Two exhibitions
dal 6/2/2011 al 3/7/2011
Segnalato da
6/2/2011
Two exhibitions
Metropolitan Museum of Art - MET, New York
Cezanne's Card Players unites works from the famous series by Cezanne, bringing together a majority of the related paintings, oil studies, and drawings. A select group of portraits of peasants, several of whom appear in the Card Players compositions, will also be included in this landmark exhibition, the first devoted to the subject. 'Guitar Heroes: Legendary Craftsmen from Italy to New York', features the guitars of John D'Angelico, James D'Aquisto, and John Monteleone, and exhibits approximately 80 musical instruments will focus on the work of these modern-day master craftsmen and their roots in a long tradition of stringed instrument-making that has thrived for more than 400 years and that was first brought to New York from Italy around the turn of the 20th century.
Cézanne's Card Players
Cézanne's Card Players, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning February 9, 2011, will unite works from the famous series by Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), bringing together a majority of the related paintings, oil studies, and drawings. A select group of portraits of peasants, several of whom appear in the Card Players compositions, will also be included in this landmark exhibition, the first devoted to the subject. Created in the 1890s while the artist was living at his family's estate outside Aix-en-Provence, these images capture the character Cézanne admired in the people of the region. Together the works chart the development of the series as Cézanne strove to achieve the most powerful expression of his motif.
The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and The Courtauld Gallery, London.
It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
The Metropolitan Museum holds one of the finest collections of Cézanne works in the world and, in 1913, it was the first public institution in the United States to acquire a painting by the artist. The Metropolitan's The Card Players (1890-92) will be displayed in this focused exhibition, as well as Seated Peasant (1892-96) from the Museum's Annenberg Collection. They will be joined by major loans from international museums including The Courtauld Gallery, Honolulu Academy of Fine Arts, Kimbell Art Museum, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Musée d'Orsay, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pierpont Morgan Library, and Worcester Art Museum, as well as private collections.
Cézanne's depictions of card players would prove to be one of his most ambitious projects and it occupied him for several years. He undertook the series at the beginning of the 1890s using peasants and laborers at his family's estate, the Jas de Bouffan, as models. These sittings resulted in five closely related canvases of different sizes that show card players engaged in the age-old ritual of their game, three of which will be reunited in Cézanne's Card Players. He also produced a larger number of paintings of the individual farm workers who appear in the Card Players compositions, major examples of which will be on view. The exhibition features a number of rarely seen oil sketches and watercolor studies for these paintings. Uncharacteristic of Cézanne's usual working practice, these preparatory works suggest that he studied the models individually and literally assembled them on the canvas. Together the works chart Cézanne's gradual refinement of his compositions, and offer a fascinating sense of the development of this series. In the process, he abandoned the conventional rules of painting and arrived at an innovative approach to express the essential character of his subjects.
Cézanne's Card Players series of paintings and his portraits of individual peasants have come to epitomize his vision of rural life in Provence. He conveys the gravitas and stoicism of his sitters, for whom he had great admiration. The local peasants of Aix were to Cézanne steadfast, unchanging, and monumental, not unlike his beloved Mont Sainte-Victoire. As he later put it, "I love above all else the appearance of people who have grown old without breaking with old customs."
Cézanne's Card Players is organized at The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Gary Tinterow, Engelhard Chairman of the Museum's Department of Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by The Courtauld Gallery that includes contributions from leading Cézanne scholars. It presents the results of new technical research conducted especially for the exhibition by the Metropolitan Museum and The Courtauld Gallery, and sheds fresh light on Cézanne's working practice and challenges established views about the sequence of the Card Players series.
An audio tour, part of the Museum's Audio Guide Program, is available for rental ($7, $6 for Members, $5 for children under 12).
The Audio Guide is sponsored by Bloomberg.
A variety of educational programs will accompany the exhibition, including gallery talks, film screenings, and a Sunday at the Met lecture program on April 3.
-----------------------------------------
Guitar Heroes: Legendary Craftsmen from Italy to New York
Three New York master luthiers, renowned for their hand-carved stringed instruments—particularly their archtop guitars, which have been sought after by many of the most important guitarists of the last century—will be the subject of Guitar Heroes: Legendary Craftsmen from Italy to New York, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from February 9 through July 4, 2011. Featuring the extraordinary guitars of John D'Angelico, James D'Aquisto, and John Monteleone, this unprecedented exhibition of approximately 80 musical instruments will focus on the work of these modern-day master craftsmen and their roots in a long tradition of stringed instrument-making that has thrived for more than 400 years and that was first brought to New York from Italy around the turn of the 20th century.
The exhibition is made possible in part by Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Chilton, Jr.
The work of Italian luthiers, or makers of stringed instruments, has been highly desired since the 16th century, when lute makers in cities such as Venice and violin makers in places like Cremona supplied instruments for many of the most important personages in Europe. In subsequent centuries, makers such as the famed Antonio Stradivari continued this tradition. Stradivari, best known for his violins, built a great variety of stringed instruments, including both mandolins and guitars, one of which will be on loan to the exhibition.
By the end of the 18th century, Naples had become the dominant center for stringed-instrument production on the Italian peninsula, with makers there introducing innovations to both the mandolin and guitar. Later, in the decades around the turn of the 20th century, many skilled luthiers from southern Italy moved to New York as part of the mass immigration of the time. These makers set up workshops throughout the region, building traditional-style violins, guitars, and most importantly, mandolins, which experienced a tremendous popularity in America from the 1890s to the 1920s.
A change in musical tastes by the late 1920s meant that many Italian-American luthiers were suddenly forced out of business, but the young John D'Angelico was among a small group who were able to transition to building archtop guitars, an instrument that combined elements of violin construction (carved top, f-holes) with the guitar, based on the models being produced at the time by the Gibson Guitar Company. The archtop guitar was especially popular with jazz musicians in the days before the electric guitar. D'Angelico quickly built a reputation for his high-quality, beautifully constructed guitars. The tradition was carried forward by his apprentice James D'Aquisto, and continues today with the work of the famed mandolin and guitar maker John Monteleone.
Instruments by these makers have been used by some of the most influential guitar players of the 20th century through the present day, including Chet Atkins, Les Paul, George Benson, Paul Simon, Steve Miller, Mark Knopfler, Jim Hall, and Grant Green, among others. Guitar Heroes will present more than 50 works by these makers, many of which have been owned by some of these guitar greats. The works will be placed against the backdrop of the Museum's extensive collection, which includes masterpieces of Italian and Italian-American construction, showing the place of the modern-day masters in this long tradition.
The exhibition is organized by Jayson Kerr Dobney, Associate Curator and Administrator in the Department of Musical Instruments at the Metropolitan Museum. Exhibition design is by Michael Lapthorn, Exhibition Designer; graphics are by Sue Koch, Graphic Design Manager; and lighting is by Clint Ross Coller and Richard Lichte, Lighting Design Managers, all of the Metropolitan Museum's Design Department.
An app, the Museum's first, has been conceived to complement and augment the exhibition. Through collaborations with musicians and experts, the app brings to life the guitar makers' creative process and celebrates the enduring relevance of these instruments. It features Museum-commissioned musical performances expressly designed for this exhibition, artist interviews, and rarely seen archival video footage. This dynamic multimedia guide to the exhibition, which has been developed by the Metropolitan Museum's Digital Media Department, can be downloaded free from iTunes. It will also be available for rental on iTouch devices in the Museum's galleries ($7, $6 for Members, $5 for children under 12).
The multimedia tour is made possible by The Jonathan & Faye Kellerman Foundation.
The Audio Guide program is made possible by Bloomberg.
Many of the app's multimedia features, including longer excerpts of the performances and commentary—will be available in an extensive Guitar Heroes feature on the Museum's website at www.metmuseum.org.
A related concert by the John Pizzarelli Quartet will be held in the Museum's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium on March 31. Tickets are available at www.metmuseum.org/tickets, 212-570-3949, or the box office in the Museum's Great Hall.
A variety of educational programs will also be offered in conjunction with the exhibition, including gallery talks by Jayson Kerr Dobney; gallery concerts including performances on guitar, mandolin, and other instruments; a Sunday at the Met afternoon of programs on April 10, including a panel discussion and musical performances; and family and teen programs.
The gallery concerts are made possible by D'Addario & Company, Inc. and the D'Addario Music Foundation.
The exhibition will also be the subject of the Metropolitan Museum's Spring 2011 Bulletin, which will be available in the Museum's book shops.
The Bulletin is made possible through the generosity of the Lila Acheson Wallace Fund for The Metropolitan Museum of Art established by the cofounder of Reader's Digest.
Communications (for the Press)
Phone: 212-570-3951 Fax: 212-472-2764 Email: communications@metmuseum.org
Press Preview: Monday, February 7, 10 a.m.–noon
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, New York
Please note that you may enter the Museum at Fifth Avenue and 81st Street or at Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street.
Hours
Tuesday–Thursday: 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Sunday: 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Closed Monday (except Met Holiday Mondays**), Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day