Category Archives: Arts & Literature

Art Videos: American Painter Cy Twombly’s ‘Apollo 11’ Homage (1969)

In the summer of 1969, Cy Twombly made a series of paintings inspired by the Apollo 11 space mission.

Born in Lexington, Virginia, in 1928, Edwin Parker ‘Cy’ Twombly studied art in Boston and at the avant-garde Black Mountain College in North Carolina. After graduating, he served as a cryptologist in the US Military — an experience that left a distinctive mark on his artistic style.

Learn more: https://www.christies.com/features/Mo…

Poetry: ‘Sonnet 44’ By William Shakespeare

Read by: A Poetry Channel

Sonnet 44 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man. Sonnet 44 is continued in Sonnet 45. 

Sonnet XLIV

If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,
Injurious distance should not stop my way;
For then despite of space I would be brought,
From limits far remote, where thou dost stay.
No matter then although my foot did stand
Upon the farthest earth removed from thee;
For nimble thought can jump both sea and land
As soon as think the place where he would be.
But ah! thought kills me that I am not thought,
To leap large lengths of miles when thou art gone,
But that, so much of earth and water wrought,
I must attend time’s leisure with my moan,
   Receiving nought by elements so slow
   But heavy tears, badges of either’s woe.

Art: The ‘Dangerously Independent Women’ Of Italian Painter Vittorio Corcos (1859-1933)

He went on to become a highly respected portraitist, counting Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Benito Mussolini and opera star Lina Cavalieri among his subjects. In Coy’s view, however, his portraits were relatively conventional offerings — and Corcos’s ‘best work’ was his turn-of-the-century imagery of ‘dangerously independent women’.

Compare the biographies of Vittorio Corcos (1859-1933) and Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920), and a remarkable number of similarities become apparent. Both were born into Jewish families in the Italian port city of Livorno in the second half of the 19th century; both would settle — and artistically come of age — in Paris. Both would even excel at the same type of paintings: their provocative depictions of women.

Their reputations, however, have suffered widely different fates. Modigliani, who struggled to sell much work before his death at the age of 35, is today regarded as a master of Modernism. Corcos, by contrast, who enjoyed a long and prosperous international career, posthumously became a rather forgotten figure.

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Cocktails With A Curator: ‘Fragonard’s Progress Of Love, Part II’ (Frick Video)

In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon maps the century-long journey of Jean Honoré Fragonard’s Progress of Love series from Paris to Provence to London to New York. Fragonard’s career faltered because of his association with the ancien régime, and the Progress of Love was in many respects his last great accomplishment before he died in penury in 1806. In 2021, visitors will be able to experience three of the canvases for the first time in decades when the series is displayed in its entirety at Frick Madison. For today’s episode, Xavier has paired this fourteen-canvas parable of love with a mixed drink suitable for the occasion, a brandy-spiked Champagne Cocktail.

To view these objects in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/progressloveSHOW LESS

Arts & Culture Video: ‘Artists For New York’

‘As New Yorkers, we’re thrivers … We just keep coming back. We keep surviving.’

Our introductory film features the voices of some of our ‘Artists for New York’ partner organizations on why New York is and will always be a vital place for art, and all those that love, celebrate and need it.

Explore our ‘Artists for New York’ editorial page: https://bit.ly/34gIq24

Profiles: London Artist Flora Yukhnovich – ‘Art Of Tiepolo As Abstraction’

September 23, 2020

…she decided to trace Tiepolo’s travels across Europe, from Venice to Germany and Spain, riffing on the works he created in these different places. ‘I realised I had basically followed Tiepolo’s journey since leaving Venice towards his death,’ she notes. ‘It was quite weird and morbid but also kind of appropriate for finishing off my Tiepolo cycle.’

Déjà vu isn’t dangerous for Flora Yukhnovich – it’s part of her art. ‘I think what I find really rewarding about working from old paintings is the moment when it all comes together and you feel like you recognise it,’ she tells me. ‘It’s such a weird, instinctive feeling […] like kissing an old friend.’

A shift in interest coincided with an invitation to Venice, via a residency with Victoria Miro. It was while living there during the summer of 2019 that she became immersed in the work of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and his own particular brand of Venetian rococo. The resulting exhibition at the Victoria Miro gallery is called ‘Barcarole’ after the song sung by Venetian gondoliers, a tune known for its rhythmic sway in time with lapping lagoon waves.

Her Website

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New Books: ‘Versailles – From Louis XIV to Jeff Koons’ (Assouline 2020)

Welcome to the most storied palace in the world, the glittering Château de Versailles. Recounting the most important historical, social, and cultural milestones of Versailles, beginning with the original proposal for a modest hunting lodge requested by Louis XIII in 1623, this volume encompasses the expansive property, from the palace and gardens to the Grand Trianon and the Queen’s Hamlet.

From the first great constructions under Louis XIV, to its reimagining by Louis-Philippe in 1837 as a museum dedicated to all the glories of France, Versailles has truly seen many momentous occasions, including diplomatic summits, scientific advancements, and renowned visitors over the centuries, from Mozart, Benjamin Franklin and Queen Victoria to Fred Astaire and the Kennedys, not to mention exhibitions of today’s great artists, beginning with Jeff Koons in 2008.

Lavishly illustrated with archival images and beautiful photography, Versailles: From Louis XIV to Jeff Koons features insightful texts by Catherine Pégard, president of the Château de Versailles, with the collaboration of Mathieu da Vinha, scientific director of the Château de Versailles Research Center, revealing all the stories that have unfolded within this glorious monument.

Complimentary white gloves are included with each purchase from Assouline’s Ultimate Collection. A limited edition vibrant blue tote bag is included with Versailles: From Louis XIV to Jeff Koons.

Modern Art: ‘Shangri-La, 2017’ By Matthew Wong

An invitation into any artist’s imagined world involves an intimacy rarely encountered outside of portraiture, but Matthew Wong does this without fear by relying on our one nugget of shared understanding – Shangri-la. What is paradise after all but knowing and being known? “You sit in front of this painting, and it overwhelms you.” – reveals our specialist Isabella Lauria, –

“We get lots in our dreams, and this painting makes me feel lost in the best way.” Post-War and Contemporary Art Day sale, October 7 2020

View sale highlights: https://www.christies.com/features/Po..

Matthew Wong was a Canadian artist. Self-taught as a painter, Wong received critical acclaim for his work before his death in 2019 at the age of 35. Roberta Smith, co-chief art critic at The New York Times, has praised Wong as “one of the most talented painters of his generation.”

English Country Homes: ‘Ponden Hall’ – Inspiration For “WUTHERING HEIGHTS” By Emily Brontë In 1847

In the early 19th century the house kept an extensive library, and the Brontës were regular visitors; many details of the house, particularly the interior, suggest fairly clearly that it was the inspiration for the Lintons’ home, Thrushcross Grange. Anne Brontë was just as inspired as Emily, incidentally: Ponden is also the model for the titular house in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Ponden Hall is in the village of Stanbury and is even accessed via a lane with a suitably Gothic name:  Scar Top Road. It’s huge: there are eight bedrooms, a paddock, four acres of land and a further two-bedroom annexe — ideal for the Nelly who looks after your family, or for use as a potential holiday let to Brontë-mad tourists.

The oldest parts of the hall date to 1541, but most of the house as it stands today goes back to 1634 — and the evidence of its great age is plain to see.

The beams, walls, floors, ceilings, fireplaces and windows are gloriously authentic — and the owners have doubled-down on the effect with some wonderfully inspired furniture choices, especially with the beds. Don’t fret about the fact that you’d struggle to find similar pieces yourself: the vendors are apparently happy sell it on via separate negotiation.

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Cocktails With A Curator: ‘Fragonard’s Progress Of Love’ (The Frick Video)

In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” join Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon as he discusses Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s Progress of Love paintings and the capricious countess who commissioned the series, Madame du Barry, mistress of Louis XV. Delve into the tumultuous life of Du Barry, who was born in poverty and clashed with Marie-Antoinette at Versailles. Tune in next week to discover how the Progress of Love series made its way from eighteenth-century France to the Frick’s beloved Fragonard Room.

To view these objects in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/progress_love