Art Of The Day Weekly
#140 - from 2 July 2009 to 9 September 2009
Our next issue will appear on September 10. Have a nice holiday!
IN THE AIR
Pontcysyllte aqueduct and canal (Wales), © UNESCO/Paul Highnam
UNESCO vacation trips
Where are you thinking of going this summer? To the French Riviera? To Sardinia? Rather than pick up the Michelin or Lonely Planet guides, why not chose the one from Unesco? The world heritage list has been greatly criticized in its unforeseen success, for having a perverse effect by leading to an over-attendance of the most fragile sites and thus, in certain cases, favour their erosion rather than their protection (the cases often quoted are those of Angkor in Cambodia or Pamukkale
in Turkey). The fact of publishing the «winners» on the eve of the Northern hemisphere summer vacations is in this regard, troubling. But it is not easy to resist the pleasure of discovering in advance the sites destined to a sure popularity. So here are the tendencies for the summer of 2009: the tower of Hercules at La Coruña, a town known more as Franco’s birth place, the Stoclet House in Brussels, the canal bridge of Pontcyssylte in Wales, the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains (as an extension of the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans) or the clock manufacturing urbanism of La-Chaux-de-Fonds. And the more adventurous individuals will head for the far away ruins of Loropéni, in Burkina-Faso, or the hydraulic system of Shushtar, in Iran, which for other reasons, will not be subject to a sudden flux of tourists. The city of Dresden though is still licking its wounds. The construction of a four-lane bridge has led to a very rare sanction; i.e., the exclusion of Dresden and the valley of Elbe from the hit-parade.
The 13 new sites included on 29 June 2009 and the 890 sites of the list.
EXHIBITIONS
Private Surrealism
BERLIN – A surrealist cave of Ali Baba is how we could qualify the collection of German couple Ulla and Heiner Pientzsch, who made his fortune in the plastic industry. From Masson (Massacre), to Max Ernst (a rich contribution including in particular metal sculptures from the end of the forties), Balthus (a very beautiful portrait of translator and poet Pierre Leyris with his wife), as well as works by Dorothea Tanning, Delvaux, Magritte, Leonor Fini, Dali, or Bellmer… In total 160 works that offer a complete panorama of one of the main movements of the XXth century with bridges launched towards the abstract expressionism of Pollock and his consorts.
Swiss secrets
LAUSANNE – When an exhibition presents works scattered throughout the museums in the world, it plays a useful role. The interest of the mission is increased tenfold when the paintings selected are from private collections. It is what the Fondation Hermitage chose to do to celebrate its 25th anniversary: to explore the very wealthy Swiss heritage. At the same time it marks an allusion to the inaugural exhibit in 1984 - Impressionism in the collections of French-speaking Switzerland - and a tribute to the loyalty of the lenders. The whole of the XXth century is reviewed – from a Valley of the Arc by Cézanne to Three disks in the air by Calder up to a beautiful selection of Baselitz, Picasso and Dubuffet. The «locals from the region» are well represented – Vallotton, Hodler, Giacometti and even the lesser known Alice Bailly – and there are of course many (re)discoveries, from the delicate square Bonnard, a Nude with a lamp, to the large Max Ernst, Angel of the foyer, finally visible up close.
The graffiti years
PARIS – It seems impossible to have an exhibition on graffiti, an art form born in Brooklyn at the beginning of the 70s. Are they going to rebuild the walls of the Bronx, bring in the New York subway cars? It can only be done with photographs, movies (among them the unavoidable Style Wars) and other forms of documentation. To give some substance to the exhibition, explain Action Writing or Freestyle, the Fondation Cartier has invited the most famous graphers to create works purposely for this event. This is proof they are no longer outlaws or hooligans but rather the pets of contemporary art. Will be present the seniors P.H.A.S.E. 2 or Seen and a cosmopolitan delegation including Chilean artist Basko Vazko, Swedish artist Nug or French artist JonOne.
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AUCTIONS
Last round before the summer
Prior to the summer respite, the program of the auction houses is very eclectic. London is invaded by the old masters. At Christie’s, on 7 and 8 July, the Italian masters are the first with a Virgin and Child by Fra Bartolommeo and a further unexpected View of piazza San-Marco by Michele Marieschi, each estimated at more than 2 million €. At Sotheby’s where the collection of Barbara Piasecka Johnson is on sale on 8 and 9 July, a Prometheus by Ribera (nearly 1 million €) will be the star attraction. In Paris, we can note a convergence of initiatives around fashion and materials: haute couture at Cornette de Saint-Cyr, textiles at Deburaux Aponem (on 3 July), fashion accessories and prototypes of Roger Vivier at Pierre Bergé’s (9 July). If one is seeking originality, Piasa offers robots (3 July), Massol canes (7 July), Fraysse old fishing material and Kapandji-Morhange surgery material and anatomy works that are just as respectable (both on 8 July).
Old Masters and 19th Century Art at Christie’s London 7 and 8 July 2009
ARTIST OF THE WEEK
Lilian Bourgeat, Piggy noir, black mold, 1998, courtesy Chartreuse de Mélan
Lilian Bourgeat, a matter of scale
Marcel Duchamp’s bottle drier becomes a real scarecrow while the seven-league boots really do touch the ceiling. The public bench becomes practically inaccessible– too high – and the rocking chairs are used by as many lazy bones. The smallest element which becomes the biggest? Now here is something that reminds us of Gulliver, Alice and so many other children’s dreams. Lilian Bourgeat turned this into her favorite way of functioning with the declared intention of making us lose our minds, or in any case our visual references. And – an important element for the summer and the young esthetes– this is art one can touch and try. Like the mobile circles on which the audacious visitor is exhibited and filmed like merchandise promoted for sale …
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BOOKS
Armstrong and old papers
We knew him to be an orchestra director, a trumpet player, a singer, actor, a writer of memoires. We are now going to have to add, posthumously, another feather to his cap: Louis Armstrong was also a «collage» artist. For someone who was precocious – newspaper boy at the age of 7, arrested at 12 for shooting a gun in Perdido Street, married at 16– he picked up this artistic hobby rather late in life. The book presents all the compositions done from 1953 up to his death, in 1971, combining article clippings, record covers, photos, birthday and Christmas cards, telegrams from the Western Union and pieces of Band-Aids, all glued on cardboard or recording boxes. «Satchmo» places himself with his friends and contemporaries – King Oliver, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, including the Pope and Leslie Caron. Now and then there are a few women in the strictest attire or a lovely behind but legend has it –not without humor- that he used to get rid of this sort of creation very quickly: Lucille Wilson, his fourth and last wife, made sure everything was kept respectable …
IN BRIEF
ARLES – With the title «40 ans de ruptures» (40 years of division) the Rencontres photographiques celebrate their 40th anniversary with 60 exhibitions, from 7 July to 13 September 2009. Nan Goldin is the main guest and there will be important retrospectives on Willy Ronis, Duane Michals or editor Robert Delpire.
BERLIN - The Museum of Football will be inaugurated on 4 July 2009.
BRUSSELS - Known for his «coups d’Etat» and previously the founder of a musée de la Frite (French Fry Museum), Belgian Surrealist artist Jan Bucquoy has just inaugurated a musée du Slip (Underpants Museum).
CHÂTILLON-SUR-SEINE – The new Châtillonnais museum, including its greatest pride the ancient crater of Vix, will be inaugurated 4 July 2009.
CLEVELAND - The Cleveland Museum of Art inaugurated on 27 June 2009 its new wing – the East Wing – designed by architect Rafael Viñoly that houses the collections of modern and contemporary art.
PONTIVY –The 18th edition of «l’Art dans les chapelles» (Art in the Chapels), installations of contemporary art in the rural churches of the Morbihan, will be held from 10 July to 20 September 2009.
VIENNA - The floods that have hit the Austrian capital have made necessary the evacuation of 1 million works of art from the Albertina Museum, starting 25 June 2009.