News: Design and business, art and technology, ideas and good stuff
Frank Auerbach | Twenty Self-Portraits | Frankie Rossi Art Projects | London
19 April to 14 July 2023
When one is young, one is excited by drama and when one’s old, truth is exciting – Frank Auerbach
‘I didn’t find actual formal components of my head all that interesting when I was younger, smoother and less frazzled. Now that I’ve got bags under my eyes, things are sagging and so on, there’s more material to work with’.
The eleven drawn and nine painted self-portraits are all recent. As William Feaver says: ‘Self-portraits have the implication of self-regard and there’s absolutely nothing of that in these. They show all sorts of frustrations and irritations and breath held- all the things we feel if we look in the mirror.’
Copy ©Frankie Rossi Art, Images ©Frank Auerbach
Anafaza 2023 by Ohad Naharin | Performed by Batsheva Dance Company | Tel Aviv, Israel
June 2023
Anafaza, Ohad Naharin’s iconic piece for Batsheva Dance Company, made its debut in December 1993, on the 30th anniversary of Batsheva’s foundation. Since then, and over two decades, it has been performed in front of no less than 300,000 viewers in Israel and worldwide, and cemented its place in the canon of local culture. 30 years after it was performed for the first time, Anafaza presenting Batsheva Dance Company and Batsheva Ensemble on one stage, with live music performed by Ohad Naharin, Danni Makov, and Avi Belleli (“Tractor’s Revenge”).
Image and copy ©Batsheva Dance Company
Next Year in Moscow | A brilliant podcast about Russia’s future | Arcady Ostrovsky | The Economist
March 2023
Understand Russia through the insights of its free-thinkers in exile.
When the shelling of Ukraine began a year ago, free-thinking Russians faced a fateful choice: lie low, resist or flee. Hundreds of thousands decided to leave. For them the war meant the future of Russia itself was now in doubt.
In this eight-part series, The Economist’s Russia editor, Arkady Ostrovsky, finds out what happened to these exiles for a new podcast series. Their stories help solve the mystery of why this senseless war began – and how it might end.
Image and copy ©The Economist
Rijksmuseum to stage largest Vermeer exhibition ever | Amsterdam
10 February - 4 June 2023
Never before have so many Vermeer’s been brought together.
In the spring of 2023, the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands, will dedicate a retrospective exhibition to the 17th-century master Johannes Vermeer for the first time in its history. With loans from all over the world, this promises to be the largest Vermeer exhibition ever.
In contrast to Rembrandt, Vermeer left a remarkably small oeuvre with about 35 paintings. As his paintings are generally considered the most prized treasures of every museum collection, Vermeer paintings are rarely lent out.
Copy and image ©Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Rethinking Guernica | In-depth research now online | Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía | Madrid
Ongoing
Since its creation in 1939, Picasso’s Guernica has become a political symbol, an emblem of violence or the vulnerability of civilians.
This website presents the extensive research conducted on the artwork and comprises around 2,000 documents. Gigapixel photography technology enables us to analyse the painting in the smallest details.
Image ©Sucesión Pablo Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2023. Copy ©Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain.
Golden Boy Gustav Klimt | Exhibition | Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam
7 October 2022 to 8 January 2023
The exhibition explores how Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) developed his unique style and how the Austrian artist was inspired by the work of Van Gogh, Toorop, Rodin, Whistler, Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, Matisse and many other artists.
New research has revealed which artists influenced Klimt, and which he admired. Klimt co-founded the Vienna Secession art society, where European modern art was exhibited for the first time in 1898. From then on, each exhibition organised by the society offered Klimt a new wave of inspiration and creativity.
Copy ©Van Gogh Museum, image: Judith, 1901, ©Belvedere, Vienna
Paisley: A Princely Pattern | Exhibition | Museum of Islamic Art | Jerusalem, Israel
May 2022 - April 2023
The exhibition displays the evolution of the centuries-old paisley motif that began in Persia as a symbol of nobility adorned by kings and princes, was later adopted by European royalty, and spread across the globe, becoming one of the most iconic and beloved patterns and a symbol of pop culture. The exhibition displays an extensive collection of Persian and Kashmiri shawls together with Judaica, as it evolved in the Jewish communities of the Islamic world. Specially highlighted is the bandana, which first emerged as an Indian kerchief to later become an American icon.
Copy ©Museum of Islamic Art Jerusalem. Image: paisley bandana ©Fashion and Textile Archives/Shai Ben Efraim
Colour as Language | Etel Adnan and Vincent van Gogh | First retrospective in the Netherlands | Exhibition | Van Gogh Museum | Amsterdam
Until 4 September 2022
Etel Adnan often took landscape as a starting point for her art. Like Van Gogh, she sought to convey the power of nature on the canvas with a colour palette and painting style all of her own.
Her landscapes – frequently simplified and with intense colours and abstract forms – enter a dialogue with several works by Van Gogh. The exhibition also includes her ‘leporello’ works, the concertina-style books for which Adnan is known, as well as tapestries and literature.
vangoghmuseum.nl
Image: Etel Adnan, ‘Untitled’, 2015, oil on canvas, Collection Jean Frémon. ©The Estate of Etel Adnan. Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co., Paris/New York. Copy: ©Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam.
Borgen season 4: ‘Power and Glory’ is back. And it’s brilliant. | Netflix
As from June 2022
The logline for the series states: “Borgen – Power and Glory, deals with some of the biggest political issues of our time; the relevance of the Danish Realm in the modern world, the superpowers’ battle for control of the Arctic – and not least, the climate crisis. The main story focuses on the struggle for power and what power does to people – both professionally and on a personal level.” A must see. With: Sidse Babett Knudsen, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard.
Text: ©RadioTimes, image: ©Netflix Netherlands
Jean-Jacques Sempé 1932-2022
2022
Jean-Jacques Sempé, the celebrated French cartoonist who illustrated the children’s book series Le Petit Nicolas and produced more covers for the New Yorker magazine than any other artist, has died aged 89.
Sempé’s acclaimed cartoons often showed small figures set in vast urban landscapes or contemplating the enormity of nature amid trees or gardens. “Sempé is France,” the Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk told Paris Match earlier this year. “Everything is there: irony and tenderness.”
Wikipedia: Jean-Jacques_Sempé
Image: ©Sempé/New Yorker, copy: The Guardian
