Classicism In European Arts Between World Wars

Rising from the ruins and horror of World War I, European art and culture returned to the classical past, seeking tranquility, order, and enduring values. Artists turned away from prewar experimentalism and embraced the heroic human figure and rational organization. Chaos and Classicism: Art in France, Italy, and Germany, 1918-1936 is the first exhibition in the United States to focus on the vast transformation in European culture between the world wars. With approximately 150 works by more than 80 artists, comprising painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, film, fashion, and the decorative arts, this thematically organized exhibition examines the return to order in its key manifestations: the poetic dream of antiquity in the Parisian avant-garde; the politicized revival of the Roman Empire under Benito Mussolini; the functionalist utopianism of International Style architecture that originated at the Bauhaus; and, ultimately, the chilling aesthetic of nascent Nazi society.

The exhibition presents works by established masters of the period, including Georges Braque, Carlo Carra, Giorgio de Chirico, Otto Dix, Fernand Leger, Aristide Maillol, Henri Matisse, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Pablo Picasso, Gio (Giovanni) Ponti, Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, and August Sander, as well as works by artists lesser known outside of their home countries, such as Julius Bissier, Felice Casorati, Achille Funi, Marcel Gromaire, Auguste Herbin, Anton Hiller, Heinrich Hoerle, Ubaldo Oppi, and Milly Steger. Man works included in Chaos and Classicism have never before been shown in the United States.

Chaos and Classicism is on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York from October 1, 2010 through January 9, 2011.

The years after World War I were marked by a striking modernist avowal of traditional aesthetics: a retour a l 'ordre (return to order) in France, a ritorno al mestiere (return to craft) in Italy, and Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) in Germany. Picasso was a leader of this new historicism and proved to be particularly influential in promulgating a classical aesthetic from 1918 to 1936.

Picasso, although Spanish, was based in France from 1904 onward, and his great classical figure paintings of the early 1920s demonstrate how decisively the Parisian avant-garde adopted the new post-World War I aesthetic. Chaos and Classicism presents several of his works, as well as other examples of this style, such as Leger's canvases of mechanized figures and commedia dell'arte paintings by Andre Derain and Paris-based Gino Severini. The notion of a Latinate civilization comes to the fore in the emerging influence of Jean Cocteau, and the exhibition features excerpts from his 1930 film The Blood of a Poet (Le sang d'un poete). Le Corbusier's architecture and design, as well as the Purist paintings he created alongside Amedee Ozenfant, forge a visual link with abstraction and Synthetic Cubism. Madeleine Vionnet's neo-Greek fashion designs and Art Deco objects by Ruhlmann translate the more abstruse aspects of classicizing art and theory into functional items.

In Italy, de Chirico's paintings, along with those of Carra, bridge the transition to the New Sobriety of Italian art immediately after the war. De Chirico's essay "Il ritorno al mestiere" ("The Return to Craft"), published in 1919 in the influential journal Valori Plastici, was especially vital for this classicizing moment as it renewed interest in the Italian Renaissance painters Fra Angelico and Piero della Francesca. Chaos and Classicism also includes paintings by artists such as Massimo Campigli and Giorgio Morandi. Architectural models and design objects, including a version of Giuseppe Terragni's Casa del Fascio in Como, Italy, and porcelain by Ponti, demonstrate the power of the neoclassical paradigm for postwar Italian modernists. Sculpture, the quintessential classical medium, was especially strong in interwar Italy and is represented throughout the exhibition.

Admission is $18 for adults, students/seniors (65+) $15, members and children under 12 are free. Admission includes an audio tour of Chaos and Classicism available in English, and of highlights of the Guggenheim's permanent collection, available in English, Spanish, French, German, and Italian. Museum hours are Sunday – Wednesday, from 10 am to 5:45 pm; Friday, 10 am to 5:45 pm; Saturday from 10 am to 7:45 pm; closed Thursday. On Saturdays, beginning at 5:45 pm, the museum hosts Pay What You Wish. For general information, call (212) 423-3500 or visit guggenheim.org.

Anne Morgan's War

In 1917, at the height of World War I, a small team of American women, appalled by news of wartime destruction, left comfortable lives at home to volunteer in the devastated regions of France. Their dynamic leader was Anne Morgan (1873-1952), the wealthy daughter of the late financier Pierpont Morgan. She was already well known for opposing social injustices–notably the mistreatment of immigrant garment workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory–but it was in war-scarred France that she found her life's passion. As she rallied potential volunteers and donors on speaking tours across the United States, Morgan harnessed the power of documentary photography to instigate a humanitarian response to the devastation of war. The photographs and silent films presented in this exhibition depict the work of The American Committee for Devastated France, the volunteer civilian relief organization that Morgan created with her friend Anne Murray Dike (1879-1929). With haunting views of ruined French towns, portraits of refugee families and children, and tableaux of American volunteers at work, the exhibition explores not only the human cost of war but also the potency of photographic propaganda. This exhibit will be held at The Morgan Library, which is located at 225 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016. The exhibit will run through November 21, 2010.

Roy Lichtenstein's Black-And-White Drawings
Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) has long been considered one of the key figures in the development of Pop Art. His signature brightly colored paintings are cornerstones of museum collections the world over. His subject matter drawn from visual fragments of popular culture is emblematic of an entire movement.

An extraordinary new exhibition organized by The Morgan Library & Museum, opening September 24, presents an important series of large-scale, black-and-white works as a group for the first time and examines Lichtenstein's less known exploration of the medium of the drawing. Created during the early and mid-1960s, the fifty-five drawings on view offer a revealing window into the development of Lichtenstein's art, as he began for the first time to appropriate commercial illustrations and comic strips as subject matter and experimented stylistically with simulating commercial techniques of reproduction–the famous Benday dots. The work represents an essential and original contribution to Pop Art as well as to the history of drawing. Roy Lichtenstein: The Black-and-White Drawings, 1961-1968, is on view through January 2, 2011.

The exhibition provides a rare opportunity to study Lichtenstein's black-and-white drawings as a group, to explore their technique and subject matter, to draw attention to Lichtenstein's revolutionizing contribution to the history of drawing, and to bring to light the critical insights these drawings offer into the artist's larger body of work.

The drawings constitute an original body of work independent from Lichtenstein's paintings. Although he produced many black-and-white paintings during the 1960s, the drawings were in fact conceived independently and cannot be interpreted as studies for the works on canvas. Lichtenstein's motivations in creating these works–which did not have the commercial value of paintings–remain enigmatic, though the exhibition provides some background. Moreover, these drawings differ significantly from Lichtenstein's main body of works on paper. They do not belong to the category of preparatory studies and also stand apart from the drawings of other major pop artists, notably Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, and Jim Dine, whose treatment of pop subjects cultivated an old-master look that is absent from Lichtenstein's black-and-white drawings.

The exhibition traces the development of Lichtenstein's drawing style in the 1960s, notably his technique of simulating the Benday dot printing process–a characteristic feature of his style. The viewer can follow the development of the black-and-white drawings through the rendering of these dot patterns. Lichtenstein never drew them freehand but experimented with a variety of approaches, which he perfected over the years to mimic the effect of mechanical printing.

This technique became inseparable from the meaning of the finished work, producing, in the words of critic Lawrence Alloway, "an original artwork pretending to be a copy." By imitating mechanical modes of reproduction, Lichtenstein presented a critical challenge to prevailing notions of artistic originality and authorship, paradoxically achieving an unmistakable hallmark of style in the process.

The exhibition also explores the sources–comic strips, advertisements, magazines, and mail-order catalogues–of Lichtenstein's subjects. In addition to the drawings themselves, related sketches are on display as well as clippings from newspapers, magazines, telephone books, and other sources from which Lichtenstein drew inspiration for the works in the exhibition. The show underscores the two themes that came to dominate the drawings–household objects and comic-book scenes of war and romance–and illustrates how Lichtenstein endowed them with a heightened psychological resonance and formal intensity, raising them to the level of high art.

The Morgan Library and Museum is located at 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016-3405. For more information, please call (212) 685-0008 or www.themorgan.org.

The hours are Tuesday-Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; extended Friday hours, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; closed Mondays, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. The Morgan closes at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

Admission is $12 for adults; $8 for students, seniors (65 and over), and children (under 16); free to Members and children, 12 and under accompanied by an adult. Admission is free on Fridays from 7 to 9 p.m. Admission is not required to visit the Morgan Shop.

In commemoration of the coming 150th anniversary of the Civil War, Nassau County Museum of Art (NCMA) is proud to exhibit Civil War paintings by Mort Kunstler. On view from September 25, 2010 through January 9, 2011, "For Us The Living" The Civil War in paintings by Mort Kunstler is accompanied by a fully illustrated book of the same title issued by Sterling Publishing. The book will be available at NCMA's Museum Shop for $35.

Mort Kunstler is regarded as a leading contemporary painter of Civil War scenes. His work is esteemed for its dramatic artistry and for an extraordinary level of authenticity that results from intensive research. Dr. James I. Robertson Jr., the noted Civil War historian and author of the biography, Stonewall Jackson, says: "To study his paintings is to simply see history alive." Pulitzer Price-winning historian James McPherson agrees: "Of all the artists working in the Civil War field, none captures the human element, the aura of leadership, the sense of being there and sharing in the drama quite like Mort Kunstler." NCMA's 1998 exhibition, The Civil War: The Paintings of Mort Kunstler, broke attendance records and stands as one of the museum's top-drawing shows.

"For Us the Living" The Civil War in paintings by Mort Kunstler consists of approximately 50 paintings and a selection of documentary objects. Many of the paintings are from Kunstler's own collection, as well as from various private and public collections. The exhibition will occupy the museum's first and second floor galleries.

Mort Kunstler, a resident of Oyster Bay, NY, studied art at Brooklyn College, UCL A and Pratt Institute. He became a highly successful illustrator, working on assignments for Newsweek, Saturday Evening Post, Mad Magazine and Boy's Life. Accuracy became firmly imbued into Kunstler's art beginning with assignments of historical topics from National Geographic; these assignments also taught him the value of working with noted historians. A commission from CBS-TV to do the paintings for the mini-series, The Blue and The Gray, was the beginning of the artist's close association with the Civil War. The High Water Mark, a painting executed for that series, is considered a highly accurate and moving depiction of the battle at Gettysburg. It was unveiled at Gettysburg National Military Park Museum in 1988 in celebration of the 125th anniversary of the battle.

In conjunction with "For Us the Living" The Civil War in paintings by Mort Kunstler, the museum will offer several public programs to enhance the experience of the exhibition. Among them are a reenactment of a Civil War skirmish, a book signing and a talk by the artist.

Nassau County Museum of Art is located at One Museum Drive (just off Northern Boulevard, Route 25A, two traffic lights west of Glen Cove Road) in Roslyn Harbor. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Docent-led tours of the exhibition are offered at 2 p.m. each day. Admission to the galleries in the Arnold & Joan Saltzman Fine Arts Building is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors (62+) and $4 for students and children (4-12). Admission includes entrance to the Art Space for Children. Members are admitted free. There is a $2 parking fee on weekends (No charge to members). The Museum Shop is open during museum hours. Café Musee is open Tuesday to Sunday, 12 to 4 p.m.

Nassau County Museum of Art is chartered under the laws of New York State as a not-for-profit private educational institution and museum. A privately elected board of trustees is responsible for its governance. The museum is funded through income derived from admissions, parking, membership, special events, private donations and corporate sponsorships, as well as federal and state grants.

Call (516) 484-9337 for current exhibitions, events, hours and directions log onto nassaumuseum.org.

Watercolors at Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem presents A Delicate Touch: Watercolors from the Permanent Collection, an exhibition of eighteen works from the permanent collection, which incorporate the use of watercolor. Including works dating back to the mid-twentieth century alongside others created within the present decade, A Delicate Touch offers an exciting, inter-generational look at the different takes on and treatments of watercolor. An exacting technique requiring dexterity and a precise, delicate hand, watercolor has a rich history

. The medium dates back to European Paleolithic cave painting and was employed in the creation of illuminated manuscripts during the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Later, watercolor would become many artists' technique of choice for sketches, copies and small-scale versions of larger works.

Drawing its title from John Dowell's Delicate Touch (1977), this exhibition shows the possibilities of watercolor as an artistic technique, rather than a mere sketching tool. The artists take advantage of the medium's versatility, which allows for the precision of drawing without sacrificing the vibrancy provided by oil painting. They also treat a range of subject matter. Dowell's painting is a meditation on jazz, while other works depict forms, figures and landscapes.

The Studio Museum in Harlem is located at 144 West 125th Street, between Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and Lenox Avenue. Subway: A, B, C, D, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 to 125th Street. Bus: M-2, M-7, M-10, M-100, M-101, M-102 or BX-15.

Suggested donation is $7 for adults, $3 for students (with valid identification) and seniors. Free for children 12 and under. Sundays are now free at The Studio Museum, thanks to generous support from Target.

The Museum is open Wednesday through Friday, and Sunday from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m., and from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Museum is closed on Monday, Tuesday and major holidays. For more information, please call (212) 864-4500, (fax) 212-864-4800 or www.studiomuseum.org.

A rare collection of contemporary baskets including functional vessels as well as expressive works that challenge traditional definitions of basketry, has been promised to the Museum of Arts and Design by Sara and David Lieberman. With their passion for collecting contemporary craft and their exceptional openness to new forms and ideas, the Liebermans have assembled one of the best compilations of contemporary baskets in the country. Their collection will be presented for the first time in New York in the exhibition Intertwined: Contemporary Baskets from the Sara and David Lieberman Collection, from March 16, 2010 and through September 12, 2010 at the Museum of Arts and Design.

Intertwined provides an international overview of an art form that is a fascinating blend of ancient and contemporary. The exhibition includes more than 70 traditional and non-traditional works, tracing the evolution of the basket from a useful object to a work of art that can have expressive, sculptural, and conceptual significance. The baskets utilize a range of materials from traditional organic fibers to surprising media such as zippers and fish skins.