Highlights of Brussels

Highlights of Brussels

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The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium holds some of the finest Flemish and French art in Europe.  Ever wondered what these masterpieces look like up close?  Not to worry — here are shots of some of my favorite works in their collection, as well as many of the beautiful museum itself.  The building, located in Brussels, in fact houses two museums: the Museum of Ancient Art and the Museum of Modern art (explained in the captions below).  This is the second in the Art History Blog’s series called Art in Real Life, which aims to give context to some of the world’s greatest masterpieces of art.

Click on any of the pictures below to open the gallery; click next (or type “n” on your keyboard) to view the next photo.

TAHB’s Art in Real Life series: Paris | Brussels | Rome

Art in Real Life Wednesday, January 14, 2009 0 comments
A Controversial Vermeer, Now at the Met

A Controversial Vermeer, Now at the Met

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Attributed to Vermeer, A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals, currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image from EssentialVermeer.com

About a year ago, I took a Vermeer seminar in which we discussed all of the works in Vermeer’s ouevre — even those most unlikely candidates… one of which was the piece at left.  This small painting surfaced most recently in 2004 in an auction at Sotheby’s, was sold to a private bidder, who sold it again, and has been under the radar ever since.

Until now, that is: this controversial little painting is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until around June.  Walter Liedtke, the curator of Dutch paintings at the Met, as well as the former paintings conservationist of the Rijksmuseum, endorse this painting as a late, authentic Vermeer.

I haven’t seen it myself yet, but I can definitely tell you I’ll be at the Met sooner rather than later to catch a glimpse of it.  Until then, share your thoughts — is it real, or as some art historians contend in this post-van Meergeren era of Vermeer studies, probably a fake?

A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals, at the Met until June | Via CultureGrrl
(If you’re interested in the provenance of this work, see this article from the Sotheby’s sales catalogue.)

Art News Tuesday, January 13, 2009 0 comments
Louvre’s Museum Lab

Louvre’s Museum Lab

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Image from Museumlab website

Here’s one more reason I have to go to Tokyo, and soon.  The Museum Lab, a joint project between the Louvre and Dai Nippon Printing, is an experimental space in Tokyo, Japan that combines the high art of the Louvre with brand new technology.  Exhibitions change every four to five months, and focus on one sole artwork, surrounded by multimedia setups that present extensive research on the painting or sculpture by the Louvre art historians.

The current exhibition is on The Slippers by Samuel von Hoogstraten.  Because you have to pay to get into the Museum Lab “museum” area, the descriptions on the websites are teasers rather than thorough, but are nonetheless quite intriguing… You can learn about the Dutch Golden Age and its painting style, step into the room van Hoogstraten presents–exploring the importance of perspective  for the artist (see above image), and even a space where you can share your own interpretations of the symbols/objects within the work.

I’m completely fascinated by these creative blends between art and technology–so I really wish I had the extra cash to take a trip to Tokyo and check out this museum!  Hopefully this experiment will continue for a while (there have been four previous exhibitions, including a Gericault and a Titian) so we can all continue to see what new innovations this space can create.  I’ll certainly have my eye on it–I wonder if any of these technologies will be offered or will catch on and be developed for other museums around the world?

Museum Lab website

Loving Thursday, January 8, 2009 0 comments
NPR’s ‘Museums in the 21st Century’

NPR’s ‘Museums in the 21st Century’

Here’s the best Christmas present a museum nerd could ever ask for.  NPR is releasing a series of programs on today’s museums.  Each one presents an in-depth but easy-to-understand summary of the challenges facing museums in the U.S.–everything from art crime to experimental architecture to education. Thoroughly researched, with quotes from all the great players in the field, each is a fascinating gem.

Listen at NPR’s ‘Museums in the 21st Century’ series webpage.
Via Museum Blogging.

Loving Monday, December 29, 2008 2 comments
People Magazine Recreates Art… Badly

People Magazine Recreates Art… Badly

Wow. Well, recreating tableaus of great art out of celebrities isn’t new — see Scarlett Johanssen in Girl with a Pearl Earring or even Brangelina unintentionally posing as a van Eyck painting — but People Magazine’s special “Sexy Forever” issue recreated “iconic female images,” two of which are paintings.  They say they’re trying to make these icons “hipper” and “hotter” but, well, they just kind of manage to mess up the great works of art.  They tackle American Gothic (the mousy young woman becomes a jewelry-laden sex kitten… huh?) but most striking is the one below, of Ann-Margaret as Whistler’s Mother.  Maybe it’s just my art-history-nerd self speaking, but they’ve managed to ruin everything important about Whistler’s painting–the harmony of shapes and colors created by her figure and the background are instead taken up by Ann-Margaret, posing away in a huge gown of unfurling circular shapes.  Say it with me, art historians: What?!

Oddities Thursday, December 11, 2008 3 comments