| The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Friday, December 22, 2017 |
| | | Israel Antiquities Authority uncovers Byzantine-era monastery at construction site | |
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Naftali Aizik, an archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority, shows items found during the excavation of a 1,500-year-old (Byzantine Period) monastery and church, recently discovered in the southern hills of Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, on December 20, 2017. The operations are part of large-scale excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority with the help of over 1,000 teenagers, prior to the expansion of the Ramat Beit Shemesh neighborhood. MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP.
BET SHEMESH (AFP).- The remains of a monastery dating back 1,500 years, including a mosaic floor adorned with birds, have been unearthed at an Israeli construction site, the Antiquities Authority said Wednesday. The Byzantine-era monastery, which includes a church, was uncovered during excavations ahead of the expansion of an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood in the city Bet Shemesh. The Antiquities Authority director of the dig, Benyamin Storchan, said his team was "surprised by the wonderful state of preservation of the ancient remains, and the richness of the finds being uncovered." Artifacts uncovered include a marble pillar base decorated with crosses and marble window screens from Turkey, as well as the elaborate mosaic floor featuring birds, leaves and pomegranates. "The richness found at the site suggests that complex may have been a main ... More |
| The Best Photos of the Day | | | | Pedestrians walk under a Christmas decorated light tunnel set on Lubyanka Square in Moscow on December 19, 2017. Mladen ANTONOV / AFP. | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| Scientists discover a 150 million year old plesiosaur in Antarctica | | Major portrait bust by celebrated sculptor David d'Angers acquired by National Gallery of Art | | Turkey police seize over 26,000 historical artifacts: report |
"The finding is quite extraordinary, because in the site there is not the kind of rocks in which you can find preserved materials in three dimensions, as is the case of the vertebrae of this marine reptile", explained the researcher.
BUENOS AIRES (AGENCIA CTYS-UNLAM).- The paleontologist José Patricio O'Gorman, researcher at the Museo de la Plata (MLP) and CONICET, told to the Agencia CTyS-UNLaM that "this plesiosaur record is 80 million years older than what was known for Antarctica". "It was the first paleontological campaign that we conducted in this outcrop that is like a frozen sea of 150 million years in an excellent state of conservation", said the lead author of the study that was accepted to be published in the scientific journal Comptes Rendus Palevol. Dr. Soledad Gouiric Cavalli, MLP and CONICET specialist in the study of Jurassic fish, claimed that "when walking through the site you can find a great diversity of fish, ammonites, some bivalves, but we did not expect to find a plesiosaur of such age; It was surprising". "The finding is quite extraordinary, because in the site ... More | |
Pierre-Jean David d'Angers, Comte Boulay de la Meurthe, 1832. Marble, 70 cm (27 1/2 in.) with base. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Patrons' Permanent Fund and the Buffy and William Cafritz Family Sculpture Fund.
WASHINGTON, DC.- The National Gallery of Art announced today the acquisition of a major portrait bust by one of the most renowned sculptors of the Romantic era, Pierre-Jean David d'Angers (17881856). David d'Angers's public monuments and portraits of intellectuals and political figures capture the charged spirit of the epoch like no others. Purchased with funds from the Patrons' Permanent Fund and the Buffy and William Cafritz Family Sculpture Fund, the larger-than-life Comte Boulay de la Meurthe (1832) is among the finest portrait busts by David d'Angers anywhere and the first marble by the sculptor to enter the Gallery's collection. It is on view on the main floor of the West Building, Gallery 56. "We are delighted to acquire this masterpiece of 19th-century French sculpture with its magnificent naturalistic details and colossal scale that capture the ... More | |
A Turkish police officer points to historical artifacts after police confiscated thousands of historical artifacts in a giant operation against smugglers in Istanbul, the private Dogan news agency reported on December 21, 2017. STRINGER / DOGAN NEWS AGENCY / AFP.
ISTANBUL.- Turkish police confiscated thousands of historical artifacts in a giant operation against smugglers in Istanbul, the private Dogan news agency reported on Thursday. Police detained 13 suspects and seized 26,456 artifacts, Dogan said. The agency did not provide details on the artifacts or the suspects. Turkey has been fighting for the return of stolen pieces at home and abroad. The issue is crucial to a country that is home to about 3,000 ancient cities from 42 civilisations, and whose tourism industry relies on its rich historical heritage to attract millions of foreigners each year. In September, Turkey recovered the Roman sarcophagus of Hercules from Switzerland after it had been smuggled from the ancient city of Perge in the southern Antalya province half a century ago. The sarcophagus which portrays the 12 labours of Hercules is now showcased in the ... More |
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| Balzac manuscript top seller at sale of vast French collection | | Pre-Columbian ceramics from west Mexico's Shaft Tomb culture on view at the Crocker Art Museum | | Edgar Sarin's first solo show at Michel Rein on view in Paris |
Auctioneer Claude Aguttes poses amongst the Aristophile collection of manuscripts, historic letters, notes and musical scores on December 18, 2017. Philippe LOPEZ / AFP.
PARIS (AFP).- A manuscript of Balzac's novel "Ursule Mirouet" sold for 1.17 million euros ($1.38 million) at auction in Paris late Wednesday, as the world's biggest private collection of French literary texts went under the hammer. The draft, one of only two in private hands of the 1841 story of a woman who survives a plot by provincial notables to deprive her of her inheritance, went for the highest price in the first sale of the vast collection amassed by the collapsed investment firm Aristophil. The company was shut down in scandal two years ago taking 850 million ($1 billion) of investors' money with it after French authorities accused it of being a pyramid scheme. The 130,000 manuscripts and historical documents that Aristophil had its investors sink their savings into are now being sold off by the authorities in 300 auctions over the next six years. The other big ... More | |
Unknown Nayarit maker, Ixtlan del Rio, West Mexico, Male and Female Figures, circa 250 BCE 250 CE. Painted low fire ceramic (earthenware with pigment), 12 in. and 13 1/4 in. Crocker Art Museum Purchase, 2017.56.1-2.
SACRAMENTO, CA.- For the first time within the context of its permanent collection, the Crocker Art Museum is showing Pre-Columbian ceramics, most of which are recent gifts from historic American collections. For 500 years, from 250 BCE to 250 CE, people on the west coast of Mexico developed a thriving culture. Because they left no written language, all that is known about them comes from their ceramic art, which, for its time, is rivalled only by the Han Dynasty in China. This art is the visual voice of the ancient people, but to this day ethnographers and art historians have not clearly interpreted what the artists were saying. One thing is certain: The ancient artists of West Mexico found beauty in ordinary things and celebrated life in all its complexity and diversity. The Shaft Tomb culture was named because this groups only ... More | |
Edgar Sarin, Dans son cou la main d'une mère, Michel Rein, Paris, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein, Paris/Brussels. Photo: Florian Kleinefenn.
PARIS.- With the support of the Emerige Grant Funds, which awarded him its Revelation Grants in 2016, Michel Rein presents Edgar Sarins first solo show at the gallery. Edgar Sarin creates installations which associate language and music with both the simplest of found objects and the most precious of metals. He hews out stone, sculpts wood, composes scores, and stages gestures and situations. Each exhibition and every piece is the ramification of a one-off and complete approach examining the circumstances of the development of rough primitive models towards their fulfilment as civilized forms. This aesthetic and plastic research is organized by a raft of precise, elementary rules forming the works physical nature. This work is a body that is tamed by each one of its facettes. Edgar Sarin develops the physics of his oeuvre; he constructs its mechanics, and its inner movement, where each thing is ... More |
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| Paul-François Lang appointed Director of Strasbourg City Museums | | BFI gives film 'orphans' a home for Christmas | | Museum acquires historic Jack Brabham car |
Paul-François Lang is currently Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Canada. Photo: NGC, Ottawa.
STRASBOURG.- Paul-François Lang, at present Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, will be the new Director of the Museums of Strasbourg from April 2018. He will succeed Joëlle Pijaudier-Cabot, Chief Heritage Curator and Director of the Museums of the City of Strasbourg since 2007. Roland Ries, the Mayor of Strasbourg, has welcomed an appointment unanimously approved by the members of the selection panel. The panel was composed of representatives of the Ministry of Culture and the City of Strasbourg, together with qualified persons recognized for their expertise in scientific and cultural matters, and was chaired by Alain Fontanel, First Deputy Mayor in charge of Culture and Heritage.
To entrust its exceptional museum network to a personality with an exemplary professional record is a measure of the City's ambition. With exceptional international ... More | |
The Little Match Girl (1914), D. Percy Nash, source BFI National Archive.
LONDON.- Today the BFI has made a collection of over 170 films known as Orphan Works available to view free online for viewers internationally as well as the UK via the BFIs YouTube Channel. These film orphans are films protected by copyright for which rights-holders are positively unknown or uncontactable. This new BFI YouTube collection includes rare performances by Christopher Lee, David Jason, Honor Blackman, John Le Mesurier, Lupino Lane, Madeleine Carroll, Norman Beaton, Peter Ustinov and Richard Burton as well as interviews with footballing legends George Best, Jack and Bobby Charlton. The collection also features early literary adaptations, including a truly magical version of Hans Christian Andersons The Little Match Girl (1914), with beautiful colour tints and early special effects, Tom Browns School Days (1916) and Hobsons Choice (1920). The earliest orphan work is British ... More | |
View from above of an open-wheeled racing car. National Museum of Australia. Photo: George Serras.
CANBERRA.- The National Museum of Australia has acquired an historic car constructed and driven by Australian racing legend and three-time Formula One (F1) world champion, (1959, 1960 and 1966) Sir Jack Brabham, AO, OBE (19262014). The son of a greengrocer from Hurstville in Sydneys south where he drove delivery trucks around the yard, Sir Jack was an ordinary Australian who helped develop Formula One as we know it today. The 1967 Repco-Brabham Tasman BT23A-1 prototype now on display in the Museums Main Hall, was first raced by Sir Jack, after his 1966 F1 World Championship win.
a black and white photo of a man sitting in a racing car Sir Jack raced the car in the separate 1967 Tasman series where he set the fastest lap at Wigram, in Christchurch. The 1967 Tasman Series was a motor racing competition contested over six races in New Zealand and Australia, between 7 January and 6 March 1967. The design of the ... More |
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| Galerie Lelong & Co. to represent Mildred Thompson Estate | | New catalogue shines light on silver in the Royal Collection | | Maddox Gallery opens its first international gallery in Gstaad |
Mildred Thompson, String Theory 6, 1999 (detail). Acrylic on canvas, 72 x 50 inches (182.9 x 127 cm). © The Mildred Thompson Estate Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co., New York.
NEW YORK, NY.- Galerie Lelong & Co. announced exclusive representation of the Mildred Thompson Estate. The gallery will present the artists first solo exhibition in New York, Mildred Thompson: Radiation Explorations and Magnetic Fields, from February 22 to March 31, 2018. A catalogue with essays by Melissa Messina, Curator of the Mildred Thompson Estate, and Lowery Stokes Sims, Curator Emerita at the Museum of Arts and Design, will be published in conjunction with the exhibition by Black Dog Publishing. Concurrently, the gallery will present a solo booth of paintings and works on paper for the 2018 ADAA Art Show. Mildred Thompson (1936 2003) created paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures using a signature style that often features fully saturated color segments painted in linear and circular ... More | |
Nautilus cup and cover, Nikolaus Schmidt, c.1550/51609.
LONDON.- More than half a ton of silver has been conserved ahead of the publication of a new book which details over 350 artworks in the Royal Collection. European Silver in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen is the first title for over 100 years to catalogue the magnificent holdings of silverware originating from Europe in the Royal Collection, from candlesticks and desk sets to an 18th century silver-gilt coffee pot belonging to Catherine the Great. Some of the most intricate and opulent items to feature in the catalogue raisonné are those collected by George IV for his Kunstkammer, a special collection of extremely fine works, many of which can be see in the Lantern Lobby of Windsor Castle today. In 1823 George purchased the spectacular Nautilus cup and cover (left) for 250 guineas which is equivalent to approximately £22,000 today. The high price reflected the unusually large shell and elaborate mount ... More | |
Maddox Gallery, Gstaad will open the week prior to Christmas with an inaugural exhibition dedicated to the work of the worlds leading wildlife photographer, David Yarrow.
GSTAAD.- Maddox Gallery will open a new gallery in Gstaad, Switzerland, this December, its fourth space to open in two years. With three successful locations in London, this will be their first international gallery and will be housed in a traditional chalet in the picturesque Alpine resort. Maddox Gallery, Gstaad will open the week prior to Christmas with an inaugural exhibition dedicated to the work of the worlds leading wildlife photographer, David Yarrow. David Yarrow has built a world-class reputation for producing images of the planets most remote landscapes, cultures and endangered animals. His methods for enticing dangerous animals near enough to his lens for the best photograph include researching which animal is most attracted to which scent and then coating his camera in it as he lays in wait. Davids work has been exhibited by some of the ... More |
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New photobook by Ikuru Kuwadjima "I, Oblomov" released
MOSCOW.- In early December, within the scope of the XIX International Book Fair non/fiction, a presentation took place of I, Oblomov, a book by a Japabese photographer Ikuru Kuwadjima, who was the winner of the Photobook Dummy Contest of the Photobookfest 2017. The book represents a photographic re-thinking of the famous novel by Ivan Goncharov. Ikuru Kuwadjima explored the post-Soviet space of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan through the lens of oblomovism. Oblomovs strange lethargy or Oblomovshchina (Oblomovism) continues to be a powerful force in Russia today, writes Ikuru in the foreword in his book, In this book, I offer my own interpretation of this distinctly Russian phenomenon through a series of self-portraits and interior photographs I, Oblomov was published with the support of Pareto Print Publishing ... More
Clifford Irving, author of fake Hughes autobiography, dead at 87
WASHINGTON (AFP).- Clifford Irving, an American novelist who went to prison after his claim to have collaborated on an autobiography of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes was exposed as a hoax, has died at the age of 87. Julie Irving, the author's sixth wife, told The New York Times that Irving died in a hospice in Sarasota, Florida, on Tuesday, just a week after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Irving was a little-known novelist when he made the sensational announcement in 1970 that he had held a series of interviews with the reclusive Hughes for an authorized autobiography. Irving received a hefty advance from McGraw-Hill for the book and its publication was eagerly anticipated by a public hungry for details about the famously private Hollywood producer and celebrated aviator. In fact, Irving had had no contact with Hughes and was perpetrating what the ... More
Exhibition at Bilbao Fine Arts Museum features 44 works by Eduardo Arroyo
BILBAO.- The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum is presenting the exhibition Eduardo Arroyo. Le retour des croisades, which features 44 works by the artist, some created in 2017, the year of the artist's 80th birthday. In 1994, the recently inaugurated BBK gallery at the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum presented the exhibition Eduardo Arroyo. Life-size, 1963-1993. In the manner of a retrospective, it brought together a sizeable group of large-format paintings grandeur nature by this Madrid-born artist. Almost 25 years later the same gallery is showing paintings and sculptures created by Arroyo during the first fifteen years of the 21st century, with a particular focus on the painter's marvellous creative outburst associated with the preparation of the major solo exhibition of his work held this summer at the Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence (France). Considered ... More
Rare Huanghuali furniture achieves over quarter million dollars at Clars
OAKLAND, CA.- Clars Auction Gallery hosted their monthly auction of Fine Art, Decorative Art, Furniture, Jewelry/Timepieces and Asian Art Auction on Sunday, December 17th at their Oakland (CA) gallery and saleroom. Asian Art and Antiques were expected to highlight the sale and the results did not disappoint. In Fine Art, one of the most important global collections of 19th century British East Indian and China Trade paintings were offered and the prices realized were over the top. Overall, the collections and property offered in this sale fueled it to be the strongest December auction in the firms history. A collection of highly desirable Chinese huanghuali furniture commanded well over estimate prices realizing over $250,000. Fueled by the impeccable workmanship and limited supply of furniture made from this rare and near extinct wood, bidders ... More
Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris opens exhibition of works by Sheila Hicks
PARIS.- Sheila Hicks began this project with a lengthy exploration of the museum lobby. Drawn to Lucio Fontana's 1951 neon work in the reception area, she felt a connection between its luminous line and her own creative investigations: "My work is based on lines, which form sculptures in space." Fontana's line describes the trajectory of the planets, while Hicks adds satellites which she composes on the wall like an interplanetary constellation. As she sees it, the language of threads is universal and forges a link between human beings. This is why, in shaping her projects, she studies not only the specific features of the site, but also the characteristics of the viewing public that becomes her principal accomplice. The artist creates colours which are rarely found in nature. With an understanding of the subtle manner in which they are perceived, she invents ... More
Immersive installation responds to the complexities of cotton and the Southern landscape
JACKSON, MS.- The Mississippi Museum of Art is presenting White Gold: Thomas Sayre, an immersive installation by Thomas Sayre evoking a cotton-field landscape in the American South. White Gold is on view through July 8, 2018, in conjunction with the special exhibition celebrating the states Bicentennial: Picturing Mississippi, 1817‒2017: Land of Plenty, Pain, and Promise. The history of cotton is one of the nations most contentious and layered chapters, and one with which almost every Mississippian has a personal relationship, either directly or indirectly. Cottons position as an international commodity is at one with the economic, racial, and social history of the region and its people and an integral part of the nations identity. Two centuries after statehood, cotton still looms large in collective memory and common experience and remains largely unnegotiated in its ... More
Index presents film by American artist and filmmaker Kevin Jerome Everson
STOCKHOLM.- Index presents Tonsler Park, a new film by American artist and filmmaker Kevin Jerome Everson. Shot on 16mm black-and-white film over the course of the recent American election day, 8 November 2016, in Charlottesville, Virginia, the film follows the poll workers throughout their day as they carry out the practical tasks that allow citizens to cast a ballot and vote. The films focus is not documentary or narrative in a traditional sense, but relies on the conditions and gestures that make up the rituals of democracy. It opens with the oath of allegiance, to prevent fraud, deceit and abuse, and the mainly Black American workers go through actions that repeat, as people come in and out of view. Through Eversons lens, the audience takes part in that election day and the way in which the ... More
The Bass announces $500,000 gift from Riccardo and Tatyana Silva
MIAMI, FLA.- The Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, Florida announced a significant donation of $500,000 from Riccardo and Tatyana Silva. This gift supports the institutions endowment fund, along with the naming of the Riccardo and Tatyana Silva Gallery on the museums first floor. The gift was announced at The Bass Ball on December 16, which raised money for the museums ongoing events and education initiatives, and hosted over 200 of Miamis art patrons and cultural influencers. Tatyana and I are thrilled to support The Bass Museum as it enters a new chapter in its development. We are deeply honored by this naming recognition, said Riccardo Silva on the announcement. My wife and I have been long-time supporters of the museum and believe in the important role it plays in Miamis cultural development. Riccardo and Tatyana Silva have had ... More
Kenton Nelson presents a collection of past and recently completed paintings at Peters Projects
SANTA FE, NM.- Peters Projects, Santa Fe is presenting Kenton Nelsons, Taming Nature. The exhibition is on view at Peters Projects from December 15 through February 10. Taming Nature is a curated exhibition featuring a collection of past and recently completed paintings which have in common a subtle voyeuristic undertone. Philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling wrote, To achieve great things we must be self-confined mastery is revealed in limitation. Nelsons paintings Simple Manners and Taming Nature (seen here) capture Schellings message by offering the viewer limited glimpses into private moments. Moreover, the paintings are frozen in time, a dialectic notion of nature where opposites converge and intimate moments become public. What is first thought of as implicit within the paintings becomes explicit, either through the title of the work ... More
Exhibition of installations and tableaus by Jil Sander on view at the Museum Angewandte Kunst
FRANKFURT.- Jil Sander is one of the most influential fashion designers of her generation. Her first solo exhibition ever to take place in a museum consists of large-scale, multi-media installations and tableaus devoted to the impact of her design approach on the aesthetics, material and form of fashion and product design, architecture and garden art. The presentation, which could hardly be more multifaceted, showcases the ingenuity and creative power of a designer whose primary objective is to bring out a persons personality. Jil Sanders significance as a fashion designer is due to an extraordinary perceptivity which enabled her to anticipate trends and changes in society. She used them as a point of departure for developing unexpected, truly modern shapes in fashion. Her purism has transformed our notions of beauty and identity. Her design principles harmony of ... More
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Flashback On a day like today, American painter Jean-Michel Basquiat was born December 22, 1960. Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 - August 12, 1988) was an American artist. Basquiat first achieved fame as part of SAMO, an informal graffiti duo who wrote enigmatic epigrams in the cultural hotbed of the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the late 1970s where the hip hop, punk, and street art movements had coalesced. By the 1980s, he was exhibiting his neo-expressionist paintings in galleries and museums internationally. The Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of his art in 1992. In this image: Basquiat: Boom For Real. Installation view Barbican Art Gallery 21 September 2017 - 28 January 2018 © Tristan Fewings / Getty Images Artwork: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1982 Courtesy Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York.
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