Original Paintings by José Carrilho (new website)

Dear readers,

Last week I opened a new website where you can view my original paintings.
These include mostly landscapes and still lifes, but also other themes.
All the works presented are original and completed using artist quality materials so that your investment will last for many years, passing from generation to generation.

You will have the chance to read about my artistic career and my objectives as an artist.
Soon I will start developing the blog on that website where I will keep visitors and collectors updated with the progress of my works and my artistic career.

I welcome you to visit JoseCarrilhoFineArt and leave your feedback.

Yours truly,
José Carrilho

"Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey" by George Stubbs to be auctioned at Christie’s

During the the Old Master and British Paintings Evening Sale on 5 July 2011 at Christie's in London, one of the most important works of the British painter George Stubbs (1724-1806) is expected to realise in excess of £20 million.

Commissioned by the horse’s owner, Frederick St. John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, and executed during the year of 1765, "Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey (40in. x 76¼in. (101.6 x 193.6 cm.) shows Gimcrack in the foreground with his trainer and jockey, a stable-lad rubbing him down, and in the background winning a ‘trial’ by some distance.

George Stubbs spent his early artistic career working as a portrait painter, first in his native Liverpool, and subsequently in York. He visited Rome in 1754 and later on spent 18 months in a farmhouse in Lincolnshire dissecting and drawing horses in preparation for the publication of his famous book The Anatomy of the Horse.

His accurate depictions of animals and exceptional talent earned the artist the patronage of many important aristocrats, particularly those involved in horseracing, the ‘sport of Kings’.
Often celebrated as the most remarkable artist-scientist since Leonardo, Stubbs portrayed the horse with anatomical perfection, showing his veins pulsing through his skin.

Gimcrack was one of the most popular and admired of all 18th century racehorses. Although he was small, he had great stamina and won an impressive 28 of his 36 races, finishing unplaced only once.

Sold by the Bolingbroke family in 1943, it was bought by Walter Hutchinson, founder of the National Gallery of British Sports and Pastimes, before being sold again at Christie’s in 1951 when it made £12,600 and entered the Woolavington Collection.

This is the third time that "Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey" appears at Christie's.
The painting is offered from the Woolavington Collection, one of the finest private collections of Sporting Art, and will be auctioned at the Old Master and British Paintings Evening Sale on 5 July 2011 in London.

"Jardins Romantiques Français" at the Musée de la Vie Romantique

Near one hundred paintings, watercolours, drawings and other artworks representative of the history of the french garden can be explored at the Musée de la Vie Romantic (The Museum of Romantic Life, or Museum of the Romantics) until July 17, 2011

Spanned between 1770 and 1840, the paintings transport the viewer to pictoresque and romantic gardens depicted by famous painters of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Famous names such as Antoine-Patrice Guyot, dit Guyot le Jeune, "Le Moulin de la Folie Beaujon"; Louis-François Cassas, "Mortefontaine, vue du lac et du Grand Rocher"; Jean-Thomas Thibault, "Projet de monument pour Jean-Jacques Rousseau au jardin des Tuileries"; Hubert Robert, "Vue du parc de Méréville", this last one known for his famous capriccio paintings, are some of the artists represented in the "Jardins Romantiques Français (1770-1840)" (French Romantic Gardens) exhibition.

The exhibition can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday (10am - 6pm), except holidays.
Regular admission is €7, with reduced prices and free entrance for other cases.
Permanent exhibitions are free.

A catalogue with 256 pages and 150 coloured illustrations is available for €30 and a Pixxie application is available for iPhone.

Located in the former Scheffer-Renan hotel, at the foot of Montmartre hill in the IXe arrondissement, 16 rue Chaptal, Paris, the Musée de la Vie Romantique became a museum in 1982, under the name of "Musée Renan-Scheffer" and after an extensive renovation it reopened in 1987 with its present name.

The main pavilion, built in 1830, was the Paris base of the dutch-born painter Ary Scheffer (1795-1858), where together with his daughter he would host Friday-evening salons, attended by the most famous in La Nouvelle Athènes.
George Sand, Eugène Delacroix, Ingrés, Frederic Chopin Alphonse de Lamartine and Charles Dickens are among those who frequented the place.

Access can be made by subway (Saint-Georges, Pigalle, Blanche, Liège) and bus (67, 68, 74).

More information regarding the exhibition and the museum can be found here (in French).

“Caravaggio, il corpo ritrovato” - Symposium in Avezzano, Italy

One of the most celebrated painters of all times, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is not only admired because of his masterpieces, but also for the obscurity sorrounding his life that has awaken the curiosity of art historians through time.

Caravaggio was quite probably one of the most controversial characters of his time.
His successful romantic life, quarrels, the problems with justice (on May 1606 Caravaggio was accused of murder and fled from Rome to Naples, Sicily and Malta to escape the price that had been placed on his head), conclude in misterious circumstances in one day of July 1610 in Porto Ercole, but his body was not found and his death remains involved in mistery.

Produced by Doclab (authorship of Patrizia Marani and directed by Marco Visalberghi) for the National Geographic Channel HD, the documentary "Caravaggio, il corpo ritrovato" follows step by step the unveiling of an important scientific discovered wit the collaboration of Giorgio Gruppioni, antropology teacher at the Università di Bologna; Elisabetta Cilli, geneticist at the Università di Bologna; Antonio Moretti geology teacher at the Università dell’Aquila; Maurizio Calvesi, the most acredited Caravaggio's Italian biographer and art history teacher at the Università La Sapienza di Roma.

After several scientific exams, DNA comparisons and historiacal researches, the team os scholars believes that the bones kept in an ossuary in a church crypt in Porto Ercole, after reportedly being exhumed in 1956, are of a man who died in about 1610, aged between 38 and 40.

During the symposium organized by L’Associazione Culturale Etereoarte, the Liceo Scientifico “V. Pollione”, the Liceo Classico “Torlonia”, and Liceo Artistico “Bellisario", a team of researchers will illustrate the methodology and the contribution of modern scientific tecniques to help to come to a conclusion about this enigma.

The team will be constituted by: Antonio Moretti; Marco Visalberghi; Gianluca Ferrini (geology teacher Università dell’Aquila); Domenico Mancinelli (Facoltà di Scienze Università dell’Aquila); Emidio Di Carlo (art historian in Aquila).

The “ Caravaggio, il corpo ritrovato “ will take place on the 27th of May (9h30) in the mutimedia hall of the Cinema Astra in Avezzano, Italy.

In 2009 The Art Inquirer started to present to its readers a series of videos about famous artists. Watch the first episode about the life and art of Caravaggio.

Monet's Water Lilies triptych at the Nelson-Atkins

Brought to New York in the 1950's Claude Monet's Water Lilies triptych was separated, and the individual panels were sold to the St. Louis Art Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum. The last time that these panels were exhibited together as they were meant to seen was in 1979, and now in collaboration with the other two museums, the Nelson-Atkins reunites the right-hand panel from its collection with the other ones, making this a rare opportunity to observe one of the most famous works of who is considered the most important Impressionist painter.

Each panel measures 6-feet tall by 14-feet wide and is believed that Monet started working on these in 1915, then continuosly reworking them in his studio at Giverny until the year of his death in 1926, according to Nicole Myers, Associate Curator at the Nelson-Atkins. This is most evident due to the fact that through x-ray imaging, light boxes, and computerized cross-sections, conservators have discovered the artist obsessively changed the composition over the years. For example, beneath a cluster of water lilies on the Nelson-Atkins canvas, conservators found the image of an agapanthus plant that Monet suppressed halfway through painting it. An x-ray of the agapanthus will be part of the exhibition. "We don’t even know for sure whether he considered them finished," said Simon Kelly, who, as curator of modern and contemporary art at the Saint Louis Art Museum and former associate curator of European painting and sculpture at the Nelson-Atkins, has been working on this exhibition for more than three years.

Through a range of archival photographs and a rarely seen film from 1915, showing Monet painting in his garden, wearing a white suit and a straw hat, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, the exhibition will bring to life the beauty of the garden and his passion for it.

Visitors will be able to use touch screens to "make your own Monet", which can be displayed on the museum's website, while another permits a close-up observation of the artist's loose and short brush strokes. Another panel can be used by visitors to describe their experience, description that will then be projected in light on the walls of that room.

In a separate, dedicated space, the paintings themselves will be displayed with side panels at slight angles to recreate something of the panoramic experience of the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris where several of Monet’s water lily triptychs are mounted.

The Water Lilies triptych will be on view, from April 9 to Aug. 7, 2011 at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City (MO, USA), after which it will travel to the Saint Louis Art Museum in the fall of 2011, before showing at the Cleveland Museum of Art at a date to be confirmed.

With the exception of a triptych in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, this is the only Monet triptych in the United States.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. In Kansas City the exhibition is supported by the Hartley Family Foundation, Carol and Fred Logan and the Campbell-Calvin Fund and Elizabeth C. Bonner Charitable Trust for exhibitions. Frontier Airlines is the official airline sponsor.

This article contains excerpts from the museum's press release

The Institut Néerlandais presents Netherlandish Masters 1500-1700: the hundred most beautiful drawings of the Hamburger Kunsthalle

The Hamburger Kunsthalle conserves one of the most important and beautiful collections of Dutch and Flemish drawings from the 16th and 17th centuries. At the occasion of the publication of a fully descriptive catalogue of these drawings comprising circa 1337 plates , which took Annemarie Stefes near ten years to complete, the Fondation Custodia was invited to select one hundred of the most beautiful works, which is being exhibited at the Institut Néerlandais in Paris.

The exhibition is divided in halls.

The first hall is dedicated to the 16th century, showcasing the works of masters such as Gerard David, one of the last Flemish Primitives, Pieter Bruegel the Elder (ca. 1525/30 – 1569), Maerten van Heemskerck (1498 – 1574) , as well as by others turning the century like the lanscape painters Roelant Savery (1576/78 – 1639) et David Vinckboons (1576 – 1629).

The second one, dedicated to the 17th century and containing the higher number of works, features three drawings by Rembrandt (1606 – 1669), and works by Nicolaes Moeyaert (1592/1593 – 1655), Adriaen van Ostade (1610 – 1685) and Hendrik Avercamp (1585 – 1636). This hall also includes a section dedicated to landscapes, exhibiting drawings by renowned Dutch landscape painters Barent Fabritius (1624 – 1673), Ferdinand Bol (1616 – 1680), Govert Flinck (1615 – 1660), the last two distinguished Rembrandt's pupils, and another section containing Dutch scenes represented by Janvan Goyen (1596 – 1656), Anthonie Waterloo (1609 – 1690), Allart van Everdingen (1621 – 1675) and Aert van der Neer (1603/1604 – 1677).

In the third hall, dedicated to the 17th Flemish century, visitors can explore some major works of important Flemish masters such as d’Antony van Dyck (1599 – 1641), Jacob Jordaens (1593 – 1678), Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568 – 1625) and Adrian Brouwer (1605/06 – 1638).

The fourth hall exhibits figure studies by Dutch artists such as Rembrandt's master Pieter Lastman (1583 – 1633) and works by followers of Italian compositions like Nicolaes Berchem (1621/22 – 1683). Also represented in this all are Paul Bril (1554 – 1626), Jan-Baptist Weenix (1621 – 1659/1661) and Jan Asselijn (1610 – 1652).

When visiting the fifth hall, one can explore three sections: portraits, villages and marine views. The Dutch portraiyed through drawings of Jan Lievens (1607 –1674) and Leendert van der Cooghen (1632 - 1681). Village views are represented in the works of Jan van der Heyden (1637 – 1712), Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29 – 1682) and Pieter Saenredam (1597 – 1665), regarded as the best artist of the century of this representative subject of the Dutch art. To represent a theme where Dutch artists have excelled, the marinescapes, Ludolf Bakhuyzen (1630 – 1708) and Willem van de Velde le Jeune (1633 – 1707) are the selected artists. The exhibition will be accompanied by a free leaflet (in French), which describes the drawings on display. Possibility to buy the catalogue written by Annemarie Stefes (3 volumes, in German). In collaboration with the Hamburger Kunsthalle.

"Netherlandish Masters 1500-1700: the hundred most beautiful drawings of the Hamburger Kunsthalle" (Maîtres des Pays-Bas 1500-1700: Les cent plus belles feuilles de la Kunsthalle de Hambourg) can be visited from March 24 through May 22, 2011 at the l’Institut Néerlandais, 121 rue de Lille, 75007 Paris.

Art Auction to Help Victims in Japan

With the purpose of helping the victims of the earthquake and of the tsunami, I've placed an original still life oil painting for auction on Ebay, starting at a minimum bid of USD$30.
The proceeds will go in full to the Salvation Army's Japan Disaster Fund.
This auction will be active until April 5th, which I believe will be enough time for you to decide how much you want to help.

If you are an artist and are conducting an initiative to help the Japanese people in these troublesome times, you are welcome to leave a link in the comments.

The Art Inquirer and its author cannot be held responsible for other people's integrity regarding this subject.

"Olha Por Mim" a multisensory exhibition

The City Hall of Lisbon in partnership with its Social Services Department will present the exhibition "Olha Por Mim", featuring the artworkd of Tânia Bailão Lopes, a multisensory project born in the Instituto Politécnico de Leiria in 2009 with the collaboration of Josélia Neves, Clara Mineiro, expert of the Accrediting Department and Museums Qualification and twenty one experts from several museums.

After being exhibited from North to South of Portugal, the exhibition will include soundpainting for the first time, where music, poetry and sound effects will transmit subjective messages to the visitors. Walter Marcos, responsible for the sound area, has come up with specific sounds, while using an original theme by a former Sting's group keyboard player for one of the works.

In poetry, Josélia Neves used metafors such as "chocolate face" for describing a black character or "cherry face" to describe the countours of another character.

The soundpainting initiative was developed in collaboration with visual and hearing impaired people who guided the authors through its process by indicating what would work and what would not. It was noticed that even conditioning the perception through sounds, the interpretations of the artwork would differ.

"Olha Por Mim" is also a tactile experience with the objective of reaching all audiences, but especially catered for those with visual and hearing problems.

With the works of Mirtilo Gomes (Tânia's homonym), the "Olha Por Mim" exhibition will be inaugurated this March 15 (15h00) at the Social Services building of the City Hall of Lisbon (Edifício dos Serviços Sociais da CML), located in the Av. Afonso Costa, 41 - Olaias, and will include the lecture “Comunicar a arte trocando os sentidos: acessibilidade e inclusão”, presented by Josélia Neves and Walter Marcos. The artist will also be present, as well as Deodato Guerreiro PhD, a blindness and low vision specialist.

Watch the videos about the exhibition and visitors statements on this page .

The exhibition can be visited until April 15, 2011.

Pablo Picasso's "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" at the Tate Modern

The oil painting "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" (Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur), created by Pablo Picasso in 1932, is on display since this Monday in the new Pablo Picasso room at the Tate Modern, London.

Depicting a sideface of the artist on a pedestal observing the naked figure of Marie-Thérèse Walter, and previously acquired in 1951 by the millionaire constructor and modern art lover Sydney F. Brody and included in Mrs. Brody collection, the painting was sold at Christies New York on May 4, 2010 for $106,4 million ($95 million without commissions and taxes) to an anonymous buyer, setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction, a record still unsurpassed at this time.

This is the first time that "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" is presented to the British public, thanks to the generosity of the anonymous lender.

The top auction results for 2010 can be consulted here.

Photo: PA

TEFAF Maastricht 2011

Considered the world's leading art and antiques fair, TEFAF Maastrich 2011 will offer to its visitors some of the best available fine art, antiques, jewelery, manuscripts and other ancient pieces reflecting 6,000 years of excellence in the applied arts, brought by 260 of the world’s most prestigious art and antiques dealers from 16 countries.

From the paintings of old masters like Bruegel to more recent artists, visitors and collectors will the opportunity to experience in sight the European, Chinese and Japanese porcelain, ethnographic and pre-Columbian art, medieval to modern sculpture, furniture from the 16th century to the 19th century, lavishly decorated documents such as illuminated manuscripts, Egyptian mummy masks, Greek marble statues, Roman coins, precious gems, and vintage watches.
A Modern section will showcase the art from the 20th and 21st centuries which includes works from famous artists including Renoir, Picasso, Poliakoff, Kandinsky, Henry Moore, Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Anish Kapoor, Francis Bacon and Damien Hirst.

Introduced in 2009, the Design section seeks to highlight the twentieth-century design and applied arts from the leading international specialists.

TEFAF Paper was first brought to public in 2010, showing drawings and limited edition prints ranging from Old Masters to contemporary works, antiquarian books and manuscripts, Japanese prints, photography, wallpaper and other works.

A Showcase section, introduced in 2008, offers recently established galleries and dealers the opportunity to participate in the Fair on a strictly one-off basis.

Visitors to the TEFAF (The European Fine Art Fair) are invited to buy with confidence, every item on view at the fair has been subject to rigorous checks carried out by 29 specialist vetting committees, made up of near 175 internationally respected experts, as to its quality, condition and authenticity. TEFAF Maastricht was also the first to introduce The Art Loss Register at the fair in 2000.

TEFAF Maastricht 2011 can be visited between the 18th and the 27th of March 2011, at the MECC (Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Centre).
Cameras, umbrellas, large bags and backpacks are not allowed, and don't carry art or antiques for valuation.
Tickets, fair catalogues and publications can be ordered online.

In collaboration with MACBA (Barcelona), Fundação de Serralves presents: "Gil J Wolman. Sou Imortal e Estou Vivo"

Video from the exhibition that took place at MACBA

In colaboration with Museu D'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), the Fundação de Serralves (Serralves Foundation) presents the exhibition "Gil J Wolman. Sou Imortal e Estou Vivo" (I am immortal and alive).

With near 250 pieces and documents, from "L’Anticoncept" (1951) – the film that was conceived for projection onto a weather balloon and was censored in the Cannes Film Festival, with its screening only open to the press – until "Voir de mémoire" (1995), the exhibition, previously held at MACBA, Barcelona, is the first major monographic display of works from Gil Wolman happening outside France. Included are also numerous never before exhibited pieces.
This exhibition can be considered an encyclopedia of Lettrism, based on the early twentieth-century Dadaist and Futurists movements and stating that the expressive heights of all artistic expressions had already been reached.
Created in the mid-1940s by the Rumanian-Parisian artist Isidore Isou, Lettrism was endorsed by Wolman and Guy Debord.

French artist Gil J Wolman (1929–1995)) invented the “mégapneumie”, poems of breath and pure sound, for example "La mémoire", which he belched out at his legendary recitals in Paris, and ‘Scotch art’, in which he mutilated and defaced artworks in order to imbue them with new signs and meanings.

"Gil J Wolman: Sou Imortal e Estou Vivo" (Gil J Wolman. I am immortal and alive) is open to the public in the Fundação de Serralves (Serralves Foundation) until the 27th of March 2011.
Guided visits will take place on February 22 (18h30) and March 1 (18h30).
Visits can be orientated on Saturdays (17h00-18h00) and Sundays (12h00-13h00) by the staff of the Educational Service.

Top 10 Auction Results in 2010

The year of 2010 was certainly positive for the major auction houses, with several records for renowned artists, including old masters.
According to ArtMarketInsight's list, the painting "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" by Pablo Picasso, sold at Christie's NY for $95 000 000, achieved the highest value, while the second place was taken by the statue "L'homme qui marche I" by Alberto Giacometti, sold for $92 521 600 at Sotheby's London. The painting by Amedeo Modigliani, "Nu assis sur un divan (La Belle Romaine)", conquered the third place and was sold at Sotheby's NY for $61 500 000.

The rest of the top 10 was taken by the following works: "Men in her life" by Andy Warhol ($56 500 000, Phillips de Pury NY); "Grande tête mince (1954)" by Alberto Giacometti ($47 500 000, Christie's NY); "Tête" by Amedeo Modigliani ($46 650 450, Christie's Paris); "Portrait d'Angel Fernandez de Soto" by Pablo Picasso ($45 814 900, Christie's London); "Nu de dos, 4 état (Back IV)" by Henri Matisse ($43 500 000, Christie's NY); "Modern Rome-Campo Vaccino" by William Turner ($40 211 100, Sotheby's London); "Kirche in Cassone..." by Gustav Klimt ($38 284 800, Sotheby's London).

The total paid of these works resulted in near $567.5m (hammer price).

Musée Malraux: Signac "Les Ports de France"

The Malraux museum in the Le Havre region of France is showing a major exhibition of 90 watercolours by the French artist Paul Signac (Paris 1863 – Paris 1935).

An enthusiast of the sea and of the mediterranean coast with its ports, Signac sailed from Bretagne to St. Tropez during the year of 1832, soon after the decease of this artist friend Georges Seurat, with whom he created the neo-impressionism movement and the start of the divisionism or pointillism. In Saint-Tropez he starts painting with watercolour, together with the French pointillist painter d’Henri-Edmond Cross, soon concluding that drawing and watercolour will permit him a free and spontaneous artistic creation.

In 1928, an encounter with Gaston Lévy, a wealthy man, founder of the Monoprix deparment stores and an avid collector, will permit him to initiate a project dear to him.
Signac states his ideas in detail to his new friend: « Depuis longtemps je rêve de faire une suite importante d’aquarelles sur « Les Ports de France ». J’ai relevé 40 ports de la Manche, 40 ports de l’Océan ; 20 ports de la Méditerranée. En tout une centaine (…). Si ce projet avait votre agrément, je commanderais une conduite intérieure C4 Citroën, je prendrais un chauffeur et je partirais en février pour les ports de la Méditerranée. En avril, je remonterais vers les ports de l’Océan pour terminer en été les ports du Nord. Je pense qu’il faudrait 5 ou 6 mois de travail, un peu fou ! Je ferais deux aquarelles dans chaque port, l’une pour vous et l’autre pour moi, différentes d’ailleurs, et vous choisiriez celle des deux qui aurait votre préférence. Nous déciderions ensemble du format et du prix. Les marchands n’auraient rien à y voir ! »
In english: «For some time now I have been dreaming of painting a major series of watercolors on French ports . I have identified 40 ports on the North Sea, 40 on the Ocean; 20 on the Mediterranean. In total, one hundred». He suggests that Lévy sponsor this operation, and the precision of his letter proves it was far from being improvised. «If this project were to meet your approval, I would order a sedan C4 Citroën, I would hire a chauffeur and I would leave in February to Mediterranean ports. In April I would go up to the Ocean ports to finish with the Northern ports in the summer. I think it will take me 5 to 6 months of work, a bit crazy! I will do two watercolors in each port, one for you and the other for me, different ones of course, and you will choose the one you prefer of the two. We will decide together on the price and the format. Art dealers would have nothing to do with this!»

Seduced by this project, Gaston Lévy accepts to sponsor it, and in March 1929 the renowned and famous Signac at the age of 65, casts away, completing his periplus in 1931.
This artistic undertaking will become the acclaim of his career as a watercolourist.

A rare exhibition "Signac: Les Ports de France" (Signac: The Ports of France), is a poetic catalogue of French coast before the Second World War, never before published and now shown to the public for the first time.
The 90 known watercolours of this series are presented in perspective with a selection of paintings by the artist witnessing his profound bonding to the sea and the ports, as well a couple of works by artists who Paul Signac particularly admired: Le Lorrain, Joseph Vernet, Corot, Jongkind, Boudin… Paintings from the neo-impressionism and impressionism periods, and from the opening at the time of his settlement in Saint-Tropez in 1892.

Firstly the exhibition was to be on display only until January 16, 2011, then until the 23, but it seems to have been extended until the end of the month. For more information you can contact the Malraux museum through the contacts found on this page.

The Art Inquirer used the French to English translation of Signac's explanation to Gaston available on this page.

"Columbano" exhibition in Museu do Chiado - Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea

Considered Portugal's most proeminent nineteenth century painter and the artist who most succefully expressed modern values, Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro (1857-1929) conveyed the Portuguese society through over three generations, including some of its most notable members such as Antero de Quental, Eça de Queirós, Bulhão Pato, Batalha Reis, Fialho de Almeida, Raúl Brandão, Teixeira Gomes, e Teixeira de Pascoais.

Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro was a keen and critical observer and his interpretive portraits reveal him as being a radical annalist of modern life.

His consecration as a portrait painter results from the support of a socio-political elite and from the press, gaining him a privileged artistic status confirmed by his appointment as a professor at Lisbon’s Escola de Belas-Artes and as Director of the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea from 1914 to 1927.

His political involvement as a republican led him to produce three official portraits of the first Presidents of the Portuguese Republic and to be part of the comittee responsible for deciding on the design and colours of the Portuguese national flag.

The different sections of the "Columbano" exhibition bring together seventy-three pieces, with most of them belonging to the collection of the two hundred works held by the museum. Other works were also lent from private collections, national institutions and international museums such as the Musée d’Orsay, the Palazzo Pitti and the MNBA in Rio de Janeiro, some of them never previously exhibited in Portugal.

Curated by Maria de Aires Silveira, the exhibition can be visited in the Museu do Chiado - Museu Nacional de Art Contemporânea, in Lisbon, from December 2, 2010 to March 27, 2011.

Portrait of Eduardo Brazão - oil on canvas (1909)

Collective Exhibition at the Quadrado Azul Gallery

Located in Largo dos Stephens, 4, in Lisbon, Portugal, the Quadrado Azul Gallery (Galeria Quadrado Azul) is presenting between December 4, 2010 and January 15, 2011 (Tue-Sat, 1pm-8pm), a collective exhibition of in the house artists.

With the title “Colectiva de Artistas da Galeria”, the exhibition shows the works of Ângelo de Sousa, João Queiroz, José de Guimarães, Paulo Nozolino, Pedro Tropa and Thierry Simões.

National Gallery of Scotland: The Young Vermeer

The National Gallery of Scotland presents "The Young Vermeer" exhibition, inaugurated this December 8th, 2010.

Displaying three paintings of the thirty six known ones by Johannes Vermeer, this exhibition is a must see for any art lover.

Vermeer is considered one of the world's greatest painters, and particularly renowned for his masterly treatment of light .

"Diana and her Nymphs" (about 1653-54) from the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis in The Hague; "Christ in the House of Martha and Mary" (about 1654-55) from the National Galleries of Scotland; and "The Procuress" (1656) from the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Dresden, are the three paintings that can be seen at the exhibition.

During his lifetime Vermeer was known only to a small circle of devotees and never attained the same level of fame as other Dutch artists such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder ,Rembrandt or Gerrit Dou, with some of his paintings being misattributed to artists with greater reputations.

It was only in 1859 that the French connoisseur Étienne Thoré-Bürger discovered the signature on ‘The Procuress' in Dresden and identified it as the earliest work of Vermeer then known.

In 1901 the London dealer Forbes & Paterson offered for sale Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, attributed to Vermeer after his signature was discovered at the lower left on the side of the foot-stool. This discovery also finally confirmed Vermeer's long disputed authorship of the Diana and her Nymphs.

Open to the public until the 13th of March 2011, The Young Vermeer exhibition is admission free, therefore there are no excuses to miss it, especially for the readers of this blog who were informed last February.

Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was baptized in Delft on 31 October 1632 as Joannis, and buried in the same city under the name Jan on 15 December 1675.

To know more about the artist you can consult the website Essential Vermeer.

Modern Masters: Impressionism and Early 20th Century Art (Selling Exhibition, Hong Kong 26-28 November 2010)

Following the preview that took place in Beijing between the 22nd and the 25th of October, Sotheby's presents an Inaugural Selling Exhibition of Impressionist and Modern Art in Hong Kong.

Comprised of approximately 20 works by many of the most relevant artists active in Europe from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the "Modern Masters: Impressionism and Early 20th Century Art" selling exhibition is a reply to the increasing interest throughout Asia and especially within China in the field of Impressionist and Modern Art.

The exhibition shows some of the most beloved and important subjects by the respective artists, such as Monet’s Haystacks, Renoir’s Portraits and Bathers and Chagall’s depictions of the Circus.

An in depth view of certain artists such as Picasso, includes works from many of the different phases of his career – his romantic, early Blue Period; the radical experiments
of Cubism which were then followed by the Neoclassicism of the 1920s; a depiction of his most famed lover, Dora Maar; and his late Expressionist paintings created after 1960.

With works priced from US$2 million to $25 million (HK$15.6 to $195 million), some of the highlights of the exhibition are "Mère Tenant un Enfant (La Maternité)" ,1901, by Pablo Picasso; "Jeune Fille aux Cheveux Noirs (Dora Maar)", a portrait of Dora Maar completed by Picasso in 1939; "Les Demoiselles de Giverny", painted by Claude Monet on the Plaine des Ajoux in 1894, and part of his Haystacks series; "Léontine et Coco (Claude Renoir)" by Renoir, depicting an interior scene portraying his son Claude, also known as Coco, in the company of Léontine, a young woman who worked in the Renoir household in the latter part of his life; "Danseuses au Foyer", a vibrant pastel painting by Edgar Degas; "Le Paysan Allongé", a dense and colourful composition where intense colour and spatial experimentation reflect the essence of Chagall's work.

The Modern Masters: Impressionism and Early 20th Century selling exhibition is taking place between the 26th and the 28th of November 2010 (11am - 7pm), at:
Chief Executive Suite,
5/F, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong
1 Harbour Road, Wanchai

Irish Women Artists, 1800-2009: Familiar but Unknown

Throughout centuries women artists haven't enjoyed the deserved recognition as their male counterparts, and still today that is evident through acution results.

Names like Sofonisba Anguissola (also spelled Anguisciola), Rosalba Carriera, Rachel Ruysch were important precursors for women's emancipation as artists and the quality of their work conquered due recognition in their time, maybe more than it would in more modern periods.

But we could go further back in time and mention Helena of Egypt, daughter of Timon of Egypt.

Edited by Éimear O’Connor and published by Four Courts Press, the book "Irish Women Artists, 1800-2009: familiar but unknown" seeks to familiarise a wide-ranging readership with the work of many women artists who resided in Ireland, including the names of Miss Battersby, Sister Concepta Lynch OP, Evelyn Gleeson, Gabriel Hayes, Louisa Marchioness of Waterford, Margaret Clarke, Moyra Barry and Nano Reid.

Discussing subjects like the access to professional training, the concept of the ‘amateur’, class structure, the use of feminized language as a means to privilege the work of male artists and artistic concerns with the concepts of Celtic, Irish, national and international, this publication presents an overview about women and the visual arts in Ireland and the critical treatment of Anglo-Irish women artists between 1962 and 1984, as well as the importance of databases in nowadays, offering an insightful information for any art lover and especially for those interested in the development of the arts in Ireland from 1800 to the present.

The Trinity Irish Art Research Centre (triarc) and Four Courts Press will host a public reception to mark the publication of Irish Women Artists at 5.30pm on Tuesday 30 November in the Trinity Long Room Hub, Fellows Square, Trinity College Dublin.

Ms Fiona Ross, Director of the National Library, will launch the book.

"Claude Monet 1840-1926" at the Grand Palais

Claude Monet is one of the most celebrated leader exponents of Impressionism and his work is one of most recognized by art lovers and public in general.

For more than sixty years he painted landscapes, still lifes and the figure.

Among is famous works are Belle-Île, Étreta, Femme à l'ombrelle and Impression Soleil Levant.

In 1890, Monet acquired his now famous property at Giverny where he painted his large format Water Lilies series.

Organised by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux and the Musée D'Orsay, and bringing together 200 paintings featuring exclusive loans from countries all over the world including Australia, Brazil, Russia, The Netherlands and USA, the "Claude Monet 1840-1926" exhibition is the first monograph devoted to the artist since the major retrospective in 1980.

Running from September 22, 2010 through January 24, 2011 in the National Galleries (Galeries Nationales) of the Grand Palais, it can be visited during the following schedule:

Opening every day from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm, until 2:00 pm on Tuesdays and 8:00 pm on Thursdays. During holidays (from October 23 to November 7 and from December 18 to January 2), opening every day from 9:00 am to 11:00 pm (included Tuesdays). Closing at 6 pm on December 24 and 31. Closed on December 25.

Gian Bernini - The Art and Life of a Sculptor (Final Episode)

This serial of nine episodes about the life and art of the famous italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini arrives at its end.
Since its start in April, the readers of this blog had the opportunity to follow the story of one of the greatest sculptors of all time.
The previous episode can be watched here.

With the first episode about Caravaggio in December 2009, The Art Inquirer started the project of presenting several series about the art and life of famous artists, thanks to the wonderful work produced by the BBC in The Power of Art.

Soon this art blog will start another series of episodes about another famous artist.