Arts Summary

April 9, 2020

Henry Arnhold’s Meissen Palace: Celebrating a Collector at The Frick Collection*

“The Frick Collection presents Henry Arnhold’s Meissen Palace, an exhibition of works from the famed European porcelain manufactory along with several Asian examples that inspired such wares. The pieces are drawn from the collection of the late Henry H. Arnhold (1921–2018), whose foundation made a promised gift of more than 100 objects to the institution nearly a decade ago and supported the creation of the Portico Gallery, where the exhibition is shown. Organized by Charlotte Vignon, the Frick’s Curator of Decorative Arts, the show offers a fresh take on this esteemed collection, transforming the gallery into an eighteenth-century ‘porcelain room,’ and grouping the works on view by color. This type of installation emulates a historic approach and allows visitors to experience these fragile, luxurious objects in much the same way one would have in eighteenth-century Europe.

Vignon adds, ‘In looking a new at these wondrous pieces given to the Frick by the late Henry Arnhold, I have considered his attraction to them alongside the fascination they held for the most famous patron of such objects, Augustus II (1670–1733), king of Poland and elector of Saxony. Reflecting on the ways both men lived with their collections, I wanted to explore the idea that Arnhold was creating his own palace of porcelain. Indeed, he acquired many objects commissioned by Augustus, which we are including in the exhibition. We hope visitors to the show enjoy looking at these whimsical works through the eyes of both enthusiasts’.” — The Frick Collection

Bowl and Saucer. Hard-paste porcelain, ca. 1720. Decorated outside the factory, ca. 1745. Saucer, D: 5 1/8 inches. Tea Bowl, H: 1 ¾ inches. The Frick Collection, Gift of Henry H. Arnhold, 2019. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

Vase and CoverMeissen porcelain, c. 1725 H: 9 ¼ inches Private Collection

Vase with Cover. Hard-paste porcelain, ca. 1725. Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. H: 9 ¼ inches. The Frick Collection, Gift of Henry H. Arnhold, 2019. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

Teapot. Hard-paste porcelain, ca. 1729–31. Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. H: 4 7/8 inches. The Frick Collection, Gift of Henry H. Arnhold, 2019. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

Teapot. Hard-paste porcelain, ca. 1725-30. Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. Decoration: Attributed to the workshop of Bartholomäus Seuter, (ca. 1678–1754). H.: 6 inches. The Frick Collection, Gift of Henry H. Arnhold, 2019. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

Incense Burner in the form of a Seated Buddhist Divinity. Hard-paste porcelain, ca. 1715-20. Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. H. 3 7/8 inches. The Frick Collection, Gift of Henry H. Arnhold, 2019. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

Mounted Tankard. Hard-paste porcelain with gilt-metal mounts, ca. 1723-24. Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. Decoration attributed to Johann Gregorius Höroldt, (1696–1775). H. (with lid): 7 1/4 inches. The Frick Collection, Gift of Henry H. Arnhold, 2019. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

Mounted Meissen Group. Hard-paste porcelain with gilt-bronze mounts (Probably French), ca. 1728–30. Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. Model attributed to George Christian Fritsche, (act. 1681–1709). H.: 6 inches. The Frick Collection, Gift of Henry H. Arnhold, 2019. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

One of a pair of “Birdcage” vases. Hard-paste porcelain, after 1730. Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. 20 1/4 × 14 × 14 inches. The Frick Collection, Gift of Henry H. Arnhold, 2015. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

Mustard Pot and Cruet. Hard-paste porcelain, ca. 1737−39. Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. Modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler (1706 -1775). Cruet height: 7 inches. Mustard pot height: 7 ½ inches. The Frick Collection, Gift of Henry H. Arnhold, 2019. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

Figure of Hofnarr Fröhlich. Hard-paste porcelain, 1738. Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. Modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler, (German, 1706–1775). H.: 9 3/4 inches. The Frick Collection, Gift of Henry H. Arnhold, 2019. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

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Brush Handle from the Toilette Service Sent to the Queen of Naples. Hard-paste porcelain, 1745–47. Decorated by Gottlob Siegmund Birckner (1712–1771). 1 ¾ x 4 1/8 x 5 ¼ inches. The Frick Collection, Gift of Henry H. Arnhold, 2019. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

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Images courtesy The Frick Collection.

*PLEASE NOTE: The Frick Collection is temporarily closed to the public.

April 8, 2020

RAFFAELLO 1520 – 1483 published by Skira Editore. Exhibition at Scuderie del Quirinale, Roma, through June 2, 2020*

Published in collaboration with the Scuderie del Quirinale and the Uffizi to celebrate the 500^th anniversary of Raphael’s death, the book published by Skira Editore serves as a complement to the Scuderie del Quirinale’s major exhibition and tribute to Raphael.

The once-in-a-life-time exhibition, Raphael 1520-1483 traces the entire creative life of the “divin pittore” of Urbino and presents a stunning selection of over 200 masterpieces: original works along with paintings, cartoons, drawings, tapestries, and architectural projects inspired by him.

World-famous paintings such as Madonna del Granduca and Woman with a Veil from the Uffizi, the St Cecilia altarpiece from the Pinacoteca di Bologna, Alba Madonna from the National Gallery of Washington, Madonna of the Rose from the Prado and the iconic Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione from the Louvre are commented by international experts under the direction of Marzia Faietti and Matteo Lafranconi with the support of an international scientific committee headed by Sylvia Ferino-Pagden.

Portrait de Baldassare Castiglione, Ècrivain et diplomate (1478-1529)

Raffaello. Ritratto di Baldassare Castiglione / Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione, 1513. Oil on canvas. Parigi, musée du Louvre, département des Peintures © Musée du Louvre, Dist. RMN – Grand Palais / Angèle Dequier

Raffaello. Madonna dell’Impannata, 1511. Oil on panel. Firenze, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Galleria Palatina Gabinetto fotografico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi – By concession of Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e del Turismo

Raffaello. Ritratto di donna detta “La Velata” / Portrait of woman called “La Velata”, circa 1512-1513. Oil on canvas. Firenze, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Galleria Palatina Gabinetto fotografico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi – By concession of Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e del Turismo

Raffaello. Ritratto di donna nei panni di Venere (“Fornarina”) / Portrait of woman in the role of Venus (“Fornarina”), circa 1519-1520. Oil on panel. Roma, Gallerie Nazionali d’Arte Antica di Roma, Barberini Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Roma (MIBACT) – Biblioteca Hertziana, Istituto Max Planck per la storia dell’arte/Enrico Fontolan

Raffaello. Santa Cecilia con i santi Paolo, Giovanni Evangelista, Agostino e Maria Maddalena (Estasi di Santa Cecilia) / Ecstasy of Sant Cecilia ante, 1518. Panel trasported to canvas. Bologna, Polo Museale dell’Emilia Romagna, Pinacoteca Nazionale By concession of Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e del Turismo, Polo Museale dell’Emilia Romagna

Raffaello. Ritratto di Leone X tra i cardinali Giulio de’ Medici e Luigi de’ Rossi / Portrait of Pope Leone X, 1518-1519. Oil on panel. Firenze, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Gallerie delle Statue e delle Pitture. The restoration of the work was made possible thanks to the support of Lottomatica Holding. Gabinetto fotografico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi – By concession of Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e del Turismo

Raffaello. Autoritratto / Self portrait, 1506-1508. Oil on poplar panel. Firenze, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Galleria delle Statue e delle Pitture Gabinetto fotografico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi – By concession of Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e del Turismo

Raffaello 1520 – 1483 was edited by Marzia Faietti and Matteo LaFranconi with Francesco P. Di Teodoro and Vincenzo Farnelli. The President of the Scientific Committee was Sylvia Ferino-Pagden.

The book is currently available only in Italian. The English version will be available from September 2020.

Images courtesy Skira Editore.

*PLEASE NOTE: Scuderie del Quirinale is temporarily closed to visitors until further notice.

March 31, 2020

Ballet Hispánico B Unidos Instagram Video Series In Celebration 50th Anniversary Celebration, 2020

Ballet Hispánico continues 50th Anniversary Celebration with B Unidos, its new Instagram video series. The series features a series of videos posted each weekday, created by the three arms of the Ballet Hispánico: the professional company, the School of Dance, and Community Arts Partnership (CAP) and featuring the hashtag #BUnidos at www.instagram.com/ballethispanico/.

Each weekday at 3pm ET, the company releases a new video generated by the dancers, teachers and administrators with the goal of serving as class, exercise, and inspiration: Motivational Mondays (inspirational messages), Take Action Tuesdays (technique tips for young dancers), Wepa Wednesdays (explorations of the many varied styles of Latin Dance), Therapeutic Thursdays (focus on conditioning, health and wellness, stretching), and Flashback Fridays (retrospective looks at past 50 years from Ballet Hispánico’s archives).

Antonio Cangiano and Shelby Colona. Photo by Rachel Neville.

The Joyce Theatre, now temporarily closed, had scheduled in April the Ballet Hispánico’s New York premiere of 18+1 by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, Tiburones by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Jardi Tancat by Nacho Duato and New Sleep duet by William Forsythe.

Antonio Cangiano. Photo by Rachel Neville

Jardi Tancat. Photo by Paula Lobo Web

Lyvan Verdecia. Photo by Rachel Neville

Melissa Verdecia. Photo by Rachel Neville

Shelby Colona. Photo by Rachel Neville

“As a community of dancers, artists, and human beings, we are all in this together. We will persevere through this challenging time and we hope that these videos provide a coping outlet, for you, for our followers and the community overall,” said Eduardo Vilaro, artistic director and CEO of Ballet Hispánico. “Now more than ever, it is important to band together in support of the arts. The personal and professional challenges that we have already endured and will continue to face over the next few weeks or months are significant. What we can take from this time of cancellations, uncertainty and social distancing is a chance to use our creativity to connect with the community on a new level. Social distancing does not mean emotional distancing. Ballet Hispánico was founded upon and has always believed in the importance of reaching and servicing our community through dance and culture. As this pandemic occurs during our 50th Anniversary, it provides us with an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come, get back to our roots by reaching out to community near and far, and look forward to what is ahead.”

Images courtesy Ballet Hispánico.

March 30, 2020

Lygia Clark: Painting as an Experimental Field, 1948–1958 at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, through May 24, 2020*

“The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents Lygia Clark: Painting as an Experimental Field, 1948–1958. A pioneer in abstraction, Lygia Clark (b. 1920, Belo Horizonte, Brazil; d. 1988, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) was a major artist of the second half of the twentieth century. This exhibition presents a reexamination of Clark’s crucial formative years from 1948 to 1958, when she was experimenting between figuration and abstraction to articulate the compelling visual language that defined her mature production. Along with a pertinent representation of her early figurative work, this show assembles paintings from major series created during this early period to provide a fundamental overview of the first decade of Clark’s artistic career.

Viewing painting as an ‘experimental field,’ a phrase from a keynote lecture given by the artist in 1956, Clark sought to redefine the medium by pushing the boundaries of traditional painting. Dedicating herself to art without formal training, she embedded herself within the artistic milieu of Rio de Janeiro in the late 1940s and participated in seminal artistic movements, such as Concrete art and geometric abstraction, throughout the 1950s. This focused exhibition traces Clark’s artistic evolution in three structured historical sections: ‘The Early Years, 1948–1952’; ‘Geometric Abstraction, 1953–1956’; and ‘Variation of Form: Modulating Space, 1957–1958.’ Each chapter addresses Clark’s most significant ideas and provides an in-depth representation of her artistic development through a concise selection of works.” — Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

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Lygia Clark. The Violoncellist (O Violoncelista), 1951. Oil on canvas, 105.5 x 81 x 2.7 cm. Private collection. © Courtesy of “The World of Lygia Clark” Cultural Association

Lygia Clark. Composition (Composição), 1951. Oil on canvas, 105 x 81 cm. Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. © Courtesy of “The World of Lygia Clark” Cultural Association

Lygia Clark. Staircase (Escada), 1951. Oil on canvas ,100.4 x 74 cm. Acervo Museu de Arte Brasileira – MAB FAAP, São Paulo. Photo: Fernando Silveira. © Courtesy of “The World of Lygia Clark” Cultural Association

Lygia Clark. Untitled, 1952. Oil on canvas, 54.5 x 81.5 cm. Joâo Sattamini Collection on loan to the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói. © Courtesy of “The World of Lygia Clark” Cultural Association

Lygia Clark. Composition (Composição), 1953. Oil on canvas, 116.7 x 80.7 x 2.5 cm. Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. © Courtesy of “The World of Lygia Clark” Cultural Association

Lygia Clark. Composition (Composição), 1953. Oil on canvas, 89 x 106 cm. Collection MAM, Donation, Sul América Seguros. © Courtesy of “The World of Lygia Clark” Cultural Association

Lygia Clark. Untitled, 1954. Oil on canvas, 56 x 42 cm. Joâo Sattamini Collection on loan to the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói. © Courtesy of “The World of Lygia Clark” Cultural Association

Lygia Clark. Untitled, 1956. Oil on canvas, 113.5 x 79.5 cm. Private collection, São Paulo. © Courtesy of “The World of Lygia Clark” Cultural Association

Lygia Clark. Modulated Surface No. 20 (Superfície modulada no. 20), 1956. Industrial paint on wood, 60 x 120.5 cm. Fundação Edson Queiroz Collection, Fortaleza. © Courtesy of “The World of Lygia Clark” Cultural Association

Lygia Clark. Modulated Surface (Superfície modulada), 1957. Industrial paint on wood, 49.5 x 94.5 x 8 cm. Collection Marcos Ribeiro Simon. © Courtesy of “The World of Lygia Clark” Cultural Association

Lygia Clar. Planes in Modulated Surface (Planos em superfície modulada), 1958. Synthetic polymer paint on wood, 100 x 150 x 7 cm. Private collection, Rio de Janeiro. © Courtesy of “The World of Lygia Clark” Cultural Association

Lygia Clark. Counter Relief (Contra relevo), 1959. Industrial paint on wood, 140 x 140 x 2.5 cm. Collection Jones Bergamin, Rio de Janeiro. © Courtesy of “The World of Lygia Clark” Cultural Association

Exhibition was curated by Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães, Associate Curator, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation.

Images courtesy Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

*PLEASE NOTE: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is temporarily closed to visitors until further notice.

March 27, 2020

Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life at MoMA PS1. Preview of exhibition until MoMA PS1 reopens to the public

“MoMA PS1 will present the first New York museum exhibition of the work of visionary feminist and activist artist Niki de Saint Phalle (American and French, 1930‒2002). On view from April 5 to September 7, 2020, the exhibition will feature over 100 works created from the 1970s until the artist’s death, including sculptures, prints, drawings, jewelry, and archival material. Highlighting Saint Phalle’s interdisciplinary approach and engagement with key social and political issues, the exhibition will focus on works that she created to transform environments, individuals, and society.

Early in her career, Saint Phalle pushed against accepted artistic practices, creating work that used assemblage and performative modes of production. Collaboration was always central to her work, including several co-authored sculptures made with the artist Jean Tinguely. Beginning in the late 1960s, Saint Phalle starting making large-scale sculptures, which led to an expansion of her practice into architectural projects, sculpture gardens, books, prints, films, theater sets, clothing, jewelry, and, famously, her own perfume.

Saint Phalle’s central life project, Tarot Garden, is a massive architectural park outside Rome, Italy, which she began constructing in the late 1970s and continued to develop alongside key collaborators until her death. Opened to the public in 1998, the garden and its structures, which are based on the Major Arcana of the tarot deck, allow for moments of interaction and reflection that underscore Saint Phalle’s use of art to alter perception. The exhibition will include photographs and drawings of Tarot Garden as well as models that Saint Phalle created for its various structures.” — MoMA PS1

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Niki de Saint Phalle at Tarot Garden, Garavicchio, Italy, 1980s. Photographer unknown.

Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life is organized by Ruba Katrib, Curator, MoMA PS1.

Images courtesy MoMA PS1.

March 25, 2020

Out of Place: A Feminist Look at the Collection at Brooklyn Museum, through September 13, 2020*

“This exhibition presents more than 50 works from across the Brooklyn Museum’s collections. Following the 2018 exhibition Half the Picture: A Feminist Look at the Collection, Out of Place also explores collection works anew through an intersectional feminist framework. Out of Place features more than forty artists from remarkably different contexts whose unconventional materials and approaches call for a broader and more dynamic understanding of modern and contemporary art.

Examining how contexts change the way we see art, Out of Place: A Feminist Look at the Collection showcases artists who have traditionally been seen as ‘out of place’ in most major collecting museums. The exhibition is organized around three distinct cultural contexts for making and understanding creativity—museums and art spaces, place-based practices, and the domestic sphere—and explores significant histories that have been, until recently, overlooked and undervalued, despite their influence outside of the mainstream. Out of Place traces how cultural institutions are challenged and changed by the ways artists work. Over half of the works in the exhibition are on view for the very first time, including important collection objects as well as significant new acquisitions, such as highlights from the recent Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gift of works by Black artists of the American South.” — Brooklyn Museum