The Automaton

Paolo Ventura
The Old Man from The Automaton

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love the work of Paolo Ventura. I was lucky enough to wander into the Hasted Kraeutler Gallery in Chelsea on my last trip to NYC. I saw Ventura's work in an art magazine not too long before the trip and thank goodness for glass windows, as I saw the work through the gallery window and headed inside.

The entire gallery was filled with a series of photographs telling the story of The Automaton of Venice. Each photograph is a snippet or a scene of the story. The photographs are enchanting and once you realize that isn't just a photograph of a man but of a handmade maquette, the photographs become even more engrossing. Ventura creates detailed scale model sets which he then photographs.

Check out more of his work

Working with imagined worlds as well as small ones is quite fascinating and many other fabulous artists today are working this way. Ventura was part of the exhibition: Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities
Definitely check the website out, it showcases all of the works in the exhibition. I am sure I'll cover some of the artists here in the future.

Lady with an Ermine

Lady with an Ermine, c.1489-1494
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-
oil on wood
Czartoyski Museum, Krakoq, Poland

The Mona Lisa is uber well-known, but Lady with an Ermine may not be as familiar to everyone. Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, 15 year old mistress of Ludovico Sforza, patron of da Vinci. Galle = ermine, the ermine is also the heraldic animal of Ludovico il Moro.

Such a wonderful portrait.

Architecture of photography

Luisa Lambri (Italian, b.1969)
Untitled (Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, #18), 2008
Laserchrome print
Edition of 5 and 1 Artist's Proof
29 1/2 X 25 inches
image: luhringaugustine.com

Installation shot from the exhibition, Luisa Lambri Jan 10-Feb 7, 2009

at Luhring Augustine Gallery in NYC.

I cam across the photography of Luisa Lambri today while researching artists who use light and space in their work. Lambri works within specific architectural spaces, abstracting these spaces to a point where they are only known by the title of the work. Without the title we see the shadows, lines and focus of a corner that could be anywhere. It's fascinating to discover how particular Lambri's choices are, choosing well known architects and their buildings. Architectural space is layered within her exhibitions, as she takes careful care in how her photographs enter an exhibition space, how they are hung, and where they should reside within the architectural space of the gallery. You can see more works from this exhibition here: http://www.luhringaugustine.com/index.php?mode=current&object_id=218# and more... but I am particularly attracted to the one I've chosen today. It is the same space as in other photographs but I feel that the shadows and lines in this image create the fullest, most complete, almost painterly effect.

Press Release

St. Francis

St. Francis in the desert, 1480
Giovanni Bellini
oil and tempera on poplar panel
49 in. x 55 7/8 in.
image: Frick Collection
title and date from Frick

One of my favorite paintings at the Frick Collection in New York, this is one of those paintings that when you come across it you spend a lot of time with it (and very likely wander back to that room after you've seen everything else).

While I am done with nature in art week, it spills a bit over into this work. There is a specific attention paid to the details of nature, as the saint stands in communion with nature. The story tells us that Francis moved to a cave in the barren wilderness, but here we see a different interpretation as this landscape is alive with livestock and fields. If you follow the link to the image, you can zoom into the details of the painting (a wonder to see in person but until you make it to the Frick...).

An interesting note too, I came across this painting for today in an art history text book, with the caption reminding me that it was in the Frick Collection. While these details can change (selling and buying of work) titles and dates do as well. The title of this work in the book is, Saint Francis in Ecstasy, while the Frick has in the Desert. The date in the book is 1470s and in the Frick's label, 1480. I go with the owning institution's details as they should be the ones who have done work on provenance and more about the work. Just a little info on the work of art and research.

Judith

Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes
c.1623/1625
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653)
72 3/8 x 55 3/4 in.
oil on canvas
Image: Detroit Institute of Arts (52.253)

If one were to think that women artists of the 19th century had difficulty being taken seriously, imagine the world in which women artists of the 17th century had to compete for their careers and existence in. Gentileschi was trained by her a father, the painter, Orazio Gentileschi. Much of her work as only recently been attributed to her, as it was often attributed to Orazio. As a result of this and her time she was marginalized as an artist for many years, only somewhat recently coming to the forefront of art historical scholarship.

Her father introduced her to artists, and one can see the influence of Caravaggio in the chiaroscuro of her work. The strength in her work is striking. I didn't choose Gentileschi's painting of the actual decapitation of Holofernes (I like the light in this one better) but in order to see some of the differences between approaches to depicting the scene through art, see Judith and Holofernes.
Judith

Trevi Fountain

Trevi Fountain, 1732-1762
Nicola Salvi, completed by Guiseppe Panini and artists from the Bernini School.
marble
Rome, Italy
Public Art Around the World


I've focused on contemporary, public art this week and left out an entire world and history of public art. Much public art often passes us by, that statue in front of a state house, in a park, commemorations, another guy on a horse. I admit to breezing by much of this kind of public sculpture unless I am particularly interested in the subject. Public art has of course been a strong leader in the world of art for thousands of years.

Today, the Trevi Fountain. Rome, and much of Italy is oozing with public art. I should have my own photos of it but I cannot seem to find my photo album from my whirlwind Europe trip in college. I
Image: Travel plan idea blog
haven't gotten too much into the logistics of the process of getting art out there, but most work you will find like the Trevi Fountain was commissioned by a governmental body (very unlike the lengthy difficult time Christo and Jeanne-Claude had getting permission for their own project. This is also an excellent example of the iconic status a work of public art can attain.

An interesting incident involving the fountain in 2007 Turning the Trevi Fountain Red
Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trevi_Fountain_wide.jpg

Still Life

Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964) Italian
Still Life, 1946
Oil on canvas
533 x 613 x 65 mm
Tate Collection

Morandi was suggested by a reader of this blog after he went to a recent show of his work at the Met. A quick look and I recognized his work, but have not spent much time with it myself. This work is indicative of Morandi's work. His theme remained unchanged, as he kept with painting the same familiar items over the course of his career. He shifted from a more bold slightly cubist approach to a softness more befitting romanticism or impressionism. The paintings are soft and silent, the objects losing their afillation with their uses as they retain their individual shape yet still blend into their monochromatic backgrounds.

I don't yet have a strong feeling on the aesthetics of Morandi's work, but hopefully I'll come across it in the near future in person and be able to get a better grasp of his unique subtlety in painting.

Unique Forms

Umberto Boccioni. (Italian, 1882-1916). Unique Forms of Continuity in Space. 1913 (cast 1931). Bronze, 43 7/8 x 34 7/8 x 15 3/4" (111.2 x 88.5 x 40 cm). Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest

I went through some of the images I have in my "art" folder on my computer today and came across a favorite sculpture. Displayed in a small room at MoMA alongside other Futurism works, Boccioni's sculpture is one I always make my way through the throngs to see. Despite the weightiness of the bronze the sculptural movement creates the sense the sense that the figure will walk off at any moment.

The title, despite many years of trying I can never consistently get right in my memory, could be attributed to most of the paintings and sculptures in the room. The Italian Futurists were interested in exposing and embracing the burgeoning Industrial present of the early 20th century in their work, attempting to break from the conventional artistic past of Italy.

Happy Monday!