Displaying items by tag: Cincinnati Art Museum

The Cincinnati Art Museum and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco announced Sublime Beauty: Raphael’s “Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn.” This focused exhibition features one of Raphael’s most beguiling and enigmatic paintings. The masterpiece, presented in the United States for the first time, will come on loan from the Galleria Borghese in Rome, where it was first recorded in the collection in 1682.

It will be on view in Cincinnati from Oct. 3, 2015 – Jan. 3, 2016 and in San Francisco, Jan. 19 – April 10, 2016.

Look closely at the Emily Brock sculpture in the new Nancy and David Wolf Collection gallery at the Cincinnati Art Museum.

There are pieces within the piece.

The Wolfs, renowned contemporary craft collectors and art patrons, commissioned Brock, an artist from New Mexico, to make a miniature glass version of the great room in their Cincinnati home.

Tuesday, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art announced its new executive director, Emily Ballew Neff.

Neff replaces Cameron Kitchin, who served in the position for 6 years before leaving for the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Previously, Neff was the director and chief curator of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma.

As the long-awaited "Beyond Pop Art: A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective" opens at the Cincinnati Art Museum, there is much to discuss about this native son’s controversial career as one of the original Pop artists. But the first thing to say is, “Wow!”

That was my response upon seeing what may be the show’s signature work, “Still Life No. 60,” from 1973. I already knew this work was big — almost 30 feet long and 10 feet high — and somewhat epic in its painted depiction of objects likely to be found on a woman’s bedside table (lipstick, sunglasses, matches, nail polish, a ring and more).

"American Gothic," the famous American Regionalist painting by Grant Wood, is on display at the Cincinnati Art Museum for the first time through Nov. 16, 2014. The masterpiece joins Wood’s "Daughters of Revolution" in the exhibition, "Conversations around American Gothic."

The two celebrated paintings of the 1930s are the focus of an historic loan exchange between the Art Institute of Chicago, the permanent home of "American Gothic," and the Cincinnati Art Museum, which houses "Daughters of Revolution." In turn, "Daughters" will journey to Chicago, Paris and London in the 2016 exhibition, "Freedom and the Brush: American Painting in the 1930s."

Julie Aronson's story of how Grant Wood's iconic "American Gothic" came to be at the Cincinnati Art Museum this fall is a lesson in not censoring yourself while brainstorming.

"This is something I always thought, 'Gee, wouldn't it be amazing?' said the museum's curator of American paintings, sculpture, and drawing. "I thought this was just a pipe dream, that it would never happen."

"American Gothic," at the Art Institute of Chicago since it was first exhibited in 1930. It rarely travels.

The Board of Trustees of the Cincinnati Art Museum today unanimously voted to name Cameron Kitchin as the museum’s director. Kitchin, a nationally recognized innovator and leader in the museum field, comes to Cincinnati from the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, Tenn., where he served as director. Kitchin will begin in his new position on Oct. 1. He will report to the museum’s Board of Trustees.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Cincinnati Art Museum, I am excited to announce the appointment of Cameron Kitchin as our new director,” said Marty Ragland, president of the Board of Trustees and co-leader of the search committee. “From Day 1, our members and patrons, as well as members of our search committee, board and staff, agreed that, in addition to being an accomplished museum leader, our new director must have a passion for art, be a strategic thinker and embrace our city with the goal of bringing people to the enjoyment of art. We found these qualities and many more in Cameron.”

After seven years as the director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Aaron Betsky announced that he will step down as soon as a successor is named. During his time at the museum, Betsky increased the institution’s endowment by 18% and oversaw some of its most successful exhibitions. Betsky also led a $13-million fundraising campaign that supported the first phase of the museum’s renovation and expansion, which was completed this past spring. During his time at the Cincinnati Art Museum, Betsky also helped the institution acquire works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Robert Rauschenberg and Tom Wesselmann.

Martha Ragland, the president of the museum’s board of trustees, released a statement saying, “It is remarkable what Aaron has been able to achieve for the Art Museum and the community. He has reinvigorated this venerable institution and opened it up for future generations. On behalf of the Board, staff and people of Cincinnati I’d like to thank him for all that he has done.”

The board has organized a search committee to find a replacement for Betsky, who will assist with the process. 

The Cincinnati Art Museum presents Degas, Renoir, and Poetic Pastels, an exhibition featuring a selection of the most famous pastel drawings in the world. The works are drawn from the museum’s permanent collection and include landscapes by Alfred Sisley, Edgar Degas’ ballet dancers, and portraits by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Pastel, which is derived from the Latin word pasta, or “paste,” has been a popular medium for artists since the 15^th century. Degas, Renoir, and their contemporaries enjoyed the medium because it didn’t need time to dry and boasted rich, saturated hues. The works on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum, which are from the second half of the 19^th century, are rarely on view due to their sensitivity to light.

Degas, Renoir, and Poetic Pastels will be on view through January 19, 2014.

The American art sale, which took place today, May 23, 2013 at Christie’s in New York, realized $50.8 million, the highest total that the category has seen since May 2008. 99 out of the 135 lots offered sold and 85% sold by value.

The auction’s top lot was Edward Hopper’s (1882-1967) oil on canvas painting Blackwell’s Island (1928), which brought $19.1 million (estimate: $15 million-$20 million). Hopper also took the sale’s second top spot with his watercolor on paper Kelly Jenness House (1932), which sold for $4.1 million (estimate: $2 million-$3 million) and set the auction record for a work on paper by the artist. The Hopper sales reinforced the artist’s continued popularity among buyers and the strong market demand for exceptional Modernist works.

A highly anticipated collection of six paintings by the Wyeth family of artists sold for upward of $2 million. The works by N.C. (1882-1945), Andrew (1917-2009), and Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946) were put up for sale by New Jersey-based businessman and avid collector of the Wyeths’ works, Eric Sambol. The highlight of the collection was N.C. Wyeth’s Norry Seavey Hauling Lobster Traps Off Blubber Island (1938), which garnered nearly $844,000.

Other significant sales from the auction included Norman Rockwell’s (1894-1978) Starstruck (1934), which brought over $2 million, exceeding its high estimate of $1.2 million, Georgia O’Keeffe’s (1887-1986) My Back Yard (1943), which was purchased by the Cincinnati Art Museum for $1.8 million (estimate: $1 million-$1.5 million), George Bellows’ (1882-1925) Splinter Beach (1913), which achieved $1.2 million (estimate: $500,000-$700,000), and Sanford Robinson Gifford’s (1823-1880) Tappan Zee (1879-80), which sold for $1.1 million (estimate: $200,000-$300,000).