| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Monday, April 26, 2021 |
| | | The fine art of the armourers and blacksmiths in the 89th Auction of Hermann Historica | |
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A bone inlaid crossbow, Germany, ca. 1600/20.
MUNICH.- The impressive craftsmanship of the early armourers and blacksmiths is clearly evident in the 322 lots, with a range of medieval and early modern objects from arsenals and royal armouries. Technically sophisticated and meticulously detailed, armour was not merely designed to protect the wearer, but also to underline his prestige. Invariably walking the tightrope between optimum mobility and optimum protection, the most outstanding craftsmen of their time created objects beyond compare, such as a black and white half armour for a man-at-arms from South Germany, complete with the matching burgonet, which is now estimated at 25,000 euros. Dating from 1560, every last component in this set of exceptionally decorative and homogeneous armour is original. This association can be clearly seen in the identical chased décor of finely inset, decorative lines and surrounding band of meander ornament in black and white, popularly known as running dog. No less ornate, and requiring the skill of an e ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Made in L.A. 2020: a version, the fifth iteration of the Hammer's biennial exhibition highlighting the practices of artists working throughout greater Los Angeles, is cocurated by Myriam Ben Salah and Lauren Mackler, with the Hammer's Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi as assistant curator of performance. All 30 artists included in Made in L.A. 2020: a version is being represented at both the Hammer and The Huntington--- in two versions that make up the whole---with select off-site and online interventions in between.
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| Christie's to offer the Spectacle: A 100 carat D-colour Internally Flawless diamond | | Alber Elbaz, beloved fashion designer, is dead at 59 | | Thaddaeus Ropac exhibits Robert Rauschenberg's Night Shades and Phantoms |
The Spectacle, a 100.94cts, D colour, IF diamond estimated at $12 1 8 million. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.
GENEVA.- On 12 May Christies will present the Spectacle, a 100.94 carat, D-colour Internally Flawless diamond, estimated at $12,000,000-18,000,000, as a highlight of the Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction. The diamond was cut from a rare 207.29 carat rough stone. The incredible size and impeccable quality made the rough diamond extremely unusual and valuable. It was unearthed in 2016 at Zarnitsa kimberlite pipe in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in the northeast of Russia, the first-ever diamond deposit discovered in Soviet Russia in 1954. This exceptional diamond is graded D-colour, the very best grading available for a diamond. In 1953 the first clarity scale by which diamonds would be graded was introduced. During the 1970s, the Internally Flawless grade was added. This grading gave diamond manufacturers a choice to leave traces of nature on the surface of the stone, and achieve a grade higher than VVS1. ... More | |
In this file photo taken on October 03, 2016 Israeli-US fashion designer Alber Elbaz delivers a speech after he received the title of Officer in the National Order of Merit by French Culture minister at the Culture ministry in Paris on October 3, 2016. CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP.
by Elian Peltier and Vanessa Friedman
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Alber Elbaz, a Moroccan-born Israeli fashion designer who rejuvenated Lanvin and had recently launched a new venture, AZ Factory, died Saturday in Paris. He was 59. The cause was COVID-19, Richemont, the company backing Elbazs brand, said. Beloved not only by his celebrity clients like Meryl Streep and Natalie Portman but also by his peers, Elbaz was that rare character in fashion: a truly empathetic and generous designer, both in the clothes he made and in the way he conducted himself within the business. The graceful lines of his dresses mimicked the graceful lines of his life. Alber always thought of fashion as an embrace of life at its best, said Anna Wintour, the global chief content officer ... More | |
Installation view. Robert Rauschenberg, Night Shades and Phantoms, Thaddaeus Ropac London 2021. Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London Paris Salzburg.
LONDON.- Robert Rauschenbergs Night Shades and Phantoms are two series of metal paintings from 1991, composed of silk-screened photographic images and gestural strokes on aluminium supports. Made during his decade-long experimentations with metal, these paintings are characterised by their grayscale palette, which ranges from the Night Shades painterly chiaroscuro to the Phantoms mirrored surfaces and ethereal translucency. Rauschenberg creates dream-like imagery which appears and disappears as a result of light, shadows and reflections across the artworks surfaces. The works respond to their surroundings, playing with the viewers perception and bringing the world into the paintings, recalling Rauschenbergs famous maxim: Painting relates to both art and life. Neither can be made. (I try to act in the gap between the two.). Organised in collaboration with the Robert Rauschenberg ... More |
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| Artis-Naples opens first solo museum exhibition in Southwest Florida for Marcus Jansen | | Dia 2.0: Facing the future | | India's fashion artisans face 'extreme distress' in pandemic |
Marcus Jansen, The Colonialist, 2021. Oil enamels, spray paint and oil stick on canvas.
50 x 74 inches. Courtesy of Richard Beavers Gallery.
NAPLES, FLA.- ArtisNaples opened the first solo museum exhibition in Southwest Florida for internationally exhibited artist Marcus Jansen. The exhibition Marcus Jansen: Two Decades of Relevance opened on April 24 and is part of the season-long celebration of the 20th anniversary of The Baker Museum. The exhibition will be on view at The Baker Museum through July 25. Kathleen van Bergen, CEO and President, said We are honored to be welcoming Marcus Jansen and his work to The Baker Museum, especially while celebrating the museums 20th anniversary. We have been thrilled to safely open our doors this season to the community, and we invite everyone to experience Marcus show. Marcus works are simultaneously emotional, introspective and intellectual, and he has built an international reputation for fully engaging the viewer in critical topics about our world. Courtney McNeil, Museum ... More | |
Party/After-Party, by Carl Craig. Eva Deitch, Dia Art Foundation via The New York Times.
by Randy Kennedy
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- In 1988, the Dia Art Foundation hosted one of the most momentous readings in postwar art history reclusive poet James Schuyler appeared before an audience for the first time in memory, occasioning a line down Mercer Street to the foundations SoHo headquarters. One particularly lovely turn in Schuylers poem Empathy and New Year elicited a hum of admiration from the crowd: Not knowing a name for something proves nothing. The sentiment could have been written as a maxim for Dia itself. What was this unusual, diffused, at times unstable art organization, exactly, and did it matter if no name quite suited? Founded in Manhattan in 1974 by art dealer Heiner Friedrich, his wife, Philippa de Menil, an heir to the Schlumberger oil-field company, and art historian Helen Winkler, it has never operated like a museum by any conventional measure. It didnt have a central location ... More | |
A worker at an embroidery factory in Mumbai, India, Feb. 12, 2020. The working conditions of the so-called karigars, who make handicrafts for luxury brands, have long been an issue. Now many have no job at all. Atul Loke/The New York Times.
by Elizabeth Paton
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Saddam Sekh used to be a floor supervisor at a steamy Indian workshop in Mumbai that produced orders for an exporter working with some of the biggest names in luxury fashion, including Dior and Gucci. Day and night, he would watch as the karigars an Urdu term for the highly skilled artisans who specialize in handicrafts like embroidery, beading and appliqué stitched designer gowns destined for the Hollywood red carpet, or ornate samples for runway shows in Milan and Paris. But when the coronavirus pandemic took hold, their work slammed to a halt, the backbone of the Indian garment supply chain quickly crumbling as millions of migrant laborers scattered across the country. More than a year later as India races to contain a second wave ... More |
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| Christie's to offer the highest-estimated Asian artwork ever offered at auction | | Galerie Max Hetzler opens a solo exhibition of new paintings by Albert Oehlen | | Copenhagen Contemporary reopens with an installation by Elmgreen & Dragset |
Xu Beihong (1895-1953), Slave and Lion (detail), oil on canvas, 123.3 x 152.8 cm. Painted in 1924. Estimate: HK$350,000,000 450,000,000 / US$45,000,000 58,000,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.
HONG KONG.- Christies will offer Slave and Lion, a magnificent national treasure of museum quality, by Chinese Modern master Xu Beihong (1895-1953). As one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century, he paved the way for Chinese Realism and pioneered modern art education in China. The work carries an estimate of HK$350,000,000 450,000,000/ US$45,000,000 58,000,000, the highest estimated Asian artwork ever offered at auction. Following the previous world records set by Christies for Su Shis Wood and Rock and Sanyus Five Nudes, the sale is an ongoing testament to Christies ability in sourcing the most important Asian Art masterpieces. The painting is a ground-breaking example of the artists thematic creations, and signifies a watershed moment in modern Chinese art history. In order to underscore the historical ... More | |
Albert Oehlen, u.b.B. 13, 2021. 190 x 160 cm.; 74 3/4 x 63 in. © Albert Oehlen. Photo: def image.
BERLIN.- Galerie Max Hetzler is presenting unverständliche braune Bilder, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Albert Oehlen on view at two of its Berlin locations, GoethestraÃe 2/3 and BleibtreustraÃe 15/16. One of the most respected painters today, Albert Oehlen has been questioning the methods and means of painting since the 1980s, raising a sense of awareness of the medium, which he aims to reinvent and to reshape, always in opposition to traditional hierarchies. Featuring twenty new works, grouped by the prefixes u.b.B. (unverständliche braune Bilder) and Ã-Norm, the paintings on view at Galerie Max Hetzler are works on canvas, with one painted on aluminium Dibond. As the title, incomprehensible brown pictures, suggests, earthy pigments predominate, evoking the colours of Cubism, or of artists painting at the time, such as Francis Picabia. Yet many other colours feature too, ranging from vibrant pinks and primaries to gr ... More | |
Elmgreen & Dragset, Short Story (2020). Installation view at Copenhagen Contemporary,
2021. Photo: David Stjernholm.
COPENHAGEN.- With the installation Short Story, the Danish-Norwegian artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset has transformed Hall 2 into a virtually full-size tennis court. The familiar orange floor, the white chalk lines, and the net frame a hushed scene where the three sculptures Flo, Kev, and Bogdan play the leading roles. Elmgreen og Dragset's Short Story is a film still, capturing the moment after a match; however, it is up to viewers to fill out the narratives frozen in time and space before them. Short Story does not provide much in the way of answers or explanations. Three characters stand before us, but the underlying subtle narratives remain fleeting and difficult to decipher. Instead, we step into an arena where we can reflect on and discuss subjects like competition, individualism, inclusion, and exclusion. The posture of the two white-painted bronze sculptures of the young boys named Flo and Kev indicate that they have ... More |
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| Louisiana Museum of Modern Art reopens with the biggest presentation of Arthur Jafa's art to date | | Renowned opera singer Christa Ludwig dies aged 93 | | A new installation brings playful and thought-provoking public art to Stanford |
Arthur Jafa, Big Wheel II, 2018. Chains, rim, hubcap, tire and fabric, 242 x 240 x 104 cm. Barasch Carmel Family Collection © Arthur Jafa.
HUMLEBÃK.- Louisiana Museum of Modern Art opened the exhibition MAGNUMB by the American artist Arthur Jafa. Two and a half years in the planning, the exhibition is the biggest presentation of Jafas art to date. All of Jafas work deals with the great and original creative power of Black American culture, as opposed to the harsh reality of Black American life. Arthur Jafa is widely considered one of the most important artists working today. Over a long career, he has moved in and out of the worlds of film, music and art without ever making a permanent home in one. No matter where he has been, he has always been driven by the ambition to create or develop a Black American cinema with the power, beauty, and alienation of black music. Bound up with this ambition is Jafas lifelong interest in the specificity of Black American culture what it excels at, such as music, and what it grows out of. The history of Ameri ... More | |
In this file photo taken on January 28, 2008 Austrian singer Christa Ludwig poses during a photocall iCannes, southern France, during the MIDEM, the world's biggest and most influential music trade fair. Opera singer Christa Ludwig has died at age 93, Austrian media reported on April 25, 2021. Valery HACHE / AFP.
VIENNA (AFP).- Christa Ludwig, widely regarded as one of the greatest opera singers of the 20th century, has died at age 93, the Vienna State Opera said on Sunday. The mezzo-soprano, whose repertoire ranged from Beethoven, Mozart and Mahler to Strauss, Verdi and Wagner in a career spanning nearly 50 years, died on Saturday at her home in Klosterneuburg, just outside Vienna, Austrian news agency APA reported. Born in Berlin on March 16, 1928, Ludwig grew up in Aachen, west Germany, where her father, a tenor, also conducted at the local opera house. Her mother, too, was a mezzo-soprano. "Singing for me was as natural as learning to walk," she said once. Ludwig made her operatic debut as Prince Orlofsky in Johann ... More | |
Created by artist Alicja Kwade, the site-specific outdoor work titled Pars pro Toto was installed in the Science & Engineering Quad Courtyard earlier this month. Image: Andrew Brodhead.
STANFORD, CA.- Twelve dazzling stone spheres, ranging in size from a diminutive 16 inches to a colossal 98 inches, are a surprising and provocative addition to the Science and Engineering Quad. International artist Alicja Kwade created the site-specific outdoor work, titled Pars pro Toto, which was installed earlier this month. Sited between the octagonal Jen-Hsun Huang Engineering Center at one end of the quad and a double row of poker-straight palm trees on the other end, the spheres of stones sourced from eight different countries give the quad the feeling of a giant play space scattered with marbles, pick-up-sticks and building blocks. In fact, the artist determined the positioning of the stones by throwing tiny spheres onto a model of the quad to see where they would land. The highly collaborative process of selecting the work was launched by Jennifer Widom, the Frederick ... More |
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Monet Captures the Beauty and Brevity of Nature
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Bob Fass, pioneer of underground radio, dies at 87
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Bob Fass, who for more than 50 years hosted an anarchic and influential radio show on New Yorks countercultural FM station WBAI that mixed political conversation, avant-garde music, serendipitous encounters and outright agitation, died Saturday in Monroe, North Carolina, where he lived in recent years. He was 87. His wife, Lynnie Tofte, said he had been hospitalized with COVID-19 earlier in the month but died of congestive heart failure. Fass called his long-running show Radio Unnameable, because its freewheeling format did not fit into conventional categories like Top 40 or all talk. In a gravelly, avuncular baritone that was both soothingly intimate and insistently urgent, and that sometimes reflected the mellowing impact of the pot he smoked on the air, he might start out with a critique of segregation ... More
'He saved my life': DMX remembered by fans and family
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The day began the way that the man it was all for might have chosen to end it: with a prayer. Huddled together, a group of 30 clenched one anothers hands alongside a huge monster truck holding a maroon coffin on its bed. Todays a special day for us, one member said with his head bowed at the start of his 90-second invocation. Lets celebrate our brother X. The group then joined over 1,000 people, mostly members of the Ruff Ryders motorcycle club, who had traveled to Yonkers, New York, to ride in a procession to Barclays Center in Brooklyn to celebrate the life of DMX, a man whom many described feeling an intimate closeness to, regardless of whether they had ever shared a word with him. He didnt have family, but he found family through Ruff Ryders, said Joaquin Dean, also known ... More
Zhuang Hui's new solo exhibition "Qilian Range, Redux" opens at Galleria Continua's Beijing space
BEIJING.- Galleria Continua opened Zhuang Huis new solo exhibition Qilian Range, Redux at the Beijing gallery space. The exhibition is curated by Karen Smith. Zhuang Hui is one of the most important conceptual artists of his generation. Born in Gansu, but based in Beijing since 1995, he has been at the forefront of developments in the capitals art scene, contributing works to a number of seminal 1990s exhibitions of Chinas new art and, through the same timeframe, assisting in the compilation of several highly influential self-compiled books on the subject of conceptual practice by the new generation of artists in the 1990s. Continuing through to the present, Zhuang Huis work in the field of contemporary art has often extended to research across the length and breadth of the Chinese mainland, and to the support of artists living in remoter ... More
In Iraqi Kurdistan, book clubs and science fiction offer 'escape'
ARBIL (AFP).- Huda Kathem waits anxiously for feedback on her first novel, scrutinised by a book club in Iraqi Kurdistan's Arbil, where young authors are breathing new life into a centuries-old oral culture. "This is the first time my book is being critiqued," the 17-year-old first-year medical student told AFP. "I learnt a lot about how to improve my writing and storytelling," she said, adding that comments from other writers, readers and professors had given her "enormous encouragement" to continue. With a published children's book under her belt, the young author's first novel, titled "Barani Marg" (Death Rain), tells the story of a Kurdish boy who runs away from a broken home and a broken heart to join the army at age 15. It's a familiar story for more than a few residents of the autonomous northern region of Iraq, a country ravaged by decades of conflict. ... More
Christie's Hong Kong to offer exceptional masterpieces from the Classical to the Modern age
HONG KONG.- From classical masters to modern pioneers, Christies will offer an outstanding collection of coveted masterpieces for auction on 26th and 27th May. These masterworks represent pivotal moments in Chinese art history, with timeless works from leading Qing dynasty artist Zhang Zongcang, to 20th century masters such as Zhang Daqian, Wu Guanzhong, Fu Baoshi, and Li Keran. Kim Yu, International Specialist Head of Chinese Paintings Department, commented: The incredible selection of masterpieces showcases some of the most important paintings by iconic Chinese artists. These works span multiple eras and celebrate the highest levels of artistic achievement in Chinese history. We are honoured to be offering such a sensational line up of works this May, and look forward to convening global collectors together at this ... More
Tai Kwun Contemporary showcases 'Portals, Stories, and Other Journeys'
HONG KONG.- Tai Kwun Contemporary is presenting a new group exhibition, Portals, Stories, and Other Journeys, on view from 23 April to 1 August 2021 at the art galleries in Tai Kwun. Presented by Asia Art Archive and curated by Michelle Wong, Portals, Stories, and Other Journeys takes the extensive personal archive of the late Hong Kong artist Ha Bik Chuen (19252009) as a starting point, exploring what this archive does in contributing to todays art history and discourse and additionally inviting contemporary artists to respond to Has archival and art practice with new commissions. The exhibition thus allows more complex narratives about Hong Kongs art ecology to emerge and reveals parts of Hong Kongs cultural world that are not always visible. The starting point of Portals, Stories, and Other Journeys is the late sculptor and ... More
Exhibition at Philippe Labaune Gallery showcases illustrations by 30 international artists
NEW YORK, NY.- Philippe Labaune Gallery is presenting the inaugural exhibition, Good for Health - Bad for Education: A Tribute to Otomo. The exhibition showcases illustrations by 30 international artists in homage to Japanese artist Katsuhiro Otomos seminal 1982 manga series: Akira. Featuring a selection of new work, the exhibition builds upon the 2016 tribute curated by Julien Brugeas at the Angoulême Festival hosted by Frances Ministry of Culture and Galerie Glénat, which honored Otomos distinct aesthetic contribution to the genre. A Tribute to Otomo is on view from April 8 - May 8, 2021. Set during the third world war in a post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo, Otomos lauded cyper-punk series Akira follows a biker gang and its leader, Kaneda, as they try to prevent the antagonist Tetsuo, a powerful yet troubled former gang member, from ... More
Unique project turns the spotlight on statements of women from Central and Eastern Europe
WARSAW.- Over 250 woman artists and one platform that turns the spotlight on statements of women from Central and Eastern Europe. Secondaryarchive.org is a unique, international project, representing three generations of artists from Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Its aim is to help promote, discover, and rediscover women artists and the most valuable phenomena of contemporary art of our region from the female perspective. The project was created by the Katarzyna Kozyra Foundation together with international partners. Women artists, marginalized and neglected for years, regain their rightful place in the artistic world of Central and Eastern Europe. The name secondaryarchive.org is a slight provocation and a play on words, referring to the secondary role that was historically assigned to these countries, ... More
Outstanding condition the mark of former projectionist's extensive film poster collection set for auction
WOKING.- The consignment for Ewbanks upcoming single-owner film poster collection is so large that the auction house has had to delay the auction by a week in order to complete cataloguing it. But the vast size of the Michael Armstrong collection, now set for the rostrum on May 7, is not its most important feature, as Ewbanks partner and specialist Alastair McCrea reveals. The outstanding factor is its condition. Michael Armstrong was the longstanding and final projectionist at The Regal cinema in Wymondham, Suffolk before it closed in 1993 and he retained all of the promotional posters and lobby cards in first class condition. So unlike other posters and cinema memorabilia, they have not been damaged in any way by changing hands from collector to collector. Expected to fetch a hammer total of around £50,000, the 320-lot sale includes ... More
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PhotoGalleries
Sophie Taeuber-Arp & Hans Arp: Cooperations â Collaborations
Future Retrieval
Clarice Beckett
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Flashback On a day like today, French painter Eugène Delacroix was born April 26, 1798. Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (26 April 1798 - 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school. As a painter and muralist, Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement. In this image: A man looks at the painting "Jeune tigre jouant avec sa mere" during a press visit of the exhibition "Delacroix (1798-1863)" at the Louvre Museum in Paris on March 27, 2018. The exhibition on French artist Eugene Delacroix will run from March 29 to July 23. PATRICK KOVARIK / AFP.
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