Author: Darko Topalski

KANSAS CITY, MO (AP).- The Nelson-Atkins Museum of
Art is receiving an extensive impressionist collection that includes works by
Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh, the Kansas City museum announced
Friday. The collection is from Marion and Henry Bloch, founder
of Kansas City-based tax preparation company H&R Block Inc. The
Blochs’ impressionist collection makes up some of the 400 works that dozens of
people are donating to the museum to honor its 75th anniversary and the
retirement of longtime Director Marc Wilson, the museum said.

BRUSSELS.- Regarded today as one of the founders of the
Spanish School of painting, El Greco has not, however, always enjoyed that lofty
status. At the time of his death in Toledo in 1614, Europe was wildly
enthusiastic about the then fashionable naturalism of the Caravaggesque style,
poles apart from his own brilliant Mannerism. El Greco’s work soon went out of
fashion and remained relatively neglected down the centuries – until 1908, when
the art historian Manuel Bartolomé Cossío devoted a key monograph to him.
On exhibition at BOZAR through 9 May, 2010.

EDINBURGH.- On the first anniversary of the
nation’s acquisition of Titian’s Diana and Actaeon, the National Galleries of
Scotland (NGS) and the National Gallery in London announced a tour of the
painting to three venues in Scotland in 2010. The painting will be on
public display in Aberdeen Art Gallery from 28 May to 27 June, at Kelvingrove
Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow from 1 July to 1 August and at the McManus
Galleries, Dundee from 6 August to 5 September. In London the painting is the
focus of regular Lunchtime and 10 Minute Talks, and will be the subject of Art
Through Words (30 January 2010), a project for blind and partially sighted
visitors

MONTREAL.- Saskatoon-born artist Luanne Martineau has
made a name for herself with her virtually indescribable hybrid felt and
wool sculptures. Human, animal and organic, all at once, they
produce an experience that wavers between fascination and repulsion, the
microscopic and the macroscopic. The Musée d’art contemporain de
Montréal presents the exhibition Luanne Martineau from February 4 to April
25, 2010.

LONDON.- The contemporary art boom is now over, but
between 2003 and Autumn 2008 the world witnessed a craze for collecting
contemporary art unprecedented in history. During the last
frenzied year of this boom, art critic and film-maker Ben Lewis followed
the contemporary art market, traveling to art fairs, auctions, museums,
and the offices and homes of billionaire art collectors,, interviewing
dealers, auctioneers, gallery-owners, art market analysts and art
collectors, trying to find out the reasons behind this historic
phenomenon.

London –
The Directors of Marlborough Fine Art are delighted to announce their
forthcoming exhibition of new work by Thérèse Oulton which opens on Wednesday
10^th February. Exhibition 10 February though 13 March
2010. Private View Tuesday 9
February 6-8 pm. Thérèse’s
beautiful new works on paper will be also shown in the graphics
department.

LONDON.- The National Portrait Gallery has
launched its archive catalogue on the web, revealing to a wider audience
fascinating stories about the Gallery’s activities since it was founded in
1856. An Edwardian murder and suicide in the public galleries, an
outbreak of rats and the extraordinary lengths directors went to in order to
ensure the safety of the nation’s portraits during the First and Second World
Wars are among the discoveries available at the click of a button. Among the
most important papers soon to be included are those of Sir George Scharf, the
first Secretary, Keeper and Director of the National Portrait Gallery. A recent
grant to catalogue his papers by the National Cataloguing Grants Programme for
Archives has enabled the Gallery to recruit for an Archivist.

NEW YORK, NY.- The 2010 edition of Documentary
Fortnight, MoMA‘s ninth annual festival of international nonfiction film,
includes 20 feature and 23 mid-length and short documentaries
that represent the wide range of creative categories that extend the
idea of the documentary form. Established in 2001, MoMA‘s annual
two-week showcase of recent nonfiction film and video takes place each February.
On view in The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters at MoMA from February 17
through March 3, 2010, Documentary Fortnight, 2010 is organized by
Sally Berger, Assistant Curator, with Maria Fosheim Lund, Director Liaison,
Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art. This year‘s festival consists of
two parts: a series of thematic programs based on community and collaborative
filmmaking, chosen by Ms. Berger; and an international selection of films chosen
by a committee which included Berger; Andrew Ingall, independent curator, and
Assistant Curator, The Jewish Museum; and Liza Johnson, artist, filmmaker, and
Associate Professor of Art, Williams College.