| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Friday, January 7, 2022 |
| | In 'African Origin' show at Met, new points of light across cultures | |
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The Holy Family with Saints Anne and Catherine of Alexandria, by Jusepe de Ribera, 1648, center back, with Gwandansu, 15th20th century, by a Bamana artist from Mali, in the foreground, on display in The African Origin of Civilization at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Dec. 28, 2021. Holdings from Ancient Egypt and sub-Saharan Africa come together in a masterpiece show now the Met should make clear how the wondrous works got here. Seth Caplan/The New York Times.
by Holland Cotter
NEW YORK, NY.- Object for object, there isnt an exhibition in town more beautiful than The African Origin of Civilization at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Nor is there one more shot through with ethical and political tensions. The gathering of 42 sculptures in one of the Mets Egyptian galleries unites, for the first time here, pieces from its Ancient Egyptian and sub-Saharan African holdings, centuries apart (the earliest sub-Saharan work on view is from the 13th century). The pretext for the display is a practical one. It immediately follows the recent closure for renovation of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing and its Arts of Africa galleries (the wing is scheduled to reopen in 2024). This is a way to keep some of its treasures on view and to forthrightly acknowledge Africa itself as the wellspring of human culture. The show comes at a time when the history of African art in Western museums how it got there, how its treated is under scrutiny. The Met ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Artemis Gallery will hold its Ancient / Ethnographic Art Through The Ages Auction on Jan 09, 2022 10:00 AM GMT-6. Featuring antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Italy and the Near East, as well as Asian Art, Fossils, Pre-Columbian, Native American, African/Tribal / Oceanic, Fine / Visual art, and much more! In this image: 19th C. Haida Carved Argillite Pipe, Nacre Shell Inlays. Estimate $5,000 - $7,500.
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| YIVO Institute makes archives of Yiddish life available online | | A custom Mercury, with a Batmobile in its family tree, heads to auction | | Peter Bogdanovich, director whose career was a Hollywood drama, dies at 82 | 
Manuscript on Astronomy, 1751, by Issachar Ber Carmoly (also known as Behr Lehmann). Courtesy of Martynas Mavydas National Library of Lithuania and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York. Photo: Getty Images, Thos Robinson.
by Joseph Berger
NEW YORK, NY.- Almost 100 years ago, a group of Jewish linguists and historians decided to create a scientific institute that would collect literary manuscripts, letters, theater posters, business records and ephemera so they could document the flourishing Yiddish culture of Eastern Europe and promote the language. Among its honorary board members: Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. Within 15 years, the institute, established in the Lithuanian city of Vilnius (Vilna in Yiddish), had blossomed into the worlds leading archive of Eastern European Jews and their scattered emigrant satellites. Its inventory of artifacts testified to how they lived, loved, worked and played through the words and possessions of common folks as well as such luminaries as Einstein, Theodore Herzl, Sholem Aleichem and Martin Buber. But in 1941, the invading Nazi- ... More | | 
The interior of the Hirohata Merc, a Mercury custom built nearly 70 years ago. Mecum Auctions via The New York Times.
by Brett Berk
NEW YORK, NY.- Nearly 70 years ago, a 21-year-old Navy veteran commissioned a custom Mercury, with a chopped-down roof, smoothed-out body panels, a lowered stance, novel chrome trim, two-tone paint and a meticulously handcrafted interior. It was built by the same shop that would later create the Batmobile for the Batman TV series, and James Deans Merc in Rebel Without a Cause cut a similar style. This 1951 Mercury stood out when the young vet, Masato Hirohata, who went by Bob, had it customized in 1952. And it remains an exemplar of a type of custom coach-building that developed around Los Angeles in the mid-20th century. Now, for the first time in over 60 years, the car known as the Hirohata Merc is for sale. It will cross the block on Jan. 15 at Mecum Auctions sale in Kissimmee, Florida. Among custom cars, the Hirohata Merc is as significant as they get, said Casey Maxon, senior manager of heritage for the Hagerty Drivers Foundation. In ... More | | 
The filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, in Santa Monica, Calif., Nov. 3, 2007. Monica Almeida/The New York Times.
by Margalit Fox
NEW YORK, NY.- Peter Bogdanovich, who parlayed his ardor for Golden Age cinema into the direction of acclaimed films like The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon, only to have his professional reputation tarnished in one of Hollywoods most conspicuous falls from grace, died early Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 82. His daughter Antonia Bogdanovich confirmed the death but did not specify a cause. Originally trained as a stage actor (he was also a producer, a screenwriter, a film historian, a programmer and a critic, as well as a theater and television director), Bogdanovich was long recognizable by his soulful basset-hound face, outsize horn-rimmed glasses and trademark neckerchief. As a filmmaker, he was hailed for his ability to coax nuanced performances from actors, and for the bittersweet luminosity of movies that conjured a bygone past bygone in American cinema, bygone in America itself. Reviewing The Last Picture Show only Bogdanov ... More |
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| FBI arrests man accused of stealing unpublished book manuscripts | | Roland Auctions NY celebrates big on New Year's Day with top grossing auction of the past year | | That vintage dress on the red carpet? There's more to the story. | 
Ethan Hawke in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, July 1, 2018. Daniel Dorsa/The New York Times.
by Elizabeth A. Harris
NEW YORK, NY.- They were perplexing thefts, lacking a clear motive or payoff, and they happened in the genteel, not particularly lucrative world of publishing: Someone was stealing unpublished book manuscripts. The thefts and attempted thefts occurred primarily over email, by a fraudster impersonating publishing professionals and targeting authors, editors, agents and literary scouts who might have drafts of novels and other books. The mystery may now be solved. On Wednesday, the FBI arrested Filippo Bernardini, a 29-year-old rights coordinator for Simon & Schuster UK, saying that he impersonated, defrauded, and attempted to defraud, hundreds of individuals over five or more years, obtaining hundreds of unpublished manuscripts in the process. Bernardini, who was arrested after landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport, was charged with wire fraud and ... More | | 
A pair of George III carved mahogany serpentine fold-over tables, possibly Scottish, circa 1765. Sold for $37,500.
GLEN COVE, NY.- Roland Auctions NY in Glen Cove, NY kicked off the New Year in style, with their New Years Day sale turning out to be their highest-grossing single day, and highest-grossing per lot, auction of the past year. The New Years Day auction on January1st, 2022, featured selections from multiple estates with a spotlight on the very impressive collection of a socialite from European nobility with properties at The Pierre Hotel in Manhattan and in Lloyd Harbor, Long Island. The collection offered everything from Louis XIV to Mid- Century Modern, along with art, silver, jewelry and decorative items. The New Years Day auction enjoyed quite a few surprises and sleepers that sold well over their estimates, most notably a 19th C. Chinese "Hundred Deer" Hu-Form Vase. 19th century Chinese famille rose Hu-form vase, decorated in enamels with the 'hundred deer' motif, depicting a continuous scene of deer frolicking in grassy m ... More | | 
A Vivienne Westwood piece from 1992 at Aralda Vintage in Los Angeles, Jan. 3, 2022. Its awards season, and the big designer brands have some scrappy, pre-owned competition. Michelle Groskopf/The New York Times.
by Jessica Testa
NEW YORK, NY.- The red carpet is a financial exchange the most high-profile of red carpets, at least. If the E! Network has at least one microphone-wielding reporter on standby, there is serious money on the table. But like many financial exchanges, its transactions are often opaque. Fashion brands pay undisclosed amounts of money for celebrities to be ambassadors, to wear their gowns and tuxedos and nail polish and shapewear (though not all brands, and not all celebrities). Which is why the steady and well-documented rise of vintage garments on major red carpets has been so notable. And can be expected to continue this awards season, even if there are still no plans to televise the Golden Globes on Sunday. A highlight reel: ... More |
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| In the Lower Ninth Ward, an artist renews his purpose | | The Holbrook T. Mitchell Collection of Books & Manuscripts goes up for bid | | Museum of the Moving Image explores the emergence of "deepfake" videos in new exhibition | 
The artist Kevin Beasley in his garden in New Orleans, Dec. 11, 2021. L. Kasimu Harris/The New York Times.
by Siddhartha Mitter
NEW ORLEANS, LA.- The cookout in the new garden, guests agreed, upheld the cultural and convivial traditions of the Lower 9th Ward. Herlin Riley, a celebrated jazz drummer from the neighborhood, was grooving with his quintet beneath the canopy. Old-timers, friends since high school, held forth at a long table near the stage. Photographers Keith Calhoun and Chandra McCormick, important local documentarians, were present. Tending chicken thighs and beef ribs from the trailer grill hitched to his truck, Errol Houston conferred the seal of Lower 9th legitimacy. What you see here is like a normal family picnic with neighbors, he said. Theres people here who know my aunts and uncles. Artist Kevin Beasley, host of the cookout, was chatting with all comers, wearing a black T-shirt adorned with drawings of 38 plant species he intended to grow in the garden. The party was an opening of sorts the neighborhood reveal for an unfolding creative project that ... More | | 
Horea, Illuminated Manuscript, Book of Hours, c. 15th-16th century, in Latin. 12mo (7 1/8 x 5 3/8 in.). Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Turner Auctions + Appraisals will present the Holbrook T. Mitchell Collection of Books & Manuscripts on January 29, 2022. From the estate of a Northern California collector, the auction features 85 lots of antique or vintage written works in various languages from the 14th-20th centuries. Themes include art, antiquities, history, geography, travel and foreign countries, literature, poems, commentaries, and more. Highlights include an illuminated 19th-century Persian Quran (Koran) in Arabic; a book from the library of Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the second wife of Napoleon; Cook's Voyages Around the World by G. W. Anderson, 1781; 11 Egyptian papyrus fragments, likely all from a single leaf; and a first edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from 1885. Of particular note in this auction is the Book of Hours (Horae), an illuminated manuscript in Latin from the 15th-16th centuries. Popular in the Middle Ages and produced initially by scribes in monasteries, books of hours were ... More | | 
The image of an actor performing as Richard Nixon is merged with an image of Nixon in this behind-the-scenes example from In Event of Moon Disaster, a film co-directed by Francesca Panetta and Halsey Burgund. Photo: Dominic Smith / courtesy of MIT and Halsey Burgund.
ASTORIA, NY.- Museum of the Moving Image is presenting Deepfake: Unstable Evidence on Screen, an exhibition that considers the emergence of deepfake videosdeceptive content created with advanced AI and machine learning technology. Contextualizing this phenomenon within the history of nonfiction moving-image media, with a focus on manipulation, misinformation, and propaganda, the exhibition is on view from December 18, 2021May 15, 2022 in the Museums third-floor changing exhibitions gallery. The centerpiece of Deepfake is In Event of Moon Disaster, a startlingly convincing video co-directed by Francesca Panetta and Halsey Burgund, that uses deepfake technology to present an alternate history of the Apollo 11 mission, presented on a television set in a period-appointed living room. In Event of Moon Disaster is an MIT Center for ... More |
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| The Hepworth Wakefield acquires major new work by Magdalene Odundo | | Art Dubai announces gallery line-up for 2022 edition and launch of new digital section | | Holly Coulis's fourth solo show with Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery opens in New York | 
Dame Magdalene Odundo in her studio © Cristian Barnett.
WAKEFIELD.- The Hepworth Wakefield announced that it has acquired Asymmetric Vessel, 2021 by Dame Magdalene Odundo through grants from the Art Fund, Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, Henry Moore Foundation and The Hepworths Collection Circle. Dame Magdalene Odundo is one of the UKs most esteemed artists working with ceramics. Asymmetric Vessel was selected from a small number of new works created by the artist this year - the first new pieces she has completed in three years. The vessel is an outstanding example of Odundos ability to create dramatic sculptural pieces that allude to the forms of the human body and are fired to create dramatic cloud-like bursts of black and orange which shift around the contours of her work. In 2019 The Hepworth Wakefield worked with Odundo to curate her first major retrospective exhibition in the UK The Journey of Things which ... More | | 
Art Dubai 2022 will take place from March 11-13, 2022 at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai in what will be the fairs most extensive edition to date.
DUBAI.- Art Dubai today announced the list of participating galleries at its 2022 edition, which will be its most extensive to date. The fair will take place at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai from 11-13 March 2022, with previews on 9 and 10 March. The leading global platform for art and artists from the Middle East and Global South, the 15th edition of Art Dubai will present over 100 galleries from more than 40 countries across four main gallery sections: Contemporary, Modern, Bawwaba and new section Art Dubai Digital. The 2022 fair will include more than 30 first-time participants and over 50% of the gallery programme is drawn from the Global South, reaffirming Art Dubais position as the leading marketplace for art from this region. The fairs upcoming edition marks the debut of Art Dubai Digital, an innovative new digital art and NFT section that will provide a comprehensive, 360º introduction ... More | | 
Holly Coulis, Sitting Painting, 2021. 20 1/4 Ã 18 1/4 Ã 5 1/2 inches (51.44 Ã 46.36 Ã 13.97 cm).
NEW YORK, NY.- Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery will open its 2022 season with a show of new works by Holly Coulis. Titled "Eyes and Yous," Couliss fourth solo show with the gallery will include oil paintings on linen and painted sculptural works. The show will open Friday, January 7 and run through Saturday, February 12, 2022. In her newest paintings, Holly Coulis has further expanded her approach to picture-making. The artist has consistently grounded abstraction in the still life genre, populating her canvases with traditional subjects such as fruit, vessels, or kitchen items arranged on table tops. In the newest works these familiar forms have broken from their stillness entirely. Brushstrokes fly around the canvas in wholly animated movements of texture, color, and line. Space is pushed sideways and collapsed in on itself as relationships between tones weave in and out of foreground and background, creating a dynamic visual puzzle. ... More |
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Writers Are Reaching for Our Thorns; the Thorns Which Define Our Entire Being
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 'Rigoletto' at the Met unites a father and daughter. Again.NEW YORK, NY.- Quinn Kelsey and Rosa Feola are used to playing father and daughter. It started in 2013, when Kelsey jumped into the title role of the cursed jester in Verdis opera Rigoletto in Zurich; Feola was in that production, too, as Gilda, the daughter Rigoletto has kept secret. Since then, theyve sung those characters together, Feola recalled in a recent video call, five, six, maybe seven times. Now they are doing the parts in Bartlett Shers new staging of Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera, which opened New Years Eve and moves the action to Weimar Germany. Its a breakthrough for both singers. Feola, a soprano who made her Met debut in a revival of the old production in 2019, is returning to eager anticipation and the spotlight of a premiere. And Kelsey, a Met fixture in baritone parts for more than a decade, is finally getting a true starring ... More  Gowns, puppets and sharks: 8 cultural sights to see this winterNEW YORK, NY.- The holidays are over the Christmas presents opened, the menorah extinguished, the karamu feast consumed but the unmerry part of the winter season doesnt have to be a drag. Whether your taste is in sharks, Disney animation or Dior dresses, there are plenty of shows to see in January and February, as well as outdoor activities that can liven up a gloomy winter day. Just dont forget your vaccination card. Most museums require mask wearing, and many use timed ticketing, so be sure to check policies and updates on openings online beforehand. Here are eight ideas to make a cold Saturday in New York into a fun-filled extravaganza. Fairy-tale dresses, gobs of glitter and the designer Christian Diors lush color palette are on display at a 22,000-square-foot exhibition of his work at the Brooklyn Museum. More ... More  Almine Rech opens the first posthumous exhibition of Italian artist Turi SimetiPARIS.- Almine Rech is presenting the first posthumous exhibition of Italian artist Turi Simeti (1929 2021), organized in collaboration with Archivio Turi Simeti, on view from January 6 to February 12, 2022. The career of Turi Simeti (1929-2021) spanned the history of Italian art in the second half of the twentieth century. From 1961 onwards, his art was based on abstraction, monochromes, and oval motif. Without deviating from these concepts, Simeti established a radical language that he continued to develop over six decades. Turi Simeti: Monochrome Adventure is the first solo show of the artists work in France since his death in the spring of 2021. An homage to this Sicilian artist, who settled in Milan beginning in the mid-60s, it offers a journey through sixty years of his art, highlighting the constants and variations of his work in its formats, ... More  Welcoming back live theater doesn't mean agreeing about all of itNEW YORK, NY.- The year that just ended was a difficult one for people who make theater, as they faced economic, aesthetic and medical challenges. In a smaller way it was therefore a strange year for those of us who write about and review their work. Not until late summer 2020 and then more fully in the fall did we see live plays and musicals, and enjoy the pleasures that come with doing so: not just the communal experience in the theater but also the shared reflection afterward. For us Jesse Green, the chief theater critic, and Maya Phillips, a critic at large that shared reflection often included the gift of disagreement. And so, on the last day of 2021, we met, in cyberspace, to talk about what each of us liked most over the last several months, what we disliked most and how a bit of (respectful!) head-butting can expand our understanding ... More  Recently discovered memorial plaque to be offered by Dix Noonan WebbLONDON.- The rare and possibly unique Memorial Plaque to Private A. T. Ansted who was one of 346 British soldiers to be shot at dawn during the Great War, will be offered by Dix Noonan Webb in their auction of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria on Wednesday, January 26, 2022. Estimated to fetch £2,400-2,800, it is being sold by the estate of a deceased collector. Alfred Thomas Ansted, who was from Northolt, Middlesex, enrolled for the Royal Fusiliers on September 21, 1905 and served with the Colours for eight years, before transferring to the Reserve in 1913. Recalled for service, he served with the 4th Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from February 9, 1915. He originally went absent without leave in May 1916 and for this received a suspended sentence. However, he went absent again in August 1916 from Guillemont ... More  George Nakashima, Frank Lloyd Wright, Franz West and more headline Heritage Auctions' January design eventDALLAS, TX.- For its first Design event of the year, Heritage Auctions is offering a first-rate selection of pieces by an international cast of design superstars. The star-studded lineup for the Design Signature® Auction on Jan. 27 includes celebrated American architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry, Bruce Goff and William Wesley Peters, whose featured offerings include rare furniture from some of their most important projects. There are also works by renowned furniture designers, including custom commissions by Americas George Nakashima and iconic designs by Austrias Franz West, as well as incredible ceramics by a host of American, British and Japanese artists such as Betty Woodman, Jennifer Lee, Toshiko ... More  San José Institute of Contemporary Art appoints James G. Leventhal as Executive DirectorSAN JOSE, CA.- The San José Institute of Contemporary Art announces the appointment of James G. Leventhal as Executive Director. Leventhal will begin his new role on January 17, 2022. James arrival times perfectly with our current needs, says Board President Gordon Yamate. The ICA is coming off a year of growth and change, and we need to focus strategically to build upon this momentum. The Board sought an Executive Director with vision, experience, and a strong desire to serve various communities within San José and the Greater Bay Area, including collaboration with various local cultural organizations. I look forward to seeing all that the ICA can accomplish under James leadership. Leventhal is a seasoned arts professional and leader, with significant experience in fundraising, and organizational and program development. With ... More  Ahlers & Ogletree announces highlights included in the New Year's Signature Estates AuctionATLANTA, GA.- A Tiffany Studios Favrile glass door from the 1920s titled The Sower, an original painting by Thornton Dial (American, 1928-2016) titled Struggling Tiger (1991), and a stunning Lalique cactus crystal center table designed in 1951 are just a few of the expected top lots in Ahlers & Ogletrees three-day, three-session auction slated for January 14th, 15th and 16th. There will be no in-person bidding in the New Years Signature Estates Auction, but bidders can register at one of the three popular online platforms: LiveAuctioneers.com, Invaluable.com and Bidsquare.com. Phone and absentee bids will also be accepted. In-person previews will be held (no appointment required) January 10th-12th from 10-5, and on Thursday, January 13th from 10-6. Start times all three days will be 10 am Eastern time. Session 1, on Friday, January 14th, offers ... More  Judith Davidoff, master of long-dormant instruments, dies at 94NEW YORK, NY.- Judith Davidoff, who mastered an assortment of stringed instruments not widely played for centuries, especially the cellolike viola da gamba, and became a leading proponent and player of early music, died Dec. 19 at her home in New York. She was 94. Her children, Max Rosen and Rebekah Rosen-Gomez, confirmed the death. Davidoff was trained as a cellist, and she was a good one. She was an absolutely amazing sight reader, Lisa Terry, a fellow musician who learned from her, said in a phone interview. That skill had Davidoff in demand for recording sessions. But while she was studying the cello as a teenager, something caught Davidoffs eye. Inevitably as I got involved in the repertoire, I began to notice music for an instrument called the viola da gamba, she told the Intelligencer Journal of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1983. ... More  Ceramic Art London returns this yearLONDON.- This April sees the keenly awaited return of Europes largest ceramics event, following an enforced two-year break. Taking place over three days in the grand concourse of Central Saint Martins, Ceramic Art London will build on three years of expansion that have seen audiences triple, with every event sold out. Featuring 92 leading makers from 11 different countries and with price points ranging between £20 £5000, Ceramic Art London is the place to see and buy the best contemporary ceramics, from the functional and decorative to the abstract and architectural. This years cohort of exhibitors includes 24 newcomers. Among them, James Evans, whose textural corrugated works are crusted with rusted iron, Thai artist Eiair (or Hassakorn Hirunsirichoke) with his intricate and alienesque miniature forms and, from Canada, Toni ... More  Sundance Film Festival cancels in-person events as virus cases surgeNEW YORK, NY.- The Sundance Film Festival announced Wednesday that it will cancel all in-person events set for Jan. 20-30. The news comes as virus cases are spiking because of the omicron variant. The festival will now be virtual for a second year in a row. Sundance, in a news release, said it was a difficult decision to cancel its first hybrid festival, which would have allowed patrons to watch films either in-person in Park City, Utah, or online via a portal. The release noted that with case numbers expected to peak in Park City and the surrounding Summit County during the week of the festival, we cannot knowingly put our staff and community at risk. The undue stress to Summit Countys health services and our more than 1,500 staff and volunteers would be irresponsible in this climate. The news follows the announcement earlier Wednesday that ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Imants Tillers 
Le Design Pour Tous 
New Galleries of Dutch and Flemish Art 
Cassi Namoda
Flashback On a day like today, English painter and educator Thomas Lawrence died January 07, 1830. Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA FRS (13 April 1769 - 7 January 1830) was a leading English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. In this image: Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769 - 1830) Portrait of the Hon. Emily Mary Lamb (1787 - 1869), 1803. ©The National Gallery.
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