| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Friday, May 15, 2020 |
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| | When the virus came, some museum curators lost years of work | |
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The Ghent Altarpiece at St. Bavos Cathedral in Belgium, when restorations were unveiled, Jan. 24, 2020. As exhibitions around the world close, or cancel the next stops on their tours, logistical and emotional carnage follow. Gael Turine/The New York Times.
by Sophie Haigney
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The Ghent Altarpiece was never supposed to leave St. Bavos Cathedral again. Not after the 15th-century masterpiece was nearly destroyed by rioting Calvinists in 1566. Not after its panels had been stolen at least six times: once by Napoleon, later by the Nazis (who took the whole thing). Church leaders in Ghent, its Belgian home, were overjoyed in 1945, when the altar by Jan van Eyck and his brother Hubert was returned. The cathedral decided it would not leave anymore, said Maximiliaan Martens, an expert in early Netherlandish painting, who would have a hand in changing this. Martens, 59, first saw the altarpiece when he was 3, has studied the work of Jan van Eyck for 35 years and helped oversee the restoration of the panels at the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent beginning in 2012. As the work continued, Martens and museum employees persuaded cathedral authorities, just this once, to lend out some of the recently restored panels. That coup became the starting point for a bl ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day A man sets stickers on the floor at the Fundatie museum in Zwolle, on May 14, 2020 during preparations to open again on June 1, amid the pandemic of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The museum had been closed since mid-March due to measures taken to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Ferdy DAMMAN / ANP / AFP
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 | | My weekend binge online at Frieze | | Sainsbury Centre acquires a group of 29 major works by Elisabeth Frink | | Moderna Museet in Stockholm and Malmö to reopen on June 16 | 
Carrie Moyer, La Signora, 2020. Acrylic, graphite, glitter on canvas, 78 x 60 inches. Photo: Courtesy DC Moore Gallery.
by Jason Farago
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- An experienced art dealer can recite the cities in order, like the Stations of the Cross: January in Taipei, February in Mexico City, March in Hong Kong or Maastricht, May in New York and on down the art market Via Dolorosa to Miami Beach in December. These cities art fairs Art Basel, Frieze, TEFAF and the rest have become the stopovers of the global art cavalcade, bringing contemporary painting and sculpture to new audiences, clogging the local airports with private jets, and dragging along an auxiliary band of couch-surfing curators and critics. Yet as galleries cautiously reopen in art capitals like Berlin and Beijing, the future of the art fair is far from assured. With flights grounded and large indoor ... More | | 
Elisabeth Frink, Standard, 1965. Photo: Pete Huggins.
NORWICH.- The Sainsbury Centre announced the acquisition of a significant group of works by Elizabeth Frink made possible in accordance with the wishes of the artists late son, Lin Jammet. This acquisition follows the highly celebrated exhibition, Elisabeth Frink: Humans and Other Animals, held at the Centre in 2018. The works consist of 29 sculptures and drawings, by one of the most important British sculptors of the twentieth century. They will be displayed at the Sainsbury Centre art museum and its Sculpture Park at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK. This acquisition was initiated in collaboration with the artists son, Lin Jammet, who sadly died in 2017. However, it was his wish that a group of his mothers works should remain after the exhibition and become part of the permanent holdings in the region of the Suffolk-born artists birth. The acquisition includes powerful examples of work ... More | | 
Moderna Museet Stockholm, front, summer © Photo: Moderna Museet/Ã
sa Lundén.
STOCKHOLM.- Moderna Museet in both Stockholm and Malmö will be ensuring that visitors keep at least 1.5 meters apart, and that people keep moving at a steady pace throughout the exhibitions, to prevent crowding. Several other changes will also be made to ensure that visitors and staff feel safe together. "When we decided to close the Museum temporarily, the covid-19 situation was new; like the rest of the world, we werent sure how to deal with the virus", says Gitte Ãrskou, director of Moderna Museet. "The decision to close temporarily was made independently of any third party. Now that we are reopening three months later, the Museum and society in general have learned to follow the recommendations of the Public Health Agency and have adapted to the new normal." "We decided to reopen on 16 June because we believe people need art more ... More |
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| | Sotheby's scales up 'Watches Weekly' to three sales per week | | Online sale featured a generous offering of advertising, toys and historic objects | | Jonathan Crockett named Chairman of Asia at Phillips | 
Patek Philippe Reference 1177M, made in 1979. A unique gilt brass solar powered dome table clock with cloisonné enamel by master enameller Elizabeth Perusset Lagger. Est. HK$ 1-2m (US$ 119,250 238,500). Courtesy Sotheby's.
GENEVA.- Following the global success and enthusiasm met by its Watches Weekly sales, Sothebys is expanding its new, fast and dynamic format to host three online sales per week. In addition to the existing Hong Kong weekly sales, which have set a number of records since their launch in early April, two new rolling auctions, curated by the Geneva and New York teams, will be added this month. These seven-day auctions will present watch lovers with enhanced opportunities to sell and buy some of the most sought-after vintage and contemporary timepieces on the market. Sam Hines, Worldwide Head of Sothebys Watches said: The Watches Weekly sales were introduced to provide great responsiveness to trends in the market and a swifter turnaround between appraisal and sale. We also wanted to embrace the collectors increased confidence to buy high-value pieces online. The ... More | | 
Penn-Drake Motor Oil porcelain sign (American, 1930s), 27 inches by 21 inches, with great color and gloss, marked Made in U.S.A. lower left edge (CA$2,950).
NEW HAMBURG.- An exceedingly rare Dominion Cartridge Company ammunition board, produced in Canada in the 1930s, sold for $4,500, and antique and vintage sewing machines from the world-class collection of Carl Koenig brought nice high prices in an online Signs, Toys & Historic Objects auction held May 9th by Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. The auction included a generous offering of advertising, toys and historic objects, in addition to Mr. Koenigs nearly 100 significant sewing machines of international origin. Also sold was a collection of rare American automobilia that including dealer-issued literature and new old stock parts from manufacturers like Cadillac, Buick, Packard, and Chevrolet, plus the fabulous automobile hood ornament collection of Stewart Ferguson. A month ago, we actually considered deferring this sale because of the unknown impact of the COVID pandemic, said Ethan Miller of Miller & Miller Auctio ... More | | 
Since joining Phillips in May 2016, Mr. Crockett has been instrumental in spearheading the companys growth and business development across Asia. Image courtesy of Phillips.
HONG KONG.- Phillips announced the appointment of Jonathan Crockett as Chairman of Asia, reflecting the regions preeminent role in the companys overall growth strategy. Since joining Phillips in May 2016, Mr. Crockett has been instrumental in spearheading the companys growth and business development across Asia. He helped establish Phillips regional headquarters in Hong Kong, and has overseen the rapid expansion of a team across 8 major cities over the course of the past 5 years. To date he has supervised 7 highly successful series of sales in Hong Kong, with each season seeing record results being set. In 2019, Phillips total auction sales in Asia amounted to an outstanding HK $955 million, an increase of 77% since 2016, when Mr. Crockett joined as Deputy Chairman of Asia, marking the highest total in the companys history in the region. We have witnessed the extraordinary growth of Asia ... More |
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| | Thomas Sokolowski, 70, dies; put art in the service of AIDS activism | | Galerie Miranda reopens with he exhibition 'The Place of the Dry, Dry', by Chloe Sells | | Royal Collection Trust publishes 'Japan: Courts and Culture' | 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art observes a Day Without Art. Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times.
by Holland Cotter
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Thomas Sokolowski, an organizer of early and influential art-world responses to the AIDS crisis and later the longtime director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, died on May 6 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was 70. The cause was cardiac arrest following emergency surgery for a subdural hematoma, said Kathy Halbreich, executive director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and a friend and colleague. Sokolowski began his career in museum work in the early 1980s, at a time when AIDS was seldom acknowledged publicly in hard-hit cultural spheres. He used his position as a museum professional to connect the art world and the gay community, and to put art in the service of activism. His gift for outreach, and for viewing art through a political lens, would later shape his approach to directing the fledgling Warhol ... More | | 
Chloe Sells, The Form, 2017. C-type print collage, 168 x 106 cm. Unique. © Chloe Sells / Galerie Miranda.
PARIS.- Chloe Sells produced these recent works in the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana: "Driving into the searing heat of the white desert, I watched for the lone palm trees that line the banks of the unfaithful rivers, marking the beginning of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. I turned onto a well-worn track that led to an expansive savannah. Carved out of the spiny grasses were two nearly invisible lines that faded as I drove until becoming dust. Just then, a shoreline presented itself. The water was opalescent with the reflection of the setting sun and thousands of birds filled the sky. The breeze reached me swollen with their calls. The Makgadikgadi Salt Pans are in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. Seen from space they look like white blemishes on the surface of the earth, birthmarks of time. I first came for the flamingos, but I returned for something else. I stood on the edge of the Pans asking myself whether to portray beauty for the sake of beauty. Dave ... More | | 
Arita, Hizen Province (porcelain), France (mounts), Jar and cover, 1690-1720 (porcelain), 1780-1820 (mounts). Purchased for George IV in 1820. Photo: Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2019.
LONDON.- The Royal Collection contains one of the finest holdings of Japanese works of art in the western world, significant for both the unique provenance and the exceptional quality of the objects. For the first time, highlights from across the collection are brought together in the publication Japan: Courts and Culture, which tells the story of three centuries of diplomatic, artistic and cultural exchange between Britain and Japan. Featuring new research on previously unpublished works, the book showcases the unparalleled craftsmanship behind rare examples of porcelain, lacquer, armour, embroidery, metalwork and works on paper, and explores the local materials, techniques and traditions involved in their creation. Stunning photography illustrates a royal narrative never before documented in a publication, ... More |
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| | Richard Gilder, donor to parks, museum and history, dies at 87 | | NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery launches first-ever digital archive | | Jonathan Adewumi, who made everyone feel at home, dies at 57 | 
Richard Gilder at a meeting of the conservative Club for Growth in New York, June 19, 2001. Ruth Fremson/The New York Times.
by Sam Roberts
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Richard Gilder, a billionaire investor and benefactor who was instrumental in revitalizing two neglected exemplars of American democracy the study of American history and Central Park died Tuesday at his home in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was 87. His wife, actress Lois Chiles, said the cause was congestive heart failure. Gilder, a conservative, pro-growth Republican, formed an unlikely partnership in 1974 with George Soros, the liberal philanthropist, to rehabilitate Central Park, laying the foundation for what became the Central Park Conservancy in 1980. Embraced by New York Citys parks commissioner at the time, Gordon J. Davis, the conservancy, a public-private ... More | | 
A Comma, In Arabic Jumairy. Courtesy The NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery.
ABU DHABI.- As the world continues to practice physical distancing amid the current global pandemic, The NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Art Gallery invites the public to virtually reunite with artists and curators from its past exhibitions, and re-trace those exhibitions through the Gallerys first-ever digital archive. TRACE: Archives and Reunions is a series of ten events and archive releases that will enable viewers to digitally explore each of The NYUAD Art Gallerys past exhibitions every two weeks over the course of the summer. Launching on Monday, May 18, each exhibitions archive will include a range of material, such as the youth guides, illustrated by a local artist and developed by Assistant Director of Publications Alaa Edris; book publications; installation photos; videos; brochures; and audio guides. Audiences can virtually join a series of events in which curators reunite with artists f ... More | | 
Jonathan Adewumi. Via Adewumi family via The New York Times.
by Kim Severson
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Jonathan Adewumi grew up in New York, but he was African through and through. From creating a fashion company that dressed celebrities like Stevie Wonder in clothing from Nigeria to creating a Nigerian film festival and a Brooklyn restaurant that became a gathering place for the diaspora, Adewumi was dedicated to bridging the cultural gap between Africans and black Americans. He was often the first point of contact to many people who never had an African friend and for Africans who didnt understand the struggles of black Americans, said Adebayo Adewumi, a younger brother. Jonathan Adewumi died April 17 at Bayonne Medical Center in New Jersey. The cause was complications of the novel coronavirus, his brother said. He was 57. Adewumi ... More |
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Chagall and Matisse Lead Modern Art Masters Available for Private Sale
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| | More News |
 LaiSun Keane announces a solo exhibition of Native American artist and sculptor Raven HalfmoonLEXINGTON, MA.- LaiSun Keane, LLC announces a solo exhibition of Native American Artist and Sculptor Raven Halfmoon (Caddo Nation), titled Rumination In Isolation from May 21 to June 4, 2020. This exhibition explores the pertinent topic of isolation in times of COVID-19 focusing on the artists response to this strange and challenging period in our history. Halfmoon is currently an artist in residence at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts located in Montana. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Halfmoon has been living in isolation with limited social contact like the rest of the world. This altered state triggered work that reflects Halfmoons state of mind as a young woman who occasionally indulges on long baths, beer and Netflix TV shows. They are full of humor, observations and commentary. Her work celebrates our resiliency through ... More Takesada Matsutani presents a series of previously unseen works at Hauser & WirthNEW YORK, NY.- With the online exhibition, Stream, Ōsaka-born and Paris-based artist Takesada Matsutani presents a series of previously unseen works, alongside a significant body of preparatory drawings, multi-media paintings and lithographs, dating from the 1970s to present day. Organised with Olivier Renaud-Clément, the intimate presentation embodies Matsutanis intuitive and enduring connection with his materials over the past six decades, including a new work created in the artist's studio and home during this period of isolation. The artists unique visual language forms one of the most pioneering oeuvres to emerge from post-war Japan and is continually celebrated globally. The online exhibition follows Matsutanis retrospective survey at the Centre Pompidou, Paris in Summer 2019 and coincides with the re-opening of Takesada ... More How lockdown spelled stardom for 3 play-at-home musiciansBARCELONA (AFP).- When the epidemic hit, they were just three musicians stuck at home who started larking around on their terrace with a guitar and a bin in the hope of livening up lockdown. But two months and 27 songs later, the Barcelona trio has become a rooftop sensation, their catchy tunes in a mix of Spanish, Catalan and English winning them an impressive following online -- and a contract with Sony. Known as the "Stay Homas", Klaus, Rai and Guillem now have 400,000 followers on Instagram, Michael Buble has covered one of their songs and they have collaborated with Manu Chao and Pablo Alborán. And their first album will be out this autumn. "Not in a hundred lifetimes would I have ever believed this was going to happen to us. That Sony would come knocking because they like the songs we make on our rooftop with a guitar and a metal ... More De Buck Gallery opens an exhibition of works by Hiba SchahbazNEW YORK, NY.- In Solitude, Schahbazs timely new body of work, considers what it means to be an artist during a period of global crisis. Responding directly to her surroundings, Schahbazs collection of narrative painting was created in a home studio space as she isolates during the COVID-19 quarantine in New York City. Forced to pause her large-scale works following the temporary closure of her studio, the works in In Solitude mark a return to her life-long practice of creating meditative works on paper. Her intricate process is meticulous, reflective, and adheres stylistically to the traditions of Indo-Persian miniature painting, including high detail and a painted border. Schahbazs lyrical depictions of women are interwoven with references to intimate self-portraiture and iconography drawn from her own personal mythology. The work is at once deeply ... More Artangel and Freelands Foundation launch new initiative to support emerging artistsLONDON.- Artangel today announces Thinking Time a special initiative to support early-career artists to research, reflect and develop their ideas, with the generous support of the Freelands Foundation. The current state of suspension where production has stalled and arts institutions around the world have been forced to close has brought into focus something that never shuts down: the power and importance of imagination. Selected artists living and working in the UK will be funded by Artangel and the Freelands Foundation over the next six months to have some dedicated thinking time. Each artist will receive an award of £5,000 as well as mentoring and support from Artangel. The artists, aged in their 20s, 30s and 40s, work across the mediums of performance, poetry, choreography, music, video and installation. In addition to the support of the Freelands ... More National Gallery and Art Fund foster new museum talent LONDON.- The National Gallery and Art Fund announces Southampton City Art Gallery and Museums Sheffield as their partners for two fully funded curatorial traineeships, supported by Art Fund with the assistance of the Vivmar Foundation. Two new trainees, Jemma Craig and Corinna Henderson, have now finished six months of on-the-job curatorial training at the National Gallery, London, and are currently working from home on secondment for the partner organisations. Jemma Craig is working with Southampton City Art Gallery, building on its longstanding relationship with the National Gallery. She is researching the history of Southampton and the emergence of the City Art Gallery. Her placement will result in an exhibition that will bring fresh perspectives to key European paintings in the Southampton collection. Jemma Craig has a BA in English from the ... More Solo for flute, airport terminal and one listenerNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- On Sunday afternoon, Patrick Stein walked into Terminal 1 at Stuttgart Airport, normally one of the busiest in southern Germany. Hed been there hundreds of times before, having once worked at the airport. Except this time was different. The hangar-like building for once wasnt teeming with passengers struggling to check weighty bags into flights, or rushing to get through security. In fact, the terminal was eerily empty, except for two chairs. One of the chairs was for Stein. In the other sat Stephanie Winker, a flute player, waiting to give Stein his first experience of live music since Germany went into lockdown in March. Stein said in a telephone interview that he had known the concert was going to be a strange event. It was, after all, a one-on-one, 10-minute performance; he was not allowed to speak to the musician or even ... More James Hyman Gallery presents online exhibition to address physical and mental healthLONDON.- James Hyman Gallery presents a specially curated online exhibition that addresses physical and mental wellbeing entitled In Sickness and in Health: Heather Agyepong, Anna Fox and Jo Spence. Originally conceived for the cancelled Paris Photo New York fair in March, the themes of this three person exhibition have taken on a new resonance in the present global health crisis. The opening is timed to coincide with the UKs Mental Health Awareness Week and 10% of sales will go to MIND, the mental health charity. The exhibition includes Jo Spences seminal Phototherapy work made in the 1980s when Spence used photography as a psychological tool to navigate her diagnosis with cancer. Anna Fox presents one of her most celebrated, powerful and intimate bodies of work, My Mother's Cupboards and my Father's Words, a recording ... More German dramatist, Vatican critic Rolf Hochhuth dead at 89BERLIN (AFP).- Provocative German dramatist Rolf Hochhuth, whose most famous play "The Deputy" explored Vatican complicity in the Holocaust, has died aged 89, his publisher said on Thursday. He died unexpectedly from unknown causes at his home in Berlin on Wednesday, Rowohlt publishing house said. Hochhuth, who demanded a bold and thorough reckoning with the German past, courted controversy throughout his six-decade-long career, most strikingly with his first stage play. "The Deputy" argued that wartime pontiff Pius XII failed to take action to stop the Nazi slaughter of the Jews. The 1963 play, which Franco-Greek director Costa-Gavras adapted into his 2002 film "Amen", unleashed a storm of protest against the then 26-year-old writer and sparked an international debate about the Church's moral authority. In March, the Vatican opened its archives to historians ho ... More Turner Auctions + Appraisals to offer collection of posters from World Wars I & IISAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Turner Auctions + Appraisals will present the Hilman Walker Collection, showcasing an array of French posters from World War I and American posters from World Wars I and II. The sale also offers other war-era lithographs by Lucien-Hector Jonas; a large replica of USS Mahan (DLG-11) and related items; and tableware, posters and memorabilia from the United States Lines. Several lots from other collectors include WWI photographs and a WWII roadside billboard. Turner Auctions + Appraisals begins its online auction on Saturday, May 30, 2020, at 10:30 am PDT; sale items are available for preview and bidding now. The auction will be featured live on multiple platforms: LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, Bidsquare, iCollector, and Turner Auctions + Appraisals free mobile app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Apps ... More With galleries closed, a moment for net artists to shineLONDON (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- In early March, the artist Olia Lialina was installing a solo retrospective at the Arebyte gallery in East London, feeling anxious about whether anyone would be able to attend: Italy had already announced quarantine measures and other European countries looked likely to follow. Sure enough, by the time of the opening a few weeks later, Britain was in lockdown. She had to make the event online-only. The story will be familiar to artists, musicians and performers whose work has been interrupted, or simply obliterated, by the pandemic. But in Lialinas case there was a lucky twist: As one of the first so-called net artists to gain a profile in the 1990s, she is used to showing work online. Much of it isnt even designed to be exhibited in a gallery. Of course its sad about the show, but we didnt have to cancel, she ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, American photographer Richard Avedon was born May 15, 1923. Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 - October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. An obituary published in The New York Times said that "his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America's image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century". In this image: Humphrey Bogart, October 2, 1953 by Richard Avedon.
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