Art Of The Day Weekly
#174 - from 13 May 2010 to 19 May 2010
Han van Meegeren (1889-1947), The Supper at Emmaus viewed by Dirk Hannema (r), then director of Museum Boymans, and Hendrik Luitwieler (l), restorer. Photo: Frequin, 1938.
IN THE AIR
The man who thought he was Vermeer
ROTTERDAM – Forgers often demonstrate a lot of fantasy, thus exciting the public imagination. In France, Fernand Legros was a star and his trial at the end of the seventies was widely covered and commented by the media, which pushed even Roger Peyrefitte to write his biography. Hergé the cartoonist even included him in his last unfinished volume, Tintin et l’Alph-art. The Netherlands had a character just as flamboyant, Han van Meegeren (1889-1947), honored at the time of the exhibition Young Vermeer at the Mauritshuis (see further down). Van Meegeren specialized in copies of the Dutch painters, Hals, Ter Borch, and of course, Vermeer. For the Dinner at Emmaus, his masterpiece, he went so far in his «professional conscience» as to reuse an authentic canvas from the XVIIth century. After World War II the «Vermeer» was found in the collection of Hermann Goering and Van Meegeren was condemned to death for having sold off the national heritage. The only way to save his neck was to confess it was only a copy. Ironically, it was very difficult to convince his judges …
• ; De valse Vermeers van Van Meegeren (Van Meegeren’s false Vermeers) at the Boijmans van Beuningen museum, from 12 May to 22 August 2010.
EXHIBITIONS
Dionisio González, Ipiranga III, 2006. Photograph on metacrilate, 125 x 306 cm. Courtesy Bozar, Brussels.
Another Spain
BRUSSELS – The exhibition «El Angel exterminador» invites us to a very special exploration of Spanish contemporary art. The simple fact of placing it under the aegis of Luis Buñuel, the author of the movie of the same name, has a lot to say for itself. The organizers wished to submit the artists to a sort of «schizophrenic» reading test by placing them in front of the dilemma of introspection or evasion, of closing up or instead of opening up to others. The twenty six creators selected used the whole array of today’s techniques, from painting to video, from sculpture to a performance, and thus trace a subtle portrait of their national «idiosyncrasies», far from the cliché of the sunny, exhibitionist country. Rather than the eternal trilogy of paella, bull fight, flamenco, we witness questions on the Sahraoui refugees, the relation to war and to food, or Wittgenstein’s philosophy.
•El Angel exterminador, art contemporain espagnol at Bozar, until 20 June 2010.
Henri IV, the star king
CHANTILLY –Figaro Magazine reminded us in the issue it dedicated to Henri IV that he is the most popular French sovereign. In spite of François Ier, Louis XIV and Napoleon, he systematically wins the award. Why do the French like him so much? It is undoubtedly due to a unique combination of libertine living (the Vert-Galant!), of scepticism («Paris is surely worth a mass» he claimed as he converted to become King of France) and of populism (he also said every peasant should eat a chicken in the pot every Sunday). Among the various exhibitions that coincide with the four-hundred year anniversary of his murder on 14 May 2010 by Ravaillac (which obviously played a part in building the cult around him), the one in Chantilly focuses more on the persons around him. His family, wives, mistresses and ministers are shown side by side, both in representations from his time as well as later ones, to show how the myth was built. A section dedicated to the regicides allows us to learn more about Ravaillac, who benefitted after his death from his victim’s aura. Neither Jacques Clément (against Henri III) nor Damiens (who attacked Louis XV) ever enjoyed the same fame …
•Henri IV at the castle of Chantilly, from 12 May to 16 August 2010.
• Do not miss: Paris vaut bien une messe. Hommage des Médicis à Henri IV at the castle of Pau until 30 June 2010
Vermeer, The Procuress, oil on canvas, 1656, courtesy Mauritshuis, The Hague
The sufferings of young Vermeer
THE HAGUE – Looking for a great feat? What would you say about a whole exhibition dedicated to «young Vermeer» though we only know about thirty works from his whole career? So how did the Mauritshuis museum go about to evoke the youth of the painter from Delft? Very simple: they brought together three early paintings that show he was still looking for his style and the themes of his maturity. There is a biblical scene, Christ in the house of Mary and Martha (from the National Gallery of Scotland), a genre scene (The procuress at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden) and a mythological scene. The former is from the collection at the Mauritshuis, which had organized in 1996 the largest of the painter’s retrospective (23 paintings!), and is probably the painter’s first known painting: it seems he painted Diana and her Nymphs towards 1653, at the age of 21. One must enjoy these three paintings calmly as they will not be brought together like this in a long time. This should suffice to call in the Vermeer lovers, who will of course have the opportunity to «extend» their visit to the two other famous Vermeer works in the museum: Girl with a pearl earring and the View of Delft for which a character of Proust’s died, overtaken by the emotion …
•Young Vermeer at the Mauritshuis from 12 May to 22 August 2010
Artoftheday also recommends…
• Sculptor Duane Hanson (1925-1996), the champion of hyperrealism, is exhibited at the pavillon Paul Delouvrier at the Villette, with 15 live-sized charactersd. Until 15 August 2010.
• The rich relation that exists between Rodin and decorative arts – including trials at porcelain or theatre settings – are shown at the musée Rodin. Until 22 August 2010.
• The art museum of Vaduz, in Lichtenstein, presents a retrospective of Arte povera through 130 works, including the main representatives of the movement, from Giovanni Anselmo to Gilberto Zorio. Until 5 September 2010.
AUCTIONS
Magnolia Soulangiana, Courtesy Artcurial, Paris.
Tree, my brother
PARIS – With Le Nôtre we learned that art and gardening can be hand in glove with one another. Since French gardens are part of our national heritage, why not put them up for sale at auctions? That is exactly what the experts at Artcurial thought before the first sale in the autumn of 2008. It was met with general interest and therefore they are repeating the operation: on 17 May, specimens of French-style tree cultivation from a well-known property in the Maine-et-Loire, the Rochettes tree nursery, will be up for sale. The 150 subjects of de high cuttings will be negotiated starting at a few thousand Euros such as the «souvenir of J. Broughton» rhododendron or the 35 year-old «Fire Glow» Japanese maple (starting at 4500 Euros each). The price of the species is in proportion to its age, size and rarity … A 50-year old Skimmia japonica for example could go for 10 000 Euros and a record is expected for the two very vulnerable Japanese maples (they are 90 years old): they should sell for more than 20 000 Euros.
•Arbres rares et de collection at Artcurial on 17 May 2010
ARTIST OF THE WEEK
Ody Saban by Mario Goldmann, 1990
Ody Saban's huge appetite
Her mother is a Sephardic Jew, her father a Turkish musician and painter of miniatures and she studied in a French school directed by nuns. Given these conditions, it is not surprising the work of Ody Saban turns around the themes of identity and otherness, travel and the coexistence of peoples. The artist is very involved in the life of the city and has taken the defence of artistic squats. Ody Saban (born in 1953 in Istanbul) is characterized by an art that overflows with colors and shapes, one which unmistakingly makes us think of art brut and Dubuffet or the Boix-Vives. This exuberance, this generosity are found in her variety of modes of expression – oil painting, pen drawing, watercolors, and even video and performance - in a sort of multiformed creative rage that echoes the horror vacui of Baroque artists.
•Ody Saban participe à Cop’Art, a contemporary art manifestation that organizes until 13 June 2010 «joint activities» between artists and local companies in the Meuse region, at the Centre social et culturel de Revigny.
• Not to be missed: visit the 16 exhibitions of the Cop’Art manifestation on 15 May 2010. Departure from town hall in Revigny-sur-Ornain at 10 AM (and at 3 PM on 12 June).
BOOKS
Art for the young generation
In France it is a hard mission to give youngsters a taste for ancient or contemporary art, since – contrary to Italy for example – art is not taught in elementary school or in high school. Here is an attempt to do it, richly illustrated but that does not try to free itself uselessly from chronological references. We therefore start with the art of the caves and move all the way up to Murakami in sixty pleasant lessons, with short texts, dealing alternatively with an event, a painting, a school, an artist… How was oil painting prepared? Why is Rembrandt’s Night watch actually a scene in full daylight? Why did Cézanne say «I wish to surprise Paris with an apple»? How does the art market function? As an extra bonus, we are asked to think about Picasso’s beautiful phrase: «It took my whole life for me to learn to draw like a child»…
•L’art, un parcours en 60 étapes, by Caroline Larroche, Gallimard, 2010, 96 p., 13,90 €
IN BRIEF
ATHENS – The 16th contemporary art fair, Art Athina, will be held from 13 to 16 May 2010.
CAEN – The Memorial of Caen has inaugurated its new itineraries «World War II» on 12 May 2010.
MODENA-A study carried out on a woman’s portrait kept at the Galleria Estense has allowed experts to determine it is an original work by Raphael, a fragment of the Holy Family kept at the Prado
PARIS-The 6th European night of museums (La 6ème Nuit européenne des musées) will be held in the capital, in the rest of France and in other European countries on 15 May 2010, with the night opening of various institutions.
SÈTE – The photography festival Images singulières will be held from 13 to 30 May 2010.
SYDNEY – The 17th Biennale of contemporary art of Sydney will be held from 17 May to 1st August 2010