International Art News

El Greco and Jorge Manuel, Immaculate Conception, 1607-1613, oil on canvas, 108 x 82 cm, © Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid

From April 28 to August 12, 2012 – Museum Kunstpalast
It is for the first time that the elective affinity between early Expressionism and El Greco is examined with direct reference to originals and that the phenomenon of an Old Master becoming the catalyst of a young avantgarde art movement is illustrated this vividly. The intention is to reveal the multifaceted levels on which exponents of Expressionism concerned themselves with El Greco’s pictorial world. In the process, attention is paid to the genres of religious painting as well as portrait and landscape painting. A wealth of works tell us of the profound fascination which, quite astonishingly from today’s perspective.

The Vision of Saint John, aka The Opening of the Fifth Seal (1608-1614), oil on canvas painting by El Greco, 222.3 cm x 193cm, located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

El Greco inspired Beckmann, Macke, Kokoschka, Franz Marc and all the German avant-garde of the XXth century? This is one thing most had forgotten but this exhibition “El Greco and the Modernists” is here to remind us. It is presented one century after the storm that took place when the paintings by El Greco arrived on German soil. They belonged to the Nemes collection, and were presented in Berlin, then in Dusseldorf in 1912 and finally at the Städtische Kunsthalle. It was there that the young artists were able to see this strange artist up close and the way he transformed proportions using an aggressive palette, filling his compositions with ecstatic characters with wax-colored complexions… One hundred years later, the dream of bringing together the great master and his students is finally a reality. Next to some forty paintings by El Greco, brought in from the Metropolitan, the Louvre or Toledo, we h ave works by Beckmann, Lehmbruck or Oppenheimer put in counterpoint, proving that Cézanne was not their only reference.

Museum Kunstpalast

Frances Hodgkins - The piano lesson Production Date:c 1909 - watercolour and charcoal - (hxw):515 x 595 mm - Frances Hodgkins - :Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007

Until March 11, 2012 – Auckland Art Gallery
In 2007, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki acquired these 20 paintings by expatriate New Zealand artist Frances Hodgkins. Painted in the first decade of the 20th century, they were hidden away in a drawing folio before the original owner’s family discovered them in 2007.

These sketches may have served as teaching points for her many students, but how they came to be in a French private collection remains a mystery.

When Hodgkins exhibited similar watercolours in Sydney and Melbourne in 1912-13, she told a reviewer how she had gone to England in 1901 looking for colour and light. Unable to find it, she ‘fled to France’, where she attended Norman Garstin’s sketching class at Caudebec-en-Caux.

However, it was her trip to Morocco the same year that proved a turning point. Mediterranean culture provided Hodgkins with a simplicity of architectural forms, sparkling light and strong colour, all elements of what eventually became her own highly individual style.

In Paris, Hodgkins revelled in debates, experimentation and the desire for new forms of expression which were central to the avant-garde movements. We see Hodgkins pushing the boundaries of traditional watercolour, using the kind of experimentation that eventually transformed her into one of the leading English modernists of her day.

Gallery Hours

Avinash Chandra - Untitled - 1977 Watercolour on paper 31.5 X 22.0 in.(80.0 X 55.9 cms) Edition No.: 3 Signed in English (Lower Left)

Until the 3rd of December 2011 – Delhi Art Gallery
Delhi Art Gallery presents the latest edition of its signature bi-annual show Manifestations VI featuring an assortment of seventy-five significant artists from its collection.
Usually dominated by 20th century modern Indian art, Manifestations VI  features works spanning three centuries, from a ‘Company Painting’ set in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu, done by Thomas Daniell for the East India Company in the 1790s, to an Early Bengal work of a ferocious Kali astride a supine Shiva, to several 20th century modern works.
The exhibition features a strong selection of early Indian art, from several academic oil works by well-known Indian artists of the early 20th century such as Raja Ravi Varma, Pestonji Bomanji, M. V. Dhurandhar, M. F. Pithawalla and J. P. Gangooly to wash technique works by artists affiliated to the Bengal School such as Nandalal Bose, Badri Nath Arya, Asit Kumar Haldar, Muhammad Abdur Rahman Chughtai and Kshitindranath Majumdar.
Also featured from this early period are artists Benode Behari Mukherjee, Jamini Roy, Gopal Deuskar, Gopal Ghose, Radha Charan Bagchi, Indra Dugar, D. P. Roy Chowdhury and Bireswar Sen. The selection goes on to feature Indian modernists who charted their own artistic trajectories, such as Somnath Hore, Chittaprosad, Ram Kumar, Prokash Karmakar, K. S. Kulkarni, V. S. Panicker, Gulammohammed Sheikh, M. F. Husain and F. N. Souza.

Abdul Aziz Raiba - Lovers in Spring 1968 Oil on canvas 30.0 X 38.0 in.(76.2 X 96.5 cms) Signed in English (lower left)

A noteworthy feature of the exhibition is the showcasing of early works of significant artists such as Biren De, V. S. Gaitonde and G. R. Santosh that are completely unlike what they painted later and the styles and concerns they came to be known by.
These early works expand our understanding of the artists’ range and chart the journey of their artistic careers. This collection of artists help make this edition of Manifestations an important and exciting showcase of Indian art.
A comprehensive book accompanies the exhibition. Each work chosen for exhibition is discussed in detail by an art scholar, to arrive at an understanding of its importance and uniqueness. Films on some of the artists from the Delhi Art Gallery archive will also be screened as part of the exhibition.

Gallery Hours