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Nowhere has the early genius of the twentieth century's most prolific and influential artist been more clearly realized than in the extraordinary exhibition Picasso: The Early Years, 1892-1906, which premiered at the National Gallery of Art, March 30 through July 27, 1997. It then traveled to its only other venue, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, September 10, 1997, through January 4, 1998. This was the most comprehensive survey ever assembled of works created by Picasso between the ages of eleven and twenty- five, including his famous Blue and Rose periods, prior to the advent of cubism. The master's early work is distinguished by a remarkable range of styles and techniques. Organized by the National Gallery of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the show contained approximately 150 paintings, drawings, pastels, prints, and sculpture, including works that had never before been exhibited in the United States. "Picasso: The Early Years, 1892-1906 examines a short perio...

Sargent and Impressionism – an exceptional selection of landscapes and interiors painted by John Singer Sargent – was on view at Adelson Galleries from November 4 through December 18, 2010. Culled from museum and private collections in the United States and abroad, the exhibition’s 28 oil paintings, three watercolors and one ink drawing date from 1883 to 1889. Known as the artist’s Impressionist period, Sargent spent the years immediately following the Madame X scandal withdrawing from Paris to immerse himself in a new social setting in England. With few portrait commissions to occupy him, this was a period when Sargent pursued stylistic experimentation and furthered his relationship with Claude Monet. The exhibition catalogue includes a significant essay, Sargent, Monet…and Manet, which discusses 17 newly-published letters written by Sargent to Monet, touching upon Sargent’s role in rescuing Manet’s Olympia (Musée d’Orsay) from purchase by an American collector in 1889 to secure its ...

The famed photographer Walker Evans came to Bridgeport in 1941 on assignment from Fortune Magazine and took the above photograph as well as a series standing on a street corner:   Here are the photographs that appeared in the magazine: His Bridgeport photographs are featured in a new exhibit at The National Gallery In Washington, D.C.

First Retrospective of Landscapes by Thomas Moran at the National Gallery of Art, Includes Yellowstone Images that Inspired U.S. Congress to Establish First National Park The first retrospective of paintings by Thomas Moran (1837-1926), long recognized as one of America's foremost landscape artists, was on view at the National Gallery of Art, East Building, September 28, 1997 - January 11, 1998. The exhibition featured approximately 100 of Moran's finest watercolors and oil paintings, which provided Americans with breathtaking views of the American West, including the first images of Yellowstone. Viewers will be able to see a selection of Moran's paintings of Yellowstone that inspired Congress to establish the first national park in the United States. The Thomas Moran exhibition coincides with the 125th anniversary celebration of the creation of Yellowstone National Park. Also included in the exhibition is the painting, The Three Tetons, which hangs in the Oval Office of th...

"The Theater of the Street" Explored Through Photographs by Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, and More at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, April 22–August 5, 2012  Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Head #22, 2001, chromogenic print National Gallery of Art, Washington, Charina Endowment Fund © Philip-Lorca diCorcia Washington, DC—The National Gallery of Art presents I Spy: Photography and the Theater of the Street, 1938–2010, on view in the West Building from April 22 through August 5, 2012. The exhibition is devoted to street photographs by some of the genre's greatest innovators: Walker Evans (1903–1975), Harry Callahan (1912–1999), Robert Frank (b. 1924), Bruce Davidson (b. 1933), Philip-Lorca diCorcia (b. 1951), and Beat Streuli (b. 1957). "The Gallery is pleased to continue its long tradition of exhibitions devoted to the innovative ways in which photographers have captured and explored the urban environment," said Earl A. Powell III, direct...

National Gallery of Art, Washington—Sole U.S. Venue, May 6–August 12, 2012 Celebrated as one of the greatest modern artists, Joan Miró (1893–1983) developed a visual language that reflected his vision and energy in a variety of styles across many media. On view at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, East Building, from May 6 to August 12, 2012, Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape reveals the politically engaged side of Miró through some 120 paintings and works on paper that span his entire career. They reflect the artist's passionate response to one of the most turbulent periods in European history that included two world wars, the Spanish Civil War, and the decades-long dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Through it all, Miró maintained a fierce devotion to his native Catalonia, a region in northern Spain. The exhibition was organized by Tate Modern, London (April 14 through September 11, 2011), in collaboration with Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (October 14, 2011, through March ...

John Taylor Arms, The Gates of the City, 1922_color etching and aquatint on laid paper, Gift (Partial and Promised) of Judy and Leo Zickler The astonishing dexterity and passion for detail of American printmaker John Taylor Arms (1887–1953) was revealed in the first exhibition of his works at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. On view in the West Building from May 8 to November 27, 2011, The Gothic Spirit of John Taylor Arms featured some 60 prints, drawings, and copperplates that span the artist's career, from his early New York series to his finest images of cathedrals. Exhibition and Artist Background Born in Washington, DC, Arms began his career as an architect in New York, but by 1919 he had dedicated himself solely to printmaking. He adapted the meticulous drafting skills required for his architectural practice to the execution of finely wrought prints. Arms devoted many years of European travel and study to rendering architecture and is best known for his print seri...

This exhibition was on view from January 8–March 18, 2007 at the Kresge Art Museum, It is now available online. Claire Leighton was an equally prolific wood engraver and writer/illustrator about the technique. Her 1932 book, Wood Engraving and Woodcuts, was largely responsible for the 1930s revival of wood engraving. Sympathetic to leftist politics, Leighton often depicted heroic, strong workers engaged in centuries-old activities. Hers is a nostalgic point of view, rather than one showing the realities of increasing mechanization and economic depression. Landing Landing, one of Leighton’s best-known wood engravings, demonstrates why she influenced subsequent generations of American printmakers. Here the viewer is caught up in the effective perspective of the diagonally-placed logs, their swirling patterns echoed in the snow-covered hills. She also captures the sense of chill in the air and teamwork. Architectural Cadences While visiting Europe in 1908-09, Sheeler discovered the archit...

John deMartelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1903. Thomas Hart Benton, the famous regionalist painter was one of his art teachers at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. DeMartelly also studied in Florence, Italy and London, England. He became a painter, and by 1937 had won prizes, including the Lighton prize for Best Painting by a Kansas City Artist. He also drew political cartoons and illustrations for a publisher. He was an instructor at the Kansas City Art Institute and later Michigan State University. His drawings, paintings, and prints are in collections of many museums, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Choreboy This lithograph print shows the hay fields that were once prairie. At the edge of the field, a grove of trees have been preserved, possibly as shelter and habitat for wildlife, and as a windbreak. There is only one farmhouse for miles in this sparsely populated area. (1903 - ) Looking at the Sunshine With a kiln behind him, a bricky...

Kresge Art Museum at Michigan State University hosted The Workers’ Landscape: American Images, 1900-1950, from January 8 to March 18, 2007. It is now available online! Drawn from the Kresge Art Museum collection, American Images celebrates Americans at work and leisure in the first half of the 20th century. The exhibition features over 70 paintings, prints and photographs organized by themes -- around the farm, company towns, working the waters, time off, and documenting the Thirties. Among the artists in this show are Berenice Abbott, George Wesley Bellows, Ralston Crawford, Charles Scheeler, and Dorothea Lange. Early examples contrast an American Impressionist view of the idyllic countryside by Henry Rodman Kenyon with Lewis Hine’s young newsboy, part of his series that exposed child labor abuse. Regionalist artists Thomas Hart Benton and John deMartelly present a romanticized view of farming. Kansas Farmyard American Regionalist artist Thomas Hart Benton adapted this print fr...

Kresge Art Museum at Michigan State University hosted The Workers’ Landscape: American Images, 1900-1950, from January 8 to March 18, 2007. It is now available online ! George Bellows was a member of the American realist group appropriately called Ash Can School. Like some fellow artists, he was swept up by the anarchist movement and did drawings for The Masses and Metropolitan Magazine. This image is one of a series Bellows did of something he disliked: organized preaching to the masses on the “sawdust-trail.” Billy Sunday Billy Sunday was a forceful, colorful American evangelist whose charisma simultaneously attracted and repelled Bellows. Here the artist objectively studies the relationship between the protagonist and crowd, complete with harsh gestures and sensationalism. Bellows’ composition emphasizes a geometric pictorial structure of horizontals and verticals, punctuated by Sunday’s violent lunge into the enthusiastic audience. Isabel Bishop was a me...

Armin Landeck: The Catalogue Raisonne of his Prints Writer: June Kysilko Kraeft, Norman Kraeft Publisher: Southern Ill. U Press, Carbondale, Year: 1994. Condition: Very good condition. Price: $95.00 Armin Landeck’s New York City scenes reveal his fascination with the patterns and oblique perspectives of buildings. He traveled to Europe after earning an architecture degree in 1927. Returning home in 1929, he was unable find work in his field because of the Depression. Instead he began printmaking, to which he devoted the rest of his life. In this example, a dramatically deep perspective guides the viewer down a narrow alley towards a carriage and a tiny shadowy figure.

Robert Henri, Girl In Pink (Annie Lavelle), 1928. Oil on Canvas. Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, Gift of Mr.and Mrs. Roy R. Neuberger. The Mint Museum of Charlotte, North Carolina presented the iconic paintings of American artist Robert Henri in the special exhibition From New York to Corrymore: Robert Henri and Ireland (7 May – 7 August 2011). Organized by The Mint Museum and sponsored by Bank of America, this was the first exhibition to examine Henri’s fascination with the Irish landscape and people, particularly children. The exhibition will travel nationally following its debut at the Mint. As the leading figure of the group known as the Ashcan School in New York City, Robert Henri (1865-1929) significantly influenced American art in the early 20th century. Born in Ohio, he moved with his family to New York when he was a teenager. He studied in Paris at the Julian Academy, where he embraced Impressionism. Henri continued his studies at the École des Beaux Arts...

On September 13, 2005, the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth presented Edward Hopper in Four Acts, a small exhibition that offers a rare opportunity to see together five works in four media by one of America ’s great artists. The installation presented the Carter’s recent acquisition Home by the Railroad (charcoal on paper, ca. 1925–28), in addition to two prints, one painting and one watercolor. Known for his paintings of empty streets, storefronts and solitary figures in urban settings, Edward Hopper (1882–1967) was also an accomplished draftsman, printmaker and watercolorist. This installation focuses on the motif of American vernacular architecture, one of his other great subjects. In addition to the Carter’s Home by the Railroad, the exhibition features two prints from the museum’s permanent collection, American Landscape (1920) and The Lonely House (1923), as well as loans from private collections: House by an Inlet (oil on canvas, 1930) and Roofs of the Cobb Barn(watercolor on p...

Thomas Hart Benton’s “Abe nosed the flatboat toward the shore,” created for a book he illustrated about Abraham Lincoln of 1953 Consisting of over ninety works, this exhibition, organized by the Spanierman Gallery, LLC, (45 East 58 Street | New York, NY 10022 | Phone: (212) 832-0208 | Fax: (212) 832-8114 Gallery Hours: Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.) conveyed the diversity of American art over the course of more than two hundred years. Among the selections are works by Thomas Hart Benton, Albert Bricher, , Alexander Calder, George Catlin, Jasper Cropsey, John Steuart Curry, Arthur B. Davies, Burgoyne Diller, Arthur Wesley Dow, George Grosz, Philip Leslie Hale, Martin Johnson Heade, Robert Henri, Daniel Huntington, Charles Bird King, George Luks, Reginald Marsh, Edward Potthast, William Trost Richards, Norman Rockwell, Edmund Tarbell, John Henry Twachtman, Andrew Wyeth, William Zorach, and many others. Rendered during a trip to South America that he made on the ...

July 20 through October 14, 2012 The Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, (212) 685-0008 Josef Albers, Color Study for White Line Square, oil on blotting paper with gouache, pencil and varnish, The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, inv. no. 1976.2.22. Josef Albers (1888–1976) is best known for his series of paintings, Homage to the Square, in which he endlessly explored color relationships within a similar format of concentric squares. Less well-known are the studies he made for these compositions. With approximately sixty oil sketches on paper, this exhibition will reveal a private side of Albers's work. These sketches were never exhibited in the artist's lifetime and have rarely been seen after his death. On view will be early studies (1930s–early 1940s), studies for Albers's Adobe series, inspired by Mexican architecture (1940s–early 1950s), and studies for Homage to the Square (1950s–1970s). These vibrant sketches provide insights into th...

Peggy Bacon, Going Fishing, 1952 (Wellfleet, Cape Cod) Isabel Bishop, Noon Hour, 1935 Alexander Brook, Rosalie Hook (Mrs. Robert Gwathmey), 1940 Peggy Bacon & Her Circle was on view at the Susan Teller Gallery from July 13 through August 18, 2011. There are paintings and works on paper from 1918 to 1952. Bacon studied at the Art Students League in with George Bellows, John Sloan, and Kenneth Hayes Miller from 1915 to 1920. It was there she met Alexander Brook; they were married from 1920 to 1940. Bacon taught at the League in 1935-36 and from 1948 to 1952. For most of her career Bacon lived in the East Village or Greenwich Village neighborhoods of New York City. She spent extended periods in Woodstock, NY, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and the coastal region of Maine, to which she moved in 1961. Many of her fellow students and neighbors became close colleagues, including Isabel Bishop, Minna Citron, Wanda Gag, Kai Klitgaard, Yasuo Kuniyoshi and his wife Katherine Schmidt, R...

 Louis Lozowick, New York, 1925 lithograph - Gift of The Print Research Foundation, National Gallery of Art, Washington The National Gallery of Art has acquired the renowned collection of American prints belonging to Reba and Dave Williams and The Print Research Foundation in Stamford, Connecticut, which was established by the couple in 2003. With more than 5,200 works spanning a century from roughly 1875 to 1975 and representing 2,070 artists, the collection is unrivaled in its scope and is among the largest and finest private collections of American prints in the world. The acquisition includes a gift of some 5,000 works, as well as the research library and related assets of The Print Research Foundation. In an independent transaction, the National Gallery of Art purchased 250 works from the Williams' personal collection. "This is a transformational acquisition," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "Reba and Dave Williams' collection ha...

Sotheby's New York auction of American Art on 17 May 2012 will be led by major works from Edward Hopper,George Bellows and Childe Hassam. The auction will be on exhibition in Sotheby's York Avenue galleries beginning 12 May. Hopper's Bridle Path from 1939 (est._$5/7 million*) is the first oil by the artist to appear at auction since Sotheby's 2006 sale of Hotel Window, which realized $26.8 million: the current auction record for the artist. George Bellows's Tennis at Newport from 1920 is a brilliant example of his celebrated American sporting scenes (est. $5/7 million). In addition, the sale will be highlighted by a recently rediscovered work by Childe Hassam, as well as Western art from the Estate of Theodore J. Forstmann and the Collection of Margie and Robert E. Peterson. Edward Hopper Set in New York City's Central Park, Bridle Path masterfully exemplifies Edward Hopper's fascination with the mysterious. He imbues the image with his characteristic sense ...

Last spring the National Gallery (London) hosted a small exhibition of 12 paintings that have never been seen before in the United Kingdom. 'An American Experiment: George Bellows and the Ashcan Painters' introduces visitors to Bellows and his artist friends (William Glackens, George Luks, John Sloan and their teacher Robert Henri), and to an important moment in the history of American painting. The Ashcan School was formed at the beginning of the 20th century as American painters, principally in New York City and Philadelphia, began to develop a uniquely American point of view on the beauty, violence and velocity of the modern world – and a new way to represent them. The most familiar reading of the Ashcan painters is as urban realists who embraced the brutal but vivid life of the city as their subject and found stark visual language through which to communicate their realities to a contemporary audience (John Sloan, 1907, 'Sixth Avenue and Thirtieth Street', Philade...

When George Bellows died at the age of forty-two in 1925, he was hailed as one of the greatest artists America had yet produced. In 2012, the National Gallery of Art will present the first comprehensive exhibition of Bellows' career in more than three decades. Including some 140 paintings, drawings, and lithographs, George Bellows will be on view in Washington from June 10 through October 8, 2012, then travel to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, November 15, 2012, through February 18, 2013, and close at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, March 16 through June 9, 2013. The accompanying catalogue will document and define Bellows' unique place in the history of American art and in the annals of modernism. "George Bellows is arguably the most important figure in the generation of artists who negotiated the transition from the Victorian to the modern era in American culture," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "This exhibition will pro...