For those of our clients with travel plans in Europe this summer, Artview has put together some recommended art stops along the way should you find yourselves in:
Switzerland
The Basel Art Fair:
I spent five rainy days last week at this doyenne of the international fair circuit, now in its forty-first year. Usually opening in the early days of June, this year’s Art Basel 41 ran a little later – June 16 to 20 – allowing many who are usually constrained by school holiday schedules to attend. This year’s event will be comprehensively reviewed in the art press and so I will not cover it in detail here. It is, however, an important event to look out for next year.
Fondation Beyeler:
A short tram ride from Basel on one of Switzerland’s very efficient trams, the Fondation Beyeler is a ‘must see’ art venue. Now open to the public and housed in Renzo Piano’s elegant new building, the Beyeler collection comprises some 230 works of classic modernism ranging from Monet, Cézanne and van Gogh to Warhol and Lichtenstein. Currently on view through September 5, 2010 is a stunning exhibition of over 100 works by the tragically short-lived East Village wild child Jean-Michel Basquiat. Seamlessly and sensitively interspersed amongst this installation are several quietly lyrical works by fellow American Felix Gonzalez-Torres as well as some stunning juxtapositions of work – Gerhard Richter vs. a Monet water lilies for instance – from the permanent collection.
The Schaulager:
Also a short ride from Basel, the Schaulager is currently showing a Matthew Barney work called Prayer Sheet with the Wound and the Nail. An institution usually reserved for scholars, researchers and restoration specialists, the Schaulager opens its doors to the general public for special occasions and its schedule is always worth checking. Many of our clients will be familiar with Barney’s stranger-than-strange work form our Cremaster Cycle seminar and Guggenheim Museum visit of several years back.
Zurich’s Löwenbräu District:
Less than an hour by train on Switzerland’s ever-punctual railway, many Basel visitors choose to stay in Zurich, where a number of long established museums and prestigious commercial galleries show blue chip art. The latest arrival on the scene is the recently reclaimed and renovated Löwenbräu beer plant facility. Home to some leading contemporary galleries (Hauser & Wirth, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Galerie Eva Presenhuber and Galerie Bob van Orsouw) the center includes the larger exhibition spaces and the very cutting edge exhibition programs of both the Zurich Kunsthalle and the Migros Museum.
Zurich’s Grossmünster:
With origins dating back to Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire, this small but beautiful cathedral recently enjoyed a fresh infusion of contemporary art energy with a commissioned installation by German master Sigmar Polke. Polke, who sadly passed away earlier this month at the age of 69, incorporated both figurative imagery and abstract composition into the seven breath-takingly gorgeous windows. Modern techniques for finely slicing natural agate were employed to moving visual effect in the abstract panels.
France
For those heading south for some sun on the Riviera coast, the region offers some very rewarding opportunities for looking at good art. I am listing here a handful of the smaller venues around Nice and Cannes on the Côte d’Azur.
St. Paul de Vence:
Fondation Maeght in St. Paul de Vence is a parking-friendly, medium sized institution featuring a fine collection of 20th Century masterworks with particularly strong holdings in sculpture. Skillfully installed around the small
but lovely park are a number of very strong pieces by Miro, Giacometti and Calder, several of which are installed to great effect amid mosaics or in reflecting pools. Next, climb the hill to the village, treat yourself to lunch at Colombe d’Or and enjoy the staggering collection of paintings by Picasso, Braque, Léger and Calder that have been amassed over the decades by the proprietor Roux family, many given by the artists by way of payment for food and shelter or simply in friendship. A stroll around the rather over-gentrified village is worthwhile but do not be tempted to buy art at the local galleries. Most of it is poor.
Vence:
The Matisse Chapel in Vence is a joy to behold, especially on a sunny day when the luminous blue tile roof shimmers in the southern light. Created as a gift to a nun who nursed him through a period of ill health, the abstract, motif-inflected style of Matisse’s last years unfolds in the blue, yellow and green stained glass
windowswhich magically illuminate the all white interior and the fourteen Stations of the Cross rendered across the chapel’s end wall. Inspired and re-energized by this campaign of work, Matisse went on to produce a famous series of aquatint portrait studies – some barely more than a single stroke of the brush.
Antibes:
Re-opened in the summer of 2009 after two years of renovation, the Musée Picasso in Antibes is situated in the ancient Grimaldi Palace close to the ramparts of the old town and with a dazzling view of the sea. In its current guise, the museum dates back to 1946 when Picasso visited the museum to see an exhibition of children’s paintings on view there. Invited by the town to make use of some of the galleries, Picasso set up studio in the palace, creating work in situ and donating them to the museum. The Musée is adjacent to the local open Provençal market, which is a delight to shop early on in the day.
Vallauris:
Again, made famous by Pablo Picasso, the little village of Vallauris was the site of Picasso’s re-awakened interest in ceramics. The interior of a small church at the top end of the village is powerfully decorated by the master and the town is full of ceramics studios and boutiques – some quite good, others purveyors of mass-produced tourist fare.
Villefranche:
Close to the Italian border but a lovely drive from Antibes along the seaside roads and through Nice, is the port of Villefranche with its tiny chapel decorated by playwright and artist Jean Cocteau. A lovely little town with some delicious fish restaurants along the port, the town can sometimes be invaded by cruise ship passengers, the bay having the deepest natural channel along this stretch of the Mediterranean coast.
England
England of course has many art viewing pleasures beyond the Greater London area but here are four ‘must-stop’ venues even if you are only passing through.
Tate Modern:
The Swiss architectural firm of Herzog and de Meuron (The Beijing Bird’s Nest and 40 Bond Street in NoHo) have made this former electricity generating station into one of Europe’s most popular museums. Its great Turbine Hall regularly houses site specific spectacles that could not be accommodated elsewhere and is worth the trip south of the river. Currently on view through September 5, the Belgian-born Francis Alys. See it ahead of your friends; the show travels to the Museum of Modern Art in New York for the summer of 2011.
Tate Britain:
Not to be overshadowed by its younger, flashier sister, Tate Britain stands sedately on Millbank, a short stroll up the Thames from the Houses of Parliament. The Turner Galleries still give me a chill and if you only have thirty minutes to spare, follow Tate suggested itinerary through its wonderful holdings and hit the highlights. You will see many old friends including Sir John Everett Millais’s Ophelia, 1851-2, Aubrey Beardsley’s weirdly sinuous fin-de-siecle drawings, John Singer Sargant’s ethereall charming Carnation, Lily, Lily Rose, 1885-6 and some stunning Pre-Raphaelites. Rude Britannia: British Comic Art sounds like fun should all of that English Romanticism start to cloy.
The Hayward:
Another artist we have had the good fortune to get to know in New York will be showing at The Hayward Gallery on the South Bank through September 5. One of Brazilian Ernesto Neto’s pendulous and olfactory extravaganzas was most recently installed in the huge Drill Hall of the Park Avenue Armory and many of you will have seen it. At the Hayward this summer, what Artforum describes as “Six participatory installations across two galleries and three sculpture courts.”
The Royal Acadamy:
Last but not least, England’s version of our Whitney Biennial – the show everyone loves to hate. Now in its 242nd controversial year, the Summer Exhibition is the largest open-submission show in existence, often attracting as many as 11,000 applications. This year’s selections (all of them for sale) have been around the them “Raw.”