Exhibition of Rarely-Seen Drawings Explore Noted Sculptor, Tony Smith’s Early Work at the Menil Collection

HOUSTON, TX.- On view at the Menil Collection from December 17, 2010 through April 3, 2011, Tony Smith: Drawings brings together a group of rarely-exhibited works on paper by the American artist best known for monumental geometric sculptures in steel and bronze. Created between 1950 and 1955, the 30 drawings on display encapsulate a dramatic turning point in Smith’s artistic career, as he shifted from his professional architectural work towards painting and sculpture. Throughout this brief yet remarkably productive period, [...]

World Museums Unite for Dulwich Picture Gallery’s 200th Anniversary

LONDON (REUTERS).- London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery turns 200 in January, and the museum is in for a birthday treat of 12 masterpieces from around the world, one for every month of its anniversary year. The paintings to be loaned to the gallery in the south of the capital including major works by Velazquez, Vermeer, El Greco, Veronese, Rembrandt, Ingres, Van Gogh, Gainsborough, Constable and Hockney. “Dulwich is recognized internationally as a really important museum in the history of museums,” said [...]

Loans from all Over Europe Form a Comprehensive Picture of Napoleon and His Time

BONN.- During the nearly sixteen years of his reign, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821), more than any other historical figure, redrew the very foundations of European history and wrought changes that can be felt to this day – both positively and negatively. The exhibition, which has been panned and organized by the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, draws on a selection of high-calibre loans from all over Europe to present a comprehensive picture of Napoleon and his [...]

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Rediscovers the Work of Gabriel Metsu in Exhibition

AMSTERDAM.- This autumn at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam the work of Gabriel Metsu (1629- 1667), one of the most influential Dutch genre painters of the 17th century, are put back in the spotlight. Metsu’s paintings beautifully depict everyday life during the Golden Age, with scenes such as a young man writing a love letter, a kitchen maid peeling an apple and an old man raising a glass. Despite his relatively short life, Metsu was one of the most popular painters of his [...]

AGO to Present Masterworks by Pollock, Rothko, and Others from The Museum of Modern Art

TORONTO.- Jackson Pollock. Mark Rothko. Robert Motherwell. Joan Mitchell. Arshile Gorky. Lee Krasner. Willem de Kooning. These are just a few of the legendary 20th-century artists whose artwork will be on view at the Art Gallery of Ontario in summer 2011 when the Gallery welcomes Abstract Expressionist New York, an exhibition drawn from the collection of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The exhibition, on view from May 28 through September 4, 2011, features 100 key works by artists whose radical work [...]

50/50 Exhibition Features Works on Paper Selected by Both the Public and the Walker Art Center

MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- Curators and visitors share the spotlight as organizers of the new Walker Art Center exhibition 50/50: Audience and Experts Curate the Paper Collection on view now through July 17, 2011. Invited to view 183 images of art from the Walker’s expansive collection of works on paper, the public cast nearly 250,000 votes indicating whether the artworks should “definitely” or “maybe not” be included in the exhibition. Meanwhile, chief curator Darsie Alexander was considering artists whose work represents important art [...]

Norton Museum of Art Creates Striking New Exhibition with Pieces from the Miami Beach Fairs

WEST PALM BEACH, FL.- Each December, the country’s leading contemporary art collectors, dealers, critics and fans engage in urgent, heated exchanges about what’s new, what’s good and what’s next at Art Basel Miami Beach, one of the world’s most influential art fairs. Began Wednesday, December 15, 2010, barely a week after Art Basel shuts down, the prestigious Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Fla. will propose some of its own answers to those questions in a special exhibition called [...]

Restored Renaissance Masterpiece on View in New Installation at Metropolitan Museum

NEW YORK, NY.- Filippino Lippi (1457-1504) is one of the great artists of 15th-century Florence. Among his principal patrons was the wealthy banker Filippo Strozzi (1428–1491), who in 1487 contracted the artist to decorate his funerary chapel in Santa Maria Novella with an outstanding cycle of frescoes. Around the same time, Strozzi also commissioned a Madonna and Child for his villa at Santuccio, west of the city. This work was acquired from the Duveen firm in 1928 by Jules Bache [...]

First Ever Exhibition of Norman Rockwell’s Original Works on View at the Dulwich Picture Gallery

LONDON.- Norman Rockwell was America’s best known and best-loved illustrator for over six decades of the 20th century. Astonishingly prolific, he is best-known for the 322 covers he created for the Saturday Evening Post; but he painted countless other magazine illustrations and advertisements, capturing images of everyday American life with a humour and power of observation that spoke directly to the public, whose love for his work never wavered. Norman Rockwell, (1894-1978), The Runaway-Runaway Boy and Clown, 1922, oil on [...]

Cantor Arts Center’s Contemporary Gallery Features New Look, New Works, and Old Favorites

STANFORD, CA- The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University announce a floor-to-ceiling reinstallation of its contemporary gallery with a new exhibition of art dating from the 1950s to the present. The Freidenrich Family Gallery’s new look juxtaposes recent acquisitions with familiar pieces and artworks that have been off view, increases space for two-dimensional works, and places more sculpture throughout the gallery. “Extreme Makeover: A Fresh Look at the Cantor Art Center’s Contemporary Collection” opened today, December 15. Darren Waterston (U.S.A., [...]

Contemporary Works in Clay from Kansas City Collection Featured in Exhibition at The Nelson-Atkins

KANSAS CITY, MO- Contemporary works in clay from the outstanding collection of Lennie and Jerry Berkowitz are on view atThe Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in an exhibition that opened today, Dec. 15, in the Bloch Building. Collecting with Passion: Contemporary Ceramics from the Lennie and Jerry Berkowitz Collection features works of art by such noted American artists as studio potter Ken Ferguson and sculptor Akio Takamori. Each of the 17 works of art in the exhibition is among 24 that [...]

Craig Robins Donates Netscape Installation by Konstantin Grcic to Miami Art Museum

MIAMI, FL.- Craig Robins, co-founder of Design Miami /, has donated this year’s Designer of the Year installation to Miami Art Museum (MAM). Entitled Netscape, the large-scale outdoor seating installation was created by Konstantin Grcic as a centerpiece of the December 2010 edition of Design Miami /, a global forum for design. Robins made the donation with the Museum’s new, Herzog & de Meuron-designed facility in mind. The new Miami Art Museum is scheduled to open to the public in Downtown [...]

Tate Announces Tacita Dean to Undertake Next Commission in The Unilever Series

LONDON.- Tate and Unilever today announced that Tacita Dean will undertake the twelfth commission in The Unilever Series for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. The work will be unveiled on 11 October 2011. Tacita Dean is one of the most respected artists working today. Her practice encompasses artist’s books, drawing, found objects, photography and sound installations, but she is best known for her use of 16mm film. Dean’s films act as depictions or portraits rather than conventional narratives, capturing [...]

Conceptual Artist Barbara Kruger Creates a New Work for the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt

FRANKFURT.-The US-American conceptual artist Barbara Kruger has created a new, publicly accessible installation for the Rotunda of the Schirn, which covers floor, ceiling, and surrounding walls with the white- and partly red-on-black captions typical of her oeuvre. “I work with pictures and words because they have the ability to determine who we are and who we aren’t,” says Kruger, whose show is presented in the Schirn from December 15, 2010 until January 30, 2011. Pictures and texts from the mass media, [...]

Three Major German Museums Announce an Exhibition on the Art of the Enlightenment in China

BERLIN.- – In spring 2011 three major German museum bodies – the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen Munich – will join forces with the National Museum of China to present an exhibition on the art of the Enlightenment, to be held in Beijing. The exhibition reveals the unfolding artistic and intellectual curiosity and openness of mind which characterized this era in European history. It is furthermore the first international exhibition to be hosted [...]