| The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Wednesday, April 5, 2017 |
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| | Michelangelo crucifix gets pride of place at the Santo Spirito basilica in Florence | |
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View of a wooden crucifix sculpted by Italian artist Michelangelo at the Santo Spirito basilica, on April 4, 2017 in Florence. Now restored, it recently went on tour in Italy before returning today to take up a new setting in Santo Spirito: suspended above the church's old sacristry in a way that allows visitors to inspect it from all angles. After the death of his first benefactor Lorenzo de Medici in 1492, Michelangelo lived for a year with a community of Augustine monks associated with the famous basilica, studying anatomy in the hospital they ran. As a thank you for their welcome, he left them a 1.40 metre (four and a half foot) sculpture of a nude Jesus Christ on the cross. Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP.
FLORENCE (AFP).- A wooden crucifix sculpted by Michelangelo at 18 has been restored to pride of place in Florence's Santo Spirito, the church the Renaissance master had created it for. After the death of his first benefactor Lorenzo de Medici in 1492, Michelangelo lived for a year with a community of Augustine monks associated with the famous basilica, studying anatomy in the hospital they ran. As a thank you for their welcome, he left them a 1.40 metre (four and a half foot) sculpture of a nude Jesus Christ on the cross. The masterpiece was thought lost for decades before it was found in the 1960s, in a convent corridor and so badly overpainted it was barely recognisable. Now restored, it recently went on tour in Italy before returning Tuesday to take up a new setting in Santo Spirito: suspended above the church's old sacristry in a way that allows visitors to inspect it from all angles. "The Santo Spirito district, with its extraordinary basilica, is a place that needs protecting and to be brought to ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day David Bennett (R), head of Sotheby's International Jewellery Division, prepares to hit the hammer to finalise the sale of a 59.60-carat giant diamond named the "Pink Star", breaking the world record for a gemstone sold at auction, fetching 71.2 million USD, in Hong Kong on April 4, 2017. The pink diamond broke the world record for a gemstone sold at auction, after it fetched 71.2 million USD in Hong Kong on April 4, 2017. Anthony WALLACE / AFP
| Exhibition celebrates the centennial of Marcel Duchamp's legendary "readymade" Fountain | | 'Pink Star' diamond fetches record $71.2 mn in Hong Kong | | One of the greatest works by J.M.W. Turner still in private hands to be sold at Sotheby's | 
Fountain, 1950 version of 1917 original, Marcel Duchamp, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 125th Anniversary Acquisition. Gift (by exchange) of Mrs. Herbert Cameron Morris, 1998. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / Estate of Marcel Duchamp.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.- To celebrate the centennial of one of the greatestand most amusingcontroversies in the history of modern art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is presenting an exhibition on Marcel Duchamps legendary readymade, Fountain. Marcel Duchamp and the Fountain Scandal focuses on the spring of 1917, when Duchamp, with the help of several friends, notoriously submitted a porcelain urinal to an unjuried exhibition held by the Society of Independent Artists in New York. Purchased from a store that sold plumbing fixtures, this object, which was titled Fountain and signed R. Mutt was rejected by a vote of the organizers, touching off a fierce debate. The Museums exhibition explores Duchamps staging of this controversy ... More | | 
This file photo shows a model posing with a 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut pink diamond, known as 'The Pink Star', during a Sotheby's media preview in Hong Kong. The pink diamond broke the world record for a gemstone sold at auction, after it fetched 71.2 million USD in Hong Kong on April 4, 2017. Anthony WALLACE / AFP.
HONG KONG (AFP).- A giant diamond named the "Pink Star" broke the world record for a gemstone sold at auction when it fetched $71.2 million in Hong Kong on Tuesday. The 59.60-carat "Pink Star", the largest in its class ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America, was sold to the city's Chow Tai Fook jewellery chain. "Sotheby's Hong Kong is very proud to have this record," its Asia chairman Patti Wong told AFP after the sale. Sotheby's worldwide chairman for international jewellery David Bennett, who conducted the auction, called it a "historic sale". Bidding started at around $56 million. The sale lasted for five minutes and involved three bidders before the winning offer came by phone from ... More | | 
J.M.W. Turner, Ehrenbreitstein, 1835 (detail). Estimate: £15-25 million (US$18.7-31.2m / 17.3-28.9m). Photo: Sotheby's.
LONDON.- In July this year, Sothebys will offer for sale one of the greatest works by J.M.W. Turner still in private hands. Painted in 1835, Ehrenbreitstein is a late work, dating from a period that is widely considered Turners best: other works from this time now hang in the worlds greatest museums, with only a minute number of this importance and quality remaining in private ownership. The subject of enormous critical acclaim when it was first exhibited in 1835, the painting depicts the ruined fortress of Ehrenbreitstein near Coblenz a place of special significance for Turner. Though he made many drawings and watercolours of German views, this is the most important oil painting of a German subject that Turner ever painted. The picture will be offered at Sothebys in London on 5th July with an estimate of £15-25 million (US$18.7-31.2m / 17.3 28.9m) Often referred ... More |
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| Melania Trump's new portrait divides public opinion | | Matisse masterpiece leads Bonhams Impressionist and Modern Art Sale in New York | | Sidney Nolan's man behind Ned Kelly mask revealed | 
Shot by Belgian-born photographer Regine Mahaux, who has previously worked with the Trump family, the first lady is smiling slightly, with a perfectly flawless visage. Photo: Courtesy of the White House.
WASHINGTON (AFP).- The White House on Monday released the official portrait of First Lady Melania Trump, with the photograph of the former model dividing public opinion. Trump is shown from the waist up, standing with arms crossed, dressed in a black jacket with a black bow around her neck. She's wearing a very large diamond ring on her left hand, and a more subdued sparkler on her right. Shot by Belgian-born photographer Regine Mahaux, who has previously worked with the Trump family, the first lady is smiling slightly, with a perfectly flawless visage. "I am honored to serve in the role of first lady, and look forward to working on behalf of the American people over the coming years," Trump said in a short statement accompanying the photo's release. While some commenters gushed that the first lady was "beyond beautiful" and ... More | | 
Detail of Arbre de Neige by Henri Matisse. Estimated at $800,000-1,200,000. Photo: Bonhams.
NEW YORK, NY.- Arbre de Neige, a vibrant and important cutout by the French painter Henri Matisse, leads Bonhams Impressionist and Modern Art Sale in New York on Wednesday 17 May 2017. It is estimated at $800,000-1,200,000. Matisse's cutouts are now among his most recognizable works. They combine the fluid line of his drawings with the brilliant color sense of his paintings, as the recent landmark exhibition at the Tate and MoMA demonstrated so memorably. The location of Arbre de Neige was not known to the curators of that show as it has been in a Canadian private collection since 1968. It was sold in that year by the celebrated Swedish collector Theodor Ahrenberg, a great connoisseur of Matisse's work, who had acquired it directly from the artist through Heinz Berggruen. Arbre de Neige was created in 1947 as one of a series of small scale works in richly colored paper with which ... More | | 
Digital colour recreation of first stage of the painting based on X-ray fluorescence.
MELBOURNE.- In the year of Sidney Nolans centenary, Australian Synchrotron technology provides insight into the development of the iconic Ned Kelly figure, which would define Nolans acclaimed series. Working in collaboration with the scientific research centre Australian Synchrotron, and utilising its state of the art technology, art conservators have imaged pigments buried underneath layers of paint to reveal a face behind the mask of Sidney Nolans painting Ned Kelly, Nobody knows anything about my case but myself 1945. When examining the painting in 2012, Paula Dredge, Paintings Conservator at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, and Kendrah Morgan, Curator at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne noticed brush strokes underneath the mask of the Kelly helmet. As this work is one of the first times Nolan painted Kelly, we thought the paint below the helmet might provide insight into his ... More |
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| Christie's New York announces highlights from its Spring Sale of Prints & Multiples | | Hauser & Wirth announces worldwide representation of Lorna Simpson | | Three early works by Lucian Freud on new long-term loan to Pallant House Gallery | 
Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Myths, the complete set of ten screenprints in colors, 1981. Estimate: $450,000-550,000. © Christies Images Limited 2017.
NEW YORK, NY.- Christies announced the two-day sale of Prints & Multiples taking place over two sessions on April 19-20. This sale includes nearly 200 lots spanning the 20th to 21st centuries featuring modern works by Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, and Pablo Picassoand contemporary editions by Chuck Close, Keith Haring, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Robert Motherwell, Bruce Nauman, and Andy Warhol, among others. The auction is led by two complete series of ten screenprints by Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Myths, executed in 1981 (estimate: $450,000-550,000); and Cowboys and Indians, executed in 1986 (estimate: $300,000-500,000). Another highlight is Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008), Accident, executed in 1963 (estimate: $40,000-60,000), considered to be one of the most important prints in his oeuvre. Rauschenberg pulled only a handful ... More | | 
Lorna Simpson. Photo: James Wang © Lorna Simpson/ Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
NEW YORK, NY.- Hauser & Wirth announced exclusive worldwide representation of American artist Lorna Simpson, whose rigorous, critically acclaimed conceptual practice deploys photography, painting, and drawing to examine identity and notions of social, racial, and gender politics. Since the late 1980s, Simpsons pioneering approach to photography has established her as a major figure in the medium. Over the course of three decades, she has likewise emerged as a central voice in a generation of American artists questioning constructed societal historical narratives and the performative crafting of identity. Simpson deftly examines the slippery nature of representation and meaning to reveal the ways in which larger forces of gender and culture impact the everyday in an enigmatic and profound art. Hauser & Wirths first project with Simpson will be the presentation of a new cycle of paintings and sculpture ... More | | 
Lucian Freud, Portrait of a Girl, 1950, oil on copper, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (On Loan from a Private Collection, 2017) © The Estate of Lucian Freud. All Rights Reserved 2017/ Bridgeman Images.
CHICHESTER.- Three early works by Lucian Freud (1922 2011) on new long-term loan to Pallant House Gallery form the basis of a new display on the artists early technique. These works - Interior Scene (1948), Girl with Fig Leaf (1948) and Portrait of a Girl (1950) - are fine examples of Freuds sharp and meticulous early technique. They are accompanied by works from the Gallerys permanent collection of Modern British art, including Self-Portrait with Hyacinth in Pot (1947-48), Portrait of John Craxton (c.1942) and Unripe Tangerine (1946). The display also includes a selection of books featuring drawings and designs by Freud during the late forties and early fifties. Girl with Fig Leaf (1948) is one of only six etchings made by Freud between 1946-48 before abandoning the technique until later in his career. The sitter was Kitty ... More |
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| Dutch clog-makers hoping to put a stamp on the future | | Eskenazi Museum unveils design plans for transformative renovation | | Science Museum opens exhibition dedicated to first woman in space | 
A shoemaker bores a hole into a wooden shoe on February 14, 2017 in Aarle-Rixtel, southern Netherlands. Maude BRULARD / AFP.
AARLE-RIXTEL (AFP).- Just decades ago there were thousands. Now only about 30 Dutch clog-makers remain, fighting to save a dying craft with the wooden shoes more often found today as fridge-magnets rather than footwear. Expertly wielding a long metal spoon-like tool, Nicole van Aarle rhythmically hewed away at a piece of willow, the shavings falling at her feet, the walls of her workshop in the southern Dutch town of Aarle-Rixtel adorned with clogs of all shapes and sizes. "I work when I can. In the evenings, or after dropping the kids off at school, at weekends. But I can't make a living just from making clogs," said this former soldier, who is proud of being a fifth-generation clog-maker. At 40, she is one of the country's youngest clog-makers and represents the future of a trade in which most craftsmen are already reaching retirement age. It's a "very worrying situation," ... More | | 
The renovated Eskenazi Museum of Art- cut away view. Images courtesy of Ennead Architects/BDMD.
BLOOMINGTON, IN.- The Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University has unveiled the initial design plans for the $30-million renovation to its I.M. Pei-designed building. The renovation will include an additional 20,000 square feet of gallery space, four new museum centers, a new lecture hall, and re-envisioned front and rear entrances, all while working within the existing footprint of the building. These improvements will greatly enhance the visitor experience at the museum, re-establish the Eskenazi as a state-of-the-art facility for the 21st century, and make it one of the preeminent teaching museums in the United States. Designed by Susan T. Rodriguez/Ennead Architects in New York with Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf, based in Indianapolis, the renovation and restoration is expected to be completed by fall of 2019. The renovation will enhance the museums mission as a preeminent teaching museum ... More | | 
Dr Valentina Tereshkova stands in the Science Museum' Cosmonauts exhibition in 2015 © Science Museum.
LONDON.- Fifty-four years after she made history as the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova opened an exhibition at the Science Museum dedicated to her remarkable life and career. Tereshkova went from obscurity to worldwide fame on 16 June 1963 when aged 26 she climbed aboard the USSRs Vostok 6 spacecraft, becoming the first woman to fly in space. She returned after orbiting the Earth 48 times over 3 days, logging more flight time than all American astronauts combined up to that date. The First Lady of Space would never fly again but her mission remains a major milestone in pioneering space exploration. It was another 20 years before the next woman went into space, and Tereshkova remains the only female cosmonaut to have flown a solo mission. Valentina Tereshkova: First Woman in Space reveals a compelling life story, from her early days as a factory worker with ... More |
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Never before offered at auction, Bacon's first ever portrait of his great muse
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 Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza opens major Rafael Moneo retrospectiveMADRID.- After its showing at various international venues, from 4 April to 11 June this year the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza is presenting Rafael Moneo. Theory through practice. Archive materials (1961-2016), the first major retrospective on this Spanish architect. Curated by Francisco González de Canales, professor at the Universidad de Sevilla and at the AA in London, the exhibition, co-produced by the Fundación Barrié, Estudio Rafael Moneo and the Museo Thyssen, brings together a selection of 121 drawings, 19 architectural models and 152 photographs associated with a total of 52 celebrated projects by Rafael Moneo. In addition, to coincide with the Museo Thyssens 25th Anniversary, the exhibition is accompanied by another smaller one curated by the architect José Manuel Barbeito on the history of the Palacio Villahermosa from the mid-18th century ... More Stunning set of four J&R Lamb Studios stained glass windows will be sold at Fontaine'sPITTSFIELD, MASS.- An exceptional Victorian carved walnut three-piece marble-top bedroom set attributed to John Jelliff, a gorgeous 14-inch Tiffany Studios domical leaded glass Daffodil lamp shade, a heavily carved R. J. Horner figural mahogany bookcase and a stunning set of four J & R Lamb Studios stained glass windows will all cross the auction block Saturday, April 22nd. Theyre just a few of the expected top lots in Fontaines Auction Gallerys two-session Antiques & Fine Art Auction, online and in the firms gallery at 1485 West Housatonic Street in Pittsfield, beginning at 10 am Eastern time. Internet bidding will be provided by via LiveAuctioneers.com, Invaluable.com, EBay.com and FontainesLive. Phone and absentee bids will also be accepted. The auction will be packed with 325 pieces of quality antiques and fine art, to include 19th and 20th century lighting, ... More Cecilia Hillström Gallery opens Linnea Rygaard's first solo exhibition at the gallerySTOCKHOLM.- Painting starts with an idea about painting, and is the chronicle of this ideas disintegration, and reintegration, into the painting. Linnea Rygaard makes stubborn paintings. I am not in a position to say whether she is stubborn or not. I would in such case perhaps be assuming that these works Im staring at are a projection of the artist and her manner. This is, more often than not, a naive assumption when looking at painting. These works are fabricated, not merely physically, but also in terms of making something up. They are white lies, and white lies, as we all know, are forgivable. They are fabricated and modelled in the mind of the artist, during a process she describes as a contest between the developing work and herself. Already in terms of process they are successful, in their not being predominantly a projection of the artist her determination, wants, needs. ... More George Washington and The Founding Fathers featured in May 13 Heritage Americana AuctionDALLAS, TX.- An important, leopard skin saddle pad owned by George Washington highlights Heritage Auctions' May 13 Americana and Political auction, which will include a separate catalog titled "Washington and the Founding Fathers." "This special auction was inspired by the great success of our September 2016 'Lincoln and His Times' auction," Americana Auctions Director Tom Slater said. "The eclectic mix of items includes important offerings from categories such as period display pieces, autographic material, paper ephemera, fine art and more. Our goal was to present an auction containing items which appeal to a diverse range of specialized collectors, as well as to those who simply love objects which evoke the earliest days of American history." Two of the most important items come from the collection of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, an organization ... More Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt announces contest for a new peace logoFRANKFURT.- The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt requests submissions for a new peace logo. The occasion: the discursive thematic exhibition PEACE that will be presented at the Schirn from July 1 to September 24, 2017. The new peace logo will be chosen by an independent jury, will be remunerated with prize money, and will be integrated into the exhibition communications. The deadline for receipt of entries is May 8, 2017. Dr. Philipp Demandt, Director of the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, describes the project as follows: This summer with our PEACE exhibition the Schirn sets out to explore how peace actually works, a question that is as compelling as ever today. Quite apart from this, we feel it is high time for a new peace logo, a logo for today that reflects our current notion of peace. The depictions of peace are usually limited to familiar symbols: doves, rainbow colors, ... More Exhibition at the Albertina celebrates Eduard Angeli's 75th birthdayVIENNA.- In honour of Eduard Angelis 75th birthday, the Albertina is presenting a retrospective of his oeuvre with paintings and drawings ranging from his beginnings as an artist in the 1960s to the present. For over 50 years, Eduard Angeli has consistently worked on one single theme: the myth of silent space. Melancholy is the fundamental mood that characterises his vividly coloured and light-drenched pastels of the 1970s and 80s as well as the dark and gloomy paintings that he has produced since the late 1990s, working primarily in Venice. Angeli is all about a world of stillnessand in the Austrians oeuvre, loneliness and emptiness are just as threatening as they are utopian in light of a present full of destruction and noise. There are three phases that can be made out in Eduard Angelis oeuvre: in his paintings from the 1970s, the Austrian artist deals with political ... More Exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York showcases artistry of wartime propaganda NEW YORK, NY.- The Museum of the City of New York presents Posters and Patriotism: Selling World War I in New York, a visual exploration of the United States participation in the Great War as told by the outpouring of posters, flyers, magazine art, sheet music covers, and other mass-produced images created by New York artists to stir the American public to wartime loyalty, duty, and sacrifice. Digging deeper into the ideas behind the patriotic aesthetic, which mirror current events in familiar and perhaps disconcerting ways, the exhibition examines themes such as nationalism, fears surrounding immigration, and conflicts over freedom of expression that have emerged and reemerged in our national consciousness throughout American history, especially during times of crisis. Posters and Patriotism brings the story of Americas participation in World War I to life ... More Cincinnati Art Museum adds expertise and vibrancy with three new curatorsCINCINNATI, OH.- The Cincinnati Art Museum has appointed Ainsley M. Cameron as Curator of South Asian Art, Islamic Art, and Antiquities; Peter Jonathan Bell as Associate Curator of European Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings; and Nathaniel M. Stein as Associate Curator of Photography. Ainsley, Peter and Nathaniel are exciting scholars who are making significant contributions to their respective fields of study, said Cameron Kitchin, the museums Louis and Louise Dieterle Nippert Director. I am pleased to welcome them to the museum and to Cincinnati, where they will join a collaborative curatorial practice and interpretation team. In concert with our comprehensive strategic plan, the growth of our curators research, exhibitions, collections and teaching benefits the entire community. Dr. Ainsley Cameron is the Cincinnati Art Museums new Curator of South Asian ... More Peter Sacks' first solo exhibition at Marlborough Gallery opens in New YorkNEW YORK, NY.- Marlborough Gallery announces the first solo exhibition at the gallery of works by South African-born, U.S.-based painter Peter Sacks. The exhibition includes over 14 recent paintings as well as collage works on paper. The artists approach to painting includes utilizing the most intimate material residues of life textiles, texts, and traces of objectsall transformed into active fields of energy, empathy and history. Each work by Sacks is a striking accretion of material, meaning, and emotion. In addition to wood, metal, cardboard, batting and quilting, the rhythmic surfaces are made up of pieces of fabric from Africa, India, Europe, embroidery, fishing nets, buttons and burlap. Garments and fragments such as shrouds, nightshirts and denim work clothes feature prominently in several works and evince the human situation in universal yet intimate ... More Estorick Collection hosts a major exhibition by Giacomo BallaLONDON.- This spring, Londons Estorick Collection hosts a major exhibition by Giacomo Balla (1871-1958) one of the undisputed masters of modern Italian art. Balla was one of the five signatories of Futurisms initial painting manifestos of 1910 and a pioneering figure of European Modernism. Giacomo Balla: Designing the Future runs at the Estorick Collection from 5 April until 25 June 2017. The exhibition comprises 116 works loaned by the Biagiotti Cigna Collection one of the largest collections of Ballas works in the world. Assembled by the renowned Italian fashion designer Laura Biagiotti and her husband Gianni Cigna, the full collection of over 300 works represents the artists entire oeuvre. It encompasses figurative painting and drawing, as well as abstraction and applied art and many of Ballas fashion-related designs. Examples of all these styles will be included in the exhibition, alongside ... More State Museum adds new artwork to contemporary Native American art collectionALBANY, NY.- The New York State Museum today announced the addition of eight new artworks to its contemporary Native American art collection. Building on an initiative launched in 1986 and now numbering more than 150 objects, the contemporary Native American art collection consists of modern artwork that speaks to issues relevant to Native American communities and all communities in New York. The artists and their work include: Dreaming of Wild Foods, Gail Tremblay (Onondaga/Micmac), basket woven with film Nothing Happened #2, Jeremy Dennis (Shinnecock), digital C-print Condolence Cane, Noel Chrisjohn Benson (Oneida), carved wood and antler Ageswe'gaiyo', Luanne Redeye (Seneca), oil on panel Treaty Calico Series, Dawn Dark Mountain (Oneida-Wisconsin), series of four watercolor and beadwork artworks on manipulated paper These ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard was born April 05, 1732. Jean-Honoré Fragonard (5 April 1732 - 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific artists active in the last decades of the Ancien Régime, Fragonard produced more than 550 paintings (not counting drawings and etchings), of which only five are dated. Among his most popular works are genre paintings conveying an atmosphere of intimacy and veiled eroticism. In this image: A man visits an exhibition of French Baroque painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard's works at CaixaForum Museum, on Thursday 09 November 2006 in Barcelona, Catalonia, northeastern Spain. The exhibition features 120 works including paintings by Fragonard, Renbrandt, Ruysdael, Tiepolo, Boucher and Grimou.
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