Summer Art Exhibitions

It has been far too long since my last post and I am ready to get back to regularly blogging. I have been crazy busy since February with work etc and am finally finished with my preparations for heading to London in September for graduate school...I was working out applications, letters, papers and my visa, but now that its all done and processed, I promise to be blogging more! 

Here is a list of upcoming must-see museum exhibitions throughout California...I will try and add more through the US as well. Note: my past blog post was about Cindy Sherman...and look, she's in San Francisco now!

Legion of Honor, San Francisco

Man Ray | Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism

July 14, 2012 - October 14, 2012

Marcel Duchamp: The Book and the Box

July 14, 2012 - November 11, 2012

 DeYoung Museum, San Francisco

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalkto the Catwalk

March 24, 2012 - August 19, 2012

Chuck Close and Crown Point Press: Prints and Processes

July 7 - October 14

The Art of the Anatolian Kilim: Highlights from the McCoy Jones Collection

September 10, 2011 - July 29, 2012

Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco

Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought

An Exhibition and The Dorothy Saxe Invitational

Through September 9, 2012

California Dreaming

Jewish Life in the Bay Area from the Gold Rush to the Present

Through October 16, 2012

SF Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco

Paul Klee and Josef Albers: Parallel Construction

June 07 - October 08, 2012

Contemporary Paintings, 1960 to the Present

Selections from the SFMOMA Collection

May 18 – August 12, 2012

Cindy Sherman
July 14 - October 8, 2012

Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Phantoms of Asia,Contemporary Awakens the Past

May 18 – September 2, 20102

California Historical Society, San Francisco

A Wild Flight of the Imagination

February - October 14, 2012

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Drama and Devotion: Heemskerck;s “Ecce Homo” Altarpiece from Warsaw

June 5 – January 13, 2013

Heaven, Hell, and Dying Well: Images of Death in the Middle Ages

May 29 – August 2012

Gustav Klimt
July 3 - September 23, 2012

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Michael Heizer: Actual Size

July 17 - September 9

The Huntington Library, San Marino

Roger Medearis: His Regionalism

June 16 – September 17, 2012

Royals, Courtiers, & Confidants

July 28 – October 29, 2012

Timkin Museum of Art, San Diego

Object Lessons: Goya’s Self- Portrait with Dr. Arrieta

May 10 – September 9, 2012

Capturing Life: The Cindy Sherman Eye

The Museum of Modern Art in New York is exhibiting a 170 photographs-strong retrospective of Cindy Sherman's work from her phenomenal career over the past three+ decades.
 
Cindy was truly an innovator of her time, bringing photography to the forefront of the art world. Using herself as model, photographer, stylist and more, Cindy had brought old world charm, glamour, dynamic, evocative and even grotesque images in larger than life sizes.
I highly encouraging everyone to go see his how, it is sure to be amazing! 


Exhibition Opens: 
February 26 - June 11, 2011

Member preview February 21

Untitled Film Still #21

Gelatin silver print

1978 

Untitled Film Still #7

Gelatin silver print

1978

Untitled #96

Chromogenic color print

1981

Untitled #474

Chromogenic color print

2008

all images via moma

Fashion and the Museum

I've been to numerous fashion-dedicated exhibitions in San Francisco and New York museums and have wavered in my opinions on the place for fashion in museums. This article from February's ARTnews really sheds some light into the ever mingling world of fashion and museum exhibitions. Although this article looks long, it is thorough and includes the gamut of museums from large New York institutions to smaller university museums' fashion exhibitions. 


A number of fashion and museum authorities are quoted and overall give the opinion of being pro-fashion for exhibitions in museums. However, the article does bring up the underlying and always present rule that not-for-profit institutions can not take monetary support or sponsorship from designers for these blockbuster exhibitions, as that would turn the show into an advertising campaign for the designer. This topic is addressed by Dan Monroe, President of the Association of Art Museum Directors, in a clear cut manner, that museums can not and must not teeter that line and loose control of the exhibition at their institution to the design house. 


I do think it is a wonderful treat for viewers to see these beautiful, haute couture pieces in a way that they can be appreciated for their beauty and craftsmanship. Most people will ever wear or see an exquisitely embroidered 1940's bolero by Balenciaga or view Yves St. Laurent's cocktail dress Tribute to Piet Mondrian, without viewing them in a museum setting. When done correctly, a museum can also provide a history lesson to viewers through the clothes, as designers take influences from the environment and culture that surrounds them. 


Please take the time to read this article and develop your own opinion on his matter as I know we will be seeing more and more fashion exhibitions in museums worldwide. 

Art in Advertising

The glorious Diane von Furstenberg has reached new artistic heights in her recent ad campaign for her Spring 2012 line. Taking a cue from Surrealism, von Furstenberg had her models situated in a vast, desert-like plane with dynamic juxtapositions between the atmosphere and the architectural accessories. 

The mirrored faces of the models brings a reflective nature to the ad's, forcing the viewer to see herself in this place, in these clothes. I love this spread and am so glad to see designers taking a truly artistic approach to showcasing their clothes, after all they are a work of art in their own right. 

images courtesy of DVF

First Thursdays

Since the weather has been so unbelievably nice in the San Francisco why don't you mosey on to downtown this evening and go to First Thursdays!

It's a great opportunity to visit many art galleries that you might not otherwise ever visit (or know existed). There are numerous galleries across The City (and in the East and North Bays) that are open for viewing. If you're in San Francisco, I would recommend heading down to the 49 Geary and/or 77 Geary Galleries and visiting the other galleries in Union Square!

A Pilgrimage

Annie Leibovitz prior to the installation of her show at the Pace Gallery, 29 November 2011

I was so happy to receive Annie Leibovitz’s book Pilgrimage for Christmas this year. I have been a devoted fan and follower of Leibovitz’s career since I first became interested in photography many, many years ago and have two of her other books (A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005, and Women with Susan Songtag).

Niagra Falls, the cover of the book Pilgrimage

Leibovitz is famous for her portrait photographs of celebrities, royalty etc. many of which have come under fire as controversial. Her style is raw, sometimes grainy and always captures more than the eye can really see. Throughout her long career (she started studying painting at the Academy of Art here in SF), Leibovitz has had ups and downs in her personal, work and financial life and Pilgrimage provided that personal release from the past and a rejuvenation of life for her. “I needed to save myself,” Leibovitz states in an interview with the NY Times about the book Pilgrimage. “I needed to remind myself of what I like to do, what I can do.”

The images in Pilgrimage are hauntingly beautiful and although the focus is totally on the objects of and their importance in history and not people, they are in pure Leibovitz style.

Sigmund Freud’s couch in his study at 20 Maresfield Gardens in London

Annie Oakley’s heart target

A collection of handmade pastels in the O’Keefe Research Center in Santa Fe

All images via WSJ

Art Lecture: Fakes and Frauds

If you are in New York City or the surrounding areas, you should not miss the lecture by renowned journalist and art enthusiast Milton Esterow (Artnews editor and publisher) on the great art forgeries of the past. It is in two weeks on Thursday, January 26th, at Buttenwieser Hall (1935 Lexington Ave @ East 92^nd St.)

I'm sure it will be a fascinating lecture and being that I love art and mysteries I am sad to miss it! 

Masters of Venice - Exhibition Review

I went with my parents and aunt to the De Young Museum's Masters of Venice exhibition a few weeks ago and am still not sure how I felt about it. I was pleasantly surprised that the museum was practically empty...where all the regular weekend museums go-ers were, I have no idea, but it definitely made the experience more enjoyable as I was able to take my time in the exhibition.

The exhibition itself showcased some of the most beautiful and important artworks from Venetian artists on loan from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The major Venetian masters were shown including Titian, Giorgione, Tintoretto, Veronese and the museum did a good job of giving thorough background information on the artists and the culture of Venice during the Renaissance.

Examine paintings by artists one has studied in classrooms, in a up close and personal setting, is always a great reward; as past lectures from teachers play in your head you really get to know the hand of the artists' and recognize the fine details of the paintings and sometimes the symbols and meaning behind the works. Usually the De Young’s exhibitions are staged well but I did think, unfortunately, that this exhibition needed some more TLC.

The set up and walk-though is almost always the same with every exhibition in the lower level, fine that makes sense, but I felt that the walls were too drab for even this exhibition. At least one of the walls towards the end was left without a painting on it which really stops the visual flow of the galleries. Signage wise, I was glad there were not too many people visiting when I was there because it was hard enough to read the signs with more than three people standing in front (I always get the audio guides because there is always more information on those anyway).

Overall, of course the paintings were beautiful and the historically important, especially for an art historian to see in person. But the atmosphere surrounding them did not bring to life the blood and heart of the Italian Renaissance, but seemed more of a dreary hallway. I do wish, being an art museum, that the De Young could put forth more effort for their artwork exhibitions as they do their fashion exhibitions which are always beautifully flawless. Still, the exhibition runs through February 12, 2012 and it is worthwhile to see these masterpieces.