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Budapest, Hungary
Hungarian National Gallery
Hungarians in the Art Academy of Munich, 1860-1900
Dates: 24 Sep 09 - 31 Jan 10
Categories: 1800-1900 (Impressionism, etc)
Address: Budavari Palota Budapest 1250
Tel: +36 20 39 7442 Website
London, United Kingdom
Hayward Gallery
Ed Ruscha: 50 Years of Painting
Dates: 14 Oct 09 - 10 Jan 10
Categories: Post-War (1945-70)
Contemporary (1970-present)
Address: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road London SE1 8XX
Tel: +44 (0)20 7921 0813 Website
“Each piece cultivates its own labyrinth that you can enter in to, if you were to spend a little time thinking about it.” So says Hayward Gallery director Ralph Rugoff, but it’s not a sentence you would immediately associate with the minimal paintings of Ed Ruscha. Rugoff says that through his experience of curating this autumn’s exhibition, he has discovered “layers and layers” to these “deceptively simple-looking” paintings. “The more you think about them, the more you can spin out all sorts of references and resonances that these works are setting into play,” he told The Art Newspaper.
The show of 78 works, many of which haven’t been shown before in the UK, celebrates 50 years since Ruscha first made paintings that he would include in his “official body of work”. “These were works that he made when he was still a student, but works that he feels could represent him,” says Rugoff.
Ruscha started out in the late 1950s looking at print media, magazines and books, which led to his focus on words, but treating words as objects or images rather than carriers of linguistic meaning. He became interested in the graphic potential of words and the ambiguity of communication. “One thing Ed often says is that he associates the word, because of the way it unfurls horizontally, with landscape,” Rugoff says. “He is taking a very broad definition of what landscape might be. Unless you’re painting people, which is something he doesn’t do, all painting might be related to landscape.”
Ruscha has also been very influenced by film, particularly widescreen formats such as cinemascope. Often the proportions of his work reflect this way of framing the world, with pieces that are four or fives times as wide as they are high. “It’s about a type of look, a scanning look,” says Rugoff. “It’s not a static look at one object that’s fixed in place, it’s about a landscape you might be driving through. It’s very much a product of car culture, a reflection on that.” But there is also a fascination with the sublime in Ruscha’s work, images of majestic snow-covered mountains, fiery sunsets or rays of light, a recurring motif in his paintings. “He’s very interested in ideas of grandeur, and how even when these have become clichés, they still awaken certain yearnings in us, we’re still susceptible to them,” says Rugoff.
Following this exhibition, the gallery will be closed until May 2010 for renovations. The show travels to Haus der Kunst, Munich (12 February-2 May 2010) and Moderna Museet, Stockholm (29 May-5 September 2010).R.S.
Standard Station, 1966
Munich, Germany
Alte Pinakothek
Andrea del Sarto : the Holy Family in Munich and Paris
Dates: 1 Oct 09 - 6 Jan 10
Categories: Old Master
Address: Barer Strasse Munich D-80333
Tel: +49 (0)89 238 050 Website
In 1514 the Florentine businessman Giovanni Battista Puccini commissioned Andrea del Sarto (1486-1531) to paint a Holy Family with St John the Baptist, St Elizabeth and Two Angels, which he intended as a present for the French king, François I. On completion, he was clearly so taken with the picture that he kept it for himself and had the artist make a second version for the king (one assumes that the king was not made aware that he was getting second best, as it were). Following an extensive restoration, the first version (in the Bavarian State Painting Collections), which has not been on public display for nearly 20 years, is shown alongside the second, which is on loan from the Louvre. Part of the exhibition is dedicated to showing the various stages of the restoration work; another explains the primary version’s travels from Puccini’s hands to Munich, and the main section concerns itself with the differences and similarities of the two paintings, the delicate colouring, sfumato effects and dynamic composition which help one wholly to understand why Puccini was reluctant to let go of it. D.L.
St Elizabeth and Two Angels
Rubens Challenges the Old Masters: Inspiration and Reinvention
Dates: 23 Oct 09 - 7 Feb 10
Categories: Old Master
Address: Barer Strasse Munich D-80333
Tel: +49 (0)89 238 050 Website
Daniel Hopfer: a Renaissance Master from Augsburg
Dates: 5 Nov 09 - 31 Jan 10
Categories: Old Master
Address: Barer Strasse Munich D-80333
Tel: +49 (0)89 238 050 Website
Galerie Bernd Klüser
Juliao Sarmento
Dates: 19 Nov 09 - 30 Jan 10
Categories: Contemporary (1970-present)
Address: Georgenstrasse 15 Munich D-80799
Tel: +49 (0)89 384 0810 Website
Galerie Daniel Blau
Glen Baxtor: do it Yourself, Practical Lunacy
Dates: 14 Oct 09 - 30 Nov 09
Categories: Contemporary (1970-present)
Curious
Address: Odeonsplatz 12 Munich d-80539
Tel: +49 (0)89 29 73 42 Website
Galerie Klüser 2
Isca Greenfield-Sanders
Dates: 19 Nov 09 - 30 Jan 10
Categories: Contemporary (1970-present)
Address: Türkenstrasse 23 Munich d-80799
Tel: +49 89 384 081-23 Website
Galerie Sabine Knust
Billy Sullivan
Dates: 8 Oct 09 - 21 Nov 09
Categories: Contemporary (1970-present)
Address: Ludwigstrasse 7 Munich D-80539
Tel: +49 (0)89 29 16 07 03 Website
Galerie Thomas
Fernando Botero
Dates: 5 Nov 09 - 23 Jan 10
Categories: Post-War (1945-70)
Contemporary (1970-present)
Address: Maximilianstrasse 25 Munich d-80539
Tel: +49 89 29 000 80 Website
Haus der Kunst
Ai Weiwei: So Sorry
Dates: 12 Oct 09 - 17 Jan 10
Categories: Contemporary (1970-present)
Address: Prinzregentenstrasse, 1 Munich D-80538
Tel: +49 (0)89 211 27 113 Website
This major new solo exhibition by Ai Weiwei, which focuses on political debate in China and internationally, includes two newly commissioned works for the museum as well as older pieces and performance documentation. Ai believes that there is a new political culture whereby failure is excused following an apology, which he sees as an avoidance of responsibility by politicians. His political views are well known within China, and his blog, which has been used as an outlet for the distribution of information restricted by the Chinese government, is viewed by up to 10,000 people a day, and regularly closed down. Ai’s two new commissions are both large-scale installations. Remembering consists of 9,000 backpacks that cover the façade of the museum, referring to the thousands of children who died in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The second installation, Soft Ground, consists of a carpet that replicates the space’s stone floor tiles. The artist painstakingly photographed each individualsection of the floor and then had the carpet woven at a traditional mill in the Hebei province, which is famous for its textiles. Above, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995. W.O.
Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995
Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung
Alfons Mucha: Master of Art Nouveau
Dates: 9 Oct 09 - 24 Jan 10
Categories: Modern (1900-1945)
Address: Theatinerstrasse, 8 Munich D-80333
Tel: +49 (0)89 22 44 12 Website
Kunstverein Munich
Rip it Up and Start Again
Dates: 11 Oct 09 - 22 Nov 09
Categories: Contemporary (1970-present)
Address: Galeriestrasse 4 Munich 80539
Tel: + 49 (0)89-221 152 Website
Münchner Stadtmuseum
Focus on Strangers: Photo Albums of World War II
Dates: 20 Nov 09 - 28 Feb 10
Categories: Modern (1900-1945)
Address: St Jakobs-Platz 1 Munich D-80331
Tel: +49 (0)89 233 22 370 Website
Eva Bertram: Two, One Child
Dates: 6 Nov 09 - 10 Jan 10
Categories: Photography
Contemporary (1970-present)
Address: St Jakobs-Platz 1 Munich D-80331
Tel: +49 (0)89 233 22 370 Website
Non Plus Ultra: Circus, Art, Munich
Dates: 30 Oct 09 - 21 Mar 10
Categories: Curious
Address: St Jakobs-Platz 1 Munich D-80331
Tel: +49 (0)89 233 22 370 Website
Museum Villa Stuck
Tiffany in Neue Licht
Dates: 15 Oct 09 - 17 Jan 10
Categories: Modern (1900-1945)
Post-War (1945-70)
Contemporary (1970-present)
Address: Prinzregentenstrasse 60 Munich D-81675
Tel: +49 (0)89 455 5510 Website
Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach
Dates: 29 Oct 09 - 17 Jan 10
Categories: 1800-1900 (Impressionism, etc)
Modern (1900-1945)
Address: Prinzregentenstrasse 60 Munich D-81675
Tel: +49 (0)89 455 5510 Website
Pinakothek der Moderne
Chinese Architectural Models from the National Museum in Beijing
Dates: 1 Sep 09 - 31 Dec 09
Categories: Design
Address: Barer Strasse 29 Munich D-80333
Tel: +49 (0)89 23 805 280 Website
The Bata Phenomenon: Functionalism in Zlín 1910-60
Dates: 1 Oct 09 - 31 Jan 10
Categories: Design
Address: Barer Strasse 29 Munich D-80333
Tel: +49 (0)89 23 805 280 Website
The Art of Timber Constructions: Chinese Architectural Models
Dates: 22 Oct 09 - 24 Jan 10
Categories: Far East
Address: Barer Strasse 29 Munich D-80333
Tel: +49 (0)89 23 805 280 Website
Thomas Steffl: Naked Nation
Dates: 2 Oct 09 - 10 Jan 10
Categories: Video & New Media
Contemporary (1970-present)
Address: Barer Strasse 29 Munich D-80333
Tel: +49 (0)89 23 805 280 Website
A Renaissance Master from Augsburg: Daniel Hopfer (1470-1536)
Dates: 5 Nov 09 - 31 Jan 10
Categories: Old Master
Address: Barer Strasse 29 Munich D-80333
Tel: +49 (0)89 23 805 280 Website
Paulina Olowska
Dates: 13 Nov 09 - 14 Feb 10
Categories: Contemporary (1970-present)
Address: Barer Strasse 29 Munich D-80333
Tel: +49 (0)89 23 805 280 Website
Zlín: the Model Town of Modernism
Dates: 19 Nov 09 - 21 Feb 10
Categories: Modern (1900-1945)
Curious
Design
Address: Barer Strasse 29 Munich D-80333
Tel: +49 (0)89 23 805 280 Website
Carpets from Morocco: Inspiration for Modernism
Dates: 1 Oct 09 - 31 Jan 10
Categories: Decorative
Address: Barer Strasse 29 Munich D-80333
Tel: +49 (0)89 23 805 280 Website
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau
Erwin Wurm
Dates: 17 Oct 09 - 31 Jan 10
Categories: Contemporary (1970-present)
Address: Luisenstrasse 33 Munich D-80333
Tel: +49 (0)89 2333 2000 Website
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Rotterdam Kunsthal
New Horizons: the Hague School and the Modern Dutch Landscape
Dates: 12 Sep 09 - 6 Dec 09
Categories: Old Master
Photography
Modern (1900-1945)
1800-1900 (Impressionism, etc)
Address: Westzeekijk 341 Rotterdam 3015 AA
Tel: +31 (0)10 440 0300 Website
Paintings from the Hague School (1860-90) are here presented alongside documentary photographs, both of which point to the impact that the industrial revolution had on the 19th-century rural Dutch landscape. The exhibition reveals, through more than 90 paintings and photographs, the landscape that has gradually become overtaken by Dutch industrialisation. The works are supplemented by a film by Bert Koenderink about the industrial revolution that informs the landscape painting of the time.
The paintings and photos have been gathered from the collections of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and the Neue Pinakothek, Munich. The exhibition capitalises on the partial closure for renovation of the Rijksmuseum to secure loans that make up a large part of the display. Aside from paintings and photographs, other historical material is presented, such as railway maps, that further illustrate the evolution of the Hague School’s native landscape.
A large part of the photographic material comes from Johann Georg Hameter (1838-85). Hameter presented work at the first exhibition of photography in the Netherlands in 1855 and his photographs on show here tell us as much about early photography as they do about the rapidly industrialised landscape. R.C.
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