Last Call: Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity closes on Monday, May 27; New York 1993 closes at the New Museum on Sunday, May 26

Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848–1894) 

Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877 

Oil on canvas; 83 1/2 x 108 3/4 in. (212.2 x 276.2 cm) 

The Art Institute of Chicago, Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is about to close one of its best Impressionism exhibition in years.  That says a lot - as the Met owns some of the most outstanding examples of Impressionism on the planet, thanks to Louisine Havemeyer, whose buddy Impressionist Mary Cassatt gave her an insider's advantage.

However, Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity is something else entirely. Here the curators added display cases full of clothing and accessories from the era, as well as the fashion magazines oozing with au current fashion terminology.  It's all toute Paris among the gauzy muslims and embroidered piqués.  Most of the clothes are similar to the ones depicted in the paintings. One dress, in Albert  Bartholomé's  In the Conservatory (Madame  Bartholomé), c. 1881, is on view.

            

Albert Bartholomé (French, 1848–1928) 

In the Conservatory (Madame Bartholomé), ca. 1881 

Oil on canvas; 91 3/4 x 56 1/8 in. (233 x 142.5 cm) 

Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Gift of the Société des Amis du Musée d'Orsay, 1990

Summer Day Dress Worn by Madame Bartholomé in the Painting In the Conservatory 

French, 1880 

White cotton printed with purple dots and stripes 

Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Gift of the Galerie Charles and André Bailly, 1991

Above all, the exhibition brings together some of the most beloved Impressionist works within a hop-skip-and-jump from each other: Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street: Rainy Day (1877); Claude Monet's Camille (1866) and Jean-Frédéric Bazille's Family Reunion (1867).  These works from Paris, Boston, Chicago, Copenhagen, Bremen, and London join with the Met's collection, including a few Havemeyer donations. 

If you are unable to catch the show before it closes on Monday, you might schedule a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago, the next venue on this grand tour (June 26 through September 22, 2013).

NB:  The Met's Holiday Mondays will end on Memorial Day Weekend.  As of July 1st, the Met will be open all 7 days of the week,  from Monday through Sunday, except on Thanksgiving and Christmas. This new policy follows on the heels of the Museum of Modern Art's, which switched to 7-days of the week on May 1st.  Way to go NYC museums.  Very tourist friendly - and we like that!

The New York Arts Exchange will tour Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity on Wednesday, May 22, beginning at 1 pm in the Grand Hall.  We will also tour the Punk show and view James Nares' video The Street (2011)  Please confirm your reservation at nyarts.exchange@verizon.net

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Closing on Sunday (and never open on Monday), the New Museum's exhibition New York 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star may be this Winter's sleeper.  (That's "may," not "is.")  Typical of the New Museum's art fare, it's a bit edgy in a hipster way (if I understand what "hipster" means - anyone care to help me with that?)  Catch New York 1993 before it's gone and save room for one of those gigantic pastries in the Birdbath Café.

A bientôt,

Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com

LANE Opens at 287 Spring Gallery, May 17 through Saturday, June 1

LANE: Installations, Paintings and Works on Paper Vol. 64-200

May 17 - June 1, 2013:

LANE : Installations, Paintings and Works on Paper Vol. 64-200

Opening Reception: Friday, May 17, 6-9 PM

LANE’S art explores duality of forms and meanings through a combination of paint, canvas, books, political writings and anonymous diaries. In their totality, they present a survey of subtle corridors between representation and abstraction, image and text, as well as individual and collective identities in the East and the West. LANE accumulates elements for his installations from studio locations in New York and Beijing. The artist collects the discarded diaries of workers from the era of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and juxtaposes excerpts from his own writings on these historic and yet forgotten texts. 

Material is key to LANE’S art, not simply because, as representations of concepts and ideas, artworks are material objects, but because LANE’S engagement with the context of his work would be incomplete without equal regard to the formal qualities of the materials and the temporality embedded in them. There is a special currency  to LANE’S art - the ingredients of his works have been redefined and reworked in a manner, whereby echoes of the past and contemporary issues become disconcertingly similar and deeply personal.

This exhibition will travel to the Gallery COEXIST-TOKYO (Tokyo, Japan) on June 15 – July 7, 2013. For more information, please refer to www.coexist-tokyo.com.

              

              

Images and photos courtesy of LANE and Ivan Savvine, Curator, 287 Spring Gallery and Performance Space 

Many, many thanks,  Ivan and LANE -

Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com

It's Shavuot - Let Us Eat Cheesecake and Drink in Art

Mark Podwal, Torah

Today is Shavuot, the holiday which celebrates Moses' receiving of the Torah from God on Mt Sinai.  Jewish or not Jewish, it's a great excuse to eat cheesecake and ice cream, for it is said that King Solomon compared the Torah to milk in the Songs of Songs, 4:11: "Like honey and milk, it lies under your tongue." Therefore, dairy products take center stage during all the festive meals: cheese blintzes, yogurt drenched salads, kugels, etc.

However, Shavuot is not just a day for showing off your favorite cheesecake recipe (or rushing to Juniors), it is a day to honor the best in us all, prescribed and supported by the golden rules that all moral codes share. Today we honor universal morality that inspires mutual kindness and selfless heroism. So, please take a break from the worrisome news that rattles our daily existence and have a huge ice cream sundae, contemplating the goodness in humankind - rather than the other stuff.

Last night, while I was reading my students' term papers, I took a break to watch a new film about Mark Podwal's current exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Prague (now on view at the Centre d'art et de culture - Espace Rachi, in Paris through May 26) and his beautiful textiles created for the Altneuschul, also in Prague. Here is the video:

My Synagogue is in Prague: Picturing Mark Podwal, 

a Czech television documentary about the life and art of Mark Podwal, with English subtitles.

 The 26 minute documentary chronicles Podwal's fascinating involvement with Prague 

and its seven hundred year old synagogue, the Altneuschul. 

The experience was quite moving, as I realized it was the beginning of Shavuot, the night all Jews should spend in the synagogue and pray. I wasn't literally in schul, but I felt transported to Altneuschul in time and space, revisiting a memory of being there many years ago.

Mark Podwal's images will be included in the Museum of Biblical Art's next exhibition, "As Subject ad Object: Contemporary Book Artists Explore the Sacred in Hebrew Texts," June 14 - September 29, 2013

Chag Sameach,
Beth New York

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

Impressionists and Modern Masters Auction Exhibitions and Sales May 7 and May 8

Andre Derain, Madame Matisse, 1905

Spring Fever has finally hit the auction houses with three magnificent collections up for sale on May 7th and May 8th.  This weekend is the best time to feast on these visual banquets with the hope that many works will be snapped up by museums nearby.

Here is a video from Christie's to whet your appetite:

Christie's exhibition dates and hours:
May 4: 10 - 5
May 5: 1 - 5
May 6: 10 - 5
May 7: 10 - 5
May 8: 10 - 12; Sale at 7 pm

The New York Arts Exchange will visit the exhibition on Tuesday, May 7th at 1 pm.  Please make a reservation at nyarts.exchange@verizon.net 
Address: Rockefeller Center at 49th St., between 5th and 6th Avenues.

Amedeo Modigliani, L'Amazone (Woman in a Yellow Jacket), 1909

Click on this preview link to learn more about Modigliani's work featured in Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Masters auction on May 7th.

Sotheby's exhibition dates and hours: 

May 3: 10 - 5

May 4: 10 - 5

May 6: 10 - 5

May 7: 10 - 1; Sale at 7 pm

Address: 1334 York Avenue, between 71st and 72th Streets.

Gustave Loiseau, L'Oise: Morning, 1908

Bonhams exhibition dates and hours:

May 4: 12 - 5

May 5: 12 - 5

May 6: 10 - 7

May 7: 10 - 3; Sale at 3 pm

Address: 680 Madison Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets.

Happy Hunting,

Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com

Last Call: Seismic Shifts and The Annual: 2013 at the National Academy Museum, through May 5

Vik Muniz, Woman Ironing (Isis) and The Gypsy (Magna) 

from the series Pictures of Garbarge, 2008-11

portfolio of 7 chromogenic prints, 30 x 23½ inches , edition of 30

Courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & co., New York; art © Vik muniz/licensed by VaGa, New York, NY

Housed in the former Archer Milton and Anne Hyatt Huntington beaux-arts mansion at 1083 Fifth Avenue between 89th and 90th Streets, the National Academy Museum remains one of the ever-twinkling jewels in New York's treasure chest of art.  Rarely disappointing, these temporary exhibitions should be on everyone's list of must-see art shows every season. Since January 31, Seismic Shifts: 10 Visionary in Contemporary Art and Architecture, features a thrilling collection of works by an international group of artists: Vik Muniz, Bill Viola, Betye Saar, Tom Friedman, Thornton Dial, Wangechi Mutu, Moshe Safdie, Gregg Lynn, Kate Orff and Nick Cave. The online catalog offers a sneak peek of these glorious art works and architectural models/photographs. Among the best known are Brazilian artist Vik Muniz's portraits of garbage pickers in Rio de Janeiro from his documentary Waste Land (2010).  

Here is a link to the film's trailer on YouTube.

Betye Saar, Red Ascension (from RED TIME), 2011

mixed media assemblage, 17½ x 96½ x 3¼ inches

Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery llc, New York, NY

Still going strong, 86-year-old Betye Saar contributed her recent works to Seismic Shifts, installed at the very beginning of the exhibition to emphasize the rich multi-media aspect of this curatorial endeavor.  Saar is known for her vast collection of found or received objects that she embeds into exceptionally imaginative environments.  Her Flight of the Trickster (2012) was created especially for the National Academy's show.  (Composed of layered black handmade paper and other materials, it does not reproduce well as a digital form.)  Here I have included Red Ascension from her RED TIME show which references the bloody journey of Africans to the New World - from slave ships to shackles to emancipation (following the stars to freedom with the underground railroad).

For a preview of Seismic Shifts conducted by curator Marshall Price, click on the embedded video posted below.

Seismic Shifts has been paired with the National Academy's annual exhibition of members.  This year, The Annual: 2013 features works by Julie Heffernan, Faith Ringgold, Judith Shea, Richard Kalina, Robert Kushner, Howardena Pindell, and many, many more.  The National Academy's annual exhibition often rivals the Whitney biannual resume of what's new and noteworthy in contemporary art.  Please click here to see the digital images on the NA website.

The New York Arts Exchange will tour the exhibitions on Wednesday, May 1, meeting in the lobby at 1 pm.  To confirm or make reservations, please contact me at nyarts.exchange@verizon.net 

Best regards,

Beth New York

aka  Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

Last Call: Neil Jenney & Co. at Gagosian Madison Ave through April 27

Neil Jenney, North American Aquatica, 2006-7

Oil on wood in the artist's frame; 31 1/2 x 46 3/4 x 3 1/4 inches

Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery, New York

"Idealism is Unavoidable" - Neil Jenney

Neil Jenney is known for his "bad paintings" of the 1960s and his "good painting" of the 1970s, which were brought together in 1978 at the New Museum in its original space at the New School for Social Research,  Fifth Avenue and 12th Street. The edginess of those early days of the NM may serve as an introduction to the quiet subversiveness of NJ's persona.   He is not your usual Gagosian diva.  Even the decision to curate a show of his own works on one floor and his influences on another, speaks of Jenney's proclivity to counter mainstream trends.  Why not direct the viewer's mind toward considering his influences? And what an assortment: Sally Ross, Truman Egleston, John Duff , Louise Lawler, William Wegman, Thornton Willis and Robert Lobe, among others.

Robert Lobe, Balsam Family, 1993, and Appalachian Trail, 2010

Thornton Willis, A Cubist Painting for Vered, 2001

For more about Jenney's background and career,  visit Gagosian website and read the review in The New York Times

Located at Gagosian Gallery, 980 Madison Avenue,  Works of the Jenney Archive closes Saturday, April 27.

The New York Arts Exchange will tour this show and Aquavella Gallery's The Pop Object (through May 24), on Wednesday, April 24 at 1 pm.   Reservations are still being accepted at nyarts.exchange@verizon.net.  $60 per tour.

Roy Lichtenstein, Still Life with Palette, 1972

Oil and magna on canvas, 60 x 95 5/8 inches, Aquavella Galleries,

Estate of Roy Lichtenstein

Take care,

Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com 

Last Call: Gerri Davis exhibit extended at bridge gallery through April 14

Gerri Davis, Sacrifice of Abraham, 2013

Gerry Davis thinks about point of view: yours, hers and the characters' in her paintings.   In her Sacrifice of Abraham (an interpretation of the Sacrifice of Isaac in the Bible), a colossal biblical father towers over our body, wielding a shiny knife that reflects two youthful blue eyes.  The composition cubistically pictures Abraham positioning himself twice.  He too has his doubts about this ultimate act of faith (Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling).  The terrified expression in the eyes, Isaac's and ours, registers disbelief too.  Is this how it feels to lose trust in an authority figure?   Davis insists on Isaac's point of view, forcing us to imagine the victim's perspective, in the Bible and in real life.

Gerri Davis, Annunciation, 2012

Equally disquieting is Davis' version of the Annunciation, when divine intervention once more strikes terror into the heart of mortal beings.  Again, we witness an ignorant youth caught up in God's plan.  In this case, we are the Archangel Gabriel hovering above as the shadows of our wings fall around the body of the Virgin who lies in bed, transfixed in her state of anxiety.  Awash in eerie colors and weird reflections, Davis' point of view focuses on the vulnerability of a teenage girl, who seems genuinely scared and mystified.  Should she believe this Apparition? 

Both Isaac in the Sacrifice of Abraham and Mary in Annunciation seem to have "problems with authority," the title of a book that features Davis' work and an interview with writer Lawrence Weschler.   It's a great source for delving further into a creative mind that perceives darkness where most of us only see the light.

Gerris Davis, Blind Spot, 2012

"Gerri Davis: 2013," bridge gallery, 98 Orchard Street, Lower Eastside, NYC, through April 14. 

Problems with Authority: Gerri Davis in Conversation with Lawrence Weschler in her studio, January 21, 2013 (New York: bridge gallery, 2013).

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New York Arts Exchange offers a tour of Chelsea galleries on Wednesday, April 10th.  We will meet at IPCNY, 208 West 26th Street, 5th floor, at 1 pm.  Fee: $60 per tour.  

Our Spring Tour schedule is listed on our home page: www.nyarts-exchange.com 

TGIS (Thank God it's Spring),

Beth New York

aka Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com