Columbian Artist Fernando Botero is Welcomed in Istanbul

Colombian artist Fernando Botero poses in front of his paintings "La Fornarina, After Raphael" (L) and "After Velazquez" at the Pera Museum in Istanbul, during a preview one day before the opening of his first exhibition in Turkey.

ISTANBUL.- "Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum welcomed one of the most exceptional artists of the 21st century, Fernando Botero in İstanbul for the very first time with an exhibition comprising a selection of 64 works. Botero’s art is not exclusively a narration or a representation, but brings with it the force of an inner vision, of his knocking on life’s door. Protecting his Latin and Colombian identity, Botero has succeeded forming his own style nourished not only by folkloric elements but also by the works of grand masters, and has poured his rich inner world into his works with a sophisticated, humorous and wise approach." - Excerpted from REUTERS/Murad Sezer.

"Nude, Green Leaves and Bust"

Pablo Picasso's 1932 'Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust' is seen at Christie's auction house in New York.

NEW YORK - "A 1932 Pablo Picasso painting of his mistress has sold for $106.5 million, a world record price for any work of art at auction. The striking work of Picasso's muse and mistress Marie-Therese Walter has been exhibited in the United States only once, in 1961 in Los Angeles to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Picasso's birth. The painting, which measures more than 5 feet by 4 feet, shows a reclining nude figure with an image of Picasso in the background looking over her. The painting had belonged to the late California art patron Frances Lasker Brody, who bought it in the 1950s. It had been kept in her family since then. Part of the sale proceeds will benefit the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, Calif., where Brody was on the board. The previous record for a work of art at auction was $104.3 million for "Walking Man I," a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti sold on Feb. 3 at Sotheby's in London. The previous high price for a Picasso work was $104.2 million for "Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice)," attained in 2004 at Sotheby's New York." - Excerpted from 'Art Daily'/'AP' -

"Foghorns" by the fantastic Arthur Dove

Arthur Dove - Foghorns - 1929 - Oil on canvas - 18 x 26 in. (45.7 x 66 cm)
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado

Arthur Dove (1889-1946) was an American painter who was one of the earliest nonobjective artists. Dove’s art reflects his belief that color and form are instruments with which to express the essence beneath the physical exterior of things; his shapes are typically amorphous, his colors muted. In his wonderful "Foghorns" (1929), for example, he used size-graduated shapes and gradations of hue to visually express the sound of foghorns. Despite their nonobjective character, his paintings often suggest the undulating qualities of landscape and the forms of nature.

Dove had a profound influence on Georgia O'Keeffe. From the start of her career, O’Keeffe credited a reproduction of a Dove pastel as her introduction to modernism. Dove’s use of sensual, abstract forms to evoke the flowing rhythms and patterns of nature had already put him at the forefront of the American modernist movement by the time O’Keeffe entered the scene around 1916. Dove had been featured at the renowned photographer Alfred Stieglitz’s New York gallery “291″ in 1912, and O’Keeffe’s work was first shown there in 1916. O'Keeffe seriously considered giving up painting entirely early on in her career. Although she was an award winning art student--she wasn't particularly interested in painting those subjects for which she was lauded. She also didn't want to paint in the manner of one her most famous teachers--William Merritt Chase--but at the same time didn't want to follow the paths of the European modernists. Seeing Dove's work helped O'Keeffe to find her own visual voice. When she was in her 70s, O'Keeffe recalled that, “It was Arthur Dove who affected my start, who helped me to find something of my own.” By all means, explore the paintings of Arthur Dove. It will be well worth the journey.

Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture: Inspiration and Invention

Preaching of St John the Baptist
1506-11
Bronze, height: 265 cm (with base)
Baptistry, Florence

I highly recommend visiting the Getty Center to catch the current Leonardo exhibit. In addition to seeing incredible drawings (and the Vatican Saint Jerome) by the great master--there is a newly restored "Bearded Prophet" by the great Early Renaissance sculptor, Donatello also featured. In addition, there are elegant works by Giovan Franceso Rustici, who--mentored by Leonardo--produced works that come as close as possible to the way in which Leonardo might have sculpted them--and which refer to paintings created by Leonardo. Seeing the drawings of da Vinci gives viewers a unique opportunity to witness his thought (and work) process. It is also a delight to discover when and where Leonardo's mind would wander! Don't miss this event!

Architect Frank Gehry in Front of His New Building

Architect Frank Gehry is seen in front of his latest creation, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken

LAS VEGAS (AP).- Architect Frank Gehry says he wanted a swirling stainless steel structure he designed for Las Vegas to be unique — to stand out from what he called "the cacophony" of high-rise casinos and condos forming the spine of Sin City's sprawl.

Getting his first look at the nearly complete Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, he declared himself satisfied.

Architect Frank Gehry is seen in front of his latest creation, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken

"It took my breath away," he said. "I like the way it fits. I wasn't trying to compete with the chaos around it."

"I mean, some people may think it's over the top," he added. "I don't think so."

Gehry, now 81, has built his career on shapes and angles all around the world: Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; the Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago's Millennium Park; Seattle's Experience Music Project; the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

His philosophy?

"You deliver a unique building that creates a sense of pride, that works, that keeps the rain out, is uplifting, and makes you happy to go to work and live in," he told The Associated Press during an interview and walk around the building this week.

Excerpted from "Art Daily" - 21 March 2010

Quote of the Week

"Truth and reality in art do not arise until you no longer understand what you are doing and are capable of but nevertheless sense a power that grows in proportion to your resistance." - Henri Matisse

Bathers with a Turtle - Matisse

Henri Matisse
French, 1869-1954
Bathers with a Turtle, 1908
oil on canvas
70 1/2 x 86 3/4 inches
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer, Jr. 24:1964

CHICAGO (AP).- A new exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago takes a close — sometimes even microscopic — look at one short and enigmatic phase in the 65-year-long artistic career of France's Henri Matisse.

Matisse, who lived from 1869 to 1954, is often seen as the least controversial and the most serene of the great 20th century modernists. Though his occasional early sculptures are darker, Matisse's paintings and prints seem to live in a sunny place outside of time. Their tone of bright calm makes their reproductions favored decor for hospital corridors.

Looking at them, you would not know that Matisse lived through both world wars and the Great Depression, or that Paris fell to enemy troops twice in his lifetime — in 1871 and 1940.

Except for the academic interiors and still lifes he painted as a student after abandoning the law for art at age 20, Matisse's enduring trademarks were bright colors and a deceptively simple approach to form. Those aspects were present from the oils Matisse presented in 1905 as leader of the fauvists to the vast paper cutouts he created late in his life when arthritis made painting impossible.

But they disappeared suddenly when he returned to Paris from a trip to Morocco in 1913 and did not fully reappear until after the end of World War I. During that time, Matisse's paintings were dominated by blacks and grays, and there was an uncharacteristic density to his composition. Some critics attribute the change to war pressures and the challenge of a younger generation of painters, particularly the cubism championed by Matisse's younger friend and rival, Pablo Picasso. But Stephanie D'Alessandro of the Art Institute and John Elderfield of New York's MoMa believe Matisse decided to reinvent himself artistically and develop new methods of art construction.

D'Alessandro noted that when the Art Institute acquired the work a year before Matisse's death, the artist told the museum it was one of the five most pivotal works of his career. She also said he had kept it in his studio for years as an object for study.

Matisse began "Bathers by a River" in 1909 and revised it several times over the next year. He reworked it again several times in 1913, and again in 1916-1917. "We have learned that the canvas experienced more than 20 states (of composition) over the years, and that Matisse deliberately left traces of some of the older versions visible in its final form," D'Alessandro said. It was a practice he continued when he returned to a brighter palette and lighter forms in the 1920s and 1930s.

"He said once that the greatest works were those in which you had to start over from scratch to rework them," she added.

Excerpted from The Associated Press Copyright 2010