The MONEYworks Group of Magazines is bringing to the UAE artwork of some of the all time great modern and contemporary artists in an exposition at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
The MONEYworks Bronze & Art Exhibition will be open to visitors for a month at the Emperor Hall in DIFC from November 15th to December 15th, 2009. Among the central pieces of attraction at the exhibition will be Constantin Brancusi’s bronze sculpture “Mademoiselle Pogany II” and Pablo Picasso’s “Tete de Femme, Fernande”, which is one of the final bronze casts of the artist’s model Fernande Oliver.
The Bronze & Art Exhibition will showcase over a hundred art pieces with total worth, at current valuations, well in excess of US$50 million. The MONEYworks Group of Magazines has arranged with private art collectors globally to display the pieces, which use different mediums, including bronze, oil on canvas, wood, aluminium and mixed media.
Abdulla Bin Sougat, Chief Executive Officer of DIFC Lifestyle Group, said: “DIFC is pleased to host The Bronze and Art Exhibition, which showcases the works of some of the greatest masters the world of art has seen. Many of the pieces exhibited have introduced new aesthetic perspectives that have changed the way art is viewed and appreciated.
“Our support for this exhibition is in line with our efforts to promote the development of DIFC into a regional and international centre for art and culture. The exhibition provides audiences in Dubai an opportunity to see a rich and diverse selection of works that represent the true spirit of global contemporary art. Exhibitions like these also serve to create greater interest in contemporary art and enhance the creative and cultural environment in the city,”Bin Sougat added.
Saud A.Al Amri, chairman of Rasalmal Financial Publishing, the publishers of MONEYworks, said: “The MONEYworks Bronze & Art Exhibition is unique and is quite unprecedented in this part of the world, as original artwork from some of the world’s greatest artists and master craftsmen will all be displayed under one roof. Only western museums can currently offer the same experience.”
The bronze & art exposition is part of the celebration of the more than a decade-long publishing of MONEYworks Group of Magazines in the GCC. Al Amri said that the exposition is aimed at celebrating art for art’s sake, while it also brings to the fore the emerging importance of the UAE and the GCC as an important art centre in the world. Throughout the exposition, a number of workshops will be held to create awareness about art and the different mediums used to express creativity, he added.
It is significant that Brancusi’s “Mademoiselle Pogany II”, which will be on display at the exposition, is at the core of the most celebrated themes of the famous 19th century Romanian sculptor’s work. It is the second of the three portraits that the sculptor executed between 1912 and 1931 of Margit Pogany, a Hungarian art student whom he met in Paris.
Only very few of Brancusi’s more famous pieces have come to the market in recent years with most already owned by museums or large private collectors. The most famous one in recent years was Danaide, which sold for US$16.5 million in May, 2007, at a Christie’s auction in New York.
Picasso’s “Tete de Femme, Fernande” represents the artist’s first cubist sculpture and was modelled for by Fernande Oliver. “Tete de Femme, Fernande” is considered to be one of the great moments in the history of modernist sculpture. Casts of this piece are famously included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of Modern Art in New York and Tate Modern, London.
The MONEYworks Bronze & Art exposition will also include famous artworks of some of the leading exponents from the US like Alex Katz, whose art, including those on oil on canvas will be displayed. Works of art produced by Anthony Quinn, perhaps better known as a 20th century international film star, will also be showcased amongst a number of other famous names that will be disclosed near the time of the exposition.
