Newly Opened Tampa Museum of Art Lights Up the Riverfront

The Tampa Museum of Art opened to the public for the first time on February 6, 2010. The 66,000-square-foot building designed by Stanley Saitowitz is located next to Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park along the Hillsborough River. [Credit: James Ostrand via Daily Loaf]

TAMPA — The long-awaited Tampa Museum of Art, conceived in an effort to revitalize the city's downtown waterfront district, finally opened to the public on Saturday, February 6. Located along the Hillsborough River, the museum is adjacent to the newly opened Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, as well another property that will house the future Glazer Children's Museum.

"This is a new and very important public space for the city of Tampa and I truly believe it's going to be the focal point of cultural activity and family fun for generations to come," Mayor Pam Iorio announced at Saturday's ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The 66,000-square-foot structure cost $26.6 million and was designed by Stanley Saitowitz of San Francisco’s Natoma Architects. Saitowitz describes the building as, "a hyphen between the earth and sky,” a neutral space whose intention is not to compete with the art. 

The building, also known as the Cornelia Corbett Center, is distinguished by a two-layer aluminum curtain wall perforated with 900,000 three-inch circles on four-inch centers, that wraps the exterior and some of the interior. Other modern features include translucent ceilings, polished concrete floors, an exterior sculpture gallery and 12,000-square-feet of LED lights on the south facade.

The Florida museum is showcasing a traveling exhibit of artwork by French artist Henri Matisse through April 18.

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Newly Opened Tampa Museum of Art Lights Up the Riverfront

What Recession? Giacometti Sets All Time Auction Record

Alberto Giacometti's bronze sculpture L'homme qui marche I set a new world record for fetching the highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction, selling for $104.3 million at Sotheby's on February 3. [Credit: AP/Anthony Devlin]

LONDON — After eight minutes of "fast and furious" bidding, a new world record was set at Sotheby's London on Wednesday. An anonymous phone buyer successfully outbid at least nine other potential collectors in the battle for a rare work of art by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti. When it was all over, the once hushed room burst into applause.

The six-foot-tall Giacometti bronze sculpture L'homme qui marche I ("Walking Man I")  sold for a record $104.3 million - the highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction (including the buyer's premium cost). The hammer price achieved was roughly four times the Sotheby's pre-sale estimates. Pablo Picasso's Garcon a la Pipe (Boy With a Pipe), which fetched $104.2 million in 2004, previously held the record.

The life-size Giacometti sculpture was conceived in 1960 and cast a year later. The piece was sold by Commerzbank AG, which inherited the work when it took over Dresdner Bank in 2009.

Other highlights from the Sotheby's sale were Gustav Klimt's Church in Cassone (Landscape with Cypresses), which sold for $43.2 million; Paul Cézanne's Pichet et fruits sur une table, which went for $18.9 million; and Henri Matisse's Femme couchée, which fetched $7 million.

"We are thrilled to have sold these great works...and that they have been recognized for the masterpieces that they are," said Melanie Clore, co-chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art at the auction house.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

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What Recession? Giacometti Sets All Time Auction Record

"Incredibly Atrocious," Wrote Nixon on Modern Art

A portrait of 37th President Richard M. Nixon painted by Norman Rockwell in 1968. [Credit: National Portrait Gallery]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A 30-page memo released Monday by the National Archives reveals that the 37th President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, thought of modern art as "decadent" and "incredibly atrocious."

In a memo of January 26, 1970 to his Chief of Staff, H.R. "Bob" Haldeman, Nixon wrote, "As you, of course, know, those who are on the modern art and music kick are 95 percent against us anyway. I refer to the recent addicts of Leonard Bernstein and the whole New York crowd." He continued, "When I compare the monstrosity of Lincoln Center with the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, I realize how decadent the modern art and architecture have become."

Nixon went on to categorize modern art as something the "Kennedy-Shriver crowd" encouraged. "But I have no intention whatever of continuing to encourage it now," he declared. "P.S.," Nixon concluded, "I also want a check made with regard to the incredibly atrocious modern art that has been scattered around the embassies of the world." The embassies, he wrote, "were loaned some of these little uglies from the Museum of Modern Art in New York."

The 30-page modern art memo is among 280,000 pages of previously unseen documents, 12 hours of sound recordings and 7,000 images from the personal collection of White House photographer Oliver F. Atkins, all released this week by the National Archives and the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda.

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"Incredibly Atrocious," Wrote Nixon on Modern Art

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art Opens in Charlotte

The exterior of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in Charlotte, featuring Sol LeWitt's "Wall Drawing #995". The museum officially opened January 2, 2010. [Credit: Bechtler.org]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A large excited crowd gathered in front of Charlotte's newest modern art museum on Saturday as new Mayor Anthony Foxx performed his first ribbon cutting ceremony. The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art opened its doors for the first time, inviting visitors to view selections from its 1,400 piece collection. Only a handful of the artworks have ever been publicly exhibited in the United States.

The impressive modern art collection was amassed by the late Hans and Bessie Bechtler, a Swiss couple who made their fortune in air-filtration technology. Some of the works are accompanied by books, photographs and letters illustrating the artists' personal connections to the Bechtler family. Mid 20th-century artists including Miró, Giacometti, Picasso, Calder, Hepworth, Nicholson, Warhol, Tinguely, Ernst, Le Corbusier, Chillida and many others are represented.

The Bechtler Museum is only the second structure in the United States to be designed by internationally renowned Swiss architect Mario Botta; he also designed the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
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Bechtler Museum of Modern Art Opens in Charlotte

"Art Adds" On Top of Cabs in NYC

New York taxis will become mobile public art next month when their rooftop ad boards display works by
Shirin Neshat, Alex Katz and Yoko Ono (left to right). [Credit: Show Media and Art Production Fund.]

NEW YORK — TAXI! The next time you're waiting around for a cab in New York City, take a closer look at the top of the yellow taxis. Why? Because throughout the month of January, the rooftops of the cabs (the so-called cones) that are normally filled with advertisements will display works of modern art designed by Yoko Ono, Alex Katz and Shirin Neshat.

The Art Adds project (pun intended) is the idea of Show Media, a Las Vegas company that sells advertising on cabs around the city. Surprisingly, the company is choosing to institute a plan that will actually cost it about $100,000 in lost revenue. John Amato, one of Show Media's owners explained, “I thought it was time to take a step back. January’s a slow month. I could have cut my rates but instead I decided to hit the mute button and give something back to the city.”

Three New Yorkers - Ono, Katz and Neshat - were chosen by the Art Production Fund, a nonprofit New York organization to create the 14"x48" designs that will appear on as many as 500 taxicabs. Ono's original art is based on "The War Is Over," the famous slogan she and John Lennononce used to promote peace. “It’s almost like a dance,” she said about her design, “the way the message is always in motion.”

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[Read More: Soon You Can Hail an Artist as You Hail a Cab | The New York Times]

"Art Adds" On Top of Cabs in NYC

In San Francisco, a Modern Art Museum Celebrates 75 Years

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art turns 75 on January 18, 2010.

SAN FRANCISCO — Hop on a cable car and head over to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the museum is inviting the public to join in their celebration this weekend. On January 18, SFMOMA will turn 75-years-old, and they're starting the festivities early with a new exhibit - The Anniversary Show.

More than 400 works from the SFMOMA's spectacular collection of paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, videos, photographs, architectural models, and design objects have been selected for The Anniversary Show. Curators have culled the museum archives and made selections representing  the art and individuals that have made SFMOMA the institution it is today. Artists including Frida Kahlo, Jeff Koons, and Jackson Pollock, Constantin Brancusi, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso are among the many whose works are on currently on display.

In addition to the The Anniversary Show, SFMOMA will entertain visitors with a yearlong program of special anniversary exhibitions and events. Each illustrates the stories of the artists, collectors, cultural visionaries, and community leaders who founded, built, and animated the museum. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art and has been a major influence on modern and contemporary art since its opening in 1935.

The Anniversary Show (December 19, 2010) | SFMOMA

The Anniversary Show brings together more than 400 works from the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,
including highlights such as: "Michael Jackson and Bubbles" (1988) by Jeff Koons, [©Jeff Koons]; "Two Bathers" (1958) by David Park,
[©Estate of David Park]; "Cityscape I (formerly Landscape I)" (1963) by Richard Diebenkorn; [©Estate of Richard Diebenkorn].

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In San Francisco, a Modern Art Museum Celebrates 75 Years

The Pope Receives a Creative Audience at the Sistine Chapel

VATICAN CITY — The magnificent Renaissance frescoes of the great Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, and Botticelli provided the backdrop for a pontifical address to art world heavyweights on Saturday. Pope Benedict received roughly 250 creatives, including painters, sculptors, architects, musicians, poets and film directors, at the Sistine Chapel (not your typical conference room/banquet hall), where he spoke to the crowd about bridging the gap between the art world and religion.

Though the Vatican invited roughly 500 artistic leaders of varying religious, political and stylistic allegiances, only about half accepted the invitation. Opera star Andrea Bocelli, film director F. Murray Abraham and architect Zaha Hadid (whose acclaimed MAXXI museum of contemporary art opened in Rome last weekend) were among those in the audience.

The Pope began his address by explaining, "At this gathering I wish to express and renew the Church’s friendship with the world of art." He said that in the present time of social and economic hardship, when all hope seems to be lost, it is beauty which can restore the human spirit.

"[...]the experience of beauty does not remove us from reality, on the contrary, it leads to a direct encounter with the daily reality of our lives, liberating it from darkness, transfiguring it, making it radiant and beautiful," Pope Benedict said. "Beauty, whether that of the natural universe or that expressed in art, precisely because it opens up and broadens the horizons of human awareness, pointing us beyond ourselves, bringing us face to face with the abyss of Infinity, can become a path towards the transcendent, towards the ultimate Mystery, towards God."

Pope Benedict ended by appealing to his audience, whom he called "the custodians of beauty," asking them to use their talent "to speak to the heart of humanity, to touch individual and collective sensibilities, to call forth dreams and hopes, to broaden the horizons of knowledge and of human engagement." He told them to be grateful for their gifts, and said, "Through your art, you yourselves are to be heralds and witnesses of hope for humanity!"

The Vatican is expected to have its own pavilion at the next Venice Biennale art exhibition in 2011, perhaps a sign that the establishment is finally willing to embrace the world of modern art.

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Read More - Full Text of the Pope’s Address

[Photo: Pope Benedict XVI greets more than 250 leading figures from the world of arts in the Sistine Chapel on Saturday. Courtesy Osservatore Romano/Associated Press]

The Pope Receives a Creative Audience at the Sistine Chapel

PINTA Latin American Contemporary Art Fair Sails Into NYC

CHELSEA, NY — A unique celebration of modern and contemporary art movements - abstract, concrete, neo-concrete, kinetic and conceptual art - had its official opening reception on Thursday evening. Artists, collectors and museum representatives from around the world have arrived in New York for the third annual PINTA; the only contemporary art fair in the United States featuring works exclusively by Latin American artists.

"There is an increased interest in Latin American art from the rest of the world, and now is the time to take advantage of it," explained PINTA's Vice President, Alejandro Zaia.

Museums, artists and 60 galleries from 13 countries are represented at this year's show, taking place in Chelsea's Metropolitan Pavilion. The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Britain's Tate Modern museum, the Harvard Art Museum, the Latin American Art Museum in Buenos Aires (MALBA) and the Tamayo Museum in Mexico will be participating.

PINTA London is slated to take place June 3-6, 2010.

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PINTA (November 19-22, 2009) | Website

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[Photo: Manuel Pailos. Constructivo, 1962.]

PINTA Latin American Contemporary Art Fair Sails Into NYC

Tim Burton's Surreal Debut at the MoMA

NEW YORK, NY — Beetlejuice... Beetlejuice... Beetlejuice! A major retrospective opening to the public on Sunday will give fans of blockbuster movies like Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas a unique opportunity to step into the surreal world of Tim Burton. The Museum of Modern Art has compiled over 700 examples of sketchbooks, concept art, drawings, paintings, photographs, and a selection of amateur films for a new exhibit simply entitled, Tim Burton.

On Tuesday night, actress Helena Bonham Carter (Burton's wife), actor Johnny Depp (aka The Mad Hatter in Burton's upcoming film Alice in Wonderland), composer Danny Elfman and actor Danny DeVito were among the many stars at the MoMA for a gala-preview of the new exhibit. Guests walked through a giant monster's mouth with sharp teeth and a long red carpet tongue to enter the main galleries where the master of macabre's artwork is on display.
 

Although widely-recognized as a successful Hollywood director, many don't realize Tim Burton's talent as an artist, illustrator, photographer, and writer. "I wasn't a very verbal teenager and I communicated a lot to other people and myself with little drawings. It was always a form of communication and exploration for me,'' Burton said about his artwork.

In the following behind-the-scenes video, montages of artwork from the exhibit are displayed as Burton discusses his artistic career:

And here is a 30-second, really cute promo released by the MoMA to promote the Tim Burton exhibit:

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Tim Burton (November 22, 2009 - April 26, 2010)

Museum of Modern Art, New York | Website
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Tim Burton's Surreal Debut at the MoMA

A-List Goes GaGa Over 30 Years of MOCA

LOS ANGELES — A-Listers from Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, to Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale, to Christina Ricci, Jessica Alba, Kate Beckinsale, James Franco and Pierce Brosnan, were among the 1,000 guests at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles on Saturday night. The MOCA threw a huge gala in celebration of its thirtieth anniversary and the grand opening of its new fine art exhibition MOCA's First Thirty Years. A performance starring Lady Gaga and the Bolshoi Ballet were highlights of the evening.

Celebrities wandered among the more than 500 artworks by Piet Mondrian, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Jeff Koons and Jean-Michel Basquiat, selected from MOCA's vast inventory of 6,000 works, one of the world's top collections of post-World War II art. Other exhibit highlights include Ed Ruscha's Chocolate Room made of chocolate on paper and smelling like chocolate (yum!), and an all-white and neon room by Doug Wheeler (shoe-removal required for entry).

The museum almost didn't reach this 30-year milestone due to severe financial difficulties. "We were among the first institutions to be hit very hard and very early and we are among the first to be saved in this process," said MOCA chief curator Paul Schimmel. Thanks to a  generous $30 million donation from Eli Broad, a renowned modern art collector and philanthropist, the MOCA's iconic collection was spared. "This is the biggest turnaround of any art institution, whether it is performing arts or the visual arts, if you think of all that has happened in the last year," Broad said.

MOCA ♥ YOU

MOCA's First Thirty Years is split between two venues: 1940-80 at the MOCA Grand Avenue downtown and 1980-Now at the The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA nearby. Admission is free to the public now until November 20.

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MOCA's First Thirty Years (Nov. 15, 2009 - May 3, 2010) | Website

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[Photo: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt browse Lichtenstein gallery at the MOCA, courtesy Getty images]

A-List Goes GaGa Over 30 Years of MOCA

Ciao MAXXI! Contemporary Art Museum Opens in Italy

ROME, ITALY — The vision most of us see when we think of a museum in Italy is a Renaissance or Baroque-style palace or cathedral, a Medici-commissioned structure, with classical columns, frescoes on the ceiling and gilding as far as the eye can see. The National Museum of the XXI Century Arts (or MAXXI for short) opening Saturday in Rome hopes to change that perception.

The MAXXI, a $223 million museum built in a residential area of the city, was created to promote 21st century art and architecture. The museum's collection includes works by contemporary artists like Ed Ruscha, Anish Kapoor, William Kentridge, Gerard Richter and Andy Warhol. The building is located on a 312,000 square foot campus which includes an auditorium, library, media library, study rooms, laboratories, a bookshop, cafe and spaces for live events and commercial activities.

"The walls of the MAXXI create major streams and minor streams," explained Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid, who designed the modern museum. "The major streams are the galleries and the minor streams are the connections and the bridges." Hadid was the first woman to win the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize (2004) and her other designs include the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, Ohio (1998) and the BMW Central Building in Leipzig, Germany (2005). "I see MAXXI as an immersive urban environment for the exchange of ideas, feeding the cultural vitality of the city," she said.

This weekend, the MAXXI will open for just two-days, providing an "architectural preview" before the grand opening scheduled for February 2010.
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Read More - Italy Opens a New Contemporary Arts Museum | AP
[Photo: MAXXI exterior, via MAXXI Flickr page]

Ciao MAXXI! Contemporary Art Museum Opens in Italy

Le Cirque du Pompidou Is Coming to Town

PARIS — Move over Ringling Brothers, the "Pompidou Mobile" is coming to town! But there's no need to buy tickets - this circus will be free. And instead of a ringleader, animals and clowns, there will be a curator and fine art masterpieces.

Provided it can raise the estimated $4.43 million necessary, starting in late 2010, France's Pompidou Center will hit "la rue" with 10-15 paintings from its permanent collection. Picassos, Matisses and Calders will be displayed in a 10,700-sq. foot high-tech canvas-like structure being designed by architect Patrick Bouchain. Every few months the big top will pick up, clear out and move to a different French town, concentrating on rural regions and poor, crime-ridden suburbs. "It's about bringing art to the people to awaken their desire to go toward the art," the Pompidou's president, Alain Seban, said in a statement.

Museums collections travel all over the world for special exhibitions at other museums, that's nothing new. But bringing modern art to less fortunate areas, setting up a makeshift museum in a field or parking lot, and charging no entry fee - that's a pretty great concept.

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Read More — Art Under the Big Top: The Roving Pompidou | AP
[Photo: The Stravinsky Fountain outside the Centre Pompidou]

Le Cirque du Pompidou Is Coming to Town

A Night at the Museum: Guggenheim's First Annual Art Awards Ceremony

NEW YORK, NY -- There are dozens of award shows honoring actors and musicians, and now artists are finally being recognized for their creative achievements. On Thursday evening, stars including Kylie Minogue, Julianne Moore, James Franco and Mary-Kate Olsen, were at the Guggenheim Museum for a Hollywood-esque awards ceremony - The First Annual Art Awards. Conceived by artist Rob Pruitt, The First Annual Art Awards "honors select individuals, exhibitions, and projects that have made a significant impact on the field of contemporary art during the past year." And instead of the traditional metal statuette, winners took home a celebratory bucket of champagne that conveniently also serves as a fully functional lamp.

More than four hundred artists and art world professionals selected the nominees. And winners are (envelope please)...

■ Artist of the Year | Mary Heilmann

■ Curator of the Year | Connie Butler

■ Exhibition Outside the United States | Jeff Koons, Versailles, Château de Versailles, France

■ Group Show of the Year, Gallery | Who’s Afraid of Jasper Johns? Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York

■ Group Show of the Year, Museum | The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

■ New Artist of the Year | Ryan Trecartin

■ The Rob Pruitt Award | Cynthia Plaster Caster

■ Solo Show of the Year, Gallery | Manzoni: A Retrospective, Gagosian Gallery, New York

■ Solo Show of the Year, Museum | Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Museum of Modern Art, New York

■ Writer of the Year | Jerry Saltz

■ Lifetime-Achievement | Joan Jonas and Kasper König

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[Read More - Winners of Art Awards Announced at Guggenheim Museum Ceremony | Guggenheim.org]

A Night at the Museum: Guggenheim's First Annual Art Awards Ceremony

The 82-Story MoMA Monster Is Coming to New York City

NEW YORK, NY -- The Museum of Modern Art's plans to alter the New York City skyline have finally been approved. Between debates over height specifications and speculations as to whether architect Jean Nouvel would quit the project altogether, it seemed the 82-story tower would never materialize. But on Wednesday, the City Council approved the construction of 1000-foot building, nicknamed the "MoMA Monster." The spire will be erected next to the museum, located in Midtown Manhattan on West 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth avenue.

The stunning skyscraper will provide the MoMA with a significant 40,000 square feet of new art gallery space. 150 residential apartments and 100 hotel rooms will also be housed in the tower. Just imagine - one of most influential museums of modern art in the world will be called home by some lucky future residents. And the rest of us can look forward to making hotel reservations.

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[Read More - All Stories About 53rd West 53rd Street | Curbed]

The 82-Story MoMA Monster Is Coming to New York City

Top ART News: Week in Review | Oct. 18 - 25, 2009

■ Conde Nast's #1: 21c Museum Hotel Offers Rooms and Art | More >

■ Nefertiti Remains in Berlin's Neues Museum, Despite Egyptian Demands | More >

■ Defining a Masterpiece at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts | More >

■ Stars Shine at Whitney Museum Gala Benefit for the Arts | More >

■ The Guggenheim Museum Celebrates 50 Years | More >

■ American Feminist Artist Nancy Spero (1926-2009) | More > 

■ Contemporary Art Rendez-Vous at the FIAC in Paris | More >

■ LAPD Chief Calls It a Cow Splat, But Is It Art? | More >

■ Green Day Rocks Fine Art | More >  

■ The Art of the Sun King Reigns in Versailles | More >

■ Emerging Artist Wins Big in Temple University Art Competition | More >   

Top ART News: Week in Review | Oct. 18 - 25, 2009

Contemporary Art Rendez-Vous at the FIAC in Paris

PARIS -- Art aficionados have gathered in "The City of Light" this week for the 36th annual FIAC ("Foire internationale d'art contemporain"), the most prestigious contemporary art fair in France. Following on the heels of London's Frieze Art Fair last week, Paris' FIAC is hoping to capitalize on the momentum of this year's reported upswing in art sales achieved at the Frieze. Despite 28 dealers and more than 40 galleries from last year not returning, FIAC 2009 will present over 200 exhibitors representing thousands of artists.

At FIAC's VIP preview on Wednesday night, Femme Ecrivant, a $24 million painting by Pablo Picasso of his mistress, Marie-Therese Walter, was put on reserve. Fine art by other modern masters such as Francis Bacon, Piet Mondrian and Fernand Leger, will also be up for bid. More than 65,000 visitors are expected to stroll the picturesque locations around the Tuileries Gardens, Grand Palais and the Louvre Museum, where the FIAC will display some of the world's finest modern masterworks.

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FIAC (Oct. 22 - 25, 2009) | Website
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[Read more - $24 Million Picasso Reserved as Arnault Joins Browsers at FIAC | Bloomberg]

Contemporary Art Rendez-Vous at the FIAC in Paris

Tate Modern Replaces Indecent Brooke Shields Photo, Reopens Gallery

LONDON -- A nude photograph of a ten-year-old Brooke Shields has been removed from Tate Modern's exhibition entitled Pop Life: Art in a Material World. The Richard Prince photo (Spiritual America, 1983 - detail shown above left) was deemed offensive by some exhibit attendees, prompting a museum visit from officers of the police's obscene publications unit.

A police spokesman “explained the legal position which is clear that anyone convicted of distributing or showing an indecent image of a child would automatically be placed on the sex offenders register.” But is it "indecent" when the image is displayed in a cultural establishment, like the Tate, and in the name of art?

The museum temporarily shut down, but reopened Tuesday - sans the 1983 photo. A later version of the Richard Prince work (Spiritual America IV, 2005 - detail shown above right), was hung in it's place.

Many in the art world believe the authorities' investigation (and threats) went too far. Art lawyer Mark Stephens commented, "With exhibitions in cultural institutions [it] can rarely, if ever, be in the ‘public interest’ to prosecute. It [would not be] in the public interest to prosecute [Tate over] this Richard Prince image, particularly taking account its long history of public exhibition.”

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Pop Life: Art in a Material World (Oct. 1 - Jan. 17, 2010)  @ Tate Modern | Website
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[Read More - Richard Prince Photo Withdrawal "Not in Public Interest" | The Art Newspaper]

Tate Modern Replaces Indecent Brooke Shields Photo, Reopens Gallery

Van Gogh Letters Exhibit a Method Behind the Madness

"There are so many people, especially  among our pals, who imagine that words are nothing. On the contrary, don’t you think, it’s as interesting and as difficult to say a thing well as to paint a thing."

~Vincent van Gogh to Emile Bernard (April 19, 1888)

The Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, Vincent van Gogh, was largely unknown during his lifetime but is well-regarded today as one of history's greatest painters and contributors to the foundations of modern art. As famous for works like The Starry Night, as for his suffering from mental illness (i.e. that legendary ear-cutting incident), a new exhibition of the artist's letters demonstrates the method behind the madness.

AMSTERDAM /Van Gogh Museum/ -- Vincent van Gogh's letters take center stage in the exhibition Van Gogh's letters: The artist speaks. More than 120 original letters are on show alongside the works that Van Gogh was writing about. These important documents have seldom or never been shown to the public due to their extreme fragility and sensitivity to light.

The combination of more than 300 works from the museum's own rich collection, including paintings, drawings, letters and letter sketches, offers a penetrating and comprehensive insight into Van Gogh as letter writer and as artist.

Van Gogh's correspondence has a special bearing on his art because of the sketches of his own work that he included in his letters. These sketches served no artistic purpose but were made with the sole intention of showing Theo and his other correspondents what the paintings or drawings he was working on or had completed actually looked like. Visitors are able to view a large number of letter sketches and enjoy the unique opportunity of being able to compare them with the paintings and drawings on which they are based.

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Van Gogh's Letters: The Artist Speaks (Oct. 9, 2009 - Jan. 3, 2010) 
Van Gogh Museum | Website
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Van Gogh Letters Exhibit a Method Behind the Madness

Obamas Choose Art for the White House: The Final List Is Revealed

The White House has released the final list of 45 works of art that will adorn the walls of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue during the Obama administration. Critics are busy scrutinizing their choices and speculating as to what the First Family's selections may imply. For instance, could it be that artist Ed Ruscha's masterpiece of indecision, I Think I'll..., (containing the words; "Maybe...Yes...", "Maybe...No..." and "On Second Thought"), is reflective of the President's own decision-making process?

WASHINGTON /AP/ -- You can't see it, but there's a quiet cultural revolution under way at the White House. The Obamas are decorating their private spaces with more modern and abstract artwork than has ever hung on the White House walls. New pieces by contemporary African-American and Native American artists are on display. Bold colors, odd shapes, squiggly lines have arrived. So, too, have some obscure artifacts, such as patent models for a gear cutter and a steamboat paddlewheel, that now sit in the Oval Office.

Working with California decorator Michael Smith and White House curator William Allman, the Obamas have borrowed dozens of works from various Washington museums and galleries, being sure to use only items that weren't already on display. "The first lady had clear ideas about what they were aiming for," Allman said.

Harry Cooper, curator of modern and contemporary art at the National Gallery, said the Obama's selections are exciting the art world and should provide a significant boost to the arts in general. "This is great art to live with," he said. "A lot of it is challenging. There are different styles: figurative art, abstract art. A lot of it is avant-garde: It was avant-garde, and a lot of it still is avant-garde."

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[Hirshhorn Museum (HM); National Gallery of Art (NGA); Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM); National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI); National Museum of American History (NMAH)]

LIST OF WHITE HOUSE ART

Located in the Residence:

JOSEPH ALBERS

■ Homage to the Square: Elected II (HM)

■ Homage to the Square: Midday (HM)

■ Study for Homage to the Square: Nacre (HM)

GEORGE CATLIN

■ A Crow Chief at His Toilette (NGA)

■ Camanchees Lancing a Buffalo Bull (NGA)

■ Mired Buffalo and Wolves (NGA)

■ Cheyenne Village (NGA)

■ Grizzly Bears Attacking Buffalo (NGA)

■ Game of the Arrow-Mandan (NGA)

■ A Foot War Party in Council-Mandan (NGA)

■ Ball-Play Dance-Choctaw (NGA)

■ Buffalo Chase, with Accidents (NGA)

■ Catlin and Indian Attacking Buffalo (NGA)

■ K’nisteneux Indians Attacking Two Grizzly Bears (NGA)

EDWARD CORBETT

■ Washington, D.C. November 1963 III (NGA)

EDGAR DEGAS

■ Dancer Putting on Stocking (HM)

■ The Bow (HM)

RICHARD DIEBENKORN

■ Berkeley, No. 52 (NGA)

NICOLAS DE STAEL

■ Nice (HM)

SAM FRANCIS 

■ White Line (NGA)

WINSLOW HOMER

■ Sunset (NGA)

JASPER JOHNS

■ Numerals, 0 through 9 (NGA)

WILLIAM H. JOHNSON

■ Booker T. Washington Legend (SAAM)

■ Children Dance (SAAM)

■ Flower to Teacher (SAAM)

■ Folk Family (SAAM)

GLENN LIGON

■ Black Like Me #2 (HM)

GIORGIO MORANDI

■ 2 Still Lifes (NGA)

LOUISE NEVELSON

■ Model for “Sky Covenant” sculpture (NGA)

SUSAN ROTHENBERG

■ Butterfly (NGA)

MARK ROTHKO

■ Red Band (NGA)

EDWARD RUSCHA

■ I Think I’ll . . . (NGA)

ALMA THOMAS

■ Sky Light (HM)

LEON POLK SMITH

■ Stretch of Black III (NGA)

UNKNOWN ARTIST

■ Chief Jumper of the Seminoles (NGA)

Located in the West Wing - Cabinet Room:

FRANK O. SALISBURY

■ President Harry S. Truman (Harry S. Truman Library)

Located in the West Wing - Oval Office:

LUCY M. LEWIS [Acoma Pueblo]

■ Vase (NMAI)

JERI RECORN [Caddo]

■ Bottle: Intertwining Scrolls (NMAI)

STEVE S. [Iroquois]

■ Jar (NMAI)

MARIA POVEKA MARTINEZ [San Ildefonso Pueblo]

■ Jar (NMAI)

SAMUEL F. MORSE

■ Telegraph Register patent model (NMAH)

JOHN A. PEER

■ Gear Cutter patent model (NMAH)

HENRY WILLIAMS

■ 1877 steamboat feathering paddlewheel patent model (NMAH)

Located in the East Wing:

ALMA THOMAS

■ Watusi [Hard Edge] (HM)

Not yet placed:

MARK ROTHKO

■ No. 17 / No. 15 (NGA)

=================

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