International Art News

Max Ernst – Au dessus des nuages marche la minuit, 1920 – Photographische Vergrößerung einer Collage – © VBK, Wien 2012 / Kunsthaus Zürich

From 23 January 2013 to 5 May 2013 – Albertina
First retrospective in Austria – of Max Ernst, the great pictorial inventor. Presenting a selection of 150 paintings, collages, and sculptures, as well as relevant examples of illustrated books and documents, the exhibition will assemble works related to all of the artist’s periods, discoveries, and techniques, thereby introducing his life and œuvre within a both biographic and historical context.

Max Ernst – la puberté proche… (les pléiades), 1921 – Collage, Gouache und Öl auf Papier, auf Karton aufgezogen -
© VBK, Wien 2012 / Privatsammlung

Together with Matisse, Picasso, Beckmann, Kandinsky, and Warhol, Max Ernst no doubt numbers among the leading figures of 20th-century art history. An early protagonist of Dadaism, a pioneer of Surrealism, and the inventor of such sophisticated techniques as collage, frottage, grattage, decalcomania, and oscillation, he withdraws his work from catchy definition. His inventiveness when it comes to handling pictorial and inspirational techniques, the breaks between his countless work phases, and his switching back and forth between themes cause irritation. Yet what remains a constant is his consistence in terms of contradiction.

Albertina

Constant Permeke Leonie 1929-32 Privéverzameling Fotograaf: Hugo Maertens, Brugge © SABAM 2012

From October 11, 2012 to January 20th 2013 – Bozar – Centre for fine Arts
He was a contemporary of Otto Dix and Egon Schiele. But the expressionism Constant Permeke (1886-1969) demonstrated had a very specific personality, reflecting the little people of Flanders – workers, women with many children and peasants – who led a very rugged existence. Dark colors, the power of charcoal often mixed with paint, the monumental approach (the rigidity of his women reminds one of antique goddesses) made Permeke the herald of Flemish expressionism.

Constant Permeke De Sjees 1926 Collection MuZEE, Oostende Fotograaf : AD-ART Sint-Amandsberg © SABAM 2012

Yet his reputation did not cross the borders easily. By bringing together 130 of his works, the organizers also wish to show his modernity and they chose to confront him to two contemporary artists – Marlene Dumas and her nudes, Thierry de Cordier and his landscapes.

Centre for fine Arts, Bozar

Doğançay - No Future, 1999 - Mixed media on masonite tiles mounted on canvas - 122 x 122 cm.Doğançay Collection of the artist

Until the 23rd of September 2012 – Istambul Modern
Since the early 1960s, Burhan Doğançay examines the social, cultural and political transformation of modern and contemporary urban culture through the use of walls. As an urban traveller, he has been tracking walls in various cities across the world for almost half a century. With the guise of an anthropologist, Doğançay examines these surfaces that are open to all manners of contemporary interventions ranging from posters to slogans, and messages with sexual content to newspaper clippings. Doğançay’s works with different techniques and styles, are positioned in both a historical and contemporary ground through their incorporation of the icons of popular culture and political symbols.

Fifty Years of Urban Walls: A Burhan Doğançay Retrospective stands as an anthology for Doğançay’s last 50 years of work. With works that range from small sized pieces to big canvases, and installations that run beyond the walls, to various materials and pursuits, this exhibition unrolls the background to Doğançay’s ways of working. The exhibition gathers together 14 distinct series and periods of time with works coming from different collections all over the world. The accompanying catalogue presents images of works along with explanatory texts, which provide different perspectives to his ouevre while documents and photographs on Doğançay’s life alludes to his urban traveller identity.

Doğançay - Hear It With Your Heart, 1988 - Collage and acrylic on two stacked canvases - 122 x 127 cm. Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation Collection

Munich based publishing house Prestel will be printing and distributing the catalogue worldwide,  allowing Dogançay’s works to access a broader viewing public. The curator of the exhibition, Levent Çalıkoğlu maps out the artist’s body of work spanning over 50 years in his essay entitled, The Recording of History and the Anatomy of Walls. Brand new essays by Brandon Taylor, Professor Ermeritus of History of Art at Southampton University, and Richard Vine, Senior Editor at Art in America, as well as explanatory texts on each series by the writer, editor and graphic designer Clive Giboire all examine the techniques Dogançay has developed and integrated into his practice.

Istanbul Modern

Kamagurka - The End of Cubism - 2012

From the first of May to the first of August 2012 – Arentshuis and other locations
Artist, painter, theatre and television producer Kamagurka (Luc Zeebroek) will act as curator for a special art project in Bruges: Kamarama. On several locations he will display his own works as well as works of other artists who inspire and fascinate him. It will be an exhibition full of remarkable art, surprising perspectives and a certain amount of humour.

Kati Heck - check - 2012 - courtesy Jan Mostmans

The Arentshuis will act as a live atelier in which Kamagurka will display his own art works. From time to time he will create a new work here, by himself or together with other artists such as David Bade (May 1), Stephen Tunney (May 3 & 4), Werner Mannaers (May 17 & 18), Jeroen Henneman (June 28 & 29) and Muzo (July 10 & 11).

Roland Topor

In the Garemijn Hall, Kamagurka displays works from artists who inspired and influenced him. He likes to combine historic and contemporary art. He’s also fascinated by international links and the use of mixed media in art.

Kamagurka - Retrospective VII (kubistische smurfin) - 2012

Displayed artists: Capitaine Lonchamps (B), David Bade (NL), Don Van Vliet a.k.a. Captain Beefheart (US), Emile Salkin (F), Francis Picabia (F), Fred Bervoets (B), George Condo (US), George Grosz (D), Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes (F), Herr Seele (B), J.J. Grandville (F), James Ensor (B) , Jan Fabre (B), Jeff Olsson (S), Jeroen Henneman (NL), Kati Heck (D), Luc Tuyman s (B), Lucebert (NL), Marcel Duchamp (F), Markus Lüpertz (D), Max Ernst (D), Muzo (F), Otto Dix (D), Pablo Picasso (E), Paul Joostens (B), René Daniëls (NL), René Magritte (B), Rinus Van de Velde (B), Roland Topor (FR), Stephen Tunney a.k.a. Dogbowl (US), Werner Mannaers (B), Wim Delvoye (B), Wim T. Schippers (NL) and Yves Obyn (B).

Herr Seele - Cowboy Henk, 2011 - courtesy of the artist

You will also see art works in the streets of Bruges such as his ‘accidental’ portraits of fictive people. There will be 12 portraits spread around the Arentshof garden and alongside the Dijver. If you think you recognize a family member, friend or acquaintance in one of the portraits, you can report this on this website. At the end of the project, Kamagurka will choose the one who is the best lookalike of one of his portraits.

Kamarama

Roy Lichtenstein. Masterpiece, 1962. © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein, Agnes Gund Collection

May 16–September 3, 2012 – The Art Institute of Chicago
This exhibition, the first presentation of the full scope and breadth of Roy Lichtenstein’s career since his death in 1997, aims to offer a new, scholarly assessment of the work of this foremost Pop artist. Lichtenstein is an artist whose work is widely known, reproduced, copied, and parodied—he is an artist that we seem to know well but in fact the true diversity and complexity of his oeuvre is little understood.

Roy Lichtenstein – Girl With Hair Ribbon – Oil and magna on canvas – 48 x 48 inches; 121.9 x 121.9 cm – 1965 The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation

Presenting over 130 paintings and sculptures, as well as over 30 little- or never-before-seen drawings and collages, this exhibition gives full consideration to all periods of Lichtenstein’s career, including but not limited to, pre-Pop expressionist work, classic Pop Romance and War cartoon paintings, Mirrors, Brushstrokes, Explosions, Artist’s Studio paintings, late nudes, and Chinese Landscapes. Special consideration is given to Lichtenstein’s relationship to art historical sources, ranging from Picasso and Cubism through Surrealism, Futurism, German Expressionism, and the American West.

Roy Lichtenstein. Ohhh…Alright…, 1964. © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. Private Collection.

Finally, the exhibition offers an examination of the artist’s use of alternative media like Plexiglas, Rowlux, and perforated steel in an attempt to broaden the understanding of his art beyond the strictly canonical early Pop paintings.

Art Institute of Chicago

Dora Gordine - Chinese Head - Chinese Philosopher

From April 14 to August 5, 2012 – Adamson-Eric Museum
The work produced between 1924 and 1933 by Dora Gordine (1895(?)–1991), an artist with a fascinating destiny who was also linked with Estonia, is presented together with interior views of Dorich House, which she designed.

A major exhibition celebrating the colourful life and times of a woman once hailed as one of the finest female sculptors in the world o. This retrospective lifts the lid on sculptor, artist and designer Dora Gordine’s creative genius and flamboyant personality, giving members of the public unparalleled access to her work

Dora Gordine - Seated Female

Described as fearless, feisty and with a voice like Zsa Zsa Gabor, Latvian-born Gordine first rose to prominence in Paris during the 1920s. Known in her heyday as much for her love of the high life as she was for her phenomenal talent, Gordine travelled the globe before eventually marrying into the aristocracy and settling in Kingston upon Thames in South West London in 1936. She quickly established herself as a darling of the capital’s cultural set, famous for her nude sculptures and stylish dinner parties. All that changed, however, when her husband, scholar the Hon. Richard Hare died suddenly in 1966. Grief-stricken, Gordine withdrew from the social whirl of the capital’s arts scene to become a virtual recluse until her own death in 1991.

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