| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Friday, February 4, 2022 |
| | What museums don't reveal about religious art | |
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An installation view of Spain, 10001200: Art at the Frontiers of Faith at the Met Cloisters. Two small exhibitions, one at the Met Cloisters, the other at the Wallach Art Gallery, bring the personal and political dynamics of devotional art to the fore. Bruce Schwarz/Metropolitan Museum of Art via The New York Times.
by Holland Cotter
NEW YORK, NY.- In 1983, at Japan Society in Manhattan, I saw a show of early Buddhist sculpture so beautiful that I maxed out my Visa card to fly to Japan to find more. It was my first time there. I spoke no Japanese. Id prepared no itinerary. So I started where most art-tourists do, at the Tokyo National Museum. Its a roomy, clean-lined, modern-feeling place. I felt right at home. Yet two experiences on my first day there surprised me. As I was lingering over a glorious ninth-century wood sculpture of a Miroku, the Buddha of the Future, a visitor near me clapped her hands quickly, and sharply, twice, something (I would learn) that visitors to temples and shrines do to honor a deity. Later, in a different gallery, I noted that in front of another Buddhist figure the museum had placed a fresh lotus floating in a bowl of clear water. Through two gestures, one personal, the other institutional, the functional nature of religious images was made clear. Our big American museums, like their Jap ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day After a year-long conservation and renovation project, the Toledo Museum of Arts Cloister Gallery presents a wider range of the cultural heritage of the Middle Ages.
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| Leon Kossoff: Looking at life with a loaded brush | | A Venice Biennale informed by the pandemic will spotlight women | | New life for the Wyeth legacy 5 miles out to sea | 
In an image provided by the artists estate, Leon Kossoffs Portrait of Father No. 3 (1972). Kossoffs life and works are being celebrated in a show coordinated across three galleries: Mitchell-Innes & Nash in New York, Annely Juda Fine Art in London and L.A. The Leon Kossoff Estate and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York via The New York Times.
by Roberta Smith
NEW YORK, NY.- During his decades as an artist, British painter Leon Kossoff (1926-2019) produced 510 known oil paintings. This can be said because they have all been tracked down and published in a catalogue raisonné just out from Modern Art Press (London). A catalogue raisonné is a herculean effort of research, detective work, devotion and perception. This one, assembled over eight years by a small team led by Andrea Rose, an art historian and specialist in British painting, conveys the usual breathtaking accumulation of information: images of each painting, its exhibition history and bibliography, and a list of its successive owners (called a provenance). An added benefit is the liveliness of Roses annotations of the paintings, which are peppered ... More | | 
Portrait of Kerstin Brätsch, Photo: OKNOstudio; Birgit Jürgenssen, Untitled, detail, 1978 - 1979; Portrait of Rosemarie Trockel, Photo: Curtis Anderson, 2010; Portrait of Amy Sillman, Photo: Amy Sillman.
NEW YORK, NY.- In the two years that the New York-based curator Cecilia Alemani had to organize the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale during which the pandemic forced a one-year delay and 400 studio visits had to happen on Zoom the world changed around her. People grappled with large existential questions about the purpose of life, problems of inequity and the health of the planet. There were moments of dystopian doom and hopeful reinvention. These issues informed Alemanis iteration of the Biennale the worlds longest-running major survey of contemporary art the details of which were revealed on Wednesday. There is a majority of female and gender-nonconforming artists, a choice that Alemani, in her official announcement, said reflects a deliberate rethinking of mans centrality in the history of art and contemporary culture. The artists in the Biennale deal with environmental concerns, communion with nature, identity politics and ... More | | 
The painter Jamie Wyeth and his dog on Benner Island, Maine, Jan. 13, 2022. Colby College has acquired two islands off Maine that inspired the first family of American art, and will show newly discovered works that Andrew Wyeth drew in secret. Cig Harvey/The New York Times.
by Meredith Mendelsohn
NEW YORK, NY.- Nestled in the Atlantic Ocean, 5 miles off the coast of the picturesque town of Port Clyde, Maine, lie two rugged islands with stories to tell. Allen and Benner, as they are called, have witnessed a string of inhabitants over the centuries, from the Abenaki people and English colonists to homesteading lobstermen. And then came Betsy and Andrew Wyeth mid-coast Maine locals and the most high-profile members of what many consider the first family of American art. After the death in 2020 at age 98 of Betsy James Wyeth, the notoriously formidable adviser, collaborator, business manager, muse, and wife of the realist painter Andrew Wyeth, a polarizing figure in American art history, the keys to the castle are now passing to a far younger generation. (He died ... More |
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| Clad in a Kimono, a painter of warriors returns to Downtown New York | | A struggling San Francisco art school will merge with a university | | Yves Saint Laurent takes Paris | 
The artist Chaz Guest in New York, Jan. 28, 2022. Guest, a favorite of Oprah, the Obamas and Angelina Jolie, has a gallery show featuring the actor Michael K. Williams, who modeled just before he died. Kendall Bessent/The New York Times.
by Ted Loos
NEW YORK, NY.- Figurative painter Chaz Guest has fans in high places. Collectors of his work include the Obamas who displayed his portrait of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice, in the White House and Oprah Winfrey. Angelina Jolie, a friend who also owns his work, was eager to share her thoughts on Guest. His work conveys such depth of emotion, she said in an email. It is masculine and soulful, and all the more inspiring for being entirely self-taught. But the artist, who is based in Los Angeles, hasnt had a solo exhibition in New York in more than 25 years, a streak broken by the current show at Vito Schnabel Gallery, Memories of Warriors, on view through March 19. The return to downtown Manhattan as a young man he lived in SoHo, not too far from Schnabels gallery, and taught himself to paint is a personal milestone. It feels like this is where I can take a deep breath and ... More | | 
The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City by Diego Rivera, on display at the San Francisco Art Institute. SFAI via The New York Times.
by Matt Stevens
NEW YORK, NY.- Leaders of the financially troubled San Francisco Art Institute say they have formalized plans to integrate operations and academic programs with the University of San Francisco, a private Jesuit university, in a process they say will eventually lead to the university acquiring the 150-year-old art school. In a news release, the art school said Wednesday that the heads of the two institutions have signed a formal letter of intent to begin the process of exploring exactly how to merge their undergraduate and graduate arts programs. The agreement has been approved by the trustees of each institution, the statement said, and calls for a period of due diligence before the acquisition takes place. The resulting program will be known as the San Francisco Art Institute at the University of San Francisco, the statement said. Under the agreement, the University of San Francisco will take over the art schools historical buildings, art and film collections, and assets. Those assets include ... More | | 
A jacket called Homage a Ma Maison in the Louvres gilded Galerie dApollon in Paris, Jan. 21, 2022. For the first time, one designers work is being showcased simultaneously at five major French museums. Julien Mignot/The New York Times.
by Tina Isaac-Goizé
PARIS.- Sixty years to the day after showing his first collection under his own name, Yves Saint Laurent, the designer who is synonymous with French fashion and who died in 2008, is once again taking Paris by storm. Or rather, his creations are. From now until May 15, 50 pieces from the couturiers vast body of work will be shown among the permanent collections at five of Frances most prestigious museums: the Louvre, the Musée dOrsay, the Centre Pompidou, the Musée dArt Moderne de Paris and the Musée Picasso Paris. And the Musée Yves Saint Laurent, in the designers former headquarters on Avenue Marceau, is to display sketches, Polaroid photographs and rare toiles that illustrate the processes and craftsmanship that go into creating couture. Organizers say the contemporaneous displays of Yves Saint Laurent aux Musées, 18 pandemic months in the making, will be the first time a couturier has been honored in so many classic ... More |
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| Pace partners with Kayne Griffin to open West Coast flagship in Los Angeles in April 2022 | | Theaster Gates design reveled for Serpentine Pavilion 2022 | | Nationalmuseum acquires Ditlev Blunck painting | 
The gallery on S. La Brea Avenue. Courtesy Pace Gallery.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Marc Glimcher, CEO and President of Pace Gallery, together with Bill Griffin and Maggie Kayne, Founders and Partners of Kayne Griffin, today announced the union of their galleries to create a Los Angeles home for Pace, under the stewardship of Griffin and Kayne. Pace and Kayne Griffin, which has operated in Southern California for over a decade, have a strong history of collaboration. Over the past five years, the two galleries have developed an unprecedented working partnership, after James Turrell first brought them together, sensing a natural synergy. Pace and Kayne Griffin are both champions of key artists from the Southern California Light and Space movement and its continued legacy in the work of emerging contemporary artists; they already share representation of artists including Mary Corse, Robert Irwin, and James Turrell. In 2020, the galleries mounted a joint presentation of Turrells work at Frieze Los Angeles and ... More | | 
Theaster Gates. © Sara Pooley.
LONDON.- Today, plans were revealed for Black Chapel, the 21st Serpentine Pavilion designed by Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates. Black Chapel is realised with the architectural support of Adjaye Associates and will open to the public on Friday 10 June 2022 with Goldman Sachs supporting the annual project for the eighth consecutive year. Drawing inspiration from the significance of the great kilns of Stoke-on-Trent, the Pavilion will pay homage to British craft and manufacturing traditions. While the structure of the Pavilion will predominantly be made of wood, the Pavilions design alludes to the performative and meditative qualities of a small chapel. An operating bell, originating from the demolished St. Laurence Church on Chicagos South Side, will be placed next to the entrance of the Pavilion and will be used to call, signal and announce performances and activations. A single source of light from an oculus will create a sanctuary-like environment for reflection and communion. ... More | | 
Ditlev Blunck: Allegory of Sunday, 1841. Oil on canvas. NM 7620. Photo: Anna Danielsson/Nationalmuseum.
STOCKHOLM.- Nationalmuseum has acquired Allegory of Sunday, a rediscovered work by the Danish-German artist Ditlev Blunck. This the first time the painting has changed ownership since it was produced in 1841. The first owner bought it from the artist, and it was passed down to subsequent generations of the same family until its recent purchase by Nationalmuseum. The newly acquired painting, Allegory of Sunday, is a striking work of art that undeniably ranks among the artists most ambitious pieces. Ditlev Blunck (17981854) was active during the period known as the Danish Golden Age, which lasted from around 1810 to 1864. This period saw a flourishing of the arts in Denmark, with the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen at its heart. Quite a few Danish artists of the time, Blunck included, had German roots. Following Denmarks two wars with Germany, he was overlooked by Danish art historians and consequently slid into obscurit ... More |
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| Exhibition at Hauser & Wirth focuses on artists whose work approaches the body and anatomy in complex ways | | Monica Vitti, 'queen of Italian cinema,' dies at 90 | | Art school looked like a lot of fun in the '90s | 
Maria Lassnig, Selbstportrait als Einäugige (Self Portrait as One Eyed), 1997. Oil on canvas, 125 x 100 cm. Ursula Hauser Collection, Switzerland © Maria Lassnig Foundation.
MONACO.- This exhibition focuses on artists whose work approaches the body and anatomy in complex ways through degrees of abstraction or fragmentation. In doing so, these artists both subvert the way the body has been traditionally represented in the history of art and the conventions surrounding the (classical or modern) fragment. While it highlights the work of women artists, it also includes work which challenges gender stereotyping and binary or cis-gender categories in favour of gender fluidity, often expressed through a fluidity of bodily form. The show simultaneously addresses new concepts of previously gender-defined strength, sexuality, fragility or illness, love, violence, tenderness, and human relations. Taking its inspiration in part from Linda Nochlins essay The Body in Pieces: The Fragment as a Metaphor of Modernity (1994), this exhibition reviews these ideas through the work of some of the twentieth and twenty-first centurys masters including ... More | | 
Both sensual and cerebral, she made her mark on the international scene in the 1960s, when visionary directors like Michelangelo Antonioni were remaking the cinema landscape.
by Rick Lyman
NEW YORK, NY.- Monica Vitti, whose chilly sensuality and cerebral approach to her roles enlivened a groundbreaking series of 1960s film masterpieces directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, including the much-debated LAvventura, died on Wednesday in Rome. She was 90. Her death was announced by the filmmaker Walter Veltroni, a former mayor of Rome and culture minister of Italy. In a news release, Dario Franceschini, Italys currentculture minister, wrote, Goodbye to the queen of Italian cinema. A classically trained actress, Vitti was already an established stage star in Italy in 1957 when she met Antonioni, who subsequently became her companion for a decade, just as she became his muse and alter ego. Vitti emerged on the international scene as all eyes were turning to Europe, where a new generation of visionary filmmakers was remaking the landscape, particularly ... More | | 
Anna Schachte and Jesse Goffin in art school. A homage to a predigital era has popped up, as a crowdsourced art project that lives, paradoxically, on Instagram. Mel Ottenberg via The New York Times.
NEW YORK, NY.- To Matthew Atkatz, the college snapshots he kept in shoeboxes in his closet for years raised a koanlike question: If they are sitting in a box, Atkatz, 46, said, do they have any meaning? They do, it seems, when displayed alongside hundreds of forgotten snapshots collected from other art students from the grunge years in an Instagram feed called 90s Art School. Since last April, Atkatz, who graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1997, has collected thousands of old snapshots and Polaroids from schoolmates of that era and given those predigital artifacts new life in the digital era. What started as a visual class reunion of sorts for Atkatz and a few friends has evolved into an art project exploring the ways in which young artists chronicled their lives and aspirations through photography in an era before social media. The pictures have an unself-conscious quality. With aesthetically attuned art students as the focus, the feed is a tableau ... More |
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The Red Boy: from conservation studio to Gallery wall | National Gallery
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 Birju Maharaj, virtuoso of classical Indian dance, dies at 83NEW YORK, NY.- Birju Maharaj, who was revered in India as an exponent of one of its most ancient and established classical dance forms, and who choreographed steps for Bollywood hits and Indian movie classics by directors like Satyajit Ray, died Jan. 16 in New Delhi. He was 83. The cause appeared to be cardiac arrest while he was undergoing dialysis, a granddaughter, Ragini Maharaj, told the news agency Press Trust of India. Birju Maharaj performed in the Kathak tradition, which has roots more than 2,000 years old, according to some evidence. Kathak dance was performed in royal courts across the land and found favor among Hindu and Muslim cultures. It is one of eight classical dance genres in India, each largely regionally based and each with its own sophisticated and diverse vocabulary. Kathaks lineages were associated with three ... More  Everard to auction fashions from estate of beloved Southern humorist Jeanne Robertson on Feb. 22SAVANNAH, GA.- For nearly 60 years, Southern humorist Jeanne Robertson (1943-2021) kept audiences howling with laughter, whether at her in-person appearances or on satellite radio comedy channels. A brilliant observer, Robertson had a talent for spinning yarns to maximum comedic effect. An international legion of fans followed her faithfully on Facebook and viewed her on YouTube more than 100 million times. Jeanne Robertson was also one of the most fashion-savvy entertainers ever to set foot onstage. At 6 feet 2 inches tall, she was a striking presence and an elegant model for the couture and designer-label fashions she favored. Now through February 22, both fans and fashionistas will have the opportunity to bid on clothing, vintage costume jewelry and accessories from Robertsons personal collection in an online sale hosted ... More  Danai Gurira will star as Richard III at Shakespeare in the ParkNEW YORK, NY.- The Public Theater, anticipating a seminormal summer this year, is planning two full-scale productions for Free Shakespeare in the Park, including a run of Richard III starring Danai Gurira in the title role. The annual festival, ordinarily a highlight of summer in New York, took place via radio in 2020 (the play was Richard II), and then last year featured a single, small-cast show before a reduced-capacity audience (it was called Merry Wives even the title was abbreviated) as the theater tried to adapt to shifting safety protocols necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic. Both pivots won praise, but this summer the Public is ready to go big again, with a two-show season and full-capacity audiences. Richard III will feature a cast of about two dozen, and it will be followed by a reprise of the Publics 2017 production of As You Like It, which ... More  Extremely rare Gold 'Leopard' coin from the reign of Edward III to be sold by Dix Noonan WebbLONDON.- An extremely rare and important Gold Leopard coin (florin) from the reign of Edward III (1327-77), dating from January 1344 and minted in 23 carat gold at the Tower of London, is to be offered by Dix Noonan Webb in their auction of Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals on Tuesday & Wednesday, March 8 & 9, 2022 at their Mayfair saleroom (16 Bolton Street, London W1J 8BQ). Estimated to fetch £100,000 140,000, the coin which features a Leopard sitting upright wearing a banner, had a face value of three shillings or 36 silver pennies and was in circulation for just seven months before being withdrawn. As economic historian Mavis Mate noted: In 1339 the financial situation appeared so serious that the magnates in Parliament voiced a fear that the shortage of silver coins might bring internal trade to a halt. This was coupled with Edward ... More  Dolly Parton, Eminem and A Tribe Called Quest are Rock Hall nomineesNEW YORK, NY.- Dolly Parton, Eminem, A Tribe Called Quest and Beck are among the first-time nominees on the ballot for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year, the organization behind the museum and annual ceremony announced on Wednesday. Spanning rap, country, folk, pop and more, the list of 17 potential inductees includes seven acts appearing for the first time Duran Duran, Lionel Richie and Carly Simon also among them plus 10 repeat nominees who have not yet been voted in: Pat Benatar, Kate Bush, Devo, Eurythmics, Judas Priest, Fela Kuti, MC5, New York Dolls, Rage Against the Machine and Dionne Warwick. More than 1,000 artists, historians and music industry professionals will now vote to narrow the field, with a slate of inductees typically between five and seven to be announced in May. Artists ... More  Robert Colescott masterpiece leads Bonhams Frieze Week saleLOS ANGELES, CA.- White Boy, a masterpiece by Robert Colescott (1925-2009), one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, leads the Bonhams Post-War & Contemporary Art sale on February 18th in Los Angeles with an estimate of $800,000 1,200,000. Included in the artists seminal solo show at the 1997 Venice Biennale, White Boy (1989) is a quintessential example from Colescott's oeuvre typifying his iconic and discordant style. A hallmark of his best works, this paintings cartoonish style draws in and disarms the viewer, while the work is amassed with meaning that extends far beyond first impressions. The sale preview will be open February 11th - 17th, 12pm - 5pm, with expanded hours available by appointment. Sonja Moro, Senior Specialist for Post-War & Contemporary Art, said: Bonhams is proud to be the only international auction ... More  Naminapu Maymuru-White: Milngiyawuy, The River of Heaven and Earth opens at Sullivan+Strumpf Sydney SYDNEY.- As a child, Naminapu Maymuru-White used to sit for hours patiently watching her father paint. At about the age of 12, she began to learn herself, and was taught by her father and his brother, Narritjin Maymuru, two giants of Yolŋu art from the late fifties through to the seventies. In recent years a strong group of female artists have emerged within the Yirrkala community (located in East Arnhem Land, NT). These women have been instructed in painting by their fathers and grandfathers and taught clan designs that have previously been the domain of men. Naminapu Maymuru is among the first to have been taught these designs and to have used them in her works. In 2013 the artist marked a shift in her practice, finding her own ways of representing her clan identity through her Milngiyawuy (Milky Way) works. On now at Sullivan+Strump Sydney, ... More  Stephanie Mach to join the Peabody Museum as new Curator of North American Ethnographic Collections CAMBRIDGE, MASS.- The Peabody Museum announced that Stephanie Mach has accepted the position of Curator of North American Ethnographic Collections and will be starting in early April 2022. Stephanie Mach (Diné) is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and an anthropologist. She has a decade of museum professional experience and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Museum Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. She joins the Peabody Museum from the Penn Museum, where her work has focused on collections management specializing in access and engagement for university audiences as well as managing the summer internship program. She has served as the co-chair of the Penn Museum Diversity Committee since its founding in 2020. Mach has contributed to the Wampum Trail Research Project, a wide-ranging provenance ... More  'A Powerful Pantheon: Mythology of Ancient Greece and Rome' comes to Reading Public MuseumREADING, PA.- The Foundation for the Reading Public Museum announced the opening of A Powerful Pantheon: Mythology of Ancient Greece and Rome, which will be on display through May 15, 2022 in The Museums Works on Paper Gallery. The exhibition was organized by the Reading Public Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania and features works from the permanent collection. More than sixty prints by European artists spanning from the 16th to the 19th centuries help tell the stories of the ancients, from the creation of the universe to the exploits of tempestuous gods and goddesses, the adventures of heroes, and the misfortunes of hapless mortals. Artists include Pietro Testa and Jacob Jordaens, with several prints made after works by Annibale Carracci, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, Guido Reni, Correggio, Poussin, Claude Lorrain, and Salvator ... More  Aspen Art Museum launches digital guide with Bloomberg Connects appASPEN, CO.- The Aspen Art Museum announced the launch of a new, free digital guide for both in-person and online visitors on the Bloomberg Connects cultural app, created by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The launch coincides with AAMs current exhibition, the international retrospective Andy Warhol: Lifetimes, which opened in December 2021. The AAM guide provides a rich audio supplement to Lifetimes, including clips of artist and exhibition curator Monica Majoli and AAM assistant curator Simone Krug as they explore highlights of the exhibition, including: Warhol in his youth becoming an artist Warhols queer identity in painting the drag queen and as an openly gay man Focus on key works in the exhibition such as the Oxidation Paintings, the Ladies and Gentlemen series, Clouds, and complementary ephemeral elements throughout Understanding ... More  Toledo Museum of Art has reinstalled its Cloister Gallery to broaden narrative of art of the Middle Ages TOLEDO, OH.- After a year-long conservation and renovation project, the Toledo Museum of Arts Cloister Gallery presents a wider range of the cultural heritage of the Middle Ages. In addition to a complete reinstallation of works on view, the project entailed the comprehensive cleaning of the gallerys three medieval arcades and Venetian wellhead, removing centuries of accumulated dirt; the conservation of three stained-glass windows and other works of art that have not been on view in the gallery for decades; and new casework, lighting and security. The Toledo Museum of Arts Cloister Gallery is home to one of the finest collections of medieval art in North America. The Cloister Gallery is one of the most popular and evocative spaces at TMA and is known nationwide for bringing the Middle Ages to life through its collections and display, said Adam M. ... More |
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'In-Between' 
Primary Colors 
The Last Judgment 
Golden Shells and the Gentle Mastery of Japanese Lacquer
Flashback On a day like today, French painter and sculptor Fernand Léger was born February 04, 1881. Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (February 4, 1881 - August 17, 1955) was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style. His boldly simplified treatment of modern subject matter has caused him to be regarded as a forerunner of pop art. In this image: Fernand Leger, Deux femmes tenant des fleurs, 1954. Oil on canvas, 21 1/2 x 25 1/2 inches.
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