Van Gogh’s „Sunflowers” at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam may be restored?, by Vivien Xenia Tinca

   Lately, it was said that it is possible a restoration of Van Gogh’s Amsterdam „Sunflowers”, to  ensure that this important work will be available for future generations. Conservators are tasked with figuring out how to turn back the clock to extend the life of the sunflowers.

The Art Newspaper says that Vincent Van Gogh’s painting has been taken off display at to be conserved and even restored, to bring its colours closer to their original, more vibrant ones.

Inspected now in the conservation studio, professionals are taking into consideration the removal of the old varnish, to see Van Gogh’s original colours, to make the sunflowers more vibrant than they are now.

A question that the conservators ask themselves is whether the varnish of the Amsterdam „Sunflowers” painting could safely be removed.

Vincent Van Gogh didn’t varnish his pictures. He preferred a matt finish so the coating was added long after his death  to help protect the surface. The varnish has aged in time leaving a brownish effect on the painting’s colours. Another problem may be the deterioration of Van Gogh’s chrome yellow pigments. These have darkened and become greenish-brown now .

The museum is hoping to remove the discoloring coat of varnish and several retouched areas,which give the canvas a different tone than what it originally had. Any risks of intervention will be very carefully evaluated.

Because of the importance of this signed copy, that was made approximately six months after the original one, it is now very rarely lent. Most recently, it was loaned to the National Gallery, two years ago, to be shown beside the London version.

According to The Art Newspaper, ”Sunflowers” will go back on display on March 24, after which it will be decided if the restoration will move forward or not.

Sources:

http://theartnewspaper.com/news/conservation/van-gogh-s-sunflowers-likely-to-be-restored-to-their-previous-bloom/

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/mar/15/van-gogh-sunflowers-slightly-decayed-but-other-works-less-fortunate

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2989654/Is-Van-Gogh-s-Sunflowers-risk-fading-away-Red-paint-artist-s-masterpieces-turning-white-reaction-air.html

L’Air du Cirque-Litography Exhibition, by Vivien Xenia Tinca

On March 2nd at The Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania  held the opening of an exceptional lithography exhibition, entitled „L’Air du Cirque”,  organized by the Ethnographic Museum of Cluj-Napoca and  Euro Art Luxembourg.

It presents 84 works by 21 leading French artists of the nineteenth century and the twentieth century like Pablo Picasso, Hermann Paul, Pierre Laprade, Luc-Albert Moreau, Jean Cocteau, Dunoyer de Segonzac,etc.

The most fascinating ones are probably the work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, exhibits from the first English edition of the book " The Circus ", published in 1952, a book that makes the viewer to take a look at the fantastic world of the Circus.

 The circus also inspired the great artist Marc Chagall . In some of his most important works , Chagall used the lithography technique to create posters printed by Fernard Mourlot 's studio in Paris. Lithography, as a technique, has also been used for making invitations to art exhibitions , including the one that can be admired at the Ethnographic Museum, printed by Charles Sourlier, which refers to the 1969-1970 Chagall 's exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris.

 Another 15 lithographs are presented, signed by Camille Hilaire , illustrating the book " Circus " by Françoise Maillet Joris , published at Robert Mauret , Paris , in an edition of 220 copies.

  Thomas Emmerling, a curator of the Euro Art Luxembourg,  gave an extremely beautiful speech at the opening , describing a little bit every artist in the exhibition , and shared with us details like  his own opinion, favorite artist (actually he could not decide) and other interesting things about the project.

 Artists have always been fascinated by this side of the circus,  the acrobats, the magic of every show, which is very interesting , fascinating in its own way.

So shortly, the exhibition shows us the universe as seen by the circus.

 Those who missed the opening can visit the exhibition until April 24 , but now you will be paying the 5 lei if you are a student.

Sources:

http://actualdecluj.ro/litografii-de-picasso-si-jean-cocteau-intr-o-expozitie-la-muzeul-etnografic/

http://www.monitorulcj.ro/actualitate/51184-litografii-de-picasso_-la-muzeul-etnografic-din-cluj-napoca#sthash.oD68atMS.dpbs

http://adevarul.ro/locale/cluj-napoca/fascinanta-lume-circului-litografii-picasso-intr-o-expozitie-inedita-cluj-1_56d1a8c75ab6550cb8451127/index.html

Chanel Spring 2016 Couture Collection , byAlexandra Burtiuc

The name Chanel is something that everybody heard of and it is certainly not a name that you can just ignore. This high fashion house remained in history for the major contribution that it had in the fashion nowadays.

And for this spring, Karl Lagerfeld, the designer of Chanel, came with a couture collection that was just astonishing. The entire collection was made from ecological materials, especially “made from wild cotton” like Karl Lagerfeld declared. “This is high fashion ecology. It must not look like some sloppy demonstration!”, he said. All the materials are handmade and took infinite hours to create them, but they can last for a longer period of time, looking exactly the same in ten or twenty years. But even if the entire collection it is made from ecological materials, it is made for luxury.

The collection was predominantly for women. The dresses and the skirts were long and covering the knees. The construction of the pieces was not too complicated, apparently. There was a very clear contrast between small and big, between a cloth made from 2 pieces sewn together and a cloth made from hundred of pieces, put together in the same context. And, of course, there was a contrast between different materials. There were shiny, opaque, fluffy, thin, thick, see-through materials that were embroidered and combined in a unique way.

Straight lines are the element that is used for creating the looks. These lines can be found in the prints, in the way that materials were made, in the sewings, in the combination of elements like squares, which are made from lines, even in the makeup that the models were wearing at the presentation. In some of the items these lines are combined with circles, a thing that can be found even in the hair style of the models.

The colors that were used were white, black, pale pink, pale and light brown, gray, and the combination between them. But there were not the colors that would catch your eye. What made this collection so special were the tiny little details that the clothes had.  Like the little purse that the model had, or the sewings that were visible and bolded to create a visual effect that will capture your eyes.

The presentation took place at Grand Palais in Paris. The scene was decorated with stairs (lines again), a flat podium made from wood (the colors that were used in the collection), and after the models presented what they were wearing, they have taken their place in the big wooden boxes, that had two levels. In the end of the presentation, when Karl Lagerfeld appeared, the image created was similar with a supra dimensioned Barbie house. Probably Barbie is a little bit too much in association with Chanel, but it certainly looked like a huge doll house. And I, personally, find this kind of presentation very interesting and unique.

I must say that this is one of my favorite couture collection from Chanel, and I cannot wait till the next one.

The sources

1. Vogue official page http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2016-couture/chanel

2. Chanel official page http://www.chanel.com/en_US/fashion/haute-couture.html

Recent work by Radu Pulbere, By Alexandra Burtiuc

Radu Pulbere is a painter born in Cluj in 1963, who studied at the Art Academy of Cluj-Napoca in 1982-1986. Now he lives in Cluj-Napoca and he is a professor at the University of Art and Design. Is one of the artists who had numerous private and group exhibitions since he graduated.

The most recent exhibition, that was held at the Art Museum of Cluj-Napoca, was called Wanderings of the Body. The opening was on 25 February 2016 and it lasted until 13 March 2016. The exhibited paintings were from the last two years of work, put together under a concept: the ideas/concepts that have a certain body. Ideas/concepts like loneliness, memories, distance, what every and each of us see, are represented by some certain and specific thing. They can be people, landscapes, objects, animals, and so on. It depends on the viewer what he sees when he looks at a painting. It depends on his perspective, on his vocabulary, on his visual intelligence, even on his eyes – optically speaking. Each person who looks at a painting can see something different. But what the artist was trying to say through his exhibition and through his art is that every idea has a body actually. And we associate the idea with something physical.

The paintings are done in vivid, saturated and very contrasting colors. And this is one of his particularities, and I find them very refreshing. The predominant colors that he uses are dark blue, violet, green and their combinations. To contrast with these color he uses light colors like light blue, white, red and pink, and turquoise.

There is something about the colors that fascinated me, like they have their own lives, probably because colors have priority compared to drawings. The works that impressed me were The Swimmer 1 and 2 and the landscapes with waves. He painted such difficult themes in such a unique way. The waves reminded me of the Japanese paintings and the women swimming underwater were absolutely astonishing.

I really like this exhibition and I am looking forward to the next one. I am sure that he will bring something new and refreshing like he did with this one.

The sources:

1. Article made by Aurel Codoban http://www.modernism.ro/2016/02/22/radu-pulbere-ratacirile-trupului-muzeul-de-arta-cluj-napoca/

2. The official page of the artist http://www.radupulbere.ro/index.html

Wrocław Now. All the faces of chaos – presented in Cluj Napoca, by Monica Dănilă

               The University of Art and Design Cluj-Napoca, in collaboration with The Academy of Art Wrocław, organizes an exhibition named Wrocław Now. All the faces of chaos, held between 3-23 March.

           Over 40 Polish artists and professors from the Academy of Art Wrocław will exhibit at Casa Matei Gallery. Wrocław is the European cultural capital of 2016, and this event takes place under this project. Another exhibition held within the project was System error, in November 2015.

            Wrocław Now. All the faces of chaos concentrates on the idea of the chaos,  on the uncontrollable obsession, fears and other worldly universes. The works show an interesting contrast between one another: pictorial harmonies and dissonances. Those are truly artistic manifestations.

            I was not convinced that all the works  could express something meaningful, because from my point of view some were shallow, referring to nothing else but the painting itself. But some caught my view: „Storm” by Sandra Rzeszutek, „Untitled” by Michał Marek, „Pumpkin and mice (from the Tasty and Tasteless Pictures series)” by Piot C. Kowalski, and others.

            The exhibition will be on display at Casa Matei Gallery until 23 of March.

            Bibliography:

http://cluju.ro/expozitia-de-pictura-poloneza-wroclaw-now-toate-fetele-haosului/

Rarity at the Dallas Museum of Art – a Jackson Pollock sculpture, by Monica Dănilă

                The Dallas Museum of Art announced this Friday the acquisition of one of the six remaining sculptures made by the abstract-expressionist painter Jackson Pollock, created in the summer of 1956.

Jackson Pollock, Untitled (1956) Dallas Museum of Art

            It is known that the artist, suffering from depression and, from time to time, unable to paint, produced abstract sculptures made out of different materials. They are believed to be the last works he completed before dying, in a car accident at de age of 44.

           

The one on display at the museum, Untitled, is made out of sand, plaster, wire and gauze. Pollock created at least a dozen of these sculptures in his lifetime, but he ended up destroying them because of his anger issues.

            The sculpture is integrated in the exhibition of Pollockˊs works, entitled „Blind Spots”, a show of 70 works of various mediums. This exhibition focuses only on the artist and his black paintings. The work Untitled shows Pollockˊs investigative and gestural manner of creating. He now explores the liberating qualities of unusual forms and materials.

               Director Walter Elcock said in a statement that the Dallas Musem of Art “has long played an important role in showcasing the legacy of Jackson Pollock, from becoming one of the first American museums to acquire his paintings to being the first in nearly 50 years to exhibit his influential black paintings series. We are deeply grateful to Gayle and Paul Stoffel for their support of this acquisition, which makes the DMA one of only two museums in the world to hold a portion of Pollock’s surviving work as a sculptor.”

               Bibliography: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/pollock-sculpture-joins-dallas-museum-of-art-441116

https://www.dma.org/press-release/rare-jackson-pollock-sculpture-acquired-dallas-museum-art

http://www.artnews.com/2016/03/03/dma-acquires-rare-jackson-pollock-sculpture/