Park West Gallery Receives 2009 Best of Southfield Award

U.S. Commerce Association recognizes art gallery for outstanding service to its customers and community

SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN / August 2009 — Park West Gallery has been selected for the 2009 Best of Southfield Award in the Retail Establishment Property Operation category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).

Upon receiving this award founder and CEO of Park West Gallery, Albert Scaglione said, “It is an honor to be recognized by the U.S. Commerce Association. We have enjoyed doing business out of our headquarters in Southfield, Michigan over the past 40 years, and Park West looks forward to being a part of the metro Detroit community for many years to come.”

The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Park West Gallery is dedicated to providing exceptional customer service and community support and tirelessly looks for ways to increase its efforts. One of Park West’s recent initiatives, creating artist websites, allows art appreciators worldwide to learn about their favorite contemporary and Master artists while viewing fine artwork. Recently launched websites include those dedicated to Masters Salvador Dali, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Pablo Picasso.

Park West founder Albert Scaglione and his wife Mitsie continually look for opportunities to give back both locally and globally. In 2006 they formed the Park West Foundation, which currently works with more than 200 young adults who have aged out of foster care, providing them with guidance as well as housing, educational, and employment aid, among other necessities.

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Related Links:

• Discover more about your favorite Park West artists
• Take the Park West Gallery virtual tour
• Learn more about the Park West Foundation

Artist Birthdays, August 4: JOHN HENRY TWACHTMAN

JOHN H. TWACHTMAN (August 4, 1853 – August 8, 1902)

• Nationality: American
• Field: Painting, etching
• Art Movement: Impressionism, Tonalism
• ARTiFact: Nicknamed “the Winter Impressionist” for his delighting in the challenge of painting white on white.
• Artist Quote: “A landscape hardly exists at all as a landscape because its appearance is constantly changing; it lives by virtue of its surroundings — the air and light — which vary continually.”
• Important Artwork (shown below): Arques-la-Bataille, 1885.

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Related Links:

• For more information about the artist, visit www.johnhenrytwachtman.org
• Discover more about your favorite artists at Park West Gallery 

Miró in His Garden at the Maeght Foundation

SAINT-PAUL, FRANCE — Through November 8, 2009, Miró en Son Jardin (Miró in His Garden) will be on display at the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. The exhibit — which includes 250 works by Joan Miró, ranging from major paintings and sculptures to several never-seen-by-the-public pieces — occupies the entire museum and gardens, illustrating the profound relationship between the Maeght family and this artist.

Miró, the revered giant of 20th century art, was close friends with the Maeght family, and was deeply involved in the creation of the Maeght Foundation. The space was formerly a holiday home, a haven for him to meet people and to think—and above all, his open air studio. This exhibit offers a unique opportunity to meet Miró in His Garden and to discover the secret behind his creations.

Joan Miró and Aimé Maeght met when Miró joined Braque in Varengeville. In 1948, after the war, Miró went to Paris and Maeght looked after him while he was working on a series of lithographs.

As a token of his esteem, affection, and gratitude to the Maeght family and the Foundation at St. Paul, Miró made an exceptional donation of his works, including sculptures, maquettes, ceramics, and paintings both on canvas and on paper. In 1979, an exhibition directed by Miró enabled him at last to present his works and research in the way he wished.

In the 1960’s, Joan Miró was given the opportunity to create a gigantic sculpture in the gardens of the Marguerite and Aimé Maeght Foundation. This was the Labyrinth. For the first time, Miró’s sculpture was deliberately put together with architecture and nature, ever his source of inspiration. The artist thus created a sculpture garden especially for the Maeght Foundation, consisting of enormous sculptures and ceramic works, a labyrinth inhabited by creations of the artist’s dream world, reminding us that he was far more than a painter.

In 1964, at the opening of the Maeght Foundation, the public discovered stone walls weaving amongst the ceramics and sculptures. The artist painted a white line along the walls to guide the visitor through the sculpture garden. Here, the genius from Catalonia explored difference materials: the Grand Arche is made of concrete, using a pneumatic drill. L’Oiseau lunaire and L’Oiseau solaire are made of Carrara marble. La Fourche, the symbol of a peasant’s raised fist during the Spanish Civil War, is made from iron and bronze. The ceramic Lézard climbs up the patio walls while gargoyles above the ponds spew water into the depths Miró decorated.

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Related Links:

• For more information on Miró en Son Jardin, visit www.fondation-maeght.com
• Learn more about the artist Joan Miró
• View selections from the Park West Gallery – Miró artwork collection