Home > ArtoftheDay Weekly > #51 - from 14 June 2007 to 21 June 2007

Art Of The Day Weekly

#51 - from 14 June 2007 to 21 June 2007

IN THE AIR

Artists without borders

Robert Storr, the general commissioner of the Biennale of Venice, recently declared in an interview with the "Giornale dell'Arte", the French pavilion as a model of today's artistic cosmopolitism. Adel Abdessemed was born in Algeria but works in France, Yto Barrada is born in France but works in Morocco, Tatiana Trouvé is from Italian and Senegalese parents, Marina Hugonnier is generally in England, etc. Borders have disappeared! An artist has even thought that it was time a new nation came to being, one that would make all others useless: Peter Kees has created Arcadia, full of antique reminiscences, noted for its ministry of Anti-war. He has already opened an Embassy in Germany and is planing other diplomatic representations. Not everyone likes his parable. On tuesday 12 June, Peter Kees was in Naples to enthrone his consul in Campania. "Real" consulates protested and the ceremony planed at the Palazzo delle Arti had to be canceled. Like in all other international crisis worthy of that name, feverish negotiations from the countries in rebelion helped reestablish the event at the last moment. It is said that in art- figurative or conceptual- nothing is shocking anymore. Until someone can prove us wrong...

EXHIBITIONS

Freud in Ireland

DUBLIN – The grandson of the founder of psychoanalysis who was born in Berlin in 1922 but emigrated to England with his family when Hitler came to power, is considered the greatest living British artist. The Irish Museum of Modern Art presents all of his works, from the forties, with choices that aim at underlining his relationship with Dublin and Eire. From the rooster heads seen on butchers' stalls in Dublin – Dead Cock’s Head (1951) - to the portrait of a modern businessman - The Donegal Man (2006), representing today's Ireland, the wealthiest country in Europe - his local interests also include the world of horse races and the popular districts of the capital. There are numerous selfportraits and large nudes, that make up most of his production since the eighties, including in particular Leigh under the skylight (1994 or the recent Irishwoman on a Bed (2004). One can take advantage of the trip to Dublin to see the workshop of his contemporary artist, Francis Bacon, recently rebuilt in the superb Hugh Lane Gallery.

  • Lucian Freud at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, from 6 June to 2 September 2007.

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  • Vincent van Gogh Armand Roulin, 1888 Oil on canvas, 66 x 55 cm Museum Folkwang, Essen

    Saint Ambroise of modern art

    PARIS – His feat of arms is amazing: he organised the first personal exhibitions of Cézanne, Picasso and Matisse. In brief, the founding trilogy of the major movements of the XXth century. Ambroise Vollard, who died at the eve of WWII, is one of those art dealers, like Durand-Ruel or Kahnweiler, who acted like «kingmakers» of modern art. The exhibition at the musée d’Orsay pays tribute to his talent of discoverer by showing paintings he revealed to the world, from Van Gogh to Derain, whom he pushed for example to do views of London. It also shows the power he had to inspire (he encouraged painters to diversify their creation by sculpting or by making ceramics). The exhibition covers his various activities: he was also an editor (the famous Suite Vollard of prints by Picasso) and the author of monographs. The portraits we have of him, such as the head of Vollard with a turban by Renoir show the tight links he built with his artists.

  • De Cézanne à Picasso, chefs-d’œuvre de la galerie Vollard(From Cezanne to Picasso, masterpieces from the Vollard gallery) at the musée d’Orsay, from 19 June to 16 September 2007

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  • Armenian photographs in Ethiopia

    PARIS – In our eyes this is the square of exotism: a studio of Armeniam photographers immortalise political life (or what holds the office of it: the existence and the splendor of the Negus) in Ethiopia at the beginning of the XXth century. It is in the context of the year of Armenia that these disconcerting photos are offered for us to see. While a great number of Armenians chose Ethiopia as their new home following the genocide that began in 1909, the Boyadjian clan had settled there since 1905. The patriarch, Bedros,was the portrait artist of Ménélik since 1906. Fathers and sons, from Ménélik to Hailé Sélassié, transmitted from one generation to the next the art of the darkroom and above all, the art of touching up and adding color, to better reveal the symbols of religion (the coptic cross) and of power (costumes, neckllaces), in the capital or during their trips to the province. The life of the Armenian community is also photographed by the Boyadjians. It is a story twice gone by: the Italian invasion then the fall of the Negus in 1974 that led to massive departures and the closing of the Boyadjian workshop.

  • Les Boyadjian, photographes arméniens à la cour du Négus at the Jeu de paume, from 19 June to 2 September 2007

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  • MUSEUMS

    An art gallery over by Fauchon's

    PARIS - Four years ago a new cultural institution fierely entered the Parisian panorama. Soberly baptised Pinacothèque, it meant to revolutionize habits by suggesting "blockbuster" exhibitions susceptible of attracting a large public. Following a "Picasso intime" exhibition, the Pinacothèque, located in the former headquarters of Baccarat, rue de Paradis, suddenly closed its doors. Now it is unexpectedly born again from its ashes, guided by the same man, Marc Restellini, who was behind the successful exhibits at the Luxembourg museum at one time. He was keen on doing as well, and convinced the Crédit Agricole, which made available to him in a building at 28, place de la Madeleine, 2000 m2 distributed over three levels. The first event starting on 15 June, will be dedicated to Roy Lichtenstein: 97 works that detail 30 years of his carreer, frm 1966 to 1997. The co-organisers are prestigious - the Lichtenstein foundation and the March foundation in Madrid. In October, a retrospective of Soutine has been announced, in collaboration with the Kunstmuseum from Basel. An enticing program, as long as this second Pinacothèque has a longer life span that the previous one.

  • Roy Lichtenstein: Evolution at the Pinacothèque de Paris, from 15 June to 23 September 2007.

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  • ARTIST OF THE WEEK


    Commandement, Tribute to Claude Monet, 2007 (détail), colored concrete, 45 elements, 43 x 30 x 30 cm, collection of the artist.

    Alain Kirili: sculpture as a sign

    Marked by American art, and in particular by sculptor David Smith, Alain Kirili, born in 1946 in Paris, started his large series Commandements in 1980. They have rhythmed his production of sculptures for nearly a quarter of a century. These are monumental installations made of individual pieces, stylish geometric forms the artist assimilates to signs, letters from a plastic alphabet, inspired by Chinese calligraphy, by minimalist art or characters traced by the scribes of the Torah. He was used to confrontations with the works of past artists (facing Rodin in 1985 or facing Carpeaux at the museum of Valenciennes in 2002), he measures himself today to Monet's Nymphéas, one of his greatest models. His Commandement, à Claude Monet uses concrete for the first time, colored in the block to give a « game of two or three irregular colors with effects of clouds or reflections». Other interventions punctuate the rooms of the Orangerie and visitors will also be able to stroll in the garden of the Tuileries: the sculptures of creators of the XXth century that have been set up there for some years were chosen by Kirili upon the request of the ministry of Culture.

  • Kirili et les Nymphéas at the musée de l’Orangerie until 17 September 2007

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  • BOOKS

    War paintings

    A few years ago, a rather touching Spanish documentary , Las cajas españolas by Alberto Porlan, told of the epic destiny of the paintings of the Prado, in exile over the roads of Europe during the Civil War. An amateur (in the noble sens of the word) historian spent twenty years of his life digging up the same theme in all the archives available, to show the wanderings of the works of art (mostly form the musées de France but not all of them) in the years from 1939-1945. Putting them in security in dozens of different hiding places (often in abbeys such as Loc-Dieu or castles like Chambord, Sully-sur-Loire, Valençay which received for example the Victory of Samothrace) is a titanic job orchestrated by Jacques Jaujard, sub-director of the national museums. It was not always enough to fool the greed of the invader: the Mystic painting des by the Van Eyck brothers, that was entrusted by the Belgian authorities and deposited in the free zone, in Pau, was thus picked up by the Germans. As for the tapestry of Bayeux, it escaped Himmler's appetite by sheer luck. The book is presented in a chronologic form: a presentation that does not help one have a little distance but that does create a certain tension as to the looting that went on during the war by pointing out some heroic characters, such as Rose Valland, the assistant of the director of the Jeu de paume, to whom we owe the survival of an invaluable patrimony.

  • L’exode des musées, histoire des œuvres d’art sous l’Occupation par Michel Rayssac, Payot, 2007, 1008 p., ISBN : 978-2-228-90172-7, 35 €.

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  • IN BRIEF

    COLOGNE -The first edition of Rhein Design will take place from 20 to 24 June. It is an open air event that associates art, architecture and design.

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    LONDON - Sotheby's presents the Nymphéas (1904) by Monet on 19 June. The work is estimated at 15-20 million €. For good measure, Christie's responds with Arceaux de roses, Giverny (1913), estimated at the same value, in the program the previous day.

    Sotheby's website

    LONDON - The International Ceramics Fair, founded 25 years ago, is organised from 14 to 17 June at the Park Lane Hotel in Piccadilly.

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    NEW YORK - The sale of a part of its collection by the Albright-Knox museum in Buffalo has created quite a stir but in any case has helped it fill its coffers. A statue from the Ist century B.C., Artémis et le cerf, has multiplied by 4 the initial estimate and sold for 28.6 million $, thus setting a new record for a work from the Antiquity.

    A reproduction of the statue on the website of artvoice.com

    NOTO - The Sicilian city's baroque cathedral, destroyed during the earthquake of 13 March 1996, has been completely rebuilt. It will be officially inaugurated on 16 June.

    The website on the reconstruction of the cathedral

    PARIS - The Designer's Days, the usual rendez-vous for Parisian show-rooms at the end of the Spring, will open this year on 14 June.

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    SALZBOURG – In the city that welcomes every year the famous music festival, the Salzburg Museum, restaured and renovated, will open its doors again on 1st June.

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    SCHWARZENBERG (Austria) – For the 200th anniversary of her death, painter Angelika Kauffmann (1741-1807), one of the most celebrated artists of the XVIIIth century for her historic paintings, will be the object of a tribute exhibition at the museum that bears her name, in the city where she grew up.

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    STRASBOURG - The itineary of design, a biannual event, will coincide this year (from 14 to 30 June) with the inauguration of the TGV Est (Eastern fast train).

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    VERSAILLES – Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the former culture minister and current boss of the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, has been named by Christine Albanel to replace her at the head of the public establishment of the Domaine of Versailles since she herself has just been named minister of Culture.

    ON ART OF THE DAY INFO

    This week, do not miss...

    Round trip. PENCK RETROSPECTIVE

    FRANCFURT - The Schirn Kunsthalle dedicates its first major German retrospective to the work of Penck. The creator of the "men in matches" and other graphic forms inspired by mass communication is present with all its eras and all its obsessions, including the Cold War (Penck left Eastern Germany in 1980).

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    BRASILIA CHANDIGARH LE HAVRE Portraits of cities

    LE HAVRE -Three major urban and architectural creations from the XXe century have been dissected by the eye of various photographers: Lucien Hervé, first of all, the official collaborator of Le Corbusier, as well as contemporary creators, from Stéphane Couturier to Jordi Colomer.

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    CORRESPONDENCES

    PARIS -The Musée d'Orsay continues its series of confrontations between artists of the XIXth century and those of today according to the same principle: contemporary creators are free to choose, in the museum's collections, the work that inspired them. John Chamberlain, with Van Gogh, and Claude Rutault with Puvis de Chavannes and Seurat, are the guests of this new session.

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    SO WATT ! About design in energy

    PARIS -Radios producing their own energy? Awnings that change color and opacity according to the light? These solutions for a responsible use of electricty are due to the imagination of these avant-garde designers. The exhibition shows how essential their role is in a more respectful relation with the environnement and its energy generating resources.

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