Displaying items by tag: landscape

On Tuesday, January 21, France’s Minister of Culture and Communication, Aurélie Filippetti, announced that the country would return three artworks that were looted during World War II to their rightful owners. The works include a 17th century landscape by the Flemish painter Joos de Momper, an 18th century portrait, and an oil on wood Madonna.

The works are among over 2,000 objects that have been held in temporary custody by French museums since the end of World War II. Some critics have spoken out against France, claiming that the country has not been proactive enough in terms of restitution efforts.

Since the end of World War II, France has returned around 80 looted artworks.

A judge has ordered that a painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir that was allegedly purchased at a flea market for $7 in 2009, be returned to the Baltimore Museum of Art. The museum filed papers in federal court last year arguing that the work legally belonged to the institution and had been stolen while on view there in 1951. 

Martha Fuqua, who had purchased the painting at a Virginia flea market, claimed that she deserved to hold on to ‘On the Shore of the Seine’ (1879), a small landscape painting, because she was unaware that it had been stolen. The FBI seized the work in 2012 from an auction gallery. Fuqua had hoped to sell the unsigned work for as much as $100,000.

The Baltimore Museum of Art released a statement saying, “We look forward to celebrating the painting’s homecoming with a special installation in the galleries in late March.”

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. has received Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Green Wheat Fields, Auvers,’ from the estate of museum benefactor, Paul Mellon. The work, which was painted late in the artist’s life, is the ninth Van Gogh painting to enter the museum’s collection. The work has not been displayed publicly since 1966.

‘Green Wheat Fields, Auvers’ is one of Van Gogh’s “pure landscapes,” which he painted following his confinement in an asylum. Scholars suggest that the artist found solace in the tranquility of nature towards the end of his life as his mental health deteriorated.

‘Green Wheat Fields, Auvers’ is currently on display in the National Gallery’s West Building alongside two other works by Van Gogh: the still life ‘Roses’ and the portrait ‘La Mousmé.’

The American Art Fair is celebrating its sixth year at the Bohemian National Hall in New York now through December 5. The show opened on Sunday, December 1 with a gala preview, which also marked the beginning of American Paintings Week.

The American Art Fair focuses on American 19th and 20th century art and features top-notch exhibitors such as Adelson Galleries, Avery Galleries, Driscoll Babcock Galleries, Godel & Co. Fine Art, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, John H. Surovek Gallery and Questroyal Fine Art. This year’s show marks the first time that Tom Veilleux Gallery will be counted among the exhibitors.

Galleries will present everything from landscapes, portraits and still lifes to studies and sculptures. Highlights include a portrait by John Singleton Copley (Alexander Gallery), a landscape by Childe Hassam (Driscoll Babcock Galleries) and other works by Maurice Prendergast (Adelson Galleries), Marsden Hartley (Questroyal Fine Art), and Jacob Lawrence (Jonathan Boos).

The Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH has been loaned two significant impressionist landscape paintings – one by Vincent van Gogh and another by Pierre-August Renoir. The works will be on view at the museum through the end of January.

The van Gogh painting was created in 1887 and features a peasant in a field near a country road, with Paris off in the distance. The painting illustrates how contemporary impressionist and neo-impressionist artists living in Paris affected van Gogh’s work. The Renoir painting shows a woman holding a parasol and a bouquet of flowers, with another behind her, emerging from the trees. Although there are figures in the painting, the composition is highly influenced by the landscape.

The two masterpieces will be exhibited alongside Claude Monet’s The Seine at Bougival, which is a part of the Currier’s collection.

The centerpiece of the Rockwell Museum of Western Art’s collection – Albert Bierstadt’s seminal painting Mount Whitney – was outfitted with a new frame late last month. The custom-made replica of an 1870s American frame was crafted by Manhattan’s Gill & Lagodich Fine Period Frames & Restoration. Experts spent nearly a year researching and fabricating the 8-foot x 12-foot gilded frame, which is decorated with traditional American oak leaf-and-berry and neoclassical elements.

Considered one of the nation’s most important American landscape paintings, officials at the Rockwell museum decided to revamp Mount Whitney after noticing a number of inconsistencies in its frame. Muddy molding and discolored gold leaf indicated that it was not the painting’s original frame and further research revealed that it was a reproduction of an 1850s French Empire-style frame. After consulting with a frame conservator, the Rockwell’s curatorial staff decided to commission a replica of an American period frame, which would properly preserve and present the monumental work of art.

Mount Whitney, a majestic depiction of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, epitomizes the sweeping landscapes of the American west that Bierstadt is best known for. Tracy Gill of Gill & Lagodich, said, “The objective is to recreate a frame of the highest quality that looks like it was made at the same time as the painting. Ultimately we want you to see the framed masterpiece as Bierstadt would have wanted. If we’ve created a frame that looks like the artist chose it, we’ve done our job right.”

Christie’s will sell a number of pieces from the collection of Jan Krugier, an art dealer who sold works for Pablo Picasso’s family. The sale will include over 150 lots and is expected to garner at least $170 million. The sale, A Dialogue Through Art: Works from the Jan Krugier Collection, will take place on November 4-5, 2013 at the auction house’s New York location.

Krugier, who died in 2008, was one of the leading dealers in premier 20^th century art for four decades. He operated galleries in Geneva and New York and exhibited at highly anticipated art fairs including Art Basel in Switzerland and TEFAF Masstricht in the Netherlands. Krugier’s Manhattan gallery closed in 2010 and his company no longer participates in fairs.

A Dialogue Through Art will present 30 works by Picasso including a maquette for the 65-foot sculpture Tete, which is located in Chicago. The work is expected to sell for $25 million to $35 million and is the most valuable piece in the sale. Other highlights include a bronze sculpture by Alberto Giacometti made for the Venice Biennale, which is expected to sell for $9 million to $12 million; a Fauvist period landscape by Wassily Kandinsky, which carries a $20 million to $25 million estimate; and a 1982 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, which is expected to sell for $3 million to $4 million.

A selection of works from the upcoming sale will be on view at Christie’s headquarters in London through September 19, 2013.

A painting purchased at an auction in Canterbury, England ten years ago for $50 was recently revealed as an authentic work by the English landscape painter John Constable. Robin Darvell a retired consultant ophthalmic surgeon, purchased the postcard-sized painting after spotting a faint signature that read “J Constable” on the back of its frame. Darvell kept the painting stowed away in a drawer for years and never hung the work.

It wasn’t until Darvell’s son, Rob, presented the work to the experts on the English television program Treasure Detectives that the true value of the work was revealed. The show’s host, Curtis Dowling, appraised the painting as an original 19^th century landscape by the artist and put its worth at nearly $400,000. Dowling remarked, “To add this to John Constable’s canon of work is wonderful. A large section of the art world will be salivating to get their hands on it.”

The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, NY will extend the hours of the exhibition Modern Nature: Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George from 10AM to 6PM on Saturday, September 14 and Sunday, September 15 – the show’s final days. The exhibition, which was organized in association with Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, NM, explores the artist’s paintings of Lake George. O’Keeffe would spend months at her husband Alfred Stieglitz’s family estate slightly north of Lake George village between 1918 and the mid-1930s. Her paintings from this time period, which feature wooded, bucolic settings, differ greatly from her well-known renderings of the sparse New Mexican landscape.

Modern Nature presents 58 paintings from public and private collections and includes botanical compositions of flowers and vegetables as well as still lifes. The exhibition also includes paintings of weathered barns and other structures as well as panoramic landscapes of the lake.

Modern Nature will travel to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (October 4, 2013 – January 6, 2014) and then to San Francisco’s de Young Museum (February 8, 2014 – May 11, 2014) following its time at the Hyde Collection.

The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, NY, in association with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, NM, has organized the first exhibition to explore Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings of Lake George. Between 1918 and the mid-1930s, O’Keeffe would spend months at her husband Alfred Stieglitz’s family estate slightly north of Lake George village. O’Keeffe’s paintings of the wooded, bucolic setting differ greatly from her well-known renderings of the sparse New Mexican landscape.

Modern Nature: Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George presents the artist’s full swath of works created during her time at Lake George. The exhibition features 58 paintings from public and private collections and includes botanical compositions of flowers and vegetables as well as still lifes. O’Keeffe also painted a series of arboreal portraits that highlighted the variety of trees such a birches and poplars that grew in abundance around Lake George. In addition, the exhibition includes paintings of weathered barns and other structures as well as panoramic landscapes of the lake.

Modern Nature will be on view at the Hyde Collection through September 15, 2013. It will then travel to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (October 4, 2013 – January 6, 2014) and then to San Francisco’s de Young Museum (February 8, 2014 – May 11, 2014).