modern art

INTERPOL, the international police agency, issued a global alert on May 22 with images of five paintings which were stolen from the Modern Art Museum in Paris last Thursday. The move inidcates that French authorities suspect the paintings may have left the country, possibly through an organized crime network. The 188 INTERPOL member countries, as well as cultural and institutional bodies, were provided with information to help aid in the investigation. A burglar entered the museum undetected, evading a security system and three armed guards on duty overnight on May 20. “These ...

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A book hand-made by Pop artist Andy Warhol as a gift for a young girl will be published for the first time this fall. Rizzoli is releasing a fascimile edition of the one-of-the-kind "Making Money." Originally created by Warhol in 1981, the book features a series of his exuberant freehand drawings. An appealing "flipbook" quality emerges as the images slowly build from abstract renditions to the artist's familiar dollar sign. The backstory is another draw. The gift-book was for Berkeley Reinhold, then a pre-teen and daughter of Warhol's close friend, diamond ...

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  The ways in which Pablo Picasso studied, stole from, and outdid the masters of earlier eras is the subject of “Picasso Looks at Degas, Renoir, Ingres…and Mantegna,” a free lecture by Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Gary Tinterow. The lecture takes place at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute on Sunday, August 29 at 3:00 pm, and is open to the public. Gary Tinterow, the Metropolitan’s chairman of the Department of Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art, recently curated a critically acclaimed survey of the works by Picasso in the Metropolitan’s collection. He has organized numerous exhibitions during his career, beginning with Master Drawings by Picasso (Art Institute of Chicago and Philadelphia Museum of Art); The Essential Cubism (Tate Gallery); and Juan Gris: A Retrospective (Biblioteca National, Madrid). At the Met, his exhibitions include: Degas (1988); From Poussin to Matisse: The Russian Taste for French ...

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art presents Henry Moore - The Drawings: Works on Paper from the Henry Moore Family Collection, an international exhibition organized by Hauser & Wirth New York, London, Zürich in collaboration with the Moore Family. This exhibition also features two significant drawings on loan from the Yale University Art Gallery, and one sculpture from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art collection. Henry Moore - The Drawings will be on view at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art from July 22 through October 3, 2010.   By the 1930s, British sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986) had achieved international recognition for his monumental figures, organic forms imbued with classical references that would become his lifelong subjects. But drawing was always central for Moore, a way of "tapping himself for the initial idea." From his days as an art student, he remained committed to drawing from life. While Moore frequently drew what he called "ideas ...

Named one of 2010’s hot exhibitions by Harper’s Bazaar, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute’s groundbreaking exhibition Picasso Looks at Degas explores Pablo Picasso’s lifelong fascination with the work and life of Edgar Degas. Co-curators Elizabeth Cowling, professor emeritus of art history at the University of Edinburgh, and Richard Kendall, curator-at-large at the Clark, will discuss their experience of organizing the exhibition and address some of the intriguing questions it raised during an in-depth examination of both artists’ works in the lecture, “Homage, Mockery or Theft? The Case of Picasso and Degas,” on Sunday, June 13, at 3 pm. Admission is free to the lecture, which will be followed by a book signing. The exhibition catalogue will be available for purchase at the museum shop.   Cowling, a well-known Picasso expert, and Kendall, a recognized Impressionist scholar, met with members of the Picasso ...

  "About a year ago anxious prospects made for uncertainty, but the art market has not only proven stability in challenging times, it even reached new heights", said Robert Ketterer, owner of Ketterer Kunst. "Its the quality that counts", he continues in view of his main auction on 12 June 2010, which has its focal points on: 1. Modern Art2. Post War/Contemporary Arton 1. Modern ArtThis section will be headed by several works by Gabriele Münter: Besides the lucent red portrait "Beim Malen" (presumably Marianne von Werefkin) (estimate: € 270 000-380 000), the "Landschaft mit Sonnenblumen" from 1910, which will be called up with an estimate of € 250 000-350 000 is another definite highlight. Both works are prime examples of the artist’s examination of a painting style that put an emphasis on the contour. In favor of a more stringent color effect, Münter reduced all forms to black-bordered surfaces. ...

Jack Rutberg Fine Arts will present two timely and concurrent exhibitions in Los Angeles opening May 22.  Monumental paintings and drawings by Patrick Graham, widely regarded as Ireland’s most important contemporary artist, will be featured in a major exhibition of Graham’s most recent works as well as a number of the artist’s most iconic, large-scale paintings of the last 25 years.  Also shown will be a rare exhibition of drawings by Arshile Gorky (1904-1948), the Armenian-born artist; one of the 20th century’s most important painters and seminal forces of American modern and contemporary art.  Both exhibitions will open May 22, with Patrick Graham in attendance, in a much anticipated appearance in Los Angeles.   “Patrick Graham - fact of the matter” offers a rare opportunity to view a major presentation of Graham’s works; some recently exhibited in the critically acclaimed museum exhibition “The Quick and the ...

Fine arts auctioneers Bonhams & Butterfields will offer American and European prints on May 4, 2010, a simulcast auction to be held in its San Francisco and Los Angeles salesrooms.  As many as 340 lots will be offered, including rare and desirable etchings, lithographs, woodcuts and screenprints -- and featuring an Albrecht Dürer 1504 engraving Adam and Eve, one of the most celebrated works of the artist's career. Public previews of the Spring prints sale will be held at Bonhams & Butterfields’ Sunset Blvd. gallery in Los Angeles on April 24-25 and the San Francisco previews open May 1-3.  The illustrated auction catalog is posted for review at www.bonhams.com/us.  American, European, Contemporary and Modern prints, as well as Picasso glazed terre de faïence plates and vases stem from private collections, from noted estates and trusts, and from the corporate art collection of the defunct law firm Heller Ehrman, LLP. The very first lot of ...

Fuller's Fine Art Auctions will POP onto the art market this Spring with paintings, prints and sculpture by American icons Andy Warhol, Alex Katz, Tom Wesselmann, Alexander Calder and Robert Indiana. Among Fuller's top lots are a numbered and signed Warhol screenprint, Northwest Coast Mask from "Cowboys and Indians"($8,000-10,000), a 2006 Alex Katz oil on board titled Study for Corinne ($10,000-$15,000), Katz's color screenprint on aluminum, Anne ($12,000-18,000), and a Wesselmann Maquette for Dropped Bra ($12,000-18,000). On May 8, 2010 collectors will have the opportunity to acquire an original Norman Rockwell painting, Portrait of Chief Petty Officer LeRoy Evans($30,000-40,000). During WWI, LeRoy Evans served in the Navy with Rockwell in Charleston, South Carolina. When Evans first met Rockwell, the artist was reputed to be a house painter, and was digging postholes. Evans mentioned to Rockwell that it must be rough work on the hands of a painter. Rockwell ...

NEVER BEFORE OFFERED AT AUCTION, "FERTILITY" IS ONE OF ONLY A FEW MASTER WORKS BY MUNCH LEFT IN PRIVATE HANDS. Christie's is delighted to announce it will offer Edvard Munch's Fertility (estimate: $25-35 million) - one of the most important works by the artist remaining in private hands - as the cover lot of its upcoming Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on May 4. Painted in the late 1890s, Fertility was originally purchased in 1902 by Dr. Max Linde, the German patron responsible for helping Munch establish his career in Germany. Since 1918, the large-format painting has remained in private collections in Scandinavia, with periodic loans to prestigious museum and gallery exhibitions throughout Europe and the United States. The upcoming sale marks the first occasion that the work has ever been offered at public auction. Conor Jordan, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie’s New York, comments:“Edvard Munch remains one of the most ...

Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a landmark exhibition of 300 works by Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973), will provide an unprecedented opportunity to see one of the most important collections in the world of the artist's work. On view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from April 27 through August 1, 2010, this is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the remarkable array of works by Picasso in the Met's collection. The exhibition will reveal the Museum's complete holdings of the artist's paintings, drawings, sculptures, and ceramics—never before seen in their entirety—as well as a significant number of his prints. The exhibition encompasses the key subjects for which Picasso is so well known: the pensive harlequins of his Blue and Rose periods, the faceted figures and tabletop still lifes of his Cubist years, the monumental heads and classicizing bathers of the 1920s, the raging bulls and dreaming nudes of the 1930s, and the ...

  On June 26, the Amon Carter Museum presents Constructive Spirit: Abstract Art in South and North America, 1920s–50s. This groundbreaking exhibition is the first to bring together South American and U.S. geometric abstraction and includes a range of paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs, drawings and films. Constructive Spirit will be on view through September 5; admission is free. Featuring 85 works by more than 65 abstract artists from Argentina, Brazil, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela, this special exhibition organized by the Newark Museum (Newark, N.J.) provides a fresh and innovative look at modernism in the Americas during a dynamic and cosmopolitan period.  The exhibition begins with the arrival of Joaquín Torres-García in New York City in 1920 and culminates in the 1950s, as North and South American abstract artists converged in international exhibition venues such as the Bienal de São Paul0. Constructive ...

From June 15 to September 13, 2010, the series Dutch interiors by Joan Miró (1893-1983) will make its debut at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Miró travelled to the Netherlands in 1928 and included the Rijksmuseum in his itinerary. Two interior scenes by 17th-century Dutch masters Hendrick Sorgh and Jan Steen inspired him to create a series of three paintings, which represent one of the highlights of Miró's early surrealistic work. The Dutch Interiors, including sketches and drawings by Miró, have never before been displayed alongside these 17th-century works, which were the original source of his inspiration. This exhibition by the Rijksmuseum uniquely brings together art from the past and present. In May 1928, Miró travelled from Paris to the Netherlands and included the Rijksmuseum in his itinerary. He also took two home two postcards, which were colour reproductions of paintings from the Rijksmuseum collection: The lute ...

The 15th Annual Los Angeles Art Show announces 2010 Show programming. Presented by the Fine Art Dealers Association (FADA) and KR Martindale Show Management, the Los Angeles Art Show programming is a forum for exchange, engagement and enjoyment of art.  Programming will take place January 21-24 at the Los Angeles Convention Center and will feature art discussions led by notable curators, architects, a film screening, curated exhibitions and children’s art activities. The Los Angeles Art Show will debut its first annual Guest Country Program.  Beginning in 2010, the Guest Country Program will showcase an individual country’s arts and highlight selected works in a Special Exhibition at the Los Angeles Art Show.  This year, the Los Angeles Art Show  welcomes the country of Uruguay.  Under the direction of the Dirección Nacional de Cultura and the Ministero de Educaión y Cultura, a special exhibition of Uruguay’s top ...

  The Los Angeles Art Show will present Vox Humana a live art performance by legendary Los Angeles street artists Mear One, Kofie, Retna, and El Mac. Organized by the L.A. ART MACHINE and curated by Bryson Strauss, the art performance will take place during the Los Angeles Art Show from January 20 - 24, 2010.   Working on large-scale canvases, the artists will begin their work on January 20 and will paint live each day from noon to 6 PM. Using acrylic and aerosol paints, Retna and El Mac will collaborate on a canvas that is 12 x 24 feet, while Kofie and Mear One will work independently on 12 x 12 foot canvases. Los Angeles Art Show attendees are invited to witness the completion of the works on Sunday, January 24, 2010 at 2 PM, and participate in an art celebration.   While much attention has recently been given to street artists in the fine art world with the rise in celebrity of Shepard Fairey, Banksy, a Gajin Fujita, VOX HUMANA marks the first time that a ...

Signs: Contemporary Middle Eastern Art is a groundbreaking exhibition that provides a rare glimpse into the world of Middle Eastern art. On view at the Los Angeles Art Show from January 20-24 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the exhibition presents the work of seven influential and respected artists from numerous countries in the Middle East. This will be the only West-Coast Showing of the Signs exhibition.   Curated by noted art historian and Curator Karin von Roques in association with Sundaram Tagore Gallery, the exhibition explores the role of traditional Islamic calligraphy and symbols in the contemporary Arab consciousness. Grappling with aesthetic philosophy, mysticism, tradition, and issues of everyday survival and existence, all seven artists challenge convention and create new visual language. Word art has had a lasting impression on the Los Angeles art scene, beginning with Ed Ruscha’s “liquid word” paintings of the 60s. The Signs exhibition ...

 Amon Carter Museum Director Ron Tyler announced today the museum’s 2010 exhibition schedule. Comprised of three special exhibitions that celebrate modern art, each will focus on different American modern art movements spanning the years 1902 to 1962 in a variety of media including works on paper, paintings, sculpture and photographs. “We have a stellar line-up of special exhibitions in 2010, which complement our own modernist holdings,” Tyler says. “This is a great opportunity for us to further educate our visitors about America’s top artists of the early to mid-1900s. We look forward to a terrific year of modern art.” EXHIBITION SCHEDULE American Moderns on Paper: Masterworks from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art February 27–May 30, 2010 The finest watercolors, pastels and drawings by leading avant-garde American artists of the early 20th century will be on view this February. These rarely seen artworks from ...

For the first time since 1956, the works of Cézanne, Picasso and Mondriaan are on display in a Dutch museum. The Gemeentemuseum in The Hague devotes this unique exhibition to the father of modern art, Paul Cézanne. Although Cézanne (1839-1906) is regarded as an impressionist, he was not concerned with depicting fleeting impressions. His interest lay in the object itself, as he sought to penetrate to its core with his knowledge of form, composition and color. It was this approach and other facets of his work that laid the first foundations of modern art. His paintings are shown alongside works by Pablo Picasso, who considered himself the artistic heir of Cézanne, and Piet Mondriaan, who was strongly influenced by both artists. Never before could museum visitors see works by Cézanne, Picasso and Mondriaan alongside one another. The paintings are on loan from international collections, such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the ...