RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh is getting four paintings as it prepares to reopen, including a nude portrait by Pablo Picasso of one of his lovers.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Thursday the paintings are being donated by Julian and Josie Robertson. Julian Robertson is a Salisbury, N.C., native who owns a hedge fund called Tiger Management.
Deputy art director John Coffey says the museum never would have considered such a painting 50 years ago. He says the museum’s collection has always been “polite.”
The Picasso is titled Seated Woman, Red and Yellow Background and was painted in 1952. It depicts Francoise Gilot, the mother of two of his children.
The museum has been closed since September, while moving more than 750 pieces to a new building. It’s scheduled to reopen April 24.
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Information from: The News & Observer,
http://www.newsobserver.com
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Herman Miller introduced the ergonomic Aeron chair, designed by Don Chadwick and Bill Stempf, in 1994. Image courtesy The Henry Ford.DEARBORN, Mich. – Discover the minds and methods behind one of the world’s foremost modern design companies with Good Design: Stories from Herman Miller, on display through April 25 at the Henry Ford Museum. Organized by the Muskegon Museum of Art, this traveling exhibit draws upon The Henry Ford’s extensive Herman Miller design collection, most of which has never been viewed by the public.
Featuring drawings, models, prototypes, photographs, oral histories and original designed objects, Good Design showcases the creation and evolution of several masterpieces of the 20th and 21st centuries by such designers as Gilbert Rohde, Ray and Charles Eames, George Nelson, Alexander Girard, Robert Propst, Steve Frykholm, Don Chadwick, Bill Stempf and others.
Visitors to Henry Ford Museum get an exclusive first glimpse of diverse materials from the design archive of legendary designer and co-creator of the Aeron chair, Bill Stumpf. This impressive collection, featuring prototype chairs, archival sketches and conceptual drawings, was just acquired by The Henry Ford and has never been on public display.
Good Design offers four distinct displays for visitors to obtain a greater understanding of the role of design in today’s world. Through items from The Henry Ford’s collections, such as the Aeron chair, elements from the Action Office Series and the Eames molded plywood lounge chair, each display highlights case studies that identified and met specific needs:
Good Design EXPLORES, investigating ergonomics to create healthier seating;
Good Design INQUIRES, supporting new kinds of work in the white-collar sector;
Good Design ENGAGES, effectively communicating a message through graphic design;
Good Design ENDURES, showcasing mid-century design classics to furnish a new type of living space.
The Henry Ford also offers the Inspired Design Lecture Series on Feb. 25, March 25 and April 22.
Henry Ford Museum is open seven days a week, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults, $14 for seniors and $11 for youth; members and children under five are free.
For details call (313) 982-6001 or visit www.TheHenryFord.org.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
George Nelson designed the Marshmallow Sofa for Herman Miller in 1956. Image courtesy The Henry Ford.
The Getty Museum will present an exhibit focusing on the Greek colonial settlement called Selinunte and its temples. This ruin is the Temple of Hera at Selinunte in Sicily. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.LOS ANGELES (AP) – The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Sicilian cultural ministry will collaborate to conserve art objects, stage exhibitions and conduct scholarly research.The agreement with the Sicilian Ministry of Culture and Sicilian Identity was announced Wednesday in Palermo and Los Angeles.
Sicilian museums will lend marble statues and ancient vases to the Getty Museum and the museum’s preservation staff will use their expertise in creating displays that protect the artwork from earthquakes, said Getty spokeswoman Rebecca Taylor.
Many pieces that go on display at the hilltop museum in Los Angeles will be sent back to its home institution with a custom-built seismic isolator base, she said.
The collaboration is an extension of the Getty’s 2007 agreement with the Italian Ministry of Culture, said the Getty’s acting director, Daniel Bomford.
“I am delighted that the Getty Museum has reached a mutually beneficial agreement with our colleagues in Sicily that allows us to expand our relationship with Italy to this very important region for the study of the ancient Mediterranean,” Bomford said.
The Getty will also organize a conference in Sicily on protecting museum collections from earthquakes.
Taylor said the curators and preservationists sought out two important and unique marble statues, The Marble Youth from Agrigento and Youth from Motya, which they want to evaluate for preservation and put on display in California.
The Getty Museum will present two exhibits with art borrowed from Sicilian cultural institutions. One will examine Sicily’s founding Greek colonies, which were some of the wealthiest and most powerful metropolises in the Mediterranean world. Another will focus on an important Greek colonial settlement called Selinunte and its temples.
Since 2007, Italy has secured the return of dozens of Roman, Greek and Etruscan artifacts in deals with museums, including the Getty and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Italy claimed artifacts were dug up and smuggled out of the country and sold to top museums worldwide.
Getty’s deal included no admission of guilt and the museum returned 39 ancient treasures. Italian art officials, in exchange, agreed to give long-term loans of other artifacts.
The museum launched a similar partnership with Italy’s National Archaeological Museum of Florence that has allowed it to show the Chimaera of Arezzo at the Getty Villa in Malibu. The life-size sculpture of a triple-headed monster that is part lion, part fire-breathing goat and part serpent is a rare example of Etruscan bronzework from the fourth century B.C.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Timothy H. O’Sullivan (American, 1840-1882) shot this view of ancient ruins in the Canyon de Chelle. The albumen print is from the ‘Geographical explorations and surveys west of the 100th meridian,’ sponsored by the War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, in the early 1870s. Image courtesy of Wikimedia CommonsWASHINGTON (AP) – A photographer who documented the Civil War and American West in the 19th century is the subject of a new exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
The exhibit is called Framing the West: The Survey Photographs of Timothy H. O’Sullivan, and it opened Friday. It’s the first major exhibit devoted to the photographer’s work in three decades and will be on view until May.
The museum collaborated with the Library of Congress on the exhibit. It features more than 120 photographs, some rarely seen on public display since 1876.
Born in New York City, O’Sullivan began his career as an apprentice to acclaimed Civil War photographer Mathew Brady. He later earned a position as photographer for the first governmental survey of the American West after the Civil War. He died in Staten Island of tuberculosis at age 42.
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WASHINGTON (AP) – Historic aircraft and spacecraft were exposed to freezing temperatures Wednesday after heavy snow collapsed part of a roof and wall at a Smithsonian Institution storage facility.
No artifacts were thought to be damaged because they are all kept in boxes or protective crates, though some pieces are usually kept at stable temperature and moisture levels, officials said.
The metal building, part of the Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Facility in Suitland, Md. (suburban Washington, D.C.), houses about 1,500 artifacts from the National Air and Space Museum, including parts of flown aircraft, spacecraft and about 800 pieces of aviation and space-themed artwork.
“Right now, the building is still standing,” said museum spokeswoman Claire Brown, adding that shelving units inside were supporting the structure. “We’re confident the portion of the collection that’s in there is OK.”
The flown artifacts could be from any era, ranging from the space shuttle program to Apollo or earlier, she said. All the pieces are considered valuable, Brown said, but curators didn’t identify any piece as more valuable than others.
Emergency crews shut off power and natural gas service to the building when the collapse was discovered early Wednesday, Prince George’s County fire department spokesman Mark Brady said. Authorities determined the building was unstable but weren’t sure what artifacts were inside.
“At this time, they are exposed to some of the elements,” Brady said.
Artwork in the building, including posters, paintings and sculpture, was kept in a sealed, insulated box, Brown said. There was no other power source for the building. Curators noted, though, that they usually keep artifacts at cool temperatures for preservation purposes.
“At this point, we’re not worried about the falling temperatures or any other risks associated with the power being cut to the collection,” Brown said.
A collection of historic spacesuits from Apollo moon walks is kept in a secure building nearby but was not affected.
The expansive museum storage and processing facility in Maryland includes buildings from the 1950s, Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas said. The building that collapsed was set for demolition in the coming years, and many air and space artifacts will be moved to a new restoration facility in Virginia.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The exhibit opens in October and will feature 75 paintings and sculptures from throughout Picasso’s eight-decade career, plus drawings and photographs.
The artworks come from the Musee National Picasso in Paris, which houses Picasso’s personal collection. The Musee Picasso recently closed for renovation, and the Seattle Art Museum says this is likely the only time such a comprehensive survey of Picasso’s work will travel the world.
Seattle is the exhibit’s first stop in the U.S. Among the highlights will be Cubist Man with a Guitar from 1911, Cat Clutching a Bird from 1939 and the self-portrait The Matador from 1970.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Photo by Robert Lememeyer, courtesy Art Gallery of Alberta.
EDMONTON, CANADA – The newly reconstructed Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) in downtown Edmonton opened to the public on Jan. 31, 2010. The 85,000 square foot gallery, designed by Los Angeles architect Randall Stout, features three floors of exhibition space to showcase historical and contemporary Canadian and international art. The opening marked a major milestone in the AGA’s New Vision project and fulfills its goal of creating an art gallery of national significance for the Province of Alberta.
“It is the AGA’s dream that a rebuilt, renewed Art Gallery of Alberta will serve as a cultural centre of excellence for the Alberta community today and beyond, for generations to come,” said Allan Scott, Chair, AGA Board of Directors. “Our new building was planned, designed and constructed by an extremely talented and dedicated project team and the tireless AGA staff. The team deserves a great big thank you from everyone.”
An official ribbon-cutting ceremony followed more than 10 years of planning and three years of construction. The Art Gallery of Alberta’s New Vision building project has been funded by an $88 million capital campaign, with major support from all three levels of government as well as tremendous private sector donations.
The hour-long private opening ceremony was led by the chairman of AGA’s Board of Directors, Allan E. Scott. Also in attendance were Canada’s Minister of Public Works and Government Services, The Honourable Rona Ambrose; Minister of State, Western Economic Diversification, The Honourable Lynne Yelich; Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, The Honourable Norman L. Kwong; Minister of Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, The Honourable Lindsay Blackett; and His Worship Mayor Stephen Mandel from the City of Edmonton, as well as the gallery’s architectural team, Randall Stout Architects Incorporated.
“As we open our doors to our new facility, we embrace a most ambitious agenda. It is an auspicious day for Edmontonians and Albertans as the AGA takes its place amongst great Canadian art museums with enormous enthusiasm and tremendous capacity,” says Gilles Hébert, AGA Executive Director. “We are committed to being leaders in the field and to providing our visitors with exceptional experiences. And this facility is perfectly suited to the bold future we envision.”
Celebrating its prominent location on Sir Winston Churchill Square in the heart of the Arts District in downtown Edmonton, the design of new AGA extends the Gallery into the community, welcoming visitors to experience art first hand. The design takes inspiration from the city of Edmonton’s unique northern environment and urban grid. Angular windows are juxtaposed against a winding 190-meter steel ribbon that references the forms of the North Saskatchewan River and Aurora Borealis. The movement of this continuous stainless steel structure through the gallery’s interior and exterior reinvents the museum’s public spaces, continually connecting visitors with their downtown surroundings.
The building is crafted from three key materials: patinaed zinc, high performance glazing, and stainless steel. These materials reflect Edmonton’s dramatic weather pattern and the extreme contrast of the long days of summer and the short days of winter, allowing the building to transform in response to its natural surroundings.
Randall Stout Architects, Inc. (RSA) was selected from 25 international submissions during the spring of 2005, to redesign the former gallery building originally designed by Edmonton architect Don Bittorf in 1969. The RSA design was chosen by a selection committee and announced on October 15, 2005. The new building has nearly doubled the area of the former gallery and its environmental controls meet the highest museum standards.
The new AGA also includes an expanded education facility, the Singhmar Education Centre for Art Education, as well as upgraded art-handling facilities and celebratory public event spaces. Highlights include a fully outfitted theater; a museum store, Shop AGA; a ‘floating’ room, the Borealis Lounge; a relaxed fine dining establishment, Zinc; as well as the L1 Espresso Bar and 3rd floor Terrace Café. The AGA is directly accessible from Edmonton’s underground light rail transportation system (LRT) entrance.
Inaugural exhibitions feature significant works by artists from Alberta, Canada and beyond, including masters Edgar Degas and Francisco Goya, celebrated Canadian photographers Yousuf Karsh and Edward Burtynsky and internationally renowned Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. The new AGA also includes The BMO World of Creativity, an interactive children’s gallery that will focus on the theme of architecture for the opening year with the exhibition Play on Architecture! Two outdoor spaces have been added to the Gallery, which will feature sculpture by Alberta artists Ken Macklin and Peter Hide. A wide-range of public programs, including family activities, late night events, lectures, films and more, will animate exhibitions at the new AGA.
About the Art Gallery of Alberta:
Founded in 1924, the Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) is the oldest cultural institution in Alberta and the only museum in the province strictly devoted to the exhibition and preservation of art and visual culture. Serving both the city of Edmonton and the province of Alberta, the Gallery maintains a collection of nearly 6,000 objects. The AGA is focused on the development and presentation of original exhibitions of contemporary and historical art; on building national and international curatorial partnerships for the creation of new exhibition projects; and on the development and delivery of a program of touring exhibitions that disseminate contemporary and historical art within Alberta and across Canada.
The AGA is a not-for-profit organization that relies on the generous support of its Members, donors, sponsors and government. The Art Gallery of Alberta is grateful for the generous support of the many public and private donors and sponsors who have made the AGA’s New Vision possible, as well as the ongoing support of the City of Edmonton, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Canada Council for the Arts and our Members.
ASHLAND, Neb. (AP) – A traveling exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s amazing machines has landed at the Strategic Air & Space Museum near Ashland.
The exhibition is titled Leonardo da Vinci Machine in Motion. It runs through May 9.
It was created by scientists and crafts workers in Florence, Italy.
Da Vinci was born in 1452 in a small town near Florence. He became a scientist, inventor, musician, architect, engineer and artist. His most famous painting is “Mona Lisa.”
The full-scale machines are made mostly of wood and came from designs in da Vinci’s notebooks. They were constructed with tools and materials common in the 15th century.
Among da Vinci’s ideas were two different flying machines and a wooden tanklike vehicle that carried six cannons.
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On the Net:
Strategic Air & Space Museum: http://www.strategicairandspace.com/
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ATLANTA (AP) – Five art museums in Georgia say they have formed a partnership to share their resources and collections.
The five are the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Albany Museum of Art, The Columbus Museum, the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens and the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah.
Participants say the during a three-year pilot initiative, the museums will draw on each other’s resources for exhibitions and loans of individual objects, professional development workshops and consultations and collection storage.
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Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art and Science closed Jan. 5 because of financial losses. It was established in 1984 and house in the historic 1922 Fresno Bee Building. Image courtesy of Wikimedia CommonsWASHINGTON (AP) – The number of arts organizations in the U.S. grew by thousands over the last decade, but they now face greater competition for smaller audiences and charity dollars, according to a national study of the industry’s plight.
The first National Arts Index released Wednesday by the group Americans for the Arts shows the country’s artists and arts businesses fell into their biggest slump in more than a decade in 2008. It looks at 76 indicators, including music royalties, Broadway ticket sales, museum visits, philanthropy and the number of college art majors.
The index registered an overall 4.2 percent decline for the arts sector from 2007 to 2008, though researchers say the problems began brewing much earlier.
“The issues that arts organizations are facing right now aren’t simply a function of the economic downturn,” said Robert Lynch, president of the group. “You can really see the arts have been losing market share in areas of private philanthropy fairly steadily for a decade now.”
Other arts groups have failed to prepare for the lean times or adapt to changing audiences, he said. The index comprises four years of research and will be updated each year in October to assist arts managers with their planning.
The study is based on government and private sector data covering finances, employment numbers, educational statistics and consumer spending.
Among the key findings:
The number of nonprofit arts groups grew from 73,000 to 104,000 since 1998. Still, one out of three failed to break even on their budgets, even in the best economic years.
The arts follow the country’s business cycle and depend on billions of dollars in consumer spending. Researchers predict the arts “may not ‘hit bottom’ until 2011” when a rebound will begin.
Public participation in the arts is increasing on the Internet, at ethnically and culturally specific organizations and at home as people create their own art. Attendance at mainstream arts organizations is in a steady decline.
Arts and cultural groups are losing market share of philanthropy to other charitable causes, including international, environmental and disaster relief.
Demand for arts education is up as more college-bound high school seniors are completing four years of arts and music, and the number of college art degrees conferred annually has grown by 45,000 over the past decade.
The lobbying group, which presses for more government funding for the arts each year, had predicted last year that the nation’s current economic slump could put as many as 10,000 arts organizations out of business. Some have closed their doors, but the numbers haven’t been so severe.
“That is because nonprofit arts organizations in particular are not bottom-line-driven but mission-driven and will do what it takes to survive,” Lynch said.
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On the Net:
Americans for the Arts: http://www.americansforthearts.org/
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
