FOR JANUARY 7 -
FOR JANUARY 7 â
LEGENDARY CERAMICS FROM TURKEY â
WD/jl set 12-29 #614182
NEW YORK CITY â School of Visual Arts (SVA), the Iznik Foundation of Istanbul, Turkey, and the Moon and Stars Project of New York will present âIznik, Legendary Ceramics from Turkey: An Art Reborn,â the first exhibition of its kind in the United States, January 15âFebruary 26.
This exhibition brings to life a traditional Turkish ceramic art that has been lost for the last three centuries. With more than 50 examples of quartz tiles, plates and vessels, the exhibition offers a unique opportunity to see recent works alongside traditional Sixteenth Century examples on loan from the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The presentation includes documentation of architectural Iznik masterpieces and will touch upon the renaissance of Iznik-style production in Turkey today.
Iznik (ancient Nicaea) is a town in northwest Turkey and in its heyday â during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent (1520â1566) â was an important artistic and cultural center. Although traditional Iznik tiles have not been produced for more than 300 years, they are well known l the world over for their vibrant colors and the complexity and diversity of their designs. Iznik ceramics appear as kitchen utensils, tableware and vessels, as well as architectural elements. The tiles have adorned palaces, mosques, public buildings and domestic interiors and have survived to the present day in all their splendor.
Iznik ware reflects an Islamic aesthetic and art making practice emphasizing repetition and tradition. The radiant colors used resemble those of semiprecious stones, such as the dark blue of lapis lazuli, turquoise blue, emerald green and especially the brilliant coral red. The figures and designs may reflect the flora and fauna of the region or allegorical symbols, such as bravery, immortality and fer-tility. Many have inscriptions and calligraphy, which are used not to praise or describe any particular individual, but rather to express Islamic thought and philosophy.
Although no documentation exists of the actual process of making Iznik ware, historical examples confirm extremely intricate production methods. The raw materials are obtained from Iznik and its surroundings. This includes the quartz mineral, which is ground and mixed with clay, glass, frit and water to make the paste. The paste is then pressed into wooden frames and left to dry. The designs are drawn on paper and then transferred onto the tiles, painted and then fired at temperatures exceeding 900 degrees.
The Visual Arts Gallery is in the Starrett-Lehigh Building at 209 East 23rd Street in Chelsea. For information, www.SchoolofVisualArts.edu or 212- 592-2010.
1-7 THREE AMERICAN MODERNIST WOMEN ARTIST
FOR JANUARY 7 â
THREE AMERICAN MODERNIST WOMEN ARTIST â
 WD/jl set 12-29 #614182
NEW YORK CITY â DC Moore Gallery, in association with Gary Snyder Fine Art, will present exhibitions of three American modernist artists: Janet Sobel, Hilla Rebay and Beatrice Mandelman. Snyder is known for his expertise in American abstraction of the 1920s through the 1960s, and the association will complement DC Mooreâs expertise in historically rooted American painting and contemporary art.
Sobel (1884â1968) is best known as the self-taught artist whose drip paintings of the early 1940s influenced Jackson Pollock. Her work, which was exhibited at Peggy Guggenheimâs Art of This Century gallery in a solo show in 1946, has been acclaimed both in the context of Abstract Expressionism and in the âoutsiderâ world of self-taught artists. This work will be previewed in a small exhibition at DC Moore Gallery, FridayâSunday, January 28â30, contemporaneous with the Outsider Art Fair at the Puck Building. A major exhibition of Sobelâs work with an accompanying catalog is scheduled for the 2005-2006 season.
âHilla Rebay and the Museum of Non-Objective Paintingâ is scheduled for May 12âJune 30, and will focus on the pioneering artist and first director of what is now the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The exhibition, with an accompanying catalog, coincides with the Guggenheim Museumâs Rebay retrospective, and will feature paintings by Rebay, Rudolf Bauer, Ilya Bolotowsky, Rolph Scarlett, Jean Xceron and others. DC Mooreâs East Gallery will also present an exhibition of Rebayâs works on paper, including early abstractions from 1918 to 1922 and figurative collages of the 1920s.
Mandelman (1912â1998) is a Taos Modernist whose work was featured in the exhibition âThe Triumph of Beatrice Mandelmanâ at The Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, N.M., in 2002. Mandelman was involved in the early years of the New York School, and summered with Jackson Pollock in 1943. In 1944, Mandelman moved to New Mexico with her husband Louis Ribak, where she was part of a group of Taos Modernist artists that married Abstract Expressionism with a strong sense of the American West.
DC Moore Gallery is on the eighth floor of 724 Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th streets. For information, www.dcmooregallery.com or 212-247-2111.