International Art Treasures Web Magazine

February  2005  

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Happy Birthday Boston!

Title: Minute Man Image Courtesy: Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau

Boston turns 375 years young in 2005! Throughout the year special events will be held to help the city celebrate this momentous occasion.

Boston's charm is unmistakable. It is home to exemplary museums, galleries, and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

The Museum of Fine Arts

Title: Huntington Avenue Entrance, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Image Courtesy: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The Museum of Fine Arts' curators have been avid collectors of Egyptian Art. George Andrew Reisner led the 1903 excavation, which was first sponsored by the University of California at Berkeley. However within two years, Berkeley ended their involvement and Harvard took over with support from the Museum of Fine Arts.

Title: King Menkaure (Mycerinus) and Queen Egyptian, Old Kingdom, Reign of Menkaure, Dynasty 4, 2490 - 2472 BC Medium: Greywacke Dimensions: H x W x D 142.2 x 57.1 x 55.2 cm (56 x 22 1/2 x 3/4 in.) Find Spot: Menkaure Valley Temple, Giza, Egypt Harvard University - Museum of Fine Arts Expedition Image Courtesy: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The excavation continued for over 3 decades. The labors bore fruit, including the magnificent sculpture of Pharaoh Menkaure [King Mycerinus] with his Queen.

Among the special exhibits scheduled at the Museum of Fine Arts throughout 2005 are:

• Damien Hurst January 24 - April 24, 2005
• Quilts of Gee's Bend June 1 - August 31, 2005
• Things I Love: The Many Collections of William I. Koch August 24 - November 13, 2005

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Title: Europa, Titian Room, Isabella Stewart
Artist: Titian (Italian, c. 1485-1576)
Image Courtesy: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The highlight of the collection has to be Titian's Europa. It is considered to be one of the finest masters in the country. Isabella loved this painting. Writing, "I have no words! I feel 'all over in one spot,' as we say. I am breathless about the Europa, even yet! Every inch of paint in the picture seems full of joy!"

She took great care in its installation in the gallery she named the Titian Room. Beneath the painting Isabella Gardner used a pale green silk section from one of her Worth gowns in a shade meant to compliment the Titian.

Title: Interior Courtyard Garden, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston Image Courtesy: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Each of the museum's three floors overlook the enchanting garden. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum hosts special exhibits throughout the year such as Chairs.

Chairs
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
February 11 - May 8, 2005

Decorative arts and contemporary photography combine in the collaborative exhibition that will open in February 2005 at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Indian photographer Dayanita Singh has completed a series of portraits using the historic Italian furniture at the Museum as the subject matter.

Title: Untitled, 2002
Artist: Dayanita, Singh
Exhibition: Chairs
© Dayanita, Singh, 2002
Image Courtesy: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

John F Kennedy Library

One of Boston's most popular attractions is found in the I M Pei designed building that houses memorabilia from the days of Camelot. Visitors have the opportunity to revisit the early 1960s and view objects that recreate President Kennedy's 1,000 days in the Oval Office. The Library organizes special exhibits, currently  highlighting 65 of the magnificent gifts presented to the President and Mrs. Kennedy are on display.

Presents for a President and First Lady
until November 13, 2005

Title: Silver Amphora Vase with Caryatid Handles
Medium: Silver
Dimensions: H 18 in.
Gift of: King Norodam Sihanouk of Cambodia, September 25, 1961
Joel Benjamin / John F. Kennedy Library Foundation

King Hussein of Jordan presented a mother-of-pearl encrusted nativity scene to the young daughter of the Kennedys.

Title: The John F. Kennedy Library, Exterior View
Image Courtesy: Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau

A silver humidor from President Khrushchev was gifted when the two Presidents first met at Vienna in 1961.

Title: Silver Slippers with Red Velvet Lining
Gift of: Hasan al-Rida al Sanusi,
Crown Prince of the United Kingdom of Libya, October 16, 1962.
Joel Benjamin / John F. Kennedy Library Foundation

A head of Buddha, circa 2 A.D. was given from the King of Afghan, Mohammad Zahir.  Cocoa Plantation, a painting of two people working among cocoa trees, by Diaby Youssouf was presented by President Felix Houphouet-Boigny of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, on May 22, 1962. This is a brief list of the items from this enchanting collection.

The Museum of Afro-American History

Title: Jubilation: Is Freedom Visible?
Artist: L'Merchie Frazier
Image Courtesy: The Museum of Afro-American History

Threads of Faith
Recent Works from the Women of Color Network
January 14 - March 31, 2005

Women and Family. Worship through Arts. Biblical Narratives. Prayers and Spiritual Mediations to African American Cultural Experiences are the five themes in the quilts that form Threads of Faith.

L'Merchie Frazier, Director of Education, The Museum of Afro-American History, contributed Jubilation: Is Freedom Visible?, from the Quilted Chronicles series. Jubilation travels through significant events the middle passage to slavery, the self emancipation of fugitives, civil war, abolitionist activities in Boston, African American Meeting House, Underground Railway routes, a letter from a black Union soldier, diagrams of slave-ship hulls, the Emancipations Proclamation and a replica of General Order No. 3 which legally ended slavery in the United States.

The 1,700 member Women of Color Quilters' Network choose to emphasize faith in the African American experience to create Threads of Faith.

The Institute of Contemporary Art

Likeness: Portraits of Artists by Other Artists
January 19 - May 1, 2005

Title: Andy Warhol, 1982
Artist: Neil Winokur
Medium: Cibachrome Print
Dimensions: 50.8 x 40.6 cm
Courtesy: Janet Borden , Inc., New York and The Institute of Contemporary Art

"This exhibition brings together work by some of the most important artist of our time and offers an intimate and complex perspective on the relationships between artist and subject." according to Jill Medvedow, James Sachs Plau Director of the ICA.

Title: This is Fiona, 2000
Artist: Julian Opie
Medium: DVD and LCD Screen
Continuous Loop
Photographer: Dave Morgan
Courtesy: The Artist, Lisson Gallery, London and The Institute of Contemporary Art

Likeness embraces the relationship between artist and subject while exploring the innovations in portraiture in recent memory. Andy Warhol's likeness is included, for as Bennett Simpson, Associate Curator of the ICA explains, "Andy Warhol promoted the concept that artists are celebrities over 40 years ago."

Museum of Science

Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination
October - December 2005

The final part of the six-part Star Wars Series is scheduled to premiere in the United States in May 2005. In the fall an exciting exhibit using items from the Star Wars series will begin an extensive travel across the States debuting in Boston at the Museum of Science.

The City of Boston

Paul Revere, the Tea Party, clam chowder, the setting for Cheers and a fabulous harbor are just a few of the infinite associations that the city has to its history.

Title: Boston Harbor Skyline
Image Courtesy: Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau

A city with the heritage and cultural riches of Boston certainly would be expected to organize countless events as they celebrate such a momentous occasion, and Boston does not disappoint.  Art aficionados will enjoy walking through the city and viewing the outdoor sculptures such as Tortoise and Hare, located near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, Free at Last, on Commonwealth Avenue a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King and more.

During the USA Bicentennial, 1976, Asaroton [Unswept Floor] was a temporary installation. For the 2005 celebrations the cast-bronze exhibit will be installed, at a different location, on a Hanover Street sidewalk, honoring the removal of the overhead highway. Throughout the year long festivities both mural and temporary art exhibits are planned.