Arts Summary

May 22, 2019

Joana Vasconcelos: ‘What are you hiding? May you find what you are looking for’ at San Clemente Palace Kempinski, Venice, through November 1, 2019

“Continuing MGM’s mission to support art and culture, new and recent works by internationally renowned Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos are on show for the first time in Venice. The exhibition, curated by Nina Moaddel, takes place on Isola di San Clemente where the works are exhibited across the Palace Kempinski gardens and in the San Clemente church. Vasconcelos’ largest Valkyrie piece was shown in Valkyrie Octopus at MGM MACAU in 2015; the Venice exhibition therefore marks a continuation of this relationship, bringing a part of the East meets West cultural tastes between Macau, China and Portugal to new audiences in Venice.

The exhibition’s title – ‘What are you hiding? May you find what you are looking for’ – is a response to the 58th Venice Biennale’s title as selected by curator Ralph Rugoff, ‘May you live in interesting times’. Vasconcelos’ works contain references both to the popular culture of her home country and to theoretical debates in contemporary art, especially those concerned with fostering viewers’ interpretation of artworks. Whilst seemingly a blessing, the expression ‘May you live in interesting times’ has an ironic edge, playing on the illusion that you will be happy when you reach your goals and dreams. Similarly Vasconcelos’ works play with the viewers perception through a sharp sense of humour that shuns dogmatism and at the same time explores issues of identity, migration and the exploitation of women.” — MGM

Joana Vasconcelos, I’ll be Your Mirror #1 (2019) in the garden of San Clemente Palace Kempinski, Venice

Joana Vasconcelos, Betty Boop PA (2019) in the garden of San Clemente Palace Kempinski, Venice

Joana Vasconcelos, Madragoa (2015-2019) in San Clemente Church, Venice

Joana Vasconcelos, Madragoa (2015-2019) in San Clemente Church, Venice

Installation view: Joana Vasconcelos: Valkyrie Octopus at MGM MACAU, 2015. The work Madragoa is pictured on the left. Credit: Luis Vasconcelos.

Installation view: Joana Vasconcelos: Valkyrie Octopus at MGM MACAU, 2015.

Title Image: Joana Vasconcelos, I’ll Be Your Mirror #1 (2018) Bronze, mirrors 356 x 682 x 537 cm. Edition of 7 + 1 AP. Collection of the artist. Credit: Luis Vasconcelos ©Unidade Infinita Projectos_

Images courtesy MGM.

May 19, 2019

Martin Puryear: Liberty/Libertà at United States Pavilion, Giardini della Biennale, Venice, May 11 – November 24, 2019

“The United States Pavilion at the 58th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, presents new and recent work by Martin Puryear, an artist recognized for a fiercely independent sculptural language ascending from his long-term scrutiny of national and international sources and for an exacting practice that foregrounds technique, materiality, and meaning in sculpture. Martin Puryear: Liberty/Libertà meditates on a theme that has remained central to Puryear’s work over the course of his more-than-fifty-year career. Featuring recent sculptures and new works, including a monumental installation in the Pavilion’s forecourt, the exhibition explores ongoing issues related to liberty and its inherent complexities in American and global societies.” — Madison Square Park Conservancy

“For more than five decades, Martin Puryear has created a body of work distinguished by a complex visual vocabulary and deeply considered meaning. His exacting method and nuance have influenced generations of artists in the U.S. and internationally,” said Rapaport, Deputy Director and Martin Friedman Senior Curator at Madison Square Park Conservancy. “When Puryear learned that he would represent our country at the Venice Biennale, his response was that he would do so both as an artist and as a citizen. This position is not a discovery for those who know Puryear and his sculpture. His enduring approach has galvanized his work throughout his prolific career: issues of democracy, identity, and liberty have long propelled him. Madison Square Park Conservancy is proud to partner with Puryear and bring our expertise and experience as an institution dedicated to public art to the U.S. Pavilion, which provides a critical spotlight on one of the most significant and influential artists working today.”

Installation view Martin Puryear: Liberty/Libertà, La Biennale di Venezia, U.S. Pavilion, Venice, Italy, 2019. Left: Big Phrygian (2010-14), Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland. Photo: Joshua White – JWPictures.com

Installation view Martin Puryear: Liberty/Libertà, La Biennale di Venezia, U.S. Pavilion, Venice, Italy, 2019. Front: New Voortrekker, 2018. Back: Hibernian Testosterone, 2018. Photo: Joshua White – JWPictures.com

Installation view Martin Puryear: Liberty/Libertà, La Biennale di Venezia, U.S. Pavilion, Venice, Italy, 2019. Front: Detail of A Column for Sally Hemings, 2019. Back: Cloister-Redoubt or Cloistered Doubt?, 2019. Photo: Joshua White – JWPictures.com

Installation view Martin Puryear: Liberty/Libertà, La Biennale di Venezia, U.S. Pavilion, Venice, Italy, 2019. Left: Tabernacle, 2019. Right: Aso Oke, 2019. Photo: Joshua White – JWPictures.com

Swallowed Sun (Monstrance and Volute), 2019. Southern yellow pine, steel, polyester, canvas, rope. Two parts, (a) 22 ft. 8 in. × 44 ft. × 1 ft., (b) 21 ft. × 7 ft. 9 in. × 23 ft. 3 in., overall 22 ft. 8 in. × 44 ft. × 24 ft. 3 in. Photo: Joshua White – JWPictures.com

Martin Puryear: Liberty/Libertà was organized by Madison Square Park Conservancy, New York; commissioned and curated by Brooke Kamin Rapaport, Deputy Director and Martin Friedman Senior Curator at the Conservancy; and presented by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the U.S. Mission to Italy,

Exhibition design by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. Julia Friedman, Senior Curatorial Manager, and Tom Reidy, Senior Project Manager, both of Madison Square Park Conservancy, have contributed to all aspects of exhibition organization and installation.

Images courtesy Madison Square Park Conservancy.

May 15, 2019

Nature–Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial and Nature by Design: Selections from the Permanent Collection at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, May 10 – Jan. 20, 2020

“Designers are striving to transform people’s relationship with the natural world. Nature—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial, co-organized by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and Cube design museum in Kerkrade, Netherlands, features over 60 projects to demonstrate how designers are collaborating with scientists, engineers, environmentalists, academics and other stakeholders to find inventive and promising solutions to the environmental and social challenges confronting humanity today. The Design Triennial is presented at both Cooper Hewitt and Cube, allowing audiences in both the U.S. and Europe to experience the works simultaneously.

Complementing the Design Triennial, Cooper Hewitt’s second-floor galleries are devoted to a rotating presentation of objects from the museum’s expansive holdings of over 210,000 objects. Nature by Design: Selections from the Permanent Collection is now on view and celebrates nature as perhaps the longest-continuing and most global sources of design inspiration. Spanning from the 16th century to the present, Nature by Design features extraordinary textiles, furniture, pattern books, jewelry and more to show how designers have interpreted nature’s rich beauty and complex science.” — Cooper Hewitt

Tranceflora, 2015–19; Sputniko! (Hiromi Ozaki) (Japanese, b. 1985) and Masaya Kushino (Japanese, b. 1982), Another Farm (Tokyo, Japan), in collaboration with National Agricultural and Research Organization (NARO) (Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, founded 2006) and Hosoo (Kyoto, Japan, founded 1688); Glowing transgenic silk; © Photo by So Morimoto

Bleached (II), 2018; Erez Nevi Pana (Israeli, active in Austria, b. 1983); Salt-crystallized loofah over a wooden structure; 77.5 x 55 x 56 cm (30 1/2 x 21 5/8 x 22 1/16 in.); © Friedman Benda and Erez Nevi Pana

Monarch Sanctuary, 2018–ongoing; Mitchell Joachim (American, b. 1972) and Vivian Kuan (American, b. 1966), Terreform ONE (Brooklyn, New York, USA, founded 2006); Glass, metal, plastic; 365.76 x 365.76 x 91.44 cm (144 x 144 x 36 in.); © Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE

Bamboo Theater, 2015–ongoing; Hengkeng Village, Songyang County, Zhejiang Province, China, completed 2015; Designed by Xu Tiantian (Chinese, b. 1975), DnA_Design and Architecture (Beijing, China, founded 2004); Bamboo; Photo by Wang Ziling © DnA_Design and Architecture © Cooper Hewitt

Aguahoja, 2017–19; Neri Oxman (Israeli, active USA, b. 1976), The Mediated Matter Group, MIT Media Lab (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, founded 2010); Chitosan, cellulose, pectin, acetic acid, glycerin, water; Dimensions variable; Courtesy of The Mediated Matter Group

Curiosity Cloud, 2015–19; Katharina Mischer (Austrian, b. 1982) and Thomas Traxler (Austrian, b. 1981), Mischer’Traxler Studio (Vienna, Austria, founded 2009); Mouth-blown glass bulbs, artificial handmade insects, aluminum hoods, custom made circuit boards, motors, LED lights, cables, ceiling plate, sensors; Dimensions variable; © Photo by Ed Reeve

Metamorphism, 2017–ongoing; Shahar Livne (Israeli, b. 1989); Plastic, minestone, marble dust; Sizes vary, up to: 80 x 60 x 20 cm (31 ½ x 23 3/5 x 7 7/8 in.); Photo by Alan Boom © Shahar Livne

Babylegs, 2017–19; Max Liboiron (Canadian, b. 1980), CLEAR (Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research) (St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, founded 2015); Plastic bottle, nylon stockings, rope; 45.72 x 20.32 x 7.62 cm (18 x 8 x 3 in.); Photo by Dave Howells, MEOPAR © David Howells 2016

Infinity Burial Suit, 2016–ongoing; Jae Rhim Lee (Korean, b. 1975), Coeio (Mountain View, California, USA, founded 2008); Mycelium spores, fabric, microorganisms; © Coeio, Inc./Jae Rhim Lee

“With 2018 the Earth’s fourth-warmest year on record and global carbon emissions at an all-time high, the crisis of human-caused climate change has never been more dire,” said Caroline Baumann, director of Cooper Hewitt. “Solutions will not emerge without radical new thinking and alliances. ‘Nature’ brings together some of the most creative and intelligent designers whose works address our complex relationship to nature and its precious resources and advocate for greater empathy for our planet.”

“Co-operation is crucial in addressing the human-inflicted situation in which nature currently finds itself,” said Hans Gubbels, director of Cube. “The projects in ‘Nature,’ which we have brought together with Cooper Hewitt over the past three years, show great inventiveness. This carries the promise that we can bring human behavior back in line with nature again. Co-operation between design, science and technology thus can turn the tide for our planet.”

Images courtesy Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

May 14, 2019

Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman at New-York Historical Society, May 3 – July 28, 2019

“The New-York Historical Society presents the work of Augusta Savage (1892-1962) in Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman. Savage overcame poverty, racism, and sexual discrimination to become an instrumental artist, educator, and community organizer during the Harlem Renaissance; yet her work is largely unknown today. The exhibition features more than 50 works of art and archival materials that explore Savage’s legacy through her own sculptures as well as the work of the emerging artists she inspired, including Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight.” — New-York Historical Society

“Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman celebrates art, activism, and women’s history through the life and work of August Savage, a visionary artist fundamental to the Harlem Renaissance and to American art history,” said Dr. Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of the New-York Historical Society. “This landmark exhibition gives visitors the opportunity to understand and appreciate the artistic greatness of Ms. Savage’s legacy, as well as the many challenges she faced as a woman and an African American.”

“I was a leap year baby, and it seems to me that I have been leaping ever since.” — Augusta Savage

Photographs by Corrado Serra.

Organized by the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, where it was curated by Jeffreen M. Hayes, Ph.D., Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman is coordinated at New-York Historical by Wendy N.E. Ikemoto, Ph.D., associate curator of American art.

May 9, 2019

Camp: Notes on Fashion at The Met Fifth Avenue, May 9 – September 8, 2019

“The Costume Institute’s spring 2019 exhibition, Camp: Notes on Fashion explores the origins of camp’s exuberant aesthetic and how the sensibility evolved from a place of marginality to become an important influence on mainstream culture. Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay Notes on ‘Camp’ provides the framework for the exhibition, which examines how fashion designers have used their métier as a vehicle to engage with camp in a myriad of compelling, humorous, and sometimes incongruous ways.

The exhibition features approximately 250 objects, including womenswear and menswear, as well as sculptures, paintings, and drawings dating from the 17th century to the present. The show’s opening section positions Versailles as a ‘camp Eden’ and address the concept of se camper—’to posture boldly’—in the royal courts of Louis XIV and Louis XV. It then focuses on the figure of the dandy as a ‘camp ideal’ and traces camp’s origins to the queer subcultures of Europe and America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In her essay, Sontag defined camp as an aesthetic and outlined its primary characteristics. The second section of the exhibition is devoted to how these elements—which include irony, humor, parody, pastiche, artifice, theatricality, and exaggeration—are expressed in fashion.” — The Metropo;itan Museum of Art

Photographs by Corrado Serra.

“Camp’s disruptive nature and subversion of modern aesthetic values has often been trivialized, but this exhibition reveals that it has had a profound influence on both high art and popular culture,” said Max Hollein, Director of The Met. “By tracing its evolution and highlighting its defining elements, the show embodies the ironic sensibilities of this audacious style, challenges conventional understandings of beauty and taste, and establishes the critical role that this important genre has played in the history of art and fashion.”

“Fashion is the most overt and enduring conduit of the camp aesthetic,” said Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute. “Effectively illustrating Sontag’s ‘Notes on “Camp,”’ the exhibition advances creative and critical dialogue about the ongoing and ever-evolving impact of camp on fashion.”

The exhibition is organized by Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute; with Karen Van Godtsenhoven, Associate Curator; and Amanda Garfinkel, Assistant Curator.

May 8, 2019

Ralston Crawford: Torn Signs at Vilcek Foundation, May 13 – November 13, 2019

“The Vilcek Foundation presents Ralston Crawford: Torn Signs as the opening exhibition in its new gallery space on the Upper East Side. The exhibition presents an important aspect of the modernist painter’s oeuvre not often seen by the public.

While Crawford is best known for his Precisionist paintings of urban landscapes, he explored new modes of expression, including photography, throughout his later life. This exhibition examines the confluence of two seemingly disparate series completed later in his life, Torn Signs and Semana Santa. Though their subject matter is drastically different—one is inspired by tattered advertisements on the streets of New York, while the other depicts observers of Holy Week in Seville, Spain—Crawford connects them through his extraordinary visual memory, working method, and sense of spatial organization. The convergence of these two incredible series culminates in Torn Signs, 1974-76, the powerful, large-scale painting that sits at the thematic center of the exhibition.”— Vilcek Foundation

Torn Signs, Philadelphia, 1938. Silver gelatin print, 8 x 10 in. Vilcek Collection © Estate of Ralston Crawford / VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Torn Signs [Frame 26], 1966 Silver gelatin print, 8 x 10 in. Vilcek Collection © Estate of Ralston Crawford / VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Torn Signs [Frame 24], 1966. Silver gelatin print, 8 x 10 in. Vilcek Collection © Estate of Ralston Crawford / VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Torn Signs [Frame 30], 1966. Silver gelatin print, 8 x 10 in. Vilcek Collection © Estate of Ralston Crawford / VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Torn Signs, April 15, 1974-1976. Oil on canvas, 54 x 72 in. Vilcek Collection © Estate of Ralston Crawford / VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Blue, Grey, Black, 1973. Oil on canvas, 50 x 36 in. Vilcek Collection © Estate of Ralston Crawford / VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

“We chose to inaugurate our gallery space with an exhibition of Ralston Crawford, an American artist whose early work is widely celebrated, but whose later work has been, at least until recently, relatively under-exhibited and under-known,” says Rick Kinsel, president of the Vilcek Foundation. “Crawford was celebrated as a painter of the American scene in the 1930s, but the war years changed him and altered his artistic vision, moving it farther into the realm of the abstract and spiritual. This exhibition charts the influence of war, travel, and cross-cultural exchange on his mid- and later-life work, in particular exploring the way in which he was influenced by the post-war art, culture, religion, and folkways in France and Spain. The Vilcek Foundation supports and encourages cross-cultural contributions to the American arts and sciences, so Crawford, the son of Canadian immigrants, is a perfect subject for our opening exhibition: He’s an iconic American painter who was not limited to working in the United States, and whose work profited by exposure to other lands, cultures, and ideas.”

Ralston Crawford: Torn Signs was organized by Vilcek Foundation curator Emily Schuchardt Navratil.

Images courtesy Vilcek Foundation.

May 7, 2019

The Nature of Arp at Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, April 13 – September 2, 2019

“The Nature of Arp, curated by Catherine Craft and organized by the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, first venue of the show, provides a long-overdue look at the achievements of Jean (Hans) Arp (1886-1966), one of the most important and multifaceted artists of the modern era. Arp’s experimental approach to creation, radical rethinking of traditional art forms, and collaborative proclivities resonate with the wide-ranging character of art today.

Over a career spanning more than six decades, Arp produced a remarkably influential body of work in a rich variety of materials and formats. A founder of the Dada movement and pioneer of abstraction, he developed a vocabulary of curving, organic forms that moved fluidly between abstraction and representation and became a common point of reference for several generations of artists. The seven works by Arp nowadays belonging to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection provide a rich starting point for this exhibition, as Arp was the first artist to enter Peggy Guggenheim’s collection with his small bronze sculpture Head and Shell (Tête et coquille) dated 1933.” — Peggy Guggenheim Collection

“The first thing I bought for collection was an Arp bronze. [Arp] took me to the foundry where it had been cast and I fell so in love with it that I asked to have it in my hands. The instant I felt it I wanted to own it” wrote Peggy Guggenheim in her autobiography “Out of This Century” (London: Andre Deutsch, 1979).

Jean (Hans) Arp. Pianta-martello (Forme terrestri). Plant-Hammer (Terrestrial Forms), 1916. Legno dipinto / Painted wood, 62 x 50 x 8 cm (24 ½ x 19 ½ x 3 1/8 in.). Collection of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn / © Jean Arp, by SIAE 2019. Photo courtesy Gemeentemuseum Den Haag

Jean (Hans) Arp. Scarpa azzurra rovesciata con due tacchi sotto una volta nera. Overturned Blue Shoe with Two Heels  under a Black Vault, ca. 1925.  Legno dipinto / Painted wood , 79.3 × 104.6 × 2.5 cm (31 1⁄4 × 41 1⁄8 × 1 in.).  Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn / © Jean Arp, by SIAE 2019

Jean (Hans) Arp. Tre oggetti fastidiosi su un volto. Three Disagreeable Objects on a Face, 1930. (two views). Gesso / Plaster Complessivi, 19 x 37 x 29.5 cm (Overall, 7 1/2 x 14 1/2 x 11 5/8 in.). Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn / © Jean Arp, by SIAE 2019. Photo courtesy of Museum Jorn, Silkeborg

Jean (Hans) Arp. Oggetti organizzati in base alla legge del caso III. Objects Arranged according to the Laws of Chance III, 1931. Olio su legno / Oil on wood, 25.7 cm x 28.9 cm x 6 cm (10 1/8 in. x 11 3/8 in. x 2 3/8 in.). San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Acquisto/Purchase © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn / © Jean Arp, by SIAE 2019. Photo: Katherine Du Tiel/SFMOMA

Jean (Hans) Arp. Concrezione umana. Human Concretion, 1934. Marmo (scolpito prima del 1949) / Marble (carved before 1949), 33.7 x 40.6 x 39.4 cm (13 1/4 x 16 x 15 1/2 in.). Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia Donazione Walter P. Chrysler Jr / Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.3208 © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn / © Jean Arp, by SIAE 2019. Photo: Ed Pollard/Chrysler Museum of Art

Jean (Hans) Arp. Dafne. Daphne, 1955. Gesso / Plaster, 122.4 x 39 x 30 cm (48 3/16 x 15 3/8 x 11 3/4 in.). Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin / Rolandswerth © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn / © Jean Arp, by SIAE 2019

Jean (Hans) Arp. Testa e conchiglia. Head and Shell, ca. 1933.  Ottone lucidato (fusione anni Trenta) / Polished brass (cast 1930s). Altezza / Height: 19.7 cm (7 3⁄4 in.) ; larghezza / length: 22.5 cm (8 7⁄8 in.).  Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn / © Jean Arp, by SIAE 2019

Jean (Hans) Arp. Scultura da perdere nella foresta (Scultura di tre forme). Sculpture to Be Lost in the Forest (Sculpture in Three Forms), 1932. Bronzo, (1/5; fusione prima del 1958) / Bronze (1/5; cast before 1958). Forma grande: 9 × 22,2 × 15,4 cm / Large form: 3 1/2 x 8 3/4 x 6 in. Forma media: 6 × 12 × 10 cm / Medium form: 2 3/8 x 4 3/4 x 4 in. Forma piccola: 6,5 × 5,5 × 9,3 cm / Small form: 2 1/2 x 2 1/8 x 3 5/8 in. Tate: bene accettato dal Governo di Sua Maestà e destinato alla Tate Gallery 1986 / Tate: Accepted by HM Government in lieu of tax and allocated to the Tate Gallery in 1986

Jean (Hans) Arp. Scultura classica. Classical Sculpture (Sculpture Classique), 1960.  Bronzo / Bronze,  128.27 × 22.23 × 20.32 cm (50 1/2 × 8 3/4 × 8 in.).  Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, Donazione della famiglia e degli amici in memoria di Mary Seeger O’Boyle / Given in memory of Mary Seeger O’Boyle by her family and friends 1966.13.FA © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn / © Jean Arp, by SIAE 2019

Ritratto di Arp, ca. 1926. Portrait of Arp, ca. 1926.  Courtesy Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth

Jean (Hans) Arp con la sua scultura Tolomeo I (1953) alla Biennale di Venezia del 1954. Jean (Hans) Arp with his sculpture Ptolemy I (1953) at the Venice Biennale, 1954. Archivio Cameraphoto © Vittorio Pavan

Title photo by Matteo De Fina.

Images courtesy Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

May 3, 2019

Garry Winogrand: Color at Brooklyn Museum, May 3 – December 8, 2019

“Garry Winogrand: Color sheds new light on the influential career of twentieth-century photographer Garry Winogrand (1928–1984) as the first exhibition dedicated to the artist’s color photographs. While almost exclusively known for his black-and-white images that pioneered a ‘snapshot aesthetic’ in contemporary art, Winogrand also produced more than 45,000 color slides between the early 1950s and late 1960s. The exhibition features an enveloping installation of seventeen projections comprising more than 450 rarely or never-before seen color photographs that demonstrate the artist’s commitment to color, with which he experimented for nearly 20 years. Also included are 25 gelatin silver photographs drawn from the Museum’s extensive holdings of works by the artist.” — Brooklyn Museum

“There is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described.” — Garry Winogrand

Garry Winogrand (American, 1928-1984). Untitled (Cape Cod), 1966. 35mm color slide. Collection of the Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Garry Winogrand (American, 1928-1984). Untitled (Coney Island), 1952-58. 35mm color slide. Collection of the Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Garry Winogrand (American, 1928-1984). Untitled (Houston, Texas), 1964. 35mm color slide. Collection of the Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Garry Winogrand (American, 1928-1984). Untitled (New York), 1952-58. 35mm color slide. Collection of the Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Garry Winogrand (American, 1928-1984). Untitled (New York), 1960. 35mm color slide. Collection of the Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Garry Winogrand (American, 1928-1984). Untitled (New York), 1967. 35mm color slide. Collection of the Center for Creative Photography, The University ofArizona. © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Garry Winogrand (American, 1928-1984). Untitled (New York), circa 1965. 35mm color slide. Collection of the Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Garry Winogrand (American, 1928-1984). Untitled (Texas State Fair), 1964. 35mm color slide. Collection of the Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Garry Winogrand (American, 1928-1984). Untitled (Texas), 1964. 35mm color slide. Collection of the Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Garry Winogrand (American, 1928-1984). Untitled, 1964. 35mm color slide. Collection of the Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Garry Winogrand: Color is organized by Drew Sawyer, Phillip Leonian and Edith Rosenbaum Leonian Curator of Photography, Brooklyn Museum, with Michael Almereyda and Susan Kismaric.

Images courtesy Brooklyn Museum.

May 2, 2019

Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan at The Noguchi Museum, May 1 – July 14, 2019

“The Noguchi Museum presents Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan, a major traveling exhibition that focuses on the brief yet consequential friendship between artists Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) and Saburo Hasegawa (1906– 1957), the first in a long line of brilliant friends, teachers, and collaborators who helped Noguchi access and assimilate his Japanese heritage after World War II. Comprising approximately 90 works by Noguchi and Hasegawa, the exhibition traces the time these mid-career artists spent together, examining the profound mutual impact that they had on each other’s work. The exhibition will reintroduce Hasegawa, once well known in the United States, especially among the Abstract Expressionists, yet now nearly unheard of. His reinsertion into the history of twentieth-century abstraction is long overdue and an important part of the ongoing diversification of the canon.” — The Noguchi Museum

Photographs by Corrado Serra.

Noguchi Museum Director Brett Littman states, “The Noguchi Museum is dedicated to exploring not only Noguchi’s work, but also the context in which it was created and its legacy. Changing and Unchanging Things shines a light on a critically important time in Noguchi’s life, when, with Hasegawa’s guidance, he set out to explore his biculturalism and how he could use it to create something contemporary and global—as his Romanian mentor Constantin Brancusi had—from something deep, specific, and local. We are delighted to advance awareness of the contribution these two artists made to the articulation of transcultural understanding and artmaking.”

Mr. Hart added, “This exhibition is about what Noguchi, explaining his Akari lanterns, called ‘the true development of an old tradition,’ that is, his conviction, which Hasegawa shared, that Japan’s future as a global citizen lay not in abandoning its past, but in organically contemporizing its extraordinary craft cultures from within. This led Noguchi to make monumental origami using industrial bending equipment from sheets of aluminum given to him by Alcoa; to create light sculptures by electrifying the traditional Japanese paper lantern and then bringing a genetic engineer’s mentality to the evolution of its shape; to invent the non-functional Japanese ceramic; to make ‘somewhat Japanese’ garden-like environments infused with Western civic values; and finally to capture the at once cosmic and grounded feelings of connectedness he found in Japan in awesomely timeless stone sculptures.”

Organized by The Noguchi Museum, Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan is curated by Dakin Hart, Senior Curator at The Noguchi Museum, and Mark Dean Johnson, Professor at San Francisco State University.

May 1, 2019

Arshile Gorky: 1904 – 1948 at Ca’ Pesaro, International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice, May 8 – September 22, 2019

“Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia presents the first retrospective survey of the American artist Arshile Gorky in Italy, entitled ‘Arshile Gorky: 1904 – 1948’, at Ca’ Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art. Bringing together over 80 works, this major exhibition explores the full breadth of Gorky’s oeuvre. From his interrogation of modernist masters in the 1920s, to his late paintings of the 1940s, Gorky’s singular vision was present throughout, defining him as one of the pivotal figures of 20th century American Art, alongside Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko.

“A hundred years ago the teenage Arshile Gorky got as close to Venice as he’d ever be in person, when the boat taking him to America stopped in Naples. Spiritually, however, he was never far from Italy – from the art of Pompeii, Uccello and de Chirico, who were among his chosen predecessors. He liked to work as fast as Tintoretto famously did, because as he once said, ‘when we are in tune with our times we do things with greater ease.’ We hope that this exhibition fills visitors with a sense not only of Gorky’s singular stance but also of his prolific energy, and it is the first time that his work will be seen on this scale in Italy. He was a man who rejected borders and labels of all kinds, from his birth name to art historical categories – yet the view from Venice 2019 might confirm that such individual expression could only emerge from mid-century New York.” — Saskia Spender, President, The Arshile Gorky Foundation, and granddaughter of the artist

Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia / Notturno, Engima e Nostalgia, ca. 1931–32. Pen and ink on board / Penna e inchiostro su tavola, 26 ⅛ x 34 ⅛ in. (66.2 x 86.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. 50th Anniversary Gift of/ Dono del 50° Anniversario di Mr. and Mrs. Edwin A. Bergman

Portrait of Myself and My Imaginary Wife / Ritratto di me stesso e della mia moglie immaginaria, 1933–34. Oil on paperboard / Olio su cartone, 8 ⅝ × 14 ¼ in. (21.7 × 36.2 cm). Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. Gift of / Dono di the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Foundation, 1966, 66.2150. Photo: Lee Stalsworth

Self-Portrait / Autoritratto, ca. 1937. Oil on canvas / Olio su tela, 55 ½ x 34 in. (141 x 86.4 cm). Private collection / Collezione privata. Photo: Constance Mensh for the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Portrait of Master Bill / Ritratto di Master Bill, ca. 1937. Oil on canvas / Olio su tela, 52 ⅛ x 40 ⅛ in. (132.4 x 101.9 cm). Private collection / Collezione privata

Portrait of Ahko / Ritratto di Ahko, ca. 1937. Oil on canvas / Olio su tela, 19 ½ x 15 in. (49.5 x 38.1 cm). Private collection / Collezione privata

The Liver Is the Cock’s Comb / Il fegato è la cresta del gallo,1944. Oil on canvas / Olio su tela, 73 ¼ x 98 ⅜ in. (186.1 x 249.9 cm. Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York. Gift of / Dono di Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1956, K1956:4. Image courtesy Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Landscape-Table / Tavolo-Paesaggio, 1945. Oil on canvas / Olio su tela, 36 ¼ x 47 ⅝ in. (92 x 121 cm). Centre Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne / Centre de création industrielle, Paris / Parigi. Purchased / Acquisto, 1971, AM 1971-151. Photo: Philippe Migeat © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais

Apple Orchard / Frutteto di mele, ca. 1943–46. Pastel on paper / Pastelli su carta, 42 x 52 in. (106.7 x 132.1 cm). Collection / Collezione Agnes Gund. Photo: Genevieve Hanson

Pastoral / Pastorale, ca. 1947. Oil and pencil on canvas / Olio e matita su tela, 44 x 56 in. (111.8 x 142.2 cm). Private collection / Collezione privata. Photo: Christopher Burke

Dark Green Painting / Pittura verde scuro, ca. 1948. Oil on canvas / Olio su tela, 43 3/4 x 55 1/2 in. (111.1 x 141 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art Gift (by exchange) of / Dono (in scambio) di Mr. and Mrs. Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee and R. Sturgis and Marion B. F. Ingersoll, 1995, 1995-54-1

Arshile Gorky, late 1920s. Unknown photographer.

“Through this first monographic exhibition in Italy, Gorky’s extraordinary creative persona will illuminate areas still in the shadows of the history of the art of our country, allowing us to explore in depth the osmosis between European and American painting, of which Gorky was undoubtedly one of the most important innovators”. — Gabriella Belli, Director, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia

“In bringing together a number of Gorky’s most important works from across his entire career, this exhibition will serve to reinforce his significance within the development and canon of 20th century American art, and highlight his continuing relevance.” — Edith Devaney, Curator

‘Arshile Gorky: 1904 – 1948’ was organized in collaboration with The Arshile Gorky Foundation and curated by Gabriella Belli, Director of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, and Edith Devaney, curator at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Images courtesy Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.

April 30, 2019

Jannis Kounellis at Ca’ Corner della Regina, Fondazione Prada’s Venetian venue, May 11 – November 24, 2019

“Fondazione Prada presents Jannis Kounellis, curated by Germano Celant, the major retrospective dedicated to the artist following his death in 2017. Developed in collaboration with Archivio Kounellis, the project brings together more than 60 works from 1959 to 2015, from both Italian and international art institutions and museums, as well as from important private collections both in Italy and abroad. The show explores the artistic and exhibition history of Jannis Kounellis (Piraeus 1936 – Rome 2017), highlighting key moments in the evolution of his visual poetics and establishing a dialogue between his works and the eighteenth-century spaces of Ca’ Corner della Regina.” — Fondazione Prada

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1969. Photo Claudio Abate

Jannis Kounellis in the studio, 1969. Photo Claudio Abate

Portrait of Jannis Kounellis, Galleria L’Attico, Rome, 1972. Photo Claudio Abate

Portrait of Jannis Kounellis, Galleria Lucio Amelio, Naples, 1973. Photo Claudio Abate

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled (Tragedia Civile), 1975. Exhibition view Kounellis. The black rose, Lucio Amelio Modern Art Agency, Naples, May 28, 1975. Photo Credits Archivio Storico Mimmo Jodice

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1975 – 1986. Exhibition view Jannis Kounellis: A Retrospective in Five Locations, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, October 17, 1986 – January 4, 1987 (West Ontario venue)

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1980. Photo Claudio Abate

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1987. Exhibition view Jannis Kounellis, ICA Institute of Contemporary Arts, Nagoya, June 6 – July 31, 1987. Photo Claudio Abate.

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 2004. Exhibition view Kounellis in Sarajevo, Vijecnica/National Library, Sarajevo, June 26 – September 26, 2004. Foto Aurelio Amendola

Jannis Kounellis, Centro Arti Visive Pescheria, Pesaro, 2016. Photo Michele Alberto Sereni

Ca’ Corner della Regina, built between 1724 and 1728 by Domenico Rossi for the Corner family of San Cassiano, is a Venetian palazzo overlooking the Grand Canal and located in the Sestiere of Santa Croce. It was erected on the ruins of the Gothic building in which Caterina Corner, the future queen of Cyprus, was born in 1454. Since 2011 it has been the Venetian headquarters of the Prada Foundation, which has presented several temporary exhibitions, together with the conservative restoration of the building.

Images courtesy Fondazione Prada.

April 22, 2019

Timothy Duffy: Blue Muse at New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), April 25 – July 28, 2019

“The New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) presents Timothy Duffy: Blue Muse. Using a photography process invented in the United States in the nineteenth-century, Timothy Duffy creates masterful one-of-a-kind tintype portraits of American musicians, preserving the faces of American roots music for future generations.

Featuring artists from the American South, including local New Orleans legends such as Alabama Slim, Little Freddie King, and Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen, NOMA’s premier of Blue Muse will feature 30 of Duffy’s original unique tintypes. In order to give these underrepresented cultural figures even greater visibility, Blue Muse will also include an outdoor component in which the museum will partner with a number of local sites to install enormous images on buildings around New Orleans, introducing the public to these musicians.” — NOMA

“Tim Duffy’s choice of the tintype aligns with a distinctly American history of photography, while his subjects represent one of the most important legacies in the United States,” said Susan Taylor, NOMA’s Montine McDaniel Freeman Director. “His work to preserve this part of southern culture is monumentally important. We look forward to sharing it with the city of New Orleans.”

Timothy Duffy (American, born 1963). Ironing Board Sam, 9th Wonder of the World, Hillsboro, NC, 2015. Tintype, 14 x 14 in. © Timothy Duffy 2019

Timothy Duffy (American, born 1963). Captain Luke, Departure, Winston-Salem, NC, 2015. Tintype, 14 x 14 in. © Timothy Duffy 2019

Timothy Duffy (American, born 1963). Pat Cohen, Bourbon Street Queen, Hillsboro, NC, 2015. Tintype, 10 x 14 in. © Timothy Duffy 2019

Timothy Duffy (American, born 1963). Freeman Vines No. 2, Fountain, NC, 2015. Tintype, 14 x 14 in. © Timothy Duffy 2019

Timothy Duffy (American, born 1963). Alabama Slim No. 2, Hillsboro, NC, 2015. Tintype, 14 x 14 in. © Timothy Duffy 2019

Timothy Duffy (American, born 1963). Little Freddie King, New Orleans, LA, 2014. Tintype, 4.5 x 6.5 in. © Timothy Duffy 2019

Timothy Duffy (American, born 1963). Boat, Lake D’Arbonne, Farmerville, LA, 2016. Tintype, 9 x 9 in. © Timothy Duffy 2019

Duffy’s tintypes are an artful extension of his other occupation, as founder and Executive Director of the Music Maker Relief Foundation, which provides support and promotion for Southern American musicians. “In making these photographs, in compelling us to pay attention, look closer, know their faces, and learn their names, Duffy has enlisted one American tradition, the tintype, in the service of securing another,” Said Russell Lord, NOMA’s Freeman Family Curator of Photographs.

Timothy Duffy: Blue Muse is organized by the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Images courtesy New Orleans Museum of Art.

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