NEW YORK, NY.- “Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror,” the largest survey of the artist’s work anywhere to date, officially opens Wednesday, and is designed to be not just a blockbuster, but a blockbuster x 2. The American artist’s last East Coast survey, at New York City's Museum of Modern Art in 1996, had 225 works; the new one has twice that number. The earlier show filled two floors of MoMA; this one spreads over two museums, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It looks differently splendid at each. Should you make an effort to see both halves? Absolutely. They’ve been designed as separate but complementary experiences, and each, though different in content and emphasis, tells a full Johns story. Yet it’s the story they tell together that’s the truer one, the one that lets a notoriously complicated body of art look and feel as richly original as it really is. And that richer view seems necessary given that, despite Johns& ... More
In this file photograph taken on July 13, 2010, Ahu Akivi Moais -- stone statues of the Rapa Nui culture -- are seen on Easter Island. Martin BERNETTI / AFP.
PARIS.- Easter Island's famous megaliths have relatives on islands thousands of miles to the north and west -- and so did the people who created them, a study said Wednesday. Research showed that over a 250-year period separate groups of people set out from tiny islands east of Tahiti to settle Easter Island, the Marquesas and Raivavae -- archipelagos that are thousands of miles apart but all home to similar ancient statues. "These statues are only on those islands that are closely connected genetically," the study's lead author Alexander Ioannidis of Stanford University told AFP. Using cutting-edge analysis of modern DNA, Ioannidis and his team were able to map and date the first Polynesians' path of settlement, which began in Samoa and fanned out across the Pacific between the years 830 and 1360. "This had been an open problem since Captain Cook first noticed that the people on the Polynesian islands were all speaking the ... More
Kerry James Marshall, who was chosen to design stained-glass windows to replacie the ones removed from the Washington National Cathedral in 2017, in Washington on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021. Michael A. McCoy/The New York Times.
by Patrick Wehner
WASHINGTON, DC.- Four years after removing stained-glass windows honoring two Confederate generals, Washington National Cathedral officials said Wednesday they had chosen an acclaimed Black artist, Kerry James Marshall, to design their replacements. The artist visited the cathedral for the first time Wednesday after being given the task of healing a small wound in the country’s second-largest cathedral. Together with poet and author Elizabeth Alexander, Marshall will design two stained-glass windows addressing themes of racial justice to replace those that paid tribute to Gens. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. “Right now I don’t have a clear concept of what I think I will do,” he said. “It will have to be work that is able to ... More
BASEL.- Art Basel, the world's top contemporary art fair, has returned to the Swiss city after a year's gap due to Covid-19 curbs, drawing hordes of wealthy buyers and breathing life into a market devastated by the pandemic. Despite the near-total absence of US collectors -- a key client base for artists and galleries -- big-money buyers were back from Tuesday to preview the works before the event opens to the public for three days from Friday. After last year's cancellation, some 272 galleries from 33 countries returned to showcase both emerging artists and major contemporary art figures such as David Hockney, Frank Bowling and Olafur Eliasson. Exhibitors were impatiently awaiting Art Basel's return, but at the end of August, the United States advised against travel to Switzerland, raising fears that the pandemic would spoil the comeback. "We had an environment which was suddenly very tense," Art Basel's global director Marc Spiegler told AFP. But he said the fair had tried to remove all trac ... More
CINCINNATI, OH.- On September 17, Hindman Auctions’ Native American Art auction achieved over $1 million. Strong engagement with beadwork, pottery and textiles drove remarkable results. The sale saw an outstanding sell-through rate of 93 percent and competitive bidding activity was seen throughout. Property from the Collection of Michelle Smith, Washington, D.C., the Mark and Linda Miller Collection, and the Collection of Bruce and Claire Montgomerie saw fantastic bidding engagement. “We were absolutely thrilled to see the enthusiasm of the collecting community towards the sale,” shared Hindman’s Director of Native American Art Danica Farnand. "A particularly exciting lot, and a favorite of mine, were the Cheyenne possible bags. They are in near perfect condition and the color pallet used is stunning." A matched pair of late 19th century Cheyenne beaded hide possible bags (lot 50) emerged ... More
By highlighting the word “photo” whilst retaining “Elysée” in the logo, the institution’s primary mission – to promote photography in all its forms – is reinforced.
LAUSANNE.-The Musée de l’Elysée has adopted a new identity: Photo Elysée. The museum thus proclaims its graphic DNA and its position within Vaud, Switzerland and the international's cultural landscape. Rather than turning its back on its past, the museum reformulates it to look resolutely towards the challenges of a museum of the future. The new identity is intrinsically linked to the move to Plateforme 10, with its re-opening planned for June 2022. This complete makeover has also been materialised in a Scientific and Cultural Project defining the institution’s perspectives and development objectives for the years 2020 to 2025, as well as a vast Collections Project to grasp and understand the more than 1,200,000 phototypes that make up its collections. By highlighting the word “photo” whilst retaining “Elysée” in the logo, the institution’s primary mission – to promote photography ... More
Rashid Johnson by one of the two 9-by-25 foot mosaic panels he created for the interior of the Metropolitan Opera in New York on Sept. 2, 2021. Ike Edeani/The New York Times.
NEW YORK, NY.- “The healing process starts with the negotiation of blunt force trauma,” multidisciplinary artist Rashid Johnson said. “It’s the story of recovery.” After the bruising of COVID-19, the end of the Trump administration and recent reckonings with race, gender, sexuality and identity, Johnson was ruminating about his own emotional state and our collective one, as he sees it. Johnson, who turns 44 on Saturday, is mining a psychologically complicated moment in ways both highly personal and open-ended in new exhibitions at the David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles, on view now, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, opening Monday. Johnson’s art practice has been kaleidoscopic, encompassing painting, sculpture, large-scale installation, film and, most recently, mosaic. His works are visual cosmologies, referencing aspects of Johnson’s home life ... More
Georges Annenkov (1889–1974), Still Life with Bouquet of Daisies, signed. Gouache on paper, 63.5 by 48.5 cm. Estimate: 15,000–20,000 GBP.
LONDON.- On 6 October 2021 MacDougall's will hold a specialised auction of "École de Paris and Russian Artists in France" in London. MacDougall's, the leading world specialist in Russian art, was the first auction house to organise a dedicated sale of works by Russian émigré artists in London in 2004. More than 200 works from an important private European collection are offered in the upcoming auction. Over several decades, the collector managed to acquire almost a complete anthology of the Ecole de Paris. The appearance of the works of such high quality at the auction is an exceptional chance for art connoisseurs to obtain significant and rare pieces, most with estimates below £15,000. Starting from the end of the 19th century, first Montmartre, and then Montparnasse, with its international centre "La Ruche” (the Hive), were becoming havens for artists from different parts of the Russian Empire. Russian émigré artists ... More
WAKEFIELD.-The Hepworth Wakefield announced that is has acquired 1935, Quai d’Auteuil, one of the most important white reliefs by the pioneering British artist Ben Nicholson (1894-1982). The work has been on long loan to the gallery since February 2015 and its acquisition has been made possible through a hybrid of the government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme, together with a £1.5million grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and £500,000 from the Art Fund, as well as donations from other trusts, foundations and generous individuals. Quai d’Auteuil is a superlative example of a genre of carved painting unique to Nicholson. It is considered to be of immense importance to the development of British Modernism, as well as being one of Nicholson’s most important contributions to international modernism. The title refers to the Parisian street where the work was made while Nicholson was visiting his children and first ... More
László Moholy-Nagy, Photogram, 1920s Estimate: $300,000 - 500,000. Image courtesy of Phillips.
NEW YORK, NY.-Phillips announced a selection of upcoming works from the first Photographs sale in the auction house’s new state-of-the-art gallery at 432 Park Ave. Featuring nearly 250 lots, the sale takes place on 7 October, directly following the single-owner sale Reframing Beauty: A Private Seattle Collection. Sarah Krueger, Head of Photographs, New York, said, “The October Photographs auction brings together a selection of artists from 20th Century masters like László Moholy-Nagy and Ansel Adams to an impressive array of contemporary works by Alec Soth, Gregory Crewdson, Cindy Sherman, Hank Willis Thomas, and Vik Muniz. This sale highlights the tremendous creative breadth this collecting category has to offer.” Leading the sale is László Moholy-Nagy’s Photogram. This unique work dates to the early years of Moholy-Nagy’s career in photography when his explorations of the medium expanded its capabilities and informed h ... More
Melvin Van Peebles at his home in New York, Sept. 9, 2013. Karsten Moran/The New York Times.
by Douglas Martin
NEW YORK, NY.- Melvin Van Peebles, the filmmaker praised as the godfather of modern Black cinema and a trailblazer in American independent movies, died on Tuesday at his home in New York. He was 89. His death was announced by his son Mario Van Peebles, the actor and director. A Renaissance man whose work spanned books, theater and music, Melvin Van Peebles is best known for his third feature film, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” which drew mixed reviews when it was released in 1971, ignited intense debate and became a national hit. The hero, Sweetback, starred in a sex show at a brothel, and the movie sizzled with explosive violence, explicit sex and righteous antagonism toward the white power structure. It was dedicated to “all the Black brothers and sisters who have ... More
Edmunds, currently the executive and artistic director of the University of California, Los Angeles’ Center for the Art of Performance, will replace Joseph C. Thompson, who helped found the museum and led it for more than 32 years. Courtesy of Kristy Edmunds.
by Robin Pogrebin
NEW YORK, NY.- Kristy Edmunds, an experienced leader in the performing and multidisciplinary arts, will become the new director of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, known as Mass MoCA, in October. Edmunds, currently the executive and artistic director of the University of California, Los Angeles’ Center for the Art of Performance, will replace Joseph C. Thompson, who helped found the museum and led it for more than 32 years. “This is a place that resonates with me,” Edmunds said in a telephone interview, citing “the way they create a pipeline for helping artists to help them dream the culture forward.” Edmunds ... More
1937 Mystery Bentley Van den Plas.
LONDON.- We may never hear the true story of what this swashbuckling Bentley did in WW2 but it ran up some 85,000 miles during the hostilities – a time of stringent petrol rationing. What was it doing, what was it being used for? Maybe the new owner who secures it at the H&H Classics sale at the Pavilion Gardens, Buxton on October 6th may wish to do some sleuthing. The true story may just add to the allure of this already intriguing car. The subject of a chassis-up, bare metal, photographically documented restoration during the early 1990s it is structurally very sound, but cosmetically imperfect and in need of further mechanical recommissioning (c.£7,700 spent in 2019-20). Originally ordered by Jack Barclay Ltd of Mayfair for stock, chassis B191HM was supplied new to Miss Durand of Kensington & Chelsea. The work of esteemed firm Vanden Plas, its decidedly elegant, Pillarless Sports Saloon coachwork (body number ... More
Quote Perhaps art is simply an organism's reaction against its retentive limitations. Joseph Brodsky
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At the 'Human Library', everyone is an open book COPENHAGEN.- At the "Human Library", you can "loan" a person to tell you their life story, an original concept born in Denmark that is designed to challenge prejudice and which has spread around the world. Iben -- a quiet 46-year-old sexual abuse victim with mental health issues who doesn't give out her last name -- is one of eight "books" curious people can loan on this autumn day in Copenhagen. For 30 minutes, you can ask anything you want, either one-on-one or in a small group. "The Human Library is a safe space where we can explore diversity, learn about ways in which we're different from each other, and engage with people we normally would never meet... and challenge your unconscious bias," explains Ronni Abergel, the project's garrulous initiator. He created the living library in 2000 during the Roskilde music festival and went on to build ... More
AstaGuru's upcoming sale features over 85 leading artists and 120 impressive lots MUMBAI.- AstaGuru's upcoming offering will be India’s largest Contemporary art auction titled, ‘Present Future’. The auction features 120 works by 87 leading contemporary artists. Scheduled to take place on the 28th -29th September 2021, the auction includes impressive works by artists such as Bharti Kher, Atul Dodiya, Thukral & Tagra, Anju Dodiya, Jitish Kallat, Mrinalini Mukherjee, Ravinder Reddy, L N Tallur, Rana Begum, Shahabuddin Ahmed, and many more. Aptly titled ‘Present Future’ the auction will showcase an eclectic range of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and installations that represent the prevalent art trends and gives an insight into the future of contemporary art. “Contemporary art in India is expanding phenomenally with a constant influx of unprecedented creativity and experimentation. The artists today are using various ... More
Dia Art Foundation announces appointment of Jordan Carter as curator NEW YORK, NY.-Dia Art Foundation announced today the appointment of Jordan Carter to the position of Curator. With a specialization in Fluxus and global Conceptual art of the 1960s and ’70s, Carter will play a key role in Dia’s commissions, exhibitions, acquisitions, and public programming across its eleven sites. Carter comes to Dia from the Art Institute of Chicago, where he held the position of Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. He will begin his new role in December 2021. “Jordan Carter brings with him broad expertise in the period of art history that sits at the core of Dia’s collection. His curatorial interests also offer a vital expansion of this period and its enduring influence on contemporary art, that will be key to Dia’s programming in the coming years. We are elated to welcome Jordan to the Dia ... More
The Micheal Gietzelt Collection of British and Irish Coins sells for £563,000 at Dix Noonan Webb LONDON.- A large attractive gold coin from the reign of Charles I sold for £54,560* as part of the auction of Micheal Gietzelt Collection of British and Irish Coins on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at international coins, medals, banknotes and jewellery specialists Dix Noonan Webb. The impressive and very rare coin, which weighed 26.57g, dated from 1643 and came from the Mint in Oxford. Known as a Triple Unite (the value of 60 shillings or three pounds), this popular coin among collectors, was issued during the Civil War and depicts Charles I holding a sword and an olive branch, possibly signifying his desire for peace. It was bought by a dealer in the room on behalf of a collector [lot 70]. The main emphasis of the Collection, which comprised 220 coins and was 100% sold, was Charles I (1625-1649) (203 lots) with 12 lots of Commonwealth Coins ... More
'Historic night' as Somalia screens first film in 30 years MOGADISHU.- Somalia hosted its first screening of a movie in three decades under heavy security on Wednesday, as the conflict-ravaged country hopes for a cultural renewal. Built by Chinese engineers as a gift from Mao Zedong in 1967, the National Theatre of Somalia has a history that reflects the tumultuous journey of the Horn of Africa nation. It has been targeted by suicide bombers and used as a base by warlords. And it has never screened a Somali film. Until now. "This is going to be a historic night for the Somali people, it shows how hopes have been revived... after so many years of challenges," theatre director Abdikadir Abdi Yusuf said before the screening. "It's a platform that provides an opportunity to... Somali songwriters, storytellers, movie directors and actors to present their talent openly." The evening's programme was two short ... More
Carmen Balthrop, soprano known for Joplin opera role, dies at 73 NEW YORK, NY.- Soprano Carmen Balthrop made her Metropolitan Opera debut April 6, 1977. Thirteen days later she made an entirely different sort of debut, in a hearing room of the United States Senate. That day Balthrop, still early in a career that would take her to opera and concert stages all over the world, was one of a number of people testifying at a meeting of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee in support of funding for the arts. It was a dreary and underattended meeting, with Sen. Mark Hatfield, R-Ore. and the subcommittee chair, the only member of the panel present. Dreary, that is, until Hatfield, skeptical of the funding request, challenged Balthrop’s assertion that opera singers were a disciplined and hardworking lot. “He said, ‘Come on, are you really that disciplined?’” she told Knight-Ridder afterward. “And he said he’d like to hear ... More
US filmmaker Gus Van Sant sets Andy Warhol's early life to music LISBON.- US filmmaker, writer, painter, photographer and musician, Gus Van Sant, is now turning his hand to theatre with a new musical in Lisbon about the early career of Pop Art creator, Andy Warhol. Van Sant -- best-known for films such as "My Own Private Idaho" and "Good Will Hunting" -- said he had long wanted to make a film about Warhol, and even wrote a screenplay with US actor River Phoenix, who died at 23 in 1993, set for the lead role. Now, in his first-ever work for the stage, the 69-year-old laureate of Canne's Palme d'Or has written the musical "Andy", which premiered on Thursday in the Portuguese capital as part of the Biennial of Contemporary Arts where Van Sant is one of this year's artists in residence. "I was trying to put together the greatest hits of Andy's life to explain his rise into the art world in the 60s," the filmmaker said. With ... More
Notre-Dame rebuild donations reach 840 mn euros: official PARIS.- Donors have contributed over 840 million euros ($985 million) to the rebuilding of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, which was badly damaged by fire in April 2019, the official in charge of the reconstruction said Wednesday. Jean-Louis Georgelin, the former armed forces chief overseeing the project, told a Senate commission that money was continuing to pour in for the restoration of the 13th-century Gothic masterpiece. He said that the "outpouring of generosity" included 100 million euros from French oil giant Total and a large undisclosed sum from the foundation of the late L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. He did not reveal how the money would be spent, saying the breakdown would be made public once all the tenders for the work had been awarded. The spire of the iconic landmark collapsed and much of the roof was destroyed in the blaze ... More
Miller & Miller's Firearms, Sporting & Canadiana auction is slated for Oct. 9 NEW HAMBURG.- Original, vibrant paintings by Canadian artists Alfred Joseph Casson (1898-1992), Alexander Young Jackson (1882-1974), Anna Weber (1814-1888), Joseph Swift (1832-1889) and Homer Ransford Watson (1855-1936) will all be in a Firearms, Sporting & Canadiana auction slated for Saturday, October 9th by Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. The online-only auction has a start time of 9 am Eastern time, with Internet bidding available on the Miller & Miller website, plus LiveAuctioneers.com. There will be two headliners: the Don and Joyce Blyth firearms collection, and the decoy and fishing collections of Marty Osler. Marty’s fishing collection includes a select offering of fine reels and rods, many by Hardy Brothers of England. The decoy collection is primarily Canadian and includes many fine examples by Carl O. Rankin, Frank ... More
Maureen Paley opens a new exhibition by Hannah Collins LONDON.-Maureen Paley is presenting a new exhibition by Hannah Collins that is being presented across the gallery’s two London spaces. Collins’ large-format black-and-white photographs brought her to prominence during the 1980s and led to a Turner Prize nomination in 1993. Her work draws attention to historical and social frameworks and addresses a wide range of subjects and geographical locations through images of interiors, exteriors, interactions, and specific objects. In 2015 a retrospective of her work was shown at the Sprengel Museum Hannover, in conjunction with the award of the Spectrum Prize and travelled to Camden Art Centre, London and Baltic Centre, Newcastle. One of her most recent works – I will make up a song and sing it in a theatre with the night air above my head, 2018 has been shown at SF MOMA San Francisco, 2019, ... More
Balanchine, the teacher: 'I pushed everybody' NEW YORK, NY.- The setting is a ballet class, and the year is 1974. George Balanchine throws up his arms in exasperation at the sight of a dancer executing a step incorrectly at the barre. We may not be able to see her, and what she’s doing wrong, but we feel how hard Balanchine is taking it. It’s not just his words — “that’s bad” — but the punctuation of his body: emphatic, agile, alive. His hands slap his thighs. He raises an arm like a stiff branch to show how far a leg should be raised. It’s not high; it’s parallel to the floor. “Go enough,” he says, before lifting it a couple of inches. “To go up later. See? ’Cause if you go high, you fall down.” His arm crashes down, hitting his leg. Then his zinger: “Newton’s Law.” The new film “In Balanchine’s Classroom,” directed by Connie Hochman, focuses on the teaching of the groundbreaking choreographer — and how it instilled his dances at New York Ci ... More
A Black composer finally arrives at the Metropolitan Opera NEW YORK, NY.- In 1919, William Grant Still was in his 20s — many years from the eminence he would later enjoy as the widely acknowledged “dean” of Black American composers. But he had already begun to write operas, and he boldly approached the nation’s most important company: the Metropolitan Opera in New York. We have no evidence he got an answer. Two decades later, Still was far more established, with his “Afro-American Symphony” widely performed. In 1935, he sent the Met “Blue Steel,” its music infused with jazz and spirituals. “Not worthy of consideration,” a company official wrote in an internal submissions ledger. Then Still wrote another opera, “Troubled Island,” about the Haitian revolution, with a libretto by poet Langston Hughes. “The Metropolitan was our first target, logically enough,” he later recalled. That, too, was dismissed. ... More
Richard Hambleton: The Godfather of Street Art
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Flashback
On a day like today, Australian painter William Dobell was born
September 24, 1899. Sir William (Bill) Dobell OBE (24 September 1899 - 13 May 1970) was a renowned Australian portrait and landscape artist of the 20th century. Dobell won the Archibald Prize, Australia's premier award for portrait artists on three occasions. The Dobell Prize is named in his honour.
