Exhibition | Treasures from the Collection Rudolf-August Oetker
From the Museum Huelsmann
Wie es uns gefällt: Kostbarkeiten aus der Sammlung Rudolf-August Oetker
Museum Huelsmann, Ravensberger Park, Bielefeld, 14 September 2014 — 28 January 2015
Thomas Lawrence, Princess Clementine de Metternich, ca. 1818–20.
Die umfangreiche Kunstsammlung des Bielefelder Unternehmers, Sammlers und Mäzens Rudolf-August Oetker (1916–2007) gehört in der Sammlungsgeschichte Deutschlands zu den wenigen privaten Beispielen des 20. Jahrhunderts.
Ausgewählte Kostbarkeiten der Malerei des Barock, Rokoko und Klassizismus sowie des europäischen Kunsthandwerks, darunter selten gezeigte Porzellane, auserlesenes Silber und fürstliche Schatzkunst repräsentieren den individuellen, aber auch universellen Charakter des Sammlers und stehen im Kontext des 18. Jahrhunderts, dem Jahrhundert, das das Aufkommen des individuellen Geschmacks betont.
Installation photos from the firm DesignPosition are available here»
The exhibition flyer is available as a PDf file here»
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From Hirmer Verlag:
Monika Bachtler, ed., Wie es uns gefällt: Kostbarkeiten aus der Sammlung Rudolf-August Oetker (Munich: Hirmer Verlag, 2014), 144 pages, ISBN: 978-3777422930, 35€.
Die umfangreiche Sammlung des Bielefelder Unternehmers Rudolf-August Oetker ist eines der wenigen Beispiele der Geschichte privaten Sammelns in Deutschland während des 20. Jahrhunderts, das gleichermaßen universelle wie individuelle Maßstäbe setzte. Anhand der daraus ausgewählten Kostbarkeiten der Malerei des Barock und Rokoko und des europäischen Kunsthandwerks entsteht ein kulturgeschichtlich plastisches Bild dieser Zeit, aber auch eine Vorstellung vom repräsentierenden Charakter einer persönlich geprägten Ankaufstrategie. Das Katalogbuch spiegelt die Opulenz dieser Sammlerwelt in Bildern und Texten wider.
Call for Papers | ISECS 2015 Panel—Alternative Markets in France
Now accepting proposals for this panel for next year’s ISECS Congress in Rotterdam:
Alternative Markets and Visual Culture in Eighteenth-Century France
ISECS Congress, Rotterdam, 26–31 July 2015
Proposals due by 12 January 2015 (though earlier submissions encouraged)
Organiser: Dr. Esther Bell (Curator in Charge, European Paintings, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco) and Dr. Jessica Fripp (Post-doctoral Fellow in Visual and Material Culture, Parsons The New School for Design)
Academic artistic practice in the eighteenth century was at odds with the growing commercial culture of the period. From its foundation, the Royal Academy prohibited its members from dealing in art, an offense that was deemed cause for expulsion by 1777. Critics similarly looked down on painting for profit. In 1747, La Font de Saint Yenne had harsh words for artists who chose the more financially lucrative practice of portraiture over the more noble art of history painting. Diderot suggested that Fragonard’s turn away from history painting was caused by “l’appas du gain.”
Of course, even artists who appeared to resist the lure of monetary wealth were embedded in complex systems of exchange based on other forms of capital. This panel seeks to explore alternative markets of exchange that developed around the production of eighteenth-century visual culture and the forms of symbolic capital artists could accumulate. Papers might address topic such as: the role of collecting works by one’s contemporaries, friendship networks between artists and artists and patrons, celebrity as currency, gift exchange and favors, artistic dynasties and family allegiances. We especially encourage papers that demonstrate exchange across France’s borders, including its colonies or other European entities.
Information on how to submit abstracts can be found here»
Exhibition | The Generous Georgian: Dr Richard Mead
The conference Dr Richard Mead: Physician, Philanthropist, Collector takes place next Monday, October 20. While I noted the exhibition previously, I didn’t include the press release. It’s included below, and the image sheet is available here. I’m excited to be part of the conference programme and look forward to a few days in London. –CH
The Generous Georgian: Dr Richard Mead
The Foundling Museum, London, 26 September 2014 — 4 January 2015
Allan Ramsay, Dr Richard Mead, 1747
(London: The Foundling Museum)
For the last major exhibition of the Foundling Museum’s 10th anniversary year, the focus turns to the life and work of Dr Richard Mead (1673–1754), one of the most eminent physicians, patrons, collectors and philanthropists of his day, and a significant figure in the early history of the Foundling Hospital.
A leading expert on poisons, scurvy, smallpox and public health, Mead counted among his patients included Queen Anne, George II, Sir Isaac Newton and the painter Antoine Watteau. Mead was no stranger to daring acts and fierce controversies, with stories of drinking snake venom in his investigations into the effects of various poisons, and fighting a duel to defend his theory on smallpox treatment. He also possessed a deep-seated passion for the arts, demonstrated in a lifetime’s patronage of painters such as Allan Ramsay and a revered collection of masterpieces that included works by Dürer, Holbein, Rembrandt, Poussin, and Canaletto.
Smallpox was endemic in Georgian England, and killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans throughout the eighteenth century. Though vaccination against smallpox was developed by Edward Jenner at the end of the century, inoculation was promoted decades earlier. Dr Mead was an ardent and effective advocate of this procedure, which saved the lives of many, including foundlings. Of the 247 children who were inoculated at the Foundling Hospital, by 1756 only one had died of the disease.
Exploring Mead’s diverse contributions to Georgian society—the collector, the philanthropist and the physician—this exhibition reunites key objects from Mead’s life and collection, such as the ancient bronze Arundel Head (2nd Century BC) and Allan Ramsay’s half-length portrait of Mead, evidence of his significance in London’s cultural landscape.
Antonio Maria Zanetti, Study of a relief decorated with a Hermaphrodite; in the Palazzo Colonna, ca.1721. Image courtesy of The Trustees of the British Museum, used with permission.
Items from the Foundling Museum archive, such as the minutes from the very first Governors’ meeting, and the logs of daily life at the Foundling Hospital in its first year, are also on display to illustrate Mead’s relationship with the Hospital and the important role he played in its early history. Mead dedicated considerable time and energy to the Hospital, encouraging his noble clients to support the charity, serving as a Governor and giving his clinical expertise pro bono. His contribution went even further, to attending sick children and advising on nurses’ salaries and what medicines to keep in stock.
His home on Great Ormond Street backed onto the Foundling Hospital grounds, and housed his magnificent collection of paintings, sculptures, antiquities, coins and a library of over 10,000 books. Painters and scholars were given access to Mead’s renowned collection which, in a time before public galleries, offered visitors a rare chance to view artistic masterpieces from around the world.
Mead’s generosity in every aspect of his life meant his family were burdened with huge debts following his death. Perhaps anticipating this, Mead’s will ordered for the sale of thousands of objects from his incredible collection – in an auction lasting 56 days! Through a number of key objects, we highlight a once-legendary collection which, compared to that of his contemporary and founder of the British Museum, Sir Hans Sloane, is not so well known today. This exhibition celebrates the energy, learning and wide interests of a truly generous Georgian who, according to his contemporary the writer Samuel Johnson, “lived more in the broad sunshine of life than almost any man.”
The Generous Georgian: Dr Richard Mead is supported by the Wellcome Trust, the City of London Corporation, the Royal College of Physicians, and Verita.
Exhibition | Canaletto, Bernardo Bellotto Paints Europe
Last fall, I noted this exhibition Canaletto, Bernardo Bellotto Paints Europe / Bernardo Bellotto Malt Europa, which opens this week at Munich’s Alte Pinakothek, Munich (17 October 2014 — 19 January 2015), but that was admittedly ages ago (thanks to Hélène Bremer for the useful reminder). And here’s the information for the catalogue. –CH
The German edition catalogue will soon by published by Hirmer; the English edition, distributed by The University of Chicago Press, will be available in January:
Andreas Schumacher, Canaletto, Bernardo Bellotto Paints Europe (Munich: Hirmer Publishers, 2015), 360 pages, ISBN: 978-3777422473, $75.
In 1761, Bernardo Bellotto painted his famous panorama of Munich, signing the painting ‘Canaletto’—as he signed many of his paintings—in tribute to his uncle and teacher Giovanni Antonio Canal. In addition to the famous panorama, Bellotto completed over the course of several months two stunning palace views for the Duke of Bavaria, Maximilian III Joseph.
Placing Bellotto’s Munich paintings within the artist’s broader body of work, this well-illustrated book highlights the Italian painter and printmaker’s capacity to create paintings of European cities that are both remarkably realistic and compositionally idealistic. Depicting Dresden, Vienna, Turin, and Warsaw, the paintings demonstrate an elaborate attention to architectural and natural detail and a sophisticated understanding of the specific quality of light in each place. By juxtaposing the paintings with Bellotto’s preparatory sketches, the book also sheds light on his complicated process, which is thought to have included the use of the popular optical aid of that time, the camera obscura. Rounding out the book is a contemporary artistic reevaluation of the paintings through the medium of photography.
Bringing together many well-known works by the Venetian vedute with a trove of paintings rarely seen, including a series of highly idealized architectural depictions, the book illustrates his critical contribution to this important European tradition.
Andreas Schumacher is a director at the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, where he is responsible for the museum’s Collection of Italian Painting to the End of the Eighteenth Century. He is also an associate lecturer at the Institute for Art History at the University of Bonn, Germany.
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Recent Launch of the Association of Print Scholars
APS envisions a future for itself as a CAA affiliate society. As noted at H-ArtHist:
Introducing the Association of Print Scholars, a new group bringing together the print community
We are excited to announce the launch of the Association of Print Scholars (APS). APS is a nonprofit members’ group for enthusiasts of printmaking that will bring together the diverse community of curators, collectors, academics, grad students, artists, paper conservators, critics, independent scholars, and dealers. APS’s goals are to encourage innovative and interdisciplinary study of printmaking and to facilitate dialogue among members.
Membership benefits will include
• Access to a searchable database of active members and their current activities
• Ability to update online membership profile with all print-related activities
• Announcements about events, exhibitions, calls for papers, and other news from the print world
• Opportunities to promote new projects to members on the APS website and listserv
• Participation in APS’s events, including lectures and scholarly conferences
• Grants for digital projects and research, and support for working/reading groups
For further information, please contact info@printscholars.org, or visit www.printscholars.org. In addition, please consider joining and donating to APS through our Indiegogo campaign. Your support will help us build our website, which will launch in early 2015.
Exhibition | Dining with the Tsars: Fragile Beauty from the Hermitage
Items from the Service of the Order of St George, Porcelain manufactory of Franz (Francis) Gardner in Verbilki, Dmitrovsky, Moscow Province, Russia. 1777–78 (State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg)
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Press release from the Hermitage Amsterdam:
Dining with the Tsars: Fragile Beauty from the Hermitage / Breekbare schoonheid uit de Hermitage
Hermitage Amsterdam, 6 September 2014 — 1 March 2015
The Hermitage Amsterdam’s fifth anniversary exhibition Dining with the Tsars: Fragile Beauty from the Hermitage opens on 6 September 2014. Eight magnificent porcelain and creamware services from the collection of the Hermitage in St Petersburg will be exhibited in a setting that conveys what the balls and banquets of the Tsar’s court were like. Visitors will imagine they are guests, in possession of a coveted imperial invitation, climbing the steps of the Winter Palace, reviewing the rules of etiquette and preparing for a festive occasion. Finally they enter the main hall where the fine porcelain dinnerware is set out in a festive display.
Items from the Green Frog Service, Wedgwood, Etruria (Stoke-on-Trent). 1773–74 (State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg)
The exquisite porcelain services, comprising no less than 1,034 pieces, exhibited on authentically laid tables with decorative centrepieces, reveal the enchanting grandeur of the Tsars’ banquets. The exhibition tells the story of the lavish ball and banqueting culture that reached its zenith under the reign (1762–1796) of Catherine the Great, Queen of Feasts, when hundreds of dishes would be served at a single banquet and thousands of guests attended the balls. The last tsar, Nicholas II (ruled 1894–1917) and his wife Alexandra, who organised the largest balls but were only present for as briefly as possible. With their abdication, the ball and banqueting customs that had once captured the imagination of all the courts of Europe came to an end.
The finest pieces are from the dinnerware collections of Catherine the Great, such as the Green Frog Service (Wedgwood, England), the Cameo Service (Sèvres, Paris, exhibited for the first time with silver gilt flatware), which at one time comprised nearly a thousand pieces, and the Berlin Dessert Service (Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin). The services of later Tsars were no less impressive and significant for their connection to European history. The services are exhibited in accordance with the rules of etiquette, augmented with ornate centrepieces, gold-rimmed crystal glassware, candelabras, vases, detailed silverwork and wall decorations. The exhibition features a wide range of pieces, from ice buckets for liqueur bottles and ice-cream coupes to salt and pepper sets and table figurines.
The exhibition also offers a culinary view of imperial dining customs, in a culture where banquets of 300 dishes were no exception. Dessert was the highpoint of the meal and the ideal course for showing off the host’s wealth and refined taste. Richly decorated delicacies were served with exceptional inventiveness. There is attention for iconography and the diplomatic function of giving services as gifts and hosting state dinners in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. And the balls and performances, gossip and scandal also feature in the exhibition. Evidence of the excesses of the imperial court abounds. Particularly revealing are the quotes drawn from the memoires of Marie Cornélie van Wassenaer Obdam. She visited the Winter Palace in 1824 as a member of the retinue of Anna Paulowna and the later King Willem II.
The surpring final exhibit is the service given to Stalin by the Hungarian people in 1949, which has never been used or exhibited before. It illustrates the diplomatic role that dinnerware also played in the twentieth century.
Never before have so many porcelain dinnerware pieces from the Hermitage been exhibited in the Netherlands. The rich collection of European porcelain from the Hermitage in St Petersburg comprises over 15,000 items, purchased by or given as gifts to the Tsars of Russia between 1745 and the years prior to the First World War. The services, which include many unique pieces, were produced by leading porcelain manufacturers such as Meissen, Sèvres, Gardner and Wedgwood and decorated to the highest artistic standard.
Spatial designer Lies Willers and stylist Jeanine Aalfs joined forces to produce an innovative, festive, engaging, dreamlike and overwhelming scenography.
Dozens of high-resolution images are available here»
New Book | The Drawing Room: English Country House Decoration
From Rizzoli:
Jeremy Musson, foreword by Julian Fellowes with photographs by Paul Barker, The Drawing Room: English Country House Decoration (New York: Rizzoli, 2014), 272 pages, ISBN: 978-0847843336, $60.
A highly detailed look at the most accomplished English country house interiors, exemplifying English decorating at its best. The English drawing room, a formal place within a house of status where family and honored guests could retire from the more public arena, is one of the most important rooms in an English country house, and thus great attention has been paid to preserving the decoration of this most elegant of spaces: the center of life in the English countryside and the epitome of English country house decoration. This book offers privileged access to fifty of the finest drawing rooms of country houses and historic townhouses—many still in private hands—including Althorp, Attingham, and Knepp Castle. Through these sumptuous rooms, readers experience a history of English decorating from the sixteenth century to the present day, including the work of design legends such as David Hicks, Nancy Lancaster, John Fowler, and David Mlinaric. Specially commissioned photographs capture the entirety of each room, as well as details of furniture, architectural elements, artwork, collections, and textiles, creating a visually seductive book that will inspire interior designers and homeowners interested in the widely popular classic English look.
Jeremy Musson is the former architectural editor of Country Life, the cowriter and presenter of the BBC television series The Curious House Guest, and the author of many books, including English Country House Interiors, The English Manor House, How to Read a Country House, and The Country Houses of Sir John Vanbrugh. Paul Barker is one of England’s premier interior and architectural photographers, whose books include English Country House Interiors, England’s Thousand Best Churches, and English Ruins. Julian Fellowes is the creator of the hit series Downton Abbey.
Exhibition | The Fabric of India
Next fall at the V&A (as noted by Courtney Barnes at Style Court) . . .
The Fabric of India
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 3 October 2015 — 10 January 2016
Cincinnati Art Museum, 19 October 2018 — 6 January 2019
Curated by Rosemary Crill and Divia Patel
Chintz palampore, South-East India for export to Europe, ca. 1750–60 (London: V&A Museum no. IM 85-1937)
The highlight of the V&A’s India Season, this will be the first major exhibition to explore the dynamic and multifaceted world of handmade textiles from India from the 3rd to the 21st century. It will include a spectacular 18th-century tent belonging to Tipu Sultan, a stunning range of historic costume, highly prized textiles made for trade, and fashion by contemporary Indian designers such as Manish Arora and Rajesh Pratap Singh.
Over 200 objects will illustrate the skills, variety and adaptability of Indian textile makers and the enduring nature of techniques for dyeing, weaving and embroidery across India. Examples of textiles made for religious and courtly use will be shown alongside the finest pieces made for export to Europe, the Middle East and South-East Asia. The use of textiles and dress as a political tool of the Independence Movement and their relevance to Indian cultural identity will be explored, as will the impact of mass-production on handmade textiles.
The exhibition blog is available here»
Note (added 24 March 2015) — The original posting provided a slightly earlier beginning date for the exhibition (September 26th); it’s now been corrected.
Note (added 21 October 2018) –– The posting was updated to include the Cincinnati venue.
Albertine Books Opens in New York
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It’s an intriguing model for a what bookstore might be, a model that underscores the cultural and ideological work such a store can do, and this at a time when we seem to hear only about the economics of bookstores. William Grimes covers the story for The New York Times (9 October 2014). The next step will be getting the store to host an eighteenth-century festival. –CH
From the Albertine:
The Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York is pleased to announce the opening of Albertine Books in French and English, the new reading room and bookshop devoted to works in French and in translation on Saturday September 27, 2014. Named after the beautiful, omnipresent and unknowable female character in Marcel Proust’s classic In Search of Lost Time, Albertine will offer the most comprehensive selection of French-language books and English translations in New York, with over 14,000 contemporary and classic titles from 30 French-speaking countries in genres including novels, non-fiction, art, comic, or children’s books.
Housed in one of the few remaining iconic Stanford White-designed mansions on Fifth Avenue, Albertine was designed and fashioned by French architect Jacques Garcia, in the model of a grand private French library. The two-floor space includes a reading room and inviting nooks furnished with lush sofas and armchairs.
Albertine will also be a venue for French-American and European-American debates and discussions on subjects varying from politics to economics to art, literature or sciences and will explore classical culture through a modern and global lens. To highlight its role as an exciting new hub for intellectual debate in New York City, Albertine will present a six-night festival from October 14–19, curated by cultural critic and author Greil Marcus, featuring French and American artists and thinkers.
The Albertine team looks forward to welcoming you to our bookshop!
Spread the word to all your francophile and francophone friends.
Albertine
972 Fifth Avenue (between 78th & 79th street)
Opening Hours
Monday to Thursday and Saturday: 11–7
Friday: 11–10
Sunday: 11–6
Follow Albertine on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @albertinebooks
Conference | Artistic Circulation between Rome and Lisbon
Projects, Models, and Artistic Circulation between Rome and Lisbon in the Eighteenth Century
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 7 November 2014
This international workshop deals with the richness and complexity of the international relations between Lisbon and Rome in the eighteenth century. The transcendence of the Roman Paradigm is well documented in Portugal, but the Lusitanian Rome is still a topic of research that deserves better attention. From a multidisciplinary approach the participants of this workshop are trying to shed some light on a some sort of Iberian Grand Tour.
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From the conference programme:
Projectos, Modelos, e Circulação Artística entre Lisboa e Roma no Sécolo XVIII
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 7 November 2014
A partir de várias formas de produção artística, assim como de diferentes métodos de investigação, este seminário pretende apreender a complexidade do século XVIII como plataforma de circulação de modelos, actores e projectos, tendo como foco o eixo Roma-Lisboa. As relações entre ambas cidades são postas em relevo com o objectivo de determinar a presença e a importância do mundo ibérico no fenómeno transnacional do Gran Tour, bem como a sua possível participação na República das Letras, tendo em conta que a tradição historiográfica europeia costuma excluir o âmbito ibérico nessas áreas. Assim, o estudo dessas relações permitirá reconsiderar o papel delas no seio dos desafios europeus da época no domínio da arte.
Nessa perspectiva, os olhares cruzados entre estudos específicos e complementares nos campos da música, das artes visuais e da arquitetura pretendem consolidar uma abordagem multidisciplinar dos fenómenos artísticos duma forma global no século XVIII e favorecer um foro de discussão entre os diversos especialistas.
The conference flyer is available here»
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