Art Of The Day Weekly
#148 - from 29 October 2009 to 4 November 2009
IN THE AIR
Caesar in France
Remarkable discoveries are made in the Egyptian desert, on the heights of Turkey and in the bays of Mexico. But must one go so far to see archaeology unveil such moving testimonies? As the diggings carried out over the last twenty years in the bed of the Rhône near Arles show, it is not always necessary. Under very difficult conditions and with no visibility whatsoever, the scuba divers pulled out exceptional pieces. In 2007, a portrait of Julius Cesar (the founder of the town, in 46 B.C.), was thus dug out from the riverbed’s mud. It is considered as one of the most faithful ever dug out. And there are also marble statues of Neptune or of Venus, a Victory covered in gold, oil lamps with refined decorations … To the point where specialists put forward the hypothesis that another Arles – a grand ode to the Roman empire– could have disappeared with all its belongings and riches under an attack by Barbarians. This could be the Arles that is resurfacing today thanks to the feats of the divers. If only Astérix knew…
EXHIBITIONS
Pompeian Delvaux?
BRUSSELS – He died 15 years ago and was the subject of a retrospective 3 years later. Delvaux is the number two great star of Belgian Surrealist art behind Magritte, and is known for his enigmatic, often nude characters, floating in urban atmospheres. Even when we distinguish some frontons and colonnades in the back, we cannot spontaneously imagine that Delvaux was deeply influenced by Antique art. The exhibition at the musée des Beaux-Arts explores this idea. It recalls Delvaux’s trips to Italy in the thirties (in particular to Pompei) then to Athens. Some sixty works – paintings, drawings as well as more immediate products such as sketch books – are testimonies of his passion for Greek statues and the heroes of the mythology.
Bacon's century
DUBLIN – Bacon is undoubtedly one of the most famous painters of the second half of the XXth century (in any case, one of the most expensive – 50 million euros for one Triptych in May 2008). The rich program for his centennial also proves it, with shows in New York, London and Milano, and now ending in his native town, Dublin. The Hugh Lane Gallery, which in 2001 restored in an exemplary manner his workshop thanks to the donations of John Edwards, the artist’s last companion, dedicates a retrospective to Bacon. It includes some sixty works rarely seen before – paintings, drawings and photographs as well as destroyed canvases, one of his «traditional brands». Not much compared to the 7000 objects listed in the workshop, but the latter are only visible through a glass …
Delpire at his best
PARIS – He is one of great names in photography in the second half of the XXth century in France. His itinerary is so complete it would be impossible to sum it up. The creator of a magazine at the age of 23 («Neuf» in 1950), editor of Robert Frank’s revolutionary work The Americans, Robert Delpire was also artistic director of the magazine L’Œil (for which it seems he found the name). This was followed by hundreds of exhibitions and books (including in particular the creation of the collection Photo Poche), a period at the head of the Centre national de la photographie and even a film producer’s career (Polly Maggoo by William Klein). The Maison européenne de la photographie tries to give a full idea of this continent with more than 600 varied photos and documents. This is a daring and inevitably incomplete project: at age 83, Sarah Moon’s husband remains on the frontline and continues to enrich his CV…
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AUCTIONS
Durand-Ruel, the freshness of ancient works
NEW YORK – On the art market, the fact of putting one’s hand on a painting that has not left a family’s collection for more than a century and which has been rarely seen in public is a true «plus». And when this adventure is multiplied by seven! This is what awaits buyers at Sotheby’s for a series of Impressionist paintings to be presented on 4 November: the seven paintings have belonged to one same family since the end of the XIXth century. To boot, this is no common family, but rather the Durand-Ruel whose patriarch, Paul, was the main promoter of Impressionist painting. He knit close links with Renoir, Sisley and Pissarro, opened galleries in Paris, London and even New York, from where he supplied the leaders of American industry. One of his clients was the king of sugar, Havemeyer, whose legacy to the Metropolitan Museum would be the backbone of the institution’s Impressionist collection. Estimates for these seven works are far from the fever of the past years: not more than 2 or 3 million euros should be paid for Renoir’s Femme au chapeau blanc or Pissarro’s Vue de Rouen. Unless the «origin effect» shifts the situation …
ARTIST OF THE WEEK
Saadane Afif, Tête de mort (detail), 2008, installation at FRAC de Carquefou, courtesy galerie Michel Rein, Paris
Saadane Afif, crossroad aesthetics
Sound, lights words, things. Visual artist Saâdane Afif (born in 1970), who was just awarded the Marcel-Duchamp 2009 prize at the FIAC, loves to combine disciplines. When he is «contaminated» by the arts it takes unexpected dimensions. These various mechanical combinations are greatly influenced by a cult artist, André Cadere, who marked the 70s by inviting himself to exhibitions through the world. He would show up with wooden rods, covered with coloured stripes according to precise mathematical rules,
which he left behind as if to mark his territory. Afif collaborated with authors, whom he asked to write songs for his works. The words of these songs would then be reused on the walls, in ear phones or submitted to risky alterations, or incorporated into installations. Afif can even exhibit the songs alone without the works that inspired them … just as he can reproduce, in reduced models, his sculptures he has already shown.
BOOKS
French Republic architecture
The schools in France during the third Republic were in brick, had two bodies – one for boys, the other for girls – they had symmetric courtyards and a covered playground. It is undoubtedly the most emblematic construction of public architecture in the XIXth century. What the author of this very-well documented book wishes to show is that other buildings were also the object of more or less standardized typologies, be it the police station or town hall, including the law courts. Furthermore, this building momentum did not die out with WW I. It even experienced new developments with the hygienist theories in the period between the two World Wars, particularly embodied in the schools of Marcel Lods or Marcel Lurçat – and thanks to the needs of reconstruction. From the town hall in the town of Clamart to the one in Boulogne-Billancourt, from the lycée Camille-Sée (in Paris) to the administrative centre in Pantin, certain emblematic programs were enhanced. That is, all the way to 1981, when the theory of great works tipped the scales and the Republics commissions took on a princely dimension…
IN BRIEF
BERLIN – The reopening of the Neues Museum, last 17 October, has been accompanied by the insistence from Egyptian authorities for the return of the famous bust of Nefertiti.
LONDON – The Asian Art manifestation includes some forty events (exhibitions, sales) around Asian art, from 29 October to 7 November 2009
PARIS – The 1st Festival du Centre Pompidou, a multidisciplinary event on contemporary creation, will be held until 23 November 2009
PHILADELPHIA –Freeman’s auction house has organized the sale of the art collection belonging to the Lehman Brothers bank, in three sessions, of which the first will be held on 1st November 2009.
PORTO ALEGRE – The 7th Biennale of Mercosul will be held until 29 November 2009 and will bring together over 300 artists under the title of «Scream and listen».
VILNIUS – The Xth Triennale of contemporary art of the Baltic region will be held in Vilnius until 22 November 2009.
ON ART-OF-THE-DAY.INFO
This week do not miss
Markus Lüpertz. Tours and detours
BONN - The Art and Exhibition hall of the former Federal Republic of Germany hosts a complete retrospective of the “enfant terrible” of German art. It showcases in 150 paintings his itinerary from the beginning of the sixties, and includes the famous Dithyrambes, the works close to Pop Art and his most recent landscapes.