A View From Maryland

With an Opening Reception next Tuesday, July 10, 2007 from 5 PM - 7:30 PM, the University of Maryland University College presents "Landscape and Nature: A View From Maryland," curated by Sigrid Trumpy.

This exhibit is the result of a partnership among the state of Maryland, the Maryland Sister States Program, and the Japanese Prefecture of Kanagawa. Participating artists include Mary Arthur, Denee Barr, Karen Birch, Larry Chappelear, Donald Cook, Richard Dana, Kevin D. Augustine, David Driskell, Aline Feldman, Steven Fiscus, Peggy Fox, Kathryn Freeman, Inga Frick, Stephanie Garmey, Ken Giardini, Joshua Greer, Ronnie Haber, Steven Hay, Matt Hyleck, Edda Jakab, Susan Johnson, Chevelle Makeba Moore Jones, Jeanne Keck, Patrice Kehoe, Jinshul Kim, Philip Koch, Perna Krick, Dan Kuhne, Eugene Leake, Ralph McGuire, Raoul Middleman, Tom Nakashima, Susan Due Pearcy, Jan Razauskas, Beverly Ress, Charles Ritchie, Michael Rogovsky, Nancy Sheinman, Joe Shepherd, Tony Shore, Elzbieta Sikorksa, Laura Vernon Russell, William Willis, Edward Winter, and Sharon Wolpoff.

Print Saturday

Tomorrow, DC's Jane Haslem Gallery will host "Print Saturday," one of two events highlighting artists from Washington Printmakers Gallery. Jenny Freestone, Betty MacDonald, Max Karl Winkler, Martha Oatway, Joyce Ellen Weinstein, Lila Oliver Asher, Terry Svat, and Yolanda Frederikse will present portfolios of their prints and be on hand to talk about their work from 12 to 5 pm. This is a unique opportunity to meet the artists and see their latest prints!

Part of the proceeds from sales will benefit Union Printmakers Atelier, a printmaking facility in downtown DC providing studio access to artists who work in lithography, intaglio, relief, letterpress and book arts.

For more information call Jane Haslem Gallery at 202-232-4644 or Washington Printmakers at 202-332-7757.

Kahlo or Not?

A Happy 100th birthday to Frida Kahlo!

"Frida Kahlo 1907-2007: National Homage" - a massive Kahlo exhibition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, "fills all eight galleries of the ornate beaux-arts edifice that is the country's most prestigious cultural showcase. It encompasses nearly one-third of Kahlo's total artistic output, including 65 oils (divided into self-portraits, portraits and still lifes), 45 drawings, 11 watercolors and five prints" and it is part of a month-long series of events covering everything about Frida and marking the 100th anniversary of her birth on July 6, 1907.

The exhibition opened two weeks ago and it is already attracting not only huge crowds but also causing a lot of controversy, much like Kahlo did during her life.

Officials estimate that 300,000 people will view the show here through Aug. 19. Much of its contents then will be regrouped into smaller exhibitions that will open over subsequent months at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Reed Johnson, writing for the LA Times, discusses the controversy over two Kahlo pieces in the exhibition.

On Monday, the Mexico City daily newspaper Reforma published a story in which Raquel Tibol, a respected art critic and author of a new biographical study of Kahlo’s husband, Diego Rivera, raised questions about the authenticity of two of the works in the Kahlo restrospective at the Palace of Bellas Artes.

One of those works, a portrait of one of Kahlo’s first lovers, Alejandro Gómez Arias, which she painted in 1928, reportedly was discovered in a piece of furniture by his heirs after his death in 1990. Gómez Arias was riding with Kahlo during the fateful bus accident that fractured her spine.

The painting was included in the large Kahlo show hosted by the Tate Modern in London in 2005. Tibol has challenged the provenance of that work as well as an undated drawing, “Portrait of Isolda Pinedo Kahlo.”

It is interesting to note that there are at least half a dozen "missing" Kahlos which are believed to be somewhere in the United States, but no one knows where or who has them.

Print Saturday

Tomorrow, DC's Jane Haslem Gallery will host "Print Saturday," one of two events highlighting artists from Washington Printmakers Gallery. Jenny Freestone, Betty MacDonald, Max Karl Winkler, Martha Oatway, Joyce Ellen Weinstein, Lila Oliver Asher, Terry Svat, and Yolanda Frederikse will present portfolios of their prints and be on hand to talk about their work from 12 to 5 pm. This is a unique opportunity to meet the artists and see their latest prints!

Part of the proceeds from sales will benefit Union Printmakers Atelier, a superb printmaking facility in downtown DC providing studio access to artists who work in lithography, intaglio, relief, letterpress and book arts; and one of those places that is a key part of the city's art scene and cultural tapestry.

For more information call Jane Haslem Gallery at 202-232-4644 or Washington Printmakers at 202-332-7757 or Scip Barnhart at 202 277 1946.

No! to Lower Merion Township's last ditch effort

Lower Merion Township's last ditch effort to keep the Barnes Foundation where it is has been rejected.

Montgomery County officials, who made the offer, say they will take the Barnes to court in a final effort to prevent the move.

The Barnes rejection "shows that they're hellbent on moving and they are much more interested in ingratiating themselves with the power players and the arbiters of culture in Philadelphia than in following the dictates of the trust," said Mark D. Schwartz, a lawyer for the Montgomery County commissioners.

Read the Forbes story here.

Happy 4th!

Super proud to be an American!

Baltimore Arts Blog

Bmore Art is a new-to-me art blog all about Baltimore. It is a collective group of artist-contributors, including Jarrett Min Davis, Asper Winktop, Don Cook, Rob Sparrow Jones, Cara Ober, and others. It is loosely organized by one of my recently-discovered fave artists, Cara Ober.

Visit them often here.