Uruk. 5000 Years of the Megacity

25.04 - 08.09.2013
www.smb.museum/pm/

One hundred years ago, unique finds from an archaeological dig in the south of present-day Iraq sent shockwaves around the scholarly world. For the first time, archaeologists working at the site of the Mesopotamian city of Uruk, now Warka, brought to light testaments of the first known urban culture. To mark the 100th anniversary of the still ongoing excavation project, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin's Vorderasiatisches Museum (Museum of the Ancient Near East) has joined forces with the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen in Mannheim to present the major exhibition 'URUK - 5000 Years of the Megacity'. The exhibition is the result of the two museums' close collaboration with the Orient Department of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) and the German Oriental Society.

This spectacular exhibition shines a spotlight on the genesis and flourishing of the first known city in the history of humankind some 5000 years ago, and its special importance for the ancient Near East as a whole.

Dali

24.04 - 02.09.2013
www.museoreinasofia.es

Together, Museo Reina Sofía and the Centre Georges Pompidou have organised a large exhibition devoted to Salvador Dalí. The exhibition is conceived as a contribution to the reappraisal of Dalí as a thinker, a writer and the creator of a very particular vision of the world. The surrealist period comprises the central part of the show, which places special emphasis on the paranoiac-critical method developed by the artist as a mechanism with which to transform and subvert reality. Exhibition organised by Museo Reina Sofía and the Centre Georges Pompidou in París with the collaboration of Fundación Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueras and Salvador Dali Museum, Saint Petersburg (Florida)

Михаил Нестеров. В поисках своей России. К 150-летию со дня рождения

24.04 - 18.08.2013
www.tretyakovgallery.ru
 
К 150-летию со дня рождения знаменитого живописца Михаила Нестерова Третьяковская галерея приурочила масштабную выставку "Михаил Нестеров. В поисках своей России". Смотр развернется в залах на Крымском Валу в конце апреля. По словам Воробьева, более 250 произведений живописи и графики из 24 музеев - Москвы, Санкт-Петербурга, Уфы, Киева, Полтавы, Сум и Минска - познакомят публику с творчеством этого художника. "Лучшие шедевры Нестерова непросто собрать единовременно на одной выставочной площадке - из-за разной сохранности и формата работ, высокой страховой стоимости произведений", - рассказал Воробьев. После двух проектов, посвященных 150-летнему юбилею Нестерова, которые уже состоялись в Санкт-Петербурге и Уфе, Третьяковская галерея сделает акцент на показе истоков национального стиля в творчестве мастера. Среди экспонатов выставки - знаменитые полотна "Пустынник", "Видение отроку Варфоломею", "Юность преподобного Сергия" из собрания ГТГ, а также "Дмитрий, царевич убиенный", "Великий постриг", "За приворотным зельем" из коллекции Русского музея. Публика увидит и произведения графики, эскизы к росписям Владимирского собора в Киеве и Марфо-Мариинской обители в Москве.

Coffins of the Amun Priests

20.04-20.09.2013
http://www.rmo.nl/

The three-thousand-year-old mummy coffins of the priests of Amun in Thebes form the focus of this exhibition. You will discover the world of these servants of the god Amun, learning about their ways of life and their central rituals of death and burial. Special attention will be devoted to the restoration of the mummy coffins now taking place in collaboration with the Vatican Museums and the Louvre. Every week you can see conservators at work in the museum.

The exhibition will also highlight the restoration of the mummy coffins, a joint project of the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities with the Vatican Museums and the Louvre. Every week at the museum you can see conservators at work, who will be happy to answer your questions about the restoration of the cases.

Art Nouveau, Tamara de Lempicka

18.04-08.09.13
http://www.pinacotheque.com/

The two exhibitions simultaneously presented at the two sites belonging to the Pinacothèque in Paris, invite visitors to discover the development of the French Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements through one of its icons, Tamara de Lempicka.

In response to Classicism, Art Nouveau imposes no obligation on the artist. Conceived as an art of freedom, Art Nouveau broke free from the constraints that had previously hindered creation. Codified forms which are characteristic of the academic approach are shattered, and Art Nouveau emerged as a transgressive art form, with eroticism as a key element.

Art Nouveau was at its peak from 1890 to 1905. It quickly became the language of expression for the explosion of creativity, especially at the Universal Exhibition of 1900, and soon began to be denounced by the "inventors" of the movement.

The exhibition at the Pinacothèque in Paris brings together over two hundred objects in all areas of life and the arts, which in their own way revolutionized aesthetic and cultural thought.

While the Art Nouveau movement was taking shape, forms evolving towards an abandonment of the arabesque, and a return to geometric shapes, it transformed gradually into what became known as Art Deco. In parallel, the representation of the female figure was to experience a major transformation.  The Pinacothèque in Paris chooses today to show the work of Tamara de Lempicka and illustrate how this unclassifiable and ambiguous artist and character is the perfect embodiment of this period. Her very international and progressive lifestyle appears like a succession of theatrical stagings in which modernity and luxury take the lead role.  This relationship with progressive ideas made her one of the most noteworthy characters of the early twentieth century. Referring unabashedly to the erotic attitudes of women, and to their sensuality in a way that had not been seen before, Tamara de Lempicka brings a modern wave of female empowerment and eroticism into a world which was nevertheless neo-Cubist and deeply Art Deco.

Saloua Raouda Choucair

17.04. – 20.10.2013
http://www.tate.org.uk

Tate Modern will present the first exhibition in the UK of Lebanese artist Saloua Raouda Choucair. Born in Beirut in 1916, Choucair is a pioneer of abstract art in the Middle East and is now becoming recognised as an important figure in the history of global modernism. Her work combines an experimental approach to materials with an elegant use of symmetry, line and curve. Comprising over 100 works, this exhibition will bring together paintings, sculptures and other objects made by the artist over five decades, reflecting her interests in science, mathematics and Islamic art

Une passion française. La collection Marlene et Spencer Hays

16.04. – 18.08.2013
http://www.musee-orsay.fr

Un couple d'amateurs d'art américains, amoureux de la culture française, a réuni pendant plusieurs décennies un ensemble exceptionnel d'oeuvres du XIXe siècle et du début du XXe siècle.

Les liens d'amitié tissés entre les propriétaires et le président des musées d'Orsay et de l'Orangerie permettent aujourd'hui la présentation de cette collection. Parmi celle-ci se trouve le septième panneau des Jardins publics d'Edouard Vuillard, dont le musée d'Orsay conserve déjà cinq des neufs panneaux, mais aussi des oeuvres de Bonnard, de Ranson, de Roussel, ainsi que plusieurs peintures envoûtantes de Vuillard ou encore des panneaux décoratifs de Maurice Denis ainsi que deux chefs-d'oeuvre symbolistes de Redon. Les années 1860 et la période impressionniste sont bien représentées avec des oeuvres signées Fantin-Latour, Tissot, Caillebotte, Berthe Morisot, Eva Gonzalès. Couvrant un large spectre de la création, la collection se clôt chronologiquement avec Derain, Matisse et Modigliani. La plupart de ces oeuvres retournent pour la première fois en France, dans leur pays de création. La venue de la collection au musée d'Orsay permettra non seulement de découvrir des oeuvres majeures d'artistes universellement connus mais aussi des trésors plus secrets, témoins du goût sûr et indépendant de leurs propriétaires.

Velázquez's Portrait of Francesco I d'Este. A Masterpiece from the Galleria Estense, Modena

16.04. – 14.07.2013
http://www.metmuseum.org/

Among the most distinctive portraits by Diego Velázquez is one he painted of Francesco I d'Este (1610–58), the Duke of Modena, during the duke's visit to Madrid in 1638 to secure the support of Philip IV. The duke is shown in armor, wearing a red sash, his head turned toward the viewer. It is a work that conveys a quality of arrogance and sensuality, and is a high watermark in the history of baroque portraiture, while also illustrating the importance of Velázquez's portraits to Spanish diplomacy. In 1843 the painting was acquired by the Galleria Estense—one of the most prestigious of Italy's regional museums—in Modena, Italy, and it has never before been lent to an institution in the United States. This special, three-month loan coincides with the re-installation of the Metropolitan's collection of Old Master paintings. It not only makes accessible to an American public one of the least known of Velázquez's works, but also calls attention to the severe damage suffered throughout the Italian region of Emilia Romagna after a devastating earthquake in May 2012. The Galleria Estense has been temporarily closed due to the damage it sustained.

Claes Oldenburg: The Street and The Store, Mouse Museum/Ray Gun Wing

14.04. – 05.08. 2013
http://www.moma.org

Claes Oldenburg’s audacious, witty, and profound depictions of everyday objects have earned him a reputation as one of the most important artists of the 20th century. This exhibition examines the beginnings of Oldenburg’s extraordinary career with an in-depth look at his first two major bodies of work: The Street (1960) and The Store (1961–64). During this intensely productive period Oldenburg redefined the relationship between painting and sculpture and between subject and form. The Street comprises objects made from cardboard, burlap, and newspaper that together create an immersive panorama of a gritty and bustling city. The Store features brightly painted sculptures and sculptural reliefs shaped to evoke commercial products and comestibles. In The Store, cigarettes, lingerie, and hamburgers all become viable subjects for art.

Dynamo. Un siècle de lumière et de mouvement dans l’art 1913-2013

10.04. – 22.07.2013
http://www.grandpalais.fr

In an area of just under 4000 m², this exhibition will reveal how, over the last fifteen years, many artists have explored the notions of vision, space, light, structure and movement in their work, often encouraging visitors to take an active role in their installations: notable examples include the changing chromatic atmospheres of Ann Veronica Janssens, the vibrating structures and kaleidoscopic mirrors of Jeppe Hein and Anish Kapoor, and the in situ creations of Felice Varini.

Hand Signals: Digits, Fists, and Talons

05.04. – 02.09.2013
http://www.moma.org

Hands—a part of the human body through which we communicate, sense, measure, and interact with the material world—are explored in this selection of 20th-century posters and graphic ephemera drawn from the Museum’s collection. Individual identities are mapped on the palm of every hand; a digit is a unit of linear measurement derived from the breadth of a finger; metaphorically speaking, we “grasp” a philosophical truth, “manipulate” emotions, or “handle” a situation. Designers have focused on such expressive possibilities to represent a gamut of emotions and identities, and to signify collective action, collaboration, or conflict. Ranging from an armored gauntlet in a First World War poster by Ludwig Hohlwein to glistening talons advertising Japanese nail polish in the 1980s, the disembodied hands in this exhibition salute, menace, manipulate, and caress. Other posters of the interwar period infuse images of progress with a sense of human agency by incorporating hands that wield tools in the service of constructing a new society.

Photography and the American Civil War

02.04. – 02.09. 2013
http://www.metmuseum.org/

More than two hundred of the finest and most poignant photographs of the American Civil War have been brought together for this landmark exhibition. Through examples drawn from the Metropolitan's celebrated holdings of this material, complemented by important loans from public and private collections, the exhibition will examine the evolving role of the camera during the nation's bloodiest war. The "War between the States" was the great test of the young Republic's commitment to its founding precepts; it was also a watershed in photographic history. The camera recorded from beginning to end the heartbreaking narrative of the epic four-year war (1861–1865) in which 750,000 lives were lost. This traveling exhibition will explore, through photography, the full pathos of the brutal conflict that, after 150 years, still looms large in the American public's imagination.