| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Sunday, October 8, 2023 |
| | | How the humble paperback helped win World War II | |
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A half-opened bundle of Armed Services Editions printed during World War II for U.S. soldiers. A new exhibition at the Grolier Club in New York tells the story of how the Armed Services Editions, a series of pocket-size paperbacks, played an outsize role in U.S. soldiers fight for freedom. (James Estrin/The New York Times)
by Jennifer Schuessler
NEW YORK, NY.- When American soldiers fought on the battlefields of World War II, they were carrying more than weapons. They also carried ideas quite literally. The Armed Services Editions, a series of specially designed pocket-size paperbacks, were introduced in the spring of 1943. Over the next four years, roughly 120 million were printed, finding their way everywhere from the beaches of Normandy to German POW camps to remote Pacific islands. The program, one of the more heroic chapters in American publishing history, is the subject of The Best-Read Army in the World, an exhibition at the Grolier Club in Manhattan. The show, on view through Dec. 30, is curated by Molly Guptill Manning, a law professor who accumulated more than 900 of the volumes while researching her 2014 book When Books Went to War. The paperbacks were intended to help soldiers pass the time. But they were also meant to remind them what they were fighting for and draw a sharp contrast between America ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Curated by Fatoş Üstek for the first time, Frieze Sculpture returns to The Regent's Park from 20 Septemberâ29 October, featuring new work by Ayşe Erkmen, Ghada Amer and Hank Willis Thomas, among many others. In this image: Tony Matelli, Sleepwalker, 2014, Maruani Mercier. Frieze Sculpture 2023. Photo by Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/ Frieze.
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| Six important Schiele works on paper offered during Christie's Marquee Week in November | | A Spike Lee joint via movie posters and sports jerseys | | Art auction in Hong Kong draws lower bids than expected |
Egon Schiele, Selbstbildnis, signed with initial and dated 'S. 1910.' (center right) and signed with initial again 'S' (lower left); with Nachlass stamp (on the reverse). Watercolor and black crayon on paper, 17¼ x 12 in. (43.7 x 30.4 cm.) Executed in 1910. Estimate: $1,000,000-2,000,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2023.
NEW YORK, NY.- Christies announced that six important Egon Schiele works on paper recently restituted to the family of the works rightful owner, the Viennese cabaret and film star Fritz Grünbaum, will be sold in November during Marquee Week. Three watercolors will highlight the 9 November 20th Century Evening Sale, and two watercolors and a drawing will highlight the Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper Sale on 11 November. These exceptional pieces, which trace Schieles development during the pivotal years 1910 to 1915, were part of the collection numbering in the hundreds of works that Fritz Grünbaum said to be the inspiration for Joel Grays character in the Broadway musical Cabaret assembled in Vienna in the first decades of the last century. The collection was lost when the Nazis annexed Austria in the late 1930s, and both Mr. Grünbaum and his wife were sent to concentration camps where ... More | |
An outfit worn by Spike Lee at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021, when he was the first black president of the jury, at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, Oct. 3, 2023. (Amir Hamja/ The New York Times)
by Emmanuel Morgan
NEW YORK, NY.- The first image to catch your eye in the Brooklyn Museums new exhibition about director Spike Lee could be a wall projection of Malcolm X, the 1992 movie staring Denzel Washington. Nearby hang artworks of Martin Luther King Jr. and Trayvon Martin, whose killing inspired the Black Lives Matter movement. Elsewhere, a sign from the segregation era reads Colored Waiting Room. The Black History and Culture section is a jarring opening to an exhibition that guides visitors through themes, concepts and objects that inspired Lee, 66, as he became a defining figure in the Black community. He provided more than 400 items for the show, Spike Lee: Creative Sources, which opens Saturday and runs through Feb. 4, 2024. You dont have to really be an art aficionado to appreciate so much of this exhibition, because Spike is not only one of those, but hes a bibliophile; hes a sports fan; hes a lover of history ... More | |
Liu Yiqian with some of his personal collection at his private art museum in Shanghai, China, Oct. 2013. (Jonah M. Kessel/The New York Times)
by Keith Bradsher
BEIJING.- The largest auction ever held by Sothebys in Asia of a single owners art collection raised less money than expected Thursday, a sign that rising global interest rates may be starting to weigh on the market for fine art. A portrait by Amedeo Modigliani sold for considerably less than predicted, and 10 other artworks failed to sell when bidding fell short of reserve prices. The auction, which was held in Hong Kong and streamed online for bidders around the world, produced total sales of $69.5 million including commissions, Sothebys said. The auction house had predicted last week that the sale would raise $95 million to $135 million before subtracting fees. Chinas best-known art investor, Liu Yiqian, and his wife, Wang Wei, who has managed the museums that hold many of the couples artworks, were selling part of their large collection. Liu is a former Shanghai taxi driver who has said he made a fortune with investments in Chinese real estate and pharmaceutical ... More |
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| Revering the Earth, Colombian artist Delcy Morelos brings it to Chelsea | | Oldest evidence of human cannibalism as a funerary practice | | Bonhams to offer The Alan and Simone Hartman Collection |
The Colombian artist Delcy Morelos with El Abrazo, or The Embrace, one of the installations in her first U.S. solo show, at Dia Chelsea in New York, Oct. 2, 2023. (Victor Llorente/The New York Times)
by Tess Thackara
NEW YORK, NY.- When Colombian artist Delcy Morelos created a giant maze of earth at the Venice Biennale in 2022, she watched some visitors respond to the structure in a way that troubled her. People would kick the work, she remarked, sitting in the galleries of Dia Art Foundation in Chelsea, on a stack of hay destined for her next colossal installation made of soil. They wanted to know how it was built. People are so used to behaving this way when it comes to the earth. In New York to open her first U.S. solo show, at Dia on Thursday, Morelos described herself as something of an ambassador for Mother Earth, a self-professed healer and sorceress charged with delivering a message about her force, intelligence and beauty. Industrialized cultures have forgotten her, she lamented. Here, she has raised one of her installations off the ... More | |
A human skull from Gough's Cave was deliberately shaped into a cup after having its flesh removed. Image courtesy: © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.
LONDON.- While in the modern day most people will either bury or cremate their dead, some of our ancestors did things a little differently. Goughs Cave is a well-known palaeolithic site in south-eastern England. Nestled in the Cheddar Gorge, the cave is perhaps best known for the discovery of 15,000 years old human skulls shaped into what are believed to have been cups and bones that had been gnawed by other humans. But were the people living in Goughs Cave a gruesome outlier, or where they actually part of a wider cannibalistic culture of northern Europe? A new paper now suggests that they were not alone. Human remains dating to the same time period from across northern and western Europe and attributed to the same culture, known as the Magdalenian, also show evidence that they were cannibalised. This suggests that the eating of the dead was a shared behaviour during the late Upper ... More | |
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Jeune fille au profil, 16 14 x 12 1316 in. (41.2 x 32.5 cm). Painted circa 1898) Estimate: $1.5-2 million. Photo: Bonhams.
NEW YORK, NY.- Bonhams announced the landmark auction, The Alan and Simone Hartman Collection: The Inaugural Sale, this winter in New York. The esteemed art and antique gallerist Alan Hartman (1930-2023) and his wife Simone amassed an extraordinary personal collection of Impressionist works of art by the greatest names in art history, as well as a stunning and extensive array of Asian Art. Following a world tour to Bonhams salerooms in Paris, London, and Hong Kong, 23 works of Fine Art and 70 works of Asian Art will be presented as a single-owner sale on December 14 in New York, with Part II of the Asian Art collection to be presented during March Asia Week 2024 and in future Chinese and Japanese auctions at Bonhams. Alan and Simone Hartmans legacy as dealers and as patrons is unparalleled, and their collection stands as a testament to their dedication in celebrating the beauty and craftsmanship of art from around the world, comme ... More |
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| New evidence that ancient footprints push back human arrival in North America | | Phillips presents Modeler le papier // Shapes on paper | | Henri Dauman, photographer of postwar celebrity life, is dead at 90 |
A human footprint at the White Sands archaeological site in New Mexico that, according to a recent paper, could have been made as much as 21,000 to 23,000 years ago. Following up a on that study, researchers used a different method involving pollen samples to bolster the claim that the tracks are up to 23,000 years old. (National Park Service via The New York Times)
by Maya Wei-Haas
NEW YORK, NY.- Hidden within the seemingly barren expanse of White Sands National Park in New Mexico are human footprints. But these impressions are much more than random tracks: They are ancient vignettes cast in gypsum-rich sand. The footprints tell stories of hunters stalking a giant sloth; a traveler slipping in mud with a child on one hip; children jumping in puddles, splashing in play; and more. But one question has plagued researchers studying these prints. Exactly how long ago were they made? A paper published in 2021 offered a surprising answer: Humans could have pressed their feet in the sand as early as 21,000 to 23,000 years ago, making the tracks some of the oldest evidence yet found of people in the ... More | |
Alexander Calder, Two Red Boomerangs, 1973. Image courtesy of Phillips.
PARIS.- PhillipsX announced Modeler le papier // Shapes on paper, a selling exhibition focused on drawings, studies, and works on paper by leading sculptors of the 20th and 21st centuries. From Alexander Calder to Bernar Venet, and Henry Moore to Anish Kapoor, this exhibition will explore how artists who are renowned for working in three-dimensions have explored their work on paper. Including sketches, studies, gouaches and drawings, Modeler le papier // Shapes on paper takes a deep dive into the works on paper produced by acclaimed artists traditionally known for their sculptures and delves into the dialogues between their cross- disciplinary modes of expression. The selling exhibition is live online and will be on view in Phillips Paris galleries from 4 to 31 October. Nathalie Zaquin-Boulakia, Regional Director, France and Senior International Specialist, 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Phillips, said We are delighted to pres ... More | |
Brigitte Bardot, Spoleto, Italy, 1961©Henri Dauman All rights reserved.
by Richard Sandomir
NEW YORK, NY.- Henri Dauman, a Holocaust survivor and French emigre who as a magazine photographer depicted the ascent of postwar political and celebrity culture with his pictures of President John F. Kennedys funeral, Elvis Presley entering and leaving the U.S. Army and Elizabeth Taylor reacting viscerally to a heavyweight title match, died Sept. 13 at his home in Hampton Bays, New York. He was 90. His death was confirmed by his granddaughter Nicole Jones. As a freelance photographer, Dauman was a one-man agency who made his mark in the late 1950s and early 60s with pictures that had a cinematic look, a quality he attributed to his love of the movies, especially the shadowy world of film noir that he explored as a teenage orphan in postwar Paris. In 1958, he depicted designer Yves Saint Laurent in the swirl of Times Square in New York, looking both a part of it and apart from it. The next year he photographed Marilyn Monroe and playwright ... More |
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| Heritage celebrates American and French innovation in its Art Nouveau, Art Deco & Art Glass event | | The personal collection of Sir Roger Moore is 100% sold at Bonhams | | Review: Scream along with Pussy Riot |
Tiffany Studios Leaded Glass and Patinated Bronze Jeweled Geometric Table Lamp, circa 1905. Estimate: $60,000 - $80,000.
DALLAS, TX.- The philosophical, political, and creative bond between the United States and France has been significant since the 18th century, and later, as we entered the 20th century, the rich cultural exchange between the two countries remained ever-fertile. The two countries' famous architects, designers, artists, writers and more continued their aesthetic conversations (and lively competitive spirit) across the pond and both regions and collectors reaped the benefits. This lively back and forth was evident in the innovative Art Nouveau, Art Deco and art glass offerings around the turn of the last century and stretching into later years: The United States and France were both at the top of their design games and New York's Tiffany Studios found itself at the forefront of breathtaking invention, along with American contemporaries Duffner & Kimberly and, overseas, French powerhouses Daum, R. Lalique and others. The push-and-pull responses between them all made for collector heav ... More | |
The top lot was a collection of 20 Swatch 007 wristwatches with presentation case dedicated to Sir Roger Moore to commemorate the 40th anniversary of James Bond on film, which sold for £76,000, against an estimate of £10,000 - £20,000. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- The Personal Collection of Sir Roger Moore was 100% sold today (Wednesday 4 October) at Bonhams New Bond Street, London. The collection was offered directly by Sir Roger Moores family, and included important Bond memorabilia, collectables and personal ephemera. The top lot was a collection of 20 Swatch 007 wristwatches with presentation case dedicated to Sir Roger Moore to commemorate the 40th anniversary of James Bond on film, which sold for £76,000, against an estimate of £10,000 - £20,000. The 224-lot achieved a total of £1,117,300, against a pre-sale high estimate of £415,300. The auction, which took place live in London, ran from 1pm until 10.20pm with bidding from around the world. Highlights included Sir Roger Moore's white ski suit from A View to a Kill, which sold for £28,160 (estimate: £15,000 - 25,000), and an Omega special edition 50 Years of 007 ... More | |
Members of the Russian art collective performing the action Putin Will Teach You How to Love the Motherland at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, in 2014. (Pussy Riot via The New York Times)
by Emily LaBarge
HUMLEBAEK.- Downstairs at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, about 20 miles north of Copenhagen, Denmark, a woman is urinating on President Vladimir Putin. Balanced on a table above a black-and-white portrait of the Russian leader, her blond hair and face shrouded in a bright-red balaclava, she hitches up her loose dress and answers natures call, drenching the photograph before kicking it to the ground. This video work reprises a recent stage performance by the art collective Pussy Riot and opens the largest presentation of the groups work to date, the first in a major museum. (It runs through Jan. 14.) A neon-hued cacophony of rooms beckons, filled with photographs taped to walls at rakish angles, more videos, grainy footage, handwritten texts and drawings. Curated by one of the groups founding members, Maria Alyokhina, Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riots ... More |
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50 Years New in Asia: In Conversation with Huang Bo
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Chloe Domont on her dangerous date movie, 'Fair Play'
NEW YORK, NY.- All is indubitably not fair in love, war or Fair Play, the crackling feature debut from writer-director Chloe Domont that became a sensation at this years Sundance Film Festival. (It sold there to Netflix for $20 million, and is now streaming on the platform). Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton) and Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story) star as Emily and Luke, ambitious young junior analysts at the same Manhattan hedge fund. Their seemingly blissful relationship is upended when she gets a big promotion and he doesnt; a fraught psychosexual showdown ensues. A Southern California native, Domont, 36, sat down for an interview in New York to discuss male fragility, the state of erotic thrillers and making a date movie from hell. Below are edited excerpts from the conversation. Q: You had mostly been directing ... More
Human resources, for plants
NEW YORK, NY.- Felipe Gallegos used to work in fashion, designing store displays for Abercrombie & Fitch and Uniqlo. Now he spends his days with plants, helping them thrive in office buildings across New York City. On a recent morning, Gallegos and eight of his fellow plant keepers from Greenery NYC, which designs plant installations and maintains them for a variety of companies, were gathered outside the Etsy headquarters in Brooklyn. As they prepared to advance on the 20,000 plants growing within the nine-floor building, they might have been mistaken for members of an artist collective or a large alternative band. The Greenery crew is part of a new plant crowd people who worked in theater, media, fashion and the arts before deciding they would ... More
Solo plays this fall: Patrick Page, Isabelle Adjani and more
NEW YORK, NY.- Solo shows have been around as long as there has been theater longer, actually, if we count storytelling by a campfire. There is an elemental intimacy about the format and, lets face it, an economic appeal at a time of belt-tightening. Despite their seemingly restrictive approach, one-person productions come in many shapes and forms: tales told by a single narrator and ones in which the performer embodies many characters, for example; dramatic yarns; and comic efforts that can flirt with stand-up. The last hybrid seems to be enjoying a kind of golden age, illustrated by the successes of Mike Birbiglia (The Old Man and the Pool) and Alex Edelman, whose recent Broadway hit, Just for Us, will be at the Curran Theater in San Francisco, Oct. 26-28. The coming months are a boon for theatergoers who ... More
Stunning ultra-rare 1894 French gold coin from coveted KJR Collection rocks Heritage's World Coins event
DALLAS, TX.- A Prooflike near-Gem example of the rarest of all business-strikes from the prized Genie series of 1894 100 Francs will find a new home when it crosses the block in Heritage's World Coins Platinum Session and Signature ® Auction November 3-4. The Republic gold 100 Francs 1894-A MS64 Prooflike NGC that will be up for grabs, from the KJR Collection, is from a mintage of just 143 pieces, only five of which including the example offered in this auction have earned this Prooflike designation across the grading services. "This is an auction that is a continuation of clients taking advantage of the exceptionally high-grade coins that are consistently available at Heritage Auctions," says Cris Bierrenbach, Executive Vice President of International Numismatics at Heritage Auctions. "This 100 Francs is exceedingly rare and a perfect ... More
1.21-carat blue diamond ring brings $275,000 at Heritage Auctions
DALLAS, TX.- A 1.21-carat fancy light blue diamond ring sent bidders on a blue streak in Heritage's Fall Fine Jewelry Signature® Auction on September 28, when the ring soared past its $100,000-$150,000 pre-auction estimate to realize $275,000. Flanked by tapered baguette-cut light blue diamonds, the ring's eye-catching centerpiece is a sparkling round brilliant-cut blue diamond mounted in platinum. "Exceptionally rare and equally beautiful, blue diamonds have long been admired by diamond connoisseurs and jewelry collectors," says Jill Burgum, Heritage Auctions' Executive Director of Fine Jewelry. "So it's not too surprising that this ring captivated our bidders. It's a gorgeous example of one of Earth's most precious gems." But the blue beauty wasn't the only diamond that caught attention in Heritage's fall auction. A ... More
Christie's collaborates with Lakwena Maciver on the first artist takeover of King Street
LONDON.- To coincide with the 20/21 auction season in London this October, Christies is collaborating with Lakwena Maciver to present the first artists takeover of the historic headquarters in St Jamess. Lakwena Maciver has responded to This Is London. Everchanging. Forever Captivating. to create an immersive viewer experience both internally and externally. The installation was unveiled to the public yesterday, 6 October, as the pre-sale exhibitions go on view and will remain on display until 15 October. As part of the partnership, an exclusive tote bag designed by Lakwena Maciver will be available at Christies King Street in limited drops that will take place throughout the week of 9 October with further details on obtaining one to be announced on Christies social media channels. Lakwena Maciver: London, a city that is constantly evolving ... More
Christie's to offer Arshile Gorky's Charred Beloved I (1946)
NEW YORK, NY.- Christies New York announced that Arshile Gorkys Charred Beloved I (1946) will highlight this falls 20th Century Evening Sale. A seminal painting by one of the most important, influential and tragic figures in the history of 20th century art, and estimated in excess of $20 million, it is expected to reset the market for the artist at auction. Max Carter, Christies Vice Chairman of 20th and 21st Century Art, remarks, Charred Beloved I rose from and immortalized one of mid-century New Yorks legendary tragedies: the devastating fire that consumed Gorkys studio. It heralded the future of post-war art in America. And, formerly owned by S.I. Newhouse, it has belonged for thirty years to David Geffen, whose career, collecting and philanthropy have no parallel. Offering this masterpiece, the finest Gorky ever to appear ... More
At City Ballet, Barbie basics at the gala, and a glittering revival
NEW YORK, NY.- This years New York City Ballet fall gala was an outlier. In recent years, fashion has taken center stage, with designers and choreographers collaborating to make new work. But on Thursday, this annual event at Lincoln Center took a different path. As actress Sarah Jessica Parker, a vice chair of the companys board of directors, put it in remarks before the show: Tonight, were going vintage. She meant the ballet side of things specifically George Balanchines Who Cares? (1970), whose costumes were re-imagined for the gala by Wes Gordon, creative director of Carolina Herrera. Originally designed by Karinska and redesigned by Ben Denson in 1983 and Santo Loquasto in 2013 the costumes for this ballet need, at the most basic level, to move. The ballet is a celebration of New York City after all. But ... More
36 hours in Chicago
NEW YORK, NY.- First-time visitors to Chicago can find themselves awe-struck by the sheer scale of the place: the grand skyline, the vastness of Lake Michigan, and the miles of manicured parkland and beaches. Exploring all of Chicago, the nations third-largest city, is impossible in a single weekend, but thats plenty of time to get a taste for what has made Chicago beloved by natives and tourists alike: easily navigable public transit, world-class museums, an eclectic mix of architectural styles, and an inventive restaurant scene that offers far more than an Italian beef and a shot of Malört. The city is shaking off its pandemic dust, setting records for hotel occupancy and getting ready for a big moment in the political spotlight next summer, when the Democratic National Convention comes to town. Skip downtown for now and head ... More
Jon Fosse's books seek and find the divine
NEW YORK, NY.- At a dinner party last winter in Toronto, when a tablewide silence descended, I tried to fill it by asking what everyone was reading. A colleague snorted and pointed out that any time people ask that question, what theyre really doing is waiting to announce what they are reading. I was offended because she was right. I was merely rereading Septology, I said, a single-sentence seven-novel sequence by Norwegian writer Jon Fosse. The novels are about an aging painter living on his own outside a remote village in Norway, with his doppelganger leading a parallel existence elsewhere. While painting and repainting the same canvas and chatting with a salty neighbor, the old man goes over his life, his work and his relationship with God, family members and friends. All of this takes place over a few days, I went ... More
Riccardo Muti takes a victory lap with the Chicago Symphony
NEW YORK, NY.- When Riccardo Muti stepped down from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra last season, after 13 years as its conductor, the ensemble promptly turned around and named him music director emeritus for life. In a two-part season opener at Carnegie Hall this week, it was easy to hear why. Under Muti, the Chicago Symphony is all power and finesse with no unsightly edges. On Wednesday, in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskys Violin Concerto and Modest Mussorgskys Pictures at an Exhibition, the orchestras playing, strong yet nimble, drew on reserves of unforced power and charm. The following night, in an Italian-themed collection of programmatic works by Felix Mendelssohn, Johann Strauss and Philip Glass, a certain politesse crept into an otherwise classy performance. Theres no better illustration of the orchestras ... More
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PhotoGalleries
Gabriele Münter
TARWUK
Awol Erizku
Leo Villareal
Flashback On a day like today, American painter and activist Faith Ringgold was born October 08, 1930. Faith Ringgold (born October 8, 1930, in Harlem, New York City) is an artist, best known for her narrative quilts. Ringgoldâs artistic practice was extremely broad and diverse, and included media from painting to quilts, from sculptures and performance art to childrenâs books. She was an educator who taught in the New York city Public school system and on the college level. In 1973, she quit teaching public school to devote herself to creating art full-time. n this image: Faith Ringgold, American People Series, The Flag is Bleeding, 1967, oil on canvas. Collection of the artist, c. Faith Ringgold. Courtesy ACA Galleries, NY.
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