20th Century
Leonard A. Lauder Research Center Publication Grants
September 23 2024
Picture: MET
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Leonard A. Lauder Research Center, based at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, are providing grants for publications in the sphere of modern and visual culture.
According to their website:
The Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art invites applications for grants supporting publications in the field of modern art and theory, and modern visual culture.
We use the term ‘modern art’ inclusively to refer to architecture, drawing, design (including exhibition, graphic, interior and stage design), film, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and textiles in the period from the last third of the nineteenth century through to the 1960s, from any country region or culture.
On how much money might be available:
Up to six grants per year typically between $4,000 and $7,000, with no single grant more than $12,000 to be awarded.
Applications must be in by 30th September 2024.
Good luck if you're applying!
$200m Sydell Miller Collection coming up at Sotheby's
September 20 2024
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's New York have announced the sale of $200m worth of art from the collection of the eyelash and haircare mogul Sydell Miller (d. 2024) in November 2024. Spanning over 90 lots, works on the block will include high-value paintings by Monet, Picasso (pictured), Kandinsky and Matisse.
According to their website:
After selling her company, with a renewed sense of time and energy, she turned her focus to family, philanthropy and collecting. Informed by countless family visits to galleries, museums and auctions, Miller built the foundations of the extraordinary collection to follow. Alongside her pursuit of fine art, Miller also began collecting design. Her initial focus in these formative years was on iconic French eighteenth-century furniture and European design, particularly the French Art Deco period of the 1920s and 1930s. Guided by her impeccable eye for beauty and craftsmanship, she sought out pieces that captured the elegance and refinement of that era. Over time, Miller’s collecting interests broadened to include not only historic masterpieces but also daring contemporary Design works. She began integrating modern and post-war design into her collection, acquiring pieces by such celebrated designers as François-Xavier and Claude Lalanne, and – as her passion for decorative arts and design evolved – she showed increasing interest in works by emerging Contemporary designers, including Robert Goosens, David Wiseman, Joseph Walsh and others. What distinguished Miller as a collector is how she lived with these works – fine art and design were not separate categories but coexisted harmoniously in her spaces. Throughout her pioneering career, her self-avowed aim was always to promote “individual expression and creativity”, and this aesthetic is at the heart of her collection.
Picasso acquired by Pinakothek der Moderne
September 18 2024
Picture: deeds.news
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich have acquired Pablo Picasso's Femme au violon. Painted in 1911, the work is celebrated as being created at the pinacle of the artist's cubist period. The work has been on loan to various institutions in Germany before an effort was made, with the assistance of various funds, to acquire it.
Here's the painting's full provenance, as supplied by the press article linked above:
Provenance of the painting: earliest 1911-1912 Daniel Henry Kahnweiler, Paris; 1912 Alfred Flechtheim, Düsseldorf; latest 1913 to at least 1917 Franz Kluxen, Münster and Boldixum; at least 1920 to at least 1922 Max Leon Flemming, Hamburg; 1927 Galerie M. Goldschmidt & Co, Frankfurt am Main (on commission); no earlier than 1927, no later than 1931 to 1942 Hermann Lange, Krefeld / Berlin; 1942 to 1964 Marie Lange, Krefeld; since 1964 private collection; 1994 to 2004 on loan from private ownership to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie; 2004 on loan from private ownership to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum Berggruen; since 2014 on loan from private ownership to the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Sammlung Moderne Kunst in der Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
Munnings Film
September 17 2024
Video: National Sporting Library and Museum, Virginia, USA
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Sporting Library and Museum, Virginia, and the art historian Christopher Garibaldi have teamed up to create this video documentary on aspects relating to the art and life of Sir Alfred Munnings for the Art History Festival 2024. This film also contains presentations by Marcia Whiting, Curatorial Associate, Munnings Art Museum, and Claudia Pfeiffer, George L. Ohrstrom, Jr. Deputy Director & Head Curator.
Sleeper Alert!
September 13 2024
Picture: Gorringe's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A reader has kindly been in touch with news that this nude study soared past its modest £60 - £80 estimate at Gorringe's this week to achieve an impressive £38,000. The painting's description in the online catalogue was 'Impasto oil on board, Abstract composition, Nude art school study (believed to be Slade)'. I wonder what the consignor thought after hearing the result!
Evelyn de Morgan in Wolverhampton
September 6 2024
Picture: BBC
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Wolverhampton Art Gallery will be displaying 30 works of art by Evelyn de Morgan in October. The loan is an attempt to recreate a solo exhibition the artist had in the city back in 1907 and 'has been curated to closely resemble the original'.
According to the BBC:
It will feature oil paintings, a plaster cast sculpture, sketches, drawings and newly-painted artworks that recreate three of her original paintings which were lost in a 1991 fire. ...
Jean McMeakin, chair of the De Morgan Trustee Board, said she was delighted to bring the exhibition to Wolverhampton.
“The exhibition not only illuminates her talent, her inspirations and her influences but in so doing, her inner thoughts, social and ethical values are also revealed,” she said.
The loan will run from 19th October 2024 until 9th March 2025.
Sarah Purser in Dublin
July 17 2024
Picture: hughlane.ie
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
As 2024 is shaping up to be the year for exhibitions on female artists, the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin have recently opened a show dedicated to Sarah Purser.
According to the exhibition's blurb:
Sarah Purser (1848 – 1943) was a hugely influential figure in Irish artistic circles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, both as an artist and as an organiser. She played an important role in the founding of Hugh Lane Gallery and helped secure Charlemont House as the gallery’s permanent home. It also marks the centenary of the founding of the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland, which Purser established in 1924.
Sarah Purser was born in 1848 in Dún Laoghaire and studied in Switzerland, Dublin and Paris, where she studied at the Académie Julian. On her return to Dublin, she established herself as one of the leading portraitists in the city. Hugh Lane Gallery has a fine collection of her work, with sensitive portraits of Jane Barlow, Edward Martyn, Maud Gonne and W. B. Yeats along with the figure studies, Portrait Study, Mother and Child and Painting of a Woman. [...]
The show will run until 5th January 2025.
Mabel Pryde Nicholson in Rottingdean
July 15 2024
Picture: rottingdeanheritage.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A new exhibition will be opening at The Grange Gallery in Rottingdean, East Sussex in a few days' time. It is dedicated to Mabel Pryde Nicholson, the the mother of abstract pioneer Ben Nicholson and modern architect Kit Nicholson, and the sister of the Scottish artist James Pryde.
According to the exhibition's website:
The Grange Gallery is pleased to announce the first exhibition of paintings by the artist Mabel Pryde Nicholson (1871–1918) in more than 100 years.
Her story has been overshadowed by the artistic successes of the men in her family: she was the first wife of the Edwardian society portraitist and still life virtuoso William Nicholson, the mother of abstract pioneer Ben Nicholson and modern architect Kit Nicholson, and the sister of the Scottish artist James Pryde.
Running 20 July – 26 August, ‘Prydie: the life and art of Mabel Pryde Nicholson’ brings together more than 30 objects from private collections and public institutions including the Tate, Pallant House Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery. The exhibition also features letters, photographs and personal objects, almost all of which have never been on public display and will coincide with the publication of the first biography of Mabel Pryde Nicholson by Lucy Davies.
Klimt in Perugia
July 4 2024
Video: Retesole TV Umbria
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery of Umbria have been lent Gustav Klimt's The Three Ages of Woman for a special exhibition. Interestingly, the painting was exhibited at the 1910 Venice Biennale and the 1911 International Exposition in Rome and remains in the collection of the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. The show will run until 15th September 2024.
Kunsthaus Zurich removes 5 works from display
June 18 2024
Picture: bbc.co.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Switzerland that the Kunsthaus Zurich have removed 5 works of art from display pending investigations into their wartime history. The group, from the Emil Bührle Collection, including paintings by Monet, Van Gogh, Courbet, Gaugin and Toulouse-Lautrec.
Ivar Arosenius at Clase Fine Art
June 17 2024
Picture: Clase Fine Art
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A reader has kindly alerted me to an exhibition which has just opened dedicated to the Swedish artist Ivar Arosenius (1878-1909) (CLICK HERE FOR A LINK---->)#mce_temp_url#. The show, the first ever dedicated to the painter in London, is being hosted by Clase Fine Art who are based on Pall Mall. The 32 works by Arosenius will be on display until 5th July 2024.
Spain Publishes List of Art Seized During Civil War
June 14 2024
Picture: The Guardian
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Guardian #mce_temp_url# (<----CLICK HERE FOR LINK) have published news that the Spanish state have published a list of art seized during the civil war and Franco dictatorship. This includes 5,000 items, covering paintings as well as the decorative arts.
According to the article:
The inventory, which is part of the government’s efforts to bring “justice, reparation and dignity” to the victims of the conflict and the subsequent dictatorship, was posted online on Wednesday. [...]
Spain’s culture minister, Ernest Urtasun, said the list was about much more than his department fulfilling the obligations set out in the Democratic Memory law, which was approved by the senate in October 2022.
“We’re offering a space in which people can learn about our history,” he said. “We’re also opening the door to returning those pieces that can be identified to their rightful owners.”
The ministry said that applications for the return of the lost items would be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Court Case over Egon Schiele's Wife
June 4 2024
Picture: democratandchronicle.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A court case surrounding the ownership and potential restitution of Egon Schiele's Portrait of the Artist's Wife has just ended with closing statements in Rochester, NY. The story is a long and winding one, but there are claims from the heirs of Heinrich Rieger (Schiele's dentist) and the heirs of the Jewish art collector and textile merchant Karl Mayländer over the war-time ownership of the work. The work is currently owned by The Robert Owen Lehman Foundation who had planned to sell it at Christie's, until questions about earlier provenance were raised. The article above has the full story, along with some rather interesting court room photographs of various attorneys standing with various books and easels.
Stolen Francis Bacon Portrait Recovered in Spain
May 24 2024
Picture: BBC
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Spain that a stolen painting by Francis Bacon has been recovered by the authorities. A group of pictures from the same collection had been stolen a number of years ago, with three begin recovered in 2017. This example, depicting the banker José Capelo had purportedly been valued at €5m.
Modigliani: Modern Gazes in Potsdam
May 16 2024
Video: Museum Barberini
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Museum Barberini in Potsdam opened a new exhibition at the end of last month dedicated to the subject of Modigliani: Modern Gazes.
According to the blurb on the museum's website:
Almond-shaped, sightless eyes are an unmistakable feature of Modigliani’s style. With their stoic noblesse, his portraits and nudes have become icons of modern art. Like Frida Kahlo and Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani provoked both hostility and admiration, and his early death encouraged the creation of legends. Only a few of his pieces are found in German collections. The show Modigliani: Modern Gazes, the first exhibition of his work in Germany in fifteen years, offers a revised image of Modigliani, presenting him as an artist who turned his gaze to emancipated women.
The show will run until 18th August 2024.
New Release: Picturing the Artist’s Studio
May 10 2024
Picture: lundhumphries.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Publishers Lund Humphries released the following book last week. Picturing the Artist's Studio: From Delacroix to Picasso examines the role of the artist's studio during the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and has been written by Heather McPherson.
According to the book's blurb:
This richly diverse study examines the evolving image and contested status of the artist in late nineteenth-century France through the lens of the artist’s studio, which became a central theme in art and literature, stretching from Balzac to Proust and from Corot to Picasso. The studio was a hybrid space that blurred the distinctions between public and private, professional and domestic, artistic production and display. Besides a material space for art making, the studio was a social and commercial nexus and an extension of the artist’s persona. Drawing on paintings, prints, photographs, and primary sources ranging from memoirs to popular journals, this book sheds new light on the modern studio’s heightened significance as a laboratory of creative struggle and a platform for self-expression and the staging of artistic identity. It elucidates how the concept of the studio as a creative space emblematic of artistic identity, first theorized in the Renaissance, was reinvented and popularized after mid-century as debates about the role of art and the status of the artist intensified. Breaking new ground in focusing on the intersecting issues of artistic identity and the evolving role of the studio as creative arena, social and commercial locus, and informal exhibition space, McPherson allows us to participate in the popular ritual of visiting the artist’s studio.
Recent Release: Kunsthandel Katz
May 10 2024
Picture: bol.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Dutch language readers have been treated to a new book which was released last month entitled Kunsthandel Katz: Een dynastie van joodse kunsthandelaren 1876-1995. Recognised as one of the most prominent art dealers of the twentieth century, this book by Peter Hellema & Joop Marsman charts the history of the family through WWII and beyond. Click on the link above to view a free preview from the publisher.
Le tableau volé
May 2 2024
Video: PyramideDistrib
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A new French film was released yesterday entitled Le tableau volé. The film concerns the art specialist André Masson, an employee of the amusingly named auction house Scottie’s, who rediscovers a lost work by Egon Schiele.
Christie's New York 20th Century Sale
April 29 2024
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Christie's New York upcoming 20th Century Evening Sale (which also includes Impressionist works) has been uploaded online today. The auction will take place on 16th May 2024.
Highlights include this exquisite Van Gogh garden at $28m - $35m, a David Hockney view of water sprinklers at $25m - $35m, a large Warhol picture of flowers at $20m - $30m, a very fine Venetian view by Monet at $12m - $18m, and a painting of a lady in a hat by Picasso at $20m - $30m.
Musée Massey Exhibit Stolen Works Prior to Restitution
April 24 2024
Picture: francetv.info
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from France that the Musée Massey in Tarbes will be exhibiting a group of works from their collections which were stolen during WWII. The paintings, which will be on display until 26th May 2024, will then be returned to the descendants of the painting's owners following a new law which was passed last summer. The display will include this rather beautiful later work by Cornelius Johnson (pictured) of an unknown sitter.
