MACCHIAIOLI PAINTINGS TO BE EXHIBITED AT UCLA

Giovanni Fattori, Odoardo Borrani, Silvestro Lega and Telemaco Signorini are not well-known names in art history, but that may change with the arrival of “The Macchiaioli: Painters of Italian Life, 1850-1900,” at UCLA’s Frederick S. Wight Gallery, Tuesday through April 20. The exhibition introduces a group of 19th-Century painters who are the Italian counterparts of the French Impressionists.

Like the Impressionists but overshadowed by them, the Macchiaioli are considered precursors of Modernism. The group of predominantly Tuscan artists was initially inspired by an exhibition of French painting in the 1855 World’s Fair in Paris. Taking a fresh look at the Italian countryside and its inhabitants, the Macchiaioli began to work out of doors and to capture actual visual experience on canvas.

Also like the Impressionists, the Italians got their name from an art critic who ridiculed their painted splotches of color, called macchie .

The Macchiaioli produced warmly realistic pictures that were considered quite radical in their departure from the Italian Academy’s historical and idealized subjects. Rejecting the academy’s prescribed classical, idyllic or heroic themes, they painted portraits of common people, sunny landscapes, gardens and cafe scenes.

The exhibition, organized by UCLA in conjunction with the Macchiaioli Archive in Rome and Florence, features more than 150 paintings by major Macchiaioli artists. The show will travel to the Harvard University Art Museum before returning to Italy.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a symposium and festival of Italian art and culture are scheduled for March 16.

While strict social customs barred the use of silver by many 18th- through 20th-Century Chinese commoners, Western businessmen and ships’ officers didn’t go without the shiny stuff. “Chinese Export Silver: A Legacy of Luxury,” at the San Diego Museum of Art to March 23, proves that fact with a cache of 69 finely handcrafted silver pieces made mostly for export westward.

Ornamental boxes, a walking stick, nutmeg grater, jewelry and a variety of tablewares and presentation silver are included in the show, which illuminates the cultural and artistic change that occurred during China’s period of active trade with the West from the 1700s through the early 1900s.

Chinese silversmiths had excelled at metalworking since the middle of the T’ang Dynasty (618-900). They began exporting gold and silver luxury items to the West soon after the Portuguese and Spanish discovered direct routes to the Orient in the 15th Century. By the 17th Century, the trading port of Canton had established itself as an important center for silversmithing.

“The Elegant Brush: Chinese Painting Under the Qianlong Emperor, 1735-1795,” recently opened at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, runs through March 23.

The traveling exhibition features 90 18th-Century paintings from the reign of Qianlong, fourth emperor of the Manchu dynasty, the last epoch of the Chinese imperial order. Works in the display constitute an extensive study in silk and paper and ink and brush from this period.

Qianlong, a painter and poet, crowded his court in Peking with scholars, court painters and “resident foreigner” artists. The show includes examples from these three major schools.

“The Elegant Brush” also features 18th-Century Chinese painting made geographically and philosophically outside the imperial court. Works are included by artists of Yangzhou (south of Peking), labeled eccentric for their individualistic, spontaneous style.

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art has also received a gift of 4,000 19th-Century French lithographs, including 900 by Honore Daumier, recently bestowed by Los Angeles art collectors Albert and Dana Broccoli and Michael Wilson. (Albert Broccoli produced the James Bond films.)

The acquisition will increase the museum’s holdings by 57%, museum director Richard V. West said.

In addition to the politically satirical and witty prints by Daumier (“Married Life,” “Parisian Types,” “Men of Law”), artists represented in the new collection include Gavarni, Grandville, Monnier, Travies, Charlet, Raffet and Achille Deveria.

The Santa Barbara acquisition greatly increases the public cache of Daumier in Southern California, but it is not the largest assembly of his work. The County Museum of Art has more than 7,000 Daumier prints in its Armand Hammer collection and 200 in a separate holding.

The UCLA College of Fine Arts presents “Contemporary American Indian Art: Diversity in Traditions,” a series of lectures on American Indian art through May 6.

Among artists appearing are Paiute-Pit River Tribe graphic artist Jean LaMarr of Susanville Rancheria, California (March 10); Tuscarora Tribe photographer Jolene Rickard from New York (April 8); and Maidu tribe visual artist Harry Fonseca of Shingle Springs, California (May 6).

After the lectures (held at 6 p.m. in Dickson Auditorium,) the artists will display their work to the audience. The lectures are free but there is a $3 parking charge in UCLA lot three. Information: (213) 825-7315.