| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Sunday, February 23, 2020 |
| | | A billion-dollar scandal turns the 'king of manuscripts' into the 'Madoff of France' | |
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A Charlotte Bronte manuscript, in miniature, handwritten when she was 14, in Paris on Nov. 18, 2019. Gerard Lhéritier built one of the largest rare books collections in history and sold shares to investors at unheard-of prices. Ben Quinton/The New York Times.
by David Segal
PARIS (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- A letter from Frida Kahlo, signed and twice kissed with red lipstick, fetched just over $8,800. A page of scribbled calculations by Isaac Newton sold for about $21,000. A 1953 handwritten speech by John F. Kennedy took in $10,000. Adjugé! said a gray-haired auctioneer, over and over, as he gaveled away nearly every one of the 200 lots for sale at Drouot, an auction house, in Paris in mid-November. The sale generated $4.2 million, which might sound like a triumph. Actually, the sale was a fiasco, or, more precisely, one part of an ongoing fiasco. All of the items came from a now-defunct company, Aristophil, which starting in 2002 built one of the largest collections of rare books, autographs and manuscripts in history some 136,000 pieces in all. The buying spree turned the companys founder and president, a stout 71-year-old named Gérard Lhéritier, into a celebrity. He opened the stately Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in a pricey neighborhood in Paris and surr ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day A woman looks at Caesar's Forum in Rome on February 21, 2020 within the presentation of an ancient tomb thought to belong to Rome's founder Romulus, discovered under the nearby Roman Forum in the heart of Italy's capital decades ago. An ancient tomb thought to belong to Rome's founder Romulus is being presented to the world on February 21, 2020, bringing to a head months of investigation by history sleuths. The 6th century BC stone sarcophagus, with an accompanying circular altar, was discovered under the Forum in the heart of Italy's capital decades ago, but experts could not agree on whether or not it belonged to the fabled figure. Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP
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| | Auschwitz museum demands Amazon drop 'Nazi propaganda' books | | MoMA announces details of first collection rotation opening May 2020 | | The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, opens 'Francis Bacon: Late Paintings' |
Visitors at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Oswiecim, Poland, Feb. 4, 2018. Maciek Nabrdalik/The New York Times.
WARSAW (AFP).- The Auschwitz museum called Friday on US e-commerce billionaire Jeff Bezos to remove Nazi era anti-Semitic children's books featured on his Amazon global digital sales platform. "Hateful, virulently antisemitic Nazi propaganda is available for sale not only on @AmazonUK," the Auschwitz Memorial tweeted Friday on its official account. "Books by authors like Julius Streicher can be found also on @amazon & @AmazonDE. Such books should be removed immediately. | @JeffBezos @Amazon," it said in a post that also featured screen-grabs of the books for sale on the platform. Among them is an anti-Semitic children's book titled "The Poisonous Mushroom" authored by Nazi party member Julius Streicher and originally published in 1938. The book is offered on Amazon for sale in its original German (Der Giftpilz) as well as English, French and Spanish, AFP confirmed with an online search. Last year, Lithuania called on Amazon to stop selling Soviet-themed goods online, saying the hammer ... More | |
Georgia OKeeffe (American 1887-1986). Abstraction Blue. 1927. Oil on canvas, 40 1/4 x 30″ (102.1 x 76 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the Helen Acheson Bequest. © 2019 The Georgia OKeeffe Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Museum of Modern Art announced details of its Spring Reveal, opening in May 2020, which will feature significant changes to 20 of its collection galleries in the Museums newly constructed David Geffen Wing. The new MoMA opened on October 21, 2019, with a reimagined approach to its presentation of modern and contemporary art, including a commitment to rotate one-third of its collection galleries every six months. This new collection model highlights the creative affinities and frictions produced by displaying painting, sculpture, architecture, design, photography, media, performance, film, and works on paper together. The majority of MoMAs approximately 60 collection galleries now feature works from two or more of the Museums curatorial departments, proceeding along a broadly chronological spine throughout the fifth, fourth, and second floors. ... More | |
Francis Bacon, Portrait of Michel Leiris, 1976, oil on canvas, Musée national d'art modern-Centre de création industrielle, Paris. © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved. / DACS, London / ARS, NY 2019.
HOUSTON, TX.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, presents Francis Bacon: Late Paintings. Organized by the Centre Pompidou, where it debuted in September 2019, this is the first in-depth museum consideration of Bacons production in his final decades, and the first museum exhibition of the artists work to be seen in the U.S. since the Metropolitan Museum of Arts 2009 retrospective in New York. The exhibition is on view in Houston from February 23 through May 25, 2020. We are profoundly pleased to partner with the Centre Pompidou and their curator Didier Ottinger to bring to the United States this landmark survey of Francis Bacons late work, said Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. This will be Houstons first exhibition of the artist, and by focusing on the achievements of his final decades, we can best understand the resolution he brought to many of ... More |
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| | Zaha Hadid's 'exoskeleton' tower an instant Miami landmark | | National Archives' emails show little debate over altering photo of Women's March | | New art sanctuary dedicated to Calder to open in Philadelphia |
A general view of One Thousand Museum building in Miami on February 19, 2020. Eva Marie UZCATEGUI / AFP.
by Leila Macor
MIAMI (AFP).- In the heart of Miami, among the towering skyscrapers that rise above Biscayne Bay, the eye-catching new luxury condo building by late star architect Zaha Hadid dominates the skyline. The unique curved "exoskeleton" design of the One Thousand Museum building has created buzz. The futuristic structure is the only residential space in downtown Miami with a helipad. The high-rise also honors the legacy of the Iraqi-British architect, who died in Miami in 2016 at age 65, when the 62-story tower was built up to about the eighth floor. "We felt a big obligation to make sure we got this particular project right because Miami was her second home," said Chris Lepine, who took over as director of the $300 million project after her death. "She spent a lot of time here, had a lot of friends." Hadid -- sometimes dubbed "Queen of the Curve" for her love of the form -- was the first woman to win the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, and also won two Stirling ... More | |
People walk past the National Archives Museum in Washington. Leigh Vogel/The New York Times.
by Maria Cramer
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- It did not take long for conspiracy theories and accusations of censorship to emerge after the National Archives and Records Administration admitted it had altered a photo of the 2017 Womens March to hide disparaging references to President Donald Trump. Doctoring the photo was nothing less than Orwellian, fumed the American Civil Liberties Union, which accused the archives of trying to hide criticism. Historians and archivists said the agency had violated the publics trust. March organizers called it an attempt to silence women. And on social media, some questioned whether Trump himself had ordered the alterations, recalling his fury over a photo of his inauguration crowds. But in dozens of emails released by the National Archives about the image, officials appeared more concerned about the costs of licensing the photo than the ethics of changing it. Although a few of the emails were heavily redacted, nearly all of the emails suggest employees at the archives w ... More | |
Alexander S. C. Rower, President, Calder Foundation Photo Courtesy of: Calder Foundation, New York / Art Resource, New York. Artist Copyright: © 2020 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Maria Robledo © 2020 Calder Foundation, New York.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.- A new sanctuary dedicated to the art of Alexander Calder, one of the most innovative artists of the 20th century, will be created in the heart of downtown Philadelphia. Herzog & de Meuron has been selected to design the new cultural facility, which will feature bespoke galleries and gardens presenting a rotating selection of masterworks from the Calder Foundation, including mobiles, stabiles, monumental sculptures, and paintings. The nonprofit initiative, which will be formally named in the coming months, has been launched by a group of Philadelphia philanthropists working in collaboration with the Calder Foundation and in partnership with the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Tuned specifically for the presentation of Calders work, the spaces and gardens will unfold as a choreographed progression that will move viewers beyond the traditional ... More |
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| | Sprüth Magers opens an exhibition of new sculptures and photographs by Cyprien Gaillard | | A Beethoven aria was lost. I filled in the missing pages. | | First major exhibition of Belgian artist Léon Spilliaert opens at the Royal Academy of Arts |
Cyprien Gaillard Overburden, 2020 (detail) Aluminum honeycomb and limestone with stainless steel inlay Copyright Cyprien Gaillard Courtesy the artist and Sprüth Magers Photo: Robert Wedemeyer.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers are presenting Reefs to Rigs, an exhibition of new sculptures and photographs by Cyprien Gaillard, as well as his most recent film, in a presentation that connects with the Los Angeles gallerys particular site above a future LA Metro station and across from the La Brea Tar Pits. At this intersection of urban infrastructure and prehistoric matter, Gaillards works emphasize the cyclical, era-spanning interactions between nature and human industry, made visible and palpable through materials encountered across the world. On the ground floor of Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, large wall-based sculptures circumscribe the gallery space, composed of impossibly thin limestone panels atop honeycomb aluminum structures. Swirling constellations of fossils are embedded within each panel, as is the cryptic logo of the New Jersey Transit commuter rail ... More | |
Will Crutchfield, artistic director of Teatro Nuovo, at his home in New York, Feb. 20, 2020. Justin Kaneps/The New York Times.
by Will Crutchfield
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Beethoven had to present his only opera three times before it won success. It was premiered as Fidelio in 1805, revised as Leonore in 1806 and revised again in 1814 as the Fidelio we know today. Everyone now calls the first two versions Leonore to distinguish them from the famous one but they are far from identical, because Beethoven was under intense pressure to shorten and simplify after the mixed reception in 1805. What he originally wrote, though, was not some kind of student effort; were talking about a composer who already had the Eroica Symphony behind him. The conductor René Jacobs has recently asserted backed by a recording that the 1805 version is the best overall, and he is not alone. It is the version Opera Lafayette will revive in Washington on Feb. 26 and New York on March 2 and 4, conducted by Ryan ... More | |
A Gust of Wind, 1904. Indian ink wash, brush, watercolour and gouache on paper, 51 x 41 cm. Mu.ZEE © www.lukasweb.be - Art in Flanders vzw. Photo: Hugo Maertens.
LONDON.- The Royal Academy of Arts will present the first major exhibition of Belgian artist Léon Spilliaert (18811946) to be held in the UK. Bringing together around 80 works drawn from public and private collections across Belgium, France, Great Britain and the USA, the exhibition will offer a rare opportunity to discover this intriguing, singular artist who left an indelible mark on the twentieth century art of Belgium. Born in Ostend, the seaside resort on the North Sea coast patronised by the Belgian royal family, Spilliaert was a self-taught artist. Eschewing oil paint, he worked in combinations of Indian ink wash, Conté crayon, watercolour, gouache, pastel, chalk, pencil and pen on paper or cardboard, to create atmospheric works that are often imbued with mystery and melancholy. As a young man, plagued by insomnia and a chronic stomach condition, Spilliaert regularly walked along the deserted promenade and ... More |
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| | The Rose Art Museum's spring exhibitions explore untold narratives | | H&H Classics to offer an unused 1977 motorbike won with a £2 raffle ticket | | A Kenyan painter casts a critical eye on China's role in Africa |
Dora GarcÃa, "Love with Obstacles, 2020. Digital film, 57 min, filmstill. With thanks to The State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia.
WALTHAM. MASS.- The Rose Art Museum opened two exhibitions at the museum. The spring season includes the first U.S. solo exhibition of acclaimed Spanish artist Dora GarcÃa and a new exhibition that brings together works from the Roses extraordinary permanent collection by artists who wrestle with, and create room for, layered understandings and circuitous trajectories through time. Alongside Dora GarcÃa: Love with Obstacles, the exhibition Yesterdays Tomorrow: Selections from the Rose Collection, 1933-2018 reminds us that, in order to address issues of the present and envision a better future, we must constantly rememberand reevaluatethe past through a contemporary lens. For her first solo exhibition in the United States, Spanish artist Dora GarcÃa (b. Valladolid, 1965) focuses on her work of the recent years to open new platforms ... More | |
Sally Peace with the bike she won with a £2 raffle ticket.
LONDON.- Long-time biker and bike enthusiast Sally Peace, 60, bought a raffle ticket for £2.00 to win a brand new 1977 motorbike when she visited the National Motorcycle Museum in the summer 2019 and to her delight found in October that she had won the draw for the Triumph T160V Trident. A keen motorbike rider since 1977 when she fell in love with a Suzuki, her winning raffle ticket was one of thousands sold by the National Motorcycle Museum to win the Triumph. Based in mid Wales Sally, a health carer, is struggling with health issues herself and needs an operation which the sale of the Triumph will fund. She says she was overjoyed when she heard that she had won the bike and very sad to be selling it, but her health issues make it a priority. Never registered and in unused as new condition, the bike is expected to sell for circa £10,000 - £12,000 at auction with H&H Classics on April 7th at the National ... More | |
Artist Michael Soi in his studio with a painting in his "China Loves Africa" collection in Nairobi, Kenya, on Feb. 13, 2020. Khadija Farah/The New York Times.
by Abdi Latif Dahir
NAIROBI (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- In the painting, one of 100 on the same theme, Chinas president, Xi Jinping, appears as he has in all the previous ones: a larger-than-life figure who commands attention because of the goodies he has brought with him. Decked in a flowing white garment, Xi is surrounded by a crowd of black men some with bald heads, others with unkempt beards all reaching out for the dollars leaking out of a briefcase. The work of a Kenyan artist and painter, Michael Soi, the collection China Loves Africa questions the guiding principles of Beijings engagement in Africa, scrutinizes the role of leaders on both sides in shaping the relationship and examines the consequences for ordinary citizens. The bright acrylic paintings on canvas have proven ... More |
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Artist Billie Zangewa - the Ultimate Act of Resistance is Self-Love
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Charcoal drawing by John Singer Sargent hits $22,800 at Bruneau & Co. sale
CRANSTON, RI.- A figural charcoal on paper drawing by the renowned and well-traveled portrait artist John Singer Sargent (Mass./U.K./Italy, 1856-1925) sold for $22,800 at a two-session auction held Feb. 15 by Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers, online and in the Cranston gallery at 63 Fourth Avenue. Majolica pieces, fine art and steam engines all fared well in the auction. The Sargent drawing was a study for Moloch, the god of material possessions, from the Pagan Gods Mural that adorns the walls of the Boston Public Library. Sargent was approached for this commission by the librarys architects in a project that lasted from 1895-1919. Sargent achieved fame and fortune for his elegant depictions of high society, particularly the portrait Madame X. Session 1 of the sale, held in the morning, featured an important single-owner collection of steam engines, ... More
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art exhibits images of Muhammad Ali taken by Gordon Parks
KANSAS CITY, MO.- The charismatic and controversial American heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, as photographed by Gordon Parks, is the subject of an exhibition at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City that runs through July 5. Gordon Parks x Muhammad Ali: The Image of a Champion, 1966/1970 was organized by the Nelson-Atkins in collaboration with the Gordon Parks Foundation and features approximately 55 photographs Parks took of Ali while on assignment for Life magazine. The museum has recently acquired approximately 13 works, including selections from the American Champion portfolio, which are on view. The photographs in the exhibition derive from two in-depth assignments for Life, the first in 1966 and the second in 1970. Image of a Champion emphasizes the way Parks (1912-2006) and Ali (1942-2016) came ... More
Tobi Tobias, longtime dance critic, dies at 81
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Tobi Tobias, whose dance criticism for New York magazine and other outlets made her an influential voice in the genre for decades, died Feb. 13 at her home in Manhattan. She was 81. Her husband, Irwin Tobias, confirmed the death. He said she had been in declining health for some time. Tobi Tobias, who was also the author of a number of childrens books, began writing about dance in the early 1970s, starting with an article about Twyla Tharp for the alumni magazine of Barnard College, both womens alma mater. Armed with that and another article about Tharp for a different publication the sum total of her dance writing at that point she offered her services to Dance Magazine. To her surprise, William Como, the editor-in-chief, called her in for an interview. Although they differed about a lot of things Just ... More
British artist Alexander Gorlizki opens his show "Otherworldly Interiors" at Gallery Ark
VADODARA.- Brooklyn-based British artist, Alexander Gorlizki opened his show Otherworldly Interiors at Gallery Ark (Vadodara) on 8 February, 2020, with a full house that included some of the leading names in the Indian art world such as Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, Vasudev Akkitham, Rekha Rodwittiya and Jyoti and Jyotsna Bhatt. The opening was accompanied by Professor Naman P. Ahujas talk Modernisms Muse: The Indian Presence in European Art 1880-1930 , as a part of the K.G. Subrahmanyam Memorial Lecture, powered by Gallery Ark. The elaborately curated exhibition weaves together traditional Indian miniature painting with product and textile design to create an immersive experience of a whimsical world of stories and allegory, as imagined by the artist. This is the second time Alexander Gorlizki is exhibiting at the gallery, having first ... More
CCA Wattis Institute presents a new commission by Algerian artist Lydia Ourahmane
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts presents a new commission and the first solo exhibition in an American institution by Algerian artist Lydia Ourahmane, curated by Director and Chief Curator Anthony Huberman. Ourahmanes multidisciplinary practice engages with the emotional, psychological, and political charge of material and placeoften including sound, installation, sculpture, text, and performance. In the summer of 2019, this exhibition received The Ellsworth Kelly Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), a $40,000 annual grant to support the production of new work. Ourahmanes recent work addresses themes of departure, displacement, and immigration. Born in Algeria, a country that was under the French colonial empire (18301962) and subsequently occupied by an authoritarian regime, she emphasizes ... More
Three artists present work that questions the nature of "surface"
NEW YORK, NY.- Egg Collective is presenting Surface Break, a group show featuring the work of Dan Boardman, Amanda Martinez and Cody Tumblin. All three of the artists in the show create work that questions the nature of surface." The very existence of a surface, after all implies that there is something we are not seeing, something that exists underneath ones view. Surfaces have long proposed to humanity the possibility of discovery, if willing to look. The surface of the ocean appears impenetrable from the shore but once broken another world is revealed. Dan Boardman, Amanda Martinez and Cody Tumblin leave just enough of a break to allow the viewer to contemplate the subtle references to culture, form, limitation, disguise and memory that exist within their given works. Dan Boardman is an artist living in Weedsport, ... More
Charles Hobson, who helped break a TV color line, dies at 83
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Charles Hobson, an Emmy Award-winning producer who helped shatter racial stereotypes by delivering a black perspective that had been missing from early television programming, died on Feb. 13 in the Bronx, New York. He was 83. His daughter Hallie Spencer Hobson confirmed his death, from heart failure, in a hospital. Hobson, who lived in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, was instrumental in the success of the groundbreaking series Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant and Like It Is, which introduced white audiences to everyday life in black communities. Those places had been largely invisible, or defined by negative images, during the first decades of TVs evolution. His programs not only provided a singular perspective on contemporary issues; they also gave an unfiltered voice to people who had been neglected when ... More
First New York solo exhibition by Jonah Bokaer on view at signs and symbols
NEW YORK, NY.- signs and symbols is presenting About an Arabesque, the first New York solo exhibition by visual artist and choreographer Jonah Bokaer. The exhibition marks a moment in which the interplay of disciplines in Bokaers practice can be perceived and encountered within a gallery setting. Through their confrontation of stereotypes and iconoclasm, the featured works explore the complexities at large in Western representation and identification of individuals in the Middle East and North Africa. The arabesque as a visual motif and building block of Western dance along with the orientalism implied provides a visual portal into the complexities of this genre, across disciplines. The exhibition features an array of works developed by Bokaer during his awarded residency at the Robert ... More
Collagen Shadows: ADA Project opens a group show by international artists
ROME.- Collagen Shadows takes its title from myodesopsia, an entoptic phenomenon generated by the not total transparency of the vitreous body in the eyeball. This thickening produces microscopic collagen clots, whose shadows are perceived in the visual field, in the form of circles, spots or filaments. Like other entoptic diseases, symptoms are subjective and therefore impossible to document directly. Although widespread, this phenomenon has been shrouded in mystery for centuries, sometimes leading to believe it as symptomatic of hallucinatory states; to date, its causes remain unknown, and most of the people affected do not know its nature, or are unable to describe its effects. The works on show in Collagen Shadows are connected by this same elusiveness: hinges between second and third dimensions, often at the limit between figurative ... More
Harvard appoints Rahul Mehrotra Chair of Department of Urban Planning and Design
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.- Harvard Graduate School of Design announced the appointment of Rahul Mehrotra (MAUD 87) as the Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design and the John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization, effective July 1, 2020. Mehrotra joined Harvard GSDs faculty in 2010, serving as Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design from 2010 until 2015. He most recently served as the Director of the Master of Architecture in Urban Design Degree Program and Co-Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design Degree Program. He has also been a Professor of Urban Design and Planning at the School. While our world continues to urbanize, while questions of housing intensify in their urgency and complexity, and as Indias population and role on the world stage both increase dramatically, the GSD's ... More
Solo show of new works by Tamara K.E. opens at Aurel Scheibler
BERLIN.- Aurel Scheibler is showing a solo show of new works by Georgia-born German artist Tamara K.E. under the title of Ink Under the Skin. Ink Under the Skin is K.E.s first solo exhibition in Berlin. At the same time, her output from the years 2001 and 2003 are included in the show 31: Women at Haus Huth, Sammlung Daimler, Berlin, from February 29 onwards. Ink Under the Skin comprises two monumental pieces on filmscreen that are no less than ten and four meters in size as well as two freestanding works, paired with neon tubes. The display is rounded out by miniature-like drawings produced with a Copic Marker pen and representing the breadth of the world of images Tamara K.E. has created. In her works, Tamara K.E. combines the classical medium of painting with a Photoshopped world of images that she then prints out with analogue ... More
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PhotoGalleries
Sprüth Magers
Asian Art Museum
Grayson Perry
Jacob Lawrence
Flashback On a day like today, Ukrainian painter and theorist Kazimir Malevich was born February 23, 1878. Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (February 23, 1878 - May 15, 1935) was a Russian painter and art theoretician. He was a pioneer of geometric abstract art and the originator of the avant-garde Suprematist movement. He was a devout Christian mystic who believed the central task of an artist was that of rendering spiritual feeling.In this image: Kazimir Malevich, Self-Portrait, 1908 or 1910-1911. Gouache on paper, 27 x 26.8.
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