News from Around the Art World: July 9, 2018
Art Institute of Chicago Showcases Yoshida Family Prints
The Yoshida family “has produced several names that have been central to the major Japanese print movements of the 20th century,” the museum says. Yoshida Hiroshi (1876–1950) the family patriarch was an influential figure in the in the history of woodblock printing. His shin-hanga style and landscape images are popular among collectors from across the globe as well as in Japan. After his death, the family adopted new styles, such as abstraction, and began to experiment with work influenced by artists from other cultures.
Via Blouin Artinfo
Reclaimed art steals the spotlight at Loyola University Museum of Art's summer exhibitions
Contemporary art is increasingly defined by what is intrinsically “new,” yet, often, artists look to the past — found objects, childhood memories — to light a creative spark. The artists behind Loyola University Museum of Art’s three new summer exhibitions understand the power of the idea of reclamation and incorporating forgotten artifacts in their art.
By Morgan Smith, Chicago Tribune
Rediscovering the Painter Whose Grotesque Subject Matter Kept Him out of the Canon
In 1890, Oscar Wilde finished the first version of his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. The book’s titular character is a young, naïve beauty who becomes terrified of losing his looks; for reasons never fully explained, he is able to remain young and pretty while his portrait grows old and ugly, mirroring his rapid moral decay.
In 1943, film director Albert Lewin—then in the early stages of adapting Wilde’s macabre tale for the big screen—went in search of an artist suited to paint a version of the famous picture. The artist he commissioned for the task was Ivan Le Lorraine Albright, and the image Albright completed would become one of the jewels of his career, not to mention the film’s most memorable highlight.
By Jackson Arn, Artsy Editorial
A (Bigger) View From the Bridge: The Hamptons’ Art and Car Fair Doubles in Size for Its Sophomore Year
The Hamptons’ boutique outdoor art fair the Bridge is preparing to return to Long Island for its second edition—this time, at double the size and with a new name.
While a number of Hamptons fairs have shut down in recent years due to rising competition and dipping demand, the Bridge has managed to grow. Now called the September Art Fair at the Bridge (after the Bridgehampton golf club that hosts the event), the fair has expanded from six dealers to 12 and added a number of international participants from cities ranging from Düsseldorf to St. Moritz.
By Henri Neuendorf, Artnet News
Long Hidden From View, Longest Painting in North America—’Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World’—Returns
On July 14, an artwork equal in length to 14 blue whales placed in a line will go on display in its entirety for the first time in more than half a century. Incidentally, those colossal creatures are central to the work. At 1,275 feet long, the Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World, which was painted in 1848 in New Bedford, Massachusetts by Benjamin Russell, an artist and merchant, and Caleb Purrington, a sign painter, is the longest painting in North America, according to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, which is staging the work’s big return.
By Claire Selvin, Art News