Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Glass

February 23 - September 2, 2008
Organized by the Museum of Glass

Murano Glass ~ the delicate twists of rainbow-colored ribbons, transparent gems, floating in windows of glass ... reminds me of childhood—walking through amusement parks, Christmas candy, and very large lollipops from Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor.

Next February, the Muesum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington will exhibit, for the first time ever, a look at the reknowned artist Lino Tagliapietra. The exhibit will feature his art and career in its entirety. The 73 year old Italian artisan will be in attendence.

About: Lino Tagliapietra developed into the world’s greatest living glassblower (and arguably one of the greatest in the history of glassmaking), he also proved to be a superb artist and educator. By sharing his knowledge, facing great resentment back home, Tagliapietra has expanded the industy and elevated the craft of glassmaking worldwide.

More Information: Upcoming Exhibitions
Official Site: Lino Tagliapietra

Bumbershoot 2007

Countdown to Bumbershoot

Just 2 more days...

The fine folks at nuTsie.com created a comprehensive playlist featuring the 2007 lineup! Listen: Bumbershoot '07

Simon Schama's Power of Art

"This is not a series about things that hang on walls, it is not about decor or prettiness. It is a series about the force, the need, the passion of art...the power of art."

8 Part Series:
Caravaggio
Bernini
Rembrandt
David
Turner
Van Gogh
Picasso
Rothko
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

OPB Episode Guide
Power of Art Home

Exhibits: The Quest for Immortality

Portland Art Museum
November 5, 2006-March 4, 2007

"This exhibition focuses on the understanding of the afterlife in the period from the New Kingdom (1150–1069 BC) through the late period (664–332 BC). The pieces in these galleries—statues, jewelry, painted coffins, and other furnishings for the tomb—are evidence of their quest for eternal life. They have been lent for this exhibition by the Egyptian government and come from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, The Luxor Museum of Ancient Art, and the site of Deir el-Bahari."*

Selected Object:

Osiris Resurrecting,
664–525 BC, gneiss, with a
headdress in electrum and
gold; 115/8 x 71/16 x 217/8 in.
From Horbeit; The Egyptian
Museum, Cairo

"To be resurrected, a dead Egyptian—commoner or King—needed to imitate the form of Osiris. Once mummified, the deceased was called “Osiris,” and it was expected that he or she then would then be reborn in the same magical fashion. An unusual image of this very moment is depicted in a mummiform figure that simultaneously represents Osiris and the deceased in his form. The figure has just rolled over from its back and is becoming alert, lifting up his head, and awakening to new life."*

*Excerpts from the National Gallery of Art, Washington

Mary Cassatt: Prints

The National Gallery, London
February 22 - May 7, 2006



This month, as a part of Americans in Paris 1860-1890 exhibit in London's Trafalgar Square, The National Gallery feature's a small exhibition of Mary Cassatt: Prints; the only American member of the Impressionist group of artists. The exhibit display's her exquisite skill in printmaking techniques, etching, drypoint and aquatint.

Influenced by Japanese prints and her Impressionist colleagues Caillebotte, Degas, and Renoir, Cassatt embraced the idea that the background of an image might be as significant as the foreground. She is known as the painter of mothers and children.

Cassatt was interested in avant-guarde printmaking and in 1890 saw an exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints that deeply inspired her. Her suite of 10 delicately colored drypoints and aquatints represents a landmark in the history of printmaking. Loosely based on aspects of Japanese prints she had seen in Paris, the Suite is intented to reflect a woman's day.

The exhibit is absolutely beautiful - captivating use of color and form. Her interest in making color prints required 3 or 4 runs through the press with precise registration each time. Walking away from it, I am inspired by her use of color-the sublety of pastels.

Terms:

Aquatint: a printmaking technique related to etching in which the coper plate is coated with a porous resin, giving a granulated effect when bitten by the acid.

Peintres-Graveurs (painters-printmakers) Movement: In 1889 a group of painter-printmakers led by Felix Bracquemond, and including Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, Auguste Rodin, and Odilon Redon, joined together with critic Philippe Burty and dealer Paul Durand-Ruel to promote printmaking as a fine art. They organized the Exposition des Peintres-Graveurs to advance printmaking as an extension of painting and to create an audience of print collectors. The exhibition signaled a revival of printmaking in the 1890s, one which promoted all printmaking media.

Japonism: is the influence of Japanese art on Western, primarily French, artists. The art that originated from this influence is called japonesque.

Ukiyo-e: Japanese for 'pictures of a floating world', a genre of print that draws its subject matter from everyday life.

Hesse: The Meyer Madonna

Next month, The Portland Art Museum is the exclusive venue for the first public presentation of the artistic wealth of the house of Hesse.
The exhibit will include The Holbein Madonna, painted for the burgomeister of Basel Meyer von Hasen, in 1526. It will leave
Germany for the first time in more than 150 years.

Holbein's Madonna, also referred to as the Meyer Madonna, is considered to be one of the great masterpieces of European Art. I
decided to do a little discovery work to learn more about this painting before it arrives in town next month.

The Artist:
Flemish painter, Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497-1543).
Holbein's specialty was portraiture. His talents also included a strong sense of composition, subtle linear patterning, and a marvelous sensitivity to color.

Holbein was both in education and career, a cosmopolitan. At the early age of 16, after training by his father, he went traveling with his brother Ambrosius. He is first mentioned in 1515 in Basel, where he entered the workshop of Hans Herbster. His first public commissions were carried out in Lucerne in 1517. In 1519, Holbein became a member of the painters guild in Basel, and in 1520 received a citizenship of Basel. His artistic life may be divided into 4 periods. He worked in Basel, Lucerne, and Zurich from 1515 to 1526. From 1526 to 1528 he was in London, but returned to Basel for the next four years. From 1532 he was again in London and died there of the plague in 1543.

His observation of detail, psychological penetration of his sitters and superb handling of color made him the greatest portrait painter of German art.

The Period:
Northern artists of the 16th Century were deeply influenced by the Italian Renaissance, in particular, the Venetians who painted rich colors in oil. Holbein's composition connects to the High Renaissance by the use of pyramidal composition, which adds stability and monumentality to the piece. The Protestant Reformation was also underway, so it was uncommon for Holbein to receive a commission that dealt with religious subject matter in a time when 'everyday life' scenes had begun to emerge. Didactic art, rich with detail and symbolism were favored by the middle class merchants who were buying private commissions. Guttenberg's Printing Press was also invented, altering the entire Reformation by allowing mass production of the Bible, further reinforcing Protestants core belief that they did not need a rich pope and priests to interpret it for them.

The Donor:
Jacob Meyer, businessman and Burgomaster of Basel, he was elected to the office on June 24, 1516. In 1521, he was impeached for a larger bribe from the French than was permitted, imprisoned when he protested at this treatment and barred from office thereafter. He remained a Catholic after the city’s secession to the reformed religion and led the Catholic party in the city. Dorothea Kannengiesser was the second wife of Jacob Meyer.

The Meyer or Darmstadt Madonna is the last, most famous and most effective of Holbein’s great religious works. This is a Schulzmantelbild (a Virgin of Pity painting), in which the donor, Jacob Meyer, appeals to divine protection for himself and his family. On the right are his wives – enwrapped profile of his first, Magdalena Baer (who died in 1511) and Dorothea Kannengiesser. Before them kneels Anna, the only surviving child. A friend of Holbein’s, one Magdalena Offenburg, posed for the Madonna. She also posed for the Lais. The commission for the painting was the result of the death of  Meyer’s two sons during Holbein’s first English absence, and Meyer decided to include all members of his family, living and dead.

Symbolism:
The Virgin by her intercession can win the mercy of the Father. What such a figure represents is benign, protecting power of destiny. Holbein depicts the Madonna as a cloaked figure enthroned by the architectural shell, which symbolizes the womb, divine space, and femininty. The golden crown she wears is a symbol of sovereignty. The Child's twisting body emphasizes the weight the Madonna's arms must carry.

In the News:
"The Art Newspaper reported that Prince Donatus has decided to put the Holbein Madonna up for sale in order to pay a DM25 million inheritance tax after the death of the last of the southern branch of the family, Margaret von Hesse, and the consequent merger of all of the family holdings with the northern Cassel branch of the family.

The paper estimated that on the open market it could be worth $100 million, although according to law it will have to stay within Germany."
-David Patrick Columbia's New York Social Diary

Resources: Portland Art Museum, Gardner's Art Through the Ages, Web Gallery of Art.