| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Saturday, February 6, 2021 |
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| | French museums beg to reopen as blockbusters go unseen | |
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In this file photo taken on January 08, 2021 at the Louvre Museum in Paris shows the Aphrodite, known as Venus de Milo sculpture in an empty hall, as the Museum remains closed due to the sanitory situation. The rebellion of museums is growing against a closure they believe they do not deserve: petitions and proposals were sent to Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot's cabinet for a quick reopening. Martin BUREAU / AFP.
by Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere
PARIS (AFP).- It was to be a highlight of the art calendar: 230 works by impressionist master Henri Matisse gathered at France's leading modern art museum to mark 150 years since his birth. But thanks to the pandemic, the show at the Pompidou Centre in Paris stayed open for only 10 days after it began in October, and it looks highly unlikely to resume before the paintings are packed away again at the end of February. Only 17,000 people secured a ticket in time -- an abysmally low figure for a museum that attracts more than three million visitors each year in normal times. "For an artist that was absolutely not melancholy, this is something very melancholy," said Pompidou curator Aurelie Verdier. This week, desperate museums demanded a chance to reopen -- even if only partially -- with two petitions to the government signed by hundreds within the industry and wider art community. "For an hour, a day, a week or a month -- let us reopen our doors, even if we have to shut them again in the case of anoth ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Who runs a vintage car service company, sitting in a 1959 Cadillac Coupe DeVille after a gathering of auto enthusiasts in Tokyo. A loose club of fans rolls up most weekends in central Tokyo to show off their Cadillacs, Chevrolets and other modern classic vehicles from the mid to late 20th century. Philip FONG / AFP
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| Christopher Plummer, actor from Shakespeare to 'The Sound of Music,' dies at 91 | | Exhibition features new sculptures, drawings and wall-works made by Phyllida Barlow | | In Frank Stella's constellation of Stars, a perpetual evolution | 
Christopher Plummer as Henry Drummond in a scene from the play "Inherit the WInd" at the Lyceum Theater in New York on March 21, 2007. Sara Krulwich/The New York Times.
by Bruce Weber
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Christopher Plummer, the prolific and versatile Canadian-born actor who rose to celebrity as the romantic lead in perhaps the most popular movie musical of all time; was critically lionized as among the preeminent Shakespeareans of the past century; and won an Oscar, two Tonys and two Emmys, died Friday at his home in Weston, Connecticut. He was 91. His wife, Elaine Taylor, said the cause was a blow to the head as a result of a fall. The scion of a once-lofty family whose status had dwindled by the time he was born, Plummer nonetheless displayed the outward aspects of privilege throughout his life. He had immense and myriad natural gifts: a leading mans face and figure; a slightly aloof mien that betrayed supreme confidence, if not outright self-regard; an understated athletic grace; a sonorous (not to say plummy) speaking voice; ... More | | 
Phyllida Barlow, untitled: brink; 2020, 2020. Canvas, cement, bonding plaster, PVA, paint, plaster, plywood, polystyrene, polyure-thane foam, spray paint, steel, 198 x 76 x 50 cm / 78 x 29 7/8 x 19 5/8 in © Phyllida Barlow. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
ZURICH.- For more than fifty years, acclaimed British artist Phyllida Barlow has created sculptures and large-scale installations using a direct and intuitive process of making. Her first solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Zürich, small worlds, features new sculptures, drawings and wall-works made by the artist during and inspired by the 2020 lockdown in London. The exhibition in Zurich coincides with Barlows major survey show at Haus der Kunst in Munich, opening on the 4 March 2021. Barlows sculptural practice is grounded in an anti-monumental tradition and is concerned with the relationship between objects and the space that surrounds them. She is known for transforming humble, readily available materials through layering, accumulation, and juxtaposition, often drawing inspiration from her urban surroundings and referencing construction debris, architectural details, signs, and discarded objects. The works ... More | | 
Frank Stellas Stars, A Survey, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, September 21, 2020 to May 9, 2021, Fat 12 Point Carbon Fiber Star, 2016 (installation view), Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and Aspen © 2020 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Jason Mandella.
by Jason Farago
RIDGEFIELD (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- For Carl Jung, a name was not just a name. In his 1960 book Synchronicity, the Swiss psychiatrist proposed that what youre called may have a determining effect on your whole life, structuring your behaviors and your outlook in ways that resemble a secret compulsion. Someone called Herr Gross (Mr. Tall, in German) probably suffers from delusions of grandeur, Jung wrote, while Herr Kleiner (Mr. Little Guy) has an inferiority complex. The good doctor did not spare himself from this diagnosis; why is Herr Doktor Jung so interested in youth, while Freud (Dr. Joy) espouses the pleasure principle? A pretty silly theory. But then consider Frank Stellas Stars, a Survey, a quiet but cheering ... More |
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| Museum exploring music's Black innovators arrives in Nashville | | 'Wayne Thiebaud 100: Paintings, Prints and Drawings' opens at Toledo Museum of Art | | The New-York Historical Society celebrates the golden age of comedy with Bob Hope exhibition | 
A section of the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville. The music has six interactive sections covering 50 genres of music with a focus on gospel, blues, jazz, R&B and hip-hop. NMAAM/353 Media Group via The New York Times.
by Kelundra Smith
NASHVILLE (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- If you want to trace the roots of American popular music, you have to start when Europeans brought enslaved Africans across the Middle Passage. After emancipation, the sounds of Africa and field hollers and work hymns from the American South dispersed across the country and transformed into new forms: the blues in Mississippi, jazz in New Orleans and later house music in Chicago and hip-hop in the Bronx. Historians, anthologies and exhibitions have traced this path before, but an entire museum hasnt been devoted to demonstrating and celebrating how Black artists fundamentally shaped American music until now. Last Saturday, the National Museum of African American Music opened in Nashville, with six interactive sections covering 50 genres of music with a focus on gospel, ... More | | 
Wayne Thiebaud, Betty Jean Thiebaud and Book, 19651969. Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 in. Crocker Art Museum, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Thiebaud, 1969.21. © 2020 Wayne Thiebaud / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.
TOLEDO, OH.- A sweeping retrospective of a legendary American artists career, Wayne Thiebaud 100: Paintings, Prints and Drawings, will open at Toledo Museum of Art on Feb. 6, running through May 2, 2021. In celebration of Thiebauds 100th birthday in 2020, the exhibition brings together works from the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California, as well as works from the Thiebaud family, many of which have never been publicly on view. Known primarily for his colorful and captivating depictions of cakes and desserts, Thiebaud has also explored still lifes, figural studies, landscapes and urban environments. Wayne Thiebaud 100 is curated by Scott A. Shields, associate director and chief curator at the Crocker Art Museum, which has collected the artists work since early in his career. Wayne Thiebauds works are a visual feast and highly accessible, which means they will appeal to audiences of all ages ... More | | 
Costume worn by Bob Hope on Bob Hopes Bicentennial Star Spangled Spectacular, NBC, July 4, 1976. Courtesy of the Bob & Dolores Hope Foundation. Photo courtesy of Hollywood Museum.
NEW YORK, NY.- The New-York Historical Society celebrates the golden age of comedy with So Ready for Laughter: Bob Hope and World War II, on view February 5September 5, 2021. Organized by The National WWII Museum in New Orleans and supported by the Bob & Dolores Hope Foundation, the special exhibition highlights the legendary performer and his unique role during World War II entertaining troops overseas. Coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Service Organizations (USO), the exhibition features artifacts, films, and rare photographs to illustrate how Hope helped lift spirits both abroad and on the home front with his USO and radio shows during a dark time in American history. A companion exhibition, The Gift of Laughter, delves into Hopes varied career after World War II as a USO entertainer, television star, and Academy Award host demonstrating the many hats worn by comedians. His legacy will be brought t ... More |
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| The National Gallery's top 20 most viewed paintings online | | Patricia Winterton named Chief Advancement Officer of Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art | | 'Women Picturing Women: From Personal Spaces to Public Ventures' opens at The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center | 
Jan van Eyck, Portrait of Giovanni(?) Arnolfini and his Wife (The Arnolfini Portrait), 1434, Oil on oak © The National Gallery, London.
LONDON.- Throughout the current lockdown, the National Gallery has remained open online, continuing to bring the nations gallery into the nations homes. Through our digital initiatives, we are open 24/7, providing everyone with access to great art at anytime, anywhere in the world. These programmes explore the various ways people can look at and respond to art from their homes including exploring the collection online, creative workshops, art talks and films. The National Gallery is delighted that visitors have been able to access the collection virtually. The most popular painting page, with the highest number of views, is van Eycks jewel-like The Arnolfini Portrait, followed by Holbeins The Ambassadors and Van Goghs Sunflowers. Other visitor favourites include works by Turner, Leonardo, Velázquez, Titian, Constable, Botticelli, Monet, Caravaggio and Vermeer. The figures are based on the largest numbe ... More | | 
Winterton has helped launch transformative partnerships for the Eskenazi Museum of Art.
WASHINGTON, DC.- Patricia Winterton, director of development at the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, a division of Indiana University, will become the chief advancement officer of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonians National Museum of Asian Art. She will assume her new role on May 10. As chief advancement officer, Winterton will lead a team of seven and guide the museums philanthropic strategy, overseeing all fundraising and donor cultivation efforts as the museum enters its second century. In April 2020, the museum contracted Diversified Search Group to conduct a global search for candidates. I'm delighted that Patricia Winterton will be joining the museum, said Chase F. Robinson, the Dame Jillian Sackler Director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art. As we approach our centennial in 2023, she'll bring years of expertise in museum fundraising, strengthening ... More | | 
Lilly Martin Spencer (American, b. England 18221902), The Spinner, 1894. Oil on canvas. Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert L. Shultz (Barbara H. Rodie, class of 1942), 1982.8.
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY.- Women Picturing Women: From Personal Spaces to Public Ventures will be on view February 6 - June 13, 2021 at Vassar Colleges Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. Women Picturing Women, curated by Patricia Phagan, studies the key themes that emerged when selecting only images of women by women artists. In this exhibition from the permanent collection, women artists from the seventeenth century to the 1960s frequently communicated the idea of an intimate or sheltered enclosure such as a room, studio, or garden, even though these women participated in a more public arena to show or even make their work. Other women artists relayed the idea of venturing into a public place such as a street or an office, or into the more public, intellectual world of a narrative found in religion, ... More |
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| Mid-century artwork and sculpture to take centre stage at Cheffins' Art & Design Sale | | Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art announces the debut of Crafting America | | Frist Art Museum opens large-scale installation and other works by artist Liliana Porter | 
Andy Warhols The Pop Art Souper Dress from 1967, complete with its original label, which has an estimate of £1,500 - £2,500.
CAMBRIDGE.- Works by some of the biggest names in 20th century art and sculpture will be offered for sale at the Cheffins Art & Design Auction on 25th February. The paintings section is dominated by some 23 pictures by well-known post-war abstract artist, John Blackburn. Sourced from two private collections, this is the largest contingent of John Blackburn works to have ever come to auction. Born in 1932 and now aged 89, John Blackburn experienced critical success in the 1960s which garnered him a devoted following of collectors. The highlight of the John Blackburn pictures is a picture titled White L on Black which has an estimate of £2,000 - £3,000. Also amongst the paintings section is a picture by Paul Feiler (German, 1918 2013), which has come from a Cambridge-based private collection and is being sold on behalf of Kettles Yard. It has an estimate of £12,000 - £18,000. In addition, Cheffins ... More | | 
Anne Lemanski, Tigris T-1, 2018. Copper rod, archival print on paper, artificial sinew, epoxy, and plastic, 64 Ã 61 Ã 30 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, Gift of Fleur S. Bresler, 2020.8. Photography by Steve Mann.
BENTONVILLE, ARK.- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art announces the debut of Crafting America, which will be on view February 6 to May 31, 2021. Timed tickets are available here for $12, and admission is free for members, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants, veterans, and youth ages 18 and under. SNAP participants can call 479.657.2335 to enroll for free entry to temporary exhibitions. Crafting America is the first exhibition at Crystal Bridges dedicated to the subject of modern and contemporary craft. With over 120 objects made from materials such as wood, glass, fiber, ceramics, metal, and more from 98 American artists, the exhibition tells a broad and inclusive story of craft in the United States from the 1940s to today. Crafting America was co-created by Jen Padgett, associate ... More | | 
Liliana Porter. To Fix It: Man with Blue Overall, 2020. Broken table clock and figurine, 5 1/2 x 5 x 4 in. Courtesy of the artist. © Liliana Porter. Photo: Rhinebeck Studio.
NASHVILLE, TENN.- The Frist Art Museum presents Liliana Porter: Man with Axe and Other Stories, a large-scale installation that will be shown with additional works by the Argentina-born artist. Porter (b. 1941) is renowned for arranging discarded everyday objects to create theatrical vignettes that are philosophically provocative and slyly humorous. The exhibition will be on view in the Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery from February 5 through May 2, 2021. The centerpiece of the exhibition, Man with Axe and Other Stories (2017), on loan from the Pérez Art Museum in Miami, offers a birds-eye view of a civilization being reduced to rubble. The sprawling work features a small plastic figure of an axe-wielding man who appears to have demolished an array of items, from dollhouse furniture to vases, clocks, and a full-size piano. The tableau illustrates that, like ... More |
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Contemporary Conversations | The Rothko Chapel
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 After the first virtual Sundance, four writers compare notesNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- At this years Sundance Film Festival, there were the usual premieres and Q. and A. sessions, breakouts and crowd-pleasers but no actual crowd. Because of the pandemic, the Park City, Utah, event was pared back and conducted largely online. None of the attendees could, say, meet by chance and talk movies, and it was hard to get a sense of the festival overall. To rectify that, we asked the co-chief film critic A.O. Scott, the critic Devika Girish, and the reporters Kyle Buchanan and Nicole Sperling to compare notes. Here are excerpts from their conversation: NICOLE SPERLING Im usually whiny and cranky about Sundance. Why are we in the snow? Why January? I could see all you people in Los Angeles. But this year, I was so nostalgic for every bit of the experience. I wanted nothing more ... More  Anacostia Community Museum presents outdoor exhibition on Revolutionary African American menWASHINGTON, DC.- If you cant beat em, work around em. That is the Anacostia Community Museums innovative approach to hosting its new exhibition, Men of Change: Taking it to the Streets outside Feb. 1May 31 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The museum has creatively reimagined the exhibition for outdoor presentation on the campus of Ron Brown High School and the Deanwood Community Center in Northeast Washington, D.C. The exhibition presents the narrative of a nation through the profiles of two dozen significant African American men who are powerful icons in the countrys historical and cultural landscape. The presentation of Men of Change: Taking it to the Streets is organized in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibitions Service (SITES). It is an adaptation of the SITES traveling exhibition ... More  Exhibition marks ICP's one-year anniversary at its new Essex Street locationNEW YORK, NY.- The International Center of Photography announced its winter/spring 2021 exhibition: But Still, It Turns: Recent Photography from the World, guest curated by photographer Paul Graham. The exhibitionon view February 4 through May 9, 2021comes on the heels of ICPs reopening of its galleries on October 1 following a six-month closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and arrives just as ICP celebrates its first anniversary at its new home on Manhattans Lower East Side. In But Still, It Turns , nine contemporary photographers present images made in the 21st-century United States that reflect a movement towards a lyrical documentary practice. Extending the tradition of Robert Frank, Walker Evans, Gordon Parks, and Diane Arbus, this work fits a notion of photography from the worldphotography that resists both narrative ... More  Galerie Nathalie Obadia in Brussels opens solo exhibition 'Black Fruit' by Lu ChaoBRUSSELS.- Galerie Nathalie Obadia in Brussels is presenting the new solo exhibition Black Fruit by Lu Chao after Black Light, in 2016, which took place at the Parisian gallery. London-based Chinese artist Lu Chao (b. 1988) studied oil painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing (China) until 2012. Under the tutorship of the internationally renowned realist painter Liu Xiaodong, the artist learned to connect ones art practice to real life. Lu Chao continued his studies at the Painting Department at the Royal College of Art in London (UK), where he graduated in 2014 and received the Painter-Stainers Goron Luton Award. Being a London-resident for seven years now, the artist divides his time between London and Beijing. Lu Chao's work is best known for his large-scale black oil paintings depicting miniature crowds of people in surreal settings. ... More  Galerie Urs Meile opens its third solo show of works by the artist Rebekka SteigerLUCERNE.- The Galerie Urs Meile announces des chromosomes dans latmosphère, the gallery's third solo show of works by the artist Rebekka Steiger (*1993 in Zurich, currently working in Lucerne). It follows the exhibitions 猫头鹰virages nocturnes at the Beijing gallery in 2018 and wild is the wind in early 2019 at the gallery in Lucerne. The current exhibition is inseparable from the experiences Steiger had during her month-long residency at the Galerie Urs Meile in Beijing in 2018. Her study of both Mandarin and Cantonese, as well as the impressions she gathered while in China, have had a lasting influence on Steigers artistic development. Works on display, such as 翻風 (Faanfung; 2020, tempera, ink, and oil on canvas, 170 x 240 cm) or bridge over troubled waters (2020, tempera, ink, and oil on canvas, 200 x 240 cm) are part ... More  Old but gold: Tokyo's retro car owners revel in modern classicsTOKYO (AFP).- Fast and furious they aren't, but for a group of Japanese retro car enthusiasts the sleek lines and high shine of their old-school models hold a much more special charm. A loose club of fans rolls up most weekends in central Tokyo to show off their Cadillacs, Chevrolets and other modern classic vehicles from the mid to late 20th century. "Each time I drive it, I still get a thrill. There aren't many vehicles that give you that feeling," Masamune Isogani told AFP of his Knight Rider replica -- a Pontiac Trans Am, the car made famous by the hit 80s TV drama. Sliding into the driver's seat -- which he calls the cockpit -- he is surrounded by futuristic displays, illuminated buttons and a wheel that looks like an oversized gaming controller. These sci-fi touches were installed to give the ride the look and feel of the show's AI-powered talking car called ... More  Omar Ba explores the fragility of democracy and individual freedoms in new exhibition at Galerie TemplonBRUSSELS.- For his new exhibition in Brussels, Omar Ba, rising star of the African scene, is presenting an exclusive group of paintings more critical than ever. An original and striking portrait of the continent, the show explores the fragility of democracy and individual freedoms. Anomalies opens with a gallery of portraits of imaginary heads of state. Intertwining mythological and oneiric references, the artist subtly denounces the insidious regimes of leaders who claim to be democratic but in reality, neglect its most important firewalls, from the constitution to the national assembly. As a counterpoint, another group of paintings evokes the current pandemic. By juxtaposing a dazzling palette with pale, pervasive flashes, repetitive to the point of obsession, the painter exposes the cracks in our social and mental environment. This new work questions the ... More  The art of the kimono is explored in two new exhibitions at Worcester Art MuseumWORCESTER, MASS.- This winter, the Worcester Art Museum will present The Kimono in Print: 300 Years of Japanese Design, the first show devoted to examining the kimono as a major source of inspiration and experimentation in Japanese print culture, from the Edo period (16031868) to the Meiji period (18681912). Drawing primarily on the Museums extensive collection of Japanese prints, the exhibition explores the complementary influence of design ideas between kimono and print artistsand the consumers interested in both kimonos and prints. The exhibition will be accompanied by the presentation of a one-of-a-kind, contemporary wedding kimono specially commissioned by WAM from Chiso, the prestigious 465-year-old Kyoto-based garment maker known for their remarkable couture designs, which exemplify their centuries-long commitment ... More  Derek Fordjour now represented by David Kordansky GalleryLOS ANGELES, CA.- David Kordansky Gallery welcomes Derek Fordjour to the gallery. Fordjour makes paintings, sculptures, and installations whose exuberant visual materiality gives rise to portraits and other multilayered compositions. Born of both broad sociological vision and a keen awareness of the bodys vulnerability, Fordjours tableaux are filled with athletes, performers, and others who play key roles in cultural rituals and communal rites of passage. In his paintings, Fordjour methodically constructs the ground of each composition through a collage-based process involving cardboard, newspaper, and other materials and pigments. The varied and textural surfaces that emerge are as complexand physically engagingas the dynamic subjects that Fordjour inscribes on top, within, and through them. His ability to grapple with many strata ... More  Asheville Art Museum opens new exhibition 'Meeting the Moon'ASHEVILLE, NC.- The Asheville Art Museum opened Meeting the Moon, an exhibition featuring prints, photographs, ceramics, sculptures, and more from the Museums Collection. This exhibition is on view in the Asheville Art Museums McClinton Gallery February 3 through July 26, 2021. 2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Apollo space program at NASA, but its inception was hardly the beginning of humankinds fascination with Earths only moon. Before space travel existed, the moonits shape, its mystery, and the face we see in itinspired countless artists. Once astronauts landed on the moon and we saw our world from a new perspective, a surge of creativity flooded the American art scene, in paintings, prints, sculpture, music, crafts, film, and poetry. This exhibition, whose title is taken from a 1913 Robert Frost poem, examines artwork in the Asheville Art Museums ... More  The Peabody Essex Museum appoints Dan Lipcan as the Ann C. Pingree Director of the Phillips LibrarySALEM, MASS.- The Peabody Essex Museum announced that Dan Lipcan has been appointed as the Ann C. Pingree Director of PEMs Phillips Library. Lipcan, who has served as PEMs Head Librarian since 2019, has made significant headway in enhancing scholarly access, strengthening the librarys collections and operations, and increasing the librarys presence in the Museums galleries. In his new role, Lipcan will continue to lead ongoing digitization projects and help transform the highly-respected research library with its rich and varied global collections into an innovative and active intellectual hub that supports the overall mission of the museum. "Dan has shown incredible dedication and leadership and we are delighted to see him assume this new role, said John Childs, PEMs Director of Collections. He has spearheaded significant ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Mental Escapology, St. Moritz 
TIM VAN LAERE GALLERY 
Madelynn Green 
Patrick Angus
Flashback On a day like today, Austrian painter and illustrator Gustav Klimt died February 06, 1918. Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 - February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's primary subject was the female body, and his works are marked by a frank eroticism. In this image: Lady with a Muff (1916 - 1917).
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