Titian and Tintoretto Do Vegas
Billie
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Until last week, the only Titian and Tintoretto portraits in
Las Vegas were re-creations painted on the ceilings of The Venetian
hotel-casino. Now the real works are there.
Paintings by both artists, as well as works by other masters, will be on
display at the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in the Venetian through March 2.
Spanning more than 500 years, the 39 displayed works provide a historical
glimpse into art from 1436 to 1965.
"This is an experiment for all of us," museum director Thomas Krens says. "It's
an unusual concept to condense six centuries into 39 works, but it's an
exciting ride. I think that, picture for picture, it's one of the most
extraordinary exhibitions that I've ever seen."
The year-old museum's second exhibit features works from the Guggenheim's
parent museum in New York and others in Vienna and Russia.
Las Vegas is fast becoming a magnet for fine art. An exhibit featuring Faberge
Imperial eggs also opened over the weekend at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art
down the Strip at the Bellagio hotel-casino. Other hotel-casinos have included
fine art, hoping culture will become as synonymous to the city as gambling and
showgirls.
"Who would have thought you could find an exhibit like this in Las Vegas?"
asked Sheldon Adelson, chairman of the Venetian's parent company, Las Vegas
Sands Inc. "This is helping to redefine the term 'entertainment.'"
Adelson said the value of the works on display range from $5 million to $100
million.
Thirteen of the works came from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg,
Russia, and were chosen in part for their portrayal of Russia's history, said
Tamara Rappe, curator of the Hermitage.
"It wasn't hard to choose masterpieces for this exhibit from our collection
because we have only masterpieces," she said. "We wanted to show not only just
masterpieces, but ones with the history of the Russian culture."
Karl Schuetz, deputy director and curator of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in
Vienna said 13 works ranging from classical to contemporary were chosen from
his gallery to feature in Las Vegas.
"On one hand we chose to have well-known artists and on the other hand we
selected paintings that show the characteristics of the Vienna collection," he
said.
Willem de Kooning's 1955 "Composition," created on canvas with oil, charcoal
and enamel, is a grand blend of colors, shapes and textures.
"Grrrrrrrrrrr!!," a 1965 painting by Roy Lichtenstein that uses oil and magna
on canvas, depicts a large growling dog. It is the last work in the exhibit and
is reminiscent of the same style found in the pages of classic comic books.
On the Net: The Venetian Hotel: http://www.venetian.com
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