What's On at Europe's Musuems

Ferrara

goes Cubist

Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara

Legend has it that an art critic in the early 20th century dismissively described Georges Braque's work as "bizarreries cubiques", thereby unwittingly coining the term "cubist". It was a movement that began in 1907, with Picasso's famous Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. A major exhibition in Ferrara has now brought together numerous works by Cubist painters in a show called Cubism: Revolution and Tradition at the Palazzo dei Diamanti. In chronological order, it covers work by Picasso, Braque, Léger, Gris, Mondrian, Gleizes, Metzinger, Severini, Marcoussis and Diego Rivera.

Cubism: Revolution and Tradition runs through January 9, 2005. The exhibition is open Sun.-Thur. 9:00 - 20:00, Fri.-Sat. 9:00 - 24:00

France welcomes the Pharaohs

Institut du Monde Arab, Paris

The Paris Institute of the Arab World is currently hosting an exhibition devoted to pharaohs. Of the 200 or so pharaohs on show, more than half have been loaned by the Cairo Museum and date from between 1550 - 1069 BC. Many are on exhibit in France for the first time, such as a three-meter-high statue of Tutenkamun. Kings and warriors, the Egyptian rulers fulfilled a range of functions. "This exhibition is designed to show the different facets of the pharaohs' identity", explained the museum director.

Pharaoh runs through April 10, 2005. The exhibition is open Tue. - Sun. 10:00 - 18:00

An American in Paris

Musée d'Orsay, Paris

After turning his back on conventional photography, Alfred Stieglitz, husband of Georgia O'Keefe, founded the Photo Secession group in 1902 and began publishing the magazine "Camera Work". The Musée d'Orsay was one of the only European galleries the Georgia O'Keefe Foundation donated part of its collection to, and the current show comprises some 400 pieces by the son of German immigrants, who died in New York in 1946.

Alfred Stieglitz runs from Oct. 19 - Jan. 16, 2005. the exhibition is open Tue.-Sun. 10:00 -18:00, Thur. 10:00 - 21:45 and Sun. from 9:00

What the eye can see

Atelier Augarten, Austria

Austrian artist Valie Export's work explores universal themes such as perception, communication and man's relationship to his environment. The Galerie Belvedere is now presenting a show with the title "Valie Export: Series", which includes 90 photographs, installations, videos and graphics by the 64-year-old artist. Her technique is to divide motifs into individual images taken from the same position as a means of illustrating how the human eye responds to what it sees.

Valie Export: Series runs through February 20, 2005 and is open Tue.-Sun. 10:00 - 18:00

What Pop Art Did Next

IVAM, Valencia

Jasper Johns was one of the pioneers of Pop Art, best-known for his flag, target and number paintings. His painted bronze statues brought him his international breakthrough in the 1950s, but it's Johns' later work that's now on show in Valencia's Institute for Modern Art. The collection of some 90 graphics, drawings and paintings date from the period 1983 to 2003. Born in 1930 in Georgia, USA, Johns was a close friend of Robert Rauschenberg, and his work drew on work by artists as diverse as Frida Kahlo, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Holbein and Matthias Grünewald.

Things of the Past and Present runs through Jan. 2, 2005 and is open Tue. - Sun. 10:00 - 20:00