Previous Posts: February 2024
Moore Curatorial Fellowship at the Morgan Library & Museum
February 23 2024
Picture: themorgan.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Morgan Library & Museum in New York are calling for applicants for the 2024 - 2026 Moore Curatorial Fellowship in Drawings and Prints.
According to the Historians of Netherlandish Art website:
The Morgan Library & Museum seeks applications for the Moore Curatorial Fellowship in the Department of Drawings and Prints. This one-year appointment, eligible for a one-year renewal, provides the opportunity to gain firsthand experience and professional training in curatorial work and in the study and connoisseurship of old master and nineteenth-century drawings. The Moore Curatorial Fellow will be a fully integrated member of the department, with duties and responsibilities comparable to those of a curatorial assistant or assistant curator. The Fellow will have the opportunity to conduct research on the Morgan’s collection of European drawings before 1900—one of the finest in the country—and to contribute significantly to all phases of exhibition planning, organization, and installation; museum education; publications; and other departmental activities.
The fellowship comes with an annual salary of $54,000 and applications must be in by 24th March 2024.
Good luck if you're applying!
Matisse and the Sea in St. Louis
February 23 2024
Video: Krannert Art Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Saint Louis Art Museum opened a new exhibition last week entitled Matisse and the Sea. The inspiration for the show came from the museum's own Matisse known as Bathers with a Turtle, the subject matter and history of which has inspired the themes examined within. In case readers can't make it, the curator Simon Kelly was recorded giving a lecture on the themes of the exhibition (see above).
Muncaster Castle's War Time History
February 23 2024
Picture: BBC
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The BBC have published a short article detailing the war time history of Muncaster Castle, the northern historic site which housed hundreds of artworks from Tate Britain during WWII.
Horace Vernet at Versailles
February 23 2024
Video: Château de Versailles
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Apologies, I failed to notice that the Château de Versailles has a big Horace Vernet exhibition on at the moment. The show, which brings together around 200 works by the artist, will be finished on 17th March 2024.
Pre-Raphaelites in Forlì
February 23 2024
Picture: finestresullarte.info
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A major Pre-Raphaelite exhibition will be opening in the Italian city of Forlì tomorrow. Entitled Pre-Raphaelites. A New Renaissance, the show will contain no less than 300 works by artists of the period, with a particular interest placed on the Italian models which influenced these artworks. The exhibition will run until 30th June 2024.
Frick Curatorial Fellowships
February 23 2024
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Frick Collection in New York are hiring for the Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellowship 2024–26.
According to the job description:
The Frick Collection is pleased to announce the availability of a two-year predoctoral fellowship for an outstanding doctoral candidate who wishes to pursue a curatorial career in an art museum. The fellowship offers invaluable curatorial training and provides the scholarly and financial resources required for completing the doctoral dissertation. Internationally renowned for its exceptional collection of western European art from the early Renaissance through the end of the nineteenth century, The Frick Collection—complemented by the equally significant resources of the Frick Art Reference Library—offers a unique opportunity for object-based research. The fellowship is best suited to a student working on a dissertation that pertains to one of the major strengths of the collection and library.
The two-year role comes with an annual salary of $52,000 and applications must be in by 29th March 2024.
Good luck if you're applying!
Burghley Sending Kauffmans to RA
February 23 2024
Picture: burghley.co.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
As part of the building excitement surrounding the Royal Academy's upcoming exhibition on Angelica Kauffman, Burghley House in Lincolnshire has shared some fun pictures of their pictures being packed up for the show. This important collection will be sending four works by the artist to the RA.
Cleveland Acquire Stoss Sculpture
February 22 2024
Picture: clevelandart.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm a little late to the news that the Cleveland Museum of Art announced their acquisition of Veit Stoss's limewood carving of Jesse at the end of last month.
According to the museum's press release:
Veit Stoss was one of the most influential German sculptors and is most celebrated today for his dramatically carved and emotionally intense limewood sculptures. This is the first sculpture by Stoss acquired by the CMA. The work depicts Jesse, described in the Bible as the father of David who became king of the Israelites; Jesse is therefore regarded as an ancestor of Christ.
“Stoss is the seminal artist of this genre,” said William M. Griswold, CMA director and president. “Jesse, the CMA’s first Stoss work, will serve as an anchor for our German collection. Beginning March 1, 2024, visitors can get their first glimpse in the gallery for German and Austrian Gothic Art (111).” [...]
The sculpture, an extraordinary new discovery in late Gothic sculpture, was part of an altarpiece in a church, possibly in Nuremberg, Germany, which showed the Tree of Jesse in the center. After 1812, the sculpture entered the collection of Prince Ludwig of Öttingen-Wallerstein (Germany, Bavaria). In 1998, it was bought by Rudigier Kunsthandlung, Munich, Germany.
Twelve Years of Acquisitions at the Fondation Custodia
February 22 2024
Picture: Fondation Custodia
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Fondation Custodia in Paris have announced that they will be opening an exhibition in April dedicated to the acquisitions made by their former director the late Ger Luijten. Between 2010 and 2022 Luijten added around 10,000 works (!) to the organisation's collection, ranging from drawings, paintings and prints. The show will run from 27th April 2024 until 7th July 2024.
Turning Heads at the National Gallery of Ireland
February 21 2024
Video: National Gallery of Ireland
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The latest leg of the Turning Heads exhibition will be opening at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday. The show will run there until 26th May 2024.
Max Hollein in India
February 21 2024
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Director Max Hollein has given an interesting interview for the The Times of India focusing on questions regarding the repatriation of art. In particular, Hollein's recent visit to the country has coincided with the last year's return of 15 sculptures from the MET, details of which the interview addresses.
Grimsthorpe Castle to conserve Thornhill Monarchs
February 21 2024
Picture: grimsthorpecollection
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire have announced on their Instagram page that they will be sending Sir James Thornhill's monumental English Monarch grisailles to the Hamilton Kerr Institute for a special conservation project. This scheme of decoration was completed in the 1720s and the current restoration campaign will presumably take some time to complete!
Great Flemish Drawings at the Ashmolean
February 21 2024
Picture: ashmolean.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford will be opening their latest Old Master Drawings exhibition in a few weeks' time. Entitled Bruegel to Rubens: Great Flemish Drawings, this show will run from 23rd March 2024 until 23rd June 2024.
According to the museum's website:
From Pieter Bruegel’s remarkable print designs and landscapes and Rubens’s first sketches to heartfelt friendship albums shared between artists, this major exhibition presents drawings from many of the Flemish masters, rarely seen in public.
The exhibition will show 120 drawings, with over 30 on display for the first time, including some which have only recently been discovered. These are some of the most exquisite drawings kept in Antwerp and Oxford collections by famous artists such as Pieter Bruegel, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacques Jordaens. The artworks will provide insights into how these artists honed their drawing skills throughout their careers.
'Bruegel to Rubens' is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get close to these delicate and often intimate drawings and the objects they inspired.
Directed by Rembrandt
February 19 2024
Picture: Rembrandthuis
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Rembrandthuis in Amsterdam will be opening their latest exhibition next month. Directed by: Rembrandt will focus on the artist's abilities as a storyteller with images, and will feature loans from several museums and private collections.
According to the website:
Just like theatre directors, Rembrandt manipulated all elements in his artworks at his discretion, aiming to depict a story as captivatingly and convincingly as possible. The main directing techniques he used are:
Choosing the Right Moment
Facial Expression
Hand Gestures
Costumes and Accessories
Posture
Lighting
Composition
A painter can use the expression on a figure’s face to tell an important part of a story. For this, Rembrandt studied actors in the theatre. He also acted himself in front of the mirror in his studio.
The show will run from 3rd March 2024 until 26th May 2024.
Did Frans Hals paint this?
February 19 2024
Picture: Rijksmuseum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Art Newspaper has published a very interesting article regarding several questions of attribution in the Rijksmuseum's current Frans Hals show. In particular, the article has drawn attention to comments by the Hals catalogue raisonné compiler Prof. Claus Grimm who has disagreed with the authorship of some of the works within the exhibition. Grimm's upcoming revised catalogue, to be published in co-ordination with the RKD, has already caused a stir by the fact that it has already reduced Hals oeuvre down to a mere 120 works, compared with the late Seymour Slive's 222 in his 1974 publication.
Among the questions raised is whether Frans Hals painted the entirety of the Rijksmuseum's famous Portrait of a Couple.
According to the article:
The Rijksmuseum believes that it was probably a marriage portrait, in which case it would be dated to 1622. Grimm believes that the style of the faces and the attire suggests that it was painted around 1627. But the disagreement goes beyond the dating.
Although Grimm accepts that the portraits of the couple are from the hand of Hals, he says the landscape—a “Garden of Love”—is not. He argues that “Hals may have presented designs for the [background] scenery, but hardly more than that”.
The verdant landscape represents nearly half the composition. Grimm believes that most of this was painted by Pieter de Molijn, a fellow artist in Haarlem. He sees De Molijn’s style in the distant trees and promenading figures.
The Rijksmuseum disagrees. Taco Dibbits, its director-general, told us that it is “all painted by one hand, by that of Frans Hals”. He points out that Hals and Massa were close friends, so the artist took more liberties with the landscape than he would have done with a normal patron.
Click on the link to read more.
Dallas Museum of Art are Hiring!
February 19 2024
Picture: Dallas Museum of Art
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Dallas Museum of Art are hiring The Allen and Kelli Questrom Assistant/Associate/Curator of Prints and Drawings.
According to the job description:
The Dallas Museum of Art seeks a promising and dynamic scholar in the field of art history to become the inaugural Allen and Kelli Questrom Assistant/Associate/Curator of Prints and Drawings. This new position was established in 2019 through a group of visionary gifts to the Museum: a gift from the estate of DMA trustee and former curator William B. Jordan and his husband Robert Dean Brownlee, which provided significant funds to establish the William B. Jordan and Robert Dean Brownlee Endowment to support operations and programming related to the DMA’s global prints and drawings collection, including research, conservation, collections care, and additional staffing; the creation of a new, endowed curatorial position, The Allen and Kelli Questrom Assistant/Associate/Curator of Prints and Drawings, made possible through an extraordinary $3 million bequest to the Museum by Allen and Kelli Questrom; and Jordan’s and Brownlee’s donation of nearly 80 works to the Museum, including 58 works on paper.
Neither a salary or closing date has been published for this role.
Good luck if you're applying!
BMAG announce Millais Portrait Acquisition
February 16 2024
Picture: stuartlochhead
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) have announced their acquisition of Alexander Munro's marble Portrait of John Everett Millais. The museum announced the acquisition as part of their reopening last week, although the relief was purchased back in 2020 during the lockdowns. The acquisition was made through the sculpture dealer Stuart Lochhead and his catalogue note for the work can be found here.
Jeff Koons on Moon
February 16 2024
Video: PaceGallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A SpaceX Rocket carrying 125 sculptures by contemporary artist Jeff Koons left the earth's atmosphere the day before last. This latest stunt is an attempt to be the very first authorised artworks placed on the moon.
According to the report linked above:
The original plan was for the physical works to land on the moon in July that year, with NFTs available through Pace Verso, Pace Gallery’s NFT platform. [...]
“The lander will be carrying Koons’s 125 one-inch miniature Moons sculptures, each representing a phase of the Moon and each associated with people from various fields and time periods who have made a significant impact to human life on Earth, such as Mozart, Galileo, Cleopatra, and Leonardo da Vinci, to name a few,” according to a project statement.
Frans Hals at the Rijksmuseum
February 16 2024
Video: Euronews
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Amsterdam's leg of the Frans Hals exhibition has opened at the Rijksmuseum today. Amongst the most interesting pieces of news, which hasn't been that widely reported from what I can see, is that this is the first time that The Wallace Collection's Laughing Cavalier has been back in the Netherlands in a century and a half (or thereabouts).
The show will run until 9th June 2024.
Les marques de collections de dessins & d’estampes - Website Updated
February 16 2024
Picture: marquesdecollections.fr
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Fondation Custodia have announced that their website for Frits Lugt's Les marques de collections de dessins & d’estampes has been updated. This online resource is a must for any researcher interested in collectors marks and stamps.
