| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Saturday, July 25, 2020 |
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| | Illuminated manuscripts and bejewelled works of art go on display in Edinburgh | |
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Enamelled gold locket with miniature Quran, c.1700. Royal Collection Trust/ © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2020.
EDINBURGH.- Outstanding examples from the Royal Collections holdings of South Asian works of art have gone on display for the first time in Scotland at The Queens Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse. Eastern Encounters: Four Centuries of Paintings and Manuscripts from the Indian Subcontinent includes vivid depictions of the Mughal court, royal portraits, architectural studies and vibrant illustrations of Hindu epics from the area historically called India (now covered by India, Pakistan and Bangladesh). Together with decorative arts, prints, drawings and photographs, these works explore the 400-year shared history of the British Monarchy and the rulers of South Asia. On display for the first time, an enamelled gold locket, studded with diamonds and rubies, contains a miniature Quran measuring just 46 x 35mm. Dating from around 1700, the locket is said to have belonged to Zinat Mahal, wife of the last Mughal emperor, and was subse ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day This photograph taken on July 18, 2020 shows children playing in a car made of scrap metal parts at the Ban Hun Lek museum in Ang Thong, some 100km north of Bangkok. "Ban Hun Lek" or "The House of Steel Robots" is a museum where a collective of artists display their scrap metal creations depicting popular comics and sci-fi film characters. Mladen ANTONOV / AFP
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 | | Christie's sale celebrates the visual synergy between centuries | | Columbus statues removed from Chicago parks | | Four extraordinary chairs, ordered by the Comte d'Artois in 1778, more than triple their estimate | 
Circle of Leonardo Da Vinci, Portrait of Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan (1470-1524, estimate: £200,000 300,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.
LONDON.- As part of Christies Classic Week, Remastered: Contemporary Art & Old Masters, an online-only auction running from 21-30 July 2020, will celebrate the visual synergy between centuries, recontextualising contemporary and old master artworks. Continuing on from 2014 Christies Mayfair Exhibition The Bad Shepherd and the 2018 exhibition Sacred Noise, this auction will highlight the continual thematic threads that have occupied artists throughout the ages. Artists are in constant conversation through a visual and cerebral language that spans the centuries, and this auction seeks to bring those dialogues to light through four strands of exploration. Painting, from its earliest inception to the present day, has been a way of telling stories: part of the narrative fabric of myth, religion and history that helps us make sense of the world. Pieter Brueghel IIs The Adoration of the Magi (estimate: £200,000-300,000) refreshes ... More | | 
A statue of Christopher Columbus at Grant Park in Chicago is removed early on July 24, 2020. Derek R. HENKLE / AFP.
CHICAGO (AFP).- Two statues of Christopher Columbus were taken down in Chicago early Friday, amid a reckoning in the United States about the Italian explorer's controversial role in the history of the Americas. The statue in the city's Grant Park -- cloaked in plastic -- came down in the early hours as small groups of onlookers watched. "It feels great seeing the statue come down," one resident, Brenda Armenta, told AFP. A second statue of the navigator long hailed as the so-called discoverer of "The New World" came down in Arrigo Park, on the edge of Chicago's Little Italy neighborhood. Statues of Columbus and other figures connected to colonialism and slavery have been torn from their plinths in the United States and around the world in the wake of protests sparked by the May killing in police custody of George Floyd, an unarmed African American, in Minneapolis. The office of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a ... More | | 
Detail of a Louis XVI Royal Mobilier a Chassis Comprising a Pair of Armchairs and a Pair of Chairs by Georges Jacob et Jean-Baptiste Rode, Delivered to the Comte dArtois circa 1778-1779. Gilt, patinated wood. Sold for 1 174 500 / $1 350 675 including premiums.
PARIS.- On Wednesday 22nd July 2020, Artcurials Furniture & Works of Art department presented an exceptional suite of Louis XVI period royal furniture, which belonged to the Comte dArtois, later to become King Charles X. After a long auction battle by telephone and in the room, these seats were sold under the hammer of the auctioneer and furniture specialist Isabelle Bresset, at 1,174,500 / $1,350,675 including costs, more than triple their estimate. These seats were ordered to furnish the famous bed chamber designed as a military tent and are a rare example of the great creative achievements and refinements of the neoclassicism movement in the end of the 1770s. Decorated with lictors fasces entwined with laurel branches, they were executed by Georges Jacob ... More |
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| | London's Tate Modern gallery gears up for Monday reopening | | Bruce Silverstein Gallery now represents Adger Cowans | | Christie's first-ever Asian Art Week Online achieves $8.95 million | 
Tate Liverpool exterior. © Rachel Ryan Photography.
LONDON (AFP).- One of Britain's leading visitor attractions, the Tate Modern in London, on Friday put the finishing touches to its reopening plans, after four months of closure. Galleries and museums across the country were shut in late March as the coronavirus outbreak took hold and the public was told to stay at home. Now, as lockdown measures are gradually eased, the Tate Modern, on the south bank of the River Thames, is due to reopen on Monday -- but with a difference. Visitors are only allowed in if they have booked in advance online, and will have to follow specially signposted routes through the collections and exhibitions. The gallery, which in 2019 had nearly 6.1 million visitors, is expecting a more home-grown crowd initially, given the impact of the outbreak on overseas tourism and travel. Exhibition director Achim Borchardt-Hume told AFP the gallery is aiming for a more ethnically diverse programme, and has ... More | | 
Icarus, 1970.
NEW YORK, NY.- Beginning in the late 1950s, and still actively producing works today, Cowans is one the most influential artists of his generation. Adger Cowans (b. 1936) was one of the first African American students to earn a degree in Photography from Ohio University in 1958, and furthered his education at the School of Motion Picture Arts and School of Visual Arts in New York City. Following graduation, Cowans obtained a position assisting photographer Gordon Parks at LIFE Magazine. Cowans later served in the United States Navy in Virginia Beach, VA and continued to work as a photographer. Cowans also has a storied career in cinema as a film still photographer on over thirty Hollywood sets, and worked with directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet, and Spike Lee. One of the most poignant moments in Cowans career occurred while living and working in New York City during the early 1960s. Cowans ... More | | 
Tyeb Mehta (1925-2009), Falling Figure. Sold for: $975,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.
NEW YORK, NY.- Christies first-ever Asian Art Week Online totaled $8,952,625, establishing the highest total achieved for Asian art online-only sales with global participation from 22 countries. The top lot of the week was an important painting by Tyeb Mehta (1925-2009), one of his earliest explorations of the Falling Figure, which realized $975,000, achieving the highest price for a South Asian Modern + Contemporary work sold since lockdown and setting a new benchmark for the category in an online auction. Tina Zonars, Co-Chairman of Asian Art at Christies, remarks: We are delighted with the strong results achieved for our first-ever online installment of Asian Art Week, which established new benchmarks for the value thresholds of transacting online for all categories of Asian art. Throughout the virtual sale week, we had buyers from ... More |
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| | 1968 Mexico City Olympic torch sold for $41,786 at auction | | Michael Jackson's signature sparkling glove set to shine at Heritage Auctions | | Walter Ioss sports photography highlights Gamechanger sale series at Christie's | 
Mexico City 1968 Summer Olympics 'Type 6' Torch.
BOSTON, MASS.- An exceedingly rare official 1968 Mexico City Olympics torch sold for $41,786 according to Boston-based RR Auction. The discovery of the 'Type 6' Olympic torch occurred nearly 50 years after the 1968 Summer Games when Olympic researchers used photographic evidence to certify its existence and very necessary creation. Aside from its distinction as being the first Spanish-speaking Olympiad, the Mexico City Games hold the honor of having the most styles of relay torches; a record obtained not for the sake of one-upmanship, but rather due to the faulty design of the original torch. On a busy Barcelona street on September 1, 1968, Mariana Valls, son of the president of the Barcelona Athletics Federation, met Olympian Gregorio Rojo to pass the Olympic flame from one torch to another. At the moment of transfer, Rojo's torch exploded. Both men received minor injuries, the torch relay continued shortly thereafter, and the cause of the deto ... More | | 
Michael Jackson Personally Owned Crystal-Studded Glove Worn on Stage During the Victory Tour (1984).
DALLAS, TX.- It is, quite simply, one of the most recognizable accessories worn on stage in the history of popular music. A Michael Jackson Personally Owned Crystal-Studded Glove Worn on Stage During the Victory Tour (1984) will catch the eye of collectors in Heritage Auctions Entertainment & Music Memorabilia Auction Aug. 8-9 in Dallas, Texas. Jackson was known for his style, from his sunglasses to his sequined jackets. But perhaps none is more immediately identifiable than the single glove he wore at the height of his popularity. The July-December 1984 Victory tour was the last tour that included all six Jackson brothers (although Jackie missed some of it because of an injury). Over the six months, the Jacksons performed 55 concerts to a combined audience of roughly 2 million people. This is an incredibly important piece of music memorabilia, worn on stage by one of the most popular stars ... More | | 
Walter Ioss (B.1943), Michael Jordan, 'Slam Dunk', Chicago, IL, 1988. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.
NEW YORK, NY.- This July, Christies will present the Gamechangers sale series, which will encompass two online only sales, The Athlete: Photographs by Walter Iooss, Jr. and Original Air: Michael Jordan Game-Worn and Player Exclusive Sneaker Rarities as well as a private selling exhibition, For the Love of the Game: Sports in Modern and Contemporary Art. From an iconic Warhol portraits to the dynamic sports photography of Walter Iooss to the most comprehensive sneaker record of Michael Jordans Chicago Bulls career from streetwear mainstay Stadium Goods, the Gamechangers sale series is an homage to the vast and diverse world of sports. Highlights from the three sales include a Nike Air Ship that Jordan wore during his rookie season, a Walter Iooss, Jr. photograph of Kobe Bryant and Andy Warhols portrait of Chris Evert. Explore the sales online, read more about the works offered and contact a specialist ... More |
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| | Broadway is dark. Liberty Island is empty. Will the tourists come back? | | London's West End comes out of lockdown. For an afternoon. | | France's love affair with cinema tested by the virus | 
A visitor to Liberty Island in New York on Monday, July 20,2020. The Statue of Liberty reopened on Monday after four months, but there were virtually no visitors. Victor J. Blue/The New York Times.
by Patrick McGeehan
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Broadway theaters and museums that tourists would flock to are still closed. The United States has banned travel from China, Brazil and much of Europe. And Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered a quarantine for visitors from 31 of the countrys states. Four months after New York City shut down to combat the coronavirus, its vital tourism industry remains essentially paralyzed even as the city struggles to kick-start its moribund economy. The enormous challenge the city faces was on vivid display when the Statue of Liberty reopened Monday. Instead of carrying the usual throngs of visitors from around the world, the first boats to the island that holds the statue ferried more journalists than paying customers. Times Square, typically gridlocked with visitors, was nearly as lonesome. Its not that happening, said Swathi Roja, who lives in Washington, assessing the so-called Crossroads of the World. Maybe Im not getting the real New York City. New York ... More | | 
A person waiting to enter the London Palladium theater signs up for a National Health Service coronavirus test and trace program, in Londons West End. Lauren Fleishman/The New York Times.
by Alex Marshall
LONDON (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- At just after 2 on Thursday afternoon, Andrew Lloyd Webber walked onstage at the ornate Palladium theater to introduce the first West End show since Britain went into lockdown in March. Before him sat some 640 theatergoers and workers, all somewhat distanced and all wearing masks. Suddenly, they stood up to applaud him for putting on the event a performance arranged with the British authorities to show how large theatrical performances might proceed with safety in mind. Some audience members cheered. There was even one, very un-British, whoop. Lloyd Webber did not seem as excited as the attendees. Ive got to say this is a rather sad sight, he said, looking down at the seats, the vast majority of which had X-marks on them to ensure people didnt use them. I think this amply proves why social distancing in theater really doesnt work, Lloyd Webber said, adding, Its a misery for the performers. He then introduced the afterno ... More | | 
In this file photo taken on December 19, 2019, British-American director Christopher Nolan poses with his medal after he was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE). Andrew Matthews / POOL / AFP.
by Francois Becker / Fiachra Gibbons
PARIS (AFP).- "I am sick of Netflix. I am sick of an algorithm serving me up the same old thing," said Anne-Sophie Duchamp as she put on her face mask to enter an arthouse cinema on Paris' Left Bank. "We've been stuck at home for months" because of the lockdown, she added, as she bought her ticket to see British director Mike Leigh's acerbic 1988 comedy, "High Hopes". "Why should I stay at home any longer when in Paris you can find a whole century of masterpieces showing in little cinemas every day." While cinema audiences across the world have been reluctant to venture back into the dark, not for the first time the French were seen as something of an exception. As one of the most cinephile countries in the world, film-makers and cinema owners have been counting on the French love affair with the silver screen to help save their skins. Duchamp, who is in her forties, insisted that going to a socially distanced cinema was "no more dangerous than going to the supermarket". ... More |
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Breuer's Art of Space---Explore an Architectural Icon
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| | More News |
 Exhibition presents a cross-section of the main exhibits at the BIO26 │ Biennial of Design in LjubljanaDRESDEN.- The exhibition Common Knowledge Design in Times of the Information Crisis, hosted by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts), presents a cross-section of the main exhibits at the BIO26 | Biennial of Design in Ljubljana Europes oldest design biennial, going back to the 1960s. This 26th edition of the international festival, organised every two years by the Museum of Architecture and Design (Muzej za arhitekturo in oblikovanje, MAO), was jointly conceived by Thomas A. Geisler, director of the Kunstgewerbemuseum, and the Brazilian curator and journalist Aline Lara Rezende. It is dedicated to one of the greatest challenges of our times: the interconnection between the information crisis and society. Looking into the issue of designs role and potential in shaping knowledge ... More Ripley Auctions to offer collection of dazzling costume jewelry piecesINDIANAPOLIS, IND.- A single-owner lifetime collection of Eisenberg Originals mostly dazzling costume jewelry pieces but also to include clothing, handbags, perfumes, compacts, cosmetics, belts and original advertisements, all from companys heyday from the 1920s to the 1950s will be sold in a live and online auction Saturday, September 12th by Ripley Auctions. The auction will begin promptly at 11 am Eastern time in Ripley Auctions gallery located at 2764 East 55th Place in Indianapolis. Online bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com and Invaluable.com. Telephone and absentee bids will also be accepted. Previews will be held by appointment only, the week before the auction. To schedule an appointment, call 317-251-5635. Sharon Schwartz was a seasoned antique dealer and collector but had never even heard of Eisenberg ... More The NYUAD Art Gallery launches fifth digital archive as part of "TRACE: Archives and Reunions"ABU DHABI.- The NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery will launch its fifth digital archive, Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 19521965, as part of its TRACE: Archives and Reunions series, on Tuesday, July 28. For this special TRACE event, co-hosted with the NYU Grey Art Gallery, Inventing Downtown curator Melissa Rachleff reunites with the Director of the NYU Grey Art Gallery Lynn Gumpert, and the Executive Director of The NYUAD Art Gallery Maya Allison. Starting with the landmark exhibition Inventing Downtown as a point of departure, the speakers will explore the history of the famed New York downtown art scene, and explore how art scenes form today, even in a time of physical separation. Organized by NYUs Grey Art Gallery, Melissa Rachleffs Inventing Downtown exhibition traveled to The NYUAD Art Gallery in October 2017. Her ... More Two new hires join the California African American MuseumLOS ANGELES, CA.- The California African American Museum announced today the addition of two new staff members in key curatorial positions: Taylor Renee Aldridge, visual arts curator and program manager; and Susan D. Anderson, history curator and program manager. At this moment of great uncertainty for many cultural institutions, when museums have had to close their doors to the public, and some are facing layoffs or reckoning with institutional racism, it is all the more meaningful that we are able to welcome onto our team these extraordinary curators, said Cameron Shaw, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of CAAM. Curator and writer Taylor Renee Aldridge will commence her new position at CAAM in August. She has organized critically acclaimed exhibitions with the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Artists Market, Cranbrook ... More Brad Watson, 64, dies; His southern upbringing animated his booksNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Brad Watson, whose short stories and novels including one book inspired by a great-aunts anatomical anomaly came to life largely on the Southern Gulf Coast of his birth, died on July 8 at his home in Laramie, Wyoming. He was 64. His wife, Nell Hanley, said the cause was cardiac failure. Watsons two novels and two short-story collections did not make him a major literary star. But his fiction was often praised for its surreal, bizarre, funny, wild and tender stories about characters who inevitably must transcend difficult moments in their lives. His first novel, The Heaven of Mercury (2002), was a National Book Award finalist. Brad Watson, white, male and already wise beyond his years when the near-perfect story collection Last Days of the Dog-Men was published in 1996, Amy Grace Loyd wrote ... More OLANA announces new Director of Education & Public Programs and Family ToursHUDSON, NY.- The Olana Partnership announced the launch of all-new Family Explorer Tours and a Distanced Learning plan to engage schools across the region. Carolyn Keogh will lead these initiatives as Olanas new Director of Education & Public Programs. TOP welcomes Carolyn as she works to realize its shared vision to make Frederic Churchs OLANA the most widely recognized artists home and studio in the world, vibrant with the activity of visitors, students, scholars, and artists. We are thrilled to have Carolyn Keogh join our team at Olana at a time when, more than ever, teachers and families are in need of robust and engaging programs, says Sean Sawyer, The Olana Partnerships Washburn and Susan Oberwager President. Education and public programs are at the core of our mission, and Carolyn brings a dynamic, ... More Curators C. Ondine Chavoya and David Evans Frantz awarded Warhol Foundation Grant WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS.- The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has awarded a $42,000 Curatorial Fellowship to C. Ondine Chavoya and David Evans Frantz to prepare a major retrospective of artist Teddy Sandoval (19491995) scheduled for 202223 at the Williams College Museum of Art and the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College. Chavoya, professor of Art and Latina/o Studies at Williams College, last teamed up with independent curator Frantz to co-curate the exhibition Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A., jointly organized by ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, for the Gettys Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA in 2017. Axis Mundo subsequently traveled to venues across the United States through Independent Curators ... More Sao Paulo postpones carnival over coronavirusSAO PAULO (AFP).- Sao Paulo, the biggest city in coronavirus hotspot Brazil, said Friday it was indefinitely postponing its 2021 carnival because of the pandemic. "Both the samba schools and the carnival 'blocos' (street parties) understand it's not viable to organize carnival for February next year," Mayor Bruno Covas told a news conference. Rio de Janeiro, home to the largest carnival in Brazil -- and one of the most famous in the world -- is considering a similar move. Brazil has recorded more infections and deaths from the new coronavirus than any country except the United States: more than 2.3 million and 85,000, respectively. Sao Paulo state is the national epicenter, accounting for nearly one-fourth of the death toll. Rio has also been hard-hit. Covas did not set a new date, but suggested "late May or early July." Though less famous than Rio's, ... More Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis concert poster headed to AuctionDALLAS, TX.- An exceptionally rare concert poster featuring a "whos who" of 16 of the top 1950s musical acts will find a new home in Heritage Auctions Aug. 8-9 Entertainment & Music Memorabilia Signature Auction. This Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry 1958 Alan Freed "Big Beat" Rare Concert Poster brings together many of the decades top hitmakers from rock-n-roll and do-wop music, including Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and The Crickets, Chuck Berry and Frankie Lymon. The stable of stars appears on the poster under the name and photo of Alan Freed, the hugely popular American disc jockey and promoter who some have credited with coining the "rock-n-roll" name. "This is an incredible poster, and the quality is matched by its rarity," Heritage Auctions Entertainment & Music Memorabilia Consignment Director Pete Howard said. "This ... More Bob Dylan gave his best friend the best seat in the house, and now it can be yoursDALLAS, TX.- This isn't just a rocking chair for sale. It was, in 1974, the best seat in the house when Bob Dylan and The Band toured the United States in January and February of that year. And it belonged to Louie Kemp, Dylan's best friend since summer camp in Wisconsin in 1953. Keep in mind that Kemp at first had no intention of joining his pal Bobby on this trip, which marked Dylan's first tour since his '66 world tour back when The Band was still called The Hawks. Kemp, owner of a famous fish company that bears his name, had other concerns, like getting herring and lutefisk out of Lake Superior. But the way Kemp tells is, in the fall of '73, Dylan told his pal: "Meet me at the house in Malibu on the morning of January 1. We'll leave for the tour from there." Which is exactly what happened. Except Dylan forgot to tell legendary concert promoter Bill ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, American artist Thomas Eakins was born July 25, 1844. Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (July 25, 1844 - June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important artists in American art history. In this image: A person views Thomas Eakins' "The Gross Clinic," at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, on Jan. 5, 2007. To help finance a $68 million deal to keep the masterpiece in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts said Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007, that it has sold another Eakins painting, "The Cello Player."
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