| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Saturday, March 27, 2021 |
| | | Louvre puts entire collection online | |
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The empty Galerie dApollon at the Louvre in Paris on Jan. 8, 2021. Dmitry Kostyukov/The New York Times.
PARIS (AFP).- The Louvre museum in Paris said Friday it has put nearly half a million items from its collection online for the public to visit free of charge. As part of a major revamp of its online presence, the world's most-visited museum has created a new database of 482,000 items at collections.louvre.fr with more than three-quarters already labelled with information and pictures. It comes after a year of pandemic-related shutdowns that has seen an explosion in visits to its main website, louvre.fr, which has also been given a major makeover. "It's a step that has been in preparation for several years with the aim of serving the general public as well as researchers. Accessibility is at the heart of our mission," said president-director Jean-Luc Martinez. The new database includes not only items on public display in the museum but also those in storage, including at its new state-of-the-art facility at Lievin in northern France. The platform also includes the Delacroix museum, which is run by ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, along with Alexander Gray Associates, New York and gb agency, Paris, announced the third European iteration of Hassan Sharif: I Am The Single Work Artist at The Musée dâArt Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Ãtienne Métropole in France. © MAMC+ / Aurélien Mole.
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| How do you stage a global art show now? In South Korea, curators press on. | | Crypto-art craze reaches China at 'NFT' exhibition | | Leon Black to step down as MoMA Chairman |
The exhibition brings together key figures from the contemporary cultural community in South Korea as well as visual artists who have featured prominently in its past, in order to draw upon the historic and existing artistic milieu.
by Andrew Russeth
GWANGJU (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- One warm February morning, curator Defne Ayas bounded up a steep, sylvan path toward a cemetery in this city of 1.5 million as she discussed shamanic practices, resistance movements and other aspects of the areas history that are themes in the art exhibition she was finalizing nearby. Its been a long journey, Ayas said as she caught her breath. Factoring in coronavirus-induced postponements, she and her co-artistic director, Natasha Ginwala, have been developing their edition of the Gwangju Biennale for more than two years. Originally scheduled to open last September, and then in February, Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning is now on tap for April 1. The most closely watched art biennial in Asia, the exhibition has been integral to South Koreas efforts to boost its contemporary art scene. Next week, its curators will be ... More | |
Works curated by Chinese organisers Block Create Art run the gamut from computer-generated videos of metallic Buddhas to a virtual reality maze and folk art-inspired paintings NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP.
by Jing Xuan Teng
BEIJING (AFP).- Bitcoin-inspired paintings and nightmarish faces conjured up by artificial intelligence, the global craze for "NFTs" -- virtual authenticity certificates -- swept into Beijing on Friday as curators opened one of the world's first exhibitions dedicated to blockchain art. The show includes digital paintings by American artist Beeple, who sold a collage at Christie's for a record $69.3 million earlier this month. A coin-shaped canvas by UK-based Robert Alice, covered in painted fragments of Bitcoin's source code, hangs in a secluded room accompanied by a TV screen showing its digital twin. Works curated by Chinese organisers Block Create Art run the gamut from computer-generated videos of metallic Buddhas to a virtual reality maze and folk art-inspired paintings. A collection of old TV monitors play animated images including a rainbow-hued portrait by American teen artist FEWOCiOUS, while a GIF of an ... More | |
Leon Black, chairman and chief executive of Apollo Global Management, at a benefit gala for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on Dec. 8, 2016. Rebecca Smeyne/The New York Times.
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- In the face of mounting pressure from prominent artists and activists about his financial ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, investor Leon Black told colleagues Friday that he would not stand for reelection as the chairman of the Museum of Modern Art, according to two people with knowledge of his decision. Black announced his decision to the boards executive committee at a specially convened remote meeting on Friday afternoon, according to someone with knowledge of the meeting who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about it. He planned to inform the full board of his intentions when it meets next week. The news that Black did not plan to run for reelection as the museums chairman in June was the latest fallout from the revelation earlier this year that he had paid $158 million to Epstein for tax and estate advisory services payments that began several years after Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostituti ... More |
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| NFTs are neither miracles nor scams | | Historic 1822 Half Eagle sold for $8.4 million in the Stack's Bowers Galleries March 2021 auction | | Lévy Gorvy opens an exhibition featuring a selection of masterpieces depicting the four seasons |
As with other emerging technologies, there is a good idea in there somewhere with NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, if we slow down and resist the hype. Ben Denzer/The New York Times.
by Shira Ovide
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- On Thursday, my colleague Kevin Roose sold a crypto token of a newspaper column for more than a half-million dollars. (For charity!) Someone paid $69 million for a digital file of a collage that anyone can view online. This is part of the mania of the moment in nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, and they are an example of people rushing to judgment about basically anything new and novel. I have some straight talk: The proliferation of NFTs will probably not be the world-changing revolution that its proponents claim. And its probably not an entirely absurd bubble, either. As with other emerging technologies, there is a good idea in there somewhere if we slow down and resist the hype. Allow me to explain to normal humans whats happening: NFTs are ... More | |
The 1822 half eagle is a legendary American treasure and represents the lynchpin to a complete set of U.S. coinage.
COSTA MESA, CA.- The finest known 1822 half eagle sold for $8.4 million in the Stacks Bowers Galleries March 2021 Las Vegas Auction, setting a new world record in the process. Graded AU-50 by PCGS, this historic $5 coin from the D. Brent Pogue Collection was offered March 25 in the firms Rarities Night session. It is now the most valuable U.S. Mint gold coin that has ever sold at auction, and has surpassed even the highest prices paid for a 1913 Liberty nickel, 1804 silver dollar, or 1933 double eagle. The 1822 half eagle is a legendary American treasure and represents the lynchpin to a complete set of U.S. coinage. There are only three known specimens, two of which are permanently impounded in the National Numismatic Collection in the Smithsonian Institution. The Pogue-Eliasberg specimen sold by Stacks Bowers Galleries is the only example in private hands and represents a unique opportunity ... More | |
Claude Monet, Panier de pommes, 1885.
HONG KONG.- Lévy Gorvy is presenting Eternal Seasons, at the gallerys space in Hong Kong. Spanning more than a century from Impressionism to present, the exhibition features a selection of masterpieces depicting the four seasons, capturing the cyclical nature of life and offering insight into how artists perceive and depict the ever-changing landscape. Shown as two consecutive presentations, Eternal Seasons first highlights works by Marc Chagall, Raoul Dufy, Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet, Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, Odilon Redon, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Le Sidaner, and Vincent van Gogh, many of which are being shown for the first time in Asia. Vincent van Goghs 1886 View of a Park in Paris was painted during the artists pivotal two-year sojourn in Paris. There, Van Gogh encountered avant-garde art and met core members of the Parisian Impressionist circle, which prompted him to reflect on the style he had previously develop ... More |
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| New tech brings world famous Antarctic fruitcake to life | | Exhibition focuses on Karl Benjamin's intensive exploration of color relationships through compositional structure | | Design Museum Gent opens the new exhibition 'Home Stories. 100 Years, 20 Visionary Interiors' |
Fruit cake tin following conservation treatment. Photo: Johannes van Kan.
CHRISTCHURCH.- A 110 year old fruitcake that was found almost perfectly preserved in Antarcticas first huts is among several historic artefacts that have been brought to life in 3D. New Zealands Antarctic Heritage Trust has launched a world-class augmented reality app, which brings six artefacts from Carsten Borchgrevinks huts to life. The other artefacts include a bone toothbrush, a leather boot and a tin of marmalade (which explorers sometimes ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner). Hundreds of digital scans (like photos) were taken of each artefact and then turned into augmented reality a 3D image using a process called photogrammetry. The Trusts General Manager Operations and Communications Francesca Eathorne expects therell be enormous interest in the app given news of the fruitcakes discovery in 2017 went all around the world. Thousands of articles in more than 90 countries were written about ... More | |
Karl Benjamin, #3, 1969, 1969 (detail). Oil on canvas, 50 1/4 x 50 1/4 inches.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Brian Gross Fine Art is presenting Karl Benjamin: Selected Paintings 1967-1978. A major Southern California painter and one of the original Hard-edge abstract painters, the exhibition focuses on Benjamins intensive exploration of color relationships through compositional structure. The exhibition will be on view through May 8, 2021. An intuitive painter, Karl Benjamin (1925-2012) was deeply interested in the expressive possibilities created by combining and shaping color. In works such as #14 and #17 (both 1977) Benjamin employed fuchsias, blues, greens, and reds as narrow stripes of contrasting colors that vibrate with intensity. In #3 (1969) Benjamin divided the canvas into irregular polygons, their broad areas of red, orange, yellow and blue interlocking to form a composition without end. Works like #1 (1970) are visually charged, gridded arrangements of right triangles, whose complex ... More | |
Home Stories detail © Design Museum Gent. Photo Anthony De Meyere.
GHENT.- Our homes are an expression of the way we live, they shape our everyday routines and fundamentally affect our well-being. This has been proven to be true more than ever in the last year. Our home has become a place of refuge somewhat against our will for some. Ambitious aesthetics contrast with practical considerations. How can we reconcile working and living? How can schoolchildren study at home? How can we ensure privacy when space is limited? A new debate about the private interior, its history and its future perspectives is urgent. With Home Stories. 100 Years, 20 Visionary Interiors the museum aims to do just that. In a captivating narrative leading visitors backwards in time, the exhibition will highlight important societal, political, urban and technical shifts that have shaped the design and the use of the Western interior over the last 100 years. From current issues facing the domestic domain such as the efficient ... More |
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| Kunstmuseum Luzern reopens with an exhibition of new works by Micha Zweifel | | New book offers a fascinating and long-overdue visual history of Japanese Buddhist art | | Larry McMurtry, novelist of the American West, dies at 84 |
Ohne Titel, 2020, Tombakguss, Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Marc Latzel.
LUCERNE.- The point of departure for Micha Zweifels (*1987) work is the heterogeneity of the world, the simultaneity of different perceptions. The artist is interested in how the world is shaped. How architecture, logos, ads, workplaces and the many inconspicuous little things we encounter but often do not perceive consciously, impact our bodies and our psyche? For the exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Luzern, Micha Zweifel created a series of new plaster reliefs and a sculpture, among other things, during a sojourn this summer at the Sitterwerk art foundry in St. Gallen. He combines his works within a spatial setting that engages with the theme of the cul de sac (dead end) and other experiences of space. Emptiness meets density, darkness meets light, windows enable views, a door leads nowhere, and anyone who climbs the stairs finds himself in a room that may even recall a restaurant. Zur Sackgasse 4. Stock (Cul ... More | |
Senju Kannon with Zenshin Protectors Edo Period (16151868)Wood, gold, colors, lacquer, wires, metal fastenings H: 2 x W: 1½ x D: ¾ in.(5 x 4 x 2 cm) Purchase 1909 George T. Rockwell Collection 9.884.
LEWES.- This richly-illustrated text offers a concise introduction to diverse Japanese Buddhist practices and the central role of art within them. It showcases magnificent and rare works of Japanese artornate and gold leafed paintings, textiles, ceramics, and sculpturesfrom The Newark Museum of Arts collection that reflect Mahayana and Mantrayana Buddhist practices. The volume is organized in seven sections that emphasize the functionality of the art through windows of practice embraced throughout all periods of Japanese Buddhist history. The Buddha, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas chapter introduces central divine figures prominent in Mahayana Buddhist art. The Life and Death section illustrates Japanese Buddhist promises of paradises and punishments of hells. The Health and Wealth portion features both peaceful ... More | |
Larry McMurtry speaks during the start of a two-day book auction, held as he downsized his bookstore, in Archer City, Texas, Aug. 10, 2012. Brandon Thibodeaux/The New York Times.
by Dwight Garner
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Larry McMurtry, a prolific novelist and screenwriter who demythologized the American West with his unromantic depictions of life on the 19th-century frontier and in contemporary small-town Texas, died Thursday. He was 84. The death was confirmed by Amanda Lundberg, a spokesperson for the family. She did not specify a cause or say where he died. Over more than five decades, McMurtry wrote more than 30 novels and many books of essays, memoir and history. He also wrote more than 30 screenplays, including the one for Brokeback Mountain (written with his longtime collaborator Diana Ossana, based on a short story by Annie Proulx), for which he won an Academy Award in 2006. But ... More |
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How an Alpine Train Journey Propelled Chu Teh-Chun to New Heights
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France submits the baguette for UNESCO heritage status
PARIS (AFP).- France has chosen the baguette as its candidate for UNESCO intangible cultural heritage status, the government said Friday, seeking recognition for that most quintessential of French symbols. While berets and strings of garlic around the neck might be more stereotype than reality these days, long loaves of bread are still seen tucked under arms all over France on a daily basis. According to data site Planetoscope, some 10 billion baguettes are consumed every year in France -- some 320 every second. When France was in its strictest lockdown for the pandemic last spring, it made sure to keep bakeries open as an essential business. So perhaps the only surprise is how long it has taken for the culture ministry to submit the baguette for consideration to UNESCO, which will pronounce its decision in late 2022. In a statement as dry as ... More
Patricia Fleming Gallery opens Christian Newby's 'The drum, the chime, the scrape, the splash, the jerk'
GLASGOW.- Patricia Fleming Gallery announced representation of London based artist Christian Newby and this Spring the gallery presents The drum, the chime, the scrape, the splash, the jerk, the first exhibition with the artist (originally scheduled for 2020). The exhibition includes a new large-scale work as well as work produced by Newby whilst on residency at the Academy of Visual Arts, HKBU, Hong Kong in Autumn 2019. The exhibition takes place across physical and digital platforms and coincides with a major solo exhibition at Collective, Edinburgh opening in May 2021. Newby incorporates techniques from industrial textile production into a drawing practice that aims to subvert the assumptions pertaining to value and skill within fine and applied arts practice. His work challenges the design principles and craft rhetoric commonly associated ... More
Roger Peckinpaugh Collection, including his NY Yankee uniform, sold for $167,548 at auction
BOSTON, MASS.- The collection of early Yankees captain and one-time American League MVP Roger Peckinpaugh sold for a combined total of $167,548, according to Boston-Based RR Auction. Peckinpaugh is often cited as one of the best players to not be enshrined in Cooperstown. Though chiefly remembered for his strong throwing arm and rangy play in the middle of the infield, he was also capable at the plate, collecting 1,876 career hits. Traded from Cleveland to the New York Yankees in 1913, he quickly established himself as a leader in the clubhouse and was named captain by manager Frank Chance the next year. In 1914at the age of 23he became the youngest manager in the history of baseball, helming the Bronx Bombers for the last three weeks of the season after Chance's resignation. He served as a mentor to budding superstar ... More
Outstanding Victoria Cross awarded to soldier to be offered at Dix Noonan Webb
LONDON.- The outstanding Great War 1918 Final Advance to Victory V.C. group of five awarded to 21-year-old Lancashire Lad Private James Towers, 2nd Battalion, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) who, with utter disregard for his own safety, volunteered to carry a vital message, under continuous heavy fire, to a stranded platoon at Mericourt in October 1918 whilst in the knowledge that five of his comrades had already been in killed in turn making their attempts to carry out the same task - will be offered by Dix Noonan Webb in their live/ online auction of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria on Wednesday, April 14, 2021 on their website www.dnw.co.uk. It is expected to fetch £140,000-180,000. Setting out under heavy enfilading machine-gun fire amid scant cover, Towers moved between shell craters and crawled through barbed wire entanglements, ... More
After The Australian Ugliness: New book on Australian architecture reflects on nation's 'ugly' past
MELBOURNE.- Co-published by the National Gallery of Victoria and Thames & Hudson Australia, After The Australian Ugliness responds to Australian architect Robin Boyds seminal text, The Australian Ugliness, with new critical and creative writing by authors from a range of disciplines, including architectural historian Philip Goad, author and journalist Benjamin Law, artist Eugenia Lim, designer and founder of the National Aboriginal Design Agency Alison Page, and writer and founder of the Planthunter blog and Wonderground journal Georgina Reid. Boyds The Australian Ugliness was published in 1960 and is venerated as a key work of architectural and cultural critique in the nations canon. In this hugely influential volume, Boyd surveyed Australias architectural landscape, but also the negative forces he saw shaping the countrys society ... More
Edmund de Waal's work installed in Canterbury Cathedral for Passover and Holy Week
CANTERBURY.- One of Edmund de Waals most celebrated works, sukkah, which he originally created for the Canton Scuola synagogue in the Jewish Ghetto in Venice as part of psalm, will be installed in Canterbury Cathedral for Passover and Holy Week. The work will be located in St Gabriels Chapel, in the Crypt of the Cathedral, a chapel famed for its striking early 12th century frescoes and Romanesque carvings of animals playing musical instruments. Edmund de Waal said: It is a great privilege to bring this work to a place that I have known and loved since childhood. Sukkah will have moved from the highest space of the Venetian Jewish Ghetto to deep within the oldest parts of Canterbury Cathedral. Both these spaces contain imagery of celebration and it feels appropriate to be announcing this on the eve of the two great festivals ... More
Ira Wagner named Executive Director of Montclair Art Museum
MONTCLAIR, NJ.- Montclair Art Museum announced that Ira Wagner has been appointed the Museums Executive Director. He serves as the 10th Director since the Museums founding in 1914. Upon long-time Director Lora Urbanellis retirement last spring, Wagner stepped in as Interim Director pending the arrival of a successor. When the pandemic forced the Museum to shutter operations in March 2020 and suspend its director searchWagner, along with staff and trusteesguided the Museum through unprecedented challenges. MAM successfully preserved its human, physical and financial resources; pivoted the Museum to virtual operations; and launched both digital and programmatic transformations of curatorial, education and visitor services. While most public venues in New York and New Jersey remained in lockdown, MAM reopened ... More
National Book Critics Circle names 2020 award winners
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Hamnet, a novel by Maggie OFarrell that imagines the death of Shakespeares 11-year-old son during the bubonic plague, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction on Thursday. Founded in 1974, the National Book Critics Circle is made up of more than 600 literary critics and book review editors in the United States. The organizations annual awards, which it typically gives out in the spring to works published the previous year, are unusual in that book critics, rather than authors or academics, select the winners. The awards are open to any book published in English in the United States. OFarrell, the author of eight other books, became obsessed with the story of Shakespeares son, Hamnet, when she was at Cambridge University studying English. In her novel, she brought him so vividly ... More
Can you autograph a playbill through your screen?
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- When Alex Brightman was 8 his parents took him to see The Whos Tommy on Broadway. He still remembers every minute of the show and every minute of what happened just after: At the stage door, the musicals star, Michael Cerveris, knelt down, shook his hand and thanked him for coming. Brightman went on to become a Broadway star himself, leading musicals like Beetlejuice and School of Rock. Situated on the other side of the stage door, he rarely missed a chance to interact with fans. It is our opportunity to thank people for spending exorbitant amounts of money that they could be using on food, mortgages and car payments on entertainment, he said. Last March, with the novel coronavirus already circulating in New York, stage doors closed. Perks that Brightman was glad to offer ... More
Olympia Auctions partners with institutions for fundraising initiative
LONDON.- Olympia Auctions will be working on an initiative in conjunction with these distinguished institutions, to raise funds following the damaging impact of the pandemic. Whether musical, historical, architectural or decorative arts, each charitable organisation is of personal interest to Olympia Auctions. As 2020 progressed it became clear that there was an urgent need for fundraising resulting in this novel enterprise, where a percentage of the commission from the sale of lots will be donated by Olympia Auctions to the charities. Vendors are encouraged to donate additionally from the proceeds. The campaign is planned to run for the forthcoming three auctions in April, May and June 2021 which include Pictures, Works of Art, Ceramics, Silver, Jewellery, Arms, Armour and Militaria. Directors Thomas Del Mar and Matthew Barton believe ... More
Exhibition explores human relationships between buildings, landscape and wellbeing
WAKEFIELD.- Artist, designer and maker Alison Milner refers to herself as a Decorative Minimalist being inspired by the geometry of nature and by a simple, minimal use of materials. The relationship between nature and the man-made is a key theme in Milners work and many of her artworks illustrate landscapes, architecture, nature and wildlife. Yorkshire Sculpture Park and its 500 acres of historic landscape have heavily influenced Milners latest exhibition, opening on 27 March in the YSP Centre. The exhibition explores our relationships between nature and the built environment through her creative use of imagery and materials. Decorative Minimalist features a large-scale, illustrated tile mural entitled Walk in the Park. Designed exclusively for YSP, the mural consists of 160 ceramic tiles that capture the everyday life and soul of Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Yorkshires ... More
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PhotoGalleries
Mental Escapology, St. Moritz
TIM VAN LAERE GALLERY
Madelynn Green
Patrick Angus
Flashback On a day like today, painter and photographer Edward Steichen was born March 27, 1879. Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 - March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator. Steichen was the most frequently featured photographer in Alfred Stieglitz' groundbreaking magazine Camera Work during its run from 1903 to 1917. Together Stieglitz and Steichen opened the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, which eventually became known as 291 after its address. In this image: Edward Steichen, White, 1935, Gelatin Silver Print. Courtesy Condé Nast Archive, New York. © 1935 Condé Nast Publications.
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