Displaying items by tag: norton simon museum

The creation of three shades of blue hues — Prussian, cobalt and ultramarine — in 18th and 19th century European art, spanning from the Rococo period to Impressionism, is the subject of a colorful exhibition at the Norton Simon Museum, "A Revolution of the Palette: The First Synthetic Blues and Their Impact on French Artists."

"Previously, there were a limited number of options for oil painting," noted conservator and curator John Griswold. "Common indigo blue pigment did not stand up in oil, often turning to mushy gray."

The Norton Simon Museum presents Fragonard’s Enterprise: The Artist and the Literature of Travel, an exhibition that presents 60 drawings created by a young Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French, 1732–1806) during his first and most important stay in Italy in the mid-18th century. These exquisite works document Fragonard’s voyage to see the great artistic treasures of Florence, Bologna, and Padua, among other cities. Fragonard’s Enterprise explores the excitement of this expedition, the documentary and practical value of the drawings, and their history following publication, especially as they were treasured by later collectors.

California’s District Court has emphatically denied a motion to dismiss a case about the ownership of Lucas Cranach the Elder’s life-size "Adam and Eve," around 1530.

This court ruling is the latest twist in a bitter legal battle that began in Federal Court in 2007 when Marei von Saher, the heir of Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, filed for ownership of the paintings.

They were part of a collection of more than 1,200 works owned by Goudstikker, who fled the Netherlands in 1940 after the Nazi invasion. The painting were hung outside the home of Nazi Reichsmarschall Herman Göring at one point during the war, according to von Saher’s court filings, but were returned by Allied Forces to the Netherlands in 1945.

Contrary to popular opinion, James Abbott McNeill Whistler's famous 1871 painting "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1," better known as "Portrait of the Artist's Mother," is not a harsh and puritanical portrayal of a matriarch. It's a homage to the rich and tender relationship shared by a mother and her loving son, says Norton Simon Museum associate curator Emily Beeny.

The painting, made in London while the artist's mother, Anna, was living with him at Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, was the last Whistler would submit to the Royal Academy of Art.

The US Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of Pasadena's Norton Simon Museum in the case of the ownership of Lucas Cranach the Elder's paintings "Adam" and "Eve" (both circa 1530). The artworks originally belonged to Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, who in 1940 was forced to flee the Netherlands following the Nazi invasion.

The case, which has been in federal court since 2007, was originally dismissed in the museum's favor in 2012. Goudstikker's daughter-in-law, Marei Von Saher, got a second chance last June, when a judge ruled that the pursuit of her claims did not conflict with US federal policy (see Norton Simon's Nazi-Looted Adam and Eve to Head Back to Court).

The Norton Simon Museum announces a special installation of Édouard Manet’s poetic "The Railway," 1873, a highlight from the National Gallery of Art’s esteemed 19th-century collection. Evident in this dramatic work are Manet’s characteristic brushwork, his brilliant use of color and sense of composition, and his striking portrayal of modern life—indeed, the scene is set near the bustling Gare Saint-Lazare. Its installation at the Norton Simon Museum marks the first time the painting has been on view on the West Coast. It will be installed in the Norton Simon’s Impressionist Art Wing from Dec. 5, 2014, through March 2, 2015.

"We are delighted to continue the exciting exchange program with the National Gallery of Art," says Museum President Walter W. Timoshuk. "This mesmerizing masterpiece, the fourth loan from the esteemed Washington institution, will, we hope, enchant our visitors during its three-month stay."

James Abbott McNeill Whistler's iconic 1871 painting "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1," better known as "Portrait of the Artist's Mother," is coming to Pasadena's Norton Simon Museum in March as part of an exchange with the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the museum announced Wednesday.

The first-time collaboration between the museums will see three 19th century masterpieces from the Norton Simon traveling to the Musée d’Orsay, while three paintings from the Paris museum will visit Pasadena. The six paintings will be on display simultaneously March 27 to June 22.

A special guest is pulling into the Norton Simon Museum just in time for Christmas.

Edouard Manet's 1873 painting "The Railway" will take up temporary residence in the museum's Impressionist Art Wing on Dec. 5. The painting, which depicts a young woman reading beside the Gare Saint-Lazare, will remain there until March 2, 2015.

After that  it will return to its home at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., which acquired it in 1956.

A bite of the apple is said to have gotten Adam and Eve thrown out of the Garden of Eden.

Now the Norton Simon Museum wants another bite at the apple as it tries to have a legal threat to one of its most prized artworks thrown out of court. At stake are Lucas Cranach the Elder’s 1530 paired paintings “Adam” and “Eve,” which have hung in the Pasadena museum since the 1970s.

The museum has asked for a rehearing of a June decision that went against it in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, when two members of a three-judge panel revived Marei Von Saher’s claim to “Adam” and “Eve” after it had been dismissed two years earlier in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

The recently released movie "The Monuments Men" tells of Hitler's attempt to steal or destroy Europe's greatest works of art, and the men FDR sent into harm's way to stop him. Thousands of works of art and many masterpieces were recovered and returned to their rightful owners. Yet today, seven decades after the fall of the Third Reich, other stolen works of art—some from owners who perished in the Holocaust—hang in museums in Europe and in America.

In the U.S., for instance, the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif., is fighting a claim by Marei von Saher, heir of Jewish Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, whose collection was forcibly sold to the Nazis in 1940. The works in question are 16th-century oil paintings by Lucas Cranach. The museum has denied Ms. von Saher's claim on grounds that the statute of limitations on looted art has run out.