GAGOSIAN GALLERY PRESENTS

IN THE STUDIO: PAINTINGS
Tuesday, February 17–Saturday, April 18, 2015 Opening reception:
Tuesday, February 17th, from 6:00 to 8:00pm

Gagosian Gallery is pleased to present a pair of major exhibitions, curated by John Elderfield and Peter Galassi, devoted to images of artists' studios, in paintings and in photographs. The subject of the artist's studio in works of art is a very large one with a long history: The spaces where art is made, and the means by which it is made in that space, have proved fascinating to both its creators and its viewers. The aim of this pair of exhibitions is to explore important themes in the development of the subject within these two mediums.

Curated by John Elderfield, Chief Curator Emeritus of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, “In the Studio: Paintings,” on view at 522 West 21st Street, spans from the mid-sixteenth through the late twentieth centuries and includes over 50 paintings and works on paper by nearly 40 artists. The earliest and longest standing motifs—the painter at the easel, pedagogical scenes, and images of artists and models—can be observed in works by Wilhelm Bendz, Honoré Daumier, Thomas Eakins, Lucian Freud, Jean-Léon Gérôme, William Hogarth, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso. Focus on the appearance of the studio itself, which came later in the history, is represented here in paintings by Constantin Brancusi, Alberto Giacometti, Louis Moeller, and Alfred Stevens. Fictional or imaginary studios, a popular subject beginning at the end of the nineteenth century, include canvases by James Ensor, Jacek Malczewski, and Diego Rivera; while emphasis on artist's materials can be traced from eighteenth century works by Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin; to nineteenth century works by Carl Gustav Carus and Adolph von Menzel; through postwar American artists Jim Dine, Philip Guston, and Jasper Johns. Representations of the wall of the studio, illustrating both the artist's own work and that of others, were also prevalent in the postwar period, as seen here in paintings by Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, and Larry Rivers.

Gagosian Gallery has published a two-volume, fully illustrated and scholarly catalogue to accompany the exhibitions. The publications include new essays by Elderfield and Galassi and are being distributed worldwide by Phaidon Press.

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