Art Of The Day Weekly
#26 - from 7 December 2006 to 13 December 2006
IN THE AIR
A certain idea of Europe
LUXEMBOURG – For once a European Culture capital has decided to share its mission with its. This generous gesture comes from one of the symbolic cities of the Euroepan Union: Luxembourg. The program,organized around the theme of migrations, foresees nearly 350 projects that will include not only the Grand-Duché, but the Sarre and the Rhénanie-Palatinat regions, the Lorraine and the Walloon region. This represents 65 000 square kilometres with a population of 11 million inhabitants. And the project goes further as it associates the Rumanian city of Sibiu to the events. The cultural year will be the opportunity to enhance the value of the facilities recently built in Luxembourg: the Philharmonia designed by Christian de Portzamparc and the museum of Modern Art ou Mudam, signed by Pei, the architect of the Louvre.
MUSEUMS
A turn towards contemporary art in Boston
BOSTON - The new building of the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) in the capital of Massachusetts will be inaugurated on 10 December. Designed by architects Diller & Scofidio, it presents a huge glass façade looking down at the water. This is the first museum to be built in Boston in the last century and the only one to be entirely dedicated to contemporary art. Aside from the temporary exhibitions (it will be able to host up to four simultaneously and the first, Super Vision, with an impressive video element, groups together 30 international artists such as Chantal Akerman or Runa Islam), it is going to present a permanent collection for the first time in 70 years of history. As is often the case in the USA, the new building is the fruit of a private initiative: it was financed by a subscription that brought in 65 million dollars.
FAIRS
Art Basel, a fair with satellites
MIAMI - When we see the vitality of the Art Basel Miami Beach, held from 7 to 10 December, we realize how increasingly strong it is. Two hundred galeries selected out of four or five times more candidates. Numerous encounters with artists and curators and offers that are ever so tempting such as Art Positions, where the exhibitors are housed in containers on the beach. But the success of Art Basel Miami is due especially to its capacity to attract specialized satellite fairs. Indeed, different fairs such as Pulse, Scope, Miami Photo, Miami Design, will be held simultaneoulsy, not to mention the unclassifiable meetings such as Aqua, that brings together young galery owners in the hotel with the same name. Five years ago Samuel Keller's challenge seemed quite risky. Today, no one can imagine contemporary art without the rendez-vous in Florida. Its creator can now step down without any qualms. Samuel Keller will not take care of the next edition since he will be leaving Art Basel for the Beyeler foundation.
EXHIBITIONS
Lost memories of Alexandria
PARIS – His methods are not the object of universal praise but it must be reckoned that he has given submarine archaeology a new dimension. For 15 years, Frank Goddio, a former finance consultant, has led impressive campaigns with the help of the Hilti Foundation, using advanced techniques. The outcome of a 10-year exploration of the Bay of Alexandria is exhibited under the vault of the Grand Palais : 500 objets among which are jewels and huge statues, 5-metre high. They all come from the vanished cities of Portus Magnus, Canope and Heracleion, which have long lied under water due to subsidence and tsunamis. All objects bear testimony of the fascinating melting pot that was at work in Alexandria between Egyptian and Greek influences.
Juliette forever
PARIS – For half a century, she was blindly devoted to Victor Hugo without acceding to the respectable status of spouse. Forever a lover, she might stand as a symbol of the perfect muse. In the former house of Victor Hugo, on the Place des Vosges, this passion lives again through a few of the scores of love letters (20,000) she wrote, along portraits of her by artists of that time (Dévéria, Léon Noël). Other paintings by Corot or Isabey show the places they liked together. Obviously, there are also the visionary drawings of Victor Hugo himself, who started this trade in her dining-room ! An item is particularly touching : the dress she wore during the première of Lucrèce Borgia on the 2nd of February, 1833. That day, she was to meet the author of the play and never leave him…
AUCTIONS
Three Watteau colors
PARIS – In general, the best sales of works on paper, for which Paris remains one of the major hosts, are held in March, at the same time as the Salon du dessin (Drawing Fair). The Piasa sale on 8 December is an exception to that rule with an exceptional Watteau. Four studies of a man's head, two sketches of a woman's forearms and a study of a dress is a drawing by three pencils and wash drawing on beige paper, which belonged for close to a century to the Groult family. According to the Bayser study, the expert of the sale, this is probably one of Watteau's last sheets on this theme to still be in private hands. It is estimated between 500 000 and 700 000 euros.
BOOKS
Caricatures through the ages
From Greek vases to Egyptian ostracons all the way to French contemporary cartoonist Cabu, caricatures have always made the world go round. Here we have a complete panorama, including the Italian maestros (Leonardo da Vinci, Bernini sketching the pope whom he worked for!), the Age of the Enlightment (Hogarth, of course, and Rowlandson). When the process of reproduction were perfected, it was the time of the major newspapers: Le Rire, l’Assiette au Beurre or, abroad, Simplicissimus, Krokodil or Punch. The job was not necessarily relaxing since those "free pencils" were censored for a long time (and still are!). The book, which of course is largely illustrated, reminds us that caricatures are not only expressed in two dimensions. From caricatures in earthenware or plaster, which Daumier among others represented, to the knob of canes, umbrella handles or shoe-horns, the characters they wanted to taunt were placed everywhere. Alexandre Calder, with his extraordinary wire sculpture of Joséphine Baker, was one of the last artists to practice the genre.
IN BRIEF
BERLIN – The new train station, inaugurated during the 2006 World Cup, is causing a row in Germany. The architect, Meinhard von Gerkan, accuses the Deutsche Bahn of having defaced his work by transforming the gothic vault he had designed in a flat roof. The court has given him reason but the Deutsche Bahn is appealing the judgment.
HONG KONG – A 1924 painting by Xu Belhong, Slave and lion, has become the most expensive Chinese painting ever, after it was sold for $ 6.9 million at Christie's.
LONDON – A survey made public by the minister of Culture reveals that free entrance to museums, a bold move decided in 2001, has produced a sharp rise in attendance. Visitors have almost doubled (+88%), some museums reaching even higher scores like the Victoria & Albert figures (+122%).
LONDON - The German artist Tomma Abts, whose geometrical paintings are produced on a fixed-size canvas (38x48 cm), has won the Turner Prize and its £25,000 cheque.
NEW YORK - "Breaking home ties", a 1954 painting by Norman Rockwell that was thought lost, has been sold at Sotheby's, fetching a new record for the artist at $15.4 million.
ZURICH - PARIS - The fast growing market of Asian art has aroused the interest of auction houses in Europe. In Zurich, Koller is holding its first sale of contemporary Chinese art on 9 December while in Paris, Artcurial dedicates a sale to 20th century Chinese art on 12 December.
ON ARTOFTHEDAY
THE GENIUS OF BOLOGNA
ROUEN - The musée des Beaux-Arts has dedicated a large part of its program of 2006 to Italian art. After Mirror of time. Master pieces from the museums of Florence it now looks at the major masters of the artistic scene in Bologna. This event, an initiative of the Louvre museum, and directed by Catherine Loisel-Théret, is part of an ambitious project of seven exhibitions organized through France from October 2006 to February 2007. It is dedicated to drawing in Italy in the baroque period, and offers a unique vision of the wealth of the patrimony of the French public collections