| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Friday, December 11, 2020 |
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| | Collecting Antique Oriental Carpets | |
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Caucasian Shirvan tribal rug, late 19th century (Left); Ferahan Sarouk town carpet, late 19th century (Right).
By Jan David Winitz
President/founder
Claremont Rug Company
OAKLAND, CA.- Throughout the ages, art collectors, including well-known historic figures such as William Randolph Hearst and John D. Rockefeller, have been drawn to the wonders of antique Oriental carpets. As early as the 16th century, King Henry VIII was reportedly in competition with Cardinal Woolsey for the best rugs coming from the Ottoman Empire of Turkey and from Persia. Other notable collectors in the late 19th and early 20th century ranged from Sigmund Freud to Mark Twain to heiress Doris Duke. For all of these major world figures, assembling caches of antique Oriental carpets was a fascinating and lifelong endeavor, providing an intensely personal opportunity to develop and to continually retest their own sense of beauty and appreciation of virtuoso technique. Today, because the classical skills of production and the culture that supported the weaving have all but disappeared, only a minuscule number of the handmade Oriental carpets that remain are considered art-level. The 20th century ru ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day The Victoria and Albert Museum is showing some 300 items at the exhibition called "Bags: Inside and Out" that opens on Saturday. They range from a 16th-century embroidered purse to a contemporary plastic rucksack by British designer Stella McCartney.
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| Israel unveils parts of Herod's palace buried by Judean king | | Futura, a king of the aerosol can, returns to his roots | | Jackson Pollock, before the drip | 
A conservator of the Israel Antiquities Authority restores ancient frescoes at the arches corridor leading to the Herodium palace built by Herod the Great between 23-15 BCE in the Judaean desert, southeast of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, on November 23, 2020. Menahem KAHANA / AFP.
by Jonah Mandel
HERODIUM (AFP).- Israeli authorities are set to unveil previously off-limits structures within King Herod's palace-fortress Herodium, which the tyrannical Roman-era leader interred as his enormous burial plot. Herodium, a hugely popular tourism destination, is near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank but falls in an area where Israel exercises full military and civilian control. Archaeologists say Herod decided towards the end of his life to bury his palace, using ground from below the hill it was perched upon, until the outline of the structure was no longer visible. Israel's Nature and Parks Authority plans to open the revamped site on Sunday, allowing visitors to see for the first time Herodium's arched stairway, foyer and private theatre. The Judean desert complex was built by the Roman-appointed king known both for his brutality and the magnificent structures built during his reign over Judea from 37 to 4 BC. The hilltop palace, its main ... More | | 
The graffiti artist Futura, born Leonard McGurr, near the Eric Firestone Gallery in Manhattan, where Futura 2020, his first solo exhibition in New York in 30 years, is on view, Nov. 12, 2020. Celeste Sloman/The New York Times.
by Max Lakin
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The week before he turned 65, Futura was contemplating his legacy. Considered one of the progenitors of graffiti art, and one of its most recognizable figures, he was sitting in Eric Firestone Gallery in NoHo, where Futura 2020, his first solo exhibition in New York in 30 years, is on view. Across the river, in Queens, his installation at the Noguchi Museum, a suite of hand-painted Akari lanterns, had opened the day before. Futura, who is rangy and was wearing a wool knit cap pulled to just above his eyes and a jacket from his recent collection with Comme des Garçons, was discussing the long arc of his career, one that has taken him from painting in unlit subway tunnels to working for the U.S. Postal Service to being a frequent presence in the global luxury fashion market. My ambition to be successful in a monetary way never interested me, he said. I just wanted to support my family, take care of my children he has two. As it turns out, ... More | | 
Jackson Pollock with the unpainted canvas for Mural in his and Lee Krasners Eighth Street apartment, New York, summer 1943. Photo: Bernard Schardt, Courtesy Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, East Hampton, New York, Gift of Jeffrey Potter.
by Jason Farago
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- For Jacques-Louis David it was The Oath of the Horatii, for Kazimir Malevich it was Black Square, for Virginia Woolf it was Jacobs Room, for Amy Winehouse it was Rehab. These are the breakthrough works the hinges between the early career and the mature one. Everything before them looks like a warm-up, everything after like a natural outcome, though at the moment of their creation, who could tell? For Jackson Pollock the hinge was soldered in 1943, when Peggy Guggenheim commissioned him to execute his first monumentally scaled painting: a 20-by-8-foot mural for the narrow vestibule of her Upper East Side town house. Hed already won some acclaim for early, Surrealist-inflected paintings, heavily influenced by his teacher Thomas Hart Benton and by the Mexican muralists he revered. But in Mural, Pollock opened up into canvas-covering gestural abstraction, with raw, sweeping lines applied with the ... More |
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| Joan B Mirviss LTD to present masterworks of Modern Japanese porcelain at The Winter Show 2021 | | M+ receives a major donation from the Living Collection from William and Lavina Lim | | Mystery metal monolith pops up, this time in Poland | 
TAKEGOSHI JUN, (b. 1948), Vessel with Ibis and Lotus, 2019. Porcelain with kutani enamel glazes, 22 5/8 x 6 5/8 x 6 5/8 in.
NEW YORK, NY.- To mark the fortieth year participating in the prestigious Winter Show, and its first ever online-only edition, Joan B Mirviss LTD presents Masterworks of Modern Japanese Porcelain. Highly-prized in the East and West for centuries, porcelain evokes a rich history of luscious objects that, over long experimentation across varied forms and styles, always manages to balance contradictions: cold and warm, spare and decorative, strong yet delicate, functional and sculptural, traditional and contemporary. Each piece carefully selected for this exhibition exemplifies the extraordinary, even alchemical, way in which this luxurious material can embody opposing qualities while simultaneously revealing subtle aspects that are altogether new. It is no wonder that collectors all over the world have long been attracted to porcelain, and that forward thinking artists today are finding ... More | | 
William and Lavina Lim. Courtesy of M+ and William and Lavina Lim. Photo: Winnie Yeung @ Visual Voices.
HONG KONG.- M+, at the West Kowloon Cultural District, announced a major donation from the Living Collection from William Lim, a renowned Hong Kong architect, collector, and artist, and his wife Lavina. The donation comprises ninety works by fifty-three artists from Hong Kong and beyond, as well as PAWN SHOP, a historic artistic project that involves work by forty-six international artists. The collection is widely regarded as one of the most significant private collections of emerging and established Hong Kong art practices since the 2000s. William and Lavina Lim started to systematically collect artworks in the 2000s, and the collection documents a crucial period during which the art landscape in Hong Kong began to flourish, and artists from the city gained recognition on the international stage. The donation from the Living Collectiona name given by William and Lavina Limwas installed and shown in their ... More | | 
A woman walks on December 10, 2020 past a metal monolith that has popped up on a riverbank of the Vistula in the Polish capital Warsaw. Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP.
WARSAW (AFP).- A mysterious metal monolith has popped up on a riverbank in the Polish capital Warsaw, the latest in a string of similar objects that have recently appeared in Europe and the US. Joggers noticed the triangular pillar planted during their morning run along the Vistula river, according to local media reports. It stands some three metres (10 feet) tall, has a dull silver-coloured surface, is held together by screws and is planted in the sand of the riverbank near a major bridge. "A mysterious and unusual installation has emerged on the beach on the right (river) bank," Warsaw's Vistula district authorities said on their Facebook page. "If you spend your time actively on the Vistula river, it won't escape your attention," they added, without elaborating. But it has left some Warsaw residents unimpressed. "I was ... More |
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| Kamel Mennour opens an exhibition of works by Daniel Buren and Philippe Parreno | | Hodler sells for CHF 4 million | | Carry on: British exhibition delves into handbags | 
Exhibition view: Daniel Buren Philippe Parreno « Simultanément, travaux in situ et en mouvement », kamel mennour [5 rue du Pont de Lodi], Paris, 2020 © Daniel Buren, Adagp © Philippe Parreno. Photo. archives kamel mennour. Courtesy the artists and kamel mennour, Paris/London.
PARIS.- To celebrate the opening of a new gallery space at number 5 Rue du Pont de Lodi in Paris, Kamel Mennour presents Simultanément travaux in situ et en mouvement, the first joint exhibition of two major French and international artists: Daniel Buren and Philippe Parreno. "Quantum physics tells us that what is true for numbers is not necessarily true for objects. One object plus another object does not always equal two objects. If exhibiting is also a matter of exposing oneselfthe artists have decided to do this together. There is an underlying notion of assembly, of sympoesis: two assembled works that have been formed together, connected to one another, to produce something relating to an automaton. The exhibition ... More | | 
Hodler's 'Lake Thun and the Niesen' sells for CHF 4 million.
ZURICH.- Bids rising above the estimates, busy telephone banks, non-stop internet bidding, the saleroom at covid-restriction capacity - except for the masks worn by the bidders and staff in the saleroom, it could have been a scene from one of the art market's best moments of the past 15 years. Such was the atmosphere at Koller's auctions in Zurich this week, and with an overall sales rate of 135% of the pre-sale estimates (not including buyer's premium), the sales gave a very encouraging sign that the auction market is alive and well. The Swiss Art auction on 4 December featured a sublime landscape by Ferdinand Hodler, 'Lake Thun and the Niesen' (lot 3031). Purchased by the great-grandmother of the consignor at an exhibition in Solothurn in 1913, the painting had remained in the same family ever since, while many other examples of this subject entered museum collections. After a prolonged telephone bidding ... More | | 
Bags: Inside and Out, installation view.
by Pauline Froissart
LONDON (AFP).- Whether toted by Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher or "Sex and the City" actress Sarah Jessica Parker, handbags pack a powerful punch, a British exhibition reveals. The Victoria and Albert Museum is showing some 300 items at the exhibition called "Bags: Inside and Out" that opens on Saturday. They range from a 16th-century embroidered purse to a contemporary plastic rucksack by British designer Stella McCartney. The decorative arts and design museum has chosen to focus on the accessories for its first exhibition since England's lockdown was lifted in early December. It looks at the "It bag" craze that kicked off in the 1990s, with women flocking to buy a certain designer style, influenced by celebrity images. One such bag on show is a purple sequined Fendi baguette bag once carried by the Sex and the City ... More |
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| Betts Project opens the first retrospective exhibition of the works of Zoe Zenghelis | | Slotin Folk Art Auction announces results of November Self-taught Masterpiece sale | | Children's Museum of Manhattan embarks on next phase of planning for its new, expanded home | 
Zoe Zenghelis, Study for the Pool, Hotel Sphinx, OMA, 1976. Acrylic on Card, 22 x 20 cm.
LONDON.- Betts Project is hosting Do you remember how perfect everything was?, the first retrospective exhibition of the works of Zoe Zenghelis. As a two part exhibition with the Architectural Association, Betts Project presents the first part as a review of Zenghelis early paintings from the 1960s, her years at OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) including works of the Hotel Sphinx project along side Roosevelt Island, Antiparos and Parc Citroën through to recent works made in 2020. Stretched between abstract metropolitan tectonics and landscape structures, the selection of Zenghelis paintings represent an enquiry into absent architectural projects. An exhibition catalogue published by Betts Project accompanies the exhibition, while the second part of the project will be hosted by the AA in Janurary 2021. In Zoe Zenghelis contained paintings, there is, again paradoxically, a suggestion of space ... More | | 
Sam Doyle, U.S.N. Honey Driper, paint on found roofing tin, price realized: $25,000. Slotin Auction image.
BUFORD, GA.- Slotin Folk Art Auction's Self-Taught Art Masterpiece Sale on Nov. 14 was one of the auction houses most successful in nearly three decades of conducting sales, with total revenues of $1.48 million. That is especially remarkable given that Slotin, adjusting to doing business amid the COVID-19 virus, changed from its usual practice of auctioning roughly 1,000 lots in a two-day sale, with bidders overflowing the auction hall, to a 400-lot single-day online auction via Live Auctioneers. Despite the serious challenges of operating during a pandemic, Masterpiece Sale lots in many cases went for double and triple catalog estimates. The reason why the sale overall was one of our strongest yet was that the quality of the art we offered was some of the best ever, said Steve Slotin, co-owner and operator of Slotin Folk Art Auction with wife Amy. Not only were they ... More | | 
Rendering of CMOMs future home at 361 Central Park West, restored and revitalized by FXCollaborative. Image © Darcstudio, 2020.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Childrens Museum of Manhattan today announced details about the next phase of planning for its new home, located in the historic former church at 361 Central Park West. Following the unanimous approval by the Landmarks Preservation Commission of the design by FXCollaborative to restore and reimagine the historic building, CMOM has engaged Local Projects to bring to life its installations and exhibitions in its new home. Acclaimed for creating interactive and immersive designs for museums and cultural institutions, the multidisciplinary design studio will work with museum leadership and FXCollaborative to craft innovative, family-friendly experiences that draw upon the key pillars of CMOMs program, including art and creativity, wellness and the environment, science, and world cultures. A steward of early childhood development, CMOM ... More |
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How to Collect Pre-Raphaelites | Christie's
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| More News |
 India's Modi launches grand redevelopment of colonial central DelhiNEW DELHI (AFP).- Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for a huge new Indian parliament, the centrepiece of a grand but contentious redevelopment of New Delhi's colonial-era core. Critics say the 200 billion rupees ($2.7 billion) that the Hindu nationalist government is reportedly spending on the vast project could be better directed to fighting Covid-19 and repairing the pandemic-battered economy. Modi performed Hindu rites to Sanskrit chants in a ceremony that was largely symbolic as India's top court has banned any construction work until a raft of legal petitions against the mega-project are dealt with. The prime minister's decision to perform a Hindu ceremony drew fire from some critics as India's parliament is meant to safeguard the officially secular traditions of the multi-faith democracy of 1.3 billion ... More Sara Leland, ballerina of passion and abandon, dies at 79NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Sara Leland, a principal dancer with New York City Ballet who was entrusted with staging George Balanchines ballets worldwide even during her performing career, and who went on to become a beloved ballet master with the company, died Nov. 28 in Westwood, New Jersey. She was 79. The cause of her death, in a hospital, was congestive heart failure, her niece, Mary-Sue ODonnell, said. Leland, who was known to friends and colleagues by her birth name, Sally, was a young dancer with the Joffrey Ballet in New York when Balanchine, the ballet master in chief of City Ballet, saw her dance in a class and invited her to join his company. In 1960, her first year with City Ballet, she was given a principal role in Les Biches, a new ballet by Francisco Moncion; she was promoted to soloist three years later and ... More The Vancouver Art Gallery envisions a future program and collection for the 21st centuryVANCOUVER.- On December 12, the Vancouver Art Gallery opens its new exhibition, Where do we go from here?, which proposes to think critically about the role of both art and institutionssuch as galleries and museumsin the process of producing narratives about the past, present and future. Acting on the Vancouver Art Gallerys statement in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement this summer, Where do we go from here? developed as an opportunity to consider the Gallerys own collecting and exhibition history. Reflecting on the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Gallery in 1931, this exhibition both acknowledges the under representation of African diasporic artists in our collection and exhibitions, which has historically privileged European art traditions, and reimagines how the next 90 years of programing can better represent ... More Pennsylvania College of Art & Design and Lancaster Museum of Art present 'Things Left Unsaid'LANCASTER, PA.- Things Left Unsaid, a digital exhibition and collaboration between the Lancaster Museum of Art and Pennsylvania College of Art & Design features the work of the Fine Art Department seniors in a virtual exhibition. Artists include Rachel Boldt, Sharnee Burnett, Karissa Deiter, Meranda Hall, Paige Hershey, Brittany Lare, Sarah Lennon, Danielle Parker, Spencer Robbins, and Mab Ulrich-Neureuter. The exhibit will be on view online from December 11, 2020, through January 10, 2021, here. This group exhibition juxtaposes a diverse array of mediums and narratives. All the highlighted artists bring their own perspective of artmaking to our shared environment. Whether personal narrative or societal commentary, each artist focuses on the growth of their individual voice. What may be left unsaid in everyday life is exhibited ... More Boss & Co gun from the heyday of the English gun fetches £40,000 in Gavin Gardiner Ltd's auctionLONDON.- A fine 12-bore sidelock ejector over and under gun by the Gunmakers Gunmaker Boss & Co fetched £40,000 in Gavin Gardiner Ltds Live/Online Auction of Modern & Vintage Sporting Guns on Wednesday, December 9, 2020. Dating from 1927, the gun, which had been built for von Lengerke & Detwold, New York, carried an estimate of £30,000-40,000 and was sold to a Private Collector [lot 244]. Another 12-bore sidelock ejector gun by Boss & Co achieved £10,625. This two-barrel set from 1915 was expected to fetch £8,000-10,000 and was bought by a Private buyer in the US [lot 176]. Elsewhere, a pair of 12-bore self-opening sidelock ejector guns by prestigious London maker James Purdey & Sons sold for £8,750. The guns dated from 1905 and were bought by a member of the Scandinavian trade [lot 158]. Among the rifles, a .450 ... More Three new exhibitions at Bemis Center offer intimate views of strength and fragilityOMAHA, NEB.- Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts invites the public to the virtual opening of three new solo exhibitions by artists Maria Antelman, Joey Fauerso and Paul Mpagi Sepuya. Curated together under the rubric of Intimate Actions, the exhibitions are centered on the theme of intimacy and how it enters into representations of the body, ones connection to space and surroundings and our relationships. The exhibitions are on view through February 27, 2021. With references to classical sculpture and archeology, Maria Antelmans work in Soft Interface acknowledges the line between permanence and impermanence. Intimately photographing herself and her family and then splicing these with imagery from the natural landscape referencing bodies as historic sculpturesAntelman intertwines the human form (humanity) with ... More Historian W. Patrick McCray's new book explores the collaboration of art and technology in the 1960sSANTA BARBARA, CA.- When we see aliens riding flying lizards in the movie Avatar, were watching the marriage of art and technology. Such digital wizardry is so common these days we take it for granted. W. Patrick McCray would like to remind you that just a few decades earlier, artists and engineers began to step outside their separate spheres to collaborate in ways that would set the stage for the creative alchemy that now touches most every facet of our lives. In Making Art Work: How Cold War Engineers and Artists Forged a New Creative Culture (MIT Press, 2020) McCray, a professor of history, explores how the 1960s became a hotbed of collaboration between creatives and the pocket-protector set. McCray, one of the countrys leading scholars in the history of science, noted that artists and engineers moved in wholly different circles ... More Christie's Handbags & Accessories Online: The New York Edition totals $2.38 millionNEW YORK, NY.- Christies New York Handbags & Accessories Online achieved a total $2,380,625 with 94% sold by lot, 100% sold by value, and 140% hammer above low estimate. There was global participation from 31 countries with 39% new registrants. The top lot of the sale was an extremely rare Hermès Diamond Himalaya Birkin 35 that sold for $212,500. Other top lots included a highly sought-after limited edition Ãbène Faubourg Birkin 20 that sold for $125,000; a limited edition matte black alligator So Black Birkin 35 that realized $68,750; delightful Mini Picnic Kelly 20 II that achieved $52,500. Additionally, strong results were achieved for the offering from esteemed collector Susan Casden, a fashion icon and one of the most revered collectors of Handbags in the world. Overall, the collection totaled $917,000, with a portion of the proceeds intended to be donated to a museum. ... More Bertoia's smash November 12-13 auction hits $2.3M after two-day bidding marathonVINELAND, NJ.- If there were a trophy for stamina and composure at the auction podium, it surely would have been awarded to Michael Bertoia on November 14th around 1:30 a.m. Thats when an intense two-day marathon auction of toys, trains and holiday antiques finally came to a close at Bertoias gallery, with a $2.3 million gross and bidders clamoring for more. Adhering strictly to COVID guidelines that govern New Jersey businesses, Bertoias initially had planned to accommodate a limited number of pre-registered, socially-distanced bidders at their gallery. We wanted to have a live attendance because so many people told us they wanted to come. We thought we would be able to control it, but the response was so overwhelming, we had to change course and err on the side of safety. The bidding ended up being by remote methods ... More Christie's Rare Watches New York totals $7.7m, setting an online record for watches at Christie'sNEW YORK, NY.- Christies Rare Watches New York: Online (November 24 December 10) achieved a total of $7,743,375 with 83% sold by lot, 100% sold by value, and 102% hammer above low estimate. There was global participation from 34 countries with 42% new sale registrants. The top lot of the sale was the magnificent Patek Philippe reference 1463 in pink gold retailed by Serpico Y Laino, which sold for $600,000, establishing the record for the most valuable watch sold in a Christies online sale. Three additional auction records were set including the world auction record for a Patek Philippe Nautilus reference 3800, which achieved $312,500; a Cartier Crash in yellow gold that sold for $225,000, over three times its initial estimate; and the F.P. Journe Platinum, Chronometre Souverain, De Boulle Edition, No. 547-Cs, which sold for $100,000, ... More 'Small Axe' review: The agonies and ecstasies of Black British livesNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- When British filmmaker Steve McQueen conceived the five films he collectively named Small Axe, he could not have foreseen the drastically disrupted world into which they would be released a world that could shift, and perhaps intensify, the impact with which they would land. Narratively diverse but thematically intertwined, the anthology (beginning with Mangrove last month and continuing on Amazon with new releases through next week) shines a sociopolitical spotlight on Londons West Indian community from the mid-1960s to the 80s. These are McQueens people: Born in 1969 to Caribbean parents who were among those invited to settle in Britain after World War II, he has woven his own memories and family stories into a vibrant tapestry of immigrant dignity and determination. In the ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, American-Swiss painter Mark Tobey was born December 11, 1890. Mark George Tobey (December 11, 1890 - April 24, 1976) was an American painter. His densely structured compositions, inspired by Asian calligraphy, resemble Abstract expressionism, although the motives for his compositions differ philosophically from most Abstract Expressionist painters. His work was widely recognized throughout the United States and Europe. In 1921, Tobey founded the art department at The Cornish School in Seattle, Washington.
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