| The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Tuesday, September 4, 2018 |
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| | Raging fire tears through Rio de Janeiro's treasured National Museum | |
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Policemen watch as a massive fire engulfs the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, one of Brazil's oldest, on September 2, 2018. The cause of the fire was not yet known, according to local media. Carl DE SOUZA / AFP.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP).- A massive fire ripped through Rio de Janeiro's treasured National Museum, one of Brazil's oldest, in what the nation's president says is a "tragic" loss of knowledge and heritage. Even before the embers had begun to cool early Monday, grief over the huge cultural loss had given way to anger at across-the-board budget cuts threatening Brazil's multi-cultural heritage. The museum's destruction caused a social media outcry and students and researchers gathered to demonstrate outside its still-smoldering remains. "It's not enough just to cry, it is necessary that the federal government, which has resources, helps the museum to reconstruct its history," the museum's director Alexandre Keller said in front of the devastated building. The fire, the cause of which remains unknown, broke out late Sunday at around 2230 GMT. ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day A firefighter stands at the entrance of Rio de Janeiro's treasured National Museum, one of Brazil's oldest, on September 3, 2018 a day after a massive fire ripped through the building. The majestic edifice stood engulfed in flames as plumes of smoke shot into the night sky, while firefighters battled to control the blaze that erupted around 2230 GMT. Five hours later they had managed to smother much of the inferno that had torn through hundreds of rooms, but were still working to extinguish it completely, according to an AFP photographer at the scene. Carl DE SOUZA / AFP
| Egypt unearths one of oldest Nile Delta villages | | Brazil's first human, a 'priceless' loss from Rio's museum fire | | Exhibition explores the UK premiere of Jackson Pollock's work at the Whitechapel Gallery 60 years ago | 
Similar structures dating to the period between 4,200 BC and 2,900 BC "have never been found in that region," said Ayman Ashmawy, the ministry's antiquities chief.
CAIRO (AFP).- One of the oldest villages in the Nile Delta has been discovered after archaeologists unearthed artefacts dating to the fifth millenium BC, Egypt's antiquities ministry has said. Remains of the village were uncovered by a French-Egyptian team at Tel Samara, in northeastern Egypt, the ministry said Sunday. Similar structures dating to the period between 4,200 BC and 2,900 BC "have never been found in that region," said Ayman Ashmawy, the ministry's antiquities chief. The only similar discovery has been the village of Sais, in the Gharbia governorate north of Cairo, Ashmawi added. Excavations of Tel Samara, in the Dakahlia governorate northeast of the capital, uncovered a number of silos containing numerous animal bones and vegetable residue. Archaeologists, who had been working at the site since ... More | | 
File photo taken on September 20, 1999 of a reconstruction of the head of "Luzia", "the first Brazilian woman", during its presentation at the National Museum of History in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ANTONIO SCORZA / AFP.
RIO DE JANEIRO.- Brazil on Monday mourned the loss of the "first Brazilian," Luzia, after the 12,000-year-old fossil was destroyed in a raging fire that ripped through Rio de Janeiro's treasured National Museum. The jewel in the crown of the museum's collection of 20 million valuable pieces, Luzia was the first human fossil found in Brazil, in the southwestern Minas Gerais state in 1970. "Luzia is a priceless loss for everyone interested in civilization," Paulo Knauss, director at Brazil's national history museum, told AFP. Using her skull, researchers at Britain's University of Manchester had managed to produce a digital image of her face, which was used as the base for a sculpture displayed in the museum that went up in smoke on Sunday night. "Luzia ... More | | 
Jackson Pollock (1912 1956), Installation view of Jackson Pollock exhibition, 1958. Installation view © Whitechapel Gallery.
LONDON.- Jackson Pollocks (1912 1956) monumental masterpiece Summertime 9A is the centerpiece of this exhibition exploring the UK premiere of the revolutionary painters work, held at the Whitechapel Gallery 60 years ago. Displaying Pollocks works within a radical exhibition layout, the first UK display of the American Abstract Expressionist provoked bewilderment and excitement. Staging Jackson Pollock presents Pollocks 5-meter-wide drip painting, returning to the Whitechapel Gallery after six decades, alongside rare archival material. A new exclusive audio interview with British modernist architect Trevor Dannatt (b. 1920, UK), the original shows designer, provides fresh perspective on this seminal moment in the history of exhibition-making and Pollocks legacy. Trevor Dannat was invited to design a new environment for Pollocks works by the Whitechapel Gallerys ... More |
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| Van Gogh was murdered claims new film at Venice | | Velazquez's ladies in waiting spruce up struggling Spanish town | | UAE postpones Da Vinci unveiling at Louvre Abu Dhabi | 
Actor Willem Dafoe arrives for the premiere of the film "At Eternity's Gate" presented in competition on September 3, 2018 during the 75th Venice Film Festival at Venice Lido. Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP.
VENICE (AFP).- A new film about the artist Vincent Van Gogh claims that he was murdered rather than having shot himself. "At Eternity's Gate" starring Willem Dafoe as the tortured genius, was premiered Monday at the Venice film festival. In it the painter is shot after a struggle with local youths near the village of Auvers-sur-Oise outside Paris, where the artist spent his final months in 1890. He died 36 hours later after staggering back to the local inn in the dark. While most historians agree that Van Gogh killed himself, renowned painter and Oscar-nominated director Julian Schnabel fuels a theory that he was killed in the film. Legendary French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere -- who co-wrote the script with Schnabel -- told AFP there "is absolutely no proof he killed himself. Do I believe that Van Gogh killed himself? Absolutely not!" "He came back to the auberge with a bullet i ... More | | 
This picture shows a mural painting inspired by Velazquez' masterpiece "Las Meninas" in Ferrol. MIGUEL RIOPA / AFP.
FERROL (AFP).- In 2008, sick of watching his derelict neighbourhood dying a slow death, Spanish artist Eduardo Hermida walked out of his studio and painted a mural inspired by Diego Velazquez's masterpiece "Las Meninas". It was a spontaneous protest begging authorities to do something in Canido in the industrial northwestern town of Ferrol, dubbed Spain's Detroit for its shrinking population and abandoned homes. His friends joined in. As the years passed, so did other artists from as far afield as Taiwan and before he knew it, Hermida had created an annual urban art festival that has helped breathe life into the neighbourhood, attracting visitors and new residents. In April, a mural sporting the alleged signature of legendary street artist Banksy appeared overnight, generating breathless excitement. Was this the famously anonymous graffiti star's first foray into Spain, coming to the rescue of the struggling Galician town? ... More | | 
Christie's employees take bids for Leonardo da Vincis "Salvator Mundi" at Christie's New York November 15, 2017. TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP.
DUBAI (AFP).- The UAE said Monday it had postponed the unveiling of the Louvre Abu Dhabi's most prized acquisition -- a painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, bought for a record $450 million. The painting, which was bought last year, had been due to be unveiled on September 18. But Abu Dhabi's culture and tourism department on Monday announced "the postponement of the unveiling of Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi" in a tweet.
"More details will be announced soon," it said. The "Salvator Mundi", a portrait of Jesus Christ painted in 1500, was the only one of the fewer than 20 paintings believed to be the work of the famed Renaissance Old Master still in private hands when it went under the hammer, and sold, at Christie's in November. The painting was declared authentic six years ago, after long being dismissed as a copy by one of Da Vinci's students. The Louvre Abu Dhabi has kept tight-lipped over the identity ... More |
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| The Ashmolean's autumn exhibition explores the history of a fascinating cultural phenomenon: Magic | | India's billion-dollar battle to build the world's biggest statue | | Exhibition at Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg engages Chinese ink traditions | 
Anonymous English artist A Boy with Coral c. 1670 Oil on canvas, 13.7 x 12.7 cm © Norfolk Museums Services, Strangers Hall.
OXFORD.- The Ashmoleans autumn exhibition explores the history of a fascinating cultural phenomenon magic. SPELLBOUND displays 180 objects from 12th-century Europe to newly commissioned contemporary artworks. They range from the beautiful and mysterious (crystal balls, books of spells), the bizarre and macabre (a unicorns horn, a human heart encased in lead), to the profoundly touching (the testimony of women accused of witchcraft, the lovers padlocks cut from Leeds Centenary Bridge). The exhibition explores the inner lives of our ancestors, offering an insight into how people in the past actually felt and what they did to cope with the world they lived in. Looking at human hopes, fears and passions and asking visitors questions about their own beliefs and rituals, the exhibition aims to show how, even in this sceptical age, we still use magical thinking and why we might need a bit of magic in our lives. SPELLB ... More | | 
This file photo taken on August 25, 2018 shows the under-construction "Statue Of Unity", a monument dedicated to Indian independence leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Sam PANTHAKY / AFP.
SARDAR SAROVAR DAM.- The world's biggest statue is rising in a remote corner of India to honour an independence hero but it could quickly be outdone by a monument to a Hindu warrior king in the sea off Mumbai. In a burst of nationalist fervour, around one billion dollars is being spent on the two giant effigies, each more than twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty. A 182-metre-high (600-foot-high) tribute to independence icon Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat state will be the first to dwarf the Spring Temple Buddha in China, currently the world's biggest statue at 128 metres (420 feet) in height. Pick-axes are also swinging for a 212-metre-high likeness of 17th-century king Chhatrapati Shivaji, resplendent on a horse and brandishing a sword, which should dominate the Mumbai shoreline from 2021. An army of 2,500 workers -- including several hundred Chinese ... More | | 
Exhibition View, Shan Fan (*1959), Filling Emptiness 280 Hours, 2007, Hanging scroll, mixed media on silk, © Shan Fan, photo: Michaela Hille.
HAMBURG.- As part of CHINA TIME Hamburg, the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg has invited artists to engage with Chinese ink traditions such as ink painting, book printing, and stone rubbing, as well as with MKGs own East Asia Collection. As a result, the exhibition Inky Bytes. Traces of Ink in the Digital Era shows works by the Print the Landscape Public Art Project and the artists Shan Fan, Dagmar Rauwald, Liu Ding, Yang Yongliang and Zhou Fei, who illuminate various aspects of digitalization and urbanization, two key themes of this years CHINA TIME Hamburg (123 September 2018). Todays digital media and technologies are putting traditional image-making techniques to the test, sparking an intense exploration of the traditional arts. More than half of the contemporary works presented were created exclusively for the show at MKG. They reflect the diversity of ways in which artists are treating the traditional use ... More |
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| Exhibition features Book of Hours from the 13th to the 16th century in Quebec collections | | Miller & Miller to hold gentleman's collectibles auction | | Flowers Gallery appoints new Gallery Director Jennifer Francis to lead global operations | 
Master of the Ãchevinage of Rouen, Monk (Hermit) Praying for the Dead Man and Struggle for his Soul Between Saint Michael and the Devil, about 1470, Rouen, miniature taken from a manuscript breviary in Latin for the use of Rouen (?) or of Rome (?). Montreal, McGill University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections, purchased by Gerhard R. Lomer, librar-ian at McGill University, at the request of R. Cleveland Morgan, 1927. Photo Gregory Houston.
MONTREAL.- The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is presenting, for the first time, remarkable Books of Hours conserved in seven Quebec collections. The result of extensive research, the exhibition Resplendent Illuminations is a unique opportunity to admire some fifty works primarily from illuminated manuscripts in this priceless legacy of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Europe. Books of Hours were works of private devotion that first appeared in the thirteenth century. They were the most popular prayer books made for the laity and were used as primers for learning to read. Often given as wedding gifts, they were bestsellers until the sixteenth century. Over time, they evolved in a variety ... More | | 
Bright and colorful Super-Shell Wayne 60-inch Art Deco clock face gas pump (U.S., circa 1930s, a pump thats had an exceptional restoration throughout (est. CA$8,000-$12,000).
NEW HAMBURG, ON.- OK, all you manly men out there, listen up: Now that youve decided to convert that garage or basement into your own personal hideaway, be aware theres an auction that could be a one-stop shop for everything you need to fill it up in style. Its Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd.s September 15th Mantiques! Gentlemans Collectibles auction. The Saturday event, to be held online and in Miller & Millers gallery at 59 Webster Street in New Hamburg, Ontario, is bursting with 529 lots of vintage advertising and signs, petroliana (gas station collectibles), breweriana, firearms and knives, coin-ops, arcade games, vending machines, militaria, barristers office furniture and vintage cars, motorbikes and outboards. We used coolness as a qualifying factor for this high-end gentlemans collectibles auction, said Ethan Miller of Miller and Miller Auctions, Ltd. We set out by thinking of what ... More | | 
Francis joins Flowers Gallery following her recent tenure as Director of Marketing, Communications and Visitor Services at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
NEW YORK, NY.- Flowers Gallery announces that Jennifer Francis has been appointed Gallery Director to lead its global operations. Francis takes on the new role today, Monday 3 September 2018, and will be based in London, working from the gallerys Shoreditch and Mayfair locations. Francis joins Flowers Gallery following her recent tenure as Director of Marketing, Communications and Visitor Services at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, where she was responsible for the successful launch of the museum, and previous role as Executive Director of Marketing and Communications at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Matthew Flowers, Managing Director says: Jennifer brings a wealth of experience from across the artworld and is very well respected for her contributions to some of the worlds most important cultural institutions in three continents. Her expertise in branding and strategic development will be invaluable as Flowers Gallery continues to ... More |
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From Galleries to Storage (and Back): The Cycle of Islamic Carpet Rotations
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 Shannon's now accepting consignments for their October 25, 2018 Fine Art AuctionMILFORD, CONN.- Important American paintings from the 19th century through the modern era will be available during Shannons bi-annual American and European Fine Art Auction to be held at 6PM on Thursday, October 25, 2018 in Milford, Connecticut. Featuring over 200 lots, the auction will include quality examples from the Hudson River School, American Impressionism, Modernism and European fine art. The auction will feature works by Colin Campbell Cooper, Willard Leroy Metcalf, Edward Moran, M.F.H De Haas, Guy C. Wiggins, Irving Ramsey Wiles, Arthur Dove, Lawton S. Parker, Alfred S. Mira, Felix Ziem, Edward Henry Potthast, Frederick J. Mulhaupt, George Gardner Symons, Regis Gignoux, William T. Richards, Edouard Cortes, Walter L. Palmer and many others! Highlights include an Edward Moran painting depicting racing ... More Japan House London opens 'Biology of Metal: Metal Craftsmanship in Tsubame-Sanjo'LONDON.- Biology of Metal: Metal Craftsmanship in Tsubame-Sanjo, the brand new exhibition at Japan House London is held in collaboration with the Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Festival ( Kou ba no Saiten ) and is part of the London Design Festival 2018. On show for the first time in the UK, the exhibition explores the innovative craftsmanship and ancient skills of some of Japans most talented metalworkers. Providing a unique insight into the evolution of this timeless Japanese craft, the exhibition explores how artistry and small industry are embedded in tradition, and the ways in which technology has evolved and embraced the new, adapted in a changing society. Tsubame-Sanjo is an area in the northern Japanese prefecture of Niigata. Known for the precision and skill of the craftspeople from its numerous small metalworking factories and workshops, ... More CHART 2018 end of fair reportCOPENHAGEN.- Under the new direction of Nanna Hjortenberg, the fair received positive response for quality presentations, the expanded design fair, special installations and the extensive public programming. The 2018 edition closed with a significant increase in visitors and international presence. CHART closed on Sunday, 2 September with outstanding art and design presentations, 28,523 number of visitors, including a robust turnout of local and international collectors. Exhibitors and participating artists noted important presence of collectors, journalists and curators, which led to significant sales and institutional acquisitions. This reflected on the increased number of collectors and institutions, not only from the Nordic region, but also from other territories including Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, ... More New Director at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg SALZBURG.- On 1 September 2018 Thorsten Sadowsky, who previously headed the Kirchner Museum in Davos, Switzerland, assumed office as the new Director of the Museum der Moderne Salzburg. At the Museum der Moderne Salzburg Sadowsky will continue his focus on a successful art and cultural mediation and will put the audience in the spotlight. Therefore, he aims to ensure that the Museum receives a greater response from the general public through a broad spectrum of exhibitions ranging from classical modernity to conceptual art, light, sound and media art and to current positions in non-European art. At the same time, he plans to connect further with local and international art institutions and event formats to reflect the profile of Salzburg as a cultural and festival hub. Together with the team of the Museum der Moderne Salzburg Sadowsky plans ... More Kunsthalle Basel presents a new work by Bulgarian performance artist Zhana IvanovaBASEL.- Imagine a place where only men exist men of average build, white, Western. What does not fit this category is omitted. The men move in such a way as to appear suspicious and anxious, involved in an enigmatic exercise of power. They perform minute gestures without speaking head tilting, leaning in, circling one another doing their best to match the narration of a disembodied male voice. What is happening? Something erotic, violent, rivalrous? Is one the perpetrator, the other the victim, the third a witness? Uncertainty sets in as the recorded voice relays with almost forensic clarity a set of possible encounters between the men. So begins Counterpoint, a new work by Bulgarian performance artist Zhana Ivanova. It has moments of scheduled and preannounced liveness, when three male performers activate the sparse stage elements. To comprise the piece, ... More Speculative installation is Austrian contribution for the London Design Biennale 2018LONDON.- The second London Design Biennale sees the presentations of more than thirty nations from six continents in Somerset House in London. The participating countries are focusing on key themes encapsulated in the motto Emotional States, the main challenges facing our society at present: sustainability, migration, environmental pollution, general availability of water and social equality. In the Austrian contribution the students investigate the opportunities, as well as the tensions and unintended consequences of a complex and contradictory world. They create tools, tactics, strategies, stories, actions, instruments and systems that aspire to be pioneering, transformative and stimulating, but also inclusive and full of humility. Transporting visitors to an Austria contending with the stark realities of climate change, they demonstrate how those who live in this ... More India Pavilion presents an installation focusing on the labour-intensive setting of the production of indigoLONDON.- State of Indigo presented by the India Pavilion at London Design Biennale 2018 will immerse viewers in the labour-intensive setting of the production of indigo, a pigment used to dye textiles, repel insects, cure ailments, disinfect, ward off spirits and even to decorate an entire city. The multisensory, immersive installation responds to London Design Biennales 2018 theme Emotional States for the Biennales second edition at Somerset House, and is curated by Priya Khanchandani with the Gujral Foundation as Commissioning Body. The installation features an archival film displayed across the walls of a Somerset House gallery, which transports viewers to the troughs used in indigo production. Filmed around two decades ago at one of the last farms in India to produce the natural dye, State of Indigo gives an insight into the demanding production ... More Clifford Ross's new monumental work 'Light Waves II' debuts at San Francisco's Fort Mason CenterSAN FRANCISCO, CA.- This September, multimedia artist Clifford Rosss new site-specific work Light Waves II will be exhibited as part of COAL + ICE, an exhibition offering a visual exploration of the impact of climate change on our modern world. On view September 4-23, 2018 at the Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, Light Waves II will be the culminating work in the documentary photography and video exhibition, which illuminates the trajectory of climate change from dirty coal mines deep within the Earth, to the vanishing glaciers of the Greater Himalayas, down the rivers and to the oceans. Rosss pioneering artwork offers a powerful visual reflection on climate change. Light Waves II is composed of two 18 x 18 foot LED walls that feature dramatic, computer-generated videos inspired by hurricane waves. The new work embraces abstract forms drawn ... More Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature opens a solo exhibition dedicated to Kohei NawaPARIS.- For the Japonismes 2018 season in France and as part of their on-going collaboration initiated two years ago, the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature and Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto present a solo exhibition dedicated to Kohei Nawa. A major figure in contemporary Japanese art, the artist is in the spotlight this autumn in Paris with the sculpture Trône on exhibition at the Louvre Museum as part of the Japonismes 2018 season. The works found throughout the permanent collections in the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature revisit the theme close to the artist who attempts to renew sacred imagery. For this purpose he mixes elements from traditional Japanese culture notably references to Shinto cults with images from contemporary technology. In this way, PixCell-Deer transforms the perception of what a deer is a sacred animal in ancient Japan by taking ... More Justin John Greene presents a new suite of paintings at Simon Lee GalleryLONDON.- As part of its Viewing Room programme, Simon Lee Gallery is presenting Welcome to Our Mess a solo exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist Justin John Greene, his first in the UK. This new suite of paintings offers a panorama of a sun-washed, tragicomic barbeque with scenes set against the background of an oddly utopic neighbourhood, in which themes of conflict and romance are paramount. In these works, subject matter drawn from Greenes personal surroundings portraits of friends and family, plant-life and scenery from his life in Southern California are juxtaposed with fictional elements that recall stylistic approaches and imagery drawn from other paintings, murals, films, and advertisements. His paintings present a collision of art-historical styles, referencing a diverse group of influences, including Baroque genre painting, ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, American sculptor Robert Arneson was born September 04, 1930. Robert Carston Arneson (September 4, 1930 - November 2, 1992) was an American sculptor and professor of ceramics in the Art department at UC Davis for nearly three decades. In this image: Robert Arneson, Guardians of the Secret II, 1989-1990. Glazed ceramic, wood, plexiglass, steel, canvas, epoxy, and mixed media, 86 x 119 x 26 inches.
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