| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Friday, July 24, 2020 |
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| | Welcome to the great indoors: Museums beckon in the Berkshires | |
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A visitor looks on at, from left, John Singer Sargents Fumée dAmbre Gris (Smoke of Ambergris), from 1880, and his A Venetian Interior (around 1880-82), at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., on July 19, 2020. At the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and the Clark, there are timely new exhibitions, but our critic finds as much relevance in a still life by Manet, or an Ingres drawing. Tony Cenicola/The New York Times.
by Jason Farago
WILLIAMSTOWN (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Museums that seemed on the brink of reopening in New York are staying shut after Gov. Andrew Cuomo modified the states reopening plan last week. In California, arts institutions that had briefly reopened have had to padlock their doors once again. As the coronavirus epidemic continues to intensify across the country, museums have had to recalibrate their plans for renewed engagement. Remember when you thought your first museum visit would feel like a payoff as the pandemic abated? Here in the Berkshires, after four months when the only museums I saw were on my phone screen, I went to two: the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in neighboring North Adams. Both now require advance booking as well as masks. Both limit admissions to a fraction of total capacity, though you shouldnt have trouble finding a slot; with all the regions cultural festivals canceled Tanglewood, Jacobs Pillow, the Williamst ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day A vendor displays a traditional dagger known as Janbiya for sale on July, 14, 2020 in Yemen's third city of Taez. The two faces of the National Museum in Taez, southwest Yemen, are testament to the ravages of the war that has consumed the Arabian peninsula country. One side has been beautifully restored to its former grandeur, recalling a traditional palace from an earlier Arab civilisation. AHMAD AL-BASHA / AFP
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 | | Its top curator gone, SFMOMA reviews its record on race | | At this museum, social distancing devices vibrate. So does the art. | | Pace Gallery announces the passing of Keith Sonnier | 
Gary Garrels in Los Angeles on June 21, 2007. J. Emilio Flores/The New York Times.
by Carol Pogash
SAN FRANCISCO (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The meeting was about safety protocols in the time of coronavirus. There was talk of masks, sanitizers and Plexiglas barriers. But that is not what people will remember about the all-staff Zoom call at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on July 7. In its waning moments, during a Q&A part of the call, Gary Garrels, the museums longest-tenured curator, was asked about comments attributed to him in a @changethemuseum Instagram post in June. The post recounted that when Garrels had earlier spoken about acquisitions by POC artists, he had added, Dont worry, we will definitely still continue to collect white artists. Garrels responded to this July 7, saying that his comments were a little bit skewed. He then explained efforts on broadly diversifying the collection. We have put a lot ... More | | 
A social distancing device, which buzzes when you are too close to another person, at Magazzino Italian Art in Cold Spring, N.Y., July 11, 2020. Tony Cenicola/The New York Times.
by Ted Loos
COLD SPRING, NY (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Ive been cheating, and its likely you have been, too: Six feet apart is a lot farther away than most people seem to hope it is. I know this because at the recent reopening of Magazzino Italian Art, the museum of postwar and contemporary work here in the Hudson Valley, I wore a piece of social-distancing hardware called an EGOpro Active Tag. It was attached to a lanyard around my neck. The tag is required for all visitors, and its programmed to vibrate for a few seconds every time the wearer is closer than 6 feet to a tag worn by another person. Mine buzzed a lot. I misjudged my spacing quite a few times, and the incessant buzzing was annoying. But thats the point, of course. It made me ... More | | 
Portrait of Keith Sonnier, Courtesy Pace Gallery.
NEW YORK, NY.- Pace Gallery announced the passing of Keith Sonnier. An early proponent of Postminimalism who did pioneering work in video, performance, and light art, Keith Sonnier was a uniquely protean artist. He rose to prominence in the late 1960s, imbuing his practice with the daring, experimental spirit of this moment. Spanning six decades as well as a wide range of media, his highly idiosyncratic oeuvre resists easy categorization, revealing through its twists and turns Sonniers unbridled curiosity and imagination. His lifelong sensitivity to unconventional materialsfrom industrial neon to ephemeral, high-tech radio waves and tactile, soft elements, such as flocked latex and foam rubberimpelled him to reenvision sculpture as a capacious medium, marked by heterogeneity, juxtaposition, and a sensuality surpassing the merely optical. Born in Mamou, Louisiana in 1941, Sonnier grew up in a close-knit Cajun community, defined ... More |
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| | Marciano Foundation settles lawsuit over layoffs | | The Secret Garden of Paul Haim: Christie's to offer 41 monumental sculptures this October | | Christie's American Art Online - Bidding open through August 7 | 
The Marciano Art Foundation, a privately owned art museum housed in a former Masonic Temple on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, May 10, 2017. Emily Berl/The New York Times.
by Colin Moynihan
LOS ANGELES (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The Marciano Art Foundation in Los Angeles, which closed its doors last year in the midst of a labor dispute, has settled a lawsuit saying it broke the law by laying off 70 part-time employees, union officials said Wednesday. The dismissals came abruptly in November, after District Council 36 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to represent docents and visitors services employees at the privately owned museum, which was opened in 2017 by two brothers who had co-founded the Guess jeans empire. Soon after the layoffs, a former employee filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court in Los Angeles. The complaint asked for class certification and ... More | | 
Joan Miro (1893-1983), The caress of a bird. Painted Bronze. Height: 310 cm; Width: 111 cm; Depth: 47 cm. Designed in 1967; this print was melted down before 1983. Estimate: 4,000,000-6,000,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.
PARIS.- On October 22nd, in parallel with the FIAC, Christie's will offer 41 monumental sculptures from the fantastic collection of the art dealer Paul Haim in a dedicated auction. Since his death in 2006, Dominique, Haims daughter, has been overseeing the collection. All of these works were housed in La Petite Escalère, a secret garden nestling along the Adour, a short distance from Bayonne and Biarritz. "But the road I prefer, and which I often voluntarily take pleasure in, is the one that follows the right bank of the Adour; it is an old towpath, dotted with farms and beautiful houses. I undoubtedly love it for its naturalness, this mix of nobility and familiarity that is typical of the Southwest [...] reports Roland Barthes, French philosopher who grew up in the area and lived opposite Paul Haim. Rarely open to the public, this ... More | | 
Willard Leroy Metcalf, (1858-1925), Green Idleness (detail), oil on canvas. Painted circa 1911. Estimate: $200,000-300,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.
NEW YORK, NY.- Christies American Art Online auction features paintings, works on paper and sculpture spanning the genres of American Modernism and Impressionism to the Hudson River School and Illustration art. The sale is open for bidding 23 July 7 August and will offer 87 lots. With low estimates ranging from $800 to $400,000, the online auction provides an opportunity for new and established collectors alike to acquire works by the most renowned artists in the category. A virtual exhibition experience will feature highlights from the auction. The sale will be highlighted by a strong selection of classic American Impressionism. Mary Cassatts Two Little Sisters of 1901-02 (estimate: $400,000-600,000) is a charming example of the artists classic subject of children executed with vibrant Impressionist brushwork. The work has been in the Robert B. and Beatrice C. Mayer Family Collection since ... More |
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| | Robert Longo spearheads group benefit exhibition to support Guild Hall | | Heritage Auctions to offer Linda Ronstadt's 'piano for an era,' played by countless rock and pop legends | | The Morris Museum of Art awarded grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts | 
Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 2019 (detail). Chromogenic color print, 40 x 27 inches framed. Courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures, New York.
NEW YORK, NY.- Renowned American artist Robert Longo has mobilized 60 artists to donate artworks for a special benefit exhibition supporting Guild Hall, the historic multidisciplinary center that has long served the artist community of Long Islands East End. In response to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, All for the Hall includes painting, sculpture, photography and new site-responsive installations by such artists as Laurie Anderson, Philippe Cheng, Jeremy Dennis, Eric Fischl, Rashid Johnson, Shirin Neshat, Enoc Perez, Dorothea Rockburne, Ugo Rondinone, Clifford Ross, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Karin Waisman, and Robert Wilson, among many others. The museum exhibition will be on view at Guild Hall from August 8 through December 31, 2020, with a corresponding virtual gallery posted on the institutions website. All works are available for purchase at accessible price ... More | | 
Linda Ronstadt's Yamaha Grand Piano, Originally Owned by Peter Asher.
DALLAS, TX.- To list the players of this piano is to enumerate some of the last centurys most vital writers of songs and essential makers of music. To begin: Elton John, Ray Charles, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Jimmy Webb, Jackson Browne, Nelson Riddle, Carole King, J.D. Souther, members of The Eagles. Which is to say nothing of the Yamaha Grands original buyer and previous owner, Peter Asher, the pop star-turned-Grammy-winning producer and manager; or of its current keeper, Linda Ronstadt, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who, as The New York Times recently put it, sang every kind of song thats ever been made and did it with as much truth and beauty as anyone. Ronstadt wanted the piano mostly because of its relatively compact size about five feet, a Yamaha Grand not so grand as to overwhelm the San Francisco home smaller than her previous places. This is why she bought it almost 15 years ago: because Asher was closing the office and ... More | | 
The grant will benefit The Morris Museum of Art's art education programs.
AUGUSTA, GA.- The Morris Museum of Art has been awarded a $5,000 grant for its art education programs by the Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA), a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, as part of the GCAs initial disbursement of grants for fiscal year 2021. This initial round of funding awarded by Georgia Council for the Arts serves to support the critical work arts organizations and artists are doing in communities to foster connectivity, rekindle joy, and support lifelong learning during these dynamic times, said Karen Paty, GCA Executive Director. Knowing the challenges faced by our colleagues across the state due to the impact of COVID-19, it was particularly hard to not be able to fund all deserving applicants. The applications we reviewed provided evidence of continued exceptional arts programs in support of education, community development and economic development offered by arts organizations ... More |
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| | Lisson Gallery reopens its New York galleries with an exhibition of 17 of its artists | | £200,000 investment announced for 2020 Art Fund Museum of the Year | | Dia announces reopening dates for Dia Beacon and Dia Bridgehampton | 
Installation view of 'Spectrum' at Lisson Gallery, New York, 20 July 27 August 2020. Courtesy Lisson Gallery.
NEW YORK, NY.- Lisson Gallery announced the reopening of its New York galleries with an exhibition of 17 of its artists, exploring chromatic themes in their work as well as the aesthetics and emotions related to color towards an attempt at perceptual recalibration. This group exhibition looks at re-setting and re-establishing our habits of looking at art, focusing on the way in which artists make sense of the world by breaking it down into its constituent parts in this case color in order to re-build anew. The title of this show comes from a seminal, early floor-based work by British sculptor Tony Cragg, entitled Spectrum (1983). The creation of one cohesive form comprised of miscellaneous, accumulated parts, often found or recycled in this case, discarded plastic found on the shores of the sea has been a constant in Craggs practice for many decades. Spectrum, a carefully-arranged abstract composition, ... More | | 
Art Fund Museum of the Year "St Fagan's National History Museum" Image by Marc Atkins © Marc Atkins / Art Fund 2019.
LONDON.- On the eve of the re-opening of museums around the UK, from nationals Tate and the V&A to Turner Contemporary and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the UKs largest arts charity, Art Fund, today launched a campaign for museums, with the announcement of plans for a special edition of Art Fund Museum of the Year and a week celebrating museums, running from 12 October 2020. The week will begin with the announcement on Monday 12 October of Art Fund Museum of the Year 2020, the biggest museum prize in the world. Recognising the challenges that museums face this year, the prize money awarded will go up to a total of £200,000, a 40% increase over previous years, and be equally divided between five winning museums, chosen for their achievements in the year 2019-2020. The Judges for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2020 are: Jago Cooper, Curator of the Americas, The British Museum; Dame Liz Forgan (Chair), Trustee, ... More | | 
Barry Le Va, 4 Layers: Placed, Dropped, Thrown, 196871/2019. Detail view, Dia:Beacon, Beacon, New York © Barry Le Va. Photo: Bill Jacobson Studio, New York, courtesy Dia Art Foundation, New York.
NEW YORK, NY.- Dia Art Foundation announced the reopening of Dia Beacon and Dia Bridgehampton and an updated exhibition schedule at these locations for 2020, following four months of COVID-19related closures. Both sites will reopen with new protocols to ensure the safety of staff and visitors. Dia Bridgehampton will reopen on July 25, 2020, followed by Dia Beacon on August 7, 2020. The reopening dates for Walter De Marias The New York Earth Room (1977) and The Broken Kilometer (1979) will be announced later this summer. Art provides inspiration, education, and joy during difficult times, and our communities need that now in a different and more urgent way than ever before, said Jessica Morgan, Dias Nathalie de Gunzburg director. Our team has been working diligently behind-the-scenes to plan for our various reopenings and to ensure ... More |
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Photographer Walter Iooss on capturing world's most iconic athletes
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| | More News |
 Christie's results: GLORIA Property from the late Dowager Countess BathurstLONDON.- GLORIA: Property from the late Dowager Countess Bathurst, the dedicated collection sale was offered live at Christies on 22 July. Including the 7 historic paintings from the collection sale sold ahead of the auction to the Bathurst family trustees, the dedicated collection sale totalled £2,132,885. The overarching collection also includes lots offered across three specialist sales during July, comprising 255 lots in total, and the total achieved by the dedicated collection sale alone is already in excess of the £2 million presale estimate for the combined group. Highlights from the dedicated Collection sale included Lot 6, A pair of Chinese export reverse-painted mirrors, mid-18th Century, which realised £115,000, against a low estimate of £30,000. Additional outstanding results were achieved by a Queen Anne embroidered bedcover, ... More Bruneau & Co. names Joel Bohy its Director of Historic Arms & MilitariaCRANSTON, RI.- Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers has named Joel Bohy its Director of Historic Arms & Militaria, a newly formed department within the company as Bruneau & Co. expands its reach into new areas. Previously, Bohy served in a similar capacity for seven years at Skinner, Inc. in Boston. He is an appraiser of arms and militaria on PBSs popular Antiques Roadshow. Hes also an active member of the American Society of Arms Collectors and an instructor for Advanced Metal Detecting for the Archaeologist. I am looking forward to bringing on my friend and colleague Joel Bohy as a new team member, adding depth to our specialties with a historic arms and militaria department, said Bruneau & Co. president Kevin Bruneau. It will be interesting to watch the department grow and be there firsthand to learn from the best. Travis Landry, ... More Looking at epic poetry through 21st-century eyesNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The Aeneid, Virgils epic about the founding of Rome by the Trojan refugee Aeneas, is so influential that T.S. Eliot once described it as the classic of all Europe. Shadi Bartsch, a classics scholar at the University of Chicago, thinks that for the past 2,000 years, weve been reading it wrong. Before Virgil wrote the Aeneid, Bartsch said, Aeneas was considered a traitor who helped the Greeks take Troy. In recasting him as a hero, Virgil changed our understanding of Romes history. What readers have historically missed, according to Bartsch, the author of a new translation of the Aeneid (Random House) coming out in October, is that Virgils depiction was self-consciously political, designed to frame Romes expanding empire as just, virtuous and divinely mandated. Hes writing an epic that points to itself ... More Hirshhorn announces acquisition of major outdoor sculptures by Huma Bhabha and Sterling RubyWASHINGTON, DC.- The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has announced significant acquisitions of new works by leading contemporary artists Huma Bhabha and Sterling Ruby. Through their respective practices, Bhabha and Ruby have worked for decades to create thought-provoking artwork that challenges viewers to understand sculpture in new ways. By adding two works to the permanent collection, the museum gives viewers the opportunity to engage directly with sculptural work relevant to both history and the contemporary moment. Each artwork is installed in the museums sculpture garden, located on the National Mall, uniquely situating them at the center of diverse interdisciplinary conversations related to American politics, history and culture. Were excited to welcome two monumental outdoor sculptures by Huma Bhabha and ... More Phillips announces livestreamed Design Auction featuring important works NEW YORK, NY.- Phillips announced the forthcoming Design auction featuring a curated selection of important design from across the 20th and 21st centuries. Featuring an enhanced virtual experience and livestreamed via custom-built salesrooms in London and New York on July 29, Phillips will telegraph the excitement and energy of a live sale to collectors worldwide. Showcasing more than 120 works hailing from important collections including the Estate of Claire Frankel alongside remarkable works of French and Dutch design the sale is highlighted by designers including Alberto Giacometti, Jeroen Verhoeven, Jean Prouvé, Wendell Castle, Jean Dunand, Lucie Rie and Hans Coper, Studio Job, Charlotte Perriand, Ron Arad, Shiro Kuramata, Ingrid Donat, Harry Bertoia, Peter Voulkos, and George Nakashima amongst others. Cordelia Lembo, Phillips Head of Department, ... More Artist Sanaz Mazinani envisions Vancouver in the year 2080 in latest public art installation VANCOUVER.- Toronto-based artist Sanaz Mazinani creates a speculative garden comprised of native plants, sculptural water catchments and a series of glacier-like formations in All that Melts: notes from the future-past, the latest site-specific installation at the Vancouver Art Gallerys public art space, Offsite. In this new work, Mazinani imagines the city of Vancouver in the year 2080, a time in which the rise of global temperatures will have melted glaciers around the world, causing ocean levels to increase dramatically and forcing coastal cities to adapt. In this dystopic future, Vancouver will be subject to significantly longer, drier and hotter summers―a climatic shift that will require fundamental changes in water consumption, conservation and urban infrastructure. This transformation will also alter the typical growing season, allowing certain species ... More The Warhol shortlisted for international award for its lockdown activitiesPITTSBURGH, PA.- It was announced today that The Andy Warhol Museum has been shortlisted for the Kids in Museums Family Friendly Museum Award From Home. For the past 15 years, London-based charity Kids in Museums has run a prestigious award recognizing the most family-friendly heritage sites in the UK. This year, the charity asked families and museums to vote for what they thought was the best online activity for families during lockdown. For the first time, this included an international category. A panel of museum experts reviewed over 400 nominations and narrowed it down to a shortlist of 26 museums. Six museums from around the world are shortlisted for the Best International Digital Activity category, including The Warhol, who was recognized for its Making It video series, in which children and families can learn how to make many iconic Warhol- ... More James Cohan now represents Eamon Ore-GironNEW YORK, NY.- James Cohan announced its representation of Los Angeles-based artist Eamon Ore-Giron. The gallery will present a solo exhibition of Ore-Girons work in April 2021. Multiplicity and simultaneity are central to Eamon Ore-Girons wide-ranging practice. Across his interconnected pursuits in painting, music, and video, the artist synthesizes formal histories to explore the visual, auditory, and experiential possibilities of cross-cultural influence. In his abstract geometric paintings, Eamon Ore-Giron combines motifs and symbols drawn from sources that span geographies and time: the stylized geometry of Incan jewelry, Brazilian Neo-Concretism, Italian Futurism, and the spatial arrangements of Russian Suprematism. Inserting pictorial and rhythmic structures from the Global South into an expanded history of transnational abstraction, Ore-Giron's ... More August Wilson African American Cultural Center appoints Gina Range as VP of Institutional AdvancementPITTSBURGH, PA.- The August Wilson African American Cultural Center today announced the appointment of Gina Range as the Centers Vice President of Institutional Advancement. Ms. Range, who was chosen to lead AWAACCs development team following a nationwide search, recently served as Vice President of External Relations and Development with the African American Museum in Philadelphia, where she was responsible for securing major gifts, re-configuring and growing its membership program, and expanding external partnerships. Gina has over two decades of extensive development experience which includes managing and leading major fundraising campaigns and building strategic alliances. She also has a demonstrated passion for the Centers commitment to celebrating Black culture and the art of the African diaspora, said Janis ... More Ebony G. Patterson joins HalesLONDON.- Hales announced representation of Ebony G. Patterson, following the artists first solo exhibition,
to dig between the cuts, beneath the leaves, below the soil
, at Hales New York in 2019. Pattersons second solo exhibition with the gallery will be held at Hales London in 2021. In an expansive and complex practice, Patterson (b. 1981 Kingston, Jamaica; lives and works in Kingston, Jamaica and Chicago, IL, USA) addresses visibility and invisibility, through explorations of class, race, gender, youth culture, pageantry and acts of violence, within the context of post-colonial spaces. With the strong sensibility of a painter, Patterson works across multiple media including tapestry, photography, sculpture, drawing, video and installation united by her consistent visual language and intention. Each work is intricately embellished and densely layered, in order to draw the viewer closer a ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, Czech artist Alfons Mucha was born July 24, 1860. Alfons Maria Mucha (24 July 1860 - 14 July 1939), known in English as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist, known best for his distinct style. He produced many paintings, illustrations, advertisements, postcards, and designs. In this image: The "Slav Epic", a cycle of 20 allegories tracing the history of the Slavic people and inspired in part by mythology, by Art Nouveau Czech artist Alfons Mucha, at the National Gallery in Prague."The Slav Epic" by Alfons Mucha, a Czech Art Nouveau gem, went on display in Prague, fulfilling the wish of the artist who spent 18 years on the series of paintings from 1910 to 1928.
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