Art Of The Day Weekly
#164 - from 4 March 2010 to 10 March 2010
Extracts from Ariane Michel's film, Les Oiseaux de Céleste. © Galerie Xippas, Ariane Michel et Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, 2008
IN THE AIR
Russian loans
France continues to look towards the East, and following the year of Turkey it is now the Year of Russia that begins with an ambitious program of events. It seems it is a little shy on the contemporary aspect though which is not new, as the organizers know by experience that problems and diplomatic headaches come easily from that side… For the rest, the various exhibitions will allow to show in France remarkable pieces from the Russian institutions. The most ambitious exhibit will probably be «Saint Russia» at the Louvre, taht will trace in 400 objects an assessment of ten centuries of Christian Russia, including of course manuscripts and icons, lent by museums, libraries and monasteries. We shall also look out for the masters of posters at the festival of Chaumont (end of May) or the collections from the museum of Perm, in Lyons (museum of Fourvière) at the end of September. A passion for Russia has also reached Amsterdam where the antenna of the Hermitage museum has had un unexpected success (over 600 000 visitors for «Treasures from the Russian Court», the inaugural retrospective, from June 2009 to January 2010). A similar welcome will be given to the second exhibition. It will come from Saint Petersburg with the treasures from the Chtchoukine and Morozov collections, the great discoverers of modern art.
EXHIBITIONS
Jacopo Bassano, Virgin in throne with Child, Saint Francis and Saint Bassian, 1545, fresco, 112x128 cm, Museo Civico, Bassano del Grappa
Crazy about Bassano
BASSANO – Last week Italy offered us a re-discovery of Cima da Conegliano. This week, these «provincial» exhibitions that are the true wealth of the Bel Paese, will bring us Jacopo Bassano, the patriarch from a family of Venetian painters, who Emperor Rodolphe II tried to attract to Prague. The exhibition wil be celebrating the 500th anniversary of Bassano’s birthday. He is better known than Cima – his upset, violet skies, his groups of shepherds in Mannerist forms have been greatly shown. We shall admire them next to lesser-known works, such as the Merchants chassed out of the temple, from a private collection and shown for the first time, or the Saint Christopher, off on a tropical exile in Havana. Other exhibitions are foreseen until the end of 2012, as the celebrations will cleverly play with the doubts surrounding the painter’s exact birth date: 1510 or 1512 ?
•Jacopo Bassano e lo stupendo inganno dell’occhio at the Museo Civico, from 6 March to 13 June 2010
Beauties from Ife
LONDON – Between the XIIth and XVth centuries, to the South-West of what today is Nigeria, there flourished the Ife civilization. It expressed itself in figurative sculpture – essentially heads, sometimes covered with ridges – of a rare quality, in stone, in terra cotta, in copper but most of all in bronze, made with melted lost wax. The British Museum traces the life of this ill-known art form basing itself essentially on the Nigerian collections which have been brought to Europe for this event, coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the country’s independence. The city-State of Ife, at the heart of a local and international commercial network in the past, has remained a strong reference for the Yoruba people and certain representations shown at the exhibition in London are still used in ceremonies of local cults.
•Kingdom of Ife at the British Museum from 4 March to 6 June 2010
Bottle in the shape of a penis. Museo Larco, Lima, Pérou © Photo Daniel Giannoni et Steve Bourget
Precolombian sex
PARIS - « The iconography attached to this ensemble of Mochica vases is in no way erotic » the press release warns the visitor, since « its naturalism is only on the surface and the sexual acts minutely represented present imaginary things and beings ». it is not so sure the viewer of this surprising exhibition will see things that way. These 134 ceramic figures from the Larco museum in Lima were made between the Ist and IXth centuries siècle, in Northern Peru, and had a ritual function: they favored in particular the passage to the beyond. The realism of the positions of this willingly «non-procreative» sexuality – scenes of masturbation, of fellatio, of sodomy – is disturbing. But since there is a voyeur hidden in each one of us we will be happy to know that the display cabinets were designed « to present the works as if on a theatre stage ». Consequently, certain major pieces « are visible at 360°to appreciate all their wealth and details »…
•Sexe, mort et sacrifice dans la religion mochica at the musée du Quai Branly from 9 March to 23 May 2010
Artoftheday also recommends…
•How can the horror of the Final Solution be filmed? The exhibition at the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris asks that question. Filmer les camps studies the cases of John Ford and George Stevens, who filmed the opening of the camps, and Samuel Fuller, who adapted this experience into fiction. From 10 March to 31 August 2010.
•The Cité de la musique presents for the bicentennial of his birth Chopin à Paris, with paintings, manuscripts and instruments that refer to the composer’s years in the French capital. From 9 March to 6 June 2010.
• In Porto, the Serralves foundation dedicates a retrospective to Lourdes Castro (born in 1930) and Manuel Zimbro (1940-2003), companions and collaborators, in particular in their «shadow theatres». From 6 March to 13 June 2010.
AUCTIONS
The Doge's" wrought iron damascened key with silver pieces (lot 19), estimated at over 20 000€, courtesy Fraysse & Associés, Paris
The art of locks
To be able to walk away with the latchkey that opened all the doors of the château of Saint Cloud in the XVIIIth century (lot 35) for only 3000€ is an opportunity not to be missed. Another one, especially for anglophiles, would be lot 40, the wrought iron key, engraved with St James's Place/N°11, the residence of William IV of England before he ascended on the throne in 1830 (300€). The bronze bust of Frederic Spitzer (lot 66, 2000€), a great collector, creator of one of the last cabinets of curiosities of modern days, prevails over this sale of the collection of Michael Rullier, an expert in ironwork and copperware. Dome keys, the key from a sacristy, from an episcopal castle, platinum key case, lead coffers, in oak, in wrought iron, in embossed leather: we walk straight into the universe of the locksmith trade of times gone by, sometimes illustrated by outstanding keys, such as "the Doge's" wrought iron damascened with silver pieces (lot 19), estimated at over 20 000€. A series of lots - knockers from monasteries, crossbow gloves, cases for daggers, mortars, nut-crackers or window catch knobs - should allow lovers of these objects to go home with something not too dear.
•Rullier Collection at Richelieu-Drouot (Fraysse study) on 10 March 2010.
ARTIST OF THE WEEK
Celeste's music
One installation alone «boosted» his career, From here to ear. It had been shown at the Pommery champagne site in Reims last year, an now it is being honored by the Barbican Centre, in London. Chinese sparrows fly about and settle down on electric guitars. With their tiny claws the birds create a wishful symphony that pleases everyone: children, critics, philosophers (except maybe environmentalists, who will regret the feathered creatures were captive). Céleste Boursier-Mougenot (born in 1961) uses amplifiers, remote controls, wireless instruments, and this is not the first time. In 1997 he had already produced Keyboardchairs. He has been interested in music as well for a long time: we can well remember this musical bowls in a pool in Chamarande, which the current banged against one another, thus creating a sort of chimes. We go back to the same premises: chance is an element of poetry. Now and then chance needs a boost: that is the role of the artist…
•Céleste Boursier-Mougenot is represented by the galerie Xippas. He is among the artists selected for the 2010 Marcel Duchamp prize. He is exhibited at the Maison rouge (Paris) until 16 May 2010 and at the Barbican Center (London) until 3 May 2010.
BOOKS
The Lurçat generation
Madeleine Castaing, Serge Mouille, Mathieu Matégot, Roger Tallon, Pierre Paulin: what do these decorators have in common? They were all active right after World War II when France needed to be rebuilt and that interior architecture had a role to play to rekindle a taste for beauty. This illustrated catalogue presents the best-known designers as well as the ones that History erased a little – until they are rediscovered again. Poillerat’s rod iron, Madoura’s ceramics, the tapestries of Jean Lurçat, Charlotte Perriand’s furniture all stand side by side with Colette Pettier’s wall-paper, François Raty’s cutlery and Jean Sala’s glasses to produce a «best of» of 350 creators among which some are still alive.
•Création en France, Arts décoratifs 1945-1965, collective work directed by Côme Rémy, Gourcuff-Gradenigo, 2010, 49 €.
IN BRIEF
BASEL - Ernst Beyeler, one of the greatest gallery owners of the XXth century and the creator of the Fondation Beyeler, passed away on 25 February 2010, at the age of 88.
BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT - For the 150th anniversary of the birth of Albert Kahn, the founder of the Archives of the planet, the new website www.albert-kahn.fr has posted 1000 autochromes on line.
BRUSSELS- The 3rd edition of Museum Night Fever (museums opened at night) will be held in the night from 6 to 7 March 2010.
LONDON- According to information published in the financial information website Bloomberg, the buyer of L'homme qui marche by Alberto Giacometti, which broke the record of the most expensive work of art in the world in an auction on 3 February of this year at Sotheby's (65 million £) could be Lily Safra, the widow of banker Edmond Safra, who died in 1999.
NEW YORK- The Armory Show, the modern and contemporary art fair, will be held from 4 to 7 March 2010 at Pier 94. Pulse and Scope, contemporary art fairs, will be held on the same dates at 330 West St and at the Lincoln Center.
NEW YORK - After eight months of renovation works, the Metropolitan Museum of Art reopened on 2 March its gallery of European musical instruments, which includes in particular two Stradivarius violins.
ON ARTOFTHEDAY.INFO
This week, do not miss
THE ART OF POWER The Royal Armoury and the Court Portrait
MADRID - The collection of armor and weapons of the Patrimonio Nacional (the national Heritage), that is kept at the Royal Armoury, is one of the richest in the world. The Prado museum presents some of the most beautiful pieces, by putting them face to face with court portraits of the times, signed by Tiziano, Velasquez or Rubens.