| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Friday, October 22, 2021 |
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| | Vienna museums resort to OnlyFans for cultural naked truth | |
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This file photo taken on February 28, 2018 shows a person opening a box containing the prehistoric 'Venus of Willendorf' figurine at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria. Censored by social networks, 18+ artworks from Viennese museums are finding a second life on the OnlyFans platform, known for its sexually implicit content. The Tourist Office of the Austrian capital with this coup opens 'the debate on the role of algorithms and technological giants in art', their director Norbert Kettner underlines in an interview with AFP. Launched in September, the account has attracted several hundred subscribers thanks to the recent media hype, but the 'daring' operation aims above all to defend 'artistic freedom'. Helmut FOHRINGER / APA / AFP.
by Anne Beade
VIENNA.- Fed up with social media sites censoring a naked paleolithic Venus and other works of art deemed suggestive, Viennese museums are showing them on the OnlyFans platform, known for hosting explicit content. An inspired publicity coup on the part of Vienna's tourist board, the OnlyFans account has won several hundred subscribers since its launch last month. But the office's director Norbert Kettner says the move is mostly meant to "start a debate about censorship in the arts and the role of algorithms and social networks in the arts". Kettner says the idea was born of museums' frustrations at the "difficulties when they are promoting exhibitions" due to the strict criteria some social media platforms use when deciding what counts as pornographic. A notorious example was Facebook's censoring in 2018 of the prehistoric "Venus of Willendorf" figurine on display in Vienna's Natural History Museum, considered a masterpiece of the paleolithic era. ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day This photograph taken in Lyon on October 20, 2021 shows the exhibition 'On the trail of the Sioux' at the Musee des Confluences. The exhibition 'On the trail of the Sioux', which opens on October 22, 2021, looks back at the origins of the representation of American Indians in Europe and in France. OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP.
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| Grammy, Oscar-winning artists featured in online O Museum Fundraiser on Oct. 24 | | Iconic Faith Ringgold painting acquired by National Gallery of Art | | Asia Week New York zooms in on The Luxurious Garden | 
Funds raised from the premiere and the online auction will go to support the Museums mission to address human rights, disparities, and systemic racism through education and self-empowerment programs that drive civic responsibility and heal the soul through music and storytelling.
WASHINGTON, DC.- O Museum in the Mansion, a 20th century Civil Rights site on the African-American Heritage Trail and the Washington, DC home-away-from-home of Mrs. Rosa Parks for over 10 years, will debut Every Step Tells A Story, on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021, to raise funds for the museums critical work to address systemic racism. Every Step Tells A Story, is a behind-the-scenes look at the Museums work to support artists and heroes in their individual missions to advance the arts or advance human rights. The documentary features artists, performers, and storytellers, including Grammy Award winners Emmylou Harris, Ranky Tanky, Jesse Colin Young, and Chuck Leavell. The event will also feature an online auction where donors can bid on vacations, memorabilia, and ... More | | 
Faith Ringgold, The American People Series #18: The Flag is Bleeding, 1967 (detail). Oil on canvas, 182.88 x 243.84 cm (72 x 96 in.). National Gallery of Art, Washington. Gift of Glenstone Foundation and Patrons' Permanent Fund 2021.28.1.
WASHINGTON, DC.- The National Gallery of Art has acquired The American People Series #18: The Flag is Bleeding (1967), its first painting by Faith Ringgold (b. 1930). This pivotal work by a leading figure of contemporary art exemplifies the artists skill in using art as a vehicle to question the social dynamics of race, gender, and power. As a visual storyteller, Ringgold is known for her thought-provoking depictions of the difficult realities of the American experience. The painting was acquired with funds gifted by Glenstone Foundation and from the Patrons Permanent Fund. On view through October 24, 2021, at Glenstone Museum, the work is scheduled to appear in Ringgold's retrospective at the New Museum in New York from February 17 to June 5, 2022. This may well be the most important ... More | | 
Portland Japanese Garden. Photo: Courtesy Portland Japanese Garden.
NEW YORK, NY.- For centuries people have looked to nature and gardens to provide emotional support, a place to gather to mark important events in their lives, or as an escape from the finite walls of their homes. In The Luxurious Garden and the Gratification of Retreat, a distinguished panel of eminently qualified experts will discuss the origins of these luxurious spacesdesigned in the Japanese and Chinese traditionand their impact on visitors throughout the ages. To reserve a space for this webinar on Thursday, October 28th at 5:00 EST p.m. Who at one time or another hasnt sought out a garden to provide something that enhances their lives? asks Andrew Lueck, Specialist, Vice President, Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art at Christies, who will moderate the discussion. Whether its a tranquil setting at a museum, such as The Astor Court at The Met; the rolling hills of the Huntington Gardens; the waterfall at the Portland Japanese ... More |
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| Wifredo Lam's breakthrough masterpiece La Réunion will highlight Christie's sale | | Chrysler Museum receives gifts of art from local collectors that enhance diversity in the permanent collection | | Vikings were in the Americas exactly 1,000 years ago | 
Wifredo Lam, La Réunion [Groupe]. Signed and dated "WiLam / 42" (lower right) and signed and dated on back (lower right) Tempera on paper mounted on canvas, 70 ¾ x 47 ¼ in (180 x 120 cm) Painted In 1942. Estimate: $3,000,000 - $4,000,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.
NEW YORK, NY.- On Thursday, 11 November 2021, Christies will present La Réunion, 1942 by Wifredo Lam as a highlight of the 20th Century Evening Sale in New York (estimate: $3,000,000 $4,000,000). A remarkable statement of cultural hybridity and diasporic identity, La Réunion is among the most important artworks in Lams oeuvre, immediately prefiguring his greatest achievement, The Jungle (1943). La Réunion will be on view at Christies Los Angeles 20 23 October and at Christies New York 30 October 11 November ahead of the auction. The Cuban-born Lam was the son of an Afro-Cuban mother and a Chinese father. His post-war body of work draws upon his mixed-race ancestry in a multi-faceted visual aesthetic, often incorporating African motifs alongside Western stylings. The unequivocal artistry born of this transcultural dialogue ... More | | 
Glenn Ligon (American b. 1960), Study for Negro Sunshine #73, 2011, Oilstick, coal dust, and gesso on paper, Promised Gift of Meredith and Brother Rutter © Glenn Ligon; Courtesy of the artist, Hauser & Wirth, New York, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, Thomas Dane Gallery, London and Chantal Crousel, Paris.
NORFOLK, VA.- As the Chrysler Museum of Art celebrates the 50th anniversary of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.s transformative gift of art, local and regional collectors continue to bolster the Chryslers holdings with enriching gifts of art. Meredith and Brother Rutter are members of this new generation of collectors and have promised eight pieces of contemporary painting, photography and sculpture to the Chrysler. Among the gifts are works by Glenn Ligon, McArthur Binion, Math Bass, Hank Willis Thomas, Matthew Brandt, Alex Prager and Brian Bress. The objects will come into the collection over time, with several pieces arriving in the next couple of years and others further in the future. Meredith and Brother Rutters gifts of art will allow the Chrysler to present powerful works and share stories that are relevant to the communities we serve, said Chrysler Museum Director Erik Neil. It is the ... More | | 
A microscope image provided by Petra Doeve shows one of the wood fragments examined by the researchers from LAnse aux Meadows. Petra Doeve via The New York Times.
by Katherine Kornei
NEW YORK, NY.- Six decades ago, a husband-and-wife team of archaeologists discovered the remains of a settlement on the windswept northern tip of Newfoundland. The sites eight timber-framed structures resemble Viking buildings in Greenland, and archaeological artifacts found there including a bronze cloak pin are decidedly Norse in style. Scientists now believe that this site, known as LAnse aux Meadows, was inhabited by Vikings who came from Greenland. To this day, it remains the only conclusively identified Viking site in the Americas outside of Greenland. But many questions remain about LAnse aux Meadows: Who exactly settled it? Why? And, perhaps most importantly, when was the site occupied? Pinning down the settlements age has been a challenge radiocarbon measurements of artifacts from LAnse aux Meadows ... More |
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| The return of the Shadowman | | Unseen for 40 years: Matisse from the Steins' collection leads Bonhams sale | | Curators squeezed out by high dino bones price tag | 
The artist Nullbureau paints a Richard Hambleton Shadowman in New Yorks Central Park, Sept. 28, 2021. Victor Llorente/The New York Times.
by Bob Morris
NEW YORK, NY.- He committed his first crime shortly after 2:00 in the morning on a recent Friday. With an athletes grace, he hopped a rusty gate and pulled a plastic bottle of black latex paint from his backpack. Then, in broad muscular strokes, he painted a shadowy silhouette of a scraggly man on the glass door beneath an abandoned cafe on West 23rd Street. It took form in 10 minutes, finished when he splattered droplets creating the impression that the brains of the menacing figures head were exploding as if from a geyser. I just think that door looks better that way, he told this tagalong reporter who pointed out the police car on the corner. And now the space is completely transformed. A man walking past it admired how the moody silhouette changed the setting. That looks a lot better than it looked before, he said to his companion. The stealth artist, a 47-year-old Seattle resident, former mountain bike racer and ... More | | 
Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Nu (femme) debout, dit aussi Nu près du paravent. Oil on canvas laid down on panel. 33.5 x 19.5cm (13 3/16 x 7 11/16in). Painted between late 1905 and early 1906. Estimate: £1,800,000-2,500,000. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- An important work by Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Nu (femme) debout unseen since it was exhibited in 1981 leads Bonhams Impressionist & Modern Art sale on Tuesday 23 November at New Bond Street, London. The work has been in the same private collection since 1977 and has an estimate of £1,800,000 - 2,500,000. Nu (femme) debout Standing Nude was first acquired by two of Matisses greatest friends and patrons, Michael and Sarah Stein. Michael was the brother of Gertrude and Leo Stein, and together they were some of the most pre-eminent collectors of Modern Art in Paris during the early 20th century. Bonhams Global Head of Impressionist and Modern Art, India Phillips, commented: Nu (femme) debout dates from the pinnacle of Henri Matisse's Fauvist period when his unbridled use of colour and handling of pigment was at its most radical and liberated. The work was acquired shortly ... More | | 
This file photo taken on August 31, 2021 shows a triceratops exhibited ahead of its sale at Drouot auction house in October. Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP.
by Charlotte Causit
PARIS.- This week the largest triceratops skeleton ever unearthed went up for auction in Paris -- but museum curators like Francis Duranthon can only dream of getting their hands on such a prize. With an estimated price tag of up to 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million), Duranthon, who directs the Toulouse Museum of Natural History, told AFP the skeleton would cost 20 to 25 years of his acquisitions budget. "We can't compete," he said. The triceratops is among the most distinctive of dinosaurs due to the three horns on its head -- one at the nose and two on the forehead -- that give the dinosaur its Latin name. "Big John" is the largest known surviving example, 66 million years old and with a skeleton some eight metres long. It was discovered in South Dakota in 2014 and flown to Italy where it was assembled by specialists. It is only the latest dinosaur to be sold by ... More |
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| Sotheby's to offer The Carlton Rochell Collection of Company School Paintings | | One of the very first coins to have been struck in 1652 in what is now the U.S. is discovered in a vintage sweet tin | | Sister Parish rises again, in a pop-up | 
A Lesser Adjutant Stork (Leptoptilos Javanicus) In a Landscape, Company School, Lucknow, circa 1775-85 (est. £60,000-80,000). Courtesy Sotheby's.
LONDON.- This October, Sothebys will hold the first auction dedicated solely to Company School Paintings, the work of Indian master artists who were commissioned by East India Company officials in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ranging in their subject matter from individual animal and human studies to complex architectural panoramas, together the remarkable corpus of paintings encapsulates on paper the rich fauna, flora and architecture of the Subcontinent. The works in the auction are being offered by the American collector and esteemed art dealer Carlton C. Rochell, Jr. Rochell spent the first 18 years of his career at Sotheby's, where he founded the Indian and Southeast Asian Art Department in 1988. He was on the Board of Directors and served as Managing Director of Sothebys Asia. In 2002, Rochell opened his own gallery in New York. Prior to the stand-alone auction in London on 27 October, highlights of In an ... More | | 
It has been confirmed as the finest-known surviving example of this iconic early North American coin. Estimate: £150,000-200,000 (US$200,000-300,000).
LONDON.- An extremely rare example of a mid 17th century New England shilling, one of the very first coins to have been struck in North America, has recently been discovered in an old sweet tin in the United Kingdom. It is due to be auctioned online on Friday 26 November by specialist auctioneers Morton & Eden based in London, when it is estimated to fetch £150,000-200,000 (US$200,000-300,000). The coin was identified by coin specialist James Morton, who recounts; There were several hundred coins in the old sweet tin. The coins were completely varied, from all over the world and in all metals, ranging in date from ancient times right up to the 1970s. I could see straight away that there were plenty of interesting pieces alongside some ordinary modern coins but there was one simple silver disc which immediately jumped out at me. I could hardly believe my eyes ... More | | 
Eliza Crater Harris, center, with her grandmother Apple Bartlett, right, and mother Susan Bartlett Crater at their Sister Parish pop-up shop in Millerton, N.Y. on Oct. 15, 2021. Landon Speers/The New York Times.
by Jaci Conry
NEW YORK, NY.- Sister Parish, the grande dame of American interior decorating, was a young Depression-era mother when she embarked on her career. She had no formal training in design, and yet she went on to re-imagine the rooms of the White House with Jacqueline Kennedy after her husband became president. Parish exalted luxury, yet the interiors she and her business partner Albert Hadley created for the homes of Brooke Astor, Bunny Mellon and Oscar de la Renta had a comfortable, lived-in feel. Rooted in traditional American decorative arts, she was the first to mix and match furnishings from different eras, styles and price points. A fan of chintz and ticking stripes, she treasured collections and used vibrant colors in her decorative schemes; she painted floors, layered textiles ... More |
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'A Coeur Ouvert' | Film Director Jacky Cukier on Collecting
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 At 90, a composer is still sending out blastsAPPEN.- Composer Sofia Gubaidulina, who turns 90 on Sunday, lives in a humble brick bungalow in this small town outside Hamburg. She receives guests in the dining room; to get there, they are led through the kitchen to a small round table decked out with a spread of strong tea, something sweet and the Russian Orthodox icon known as Our Lady of Kazan. Its all modest and unassuming. But there are clues everywhere of an eminent career in music. A Steinway grand piano, a gift from Rostropovich, has pride of place in the living room. On a bookshelf is a recent CD of Bruckners Seventh Symphony, conducted by Andris Nelsons, who will lead Gubaidulinas 2003 work The Light of the End with the Boston Symphony Orchestra this week. A gong hangs on a wall and a set of bamboo wind chimes hovers near a sliding-glass door reminders ... More  Leslie Bricusse, prolific songwriter for stage and screen, dies at 90NEW YORK, NY.- Leslie Bricusse, a composer and lyricist who contributed to Broadway hits like Stop the World I Want to Get Off and Jekyll & Hyde and popular films like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Goldfinger, died Tuesday. He was 90. The BBC said his agent had confirmed his death. News accounts said he died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, where he had a home. Bricusses songs, many written with actor and singer Anthony Newley or other partners, were recorded by a vast range of vocalists. Among the first was Sammy Davis Jr., who, when performing in London in 1961, saw the Newley-Bricusse show Stop the World, which had just opened in the West End, and became an ardent fan. He garnered a Top 20 hit in America in 1962 with his version of a song from that show, What Kind of Fool Am I? A decade later Davis would ... More  Martin Margiela is backNEW YORK, NY.- More than 13 years after leaving fashion behind, Martin Margiela, the elusive and highly influential Belgian designer who changed how we dressed in the 1990s, is back. But not as part of a nostalgia-driven trend wave. As an artist. On Wednesday, Margielas debut solo show, which is untitled, opened at Lafayette Anticipations Fondation dentreprise Galeries Lafayette in Paris. Like the Margiela clothes, which deconstructed notions of the suit and beauty through unconventional materials and approaches, the exhibition creates a sense of wonder around the banal through some 40 sculptures, collages, paintings, installations and films. It is almost as though Margiela views the world through the lens of a photographic negative, highlighting the details most of us never see and demanding they be reconsidered. I became obsessed ... More  Two New York orchestras return with acts of renewalNEW YORK, NY.- How should classical music ensembles return to live performance after 18 months of pandemic closures and a nationwide reckoning with racial injustice? Its a question that has loomed as programmers decide whether to open their seasons with statements of purpose. Recently, two major New York groups the Orchestra of St. Lukes and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra returned with what appeared to be mostly standard fare that could come across as timid missed opportunities, yet offered exceptionally fine and committed music-making that felt like acts of renewal. At Carnegie Hall last Thursday, Bernard Labadie, the music director of St. Lukes since 2018, warmly greeted the audience and explained that when he and the players started planning their program, one word jumped out: joy. This concert was all about ... More  The 'TikTok necklace' sparks a Vivienne Westwood renaissanceNEW YORK, NY.- First came the TikTok lights, then the TikTok yoga pants and finally, this summer, the TikTok necklace: a three-strand Vivienne Westwood pearl choker first shown in 1990 that has popped up in certain stylish corners of the app. The necklace, which imbues prim pearls with a bit of punk, is one of many vintage Westwood items that have found young fans online, thanks to a combination of factors: famous brand-boosters (Rihanna, Zendaya, Dua Lipa, Bella Hadid and Lisa Manobal of the K-pop group Blackpink, to name a few); nostalgia for clothing made from the 90s and mid-2000s; and the resurgence of a stylish anime television series from that era called Nana. Released in 2006 and based on a manga series by the Japanese author Ai Yazawa, the show follows two women in their early 20s, both named Nana, who meet on a train ... More  Morphy's to auction rare coin-ops, early mechanical music machines, Nov. 4-6DENVER, PA.- At the turn of the 20th century, a pocketful of nickels or quarters was all a patron needed for thrills and entertainment at a saloon, amusement arcade or gambling house. Remarkably, the price to operate the ingenious machines that once filled a room with music or paid out a jackpot has not changed, but finding fine examples of such machines is quite another matter. This explains why Morphy Auctions Coin-Op & Antique Advertising series is so popular with collectors. Morphys never fails to present a connoisseurs selection of coin-ops and exquisite advertising signs that are rarely seen elsewhere. Their next specialty sale, November 4-6, will offer more than 1,500 choice lots over the three-day period. An impressive lineup of 122 music machines is led by a Star Trade Register (Montpelier, Vt.) musical trade stimulator with ... More  Mia Wasikowska channels female directors on 'Bergman Island'LOS ANGELES, CA.- Mia Wasikowska burst into Hollywood with "Alice in Wonderland" in 2010, when Forbes named her the world's top-grossing actress -- but like many women, she has found it more challenging to get behind the camera, a decade later. Now 31 and living back in her native Australia, she is "having a really hard time" getting her dream projects as a director financed. "I would love to branch into more directing -- I would love that -- but it's hard, and I feel like it's a different experience, being a woman," Wasikowska told AFP. "In acting, you feel it in a different way, and of course with #MeToo... that's a whole thing. "But it's felt interesting to be trying to get my film done, which feels like it's made from a very female perspective. The response is different to what I've seen for my male friends." The challenges facing female directors ... More  Fine Jewelry and Luxury Accessories auction presents timeless classics and fresh-to-market showstoppersPHILADELPHIA, PA.- On Thursday, October 28, Freemans presents a Fine Jewelry and Luxury Accessories auction beginning at 12pm, featuring 74 lots of jewelry, handbags, and fine accessories. The auctions highlight is a shiny black Crocodile Porosus Hèrmes Birkin 35 bag, a rare and valuable example of the iconic design (Lot 74; estimate: $25,000-40,000). In excellent condition and constructed of the most exotic material offered by Hèrmes, this handbag is a must-have addition for any serious handbag collector. Fine Jewelry and Luxury Accessories also features a suite of leather Birkin 35 handbags in a number of colorways (Lots 70-73; estimate: $7,000-9,000 each). A number of pieces confirm Freemans premier place in presenting signed works by leading houses and designers, from an eye-catching Cartier diamond, turquoise, and gold ... More  Egypt dissidents revive rich prison writing traditionCAIRO.- Having spent the better part of a decade behind bars, Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah is reaching beyond his cell with a new book. Egypt has a long history of political prisoners turning to writing to capture their experiences in confinement. An icon of the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak, Abdel Fattah wrote prolifically over the years, becoming one of the best-known voices of the protest movement. His writings have now been anthologised into a book published this week, titled: "You Have Not Yet Been Defeated". With a foreword by Canadian author Naomi Klein, the title of the nearly 450-page book released by a British publisher is a nod to Abdel Fattah's continued public engagement, even while in solitary confinement. "He has different voices with his writing, from the technical to the passionate and poetic," his mother, veteran activist Laila Soueif, told AFP. ... More  Canadian wins prestigious Chopin piano competitionWARSAW.- Canadian pianist Bruce Xiaoyu Liu was awarded first prize in the Chopin piano competition in Warsaw on Thursday, clinching one of the world's most prestigious music awards. "Being able to play Chopin in Warsaw is one of the best things you can imagine," 24-year-old Liu said as the jury announced their decision at the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall. Previous winners of the Chopin Competition include some of the greatest names in classical music, such as Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich and Krystian Zimerman. Held every five years since 1927, the Chopin competition would normally have been held last year, but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic -- a first since World War II. "It was challenging to get all the competitors into Poland," Artur Szklener, director of the National Institute of Frederic Chopin, which ... More  Ronaldo wearing 'wrong' shirt at Dubai's Madame TussaudsDUBAI.- Dubai's Madame Tussauds said Wednesday it will soon change the shirt of the wax figure of Cristiano Ronaldo after online backlash that the Portuguese footballer was wearing the "wrong" jersey. London's renowned waxwork museum opened this week in its first outpost in the Arab world in Dubai, with Ronaldo's wax figure donning the striped black and white shirt of his previous team, Italy's Juventus. In August, Ronaldo returned to Manchester United in the English Premier League on a two-year contract with an option to extend that deal by a further season. "With the ever-changing, fast world of sports where players regularly move teams, fans of Cristiano Ronaldo will be excited to hear that his wax figure is being updated with his new Manchester United jersey very soon," the museum said in a statement to AFP. "Each figure at the attraction ... More |
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Mark Rothko 
Suzanne Valadon 
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Flashback On a day like today, American artist Robert Rauschenberg was born October 22, 1925. Robert Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 - May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations. Rauschenberg was both a painter and a sculptor and the Combines are a combination of both, but he also worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1993. In this image: Actress and singer Liza Minnelli poses with artist Robert Rauschenberg at the opening of Rauschenberg's silkscreen paintings at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 1990.
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