Art Blog

Requicken: Glenna Matoush

Carleton University Art Gallery: 15 May – 27 August 2006

Glenna Matoush My Great Grandfather, Chief Yellow Head, Who’s Buried Under McDonalds on Yonge Street in Toronto (1995)

Born on the Rama Reserve in Ontario, the Ojibway artist Glenna Matoush studied art at the Elliot Lake School of Fine Arts, the University of Alberta and the Guilde Graphique in Montreal in the late 1970s and 1980s. Matoush raised her family in Mistissini, Quebec, and has since become a resident of Montreal, where she has long been active in both the arts and Aboriginal communities.
Trained as a printmaker but now working primarily as a painter, Matoush’s expressionistic style moves fluidly between the figurative and the abstract. Her work is informed directly by nature; she often collages birch bark, leaves, earth, and stones into her paintings. Matoush addresses contemporary social and political Aboriginal issues in her work, including the environmental destruction she has witnessed in Cree territory in Northern Quebec, and the despair caused by AIDS and the reclamation of culture. ...

http://www.carleton.ca

French Master Drawings. From Manet and Degas to Matisse and Picasso

Staten Museum for Kunst: 12 May - 8 October 2006

Pablo Picasso, Naked Woman lying by Window, 1971.

This exhibition provides a rare insight into the Royal Collection of Prints and Drawing's rich selection of drawings by French 19th and 20th century Masters. Moving from works by Gustave Moreau, Toulouse-Lautrec, and the dawning Impressionism in Degas, Cézanne, and Gauguin to later 20th century icons like Matisse, Picasso, and Picabia, the exhibition provides a nuanced picture of one of the most breathtaking chapters in art history.

http://www.smk.dk

Hofburg hosts exhibition by Russian artist Mikhail Evstafiev

Hofburg Congress Centre in Vienna, Austria: through May 2006

An exhibition of paintings by Russian-born artist Mikhail Evstafiev titled "Somewhere else" will be showing at the Hofburg Congress Centre in Vienna, Austria, through May 2006.
Over 30 paintings presented in the show have been created since 2003, when the artist moved to Vienna from Washington, D.C.
Mikhail Evstafiev's paintings and photographs have been exhibited in different countries, including in Austria, China, Russia and the United States, in places such as the State Kremlin Palace, the Maly Manezh Exhibition Hall and the Central House of Artists in Moscow, and in the Grand Central Terminal in NYC.

http://www.evstafiev.com/

The Painted Photograph

Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography: 5 May to 19 November 2006

David Bierk Petrified Tree, California 1989 Oil on photographs on canvas 133.4 x 91.4 cm Collection of Elizabeth Bierk Photo: Michael Cullen, Trent Photographics

This exhibition presents the beautiful works of David Bierk, Sarah Nind, and Jaclyn Shoub that mix photography and painting. Their use of both media expresses contemporary concerns about the relationship between ideas of nature and culture, originality and appropriation, and tradition and modernity. Sarah Nind understands the photograph as an accurate, albeit static, reproduction of reality, one that must be augmented in order to convey ideas of a more spiritual nature. In the work of Jaclyn Shoub, painterly processes provide a way to intervene with imagery in order to create a more personal statement about the subject matter. The anxiety and sense of loss linked to technology is explored in the work of David Bierk. By incorporating direct references to art history and painting, Bierk offers the viewer a sense of tradition and lasting cultural values. The photograph, as a modern technology and image-making device, therefore, is in direct dialogue with its pictorial antecedents. ...

http://cmcp.gallery.ca

The Poetry of Light: Venetian Drawings from the National Gallery of Art

National Gallery of Art, Washington: April 30–October 1, 2006

Some one hundred thirty four works from the Gallery's outstanding collection reveal that Venice produced some of the finest artists in history. The exhibition features drawings by Andrea Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini, Vittore Carpaccio, Giorgione, Lorenzo Lotto, and Titian. One of the earliest surviving European drawings in colored chalks, by Jacopo Bassano, and excellent works by Veronese, Jacopo Tintoretto, and Paolo Farinati highlight the later sixteenth century section. ...

http://www.nga.gov

Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections

National Gallery of Art, Washington: April 30–October 1, 2006

Ian Woodner (1903–1990) formed one of the foremost private collections of old master and modern drawings in the United States. The core drawings of the collection were placed at the National Gallery of Art by Woodner's daughters in 1991, in honor of their father's achievement as a collector. This exhibition celebrates the 15th anniversary of the arrival of the Woodner drawings at the National Gallery and honors the ongoing generosity of Dian and Andrea Woodner, who have already donated many of the core drawings and have augmented the collection with additional gifts. ...

http://www.nga.gov

DESIGNING TRUTH

Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum: April 30 - June 25, 2006

Daniele Buetti; IT IS ALL IN THE MIND, 2005

With: Back & Forth, Daniele Buetti, Jimmie Durham, Jochen Gerz, Knowbotic Research, Sigalit Landau, Mark Lewis, Kris Martin, Grayson Perry, Michael Richter, Hinrich Sachs and Peter Sandbichler.
The exhibition “Designing Truth” is to be understood as a contribution to the festival “Duisburger Akzente”, the theme of which is “What to believe in”? The festival theme is a reaction to society’s reorientation towards lastingly viable, identity-creating values and patterns of behaviour. At a time of enormous technological and political change, and of global problems in the economic and geopolitical spheres, people are searching – as ever - for order and meaning that can help them to understand the world and determine their behaviour within it. ...

http://www.lehmbruckmuseum.de/

Maxwell Bates: At the Crossroads of Expressionism

Art Gallery of Greater Victoria: April 28, 2006 to June 25, 2006

Maxwell Bates, Odalisque 1970 oil on canvas AGGV Collection

Artist, architect, and writer Maxwell Bates (1906 to 1980) is a pivotal figure in the history and evolution of Canadian art. We are particularly pleased to be exhibiting his work at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Bates’ tremendous impact on the art scene here from 1962 to 1980 remains a key period in this city’s artistic development.
This retrospective exhibition features over 80 works spanning Maxwell Bates' career from 1921 to 1978. The exhibition is divided into chronological sections starting with his early work in Calgary. The expressionist influence that features heavily throughout his career was already evident at this early stage. Bates was working with philosophies and ideals that were very different from those of his contemporaries in Calgary. ...

http://aggv.bc.ca

Helene Schjerfbeck - Unveiling the Unseen

Didrichsen Art and Cultural Museum: 28.4 - 1.10.2006

The reputation of one of the most important figures in Finnish art history, Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946), is growing constantly, both in Finland and abroad.
As an artist, Schjerfbeck made no attempt to produce an illusion of reality, but was interpreting her own inner feelings from very early on, and advanced systematically along the path she had chosen.
The more than 50 works in the exhibition take us on a journey through this artist’s production. The earliest work shown is The Wounded Soldier from 1880, when Schjerfbeck was only 18 years old. The endpoint of the journey is the very last work that she ever produced, Three Pears on a Plate from 1945. There are also several repetitions of various themes, such as the self-portraits, which the artist returned to repeatedly. ...

http://www.didrichsenmuseum.fi

John Greene

New Arts Gallery: April 22 - May 15, 2006

"Untitled",2006 -encaustic on panel, 36"x36"

John Greene’s encaustic paintings rely on both the textural element of his medium as well as the refined selectivity of color, form and distilled composition. He explores the rigor of geometry as well as the fluidity of implied landscape and organic form. In some works these elements converge in others they remain separate and dominant. What remains constant is the crafted surface that elaborates and enhances the conceptual nature beneath. Together he creates engaging and elegant statements, focused and direct, which invite personal interpretation. Greene states, “I try to introduce elements that are hidden or apparent, that will encourage “reading” the paintings many times and constantly discovering something new. I find myself using different materials such as copper or lead (materials from the earth), as is paint, which may also change continually over time. I especially like beeswax, which in many ways is just the opposite in terms of its durability and permanence, and for its wonderful ability to be opaque or transparent…Above all, I love the PROCESS of making a picture – revealing parts of myself that might be a mystery to me.” ...

http://newartsgallery.com

Daphne Odjig: Four Decades of Prints

WINNIPEG ART GALLERY: April 22 to July 16, 2006

Daphne Odjig: Four Decades of Prints brings together 95 print works created during the last 40 years. The exhibition celebrates one significant aspect of her work – printmaking – and provides viewers with an exceptional opportunity to honour Aboriginal cultural heritage through the eyes of one of Canada’s most remarkable artists.
Daphne Odjig was born on Manitoulin Island. In 1963 she moved to northern Manitoba where a very significant period of her career was launched. She was a founding member of the Professional Native Artists Incorporation which has been dubbed the “Indian Group of Seven,” along with Jackson Beardy, Carl Ray, Norval Morrisseau, Eddie Cobiness, Alex Janvier, and Joseph Sanchez. In 1970 she moved to Winnipeg where, in response to the lack of representation of Aboriginal artists in mainstream galleries, she and her husband opened an art gallery dedicated to Aboriginal artists--Warehouse Gallery. During this period in Manitoba Odjig produced her largest number of prints in any given period and her work attained an international reputation. Odjig’s unique style is characterized by repeated curvilinear forms that build rhythm throughout the composition, combined with brilliant and uplifting primary colours. ...

http://www.wag.mb.ca

Present Tense - Murray Laufer

Art Gallery of Ontario: April 19 to July 30, 2006

The first comprehensive view of Toronto artist Murray Lauferís work features large-scale paintings that address classic themes in Western painting, achieving a sculptural rendition of form through the use of transparent paint mediums and collage elements. ...

http://www.ago.net

Pieter Lastman. In Rembrandt’s Shadow?

Hamburger Kunsthalle: 13 April – 30 July 2006

Pieter Lastman’s (1583-1633) oeuvre is of pre-eminent importance for the development of history painting in Holland. 1618 he is lauded in a “Praise of the City of Amsterdam” as one of the most important painters of his home town. With the example of biblical sources, the selected paintings present his innovative method of composing his works. Only in the 19th century the importance of his personal artistic achievement was overshadowed by the fact that Rembrandt briefly studied in his workshop. ...

http://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de

Bellini and the East

National Gallery: 12 April - 25 June 2006

Bellini, 'Seated Scribe' about 1479-80. © Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Photo: Tom Lingner.

In 1453 the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople, capital of the Christian Byzantine Empire. This event transformed European politics, culture and society. This focused exhibition will examine images of the Muslim and Christian Eastern Mediterranean that were produced subsequently by the great Venetian painters Gentile and Giovanni Bellini.
Gentile Bellini spent some time in Istanbul as the guest of Sultan Mehmet II, and was fascinated by the Sultan's court and city. The work reflects their knowledge of and sympathetic interest in both Byzantium, and the Islamic civilisation that followed it. Greek architecture and painting were the basis of Venetian art, and many Byzantine Greeks felt an affinity to Venice. ...

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk

Marie-Louise von Motesiczky

Tate Liverpool: 11 April – 13 August 2006

Marie-Louise von Motesiczky After the Ball 1949 © Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust

Celebrating the hundredth anniversary of Marie-Louise von Motesiczky’s birth, this exhibition brings the work of this acclaimed, yet relatively unknown, artist to a much wider audience than ever before. Fleeing the Nazis in 1938 she left Vienna with her mother, finally settling in England where she lived and worked in a community of gifted exiled artists.
The exhibition presents around 70 paintings and a number of drawings, exploring the transition from her hard-edged realist style of the twenties to the poetic realism of her later work. ...

http://www.tate.org.uk

The Road : Constructing the Alaskan Highway

McMichael Canadian Art Collection: April 8, to June 11, 2006

To many people the Alaska Highway is simply a long line that connects two dots on a map. To others it is an essential transportation route, linking towns, cities and communities across northern Canada. To others, it is an engineering marvel − a symbol of a history of cooperation between two great nations. To the thousands of people that built it, however, the Alaska Highway was known simply as “The Road.” ...

http://www.mcmichael.com

Lucius O’Brien: Sunrise on the Saguenay

Art GAllery of Alberta: April 8–May 28

Lucius O’Brien’s painting Sunrise on the Saguenay of 1880 is a landmark work in the history of Canadian art and a major work in the artist’s career. The painting was submitted on O’Brien’s appointment as the first President of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts by the Governor General of Canada, the Marquess of Lorne. Since then, it has become a key image of the growth of the arts in Canada, and of the building of a nation. At the same time, the image is linked to several decades of tourism on the lower St. Lawrence River, as well as to the identity of Québec City as the former bastion of British North America. ...

http://www.artgalleryalberta.com

Reinventing America: Three Modern Views on Paper

Amon Carter Museum: April 8–September 23, 2006

Three recent museum acquisitions—works by Edward Hopper, Joseph Stella and John Marin— chart the artists’ transformation from drawing distinctively early nineteenth-century subject matter to creating emblems of the modern. These engaging artworks will be displayed with a group of related prints, photographs, and drawings from the collection that provide artistic and historical context. ...

http://www.cartermuseum.org

American Watercolors and Pastels, 1875–1950, at the Fogg Art Museum

Fogg Art Museum: April 8 through June 25, 2006

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), Group in the Simplon, 1911. Watercolor over graphite on white wove paper, 36 x 50.9 cm. Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Gift of Sir Joseph Duveen, 1927.7. Photo: Allan Macintyre, HUAM, © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

This exhibition presents a survey of over 50 works drawn predominantly from the Fogg's extraordinary collection of American art. The period 1875-1950 was a golden age in American watercolor, when masters from Sargent, La Farge, and Homer to Hopper, Demuth, and Rothko explored its representational and expressive possibilities. ...

http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu

Jāzeps Grosvalds (1891 - 1920)

LATVIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ART: 07.04. – 21.05.2006

Jāzeps Grosvalds is known in Latvian art history as one of the most important figures in the introduction of classical modernism. In the context of Latvian painting, his works dedicated to the themes of refugees and war, stand out with the innovative approach to the subject and its formal expression.
This exhibition, however, focuses on a lesser-known part of Grosvalds’ oeuvre – the works created prior to the First World War while the artist was on study tours abroad. Grosvalds was not an academically trained artist; he conducted most of his studies in museums familiarising himself with the finest achievements of artists from various ages and countries. ...

http://www.vmm.lv