ARTTalk - ArtPourri - The San Diego Museum of Art, Philly Loves Rocky Week, Stamps Celebrate Treasures

Painting Returned—The San Diego Museum of Art was pleased to recently return a painting determined to have been stolen in Mexico. The painting, depicting The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, was purchased in 2000 from a Mexico City dealer, who has reimbursed the museum for the full purchase price.

Rocky’s Back—A bronze statue of Rocky Balboa, fictional character of Rocky films, has been returned to a site outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This marks the 30^th anniversary of the original film and was part of “Philly Loves Rocky Week.” The statue was created in 1980 by A. Thomas Schomberg.

Stolen Paintings Found—Two paintings by Edvard Munch that had been ripped from the walls of the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, two years ago have been found by police. The world-renowned The Scream and Madonna had much less damage than feared but are being examined by experts.

Artists Supported by Fellowships—A new organization dedicated to providing direct support for living artists on an unparalleled scale and national scope will debut this year with the award of 50 grants totaling $2.5 million. United States Artists (USA) will also be an advocate for artists and their vital contributions to the social and economic health of the nation. For the inaugural 2006 USA Fellowships, expert panels are currently reviewing the work of more than 300 nominees representing every artistic discipline and 43 states and ranging from 21 to 100 years of age. Recipients will be announced on Dec. 4 in a ceremony to be held at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Visit www.unitedstatesartists.org.

Stamps Celebrate Treasures—The rich quilting legacy of four generations of African-American women in rural Alabama has been celebrated with the U.S. Postal Service’s issue of the Quilts of Gee’s Bend commemorative postage stamps. These stamps are sixth in the American Treasures Series and feature the ingenuity and improvisational style of the Gee’s Bend quilters. The images are based on photos of 10 quilts made between 1940 and 2001.

Milestone—Acclaimed photo-journalist Joe Rosenthal has died in California at the age of 94. Rosenthal won a Pulitzer Prize for his photo of World War II servicemen raising the American flag over Iwo Jima; and the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial was modeled from the photo by sculptor Felix W. de Weldon. For more on the memorial, visit http://www.nps.gov/archive/gwmp/usmc.htm.

Stockbridge, MA – Norman Rockwell Museum – Stuffed Shirts: Sculptural Scarecrows Inspired by Rockwell includes winners of a juried competition where artists were invited to reinvent the scarecrow by using Norman Rockwell’s art as the inspiration for unique and unexpected creations. On view during the Museum’s busy fall foliage season, these full-scale figures will welcome thousands of visitors to the bucolic 36-acre site. Opens October 7 through October 31.

Old Forge, NY – Arts Center/Old Forge – Northeast Quilts Unlimited 20^th Annual Exhibition is an open, judged exhibition of quilts and wall hangings. Prize-winning quilts will be announced and awards presented at the opening reception on October 7. Through Nov. 5.

Napa, CA – COPIA – CANSTRUCTION: We CAN Build a Solution to Hunger is the result of an inventive charity committed to ending hunger by marshalling the efforts of the design and construction industry. The national organization challenges architects, engineers, designers, contractors and students mentored by these professionals to design and build colossal sculptures using canned food as their primary building blocks. Each year, in 50 locations around the country, the designers compete to create funny and fabulous can-based artworks, using colorful food labels as their palette. Visitors to the exhibit are encouraged to bring one item of canned food for donation to the local food bank. Opens Oct. 13 through Jan. 1.

Mountainville, NY – Storm King Art Center – Richard Bellamy and Mark di Suvero is the first exhibition to bring together the work of these two close friends and, as the exhibition reveals, kindred spirits. This second and final season features the premiere of three new large-scale works by di Suvero (over 20 in all) as well as several new photographs of his sculptures by Bellamy (over 80 in all). Through Nov. 15.

New York, NY – Whitney Museum – Picasso and American Art celebrates Picasso’s dramatic impact on the course of 20^th century American art and focuses on nine American artists who have been most deeply engaged with Picasso’s work and who, in turn, have made the most significant contributions to the art of their time: S. Davis, Willem de Kooning, A. Gorky, J. Graham, J. Johns, R. Lichtenstein, J. Pollock, D. Smith and M. Weber. The majority of the 170 objects are paintings and drawings as well as a small number of sculptures and photographs, with 40 works by Picasso. Through January 28.

Philadelphia, PA - Philadelphia Museum of Art – Crouching Spider by Louise Bourgeois, a gigantic sculpture of bronze and stainless steel made up of a globular body and long, attenuated legs, is part of a celebrated series of spider sculptures that Bourgeois produced beginning in the early 1990s. The spider is a reference to the artist’s mother, who was a weaver and someone she described as being industrious and protecting; and it was also chosen for its role as a defender against other, more pernicious insects. Through April 2007.

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