Art Of The Day Weekly
#293 - from 7 March 2013 to 13 March 2013
The MAXXI in Rome (architect: Zaha Hadid). Photo S. Cecchetti. Courtesy MAXXI.
IN THE AIR
Letter from Rome
The Italian capital is once again in the spotlight of current events. Of course the Pope’s renouncement and the bewildering results of the elections are much the cause. But culture as well! While the great era of Via Veneto, the fifties when the heroes were Moravia and Truman Capote, Audrey Hepburn, Liz Taylor, Rossellini and Gassman seems long gone, the city of Cesar has found a vitality all others could envy. This can be seen in the new cultural structures that have sprouted out these last few years – the Auditorium, the Macro museum by Odile Decq and the MAXXI by Zaha Hadid. Current events contribute to the excitement as well: during this sole week of March three major exhibits, one dedicated to the Titian (at the Scuderie del Quirinale, 5 March), another to Cubism (at the Vittoriano, 8 March), that traces the genesis of the movement, the third to Soulages (at Villa Médicis, 2 March). Not to mention the retrospectives already open on Brueghel (at the Chiostro del Bramante) and Alighiero Boetti (at the MAXXI) that continue to attract the crowds. The good news is that the South is waking up, and not only in politics!
EXHIBITIONS
Tiziano Vecellio Allegory of Time governed by Prudence, 1565 circa Olio su tela Londra, The National Gallery presented by Betty and Davis Koetser, 1966
Titian and the fourty paintings
ROME – For once, no birth or death anniversary was necessary to justify such a large retrospective: let us enjoy the Titian for the pleasure of our eyes only! The exhibition presented in the Popes’ former stables does not pretend to unveil a hidden aspect of the great master of the master of Pieve di Cadore (1490-1576). It simply aims at retracing the itinerary of a master of the Renaissance. The simple fact of bringing together all of his works scattered throughout the world is a feat in itself, and that is why this type of exhibit is so rare. Obviously Venice was called in for support with the Annunciation at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, as well as Florence Flora at the Uffizi and Naples with Danaé and the rain of gold at Capodimonte, the Prado with, among others the beautiful Portrait of Charles V with his dog). Works were also brought in from the Czech museum of Kromeriz (Apollo and Marsyas), the Louvre (The man with the glove) and the National Gallery of London. In total, some forty paintings are presented, with a strong representation of portraits.
• Tiziano at the Scuderie del Quirinale, from 5 March to 16 June 2013.
Also to be seen in Rome...
Bruegel and his family
• Brueghel the elder, those close to him and his “dynasty”, from his friend Hieronymus Bosch to David Teniers, the husband of a daughter of the third generation, are presented in some one hundred works at the Chiostro del Bramante. Until 2 June 2013.
Cubism, a century later
• Cubismo, cubisti brings together at the Complesso del Vittoriano some 200 works – drawings, paintings, sculptures and different objects – from Picasso to Gris, from Braque to Rivera. From 8 March to 23 June 2013.
Marinetti's paintings
• Marinetti chez Marinetti, at the galleria Russo, shows that the theoretician of Futurism was also an avid collector, especially of his accomplices Dottori, Palazzeschi or Soffici. Until 15 March 2013.
Multi-talented De Sica
• Vittorio De Sica, the father of Neo-realism (Ladri di bicicletta) but not only (Matrimonio all’italiana, I giardini dei Finzi-Contini), movie director, writer and socialite, is referred to in the grand Ara Pacis. Until 28 April 2013.
Alighiero back in Rome
• The relationship Alighiero Boetti, a cosmopolitan and iconoclastic artist, had with Rome, is the subject of an exhibition at the MAXXI. Next to some thirty works by the artist known for his “geographic rugs” there are creations by Cucchi and Ontani, whom he inspired. On 8 March, admission will be free for women. Until 6 October 2013
At home with Mario Praz
• In the exquisitely decadent setting of the Mario Praz museum, photos by Milton Gendel bring back to life the guests of the great historian of the intellectual life in Rome in the 1950s to 1970s (Harold Acton, Gore Vidal, Palma Bucarelli, etc.) Until 1 April 2013
The unknown Scalia
• Painter Lettero Scalia (1908-1996) was known in particular for being an author of movie posters. The Museo di Roma in Trastevere pays a tribute to him. Until 5 May 2013.
Soulages ever young
• Soulages XXIe siècle, the first exhibition dedicated to the master in Italy, is most contemporary with 70 works done since the year 2000. From 2 March to 16 June 2013.
Thayou at Macro
• Cameroon artist Pascale Martine Thayou has taken over the Macro and created an original “secret garden” using recycled materials. Until 7 April 2013.
AUCTIONS
Ladislav Sutnar (Pilsen 1897, New York 1976), Venus/In Microskirt, 1967, acrylic on masonite, 180x109 cm. Estimate: €39,000.
Czech masters
PRAGUE - The major auction houses – Sotheby’s and Christie’s maybe even Artcurial and Tajan – have developed over the last few years sales of national schools. The “Russian Sales”, “Italian Sales” and even “Greek Sales” have had great moments but are suffering today from the crisis. The ideal is to go to the crib of these artists where some beautiful discoveries are often possible. The Dorotheum house, based in Vienna, which has largely developed its network in Central and Eastern Europe, offers a Czech sale. Next to small local artists away from home such as illustrator Artus Scheiner (1863-1938), with his water colors estimated at €250, we find confirmed artists such as photographer Josef Sudek, Alfons Mucha (a study for The Slave Epic, estimated at €120 000), graphic artists Ladislav Sutnar or Frantisek Kupka, and his 17 prints (the Dream of dreams, from 1905-1909, estimated at €20 000 €) will be sold after being returned to its legitimate owners in the midst of restitution procedure.
• Fine Art at Dorotheum on 9 March 2013.
ARTIST OF THE WEEK
Sam Szafran, the art of pastels
In a world fascinated with Abstraction, figurative painters from after the war, except for Bernard Buffet, had a hard time being heard. Things change and a new guard is now in the headlines of magazines, from George Condo to Michael Borremans. The moment has come to rediscover the elders. Discrete Sam Szafran, born in 1934), is one of them. The series that surely made him famous – relatively speaking - is the virtuous Parisian staircase seen through Haussman apartments. It was wonderful work on the perspective as well a tender look on certain equipment that is almost out dated: with codes on the doors and elevators, who still uses the staircase or looks through the œil-de-bœuf? In his other ensembles – printing presses under large glass domes, the exuberant leafage of the philodendrons -, he proves to be the heir of Quentin de La Tour, Rosalba Carriera or Edgar Degas: a unique user of pastels, capable of creating a whole universe with his artistic small sticks which he has almost turned into his only instrument since 1958.
• Sam Szafran, 50 ans de peinture at the fondation Pierre Gianadda (Martigny, Suisse), from 8 March to 16 June 2013.
BOOKS
Aveyron and modernity
How much has our society changed over the last decades? As the old saying goes, a few mages say a lot more than a thousand words. It is the feeling one gets when leafing through the production of a photographer now forgotten (Jean Ribière, active at Paris-Match and at L’Aurore in the 1950-70) in a French “département” hardly visited, the Aveyron (known by the French especially for its Roquefort cheese and for supplying Paris with half of its café owners). There are public criers, who may even have lost a hand; on the markets we see stands of vendors of ropes and saddlers; in the quarry of Cantoin, stone breakers still work basalt. Men still put a watch in their vest pocket, women wrap up their hair in buns, all alike use an apron when working, chicken are weighed with a Roman scale. Everyone uses wooden clogs, carts are used to travel and the dust is removed from tabletops with duck wings. These photos are not fifty years old, and yet they show us a world that seems close to archaeological science. Post it right away on Facebook and Twitter…
• Aveyron, le temps de la terre, 1950-1960, by Marie-Claude Dupin-Valaison and Hélène Tabès, photographs by Jean Ribière, Editions du Rouergue, 2012, 162 p., €25.
OPENINGS OF THE WEEK
IN BRIEF
LILLE – The 6th edition of Lille Art Fair, dedicated to contemporary art, will be held from 7 to 10 March 2013, with more than 120 French and foreign galleries over 12 000 sq. meters. Thursday 7 March is a “Night of art” with a night opening until 10 PM.
NEW YORK – The Armory Show, the modern and contemporary art fair (the one in 1913 was marked by the presence of Duchamp) from 7 to 10 March 2013.
PARIS – The galerie Almine Rech opens on 9 March 2013 a new space at 64 rue de Turenne (75003).
SHARJAH (United Arab Emirates) – The 11th Biennale of contemporary art of Sharjah will be held from 13 March to 13 May 2013 with some one hundred international artists directed by curator Yuka Hasegawa.