| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Wednesday, April 10, 2019 |
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| | Germany begins 'largest' return of Aborigine remains | |
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(L-R) Bavarian Minister for science and art Bernd Sibler, Gudju Gudju Fourmile of the Gimuy Walubara Yidindji people, the director of the museum of the of the five continents Uta Werlich and the Australia's ambassador to Germany Lynette Wood pose in front of the coffin with the remains of an Australian aboriginal in the museum of the five continents in Munich, southern Germany, on April 9, 2019. The German museum hands over the remains of an Indigenous Australian to Australia during the first of three such ceremonies across Germany this month. Christof STACHE / AFP.
by Eric Deyerler with Deborah Cole in Berlin
MUNICH (AFP).- A German museum handed over the remains of an Aboriginal ancestral king to Australia on Tuesday in the first of three such ceremonies across Germany this month, which Canberra called a record return. The Australian ambassador to Germany, Lynette Wood, and elder Gudju Gudju Fourmile of the Yidinji people received the skeletal remains at Munich's Five Continents museum where they have been stored since 1889. "His journey now will be to be taken back home to Yidinji country," Fourmile said. Yidinji representatives draped a black, yellow and red Aboriginal flag over the box containing the remains. Skulls and bones from Australia's native peoples were removed by scientists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and taken to museums, universities and collections in Australia and around the world. There they were subjected to "research" purporting to explain human biological variety. In a statement, Austra ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Don Felder, American musician and songwriter, best known for his work as a lead guitarist of the Eagles, performs during a media preview for an exhibit called "Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock and Roll" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on April 1, 2019. Don Emmert / AFP
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 | | US returns ancient artifacts taken from Mexico | | Phillips to offer six works by Jean-Michel Basquiat | | Researchers prove Leonardo Da Vinci was ambidextrous | 
Anthropomorphic clay figures belonging to the Teotihuacan culture are displayed at the US Embassy in Mexico City on April 9, 2019, as they are returned to Mexico. ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AFP.
MEXICO CITY (AFP).- The United States returned two ancient figurines to Mexico Tuesday, seized from the home of an amateur archeologist who died in 2015 with a collection of 42,000 artifacts, many of them taken illegally. The small clay sculptures date from the Mesoamerican classical period, around 1,300 to 1,800 years ago, archeologists said at a ceremony at the US Embassy in Mexico City, where the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) handed back the figurines. The long, strange story of their return "started with a police investigation, and concludes today with this ceremony, in which Mexico is recovering two artifacts that are part of its cultural heritage," said Mexican foreign ministry lawyer Sergio Estrada. The artifacts were found in the US state of Indiana in the home of a collector named Don Miller, officials told journalists. Miller, who died four years ago at age 91, spent his life traveling the world, participating ... More | | 
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Figure with Blue Head), 1982-1983. Estimate: $500,000-700,000. Image courtesy of Phillips.
NEW YORK, NY.- Phillips announced the sale of six works by Jean-Michel Basquiat from the Collection of the legendary hip hop producer Matt Dike. An acclaimed DJ and co-founder of the renowned West Coast label Delicious Vinyl, Matt Dike is widely celebrated as transforming the LA music scene within the course of a single decade through his involvement in such hits as Tone Locs Wild Thing, Young MCs Bust A Move and the Beastie Boys groundbreaking album Pauls Boutique. Over the course of his career, he developed an extraordinary friendship with Basquiat, acquiring several of his artworks. Two works from the collection will be offered in the New York Evening Sale of 20th Century & Contemporary Art on 16 May, with four works on paper being featured in the Day Sale on 15 May. Prior to the exhibition in New York from 3-15 May, the works will be on view in Los Angeles from 9-11 April. Estimated at $9-12 million, Self-Portrait leads ... More | | 
Francesco Melzi (14911568), Portrait of Leonardo, after 1510. Red chalk on paper, 275 mm x 190 mm. Collection Royal Librarian (United Kingdom).
ROME (AFP).- Researchers at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence have proved what was suspected for a long time: that Renaissance genius Leonardo Da Vinci was able to write, draw and paint with both hands. The museum's research and restoration institute confirmed Da Vinci's ambidexterity by analysing a drawing known simply as Landscape (8P), believed to be his earliest work, dated 1473, when the artist was 21. The drawing of the Arno river which flows through Florence and the castle of Montelupo in the background also features two handwritten text inscriptions, one on the front written backwards and another on the back written left to right. Researchers showed that both inscriptions were done by the artist who "used his left hand to write the inscription in 'mirror writing' on the front, while he used his right hand to pen the inscription on the back in ordinary writing," the Uffizi said in a statement. "Leonardo was born left-handed but he was 're-educated' at a very early age to use ... More |
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| | | Christie's Amsterdam Post-War and Contemporary Art sales led by the Jan and Tineke Hoekstra Collection | | Balthus masterpiece leads the Dorothy and Richard Sherwood Collection at Christie's | | Getty Research Institute acquires Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen archives | 
Bram van Velde (1895-1981), Untitled, circa 1960 (detail). Gouache on paper on canvas, 124 x 120cm. Estimate: 180,000 - 250,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.
AMSTERDAM.- Christies spring season of Post-War and Contemporary Art in Amsterdam will take place on 30 April and 1 May and will be highlighted by 54 works from the collection of Jan and Tineke Hoekstra. From the late 1960s the Dutch couple put together a collection of the finest works of Dutch constructivist and abstract geometric art. Alongside this, artworks by fellow artists from abroad working within the constructivist tradition, such as François Morellet and English artists from the Systems Group, including Jeffrey Steele and Malcolm Hughes were also acquired. Leading the collection is François Morellets 2 Trames 0º, 90º (intervalles 14 cm et 17 cm) (1972, estimate 80,000 120,000), a large, black and white square with two grids, one superimposed over the other, creating a complex grid of four alternately sized squares found within. Further highlights from the collection include works by Ad ... More | | 
Balthus, Thérèse sur une banquette (detail), oil on board, 1939. $12-18 million. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.
NEW YORK, NY.- This May, Christies will offer The Dorothy and Richard Sherwood Collection across 20th Century Week, with highlights featured in both its Evening Sales of Impressionist and Modern Art on 13 May, and Post-War and Contemporary Art on 15 May. Further examples from the collection will be offered in sales of American, Indian and South Asian and Japanese and Korean Art as well as Picasso Ceramics. The Sherwoods were admired within the collecting community for studying deeply and selecting paintings, drawings and sculptures that excited and challenged them. The result is a collection of discerning taste and exceptional quality. The works being offered reflect their profound connoisseurship, their appreciation of the creators and the creative process, and their great adventures of the heart and mind. Max Carter, International Director, Head of Department, Impressionist and Modern Art, New York, remarked: Dorothy and ... More | | 
Coosje van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg with Spoonbridge and Cherry, Model (1987) in their New York studio, 1987. Photo: © Jan Staller Copyright 1987 Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Getty Research Institute announced today the acquisition of the vast and richly varied archives of the acclaimed artist Claes Oldenburg (Swedish/American, b.1929), and his collaborator and wife Coosje van Bruggen (Dutch/American, 1942-2009), a noted curator, artist, and art historian. The collection includes the individual archives of Oldenburg and van Bruggen, including substantial materials from Oldenburgs early career in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the joint archive covering large-scale public monuments that the couple developed collaboratively between 1976 and 2009. The Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen archives are among the most significant and visually rich archives ever to be acquired by the Getty Research Institute, said Mary Miller, director of the Getty Research Institute. Oldenburg kept meticulous and thorough records of his dynamic activity ... More |
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| | | Exhibition focuses on the landscape in 19th-century paintings and photographs | | Whitney Museum announces 300 recent acquisitions | | Arts Minister steps in to save rare £3 million Baroque Cabinet for the nation | 
Anselm Feuerbach, Italian Landscape with Trees, 1858, oil / canvas. Christoph Heilmann Foundation, on permanent loan to Lenbachhaus Munich. Photo: Lenbachhaus.
MUNICH.- After a two-year tour of Germany, the Christoph Heilmann Foundations collection returns to the Lenbachhaus in Munich for an exhibition. Presenting the paintings of the Heilmann collection in an unusual summit conference together with photographs from the Münchner Stadtmuseum, Nature as Art unfolds a constructive dialogue between two of the nineteenth centurys most innovative pictorial media: the free-hand oil sketch and precise nature photography. Each in its own way revolutionized the visual representation of the landscape. The nineteenth century witnessed the emergence of new motifs, new techniques, and new working conditions that transformed the representation of nature. Landscape painters and, a little later, their photographer colleagues left their studios to travel and traded the mental space of the imagination for the experience ... More | | 
Simone Leigh, Cupboard VIII, 2018. Stoneware, steel, raffia, and Albany slip, 125 x 120 x 120 in. (317.5 x 304.8 x 304.8 cm). Image courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York. © Simone Leigh. Photograph by Farzad Owrang.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Whitney Museum of American Art announced today that it has acquired 300 works of art in the last six months. As a result of these acquisitions, 60 new artists and collectives have entered the collection. Several of the acquisitions were first presented in the Whitney's ongoing series of exhibitions focused on emerging artists, including Carolina Caycedo and Lena Henke (Between the Waters, 2018), Christine Sun Kim (Christine Sun Kim: Too Much Future, 2018), Guadalupe Maravilla, Ronny Quevedo, and Clarissa Tossin (Pacha, Llaqta, Wasichay: Indigenous Space, Modern Architecture, New Art, 2018), and Willa Nasatir (Willa Nasatir, 2017). In addition, the Whitney deepened its commitment to artists already represented in the collection by adding works by Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Carol Bove, Bruce Conner, John Currin, ... More | | 
17th century baroque cabinet by Roman maker Giacomo Herman.
LONDON.- Arts Minister Michael Ellis has placed a temporary export bar on a 350 year old Italian Baroque cabinet in an attempt to save it for the nation. Giacomo Herman (1615 - 1685) was Romes leading cabinet maker during the 1660s and 1670s and worked for successive Popes and a number of leading Roman families. The German furniture-maker was most active in Italy, having settled in Rome in 1655 where he entered the papal service. Documented works of significance from this period are very rare. The ebony veneered cabinet, valued at £3.3 million, is one of four created in Hermans workshop between 1669 and 1678. Arts Minister Michael Ellis said: This intricate cabinet is an outstanding example of the work of 17th century Italian cabinet makers. I hope that a buyer can be found to keep it in the country so that future generations can admire it and learn about our rich heritage. Veneered with lapis lazuli, a blue semi-precious stone, and jasper gemstones ... More |
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| | | Hubert Burda Stiftung provides substantial support to Alte Pinakothek | | New Auckland Art Gallery Director to focus on growth | | Museum of Spanish Colonial Art premieres 'Paul Pletka: Converging Faiths in the New World' | 
Giorgione da Castelfranco (attributed), Portrait of a Man, c. 1510. Panel (poplar), 69,4 x 53,6 cm © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, München.
MUNICH.- The Hubert Burda Stiftung is supporting research on Italian painting at the Alte Pinakothek with a generous financial contribution. The four-year funding programme provides for the establishment of a full-time research associate position with the aim of carrying out a thorough scholarly review of the internationally prominent collection of Venetian Renaissance painting with works by Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese and many others, and preparing an exhibition on the portrait in Venice. Annette Kranz, an expert on portrait art of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, took up the newly created post as assistant curator on 1 April 2019. Following exhibition projects in Augsburg, Munich and Innsbruck, Annette Kranz most recently contributed decisively to the preparations for the successful exhibition Florence and Its Painters: From ... More | | 
New Auckland Art Gallery Director Kirsten Paisley. Photography by Rohan Thomson. Artwork shown in background: Colin McCahon, Victory over death 2, 1970, National Gallery of Australia. Gift of the New Zealand Government 1978.
AUCKLAND.- Regional Facilities Auckland announced the appointment of Kirsten Paisley as Director of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Most recently, Ms Paisley was Deputy Director for the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), which houses a collection of 150,000 artworks valued at AUD$6 billion and has an annual turnover of over AUD$54 million. Ms Paisley takes up the position at Auckland Art Gallery on 1 May, 2019. RFA CEO Chris Brooks says Ms Paisleys impact on the growth and success of the national art gallery across the Tasman makes her an outstanding appointment for the Gallerys top job. We are delighted to welcome Kirsten to Auckland Art Gallery. Her leadership at the National Gallery of Australia and the inspirational work she has been doing sees her bring a ... More | | 
Paul Pletka, Moros and Cristianos, 2015. Acrylic on linen.
SANTA FE, NM.- A trip to Mexico in the 1980s redirected artist Paul Pletkas vision, producing a decades-long burst of paintings that melded Indigenous peoples, Catholic rituals, and the lifeways of Spanish colonists. His neo-surrealistic style results in graphic layers of masks, icons, villagers, chapelsa unique vision of the way people from different cultures clash, resist, meld, and persist. On April 12, the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art premieres Paul Pletka: Converging Faiths in the New World. The solo exhibition features more than a dozen of Pletkas paintings (some of them quite large), along with examples of Indigenous and Spanish artifacts that inspire him, from his own collection and the museums. The exhibition represents the first solo museum show of Pletkas work in New Mexico since 1990. It includes more than a dozen of his highly detailed paintingssome of which stretch wider than 10 feet ... More |
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 Phillips names Graeme Thompson Worldwide Head of JewelryNEW YORK, NY.- Phillips announced the appointment of Graeme Thompson as Worldwide Head of Jewelry, marking an important milestone in the development of the companys rapidly expanding jewelry department. He is based in Hong Kong. Mr. Thompson will create a strategy for Phillips global jewelry business, a fast-growing segment in the auction world. In his new role, he will be responsible for developing a global team in New York, London, Hong Kong and Geneva, working with new and existing clients on consignment opportunities and creating cross-marketing opportunities within Phillips. We are delighted that Graeme has joined Phillips at a time when were expanding rapidly across the globe, said Edward Dolman, Chief Executive Officer. Graeme will offer the department strategic direction and a point of view to create an innovative and contemporary ... More BAMPFA mounts first Bay Area survey of work by artist Frederick Hammersley since 2009 BERKELEY, CA.- The UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive presents a major new survey this spring of work by Frederick Hammersley (19192009), an artist renowned for pushing boundaries of form and style across a sevendecade practice that spanned much of the twentieth century. Highlighting a recent gift of work to the museum from the Frederick Hammersley Foundation, Looking: The Art of Frederick Hammersley features more than 100 works that highlight the distinctively broad scope of Hammersleys creative output, which included experiments in photography, painting, printmaking, drawing, sculpture, and early computer art. Accompanied by a new catalog publication, the survey marks the first notable solo exhibition of Hammersleys work in the Bay Area since the artists death in 2009. Hammersley was most closely associated ... More Magnificent Roman coin discovered in a ploughed field by a detectorist to be offered at auctionLONDON.- Little did a 30-year-old metal detectorist know when he went out one Friday in March with his brother that he would make his greatest discovery to date by finding a very rare Roman gold coin dating from AD 293-296 in a newly ploughed field in Kent! It will be offered by Dix Noonan Webb, the international coins, medals, banknotes and jewellery specialists in their auction of Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 at their auction rooms in central Mayfair - 16 Bolton St, London, W1J 8BQ. It is estimated to fetch £70,000-100,000. The coin, known as an Aureus - a gold coin of ancient Rome, is relatively small, 4.31grams in weight and only a bit bigger than a 1-pence. Dating from the reign of Allectus, it was found near Dover, Kent, adjacent to a Roman road. The detectorist, who has had the hobby for seven years, wishes ... More Jeremy Couillard and Rachel Rossin receive first-ever 'Phillips x Daata' Artist CommissionNEW YORK, NY.- Phillips and Daata Editions announced that Jeremy Couillard and Rachel Rossin have been chosen to be the recipients of the Phillips x Daata Artist Commission. The digital artworks, which are currently being created, will be separately premiered and exhibited at Phillips, alongside a selection of other works from the roster of Daata artists. Following the public exhibitions, the artworks will be offered for sale through Daata Editions online platform. David Gryn, Daata Editions Founder, said, We are delighted that Jeremy Couillard and Rachel Rossin are the artists who will represent this collaboration. We came together with the aim to empower artists, the medium and the market place, which is more vital today than ever before. Megan Newcome, Phillips Director of Digital Strategy said, Jeremy and Rachel represent the next generation of contemporary art make ... More Exhibition explores what's bubbling away in the cooking pots of Homo helveticusZURICH.- Show me what you eat and I will tell you who you are. In a world where sharing pictures of your latest meal on social media is all the rage, the familiar adage takes on a whole new relevance. With endless information at our fingertips, knowing where food comes from, consuming seasonal produce and enquiring into the working conditions of everyone involved in its production have become major concerns. Decisions on what to eat are influenced by social, political and economic considerations. Food is not just about sustenance: it is also a nexus of cultural and medical practices and an expression of religious and ethical choices. Taking its cue from the times in which we live, the exhibition à table! What does Switzerland eat? sets out to explore whats bubbling away in the cooking pots of Homo helveticus. Swiss culinary culture is constantly changing, and ... More Sean Kelly exhibits recent large-scale color portraits and images of interiors by Alec SothNEW YORK, NY.- Sean Kelly is presenting Alec Soths third solo exhibition with the gallery, I Know How Furiously Your Heart Is Beating. Comprised of recent large-scale color portraits and images of interiors, the exhibition focuses on Soths depiction of the individual, posing questions about what these images reveal about both the sitter and photographer. Celebrated as one of the most important US photographers working today, Alec Soth is known for iconic photographs concentrating on the people and landscapes of suburban and rural communities, often taken during road trips throughout Middle America. In contrast, this new body of work was produced after an extended hiatus during which the artist stopped traveling and photographing to reflect upon and reconsider his creative process. Unlike previous series, which offer a more documentary account of particular ... More Christie's celebrates 50 years of Russian masterpiecesLONDON.- As 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of Russian Art at Christies, the auction house celebrates the history of the department and looks back at the unparalleled success achieved with Russian masterpieces over the past fifty years. Unique in its genre, the Russian Art Department sources a wide variety of objects, from paintings and works on paper by leading artists from the 18th to the 21st centuries, to Russian Works of Art, including Fabergé, Imperial jewels, enamels, militaria and Soviet porcelain. Christies Russian Art sales, synonymous with distinguished provenance and fine craftsmanship, are held in London twice a year, in June and November. Christies currently holds the record for the highest price ever paid for a Russian painting at auction, Kazimir Malevichs Suprematist Composition, which sold for $85,812,500 in 2018, and for the most ... More Bill Reid Gallery explores water as an essential lifeway in timely Indigenous women group exhibitionVANCOUVER.- Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art presents qaʔ yəxw water honours us: womxn and waterways from April 10October 2, 2019. The premiere group exhibition is guest curated by four members of the ReMatriate Collective Tsēmā Igharas (Tahltan), Tiffany Creyke (Tahltan), Angela Marie Schenstead (nêhiyaw), and Denver Lynxleg (Anishinaabe) and features nine Indigenous artists. The exhibition will also feature Audrey Siegl (Musqueam) as an important contemporary Water Keeper. The show honours the important role of Indigenous women on the coast, both past and present, in a timely investigation amid ongoing debates about pipelines and Indigenous rights. qaʔ yəxw is a hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ expression that means water honours us. This exhibition highlights ... More Gray's sale will feature nearly 400 lots of fine art, furniture and decorative artsCLEVELAND, OH.- A unique French and Indian War period powder horn with custom engraving, a lovely 18th century Qianlong period Chinese enameled porcelain snuff bottle and a cast iron replica of an 18th century British field gun mounted on a wood and iron carriage are featured lots in Grays Auctioneers next Fine Art, Furniture & Decorative Art Auction scheduled for Wednesday, April 24th, at 11 am Eastern time. In all, 399 lots will come up for bid, online and in Grays gallery located at 10717 Detroit Avenue in Cleveland. The merchandise was mostly consigned from estates across Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. The full catalog is up now and pre-bidding is open at GraysAuctioneers.com. Bidding is also available on LiveAuctioneers.com and Invaluable.com. Telephone and absentee bids will be accepted. This auction features a unique variety of paintings, ... More Rachel Cusk's papers acquired by the Harry Ransom CenterAUSTIN, TX.- The papers of acclaimed author Rachel Cusk (b. 1967) have been acquired by the Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin. Cusk is the author of 10 novels including the critically acclaimed Outline Trilogy, which includes Outline (2014), Transit (2016) and Kudos (2018). Her debut novel was Saving Agnes (1993), and other works include The Temporary (1995), The Country Life (1997), The Lucky Ones (2003), In the Fold (2005), Arlington Park (2006) and The Bradshaw Variations (2009). Cusks non-fiction works are A Lifes Work: On Becoming a Mother (2001), The Last Supper: A Summer in Italy (2009) and Aftermath: On Marriage and Separation (2012). Her papers include materials from the 1980s to today, repre ... More Swann African-American Fine Art: Artist records for Amos, Leigh, Lovelace O'Neal, Pindell & moreNEW YORK, NY.- Swann Galleries saw strong results for African-American Fine Art on Thursday, April 4. Nigel Freeman, the houses director of African-American Fine Art, noted, "I was happy to see our department's success from last year continue into 2019. It surpassed our last auction's results, becoming our department's second highest-grossing auction, and our third sale in a row to hammer at more than $3 million. The sale set twelve auction records and delivered successful auction debuts. Contemporary artists stood out, claiming six of the top prices in the sale, including Emma Amos, Simone Leigh and Howardena Pindell, who established new auction records. Amoss painting on fabric Let Me Off Uptown, 1999-2000, exceeded her previous auction record of $40,000, selling for $125,000; Hugo Boss Prize recipient Leigh garnered ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, British painter Ben Nicholson was born April 10, 1894. Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 - 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscape and still-life. In this image: Ben Nicholson, 1936 (gouache) 38.1 x 50.2 cm. (15 x 19 3/4 in.). Photo: Bonhams.
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