| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Saturday, August 14, 2021 |
| | | At MoMA, love of cars can be exhausting | |
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The 1948 Cisitalia 202 GT, the first automobile that the Museum of Modern Art acquired, in 1972, at the museums exhibition Automania in New York, July 30, 2021. The exhibition shows off nine cars, but its harder now to think of them as objects of beauty, the New York Times critic Jason Farago says. Vincent Tullo/The New York Times.
by Jason Farago
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- In 1974, Andy Warhol bought himself a two-tone Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow brown roof, black doors custom-ordered from London. It didnt matter that Warhol had no drivers license. For some a car is more than a vehicle, and in Automania, the Museum of Modern Arts engine-revving summer show, the automobile appears as an art object all its own. MoMA has collected industrial and commercial objects since the 1930s, and its department of architecture and design now owns nine cars, ranging from sexy to stolid. All are on display in Automania. (Theres also an Airstream trailer, for slower travels.) Three automobiles, testifying to MoMAs hardy freight elevator and sturdy flooring, have ascended to the museums third-floor galleries: a pistachio Volkswagen Beetle from 1959, a nearly seamless Cisitalia 202 GT in rosso corsa red, and a midnight-blue Jaguar E-Type Roadster from 1963. They appear along with a cross-section of art ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Ben Brown Fine Arts is presenting the exhibition Ze/Ro at the Hong Kong gallery, from July through August 2021. The exhibition is organised by Hong Kong-based curator Shirky Chan as part of the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association's (HKAGA) Summer Programme. Chan has curated a contemplative and topical group show featuring the work of five artists: Au Hoi Lam, Chan Ka Kiu, Christy Chow, Jaffa Lam and Jess Lau.
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| Ordrupgaard's new extension provides a fine setting for world art | | Art Gallery of Ontario pays tribute to Toronto-born artist and art world phenom Matthew Wong with solo exhibition | | Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art opens an exhibition of works by Christina Forrer |
The French collection gallery, Ordrupgaard. Photo: Laura Stamer.
CHARLOTTENLUND.- Today, Ordrupgaards new extension was inaugurated amid festive celebrations in the presence of HRH The Crown Prince, Joy Mogensen, Minister for Culture as well as representatives of the foundations and benefactors who have financed this fine building. The new building, which invites guests to take part in an art adventure fourteen metres below ground level, has been underway for several years on the site of the state-run art museum Ordrupgaard in Charlottenlund just north of Copenhagen. The Norwegian design and architect firm Snøhetta has designed the new extension at Ordrupgaard in collaboration with the consulting engineers COWI and EKJ Rådgivende Ingeniører. Joy Mogensen, Minister for Culture, says: Snøhetta have created a fascinating and beautiful building whose architecture is comparable to top-end international museums. The subterranean gallery spaces are filled with works by artists including Gauguin, Monet, and ... More | |
Matthew Wong, Untitled, 2019. Gouache and watercolor on paper, 30.5 x 22.9 cm; framed: 48.6 x 40.6 cm. © 2019 Matthew Wong Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York. Image courtesy of Karma, New York.
TORONTO.- Heralded by the New York Times as one of the most talented painters of his generation, Toronto-born Chinese Canadian artist Matthew Wong (19842019) lit up the art world during the final two years of his brilliant but short-lived career. In his extraordinarily expressive style, Wong captivated audiences all over the world with his imaginary landscapes and interiors in cerulean, cobalt, navy, indigo, ultramarine, and azure. Marking the first-ever museum show of his work, Matthew Wong: Blue View opened to AGO Members on Aug. 13, 2021, and to Annual Passholders and members of the public on Aug. 17, 2021. Organized with the support of the artists family, Matthew Wong: Blue View is curated by Julian Cox, the AGOs Deputy Director and Chief Curator, and installed in the Phil B. Lind Galleries. Wongs singular talent produced artworks that are deeply personal ... More | |
Christina Forrer, Quick Face (or primeval worry), 2021. Cotton, wool and linen. 18 ¼ in. x 11 ¾ in. © Christina Forrer; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York, and Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago. Photo: Joshua White.
HARTFORD, CONN.- Inspired by classical tapestries depicting historical and mythological subjects, Christina Forrers raucous and vividly colored weavings and drawings animate fantastical, psychologically-charged scenes exploring the conflict that Forrer believes is at the core of all relationships, both among human beings and between humans and nature. A native of Zurich, Forrers works feature spirited creatures and a simplified style rooted in Swiss folklore and regional folk art while relating to the anxieties and nightmares of contemporary life. On view through January 2, 2022, Christina Forrer / MATRIX 187, presents her animated compositions alongside a selection of complementary works from the Wadsworths collection carefully curated by the artist. When Christina learned that the Wadsworth had a collection of costume & textiles, she immediately asked ... More |
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| The Met's Department of Live Arts receives endowment from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation | | P·P·O·W opens an online exhibition of works by Betty Tompkins | | Banksy admits British seaside 'spraycation' |
Dubfire in Sonic Cloisters at The Met Cloisters. Photo by Sasha Bianca.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today an endowment in support of its Department of Live Arts, made possible by a generous grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF). With this gift of $1 million, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Live Arts Endowment will provide funds for the Museums MetLiveArts program in perpetuity, enabling it to continue presenting high-impact productions of opera, music, and dance inspired by the Museums collection, while also engaging with both emerging and acclaimed artists from diverse backgrounds. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) has been a longtime supporter of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Department of Live Arts, and were profoundly grateful for such a truly significant gift, said Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Met. MetLiveArts offers groundbreaking programs that interrogate the Museums encyclopedic collection ... More | |
Betty Tompkins, Women Don't Have Killer Instinct, 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18 ins. 61 x 45.7 cm.
NEW YORK, NY.- P·P·O·W is presenting an online viewing room in conjunction with Betty Tompkins' Raw Material at MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain. On view through September 5, Raw Material is a revelatory survey spanning the formidable figurative painter's career from the 1960s to present. Known for her unabashed portrayals of the female body and sexual desire, Tompkins has been shunned, seized, censored and celebrated in the five decades since she first began her iconic Fuck Paintings series. Since then, she has ceaselessly questioned the rules of representation of women's bodies and what governs them. As critic Géraldine Gourbe writes in her essay for the accompanying exhibition catalogue, "Looking at the Fuck Paintings today offers us a black box, the intangible memory of a process of invisibilization, which was motivated at the time, for diametrically opposed reasons, by conservative moral ... More | |
In one work on the concrete sea-defence wall of a British beach, a rat lounges in a deckchair, sipping a cocktail.
LONDON (AFP).- Banksy, Britain's most famous street artist, on Friday confirmed what many had already suspected -- that he is indeed the author of a number of works that have appeared recently in British seaside towns. An Instagram video clip, just over three minutes long and entitled "A Great British Spraycation", shows the elusive artist taking a summer road trip in a beat-up camper van with cans of spray paint stashed in a cooler. In one work on the concrete sea-defence wall of a British beach, a rat lounges in a deckchair, sipping a cocktail. In another, sticking to the seaside theme, a mechanical claw dangles above a public bench -- as if anyone who sits there is about to be plucked up like a prize in an arcade game. Another shows a giant seagull swooping down to snatch some outsized chips -- French fries to US readers -- from a waste skip or dumpster. A fourth shows three children in a rickety boat. One looks ahead ... More |
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| Why a Hong Kong artist chose 'self-exile' in Taiwan | | Wim Wenders receives special award at Sarajevo film festival | | Velvet, organza and vipers: Stage costumes dazzle |
This photo taken on August 5, 2021 shows Hong Kong artist Kacey Wong posing for photos during an interview at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung, central Taiwan. Sam Yeh / AFP.
by Amber Wang
TAICHUNG (AFP).- As he queued to board a flight out of Hong Kong to Taiwan last month, dissident artist Kacey Wong was painfully aware of the extra immigration officials brought in to scrutinise each departing passenger. Wong, 51, was one of the city's best-known provocateurs, an artist who specialised in satirising and criticising those in power. But as China's crackdown on dissent gathered pace in Hong Kong, he decided he had to leave. But would authorities let him go? Multiple dissidents have been arrested at the airport and Wong wondered if he too was on a watchlist, especially when a group of extra immigration officials arrived as his flight was called. "About 20 steps away from the gate, they spread out as if they were playing American football, and just watched everyone who was ... More | |
Wim Wenders, Joshua and John (behind), Odessa, Texas, 1983, C-Print, 125 x 170 cm, © Wim Wenders. Courtesy Blain | Southern.
SARAJEVO (AFP).- German film-maker Wim Wenders on Friday received a special award at the Sarajevo film festival in recognition of his "extraordinary" contribution to cinema. The veteran director received the Heart of Sarajevo award at the festival's launch ceremony, marking its reopening to the public after being organised online last year. "We are very happy to be able to pay tribute to one of the central figures of world cinematography," said festival director Mirsad Purivatra presenting the award to Wenders. "With his work in the field of visual art, as an extraordinary cinematic auteur... Wim Wenders has always offered the public unforgettable stories and emotions," he added. Wenders returned to Sarajevo a decade after he presented a documentary about German dancer Pina Bausch. He walked the red carpet wearing the same outfit that he wore back then -- a grey shirt with a heart stamped on the front -- a symbol of the festival. ... More | |
The Medusa gown from Heartbeat Operas Dragus Maximus, in New York, Aug. 4, 2021. An Rong Xu/The New York Times.
by Alexis Soloski
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Here is what you cant see from the rear mezzanine of a theater: the flocked velvet, the rubylike rhinestones, the layered fabrics that shape a lush rosette atop each dance pump. This is the Red Death costume from the Masquerade number in The Phantom of the Opera. A carnival of flocked velvet and gold braid, it integrates art and craft, glamour and kitsch, fantasy and hand-sewn reality. Red Death awaits you on the lower level of Showstoppers! Spectacular Costumes From Stage and Screen, a pop-up exhibition to benefit the recently formed Costume Industry Coalition, an alliance of over 50 New York City-based small businesses and independent artisans. On Broadway, even in the best seats, an orchestra pit separates you from the finery. At Showstoppers!, which runs ... More |
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| Helmut Newton Foundation opens an exhibition of over 50 photographs by Stephan Erfurt | | Overlooked no more: Hettie Anderson, sculptors' model who evaded fame | | Beatles signed 'The Beatles Show' program sold for more than $30,000 at auction |
Stephan Erfurt, Las Vegas, 1986. © Stephan Erfurt.
BERLIN.- Parallel to the special exhibition America 1970s/80s featuring works by Evelyn Hofer, Sheila Metzner, Joel Meyerowitz, and Helmut Newton the Helmut Newton Foundation is showing over 50 photographs by Stephan Erfurt, taken in the 1980s between New York and the Californian Pacific coast. Stephan Erfurt. On the Road ties in closely with the main exhibition on the first upper floor of the museum: Erfurt worked as an assistant for Evelyn Hofer, and he later sought advice from Joel Meyerowitz for a photo series that is central to his oeuvre. Erfurts first significant photographs were taken in Vienna in 1980, when he observed dancers at the Opera Ball, as well as somewhat later in Paris, where he shot musicians in the branching corridors of the Metro at night with his medium-format camera. He was so fascinated with the medium of photography that he decided to focus on it during his studies of Communicat ... More | |
Hettie Anderson in the mid-1890s. Norman L. Coe Studio via The New York Times.
by Eve M. Kahn
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Her likeness has been rendered atop monuments and on gold coins. In Augustus Saint-Gaudens towering, gilded equestrian sculpture honoring Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman at Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan, she represents the winged Greek goddess Victory striding in sandals ahead of his horse, one arm outstretched. But although her image can be found in multiple places around the United States, little is known about the model, Hettie Anderson. What is known is that she surfaced in Manhattan in the 1890s, a light-skinned African American who joined its cultural scene after escaping bitter prejudice in the South. Sculptors and painters sought to portray what one newspaper article described as her creamy skin, crisp curling hair ... More | |
One of the nicest signed Beatles show programs in existence.
BOSTON, MASS.- A Beatles signed program sold for $30,250, according to Boston-based RR Auction. 'The Beatles Show' vintage red' program for performances held at the Odeon Cinema in Southport, England, between August 26-31, 1963. The program is also signed inside by four members of Gerry and the Pacemakers: Gerry Marsden, Freddie Marsden, Les Chadwick, and Les Maguire. The program is accompanied by a letter of authenticity from noted Beatles expert Frank Caiazzo, who states: "These signatures were obtained at the time of the engagement in Southport, and are as nice as they could have signed on that daythey are flawless and stunning examples, making this one of the nicest signed Beatles show programs in existence." The Beatles played six consecutive dates in the English seaside town of Southport, playing ... More |
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Collector Spotlight: Hong Kong Designer Alan Chan
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Una Stubbs, veteran actress known for 'Sherlock,' dies at 84
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Una Stubbs, the veteran British actress best known to American audiences for her role as Mrs. Hudson, the landlady to Benedict Cumberbatchs Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series Sherlock, died Thursday at her home in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was 84. Her death was confirmed by her agent, Rebecca Blond. Stubbs was a recognizable face in Britain, where she had appeared in comedic and dramatic roles onstage, on screen and on television for more than half a century, including in the long-running soap opera EastEnders and the sitcom Till Death Us Do Part. American television viewers knew her best as Mrs. Hudson, the motherly landlady to Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock. ... More
Leon Litwack, 91, dies; Changed how scholars portray Black history
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Leon Litwack, a leather-jacket-wearing, blues-loving historian whose pioneering books on slavery and its aftermath demonstrated how Black people thought about and shaped their own liberation, even as they were constrained by racism in American society, died Aug. 5 at his home in Berkeley, California. He was 91. His wife, Rhoda Litwack, said the cause was bladder cancer. Litwack, a son of left-wing immigrants from Russia, brought an ethos of patriotic dissent to both his teaching and his scholarship at the University of California, Berkeley, insisting that the historians job is to give voice to the marginalized and to make the well-off uncomfortable. He sought to teach students, he said in a 2001 interview, to feel the past in ways that may be genuinely disturbing. Beginning in the early 1960s, a time when many ... More
When dance shut down, these directors banded together
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Last summer, Jonathan Stafford, artistic director of New York City Ballet, was feeling isolated and anxious. It was a few months into the pandemic, and the strangeness of lockdown and the turmoil and urgency of the Black Lives Matter protests were on his mind. City Ballets performances, programs and plans had come to an abrupt halt as they had for performing arts organizations across the country. No one knew when or how theaters would open again. Many dancers had fled to family or friends outside the city; most didnt have adequate space to keep up the intense physical training needed to keep in shape for performance. A dance companys artistic director nurtures dancers, conceives and plans seasons and tours, and keeps in close touch with every department from fundraising and marketing to costume making. ... More
Finding a new theater audience, far from France's cities
MAURENS (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The village of Maurens, 300 miles south of Paris, has a population of around 1,000. It has a church; a single bakery; and, since 2013, a summer theater festival, the Théâtre du Roi de Coeur. One recent evening, the scale of the events ambition was obvious. On an open-air wooden stage, a cast of 12 put impressive energy into Fanny, Me and the Others, a four-hour adaptation of a Marcel Pagnol trilogy. Even when a drizzle started, the members of the audience, sitting on chairs and haystacks, opened their umbrellas and stayed put. The Roi de Coeur isnt alone in bringing large-scale theater to rural backyards. It is one of 17 founding members of Frances Federation of Local Festivals and Theaters, which got underway last month at the Avignon Festival. Its members, dotted around the country in areas with few ... More
Sediment, mapping, the Arctic, the deep sea and lockdown drawings in exhibition of work by Mariele Neudecker
TAUNTON.- The Deep Sea, environmental concerns, plastics and lockdown have all inspired works by Mariele Neudecker for her new solo exhibition Sediment at Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset. Sediment brings together three decades of work by celebrated German artist Mariele Neudecker, who works at the crossover of art and science. Exploring topics such as mapping, perception, the invisible, painting and the history of art, her multimedia practice incorporates sculpture, video, painting, photography and sound. Hestercombe has developed a strong programme of contemporary art and is working towards its vision of a cultural centre which brings together creativity with the local environment of formal gardens and nature. Highlights ... More
Nanci Griffith, singer who mixed folk and country, dies at 68
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Nanci Griffith, the Texas-born singer and songwriter known for thoughtful narrative songs like Love at the Five and Dime and Trouble in the Fields, has died. She was 68. Her death was announced by her management company, Gold Mountain Entertainment. The companys statement provided no further information and said only, It was Nancis wish that no further formal statement or press release happen for a week following her passing. Griffith won the 1994 Grammy Award for best contemporary folk album for Other Voices, Other Rooms. Over a recording career that spanned five decades and about 20 albums, she was praised by critics for straddling the worlds of folk and country and for writing lyrics that were both vivid and literary. She began her career on the thriving Austin, Texas, scene of the mid-1970s. ... More
Veritas Editions presents A Trilogy of Masters: Kenro Izu, Paul Caponigro, George Tice
NEW YORK, NY.- Veritas Editions, the premier publishing house specializing in fine press and limited edition books, portfolios and prints, announced the publication this autumn of monographs by three master photographers, Kenro Izu (born 1949, Osaka, Japan), George Tice (born 1938, Newark, NJ), and Paul Caponigro (born 1932, Boston, MA). For Izu, Veritas Editions will produce 3 books: a Photobook, a Limited Edition Photobook, and a Fine Press Edition. For Tice, Veritas Editions will produce 2 books: a Photobook, and a Limited Edition Photobook. For Caponigro, 2 books will be produced: a Fine Press Edition, and a Photobook-style Facsimile of the Fine Press Edition. Formed in 2014 by photographic artist Craig Alan Huber, Veritas Editions describes itself as dedicated to communicating the beauty in truth, and the truth in beauty, via photographic ... More
High-grade comics grab spotlight in first modern age showcase auction
DALLAS, TX.- The next generation of comics, including the largest selection of Signature Series comic books, will be featured in a dedicated auction of their own for the first time in Heritage Auctions Certified Modern Age Comics Showcase Auction Aug. 26. This is a historic event for Modern Age comics, those from 1980 through today, Heritage Auctions Comics Specialist Xavier Chavez said. These will be some of the most important comics to future generations of collectors. This is the first time an event like this is being held at Heritage Auctions, and it has the most Signature Series books certified signed copies witnessed by CGC ever offered. There obviously is lots of value in Golden Age and Silver Age comics, but there is a lot of value to be found in Modern Age, as the next generation gets nostalgic, buying back memories. There are more than 550 ... More
A century's worth of animation art makes history at Heritage Auctions
DALLAS, TX.- Biographer John Canemaker once wrote that Mary Blair's conceptual paintings for such films as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Cinderella were "as delicious as feasting on rainbows." Blair was Walt Disney's favorite artist, and this weekend, she was the favorite, too, of the more than 4,400 bidders who participated in Heritage Auctions' record-setting $4.5-million three-day Animation Art Signature Auction. It was a thrilling three days as hundreds of works throughout the century-spanning event shattered their estimates, with record prices realized from every single major animation studio: Disney, Warner Brothers, Hanna-Barbera, Fleischer Studios, MGM and Melendez Films. The auction had a record turnout and was a near sell-out, with more than 1,700 production cels, conceptual paintings, drawings, sketches and even statues finding ... More
Preston Evans to offer the lifetime collection of Kim Hammergren
MACON, GA.- Just like the news of Mark Twains death, reports of Preston Evanss retirement have been greatly exaggerated. The longtime auctioneer will find himself conducting yet another major two-day auction event, in Macon, on back-to-back days and at a different venue each day, on Labor Day weekend, September 3-4. The sale will liquidate the estate of Kim Hammergren. The past eighteen months have been difficult in so many ways, and my heart goes out to all who have been severely affected by the pandemic, Mr. Evans said from his home in Macon. One loss that was especially difficult for me was the loss of my longtime friend, Kim Hammergren. Im honored to have been asked by his wife Peggy and his children to liquidate his collections. Mr. Evans said a huge overflow of items, especially jukebox parts and accessories, will be sold in Auction ... More
Cape Ann landscape inspires Learning to Swim exhibit at Cape Ann Museum Green
GLOUCESTER, MASS.- Cape Ann has many places to learn to swim -- beaches, harbors, quarries, ponds, and swimming pools. Generations of people on Cape Ann have swum in these waters and generations of artists have depicted them. As summer in New England continues, the iconic pastime is getting an interactive celebration through the lens of painters and photographers. Learning to Swim is an exhibition that pairs an interactive map where locals can share their memories of learning to swim with artwork and archival photographs from the Museums collection that depicts these popular swimming spots. Opening at the Cape Ann Museum Greens Janet & William Ellery James Center on August 14, the exhibit will run through September 12. Paintings by Joy Halsted, Elaine Wing, Norma Cuneo, Jessica Tam, Bernard Chaet, Jeff Weaver, and Dorothy ... More
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PhotoGalleries
French Impressionism from MFA
Aston Hall
Yukinori Yanagi
The Interior
Flashback On a day like today, French photographer Willy Ronis was born August 14, 1910. Willy Ronis (August 14, 1910 - September 12, 2009) was a French photographer. His best-known work shows life in post-war Paris and Provence. Ronis' nudes and fashion work (for Vogue and Le Jardin des modes) show his appreciation for natural beauty; meanwhile, he remained a principled news photographer, resigning from Rapho for a 25-year period when he objected to the hostile captioning by The New York Times to his photograph of a strike. In this image: Willy Ronis, Ãle Saint-Denis, nord de Paris, 1956. Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication / Médiathèque de lâarchitecture et du patrimoine / Dist RMN-GP ©: Donation Willy Ronis.
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