Home > ArtoftheDay Weekly > #316 - from 3 October 2013 to 9 October 2013

Art Of The Day Weekly

#316 - from 3 October 2013 to 9 October 2013


Félix Vallotton, Le Retour de la mer, 1924, oil on canvas, 81x100 cm, Geneva, Musées d’art et d’histoire de la Ville de Genève, gift of the Société auxiliaire du musée, 1929 © musées d'Art et d'Histoire de la Ville de Genève / photo Bettina Jacot-Descombes (exhibition at Grand Palais, Paris).

IN THE AIR

Vallotton, a modern man

PARIS – We suffered for nearly 33 years, but now he is back, our favorite Franco-Swiss artist with the clear lines: indeed his last Parisian exhibition had been at the Petit Palais in 1979. Vallotton (1865-1925) simply crossed the avenue and settled at the Grand Palais. Could this be a true sign of recognition? The audacious angle of his paintings, such as this overview of a steamboat on the Seine at Andelys, his flat perspectives, his clear line, his capacity to transmit an atmosphere in just a few lines –in his landscapes such as La Grève blanche à Vasouy) prove his remarkable versatility. It shows above all the affinity of his art with other forms of art such as photography, cinema, comic strips, that were in the making at his time. The exhibition brings together his classics like Scène de rue à Paris, le Ballon, a beautiful series of prints, landscapes, nudes (qualified as “cold eroticism” by the curators), reports of the war. We are also very happy to see works lent by private collections, with a caustic look at simple things such as Femme fouillant dans un placard, Branche de poirier or this strange Etude de fesses
Vallotton, le feu sous la glace at the Grand Palais, from 2 October 2013 to 20 January 2014.

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EXHIBITIONS

Art and hooligans

LONDON – The story told in British Iconoclasm at the Tate Britain is fascinating and often painful: how the Irish pro-independence movement, the Suffragettes, the Puritans… or contemporary artists (beginning with the Chapman brothers) all resorted to destruction as a tool to express themselves (Illustration: Anon, Christ before Pilate, c.1400–25. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge). From 2 October 2013 to 5 January 2014.

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Diderot's taste

MONTPELLIER – The creator of the Encyclopédie, the man who inspired the age of Enlightenment, Diderot, would be 300 years old today. The lasting influence of the native of Langres is measured at the musée Fabre through the works of artists he appreciated and defended, from Chardin to Houdon. From 5 October 2013 to 12 January 2014.

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Kokoschka behind the lens

VIENNA – The Leopold Museum studies a 20th century master, Oskar Kokoschka, through the prism of photography (ill. Kokoschka in front of Alice in Wonderland, 1942-43, by Emil Korner © Oskar Kokoschka Zentrum, Vienne). From 4 October 2013 to 27 January 2014.

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FESTIVAL


John Murray, View of the Taj Mahal from the river bank. Courtesy Europalia.

Europalia: focus on India

BRUSSELS – The biannual manifestation has changed continents and hemispheres. After Brazil in 2011, which led to 463 events -exhibitions, theatre, music, dance, etc. –it is interested in another country from the infamous BRIC group. Indeed India offers as many possibilities of events. The approach is segmented into themes that range from “Body” to “Bollywood”, including the unavoidable Indomania, that pleasant virus that has affected European minds regularly over the last centuries. The wealth of initiatives is the leading thread of the event, from Krishna Pop by the Beatles to the puppet theatre of Karnataka, allowing us to see again the traditional Moghul miniatures or to sneak a look at the latest tendencies in contemporary art. It is of course impossible to see and seize it all … How could it not be when we consider a country with a population of 1.2 billion with an “immemorial” culture?
Europalia in Brussels and throughout Belgium, from 4 October 2013 to 26 January 2014.

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THE ARTISTS OF THE WEEK


A work by Sambre

Art precedes demolition

The daily Libération and weekly L’Express have dedicated various pages to the event: a building that has been condemned to be demolished, right in front of the Ministry of Finances, is the ideal territory for graffiti and other urban artists. The show will last one month. The result of the experiment is impressive and is one of the most important performances of street art in France, led by the owner of the galerie Itinerrance. While only a few of the residents on the top floors resisted, the others, from the basement to the ninth floor, all accumulated color explosions, optical effects and trompe-l’œil, arabesques and stencils. From Add Fuel to Vhils, including eL Seed, David Walker and Shoof, the rising stars in this field all come together in the midst of the rubble and dust. A beautiful last curtain in a none-remarkable building …
• 3-5 rue Fulton, until 30 October 2013.

The exhibition online

OPENINGS OF THE WEEK

BOOKS

Vallotton between the lines

This three-party correspondence proves painters knew how to write and collectors knew how to ask real questions. In one corner we have Vallotton, in the other an alter ego, Henri Manguin, and in the third a couple of exceptional sponsors. Hedy and her husband Arthur Hahnloser, an ophthalmologist from Winthertur, bought their works over various decades while knitting a real friendship with the artists. The letters include lists of prices and paintings, complaints about a stupid son-in-law as well as doubts about creation, discussions on the role of the gallery owner, a feeling of powerlessness in face of the most devastating butchery in history... An interesting psychoanalysis of an artist’s spirit and of a troubled period, to be completed by a visit to the Villa Flora where their collection is kept with its various works by Vallotton (among them La Blanche et la Noire which we can admire, among other works, at the exhibition at the Grand Palais).
Vallotton Manguin Hahnloser, Correspondance 1908-1928, presented and noted by Margrit Hahnloser-Ingold and Valérie Sauterel, Bibliothèque des Arts, 2013, 630 p., €25.

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IN BRIEF

BRUSSELS – The Biennale d’art nouveau, with various guided tours, will be held over four week-ends of the month of October, starting on that of Saturday 5 and Sunday 6.

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FLORENCE – The 28th Biennale of antique dealers will be held from 5 to 13 October 2013 at Palazzo Corsini.

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PARIS – The 12th Nuit blanche (Sleepless night), presenting various performances and outdoor installations of contemporary art, will be held during the night of 5 October 2013.

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