Category Archives: Art

Art, Arts & Literature, Exhibitions, Museums, Videos

Exhibits: ‘Philip C. Curtis – Landscapes of Arizona’ (Phoenix Art Museum)

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Philip C. Curtis saw the desert through a lens of magic realism.

Landscape remains one of the most popular subjects for artists visiting and residing in Arizona. Philip C. Curtis, while not known as a landscape painter, draws extensively on that subject. Curtis came to the state in 1937 to establish the Phoenix Federal Art Center under the Federal Art Project, a New Deal program. He left two years later to head a similar facility in Des Moines, Iowa, but returned to Arizona in 1947.

Settling in Scottsdale, he painted surreal compositions, with figures in Victorian costumes set in the desert. Arizona’s landscapes were a rich source of inspiration for him, and while his canvases do not portray any recognizable geological features, his work may be contextualized within the work of a broad spectrum of artists who came to the state. Curtis saw the desert through a lens of magic realism. This differed from Maxfield Parrish, Eugene Berman, and other artists who preferred more representational modes.

Art, Arts & Literature, Museums, Stories, Videos, Views

Views: Jasper Johns & Paul Cézanne – Unfinished Art

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What was Jasper Johns’s reaction to seeing Paul Cézanne’s The Large Bathers? Curator Carlos Basualdo recalls standing in front of the painting and Johns’s fascination with the finished and unfinished aspects of the artwork.

“Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror” is on view through February 13. http://ow.ly/lZkg30s4V3s

Art, Arts & Literature, History, Museums, Reviews, Videos

History Of Art: Albrecht Dürer’s Lasting Influence

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Even if you don’t know the name, chances are you’ve seen a reproduction of one of his prints. What is it about his work that has made it last? Through paintings, drawings, prints, and letters, our exhibition ‘Dürer’s Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist’ brings to life this art history megastar and the people and places he visited.

Art, Arts & Literature, History, Museums, Podcasts, Reviews

Art History: ‘Rubens – Picturing Antiquity’

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“I think it just shows very well how Rubens worked, how he got the inspiration from antiquity, but he transforms it into something completely new and very alive.”

The Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens is most famous for his dynamic, colorful renderings of religious scenes and mythological stories. Yet Rubens’s work was also deeply inspired by the art of the past. He was a keen student of classical antiquity, engaging with ancient sculptures, coins, gems, and cameos both at home and in his travels through Italy. His friendships with antiquarians, patrons, and scholars provided a network for vibrant intellectual exchanges that informed the artist’s work.

In this episode, Getty curators Anne T. Woollett, Davide Gasparotto, and Jeffrey Spier discuss their exhibition Rubens: Picturing Antiquity, which explores how Rubens was affected by and, in turn, transformed the classical past in his paintings, drawings, and designs. The exhibition, which received major support from Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder and generous support from the Leonetti/O’Connell Family Foundation, is on view at the Getty Villa through January 24, 2022.

For images, transcripts, and more, visit https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/podcast-peter-paul-rubens-and-the-arts-of-antiquity

Art, Arts & Literature, Profiles, Views

Art Views: Watercolors By Thomas W. Schaller (2021)

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“In many ways, why we paint is more important than what or how we paint.  What we create is more than just something we do, it expresses who we are.  My work is a study in contrasts: light and dark, vertical and horizontal, warm and cool, the real and the imagined, and elements of the past, present, and future. I design with conflicting elements – allowing them to find balance and resolution on the surface of the paper in surprising and expressive ways, trying never to paint just what I look at, but rather how it is I see; how I react to the world I see around me and within.  The results are reflections of  my attempt at becoming more fully present in the process.“

Thomas W. Schaller is an award-winning artist, architect, and author based in Los Angeles. As a renowned architectural artist, he received a Graham Foundation Grant and was a two-time recipient of the Hugh Ferriss Memorial Prize. He has authored three books; the best-selling, and AIA award winner, Architecture in Watercolor (VNR – McGraw Hill) The Art of Architectural Drawing (J.Wiley and Sons), and  Thomas W. Schaller, Architect of Light : Watercolor Paintings by a Master – a retrospective of his recent artwork released by North Light Books / F+W Media and now Penguin / Random House, NYC  in 2018.

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Art, Arts & Literature, Magazines, Previews

International Art: Apollo Magazine – January 2022

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An interview with Howardena Pindell + Gainsborough’s Blue Boy and friends +The Humboldt Forum finally opens + Medieval Christian art in Georgia + Plus:  Kazakh gold in Cambridge, Dürer’s wanderlust, rocks that look good enough to eat – and are New Towns old hat?

January 2022 | Apollo Magazine

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Art, Arts & Literature, Exhibitions, Museums, Videos, Views

Morgan Library Exhibits: ‘Van Eyck To Mondrian’

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Building on the Morgan’s tradition of presenting to the American public distinguished works from outstanding institutions abroad, Van Eyck to Mondrian: 300 Years of Collecting in Dresden focuses on the exceptional drawing collection of the Kupferstich-Kabinett, Dresden.

Established by Augustus II the Strong, Elector of Saxony, in 1720, the museum is one of the oldest and finest depositories of works on paper in the world. The exhibition celebrates pivotal moments and key traditions in the history of European draftsmanship. Most remarkably, it will feature Jan van Eyck’s Portrait of an Elderly Man (ca. 1435–40)—an exceptionally rare drawing by the great Netherlandish Renaissance painter, which has never before traveled to the United States.

The Kupferstich-Kabinett’s strength in Northern Renaissance and Baroque drawings will be further showcased through works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Hans Holbein the Younger, Rembrandt, and Rubens, while the museum’s rich holdings of Southern European works will be represented by Correggio, Bronzino, Sofonisba Anguissola, and others.

Among works produced in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, highlights include studies by Caspar David Friedrich, Goya, Käthe Kollwitz, Gustav Klimt, Otto Dix, and Piet Mondrian.

Architecture, Art, Digital, Photography, Views

Art Views: ‘Uncluttered Sobriety’ – A Visualization

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Art, Arts & Literature, Culture, History, Museums, Stories, Videos

Art & Culture: History Of Indigo (National Gallery)

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Our Conservation Fellow, Kendall Francis takes a closer look at indigo, a blue dye and pigment extracted from the leaves of plants, and how it is used and represented in paintings in our collection.

Kendall’s research reveals histories that are not explicitly portrayed in the paintings and highlights the important contributions from a wider range of people, including the enslaved people who cultivated the crops and extracted the indigo against their will. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

Art, Arts & Literature, Exhibitions, Museums, Videos, Views

Art: ‘Whistler To Cassatt – American Painters In France’ (Denver Museum)

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Timothy J. Standring, Curator Emeritus at the Denver Art Museum, discusses Mary Cassatt, including “Mother and Child,” one of her most important works.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler challenged traditional approaches to painting by focusing more on colors and composition rather than the subject matter. In this video, Timothy J. Standring, Curator Emeritus at the Denver Art Museum, takes a look at Whistler’s artistic journey to finding his unique style.

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