Archives for October 2009

As I was saying here, when I wrote about young British artists drawing inspiration from Old Masters, last year Otto Naumann had an intriguing exhibit of painting by Mark Lijftogt, a Dutchman whose still lifes pay homage to 17th Century Dutch works. 

When I saw Lijftogt’s paintings, I immediately thought Jan Davidsz de Heem. Take a look, especially at the reflections in the glass.

 

 

 

I couldn’t find, online, a good image showing the De Heem works it brought to mind, but this example will remind you of what I’m talking about.

Lijftogt seems to be self-taught, according to his bio, but aided by conservators at the Rijksmuseum (more images of his work are on his website). I gather from a few conversations with dealers that at least a few other young Dutch artists are reinterpreting their still life tradition. (In 1999, the Cleveland Museum of Art mounted a show of works by two contemporary Dutch photographers working in this vein.) I’d like to see more.  

Photo credit: Courtesy Mark Lijftogt

 

Of all the galleries in the world, I had to pick this one: Robilant + Voena in London opens a show tomorrow called “Back To the Future: Young Artists Look To Old Masters.” (Actually, I know about it because I was seated next to Edmundo di Robilant at a dinner last spring…)

The concept is neat, and so is the fact that the gallery commissioned the works in the show, inviting British artists into its gallery to choose an inspiration and “investigate and expose the strong dialogue between the past and the present.”

So here we have Vincenzo Chilone’s Venice: The Molo from the Bacino di San Marco, c. 1800, inspiring Justin Coombes’ Empire, 2005-2009.

 

 

 

Here below is Ary Scheffer’s Dante and Virgil Encountering the Shades of Francesca and Paolo, ca. 1845. 

 

 

 

[Read more…] about New Old Masters: Young British Artists — No, Not Them — Look Back

Suspend your skepticism for a few minutes, while I relate an art-world story I found both hard-to-believe and irresistible. It’s about a photographer named Robert Bergman, who — at age 65, never having sold a work until two ago, never even having found a gallery — is about to have two museum shows. One opens next week at the National Gallery of Art; the other opens on Oct. 25 at P.S. 1 in Queens.

As I write in an article about Bergman, which is published in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal (here), his works are unlike most photography of the last half-century, but he says he never wavered from his own vision. How Bergman ignored art world trends, fought demoralization, weathered near-poverty and then triumphed this way, his way — well, it would be nice if this happened more often.

Bergman ultimately broke into the art world by appealing to critics, like Meyer Schapiro and John Russell, who were more interested in painting than prevailing trends in photography. As Bergman tells it, he went to people who had an eye. (Very early on, btw, he showed his work to and found support from Sam Sachs, the former director of the Frick Collection, among other things, who then was head of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.)   

The works that will go on display, as I wrote, “were shot from the mid-1980s to about 1996. They are intense, soul-stirring, intimate color portraits, all untitled, all unlabeled as to place or person: There’s just a date and a few technical details. Stripped of information, the viewer is forced to consider the human condition.”

The photographs are not staged, and — well, I hope you’ll read the WSJ article, where I explain much more. Right now, I have an exclusive on Bergman. But I suspect we’ll be hearing more about him. 

Bergman has had some patronage over the years, and I would  be happy to name them, except that, he says, they wish to remain anonymous.

Photo Credits: © Robert Bergman, Courtesy National Gallery of Art

The Old West always seems to be male territory, but the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame was founded in 1975 to remind everyone that women won and built the West, too — and play a big (and growing) role nowadays. I first learned about it when it opened in a new building in Fort Worth in 2002, supported by the Basses and the Waltons, among others. Highlighting artists, writers and performers is part of the Hall’s mission.

Every year the Hall hosts a Heart of the West art exhibition and sale that focuses on female Western artists, increasing their exposure to curators and collectors. The Heart exhibition began last Thursday and runs through Oct. 25. The sale takes place on Oct. 16 at a gala.   

Over the years, not many — not any, really — women have broken into the top ranks of Western artists, like Remington and Russell, unless you count Georgia O’Keeffe. Some experts do — B. Byron Price, to name one. He’s an advisor to the Heart show as well as the Charles Marion Russell Chair and director of the Center for the Study of the Art of the American West at the University of Oklahoma, among other things.

I asked Price whose names we should know, and he cited as “of interest and note”:

• Frances Flora (Fanny) Palmer, a prominent mid-19th century artist for Currier and Ives, who did western themed work that was reproduced as  popular prints and engravings.
• Mary Hallock Foote, prominent late 19th and early 20th century illustrator of western-based  stories in national magazines.
• Grace Carpenter Hudson, California painter of Native Americans.
• Mary Elizabeth Achey and Helen Henderson Chain, prominent, late 19th century Colorado artists, with a regional following.
• Catherine Carter Critcher (1868 – 1964), first and only female member of the Taos Society of Artists.

What about today’s crop of Western women artists?

[Read more…] about Heart Of The West: A Showcase For Artist-Cowgirls

The Association of Art Museum Directors has taked a stance — not a surprising one, but nevertheless a timely one. This afternoon, President Michael Conforti, also director of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, has sent a letter to Gov. Ed Rendell (right) of Pennsylvania opposing the state’s proposed tax on admissions, memberships and programs at museums and other non-profits.

The key words:

…this tax is nothing short of a tax on education.  Museums, along with other cultural institutions, provide unparalleled educational opportunities for the young people of Pennsylvania, families supporting their children’s learning, adults seeking spiritual and psychological nourishment, and everyone looking for affordable and uplifting leisure activities at a time of economic challenge.  Levying a tax on participation in educational programs and experiences will only discourage the public from taking advantage of Pennsylvania’s wide range of cultural resources.

Moreover, the proposed expansion of the sales tax will erode the substantial positive economic impact of your state’s cultural institutions: non-profit organizations in Pennsylvania generate $1.99 billion in economic activity each year.

AAMD copied various legislative leaders, including Dominic Pileggi, Jake Corman, Jay Costa, Jr., Dwight Evans, Todd A. Eachus, Keith R. McCall, Samuel H. Smith, Lawrence M. Farnese Jr., and Frank Oliver.

Let’s hope it helps, and perhaps it will stir readers who live in Pennsylvania to weigh in, too.