"Leonardo. The genius, the myth" in Turin

An exceptional exhibition featuring near thirty original drawings on loan from leading Italian and international museums, and several writings on the famous Leonardo's Self-Portrait from the Royal Library of Turin, is taking place at the Scuderie Juvarriane della Reggia di Venaria (Venaria Reale) in Turin, Italy.
This is the third time that the master's self-portrait is shown to the public.

The introductory section of the exhibition presents a biography of the artist and references to Leonardo’s social context, his cultural background and training, as well as an overview on his various fields of activity.
A video curated by Piero Angela, entitled “What did the young Leonardo look like?”, illustrates Leonardo’s work with particular emphasis on the artist’s appearance.
At the end of the exhibition, a multimedia display designed and produced by Haltadefinizione, features a digital replica on a 1:1 scale of The Last Supper, on which an indepth analysis takes place concerning the physical appearance and expressions on this masterpice.
Leonardo's legacy is shown through a number of films representative of his Genius, curated by Arnaldo Colasanti.

Curated by Carlo Pedretti, Paola Salvi and Clara Vitulo, the drawings section presents the Codex on the Flight of Birds (Codice sul volo degli uccelli) and a complete set of near thirteen original works by Leonardo that are part of the collections of the Royal Library of Turin, including the famous Self-Portrait. Italian and international loans provide additional context and further integrate the subjects present in the Turin collection, with a special focus on the human face,
nature, human anatomy and machines.

Selected works by artists from the late 15th to the 19th century, curated by Pietro C. Marani, provide an overview of the figure of Leonardo in literature and figurative art, as the very appearance of the artist becomes an icon of the Renaissance genius.
Starting in the 1500s the image of the Master was associated with that of Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher who led the way into the investigation of nature.

With curatorship of Roberto Barilli, the figure of Leonardo in contemporary art, opens with the Vitruvian Man by Mario Ceroli and the famous tribute Mosa Lisa with moustache by Marcel Duchamp.
The Last Supper has served an inspiration for many artists, reprised by Andy Warhol as well as many other recent protagonists of the art scene like Spoerri, Nitsch, Recalcati and David La Chapelle.
Leonardo’s Notes from the Treatise on Painting describe stains on the walls as forms of arcane passages, a theme that was embraced by Informal Art and specifically Tachisme, including Tàpies, Rotella, Bendini and Novelli.

The exhibition is organised in the vast spaces of the 18th-century Great Stables by Filippo Juvarra of the Reggia di Venaria.
The display is designed by the Academy-Award winner Dante Ferretti, who presents Leonardo’s imposing machines as spectacular settings that contain original works.
Elaborate video projections on the walls celebrate the Self-Portrait.
A catalogue is available through Silvana Editoriale.

"Leonardo: The genius, the myth" (Leonardo. Il genio, il mito) can be visited from November 17, 2011 to January 29, 2012 at the Juvarra Stables of the Reggia di Venaria, Turin Italy. Tuesday - Friday (9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.), Saturday and Sunday (9.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.). Closed on Mondays (except for any public holidays, in which the visiting hours are the same as Sunday).
The exhibition is closed on December 25.
On January 1st, opens at 11.00 a.m.

Given the exceptional nature of the exhibition and the extraordinary measures required for the conservation and the safety of the works on display, only 120 visitors are allowed inside the Stables every 30 minutes.

This major exhibition marks the end of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of
Italy’s Unification, a tribute to the brightest example of the Italian creative genius.

Arte Lisboa 2011: Video Footage

This 11th edition of Arte Lisboa 2011 - Feira de Arte Contemporânea (Contemporary Art Fair) brings to the public, some of the best portuguese contemporary artists, as well as artists from Spain, a country that has consistently marked its presence in this contemporary art fair in the city of Lisbon.

The Art Inquirer shoot some footage where is evident the quality of the artworks and the creativity of the participating artists.

Arte Lisboa 2011 - Contemporary Art Fair

Now in its 11th edition and back again to the Pavilion 1 of the International Fair of Lisbon, Arte Lisboa will have its preview & vernissage tomorow, 23th November, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

This year's edition gathers 21 galleries from Portugal and 12 from Spain, with the objective of promoting the national and international contemporary art among the general public, with particular focus on potential buyers. It is also a meating between artists, gallerists, art critics and other people involved in the art business.

Included in the fair's programme and in partnership with "AntiFrame Independent Curating Project", a series of discussion panels will take place, where participating artists, gallerists, curators, museum directors, art collectors and other art related professionals, will discuss themes such as the relation between the artist, the gallerist, the curator and the collector, or the eventual need of emigrating for artists.

Kids will have their own space to express their creativity, thanks to an initiative by the Museu Colecção Berardo (Berardo Collection Museum) and Nintendo.

Arte Lisboa 2011, will open to the general public from 24th to 27th November (4 p.m. - 11 p.m.).
Individual Tickets: €8,00
Student / Child / Pensioner: €4,00
A catalogue will be available for €20.

"Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties" at the Brooklyn Museum

Through January 29, 2012, the Brooklyn Museum, NY, is showing a major exhibition about the art in the American 1920's, a decade that followed the horrors of World War I and has indelibly marked the popular imagination as the age of flappers and Fords. It was also the time of Jazz, Prohibition and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The "Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties" offers not only a chance to see the work of celebrated artists, but also a comprehensive look at the themes and subjects painted at the time - often causing surprise to the viewer - and how artists expressed their opinions and interpretated through their works, a decade fuelled by a growing economy but also a riotous one.

Organized by Teresa A. Carbone, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of American Art, Brooklyn Museum, the exhibition shows 140 works by sixty-eight painters, sculptors, and photographers who explored a new mode of modern realism, including the names of Thomas Hart Benton, Imogen Cunningham, Charles Demuth, Aaron Douglas, Edward Hopper, Gaston Lachaise, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Luigi Lucioni, Gerald Murphy, Georgia O’Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, George Bellows and Edward Weston.

Free tours lead by a Museum Guide will take place on the 26 and 27 of November, and a panel discussion on "Gender and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance" can be attended on December 10.
A free evening tour of the exhibition lead by Curator of American Art Teresa A. Carbone, will take place on December 15 and on the 22 of the same month, visitors will have the opportunity to attend a free evening tour of the exhibition.

A teacher resource packet is available for download.

Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is accepting entries for its third “Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition”, open to all artists, 18 years of age and older (as of January 1, 2011), who are legal residents of the United States or its territories with an address in the United States at the time of the competition.

Entries will be accepted in all visual arts media, including, but not restricted to: painting, drawing and watercolor, sculpture, weaving, ceramics, photography, prints, video, film, and other digital or time-based media. Works must have been completed after January 1, 2010 and not previously submitted for this competition.

The work entered should be understood as a portrait in the broadest sense, either a traditional, representational work or a more experimental portrait (for example, an entry might not include a face). However it must be based on the artist’s direct contact with any living individual (s). Self-portraits will be accepted.

Each artist may participate with only one entry, which must be submited online until November 30, 2011 (midnight MT(Mountain Time). There's a $35 fee, payable by credit card. All fees are nonrefundable.

The grand prize is $25,000. The winner will also have an opportunity for a commission to create a portrait of a remarkable living American for the National Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection. The artist and the National Portrait Gallery will work together to select the subject of the portrait and the fee for the commission.

The second prize will be $7,500. The third prize will be $5,000. The judges may commend up to four additional works with prizes of $1,000 each. The People’s Choice Award winner will receive $500.

Winners of cash prizes are responsible for all taxes due on such awards.

The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013 is currently scheduled to be on view at the National Portrait Gallery from March 22, 2013 until January 26, 2014, and may travel at the conclusion of the exhibition.

Before submiting their entries, participants should carefully read the rules and pay attention to the calendar.

First-prize winners in a previous Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, are not elligible for participation.

New auction record for Roy Lichtenstein with "I Can See the Whole Room…and There's Nobody in It!"

The Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale (New York, Rockefeller Center), which took place on November 8, resulted in 16 new world records at auction, including: Paul McCarthy's "Tomato Head (Green)" (1994) sold for $4,562,500 (£2,828,750/€3,285,000); Charles Ray’s Table, a multimedia sculpture, which fetched $3,106,500 (£1,926,030/€2,236,680); Louise Bourgeois’s 21-foot wide bronze, Spider, soared beyond its pre-sale estimate of $4-6 million to achieve a new world auction record for the artist at $10,722,500 (£6,647,950/€7,720,200).

However, in a sale where thirty-three works sold for over the $1 million mark, including the first part of the Peter Norton Collection, which achieved $247,597,000 (£153,510,140/ €178,269,840), the star of the evening sale was Roy Lichtenstein's "I Can See the Whole Room…and There's Nobody in It!", a graphite and oil on canvas, measuring 48 x 48 in. (121.9 x 121.9 cm.), painted in 1961 and sold for $43,202,500 (₤26,785,550/€31,105,800), setting a new auction record for the artist.



"I Can See the Whole Room…and There's Nobody in It!" is one of the earliest and most important of Lichtenstein's Pop Art pictures, formerly in the collection of the pioneering collectors Emily and Burton Tremaine.

The previous record for a Lichtenstein work was for "Ohhh ... Alright..." (1964), sold at Christie’s New York in November 2010 for $42.6 million.

Image by Peter Macdiarmid (Getty Images)

Goya escapes from Spain and goes to auction at Christie's

A portrait painting by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, depicting Don Juan López de Robredo, embroiderer to King Carlos IV of Spain, is going to be auctioned at Christie's London.

Before the impossibility of the painting being acquired by the Museo del Prado or by the Patrimonio Nacional, the Spanish Ministry of Culture has authorized its exportation, a fact that has cause great controversy and has receive unfavorable opinions by the Spanish media.
According to official sources, the public institutions weren't capable of meeting the price asked by the owner of the painting, a private collector from Madrid.

Although not one of the most important paintings from the artist, it's a painting from one of the most important Spanish masters and a renowned artist worldwide.

The portrait of Don Juan López de Robredo, Embroiderer to King Carlos IV of Spain (El bordador Juan López de Robredo), an oil on canvas measuring 42⅝ x 32⅜ in. (108.3 x 82.3 cm) and with an estimated value of £4,000,000 – 6,000,000, will go on sale during the Old Master and British Paintings Evening Sale on 6 December 2011, at Christie's London.

Other 36 paintings, spanning near 500 years of European art history, will be offered up for auction during the same sale, including The Battle between Carnival and Lent by Pieter Brueghel II (1564/5-1637/8) (estimate: £3.5 million to £4.5 million); a full length Portrait of Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield (1755-1815), by Thomas Gainsborough, R.A. (1727-1788) (estimate: £2.5 million to £3.5 million); Dutch men-o'-war and other shipping in a calm by Willem van de Velde II (1633-1707) (estimate: £1.5 million to £2.5 million); An old woman spinning in an interior by Nicolaes Maes (1632-1693), 1658 (estimate: £1 million to £1.5million) and An old man at a casement, 1646, by Govaert Flinck (1615-1660) (estimate £700,000 to £1,000,000).

Artissima 18 - International Fair of Contemporary Art

After yesterday's presentation to the press and collector's preview, the public can now visit the Artissima 18 - International Fair of Contemporary Art, through November 6, 2011, in the Oval, Lingotto Fiere, Turin, Italy.

With 161 participating galleries (58 Italian and 103 foreign), Artissima 18 presents itself in 4 sections:

Main Section, which includes some of the most representative galleries from the international art scene, chosen by the Selection Committee.

New Entries, with a selection of 25 galleries from 11 countries, that have been working for less than five years, and that are taking part in Artissima for the first time, chosen by the Selection Committee.
This year, an international jury will confer the Guido Carbone Award to the gallery in this section, that showed the best initiatives to discover and promote young artists.

Present Future is devoted to 16 emerging artists invited by a team of international curators, and represented by their galleries. This section presented in partnership with the illycaffè, which will be offering the illy Present Future Award to the artist considered to be the most engaging one by a jury of three distinguished experts. The winner will receive a €10,000 prize and will have the opportunity to present a design for the “illy Art Collection” of auteur coffee cups.

Back to the Future, launched in 2010 with the aim of focusing on artists who worked in the 1960s and ’70s and who have enjoyed little recognition in recent decades, but whose work is particularly significant today, is an authentic museum-style exhibition of works by a group of artists chosen by an international Committee. This year's edition shows 20 artists (10 from Italy, 10 from abroad).

Artissima 18 will also bring to the public a curatorial programme comprising two projects:

Simple Rational Approximations, a project for a museum, conceived
by the Turin-born artist Lara Favaretto in cooperation with Francesco Manacorda, happening at the centre of the Artissima pavilion. This project consists in a “provisional institution” which is modelled on some of the traditional
functions of contemporary art museums:

a permanent collection inspired by Eat Art with masterpieces of contemporary art, consisted of a complete series of 80 works of art reproduced as cakes.
Exhibited in four groups of 20 cakes on each day of the fair, the pieces start out complete at the beginning of the day and are freely available for the public to eat.

a temporary exhibition devised by Pierre Bal-Blanc in the form of a series of performances followed by a conversation;

an auditorium with the screening of films recently produced by the Chisenhale Gallery of London, followed by three days of conferences, debates, and screenings on the circulation of knowledge, and more besides, organised by Bétonsalon, Triple Canopy, and Salon Populaire;

a bookshop arranged in accordance with the bizarre taxonomy of the Bureau of Loose Associations;

a storage of fundamental exhibitions of the twentieth century, which will be on display in the Hypnotic Show curated by Raimundas Malašauskas;

an education department which is also a scientific laboratory for the production of ink, created by France Fiction;

a publishing department which gives real-time data on the Fair and on the curatorial project, created by the Artissima 18 graphic designer Sara De Bondt studio.

It is also a fictitious, ephemeral and nomadic organisation, rethinking its characteristics through a selection of existing projects or new proposals submitted by individuals, collectives, and institutions.

Artissima LIDO is a first time programme of exhibitions and events in the centre of
Turin, outside the fair and out of its opening hours.
In the mediaeval district of the “Roman Quadrilateral”, a number of not-for-profit spaces run by artists from all over Italy will temporarily move out to a series of city spaces, where they will work on their various experimental activities, at the same time and in the same place. Artissima LIDO is curated by three Italian artists, Christian Frosi, Renato Leotta, and Diego Perrone, and it offers a very full, varied calendar of exhibitions, performances, screenings, concerts, and conversations in specially chosen places. The starting point for a walk through the neighbourhood is the Artissima Social Club, a temporary bar where the art world and visitors to the fair will be able to meet each evening.

The 2011 edition of Artissima also counts with the participation of museums, foundations and art institutions from the region in an exclusive event that illustrates what is on offer in terms of contemporary art displays in Turin and Piedmont.
This year, the initiative is enriched by the collaboration of the Education Departments of the network zonarte.
Workshops, laboratories, meetings and a discussion area, are open to all different types of public (children, students, families, professionals, and experts) ‘to reconsider art spaces as places for encounter and interaction, as well as of knowledge’.

For the first time, events for visitors to Artissima include a special series of Collector's Walk guided tours in the fair pavilion, led by renowned international collectors who comment on the works in terms of their own personal passion for contemporary art.
To book your free visit call +39 011 19744106 or email segreteria@artissima.it

Curated by Francesco Manacorda, Artissima 18 can be visited from 4 to 6 November 2011, between 11 am and 7 pm.

Tickets:
Full: € 15,00
Reduced: € 10,00 *
* Ages 12-18. Over 65 anni. University students, upon presentation of university student record book. Military, in uniform.
Free admission upon presentation of the Torino Musei card and Torino Piemonte Card, from 4 to 6 November. Free admission for disabled individuals and one accompanying person.

“Frida Kahlo - As Suas Fotografias” in Lisbon

A major photography exhibition presented by the Casa da América Latina, opens today at the Museu da Cidade, in Lisbon.

“Frida Kahlo - As Suas Fotografias” (Frida Kahlo - Her Photos) shows a selection of 257 photos from the 6,500 that are part of Frida Kahlo museum's patrimony.

Curated by Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, the exhibition testifies the importance of photography in Frida's life not only as an exhibition of memories, but also as tool for her artistic career.
Showing a selection of photos from Frida's personal collection, most of them previously unknown, the exhibition is divided in six essential parts: Os Pais: Guillermo e Matilde (The Parents: Guillermo and Matilde); A Casa Azul (The Blue House); O Corpo Acidentado (The Injured Body); Os Amores de Frida (Frida’s Lovers); A Fotografia e a Luta Política (The Photography and the Political Struggle).

This exhibition intends to make the public familiarized with the artist's personal life and her intimacy, as well as offering an idea of what was going on in her country during that time, with all the inherent repercussions on her life, and at the same time inviting the viewer to discover new features of one of the most enigmatic personalities of the 20th century.

Included in the selection of photos, visitors will be able to see photos of Frida Kahlo, taken by famous photographers, namely: Man Ray, Martin Munkácsi, Fritz Henle, Adward Weston, Brassai, Tina Modotti, Pierre Verger, Lola y Manuel Álvarez, among others.

This is the first international exhbition of “Frida Kahlo Sus Fotos," named here in Portugal “Frida Kahlo - As Suas Fotografias” and will be on view at the Pavilhão Preto (Black Pavillion) of the Museu da Cidade, Lisbon, between November 4 and January 29, 2012, Tuesday-Sunday between 10h00 - 13h00 and 14h00 - 18h (until 22h00 on Friday). Closed on Sunday and holidays.
Admission is €3.

Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón was born on July 6, 1954 at her parents home, known as La Casa Azul, in Coyoacán, Mexico, and would pass away on July 13, 1954 in the same home.

VI Biennial of São Tomé and Príncipe: Heritage(s)

This November 1, was inaugurated in the CACAU - CASA DAS ARTES CRIAÇÃO AMBIENTE UTOPIAS museum/art gallery, the VI Biennial of São Tomé and Príncipe (6ª Bienal de São Tomé e Príncipe).

Organized by CIAC - Centro Internacional de Arte e Cultura, with the colaboration of João Carlos Silva, and curatorship of Adelaide Ginga from the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea -- Museu do Chiado, this year's biennial arrives to the public under the theme: Heritage(s).

Inspired in the former role of São Tomé and Príncipe (St. Thomas & Prince), not only as a slave commerce entrepôt, but also as a place of gathering between different people and cultures, the VI Biennial of São Tomé and Príncipe aims to become a cultural place of reference in Africa and an alternative to other biennials.

To stimulate artistic experiments through artistic residencies, sharing cultural experiencies between artists, curators, gallerists, critics, historians, and to incentivate the art lab concept, will be some of the characteristics of this biennial.

The VI Biennial of São Tomé and Príncipe will show the work of artists from Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, France, Guiné-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor Leste.
An international colective exhibition centred on the architectural heritage - "Inventar(iar) as Roças de São Tomé e Príncipe"; and Roça Língua a project about portuguese linguistic universe and heritage, which will happen betwwen 1 and 8 of November, are some of the several initiatives offered to the public and taking place along the archipelago.

Also included will be a documentary and film cycle about Africa and its heritage(s), by African authors, a homage to the artist Almada Negreiros, two projects of photography in public spaces about Tchiloli, workshops and educational ateliers, as well as entertainment events that value traditional performing arts.

In February 2012, through a partnership with the City Hall of Lisbon, the White and Black halls of the City Museum (Pavilhões Branco e Preto do Museu da Cidade), will host a selection of works completed during the artistic residencies, as well as the project "Inventar(iar) as Roças de São Tomé e Príncipe.
The São Jorge Cinema (Lisbon) will show the Cine Africa Cicle and in the Ordem dos Arquitectos, will take place a seminary entitled "Patriomónio(s). Portugal - África" (Patrimony(s). Portugal - Africa).

The VI Biennial of São Tomé and Príncipe: Heritage(s), can be visited through November 30, 2011.

The Andy Monument on view until May 2012

Rob Pruitt "The Andy Monument" from Public Art Fund on Vimeo.

Commissioned by Public Art Fund, NY, and created by Rob Pruitt, The Andy Monument was unveiled on March 30, 2011.
The nearly ten-foot-tall chrome finished sculpture is a tribute to Andy Warhol.

Its deinstallation was intended for October 2, 2011, however due to the amazing response to the monument, Rob Pruitt's creation will be on view in the pedestrian mall at the northwest corner of Union Square at 17th Street and Broadway, until May 13,2012

A free audio guide is available by calling 646.862.0945 and a free iPhone app may be downloaded at the Public Art Fund.