Small Galleries in Big Cities

Sometimes the enormity of the world's great art galleries can be exhausting and overwhelming. There is so much to look at in the Louvre, where do you start? At such times a couple of hours in a small, more focussed collection can be invigorating and relaxing at the same time. Here is a list of some of my personal favorites.

The Neue Galerie
1048 Fifth Avenue (at 86th Street).
New York
If there is a more enjoyable museum experience anywhere, I cannot name it. Located in an Upper East Side mansion, the gallery contains a wonderful collection of 19th and 20th century German and Austrian art. The permanent collection houses important works by Klimt, Schiele, Beckmann and many others. There is always a similarly themed temporary exhibition, the current one titled "Vienna 1900: Style and Identity." The restaurant is a Viennese cafe, with period decoration by Loos, Hofmann, and Otto Wagner. Not to be missed.

Gustave-Moreau Museum
14, rue de La Rochefoucauld
Paris
The Symbolist painter created his own museum in his studio in 1896. It houses many important Moreau paintings, and over 4000 drawings. His apartment on the premises was closed to visitors for a hundred years (!), but is now open.

Leighton House
12 Holland Park Road
London
The home of the Victorian paintere Frederic Leighton, designed to display his immense collection of Middle Eastern tiles and other decorative items. The "Arab Hall" with tile work by William de Morgan is alone worth a visit.

Suan Prakad Palace
352-354 Sri Ayudhya Road
Rajathevi, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
A fabulous collection of Thai pottery, lacquer, sculpture and architectural remnants located in the former home of a Thai princess. Bangkok is a crazy place, but the Suan Prakad Palace is a haven of beauty and serenity.

The Freer Gallery
Jefferson Drive at 12th St SW
Washington, D.C.
This one is not exactly small, but I love one part so much that I have to include it. James McNeill Whistler's masterpiece of decoration, the Peacock Room, which he designed for a London automobile magnate, was disassembled and brought to Detroit in 1904. The Smithsonian got it later, and now anyone can sit sit quietly completely surrounded by Whistler' dream of Japan.

Does anyone else have a favorite small gallery? Let me know about it!

ArtNet Auctions

Over the past decade, buying art on the internet has surfaced and resurfaced with degrees of success. I've always been very skeptical of the whole thing, personally. When we think of an auction, we all think of hushed rooms and voices, suave auctioneers, and glamourous dealers fighting each other to pay $50 million for a painting. Or we think of eBay, a rather different experience. As an appraiser, I am constantly faced with the eBay issue. A client who insists they know the value of a work they have, because they've seen something similar on eBay.

ArtNet, the industry's go-to resource for information, research, and examples of artists' works has launched its own auction site, ArtNet Auctions, which is changing the world of art auctions and art sales on the internet. It has online sales, divided by category, featuring works that are listed for one week. You can watch the bidding and see what people are buying. Additionally, provenance and condition reports are right there on the site. ArtNet stands behind buyers by giving them the right to return an item that is not as described. It's full of quality work you can look at and watch, with opening bids anywhere from $1,000 to $225,000 for the Francis Souza piece pictured to the right. I am curious about how much is selling. I'll be watching it closely to see if I can get a read on it. Check it out, it's going to be a real timesuck for me!

Khan Academy: My New Obsession

It has been far too long since I've posted, but my 2012 resolution is to get back to blogging. So here goes. . .

We all know that the internet can be a great timesucker. Khan Academy might be the best way to spend your time on the internet. There are hundreds of mini-lectures to be watched on a wide variety of subjects. I've only watched the art history lessons, but these are real lectures and focus on a small part of a piece of art. It's smart people talking about art.

I adore German Expressionism with all its angst and raw, savage, emotional impact. Ernst Kirchner has always been a favorite artist of mine; his work draws me in and I find it extremely powerful. Here's an interesting little debate about one of his masterpieces, Street, Dresden. I love this piece and find it subtly voyeuristic. I also see this as an example of the artist focusing on the human condition at the turn of the century. Loneliness and despair emanate from this canvas.

Feminist criticism has never been my personal focus, although I do find the issue of the male gaze fascinating. While I don't feel like it's an issue in this specific work, I do find the debate interesting. Watch it!

Art Vandalism

I'm always shocked when incidents like this happen. What political or social agenda could possibly be solved by vandalizing art? Putting aside the true horror that I feel about an action like this, I am truly curious what the agenda might be? As a society, we are just so lucky that our conservation techniques are so advanced that actions like this don't ruin pieces from the art historical canon forever.

Some Great Out-of-the-Way Museums

Not all the great collections are in large cities. A former teacher of mine is an inveterate art museum goer. Below is his list of some favorite museums not located in the major art centers of the world. I have not been to all these, but I can enthusiastically vouch for the first one. A future posting will explore smaller galleries in major cities.

The Watts Gallery
Compton, England

The largest collection in the world of the High Victorian English painter George Frederick Watts. It was established by his widow, who also designed the beautiful art nouveau chapel dedicated to the painter which is on the grounds. The collection contains major oil painting as well as many fine drawings, studies and sculptured works. There are lovely country pubs nearby, which together with the Gallery's rich paintings and architecture make for a divine Sunday afternoon.

www.wattsgallery.org.uk


Delaware Art Museum
Wilmington, Delaware

Not too far from Wilmington in the beautiful Brandywine Valley, the Delaware Museum boasts the finest collection of British Pre-Raphaelite art outside Britain.

www.delart.org


Emil Nolde Stiftung
Seebull, Denmark

An impressive building and collection of the great German Expressionist painter Emil Nolde, located in the former studio and residence of the artist. Nolde designed the modernist building himself, and obtained inspiration from the garden. This one is really out of the way - a two hour drive from Hamburg.

www.nolde-stiftung.de


Etruscan Guarnacci Museum
Volterra, Italy

One of the first public art galleries in Europe, the museum contains an extensive collection of Etruscan statuary highlighted by its many funery urns.

www.comune.volterra.pi.it


The Dali Museum
St. Petersburg, FL

Dali has never been a articular favorite of mine, but last year's exhibition at the High Museum gave me a new appreciation. The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg houses the world's largest collection and is well worth a visit.

www.thedali.org

A Legend from my Hometown

William Eggleston is undoubtedly the artistic pride and joy of Memphis, my hometown. He revolutionized color photography and the way we look at what is around us. Check us this interview on the Today Show.

Fakes, Forgeries & Southern Gothic

Art crime is something I find endlessly fascinating. Thefts, forgeries, and scams, while often horrifying and certainly debilitating to the art world, are also fun to follow. This article about Mark Augustus Landis, a contemporary art forger and con artist in the true sense of the word, is incredible. He's an anti-hero, but there's something about him that makes you root for him a little bit. This is investigative journalism at its best!

Titian at the High Museum

This weekend I had the immense pleasure of viewing the current exhibit, Titian and the Golden Age of Venetian Painting at the High Museum. Comprised of 12 paintings and 13 drawings on loan from Scotland, including works by Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto and Bassano, the exhibition is a gem. Sixteenth-century Venetian painting is hard to beat. Using oil for the first time in Italy, these artists achieved a painterliness with lively brushwork unmatched in Renaissance art.

The upsetting part of this show? No one was there! I practically had the galleries to myself. The museum itself was busy, but why aren't people going to see this show? The Monet exhibition and automobile design (!) exhibition had huge crowds. This art may be more difficult to appreciate than water lillies that we've all seen on postcards 10,000 times, but it's well worth it. Viewers have to look at it carefully and have some concept of history, but it pays off. Atlantans, this show only runs through January 2. If you miss it, you are really missing out on something special.

Lauren Jones Worth

I have recently come across Lauren Jones Worth's art, and I thought it was worth mentioning here. Her work has an allover decorated quality giving it a conscious two-dimensionality that is particularly appealing. Overlaying patterns create vibrant backgrounds for her subjects, which are primarily scenes from nature. I see influences from Cubism, Martin Johnson Heade, and 17th-century Dutch still lifes in her work, which makes it different from so much of what you see today. Check it out at www.laurenjonesworth.com. If you are in North Carolina, she has a show beginning October 22 at Tyler White Gallery in Greensboro.

Love him or hate him. . . Jeff Koons is coming to Atlanta!

In a lot of ways, Jeff Koons was the 1980s answer to Damien Hirst. Some people loved him and thought he was a genius; other people thought he was a joke. No matter what, everyone did and still does have an opinion about Jeff Koons and the art he creates. Is it tacky? Witty? Offensive? Relevant? Come hear him speak at the High Museum on October 5 and decide for yourself. Click here for details.