MOMA comes to Perth!!

The best collection of Modern Art in the world arrives in Perth direct from New York City’s Museum Of Modern Art, MOMA – as part of their new partnership with The Art Gallery of WA. This is arguably the biggest event in Perth’s cultural history to date.

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973).

Painter and Model, 1928. Oil oncanvas. 23 1/2 x 31 1/4″ (59.7 x 79.4 cm) The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Lillie P.Bliss Collection © Pablo Picasso. Succession Picasso/ Licensed by Viscopy

Now I don’t know where all of you stand on art history but having parents who have owned an Art Gallery for over 10 years, a mother who was an art teacher, a father who is an architect and jewellery designer and a step mother who is an artist, a love of art is in my blood. I grew up going to galleries and listening to my parents talk about art from a very early age. I have been to see art all over the world, visiting galleries such as The Vincent Van Gogh Gallery in Holland, The Vatican in Rome, Kunsthalle Hamburg in Germany, The National Gallery in London and Scotland as well as The Louvre in Paris, amongst many others. I studied art and its history from primary through to high school via TEE. I since managed to successfully claim my mother’s vast collection of ‘The Great Artists, Their lives, works and inspiration’ magazines that would make any art-lover jealous. I have the entire series, all 8 files thick and every time I go on holiday I take them with me to read (despite how heavy they are). So as you can imagine, hearing about this exclusive-to-Perth partnership was incredibly exciting news! I read about it in the West about 6 months ago so it has actually been rather long awaited for me.

Launching on 16 June 2012, Picasso to Warhol: Fourteen Modern Masters is the first exhibition to go on display in a series of 6 that will take place over the next almost 3 years. The selection of over 100 works featured in the exhibition are by some of the world’s most celebrated artists including; Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Constantin Brancusi, Piet Mondrian, Fernand Léger, Marcel Duchamp, Giorgio De Chirico, Joan Miró, Romare Bearden, Alexander Calder, Jackson Pollock, Louise Bourgeois, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol.

Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954)

Interior with a Violin Case. Nice, winter 1918-19 Oil on canvas 28 3/4 x 23 5/8″ (73 x 60 cm) The Museum of Modern Art, New York Lillie P. Bliss Collection © Succession H. Matisse / Licensed by Viscopy

All of this has been made possible by AGWA Director, Dr Stefano Carboni. His background as former curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the contacts he has made personally as a result of this history, make him, in my opinion, one of the most important expats living in Perth today. His contribution to the betterment of our cultural diversity in WA is incredible. An arts reporter told me at the media launch today that when Carboni was working in the Arabic and Islmaic Art department of The Met, he struck up a friendship with the curator of Arabic and Islamic Art at MOMA. The two shared a bond over their common love for this specialist field and now Perth is benefitting from a partnership that is exclusive to the Southern Hemisphere because of their union. People will fly from all over the world to attend opening night including many MOMA staff from NYC. I am so looking forward to the official opening, Style Voyeur will be there to share with you all of the highlights from the June 15 event and I cannot wait!!!

AGWA Nights at the Gallery – $19 admission from 5pm. Tickets are available here. Every Friday night during the Picasso to Warhol exhibition which runs from June 16 – December 3 2012, the Gallery will transform into a Manhattan-style hub with a series of live music performances, pop-up bar and the entire Art Gallery shop will be stocked with MOMA merchandise. Carboni said that by the time the exhibition draws to a close, MOMA will be a house-hold name in Perth. You can still get in on the action by coming along to the Cultural Centre to drink at the bar, buy from the shop and experience the NYC atmosphere even if you don’t get tickets to the exhibition, however you would be crazy not to book right now and they will most certainly sell out fast. On Sundays the cafe will have New York style bagels and for the entire exhibition, AGWA will become Perth’s own little New York City hub, definitely a first for our city.

As you can see there are some photos of some of the works that can be expected to arrive in Perth in less than a month’s time. I personally find them awe inspiring to see, even just in this format, provided by MOMA with very strict guidelines of usage, so just imagine what seeing them in the flesh will be like!

Piet Mondrian (Dutch, 1872-1944)

Trafalgar Square, 1939-43 Oil on canvas 57 1/4 x 47 1/4″ (145.2 x 120 cm) The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William A. M. Burden © Mondrian/Holtzman Trust. Beeldrecht / Licensed by Viscopy

Giorgio de Chirico (Italian, born Greece. 1888-1978)

The Song of Love, Paris, June-July 1914 Oil on canvas 28 3/4 x 23 3/8″ (73 x 59.1 cm) The Museum of Modern Art, New York Nelson A. Rockefeller Bequest © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome

Romare Bearden (American, 1911-1988)

Patchwork Quilt, 1970 Cut-and-pasted cloth and paper with synthetic polymer paint on composition board 35 3/4 x 47 7/8″ (90.9 x 121.6 cm) The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund © Romare Bearden Foundation / VAGA / Licensed by Viscopy

Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987)

Self-Portrait, 1966 Silkscreen ink on synthetic polymer paint on nine canvases Each canvas 22 1/2 x 22 1/2″ (57.2 x 57.2 cm), overall 67 5/8 x 67 5/8″ (171.7 x 171.7 cm) The Museum of Modern Art, New York Gift of Philip Johnson © 2012 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

To see The Picasso To Warhol TV Commercial for the first exhibition from MOMA click here. It’s really cool!

To find out more about the exhibitions, visit www.momaseries.com.au

06-05-2012

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