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Linda
In News

Artexit

October is about to end and Brexit – now at the door – could change the games.

In a positive or a negative way?

It is a question that everyone is asking, but apparently doubts about what could or could not happen for now remains uncertain, pending the agreement between the parties.

London – considered the “Big Apple” of Europe – has a very important role and position within the art market and its success is due in particular to the English regulatory model, which sees import taxes at 5% – the lowest in the EU – and Brexit could represent another opportunity for Great Britain to be even more competitive on the global market, implementing a regulatory review closer to its competitors USA (0%) and China (3%).

European Union legislation, with its complex bureaucracy and costly administration, allegedly penalized the London market by placing it in a position of disadvantage compared to its big rivals, New York and Hong Kong.

Brexit could therefore represent an interesting opportunity for Great Britain, free from the constraints of the EU, but it could also lead to a significant weakening of the market, since the exit from the European Union will stop the funds and financing of which the United Kingdom and its many museums and galleries have benefited from, not to mention individual artists.

An example of the monumental sculpture “Angel of the North” (1994-1998) by Antony Gormley located in Gateshead, was financed exactly thanks to EU funds.

Already at the time of the referendum many internationally renowned artists such as Tacita Dean, Wolfgang Tillmans, Michael Craig-Martin, Banksy, the aforementioned Antony Gormley and many others – had taken the side in favour of staying within the European Union by actively joining to the “Remain” campaign by creating works of art, posters and slogans.

Strong concerns were also expressed by historical institutions and institutional roles – from the director of Tate Nicholas Serota to Martin Roth – director of the Victoria & Albert Museum, also worried about the consequences of the lack of European subsidies dedicated to research.

But it’s not just about funding. In addition to the disappearance of legal and economic facilities, the possible weakening of investments and the impact on the economy in general, other obstacles such as export licenses will also have to be taken into consideration.

Many of the leading players of the art-market are in fact evaluating a possible withdrawal of the works deposited in London, as Larry Gagosian, who apparently has already begun to move assets from London to the offices of Athens, Basel, Geneva and Paris.

Certainly London will no longer represent the world airport for the importation of works within the European Union and it is precisely the French capital that is preparing to take up the baton, having the second lowest European taxation with 5.5% .

Some important galleries – including White Cube, David Zwirner, Pace Gallery – are already planning to open Parisian offices and the city is ready to reap the rewards of moving capital, a situation that could therefore favour the French market.

Conversely, the galleries that have scheduled shows from November onwards have been organized in advance to bring the works to Great Britain, in order to avoid the risk of new rules on customs duties.

For now, despite the uncertainties, London continues to maintain its central role – just think of all the museums, galleries, international fairs and auction houses that have their headquarters here – and the good results obtained from the auctions just concluded and from the fair Frieze confirm it.

Regardless of favourable predictions or not, what emerges is the important repercussions on the global market implied by the United Kingdom leaving the European Union that make the close correlation between art, politics and the economy even clearer.

 

“The shades of the art rainbow are endless: choose your favorite!”

Linda
In News

London Auctions October 2018

The London autumn art week has ended, including Frieze, collateral fairs, many appointments and contemporary art auctions.

 

STRUGGLING FOR THE PLACE OF CHRISTIE’S AND CONTEMPORARY ART

4-5 OCTOBER 2018

AUCTION of at 4 OCTOBER EVENING. Total sales: £ 84,610,000 including premium.

AUCTION at 5 OCTOBER DAY. Total sales: £ 20,844,000 including premium.

For this auction session, Christie has fielded several lots of the highest quality. The highest expectation is the “Figure in Movement” canvas dated 1972 by Francis Bacon, on the cover of the catalogue, which from an estimate of £ 15,000,000-20,000,000 was sold for £ 19,921,250 including premium. The work came from the private collection of Magnus Konow and portrays George Dyer, Bacon’s muse and lover who died of an overdose shortly after the creation of this canvas that had always remained in the Konow’s collection.

Francis Bacon, Figure in Movement, 1972

Oil and dry transfer writing on canvas

198 x 148 cm

 

Jean Dubuffet also performed well with “Lady in Garden”, oil and collage on canvas from 1956, which from an estimate of £ 2,500,000-3,500,000 was sold at £ 4,508,000 including interest.

Jean Dubuffet, Lady in Garden, 1956

Oil and collage on canvas

148 x 120 cm

 

Also good for Keith Haring’s great work “Untitled” of 1984, given an estimate of £ 3,000,000-5,000,000, it was sold at £ 3,946,250 including interest.

Keith Haring, Untitled, 1984

Acrylic on canvas, work in 4 parts

Total dimensions: 304.8 x 304.8 cm

 

Record for “Bull with Hole”, oil and resin on canvas of 1986 by Albert Oehlen, estimated £ 800,000-1,200,000 reached the amount of £ 3,608,750 thus exceeding the record of 2.9 million reached in 2017.

Albert Oehlen, Bull with Hole, 1986

Oil and resin on canvas, Diptych

Single canvas size: 187.6 x 188.3 cm

Total dimensions: 187.6 x 376.6 cm

 

Hurvin Anderson who with the oil on canvas of the 2003 “Country Club” adventured on £ 2,048,750 including interest, from an estimate of 1,000,000-1,500,000 £.

Hurvin Anderson, Country Club, 2003

Oil painting on canvas

162 x 265 cm

 

At the Lot 49 we find another work by Francis Bacon, “Painted Screen “, three panels joined by iron hinges of 1929 estimated at £ 700,000-1,000,000, which doubled and exceeded the highest estimate reaching £ 2,408,000 including interest.

Francis Bacon, Painted Screen, about 1929

Oil on plywood with metal hinges

Each panel: 183 x 61 x 2.8 cm

Total dimensions: 183 x 183 x 2.8 cm

 

Very good for the Turin artist Aldo Mondino, who on the occasion of his 70th birth anniversary marks the new record during the First World War and contemporary art auction with “Tappeti Stesi” (Carpets), the work of 1989, sold for £ 68,750 including interest. The starting estimate was £ 30,000-50,000 (Lot 343).

The Tappeti Stesi are wall compositions that entered Eraclite between the 80s and 90s and include one of the most famous cycles among those unleashed by the artist, fascinated by Middle Eastern culture.

Aldo Mondino, Tappeti Stesi, 1989

Acrylic on compressed chipboard, Diptych

Overall dimensions: 250 x 200 cm

 

Disappointment instead for “Skull”, oil on canvas of 1983 by Gerhard Richter published on the second cover, which remained unsold for 11.5 million pounds (estimate on request).

Same fate also for Jeff Koons’ “Cracked egg (blue)”, unsold 8.5 million pounds: it started from an estimate of 10,000,000-15,000,000 pounds.

Gerhard Richter, Skull, 1983

Oil painting on canvas

80.4 x 65 cm

 

Jeff Koons, Cracked Egg (blue), 1994-2006

One of the unique works of a series of 5

Mirror polished steel with transparent coating

165.1 x 159.1 x 159.1 cm

100 x 159.1 x 159.1 cm

 

Even “Still life with Zimmerlinde”, an unusual subject by Lucian Freud, remains unsold at £ 750,000 being above the maximum rating of £ 600,000.

Lucian Freud, Still life with Zimmerlinde, about 1950

Oil painting on canvas

25 x 21.5 cm

 

Withdrawal from the auction for Georg Baselitz’s 11 oils on canvas, estimated between 6 and 10 million pounds.

 

CHRISTIE’S THINKING ITALIAN

OCTOBER 4, 2018

Total sales: £ 40,408,000 including premium.

Thinking of Christie’s Italian, the first edition represents the evolution of Italian sales, a format that for the first time in 20 years has not been renewed by Sotheby’s, which has chosen to include art in art. October 5 and 6.

The evening with Christie, also packed with Italian collectors and operators, continued with a catalogue of the highest level made up of 37 important works ranging from Futurism to Arte Povera: many and predictable relaunched during the auction.

Learn more about the price achieved by the rare work “Space concept, The end of God” of 1963 which, starting at £ 12.5 million, was sold to an anonymous telephone collector for £ 17,108,750 including interest. The estimate was on demand, around £ 17 million. With this release “Spatial concept, The end of God” has become the second best-selling work at auction by Lucio Fontana.

The work had already gone up for auction in 2013 from Christie’s in New York and had reached £ 13 million on that occasion.

Lucio Fontana, Spatial Concept, The end of God, 1963

Oil and glitter on canvas

178 x 123 cm

“Spatial Concept” of 1953, a delicate and beautiful composition in oil and glass on canvas on the cover of the catalogue, reaches £ 1,832,750, interest included from a starting estimate of £ 1,600,000-2,500,000.

Lucio Fontana, Spatial Concept, 1953

Oil and glass on canvas

60 x 73 cm

 

The second work by price made is a “Achrome” by Manzoni from 1957-58 which was included in the Contemporary Art section and which was then moved to “Think Italian” (Lot 119A). The canvas made £ 3,608,750 including interest from an estimate of £ 3,000,000-5,000,000.

Piero Manzoni, Achrome, 1957-58

Kaolin on canvas

61 x 81 cm

 

Another Manzoni’s “Achrome” dated 1958-59 (Lot 118) touched the amount of £ 1,928,750 interest included from an estimate of £ 1,000,000-1,500,000.

Piero Manzoni, Achrome, 1958-59

Kaolin on canvas

60 x 80 cm

 

The other protagonists of this part of the evening were the Italian artists who imposed attention by setting some records.

 

Salvatore Scarpitta realized for £ 1,808,750 interest included with the work of 1960 from the Leo Castelli’s gallery “Alta Sposa”, starting estimate £ 1,000,000-1,500,000.

Salvatore Scarpitta, High Bride, 1960

Bandages on mixed supports on canvas

152.5 x 102 cm

 

Maria Lai’s work “Sheet” of 1989 from an estimate of £ 20,000-30,000 flied to £ 150,000 including interest, far exceeding the previous record of € 32,000 in 2015.

Maria Lai, Sheet, 1989

Thread and fabric embroidered on fabric

141.7 x 230 cm

 

Alberto Savinio also flied high with “Croix marine”, oil on canvas from 1929 estimated at £ 600,000-800,000 and sold for £ 692,000 including premium.

Alberto Savinio, Croix Marine, 1929

Oil painting on canvas

73 x 92 cm

 

“Great mutilation”, sculpture more than two meters high dated 1962 by Leoncillo, reached £ 728,750 including interest (estimate £ 350,000-500,000) and thus exceeded the € 283,000 record of the Christie’s auction in Milan in April 2018.

Leoncillo, Great mutilation, 1962

Stoneware and glaze

218 x 39 x 39 cm

 

Alberto Burri with “Sacco Nero Rosso” of 1957 reached £ 980,750 including interest from an estimate of £ 450,000-600,000.

Alberto Burri, Sacco Nero Rosso, 1957

Sackcloth, acrylic, plastic burning and vinavil on fabric

38 x 46 cm

 

Another nice surprise was Carol Rama, who with “Untitled”, a work of 1977, managed to double the estimate of £ 60,000-80,000 to reach £ 175,000 including interest.

Carol Rama, untitled, 1977

Tissue paper, tire, pastel, tempera, cotton thread and metal hook on soft top canvas

130.5 x 75 cm

 

Gino Severini with “Portrait de l’auteur” of 1916, displayed the £ 908,000 interest included from the estimate of £ 700,000-1,000,000.

Gino Severini, Portrait de l’auteur, 1916

Oil painting on canvas

100.3 x 74.3 cm

 

There were surprises among the unsold, including two Fontana’s works: red “Spatial Concept, Waiting” (Lot 125) and white “Spatial Concept, Waiting” (Lot 129).

 

SOTHEBY’S EVENING AUCTION

The David Teiger collection and Contemporary Art achieved the total revenue of £ 69,787,000 including premia, against the high estimate of £ 73.5 million.

SOTHEBY’S THE HISTORY OF NOW: DAVID TEIGER’S COLLECTION

OCTOBER 5, 2018

Total sales: £ 35,921,100 including premia.

Sotheby’s opened the auction session with 25 works mainly by contemporary artists from the collection of David Teiger, almost all of them getting a somewhat lower value than expected.

The evening was opened by the artist’s record reached by “Wants to see it all”, a work of 2002, by Kai Althoff, which from the estimate of £ 80,000 – 120,000 got £ 574,000 including interest, after a long battle between collectors on the phone.

Kai Althoff, Wants to see it all, 2002

Paint, tempera and paper on canvas, edged with iron

50.2 x 60 cm

 

No twists and turns until Lot 6, when “Propped”, oil on canvas of 1992 by Jenny Saville, chosen for the catalogue cover and estimated £ 3,000,000-4,000,000, came with a £ 9,537,250 including premium, after a long phone battle between collectors marking the record for a living woman artist. This result reflects competition, and the competition in the role of women in art.

This large canvas, which made Saville famous thanks to the exhibition “Sensation” held in 1997 at the Royal Academy of Arts, was owned by the magnate Charles Saatchi, and it revolutionizes the traditional representation of the woman’s body.

Jenny Saville, Propped, 1992

Oil painting on canvas

213.4 x 182.9 cm

 

“Station Buffalo I “, oil on canvas dated 1997-1998, reached £ 7,561,500 including premium from the estimate of £ 6,000,000-8,000,000.

With the same estimate, according to the characteristics of the former in terms of subject, data, size, and technique, the result was different for ” Station Buffalo II”, which was sold at the price of £ 4,513,000. Probably this second work by Doig went to the third party guarantor, who had ensured the painting.

Peter Doig, Buffalo Station I, 1997-98

Oil painting on canvas

175.3 x 269.9 cm

Peter Doig, Buffalo Station II, 1997-98

Oil painting on canvas

175.3 x 269.9 cm

 

Not very good however for “Minerva”, oil on canvas by John Currin, which first remained unsold and was then put up for auction again at only £ 370,000, included, in a starting forecast of £ 800,000 – £ 1,200,000.

John Currin, Minerva, 2000

Oil painting on canvas

71.1 x 55.9 cm

 

SOTHEBY’S EVENING CONTEMPORARY ART AND DAY AUCTION

5-6 OCTOBER 2018

EVENING AUCTION 5 OCTOBER: Total sales: £ 33,865,900, including premiа.

DAY AUCTION 6 OCTOBER: Total sales: £ 14,008,500, including premiа.

After the Teiger collection, the evening continued at Sotheby’s with 40 lots of Contemporary Art.

The undisputed star of all the international press was Banksy’s work, which suddenly destroyed itself after being sold for £ 1,042,000, including interest. “Girl with Ballon”, made in 2006, was the last lot of the auction and was estimated at £ 200,000-300,000. Shortly after the time, the mechanism hidden inside the frame activated and the work of the artist from Bristol was shredded in small strips. The bewildering and surprising performance immediately made Banksy claimed on social media. The value of the work has been exceeded with regards to marketing and resonance it made.

Banksy, Girl with Baloon, 2006

Spray paint and acrylic on canvas, mounted on a frame by the artist

101 x 78 x 18 cm

 

Part of Banksy’s unexpected performance were a few twists in this auction session. Hence two works by Georg Baselitz that far exceed expectations: “Ohne Titel” of 1966 from an estimate of £ 450,000-650,000 reached £ 1,150,000 including interest; while “Kopfkissen”, oil on canvas of 1987, took the figure of £ 1,450,000, the starting estimate was £ 40,000-600,000.

Georg Baselitz, Ohne Titel (Der Neue Typ), 1966

Tempera, ink and pastel on paper

39.1 x 26 cm

Excellent result for Adrian Ghenie’s “Boogeyman” dated 2010, which from an estimate of £ 2,000,000-3,000,000 flied to £ 4,851,900 including premium.

Adrian Ghenie, Boogeyman, 2010

Oil painting on canvas

200 x 335 cm

 

Among the unsold, some also present some excellent names, such as a “Spatial Concept, Expectations” by Lucio Fontana, a Castellani “Troika” and two Kapoor “Parabolic Mirror, Asagi” and “Untitled”.

“Again and again”, Kaws acrylic on canvas depicting the cartoon character Sponge Bob, set a record and a Taiwanese dealer was awarded after a long telephone battle, flying from the estimate of £ 250,000-350,000 to £ 1,030,000 interest included.

Kaws, again and again, 2008

Acrylic on canvas

172.8 x 172.8 cm

 

PHILLIPS SHAPE & SPACE: NEW CERAMIC PRESENCE

5 OCTOBER

Total sales: £ 2,493,250 including premia.

The Phillips auction house, in addition to being increasingly attentive to and publishes photography (auction on 4 October), dedicates an entire session to ceramics intended to strengthen the dialogue between art, design and craftsmanship.

Ceramics, a technique traditionally placed among the decorative arts, is now viewed with renewed interest also by the so-called “emerging” collectors. With a private auction, Phillips captured the public’s attention by presenting the material in a completely different light.

The new interest in ceramic artists had already emerged in New York last December during the evening design auction when the work “Rondena” by Peter Voulkos, sculpture of powerful dimensions, set a record for an American ceramic artist totalling $ 915,000, premium included, $ 400,000 beyond its high rating.

As we saw in the Christie’s Thinking Italian auction on October 4, the excellent result achieved by Leoncillo is the market trend: the “Great Mutilation” stoneware sculpture was sold at £ 728,750 against a high estimate of £ 500,000.

On the occasion of the autumn auction of Phillips, the curator Francesco Bonami proposed 32 works both modern and contemporary signed by Fontana, Ai Weiwei, Fausto Melotti, Picasso and Roy Lichtenstein followed by other lesser-known masters who worked in this material.

 

DESIGN FOR SALE, NEW YORK, EVENING AUCTION, DECEMBER 12, 2017

Total sales: $ 6,198,625 including premia

Peter Voulkos, Rondena, 1958

Porcelain stoneware, brushed cobalt, iron, epoxy resin

157.5 x 95.9 x 82.6 cm

Estimate: $ 300,000-500,000

Sold for $ 915,000, including premium

 

Lucio Fontana, Horse, 1935-36

59.5 x 79.5 x 46 cm

Estimate: £ 400,000- £ 600,000

Sold for £ 549,000, including premium

 

Roy Lichtenstein, Ceramic Sculpture # 10, 1965

21.6 x 22.5 x 21.6 cm

Estimate: £ 250,000-350,000

Sold for £ 309,000 prize included

 

Ai Weiwei, He Xie, 2010

Variable dimensions

Estimate: £ 400,000- £ 600,000

Sold for £ 609,000 including premium

 

Pablo Picasso, Hibou (Owl), 1975

34 x 20 x 4 cm

Estimate: £ 50,000-70,000

Sold for £ 93,750 including premium

 

Fausto Melotti, Female Figure, about 1950

Height 21.7 cm

Estimate: £ 40,000-60,000

Sold at £ 56,250 prize included

 

“The shades of the art rainbow are endless: choose your favorite!”

 

Linda
In News

Upcoming

All the autumn exhibitions not to be missed!

 

Balthus

Fondation Beyeler, Basel

September 2 – January 1, 2019

 

The exhibition, in collaboration with the artist’s family and curated by Raphael Bouvier and Michiko Kono, presents fifty of the most significant works of the artist’s career and is the first major retrospective dedicated to Balthus in German-speaking Switzerland.

The artist’s bond with these places has always been strong, both for his marriage to the Swiss aristocrat Antonietta de Watteville and for the childhood spent between Bern and Geneva.

Balthus, pseudonym of Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, was born in Paris to an art critic father and painter mother, thanks to his parents he had the opportunity to travel and get closer to the world of art from an early age.

It will be the first trip to Italy in 1926 to bring him closer to the Tuscan Renaissance masters, in particular to Piero della Francesca, whom he considered to be his mentor.

Taking the compositional system from the great painters of the past, then expertly mixing it with the other Italian artistic currents, such as Magic Realism and Metaphysics: it is from this particular combination that the enigmatic static nature characteristic of his works is born, which can combine daily life and mystery, dream and reality.

Balthus has been able to revolutionize the figurative tradition in open opposition to the avant-garde currents of the time, in a historical period that featured painters such as Picasso and Matisse.

Little understood by his contemporaries, after the thirties his iconography was oriented towards the representation of nudes characterized by an almost sculptural immobility; among these his main subjects are young children in the toilet that also earned him pornography charges.

The delicacy of the nudes, caught in moments of daily intimacy and anything but mischievous, clearly expresses Balthus’s intent to tell the psychological aspect of the subjects and to cite the classical masters.

The bond with Italy is expected to strengthen from 1961, when the artist is appointed director of the Academy of France in Rome, an assignment that will last 17 years during which Balthus will create several works set in the eternal city.

The great retrospective that will end in Basel on January 1, 2019, will move to Madrid at the National Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.

Balthus, Thérèse, 1938

Oil on cardboard mounted on wood

100.3 x 81.3 cm

 

Renzo Piano

The Art of Making Buildings

Royal Academy of Arts, London

September 15 – January 20, 2019

 

United by a sense of lightness thanks to the use of large windows, a mixture of invention and tradition, function and context, Renzo Piano’s buildings are now part of the public imagination.

His projects have changed the skyline of metropolises all over the world through futuristic and immediately recognizable lines, the result of a work of constant research and experimentation with materials and architectural typologies.

The exhibition, designed and curated in close collaboration with the same Plan, traces the architect’s career from the Genoese heritage of the construction builder father to the studies carried out in Florence and Milan, passing through international experiences and worldwide acclaim alongside his friend and collaborator Richard Rogers.

Focused on 16 key projects, the exhibition explores the architect’s modus operandi, highlighting the wise use of shapes, materials and engineering to materialise elegant and pioneering ideas.

The Centre George Pompidou in Paris, a project of 1971 that brought him worldwide fame, the London Shard, and the New York Times headquarters in the Big Apple stand out among the most famous projects designed by Piano.

On display there will be not only photographs and projects but also many hand drawings in which you can follow the flow of ideas and inspirations that led to the creation of futuristic buildings that have become icons and symbols of absolute modernity.

In addition to the projects that made him crown “archistar”, the lesser known ones dating back to the 1970s, the beginning of the career of the well-known Genoese architect, will also be visible.

At the centre of the exhibition is the imaginary “Island“, a sculptural installation specially designed for the monograph of the Royal Academy that brings together almost 100 projects that recount Renzo Piano’s 30 years of career.

The Shard, also called London Bridge Tower

London, 2013-2016.

 

Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci

Abu Dhabi Louvre

September 18

 

Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi will be finally exhibited at the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, after being purchased for the record of $ 450 million by the United Arab Emirates Department of Culture and Tourism in November 2017 during the Christie’s auction in New York.

Just one week after the museum’s inauguration, the purchase has been an excellent marketing operation and has further clarified the economic power of the Emirates

However, this is a temporary exhibition, because the work will return to the Louvre in Paris on the occasion of the exhibition that will take place from 24 October 2019 until 24 February 2020 to celebrate the anniversary of the death – 500 years in May 2019 – of the Tuscan master.

The oil on board representing Christ blessing has long been considered to come from Leonardo’s workshop, and over time the attributions by international experts, who have long debated on the authorship of the work, have been very controversial.

Painted between 1490 and around 1515, it was finally recognized as Leonardo’s work only in 2011 on the occasion of the exhibition at the National Gallery in London.

The Salvator Mundi promises to be the centrepiece of the Abu Dhabi collection and represents an excellent piece to counterbalance the Mona Lisa, exhibited in the Parisian museum of the same name.

The collaboration between the two Louvres foresees that the Abu Dhabi museum can use the name – which has become almost a brand – for about 30 years.

The terms of the agreements provide that France undertakes to guarantee a constant loan of works through the Agence France-Muséums, an institution that brings together the 13 major French museums involved in the partnership with Abu Dhabi. These thirteen museums will also ensure the rotation of four exhibitions per year for 15 years at the Arab facility.

France also has the obligation of bringing curators, experts and highly qualified figures who will train the staff to the Louvre in Abu Dhabi: in this way the museum will have time to build its own permanent collection and to manage itself within a few years.

Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi, around 1490-1515.

Oil on wallnut

66 x 46 cm

 

The World on Paper

New Cultural Headquarters of the Deutsche Bank, Berlin.

Opening September 27th.

 

On September 27, the new cultural headquarters of the Deutsche Bank will open in Berlin under the direction of Svenja von Reichenbach, formerly responsible for exhibitions at the Berlin office and director of the Deutsche Bank KunstHalle since 2013.

The Centre is spread over a total area of 3,000 square metres occupying the building renamed “Palais Populaire” and the spaces adjacent to it.

In the artistic field, the German bank is known for a collection focused on photography and works on paper among the most important in the world, but the cultural centre of Berlin will host events of all kinds including exhibitions, concerts and sports.

The exhibition that inaugurates the spaces, “The World on Paper” curated by Friedhelm Hütte, sees protagonists precisely with the works of the Deutsche Bank collection, but information about it is once again very scarce, probably to intrigue the public by focusing on the surprise effect.

Exterior view of the Palais Populaire, Berlin

 

Real Bodies: discover the human body

Spazio Ventura XV, Milan

October 6 – January 31, 2019

 

The exhibition on human anatomy returns to Milan two years after the first exhibition held at the Fabbrica del Vapore, where it had reached a record attendance with 280 thousand visitors, certainly thanks to the intriguing and attracting particularity of the “objects” on display.

The 500 artifacts preserved by plastination are organs of men and women who voluntarily decided to donate their post mortem body in the name of science.

This year, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, a section of the exhibition will be dedicated to the Tuscan master, undisputed pioneer of forensic medicine and a great scholar of human body.

The thirty installations of human artefacts will reproduce Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical sketches contained in the Windsor code in a direct comparison between his studies and reality.

Another novelty compared to the previous edition is the presence of animal organs, including the heart of a humpback whale, the largest heart muscle on Earth that measures 1-meter-wide and is capable of pumping 220 litres of blood.

The exhibition, through the study of the human body, aims to make known the progress of biomechanics and reconstructive surgery, to sensitize people on the fight against addictions and to facilitate disease prevention. The high scientific and educational value makes the exhibition an unmissable appointment for school children and curious people in general.

Leonardo da Vinci, Windsor codex, detail of a drawing

1478-1518

 

Carte Blanche to Tomás Saraceno

On Air

Palais de Tokyo, Paris

October 17 – January 6, 2019

 

Tomás Saraceno will be the protagonist of the fourth edition of the “Cartes Blanches” series, monumental exhibitions cyclically entrusted to different artists that started in 2013 with Philippe Parreno, then continued in 2016 with Tino Sehgal and with Camille Henrot in 2017.

“On Air” promises to be the largest project ever created by the artist, whose research develops and concretizes in the mixture of architecture, art science and philosophy.

The exhibition brings together a selection of his main works and new productions that will transform the 13,000 square metres of the Palais de Tokyo into a truly unique experience.

By combining the smaller and larger stairs, the exhibition will seek to reveal the connection between a spider web, a particle of dust, an architecture and the redistribution of the atmosphere through the Aerocene, an interdisciplinary artistic project that proposes a collective rethinking of the way men inhabit the world.

Aerocene imagines the creation of a new infrastructure that redefines the international right to mobility, reviewing the freedom of movement between countries and reminding us that air is a precious asset that belongs to all living beings.

The exhibition space of the Palais de Tokyo thus becomes a huge stage that shows the richness and complexity of everything that makes up the universe, transporting us to a place where the microscopic and the cosmic coexist, transcending human perception to explore the world from different points of view.

Flanked by a team of international professionals that sees the participation of architects, researchers and astrophysicists from all over the world, Tomás Saraceno invites us to rethink our way of experiencing the planet.

Tomás Saraceno, detail of a work, 2017

 

Picasso Metamorphosis

Palazzo Reale, Milan

October 18 – February 17, 2019

 

The European exhibition promoted by the Musée Picasso in Paris also stops in Milan and presents 200 works that include both works by Picasso and pieces of ancient art from important international museum institutions.

The focus of the exhibition is the relationship between the painter and the myth of antiquity, a source of inspiration highlighted by the many references that Picasso has included in his works during his artistic career: therefore, the mythological themes emerge thanks to a direct comparison between pieces of ancient art and master’s works.

The exhibition is part of a series of events dedicated by the Royal Palace to the Spanish painter, which began in 1953 with the exhibition of Guernica in the Sala delle Cariatidi and ended with the large monographic exhibition of 2012.

Pablo Picasso, Women at the spring, 1921

Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie

Oil on canvas

50 x 52 cm

 

Mario Merz

Igloos

Hangar Bicocca, Milan

October 24 – February 24

 

The exhibition curated by Vicente Todolí and created in collaboration with the Merz Foundation, offers the unique opportunity to be able to admire for the first time 30 igloos from private collections and museums, created by the artist between 1968 and 2003.

The exhibition opens with 1987’s “La Goccia d’Acqua”, which with its 12 meters in diameter is the largest igloo created by Merz for an internal exhibition space, on the occasion of the solo exhibition at the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Bordeaux .

In the space of the Navate, with an area of 5,500mq, the exhibition itinerary then proceeds in chronological order starting with the igloos created in the sixties.

Thanks to this substantial body of works, the exhibition takes us through the most innovative aspects and components of Merz, very tied to the particular use of both natural and industrial materials and attentive to the dialogue between natural space and architecture.

A key figure in Arte Povera, Mario Merz was among the first in Italy to use the artistic installation as an artistic means of expression, inserting neon and everyday objects on the canvas. In addition to these, he has often also used some elements belonging to the scientific field, such as the Fibonacci sequence.

It is from 1968 that he introduces a theme that will remain one of the most representative of his research: the igloo.

This particular type of home becomes a metaphor for the relationships between physical space and conceptual space, between individual and community, a place of refuge and ephemeral isolation from external reality.

Igloos are often created through metal structures covered with various elements, from clay to glass, from stone to jute.

Since the 1980s there has been an evolution in the structure of the igloos, which become more complex, characterized by intersecting lines and the addition of neon writing.

The symbolic value of these delicate installations sometimes assumes even political meanings, thus opening up to contemporary debates.

Mario Merz, The Drop of Water, 1987

Diameter: 12 meters

 

The shades of the rainbow of art are infinite: choose your favourite!

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