Observingart: Ultima Thule - Kurt Schwitters and Norway, book release

Kurt Schwitters (1887–1948) was one of the most innovative artists of the 20th Century. His creative diversity is evident in everything from collage, sound poetry, and architecture, to sculpture, painting, and typography.

Read more about HOK and Scwitters art 

Observingart: Japanese influence on Nordic art

Japanomania in the North:

Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 

Wild Angelica, 1889.

Finnish National Gallery / Hannu Aaltonen

For the first time ever, an exhibition will focus on the wide-ranging Japanese influence on Nordic art and design around 1900. Works by leading Nordic artists such as Gerhard Munthe, Bruno Liljefors, Helene Schjerfbeck, and Oda Krohg will be presented alongside works by European pioneers such as Monet, Gauguin, and van Gogh. 

When the exhibition opens 17 June, it will be shown at two venues, with an emphasis on visual arts at the National Gallery and on design at the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design.

This Japanese inspiration, known in the world of art as Japonism, was the result of Japan opening its borders in 1854, but it first became evident in the Nordic countries from the 1880s on. 

Asymmetry, simplification, stylization, and looser shapes and forms were new stylistic elements that revolutionized both art and the decorative arts, thereby prefiguring modernism in the Nordic countries. Japanese paintings and colour prints were also instrumental in developing the visual arts, while porcelain, ceramics, textiles, lacquerware, and similar goods from Japan inspired designers and craftsmen to develop new aesthetic idioms. The exhibition will show around 400 objects inspired by Japanese design, as well as 200 paintings and woodcuts.

The curators for the exhibition are Widar Halén and Vibeke Waallann Hansen. The curators for the exhibition at the Finnish National Gallery Ateneum, where the exhibition is currently on display, are Gabriel P. Weisberg and Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff.

Bruno Liljefors, Jays, 1886.

Nationalmuseum Stockholm

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Observingart: news

William Wegman, Inside Outside, 2014, oil and postcard on wood panel.

‘THE DOG REALLY CONFUSED THINGS’

Another side of William Wegman on view in New York.

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JURI MARKKULA

RGB Jord

April 28 - May 28, 2016

Juri Markkula opening reception April 28, 2016, 5-8pm. 

Carmin Ground 

2015

50x50cm 

Read more: www.larsbohmangallery.com/

Observingart: news

Linn Fernström Staden, 2016 oil on canvas 72 x 125 cm Linn Fernström at MARKET Art Fair  April 22 - 24, 2016 Lars Bohman Gallery Amedeo Modigliani,  Portrait of a Girl, c. 1917  © Tate Tate's 2017 exhibition line-up: among the highlights will be the major retrospectives of Alberto Giacometti, Wolfgang Tillmans and Rachel Whiteread.

Observeart: William Hogarth. A Harlot’s Progress and Other Stories- the National Gallery of Denmark

William Hogarth
First Stage of Cruelty
1750 - 1751
433 x 362 mm
SMK – The National Gallery of Denmark

Prostitution, poverty, violence, drunkenness and deceit. A new exhibition at the National Gallery of Denmark focuses on the British artist and satirist William Hogarth (1697–1764). His original series offered wry commentaries on eighteenth-century city life, and he is now regarded as one of the first major English artists. 

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Observingart: art updates

Claude Monet: The Water-Lily Pond 1899, 

Oil on canvas, 88.3 x 93.1 cm
The National Gallery, London 
© Copyright The National Gallery, London 2016

Ordrupgaard brings iconic Monet works to Copenhagen 

See Claude Monet’s famous water lilies, bridges and haystacks when Ordrupgaard opens the exhibition Monet. Beyond Impressionism on 24 August 2016.

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Observingart: collecting art

How to Give Your Collection Away But Still Have Use of It?
Daniel Grant uses the Wall Street Journal to outline the process of making an irrevocable trust for an art collection which allows the owners to donate their art to a trust, keep it and pay rent on the art. Read article at Art Market Monitor

Drawing Week in Paris … and the impact of the Chinese market
A long-term graph of the best auction results in the field of drawing shows that the explosion of the drawing market is a recent phenomenon that more or less coincides with the development of the Chinese market.  Read article at Art Market Monitor

Observeart: Onno van Seggelen with a selection of their finest drawings at TEFAF 2016.

Showcase exhibitor Onno van Seggelen will present a selling exhibition with a selection of their finest drawings at TEFAF 2016. Their presentation 'Four Centuries of Master Drawings', includes work by Jan Brueghel the Younger - See more 

Observingart: Historic Florentine Masterpiece at TEFAF 2016

The centrepiece of leading Italian dealer Carlo Orsi’s stand (344) at TEFAF 2016 is an impressive oil on canvas of The Death of Filippo Strozzi by the Florentine artist Giuseppe Bezzuoli (1784-1855)  Read more

Observingarts: "Along the Coast. Gude and his students around 1870 "at The National Museum, Oslo

Fresh Breeze on the Norwegian Coast, 1876

Hans Gude

Photo by Nasjonalmuseet 

The exhibition ‘Along the Coast. Gude and his students around 1870’ explores how the realistic maritime painting was established, and how significant Gude’s depictions of land and sea became for his Norwegian students at the art academy in Karlsruhe. Famous artists such as Kitty Kielland, Frits Thaulow, Christian Krohg, Amaldus Nielsen and Nikolai Ulfsten were all among Gude’s students in Karlsruhe. Following Gude’s advice they went on field trips to the beaches of southern Norway and discovered motifs from their native land, demonstrated by for instance Kitty Kielland’s paintings from Jæren.

Langs kysten, Eilif Petterssen, På Jæren, Nicolai Ulfsten, 1879 P.E.

For the majority, Hans Gude (1825–1903) is best known for his collaborations with Adolph Tidemand on the national romantic icon ‘Bridal Procession on the Hardangerfjord’ (1848), where Gude painted the landscape. But after a while he turned to other sources of inspiration, and became a maritime painter. He had a great international career: first as a teacher in Düsseldorf, then in Karlsruhe and finally in Berlin.

Langs kysten, Snetykke/Drifting Snow, Nils Hansteen, 1890Nasjonalmuseet

A total of 110 works of art are presented in ‘Along the Coast. Gude and his students around 1870’, both paintings and works on paper. In addition to the National Gallery’s own collection, are several paintings on loan from museums in Norway and Sweden, as well as private collections. The exhibition thereby gives a unique opportunity to see art that has never before been publicly displayed. 

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Observingart: spring Exhibition 2016, Charlottenborg

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Observingart: Art Basel 2016 - art

Browse art from 2016 list of exhibitors for Art Basel: 


303 Gallery: Karen Kilimnik "Going off to the Battle"
tapestry - off to a glittering start, 
2015

Observingarts: At Home with Hammershøi at Ordrupgaard

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Courtyard (1905). 

Private Collection. 

Photo KODE the Art Museums of Bergen

The whole world knows and loves his quiet, grey rooms in Christianshavn, where time stands still and light streams in through the mullioned windows. Now, Ordrupgaard is marking the centenary of Hammershøi’s death with an exhibition that celebrates his heyday: his years at Strandgade 30, where some of his best works were created, and where the real essence of Hammershøi found its way onto the canvas. 

The exhibition opens on 4 March. 

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Observingarts: Yayoi Kusama – In Infinity at Henie Onstad Artcentre, Oslo.

Yayoi Kusama. Kusama with pumpkin. Aichi Triennale, 2010.
Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/ Singapore; Victoria Miro Gallery, London; David Zwirner, New York;
and KUSAMA Enterprise. © Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama – In Infinity

This most comprehensive solo exhibition tells the full story of the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s production, from her dot paintings to the installation spaces that open into a vast world of her imagination. This is a world where color, patterns, and movement bear witness to her fascination with the infinite.

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Or enter "the dotted universe" here:

Observingarts: The Nationalmuseum of Sweden has acquired a nude by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg

Nationalmuseum has acquired a nude by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, a central figure in the art history of the Danish Golden Age. Eckersberg renewed a traditional genre by painting nudes in natural daylight, such as the acquired work. Nationalmuseum has also acquired a second nude and an idyllic interior scene of a mother and child by a window, both painted by Eckersberg’s pupil Ludvig August Smith.

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Observingart: Munch and Expressionism Neue Galerie New York February 18–June 13, 2016

Edvard Munch - Self portrait in hell. 

Source: Google Art Project: pic/ Wikipedia

Picture is an illustration, not from the exhibit. 

The show, curated by Expressionist scholar Dr. Jill Lloyd, has been organized in tandem with Munch specialist Dr. Reinhold Heller.

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Observingarts: ArtPrice.com: Post-War and Contemporary Art - new records.

ArtPrice.com : Against the backdrop of stock market crashes, the Art Market proves to be particularly solid. The auction results of London's Contemporary Art sales have naturally adjusted compared to 2015, as auction houses acted wisely in this particular economic situation and reviewed their number of lots on offer. These results are far from alarming. The unsold rates are low and new records were set. Last Wednesday, 10 February 2016, Phillips' chairman, Ed Dolman, commented on the Art Market in 2016: "the Art Maket has not crashed the way stock exchange markets did because it is an intelligent, more discerning market". Read full article here

Observingart: Nikolai Astrup at Dulwich Picture Gallery

Dulwich Picture Gallery presents the radically innovative works of Norwegian artist Nikolai Astrup (1880 - 1928) for the painter and printmaker's first ever major London exhibition - and indeed the world's, outside of Norway. 

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or enjoy these videos for more details: 

Observingarts: Along the coast: Gude and his Students around 1870

Langs kysten, Til værs/High up,
Christian Krohg, ca 1900 

Maritimt museum

Read more about the exhibition

Observingarts: Dag Thoresen, new paintings at Gallery Haaken 18. February 2016

Fjære
Dag Thoresen, 2015
110 x 160 cm

Gallery Haaken exhibits Dag Thoresen at their Tjuvholmen gallery in Oslo.

The color has always been the most important in Dag Thoresen paintings. 

Also the pace has in recent years gained a much greater 

significance in the manufacturing process. 

Dag Thoresen: 

Childhood, stars, 2016, 

135 x 190 cm

The current exhibition holds all of Thoresens coloristic daring, imaginative, abstract landscapes 

painted with a large pace or alla prima. Transitions, corrections and improvements are still 

part of the painterly expression, but in images we can sense an even stronger and more direct 

connection with nature's pulse than previously. 

Dag Thoresen:

Summer, for Robert H., 2015, 

100 x 170 cm

Thoresen has found a key point: " to pry into nature as closely as possible." 

The exhibition includes 10 paintings.