International Art News

Max Ernst, The Fireside Angel (The Triumph of Surrealism), 1937, Oil on canvas, 114 × 146 cm, Private collection © 2013, ProLitteris, Zurich

From may 25 to September 8, 2013 – The Fondation Beyeler
Max Ernst (1891–1976) is one of modernism’s most versatile artists. Having started out as a Dadaist in Cologne, he soon became a pioneer of Surrealism in Paris. A tireless creator of new figures, forms and techniques, Max Ernst kept on evolving in new directions even up to his late years. His remarkable oeuvre, which defies any clear stylistic definition, was also shaped by his eventful life and the many different places in which he lived in Europe and America.

The major retrospective at the Fondation Beyeler will present an exemplary selection of over 170 paintings, drawings, collages, sculptures and books by Max Ernst that encompass all aspects of his work. For the first time in Switzerland, visitors will be able to experience the full richness of Max Ernst’s multifaceted oeuvre.

Fondation Beyeler

Zhang Ding, Buddha Jumps over the wall, 2012 – Cprint 120 X 160 Courtesy Galerie Krinzinger – Booth 1D03

From May 23 to May 26, 2013 – Asian Art Fairs Ltd. – 6/F Luk Kwok Centre
The newest Art Basel show. With half of the participating galleries coming from Asia and Asia-Pacific, Art Basel in Hong Kong assumes a significant role in the international artworld, providing a portal to the region’s artists. The new show gives galleries from around the world a platform in Asia to demonstrate the way they work with artists, and bring their highest quality work to Hong Kong.

Known as the gateway between the East and West, Hong Kong ranks among the world’s most dynamic international capitals. A 21st century metropolis, it is a port city with a vast skyline rising above its bustling Victoria Harbour. In addition to the many museums, concert halls, and performance spaces, a vibrant melting pot of cultures makes Hong Kong a place of endlesArt Basel’s Hong Kong s exploration

Art Basel

Jeff Koons – Ballerinas, work in progress – Mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent color coating – 100 x 70 x 62 inches © Jeff Koons – Hall 2.0 / B15 – Courtesy Gagosian Gallery NY

From June 13 to June 16 2013 – Halls 1 and 2 of Messe Basel at Messeplatz.
Art Basel has been described as the ‘Olympics of the Art World’. Over 300 leading galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa show the work of more than 4,000 artists, ranging from the great masters of Modern art to the latest generation of emerging stars.

Hermann Scherer Selbstbildnis in Landschaft, 1924 – 1926 Oil on canvas 109 x 89 cm – Hall 2.0/A3 – Courtesy of Galerie Carzaniga

The show’s individual sectors represent every artistic medium: paintings, sculpture, installations, videos, multiples, prints, photography, and performance. Each day offers a full program of events, including symposiums, films, and artist talks. Further afield, exhibitions and events are offered by cultural institutions in Basel and the surrounding area, creating an exciting, region-wide art week.

Art Basel

Jim Shaw, Untitled (Faces in circle), 2009, oil on canvas, 152,4 x 152,4 cm., courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery, London/Hong Kong

From 8 June until 29 September, 2013 – Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen – Submarine Wharf
This summer Klaas Kloosterboer, Chris Martin and Jim Shaw will transform the Submarine Wharf into a gigantic art studio.
In the months leading up to the opening, the artists will be busy at work in the wharf, creating the exhibition on site. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen wishes to demonstrate the resilience and energy of the art of painting with a true ‘battle of the Titans’ between the three artists:

The Amsterdam-based artist Klaas Kloosterboer can be seen as an ‘inventor’. He experiments constantly, altering the form and appearance of his paintings. The exhibition will include works from the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, augmented with loans and new works. Chris Martin lives and works in New York and is the ‘savage painter’: he uses his energy to make each painting an explosion of colour and power. In ‘XXXL Painting’ he will exhibit thirty existing paintings, and in the weeks leading up to the opening he will work on a new painting measuring 13 x 10 metres. Jim Shaw, the ‘storyteller’ from Los Angeles completes the trio. He paints and draws in a figurative, sometimes cartoon-like style on old film sets. In the Submarine Wharf he will present these ‘backdrop’ paintings, some measuring 4 x 15 metres.

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

John RUSSELL
Peonies and head of a woman (c. 1887)
oil on canvas – 40.7 x 65.0 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
The Joseph Brown Collection. Presented through the NGV Foundation by Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, Honorary Life Benefactor, 2004 2004.218

15 Jun 2013 to 06 Oct 2013 – National Gallery of Victoria
For the first time, the story of the Australian artists who lived in France during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is presented in an exhibition of over 130 stunning works of art. Australian Impressionists in France challenges our understanding of Australian art during these revolutionary decades.

Beginning in the 1880s and continuing into the twentieth century, many of the best and brightest art students left Australia to continue their studies in Paris, the undisputed world capital of the arts. In France the Australians became part of the large community of French and foreign artists who were changing the course of art.

Charles Conder
England 1868–1909, lived in Australia 1884–90, Europe 1890–1905
Mrs Conder in pink c.1901- oil on canvas – 48.0 x 44.3 cm
New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester
Purchased by the Friends of the Museum, 1956 (L.F43.1956)
© Leicester Arts & Museums/The Bridgeman Art Library

Claude Monet demonstrated his Impressionist technique to John Russell; Charles Conder trawled the cabarets of Montmartre with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec; and Vincent van Gogh considered Russell a friend. In France, Australian artists engaged in personal and artistic exchanges with artists from around the world.

The exhibition shows that during these years Australian art took place beyond the confines of Australia, and examines how the expatriate artists were part of the story of Impressionism in Australia. Through the inclusion of key works by French, British and American artists the exhibition also places the Australians’ work within an international context of Impressionist art.

Australian Impressionists in France brings together over 130 paintings, prints and drawings from major public and private collections around the world. It includes important paintings by John Russell, E.Phillips Fox and Charles Conder, as well as never before seen works by lesser-known artists.

National Gallery of Victoria

The Sermon of St John the Baptist including Preti’s self-portrait

From May 4 to July 7 2013 – The Palace State Rooms – Valletta
Caravaggio was definitely damned. He never managed to have the recognition of the Order of Malta nor a peaceful death in his bed. One of his epigones did… That was Mattia Preti, a brilliant artist of Roman and Napolitan baroque. He was born in 1613 in Calabria and was a national glory in Malta where he died in 1699. Once he had the protection of the great master Martin de Redin, commissions poured in: his paintings adorn the chapel de la Langue d’Aragon, that of Castilla and Leon as well as in Saint John’s co-cathedral, where he left his greatest masterpiece, the frescoes in the vault. We can well understand that the exhibition organized for his fourth centenary at the palace of the Grand Masters, including loans from the Uffizi, the Prado, the Louvre, from Capodimonte or the museum of Taverna, his native town, must absolutely be accompanied by a visit to the island’s churches. We can see works by Preti at La Valette as well as at Vittoriosa, Rabat, Mdina, Sliema…(Art of the Day Weekly)