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The Louvre is expanding its relationship with American art.  Teaming up with the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the newly opened Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, the Louvre is kicking off a four year partnership to highlight American art.  The current exhibit,  ”New Frontier: l’art americain entre au Louvre” (“American Art Enters the Louvre”), focuses on the early works of American landscape painting.

The New Frontier exhibit showcases Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School movement of the 19th century.  Cole arrived in New York’s Hudson Valley area by steamboat in 1825.  The young artist painted the first known landscapes of the Catskill mountains.  Cole was at the forefront of an artistic movement that captured highly detailed and romantic visions of the rugged, American wilderness.

On display is the only painting by Cole in the Louvre’s permanent collection, “The Cross in the Wilderness”, along with five works on loan including “The Last of the Mohicans”.  The exhibit will run until April 16, 2012.

Thomas Cole, "The Good Shepherd", 1848, courtesy of Crystal Bridges

This week Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting opened at the Frick. The exhibit, which runs through May 13, 2012, was inspired by Renoir’s painting “La Promenade of 1875–76” (image below) and features nine of his Impressionist paintings.  This exhibit is the first to focus specifically on Renoir’s use of the full-length format and the paintings which became iconic masterpieces of the Impressionist movement.  The show will highlight not only the creative motivation behind Renoir’s dedication to the full-length process but also the more technical aspects of his brushwork and canvases, shedding new light on the his artistic methods.

Works on loan for this exhibit include:

• La Parisienne (1874) from the National Museum Wales, Cardiff
• The Umbrellas (c. 1881 and 1885) from The National Gallery, London (first time on view in the United States since 1886)
• Dance in the City and Dance in the Country (1882–83) from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris
• The Dancer (1874) from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• Madame Henriot “en travesti” (1875–76) from the Columbus Museum of Art
• Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (1879) from The Art Institute of Chicago
• Dance at Bougival (1882–83) from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Created by Colin B. Bailey, the Frick’s Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting will be solely on display at the Frick.

La Promenade, 1875–76, oil on canvas, 67 x 42 5/8 inches, The Frick Collection, New York,

The Umbrellas, c. 1881 and 1885 Oil on canvas 71 x 45 inches

Van Gogh Up Close is the latest exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and it’s rounding up great reviews. Curators, Joseph J. Rishel and Jennifer A. Thompson, worked in tandem with Anabelle Kienle of the National Gallery of Canada to organize the show of 45 paintings assembled from various collections around the world.  While there are many themes a van Gogh exhibit can highlight, Van Gogh Up Close focuses solely on the works produced in response to his relationship with nature from 1886 until his death in 1890.

The natural landscape proved to be not only a respite but a catalyst for van Gogh’s creativity and inspiration.  Almost all the pieces in the exhibit are a snapshot of gardens, fields, and flowers with an emphasis on his expert experimentation with depth of field, color, perspective, and brush techniques.

While van Gogh is often associated with a wild, unpredictable streak, Van Gogh Up Close showcases a softer, self-reflective side to the artist as encouraged by his interactions with the natural world.  We can see this notion clearly articulated in a letter he wrote to his sister, “I…am always obliged to go and gaze at a blade of grass, a pine-tree branch, an ear of wheat, to calm myself.”

Van Gogh Up Close will run from February 1- May 6, 2012 and then head up to Ottawa to be displayed at the National Gallery of Canada, May 25–September 3, 2012.

Here’s a great slide show courtesy of the NYT.

Undergrowth With Two Figures" (1890)

Piero del Pollaiuolo (c. 1443 – 1496) was an Italian Renaissance painter creating works during the ‘golden age’ of Florentine art.  He worked closely with his brother, Antonio, who was also a painter. Together, they became known for their love of human anatomy as seen in the realistic details conveyed in their work.

The Getty recently announced their acquisition of Portrait of a Young Man, Head and Shoulders, Wearing a Cap, a 1470 drawing by Piero del Pollaiuolo.  The drawing is not only a rare, high quality piece but the first of its kind from the early days of the Renaissance to become part of the Getty permanent collection.

Pollaiuolo’s drawing was created at a time when the portrait genre was coming into vogue.  A common trait of portrait pieces was to capture the subject from the side-view as a profile perspective. Pollaiuolo, perhaps following his passion for anatomical representations, drew the young man staring directly at the viewer and conveying his full face.  There are very few completed portrait drawings from this time period known to be in existence.

The addition contributes to a growing and impressive Italian Renaissance collection at the Getty. Piero del Pollaiuolo’s drawing will be on display for perhaps the first time since its creation.

Portrait of a Young Man, Head and Shoulders, Wearing a Cap, about 1470 by Piero del Pollaiuolo

Guest curator, Peter John Brownlee, brings together an exhibit from the permanent collection of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art focusing on the works of American artists from the 1830s to 1918. The exhibit highlights paintings and sculptures that represent the changing scene of American art as it sharpened its vision and carved out a unique style that had never captured before.  At the time, the American art world was influenced heavily by landscape paintings reflecting the popular movement westward but slowly an authentic brand of experimentation took hold that forged a distinctly American perspective.

The exhibit will showcase landscapes, still life, portraiture, and sculpture.  From the romantic and vibrant landscapes of the Hudson River School artists such as Thomas Cole, John Kensett, and Albert Bierstadt to the realistic and edgy cityscapes of the Ash Can School including Robert Henri and John Sloan, the exhibit explores the changes in land, life and American culture.

Scenery, Story, Spirit: American Painting and Sculpture will be on display at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art starting on February 4, 2012.

Childe Hassam, "The Manhattan Club", n.d. (ca. 1891)