Art Of The Day Weekly
#76 - from 7 February 2008 to 13 February 2008
IN THE AIR
The Louvre of the twenties
PARIS – The Louvre museum is in the paradoxical situation of being suffocated by its own success. During its big transformation in the 1980s it was designed to host some 5 million visitors, and currently hosts over 8 million. In this context the Louvre Abou Dhabi contract seems heavensent. The 400 million euros it will generate will be largely used in the «Louvre 2020» development plan, as presented this week by Culture minister Christine Albanel. 2010: inauguration of the new department on art from Islam and opening of the Louvre Lens. 2011: new reserve and restauration center in the Ile-de-France and new rooms for XVIIIth century furniture. 2012: renovation of the display of Etruscan and Roman collections. 2015: «exceptional» museum space for popular education in the Flore pavilion. 2018: new wings for the English and French XVIIth and XIXth century paintings and conclusion of the renovation of the Tuileries gardens. 2020: new archeological itinerary in the Sully pavilion. A busy calendar which has the merit of offering a medium term vision: time will tell.
EXHIBITIONS
Modigliani and his time
MADRID – His brief and tormented existence assured him a place in the pantheon of the accursed artists. But Modigliani (1884-1920), was not the only artist of his time to live the bohemian life and in order to speak of his work, the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum thought it would be interesting to confront it to that of his companions: Kisling, Pascin, Soutine, who all, at different degrees, had tragic deaths. The retrospective, grouping together 130 works, is spread over two sites: the Thyssen museum and the Caja Madrid foundation, according to somewhat ambiguous criteria. The first focuses on the influences that marked him, on his sculptures, on his production of nudes lying down and of portraits. At Caja Madrid, we also see his nudes(but standing) and his later portraits (1917-18) as well as his drawings. Photographs recreate the ambiance of Montparnasse in the 1910s, between Belle Epoque, hardship and the Roaring Twenties.
To laugh, or not to laugh...
LONDON – Should art make one laugh? Is laughter a universal language? Do contemporary artists have a sense of humor? One can answer some of these questions partially by strolling through the new exhibition at the Hayward Gallery. Under the title «To laugh in a foreign language», it brings together some 70 works of art, among them a good proportion of videos and installations, some thirty artists from around the world, from Makoto Aida (Japan) to Jun Yang (China). We find in the array a few specialists in jokes or mockery such as Doug Fishbone or Ugo Rondinone, or specialists in disguises such as Cao Fei. Some critics, Adrian Searle from the Guardian for example– and they give good reasons -, pretend they walked through the exhibition without laughing even once. That is probably the funniest part of all…
A gathering for Bill
WINTERTHUR – To celebrate the centennial of the birth of Max Bill,the abstract artist, designer and architect trained at the Bauhaus, two museums from his home town have united their efforts. His paintings, drawings and sculptures are shown at the Kunstmuseum. Among his sculptures, columns, spheres or rings in granite or metal, many have never been seen before as they come from family collections. In the meantime at the Gewerbemuseum (museum of Decorative arts), his architecture and design are shown, with a great number of drawings and objects, in particular the productions made in the framework of the «Ecole d’Ulm», to which we owe the ever-fashionable emblem of Lufthansa airlines. Cups, plates, lamps, vases and furniture show the imposing production of an artist who was also a professor and an outstanding team leader.
MARKET
Arco goes over the 300 barrier
MADRID - It is on the verge of becoming the largest fair in the world: for its 27th edition, ARCO will host nearly 300 galleries from all over the world (34 countries represented, with Brazil as the guest of honor). A new department is dedicated to the youngest contemporary art (ARCO40)while the organizers confirm the Spanish superiority as far as regards performance: following the festival recently held at the Reina Sofía museum, we will see here a specific section on art that is being made (PerformingARCO).It will be quasi-monopolyzed by the Brazilians (Vermelho and Razuk galleries) and hosts (Horrach Moya or Luis Adelantado galleries). While the art market all over the world is having existentialist doubts, the mood in Spain is definitely optimistic: Artprice now places Spain among the ten first world markets. Furthermore, a survey by the Banco de España on households shows that the purchase of works of art has become the third investment chosen by the Spaniards after real estate and financial products: 19.3 % of the population invest in art.
ARTIST OF THE WEEK
Misbah (detail), 2006-2007, copper lamp, metal chain, lightbulb and electric rotation. 60 x 30 x30 cm Courtesy de l1artiste & galerie Chantal Crousel Crédit photo: Graham Waite
Mona Hatoum: the dark country of my childhood
Childhood memories combined with the great events that shake the universe we live in: this could be a commentary from Persépolis, the autobiographical movie by Marjane Satrapi. It is also what the work of Mona Hatoum implies. Exile and the war have marked the artist's work. A Palestinian born in Lebanon in 1952, where the use of very varied and sometimes eternally moving materials, like sand, help underscore the futility of everything. From a caravan, where the clothes lines run into the barricades,
up to the magical lanterns, in which the geometric cut-outs are replaced by profiles of armed soldiers, her six installations at the Chantal Crousel gallery are heavily charged with geopolitics.
BOOKS
An architect looks closely at Vauban
The book has great ambitions to contribute, in «the midst of the multitude of articles and books, of exhibitions and retrospectives» motivated by the tricentennial of the great builder, with a « different point of view». The iconography (the sites as well as a map of Vauban's travels or planimetries of works put on the same scale) is interesting. One learns a lot, from the angle of the embankment(40°) to Vauban's choice of a true graphic charter(projects in yellow, elements in red). But can not say this is a revolutionary rediscovery, even if the last part is quite original, in dealing with the influence Vauban has on today's architecture, an analysis carried out in the author's agency, the AAPP. And the extremely light print is an additional obstacle, making the book as difficult to read as was the taking over of the bastion of Neuf-Brisach. One can hardly tell the difference between the print and the white page. Vauban would have appreciated this succesful example of defensive mimetism.
IN BRIEF
BARCELONA -The Government of Cataluña, the Municipality of Barcelona and the MACBA Foundation have united their efforts to give a second wind to the MACBA, the Museu d'Art Contemporani of Barcelona. An international contest has been launched to recruit its Director. Applications may be sent until 15 March 2008.
COPENHAGUEN-The National Library of Denmak has let it be known that it is interested in buying the humoristic drawings of Mahomet that created such a scandal two years ago.
ISSOUDUN-The museum of the Saint-Roch hospice has recreated the living-room of artist Leonor Fini's Parisian apartment (1908-1996) with its Art nouveau furniture. It will be shown as of 8 February.
LONDON - Norman Rosenthal, the director of the exhibitions at the Royal Academy, to whom we are grateful for many largely succesful retrospectives over the last three decades, has decided to leave the institution to become an independent auctioneer.
PARIS – The Museum d’histoire naturelle opened the Magny private mansion to the public on 1 February. Located on rue Buffon, it hosts a history of the garden and of the travelling exhibitions of the famous vellums.
PARIS – The Arc of Triumph will offer as of 12 February a new scenography of its interior spaces, carried out by Maurice Benayoun and Christophe Girault.
PARIS – The Goethe Institute will present from 7 February to 29 March an exhibition of 50 original photographs by August Sander, the first ever organized in Paris since 1980.