Art Of The Day Weekly
#310 - from 4 July 2013 to 10 July 2013
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco (exhibition The Family of Man at château de Clervaux, Luxembourg)
IN THE AIR
A very young, 58 year-old exhibition
CLERVAUX (Luxembourg) – Can an exhibition last 58 years? In this era of generalized –and sometimes programmed- obsolescence, one would of course tend to answer no. Yet the re-opening of “Family of man” seems to prove the contrary. Photographer Edward Steichen organized this exhibition of emblematic cliches, from Ansel Adams to Cartier-Bresson which was one of the phenomenal successes of the post-war period. Following a first presentation at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1955, it traveled around the world and was seen by 10 million persons until 1962. In 1966, Steichen decided it should stay home, in Luxembourg. That has been the case-partially- since 1974. Now, nearly six decades after its inauguration, the exhibition is getting ready for a return to its youth. The photos, of very different sizes, have been restored and reinstalled in the renovated rooms of the castle of Clervaux, just like the original time. They bear the same message as they did after the great massacre of 1939-45, that is that Humanity is one big family that must protect itself from totalitarian and war tendencies, always ready to stick out their ugly heads …
• The Family of Man opens again at the château de Clervaux on 6 July 2013
EXHIBITIONS
José Chávez Morado, Carnaval en Huejotzingo, oil on canvas, 71.1 x 96.5 cm. Collection of Phoenix Art Museum, Gift of Dr. & Mrs. Loyal Davis Photo Collection of Phoenix Art Museum, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Loyal Davis. © DACS 2012
Art as the child of the Mexican revolution
LONDON – Tina Modotti and Diego Rivera are two icons of XXth century art, produced by the Mexican Revolution. The famous couple is not alone, as Orozco, Siqueiros or Posadas are also presented. The interest of this exhibition dedicated to three decades of creativity is to have integrated foreign authors fascinated by the events in Mexico. Edward Burra with his painting El Paseo, Edward Weston and Tina Modotti – one of the emblems of the Revolution- with their photographs as well as Cartier-Bresson or Robert Capa – who covered the assassination of Trotski for Life magazine – are some of the Western witnesses who went by there at that crucial time. André Breton himself organized a Surrealist exhibition at the Galería de arte mexicano. All this was in 1940, a target year. Worl War II would put an end to that cosmopolitan laboratory.
• Mexico in art at the Royal Academy of Arts from 6 July to 29 September 2013
A history of the feminine nude
LE CANNET – Was Eve the symbol of purity or of sin? Painting has swung for centuries between these two extremes in representing the first woman. And the painters of the XIXth and XXth century avant-guards did not break the rule. This retrospective that studies the evolution of the feminine nude in some 70 paintings proves it. From Gauguin’s paradise in the Tropics, seen as the antithesis of a corrupted European civilization, to Eve by Maurice Denis, in the midst of a forest of symbols, up to Eve by Chagall, the incarnation of an ethereal spirituality … The biblical archetypal is a master key that allows to show to what point the woman’s body, at the center of artistic creation, nourished different interpretations, including the ‘cadavres exquis’ of the Surrealists.
• Le nu, de Gauguin à Bonnard at the musée Bonnard, from 6 July to 3 November 2013
These exhibitions also open this week…
Steichen glamor
AMSTERDAM – Edward Steichen, the organizer of the exhibition The Family of Man, was above all a photographer. Foam presents the fashion photos he took during his Années Condé Nast (1923-37). From 28 June to 6 September 2013.
Eight visions of Matisse
NICE - Matisse is the guest of honor in many museums in Nice, the city where he died in 1954. Eight exhibitions are programmed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the musée Matisse. From 21 June to 23 September 2013.
The eternal black dress
PARIS – Is the traditional black dress a phenomenon of society? That is the question the Mona Bismarck American Center asks in Little Black Dress by calling in a few famous designers. From 3 July to 22 September 2013.
ARTIST OF THE WEEK
Jacob Hashimoto, Superabundant Atmosphere, installation at Bildmuseet, 2013 (Photo Rafael Pic)
Jacob Hashimoto, light as silk
He is American of Japanese origin, which is undoubtedly where his interest in minute artisanship comes from, based on rice paper, bamboo and silk. Jacob Hashimoto, born in 1973, likes to fill space with installations inspired from the technique used to make kites. He uses nylon string and light veils. These ephemeral constructions have been presented in museums, galleries such as that of Martha Otero in Los Angeles or Studio La Città in Verona. But he has also been shown in other unexpected places, such as university halls, cruise ships or hotel boutiques. The most recent version– a group of white “clouds” can be seen at the Bildmuseet in the University of Umea. The museum, designed by architect Henning Larssen, was inaugurated last year in this city in the North of Sweden, which will be the European Cultural capital in 2014.
• Superabundant Atmosphere presented at the Bildmuseet in Umea until 13 October 2013.
OPENINGS OF THE WEEK
BOOKS
The mysteries of New Ireland
We all remember the ethnographic trips carried out by Malinowski, Margaret Mead, Jean Malaurie, or Lévi-Strauss, of which many gave were recorded and gave memorable works. Can this practice still survive today, at the time of internet and globalization? It seems to be ‘alive and well’ if we believe this book, the result of a study on the field, partly financed by Vacheron Constantin, and of which the title alone is an exotic trip on its own. Who can tell us today where New Ireland is located? Who knows its tradition of masks and ritual celebrations? Anthropologist Antje Denner explored this patrimony while spending two years in the Anir islands, looking into the world of spirits, the funerary rituals or a reality that is much more difficult to penetrate, that of their secret societies. The book contains a glossary of indigenous terms, a list of informers. All is in compliance with the best practices of the past but the result is much more accessible given the abundance of informative color photographs.
• Les îles d’Anir, Esprits, masques et spectacles dans le Sud de la Nouvelle-Irlande by Antje S. Denner, Fondation culturelle Musée Barbier-Mueller, Hazan, 2013, 176 p., €20.
IN BRIEF
BRITTANY – L’Art dans les chapelles (Art in the chapels), an exhibition of contemporary art in the valley of Blavet and the region of Pontigny, will be inaugurated during an open-doors weekend, from 5 to 7 July 2013.
BRIOUDE – The biennale of watercolors (Biennale de l’aquarelle) will be held from 12 to 27 July 2013.
CHAMPS-SUR-MARNE – The château de Champs, an emblematic building from the XVIIth century, will open again on 29 June 2013 after six years of restoration
MANCHESTER – The Manchester International Festival, a biennial event, will be held from 4 to 21 July 2013. It includes an important part of visual art with Matthew
TROYES – The Cité du vitrail, including an exhibition and interpretation area, was inaugurated on 29 June 2013.