June 2005

D-DAY, modern-day design

Centre Pompidou: June 29 2005 - October 17 2005

The exhibition is a reflection on contemporary design values and their anthropological and aesthetic challenges, through slides designed ex profeso for the exhibition and a selection of pre-existing projects. It is a narrative and sensory collection that questions the current scope of design, the relationship with and experience of contact with an object, the vanishing points of the imagination and an object's power of seduction, as well as the very newest in digital graphic design that triggers new emotions.

http://www.cnac-gp.fr

Stubbs and the Horse

The National Gallery: 29 June - 25 September 2005

Detail from George Stubbs, 'Whistlejacket', about 1762. London, The National Gallery.

George Stubbs was not only the greatest of all British horse painters, but arguably the greatest painter of horses in the history of European art. 'Stubbs and the Horse' is the first exhibition to focus solely on this theme in his work. Assembling some of his finest paintings and most beautiful anatomical drawings, the exhibition explores the social, cultural and intellectual environment in which they were produced, providing a fascinating insight into the importance of the horse in 18th-century British culture. It also reunites paintings commissioned by Stubbs's highly cultivated patrons, such as the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, for whom the National Gallery's great painting 'Whistlejacket' was made. The exhibition includes Stubbs's 'sublime' paintings of horses attacked by lions and his classically inspired, frieze-like studies of mares and foals at stud farms, as well as riding portraits, conversation-pieces and scenes from the stableyard and racecourse. 'Stubbs and the Horse' is organised by the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, in association with the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, and the National Gallery, London.

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk

Meschac Gaba

Tate Modern: 25 June - 21 August 2005

The Architecture of the Museum 1998

The seventh in a series of eight-week displays by international contemporary artists has been undertaken by Meschac Gaba. His works examine the cultural and economic codes of exchange between Africa and the West, through engaging visitors in an exchange of ideas. The final form of Gaba's installations are left open to be shaped by the desires and actions of those who visit. His previous works include the ten part installation The Museum of Contemporary African Art. Individual elements of this hypothetical institution were placed in other galleries and museums, such as The Architecture of the Museum where visitors built their fantasy museum using wooden blocks. In the Level 2 Gallery, Gaba has created an installation inspired by the Nobel Peace Prize. ...

http://www.tate.org.uk

Irving Penn: Platinum Prints

National Gallery of Art: June 19 - October 2, 2005

Since the early 1960s, American photographer Irving Penn (born 1917) has made a limited number of platinum prints of his most celebrated photographs. This exhibition will present some 95 platinum prints given by Penn to the National Gallery of Art in 2002. Featured will be many of Penn's best works, including his portraits of Pablo Picasso, David Smith, Saul Steinberg, and Marcel Duchamp; studies of indigenous peoples in New Guinea and Peru; provocative still lifes; and influential fashion studies. ...

http://www.nga.gov

Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World

Final U.S. venue Hambrecht, Osher, and Lee Galleries: June 12–September 11, 2005

One of the most celebrated centers of Buddhism, Tibet—with its spiritual wisdom, isolated locale, and glittering palaces—has long captivated the world. Experience first hand the splendors of this legendary place in the stunning exhibition Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World. Shown for the first time outside Asia, this landmark exhibition showcases nearly 200 of the finest examples of sculptures, paintings, textiles, and Buddhist ritual artifacts, as well as beautifully crafted items used by the Dalai Lamas and the nobility. These rare objects won’t be on display again in the U.S., so don’t miss your chance to experience one of the cultural highlights of the year! ...

http://www.asianart.org

Stage fright - The art of theatre

National Gallery of Australia: 11 June – 26 September 2005

Kenneth Rowell, Costume designs for Daisy and Rose from 'Alice in Wonderland' 1953 watercolour and collage on paper Collection of the National Gallery of Australia

Stage fright: the art of theatre features costume and set designs by Australian artists from the National Gallery of Australia’s Theatre Arts Collection. The exhibition is aimed at primary school children, but will fascinate anyone interested in theatre design. Visitors will be led on a voyage of discovery through a diversity of images drawn from mythology, fairytales, visionary worlds and fantasy characters intended for the ballet, opera and the theatre stage. ...

http://www.nga.gov.au

Ceramics in Antiquity Egypt, Near East, Greece

LOUVRE: from 06-10-2005 to 09-12-2005

Goblet decorated with the face of a goddess Fourteenth or thirteenth century BC © R.M.N./H. Lewandowski

Continuing the exploration of creative techniques which began with the "Ivories" exhibition, the Louvre turns to the birth and development of pottery and the ceramic arts. Antique masterpieces from the museum's collections provide an overview of the evolving techniques, forms and uses of pottery and ceramics from the earliest civilizations.

http://www.louvre.fr

Frida Kahlo

Tate Modern: 9 June - 9 October 2005

Frida Kahlo Self-Portrait with Monkey 1938 Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo NY Bequest of A. Conger Goodyear, 1966. © Banco de México and INBAL, Mexico, 2005

he first UK solo show devoted to this celebrated Mexican artist, including several poignantly beautiful self portraits and lush and erotic still lifes. The Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) is now regarded as one of the most significant artists of the twentieth century and this will be the first major UK exhibition dedicated to her work to take place for over twenty years. Severely injured in a bus crash in her youth, Kahlo took up painting when confined to her bed. Kahlo's life was changed forever by the accident and the portrayal of her body, wracked with pain, is a recurring theme in her paintings. Kahlo said that there were two accidents in her life - the second was her tempestuous relationship with the renowned Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. It is in her iconic self portraits, unrivalled in their poignant beauty, that Kahlo depicts both her isolation and also her indomitable spirit and sense of self. The exhibition also reveals the less well-known aspects of her work; her powerful political insights about national identity, the plight of the poor, the march of technology and Mexico's relationship with it's neighbour the USA. ...

http://www.tate.org.uk

Corot

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza: 7 June - 11 September, 2005

The Forum seen from the Farnese Gardens, 1826 Oil on paper mounted on canvas. 30 x 49 cm Paris, Musée du Louvre, bequest of the artist, 1875

... Corot. Nature, Emotion, Souvenir brings together more than 80 oil paintings in the first retrospective exhibition to be devoted to the artist in Spain. Its intention is to offer a complete and coherent overview of his work through the two genres to which he remained faithful throughout his career: landscape and the figure. The works on show –which include some of the artist’s most legendary paintings, now iconic images– are organised into sections. These are devoted to his early years; to realist landscape (the sections entitled Italy, The Regions of France, and Realism); to nature transformed through the artist’s imagination (the sections entitled From historical to lyrical Landscape and Ville-d’Avray); to the figures, and to the souvenirs (Recollections). The latter are imbued with the poetic aesthetic through which Corot expressed his own emotions.

http://www.museothyssen.org

Francis Bacon: Portraits and Heads

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art: Saturday, 4 June, 2005 - Sunday, 4 September, 2005

Francis Bacon , Study for Head of George Dyer, 1969.

Part of the Icons of the 20th Century series - sponsored by Lloyds TSB Scotland, in association with Bentley Edinburgh. Francis Bacon is celebrated as one of the most important British artists of the twentieth century. From the 1940s to his death in 1992 he worked consistently as a painter, ignoring other passing, fashionable trends in art. Throughout his career, the human figure was the dominant subject in his work: his paintings of men and women go far beyond a simple likeness and instead are portraits of complex psychological states. Among his most intense works are his small-format portraits; this will be the first museum exhibition devoted to this fascinating aspect of his work and the first on Francis Bacon in Scotland.

http://www.natgalscot.ac.uk

The Quilts of Gee's Bend

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: June 1 - August 21, 2005

One of the most innovative and prolific artists from Gee’s Bend, Annie Mae Young made her first quilt at age thirteen. Young likes to experiment, especially with the “strip quilt" form, tearing fabrics rather than cutting them; she pieced the “Work clothes" quilt illustrated here from recycled jeans and corduroy.

See the quilts The New York Times called “some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced," when this widely hailed exhibition stops in Boston on its nationwide tour.

“The Quilts of Gee’s Bend" features more than sixty quilts made between 1930 and 2000 by four generations of quilt makers, resulting in a body of work that is bold, colorful, and unique. What gives the quilts of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, their particular power? One look gives you a sense of their originality and graphic impact. The Gee’s Bend quilters inventively combine materials to form bold, abstract compositions that reveal a genius for color and geometry. These quilts, sometimes pieced from worn clothing, were originally made for practical use, often piled in layers on beds for warmth. ...

http://www.mfa.org

Herzog & de Meuron An Exhibition

Tate Modern: 1 June – 29 August 2005

Herzog & de Meuron 230 Philharmonic Hall Hamburg Project 2003-2005, planned realization 2006-2009 Computer generated image © Herzog & de Meuron

This display explores the work of world-renowned architects Herzog & de Meuron. It offers a penetrating insight into how their vision and style has evolved from their early projects, completed twenty-five years ago, to recent large-scale international commissions, including that of Tate Modern itself. Unlike other architecture exhibitions, the display explores the creative process of making architecture by revealing the by-products or 'waste' produced during the course of the architects' work. ...

http://www.tate.org.uk

Open Systems: Rethinking Art c.1970

Tate Modern - 1 June – 18 September 2005

Hans Haacke Condensation Cube 1963 Museu d'Art Contemporaini, Barcelona, Spain. Gift of the National Comittee and Board of Trustees Whitney Museum of American Art. © DACS 2005

Open Systems: Rethinking Art c.1970 brings together the work of international artists who radically rethought the object of art in the late 1960s and 1970s. The featured artists sought to connect with the increasingly urgent political developments of the decade and make their work more responsive to the world around them. Building on the structures of Minimalism and Conceptualism, they reacted against art's traditional focus on the object by adopting experimental aesthetic 'systems' across a variety of media including photography, dance, performance, painting, installation, video and film.

http://www.tate.org.uk