eugène Grasset, who explored feminine beauty in rich, medieval settings; Alphonse Mucha, known for depicting sensuous women and the whiplash curves of their tresses; Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, creator of some of the best-loved images of the era; and finally Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who pointed the way to modernism. These pioneering artists defined a never-before-seen and never ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Heather Gaudio Fine Art is presenting Jessica Drenk: Second Nature," the artist's first solo exhibition at the gallery. The runs through January 11th. For Drenk, the material is the starting point of her artistic inquiry, an exploration that takes her from simple notions and ideas to complex expressions of information, systems and patterns. The exhibition features a new body of work emerging from mass-produced utilitarian and readily discarded objects: plastic bags.
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 | | Exhibition at Kunstmuseum Basel pays homage to its most important patron | | Museums throw open the storage rooms, letting in the public | | Berlinische Galerie acquires a work by Lotte Laserstein | 
Attributed to Titian, Bildnis des Pietro Aretino, 1527 (?). Ãl auf Leinwand Masse: HxB: 58.5 x 46.5 cm. Inv. Nr.: 1351. Kunstmuseum Basel- Schenkung der Prof. J.J. Bachofen-Burckhardt-Stiftung. Photo: Kunstmuseum Basel, Martin P. Bühler.
BASEL.- A hundred years after the death of Louise Bachofen-Burckhardt (18451920), the Kunstmuseum pays homage to its most important patron in the early twentieth century. The exhibition in the main buildings ground floor galleries presents many of the outstanding works that Bachofen-Burckhardt secured for the museum. It is my ardent hope that I will yet be able to acquire many a fine piece for the beloved city of my ancestors, the collector wrote to Wilhelm von Bode in January 1916; the eminent art historian, who led the Berlin State Museums from 1905 until 1920, regularly sent her recommendations on paintings to purchase. Her ambitious objective was a fundamental transformation of the Ãffentliche Kunstsammlung, the public art collection of the City of Basel: a treasure of regional significance with an emphasis on art from the Upper Rhine Valley, it ... More | | 
The Depot will be the first museum storage facility in the world to offer public access to the largest part of the 151.000 artworks from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen collection without the mediation of a curator. Image: courtesy of MVRDV and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.
by Nina Siegal
ROTTERDAM (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Sjarel Ex stood in the basement of the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, ankle-deep in rising waters, facing a Sophies choice. Rotterdams fire chief had told him that the collection of paintings would be destroyed within 30 minutes unless Ex, a co-director of the museum, gave permission to sandbag the library, sacrificing the books. In the end, the art was saved and only a couple of hundred volumes lost. But the 2013 event catalyzed Exs campaign to move the collection. From that moment on, we were not so very polite about the need to have a new storage facility, he said. He fought for this as part of a plan to close the 1935 museum for renovations, which were already under discussion. ... More | | 
Lotte Laserstein, Lady with Red Beret, ca 1931, charcoal, pastel, chalk, gouache and oil on paper, 65 x 50 cm, Berlinische Galerie. Photo: Anja Elisabeth Witte, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019.
BERLIN.- Thanks to a number of extremely well-visited exhibitions, including in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main, the rediscovery of the painter Lotte Laserstein (18981993) and her recognition by art historians are now secure. As a consequence, more and more museums are keen to acquire her works. However, most paintings by this outstanding artist, who was threatened by the Nazis and saved by exile in Sweden, are still in the possession of private collectors. This means that not many of her extraordinarily sensitive portraits are permanently accessible to the public. Having given our substantial backing to the highly successful Lotte Laserstein exhibition, we Friends of the Berlinische Galerie were also eager to support the museum in acquiring a work by the artist. This is an important addition to the collection. (Jens-Rainer Jänig, Chairman of the Förderverein) Now the Berlinische Galerie has, indeed, had the ... More |
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| | Woody Vasulka, whose video art extended boundaries, dies at 82 | | Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Paris presents an exhibition devoted to Irving Penn's still lifes | | Mourning Iraq's destruction, a native son creates | 
The video artist Woody Vasulka, seated, at the Kitchen, the Manhattan performance space he founded with his wife and collaborator, on Oct. 21, 1971. Barton Silverman/The New York Times.
by Richard Sandomir
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Woody Vasulka, an experimental video artist who found inspiration in sources as diverse as René Magritte, nuclear war and technology, and who was a founder of the Kitchen, the landmark avant-garde performance space in New York, died Dec. 20 at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was 82. His death was confirmed by his wife, Steinunn (Bjarnadottir) Vasulka, known as Steina, who was an occasional collaborator on Woody Vasulkas projects. She said she did not know the cause. In the early 1970s, Vasulka was one of a group of avant-garde artists who saw video as an emerging medium as compelling as film, sculpture and painting. Video is an art unto itself, with its own reality, visual language and its own conception of time and space, he told The New York Times in 1972 when he organized a video festival of mostly abstract works at the Kitchen, which he ... More | | 
Irving Penn, Single Oriental Poppy (C), New York, 1968. Pigment print mounted to board, print made 2007. Image: 15,37 x 12,5 in. © The Irving Penn Foundation. Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London · Paris · Salzburg.
PARIS.- Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Paris is presenting the exhibition Still Life by American photographer Irving Penn (1917-2009), devoted to his still lifes, including the well-known series Street Material, Cigarettes and Flowers. The exhibition features a selection of photographs taken in New York over six decades for publications such as Vogue, as well as on his travels. Irving Penn created some of the most memorable still lifes of the 20th century, and his innovative approach made his reputation as one of the most high-profile and influential photographers of his time. Irving Penn began his career as a photographer in 1943 at the suggestion and with the encouragement of Alexander Liberman, then art director of US Vogue. The same year, one of Irving Penns colour photographs for Vogue appeared on the cover of their October issue, showing the first photographic still life in the magazine's recent history. In the ensuing 60 years, he took m ... More | | 
Dia Al-Azzawi, an Iraqi artist whose paintings and sculpture often focuses on the grim consequences of war, at his studio in London, Nov. 22, 2019. Ellie Smith/The New York Times.
by Neil MacFarquhar
LONDON (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- About a year after U.S. forces seized Baghdad, an Iraqi man approached artist Dia al-Azzawi in a cafe in Amman, Jordan, and offered to sell him several rare paintings. Azzawi, who helped to assemble collections for various Iraqi museums in the 1960s and 1970s, knew that two of the works had been plundered from Baghdads Museum of Modern Art. He failed to persuade the man to return them. Years later, Azzawi still finds it unfathomable that Iraqis pillaged various national museums in 2003 while the U.S. troops who had toppled Saddam Hussein watched. All the people who went to steal everything, to destroy everything, they did it without realizing that all this stuff does not belong to the government, it did not belong to Saddam, it belonged to them, he said during a lengthy interview at his London studio. They lost their identity, they did not care about anything. For him, that wanton ... More |
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| | Book offers the most comprehensive overview of Christo and Jeanne[Claude to date | | Couture creations for dancing bodies | | The Regional Government 0f Bizkaia agrees to house Zubieta's Goyas in the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum for 7 years | 
Hundreds of photographs and drawings trace the couples unparalleled oeuvre and offer a glimpse at works in progress like The Abu Dhabi Mastaba and LArc de Triomphe Wrapped, Paris.
NEW YORK, NY.- Part biography, part critical analysis, part catalogue, this updated edition brings back TASCHENs best-selling Collectors Edition, designed by Christo himself. It spans Christo and Jeanne-Claudes entire work, from early drawings and family photos to plans for future projects. Hundreds of photographs and drawings trace the couples projects from the past 10 years, including The Floating Piers and The London Mastaba, as well as works in progress such as The Mastaba of Abu Dhabi and LArc de Triomphe Wrapped, Paris. In addition to comprehensive photographic documentation by Wolfgang Volz and an updated introduction by Paul Goldberger, the book features a conversation between the artists and the author. It was the last conversation about their work that Jeanne-Claude had before her passing in 2009. The result is an eloquent homage to Jeanne-Claude and a celebration of the work ... More | | 
Iris van Herpens metallic tutu (hold the tulle) for Benjamin Millepieds Clear, Loud, Bright Forward (2015). Via Centre National du Costume de Scène via The New York Times.
by Roslyn Sulcas
MOULINS (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Soft jersey bathing suits, molded on the body, fitted pink cloche caps framing the face. These were Coco Chanels simple yet revolutionary designs for the Ballets Russes Le Train Bleu (1924), a dance about gilded youth at the seaside, doing calisthenics and playing tennis and golf. Chanel was just one of a star-studded artistic team: The scenario was by Cocteau, the front curtain by Picasso, the choreography by Bronislava Nijinska and the score by Darius Milhaud. But in choosing Chanel to design the costumes, the ballets founder, Sergei Diaghilev, as so often, broke new ground. Chanel was the first couturier to create costumes for the stage, said Philippe Noisette, the curator of Couturiers de la Danse, an exhibition that continues through May 3 at the Centre National du Costume de ... More | | 
The findings of the ambitious research project carried out by the museum have been set down in the digital publication The Goyas of Zubieta.
BILBAO.- On April 26, the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum put on display the Goyas of Zubieta, three portraits of the Adán de Yarza family painted by Francisco de Goya at the end of the decade of the 1780s. Up until then, and following their evacuation to France by the Basque government in 1937 for their safekeeping during the Civil War, they had only been known through academic references and in the press and through photographs from the era. Since then, and with no change in ownership, the three portraits have remained intact and in the most absolute anonymity, but thanks to the wishes of their descendants, it has been possible to restore, study and exhibit them for the first time to the public and to the scientific community in the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, where they are on display together with historic documentation and with the original case they were transported in eight decades ago. In these months of public showing, the owners have ... More |
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| | Arte Fiera announces the list of galleries participating at its 44th edition | | Major exhibition of early works by Alan Davie and David Hockney on view at The Hepworth Wakefield | | Munnings Art Museum announces lavish new book of previously unseen letters between the artist and his wife | 
Mario Nigro, Spazio totale: divergenze in rosso, 1959. Tempera su tela, 162x114,5 cm © A arte Invernizzi, Milano.
BOLOGNA.- Arte Fiera announced the list of galleries participating at its 44th edition, which will take place in Bologna from January 24 to 26, 2020, in halls 15 and 18 (VIP preview and vernissage on Thursday, January 23). For the second consecutive year, the artistic director is Simone Menegoi and Arte Fiera will continue its innovation mission, started with the successful 2019 edition, confirming its international calling but with a strong emphasis on Italian art from the 20th and 21st centuries. Together with the Main Section, there will be three sections by invitation only. One of them is Photography and Moving Images, launched in 2019: a showcase dedicated to video and photography, the media that, more than any other, shape our daily visual horizon. They will be considered by themselves and in dialogue with contemporary art languages. The section will be again entrusted to Fantom, the curatorial ... More | | 
David Hockney, Arizona, 1964 (detail). © David Hockney.
WAKEFIELD.- The Hepworth Wakefield is presenting a major exhibition of early works by Alan Davie (1920 2014) and David Hockney (b. 1937) that explores creative convergences between these major figures of post-war British painting in the years spanning 1948 to 1965. In 1958, Alan Davie held his first retrospective exhibition at the former Wakefield Art Gallery. It went on to tour nationally, including to the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London an iteration of the exhibition that is often cited as Davies break-through moment. A young David Hockney, who had recently graduated from Bradford College of Art, visited the Wakefield exhibition and saw Davie talking about his work. This encounter was a pivotal influence on Hockneys artistic development, offering early exposure to large-scale colourful abstract painting more commonly seen at the time in the small black-and-white reproductions of art magazines. Pa ... More | | 
Sir Alfred Munnings, 1944, by Maurice Codnor, courtesy The Estate of Sir Alfred Munnings.
DEDHAM.- Following its hugely popular 2019 exhibition, Behind the Lines: Alfred Munnings War Artist, 1918, The Munnings Art Museum will in 2020 publish a book, based on a cache of letters between the artist and his wife, casting new light on his life as a much-in-demand painter. As Behind the Lines evocatively revealed, Munnings portrayals of Canadian troops and their horses serving in France during World War One were received with such great acclaim - when they were originally exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1919 - that they opened up a career for him as an equestrian portraitist for wealthy, aristocratic and indeed, royal patrons. Not only that, he quickly developed a reputation as an artist of international renown and this, in turn, earned him a knighthood and the Presidency of the Royal Academy. Many of those early commissioned portraits painted after the 1919 exhibition required Munnings ... More |
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2019 in Review: Happy New Year From Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac.
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 Museum of Anthropology explores urgent social issues through ceramic arts in new exhibitionVANCOUVER.- The Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at UBC presents the thought-provoking exhibition, Playing with Fire: Ceramics of the Extraordinary, on display from November 22, 2019 to March 29, 2020. Showcasing a group of 11 highly celebrated BC-based artists, this premiere exhibition of ceramic works expresses strong opinions on urgent social issues and offers subtle perspectives on the state of our contemporary world. While at first glance these works may appear very approachable through a lens of nostalgia, beauty, or humour, upon closer inspection they reveal much deeper commentaries on social injustice, racism, identity, and censorship. This powerful exhibition invites visitors to explore the many layers of understanding each of these provocative works embody, boldly demonstrating clays myriad discursive possibilities. ... More 'Don't believe a word,' a look at language and power (and why dolphins have accents)NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- This morning, a couple stood outside my window, arguing. What does that mean? the woman kept saying. What does that even mean? It doesnt mean anything, the man kept responding. Listen to what I am saying. You know what Im saying. What does that mean? she said, and finally, with dangerous composure: Im so glad we had this conversation. Its astonishing that humans are expected to make our way in the world with language alone. To speak is an incomparable act / of faith, the poet Craig Morgan Teicher has written. What proof do we have / that when I say mouse, you do not think / of a stop sign? Dont Believe a Word, a new book by Guardian writer and editor David Shariatmadari, delves into the riddles of language: the opacities, ambushes, dead ends, sudden ecstasies. Its a brisk ... More Exhibition features some of the best international Indigenous contemporary artOTTAWA.- Visitors to the large-scale exhibition Ãbadakone | Continuous Fire | Feu continuel, on view at the National Gallery of Canada are being immersed in Indigenous contemporary art. The Gallerys second exhibition in a recurring series featuring some of the best international Indigenous contemporary art brings together more than 100 works by some 70 artists identifying with approximately 40 Indigenous Nations, ethnicities, and tribal affiliations from 16 countries, including Canada. Ãbadakone | Continuous Fire | Feu continuel is on view until April 5, 2020. The exhibition begins in the Gallerys main entrance with a monumental installation by internationally renowned Sámi artist and architect Joar Nango, from Sápmi (Northern Norway). Titled Sámi Architectural Library, 2019, this commissioned work created in situ draws ... More Retrospective on the work of Mario Merz on view at the Museo Reina SofÃa in MadridMADRID.- This retrospective on the work of Mario Merz (Milan, Italy, 1925 Milan, Italy, 2003) surveys the provenance of a body of work suspended in a kind of pre-historic time, at odds with the discourse of modern-era history. This anachronistic perspective, apparent in the choice of materials and iconography, stems from the ideological and committed stance of an artist and his relation to the political and intellectual climate in Italy in the 1960s and 1970s, in addition to his rejection of pervasive capitalism and the American way of life after the Second World War. Merzs practice, linked to Arte Povera, incorporates different key characteristics that the coetaneous art critic Germano Celant identified with this movement: in addition to its opposition to the post-industrial society of consumerism, we find a conscious use of organic materials such as clay, branches, ... More Johanna Kandl explores the physical dimension of artworks in exhibition at the Lower BelvedereVIENNA.- Minerals from Cyprus, gum arabic from Sudan, cochineals from Lanzarote: a pictures material in tandem with its subject matter has its own story to tell; vivid accounts of people, their lives, and their surroundings. In her exhibition at the Orangery of the Lower Belvedere, the Austrian artist Johanna Kandl explores the physical dimension of artworks. Kandl juxtaposes her own works with paintings from the Belvedere collection, a few loans, and with the raw materials used in painting. In her large-scale multimedia installation, these materials serve the role of narrator, telling the story of the substance of paints and colorants. Stella Rollig, Belvedere CEO, says: Johanna Kandl is a painter whose body of work references the world around her. Now, she pursues the material side of her media its meaning and origins ... More Folk puppets keeping heritage of Egyptian satire aliveCAIRO (AFP).- In an era of on-screen entertainment,a simple glove puppet named Aragoz still lures Egyptian audiences with comic sketches showing how wits and skill can defeat the thuggish and corrupt. Recounting stories with a thought-provoking moral in their tale, puppeteers evoke peels of laughter from spectators, mainly children, as they enact Aragoz's exploits, some of which date back centuries to Ottoman times. "I fell in love with Aragoz as I grew up. Everyone loves it actually," said Sabry Metawly, one of a diminishing band of veteran puppeteers still putting on performances of Egypt's most adored folk figure. "It has clicked with the people because it represents them. It succeeds where they cannot by challenging and winning against rivals." The squeaky-voiced puppet, with a wooden head, red conical hat, thin painted moustache and a bright red ... More First New York exhibition by The Beautiful Project on view at The Met's Education CenterNEW YORK, NY.- The exhibition Pen, Lens & Soul: The Story of The Beautiful Project is on view in The Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it will be on view through February 24, 2020. Pen, Lens & Soul, the first New York exhibition created by The Beautiful Project, presents over a decade of work by image makers and storytellers, including young artists as well as their adult mentors and coaches, who create spaces for black girls and women to express their power and beauty. The exhibition features photography and writing from young artists who have been trained to use the camera and pen to document how they see the world and their aspirations. Founded in 2004, The Beautiful Project is a collective of black artists, scholars, and educators who encourage and equip black girls and women ... More Adam Driver has put everything he's got on screenNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Adam Driver has resting sphinx face. I dont say this because of his memorably unusual features, though a long nose, full lips, and paintbrush flick of moles and freckles certainly help give Driver an outsized countenance. Its more that he has a manner so resolute that when some emotion does manage to escape whether through a glint in his eyes or the unpredictable undulations of his voice that transgression cannot help but take you by surprise. This remains true no matter how often you watch him, and in 2019, you may have watched him quite a bit. In the spring, Driver could be seen simultaneously in Burn This on Broadway and Jim Jarmuschs zombie film, The Dead Dont Die, and three more of his movies spilled forth in the last two months: The Report, in which he played a Senate staffer ... More Review: Anna Netrebko rings in the year with a Met GalaNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- The Metropolitan Opera used to like to ring in the new year with a starry gala. But Peter Gelb, the companys general manager since 2006, has preferred to use the occasion to unveil new productions, combining the festive evening with ambitious artistic statements. On paper, this New Years Eve looked like it was trading the ambition for pure festivity. It was a gift to the Mets reigning prima donna, soprano Anna Netrebko, and featured her in acts from three Puccini operas, conducted by the companys music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin. It was certainly a glittering showcase. But an artistic statement? Surprisingly so. Netrebko seized the moment to make a strong statement about how a major singer develops her artistry as she matures. Singing Mimì in Act 1 of La Bohème, there were shades of Netrebkos ... More Maria Phillips' Bellevue Arts Museum exhibition interrogates our relationship with plasticBELLEVUE, WA.- Seattle artist Maria Phillips is taking plastic to task in a new exhibition at Bellevue Arts Museum. Hidden in Plain Sight is Phillips first solo museum exhibition and features works created using recycled materials and single-use consumer goods. Phillips exhibition follows her award-winning work in BAM Biennial 2016: Metalmorphosis. Hidden in Plain Sight examines our cultures relationship to plastic in two parts. The first features a series of jewelry pieces and small-scale works that serve as evidence of our impact on the environment, placing non-recyclable plastics somewhere between artifacts and art objects. These are accompanied by a video installation titled PlasticWater. The second half of the exhibition confronts viewers with a large-scale, immersive installation created from the ubiquitous and overlooked plastics that ... More Burning issue: China's incense makers toil ahead of Lunar New YearZAYTON (AFP).- Dozens of workers toil through the night coating thin lengths of bamboo in herbs, spices and richly coloured powders to create incense sticks that are spread out under the rising sun to dry. It is an important time of year for the villagers of Yongchun county, a mountainous area of southeastern Fujian province that supplies much of the world's incense. Now, the clock is ticking with the approach of the Lunar New Year holiday later this month, when countless Chinese will pray and burn incense at temples and in traditional ceremonies. The craft of producing incense runs deep in Dapu town, where Hong Zhongsen operates a family business passed down through the generations. "Making incense is very important for my family. It's not just a business. It's also to preserve an ancestral craft and a traditional religious culture," said Hong, 31, ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, Italian painter Piero di Cosimo was born January 02, 1462. Piero di Cosimo (2 January 1462 - 12 April 1522), also known as Piero di Lorenzo, was a Florentine painter of the Italian Renaissance. He is most famous for the mythological and allegorical subjects he painted in the late Quattrocento. In this image: Piero di Cosimo, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Elizabeth of Hungary, Catherine of Alexandria, Peter, and John the Evangelist with Angels, completed by 1493. Oil and tempera on panel, 203 x 197 cm (79 7/8 x 77 1/2 in.). Museo degli Innocenti, Florence.
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