Museum of London || Exhibition: Sherlock Holmes ~ The Man Who Never Lived And Will Never Die || until 12.04.2015

This year the Museum of London welcomes an exciting new exhibition, delving into the mind of the world’s most famous fictional detective; Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.

Asking searching questions such as who is Sherlock Holmes, and why does he still conjure up such enduring fascination, this major exhibition – London’s first on the detective since 1951 – will explore how Sherlock Holmes has transcended literature onto stage and screen and continues to attract huge audiences to this day.

Going beyond film and fiction, visitors to the museum will be transported to the real Victorian London – the backdrop for many of Conan Doyle’s stories. Through early film, photography, paintings and original artefacts, the exhibition will recreate the atmosphere of Sherlock’s London, with visitors able to envisage the places that the detective visited and imagine they are standing on the pavement of the Strand watching the horse drawn traffic pass by.

Museum of London, Sherlock Holmes exhibition, until 12.04.2015

Museum of London, Sherlock Holmes exhibition, until 12.04.2015

Museum of London, Sherlock Holmes exhibition, until 12.04.2015

Museum of London, Sherlock Holmes exhibition, until 12.04.2015

Museum of London, Sherlock Holmes exhibition, until 12.04.2015

Museum of London, Sherlock Holmes exhibition, until 12.04.2015

Museum of London, Sherlock Holmes exhibition, until 12.04.2015

Source: Museum of London

The National Gallery Oslo || Exhibition: Dahl and Friedrich. Romantic Landscapes || until 04.01.2015

The exhibition “Dahl and Friedrich. Romantic Landscapes” is a collaboration between the National Museum in Oslo and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, where it will be shown in 2015.

Johan Christian Dahl (1788–1857) and Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840) both taught at the Academy of Fine Art in Dresden, with each in his own way adding a new dimension to romantic landscape painting. This is the first time that paintings and drawings by these two artists have been presented in one and the same exhibition.

The spontaneity and realism of Dahl’s paintings contrasts with the more contemplative themes of Friedrich’s works, which often carry religious overtones.

H.M. Queen Sonja is the patron of the exhibition.

Dahl and Friedrich. Romantic Landscapes, National Gallery, Oslo, 2014, 2015

Dahl and Friedrich. Romantic Landscapes, National Gallery, Oslo, 2014, 2015

Dahl and Friedrich. Romantic Landscapes, National Gallery, Oslo, 2014, 2015

Dahl and Friedrich. Romantic Landscapes, National Gallery, Oslo, 2014, 2015

Dahl and Friedrich. Romantic Landscapes, National Gallery, Oslo, 2014, 2015

Dahl and Friedrich. Romantic Landscapes, National Gallery, Oslo, 2014, 2015

Source: Nasjonalmuseet

Museum of Decorative Arts and Design || Exhibition: Julie Skarland. Paris – New Delhi – Oslo || from 19.102014 until 01.02.2015

The fashion designer Julie Skarland has spent her entire career abroad.

Her first stop was Paris, where she founded the company Julie Skarland / Princess-factory in 1991. There she presented new fashion collections each year, before opening her
own sales outlet in 1998. In 2005 she moved to New Delhi in India to produce in accordance with fair trade principles. Right from the start, knitting, recycling and deconstruction have been recurring elements of her style, which is inspired by folklore and fairy tales.

The exhibition offers a broad introduction to Skarland’s creative processes, with a focus on costumes from her Paris collections and from her years in New Delhi. Her production is further illustrated with photographs, drawings and videos.

Source: Nasjonalmuseet

Tate Modern || Exhibition: Richard Tuttle: I Don’t Know . The Weave of Textile Language || until 06.04.2015

Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall has played host to some of the world’s most striking and memorable works of contemporary art. Now, this vast space welcomes the largest work ever created by renowned American sculptor Richard Tuttle (born 1941).

Entitled I Don’t Know . The Weave of Textile Language, this newly commissioned sculpture combines vast sways of fabrics designed by the artist from both man-made and natural fibres in three bold and brilliant colours.

The commission is part of a wider survey of the artist taking place in London this autumn and comprising a major exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery surveying five decades of Tuttle’s career and a sumptuous new publication rooted in the artist’s own collection of historic and contemporary textiles.

A double whammy of exhibitions for the revered American artist: a textile-based commission in the Tate’s Turbine Hall and a retrospective at the Whitechapel.
Evening Standard, Autumn 2014’s hottest London events

Banner image credits: © Nick Danziger

Textile material provided by Garden Silks Mills Ltd

Jim Leaver, Project Manager 

Organised by Tate Modern in association with the Whitechapel Gallery

Venue: Turbine Hall

Richard Tuttle I Don’t Know . The Weave of Textile Language 2014

Richard Tuttle I Don’t Know . The Weave of Textile Language 2014

Richard Tuttle I Don’t Know . The Weave of Textile Language 2014

Source: Tate Modern

The Russian Museum || Exhibition: Gregory Pototsky || until 20.10.2014

The new exhibition presents works of art of the modern Russian sculptor Gregory Pototsky, who has obtained recognition in Russia and abroad. He has had solo exhibitions in different cities of Russia and also in Germany, France, the United States, Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, Turkey, Japan, Malaysia, Moldova, Macedonia, Latvia, Greece, Estonia, Serbia and the Philippines, where his sculptures, memorials and commemorative plaques are installed. Pototsky is the founder and president of the International Academy of Kindness, which runs “In Russia with Kindness, from Russia with kindness”, a major charity programme. He has also been honored many times, including the order of Honored Citizen of Russia. Several films are dedicated to him, among which are The Magician from Old Art, Mission Peacemaker, New Pygmalion, Art that Changes Lives and the World of Gregory Pototsky. He has also been the subject of television programmes, dozens of articles and several catalogues have been published, as well as the biography Artistic Reproduction of the Soul.

Sculptures of Pototsky, presented on the exhibition, reveal his talent of combining traditions of Russian academic art, French impressionism and artistic inventions of Antoine Bourdelle. In his portraits of prominent contemporaries (poet Andrei Voznesensky, writer Paulo Coelho, couturier Pierre Cardin, filmmaker Emir Kusturica etc.) Pototsky develops the ideas of Alberto Giacometti and other sculptural modernism masters of the XX centuries and creates expressive individual images. His artistic style is characterized by the love for expressive modelling and texture intensification. In some of his works the artist tends to the utmost simplification of the form, approaching pure abstractionist vision.

Stroganov Palace

Actress Natalia Andreichenko. 2011. Bronze. 35х17х25

Movie Director Luis Gasia Berlanga. 2009. Bronze. 108х38х45

Writer Paulo Koelio. 2006. Bronze. 48х21х25

Dandelion – a Symbol of Kindness (Tallinn, Estonia). 2007. Bronze.

Movie Director Sergey Paradganov. 2011. Bronze. 90х60х28

Actor Innokentiy Smoktunovsky. 1992. Bronze. 41х20х28

Source: The Russian Museum

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts || Exhibition: UK-Russia Year of Culture. Oscar Wilde. Aubrey Beardsley. A Russian Perspective || until 16.11.2014

Oscar Wilde. Aubrey Beardsley. A Russian Perspective is a special exhibition for the Russia-UK Year of Culture. It will feature around 150 works by Aubrey Beardsley including drawings and the prints made for Oscar Wilde’s “Salome”. The exhibition also includes works by Beardsley’s Russian followers, magazines with which Beardsley, Wilde and their followers were involved, Wilde’s books and autographs, photographic prints and archive materials.

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts || Exhibition: UK-Russia Year of Culture. Oscar Wilde. Aubrey Beardsley. A Russian Perspective || from 23.09.2014 until 16.11.2014

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts || Exhibition: UK-Russia Year of Culture. Oscar Wilde. Aubrey Beardsley. A Russian Perspective || from 23.09.2014 until 16.11.2014

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts || Exhibition: UK-Russia Year of Culture. Oscar Wilde. Aubrey Beardsley. A Russian Perspective || from 23.09.2014 until 16.11.2014

Aubrey Beardsley. Self-portrait, 1892. Pen and ink wash on paper British Museum, London

Source: The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

National Museum of Scotland || Exhibition: Ming ~ The Golden Empire || until 19.10.2014

Discover the extraordinary story of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), a period of China’s history marked by economic strength and a dramatic flourishing of the arts.

Meaning brilliant or bright, the Ming era represents the starting point of modern China. A collection of original artefacts from the Nanjing Museum, including Chinese National Treasures, introduce key aspects of the Ming dynasty, focussing on the remarkable cultural, technological and economic achievements of the period. This will be the only UK showing of this internationally significant exhibition.

About the exhibition

Exquisite luxury items and rare objects reveal the wealth and opulence of the Ming imperial court. These include the iconic blue and white porcelain with which the Ming period is synonymous, as well as sumptuous silk textiles, gold and jades, and rare examples of elaborately enamelled cloisonné.

A richly coloured painting from the early Ming illustrates the symbolic grandeur and geometrical order of Beijing’s newly-built Forbidden City. It was to be the imperial seat for emperors and their households for the following five centuries, and was the world’s largest palace complex.

Artworks by leading painters reveal the preoccupations of Ming society’s cultural elite, from courtesans to dreams of escape from official life. A collection of life-size portraits show the faces of the Ming’s educated elite – men who were at the very top of the late Ming social order.

The Ming was also a period of social transformation, resulting in a thriving consumer culture. Many forms of visual art and handicraft flourished. Beautiful furniture, musical instruments, Buddhist artefacts and items of personal adornment bring to life the elegant tastes and concerns of this gilded age. Investigating the prosperous Ming economy and its effects on social order and cultural systems during the 16th and 17th centuries, the exhibition also reflects on the legacy the Ming has left Chinese culture.

You can read what visitors have been saying about the exhibition here and see inside here:

Calligraphy in cursive grass script by Zhu Yunming (1460-1527) © Nanjing Museum / Nomad Exhibitions

Map Of The Myriad Countries Of The World By Matteo Ricci 1552 1610 And Li Zhizao 1565 1630 © Nanjing Museum / Nomad Exhibitions

Dish with floral decoration Jingdezhen Jiangxi province © Nanjing Museum / Nomad Exhibitions

Idly fishing on an Autumn river silk painting by Shen Zhou (1427-1509) © Nanjing Museum / Nomad Exhibitions

Hexagonal vase with floral decoration, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province © Nanjing Museum / Nomad Exhibitions

Gold cicada on a leaf of jade © Nanjing Museum / Nomad Exhibitions

The Forbidden City And Its Architect Kuai Xiang (1398 1481) © Nanjing Museum / Nomad Exhibitions

Bamboo pot carved with pines and cranes carved by Zhu He © Nanjing Museum / Nomad Exhibitions

Ming
The Golden Empire
Dragon, National Museum of Scotland, poster

This exhibition has been produced by Nomad Exhibitions in association with Nanjing Museum.

Ming: The Golden Empire is sponsored by

Source: National Museum of Scotland

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art || Exhibition: American Impressionism | A New Vision || until 19.10.2014

The exhibition traces the discovery of Impressionism by American artists in the late 19th-century. Divided into four groups these include: major figures such as Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler who lived in Paris and were close personal friends of the French Impressionists, especially Degas and Monet; the group of American artists who trained in Paris and/ or settled near Monet at Giverny in 1887; American Impressionists working in the USA, including William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam and Theodore Robinson and Later Impressionism and the American group known as ‘The Ten’.

This exhibition is organized by the musée des impressionnismes Giverny and the Terra Foundation for American Art in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. With the generous support of the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Image: Frank Weston Benson, Eleanor, 1901, Gift of the Estate of Mrs. Gustav Radeke. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

“An astonishing show” The Herald

“This exhibition is Edinburgh’s summer crowd-pleaser” Financial Times

“…full of radical talent” The Guardian

Sponsors

American Impressionism | A New Vision
19th July − 19th October 2014
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, poster Frank Weston Benson, Eleanor, 1901, Gift of the Estate of Mrs. Gustav Radeke. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

Source: Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

National Museum of Scotland || Exhibition: Common Cause ~ Commonwealth Scots and the Great War || until 12.10.2014

Explore the stories of the Scottish diaspora and the war experiences of Commonwealth nations during the First World War.

About the exhibition

In 1914, as the world prepared for war, thousands of men in Scotland enlisted for military service. Across the world, in the countries of the British empire where Scottish emigrants had settled, thousands more joined up.

Men of Scottish birth and kin became part of the armed forces of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, while in the great cities of England the Scottish military tradition also went to war.

Through poignant objects on loan from some of the countries where Scots had made new lives, as well as newsreel footage and photography, discover how war and loss was experienced and commemorated in different parts of the Commonwealth.

Harold Brierley was a resident of Oldham, Lancashire when he volunteered for the ‘Manchester Scottish’. Serving with 15th Battalion Royal Scots, he was wounded and taken prisoner during the battle of Arras in 1917. This purse and coins were damaged by the impact of a bullet which hit Brierley in the chest.

Pipe banner of the 92nd Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1915. The regimental badge, with its Gaelic motto ‘Dileas Gu Brath’ (Faithful Forever), was borrowed from the 48th Highlanders of Canada, based in Toronto. New overseas battalions drew upon the identities of older Scottish regiments.

James Sutherland was born in Caithness, Scotland. In 1914, when war broke out, he was working as a farm hand in Knapdale, near Gore in Southland, an area of concentrated Scottish settlement in New Zealand. He joined the 2nd Battalion Otago Infantry and served on the Western Front until his death in action in December 1917. This print was produced locally to commemorate men of Knapdale killed in the war. Sutherland’s portrait is at bottom left.

Slouch hat belonging to EG Sinclair MacLagan, 1918. This type of hat became a symbol of Australian military identity. Sinclair MacLagan was a senior officer who commanded Australian troops at Gallipoli and in France. He was a Scotsman, but was considered an ‘honorary Australian’ and was one of the very few non-Australians still commanding at the end of the war.

Kilt made for issue to the 4th South African Infantry, 1918. The kilt was the ultimate expression of Scottish cultural and military identity. New Scottish units went to great lengths to achieve the traditional image.

Common Cause
Commonwealth Scots and the Great War
National Museum of Scotland, 2014, #CommonCause

 

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Source: National Museum of Scotland

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County || Blue Moon Diamond: One of the Rarest Gems Worldwide || until 06.01.2015

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) is unveiling one of the rarest stones, a 12-carat Fancy Vivid blue diamond, which is internally flawless. The Blue Moon Diamond will be housed in a special, temporary exhibition in the Gem Vault, beginning on September 13, 2014.
The Blue Moon Diamond has been categorized as an extremely significant find – and one of the newest and rarest stones currently worldwide – due to its unique color, clarity, and size. Cut from a 29.6-carat rough, the internally flawless gem is fashioned in a cushion-cut shape at a noteworthy 12 carats. Diamonds with a strong saturated color represent only a tiny percentage of all natural diamonds – and only a minute percentage of all natural color diamonds are blue, making the Blue Moon Diamond exceptional. The stone was found in the Cullinan mine, northeast of Pretoria, South Africa, which is known for discovering some of the most recognized blue and other color diamonds in the world.
To celebrate the unveiling of the finished stone, NHM is hosting a special exhibition from September 13, 2014 through January 6, 2015. Visitors will be able to view the Blue Moon Diamond in person and learn more about the stone. The rare gem is on loan from Cora International, a world leading manufacturer and supplier of white and fancy colored diamonds.
“Fancy vivid blue diamonds are extremely rare and the Blue Moon is no exception. It is a historic stone that is one of the rarest gems with this color and in this size to be found in recent history,” said Suzette Gomes, CEO of Cora International. “After seeing the stone’s color and understanding its significance, it was fitting to name it the Blue Moon Diamond as not only its shape is reminiscent of a full moon, but the metaphor for the expression is exactly what one could say about the occurrence and existence of such a gemstone.”
Fancy colored diamonds are more valuable and rarer than the colorless varieties. Unlike most minerals, whose color is determined by some intrinsically colored chemical elements, like copper in most blue or green minerals, diamonds obtain their colors from so-called “color centers”. They are single or multiple non-carbon atoms that replace carbon in the structure of the diamond, causing a disturbance in the structure and sometimes giving rise to the color. The distinctive blue color in diamonds is attributed to trace amounts of the element boron in the crystal structure. Minute traces of boron are required to create the coloration. Less than one boron atom per million carbon atoms is sufficient to produce the blue coloration.
This special exhibit fits within the Museum’s mission to enhance discovery of the natural world through furthering the future of diamond research. “Blue diamonds are among the rarest of all natural colored diamonds,” said Dr. Eloïse Gaillou, curator and diamond expert at NHM. “The exhibit will provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for visitors to see one of the world’s most exquisite blue diamonds in person.” Eloïse Gaillou was part of the team to examine the Blue Moon Diamond in August at the Smithsonian Institution. “Blue diamonds of this size and of known localities are extremely rare to come across; we had the chance to analyze it, and the data acquired will enable us to understand more about the formation process and the physical properties of these unusual gems”, says Gaillou.
To showcase the significance of this stone, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has made a monograph of The Blue Moon Diamond. According to the GIA, a monograph offers detailed documentation of outstanding gems in book format, offering a holistic perspective on their character and significance. The GIA Monograph report “fleshes out the details of a gem’s story, highlighting the features that elevate the gem to the realm of the truly exceptional.” The GIA has also written a special letter for this stone due to its rarity and beauty.
During the later portion of the 19th century, De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. controlled almost all of the world’s diamond production. During the time of De Beers diamond dominance (1888), very few sources for diamonds existed that could directly challenge the production of De Beers. This changed when Thomas Cullinan discovered the Cullinan mine in 1902, which at that time was named the Premier mine. Established on the second largest kimberlite pipe by inherent value, the Premier mine gained immediate prominence as a quality producer of large colorless diamonds and also rare blue diamonds. Annual production from the Premier mine was the largest in the world for the mine’s first decade of operation. Perhaps one of the greatest finds in the mines history is the Cullinan diamond. The Cullinan diamond is the largest colorless diamond ever discovered with a weight of 3,106 carats (~ 600 grams) which has since been cut and polished into nine major stones, including 96 minor stones! Two of them currently reside within the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom

The 12-carat, Internally Flawless, Fancy, Vivid Blue Moon Diamond. Copyright: Cora International. Photo by Tino Hammid.

The Blue Moon Diamond displays a strong red phosphorescence after exposure to ultraviolet light. Copyright: Cora International. Photo by Tino Hammid.

The Blue Moon Diamond during scientific testing at the Smithsonian Institution. The equipment behind the diamond is a phosphorescence spectrometer. Copyright: NHM. Photo by Eloïse Gaillou.

 

Source: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County