Friday, July 06, 2007

Print Saturday

Tomorrow, DC's Jane Haslem Gallery will host "Print Saturday," one of two events highlighting artists from Washington Printmakers Gallery. Jenny Freestone, Betty MacDonald, Max Karl Winkler, Martha Oatway, Joyce Ellen Weinstein, Lila Oliver Asher, Terry Svat, and Yolanda Frederikse will present portfolios of their prints and be on hand to talk about their work from 12 to 5 pm. This is a unique opportunity to meet the artists and see their latest prints!

Part of the proceeds from sales will benefit Union Printmakers Atelier, a printmaking facility in downtown DC providing studio access to artists who work in lithography, intaglio, relief, letterpress and book arts.

For more information call Jane Haslem Gallery at 202-232-4644 or Washington Printmakers at 202-332-7757.

Kahlo or Not?

A Happy 100th birthday to Frida Kahlo!

"Frida Kahlo 1907-2007: National Homage" - a massive Kahlo exhibition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, "fills all eight galleries of the ornate beaux-arts edifice that is the country's most prestigious cultural showcase. It encompasses nearly one-third of Kahlo's total artistic output, including 65 oils (divided into self-portraits, portraits and still lifes), 45 drawings, 11 watercolors and five prints" and it is part of a month-long series of events covering everything about Frida and marking the 100th anniversary of her birth on July 6, 1907.

The exhibition opened two weeks ago and it is already attracting not only huge crowds but also causing a lot of controversy, much like Kahlo did during her life.

Officials estimate that 300,000 people will view the show here through Aug. 19. Much of its contents then will be regrouped into smaller exhibitions that will open over subsequent months at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Reed Johnson, writing for the LA Times, discusses the controversy over two Kahlo pieces in the exhibition.
On Monday, the Mexico City daily newspaper Reforma published a story in which Raquel Tibol, a respected art critic and author of a new biographical study of Kahlo’s husband, Diego Rivera, raised questions about the authenticity of two of the works in the Kahlo restrospective at the Palace of Bellas Artes.

One of those works, a portrait of one of Kahlo’s first lovers, Alejandro Gómez Arias, which she painted in 1928, reportedly was discovered in a piece of furniture by his heirs after his death in 1990. Gómez Arias was riding with Kahlo during the fateful bus accident that fractured her spine.

The painting was included in the large Kahlo show hosted by the Tate Modern in London in 2005. Tibol has challenged the provenance of that work as well as an undated drawing, “Portrait of Isolda Pinedo Kahlo.”
It is interesting to note that there are at least half a dozen "missing" Kahlos which are believed to be somewhere in the United States, but no one knows where or who has them.

Print Saturday

Tomorrow, DC's Jane Haslem Gallery will host "Print Saturday," one of two events highlighting artists from Washington Printmakers Gallery. Jenny Freestone, Betty MacDonald, Max Karl Winkler, Martha Oatway, Joyce Ellen Weinstein, Lila Oliver Asher, Terry Svat, and Yolanda Frederikse will present portfolios of their prints and be on hand to talk about their work from 12 to 5 pm. This is a unique opportunity to meet the artists and see their latest prints!

Part of the proceeds from sales will benefit Union Printmakers Atelier, a superb printmaking facility in downtown DC providing studio access to artists who work in lithography, intaglio, relief, letterpress and book arts; and one of those places that is a key part of the city's art scene and cultural tapestry.

For more information call Jane Haslem Gallery at 202-232-4644 or Washington Printmakers at 202-332-7757 or Scip Barnhart at 202 277 1946.