Exhibit Features Matisse and Rodin

Henri Matisse is an artist of classical greatness and one of the strongest influences on the art of the 20th century. The Park West Gallery Collection is one of the world's finest, showcasing fine art by masters including Henri Matisse. Browse the Park West Gallery - Matisse Collection >>
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PARIS -- The Rodin Museum is staging a face-to-face encounter between two outstanding creative artists who were only a generation apart, Henri Matisse and Auguste Rodin. Rodin was the dominant figure in the sculpture of the period while Matisse, Rodin's contemporary for the first seventeen years of the 20th century, introduced revolutionary changes in its painting. The story of the encounters and relations between these two major artists is one that has remained unexplored until now.

When the two artists met for the first time, in 1899, Matisse was thirty years old and Rodin sixty. Matisse & Rodin will put forward some fresh thinking on what Matisse, the master of Fauvism, made of Rodin, on what his works can tell us about the affinities, correspondences or differences between the two artists.

On show to the public will be a wide-ranging selection of Matisse's sculpture, an aspect of his work to which no specific exhibition has been devoted since 1975. By selecting certain specific works and using a thematic approach, Matisse & Rodin sets out to show both points of convergence and divergence in the sculptural and graphic work of the two masters. It aims to explore Matisse's sculpture and drawings and, from the perspective of Matisse's art, to see Rodin in a new light.

Matisse & Rodin is now on view through February 28, 2010.

For more information, please visit www.musee-rodin.fr/expomatissee.html
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Related Links:

• Park West Gallery Artist Biographies: Henri Matisse



• Matisse, Picasso, and Modern Art in Paris



• Park West Gallery Master Sites: Pablo Picasso



• Park West Gallery Master Sites: Rembrandt van Rijn



• Park West Gallery Master Sites: Salvador Dali

Happy Birthday Pop Artist Peter Max

PETER MAX (October 19, 1937 – )

• Nationality: American



• Field: Painting



• Art Movement: Pop Art



• ARTiFact: He was raised in Shanghai, China, where he spent his first ten years. He lived in a pagoda-style house situated amidst a Buddhist monastery, a Sikh temple and a Viennese cafe.



• Artist Quote: “I’m just wowed by the universe. If I didn't choose art, I would have become an astronomer.”



• Notable Artwork (shown below): Flag with Heart on Blends - Horizontal Americana Suite, 2005.

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Related Links:

• Park West Gallery Artist Biographies: Peter Max



• Browse the Park West Gallery - Peter Max Collection



• Recent Park West Gallery - Peter Max Blog Postings

Exhibit: Chagall and the Mediterranean

Marc Chagall, known as the "poet-painter" of the 20th century, lived to be embraced as one of the most influential artists of all time. Started in the 1960s, the Park West Gallery collection is one of the world’s finest, with artwork by masters of art history, including Marc Chagall.
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PISA – The Palazzo Blu exhibition Chagall and the Mediterranean is a show of masterpieces by the Belorussian artist. This is the first of a three-year exhibit series dedicated to the great 20th century artists and their relationship with Mediterranean tradition, light and culture. 150 works by Marc Chagall will be on exhibit including paintings, sculptures, ceramics and lithographs all depicting the seascapes of France, Greece and all the way down to the Promised Land.

The exposition is divided into five sections, each with a different theme - Côte d'Azur is a series of paintings including Music and Lovers at St. Paul; Greece demonstrates the artist’s discovery of classical Mediterranean civilization; The Bible depicts the Kotel in Jerusalem and the Crucifying of Christ; and two sections are dedicated to his sculptures and ceramics (with corresponding gouache) and collages (a variety created using different materials).

Chagall and the Mediterranean is on view through Jan. 17, 2010.

For more information, please visit the exhibition website www.chagallpisa.it
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Related Links:

• The Park West Gallery – Marc Chagall Collection



• Paris Opera Unveils Marc Chagall Ceiling



• Park West Gallery Master Sites: Pablo Picasso



• Park West Gallery Master Sites: Salvador Dali



• Park West Gallery Artist Biographies: Marc Chagall

Exhibit: Miro of Majorca

Joan Miró is viewed by the art world and collectors, as one of the most important artist of the 20th century and the precursor for much of Modern Art. Since 1969, Park West Gallery has been a reliable resource for the artwork of Modern Masters, including Joan Miró. Park West Gallery Artist Biographies: Joan Miró >>
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THESSALONIKI, GREECE -- The Teloglion Foundation and the Foundation Pilar i Joan Mirό of Majorca present one of the artist’s greatest exhibitions in Greece, Mirό of Majorca. The exhibit includes a significant number of Joan Mirό’s works and documents (over 400) of all themes including: painting, sculpture, etching, drawings, sketches for sculptures or public art, for sobreteixisms, for ballet, for music, material for King Ubu of Jarry (of special importance to Mirό). The scale model of the Sert workshop - along with documents, notes, furniture, objects, etc. - convey the atmosphere, the internal aspect of his way of thinking.

The works date back to 1908 (his only salvaged early landscape painting) until his death in 1983. However, the exhibition mainly presents mature Mirό in Majorca and the works he created in the workshop designed by his architect friend Josep Lluis Sert in 1956. This workshop is a landmark in Mirό’s work, because it is in this workshop that he reviewed his up to then course and decided to make a new beginning.

This is about a period of endless independence and search. Having drawn experience in America, and being acquainted with the painters of the ‘Action painting’, he now lives within the atmosphere of European ‘Αrt Informel’. He is influenced by the prehistoric caverns’ painting, the art of the Far East, the Catalan folk tradition, his country’s own tradition, and the twelve-note music. His eagerness to enter new fields is evident in his own artistic technique - stains, spatters, streams, graphics, tinctures, cracks, sutures, nails, ropes, use of random elements, of violent gestures, persistent deepening in the expressiveness of materials. His themes include bioform surreal symbol figures, the woman, the birds, landscapes, the realm of the sky, the sun, the moon, the constellations.

Mirό of Majorca is currently on view through February 5, 2010.

For more info on this exhibit, please visit the Teloglion Foundation of Art
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Related Links:

• 90 Years of Vogue Covers on the Champs Elysees



• Miró in His Garden at the Maeght Foundation



• Picasso, Miró, Calder at San Diego Museum of Art



• Park West Gallery Artist Biographies: Joan Mirό



• Browse Artwork from the Park West Gallery - Joan Mirό Collection



• Salvador Dalí’s Sculpture Workshop at Port Lligat

Exhibit: Renoir in the 20th Century

Pierre-Auguste Renoir is easily the most popular painter of the Impressionist movement. The colorful landscapes of his early years and the idealized nudes of his later years are equal in their appeal and their luminous, spontaneous qualities. The Park West Gallery masterworks collection is one of the world’s finest, showcasing artwork by artists including Renoir. View the Park West collection >>


PARIS, FRANCE — Renoir in the 20th Century, showing at the Grand Palais, includes some paintings, drawings and sculptures that are little known to the public. The exhibit in Paris showcases artwork from the second half of Auguste Renoir's career, when he changed course in his 40s to experiment with a more classical style.

In the 1880s, Renoir moved from the Impressionist school, best-known for sunlight-filled landscapes painted outdoors, to concentrate on female nudes and portraits. Renoir never wanted to reject Impressionism, but instead strove for a more decorative and traditional style.

His three sons, wife and family friends figure among the figures painted. Among the works is a bust of his son, from a private collection, being publicly displayed for the first time. The exhibit also includes works by other artists from the beginning of the 20th century, such as Picasso, Matisse, Maillol and Bonnard, to show Renoir's influence on painters who followed the Impressionists. One room contains photos of Renoir throughout his life, in his Paris apartment and in the countryside, with his family and friends.

Renoir in the 20th Century is currently on view until January 4, 2010.

More information on the exhibit/purchase tickets >>

[Article: The Associated Press Photo: REUTERS/Gareth Watkins]
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Related Links:

• View selections from the Park West Gallery – Renoir Collection



• Park West Gallery Artist Biographies: Pierre-Auguste Renoir



• Park West Gallery Master Sites: Rembrandt van Rijn



• Park West Gallery Master Sites: Pablo Picasso



• Park West Gallery Master Sites: Salvador Dali

Free Museum Day This Saturday September 26!

In keeping with the Park West Gallery mission of connecting people with art and the artists who create it, we’re always on the lookout for fun art events that allow art-enthusiasts to enjoy a firsthand cultural experience. With that in mind, be sure to take advantage of this fabulous event on Saturday…


Saturday, September 26 is FREE Museum Day!
Sponsored by Smithsonian magazine, the annual event (now in it's 5th year), is a celebration of culture, learning and the dissemination of knowledge. Smithsonian’s Free Museum Day reflects the spirit of the magazine, and emulates the free-admission policy of the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington, DC-based properties. Doors will be open free of charge to Smithsonian magazine readers and Smithsonian.com visitors at museums and cultural institutions nationwide.

Last year, upwards of 200,000 people attended Museum Day, with all 50 states plus Puerto Rico represented by over 900 participating museums, including 84 Smithsonian affiliate museums. This year, the magazine expects to attract over 1,000 museums.

To take advantage of FREE Museum Day, visit http://microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/admission.html to download your admission card, valid for you and one guest.

Click here for a list of participating Museum Day venues in Michigan
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Related Links:

• Art Exhibits Currently On View



• Local Artists Inspired by Detroit



• Discover your Favorite Artists at Park West Gallery



• View selections from the Park West Gallery Collection

Exhibition Showcasing Fine Artwork of 3 Masters

Since 1969, Park West Gallery has been a reliable resource for the artwork of Modern Masters, including Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and Alexander Calder. Park West recently launched a microsite dedicated to Pablo Picasso and his artwork. Visit picasso.parkwestgallery.com to learn more >>


SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA — The San Diego Museum of Art presents Picasso, Miró, Calder, an exhibition showcasing nearly 50 works by three of the greatest 20th century artists. The exhibition highlights loans from private collections and a number of recent and promised gifts to the Museum including a major oil painting by Pablo Picasso, Femme assise, 1949; an untitled drawing by Picasso, 1971; the Joan Miró painting, Femme, oiseaux, constellations, 1974; as well as a number of prints by both Picasso and Miró.

The exhibit also includes a diverse selection of works on paper including prints, drawings and paintings rarely on display due to the light-sensitive nature of these works. In addition, the exhibition celebrates the return to view of several important sculptures such as Miró’s monumental bronze Solar Bird and the recently reinstalled Spinal Column by Alexander Calder at the front entrance of the Museum.

Picasso, Miró, Calder is currently on view through December 6, 2009.

For more information about this exhibit, visit sdmart.com
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Related Links:

• Visit the Park West Gallery Pablo Picasso website



• Picasso’s Chateau Opens to the Public for the First Time



• Miró in His Garden at the Maeght Foundation



• BBC1 Announces Modern Masters Arts Series

Cézanne and American Modernism

Paul Cézanne once said, "I want to make of Impressionism something solid and lasting like the art in museums." Cézanne was a highly influential figure in 20th century art, a pioneer in the Post-Impressionist movement and inspiration for the Cubist movement; his legacy in the art world remains firmly in place to this day. Discover more about Paul Cézanne and your favorite artists at Park West Gallery biography pages >>


MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY — The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) presents Cézanne and American Modernism, the first exhibition to examine fully the influence of Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) upon modern American artists from 1907 to 1930. The exhibition will explore the critical function American artists and others played in establishing the reputation of Cézanne, who has been universally acclaimed as the definitive bridge between late 19th-century Impressionism and the modern art movements of the 20th century.

As the largest, most ambitious exhibition in the 95-year history of the Museum, Cézanne and American Modernism comprises 131 works, including 18 works by Cézanne and paintings, works on paper, photographs, and archival documents representing 34 American artists, as well as critics.

Cézanne and American Modernism is currently on view through January 3, 2010.

For more information, please visit www.montclairartmuseum.org
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Related Links:

• Picasso’s Chateau Opens to the Public for the First Time



• A Personal Tribute to Marcel Mouly, by Morris Shapiro



• View artwork from the Park West Gallery - Paul Cézanne collection

Picasso Exhibit Features Works Spanning His Life

MALAGA, SPAIN -- The Museo Picasso Málaga presents the exhibition, Picasso’s Late Sculpture: Woman. The Collection in Context. The sheet-metal sculpture, Woman (1961), donated by Christine Ruiz-Picasso, is the highlight of this exhibition, bringing together some 40 works produced by Pablo Picasso at different moments of his life. It includes the paper cut-outs he made as a child, his Cubist constructions, and paintings and sculptures from his later years.

Alongside paintings and drawings from different periods, Picasso’s Late Sculpture: Woman. The Collection in Context also includes three major sculptures by Julio González and a magical decoupage by Henri Matisse, which allow the viewer to examine the artistic exchange that took place between the three great artists.

With this selection of works, the exhibition examines a lengthy creative process that culminated in a new and unique kind of sculpture towards the end of Picasso’s artistic career.

WOMAN, THE SCULPTURE
Woman, the fascinating piece that is at the center of this exhibition, is a sheet-metal sculpture produced in 1961. It is constructed of three distinct panels, folded and painted white, and is based on a paper cut-out model that Picasso made in January of the same year. The work belongs to the group of over a hundred sculptures that Pablo Picasso produced between 1961 and 1962, and with which he ended his revolutionary and innovative career as a sculptor.

Picasso’s Late Sculpture: Woman. The Collection in Context is currently on view until August 30, 2009.

[Source: Museo Picasso Málaga]

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Related Links:

• For more information about the exhibit, visit www2.museopicassomalaga.org



• Learn more about the Park West Gallery - Pablo Picasso art collection at picasso.parkwestgallery.com

Norman Rockwell: American Imagist

NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND -- The National Museum of American Illustration presents Norman Rockwell: American Imagist, the first Norman Rockwell exhibition ever to be shown in Rhode Island. The remarkable collection of selected art - including more than 60 original paintings, drawings and studies - spans six decades of the artist's career.


Norman Rockwell's heartwarming depictions of everyday life made him the best-known and most beloved American artist of the 20th century. The exhibit asserts Norman Rockwell as a great American artist and illustrator, whose real and most enduring subject matter was capturing the American spirit. His images often served as a mirror of American life. It has been said that a Rockwell painting does not require an explanation, a caption or even a title. It speaks to us directly.

"I think (visitors are) going to have a greater understanding and appreciation of who Norman Rockwell was in his artistic career, certainly, and then within the context of American history," said Judy Goffman Cutler, founded the museum in 1998 with her husband, Laurence Cutler, to house their illustration art collection.

Norman Rockwell: American Imagist is currently on display through August 30, 2009.

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Related Links:

• For more information on the exhibit, visit http://www.americanillustration.org/index2.html



• Read Experiencing Rockwell - an essay by Park West Gallery's Director, Morris Shapiro



• Learn more about the artist Norman Rockwell

Rembrandt Exhibit 1st of its kind in Middle East

MUSCAT, OMAN / OmanObserver.com — Al Salmi Library will present Rembrandt in Oman, a grand exhibition of 100 original Rembrandt prints from the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam.

"This will be the first time the works of Rembrandt will be on public display not only in Oman but also in the entire Middle East and North African region," said Stefan van Wersch, Ambassador of the Netherlands.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was the first to develop etching as a true artistic medium by using the scribbling strokes to produce extraordinary and expressive lines. He used a variety of subjects in his etchings that include portraits, landscapes and scenes from everyday life, said Abdullah Salem al Salmi, chairman, Al Salmi Library. The grand exhibition is going to illustrate the full range of subjects including scenes from the Bible, mythology and other classical sources.

Rembrandt in Oman will be on view at the Grand Hyatt Muscat from August 19 to September 19.

Read the full article >>

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Related Links:

• The Rembrandt House Museum http://www.rembrandthuis.nl/cms_pages/index_main.html



• To learn more about Rembrandt, visit Park West Gallery's new website dedicated to the master rembrandt.parkwestgallery.com



• Read recent postings about Rembrant parkwestgallery.wordpress.com



• View selections of Rembrandt artworks from the Park West Gallery collection sales.parkwestgallery.com

Making Sense of Thomas Kinkade

MIDDLEBURY, VERMONT - The Middlebury College Museum of Art presents Making Sense of Thomas Kinkade, an exhibition about the enormously successful but controversial contemporary landscape painter. The exhibit is currently on view through August 9, 2009.


It is easy to dismiss the work of Thomas Kinkade as kitsch and brush aside his popular success as only a marketing phenomenon, but to do so ignores his sincere zeal and the deep resonance his pictures have with huge numbers of people. While an appreciative audience of millions is not a sure sign of aesthetic quality or profundity, the wide appeal of Kinkade's art indicates that he has tapped into powerful personal and cultural longings. In other words, whether his work is good or not, it is telling.

The exhibit considers works by Kinkade along side paintings by Thomas Hill (1829-1908) and Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), two artists he greatly admires, as well as America's Most Wanted, a 1993 landscape print by Vitaly Komar (born 1934) and Alex Melamid (born 1945), that aims to distill into a single work the artistic preferences of a random sample of American adults.

Kinkade's images are consistent with popular preferences in art, but what's more his work is deliberately based on a relevant, respectable artistic heritage. He has reshaped and updated the tradition of Romantic landscape painting in particular and consistent ways to create his nostalgic, sentimental confections. Consistently running through the art that has most influenced Kinkade is a search for relief from the pressures and shortcomings of modern life.

Kinkade's own work may be popular because it is uplifting and painless, but it is not without content. His fantasy alternative existence consists of a tranquil domestic setting in a timeless but nonindustrial world free of social and psychological tensions. His images offer daydream relief from real, serious social and cultural stresses. This redress, however, occurs mostly in wistful imagination rather than in action, and thus Kinkade's pictures help viewers to adapt to a life out of balance with their ideals instead of working toward reconciling conflicting desires in practice.

Kinkade's trademarked tagline is "The Painter of Light" and indeed light is a crucial element of his images. His luminous skies are a standard Romantic convention for suggesting a divine presence permeating nature. Unique to Kinkade's work, as in his painting Hometown Morning, is a bright warm golden light blazing out improbably from every single window of his cozy dwellings.

"I paint glowing windows," notes Kinkade, "because glowing windows say home to me. Glowing windows say welcome. They say all is well. They say that someone's waiting, someone cares enough to turn a light on."

Some pictures show paradise already obtained, or nearly so, which encourages viewers to use them as sedatives, not spurs to soul searching. Kinkade, however, hopes for more. He consciously offers his works as a remedy for psychological and more broadly cultural malaise. Other pictures are invitations to wander, but in their picturesque sweetness and lack of incident and turmoil they assure a safe and happy trip. In this way, Kinkade pictures are like bourgeois vacations: an adventure of sorts, but not dangerous, complete with comforts, replicating one's daily existence at home without its cares and shortcomings but with more novelty and whimsy. [Source: http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/9aa/9aa67.htm]

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Related Links:

• For more information on Making Sense of Thomas Kinkade, visit museum.middlebury.edu



• Visit Park West Gallery's website dedicated to artist Thomas Kinkade and his artwork http://www.parkwest-kinkade.com/default.asp



• Recent news about "The Painter of Light" parkwestgallery.wordpress.com/category/artists-special-collections/thomas-kinkade/

What are your thoughts about the artwork of "The Painter of Light," Thomas Kinkade? Share your comments here!

The Art Books of Matisse at the Haggin Museum

[Source: www.hagginmuseum.org]

Now through September 20, the Haggin Museum presents The Art Books of Henri Matisse, an exhibition of original illustrations and text by one of the preeminent artists of the 20th century.

Best known for his boldly colored paintings, Matisse began experimenting with printmaking in 1903 and eventually illustrated 12 books, each issued in a limited edition and signed by the artist. The exhibition includes text and original illustrations from four of Matisse’s most artistically significant books.

Henri Matisse influenced a diverse number of art movements, artists, and schools of thought. His influence and innovations continue to inspire scholarship, interest and appreciation among art historians and lovers of art. Over the course of his 60-year career, he created a body of work that comprised paintings, drawings, prints, cutouts and sculpture, as well as costume and stage set designs.

Matisse was in his sixties and a renowned artist when he began to make books. Though the making of books was a new artistic realm for Matisse, he regarded the prints he created for books as an extension of drawing. The same flowing lines that characterized so many of his paintings carried over to the printmaking medium and related illustrations.

Among the printmaking techniques he used were etching, linoleum cuts, and lithography. While there are many shared elements between Matisse’s painting and his book illustration, there were some constraints that informed his process and approach. In book illustration, the goal was to establish a relationship between drawing and the existing text.

Working within the defined space of a book also created practical limitations not typical in painting. Visual images can be absorbed instantaneously, while the absorption of text requires a slower process of reading and analysis. For this reason, book illustration is valuable not only as an art form but also as a unique combination of the written word and visual art.

• For more information on the exhibit visit http://www.hagginmuseum.org



• Learn more about artist Henri Matisse



• View artwork selections from the Matisse collection at Park West Gallery

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Henri Matisse once said, “Creativity takes courage," - do you agree?

Exhibit: Chagall and the Artists of the Russian Jewish Theater, 1919-1949

Excerpt from Art Knowledge News -

During the artistic ferment following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, major artists (such as Marc Chagall) joined actors, choreographers, writers, and musicians in creating a daring new theater. This collaboration gave rise to extraordinary productions with highly original stage designs that redefined the concept of theater itself, attracting large, diverse audiences and garnering international critical praise.

In Chagall and the Artists of the Russian Jewish Theater, 1919-1949, on view through September 8, 2009, the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, California tells the little-known and tumultuous story of this vanguard artistic flowering, which thrived on the stage for thirty years before being brutally extinguished during the Stalinist era.

Introduction to the Jewish Theater, Marc Chagall 1920, tempera, gouache, and opaque white on canvas. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. © 2008 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.