Shelley's Art History Blog

Terracotta bust,
Florentine, 15th or 16th century
© 2006 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington

(Ha. We're midway through an extensive conservation treatment here, not looking at Harvey Dent's alter-ego. Which important person's likeness was so meticulously cleaned? Click on the image!)

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I don't want to say I'm growing older, but my approach to multi-room blockbuster exhibitions--much as I adore them--has changed over the years. I used to move quickly through big shows, taking everything in at once with voracious eyes, greedy for more and buying the tee-shirt. Now, it seems, I have to pace myself, both physically and mentally, and make pit-stops to refuel and not look at art for a few minutes. It's a case of calorie/caffeine deficit v. sensory overload ... and, yes, of course. Resting one's feet isn't ever the worst idea, though the tee-shirt might be.

Point being: I love smaller, more intimate shows that overwhelm me *only* with quality. Remember Parmigianino's Antea, on view earlier this year at The Frick Collection? If Antea sounds as appealing to you as it did to me, you'll want to know this: several times each year The Museum of Modern Art, New York mounts exhibitions whose titles begin with "Focus." These are small in scale and comprised of works from MoMA's own collection. Best of all, the Focus series enables the viewer to do exactly that: to focus--on a single artist, medium, time, place, theme or contrast. Very refreshing, these opportunities to concentrate on one idea and use it to analyze a handful of works. Take a look at the image gallery for Focus: Ad Reinhardt and Mark Rothko, and you'll see what I mean.

P.S. Don't forget that MoMA admission is free for all visitors during Target Free Friday Nights, sponsored by Target, every Friday evening, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Image credit:

Mark Rothko (American, b. Latvia, 1903-1970)
No. 5/No. 22, 1950 (dated on verso 1949)
Oil on canvas
117 x 107 1/8 in. (297 x 272 cm)
Gift of the artist
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
© 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl, 1917-18
© Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna

(Say, this portrait is unfinished. How come? Click on the image!)

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Lucas, Kansas is holding The Great Toilet Seat Art Show and Silent Auction to raise funds to construct a public restroom. Now, before anyone says anything snarky like "We're not in Kansas, Toto," or "Art doesn't happen east of the Hudson River," I want to point out that this will be no ordinary public restroom. And Lucas is a pretty darned cool little town. With a population of well under 500, it still manages to boast the Grassroots Art Center, the description-defying Garden of Eden and sculptor Eric Abraham's Flying Pig Studio and Gallery, where the seat art is on display.

But, the public restrooms? A proposed work of art! It's to be called "Bowl Plaza," the facilities will be shaped like toilet tanks and a walkway will resemble a big runaway roll of toilet paper unfurling across the floor. It sounds marvelously eccentric, doesn't it? I want to help publicize this worthy cause (and hope you will do the same) for two reasons. First, because I salute artistic ambitions of every stripe. Second, because I, too, live in a little town. We have few jobs, and few prospects for more jobs but, by gum, we are proud of the art we produce and we do want you all to come see it. Lucas is trying to do a Field of Dreams thing, and I, personally, would drive out of my way to gaze at Bowl Plaza a lot faster than I'd head to a giant ball of twine. Prosperous art lovers everywhere: I very sincerely invite you to bid generously on a toilet seat.

Fans of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will want to know that their eight-year window of opportunity to see the gigantic Sol LeWitt wall drawings in the Museum's five story atrium are coming to a close. Officials announced on Thursday, July 22 that the drawings will be deinstalled Wednesday, September 17, 2008. "Deinstalled," in this case, appears to mean painted over in order to make way for two new installations from the traveling Martin Puryear retrospective, on view from November 8, 2008 to January 25, 2009: Some Tales (1975-78) and Ladder for Booker T. Washington (1996).

And after the Puryears have moved on? Artist Kerry James Marshall, the first recipient of SFMOMA’s new Atrium Commission, will be creating two large-scale (28-by-32–foot) history paintings featuring Mount Vernon and Monticello, as part of Marshall's continuing dedication to the themes of racial identity, urban experience, and the Civil Rights movement. LeWitt fans, don't you despair. Sol left detailed instructions on how to recreate these particular pieces and two preparatory drawings here and here. Now, all you'll need are some acrylic paints. (And a couple of really, really big walls.)

Image credit:

Sol LeWitt (American, 1928-2007)
(Left) Wall Drawing #935: Color bands in four directions and (Right) Wall Drawing #936: Color arcs in four directions, 2000
Acrylic
Dimensions variable
Purchased through a gift of Phyllis Wattis in honor of Gary Garrels, Elise S. Haas Chief Curator and Curator of Painting and Sculpture, 1993-2000
Collection San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
© 2008 The LeWitt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Photo: Ben Blackwell

The FBI is asking for your help. Long story short: William M.V. Kingsland, a Manhattan collector, died in 2006. He left no will and had no heirs, so his property reverted to the City of New York. The New York City Public Administrator hired two auction houses to catalog and sell Kingsland's art collection. While Christie's (one of the houses) was researching provenances, a big problem emerged: some of the pieces had been reported as stolen in the 1960s and 70s.

This discovery quite naturally (1) brought any thought of sales to a screeching halt and (2) got the FBI involved. The Art Theft Program now needs all available sets of eyes to peruse the gallery of Kingsland's collection and help identify the works' rightful owners. Keep in mind that these works had been tucked away for upwards of 40 years--you might be looking at something your late Great-aunt or local art museum "lost" decades ago.

Please help spread the word on this crowd-sourcing project. And, as it says at the bottom of the press release:

"If you have information on the provenance, acquisition, or ownership of any work of art from the Kingsland collection shown here—or if you want to make a claim—please contact Agent Wynne at (718) 286-7302 or by e-mail at James.Wynne@ic.fbi.gov."

Image credit:

Childe Hassam (American, 1859-1935)
Mill Site and Old Tidal Dam, Cos Cob, 1902
Oil on canvas
24 x 26 in. (61 x 66 cm)
William Kingsland Collection
Image courtesy Federal Bureau of Investigation,
Art Theft Program

Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I), 1963
© Christie's Images Ltd. 2007

(Death! Flames! Record gavel price! Click on the image!)

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"Giant dog turd wreaks havoc at Swiss museum"

(I would add some pithy commentary here about the relative merits of the work in question v. its subject matter, but am laughing so hard my hands are shaking.)

Ever experience one of those incidents where you've never, ever seen or heard of someone before in your life, then suddenly run across him or her three times in a row? Here's where I must introduce you all to Pietro Psaier. Or, rather, I would introduce Pietro, except he's supposedly dead and I'm not exactly sure what he did while he was alive. Maybe you can help me.

See, "Pietro Psaier" keeps hitting my radar, and every time it's in conjunction with Andy Warhol. In fact, I keep reading the same press release, almost verbatim, from multiple sources.

What, in part, the press release says about Pietro Psaier:

• He was born in 1936. Although, in a different iteration of the press release and many auction lot results online, he was born in 1939.
• "Whilst working as a waiter in the Greenwich Village Gaslight Café in 1964 he met Andy Warhol and an extraordinary bisexual relationship blossomed between the two." (Me: All right, I confess old hetero lady ignorance. How do two men share a 'bisexual relationship?')
• "Warhol nicknamed him 'Peter the Italian' and their relationship continued on and off until the late 1960's.
• "In 1974 Psaier became the second youngest artist to be awarded the ‘Italian-American Institute of Art' 56th Annual Award, in New York, a prize given for inspiration to artistic Peers."
• "In 1978 Psaier and Warhol eventually reunited for a joint exhibition at Gallerie D. Brussels."
• "In September 2004, Pietro Psaier was asked by Our Lady of Malibu Church, Read more...

Pyramid Texts (Egyptian, Dynasty 6, 2321-2287 B.C.)
© Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

(We have no clue who the artist was, but know exactly why he did such a precise job of carving. Care to find out? Click on the image!)

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