March 11-August 30, 2010

This spring, Neue Galerie New York presents “Otto Dix,” the first solo museum exhibition of works by this major German artist ever held in North America. Organized by Olaf Peters, Professor of Modern Art History and Art Theory at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, the show will open at the Neue Galerie, then travel to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

More than almost any other German painter, Otto Dix (1891-1969) and his works have profoundly influenced the popular notion of the Weimar Republic. His paintings were among the most graphic visual representatives of  that period, exposing with unsparing and wicked wit the instability and contradictions of the time.

The exhibition includes more than 100 masterpieces by Otto Dix, and addresses four themes. The first is Dix’s traumatic experiences as a soldier in World War I. The second is portraiture, a genre at which the artist excelled. The third is sexuality, a key theme in the Dix oeuvre. The fourth is religious and allegorical painting. The show includes the work that Dix is best know for—paintings from the so-called “golden Weimar years”—but to contextualize them, it also includes Dix’s work from the early 1920s, as well as his later work, produced as veiled protest against the Third Reich.

If you are in New York between now and 7 May you should take a day and visit the MoMA to see William Kentridge’s great exhibition called: Five Themes.

The South-African born artist is famous for his compositions of poetical elements with policital themes. With a range of animated short movies, the museum also shows other drawings, sketches, collages, prints as well as performances that gives a great retrospective on Kentridge’s Œuvre of the last 30 years.

Visit MoMAs homepage

Watch more movies from Kentridge

Read what Josh says about his piece:

My first big public art piece went up in the Bryant Park subway stop at
42nd and 6th Avenue last week through MTA Arts for Transit! You can see
it at the bottom of the stairs at the northwest corner of Bryant Park
(the videos below show you where it is).

Four students at NYU Tisch School of Arts Interactive Telecommunications
Project (ITP) co-created it — Brett Murphy, Igal Nassima, Eyal Ohana,
and Molly Schwartz — with Submedia providing equipment and support
(using no MTA funds).

If you’ve seen my work, you know the medium: still images that appear
animated when you move past. This display is digital, which is new, so
the images cycle between our 1.5 second animations, each inspired by
Bryant Park — images of nature, ice skating, fashion week, the
carousel, abstractions, etc.

The display took almost two years of development. As usual, most of the
work was in the last two weeks — late nights, moving stuff in
blizzards, approvals, etc. If anyone wants stories, just ask, there are
plenty. I also make smaller pieces for individuals and am working on a
large series for a gallery show. In the meantime, check out these videos
and links of the display (keeping in mind videos don’t compare with
seeing it in person):

* Video, including a family of five peering at the display:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIfi71_ffG0
* Arts for Transit page:
http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/lightbox/lightbox.html?station=5&img=5
* A guard and subway rider looking at it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0aTJH0jL5o
* Just the kids and family from the first link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwg1BhkAFU
* My blog: http://www.spodek.net

New York. On friday last week a woman made a 6inch big tear drop on the lower right-hand corner of Picasso’s famous ‘The Actor’, while attending a class at the Metropolitan Museum.

The spokesman of the Museum stated that “She lost balance during this class session.”

The Picture immediately came to the Museum’s conservation studio for repair. “Fortunately, the damage did not occur in a focal point of the composition, and the curatorial and conservation staffs fully expect that the repair, which will take place in the coming weeks, will be unobtrusive,” the museum said.

This is not the first time that a Picasso suffered from a teardrop. The 1932 picture of Picasso’s mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter was about to be sold for a record $139 million. Because of a tear, the sale fell through and the painting’s estimated value fell to $85 million — a drop of $54 million.

Shortly the painting “Suprematist Composition” by Kasimir Malewitsch which you can see above has been sold by Sothebys in New York for 60 million Dollar.