Best Wishes for 2013

Wishing you good health and happiness in 2013 -

Happy New Year!

Bonne Année!

Sretna Nova Godina!

¡Feliz año nuevo!

New York Arts Exchange

Last Call: Sakai Hoitsu at Japan Society through Jan 6

Sakai Hoitsu, Persimmon Tree, late autumn 1816

Two panel screen, ink and color on paper, 56 1/2 x 85 inches

Rogers Fund 1957 (57.156.3), Metropolitan Museum of Art

Several years ago I sent a holiday card with a detail from this beautiful screen by Edo Period (1615-1868) artist Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1828).  I was thrilled to find the whole composition at the current retrospective Silver Wind: The Art of Sakai Hoitsu, on view at Japan Society, 333 East 47th St,  through January 6th.

Please take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity to see so many exceptional works by Hoitsu, the son of a wealthy and powerful samurai family who became an ordained Buddhist monk in 1797,  after enjoying a highly refined education at home in Edo. As a monk he lived in seclusion in Kyoto and then returned in Edo in 1809.  His extensive study of art includes the ukiyo-e style, the nanga style and the school of Korin (having been inspired by Ogata Korin, 1658-1716).  He revived the Korin School, also known as Rinpa. 

Persimmon Tree is owned by the Metropolitan Museum.  Most of the works come from other collections, both public and private. Each work features rhythmic mastery and intoxicating tranquility.  Plan to spend a while here to relax and savor the occasion.

The exhibition also includes works by his follower Suzuki Kiitsu (1796-1858), such as this screen you may recognize comes from the Met too.

Suzuki Kiitsu, Morning Glories, Edo Period, 19th century,

 Pair of six folding screens, ink, color and gold on gilded paper

70 3/16 x 149 inches, Seymour Fund 1954 (54.69. 1, 2)

Please remember that I'll be in the Met cafeteria on Monday, December 31 (yes, the Met is open tomorrow) at 12:30 pm to talk about the NYAE tours in 2013.  We will also bid a fond farewell to Andy and the "gang."

Dewa mata,

Beth New York

aka Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com 

Celebrating The Brooklyn Museum

Mickalene Thomas (American, b. 1971). Din, une très belle négresse #2, 2012. 

Rhinestones, acrylic paint, and oil enamel on wood panel, 102 x 84 x 2 in. (259.1 x 213.4 x 5.1 cm). 

Private Collection, Boston. Courtesy of the artist, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York,

 and Suzanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects. 

© Mickalene Thomas, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York,

 and Suzanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects. Photo by Christopher Burke Studio

 We are off to the Brooklyn Museum on Wednesday, January 2, 2013.

There, we will tour the current show Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe, which closes on January 20th.  We will also contribute to Yoko Ono's Wish Tree (closing January 6th) and visit Judy Chicago's Dinner Party, 1974-1979 (on permanent view in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Wing).

I recently found this video of Professor Linda Nochlin, one of the greatest art historians on the planet, as she accepted a Sackler First Award on April 12, 2012.  Professor Nochlin reminisces about the important role the Brooklyn Museum played in her childhood in Brooklyn. Here is her brief speech: 

   

Please join us at the Brooklyn Museum to ring in the new year - a year dedicated to re-discovering New York's wonderful museums and galleries.

Reservations at nyarts.exchange@verizon.net. Fee: $60 (this is the last tour of the Fall Season series)

We will meet at Grand Central Station at 11 am, right in front of the information booth, and take the subway together.  If you would like to meet me at the museum, please let me know.  We should arrive in Brooklyn about 12 noon.   The tour will end at 3 pm in Brooklyn. 

In the meantime, please share with us your fondest memories of museums.  Do you remember your first museum experience?   Please post your answer here.

Vive les musées,

Beth New York   
aka Beth Gersh-Nesic
Director
New York Arts Exchange
www.nyarts-exchange.com 

Last Call: Andy Warhol and his Gang at the Met

Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987). Self-Portrait, 1967.

 Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas,, 72 x 72 in. (182.9 x 182.9 cm).

 Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Friends of Modern Art Fund.

 © 2012 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), 

New York

Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years closes on Monday, December 31, 2012 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Two things to note:

1. It's a Monday.  The Met is open this Monday: New Year's Eve Day.

2. It's a great way to ring out the old year before imbibing in the bubbly.

Please join me on Monday, December 31 at 12:30 pm in the cafeteria at the Met to discuss the show and future events offered by the New York Arts Exchange.  I'll be in our usual spot: at a table in the back area.  We'll share our lunch and then bid farewell to Andy and his Gang.

BTW: in  the first gallery of Regarding Warhol, you will find Before and After, 1961

Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987). Before and After I, 1961. 

Casein on canvas, 68 x 54 in. (172.7 x 137.2 cm). 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Halston, 1981 (1981.536.1).

 © 2012 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), 

New York

In my review of The Deconstructive Impulse, I featured Deborah Kass's appropriation of this work, which is now in her show at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh through January 6, 2013.   

Here is the website for Deborah Kass: Before and Happily Ever After

Deborah Kass, Before and Happily Ever After, 1991

May the new year be Happily Ever After too.

Cheers,

Beth New York

aka Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com

Merry Christmas

Rosso Fiorentino 1494-1540) , Musical Angel, c. 1522 (part of a lost altarpiece)

Tempera on wood, 15 x 18 1/2 inches, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence*

Merry Christmas - May your yuletide be bright!

John Williams plays Vivaldi's Concerto in D Major in 2007

Happy Holidays from the New York Arts Exchange!

*For more information about Rosso Fiorentino and the Musical Angel, please visit Google Art Project

Gift yourself and others - Shop in Museums

Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1895

Pastel on Board,

The Munch Museum/The Munch-Ellingsen Group/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

on view at the Museum of Modern Art through April 29, 2013

If you are still slogging through your Christmas list, please consider purchasing your special something in a museum shop where some of the most exciting and unusual gifts can be found.

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Museum of Modern Art
Guggenheim Museum
Museum of Art and Design
Whitney Museum
Asia Society
Japan Society
Morgan Library and Museu
Frick Museum
New York Public Library
El Museo del Barrio
The Brooklyn Museum
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers
Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT

(And don't forget to indulge yourself too.)

For post-Christmas bargain hunters (like me), please join us for January tours:

January 2 - The Brooklyn Museum, meeting at Grand Central Station at 11 am.  (last of the Fall Series)

January 9 - Kim de Beaumont guides us through the 18th century galleries at the Met, 1 pm.

January 16 - "Picasso Black and White" at the Guggenheim, 1 pm.

Reservations: nyarts.exchange@verizon.net.  Fee: $60 each

Happy Shopping,
Beth New York

aka Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.
Director
New York Arts Exchange
www.nyarts-exchange.com

Back to the Met

Henri Matisse, Still Life with Purro (Porron), 1904

Today's tour of the New York Arts Exchange group takes us back to the Matisse exhibition to finish the last few rooms.  We were so engrossed in the first half that we decided to stop at the end of the two hours and return on December 19th.  This opportunity to see several Matisse paintings and drawings arranged by theme presents a rare occasion to study various versions in person.

I recently received a question about the Still Life with Purro.  What is a purro?  Is is a Spanish porrón.

El Porrón - The Spanish Wine Pitcher

For more on the porron, please visit About.com: Spanish Food

Feliz Novidad,

Beth New York

aka Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com 

Action Beyond Words

Dear friends,

Thank you so much for responding to the last blog post, which asked for action after the terrifying murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Thank you for sending petitions to me.  If you have not signed a petition, please feel free to contact me for suggestions.
Here is one petition posted on the White House Petition on Gun Control

Please continue to share petitions and information.
"One Voice Can Change the World."  Each of us must stay involved.

Our blog will return to news on art later today - our thoughts remain with the families of Newtown,

Beth New York

aka. Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.
Director
New York Arts Exchange
www.nyarts-exchange.com 

Homeland Terrorism

Victoria (Vicki) Soto, first grade teacher,  Sandy Hook Elementary School, age 27.

Mary Sherlach, psychologist, Sandy Hook Elementary School, age 56

Dawn Hochsprung, principal, Sandy Hook Elementary School

Is there any person who has heard of the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, past feeling anger and sadness today?  I hope not.

How can we, citizens of the US, continue to let this violence occur in our country?   What could we have done to prevent these murders?  When will our governments (federal and local) recognize that these events are acts of domestic terrorism (for indeed this incident has terrorize a community, a nation and a world that has seen too many individuals use arms against private citizens)?

We need legislation.  We need a groundswell of activism.  We need each other to make this kind of danger disappear.

Please seek out and sign petitions against domestic violence, freedom to carry weapons, and homeland terrorism in our nation.  Please ask for laws that can restrict or outlaw ownership of guns at home.   (To the NRA: why not set up rental offices that control the use of firearms through ID, licences, breath-olizers, and so forth, for your hunting - not that I approve of this sport, but I understand your freedoms too).  

We must stop the madness.  We all must act to save lives.

Our gratitude goes out to all the teachers, school staff and first-responders who knew the drill.  They were courageous and selfless in their dedication.

May all who have suffered losses and trauma accept our heartfelt sympathy.

Your neighbors in New York and Connecticut 

The New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com 

Last Call: Baryshnikov's Collection at ABA Gallery

Leon Bakst, Un Augure (An Oracle/Soothsayer), 1911

Watercolor, 21 3/8 x 11 1/2 inches

Collection of Mikhail Baryshnikov

Courtesy of ABA Gallery, New York

Quick - before it closes on Saturday, December 15 -  run to ABA Gallery (7 East 17th Street)  for a rare opportunity to see "The Art I Have Lived With: Collection of Mikhail Baryshnikov."  Baryshnikov is known to audiences as an outstanding artist in his own right: dancer, choreographer, actor, photographer, and director of the Baryshnikov Art Center (BAC).  

Here you will find the incomparable beauty of watercolors and paintings by artists and designers for the theater.  Among the best known of the early twentieth century are the designers for the Ballets Russes: Leon Bakst, Alexandre Benois, Christian Bérard  and Jean Cocteau.   My favorite find was a fabulous sketch of Sergei Diaghilev and Vaslav Njinsky by Jean Cocteau, who created the infamous modern ballet Parade for the Ballets Russes in 1917 (collaborating with Pablo Picasso, Eric Satie and Léonide Massine).

The hours of the gallery are 12 to 5 pm.

A snippet from Parade with commentary.

What delicious sugarplums to dance in front of our heads.

If you are not able to visit ABA Gallery before the exhibition closes, please visit their website to view highlights of the Baryshnikov collection.

Dasvidanya,

Beth New York

aka. Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director
New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com

Matisse tomorrow, but first - go shopping in Amsterdam

Please join us at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to savor the exhibition Matisse: In Search of True Painting.  We will certainly talk about this fabulous Fauve's extraordinary palette and also about his iconography.
Wednesday, December 12 (12 -12 -12), at 1 pm.
Tours a la carte: $60.
Please confirm your reservation: nyarts.exchange@verizon.net 


But before you scoot out the door, imagine shopping in this "beehive" in Amsterdam:

This video brings a whole new meaning to "shop-portunity."  Bijenhorf (beehive) is a fashionable chain of stores in The Netherlands.

Tot ziens (see you soon),
Beth New York

aka Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.
Director
New York Arts Exchange
www.nyarts-exchange.com

Masako Inkyo's Illumination opens at Onishi Gallery on December 13

Masako Inkyo, Illumination, 2012

Perfect for the season that celebrates the rebirth of light, master Shodo artist Masako Inkyo brings us her beautiful interpretations of classic Japanese literature in her new show Ilumination, opening at Onishi Gallery, 521 West 26th Street, on Thursday, December 13th, from 6 to 8 pm. The exhibition continues through December 22, 2012.

Ms. Inkyo's hand appears in the Infiniti advertisements.  Here is a YouTube of one performance at Japan Society, where Ms. Inkyo offers classes:

Congratulations, Masako, a member of our New York Arts Exchange faculty.  

We look forward to seeing you and your new works on Thursday.

Beth New York

aka Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com 

Happy Hanukah

Hanukah Greetings to you and yours.  May we all celebrate religious freedom, tolerance and the goodness of light.  L'chaim!

The Story of Hanukah 

From all of us at the New York Arts Exchange
www.nyarts-exchange.com

Are you in Miami? Your virtual visit to Miami Basel

William Beckman, The Bull Series, #7, 2009

charcoal on paper, 90 x 151 inches

The art hordes have arrived in Miami to attend numerous art fairs that challenge those lacking robust art appetites.  Forum Gallery sent me this photograph of William Beckman's impressive charcoal drawing in their email announcement, which seems comical given the context.  I imagine the whole scene in Miami feels like raging bulls stampeding the pavilions, creating this enormous crowd press that is so unsuitable for enjoying art.   Give me a quiet museum or gallery exhibition any day.   

For those of you who are reading this blog anywhere other than Miami - count your blessings.  Here are a few websites that offer an insiders' view as you perch outside in comfort.

Links to pictures, blogs and videos: 

Art Daily

Blouin's Art Info

Art in America

Video of Arne Glimcher, founder and chairman of Pace Gallery, talking about Rothko, Minimalism and Beyond.

 

Tour of the week for New York Arts Exchange: Matisse at the Met!

Join us on Wednesday, December 12 at 1 pm.

Tours a la carte: $60

Reservations: nyarts.exchange@verizon.net

So happy to be home -

Beth New York

aka Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com

Toledo Updates Manet's Gare St. Lazare

Edouard Manet, The Railway Station (Gare St. Lazare), 1873.

Would that we could beam to Toledo, Ohio in order to see the Toledo Museum of Art's exhibition Manet: Portraying Life, closing on January 1, 2013.   Here is the website: Toledo Museum of Art 
And here is a charming video that update's Manet's Railway Station, aka Gare St. Lazare.




Bonne Journée

Beth New York

aka Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.
Director
New York Arts Exchange
www.nyarts-exchange.com

This Week's Tour: Ellen K. Levy's Studio

Ellen Levy, from the video Stealing Attention, 2009, 

Courtesy of Michael Steinberg Gallery, as seen the Brooklyn Rail.

This week's art tour takes us to Ellen K. Levy's studio for an exclusive conversation with this brilliant artist.

Ellen creates art that delves into Complexity Theory:  the overlapping of various sciences, technology, culture, cognition and art.  In her interview with the Brooklyn Rail, Levy describes her recent projects which investigate these areas of study.

"In my art I explore complex relationships between nature and culture by building a dialogue between the handmade and the technological. I draw inspiration from a range of inventions, including plans to generate unseen forces of energy or to shape living matter. I initially select images and text of patented inventions from digital archives that highlight the convergence of economic and political interests. I alter these minimal black-and-white diagrams through re-drafting and computer programs. Then I cut, displace, glue, and paint over the printed paper surface, engaging the materials and underlying wood support as significant visual components. I paint new images over the surface, taking cues from the inventors' descriptions and titles. In so doing, each public document becomes a unique work of art "

Here is her interview with the Brooklyn Rail.

The New York Arts Exchange group will meet between 12:30 and 1 pm.  Our tour begins at 1 pm sharp.

Please confirm your reservation in order to receive information about our meeting place.

Tour fee: $60 a la carte.

Ellen K. Levy will also moderate a panel on "Neuroscience and the Arts: Shared Interfaces" at Location One, 26 Green Street, NYC, on Tuesday, December 11 at 7 pm.   This is an opportunity to hear artists address the interrelationship of the body, mind, consciousness, neuroscience and art. 

Beth New York

aka Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com 

Lane: Revolutionary Art at Coohaus, November 29-December 12

LANE, Cultural Revisionism 1-326, 2012

Courtesy of the artist

LANE (aka Stephen Lane) deals in "time-based materiality, where items such as a bus ticket and diary writings from the era of the Cultural Revolution carry a myriad of associations, which -- in combination with the artist’s writings on art theory -- forms a partial visual language of the artwork."

Please join me to celebrate the installation of  Cultural Revisionism 1-326 at Coohaus Gallery, 547 West 27th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues (Chelsea), on Thursday, December 6, from 6 to 8 pm.  

The exhibition opened on November 29 and continues through December 12.

I look forward to seeing you there - 

Beth New York

aka Beth Gersh-Nesic

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com 

Paul Werner's Tours of Bernini: Sculpting in Clay at the Met, Dec. 12 and 13

New York Arts Exchange faculty member Dr. Paul Werner says:

 

"You might get the wrong idea from the dab of clay on the bridge of the nose of Saint Jerome; that is, on the original clay model built by Bernini for his figure of Jerome as it now stands at the back of Saint Peter's, in Rome. The dab of clay may appear gratuitous, or spontaneous, or private: it's the posture of being all three..."

"Bernini. Sculpting in Clay." at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Dr. Werner's Review:
http://theorangepress.com/woid/woid20/woidxx36.html

Reserve a place with The Orange Press:
Private Tours of the Exhibition: Thursday, December 13, 10:00 am & Saturday, December 15, 11:00 am.
http://theorangepress.com/events/index.html#Berninitour

Bernini: Sculpting in Clay continues through January 6, 2013.

Beth New York

aka Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com  

Malcolm D. MacDougall III: Parallel Worlds, extended to January 12

Malcolm D. MacDougall III, Rhizomes, 2010

Stainless Steel and Cast Bronze, 84" x 48" x 24"

Courtesy of the Artist

Today, 287 Spring Gallery and Performance Space announced that their current exhibition, Malcolm D. MacDougall III: Parallel Worlds, has been extended to Saturday, January 12, 2013.  A closing reception will take place on Friday, January 11 from 6-9 pm.  
Address: 287 Spring Street, NYC 10013 (between Varick and Hudson Streets).

Malcolm D. MacDougall III, Parallel Worlds of Truth and Illusion, 2009

Cast Bronze and Steel, 42" x 26" x 16"

Courtesy of the Artist

MacDougall's enormous Microscopic Landscape, 2010, remains on view through January 2013.
(Seen here on Purchase College campus.)

For more information about MacDougall's work, please read my review of his work posted on About.com: Art History.  Or, better yet, purchase the exhibition catalog.  It's $20, available at 287 Spring Gallery. (I wrote the catalog essay and curated the show.)  

Please contact curator Ivan Savvine to order a copy by mail: info@287spring.com

Also visit Malcolm MacDougall's website, where you will see more of his fabulous sculptures and an exciting video about his process.

Beth New York

aka Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com