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"Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature"
Thursday, June 29, 2023
Antonio Petruccelli: Rediscovering a Modernist
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Rembrandt: True to Life Updated
The exhibition follows the evolution of Rembrandt’s work from his early years in Leiden in the 1620s through to his final years in Amsterdam in the 1660s. This significant breadth of work allows audiences to appreciate the inventive ways in which Rembrandt approached his subject matter, his brilliant re-imagining of biblical subjects, his profoundly expressive style, and the development of psychological complexity in narrative scenes and portraits.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is Rembrandt’s printmaking. Rembrandt was the first artist to comprehensively explore the possibilities of etching and it is through his prints that audiences can fully appreciate the breadth and depth of his work.
The exhibition contextualises Rembrandt’s prints through important loans from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and the Teylers Museum in Haarlem. Displayed in thematic groups of portraits, religious motifs, landscapes, nudes, and scenes of everyday life, the prints and paintings tell the story of a remarkable artist and his creative skills.
One of the highlights is the iconic painting, Self-Portrait, 1659, which comes exclusively to Melbourne from the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Painted three years after Rembrandt declared bankruptcy, the painting shows the artist at the age of fifty-three. At this difficult time in Rembrandt’s life, he depicts himself with unrelenting honesty and profound psychological insight. Throughout his life Rembrandt made around eighty self-portraits, and ten of his etched self-portraits are shown throughout the exhibition, tracing the artist’s self-image over a thirty-year period, culminating in this masterpiece of Rembrandt’s expressive late painting style.
Another section of the exhibition examines the nude, the study of which was part of every artist’s training during the period. Rembrandt did not idealise figures according to classical proportions; instead, he placed primary importance on working naer het leven (from life).
In the etching Diana at the bath, c. 1631, he challenges the conventional representation of mythological goddesses. In this work, Diana, goddess of the hunt, is not a distant classical beauty, but an unidealised figure drawn from everyday life. A later critic described Rembrandt as ‘the first heretic of art’ because of his uncompromising realism.
The exhibition also features Rembrandt’s landscapes. His ability to capture the transitory qualities of light and air is unprecedented in the medium of etching.
The three trees, 1643, is Rembrandt’s largest and most evocative landscape etching. The sky, with its massed clouds, diagonal passages of rain and bursts of light, creates a sense of drama. The heroic presence of the three trees carries moral overtones, and an analogy has been drawn with the three crosses of Calvary, where Christ was crucified between the two thieves.
The Hundred Guilder Print, c. 1648, is one of Rembrandt’s best known and most ambitious etchings. It combines several passages from the Gospel of St Matthew, bringing together a diverse group of people who gather around Christ, including the rich and the poor, young and old. The work is a technical masterpiece in its detailed rendering of figures, space and atmosphere. It is the culmination of the artist’s longstanding fascination with light and shade, which he explored in print and paint. In 1649, an impression of the print was sold for the exorbitant sum of 100 guilders, the price of a quality painting, which gave the etching its name.
The exhibition includes Rembrandt’s two largest prints,
The three crosses, 1653, and
Christ presented to the people: oblong plate, 1655 – each of these is presented in two different ‘states’. Rembrandt made continuous adjustments to take this image through a number of ‘states’ or changes. These works were completely transformed in the process, as Rembrandt added new elements that give the later impressions a different emphasis and mood. Seeing early and late states of these large-scale works side by side shows the artist’s ambition and his restless creative spirit.
The exhibition also features a small recreation of the artist’s Wunderkammer – or cabinet of curiosities – inspired by Rembrandt’s own collection of prints and drawings, shells and rare natural objects, musical instruments, weapons and exotic artefacts. Rembrandt often drew creative and artistic inspiration from the items in his collection, in particular for his biblical subjects, which are set in far-away places. Drawn from the NGV Collection, as well as the Melbourne Museum and the State Library of Victoria, the objects represent the exotic imports and luxury items that were traded in Amsterdam during the mid-seventeenth century.
During the exhibition, the NGV will seek to deepen its acclaimed Rembrandt collection through an appeal to acquire the important print Abraham Francen, Apothecary c. 1657. The work is an etched portrait from late in the artist’s career of his close friend Abraham Francen, a stalwart supporter of Rembrandt during his financial difficulties. Francen was also a passionate collector, like Rembrandt, and is shown in his chamber surrounded by objects in his collection. This etching provides a rare glimpse into the environment of the cultivated collector in 17th century Amsterdam. The work will also be included in the exhibition.
As part of the NGV Scholars Series, an exclusive talk by world-leading Dutch art expert Dr Marjorie E. (Betsy) Wieseman, Curator and Head of the Department of Northern European Paintings at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. will be held on 31 July. Dr Wieseman will use examples from the NGV’s extensive holdings of Rembrandt work to contextualise the most recent scholarship on the seventeenth-century Dutch master.
Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV, said: ‘The NGV is home to the most important collection of works by Rembrandt in the Southern Hemisphere and this NGV-exclusive exhibition celebrates one of our major strengths: our outstanding print collection. Rembrandt was a master printmaker and his experimentation in the medium reveals his insatiable curiosity and sheer versatility as an artist.’
Bonhams Old Master Paintings 5 Jul 2023
London – The gardens of the Villa Medici in Rome have become known for their fragrance. In certain months, the lemon trees, lavender and oregano flowers, mix with woody aroma of the nearby cedars and the fragrance of the ancient stones in the heat of the sun. The changing of the seasons is particularly felt, making Allegory of the months of March and April, with the Villa Medici – which is amongst the highlights of Bonhams Old Master Paintings on sale on Wednesday 5 July at New Bond Street, London – particularly apt. Attributed to Sebastian Vrancx (Antwerp 1573-1647) the work has an estimate of £100,000 - £150,000.
Lisa Greaves, Head of Bonhams' Old Master Painting Department, commented: "Allegory of the months of March and April, with the Villa Medici most likely formed part of six paintings, each illustrating two consecutive months of the year, which were acquired by William Smith in Rome in 1626, on behalf of Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel. Their imagery derived from the calendars of medieval Books of Hours in which the evolving year was captured in changing seasonal activities of both agricultural labourers and their leisured masters. The work in our Bonhams sale is particularly impressive, capturing the turning of the seasons in a way that almost transports you to a past time outside the Villa Medici."
Writing in the current issue of Bonhams Magazine, Susan Moore, notes: "Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel was arguably the most illustrious collector and patron of the arts Britain has ever known. He amassed every form of art, including a peerless collection of Old Master drawings, exceptional paintings, and classical Greek and Roman sculpture and gems...As the prints made after this particular series suggest, they had been commissioned from the highly successful painter, printmaker, and draughtsman Paul Bril (c.1554-1626)."
Other highlights of the sale include:
• Jan Brueghel the Elder (Brussels 1568-1625 Antwerp), Hendrick van Balen (Antwerp 1575-1632) and Denis van Alsloot (Malines 1570-1628 Brussels), Orpheus charming the animals. Estimate: £100,000 - £150,000.
Simon Vouet (Paris 1590-1649) Portrait of a young man, bust-length, in a ruff, presumably a portrait of the artist (together with an engraving of Simon Vouet by Ottavio Leoni, unframed (2) ). Estimate: £60,000 - £80,000
• Attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (Bruges 1561-1635 London), Portrait of a girl, half-length, in an embroidered dress with yellow lace, holding a cat, within a painted oval. Estimate: £50,000 - £70,000.
• Bartolomé del Castro (active Palencia, first half of 16th Century), Scenes from the Life of Saint John the Baptist: The Baptism of Christ; John the Baptist in the wilderness; and Salome Asking Herod for the Head of Saint John the Baptist. Estimate: £60,000 - £80,000.
• Vincenzo Leonardi (Rome 1589-1657), Study of a purple heron (Ardea purpurea). Estimate: £25,000 - £35,000.
• Wenceslaus Hollar (Prague 1607-1677 London), View of Strasbourg from the northeast. Estimate: £6,000 - £8,000.
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
JOSEPH STELLA: VISIONARY NATURE
BRANDYWINE MUSEUM OF ART
June 17–September 24, 2023This summer, the Brandywine Museum of Art will present the first major museum exhibition dedicated to the exquisite, nature-based works of pioneering American modernist painter Joseph Stella (1877-1946). On view June 17 through September 24, 2023, Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature will feature more than 80 paintings and works on paper revealing the breadth of the artist’s multi-faceted practice and his complex response to the spiritual qualities he felt in nature. The exhibition was initiated by the Brandywine and co-organized with the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA.
Stella is best known for the series of dynamic, Futurist-inspired paintings of New York that launched his career—specifically of the Brooklyn Bridge and Coney Island—created between 1913-1920. As this exhibition will reveal, he also created exuberant depictions of organic form for over three decades. His subjects included bold, stylized compositions featuring exotic plants and birds, religious works incorporating elaborate floral motifs, and tropical fantasies inspired by visits to North Africa and Barbados. Stella experimented with media ranging from silverpoint to watercolor to oil. His close observation and spiritual responses to nature shaped a poetically transcendent body of work that combines elements of realism and fantasy.
“We are thrilled to co-organize the first major exhibition of Joseph Stella’s work since 1994, and the first that focuses exclusively on the artist’s work inspired by natural forms. Visionary Nature explores the context for this body of work—the artist’s inspirations, and the sources and stylistic influences behind their creation. As one half of an organization that includes the Brandywine Conservancy, the Museum is particularly attuned to artists who are inspired by nature, ranging from the landmark 2015 show devoted to Charles Burchfield to the four contemporary artists included in our recent Fragile Earth exhibition,” said Thomas Padon, the James H. Duff Director of the Brandywine Museum of Art. “By assembling the best of his work from private and museum collections across the country, we are delighted to reintroduce the breadth of Joseph Stella’s thrilling artistic vision to our visitors,” he added.
Born in a small town in the mountains of southern Italy, Stella immigrated to New York in 1896. He briefly attended medical school before studying with William Merritt Chase at the New York School of Art and Shinnecock Summer School of Art, from 1898 through 1901. Stella returned to Italy in 1909, spending the next several years in Europe and eventually making his way to Paris in 1912, where he was first exposed to the artistic strategies of Cubism, Futurism and Dada art. After his arrival back in New York in 1913, Stella established a reputation as a leading avant-garde artist whose work conveyed the energy of the city and modern life. Stella’s most enduring acclaim came from his Cubist/Futurist body of work inspired by the Brooklyn Bridge. By 1919, however, a nostalgia for what he recalled as the “blue distances of my youth in Italy” and a visceral feeling of being suffocated by New York led Stella to turn away from urban imagery towards forms found in nature.
Visionary Nature begins with works that demonstrate how Stella’s exposure to Cubism, Futurism and Dadaism impacted his earliest nature-based subjects. Experimenting with color and materials, the artist produced luminous floral paintings on glass and employed natural materials like leaves and tree bark in innovative collages. The exhibition continues with a selection of Stella’s silverpoint renderings of botanical form—a medium and subject that would engage him his entire career. Next is a selection of work that grew out of Stella’s recurrent trips back to Italy after 1921, revealing a continued visual and metaphorical exploration of his roots. These paintings are light-filled landscapes with fulsome, often highly stylized flora and fauna; some even feature oversized Madonna figures—a direct reference to the liturgical traditions of his youth.
Included also are studies of plants and flowers inspired by Stella’s frequent visits to the New York Botanical Gardens and the elaborate, operatic compositions—full of drama and movement—that emerged from those visits, as well as his travels to Italy, North Africa and Barbados. “Stella’s 1937 journey to Barbados profoundly resonated with him, and he wrote ecstatically of its beauty and how it reinvigorated and inspired him,” said Audrey Lewis, Associate Curator at the Brandywine Museum of Art and co-curator of the exhibition. When Stella’s health began to suffer around 1940, however, he turned inward, creating small, exquisite silverpoints of flowers in his studio. These works would remain Stella’s focus until his death in 1946.
Cataloguue
Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, published by the Brandywine and the High Museum of Art, featuring essays by Stephanie Heydt, the High’s Margaret and Terry Stent curator of American art and lead exhibition curator; Ara H. Merjian, professor of Italian studies at New York University; Ellen Roberts, curator of American art at the Norton Museum of Art, where the exhibition previously traveled; Karli Wurzelbacher, Heckscher Museum of Art curator; and an annotated timeline by the Brandywine’s Audrey Lewis.
The Brandywine will be the final stop for this exhibition, which previously traveled to the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, FL, and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA. Lead sponsorship is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation with major support from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art. At Brandywine, the exhibition is made possible with support from Chase and Cooper Robertson.
Monday, June 26, 2023
Christie's 20TH / 21ST CENTURY: LONDON EVENING SALE
Giovanna Bertazzoni, Vice Chairman, 20th / 21st Century Art Department, Christie’s: “The vibrant summer season in London convenes collectors from across the globe as we celebrate the city’s truly unique cultural dynamism. Our 20/21 sales and exhibitions always create new dialogues between artists and movements. This year, as we celebrate the long-awaited re-opening of the National Portrait Gallery, we are delighted to join London’s many public and private institutions echoing the National Portrait Gallery’s mission and endeavour. Through the Selfhood exhibition and the Evening Sale, featuring portraiture from across the 20th and 21st centuries, we are proud to play a pivotal role in the capital’s cultural eco-system.”
- Christie’s June season of 20/21 sales offers selected works that respond to the strength and energy of the market for a diverse range of artists, as recently witnessed throughout our global series of 20/21 auctions:
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- Calanque des Canoubiers (Pointe de Bamer), Saint-Tropez (1896, estimate, £5,500,000-8,000,000) is a leading highlight of the June season, reflecting the strong demand for Paul Signac, as seen in the record result achieved by Christie’s for Concarneau, calme du matin (Opus no. 219, larghetto) in Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection in New York in November of last year.
- Works by Jean-Michel Basquiat continue to ignite global interest, with his works leading Christie’s recent 20/21 sales in both New York and Hong Kong. His iconic portrait of Pablo Picasso, Untitled (Pablo Picasso) (1984), is offered with an estimate of £4,500,000-6,500,000. The painting is a representation of two masters in dialogue and a profound tribute to Picasso’s enduring legacy.
- Lucian Freud’s rare early self-portrait, Portrait of a Man (Self-portrait) (1944, estimate: £1,500,000-2,000,000), its exquisite detail marking his arrival as an artist, is offered at auction for the first time, having recently been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
- Grünes Feld (Green Field) (1969, estimate: £4,000,000-6,000,000) is an early example of Gerhard Richter’s coloured photorealist landscapes. Contemporaneous with his celebrated Wolken (Clouds) and Seestücke (Seascapes), it captures the engagement with German Romanticism that would occupy Richter for the next two decades.
- The pioneering vision of contemporary artists continues to attract clients across the 20/21 auctions in all of our major salerooms, evident in recent record prices and above estimate performances:
- Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Diplomacy I (2009, estimate: £1,000,000-1,500,000) was featured in the recent Tate Britain touring retrospective and is one of three works that represent her first major group compositions, including the current world record, Diplomacy III which sold for $1,950,000 at Christie’s in May 2021.
- Caroline Walker’s Recreation Pavilion (2013, estimate: £150,000-200,000) will highlight the contemporary section of the 20th / 21st Century: London Evening Sale. Her work The Puppeteerwas sold in February by Christie’s in London for £693,000 against a low estimate of £150,000.
- Louis Fratino's work saw strong demand in the May New York sales, and Listening to a conch (2017, estimate: £40,000-60,000) will be the artist’s debut in a Christie’s London Evening Sale.
- Sahara Longe’s life-size Self-Portrait (2021, estimate: £40,000-60,000) is the artist’s debut in a London Evening Sale, coinciding with Longe’s first solo exhibition in the UK.
- Vojtěch Kovařík’s Expulsion from Paradise (2019, estimate: £60,000-80,000) will represent the artist’s debut in a London Evening Sale. Christie’s achieved a record for the artist in New York in May.
- In celebration of London’s National Portrait Gallery re-opening, Christie’s innovative 20/21 London June season celebrates the power of portraiture as the traditional genre is redefined by each generation of artists, across the 20th and 21st centuries:
- The 20th / 21st Century: London Evening Sale brings together intimate and insightful works that represent a survey of portraiture from 1855 to 2021. Artists include Frank Auerbach, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Miriam Cahn, Edgar Degas, Lucian Freud, Howard Hodgkin, Pablo Picasso, and Sahara Longe.
- Presented alongside the auctions this season, Selfhood: Explorations of Being and Becoming in the 20th and 21st Centuries, is a curated selling exhibition focused on art as the expression of self-identity,and featuring works by artists including Tracey Emin, Lucian Freud, Alice Neel and Suzanne Valadon.
- Christie’s is the leading auction house for private collections globally, and our June season features exquisite works from: The Collection of Thomas and Doris Ammann; Living Through Art: An Important Private Collection; Property from the Collection of Dr. Jerome and Mrs. Elizabeth Levy; Property from the Zieseniss Collection; and A Century of Art: The Gerald Fineberg Collection.
- Museum-quality works that have never been offered at auction before continue to resonate with collectors across all of our salerooms. Gerhard Richter’s Grünes Feld (Green Field) (1969, estimate: £4,000,000-6,000,000), which has been held in a private German collection since 1975, and Pablo Picasso’s Tête de femme (1921, estimate: £700,000-1,000,000) from the Berggruen Family Collection, where it has remained since 1976, are both highlights of the Evening Sale following long-term loans to prestigious European museums.