For the first time ever it snowed on Rodeo Drive! Granted it was fake snow but the holiday spirit was still in the air with holiday carols sung by American Idol Star Kathrine McPhee, the UNICEF snowflake light by Disney Star Monique Coleman, BH's Major Jimshid Delshad giveing a light hearted jovial speach, sleigh rides up Rodeo Dr, holiday shopping, the Coke-a-Cola polar bear handing out sodas, photo booths by LA times, the popular 'taco trucks' including the ever famous Sprinkles Cupcake truck and the Gastrobus not to mention in true Beverly Hills fashion a VIP area hosted by Genlux Magazine. All in all it was a great evening had by all!
Missed the event see the photos below and don't forget to stop by our new 12,000 square foot space to view our amazing fine art collection highlighting Picasso, Rembrandt, Chagall, Dali, Miro like you have never seen before. the space lends an amazing ambiance not only to our traditional art but also to the galleries newest artists of the Italian Mannerist's and Florence School's.
If you like the Getty you will love the new contemporary space! (located on 224 N rodeo entrance on the Villa Rodeo cobblestone street.)
Hunter Eddy was born in 1967 and grew up in Rutland Vermont. He decided to pursue a career in art after years of drawing in his childhood. He attended the Art Institute of Boston and graduated with the honor of an "Excellence in Illustration" award from the College. His work after graduation included Aesthetics Signage Company, as well as freelance illustrator for private clients. He spent time in Italy studying landscape painting and drawing with the Boston Visual School under the direction of painters John Lanza and George Gabin. He also studied drawing and painting with Boston artist Tom Oulette where he developed his interests in traditional drawing techniques.
He then made his decision to undertake full time study at The Florence Academy of Art under the direction of Daniel Graves. After the first year he was made an assistant teacher in the program and has been with the academy ever since. He has taught the advanced painting and drawing courses and is currently co-Director of the painting program. His work has been exhibited and sold at various galleries around the world.
Born 1931 in Urbino Italy, Augusto Ranocchi received traditional artistic training from the Institutodi Belle Arti and the Academia di Belle Arti in Rome. In 1981 Ranocchi moved to Los Angeles and has exhibited in several one-man shows. One can see the effects of the California lifestyle on his artwork. He has developed a dynamic contemporary style of cast, powerful color planes, lyrical gestural strokes and strong geometric structure. He has introduced collage and the use of metallic paints in addition to using "found surfaces" such as rope, yarn and stripes of canvas.
Major commissions include canvases for the LAX Hilton and Anaheim Hilton Hotels, McDonalds corporate art collection and his work was recently acquired for the luxurious Remington Hotel in Houston. In 1986, Augusto returned to his native Italy where he is currently working on numerous projects at his atelier outside Rome. Augusto Ranocchi is proud to be the most commissioned artist by the Vatican in the twentieth century.
You may have noticed Galerie Michael has changed its logo color and added our motto "Building Museum Quality Collections One Work at a Time". The motto for Galerie Michael was built on posterity rather than prosperity and takes a long term view working with the collector, much time and attention is in vested in building museum quality collections, one work at a time. This motto has built an unparalleled client base of close to 6000 collectors many of whom have been collecting with Galerie Michael from ten to fifteen and as many as thirty years.
Galerie Michael stands behind each and every work of art that we offer to our clients. If you are interested in building a museum collection you have come to the right place! Galerie Michael has been in business for over thirty years with professional staff equal to 100 years of combined fine art experience as well as two full time curators all of whom specialize in fine European paintings, drawings and prints from the 17th century to the present.
GRAND UPPER SALON The Upper Level will provide Galerie Michael's traditional museum-like quality and atmosphere. It will be partitioned into four sections, each section emphasizing one of the many genres Galerie Michael represents.
In addition to our traditional salons of Modern Masters and Old Masters, Galerie Michael has added two new contemporary wings to the gallery, featuring artists from the Florence School of Art, and the New Italian Mannerists! (look for future posts highlighting our contemporary artists)
GROUND SALON Thanks to the design of our new location we have a Ground Salon which will feature fine art works, original lithographic posters, art Books and DVD's. Specially designed posters of Galerie Michael's Great Master Collection including Rembrandt, Picasso, Chagall, Miro, Dali, and Renoir will be offered.
In addition to Galerie Michael's new artists and salons we have added a gallery cafe where clients may relax and converse over art works while enjoying high tea, a frothy cappuccino or a bold espresso, at their leisure.
Upon Much Anticipation, Galerie Michael is Opening our New Grand Gallery Space on The World Famous Via Rodeo!
Our Newest Location Is: 224 N. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills CA 90210
Galerie Michael will be presenting a brand new contemporary look combined with our traditionally classic Galerie Michael style, designed by famed architect Cosimo Pizzulli, who has designed some of Beverly Hills finest locations. Our new grand gallery space is over 12,000 feet giving Galerie Michael the opportunity to exhibit historic artists: Rembrandt, Picasso, Chagall and Renoir and introducing a unique group of contemporary artists. A wing showcasing our new contemporary artists of the Florence School and important living artists of the Minimalists from Rome has been designed.
Directory of the PicassoMuseum, Pepe Serra, presenting Michael Schwartz with their book “Imagenes Secretas Picasso y la estampa erotica japonesa,”which illustrates the ukiyo-einfluence on Picasso.
Michael Schwartz and Pepe Serra, the Director of the PicassoMuseum in Barcelona, provided a titillating interview for collectors. Serra showed seldom seen early works of Picasso created during the early ages of 10-12 highlighting his academic background. The collectors were additionally shown later works by Picasso including a version of Las Meninas, a 17th century Velazquez painting, deconstructed by Picasso.
Picasso, Las Meninas, 1957Velazquez, Las Meninas, 1656
One of the highlights of the day was the newest exhibition revealing the erotic ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock prints which influenced Picasso’s later works.
“Picasso never parted with any of his Japanese prints. It would not be surprising, then, if they had proved to be a source of inspiration at one time or another. Whilst he always shunned any show of exoticism, in the last years of his life Picasso devoted himself, with total freedom, to representing scenes of sexuality, as though in exorcism of approaching death. The drawings and prints of those final years are every bit as bold as the shunga prints with which they establish a compositional and stylistic dialogue.” - Museu Picasso of Barcelona.
The PicassoMuseum is currently preparing a major exhibition of linocuts and has asked Mr. Schwartz’s assistance due to his vast expertise in this area.
Later in the tour, Michael and Serra lectured on many topics including those as the Vollard suite and La Celestines; many of these prints which you can find at Galerie Michael today such as the ones shown below.
Picasso, La Celestine, 1968 Picasso, Portrait of Vollard, II, 1937
Michael Schwartz and the great grandson of the renowned Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alex Renoir recently returned from a triumphant trip of the Mediterranean where they hosted a Mediterranean Art Connoisseur Tour on the Ruby Princess Cruise line. Amongst many stimulating topics, collectors were lectured on the fascinating life and career of the renowned Pierre Auguste Renoir by our very own Michael Schwartz and Artist, Alex Renoir.
Galerie Michael is privileged to represent the talented Artist, Alex Renoir, who showcased his work during this tour and sold an incredible 24 of 25 works.
Below you can experience the stop they made at the Renoir House now known as Musee Renoir (Les Collettes) near Cagnes-sur-Mer, France. This house, built in 1907, is located on acres of beautiful landscape and housed P.A. Renoir from 1908 until his death in 1919. The home’s stunning surroundings inspired many of his paintings and holds 20 portrait busts and portrait medallions which is said to represent the largest collection of Renoir sculptures in the world.
Various sculptures and medallions from the famous home of P.A. Renoir
Alex Renoir gives collectors a lecture on his titillating family history amongst the beautiful landscape once occupied by his Great Grandfather.
Alex Renoir provides the curatorial staff with information of his family tree.
Alex Renoir stands next to a decorative copy of Bust of Coco, which is one of the only original sculptures he personally created.
In relation to our upcoming exhibition of Spanish Masters including the renown Salvador Dali who is known for his close connection to his subconscious mind, this article speaks of the workings of a creative mind such as his and many others.
Madoura Potter Workshop is located in Vallauris, France. In the mid 1900’s it was owned and operated by Suzanne and George Ramie
In 1946 Picasso visited a Pottery exhibition “Romaunt de la Rose, in Vallauris, France during this visit Picasso was introduced to the Madoura Pottery Workshop where many famous potters have created works over hundreds of years. At this time Picasso became fascinated with the workshop and the creative act of pottery. He went to the studio and created 3 ceramic works. However Picasso left the workshop before seeing the completed works after the last firing of the kiln. In fact these 3 works still remain at Madoura. Many years’ later theses works (a little head of a faun and two bulls modeled by hand) were cast in bronze.
A year passed before Picasso went back to Vallauris to see the pottery exhibition where he once again fell in love with the artistic form of ceramic and pottery making. Upon visiting the Madoura Pottery Workshop he was surprised to see that his 3 ceramics were in pristine condition. During his return to the studio he was no longer looked upon as an amateur but a master, as he has studied the craft, tools and its artists. With him he brought a cardboard box of designs, an ingenious vigor for the artistic form. This spurred such creative ingeniousness in Picasso he began to create the very beginning of his ceramic collection that we know today. Also endearing him to Maroura Pottery Workshop was an employee Jacqueline Roque who later married Picasso. In fact Picasso was so in love with Jacqueline that she was able to get Picasso to denounce his children as legitimate heirs, thus securing her the Picasso fortune upon his death.
Currently on display and available at Galerie Michael are the following:
PICASSO, Pablo, 1881-1973 Face no. 202, 1963
Ceramic plate
9 7/8 in. ( 25.1 cm )
Currently it is unknown what the significance is between Picasso and fish but it is safe to assume that Picasso drew widely on his surroundings. In the1950’s Picasso spent a significant amount of time in the French Rivera in fact he met is last wife, Jacqueline Roque at Madoura Pottery in Vallauris. In fact it is widely due to Jacqueline and Suzanne and George Ramie, owners of the Madoura Pottery Workshop that we have Picasso Ceramics.Picasso, having been in some of the most beautiful cities on the French Rivera during the time Hand’s with Fish was created it would be only natural for Picasso to depict sea life in his work.
The symbolism with Hand’s with Fish could easily be the encompassing embrace of two worlds coming together in harmony. Another take on this ceramic’s image could be an ironic twist of fate that man can live in harmony with fish but eventually the fish (nature) is conquered in the end by man: man catches fish, cooks fish, presents fish on a plate and eventually eats fish. Some may even say that Picasso’s sense of humor and life view could be brought out in this one work.
This grinning, ceramic faun has been the subject of several of Picasso's work during this period as he drew much inspiration from this classic mythological character. Fauns were most known for their love of dancing, entertainment, and overall fun; Picasso seems to have tapped into this aspect, creating an expressive and lively rendition of a faun's face in this large, oval plate. The colorful quality and simplistic line enables the ceramic to come joyously alive with its whimsical and childlike character making this work easy to appreciate. The colors or glazing in this specific ceramic is extremely rare and unique as Picasso generally created earthenware which was unglazed and hand-painted with neutral colors of white, brown, black and blue tones.
Picasso’s use of the faun in this particular work is seemingly appropriate for Picasso’s character and personal demons that he was battling during the creation of this work 1984. As we all know during the later part of Picasso’s life he became more and more aware of his diminishing masculinity creating a focus strictly on phallic objects and subject matter, making the Faun a perfect subject for Picasso.
In the spring of 1946, Marc Chagall was in exile in the United States as the war was drawing to a close.He was accorded the singular honor of a major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In the fall he returned to his home in High Falls, New York in the Catskill Mountains where he began work on commission for a suite of thirteen colored lithographs to illustrate the Arabian Nights.These were Chagall's very first color prints. As with his etchings he began this project with studies in gouache. He then worked over the litho stones in great detail to create color as luminous and opulent as possible.
“Is it possible, that by telling these tales,
one might indeed save one’s self?”
The character, Scheherezade thought so. In fact, she tells each of the Arabian Nights tales in order to survive a little longer at the mercy of her listener, the Sultan.
The Arabian Nights stories are some of the world’s great treasures. They have existed for thousands of years, consisting of tales told in Persia, Arabia, India and Asia. The Arabian Nights (also known as The 1001 Arabian Nights) have inspired writers the world over with the ancient power of story.
There are versions of these stories in many languages and they all convey the great sense of adventure, truth, fantastic imagination, justice, and faith embodied by the great civilizations that contributed stories and ideas to the collection.
The Arabian Nights include fairy tales, fables, romances, farces, legends, and parables. The tales use a sweeping variety of settings, including Baghdad, Basrah, Cairo and Damascus, as well as China, Greece, India, North Africa and Turkey.
These fanciful, sometimes brutal tales, revel in the art of storytelling. The underlying suggestion of the Arabian Nights is that a fantastically precious jewel exists which, when it comes into contact with people, actually changes them. The jewel is the magnificently powerful art of story. There may not be any better examples in the world of how art, trickery, magic and craft can swirl together and form a world that every reader and listener wants to enter. Regardless of the situation presented in any particular Arabian Nights story, the assumption contained in the story is that life is always worth living and that human endeavor, along with human weakness, is a wonderful and fascinating thing to behold. These stories form a powerful mental connection between the ancient civilizations of the East and those of the West. Moreso than any other piece of writing in history, these stories illustrate that the minds of the East and of the West consider carefully the same subject matter.
Pablo Picasso was not only the greatest painter and most innovative sculptor of the 20th century; he was also its foremost printer.His published prints total approximately 2000, including images pulled from metal, stone, wood, linoleum and celluloid.His unpublished prints, perhaps 200 more, have yet to be exactly counted.
Picasso’s prints demonstrate his intuitive and characteristic ability to recognize and exploit the possibilities inherent in any medium in which he chose to work.Once he had mastered the traditional methods of a print medium, such as etching on metal, Picasso usually experimented further, pursuing, for example, scarcely known intaglio techniques such as sugar-lift aquatint.
Early on the copperplate, with its variants of the etching and drypoint, fascinated the young artist.In the Parisian ateliers of the masters of this craft—Eugene Delatre, Louis Forn, and above all Roger Lacouriere—he was introduced to many new techniques. Picasso later acquired his own press on which he made many trial proofs and further explored the secrets of printmaking.
When one looks at a painting by Alexandre Renoir one will see a glimpse at the “Impressionist” movement as characterized by an artist’s ability to render a fleeting moment in time, creating candid compositions, and capturing an “impression” of the ever changing effects of light and atmospheric compositions. Viewers can detect Alexandre’s great-grandfather’s artistic essence and techniques in the works he is creating today, which are augmented with his own original flair. The use of various palette knives in oil paint allows Alexandre to create a sculptural feel to the canvas. The paint is very thick and bold. It allows one to feel good. Impressionism is one of those styles that include the viewer as much as it does the artist. No two people will see the canvas the same way.
His paintings evoke a certain magic within. You can see the expressions on the viewers faces. It’s that invisible bond between the viewer and the painting. It captures the soul and brings a serenity that is not explainable.
The textures and colors flow across the canvas creating an affect that is captivating. His style is a mix of Impressionism-old and new. We delight in the results of his strokes of genius.
Alexandre Renoir was born in 1974 in Cagne Sur Mer in the south of France. We now have a great opportunity to experience his ethereal work.
Parisians would flock to Chatou's MaisonFournaise to rent rowing skiffs, eat a good meal, or stay the night. In 1857, the entrepreneur AlphonseFournaise bought land in Chatou to open a boat rental, restaurant, and small hotel for the new tourist trade. From the mid 1870s, Renoir often visited the MaisonFournaise to enjoy its convivial atmosphere and rural beauty. He painted scenes of the restaurant, as well as several portraits of Fournaise family members and landscapes of the surrounding area. In fact, Renoir occasionally traded paintings with the Fournaise family for food and lodging.
Renoir and Friends
Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party not only conveys the light-hearted leisurely mood of the MaisonFournaise, but also reflects the character of mid- to late-nineteenth century French social structure. The restaurant welcomed customers of many classes including bourgeois businessmen, society women, artists (Renoir and Caillebotte), actresses, writers (Guyde Maupassant), critics and, with the new, shorter work week--a result of the industrial revolution--seamstresses and shop girls. This diverse group embodied a new, modern Parisian society that accepted, as it continued to develop and advanced the French Revolution's promise of liberté, egalité, fraternité.
