| The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Friday, June 15, 2018 |
| | | United States returns stolen copy of Christopher Columbus letter to Spain | |
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Monsignor Cesare Pasini, chief of the Vatican Library, flips through a letter written by Christopher Columbus that had been stolen from its archives, and returned by the US Homeland Security officials and American ambassador to the Vatican Library on June 14, 2018 at the Vatican. TONY GENTILE / POOL / AFP.
WASHINGTON (AFP).- After years of searching, the United States has returned to Spain a rare copy of a 1493 letter from Christopher Columbus, which had been stolen from a national archive in Barcelona. The letter, addressed to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain and describing the explorer's discoveries in the New World, was one of 16 copies made at the time of the original missive on Columbus's orders. Stolen from the National Library of Catalonia in Barcelona in 2004 or 2005, the document was handed over late Wednesday to the Spanish ambassador to Washington, US officials said. The thieves who took the letter had replaced it with a forgery, and the switch was only discovered by experts in 2012 after a tip from an informant that several other copies had been stolen from archive ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day This year, 290 premier galleries, drawn from 35 countries across Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa present Modern and contemporary works by around 4,000 artists at Art Basel. In this image: Di Donna © Art Basel
| Banksy print stolen from Toronto show | | Major conservation treatment of Tiepolo's monumental Bacchus and Ariadne reveals hidden details | | Czech Art Nouveau painter Mucha's masterpiece finds home after 90 years |
At some point last Sunday a Banksy print was removed from the exhibit.
OTTAWA.- Canadian police said Thursday they are investigating the theft of a Banksy print from an unauthorized exhibit of the British-based guerrilla graffiti artist's work in Toronto. "We were called about a break and enter in the city's west end," Constable Jenifferjit Sidhu told AFP. "At some point last Sunday a Banksy print was removed from the exhibit." The stolen "Trolley Hunters" print depicts crouching men in loin cloths armed with stone-tipped wooden spears and axes as they hunt grocery shopping carts in a grassy field. Its value is estimated at Can$45,000 (US$34,000), Sidhu said. The Art of Banksy exhibit -- curated by his former manager Steve Lazarides, but reportedly not endorsed by the artist himself -- opened on Wednesday in a Toronto industrial building dressed up as an art gallery, as part of a larger North American run. Displaying about 80 works on loan from collectors, including sculptures, screen prints, canvases and multimedia pieces, it has been billed as the largest collec ... More | |
Prior to conservation treatment: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Bacchus and Ariadne, c. 1743/1745 (detail). Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Timken Collection.
WASHINGTON, DC.- Following a four-year-long conservation treatment, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's Bacchus and Ariadne (c. 1743/1745) returned to public view in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, on June 14, 2018. The comprehensive restoration has revealed elements by the Venetian master hidden from view since the work was removed from its original location at the end of the 18th century. The dramatic results provide viewers with a new sense of the immense painting's appearance at the time of its creation. "The conservation of this remarkable work reveals significant discoveries about Tiepolo's process and clues to the painting's original home," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "This project also represents one of the many instances of rich collaboration between the Gallery's team of conservators, scientists, and curators, all leaders in their ... More | |
A visitor looks at the "Slav Epic", a cycle of 20 allegories tracing the history of the Slavic people and inspired in part by mythology, by Art Nouveau Czech artist Alfons Mucha, at the National Gallery in Prague. AFP PHOTO / MICHAL CIZEK.
PRAGUE (AFP).- The giant Slav Epic series by Czech Art Nouveau painter Alfons Mucha has finally secured a permanent home after 90 years in temporary depositories, including a hiding place from the Nazis under a pile of coal. Mucha (1860-1939) said in his testament that he wanted the allegoric cycle of 20 paintings depicting Slav myths exhibited in Prague on condition that the city would build a home for the work. Prague became the owner of the canvases -- which range in size from 20 to 50 square metres (215 to 540 square feet) -- in 1928, but it has so far failed to meet the wish of the painter famous also for his floral posters of actress Sarah Bernhardt. On Thursday, city hall voted to secure a home for the work that Mucha considered his masterpiece. "I see this as an overdue debt that we owe Alfons Mucha," said Prague mayor Adriana Krnacova ... More |
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| Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery opens "Daguerreotypes: Five Decades of Collecting" | | Largest gift of cultural properties in University of Lethbridge history given by Dr. Margaret (Marmie) Perkins Hess | | José Feliciano donates objects from his 50-year music career to the Smithsonian |
Charlotte Cushman by Unidentified Artist. Half-plate daguerreotype c. 1850. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
WASHINGTON, DC.- The first commercially viable form of photography, daguerreotypes brought portraiture within reach of average Americans in the mid-1800s. Today, they are an essential part of the museums collection. Daguerreotypes: Five Decades of Collecting celebrates the Portrait Gallerys tradition of collecting with this intimate exhibition of 13 small-scale, one-of-a-kind portraits of early American influencers. The exhibition opens June 15 and will be on display on the museums first floor through June 2, 2019. The presentation, organized by Ann Shumard, senior curator of photographs, celebrates the museums golden anniversary and highlights its extraordinary collection. With more than 23,000 objects, the Portrait Gallery holds some of the most important photographic portraits, including prized glass-plate negatives by Mathew Brady and the acclaimed 2017 acquisition of an 1843 daguerreotype likeness of ... More | |
Art Gallerys Dr. Josephine Mills talks to media - note the Northwest Coast artworks in the background, all thanks to a bequest from Dr. Margaret (Marmie) Perkins Hess.
LETHBRIDGE, AB.- The University of Lethbridge Art Gallery today unveils an unparalleled bequest of more than 1,000 works of art valued between $4 and $5 million from the estate of Dr. Margaret (Marmie) Perkins Hess (DFA 04). This is the largest gift of art and cultural properties to the U of L in its 51-year history, says Dr. Mike Mahon, U of L president and vice-chancellor. We are honoured to become the home for these iconic works of art. Marmie was truly a renaissance woman; she was highly educated and committed to the arts, education and the community. The diverse collection is like a hidden treasure most of the works havent been seen in public since Hess acquired them, including Cliffs Near Petawawa by Tom Thomson, a contemporary of the Group of Seven. It alone is valued at more than $1 million. The collection also contains ... More | |
José Feliciano played this guitar on some of his most famous albums, such as Light My Fire, and also during the 1968 World Series when he sang the national anthem. Photo: Jaclyn Nash, courtesy of the Smithsonians National Museum of America History.
WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonians National Museum of American History recognized the contributions of Grammy Award-winning musician José Feliciano to American music and culture during a naturalization and donation ceremony June 14, Flag Day. During the naturalization ceremony, 20 candidates for American citizenship from 17 countries took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States. Feliciano provided the keynote address, donated artifacts to the national collection and performed the national anthem. Feliciano was born Sept. 10, 1945, in Lares, Puerto Rico, with congenital glaucoma, resulting in permanent blindness. At age 5, Felicianos family moved to New York City. He first displayed his musical talent by playing the accordion until his father presented him with his first guitar. On Oct. 7, 1968, Feliciano performed The ... More |
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| Soyoung Lee named Chief Curator at the Harvard Art Museums | | Exhibition features the unrivaled trove of magical historical artifacts from illusionist David Copperfield | | Elvis' drummer, last survivor of his band, dead at 87 |
Lee comes to the Harvard Art Museums from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where over the course of a distinguished 15-year career she has served as curator, associate curator, and assistant curator in the Department of Asian Art. © Audrey Kotkin.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.- The Harvard Art Museums announced the appointment of Soyoung Lee as the institutions new Chief Curator, effective September 24, 2018. Lee comes to the Harvard Art Museums from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where over the course of a distinguished 15-year career she has served as curator, associate curator, and assistant curator in the Department of Asian Art. Lee joined the Met in 2003 as its first curator for Korean art and has organized a number of critically acclaimed international loan exhibitions, including Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art (April 7August 14, 2011); Silla: Koreas Golden Kingdom (November 4, 2013February 23, 2014); and most recently, Diamond ... More | |
Harry Houdinis Milk Can, ca. 1908. Copperfield Collection. Photo: Glenn Castellano.
NEW YORK, NY.- An enchanting summer awaits visitors to the New-York Historical Society with Summer of Magic, an exciting, museum-wide line-up of mesmerizing displays, evening programs, family activities, and free films that offer a historical perspective on the spectacle of magic and the magicians who became famous performing death-defying feats. From June 15 September 16, visitors will explore rarely exhibited artifacts from the Golden Age of Magicincluding unique items from David Copperfields private collection that Harry Houdini used to make his thrilling escapesplus meet historical reenactors portraying the great illusionists of the past, try your hand at magic tricks, and learn about mind reading, women in magic, tragic performances, unsolved mysteries, and more. Visitors will be captivated as they discover the tricks, illusions, and escapes that mystified audiences in the late 19th and ... More | |
Fontana was signed to Presley's band, dubbed The Blue Moon Boys, supplying the heavy, high-energy beats that came to characterize rock 'n' roll on The King's early hits such as "Jailhouse Rock".
NEW YORK (AFP).- Drummer D.J. Fontana, the last surviving member of Elvis Presley's original band whose hard-driving but self-effacing style helped shape rock percussion, has died, his family said Thursday. He was 87. His son David Fontana wrote on Facebook that his father died peacefully in his sleep Wednesday evening. An inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Dominic Joseph Fontana introduced drums to the concoction that became rock 'n' roll at a time that popular singers often eschewed percussion entirely. Fontana was a drummer for a radio program in his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana when Presley, then performing primarily for country audiences, came in 1954 after performing on the rival, more established show of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Fontana later recalled that the manager of the "Louisiana ... More |
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| The Photographers' Gallery opens a major new exhibition of works by Alex Prager | | Albertina opens exhibition of works by Florentina Pakosta | | Exhibition of works by Theaster Gates explores the cult surrounding the Black Madonna |
Anaheim, 2017© Alex Prager Studio and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong. Courtesy Alex Prager Studio, Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong.
LONDON.- Silver Lake Drive is a major new exhibition at The Photographers Gallery, London, marking the first mid-career survey of American photographer and filmmaker, Alex Prager (b.1979). Tracing Pragers remarkably rich career over the last ten years and taking place over two gallery floors, the exhibition encompasses over 40 photographs including her trademark, large-scale Technicolor photographs alongside her complete film works. Pragers distinctive works crosses the worlds of art, fashion, photography and film, exposing the human melodrama and dark unsettling undercurrents that are threaded her subject matter. Referencing the aesthetic principals of mid twentieth century Hollywood cinema and fashion photography, as well as such photographers as William Eggleston, Diane Arbus and Cindy Sherman, ... More | |
Florentina Pakosta, 1991/4, Balkan Wars, 1991. Private Collection © Bildrecht, Vienna, 2018.
VIENNA.- To mark the 85th birthday of Florentina Pakosta (*1933 in Vienna), the Albertina Museum is mounting a large-scale retrospective totaling over 100 works. Over the many decades of her career, Pakosta has continually and consistently championed feminist positions and concerns. In parallel to this exhibition, the Albertina Museum is working together closely with the artist to produce a full catalog of her works in order to provide a basis for future research and analysis of her oeuvre. In contrast to other representatives of the feminist avant-garde, Florentina Pakosta refrains from dealing with her own body as a projection surface, instead preferring to use the bodies of powerful men. In her Satirical Works, she criticizes patriarchal power structures by way of exaggeration. From the very beginning, here, the role(s) of women and their inequality with those of men are clearly in focus. This theme runs throughout her ... More | |
Installation view of Theaster Gates: Black Madonna. Photo: Julian Salinas.
BASEL.- In his exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Basel, which spreads out across two of the museums venues, Theaster Gates (b. 1973) explores the cult surrounding the Black Madonna, showcasing new works made especially for the occasion of the exhibition as well as interactions with works from the collection of the Kunstmuseum Basel curated by the artist. Together with local and international cooperation partners, the artist engages the viewers in an extensive program of life performances. The creative practice of Theaster Gates ranges from urban interventions, performance to pottery making. His work continually aims to bridge the gulf between art and society and establish cultural communities as a way of initiating social, political, and urban change. For his exhibition at Kunstmuseum Basel Gates explores the figure of the Black Madonna, examining her political, aesthetical and metaphorical ... More |
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Interview with Alex Prager
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1792 gold piece that jingled in George Washington's pocket makes first public appearance since 1890
DALLAS, TX.- A one-of-a-kind gold coin believed to have once been a cherished memento of U.S. President George Washington made its first public pre-auction showing since 1890 when Heritage Auctions put it on display June 14 at the Long Beach Coin and Collectibles Expo in Long Beach, California. The gold coin will be sold without reserve at an August auction during the ANA Worlds Fair of Money in Philadelphia. It is only the third time in its history that this piece has been offered at public auction. Research strongly suggests the 1792 Washington President gold eagle was expressly struck for, presented to, and carried by George Washington. Furthermore, a 1792 letter to Washington located in 2010 provides compelling evidence that the coin was struck for Washington in Newburyport, Massachusetts, by polymath Jacob Perkins, rather than in England ... More
Exhibition at Belvedere 21 visualizes the core of Alexander Kluge's multimedia oeuvre
VIENNA.- In line with this years motto Spirit of 68, the Belvedere 21 has dedicated a retrospective exhibition to the many years of work by German author, filmmaker, and former Adorno confidant Alexander Kluge (b. 1932). The show visualizes the core of his multimedia oeuvre and was developed in close dialogue with the artist himself. Artistic director Stella Rollig remarks that, Clarity on the state of affairs, self-determination, and emancipation are motifs central to Kluges body of work, in the sense that the potential for hope that arose in 1968 is constantly being developed anew. His multimedia works seek to mobilize the individuals thinking and feeling and position the individual against fatalism towards ones own life story and history in general. An engaged poet, polyphonic chronologist, and seismographer of the present, Alexander Kluge has known the spotlight for quite some time. ... More
Juventino Aranda presents a new body of work at the Frye Art Museum
SEATTLE, WA.- Born to Mexican immigrants in Walla Walla, WA, Juventino Aranda's search for self-identity informs his process as it relates to the social, political, and economic struggles of Chicanos. His art and activist practices are influenced by the grassroots movements of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, as well as the formal and conceptual strategies of post-minimalist artists. From the street to the gallery, he is an archeologist, historian, and architect to a shifting Chicano community, engaging current political debates and notions of the American dream. Aranda's recent work draws on his family history and particularities of his childhood that speak to broader cultural themes. The mass-produced art his mother purchased but never removed from its corrugated cardboard protectors, for instance, appear in Aranda's work as subtle markers of social aspiration ... More
Sculpture Link Knokke-Heist celebrates an impressive jubilee
BRUGES.- This year, the 25th edition of Sculpture Link takes place from the 15th June to the 15th August. As a result of this jubilee, every art lover who wants to can visit and enjoy unique sculptures by two internationally renowned female artists, in particular, the American, Carole Feuerman and the Italian, Rabarama. Both illustrate the age-old theme of woman and the female nude in a striking and idiosyncratic manner. From the Venus of Willendorf to today, women have occupied a prominent place in the visual language of almost every civilisation. She symbolises fertility, motherhood, a harmony of shapes, beauty, strength, intelligence and spirituality, as well as seduction and perversity. Her being is central to many aspirations and is both vulnerable and highly exalted at the same time. Poets surround her with words and exquisite sentences. Visual ... More
Taiwanese artist shows large-scale immersive paintings in Palermo
PALERMO.- In the exhibition Poetry of the Flow, Taiwanese artist Yahon Changs site-specific installation converts the monumental space of the Sala delle Armi in Palazzo Chiaramonte-Steri into an interactive environment, tackling philosophical, spiritual and existential issues that revolve around the contemporary human condition. Employing Chinese ink painting techniques, Poetry of the Flow shows multiple large-scale ink paintings that cover the entirety of the exhibition space that surround the viewer. Over the last 2,000 years, Palermo has been occupied by numerous European countries and has long-term connections with North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. The artist draws inspiration from the social context of the city which hosts Manifesta 12, with its lavish historical, syncretic and cultural values. Ink painting and calligraphy have been an integral part ... More
Lehmann Maupin's inaugural exhibition of Cecilia Vicuña's work on view in New York
NEW YORK, NY.- Lehmann Maupin is presenting La India Contaminada, the gallerys inaugural exhibition for Cecilia Vicuña. While the Chilean-born artist has lived in New York and exhibited widely in the United States and abroad for over three decades, this is the first comprehensive survey of her work in New York. The exhibition features Vicuñas raw wool installation and sculpture known as Quipu, mixed-media sculptures referred to as Lo Precario, video, and painting, spanning 1969-2017. La India Contaminada runs concurrent with a solo exhibition exhibition of her Disappeared Quipu at the Brooklyn Museum with her early performance and photographic work also included in the museums iteration of the traveling exhibition, Radical Women: Latin American Art, 19601985. Vicuñas Quipu (translated as knot from Quechua) works reinvent ... More
Christie's Spring sales of Books and Manuscripts total $12.8 million
BASEL.- Christies New York Books and Manuscripts sales total $12,853,250, across the two auctions that took place on June 14, 2018. The dedicated single-lot sale for John James Audubons The Birds of America (1827-1838) realized $9,650,000, establishing the second-highest price at auction for a full folio-set, with proceeds to benefit the Knobloch Family Foundation. Other notable results included Audubons folio Quadrupeds of North America, 1845-46-48, which realized $348,500; the first issue of Shakespeares Second Folio, which sold for $175,000; an autograph manuscript by Charles Darwin (1809-1992) from his radical treatise on human evolution, which realized $112,500; and an autograph manuscript and letter by Thomas Paine (1737-1809), which sold for over three times the low estimate for $93,750. Additionally, strong results were ... More
Spanish artist Teresa Solar presents a new group of sculptures in der Tank
BASEL.- The Art Institute HGK FHNW in Basel is presenting a solo exhibition by Spanish artist Teresa Solar at der TANK, open daily during Art Basel. How many horizons are there? Imagine the surface of all the seas, oceans, rivers, and lakes of this world as a single horizon. The water line marks the boundary between everything that is above and all that lives below. In addition, water compels us to attain a balance, a lasting relationship between our bodies and all the materials we float on. In der TANK, Spanish artist Teresa Solar presents a new group of sculptures featuring animals, images, mythologies, and other elements that share a relationship with water and the sea. How does immersion alter our way of seeing? How does water or the ether of an art space transformed into fictional water challenge weight and volume, and colour and position? ... More
Designers in Residence 2018 announced by the Design Museum
LONDON.- The Design Museum in London announces the four designers selected for the 2018 edition of Designers in Residence. Chosen by a distinguished panel, the designers will now take up residency in the museums in-house studio for the next seven months. Responding to the theme of Dwelling, they will explore and develop new work that presents thought-provoking ideas and challenges conventional boundaries in design. Creating objects, experiences and interactions, the Designers in Residence scheme allows the designers to question the world around them. Through conversations and engagement with the public, they have the opportunity to develop experimental projects and share visionary ideas which are at the forefront of social, aesthetic, technological and environmental problem solving. Their completed works will be collectively ... More
A Celebration of Robert Osborne is 100% sold at Bonhams
NEW YORK, NY.- On June 13, the sale of Bonhams and TCM Present ... A Celebration of Robert Osborne was 100% sold, which included rare one-sheet posters and movie memorabilia from the estate of the beloved Turner Classic Movies host. The top lot of the collection was Bette Davis personal Sarah Siddons award, which realized $25,000 against an estimate of $10,000-15,000. A two-week online-only sale of additional lots from the estate starts June 14 and continues until June 28. TCM will donate its proceeds from the sale to The Film Foundation while proceeds from the sale of the posters will benefit the Gingold Theatrical Group. Dr. Catherine Williamson, director of Entertainment Memorabilia at Bonhams, commented: The affection for Robert Osborne was evidently clear at the auction. Bids poured out from every corner of the crowded room, as well ... More
Work by Jack B. Yeats top lot at Bonhams Modern British and Irish Art Sale
LONDON.- Donnellys Hollow by the Irish artist Jack B. Yeats sold for £344,750 (391,475) at Bonhams Modern British and Irish Art Sale in London today (Wednesday 13 June). It had been estimated at £300,000-500,000 (340,000-570,000). The sale made a total of £4,026,000. The large work (36x24 inches) depicts the natural amphitheatre at the Curragh in County Kildare where, in 1815, the Irish boxer Dan Donnelly defeated the English champion, George Cooper. Boxing was a passion for the sports-mad Yeats, and Donnellys Hollow is one in a series of paintings that revisited in maturity the obsessions of the artists youth. Other sale highlights included: Summer Landscape by John Minton (1917-1947) which set a new world record at auction for a work on paper by the artist. It was executed in 1945 after visits by the painter to south Cornwall, and had a ... More
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Flashback On a day like today, painter Paul Georges was born June 15, 1923. Paul Georges (June 15, 1923 - April 16, 2002) was an American painter. He died at his home at Isigny-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, aged 77. He painted large-scale figurative allegories and numerous self-portraits. In January 1966, the cover of Art News featured "In The Studio" now in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Works were included in Whitney Museum Annuals of 1961, 1963, 1967 & 1969. In this image: Muse Comes to Consult, 72 x 120 w, 1983.
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