Anni Albers combined the ancient craft of hand-weaving with the language of modern art, finding within the medium many possibilities for the expression of modern life.
LONDON.- This autumn Tate Modern is presenting the UK’s first major retrospective of the work of Anni Albers (1899–1994). This exhibition brings together her most important works from major collections in the US and Europe, many of which are being shown in the UK for the first time, to highlight Albers’s significance as an artist. Opening ahead of the centenary of the Bauhaus in 2019, this exhibition is long overdue recognition of Albers’s pivotal contribution to modern art and design, and part of Tate Modern’s wider commitment to showing artists working in textiles. Anni Albers combined the ancient craft of hand-weaving with the language of modern art, finding within the medium many possibilities for the expression of modern life. Featuring over 350 objects including beautiful small-scale studies, large wall-hangings, jewellery made from everyday items, ... More
Frans Hals, Portrait of Pieter Jacobsz Olycan, 1629/30. Frans Hals Museum. On loan from a private collection. Photo: Margareta Svensson.
HAARLEM.- Last week saw the opening of the sensational major exhibition Frans Hals and the Moderns in the Frans Hals Museum. This is the first time that Frans Hals’ paintings have been shown alongside reactions to his work by modern painters at the end of the 19th century. Through its own collection and some fifty loan works, the exhibition shows the enormous impact that Hals had on Modern painters, who considered him as one of their own: ‘Hals, c’est un moderne’ (quote from the Belgian magazine L’Art Moderne in 1883). ‘It is especially relevant that we are holding the exhibition that we have always “had to hold” at this particular point in time, because it is exactly 150 years since Frans Hals was rediscovered,’ according to Ann Demeester, Director of the museum. The exhibition shows how innovative Frans Hals was and can be seen at the Hof building from 13 October 2018 to 24 February 20 ... More
Alexander Calder, Sense títol, 1931. Fusta, ferro, filferro, planxa d'alumini, pintura i cordill, 120 x 74,3 x 30 cm. Col·lecció MACBA. Fundació MACBA.
BARCELONA.- In 1929 Barcelona hosted the International Exposition. Mies van der Rohe, in collaboration with Lilly Reich, designed the German Pavilion, otherwise known as ‘Barcelona Pavilion’. On the initiative of Josep lluís Sert and Josep Torres i Clavé, the GATCPAC (Group of Catalan Architects and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture) was founded. André Breton wrote the Second Surrealist Manifesto. In Paris, a group of abstract artists led by Joaquín Torres-García and Michel Seuphor, founded Cercle et Carré. That same year, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) opened in New York and Virginia Woolf published her first essay A Room of One’s Own. This is the cultural context that initiates the new presentation of the MACBA Collection, set out as a chronological path from 1929 to the present. This display includes a number of key works from the ... More
Hilma af Klint, Group IX/SUW, The Swan, No. 17 (Grupp IX/SUW, Svanen, nr 17), 1915 from The SUW/UW Series (Serie SUW/UW). Oil on canvas, 150.5 x 151 cm. The Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm. Photo: Albin Dahlström, the Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
NEW YORK, NY.- From October 12, 2018, to April 23, 2019, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents the first major solo exhibition in the United States of the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862–1944). When af Klint began creating radically abstract paintings in 1906, they were like little that had been seen before: bold, colorful, and untethered from recognizable references to the physical world. It was several years before Vasily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, and others would take similar strides to free their own artwork of representational content. Yet af Klint rarely exhibited her remarkably forward-looking paintings and, convinced the world was not ready for them, stipulated that they not be shown for 20 years following her ... More
LUXEMBOURG.-Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean presents the first exhibition in the Grand-Duchy dedicated to Jeff Wall. The exhibition Appearance is conceived in close collaboration with the Canadian artist and proposes, through 27 large-format photographs, an overview of his work from the end of the 1970s to today. It includes the iconic works Picture for Women (1979), The Storyteller (1986) and Restoration (1993). A large body of recent photographs is presented for the first time in a museum setting in Europe. Jeff Wall has transformed the way we think about photography. By aligning photography with a broader pictorial tradition and considering its relations to other arts—painting, but also cinema and literature—Wall has redefined its essence and extended the field of its possibilities. Each of Wall’s “photographic tableaux,” whether the lightboxes, dating from 1978 ... More
LONDON.-The National Portrait Gallery’s largest acquisition of portraits of Afro-Caribbean sitters has gone on public display for the first time in Black is the New Black: Portraits by Simon Frederick a new display at the National Portrait Gallery, London (on until 27 January 2019). The display brings together exceptional figures from the world of politics, business, culture, religion and science, photographed by artist and director Simon Frederick as part of his acclaimed BBC TWO documentary Black is the New Black, broadcast in 2016. With the support of Oath, Frederick gifted the entire portfolio of forty prints to the National Portrait Gallery in August 2017. Sitters range from model Naomi Campbell, newsreader and journalist Sir Trevor McDonald, actor Thandie Newton, musicians Jazzie B of Soul II Soul, Dizzee Rascal, Laura Mvula and Tinie Tempah, comedian and actor Sir Lenny Henry, footballer Les Ferdinand, Labour ... More
Giovan Angelo Montorsoli, John the Baptist, 1530s. Terracotta. Currier Museum of Art.
MANCHESTER, NH.-The Currier Museum of Art announces the exhibition, Myth and Faith in Renaissance Florence, centered around a recently discovered masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture, John the Baptist. The historically important work was created by Giovan Montorsoli, one of Michelangelo’s most gifted students. Until recently, the sculpture was unknown and unpublished. Several other objects are presented to the public for the first time in this exhibition, while other objects have been given attributions based on new research. This exhibition examines the variety of symbolic roles played by John the Baptist, Florence’s patron saint, in the civic and spiritual lives of its citizens. Moreover the art of ancient Rome shaped the development of art and culture during the Renaissance – a theme explored through restorations of ancient sculpture. “The culture of Renaissance Florence – now 500 years old – continues to astound us ... More
Simon de Vos (1603 Antwerp 1676), The Visitation. circa 1639. Oil on panel. 23 x 17,3 cm. Sold for CHF 30 000.
ZURICH.- One of the most captivating works in the Old Master Paintings auction at Koller Zurich was also an interesting discovery: a oil study of the head of a monk, recently identified as the model for a work by Peter Paul Rubens. Representing the head of Saint Dominic in Rubens’ 1618 altarpiece “Saints Dominic and Francis Saving the World from Christ’s Anger”, today in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, the painting on panel is striking in its use of minimal brushstrokes and highlighting to create a fascinating portrait which still, after four centuries, appears distinctly modern. It sold to a private collector, following spirited bidding, for CHF 336,000. Another recently discovered 17th-century Flemish work also inspired strong bidding. A small-format oil painting depicting the Visitation, it was spotted by Koller’s specialists in a private collection and identified as the work of Antwerp artist Simon ... More
‘If you are planning on becoming a famous, successful artist, archive everything because you’ll never know what will come in handy – from the grandest masterwork to the smallest postcard. If you don’t become famous there’s always recycling…! --Grayson Perry
LONDON.- Art360 Foundation, an independent charity that empowers artists and artists’ estates to manage and protect artworks for future generations, is launching a free app designed to make archiving and cultural preservation skills available to all. The Art360 app was produced with the support of the artists’ rights management organisation, DACS, and is a motivational tool for artists of all disciplines and at any career stage. In creating the app, Art360 Foundation drew on research it has undertaken into how UK artists and estates manage archives. Among its key findings were that 81% of artists have never worked with a conservator or archivist and that 71% were not aware of the conservation status of their archive. Says Mark Waugh, Director ... More
The Museum’s master plan focuses on the creation of a new Family Learning Center, new educational spaces, expansion and improvement to the facility. Image courtesy of BNIM and the Springfield Art Museum.
SPRINGFIELD, MO.-The Springfield Art Museum unveiled a new 30-year Master Plan at a City of Springfield City Council luncheon held at the Museum. The master plan is the culmination of an almost nine-month process by BNIM, a nationally recognized architecture firm with offices in Kansas City, Des Moines, and San Diego. The Museum announced that it had hired BNIM in January of 2018 to develop a master plan for the Museum’s building and grounds. The Museum’s master plan focuses on the creation of a new Family Learning Center, new educational spaces, expansion and improvement to the facility including public and community spaces, improved circulation throughout the building, parking improvements, and a renewed purpose for the Museum’s grounds and greenspace. The ... More
Alice Kent Stoddard, Portrait of a woman, n.d. Oil on canvas, 35 x 40 in.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.-The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts announces the addition of nine artworks to its permanent collection of American art, including works on paper, paintings and a monumental outdoor sculpture. The sculpture, Hank Willis Thomas’ All Power to All People (2017), was on view across from Philadelphia City Hall as part of Monument Lab 2017, a public art and history initiative based in Philadelphia. Monument Lab was presented with Mural Arts Philadelphia, for which PAFA was a key partner. Thomas’ Afro pick sculpture, made of aluminum and stainless steel, stands eight feet tall and weighs close to 800 pounds. The artwork will be installed at PAFA in the near future. Thomas, founder of the For Freedoms public art campaign, will be speaking at PAFA this spring. He ... More
The 3,000 square foot bright and airy unit, located at 8811 Beverley Boulevard, oozes British style and sophistication.
LOS ANGELES, CA.-Maddox Gallery, the cutting-edge London based group of galleries, has opened its first North American gallery space in West Hollywood, Los Angeles. In its soft launch phase, having opened in mid-September 2018, it promises to be a new space in the city’s design district dedicated to the experience of art in a luxury environment. The 3,000 square foot bright and airy unit, located at 8811 Beverley Boulevard, oozes British style and sophistication. In a setting with vaulted ceilings and immaculately polished concrete floors, Maddox Gallery LA officially launched on October 11th 2018 with its debut exhibition ‘Best of British’. The show displays works by Brit blue chip and established artists and rising stars such as Dan ... More
Installation view.
LONDON.-Bartha Contemporary announces an exhibition of works by Clay Ketter. The artist’s fourth solo exhibition entitled Registration, includes a selection of photographic works made over the past two decades. The title of the exhibition refers to the process of registering information through the means of photography, in the context of Clay Ketter’s (b. 1961) work this suggests the notion of ‘scanning’ surfaces. Indeed the artist’s practice invites the viewer to enter a world where ‘reality appears to imitate art’1. The relationship between the depiction of the real and artifice is rarely closer than the in the Gulf Coast Slabs (2007) and Valencia (2003, 2005) series, both portraying reality and the structures of human habitation. This exhibition includes more recent works from the Madre Veduta (2011) and T ... More
Quote The camera cannot lie. But it can be an accessory to untruth. Harold Evans
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Exhibition of recent works by Australian artist Rhys Lee on view at Olsen Gruin NEW YORK, NY.-Olsen Gruin is presenting Good Boy, an exhibition of recent works by Australian artist Rhys Lee. This striking show features a collection of paintings inspired by a single image – an orange interpretation of Pluto dressed in white gloves and a blue bow tie – painted on a New York City subway car in the 1970s by graffiti artist Mitch 77. Lee repeats and transforms this image, adding to, subtracting from, and abstracting its colour and form. Working intuitively, he is directed by the work, allowing each mark to inform the next. Vividly formed with rich, gestural and illustrative applications of paint, these figures brilliantly evolve to project their own scenarios and personalities. With each new painting, however, key elements of Mitch 77’s Pluto remain. Good Boy develops an aesthetic and poetic visual narrative through repetition. For Lee, the process ... More
Provocative new WWI centenary artwork unveiled at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum GLASGOW.- A major new thought-provoking artwork, intended to stimulate critical reflection on the First World War, as well as on museum collecting and care, has been unveiled at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow. I Say Nothing is internationally renowned Scottish artist Christine Borland’s creative response to Glasgow Museums’ World War I collection. The large-scale sculpture was co-commissioned with 14-18 NOW, the UK's arts programme for the First World War centenary, and made possible through the generous support of Art Fund. I Say Nothing confronts the dichotomy of institutional care and brutality by focusing on the historical use of invalid feeder cups, both to nurse wounded soldiers during World War I and to force-feed hunger-striking suffragettes in the years running up to 1914. It is the culmination of a year-long research residency ... More
Never-before-seen South African modernist masterpiece explodes onto European market JOHANNESBURG.- An electrifying Alexis Preller (1911-1975) oil painting from 1972 titled ‘Adam’ comes fresh to market with leading South African auctioneer, Aspire Art Auctions. This never previously seen work will be sold on October 28th in Johannesburg for an estimated £435 000 – £544 000. It was acquired directly from the artist and has stayed with the same family by descent. He trained in the UK at the Westminster School of Art from which he graduated during 1934 and attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris during 1937. He was especially influenced by Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, and visited European galleries and museums to study these artists’ works. Today his work commands prices ranging from £250,000 to £500,000. Preller is one of the handful of South African artists whose work has found an ... More
James Mundy, Anne Hendricks Bass Director of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, to retire POUGHKEEPSIE, NY.- After an impressive twenty-eight years, James Mundy will retire next June as Anne Hendricks Bass Director of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College. During his tenure, the longest of a museum director in Vassar history, the Art Center has grown secure in its finances and greatly improved its collections, two areas reflecting his core effort. The collection almost doubled from 11,000 to over 21,000 works under his stewardship, including key acquisitions in medieval art, Japanese art, Old Master European and American art. Significant gifts such as the Deutsch collection (Miro, Pollock, Giacometti, Gorky, Picasso, etc.) and many promised gifts were booked and the operating budget increased by a factor of 10 over his tenure. In conjunction with his spring 2019 retirement, the Art Center will mount a new exhibition, entitled ... More
Museum of Contemporary Photography opens exhibition of works by the prolific artist Ralph Arnold CHICAGO, IL.- From October 11 through December 21, 2018, the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago presents The Many Hats of Ralph Arnold: Art, Identity & Politics. During the tumultuous 1960s and 70s, the prolific artist Ralph Arnold made photocollages that appropriated and commented upon mass media portrayals of gender, sexuality, race and politics. Arnold’s complex visual arrangements of photography, painting and text were built upon his own multilayered identity as a black, gay veteran and prominent member of Chicago’s art community, hence the title for the exhibition, which is drawn from one of the artist’s more personal pieces. Arnold participated in some of the era’s most provocative exhibitions yet by the mid-1980s he increasingly focused on his teaching and service to the art community. This exhibition brings ... More
The Mummy poised to reclaim its title as the world's most expensive film poster NEW YORK, NY.-Sotheby’s presents the opportunity to acquire one of the rarest and most highly-coveted film posters in existence: an original 1932 film poster for the horror classic The Mummy starring Boris Karloff. A seminal example of the graphic design pioneered by Hollywood studios during their ‘Golden Age of Horror’, this stone lithograph will be offered in a single-lot, online-only auction this month. Bidding is now open and will close on Halloween, 31 October. The present poster last sold at Sotheby’s New York in 1997 for $453,500 – at the time marking a world auction record for a single film poster, a title it held until 2014. The Mummy reemerges at Sotheby’s this month with an estimate of $1/1.5 million, which would once again earn it record status. Sotheby’s will exhibit the work in their New York galleries from 14 – 18 October. Designed ... More
Ashvita's launches new online art platform and auction house in India MUMBAI.-Ashvitas.com, is an online-only platform hosting art auctions, a knowledge centre and a series of curated stores offering fine art, photography, prints and collectibles. Founded by Ashvin Rajagopalan in 2002 as a gallery space in Chennai, Ashvita’s has chosen to look back to its heritage with the Madras Sale - their inaugural online auction which highlights the diverse cultural and artistic heritage of Chennai. The auction will be led by a series of key works from the Madras School including Girl a portrait of an unknown girl by L. Munuswamy (Lot 26), one of the most important Modern painters to come out of the Madras School. It was painted in 1961, only 3 years after the artist had joined the Government College of Arts & Craft as a teacher and where he had previously trained under D. P. Roy Chowdhury and K. C. S. Paniker. With a focus on Chennai’s heritage ... More
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen exhibits fifty-five years of work from the life of Marten Hendriks ROTTERDAM.- The multifaceted ‘Time Slip’ exhibition by Marten Hendriks (b. Doetinchem, 1941) is on display at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. ‘Time Slip’ coincides with the publication of the monograph by Alex de Vries, which also showcases the artist’s life and work. The Hendriks exhibition has been compiled from a varied combination of paintings, drawings, photography and scale models. The exhibition has been compiled by curator Alex de Vries, who has also written a monograph about the exhibition: ‘Marten Hendriks – Leven en werk’ (Marten Hendriks – Life and Work). The impressive cohesion of the selection of the artist’s diversity of work makes the exhibition curated by De Vries exceptional. The presentation includes Hendriks’ ‘unseen’ works: ‘Grote rode verkleuring’ (‘Red Discolouration on Canvas’) and ‘Grote donkere verkleuring’ (&# ... More
Kasmin exhibits a new body of large-scale watercolors by Walton Ford NEW YORK, NY.-Kasmin is pleased to present Barbary, a new body of large-scale watercolors by Walton Ford that inaugurates the gallery’s flagship space in Chelsea, New York. The series is a result of over eighteen years of research by Ford into the iconic Barbary lion. This subspecies—the subject of a long, ongoing cultural fascination—historically ranged across the Atlas Mountains of North Africa, but has been extinct in the wild since the early 20th century after over 2000 years of persecution. The Barbary lion is the lion of the Roman amphitheater, the lion painted by Delacroix, and the lion that roars for the Hollywood studio MGM. Expanding on Ford’s investigation into our collective perception of the natural world, Barbary uses the case study of this creature to exemplify humanity’s inclination to imbue the animal world with symbolism. The Barbary lion, depicted ... More
Historic railway posters and paintings exhibition opens at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art NORMAN, OKLA.-The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art on the University of Oklahoma Norman campus opened its 2018 fall exhibition Ticket to Ride: Artists, Designers, and Western Railways, on Oct. 5. The exhibition features more than five dozen works by artists and commercial designers created between 1880 and the 1930s, the height of western railway travel. The exhibition highlights how artists and railway companies together influenced lasting perceptions of the American West, particularly the Grand Canyon, the Pacific Coast and the Northwest. “Designers and artists sought railway patronage to achieve their own ends as much as railways courted image-makers for wanderlust-inducing imagery,” says Jerman. “This exhibition brings together, often for the first time, artists and designers who were engaged in parallel projects promoting western travel but ... More
Jeff Wall Interview: Pictures Like Poems
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Flashback
On a day like today, French painter and illustrator James Tissot was born
