Golden Boy Gustav Klimt. Inspired by Van Gogh, Rodin, Matisse…

 

 Van Gogh Museum 

  7 October 2022 to 8 January 2023 

Gustav Klimt, Judith, 1901, Oil and gold leaves on Canvas, 84 x 42 cm, Belvedere, Vienna.   A new exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum presents the work of Gustav Klimt alongside those artists who inspired him. This is the first retrospective of Klimt’s oeuvre of this scale to be organised in the Netherlands. The exhibition features iconic highlights from all over the world, such as Judith (1901), Emilie Flöge (1902) and Water Serpents II (1904). These works are displayed together with those of other renowned artists, including Van Gogh, Rodin and Matisse. Golden Boy Gustav Klimt presents an overview of a staggering career characterised by a thirst for liberty and innovation. Gustav Klimt, Life is a Struggle (The Golden Knight), 1903, Oil, tempera and gold leaf on canvas, 100 x 100 cm, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya Emilie Gordenker, Director of the Van Gogh Museum: ‘This exhibition offers a fresh perspective on Klimt. It doesn’t present him as a lone genius, but rather as a man whose work came into being and flourished thanks to the inspiration offered by international kindred spirits. The Van Gogh Museum has the standing to organise a pioneering exhibition with loans from all around the world, and we hope that visitors from both home and abroad will come to the museum especially to see Golden Boy Gustav Klimt.’   https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/about/news-and-press/press-image-bank/images-exhibition-golden-boy-gustav-klimt   Staggering career Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was one of the foremost artists in imperial fin-de-siècle Vienna, the seat of the Habsburg Dual Monarchy. He is still considered to be one of the most innovative artists of modern art history.   Golden Boy Gustav Klimt uses themes that appear chronologically in Klimt’s oeuvre to chart a truly staggering career. The focus of the exhibition is on Klimt’s development under the influence of contemporaries who – as did Klimt – broke radically with conventions and hankered for innovation. The exhibition shows Klimt’s powerful female portraits alongside those of Singer Sargent and Whistler. His square landscapes hang side by side with Vincent van Gogh's paintings. The sensual lines of Rodin and the daring colour compositions of Matisse also had a significant impact on Klimt's work. The exhibition features 24 paintings and 12 works on paper by Klimt, alongside the same number of works by other European artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Whistler, Sargent, Toorop, Monet, Rodin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Matisse.    Classical beginnings  In the 1880s, Klimt was part of a burgeoning trio of young artists, together with his brother Ernst and artist friend Franz Matsch. The men received commissions to decorate important buildings, such as the Burgtheater and the stairwell of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. One of the first works in the exhibition is Klimt’s portrait of composer and pianist Josef Pembaur (1890). The work is traditional as it follows the detailed style of Alma Tadema and Historicism. The references to classical architecture and music on the frame, which was designed by Klimt, are also in line with the conventional historical styles that were long in vogue in Vienna. Radical innovation But times were changing. A new generation of artists and writers was emerging, defiant of the stifling, petit bourgeois morality. They were devoted to artistic and intellectual innovation. In 1887, Klimt and this group founded the Secession: an art movement dedicated to rattling the Viennese conventions with international art. Klimt eagerly started working in new styles, and soon became the enfant terrible of the Viennese art world. He was denounced by the introverted established order. The three distinctive ceiling paintings that he made for Vienna University were removed in light of an excess of nudity in the series. But for the Vienna avant-garde who dared to dream beyond the boundaries, Klimt held great promise. Gustav Klimt, Beethoven Frieze (detail), 1901-02, Casein colours, stucco, pencil, applications of various materials (glass, mother-of-pearl, etc.), gold trim on mortar, 216 x 3438 cm, Belvedere, Vienna, permanent loan in the Secession, Vienna ustav Klimt, Beethoven Frieze (detail), 1901-02, Casein colours, stucco, pencil, applications of various materials (glass, mother-of-pearl, etc.), gold trim on mortar, 216 x 3438 cm, Belvedere, Vienna, permanent loan in the Secession, Vienna Gustav Klimt, Beethoven Frieze (detail), 1901-02, Casein colours, stucco, pencil, applications of various materials (glass, mother-of-pearl, etc.), gold trim on mortar, 216 x 3438 cm, Belvedere, Vienna, permanent loan in the Secession, Vienna Gustav Klimt certainly lived up to expectations. In 1902, he presented his Beethoven Frieze in the Secession building. This was an homage to Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven, the definitive cult figure of the new generation. A life-sized reproduction of the frieze features in the exhibition, accompanied by a number of preliminary studies. The Beethoven Frieze is the prelude to the ‘golden period’, in which Klimt used gold leaf in his paintings.    Gustav Klimt, Water Serpents II, 1904, reworked 1906-07, Oil on canvas, 80 x 145 cm, Private collection, Courtesy of HomeArt.   A spectacular inclusion is the painting Water Serpents II (1904), on public display for the first time in 60 years and one of the highlights of the exhibition. Revolutionary Gustav Klimt, Judith, 1901, Oil and gold leaves on Canvas, 84 x 42 cm, Belvedere, Vienna Another masterpiece from the golden period is Judith (1901), the very first work in which Klimt expressly incorporated gold. The inspiration for the painting is the eponymous Biblical heroine, who freed her people by beheading Holofernes. Klimt brings Judith into his own time, depicting her as a strong, confident Jewish woman at the centre of society. Klimt accepted many commissions from the Jewish bourgeoisie, thereby distancing himself from the conservative nobility and the establishment in a time in which antisemitism and nationalism were rife. His explicit depictions of female sexuality and autonomy were another rejection of traditional conventions, which saw him align with the revolutionary psychoanalysis of his contemporary Sigmund Freud.  Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Hermine Gallia, 1903-04, Oil on canvas, 170.5 x 96.5 cm, The National Gallery, London, bought 1976 The elegant Portrait of Hermine Gallia (1903-1904) became renowned for the new approach and style. The painting is influenced by the refined female portraits of Whistler and by Impressionism. Klimt was inspired by how Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and other artists depicted Parisian women.  The exhibition also includes world-famous works such  as Eugenia Primavesi (1913)  Gustav Klimt, Adele Bloch Bauer II, 1912, Oil on canvas, 191 x 120 cm, Private Collection, Courtesy of HomeArt and Adele Bloch-Bauer II (1912).  The paintings are large, powerful and expressive, with decorative patterns filling the background.   Gustav Klimt, Emilie Floge, 1902, with reworking until 1908, Oil on canvas, 178 x 80 cm, Wien Museum A key work in the exhibition is Portrait of Emilie Flöge (1902), a fashion designer and businesswoman. Klimt spent innumerable summers with her at the Attersee Lake, not far from Salzburg, where he also produced many landscapes.   Gustav Klimt, Avenue to Schloss Kammer, 1912, Oil on canvas, 110 x 110 cm, Belvedere, Vienna You never have to look far to find Van Gogh’s influence in Klimt’s colourful works with broad, impasto brushstrokes, such as the 1912 painting Avenue to Schloss Kammer.   The World of Yesterday The Bride, 1918 by Gustav Klimt The exhibition concludes with the monumental painting The Bride (1918). Large parts of the work are unfinished, making it possible to see how Klimt put together his compositions and colour palette. The work was left unfinished on the easel when Klimt died in 1918. During Klimt’s lifetime, Vienna had flourished into a European metropolis and a melting pot of different peoples and cultures. Yet in the decades following Klimt’s death, the world of freedom and progress that he had helped to shape would collapse. Some of Klimt’s works were stolen by the Nazis, and others became scattered around the world. Gustav Klimt, Johanna Staude, 1917–18, Oil on canvas, 70 × 50 cm, Belvedere, Vienna Catalogue The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue, with contributions from experts on Klimt’s paintings, his drawings, and on Western European modern art. Klimt. Inspired by Van Gogh, Rodin, Matisse is published by Uitgeverij Tijdsbeeld, Ghent in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum. Distribution in the Netherlands and Flanders: Rubinstein, Amsterdam. The English and German editions are published by Hirmer Verlag. Edited by The Belvedere, Vienna and the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam A lavish volume revealing the artists who inspired Gustav Klimt, the great master of Viennese Modernism. Throughout his career, Gustav Klimt was attentive to the work of his contemporaries, including Lawrence Alma-Tadema, George Minne, Auguste Rodin, Jan Toorop, Ferdinand Hodler, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Fernand Khnopff, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Henri Matisse, and many others, and he continually adapted elements from a variety of styles. This stunning volume presents in large-format illustrations the works of Klimt alongside those of artists who were close to him, revealing significant and often surprising parallels. With these juxtapositions, we see Klimt contrasted with artists who worked in a variety of styles and techniques, all very different from Klimt’s. These pages offer new insight into not just the work of Klimt and his contemporaries, but also the ways that artists share innovations in style and subject, and how the influence of an artistic milieu reveals itself in unexpected ways. The result is a lavishly illustrated volume about Modernism featuring many outstanding and iconic artworks from the beloved masters of the time. 240 pages | 175 color plates | 9 x 11 3/4 The exhibition is a collaboration with the Belvedere in Vienna. Golden Boy Gustav Klimt. Inspired by Van Gogh, Rodin, Matisse… is on display from 7 October 2022 to 8 January 2023.

Canaletto: A Venetian’s View

 Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum 

 1 October 2022 until 7 January 2023

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 View on the Grand Canal: From the Palazzo Bembo to that of Grimani Calerghi, now Vendramini. From the Woburn Abbey Collection.

Canaletto - The Entrance to the Canal Grande at the Punta della Dogana and the Santa Maria della Salute From the Woburn Abbey Collection.

View of the entrance to the Arsenal by Canaletto, 1732 From the Woburn Abbey Collection.

The exhibition will celebrate the wonderful work of Canaletto, featuring stunning paintings on loan from the Woburn Abbey Collection together with artworks from Worcester’s Fine Art Collection and loans from Birmingham Museums, Tate and Compton Verney.

Born in Venice, Giovanni Antonio Canal (1697 – 1768), commonly known as Canaletto, was an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. He became very popular with English collectors, and visited England repeatedly between 1746 – 56.

Canaletto revolutionised the use of colour, ground and canvas and pioneered the technique of painting from life, sitting in front of the subject outdoors as opposed to his contemporaries who completed paintings in the studio. This exhibition explores Canaletto’s work and the impact he had on the generations of artists who followed him.

It is extremely rare for this hugely significant collection to leave Woburn Abbey, and this will be the first time the paintings will be united with other examples of Canaletto’s work from Birmingham Museums and Compton Verney. The paintings on display comprise the largest set of paintings Canaletto produced for a single patron, the fourth Duke of Bedford who commissioned the works in the 1730s. They are considered the absolute best of Canaletto’s paintings of Venice. The exhibition is being described as the most ambitious in the history of Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum.

Deborah Fox, Senior Curator at the Art Gallery and Museum commented: “We are committed to bringing great art and artists to the region and through bringing Canaletto to Worcester we are offering a once in a generation opportunity to see these incredible artworks ‘on your doorstep’ as well as creating an opportunity to showcase and reinterpret important works in our own collection.

“We see this exhibition as a wonderful opportunity not only to bring world class art to the gallery, but also to examine its influence on some of Worcester’s best-loved artworks.”

The 20 paintings of Venice on loan from the Woburn Abbey Collection will be accompanied by 3 Canaletto works – two views of Warwick Castle on loan from Birmingham Museums and a view of Vauxhall Gardens which would normally hang at Compton Verney, as well as a wonderful work by William Marlow considered to be Canaletto’s natural heir, from Tate.

The influence of Canaletto’s work will be further explored through Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum’s own collection including a beautiful view of Worcester Cathedral by Marlow and works by Paul Sandby, Samuel Prout and Samuel Rowlandson who were all heavily influenced by Canaletto. Worcester’s most famous artist BW Leader will also feature in the exhibition through the inclusion of one of his most famous works February, Fill Dyke – also on loan from Birmingham Museums.

Canaletto: A Venetian’s View at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum will provide the opportunity to see Canaletto’s paintings up close and for the visitor to take a scenic tour of the golden age of Venice through the amazing landscapes.

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Magic, Witchcraft and Surrealism – Leonora Carrington

ARKEN Museum of Modern Art

17 September 2022 until 15 January 2023. 

The exhibition will subsequently be shown at Fundación MAPFRE in Madrid

Leonora Carrington was one of Surrealism's key figures. She rebelled against power hierarchies and conventions with a magical universe filled with humour, witchcraft and spirit, yet she remained an overlooked figure in art history. Today, interest in Carrington is immense. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid. 

Exhibition curator Sarah Fredholm who is in charge of the Leonora Carrington exhibition at ARKEN explains why the surreal artist resonates so much today: "Leonora Carrington's artistic vision of freedom and equality is more relevant than ever in times of global warming, natural disasters, and war. In response to the crises of our time, spirituality, the occult and the forces of nature are being increasingly cultivated, for instance through astrology, tarot cards and witchcraft. 

Carrington was also taken with witchcraft and sprituality, which is why she is relevant to audiences today," says Fredholm. 

British-Mexican artist Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) grew up in a wealthy family near Lancaster in England as the daughter of an Irish mother and a father who was a textile factory owner. However, Carrington rebelled against her strict upper-class childhood and was repeatedly expelled from Catholic boarding schools. At 20, Carrington moved to Paris to pursue a life as an artist. Here she became part of the inner circle of Surrealism and started an intense love affair with surrealist artist Max Ernst. When World War II broke out, Carrington first fled to New York, then to Mexico, where she settled. Together with Mexican artist colleagues, Carrington cultivated a shared vision of witchcraft, drive, community and freedom. 

"Carrington possessed incredible power and mystery. She remained unique, created her own version of Surrealism and did not allow herself to be restricted by either men or the surreal movement. This is really relevant today, when a lot of people feel under pressure on many fronts. As an artist, she challenges our way of seeing the world," says Sarah Fredholm. 

Marvelous stories of transformation Carrington’s art takes you into enchanted worlds of magical creatures undergoing transformations – powerful female figures turning into horses, and witches and old women as expressions of zest for life and resistance. Alchemy and astrology captured Carrington's heart and she even created her own tarot cards. For seven decades, she expressed herself in a range of media – painting, sculpture, drawing and tapestries, and as an author. 

With the exhibition at ARKEN, this is the first time a Scandinavian audience will be able to experience a large retrospective exhibition that unfolds Carrington’s life’s work. Here, you will see key works from England, the US and Mexico, important works from private collections that have never been exhibited before, as well as photographs and letters.

 The Leonora Carrington exhibition will be on view at ARKEN from 17 September 2022 until 15 January 2023. The exhibition will subsequently be shown at Fundación MAPFRE in Madrid. 

The exhibition is curated by Tere Arcq, Sarah Fredholm (ARKEN), Carlos Martín, Stefan van Raay, Naja Rasmussen and Dorthe Juul Rugaard (ARKEN). The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Fundación MAPFRE

Leonora Carrington, Artes 110, 1944. Collection of Stanley and Pearl Goodman, promised gift to NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, USA © Estate of Leonora Carrington / VISDA. Photo: Myrna Gonzàlez Tovar

Leonora Carrington, The Magical World of the Mayans, 1963. Courtesy of The National Museum of Anthropology, INAH, National Institute of Anthropology and History © Estate of Leonora Carrington / VISDA. Unknown photographer

Leonora Carrington, The Giantess (The Guardian of the Egg), 1947. Private collection © Estate of Leonora Carrington / VISDA. Unknown photographer

Leonora Carrington, Green Tea (The Oval Lady), 1942. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift from Drue Heinz Trust (exchange) 2019 © Estate of Leonora Carrington / VISDA. Unknown photographer

Sketches by Rubens at the Bonnat-Helleu Museum in Bayonne

 Bilbao Fine Arts Museum 

9/28/22 - 1/22/23

Complete article

Sketches for Torre de la Parada

Apollo and Daphne

Apollo fell in love with Daphne after he was hit by an arrow shot by Cupid. He pursued her, mad with desire, and almost caught her. The terrified girl implored her father—a river god—to save her, and he turned her into a laurel tree (Ovid, Metamorphoses, book I). Thereafter, Apollo had to be just by wearing leaves from this tree as a crown.

The vertical line marking the central axis of the composition is similar to many others found in the sketches in this series. Just as he did in the majority of paintings in this series, Rubens outsourced the painting itself to another artist, in this case Theodoor van Thulden (the painting belongs to the Museo del Prado).

Cupid and Psyche

The famous story of Cupid and Psyche is part of the Metamorphoses by the second-century writer and philosopher Apuleius (also known as The Golden Ass). Psyche stopped loving Cupid when she realised that he had been spying on her—she was awoken by a drop of hot oil that dripped from his candle. Rubens depicts the moment just before this incident, when the girl was still wallowing in the peerless beauty of the god of love and desire. Despite the tricks designed by the jealous Venus, the two lovers reunited.

By wisely alternating zones that are more or less opaque in the layer of brown paint surrounding the figures, Rubens contributes to the sense of spatial Depth.

Scylla and Glaucus

The story of the sea god Glaucus and his desire for Scylla is recounted in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (book XIV), just like the majority of myths that Rubens painted for Torre de la Parada. Seeking the woman’s love, Glaucus enlisted the help of the goddess Circe, who made his pain eternal because she was in love with him.

On the right, several dogs are attacking Scylla, who has her arms raised, just before she is turned into another animal. Glaucus is watching the scene, horrified at the loss of the woman he had been trying to seduce.

Hercules Discovering Purple

The story is told by the Greek Julius Pollux in his Onomasticon (book I), written in the second century. While walking with his owner along a beach in Tyre, Hercules’ dog bit a mollusc shell and stained his lips purple. This is how the most valuable dye in the ancient world, especially during the Roman period, was discovered. The city of Tyre, currently in Lebanon, is depicted in the background. The purple from this source was particularly prized.

The paint in whitish and earthen tones is thicker on the left side of the scene, which Rubens outlined with a black line drawn with pencil t the loss of the woman he had been trying to seduce. Bayonne, musée Bonnat-Helleu.

Pan and Syrinx

The hypersexual god of Arcadia, Pan, combines the features of a human and a goat. In this scene, inspired by the verses in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (book I), he libidinously and violently approaches the nymph Syrinx, who flees from him and plunges into the Ladon River. Syrinx implores the river nymphs to turn into cattail reeds to save her, which they did. Pan made his syrinx, or flute, from these reeds.

The numerous vertical lines underlying the entire composition (they are particularly visible in the upper left-hand corner) are the marks left by a thick brush used to give the board a tone before painting the scene. Rubens left this type of line visible in many of his sketches.

Selene (or Diana) and Endymion

The Greek Moon goddess Selene’s (sometimes identified with the goddess Diana) love of Endymion made Zeus jealous. When the goddess asked him to make the handsome man eternally young, Zeus instead made him fall into eternal slumber. The story is recounted by the Archaic poet Sappho, as well as other sources. Sappho’s work often inverts the male and female roles, as the goddesses seek to seduce or violate different men.

Rubens enlivened the surface of the board with the vigorous movement of his paintbrush. The goddess’s gesture makes her pain credible. On the upper right-hand part, we can see the marks of a stick that the painter used to scratch the still-wet paint on the area where he dragged it. Bayonne, musée Bonnat-Helle.

Sketch for Eucharist series

Rubens painted this sketch in preparation for one of the four series of tapestries that he designed throughout his lifetime, the Eucharist series. The commission came from Isabel Clara Eugenia, for whom Rubens worked as a court painter and diplomat. The theme of the series is the glorification of the mystery of the Eucharist, expressed here by a scene from the Old Testament in which the angel provides food and drink to the prophet Elijah. Several religious texts (including Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica) interpreted this biblical story as a foreshadowing of the Eucharist.

Rubens’ helpers used this sketch to make a large painting (cartoon) on which the tapestry weavers based their work. The scene was envisioned as a tapestry hanging from columns, trompe l’oeil style. The columns were repainted by an artist after Rubens, perhaps because he barely outlined them.