Displaying items by tag: black and white

The Parrish Art Museum will debut an extensive survey of the photography of Chuck Close, one of the most important figures in contemporary art, opening this Sunday, May 10 with a reception at 11 a.m.

On view through July 26, the exhibition will feature some 90 images from 1964 to the present, showcasing an arc of the artist’s exploration of photography— from early black and white maquettes to monumental composite Polaroids and intimately scaled daguerreotypes and his most recent Polaroid nudes. The exhibition explores how Mr. Close has stretched the boundaries of photographic means, methods and approaches.

Richard Avedon may be synonymous with iconic fashion photography, but the lensman was known for his striking portraits of powerful personalities too.

While on commission by Rolling Stone magazine to cover the 1976 presidential election, Avedon created black and white portraits of luminaries such as Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford; A.M. Rosenthal, a former managing editor of the New York Times who gained fame for publishing the Pentagon Papers; and W. Mark Felt, also known as “Deep Throat.” Sixty nine of these portraits, collectively titled “The Family,” will feature as part of “Richard Avedon: Family Affairs,” now on at the National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH) in Philadelphia.

The month after a Salvador Dali sketch turned up at Washington state Goodwill shop, an Alexander Calder lithograph was discovered at one of the bargain chain’s outposts in Milwaukee, WI. Karen Mallet, a media relations specialist for Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., bought the print for $12.34 after she spotted a Calder signature on the bold black-and-white artwork.

Mallett did some research on the Internet and found a number of Calder lithographs that bore a striking resemblance to the work she had purchased. She discovered that the piece in question, titled Rudolph, was the 55^th lithograph in a series of 75 created by Calder in 1969. Jacobs Fine Art Inc. in Chicago valued the piece at $9,000.

An important American artist of the 20^th century, Calder is best know for his sculptures, specifically his mobiles and stabiles. However, Calder also produced an impressive number of paintings and prints throughout his illustrious career.

Although Mallett was not particularly enamored by the Calder lithograph at first, she says that she is growing to like it and has no plans to sell.

Picasso Black and White opened earlier this month at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The first major exhibition to focus on the artist’s lifelong exploration of a black and white palette features 118 painting, sculptures, and works on paper spanning from 1904 to 1971. Five of the works have never been exhibited or published and another thirty-eight works have never been on view in the U.S.

The Guggenheim exhibition has received plenty of praise since its opening but there is one painting in the show that is unlike the others. Woman Ironing (La Repasseuse) is a quintessential image of the disenfranchised people Picasso focused on during his Blue Period (1901–1904). Painted at the tail end of the period, the white and gray palette creates a tired, bleak atmosphere for the frail woman who stands hunched over her iron. But there is something beyond this gloomy woman.

Picasso painted Woman Ironing while he was a struggling artist in his 20s. For economy’s sake he reused an old canvas that he had already used for the beginnings of a portrait of man with a mustache, which he later abandoned. In 1989 an infrared camera detected the presence of the man underneath Woman Ironing. Advances in x-ray and infrared technology have allowed a clearer image of the mysterious mustachioed man and scholars, curators, and conservators have various theories as to who he is. Suggestions include Richard Canals, a rival artist and friend of Picasso, Mateu de Soto, a sculptor with whom Picasso shared apartments and studios with, and Benet Soler, a tailor who was one of Picasso’s oldest friends. Some theories suggest the man with the mustache was one of Picasso’s early self-portraits.

Black and White and Woman Ironing will be on view at the Guggenheim through January 23, 2013.