Category Archives: Exhibitions

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

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.

Morgan Library Exhibits: ‘Van Eyck To Mondrian’

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.

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

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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Exhibits: ‘Life Between Islands – Caribbean And British Art 1950’s To Now’

Museum Exhibits: ‘Dürer’s Journeys – Travels of a Renaissance Artist’ (Video)

Albrecht Dürer’s drawings, paintings and prints make up some of the most iconic images in the history of art and have influenced generations of artists. 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. ‘The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Dürer’s Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist’ Until 27 February 2022

Photo Exhibits: ‘Lights And Shadows’ In London (2021)

Magnificient adventures are captured in this selection of photographic firsts, some of the earliest images from each location, taken by world-renowned photographers including Gertrude Bell, Carleton Watkins, Isabella Bird, Herbert Ponting and Frank Hurley.

The images all feature in the ongoing Lights and Shadows exhibition, organised by the Royal Geographical Society in London, and are taken from the society’s historic image collection, revealing something of the marked progress of photography between 1851 and 1962, as well as providing a useful reference for economic, environmental or climatic change that has happened since they were taken. Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/…

Art: ‘Retrospectrum – Bob Dylan’, Frost Art Museum

Art: ‘TITIAN – WOMEN, MYTH & POWER’, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

An exhibition many have called “the art show of the year” are now on display at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It includes a collection of masterworks by Titian, which have not been seen together in more than 400 years. Special correspondent Jared Bowen, of WGBH, takes a look as part of our arts and culture series, “CANVAS.”

Museum Exhibits: ‘Tokyo – Art & Photography’, The Ashmolean, Oxford, UK

Explore Japan’s capital city through the vibrant arts it has generated over 400 years as you enjoy a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of the Ashmolean’s 2021 Tokyo: Art & Photography exhibition with curators Lena Fritsch and Clare Pollard. The film also features a conversation with visual artist Enrico Isamu Oyama, who was commissioned to create a work for the exhibition. Tokyo is one of the world’s most creative, dynamic and thrilling cities. This major exhibition features a wide variety of artworks created in a metropolis that has constantly reinvented itself. Highlights include historic folding screens and iconic woodblock prints, video works, pop art, and contemporary photographs by Moriyama Daido and Ninagawa Mika. With new commissions by contemporary artists, loans from Japan and treasures from the Ashmolean’s own collections, the show provides a fascinating insight into the development of Tokyo into one of the world’s most important cultural hotspots. Tokyo: Art & Photography is open at the Ashmolean Museum until 3 January 2022 http://www.ashmolean.org/tokyo