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Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute Explores Role of Modern Fashion Models as Muses

Wed, 06 May 2009 01:31:19 -0400

NEW YORK, NY.- The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s renowned Costume Institute Benefit – the annual black-tie dinner to benefit the Museum’s Costume Institute – took place on May 4, 2009, celebrating the exhibition The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion, which will be on view from May 6 through August 9. The stars were out in full force showing the latest in fashion. Brooke Shields, Gisele Bundchen, Madonna, Cindy Crawford, Helena Christensen, Katy Perry. Bono, Kanye West, Heidi Klum, Lauren Hutton, Justin Timberlake all were at the red carpet posing for photographers.

Huntington Library Acquires Thomas Hart Benton Painting & Italian Terra-Cottas

Wed, 06 May 2009 00:41:27 -0400

SAN MARINO, CA.- The Art Collectors’ Council of The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens made two strategic purchases at its spring 2009 meeting, acquiring a painting by Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975) for the new Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art, which open on May 30th, and two 18th-century Italian terra-cotta figures for the European art collection, which is displayed in the Huntington Art Gallery.

"CARHAVANA" ~ Initiating a Rising Wave of Cultural Exchange with Cuba

Wed, 06 May 2009 00:41:23 -0400

HAVANA, CUBA - Initiating a rising wave of cultural exchange with Cuba, US photographer Melani Lust will be arriving in Havana on May 8 for the opening of her joint exhibition "CARHAVANA." The exhibit, a dynamic depiction of the classic pre-embargo American marquee cars still on the road in Havana, is a collaboration with the Cuban photographer Brayan Allonzo. Lust and Allonzo will be exhibiting 30 large scale photographs taken together in Havana in January, 2009. The exhibition is sponsored by the Cuban government and is a cooperative effort indicative of the recent thawing of relations between the two countries. Melani Lust bases her photography business out of her studio in Westport, CT. The exhibition runs from May 8th to June 8th at the Deposito de automoviles in Havana, Cuba.

2009 Sobey Art Award Shortlist Announced by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

Wed, 06 May 2009 00:09:59 -0400

Halifax , Nova Scotia - The Curatorial Panel of the 2009 Sobey Art Award today announced the names of five exceptional Canadian artists selected for the 2009 Sobey Art Award Shortlist: For the West Coast and Yukon: Luanne Martineau; for the Prairies and The North: Marcel Dzama; for Ontario: Shary Boyle; for Québec: David Altmejd; and for the Atlantic: Graeme Patterson. The winner of the 2009 Sobey Art Award will be announced during a gala event at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia on October 15, 2009.

India Art Summit 2009 to Open August 19-22 ~ India’s Modern & Contemporary Art Fair

Tue, 05 May 2009 22:57:05 -0400

NEW DELHI, INDIA - India Art Summit™ 2009 - India’s modern and contemporary art fair. Following its inaugural success in August 2008, the second edition of, India Art Summit™ 2009 - India’s modern and contemporary art fair, is slated for the 19th through 22nd August 2009 at Pragati Maidan (ITPO), New Delhi, India. There will also be educational and curatorial components to the fair through a series of Art Projects developed specifically for India Art Summit.

In May Sotheby's to Offer High Quality Contemporary Art in Paris

Tue, 05 May 2009 22:57:03 -0400

PARIS.- Sotheby’s Paris announced it will stage a 126-lot, two-session sale of Contemporary Art on May 27/28 (total estimate €5.6-7.8 million). The Evening Sale on May 27 will be the only one of its kind in Paris this season, and include major works by Nicolas de Staël, Joan Mitchell, Yves Klein and François-Xavier Lalanne. The Day Sale on May 28 runs to 100 lots, with works by Arman, François Morellet, Jean Fautrier, Zao Wou Ki, Christo, Gerhard Richter and rising contemporary artists like Vik Muniz, Ivan Navarro, Philippe Ramette and Keith Tyson.

Inside the Mysterious "Mexican Suitcase" ~ ICP Announces the Completion of the Digitization

Tue, 05 May 2009 22:57:01 -0400

NEW YORK, NY.- In December 2007, three cardboard boxes were delivered to the International Center of Photography (ICP). It was widely reported that this “Mexican Suitcase” contained long-lost negatives of the Spanish Civil War taken by Robert Capa, Chim (David Seymour), and Gerda Taro, three leading twentieth century wartime photographers. Left behind when Capa and Chim were forced to flee Paris for America in 1939, it was presumed lost until it resurfaced in Mexico in 1995.

The Austin Museum of Art (AMOA) to explore "The Art of Memory"

Tue, 05 May 2009 22:40:52 -0400

AUSTIN, TEXAS – Family photo albums, Road Runner cartoons, the works of Shakespeare, and Barack Obama’s presidential primary campaign are just some of the subjects explored in AMOA’s upcoming exhibition, The Lining of Forgetting: Internal & External Memory in Art. This international exhibition, opening to the public on May 30, 2009 through 9 August, explores the ways we remember, both as individuals and collectively, and highlights how we often forget, rewrite, and even fabricate memory.

The Jewish Museum Berlin will Expand into the Central Flower Market Hall

Tue, 05 May 2009 01:43:42 -0400

BERLIN.- A hope the Jewish Museum Berlin has had for some time is now to be realized: The Museum will be granted its much-needed expansion into the area on the opposite side of the road which currently houses Berlin ’s Central Flower Market. The space provided by expansion into the market hall will satisfy the Museum’s urgent need for additional room for educational programs, the archive, the library, and research. André Schmitz, State Secretary for Cultural Affairs in Berlin , has approved the project, ensuring that the state of Berlin will hand over the use and management of the whole hall to the Jewish Museum Berlin . The Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg District Authority is seeing to the alteration of the land-use plan for the area between Lindenstrasse and Friedrichstrasse, in which the Central Flower Market premises are currently a designated “mixed-use” area. This will enable the hall to be used as a cultural center in future.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) to host William Holman Hunt & the Pre-Raphaelite Vision

Tue, 05 May 2009 01:43:35 -0400

Minneapolis, MN - The Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA), offers visitors a rare glimpse into the life and work of 19th-century painter William Holman Hunt, with an exhibition of more than 60 iconic works by the artist who is considered to be the founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and has been deemed by some as the Damien Hirst of his day. “Sin and Salvation: Holman Hunt and the Pre-Raphaelite Vision” opens June 14, and on view through September 6, 2009, with the MIA as the sole U.S. venue.

Christie's Presents the Best of Asian Contemporary Art with Two Sales in May

Tue, 05 May 2009 01:31:53 -0400

HONG KONG.- Christie’s Evening and Day sales of Asian Contemporary Art on May 24 and May 25 in Hong Kong will bring together the dynamic worlds of contemporary art from China, Japan, Korea and India, presenting a broad range of artists whose styles, techniques, and expressions represent the diverse cultures and aesthetic traditions from across the region. The sales will also present a range of younger artists new to the field who continue to push the boundaries, redefining the notion of contemporary art in Asia.

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's Frescoes at Wurzburg Residenz Now Restored

Tue, 05 May 2009 00:28:59 -0400

WURZBURG, GERMANY - The Imperial Hall at Warzburg Residenz has reopened its doors to show the newly restored frescoes painted by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. After more than two years the frescoes can now be admired inside the 410 meter square hall which has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Exhibition Examines Polish Posters of the Cold War Era

Mon, 04 May 2009 23:43:05 -0400

NEW YORK, NY - The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) presents Polish Posters 1945–89, an installation drawn from the Museum’s collection of 24 posters from the Cold War era of the Polish Poster School, which attracted international attention and admiration. Drawing on a rich Central European tradition in graphic arts, designers like Henryk Tomaszewski, Roman Cieslewicz, Jan Lenica, and Franciszek Starowieyski developed a sophisticated visual language characterized by surreal and expressionist tendencies, a bold use of color, and macabre, often satirical humor. On view May 6 through November 30, 2009.

Amon Carter Museum to host Esteemed Private Collection of African-American Art

Mon, 04 May 2009 23:42:55 -0400

FORT WORTH, TX - The works of more than 50 African-American artists from the late 1800s to the present will be on view at the Amon Carter Museum from June 6 through August 23, 2009, in the special exhibition The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African-American Art: Works on Paper. The Kelley collection is one of the most esteemed private collections of African-American art, and the special exhibition features more than 90 works on paper by artists such as Elizabeth Catlett, William H. Johnson, Alison Saar and Charles White.

Exhibition of Nude Madonna Photos by Martin Schreiber Takes England By Storm!

Mon, 04 May 2009 23:20:44 -0400

BRIGHTON, UK - In 1979 the as yet unknown 20 year old Madonna posed nude for just $30 for New York photographer Martin Schreiber. Later when she had become a global icon the shots appeared in Playboy, catapulting Schreiber to fame. 30 years since the original photographs are on show in the UK exclusively from the Impure Art Gallery. The Private View opening party had to be spread over three nights due to the high demand. They were a huge success, which far exceeded the small gallery’s expectations.