A visitor pictures the Venere Capitolina or Capitoline Venus on display at Rome's Capitoline Museum (Musei Capitolini) on Capitol Hill on January 26, 2016. Italy's desire to court visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani extended to covering up classical nude sculptures in the Capitoline Museum, where he met Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, it emerged on Tuesday.
ROME(AFP).- Italy's desire to court visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani extended to covering up classical nude sculptures in the museum where he met Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, it emerged on Tuesday. The two men made speeches in Rome's Capitoline Museum after a signing ceremony on Monday which saw Italian companies tie up 17 billion euros ($18 billion) worth of deals with the Islamic Republic. A huge statue of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius on a horse featured prominently in many of the photographs of the event. But nude statues, including a Venus dating from the second century BC, had all been covered up in temporary wooden cartons, removing the risk of them creeping into any of the shots -- or catching Rouhani's eye. "You can not hide your culture, your religion or history itself. It was the wrong decision," Giuliano Volpe, head of the Superior ... More
Mrs. Dorothy Braude Edinburg at the Art Institute of Chicago.
CHICAGO, IL.- Douglas Druick, President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago announced today the largest bequest of funds in the museum’s history. The gift from long-time, generous benefactor and collector Dorothy Braude Edinburg provides more than $35 million to acquire new works of art to build on the Art Institute’s strong holdings in Prints and Drawings and Asian Art. Coming on the heels of the largest gift of art in the museum’s history, the Edlis/Neeson Collection in April 2015, the Edinburg gift offers exciting new momentum and opportunity to realize the museum’s ambitious long-range plan. “It was my great privilege to know and work with Dorothy for more than two decades, and we are thrilled and immensely grateful to receive this unparalleled bequest,” said Druick. “Together, with the leadership of Chair and Curator of Prints and Drawings Suzanne Folds McCullagh and our curatorial ... More
Picasso's "Les Femmes d'Algers". AFP PHOTO / Philippe Lopez.
LONDON(AFP).- London-based Christie's International, the world's leading auction house by revenue, on Tuesday reported a five percent fall in annual sales with economic uncertainty damping demand in emerging markets. Bucking five straight years of growth, the company recorded sales of £4.8 billion ($7.4 billion, 6.8 billion euros) in 2015, down from £5.1 billion in 2014. The figures still represent Christie's second-best performance ever. "The froth is starting to come off," Anders Petterson, founder and managing director of research group ArtTactic, told Bloomberg. "Looking back, in terms of auction sales, 2014 was the peak of the market." In its Old Masters, 19th century and Russian art category, Christie's recorded a 37 percent loss, and a 14 percent loss in its postwar and contemporary auctions. Private sales slumped by 39 percent to £554.9 million but Impressionist and modern art rose 57 percent to £1.3 billion. ... More
File image of John Constable by Daniel Gardner, 1796. Photo: Wikipedia.org.
GENEVA(AFP).- A French family has taken legal steps in Switzerland to recover a painting by the master English landscape painter John Constable that they say was stolen from them in World War II, a legal source said Tuesday. The Jaffe family say a Constable work, "The Stour Valley," was confiscated along with other paintings and works of art by France's collaborationist Vichy government in 1942. The collection was seized after the death of Anna Jaffe, a member of a prominent family of German-born Jews, and was auctioned off in Nice in 1943. After a number of years and several changes of ownership, the Museum of Fine Arts in the Swiss town of La Chaux-de-Fonds was bequeathed the painting by a local family. The quarrel dates back to 2006, when a member of the family asked the municipality of La Chaux-de-Fonds to hand over the painting. The town refused, saying that it and the donors, the Junod family, ... More
JAKARTA.- Indonesian philanthropist and leading collector Haryanto Adikoesoemo announced today the construction of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum MACAN, pronounced Mah-Chahn), the country’s first museum dedicated to international modern and contemporary art. The museum is currently being built in Jakarta, Indonesia – the largest city in Southeast Asia with a metropolitan population of over 25 million— and will provide the public with a valuable cultural and educational resource. Adikoesoemo has named Dr. Thomas J. Berghuis, formerly the curator of Chinese art at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, as the museum’s director. Supported by a long-term commitment from Adikoesoemo, the new 4,000 sq meter (approximately 43,000 sq foot) museum will provide the community with access ... More
Fol. 10v: Simon Bening, The Author in His Study.
LOS ANGELES, CA.-The J. Paul Getty Museum announced today the acquisition of the Livre des fais de Jacques de Lalaing (Book of the Deeds of Jacques de Lalaing), a highly important illuminated manuscript comprising text by Jean Lefèvre de Saint-Remy and a frontispiece by Simon Bening, the leading Flemish manuscript painter of the period. The manuscript also contains 17 lively miniatures attributed to an anonymous painter in the circle of the Master of Charles V. The Livre des fais de Jacques de Lalaing is considered one of the greatest secular manuscripts produced during the last flowering of Flemish illumination in the second quarter of the 16th century. The vivid illuminations, rendered with remarkable detail and vibrant colors, extol the ideals symbolizing the age of chivalry. ”The Getty Museum's collection is especially strong in manuscripts of the northern Renaissance, including a number of outstanding masterworks." says ... More
BOSTON, MASS.-The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has acquired Dos Mujeres (Salvadora y Herminia) (1928) by Frida Kahlo (1907–1954). The painting depicts two Mexican women set against dense tropical foliage. Held privately in the United States since 1929—when it was purchased directly from the artist—the portrait was the first painting ever sold by Kahlo. It is now the first work by the artist to enter the Museum’s collection. “The painting presents the dignified likeness of two maids, whom the artist had known since childhood. This major work will enable the Museum to tell the story of modernism in the Americas more broadly and inclusively, greatly enhancing its Art of the Americas collection. Rarely on view before now, it is the first Kahlo painting acquired by any museum in New England, and one of a select few by ... More
MADRID.- For a period of three months, Room 34 of the Prado’s Villanueva Building will be displaying Goya’s portrait of Don Pedro de Alcántara Téllez-Girón y Pacheco, 9th Duke of Osuna, one of the most interesting works by the artist among those housed in the Frick Collection in New York. The special loan of this work falls within the context of the Museum’s “Invited Work” programme, an activity sponsored by the Fundación Amigos del Museo del Prado since 2010 with the aim of further enriching a visit to the Museum and establishing points of comparison that allow for a reflection on the works in the Prado’s Permanent Collection. Traditionally dated to around 1798, the recent cleaning of the portrait at the Metropolitan Museum in New York has revealed a complexity of technique and use of colour that may allow it to be dated later, possibly even to after the Duke’s death in 1807. While the sitter’ ... More
Berenice Abbott, Squibb Building with Sherry Netherland in the background, 745 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, 1935.
NEW YORK, NY.-The New York Public Library has expanded access to more than 180,000 items with no known U.S. copyright restrictions in its Digital Collections database, releasing hi-res images, metadata, and tools facilitating digital creation and reuse. The release represents both a simplification and an enhancement of digital access to a trove of unique and rare materials: a removal of administration fees and processes from public domain content, and also improvements to interfaces — popular and technical — to the digital assets themselves. Online users of the NYPL Digital Collections website will find more prominent download links and filters highlighting restriction-free content; while more technically inclined users will also benefit from updates to the Library's collections API enabling bulk use and analysis, as well as data exports and utilities posted to NYPL's GitHub account. These changes are intended to facilitate sharing, researc ... More
Jan van Eyck (Netherlandish, Maaseik ca. 1390–1441 Bruges) and Workshop, The Crucifixion; The Last Judgment, Ca. 1440–41 (detail). Oil on canvas, transferred from wood. Dimensions: Each 22 1/4 x 7 2/3 in. (56.5 x 19.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fletcher Fund, 1933. Accession Number: 33.92ab.
NEW YORK, NY.- A New Look at a Van Eyck Masterpiece, a focus exhibition opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on January 25, 2016, presents the findings of a recent study of Jan van Eyck’s Crucifixion and Last Judgment paintings (ca. 1440–41). In a collaboration at the Met between Maryan Ainsworth, a Curator in the Department of European Paintings, and the Department of Paintings Conservation, these paintings and their frames have undergone technical investigations in an effort to solve long-standing mysteries about them. Whether the paintings were always intended as a diptych, or whether they were originally the wings of a triptych whose centerpiece has long disappeared, has been in question. The answer may be found not only in a closer look at the frames, but also in the relationship of the Metropolitan’s Crucifixion painting ... More
N.Sviridova, D.Vozdvizhensky, Water. After the exam. 1966.
MOSCOW.-The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography presents a new project exhibition on January 27 Gaudeamus, the opening of which will coincide with the celebration of Student’s Day in Russia. Encompassing works of Soviet photographers from the Center’s collection, private collections, and university and historical archives, the exhibition shows what student life was like during various decades and reminds viewers their years as a student. The photographs capture the spirit of student life, which has been for centuries celebrated in the famous anthem Gaudeamus. The exhibition aims to present a universal image of young people who contributed to the rise of science and arts and participated in social life. University life as a particular lifestyle, a community imbued with vitality and spirit of amity and creation, is depicted in the photographs of first-class photojournalists, amateurs from clubs and inde- ... More
Watts' Studio as Mary preserved it, from the Country Home, February 1913, Watts Gallery.
COMPTON.- The studios of the celebrated Victorian artist, George Frederic Watts, and his wife, the designer Mary Watts, in Compton, Surrey opened to the public for the first time on 26 January 2016 following a major restoration generously supported by a £2.4 million lead grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Visitors to Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village will now experience the restoration of G F Watts’s studio as the artist left it, one of the most dramatic spaces created by a nineteenth-century artist, open to the public with its original collection conserved and returned. Many of the artist’s most important paintings on display in neighbouring Watts Gallery were created in this space. A highlight is the return of The Court of Death (c.1870–1902, Tate), Watts’s last major work, the epic resolution to a career that stretched back to the age of Turner and Constable in the 1830s, displayed upon a recreation of the original pulley ... More
Marc Chagall, L’écuyère, 1976. Oil, tempera and ink on canvas. Estimate: 600 000 – 800 000 € / 650 000 – 870 000 $.
PARIS.- After a series of European exhibitions in Brussels, Milan, Munich and Vienna, Artcurial will host an auction in Paris on February 22nd and 23rd entitled, Le regard de Pierre Hebey – Les Passions Moderées. This exceptional event will be organised in collaboration with Camard & Associés and celebrates the artistic passion of Pierre Hebey as an avid collector. Forty years of his remarkable collecting will be up for auction in four parts – Firstly, Art Deco followed by Modern Art, rare illustrated books and finally 19th century French sculpture. “The Artcurial exhibition of Pierre Hebey’s collection invites passionate art lovers to discover the eclecticism, the personality, the education, elegance, poetry, mystery and great emotion of a collector who has gone down in this century’s history.” explains Fabien Naudan, vice-president of Artcurial. Francis Briest, chairman of the supervisory board ... More
Quote No architecture is so haughty as that which is simple. John Ruskin
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From Heart to Hand: African American art quilts exhibition opens at the Flint Institute of Arts FLINT, MICH.- The exhibition From Heart to Hand: African American Art from the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts is on view January 24th through April 10th. Throughout history, quilts have held an important and cherished place in our culture, particularly in the American South. Though the materials and techniques of quilt making may be common; quilts, as process, as art, and as image, embody the very fabric of our country. In the late 20th century several communities in Alabama, including Gee’s Bend and Eutaw, received national attention as a result of the scholarship that focused specifically on the historic context of quilts in the rural environment, and this scholarship also inspired a new appreciation for their aesthetic appeal. This exhibition features a collection of 30 colorful and creatively designed quilts by African-American quilt makers, primarily from West Alabama and includes ... More
Major new commission of video work by Vietnamese artist Dinh Q. Lê opens at Ikon BIRMINGHAM.-Ikon, in collaboration with Artangel, presents The Colony (2016), a major new commission of video work by acclaimed Vietnamese artist Dinh Q. Lê, from 27 January to 3 April 2016. In three parts, featuring newly filmed footage, The Colony is loosely based on 19th century depictions of a cluster of islands off the west coast of Peru, rich in guano, a powerful fertilizer. Exploring the drama of absurdity, greed and human suffering, all for the brown gold of bird excrement, Lê’s narratives revisit three important episodes in the islands’ brutal history: the 19th century imperial wars between Spain and its former colonies Peru and Chile; the horrific fate of the indentured Chinese labourers; and the US Guano Act of 1856 that authorised over one hundred claims for uninhabited islands, reefs and atolls in the Pacific and Atlantic. As the first of Dinh Q. Lê’s film installations which ... More
First solo UK exhibition for eminent Japanese artist Rikizo Fukao opens at Gallery Elena Shchukina LONDON.- Rikizo, whose works hang in the British Museum’s permanent collection, is best known for his striking, textured compositions of red on black. His minimal colour palette is inspired by Buddhist concepts of duality and balance. The bold slashes of red paint imply passion, and the matte black beneath contrasts that with stillness. A variety of the red and black works are being shown, alongside one of his more recent blue on black works. In many ways Rikizo bridges western and Japanese cultures. His motifs are drawn from his Japanese upbringing, but they are painted on canvas with a clear awareness of western abstraction and minimalism. He often works on the scale of the tatami mats that line the floors of Japanese homes, and Lawrence Smith, former Keeper of Japanese Antiquities at the British Museum, has noted1 the paintings’ resemblance to traditional calligraphy. ... More
Gagosian Gallery exhibits Mark Grotjahn's Untitled (Captain America) NEW YORK, NY.-Gagosian Gallery announces an exhibition of Mark Grotjahn's Untitled (Captain America) (2008–09), first shown at the Kaikai Kiki Gallery in Tokyo in 2010. In the light of current geopolitical realities and aesthetic debates, Grotjahn's evocation of Captain America may be timely, if not more than a little ironic. Appearing in the early 1940s, the comic-book hero was designed as a patriotic super-soldier who fought the Axis powers of World War II. Aka Steve Rogers, a scrawny artist enhanced to the peak of natural human potential by an experimental serum, Captain America wears a costume that bears a stars-and-stripes motif, a hood emblazoned with an A—America (or Art?)—and is armed with a protective shield against all foes. Although he often struggles to maintain his ideals as a man out of time with modern realities, after seventy years he remains a beloved ... More
Scottish islanders don helmets for Viking fire festival LERWICK(AFP).- Residents of Scotland's remote Shetland Islands brandishing swords and shields celebrated their Nordic roots Tuesday at a spectacular fire festival which culminated in them burning a replica Viking ship. Wearing winged helmets and boasting some impressive beards, hundreds of people marched through the streets of Lerwick to mark the Up-Helly-Aa festival in the archipelago's only town. After darkness fell, the festivities culminated in a torchlit parade headed by the Guizer Jarl or Viking chief. Revellers circled the replica boat before throwing their flaming torches on to it, setting it alight and creating a huge pyre with flames shooting high in the air. The nine-metre long Viking boat was built by a group of local tradesmen who had been working on it since October. The Shetland Islands are the northernmost outpost of the British Isles and are closer to Oslo than London. ... More
Lost Beatrix Potter children's story uncovered a century on LONDON(AFP).- A newly discovered story written more than a century ago by the cherished British children's author Beatrix Potter will be published in September, Penguin Random House announced Tuesday. "The Tale of Kitty-In-Boots", a story about a black cat that leads a double life, was found two years ago by Penguin Random House publisher Jo Hanks. Potter is best known for "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", which has sold 45 million copies and been translated into 36 languages. The publication of the newly-uncovered tale forms part of this year's celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of her birth. Hanks found a reference to the story in an out-of-print literary history of the author. Hanks delved into the Potter archives held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and discovered the 1914 manuscript. "Potter fully intended to publish it. She'd written it twice, rewritten it, ... More
Musée de l'Elysée opens Werner Bischof and contemporary photography exhibitions LAUSANNE.- To mark the centenary of the birth of Swiss photographer Werner Bischof (1916-1954), the Musée de l’Elysée is presenting a retrospective of his work entitled Point of View, produced by Magnum Photos (Paris). The exhibition offers almost 200 original and sometimes unpublished prints selected from the Werner Bischof Estate (Zurich). The exhibition also displays contact sheets, books, magazines and private letters. Several projections give a contemporary approach to his work. The exhibition presents his work in Switzerland (1934-1944), Europe (1945-1950), Asia (1951-1952), and North and South America (1953-1954). A second exhibition, produced by the Musée de l’Elysée and entitled Helvetica focuses exclusively on Bischof’s Swiss years, the period of training, studio work, fashion and advertising and then the war years in Switzerland during which he ... More
Detroit Institute of Arts names gallery in recognition of grant from the William Davidson Foundation DETROIT, MICH.-The Detroit Institute of Arts announced today that it will name its newly reinstalled Ancient Middle East (AME) gallery in recognition of a $5 million grant from the William Davidson Foundation, which will go to the museum’s endowment. The newly named William Davidson Gallery showcases objects from the ancient Arabian Kingdom as well as from the empires of Assyria, Babylonia, Persia and Rome. “We are very grateful for this generous grant from the William Davidson Foundation,” said Salvador Salort-Pons, DIA director. “This is a wonderful milestone for the museum, and designating the funds to our operating endowment will tremendously help our efforts to secure the permanent financial stability of the DIA and transform our museum into the town square of the community. We truly aim to engage and be relevant to our surrounding neighborhoods and supporting ... More
Cardi gallery displays a selection of 13 works from the 60s to the 2000s by Sol LeWitt MILAN.-Cardi gallery in Milan presents an exhibition of works by Sol LeWitt. On display a selection of 13 works from the 60s to the 2000s. Sol LeWitt (b.1928, Hartford, CT; d. 2007, New York) is a leading figure of Minimalism and pioneer of Conceptual art. Redefining art production by exploring ideas rather than conventional aesthetics, he distilled art to its essentials. Based on mental structures and concrete visual structures, his work was characterized by a constant spirit of inquiry, resulting in unquestionably and invariably original work. In his long artistic career, LeWitt managed to achieve a perfect balance between perceptual and conceptual quality, between the simplicity of geometric order and the search for beauty and intuitive creativity. LeWitt was pivotal in the creation of the new radical aesthetic of the 1960's that was a revolutionary contradiction to the 'Abstract Expressionism' current ... More
Krannert Art Museum's collection of African pots on display this spring CHAMPAIGN, ILL.- The African ceramic pots in Krannert Art Museum’s collection are functional works of art. A pot used for brewing or storing beer widens from its mouth in a lovely curving arc to its midpoint, then narrows again to its delicate base. A large bowl made from a gourd is decorated with an intricate repeating pattern and a rich red ocher color. A vessel made for husbands or sweethearts to store palm oil or water is decorated with tiny ceramic cowrie shells. Krannert Art Museum will display most of its collection of African vessels in a spring exhibition titled “Spheres of Influence,” which opens Jan. 28. The works on in the exhibition were a gift from an anonymous donor in 2005, and they have not been displayed since then. The exhibition will also include four pots on loan from Spurlock Museum and two from a private collection. In addition to displaying this collection, ... More
Hank Willis Thomas on the Spirit that Unites Us All
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On a day like today, Dutch painter Hendrick Avercamp was baptized
September 27, 1585. Hendrick Avercamp (January 27, 1585 (bapt.) - May 15, 1634 (buried)) was a Dutch painter. Avercamp was born in Amsterdam, where he studied with the Danish-born portrait painter Pieter Isaacks (1569–1625), and perhaps also with David Vinckboons. In 1608 he moved from Amsterdam to Kampen in the province of Overijssel. Avercamp was mute and was known as "de Stomme van Kampen" (the mute of Kampen). In this image: Hendrick Avercamp, IJsgezicht met jager die een otter toont. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
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