Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Not Rembrandt

I've stumbled on a few printmakers, who, while studying (I assume), decided to make copies of Rembrandt's work.

Three Trees Copied by Reverend Richard Byron (the one born in 1724).

The Adoration of the Shepherds by Ernst Gottlob (Who was alive from 1744-1789 and active at the Leipzig academy according to the grove encyclopedia and may also have been a pastellist).

I wonder if we could create a show of the complete Rembrandt catalog just with his imitators? BTW, I found both in Philly in case you didn't notice.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Jebus I've been busy.

I express my regret for ignoring this blog. I've been so. damn. busy. and writing here (IE. for free) on top of writing full time (IE. for $$$) hasn't been an option. (ps. printeresting isn't for $$$. Just to be clear, I do it for the love.)

Some interesting things:
Daumier in Alabama
Bresdin and Redon, Europe at Mid-Century: Dubuffet, Giacometti, Picasso, and Passion and Precision in the Age of Revolution at the MFA Boston.
and Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Ursula von Rydingsvard and Kiki Smith at Bab's gallery in Boston.
Cartographies of Time at Princeton. (Writing about this for Printeresting)
Window on the War and Belligerent Encounters at the Art Institute of Chicago. (Writing about these for Printeresting)
Text as Inspiration and The Bauhaus in Print at the National Gallery.

Also, Printeresting is editing the journal The California Printmaker. I have a fabulous and crazy conversation with Whitney Trettien about a lot of things (edit vs. curate, how to stumble upon things, how books aren't books anymore, etc).

Did I mention the kid on the way too? Yeah, things are busy. Plus I'm writing for Artwrit and a to-be-announced regular column on painting... of all things for me to write about!

But I still heart my 3 nerdy print readers.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

MFA

Been writing a review of the new Americas Wing at the MFA Boston for arts fuse. While I was there, I took a few snaps for y'all.



Is that Mary Cassatt's Letter print and the actual desk that she owned? Why yes it is!



Asher Brown Durand's Ariadne (OG Painting). Isn't it nice that the general museum goer gets to see different states? Something for the nerds that educates the general public to our processes is good by me.



The period rooms have reproductions (and by repros, I mean digital copies of original prints) of things like maps, The Enraged Musician, the Oath of the Horatii, and other classics from each era.



Decorative chrysanthemums paper from an unidentified artist. Lovely.



Double Arthur Wesley Dow works.



Fireworks over the River Thames and Whitehall in 1685 from an anonymous artist. Printed for King James II's coronation.



Strange moment here. Behind me was the small version of Watson and the Shark from Copley. In front of me is an oil copy from Henry Sargent and a mezzotint from Valentine Green. Both are copies, but maybe the general audience is going to say that the print is somehow more a copy? Even weirder, is the little copy behind me the original, or are there multiple originals? Print nerds care about strange things....

A ton of interesting print nerd things at the MFA. Will be processing that info soon for printeresting.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Richard Serra At Barbara Krakow

Just got back from looking at the Serra prints at Bab's fabulous gallery here in Boston. When I was at LACMA, I got to see some of Serra's large metal sculptures. Dude, for real, they are spiritually moving works of art. They gave me faith in Serra, someone who I had gotten sick of. I lost the faith mostly because I've seen so many of his prints. They are just plain one trick ponies that demean the impressive work he has done in sculpture.

No change here. See the show if you are local, but otherwise, it's a big black geometric shape on paper with tons of ink. Mostly printed by Gemini, they are well done, so, it's good for what it is, but what it is, is boring.

They were photographing a Sol LeWitt 75 print suite titled some combination of stripes, colors, and squares that I can't remember because I didn't write it down. I can't imagine publishing that project. They were punchy after photographing 75 of those images, imagine running 75 solid flats and stripe prints. Mindnumbing optical fatigue.

very printeresting.....

Yup, created the internet version of a Ouroboros, by referencing my review on Printeresting, which mentions this blog, which mentions Printeresting, which... oh no!

If you are a new friend, find me on the twitterbox talking smack about art and stuff. I write for Daily Serving regularly too.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Reaallllly?

I didn't know that Dana Schutz made prints? Learn somethin' new every day...

Monday, January 17, 2011

It's 2011?

Good lord! There aren't movies made about dates after 2010, so we must live in the future. (except 2012, which I refuse to accept as a movie at all. Good lord...)

Donald Kelley in Boston.
Brice Marden at the Danforth.
Rhoda Rosenberg also at the Danforth.
Fresh Ink at the MFA Boston. (Feel free to click on the picture, it's a detail of a work by Xu Bing. He made a print out of a traditional painted scroll.)

Evolution: Five Decades of Printmaking by David Driskell, Part 1 at the Wadsworth Atheneum.
Durer at the Clark.
Marian O'Connell at the Newport Art Museum.
Goya's Bull Fight series is at the Worcester Art Museum.
Turning the Page, the Evolution of Artists' Book is at Wheaton College.
Prints for the Japanese New Year is at RISD.
Artists Abroad at the MFA Boston. I'm reviewing the new wing for Arts Fuse. Look for that in Feb. Good lord they have up 4 of Mary Cassatt's full color prints. Dreamy. I promise photos of this show.

Last, 4th estate at Wild Project.

Friday, January 7, 2011

speakig of Philadelphia Museum...

I saw this up in Late October... Again, I apologize

The Theatrum Pictorium was much less interesting that I thought it would be. Even for a nerd like me it was underwhelming. This was a show devoted to the first illustrated book of a painting collection that had been translated into prints. Good to know that it exists, but honestly...



This Coryn Boel was the most interesting thing in it. It is a super copy, as Alessandro Varotari painted the original, and this print is a copy of David Teniers II's copy. The original painting is not extant.



Right after seeing the Theatrum, I ran into a pair of captivating William Morris wallpapers. They may be less high culture, but they're more interesting to me. On the left is Fruit (Pomegranate) designed in 1866 and the right is Vine designed 1973. Both were printed by Jeffrey and Co., London till 1827 than by Arthur Sanderson and Sons, LTD., London. I don't know what happened in 1827 that forced the transfer of the design between the co's.



And always, the PMA has a great collection of Mary Cassatt, including 1890's drypoint, Reflection. Dreamy. Did I mention that the MFA Boston has her color prints up in their new American wing? Well, they do. I'll grab a photo next time I'm there.

Hendrik Glotzius fever

If you love northern european 1500's prints as much as I do, read the review of the show in Phily from printeresting. Seriously. Printeresting is a great site, and I can announce that I'm about to start reviewing for them very soon. Look for my review of 3.5 shows (I didn't know that one was there and missed it. Sorry) at LACMA very soon.