Alberto Giacometti is one of the most admired and sought-after sculptors of the 20th century. In this video, discover how his post-war work came to embody the ideas of Existentialism and how the influence of ancient sculpture led to the attenuated human form so emblematic of his oeuvre. Conceived in 1956-57, at the height of Giacometti’s international acclaim, ‘Femme Debout’ comes from an outstanding family collection of works from the European avant-garde.
On this episode of Art Institute Essentials Tour, take a closer look at The Bedroom, painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1889. Vincent van Gogh painted three versions, including this one, of his bedroom in the “Yellow House” in Arles, France. To van Gogh, this picture symbolized relaxation and peace. However, to our eyes the canvas seems to teem with nervous energy, instability, and turmoil—an effect heightened by the sharply receding perspective.
“Provence has a treasure; it’s a Colombe d’Or. It has the precious scent of thyme and nostalgia and the golden colour of olive oil and happy days. The Colombe is a part of my life. For me, it’s a place that’s as full of promise as of magnificent memories. The Colombe is indefinable, inimitable. I’m happy that today a book brings back the atmosphere of this place which is like no other in the world.”
La Colombe d’Or hotel and restaurant in the South of France is known all over the world as a privileged place where the Provençal art de vivre goes hand in hand with an astonishing private COLLECTION of modern art.
First opened in 1920 as Chez Robinson, a café-bar with an open-air terrace, it quickly became a very popular meeting place and expanded into a small hotel and restaurant. The friendly atmosphere together with owner Paul Roux’s deep interest in the arts attracted many artists of the day, and the walls were soon covered by paintings, often exchanged for a stay or a few meals. As regular visitors to this beautiful place, Matisse, Braque, Léger, Calder, César, and many other artists have left magnificent works that now form part of the unique setting, including splendid pages in the fascinating guest books—presented to the world for the first time in this volume—in which the greatest artists of our time have drawn and signed moments of happiness. The next generation of the Roux family continues to care for the Colombe d’Or, and the art COLLECTION is still growing today.
Eric Johnson is a Boston based Painter and instructor at The Academy of Realist Art Boston who is devoted to the preservation and growth of traditional painting. He aspires towards adding his own link into the chain of tradition by mastering the working methods of the old masters who he admires and employing those methods into his own working process.
As a complete painter he aspires to reach a high level of verisimilitude and truth in his works on a variety of subject matters from portrait, still life and landscape. Eric primarily makes all of the pigments and paints to create each prepossessing painting. Eric yearns that every new presentation to beauty and truth can show us the old beauty and the old truth only seen from a different angle and colored by a different medium.
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” join Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon as he explores the royal provenance of two pieces of furniture at the Frick made by Jean-Henri Riesener. Sometimes overlooked by visitors, Xavier encourages us to take a closer look at this exquisite commode and secrétaire set. In celebration of these works of art and the upcoming Bastille Day, this week’s complementary cocktail is the Kir Royale.
“I wanted to make paintings that were a celebration, and that revealed something and obscured something at the same time.” —Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst (born 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists, who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom’s richest living artist, with his wealth valued at £215m in the 2010 Sunday Times Rich List.
| INSIDE THE ISSUE |
| FEATURES | Eric Fischl interviewed by Thomas Marks; Linda Wolk-Simon on the life and legacy of Raphael; Joanne Pillsbury on the art of the Olmecs; Samuel Reilly on private restitution of colonial-era artefacts; Christopher Turner on shopfronts and gallery facades; Josie Thaddeus-Johns on John Cage’s mushrooms |
| REVIEWS | Isabelle Kent on Murillo at the National Gallery of Ireland; Tom Stammers on the British fashion for French interiors; James Lingwood on Stephen Shore’s photographs; Robert O’Byrne on The Buildings of Ireland |
| MARKET | Melanie Gerlis on art businesses after lockdown; a preview of Parcours des Mondes; and the latest art market columns from Susan Moore and Emma Crichton-Miller |
| PLUS | Rowan Moore and Tamsin Dillon on the future of public spaces; Susan Moore on the mysterious ‘Barbus Müller’ sculptures; William Aslet on Palladio’s monument to the plague in Venice; Robert O’Byrne on Apollo and the Second World War |
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Xavier F. Salomon, Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, examines one of the Frick’s most beloved paintings, Hans Holbein’s “Sir Thomas More.” Xavier considers More’s relationship to humanist circles and the role of “friendship portraits” in making the absent present. In the words of More’s devoted friend, Desiderius Erasmus, “life without a friend is no life.” As a nod to the turbulent times of Tudor England, Xavier pairs this episode with a Bloody Mary cocktail.
From the Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici and Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to Archduke Ferdinand II of Habsburg, these aristocratic virtuosos acquired, selected, and displayed the objects in real-life catalogues that represented the entire world—spanning architecture, interior design, painting, sculpture, gemology, geology, botany, biology and taxonomy, astrology, alchemy, anthropology, ethnography, and history.
The Wunderkammer, or “cabinet of curiosities,” saw collectors gathering objects from many strands of artistic, scientific, and intellectual endeavor, in an ambitious attempt to encompass all of humankind’s knowledge in a single room.
These marvelous cabinets of curiosities can now be explored by all in this XXL collection. To realize this mammoth undertaking, Massimo Listri traveled to seven European countries over several decades; the result is a set of gorgeous photographs, an authoritative yet accessible introduction, and detailed commentary on each of the 19 chambers highlighting the most remarkable items in each collection. Discover how these timeless treasures both describe and defined civilization, the modern concept of the museum, and our very knowledge of the universe.
Boomers Daily 