Fontaine Community

MOMA exhibits prints:“German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse”:Otto Dix

CChidester — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:37:11 +0000

MOMA exhibits prints:“German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse”:Otto Dix.

The New York Times reviews the show “Bleak Visions From Early-20th-Century Rebels”.A few of these artists survived the war, one of which is Otto Dix. Here is an image of Otto Dix from the Archive, whom Virginia photographed in 1947 in her visit to the Bodensee area. She also wrote about her encounter with the surviving artists in this document:http://www.fontaine.org/archive/selected-letters/bodensee-report-1947/ starting on bottom of page 13

…”At three o’clock that afternoon we called on Otto Dix. Miss Proells and Miss Rocco came with us. He, too, lived on the hill surrounding the sea and had a wonderful view of the mountains from his house. It was a big house, beautifully appointed and bespoke the comfortable success he reaped from his early work which told the story of his people, their hardships, and horror of war in particular. It was a fine home any artist would appreciate living in. And he should be credited with one difference from his contemporaries. He has tried to find new ways and is not content to repeat what he has done in the past. His color is new, his technique is new and his ideas are new; but whether this change is for the better, I will leave for the professional critics to say. I, personally, found one small still-life of sponges and mushrooms which I liked very much and wished to purchase. I had to be content, however, with a photograph of the picture which Mr. Dix gave me for consolation……” For more go the top of page 14

Emy Roeder work discovered in Berlin

CChidester — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 22:05:48 +0000

Collection of Nazi-confiscated art uncovered in Berlin, 9 Nov. 2010

Dubbed “degenerate art” the Nazis, a collection of 11 sculptures by various German artists went missing during World War II. They are now on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin.

A collection of classical modernist sculptures has been uncovered in central Berlin, found during excavation work for an underground metro link. The 11 pieces had been missing for decades after being labeled by the Nazis as “degenerate art.”

Eight of the sculptures, some of which are damaged, have been identified as the works of German artists Otto Baum, Otto Freundlich, Karl Knappe, Marg Moll, Emy Roeder, Edwin Scharff, Gustav Heinrich Wolff and Naum Slutzky. READ More

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Emy Roeder was a friend of Virginia Fontaine’s and sculpted a portrait in clay that was to be cast in bronze. Unfortunately due to neglected instructions, the clay head was unusable and it was never finished. To see more of Emy Roeder working see the full scrapbook page

Emy Roeder sculpting a head of Virginia Fontaine 1950

The other three have not yet been identified, according to Hermann Parzinger, head of the Berlin-based Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

Yvonne Hagen and Friends ” Talking of Yves”

CChidester — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:59:30 +0000

Talking of Yves, Friendships and connections inParis, New York & London. Exhibition at England & Co gallery, London,23 June- 21 July 2010
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Yvonne Hagen, Tina Keane, Susan Hiller, Iris Clert,
N.H. Stubbing, Ralph Rumney and Yves Klein
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Talking of Yves examines some of the interconnected circles that evolved around the art critic Yvonne Hagen, beginning in Paris in the late 1950s. These intersections of social and artistic networks are mapped by their convergence around her friendships with the artist Yves Klein and the Parisian gallery director, Iris Clert. Read More (Yvonne Hagen was a close friend to Virginia Fontaine: see references to photos or contact information@fontaine.org for more references)

The Esprit of Gestures: Hans Hartung, Informel and Its Impact

CChidester — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:07:14 +0000

at Kupferstichkabinett (Collection of Drawings & Prints)

Jul 30, 2010 - Oct 10, 2010

The theme for this group exhibition was inspired by the donation (brokered by Clemens Fahnemann, Berlin) in April of this year of 213 of Hans Hartung’s printed works by the Fondation Hans Hartung & Anna-Eva Bergman in Antibes in the South of France. With this show then, Hartung’s role as a printmaker will be honoured for the first time in more than 25 years. read more

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Exhibits the Private Collection of Entrepreneur Max Fischer

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:09:46 +0000

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Exhibits the Private Collection of Entrepreneur Max Fischer. Here is a good write up on the show. The artists that Fischer collected were the same circle as Fontaine. Includes Expressionist works on paper by Max Beckmann, Heinrich Campendonk, Otto Dix, Conrad Felixmüller and Max Pechstein, as well as Bauhaus artists Oskar Schlemmer and Lyonel Feininger among others Read More

Lost Painting-Boy in blue with tennis racquet

CChidester — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:11:11 +0000

Portrait of Leo Fontaine at age 16,by Paul Fontaine, c. 1935

This painting of a boy or young man, in a blue sweater and blue pants, holding a tennis racquet, was last seen in the home of Leo and Lynn Fontaine, Sun Lakes (Chandler area), Arizona c. 1999. It is a portrait of Leo Fontaine at age 16 painted circa 1935, painted by Paul Fontaine age 22. If you know of its whereabouts, please contact information@fontaine.org.

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:28:43 +0000

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Discovery of the month

Mary Wigman, dancer, wrote to Virginia over a period of four years as Virginia was attempting to help her regain her standing with the American press.

Virginia met Mary wigman while she was photographing, as a freelance photographer, Mary and other dancers at the Montreux , Switzerland International Dance Congress May-Aug 1952.

Here are notes of Virginia’s observations of the dancers’ instructors, Harald Kreutzberg , Mary Wigman, Kurt Jooss and Rosalia Chladek

Here are sample letters from between Mary Wigman and Virginia

For more see the Mary Wigman et al page in the Archive

Here are photos of the dancers