museum exhibition

New York's Best: "Vienna 1900"

Filed under: Events, Art

Before you climb the museum stairs to see "Vienna 1900: Style and Identity" head for the Neue Museum's Cafe Sabarsky, a dead ringer for an old-world Viennese cafe. With its Josef Hoffmann and Adolf Loos inspired decor, this cafe is a best bet for great coffee and strudels as well as catching the vibe of the exhibition's, turn-of-the-century Vienna. The museum's 1914 building, an Upper East Side landmark, is steps away from Central Park at 1048 Fifth Avenue at 86th Street. (The museum's name means "new gallery.")

Tags: Gustav Klimt, JosefHoffmann, Kolomon Moser, museum event, museum exhibition, neue galerie, new york city art, new york city events, Oscar Kokoschka, Secessionist art, vienna

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Rembrandt at the Frick: A Case of "True Grit"

by Bobbie Leigh (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Study Rembrandt's self-portrait, a monumental painting in a new show at the Frick Collection in New York City, and you see a man who looks much older than 52. Rembrandt presents himself as a bear of a man, draped in a luxurious fur cape, a golden pleated smock with a red sash wound around his waist. He holds a silver-tipped cane. He looks indomitable, strong, and resolute. The American painter Kenyon Cox's description of the painting in 1910 says it all: "It is the head of an old lion at bay, worn and melancholy, yet conscious of his strength, determined, and a little defiant." Yet in reality, in 1658, the year he painted the portrait, Rembrandt was morose and troubled. He had declared bankruptcy two years earlier. His family was hounded by debtors. He was forced to sell his many collections and even the house and studio he had occupied since 1639. His reputation suffered. Commissions lagged and his once large group of students and followers had all but abandoned him and in some cases, even his "Rembrandtesque" style.

The monumental self portrait has pride of place in the Oval Room in the Frick's new show, "Rembrandt and His School; Masterworks from the Frick and Lugt Collection." It presents work by the master, his pupils, and followers in a blockbuster celebration of Rembrandt's paintings, drawings, and etchings. Henry Clay Frick (1849--1919) and Dutch art historian and collector Frederik Johannes Lugt (1884-1970) were both great admirers of Rembrandt van Rijn. The precocious Lugt at 12 had started to catalog Dutch and Flemish drawings in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum while Frick once said that the the talents he would most like to have possessed were Rembrandt's. These two admirers were renowned collectors with the eye, the connections, and the deep wallets to buy what pleased them.

Tags: Frederick Johannes Lugt, Frick Collection, Govert Flinck, museum exhibit, museum exhibition, rembrandt, Rembrandts

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Fashion Forward Ikats

by Bobbie Leigh (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Prepare to be dazzled. The 60 ikat robes in Washington D.C.'s The Textile Museum's show, "Colors of the Oasis: Central Asian Ikats," are a riot of sun-splashed color. The rich jewel toned robes, appealingly hung in the round so you can view them from all directions, are from the museum's Megalli Collection. Most are 19th century ceremonial robes from Samarkand, Bukhara, and the silk weaving centers in the Fergama Valley in Central Asia.

Tags: Central Asian textiles, DianeVonFurstenberg, ikat design, museum exhibit, museum exhibition, oscar de la renta, textiles, the textile museum

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Rubin Museum: Sacred Symbols Across Two Cultures

by Bobbie Leigh (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

A museum is not the best place to view religious art. To get the full import of images with profound religious meaning you need music, chanting, incense, no buzz from the outside world. Museums by their very nature can't reproduce the ambiance of a monastery or a cathedral, but they can gather materials you might never have the chance to see elsewhere. The Rubin Museum's new show Embodying the Holy presents two distinct religious traditions, Eastern Orthodox and Tibetan Buddhist, in the most reverential manner possible in a museum in the heart of New York City.

To contrast the Eastern and Western traditions in subject matter, story telling, and iconography, the Rubin Museum curators have selected Orthodox icons, crucifixes, and paintings and juxtaposed them with Buddhist religuaries and thangkas, cloth scroll paintings used in Tibetan monasteries and family altars. As you walk through the exhibition, be sure to listen to the audio guide which contrasts and compares how the two traditions treat similar themes and concepts -- the battle of good versus evil, the notion of heaven and hell, miracles, visions, universal symbols among others. The similarities are a surprise, especially for those unfamiliar with either tradition.

Tags: christianity, Green Tara, iconography, icons, Mahakala, museum exhbits, museum exhibition, Padmasambhava, religion, st. george, Tibetan Buddhism, virgin mary

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Edward Hopper and His Friends

by Bobbie Leigh (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Art

Be prepared to fall in love with Edward Hopper all over again. You might even have had a poster of one of his night scenes in your college dorm room. In the new show of his work and that of some 30 other Hopper contemporaries, Hopper (1882-1967) still emerges as one of the most compelling artists of the last century. "Modern Life: Edward Hopper and His Time" is at the Whitney which supposedly has some 3,000 Hopper works given by his wife Jo, also an art student and the model for most of the women in his paintings.

The show covers American realism from roughly 1900-1940 and documents the way Hopper and his "friends" rebelled against the academic art that dominated Europe. No more lovely scenes of parks and posh picnics along the Seine, Hopper and his contemporaries -- William Glackens, George Bellow, Thomas Hart Benton to name just a few whose works are on view --- painted everyday scenes. They were drawn to tugboats, bridges, railroad cars, the new skyscrapers. But unlike his contemporaries, Hopper disliked regionalism which made a caricature of America. He advocated an "American art that transcended national, local, and regional traits," according to the sumptuous show catalog.

Tags: American realism, edward hopper, Everett Shinn, George Bellows, museum exhibit, museum exhibition, painting, Thomas Hart Benton, whitney museum, William Glackens

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Gemstone Carvings On Display In Orange County Museum

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Art

The Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California is showcasing "Gemstone Carvings: The Masterworks of Harold Van Pelt." Harold Van Pelt has created delicate carvings out of quartz, agate and other stones, a pastime he's had for 40 years but rarely showcased. Van Pelt and his wife Erica have a long history with the museum and photographed two gem show catalogs for the museum. The exhibit is the first in the Bowers' new PIMCO Foundation Gallery.

Shown at right is a carved agate drinking vessel with a gold capped nose. The Orange County Register has a comprehensive review of the show that highlights some of the amazingly detailed pieces created by this 85-year-old artist. He has carved bowls, drinking vessels, eggs, and even an anatomically correct copy of his wife's hand out of agate. Another beautiful piece is a skeleton hand made of milky white chalcedony. Van Pelt has never sold a piece but it is likely that they could sell for $25,000 to $100,000. The display is open until May 2011 and tickets are $12 for adults. After it closes next year it will likely travel to the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh.

Tags: bowers museum, gemstone carvings, museum exhibit, museum exhibition, santa ana

Mermaids Delight At Cape Cod Museum

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Cape Cod in the summertime is an artist's paradise and the Cape has a long tradition of many artists. One of the most classically Cape Cod artists is Ralph Cahoon, a native Cape Codder whose legacy lives on at the Cahoon Museum of American Art in Cotuit, Massachusetts. A new exhibit at the museum, "Chasing the Mermaids," is dedicated to Ralph and his wife, Martha Farham Cahoon. The museum is their former home and studio, a Colonial Georgian home that was built in 1775.

Cahoon was born in Chatham in 1910 and died in 1982. His graceful mermaids in fantastical scenes often featuring clipper ships and hot air balloons were some of his most popular and well-collected works. The exhibition which is currently on and runs until September 19 features more than 50 works across four galleries that are arranged in mostly chronological order with some paintings with similar themes gathered together. The paintings were gathered from collectors for the exhibit.

Ralph and Martha Cahoon began as furniture restorers and decorators, painting folk scenes on trunks, tables and other pieces. When an heiress asked the Cahoons to make framed pictures to sell in her gallery their art career took off. First lady Jacqueline Kennedy even bought a pair of the paintings in 1961. The Cape Cod Times reports that the highest selling price for a Cahoon painting was $179,000 in 2000.

[via ArtFix Daily]

Tags: cape cod, folk art, museum exhibit, museum exhibition, ralph cahoon

Bank Of America Showcases Western Art

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Art

Last month I wrote about an exhibit featuring Bank of America's contemporary art holdings in Charlotte. Should you be interested in seeing the works of another artist in the B of A holdings you'll need to travel to Kansas City, Missouri. That's where the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art will be presenting Romancing the West: Alfred Jacob Miller in the Bank of America Collection from September 25, 2010-January 9, 2011. The exhibit showcase the work of the Baltimore portraitist who in 1837 was invited on the adventure of a lifetime, tagging along with Scottish nobleman Captain William Drummond Stewart and the American Fur Company expedition on a six-month adventure to the Rocky Mountains. They trekked along the Oregon Trail to the annual gathering of the fur trade and Miller was one of the first American artists to bring the images of the American West to vivid life.

The exhibit shows 30 works on paper not seen in the public since 1964. Miler made more than 100 field sketches during the expedition, sketches that became the inspiration for at least a thousand paintings and watercolors. The six-month journey set him up for the next three decades as he received commissions for albums of watercolors and full-sized oil paintings that he produced in his studio. The works from the Bank of America Collection represent intermediary work based on his field sketches and done in preparation for the commissioned work.

"We are thrilled to share Miller's work with the general public," said Margaret C. Conrads, Samuel Sosland Senior Curator, American Art, at the Nelson-Atkins and curator of the exhibition. "Viewers will find that fact mixes with fantasy to reflect life on the frontier both as it was and as it was imagined to be."

After debuting at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art the exhibition will head to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2011.

[via Art Fix Daily]

Tags: american west, art exhibit, Art Exhibition, art exhibits, bank of america, museum exhibit, museum exhibition, nelson-atkins museum, western art

Witty and Whimsical Posters in New Haven

by Bobbie Leigh (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

"Art for All: British Posters for Transport," a new show at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, is a hoot. British mass transit, the railroads and Underground (subway), wanted riders to be adventurous, comfortable, and well-informed. They had a brilliant idea to make this happen ---the power of persuasive art. To encourage the doubtful to ride the rails, they hired artists to design posters that displayed a lot of whimsy and imagination.

Tags: British Mass Transit, British posters, museum exhibit, museum exhibition, trains and subways, travel posters, Yale Center for British Art

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Celebrity Guest Curators Celebrate The Shaker Legacy

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Art

The Hancock Shaker Village, a living history museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts celebrates 50 years as a museum this year. The site served as a Shaker community from 1790 to 1960 and is now a National Historic Landmark with acres of farm and woods as well as housing a collection of original Shaker furniture, art, objects, tools, textiles and other artifacts. The Village has 18 significant historic buildings including the Round Stone Barn as well as a modern Visitor Center. As you wander through the village you can view pieces of Shaker design, check out demonstrations of Shaker craft, visit the gardens and learn about the Shaker way of life.

To celebrate 50 years the museum asked celebrities and other influential types to serve as guest curators answering the question: "If you could pick any Shaker creation that for you, best illustrates the Shakers' enduring influence, what would it be and why?" Guest curators include designer Michael Graves, television host Al Roker, furniture maker Thomas Moser, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and filmmaker Ken Burns. The exhibit runs now through October 31.Tickets are $17 for adults.

[via ArtFix Daily]

Tags: hancock shaker village, museum, museum exhibit, museum exhibition, museums, shaker, shakers

Tiffany Glass Exhibit Opens In Virginia

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Art

Fans of Louis Comfort Tiffany's beautiful glass creations will want to visit the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. "Tiffany: Color and Light" opened this weekend and will continue until August 15. The exhibition includes more than 170 works by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his studio. Glass objects, leaded-glass windows, lamps, and other decorative items will be displayed along with oil paintings, watercolors, and mosaics. Fourteen objects in the exhibit come from VMFA's internationally renowned collection. "Our own collection of Tiffany treasures has earned the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts the distinction of being the exclusive U.S. venue for the works of this genius of American Decorative arts," says Director Alex Nyerges.

Louis Comfort Tiffany was the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, the founder of Tiffany & Company in New York City. He studied art in New York and in Paris. He established the Tiffany Glass Company, which became Tiffany Studios in 1900 and at one point, Tiffany Studios employed more than 300 artisans, some of them women, to bring Tiffany's designs and ideas to life.

[via Art Daily]

Tags: glass, museum exhibit, museum exhibition, tiffany, virginia museum of fine arts

Katharine Hepburn's Legacy Celebrated With Stamp, Museum Exhibit

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel

Legendary actress and fashion icon Katharine Hepburn has gotten her own stamp. The United States Postal Service's newly-issued commemorative stamp on Katharine Hepburn went on sale last week. The stamp portrait is a publicity photograph from Woman of the Year (MGM, 1942), the comedy that first put Hepburn together with her on and off-screen love interest, Spencer Tracy.

The stamp sets the stage for a renewed focus on Hepburn's legacy. At Kent State University this fall, the KSU Museum will be showcasing an exhibition: "Katharine Hepburn: Dressed for Stage and Screen," which opens October 2, 2010 and ends September 4, 2011. The exhibit will display many of the costumes designed for Hepburn in her movies and Broadway shows (including her turn as Coco Chanel). The museum has over 1,000 pieces of her belongings including the performance clothes and spans Hepburn's long career. The exhibit may later tour other museums.

As a video on the project (after the jump) reveals, finding mannequins to wear the clothes was no easy task. In her early years the actress had a waist of just 20 inches and some mannequins had to be carved down to fit the clothing.

[via NY Post]

Tags: exhibits, Katharine Hepburn, museum, museum exhibit, museum exhibition

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Cartier and America Exhibit Extended Until May 9

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

You'd think with the nearly 40 pictures in the gallery below that you might have seen everything at the Cartier and America exhibit without ever having to trek to San Francisco. You'd be wrong or rather I was wrong and am very glad I made the journey. Tucked down on the lower level of the Legion of Honor Museum is what could be the most comprehensive collection of Cartier pieces ever gathered. The multi-room exhibit is a love letter to the Cartier brand and its legacy of quality and ingenuity.

The dazzling tiaras and gobstobber diamond rings are no surprise but this exhibit has other surprises in store. The displays go beyond just jewelry, there are also watches, cigarette cases (including one designed to look like an envelope complete with enamel stamp, a gift from Winston Churchill to his son), hairbrushes, tiny mignonette clocks and even a gold version of a lunar landing module. Pieces belonging to some of the women with the wherewithal to own custom Cartier pieces are shown. Doris Duke's diamonds, Elizabeth Taylor's ruby and diamond parure, Grace Kelly's ladylike pieces, Barbara Hutton's famous Cartier tiger pin and Maria Felix's articulated serpent necklace are just some of the showier treasures. In 1968 Felix commissioned the necklace from Cartier Paris. Felix's serpent necklace is truly amazing. It is thicker than a real snake and has a 178 carats of diamonds along the top and a colorful enameled underbelly meant to protect the wearer from the scratch of the stones. Felix also commissioned a detachable double crocodile necklace which is shown in the Cartier exhibit.

Gallery: Cartier and America