|
|
|
|
|
|
Two Getty Exhibitions Trace Rich Tradition December 28th, 2003 LOS ANGELES.- The Getty presents two new exhibitions tracing the rich tradition of manuscript illumination that dominated medieval Europe for over five centuries. “The Glory of the Gothic Page”, at the Getty Center, December 16, 2003–March 7, 2004, follows the flourishing of the lavish painted page from about 1200 to 1350 when the Gothic style took hold, accompanied by the rise of lofty, spired cathedrals in urban centers; while “Seeking Illumination: Monastic Manuscripts, 800–1200,” at the Getty Center, March 23–June 13, 2004, explores the emergence of manuscripts from monastic centers across Europe.
Drawn from the Getty’s strong collection of illuminated manuscripts, the two exhibitions offer a rare glimpse at a wide range of books produced in a variety of styles reflecting the changing times and environment in which they were created. From austere and geometric flat-patterned designs to elaborate and brilliant decorations, medieval illuminators left their marks on these beautiful handmade works of art.
“The Glory of the Gothic Page” - The artistic and historic period now known as Europe’s Gothic era (from around 1200 to 1350) was marked by immense cultural innovation and refinement. The soaring spires of Gothic cathedrals rose throughout Europe, and in illuminators’ workshops a new style of manuscript painting emerged, shimmering with gold leaf and marked by a new sense of naturalism, courtly grace, and beauty. “The Glory of the Gothic Page” celebrates the achievements of Gothic manuscript illuminators with a display of 21 lavishly decorated books and pages from the 13th and 14th centuries, including 15 manuscript pages that have never before been on view at the Getty Center. The works on display include books of scripture, private devotional manuscripts, law books, and literary texts.
The dramatic economic and social changes during this period, including the rapid growth of cities and the rise of universities, created an unprecedented demand for books, and the making of manuscripts, once confined to monasteries, expanded to secular artists’ workshops. Illuminators of the period developed an extraordinary sense of breadth and volume. The manuscripts they produced reflect a new interest in the appearance of the natural world, feature the addition of whimsical decorations in the margins of the page, and represent an ever-broadening variety of illustrated texts, ranging from university treatises to entertaining romances.
“Seeking Illumination: Monastic Manuscripts, 800–1200” - “Seeking Illumination,” which debuts on March 23, 2004, explores an earlier period in illumination when the creation of manuscripts was centered in monasteries.
Scribes and illuminators working in medieval monasteries crafted books for aristocrats as well as the monks themselves, developing a range of styles and painted decoration that became characteristic of the time. Their beautifully embellished books circulated throughout medieval Europe until around 1200, when the rise of universities and cities shifted artistic activity to a growing class of secular artisans. This exhibition explores the role of monasteries as the main source of illumination during the Carolingian and Ottonian Empires, which united much of Europe under a single rule, and into the 11th to 12th centuries when sweeping changes took hold of the monastic orders.
During the Carolingian Empire (742–843), monasteries served as centers of scholarship, playing a key role in Charlemagne’s efforts to revive the Roman Empire through educational and religious reforms. Illuminators during this time incorporated ornamental patterns from Roman models and revived aspects of classical painting, such as the representation of three-dimensional figures in believable space. The primary focus of monastic scribes and illuminators during the Ottonian Empire (919–1024) was the manufacture of service books for the Mass, which reflected the importance of ceremony in Ottonian culture. Illuminators of the period strove to create art that was symbolic rather than naturalistic, utilizing shining gold backgrounds that alluded to divinity and heavenly light.
The years from 1050 to 1200 encompassed sweeping changes in monasteries across Europe. Some monasteries formed new religious orders, which called for the creation of new manuscripts. Others returned to a stricter practice, leading to an increase in the manufacture of large bibles, which had slowed during the Ottonian period, as monks began to read the scriptures more frequently. The period also marked a return by some monasteries to the austere. Their gospel books accordingly reflected this new simplicity with a lack of gold leaf. The illumination seen in the diverse manuscripts created during this period is generally referred to as Romanesque, with forms that are more compartmentalized and stylized, sometimes featuring bold, geometric shapes.
Èñòî÷íèê: www.artdaily.com íàâåðõ | 
|
BBC News Online looks back at the highs and lows of the arts world in 2003 December 28th, 2003 January
In the literary world's battle of the married couple, Claire Tomlinson beat her husband to the Whitbread Prize for book of the year.
The Royal Shakespeare Company gave the world première of Midnight's Children, an adaptation of the Booker-winning Salman Rushdie while the Royal National Theatre, in London, announced it would be cutting many ticket prices to £10.
In the auction rooms, Andrea Mategna's Descent into Limbo became one of the most expensive Old Master picture in history, selling for £17.6m at Sotheby's in London.
February
Michael Moore's searing satire on American politics, Stupid White Men, was named book of the year at the British Book Awards.
Sam Mendes followed up his Oscar success with stage success, becoming the first person to win three Laurence Olivier awards.
A hoard of 19 long-lost William Blake watercolours sold for £5m to an anonymous bidder.
March
New York's Broadway was hit by the first strike since 1975 as musicians went on strike over the size of orchestras. The blackout of productions lasted just three days before an agreement was reached.
The Royal Opera House was given a £3.1m cash injection as part of a three-year Arts Council England spending plan while the troubled English National Opera was told by the arts body that it was worth saving but not "at any cost".
Sculptor Gereon Krebber 's giant aluminium Tin won this year's £25,000 Jerwood Sculpture Prize.
April
The Handmaid's Tale, an adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel, opened at English National Opera, directed by Phyllida Lloyd. The reviews were mixed.
An opera based on the Jerry Springer TV show proved more popular.
The British Museum began its 250th birthday celebrations with an exhibition looking at 100 objects which investigated the notion of memory and cultures.
Charles Saatchi opened his eponymous gallery at the County Hall in London, filled with art by British artists, such as Damien Hirst.
May
Friends star Matt Perry made his West End debut, appearing in Sexual Perversity in Chicago, alongside Minnie Driver. Actor and singer Kwami Kwei-Armah proved the breadth of his talent when his play Elmina's Kitchen opened at the National.
Beethoven proved his worth when a manuscript for his Ninth Symphony sold for £2.1m.
Tate Modern celebrated its third birthday, while Andrew Lloyd Webber's collection of art by Picasso, Canaletto and Rossetti was put on show at the Royal Academy in London.
Antony Gormley unveiled his Domain Fields exhibition in Gateshead, featuring metal sculptures based on plaster cast moulds from 240 naked volunteers.
June
Liverpool was chosen as the UK's choice for European Capital of Culture in 2008.
In the US, stars such as Tim Robbins protest at cuts in public money given to the arts.
At the Royal Academy Summer exhibition an artwork featuring Kylie Minogue's bottom was pulled after the singer's lawyers complained.
While at the Venice Biennale, an art display which featured a chimpanzee trying to spell "utopia" using giant lettered blocks became a huge hit.
Charlotte Harris, a 21-year-old student won the £25,000 BP Portrait award, for a portrait of her grandmother.
Sir Cameron Mackintosh unveiled plans for the first new West End theatre for 30 years.
July
The Heritage Lottery Fund decided to award £11.5m to the National Gallery to help it bid to keep a Raphael painting, Madonna of the Pinks, in the UK.
A row over how to clean Michelangelo's famous David statue in Florence in time for its 500th birthday next year caused a stir.
August
Thieves managed to steal paintings by Van Gogh, Picasso and Gauguin, worth an estimated £1m, from the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester.
Kenneth Branagh made his London stage return after 11 years in Edmond.
The Edinburgh Fringe Fesitval enjoyed its most successful ever year.
September
Scotland announced the creation of a new National Theatre.
Art collector Charles Saatchi turned on contemporary galleries, calling them "cliched".
Artist Sir Terry Frost, one of the most celebrated contemporary artists in the UK, died aged 87.
The Royal Shakespeare Company's new artistic director Michael Boyd said he wanted his first season to bring "experimentation" back to the company.
Madonna's children's book The English Roses sold just over 8,000 copies in its first week in the UK.
October
The roguish writer DBC Pierre won the Booker prize for his novel Vernon God Little while South African writer JM Coetzee was the next winner of the Nobel prize for literature.
A row over the authenticity of Andy Warhol artworks engulfed the art world when the Warhol estate said only works that Warhol had a direct hand in himself could be attributed to the artist.
November
Author Hari Kunzru turned down the John Llewellyn Rhys award for his book The Impressionist because of the prize's sponsorship by the Mail on Sunday, which he accused of being "anti-immigration".
Another artist to reject an honour: poet Benjamin Zephaniah snubbed an OBE because he said the awards were a legacy of colonialism.
Jerry Springer: The Opera won the best musical award at the Evening Standard theatre awards.
The director of London's Tate gallery questioned whether millions should be spent "saving" art for the nation while art collector Charles Saatchi sold a dozen works by British artist Damien Hirst back to Hirst's gallery after a reported rift between the men.
More than 250 stolen paintings were recovered from a parked van in Paris, including one Picasso, two works by French painter Raoul Dufy and one by Dutch artist Kees van Dongen.
December
Transvestite potter Grayson Perry won the Turner prize for his work in ceramics.
Art historian Sir Christopher Frayling was made the new chair of Arts Council England to take over from Gerry Robinson.
Actor Ralph Fiennes was made a judge for the prestigious Whitbread Book Prize.
Darren Waters Èñòî÷íèê: www.bbc.co.uk íàâåðõ | 
 |
From Gustav Klimt to Paul Klee. Wotruba Opens
December 25th, 2003 VIENNA, AUSTRIA.- The Albertina presents “From Gustav Klimt to Paul Klee. Wotruba and Modern Art,” on view through March 14, 2004. Around the turn of the year the Kamm Collection, normally based in the Kunsthaus Museum in the Swiss town of Zug , is making a guest appearance here at the Albertina. It includes works by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Richard Gerstl, by Expressionists and Bauhaus artists, as well as representatives of French Cubism, and a selection of works from some of the legendary Viennese Arts and Crafts Workshops. The collection that has come on loan from Zug has been augmented by numerous works from the Albertina’s own stocks. The result is a panorama of the classical modern period.
The new Albertina - The most extensive reconstruction and expansion works in the history of the Albertina started in spring 1999: Between the Burggarten front of the palace and the Palm House, a new four-floor structure of a total cubage of 26,000 m3, housing high-security storage facilities, a study building and a hall for temporary exhibitions, is being erected after plans by the architects’ duo Steinmayer & Mascher. The structure is being built into the old city bastion so that it won’t interefere with the original townscape. The patio of the state-of-the-art study building will allow working in daylight on all four floors. The underground storage facilities will ensure safe storage of the holdings. A fully automatic elevated shelf structure, the most modern one of its kind in the world, will provide room for 10,000 boxes holding the works of the collection. A computer-controlled system will allow access to them within a period of 60 seconds.
In the context of the reconstruction works, a unique project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs was launched in February 1999, with all drawings and watercolors being recorded digitally within a data base. Work on the underground storage, study building, and exhibition hall will be completed by fall 2002. In the course of the rebuilding of the palace, the Albertina’s original main entrance located on the front of the bastion towards the State Opera will be re-opened, thus offering new possibilities for the use of the bastion at this vital point in Vienna’s city center. The palace itself is being reorganized according to a completely novel and more generous spatial concept. After the restoration is completed, the Albertina will dispose of far more space for exhibitions than ever, 650 m2 of which will be located in the historical palace. In addition, the new hall for temporary exhibitions, covering an area of 800 m2 , will be available for high capacities of visitors, leaving the building substance of the old palace completely untouched. The staterooms on the Burggarten front are going to be restored; they will be open to visitors and be the site of various events.
Together with the underground storage, the study building, the exhibition hall, and an entirely new exhibition concept, the Albertina will again hold an eminent place in the scenery of Austrian and international museums.
Èñòî÷íèê: www.artdaily.com íàâåðõ | 
|
Art show confirms pulling-power of celebrity
December 25th, 2003 The naked ladies, mournful children and dreamy-eyed damsels emptied out of Lord Lloyd-Webber's many drawing rooms - in London, Ireland, the home counties and Manhattan - attracted more people to the Royal Academy than the gallery's millennium show, making it one of the most successful exhibitions of the past decade.
The exhibition was disembowelled by critics. One wrote: "Really useless. Why can't the man keep his private collection of saccharine Victorian art private?" But more than 226,000 people - an average of 2,693 a day - paid to see his treasures. The doorstep-sized catalogue (£15 paperback, £35 hardback) had to be reprinted three times.
The exhibition, which ended a fortnight ago, was hastily pulled together to fill a near-disastrous gap in the academy's programme.
It had planned a big exhibition of treasures from Cairo, but the war in Iraq intervened. The exhibitions secretary, Norman Rosenthal, had a hunch that "people are always very curious to know what great people own". The paintings, drawings and sculptures which Lord Lloyd-Webber has been collecting since he was 15 proved him right.
Many were bought long before the market for high Victorian art reached its present stratospheric levels. Lord Lloyd-Webber has never quite forgiven his grandmother's refusal, more than 50 years ago, to lend him £50 to buy Lord Leighton's Flaming June from a junk shop. It would now be worth millions.
Although the exhibition fell short of the record crowds for the academy's last big hit - Aztecs, which attracted more than 465,000 visitors in five months - it hammered comparable Victorian exhibitions at the academy.
The show could probably have packed them in for months more, but the owner wanted his treasures back before Christmas - particularly the grand piano, made for Stanmore Hall, decorated by Kate Faulkner and Philip Webb, and inscribed with a poem by William Morris, which Lord Lloyd-Webber called "the best rock'n'roll piano in the world".
Maev Kennedy Èñòî÷íèê: www.guardian.co.uk/arts íàâåðõ | 
|
The Royal Academy of Arts has said a cast of JMW Turner's death mask may have been stolen
December 25th, 2003 Staff have not seen the 152-year-old mask since the mid-1980s, and it had been thought it had been mislaid.
But now the London institution has informed the Art Loss Register - a database of stolen works - about the mask's disappearance.
A Royal Academy spokeswoman said it was confident the mask would be found.
The loss came to light following a request to borrow the mask in 2002. Staff found it had last been recorded 17 years earlier, when it was moved between store rooms at the academy's base at Burlington House, Piccadilly.
There has been no sign of the mask since then, and until now the academy has said it may have been mislaid or borrowed by a forgetful teacher or student.
The academy said in a statement it took "the loss of works from its collection extremely seriously".
Confident
A spokeswoman told BBC News Online: "We're confident the mask will be found, but we have to consider all the possibilities."
The academy, which was founded in 1768, is hoping the mask will be tracked down as it works on cataloguing its 17,000 artworks, a process which will be completed in 2007.
JMW Turner was one of the academy's most distinguished pupils, and went on to teach at its schools.
He was also one of its greatest benefactors - leaving the academy £20,000 upon his death in 1851.
The mask was taken from a mould - since lost - made after he died.
A second cast of the mask survives, and is owned by the National Portrait Gallery.
Over 240,000 people visited the Royal Academy's recent exhibition of of paintings from Andrew Lloyd Webber's collection, it has announced, making it one of the academy's most successful exhibitions of recent years.
The exhibition, which closed on 12 December, displayed over 200 works by Pre-Raphaelite and other masters from the composer's collection.
Èñòî÷íèê: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/ íàâåðõ | 
|
Sotheby’s. 20th Century Design Sale Total $19,525,400 December 17th, 2003 NEW YORK.- Sotheby’s December 2003 sales of 20th Century Design totaled $19,525,400 and were highlighted by the sale of Mies van der Rohe’s masterpiece, The Farnsworth House, which sold to the National Trust for Historic Preservation for $7,511,500.
Competition was also fierce for Property from the Collection of Wolfgang Joop which brought a total of $4,678,860, surpassing a high estimate of $2.9 million. Alexandre Noll’s Important Carved Mahogany Armchair, from the Joop Collection sold for an extraordinary $680,000, establishing not only a record for the artist at auction, but also for Postwar Design and a 20th Century chair at auction.
Additional auction records set over the three separate auctions include Louis Sognot and Charlotte Alix, Jacques Adnet, Jean Royère, Charlotte Perriand, Serge Mouille, Mies van der Rohe, John Risley John Mouseman Thompson and Ferdinand Parpan. The grand total of $19.5 million is a record for a series of 20th Century Design sales at Sotheby’s. Èñòî÷íèê: www.artdaily.com íàâåðõ | 
|
17th Century Masterpieces from the Museums of FRAME December 17th, 2003 PORTLAND, OREGON.- The Portland Art Museum presents “17th Century Masterpieces from the Museums of FRAME,” on view through January 5, 2004. Making its world premiere, this exhibition of 41 stellar works, drawn from the French and American museums of FRAME, presents the very highest level of work from a century when painting emerged as one of the splendors of French culture. The Triumph of French Painting includes the best-known French painters of the age, including Georges de La Tour and Nicolas Poussin, alongside stunning masterworks by other artists who played vital roles in making Paris the world’s artistic center for centuries to come. The paintings in this exhibition offer an introduction to the power and range of the art form as it was developed first by the Church, addressing the emotional needs of society, and then by the state, enlisting artists in Louis XIV’s campaign of glory.
The opening of the exhibition in Portland this fall occurs on the fifth anniversary of FRAME. The consortium FRAME was conceived by Elizabeth Rohatyn as a component of the program of her husband Felix Rohatyn, who as U.S. Ambassador to France (1997- 2000) sought to extend exchanges beyond the capital cities. FRAME has become a beacon of bilateral cultural diplomacy, having brought together museum professionals from France and the United States to form joint projects and to share ideas. The organization has mounted three previous major exhibitions, but The Triumph of French Painting represents the first collaboration of all 18 member museums in FRAME.
Èñòî÷íèê: www.artdaily.com íàâåðõ | 
|
'Monkey' Octave Durham held over Van Gogh theft December 17th, 2003 A Dutchman known to police as "The Monkey" has been arrested in southern Spain for his suspected involvement in the theft of two Van Gogh paintings.
Octave Durham - who earned his nickname for his ability to elude police - was arrested on Friday.
The 31-year-old is wanted in connection with a robbery from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in December 2002.
The stolen paintings were Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen and View of the Sea at Scheveningen.
Mr Durham was arrested in Puerto Banus, a luxury suburb of Marbella, on an international warrant.
Extradition
Investigators were baffled by the theft at the time because guards patrolled the premises at night and there was tight security inside, including infra-red systems and cameras.
The thieves got in through the roof and police found a rope and a 4.5-metre (15-foot) ladder leaning against the rear of the building.
During Mr Durham's arrest, police confiscated several mobile phones and a police radio scanner.
He will be questioned at Madrid's National Court while extradition proceedings begin.
Èñòî÷íèê: www.bbc.co.uk íàâåðõ | 
|
Titian’s Alfonso d’Avalos Acquired by The Getty
December 12th, 2003 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.- The Getty announces the acquisition of Titian’s Portrait of Alfonso d’Avalos, Marchese del Vasto (1533), a 16th-century masterpiece by the leading exponent of Venetian Renaissance painting. Secured from a French collection, this major picture will be one of the most important works in the Getty’s collection, and will rank among the half dozen finest paintings by Titian held in this country.
"The painting is a spectacular example of Titian’s work, and will be one of the finest Renaissance portraits in the country," said Deborah Gribbon, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum and vice president of the Getty Trust. "We’re incredibly excited to add this picture to the collection. It is a remarkable portrait embodying the idealized, heroic style of antiquity and imbuing it with great empathy and humanism, setting an example that guided the development of portraiture for centuries to come."
The official painter of the Venetian Republic, Titian (Tiziano Vecellio, ca. 1487-1576) worked in a wide variety of formats and genres and his influence can be traced in all of them. Portraiture, however, was the genre in which he most emphatically established his primacy and on which he had the most lasting impact. He was the most sought-after portraitist of the Italian Renaissance and can be credited with the perfection of the formal standing state portrait. The enormous influence of Titian’s work can be traced through the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries in works by artists including Rubens, Van Dyck, Velázquez, Rembrandt, David, Degas, and Cézanne, and into portraits for corporate and university boardrooms of the 19th and 20th century. Executed at the height of the artist’s career, Portrait of Alfonso d’Avalos, Marchese del Vasto is among Titian’s greatest achievements in portraiture.
Created in the first few months of 1533, the painting is a half-length depiction of a standing Alfonso d’Avalos, a Neapolitan nobleman, intellectual and art collector. As a military commander in the service of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, D’Avalos is shown in armor, wearing the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and accompanied by a page, who hands him his helmet. The picture is a tour-de-force of painting—the figures emerge from a cocoon of indeterminate yet tangible space as if sculpted in three dimensions. D’Avalos’s features and introspective expression are insightfully and sensitively described, while the richly ornamented armor is painted with dazzling virtuosity.
Titian’s Portrait of Alfonso d’Avalos, Marchese del Vasto represents a critical addition to the Getty’s increasingly distinguished and varied holdings of Renaissance portraits, which include Jacopo Pontormo’s Portrait of a Halberdier and Sebastiano del Piombo’s Portrait of Pope Clement VII. All three were painted at nearly the same moment, and offer Getty visitors a rare opportunity to see key portraits by three of the most important artists of the Renaissance working in three of the most important artistic centers—Venice, Florence, and Rome, respectively.
The Getty’s collection of portraits is already particularly strong, and includes Van Dyck’s Agostino Pallavicini (around 1620), Domenico Fetti’s Man with a Sheet of Music (around 1620), Guercino’s Pope Gregory XV (about 1622-23), Rembrandt’s Old Man in Military Costume (1630-31), Renoir’s Albert Cahen d’Anvers (1881), and Cézanne’s Young Italian Girl (1895-1900). The new acquisition will be the Getty’s greatest portrait.
Titian dominated Venetian painting during the years of its greatest achievement. His artistic training was with Giovanni Bellini, but during his early years he fell under the spell of the poetic romanticism of Giorgione. To the Giorgionesque esthetic of mood and atmosphere, Titian added a grandeur derived from a fuller bodied and more sensual realism, within a heroic canon true to high Renaissance ideals. To his contemporaries, Titian—whether his subject was mythology, the Bible, or portraiture—was simply inimitable, a consummate master of a rich and robust colorism and dense atmospheric effects. His fame spread throughout Europe, and in 1533 he was appointed court painter to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, whose portrait he painted several times. Among Titian’s important subjects were Ippolito de’Medici, the Duke of Urbino and his Duchess, Pope Paul III, Pietro Bembo, Francis I, and Philip II of Spain.
Upon its arrival at the Museum, the painting will be installed in the North Pavilion until the end of February. It will then be temporarily removed from public view for study and minor conservation. Despite its age, the picture survives in remarkable condition. After cleaning and revarnishing by the Getty’s expert staff of paintings conservators, the painting will be placed on permanent display.
Èñòî÷íèê: www.artdaily.com íàâåðõ | 
|
A rare Renaissance bronze artefact has sold for almost £7m at auction Christie's December 12th, 2003 A rare Renaissance bronze artefact that lay hidden in a cupboard under a flight of stairs for several decades has sold for almost £7m at auction.
The 15th-Century roundel, depicting a scene of mythical gods, is thought to be one of the most important sculpture discoveries of recent times.
It was bought at Christie's in London by an anonymous telephone bidder.
The sellers also remained anonymous, although it is known the treasure came from an English country house.
A spokeswoman for Christie's said: "The roundel was discovered literally under the stairs by the owners who were redecorating and stumbled across it.
"They didn't realise they had a Renaissance masterpiece, they just thought it was Victorian art."
The work had an estimated price of up to £1.5m but eventually sold for £6,949,250.
About 16 inches in diameter, it depicts Vulcan forging a helmet while Mars, the god of War, flirts with Vulcan's wife, Venus.
English estate
Christie's said its detail was "extraordinary" and displayed the technical virtuosity of the maker.
The roundel was offered as part of the property of a deceased English estate and was probably acquired on the Grand Tour by George Treby III in the 1740s.
It was passed down through successive generations of the family who were unaware of its importance and value.
After months of research, Christie's concluded that it originated in the region of Mantua, northern Italy, some time between 1480 and 1500.
Èñòî÷íèê: www.bbc.co.uk íàâåðõ | 
|
CHRISTIE’S. American Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture December 3rd, 2003 NEW YORK.- Christie’s will hold its Important American Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture on December 4. Among the highlights of this season’s sale of is Childe Hassam’s Children in the Park, Boston, whose subject matter of leisurely activities of the refined and aristocratic in picturesque settings, was of continual fascination with the American Impressionists. Further significant works include Winslow Homer’s The Last Days of Harvest, which depicts a celebration of the virtues of country life; and Georgia O’Keeffe’s Birch and Pine Trees-Pink, a sweeping composition of tree trunks, branches and hints of sunlight.
The sculpture section features Frederic Remington’s ’The Bronco Buster’, a tribute to the cowboy of the Western frontier; and Jean-Antoine Houdon’s Bust of Robert Fulton (plâtre original), an image of a dynamic personality of the young American republic by the most renowned sculptor of the late 18th century.
Further offerings include Stuart Davis’ Sunrise from the Dorothy C. Miller collection; Thomas Cole’s captivating Catskill Mountain House; and Marsden Hartley’s The Embittered Afternoon of November, Dogtown, one of the artist’s most striking landscapes.
Èñòî÷íèê: www.artdaily.com íàâåðõ | 
|
Art's glass toilet tests courage in London December 3rd, 2003 An artist has created a usable public toilet in a glass cube to challenge the curiosity - and bravery - of people passing London's Tate Britain gallery.
Monica Bonvicinisaid visitors would have to "defy their own embarrassment" to use the minimalist cubicle, made from one-way mirrored glass.
It is impossible to see into the toilet, which will be free to use, but the person inside can see passers-by.
The work, called Don't Miss A Sec, uses a prison loo as a historical reference.
The site - on the old parade ground at the former Royal Army Medical College - once housed Millbank Penitentiary, where prisoners were held before being transported to Australia.
A spokeswoman for the artist said: "It will arouse curiosity because people can come and just use it, although there is a question of whether people will feel comfortable doing so.
"They may be wary of desecrating a work of art or may be uneasy that because they can see out, other people can see in.
"There could be this feeling that there is some form of switch to change it and let people see in, but of course there isn't."
Ms Bonvicini, born in Italy but based in Los Angeles, is known for using her work to make people question their environment.
The installation will open for two hours from 1800 GMT each week day, from 1400 to 1800 GMT on Saturdays and 1000 to 1800 GMT on Sundays.
Ms Bonvicini is not alone in using a toilet to bring art to the public.
In October, two artists opened The Toilet Gallery - a converted public loo in Kingston-upon-Thames, south-west London, showcasing young artists from across Britain.
Èñòî÷íèê: www.bbc.co.uk íàâåðõ | 
|
An exhibition of artefacts found in the rubble of the World Trade Center opens in New York. December 3rd, 2003 The show documents the work of those who sifted debris from the Twin Towers, which was taken to a landfill site.
It features more than 50 objects and 65 photographs, including a building beam and parts of the planes that hit the buildings on 11 September 2001.
Fresh Kills landfill site played a key part in the search for remains and criminal evidence after the attack.
Nearly two million tonnes of rubble were brought to the landfill in Staten Island after the destruction of the towers.
The work at Fresh Kills, several miles from Ground Zero and closed to the general public, is an important part of the 11 September story that most people do not know, exhibition organisers said.
"I don't think people have a good sense of the extraordinary lengths to which every single worker there went to find... anything to bring some comfort to the families who lost people on 11 September," said Amy Weinstein, assistant curator at the New York Historical Society
Human remains
The photographs record the daily activities at the site, from the huge piles that had to be sorted to images of those who worked there.
Workers spent hours at conveyor belts watching for the smallest fragment of something vital to drift by.
More than 54,000 pieces of personal property, including rings, watches, wallets and ID cards, were found.
Of the nearly 20,000 human remains recovered from the ruins, more than 1,400 were found at the landfill, the city medical examiner's office has said.
The exhibition is a collaboration between the Historical Society and the New York State Museum in Albany.
Èñòî÷íèê: www.bbc.co.uk íàâåðõ | 
|
© 2001-2010 ARTRUSSIA.RU - Art of Russia.
All rights reserved.
Moscow. Russia
