Opening tomorrow at Tate Modern is the first major museum exhibition of the diverse work of pioneering Lebanese artist Saloua Raouda Choucair. Based in Beirut, she was taught by traditional landscape painters, but carved out a unique modernist vision of her own, influenced by Islam and western abstract art.
The Saloua Raouda Choucair retrospective runs from 17 April – 20 October 2013.
(Pictured: ‘Composition in Blue Module’ 1947–51, © Saloua Raouda Choucair Foundation)
Design critic Alexandra Lange visited the retrospective of modernist furniture designer George Nelson and found herself even more interested in the graphic design output of his associates than in the furniture itself.
(Pictured: Modern Management Group advertisement (1955) via George Nelson Foundation)
(Source: observatory.designobserver.com)
Interesting piece by Jessica Jenkins on Eye Magazine’s blog today about Überklebt, an exhibition on now in Berlin which features hundreds of posters from the former East Germany, spanning the whole period from just after the Second World War until the fall of the Wall in 1989. The show is curated by Sylke Wunderlich of Stiftung Plakat Ost, a non-profit organisation set up to preserve the GDR’s rich culture of poster art.
The exhibition runs until 17 August 2012.
Überklebt – Plakate aus der DDR
Unter den Linden 40
2nd Floor
10117 Berlin
Exhibition webpage
Pictured: Die burg stellt aus, by Funkat (1948) via Eye magazine
Carsten Güth’s poster for an exhibition at a+ Gallery, Stuttgart.
(via NO TIME FOR TV – Gestaltung von Carsten Güth » Dezemberschau)
Last weekend I visited the Leipziger Buchmesse. Although it’s primarily a trade fair, it seems to be very public-friendly (it attracts more than 160,000 visitors over four days); when I went, the place was swarming with cosplay enthusiasts drawn to a competition in the manga and comics hall.
One of the more interesting areas for me was the Marktplatz Druckgrafik and Buch + Art section, where printmakers, letterpress practitioners, bookbinders and book artists gave demonstrations and showcased their work – something of a celebration of print.
It was also interesting to note the presence of quite a number of Germany’s art schools, whose graphic design and illustration students evidently produce work each year specifically for the fair. I wonder whether many of them end up working for publishers as a direct result of the Leipzig show.
While the Frankfurt Book Fair is bigger and perhaps more international in scope – Leipzig is very much concerned with the German-speaking publishing world – there was much here to be enjoyed for readers of all stripes.
More photos here.
An exhibition celebrating one of the most gifted – but most neglected – British abstract artists has opened at Durham Art Gallery.
John Cecil Stephenson was one of the key figures in the development of abstract painting in Britain, doing much of his most groundbreaking work at the forefront of modernist and constructivist art during the 1930s. He was born to a working-class Bishop Auckland family in 1889. After art school and munitions work during WWI, he settled in Hampstead where his neighbours came to include Herbert Read, Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Naum Gabo. He also became one of Piet Mondrian’s closest friends in London.
He began exploring abstract composition in the early 1930s, initially inspired by forms found in industrial machinery, then progressing to pure geometric non-figuration, contributing over the next decade to many abstract and constructivist exhibitions in England, France and the USA.
Essentially a modest, shy man, Stephenson’s importance was overlooked during his lifetime and after it. He held the position of head of art at Northern Polytechnic in North London for many years, he created murals for the Festival of Britain and architect Bill Curtis’s acclaimed Solar House and he designed glass panels for Queen Mary College and the British pavilion at Brussels Expo 58. Despite this, he didn’t have his first solo show until the late 1950s (he was unable to realise many of his earlier abstract compositions at full size until then due to the short supply of materials). Shortly afterwards though, already by then in his seventies, he suffered a series of strokes which ended his painting career. No public gallery has put on an exhibition of his work for 40 years until now.
The exhibition runs until 19 April 2012.
John Cecil Stephenson: Pioneer of Abstraction
Durham Art Gallery
Aykley Heads
Durham
DH1 5TU
Durham Art Gallery website
Pictured: Rust, Indigo, Blue, Buff (1937) via Liss Fine Art
Currently showing at Peckham Space is The South London Black Music Archive, an exhibition by artist Barby Asante that aims to celebrate, preserve and investigate South Londoners’ personal relationships with moments in black music history.
The venue is transformed into an ‘open archive’ mapping objects which represent and explore the personal stories which comprise the fascinating history of the influence and evolution of black music in South London. Welcoming contributions from the public, this archive includes items such as books, magazines, concert tickets, posters, stories, records and CDs gathered and displayed with the reverence of museum pieces. Asante’s selected objects highlighting seminal moments in this history share the same platform as visitors’ objects and stories depicting their own experiences through music and memorabilia.
Barby Asante said: “The influence of black music on the development on popular music is often overlooked. Black music has also played a significant role in the development of British culture from the 1950s and this is a great opportunity to provide a platform for people to consider the significance of this cultural activity on their lives.”
To coincide with the exhibition, the design collective Åbäke has designed a limited edition 12” single, Legacy Tunes
The exhibition runs until 24 March 2012
The South London Black Music Archive
Peckham Space
University of the Arts, London
89 Peckham High Street
London
SE15 5RS
www.peckhamspace.com
(Source: hardformat.org)
There’s an in-depth post on the Eye magazine blog about California Design, Living in a Modern Way, the exhibition of mid-century design from the sunshine state which is currently running at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
From the exhibition blurb:
The exhibition, the first major study of modern California design, examines the state’s role in shaping the material culture of the entire US with more than 350 objects, comprising furniture, ceramics, metalwork, graphic and industrial design, film, textiles, and fashion. The exhibition begins by tracing the origins of a distinctive California modernism in the 1930s, including work by Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler and their contemporaries. It then explores the design innovations made possible by the conversion of WWII technologies to peace-time use, exemplified by the plywood and fibreglass furniture pioneered by Charles & Ray Eames. The heart of the exhibition focuses on the modern California home, famously characterised by open plans and indoor/outdoor living and furnished with products from companies such as Heath Ceramics, Van Keppel-Green and Architectural Pottery. The show concludes by exploring how ‘The California Look’ was disseminated by exhibitions, magazines, shops and films throughout America and the world.
You can see images of the show and its exhibits on Eye’s Flickr set
California Design, 1930-65: Living in a Modern Way
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
USA
www.lacma.org
(image: California Lobster swimwear by Mary Ann DeWeese for Catalina Sportswear, 1949 via LACMA)
An exhibition of work by one of the foremost commercial artists of the twentieth century and a major figure in Modernism has just opened at the Estorick Collection in London. The Poster King: Edward McKnight Kauffer focuses mainly on Kauffer’s time in England between 1914 and 1940 when he designed 250 posters and 150 book jackets for clients such as London Underground, Shell, Nonesuch Press and Lund Humphries.
Pictured: BP Ethyl Controls Horse-power from Making a Poster by Austin Cooper
The show runs until 18 December
Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art
39a Canonbury Square
Islington
London N1 2AN
www.estorickcollection.com
