Tag: oil on canvas

Unknown ‘Caravaggio’ painting unearthed in Britain

July 1st, 2011 · admin · Education, Find an Artist, Shows that are on! No comments - Tags: art historian, artistic qualities, british art, caravaggio painting, documentary evidence, emotional expression, mature work, michelangelo merisi da caravaggio, national gallery, national gallery of canada, oil on canvas, private collection, saint augustine, western art, yale university press

Gallery Image

A painting of St. Augustine by Caravaggio. The National Gallery of Canada will be the first venue in the world to exhibit what is being billed as a Caravaggio painting of Saint Augustine that was lost for hundreds of years and only rediscovered in 2010.

The painting, an intimate depiction of Saint Augustine dated to 1600, was found by a dealer in a private collection

He altered the course of Western art with a completely new approach to light and form, yet barely 50 works created by Caravaggio during his 38 years have survived. Now scholars claim that one more, a previously unknown painting, has been discovered in a private collection in Britain. The oil on canvas depiction of Saint Augustine, an expressive, mature work dated to around 1600 – when he was 28 – is to appear in print for the first time in a book on Caravaggio produced by Yale University Press. A leading scholar, Sebastian Schütze, professor of art history at the University of Vienna and one of the book’s co-authors, called the work a significant discovery. He said: “It has never been published. What looked like an anonymous 17th-century painting revealed its artistic qualities after restoration.”

Ashmolean Announces Art Exhibition: The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy

February 28th, 2011 · admin · Articles of interest, Shows that are on!, Writing about Art/ Artists No comments - Tags: art exhibition, art movements, artistic responses, ashmolean museum, british men, champion john, christopher newall, colin harrison, dante gabriel rossetti, edward burne jones, exhibition centres, john ruskin, jones music, major art, monna vanna, oil on canvas, pre raphaelite brotherhood, pre raphaelites, private collections, university of oxford

Image: Edward Burne-Jones, ‘Music’, 1877. Oil on canvas, 67.7 x 43.5 cm. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

On 16 September 2010 the Ashmolean launches its first major art exhibition in one of the country’s newest and most important temporary exhibition centres.

The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy brings together over 140 pictures from the Ashmolean’s important Pre-Raphaelite collection with loans from museums and private collections around the UK and abroad, some of which will be displayed in Britain for the first time. Held in partnership with the Ravenna Museum of Art, where the exhibition opened to critical acclaim, The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy challenges what we know about the influence of Italy – its culture, landscape, and history – on one of Britain’s most significant and enduringly popular art movements.

In re-examining their early years, curators Colin Harrison and Christopher Newall aim to shed new light on the artists who emerged as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in the 1850s. From the influence of the movement’s champion, John Ruskin – one of Italy’s most dedicated tourists – to their illustrations of early Italian art and literature, the exhibition explores the idea of Italy itself – a place which captured the imagination of a whole generation of British men and women and which was the source of such varied artistic responses. The artist with the most interesting and idiosyncratic relationship with Italy was the founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Despite being the son of an Italian exile, brought up in a household where Italian was spoken, and learning from an early age about his own rich cultural heritage, Rossetti remarkably never visited Italy himself. In his memoirs he recorded his intentions to make this ‘pilgrimage’, but on many occasions, he failed to set out. Bringing together works from major British collections, such as Tate’s Monna Vanna and the V&A’s Borgia Family, with studies from private collections, the exhibition looks at this peculiar fact of Rossetti’s biography, in contrast to the work of his peers who undertook and recorded celebrated Italian journeys.

Highlights of the exhibition have been made possible with exciting loans from private and international collections. United for the first time in Britain are the magnificent drawings by Edward Burne-Jones, for the mosaics of the American Church in Rome. The most prominent Pre-Raphaelite painters, such as William Holman Hunt and John Brett, are represented with major works which have been rarely displayed in public. The fascination and pure joy which Italy inspired in these artists permeates the whole exhibition – and aims to resonate with the affection and interest which people still have for Italy today. The Museum’s Director, Dr Christopher Brown says, “The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy is a real triumph for the Ashmolean. Displaying one of the great strengths of our own collection with loans from around the world has allowed us to put on an exhibition which is both a visual delight, and an interesting and revealing treatment of the subject.”

Exhibition: The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy
Dates: 16 September – 5 December 2010
Venue: Ashmolean Exhibition Galleries

www.ashmolean.org, Published 3 August 2010

Philadelphia Museum of Art Opens George Inness in Italy

February 25th, 2011 · admin · Articles of interest, Writing about Art/ Artists No comments - Tags: american landscape, american painting, american travelers, art collection, artistic vision, george inness, italian subjects, landscape painting, mementos, oil on canvas, oil paintings, perugia italy, philadelphia museum of art, sojourns, work italy

George Inness Near Perugia, Italy, 1879, American, 1825 – 1894. Oil on canvas, 41 1/2 x 33 3/4 inches (105.4 x 85.7 cm) Framed: 56 x 47 1/2 x 5 inches (142.2 x 120.7 x 12.7 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John F. McGuigan Jr.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art presents George Inness in Italy on view February 19, 2011 – May 15, 2011. A canonical figure in American painting, George Inness (1825–1894) is widely admired as the pioneer of the evocative aesthetic known as Tonalism, which is distinguished by soft focus and diaphanous layers of paint. This is the first exhibition to examine the artist’s two Italian sojourns (1851–52 and 1870–74) and their formative impact on his work. Italy—its art and its landscape—offered Inness a font of inspiration as he developed his own unique artistic vision.

George Inness in Italy presents ten oil paintings surveying Inness’s Italian subjects dating from 1850 to 1879. A highlight of the exhibition is Twilight on the Campagna (c. 1851), Inness’s first major work completed in Italy. Recently conserved, the painting has not been on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art since 1952. Its reemergence and restoration—precipitated by a comprehensive publication, or catalogue raisonné, of Inness’s entire body of work issued in 2007—constitutes a significant rediscovery. Inness enjoyed his most productive years during his second stay in Italy. His paintings sold well, both as mementos of Italy for affluent American travelers and as progressive stylistic experiments for leading collectors of American landscape painting. Although Inness returned to the United States in 1874, he continued to paint Italian compositions, honing the Tonalist aesthetic that began with his first trip to Italy in 1851. With Twilight on the Campagna as its anchor, George Inness in Italy charts this innovative artist’s development as he formed, interpreted, and later remembered his diverse and vivid impressions of Italy.

Curator
Mark Mitchell, Associate Curator and Manager, Center for American Art

Related Events:

George Inness and the Art of Italy
Friday, March 11, 2011
Starts at 2:30 p.m.
Location: Van Pelt Auditorium
Paid tickets required
$30 ($24 members) for symposium and keynote lecture
$20 ($16 members) for keynote lecture only (includes book signing)
2:30 p.m. Symposium
6:30 p.m. Keynote Lecture: “Italy as Inspiration” by author Frances Mayes

In this symposium, offered in conjunction with the exhibition George Inness in Italy, leading scholars explore the aesthetic, historical, and international contexts of Inness’s majestic Italian landscapes from the 1850s through the 1870s. Like Inness and countless other American writers, artists, and designers, keynote speaker Frances Mayes draws inspiration from Italy and the Italian landscape. Called “the bard of Tuscany,” she is the author of the memoirs Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany.

This symposium and keynote lecture are supported by the Center for American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, by grants from The Mr. & Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the Terra Foundation for American Art, and by a generous gift from Mr. and Mrs. Frank Martucci.

Frances Mayes on Italy as Inspiration
Friday, March 11, 2011
Starts at 6:30 p.m.
Location: Van Pelt Auditorium
Paid tickets required
$20 ($16 members), includes book signing

Keynote lecture being held in conjunction with the symposium George Inness and the Art of Italy. Speaker Frances Mayes, author of the memoirs Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany, discusses the inspiration of Italy and the Italian landscape. As one of the largest museums in the United States, the Philadelphia Museum of Art invites visitors from around the world to explore its renowned collections, acclaimed special exhibitions, and enriching programs, both in person and online.

www.philamuseum.org

Published 20 February 2011

Art as Curation: The (New) AB EX Story at MoMA

October 7th, 2010 · admin · Articles of interest, Writing about Art/ Artists No comments - Tags: abstract expressionist, artists rights society, canonical approach, canvas 9, curation, expressionist art, historical time line, installation art, modern art new york, museum business, museum of modern art, museum of modern art new york, oil on canvas, plaster on canvas, relevant ideas, time australia

Mark Rothko (American, born Latvia. 1903-1970) No. 5/No. 22. 1950 Oil on canvas 9′ 9″ x 8′ 11 1/8″ (297 x 272 cm) The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist. © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The Museum of Modern Art, for quite a while now, has been experimenting with curation as the one arrow in its quiver that can restore vitality and even relevance to the old fashioned museum business model. In these days of social media and intimate digital connection, museums can seem largely irrelevant: their content, unchanging: their atmosphere, didactic: their canonical approach to display and cataloging, static.

To counteract this, in the past few years, and to leverage the new technology that has become a sort bugaboo to museums seeking to bring in young viewers, MoMA has embarked on a series of experiments, most of them quite successful.

They have introduced new curatorial talent in order to support the challenge represented by performance and installation art, as well as a growing body of visual art.

They have displayed a penchant for heroic collection practices, such as procuring the @ symbol, as well as Tino Sehgal’s Kiss.

They have launched a new app for planning visits and exploring the museum and for freely sharing images.

Important Private Art Collection Goes up for Bid

September 2nd, 2010 · admin · Articles of interest No comments - Tags: additional works, alfred sisley, auction block, collecting art, diehard collectors, eastman kodak, mary cassatt, oil on canvas, post impressionist art, private collections

Childe Hassam, Royal Palms, Cuba, oil on canvas, 1895, 25 by 31 inches, est. $300,000-$600,000. John W. Coker Auctions image

In the world of collecting art, there are a few things buyers consider before pulling out their checkbook:
1. The importance of the artist – does this artist have trend you can follow over the past 10+ years or am I buying this speculating this artist will be someone to have in the near future.

2. Provenance: Who had this item before me? Was it from an important collection, a museum exhibited item, or a gallery that was known for representing the artist.

3. How many people were offered this item before me?
That last question is always important as diehard collectors want things fresh to the marketplace. They don’t want to think the rest of the world has seen the item before they did (unless of course it was featured in a book or magazine!)

When private collections hit the marketplace, and forgive me for being cliché, but the crowd goes wild! Recently, the collection of art acquired by Dr. Albert K. Chapman of Eastman Kodak was consigned to the John W. Coker gallery in New Market, Tennessee; and with no reserve. Chapman was a top executive, and inventor at Eastman Kodak. He began collecting Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art in the 1930s. Very few people even knew of his collecting interests. Apparently, Chapman had a very good eye. Of all he acquired, only one was ever seen outside his home. It was a Mary Cassatt loaned to the Smithsonian in a 1970 exhibit which was also included in a catalog raisonne.

Mary Cassatt, Simone Talking to Her Mother, pastel on paper, 25½ by 30½ inches, est. $200,000-$400,000. John W. Coker Auctions image.

The collection was passed down through three Chapman generations and is now going on the auction block September 15th. Many of the paintings from the collection have been thought to be lost over the years. The Cassatt will certainly be a highlight of the sale, but additional works by Childe Hassam, Alfred Sisley, Pierre Bonnard and 30 other distinguished artists from the period 1870 to 1950 will be up for bid. As mentioned earlier, provenance can add value to an item, and the Chapman family was good at keeping records and receipts for the collection. Most of the works have information on where the item was acquired, and for what price, along with previous owner information if it was available at the time.

Emile Bernard, Pont Aven, oil on canvas, 24 by 18 inches, est. $30,000-$50,000, John W. Coker Auctions image

Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective @ MOCA

July 15th, 2010 · admin · Articles of interest, Find an Artist, Writing about Art/ Artists No comments - Tags: angeles county museum, arshile gorky, art institutions, cubism, guiding principle, hans hofmann, john baldessari, los angeles county museum of art, los angeles county museum of art lacma, miracle mile, museum of contemporary art, oil on canvas, pablo picasso, retrospectives, scale survey, social nature, solo exhibitions, solo game, wifredo lam, willem de kooning

Despite the growing popularity of artists’ collectives, collaborative work and the social nature of viewing and talking about art, the making of art remains a decidedly individual pursuit. It’s a solo game. So it’s only natural for museums and galleries to present solo exhibitions and retrospectives.

Golden Brown, 1943-44 Oil on canvas, 43 5/8″ x 55 5/8″ University purchase, Bixby Fund, 1953

Two of Southern California’s largest art institutions are currently hosting extensive retrospectives of two titans in contemporary art. In downtown Los Angeles, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) is showcasing “Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective” through Sept. 20, while along Miracle Mile, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is featuring “John Baldessari: Pure Beauty” through Sept. 12.

The Gorky show at MOCA is perhaps the rarer one, since it’s the first full-scale survey of the Armenian American’s artwork since 1981. The exhibit offers more than 120 works, including paintings, drawings and a handful of sculptures. Some of these pieces are on public display for the first time.

Born Vostanik Manoog Adoyan in Khorkom, Armenia, Gorky was an important early abstractionist, and his work influenced American art for decades. He was also influenced by the giants in modern art. One can certainly see the connections between Gorky and Pablo Picasso, Willem de Kooning, Joan Miró, Wifredo Lam and Hans Hofmann.

The show is arranged chronologically, from his early years to his final works. His paintings from the 1920s are obviously influenced by Cézanne, sharing the same attention to geometry, shade and texture. Between the late 1920s and early 1930s, cubism is clearly a guiding principle, in works such as “Still Life” (1930-31) and “Blue Figure in a Chair” (circa 1931).

We can see Gorky begin to develop his own individual style in the “Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia” graphite and ink series (1931-32) and in his large, haunting oil portraits “The Artist and His Mother” (1926-36) and “The Artist and His Mother” (c. 1926-42).

Gorky noticeably matured in the late 1930s to early 1940s, with paintings such as “Enigmatic Combat” (1936-37) and “Painting” (1936-37). These works are tightly composed, yet colorful and clearly delineated.

As the 1940s progressed, Gorky’s work got looser and more abstract. Many paintings from this period share characteristics with Spanish/Catalan painter Miró. But he also crystallized a signature style – one that put him on the map – with works such as “The Liver is the Cock’s Comb,” a 1944 oil on canvas, considered his most important painting; and “Betrothal I,” a 1947 oil on paper that recalls a traditional Armenian wedding, according to Gorky’s own notes.

Gorky committed suicide in July 1948 at about the age of 46. (Records of his exact birth date vary.) But the MOCA show is a tribute to his life, creative spirit and impressive accomplishments.

Oliver Cloke