Drawing on British and international works in the Tate collection, this display takes post-war art in St Ives as a starting point through which to explore common characteristics in European and American modern art from the 1930′s to the late 1970′s.  It is the Tate’s most extensive collection display for over ten years.

The three rooms in the display are titled Object, Gesture and Grid respectively. Object reveals how cubism and surrealism influenced form in the mid to late twentieth century, from Pablo Picasso to Barbara Hepworth.

The materiality of paint and its connection to subconscious expression is considered through gesture. Recalling significant European modernist movements through the works of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Karel Appel, Gesture considers the influence on St Ives artists such as Patrick Heron and Peter Lanyon.

Works by Joseph Albers, Sol LeWitt and Donald Judd illustrate how the grid has dawn the painting, sculpture and architecture together, making the viewer both psychologically and physically part of the artistic experience.

Visit http://www.tate.org.uk/stives for more information.

Text credit: Tate

The first being, Picasso: Peace and Freedom by Lynda Morris and Christopher Grunenberg (£35 hardback/ £24.99 paperback).

The second tome is called The Picasso Book by Neil Cox and is priced at £17.99.

Both publications are available at most bookshops or order on line from either Amazon or the Tate Shop.

A huge museum for contemporary arts and architecture opens in Rome this weekend in a bid to draw avant-garde art lovers to a city defined by its ancient monuments and Baroque fountains. The MAXXI museum designed by Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid is the latest and most ambitious project to try to refresh the Italian capital’s image of a decadent city bent on its glorious past.

The museum marks its opening with a three-day extravaganza that included the unveiling Thursday of inaugural exhibits; a party Friday night for 5,000 artists, fashionistas, aristocrats and other VIPs; and an admission-free day for a fortunate few thousand ticket holders.

For Hadid, who became the first woman to win the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004, the challenge was to work with the “layers” of Rome’s artistic past and bring a new space for art in the city.

“Rome has fantastic light,” Hadid said. “The idea of this project is about layering and bringing in light to the space so that you have a naturally lit space — and to give the curators tremendous freedom in the way they can organize exhibits.”

The MAXXI is located in the Flaminio quarter of Rome, in the area of the former Montello military barracks. The complex houses two institutions: MAXXI Arte and MAXXI Architecture. For more information, please visit: www.fondazionemaxxi.it

Text: The Associated Press

Christie’s announced that they will offer one of the last of the great female portraits painted by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) at the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale in London on 23 June 2010.

Executed in 1917-18, Frauenbildnis (Portrait of Ria Munk III) is the third and final painting in a series of three portraits commissioned by the Munk family of their daughter Ria. One of the last and most modern of Klimt’s full-length female portraits, the painting offers a glimpse into the working methods of one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century and is expected to realise £14 million to £18 million.

Critics are already rushing to shape the debate on the nominees for the annual prize, which awards £25,000 to an artist under the age of 50.

Work by all four finalists will go on display at Tate Britain on 4 October 2010, and the winner will be announced on 6 December 2010.

Last year’s Turner Prize was won by Richard Wright (see image below), who is represented by the Gagosian Gallery, which will have a chance to net back-to-back wins, as it represents Dalwood.

For more information, visit: www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/

Fact: The Turner Prize, which was established in 1984 to promote contemporary art, is named after the 19th-century painter J.M.W. Turner. Past winners include Damien Hirst, Martin Creed, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Tomma Abts.

Photographer Caroline Irby spent one year tracking down a child born in every country in the world, then photographed and interviewed each one.

Caroline found children from 185 of the world’s 192 nations and asked each to tell their story in their own words. The children’s unique accounts of leaving their countries of origin, their hopes for a new life in the UK and their observations of cultural differences, provide a thought-provoking and often humorous insight into the effects of globalisation.

A selection of Irby’s visually and emotionally engaging photographs will be on display alongside a series of short films the artist made for Channel 4, which features a number of interviews with the children.

V&A Museum of Childhood
Cambridge Heath Road
London E2 9PA
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)20 8983 5200
Email: moc@vam.ac.uk

FREE admission

Open 10.00-17.45 Monday-Sunday (last admission 17.30) including 10.00-21.00 on the first Thursday of every month.

Caroline Irby Biography

Caroline Irby (b.1977) had her most intense photographic lesson at 18 when she worked at Magnum in Paris three months immersed in great composition and surrounded by her heroes. After graduating in French and Philosophy from Edinburgh University in 2000, she entered the world of photography. She has been published in The Sunday Times Magazine, The Guardian Magazine, The Observer Magazine, Marie Claire, and The Independent among others. Caroline also works for aid agencies including Save the Children, UNICEF and Oxfam alongside commercial assignments. Her  work has received awards from the Observer Hodge, the BBC and The Commonwealth Photographic Awards and has been exhibited in the UK and internationally. Caroline was a member of Network Photographers until 2005 and is now represented by Abby Johnston.

For more information about Caroline’s work, please visit www.carolineirby.com

Text credit: Verve Photo

It’s hard to believe Tate Modern is only ten years old, given its status as a London landmark and a major player in the city’s art scene (it’s the world’s most visited modern art gallery).

To celebrate Tate Modern’s 10th anniversary, the gallery will host ‘No Soul For Sale – A Festival of Independents’. For this free arts festival, Tate Modern is inviting 70 of the world’s most innovative independent art spaces to take over the Turbine Hall. The festival will fill the iconic space with an eclectic mix of cutting-edge arts events, performances, music and film on 14 – 16 May 2010.

No Soul For Sale is a festival that brings together the most exciting non-profit centres, alternative institutions, artists’ collectives and underground enterprises from around the world. The participants are encouraged to show whatever they choose, be it art, performance, video, publications, or simply themselves. Neither a fair nor an exhibition, No Soul For Sale is a convention of individuals and groups who devote their energies to art they believe in, beyond the limits of the market and other logistical constraints – it is a celebration of the independent forces that animate contemporary art. The festival is an exercise in coexistence: organisations exhibit alongside one another without partitions or walls, creating a pop-up art village.

The gallery will stay open until midnight on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 May for free late night performances by artists and musicians.

www.nosoulforsale.com

The V&A in London is commissioning a group of international architects to build a series of structures throughout the Museum which will respond to the theme of the ‘retreat’.  The starting point for these experimental projects will be the idea of a small enclosed space representing an escape from the chaos of urban life to an area for peace, contemplation, shelter or creativity. One of the central aims of the exhibition is to move away from explaining architecture through drawings and models and instead allow the visitor to experience the architecture itself.

For more information, please click HERE.

Exhibition runs from 15 June – 30 August 2010 in The Porter Gallery and throughout the Museum – Free admission.

Opening times: 10.00 to 17.45 daily (10.00 to 22.00 Fridays)

V&A South Kensington
Cromwell Road
London SW7 2RL
Tel. +44 (0)20 7942 2000

The magazine engaged with young British photojournalists working in the tradition of ‘concerned’ photography and recognised early the talent of figures such as Brian Griffin, Martin Parr, and Chris Steele-Perkins, who have gone on to achieve wide acclaim.

Click HERE for more details.

Exhibition runs from 14 May – 26 September 2010 in the Photography Gallery 38A, Free Admission.

Opening times 10.00-17.00 daily, Friday open late till 22.00

Last chance to see this gripping documentary from the award-winning Afghan Star team tells the story of the Afghan presidential election of 2009. A political thriller of sorts, it shows events through the eyes of the leading challengers to President Karzai and the people who risked their lives to make it a free and fair election.

Dir Havana Marking, Martin Herring, UK 2009, 78 mins, subtitles, digibeta

Film showing at the ICA, London at 7.45pm, Cinema 2, Thursday 6 May 2010