| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |    | Established in 1996 | Saturday, March 26, 2022 |
| | Museums are cashing in on NFTs | |
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Theres money to be made, though most institutions are wary of getting involved.
by Scott Reyburn
LONDON.- To wake up to one of these things is pretty special to have a Leonardo at home, said Joe Kennedy, director of contemporary art dealership Unit London, enthusing recently about an elaborately framed LED screen with a digital replica of Leonardo da Vincis Portrait of a Musician glowing on his gallery wall. The original was 800 miles away in the Ambrosiana museum in Milan. The Leonardo was one of six ultra-high-resolution copies of famous paintings from across the centuries in Units moodily lit Eternalizing Art History exhibition, which closed Saturday. The show was the latest attempt by cash-poor museums to generate money by selling non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Last year, NFTs, usually pegged to the high-flying but volatile ethereum cryptocurrency, took the market for art and collectibles by storm, with sales estimated in the tens of billions. Pandemic-related lockdowns and reprioritized government spending have put the worlds ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Lawrence Lek, AIDOL爱道, 2019. © Lawrence Lek. Installation view, British Art Show 9, 2021-22, University of Wolverhampton School of Art. A Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition organised in collaboration with galleries across the cities of Aberdeen, Wolverhampton, Manchester and Plymouth. Photo © Stuart Whipps.
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| Christie's Asian Art Week totals $67,890,084 | | Christie's will offer the largest white diamond ever to come to auction | | Warhol-mania: Why the famed Pop artist is everywhere again | 
Auctioneer Rahul Kadakia with top lot of AAW March 2022. © Christie's Images Ltd 2022.
NEW YORK, NY.- Christies Asian Art Week New York achieved a total of $67,890,084 with 83% sold by lot and 160% hammer above low estimate. There was global participation with bidders from 33 countries across six continents. During the week three records were achieved and eleven lots exceeded $1 million across all sales. The top lot of Asian Art Week New York was an important and very rare inlaid bronze faceted jar, fanghu, which sold for $2,760,000, more than six times above its low estimate of $400,000. Additional notable results included Gathering of Scholars at the National Library (Dokseodang), 16th Century, circa 1531, which totaled $693,000; a bronze figure of dancing Krishna, which realized $693,000; a magnificent and extremely rare imperial famille rose-enameled glass snuff bottle of the Qianlong period, which achieved $693,000; and Bhupen Khakhars The Banyan Tree, from the prestigious collection of Mahinder and Sharad Tak, whi ... More | | 
Rahul Kadakia, Christies International Head of Jewellery, with The Rock. Estimate: US$ 20,000,000 30,000,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2022.
GENEVA.- Christies announces THE ROCK (estimate: US$ 20,000,000-30,000,000), a 228.31 carat pear-shaped diamond which will lead the Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale on 11 May 2022, as part of Christies Luxury Week. This exceptionally rare gemstone was mined and polished in South Africa over two decades ago and is the largest white diamond ever to appear for sale at auction. Rahul Kadakia, Christies International Head of Jewellery: The Rock will join the very best of legendary gemstones which have passed through Christies global salerooms since 1766. The market for diamonds is particularly vibrant and we are confident that this sensational gemstone will capture the attention of collectors across the globe this Spring season. Graded by the Gemmological Institute of America as G colour, VS1 clarity, The Rock is also accompanied by a letter from the GIA stating that it is the largest existing D-Z colour pear-sh ... More | | 
Andy Warhol, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn. Acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen, 40 x 40 in. / 101.6 x 101.6 cm. Painted in 1964. Estimate on request. © Christie's Images Ltd 2022.
NEW YORK, NY.- Andy Warhol left behind a lot of self-portraits. There was the black-and-white shot from a photo booth strip, from 1963, in which he wore dark black shades and a cool expression. In 1981, he took a Polaroid of himself in drag, with a platinum blond bob and bold red lips. Five years later, he screen-printed his face, with bright red acrylic paint, onto a black background. These and other images of the pop art master rank among his best-known works. But one of his most telling self-portraits wasnt a portrait at all, in a conventional sense. Between 1976 and 1987, the artist regularly dictated his thoughts, fears, feelings and opinions about art, himself and his world over the phone to his friend and collaborator Pat Hackett. In 1989, two years after his death, Hackett published The Andy Warhol Diaries, a transcribed, edited and condensed version of their phone calls. And now, more than three ... More |
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| "Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition" opens at the Menil Collection | | France's new art fair is called 'Paris+' | | Colby acquires Faith Ringgold story quilt | 
Meret Oppenheim, The Night, Its Volume and What Endangers It (La nuit, son volume et ce qui lui est dangereux), 1934. Gouache and oil on board, 31 5/8 à 25 3/8 in. (80.3 à 64.5 cm). The Menil Collection, Houston, Purchased in part with funds provided by the John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / Pro Litteris, Zurich.
HOUSTON, TX.- The Menil Collection announced the opening of Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition, the first major transatlantic retrospective of the Swiss artist, and the first in the U.S. in more than twenty-five years. The exhibition encompasses the work Oppenheim created throughout her five-decade career. Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition is on view at the Menil from March 25September 18, 2022, after closing at the Kunstmuseum Bern in Switzerland in February. Following its U.S. debut in Houston, the exhibition will travel to The Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA) in October. The show is co-organized by the Menil; MoMA, New York; and the Kunstmuseum Bern. Over the course of fifty years, Meret Oppenheim (19131985) produced witty, unconventional ... More | | 
But do you say that Paris plus, or Paree ploos, like in French? People will decide that for themselves, Art Basels global director said.
NEW YORK, NY.- Paris has a new flagship art fair for October. Farewell FIAC; enter Paris+, par Art Basel (or, in English, Paris+, by Art Basel). In January, the group that manages the Grand Palais made the shocking announcement that the international art fair giant Art Basel, owned by the Swiss-based MCH Group, would replace FIAC in its annual fall slot. FIAC had since 2006 occupied the spectacular cathedral-like exhibition hall for a week each October, but relations had soured between the fairs owners, the Anglo-Dutch group RELX (which also owns Paris Photo) and the Grand Palais management. FIAC moved last year to a temporary site near the Eiffel Tower while the historic Grand Palais is closed for renovation. Today MCH announced details of the new event. Grand Palais management, keen to protect the distinctive character of the French capitals art scene, stipulated in its seven-year contract with MCH that the fair should not be branded ... More | | 
Faith Ringgold (American, born 1930), Coming to Jones Road #4: Under a Blood Red Sky, 2000. Acrylic on canvas with fabric borders, 78 ½ x 52 ½ in. (199.3 x 133.3 cm). Museum purchase through the Jere Abbott Art Endowment and Jette Art Acquisition Fund. Photo by Luc Demers.
WATERVILLE, ME.- The Colby College Museum of Art has acquired a story quilt, Coming to Jones Road #4: Under A Blood Red Sky (2000), by renowned American artist, activist, teacher, and childrens book author Faith Ringgold (b. 1930, New York). It joins another work by the artist in the Colby Museums collection, the print The Sunflowers Quilting Bee at Arles (1997). Coming to Jones Road #4: Under A Blood Red Sky will go on view in April in the Colby Museums Alfond-Lunder Family Pavilion. Ringgolds first New York retrospective in more than 40 years opened at the New Museum in February 2022. Coming to Jones Road #4: Under A Blood Red Sky was featured in the artists first European retrospective, which opened in London at the Serpentine Galleries in 2019 before traveling to ... More |
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| Green Tara goddess figure reigns supreme across Bonhams Asia Week sales in New York | | World record for Rachel Jones at Bonhams Post-War & Contemporary Art sale in London | | Elisabeth Millqvist will be the new head of Moderna Museet Malmö | 
A Gilt Copper Alloy Figure of Green Tara Nepal, Early Malla Period, 13th Century. Sold for US$2,310,313. Estimate: US$500,000-700,000. Photo: Bonhams.
NEW YORK, NY.- A Gilt Copper Alloy Figure of Tara from Nepal, Early Malla Period, 13th-century was the top lot across the Bonhams Asia week auctions in New York this week. Sold at Bonhams Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art sale on 22 March, the prized figure achieved US$2,310,313, four times its estimate (US$500,000-700,000). This green Tara figure is a beautifully proportioned representation of the most popular Buddhist goddess in the Himalayas and is one of the finest examples of Tara from any style and period to ever come to market. The sale, which was 99% sold by value, saw all top ten lots selling above their high estimates. We are truly pleased with the success of the Tara and the strong competition for the rest of the works in the sale, said Edward Wilkinson, Bonhams Global Head of Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art. Few sculptures from ... More | | 
Rachel Jones (B. 1991), Spliced Structure (7), 2019. Sold for £910,000. Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- Spliced Structure (7), a work by the British artist Rachel Jones (B. 1991), sold for £910,000 at Bonhams Post-War & Contemporary Art sale on Thursday 24 March at Bonhams New Bond Street soaring past its pre-sale estimate of £40,000-60,000 and setting a new world record price for the artist at auction. Ralph Taylor, Bonhams Global Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art said: A magnificent result for a magnificent work by one of the freshest artistic voices in the world of Contemporary Art. Rachel Jones has a unique, bold, colourful style which lends unforgettable character to the important and distinctive things she has to say about identity, self-esteem and community. The very high price paid for Spliced Structure (7) is an indication of her rapidly growing reputation. We are proud to have played a part in bringing her work to a wider audience and in setting a new world auction record for a painting by this remarkable artist. ... More | | 
Elisabeth Millqvist. Photo: Henrik Palmberg.
MALMO.- Elisabeth Millqvist has been working since 2011 as Co-director and Artistic Director for WanÃ¥s Konst. She will assume her position as Director for Moderna Museet Malmö on August 1, 2022. We are very happy to welcome Elisabeth Millqvist to Moderna Museet, says Museum Director Gitte Ãrskou. Elisabeth is an inspiring and engaging leader with a strong belief in the power of art. She has been working strategically and passionately to open up WanÃ¥s to new worlds and new groups of visitors. Her holistic perspective is entirely in line with Moderna Museets manifest and mission: we see the museum as a stimulating meeting place that brings people and art together. Elisabeth Millqvist has previously worked as a curator for institutions such as Magasin III in Stockholm and on projects at the Dia Art Foundation in New York. At WanÃ¥s Konst, Millqvist has worked with site-specific international contemporary art. Under Millqvist ... More |
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| Ludwig van Beethoven, Wright Brothers & Stephen Hawking among Fine Autographs and Artifacts up for auction | | CERF+ Executive Director to step down in fall 2022 | | 'Elizabeth Hohimer: On the Threshold of Dusk' opens at Gerald Peters Contemporary | 
Ludwig von Beethoven Autograph Letter Signed. Now At: $66,493 (11 bids). Estimate: $300,000+.
BOSTON, MASS.- Featuring nearly 1,100 lots, RR Auction's April Fine Autographs and Artifacts sale boasts a wealth of important historical material. Highlights include a four-page handwritten letter by Ludwig van Beethoven about a proposed composition. The handwritten letter by Beethoven to his librettist, the court poet Friedrich Treitschke, asking him to help secure two hundred gold ducats payment for their planned opera 'Romulus und Remus.' The rare four-page letter emphasizes the "many sacrifices I have willingly made and am making for my art. (Estimate: $300,000+) "It's a rare and important handwritten letter by the musical genius, discussing both his financial difficulties and a long-contemplated but never completed work," said Bobby Livingston, Executive VP at RR Auction. Also up is a significant pair of letters by the Wright Brothers about patents and contracts. The immensely desirable 1908 handwritten letters from the Wright Brot ... More | | 
During her tenure, Carey has guided CERF+ through extraordinary growth and evolution from its early years as a grassroots mutual aid initiative to a national leader in the emerging field of arts emergency management.
MONTPELIER, VT.- After 25+ years of leadership at CERF+, Cornelia Carey has announced that she will step down as executive director in October 2022. During her tenure, Carey has guided CERF+ through extraordinary growth and evolution from its early years as a grassroots mutual aid initiative to a national leader in the emerging field of arts emergency management. This work has been the heart and soul of my career, Carey reflects. Ive learned so much from so many generous artists and colleagues in both the arts and emergency management fields whove shared their knowledge and wisdom. I feel immensely proud of all that weve accomplished to help artists build and sustain resilient careers. As we experience increasingly significant climate-related disasters and their impacts on marginalized communities, our work is more important than ever. I know CERF+ will rise to ... More | | 
Elizabeth Hohimer, Modern Duet (diptych), 2022. Cotton and Silk, 21 x 21 inches (each). © Elizabeth Hohimer, courtesy of Gerald Peters Contemporary.
NEW YORK, NY.- Gerald Peters Contemporary is presenting On the Threshold of Dusk, featuring new and recent works by Elizabeth Hohimer, on view at the gallerys New York location. Elizabeth Hohimers site-specific, land-based practice is an immersive study of desert atmospheres in the western United States. From her childhood in Texas to her recent travels throughout the West, Hohimer has felt closeness to the land and a deep appreciation for the space and light of the region. In her weavings, scale, open structure and color combine to convey the impression of luminosity. Hohimer s signature atmospheric compositions employ a reduced palette reminiscent of the desert landscapes that inspired the work. Using pinks, beiges and creams, Hohimer explores the expressive potential of nuanced color tonalities to negotiate the confines of the compositional structure. Interested in conveying the transcendent, Hohimers ... More |
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Jamal Joseph Remembers the Poetry of Tupac Shakur
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 Two of early cinema's rarest posters, For 'Hollywood' and 'Dracula,' star in Heritage Auctions April eventDALLAS, TX.- Hooray for Hollywood specifically, director James Cruze's star-studded 1923 comedy Hollywood. The movie about a girl and her uncle's adventures in Los Angeles is "presumed lost," as Turner Classic Movies notes despite the appearances of Gloria Swanson, Will Rogers, Mary Pickford, Cecil B. DeMille and some 50 more Golden Age stars. But one of two known surviving posters for this legendary film serves as a centerpiece of Heritage Auctions' April 23-24 Movie Posters Signature® Auction. Only once before has Heritage offered a poster from this lost gem on July 23, 2009, when it sold for $89,625. The Hollywood one sheet is far from the only rarity offered in this event. Here, too, is something frighteningly hard to find: an insert for 1931's Dracula, director Tod Browning's masterpiece adaptation ... More  LeRoy Neiman's 'The Eye' offers a flirtatious peek at 1960s at Heritage AuctionsDALLAS, TX.- The idea that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" certainly can be applied to people. Think Rodgers and Hammerstein. Abbott and Costello. Mantle and Maris. Neiman and Hefner. It is somewhere between unfair and absurd to suggest that LeRoy Neiman's rise to an artist beloved around the world is solely a result of his friendship with Hugh Hefner. But it would be equally inaccurate that they did not both benefit from their decades of friendship. After he became friends with the longtime publisher of Playboy magazine, he landed something of a dream job when Hefner helped the magazine commission an illustration in 1954 for the fifth issue. As Neiman's friendship with Hefner grew, so too did is role with the iconic men's magazine. Before long, he was sent to major sporting events, concerts, or gala events at casinos, ... More  Boomboxes, Bowie, and Rolexes: This April at Bonhams New YorkNEW YORK, NY.- This April, Bonhams New York will present three sales: Photography on April 7, Hip Hop from April 11-21 running online, and Fine Watches, Wristwatches, and Clocks on April 14. The three sales will showcase the best in categories ranging from Supreme Louis Vuitton skateboards to unique 18k Patek Phillipes to David Bowie photography. Two rare and oversized portraits of David Bowie shot by Brian Duffy (1933 2010) for legendary album covers Aladdin Sane (1973) and Scary Monsters (1980) are highlights of the Photographs sale, estimated at $20,000 30,000 and $7,000 9,000, respectively. A group lot offered includes a collection of 19 prints by Robert Frank (1924-2019) commissioned by the Italian luxury brand Aspesi for its 1989 advertising campaign shot on the streets of New York's East Village and in ... More  NOW Gallery announce Young Artist Commission 2022, Joy Yamusangie's 'Feeling Good'LONDON.- Since 2014, NOW Gallery in Greenwich Peninsula has established itself as Londons go-to destination for discovering new talent and showcasing cutting-edge installations by some of the most exciting names in art, design and fashion, including Yinka Ilori, Manjit Thapp, Nicholas Daley, Mowalola and Molly Goddard. On 24 March, the gallery is delighted to present its Young Artist Commission of 2022 by British visual artist Joy Yamusangie. Titled Feeling Good, Yamusangie will transform the space into a fictional jazz club, showcasing a series of paintings on paper and fabric, inspired by the ephemeral conversations and moments inside the club. A symbol of gender euphoria, Feeling Good speaks specifically to Yamusangies own experience with understanding and celebrating their trans identity and journey ... More  Gió Marconi opens an exhibition of works by Jorge PardoMILAN.- Gió Marconi announces Cuban American artist Jorge Pardos third solo show with the gallery, on view from March 24th to May 9th. The exhibition features four large-scale works on paper, four engraved paintings as well as a variety of new sconces. The selection of multicolored works manifests the artists position at the intersection of painting and sculpture, architecture and design, craftsmanship and computerized production. In Pardos new series of paintings bold color planes emerge from and recede into energetic surfaces of intersecting and overlapping shapes. The works consist of an accumulation of images, first layered digitally, then laser-cut engraved on MDF and eventually hand-painted in acrylic. These quintessentially additive works are a continuation of the subject of layered paintings that the artist has been ... More  Friendship, betrayal and the fight: 'Suffs' tells the suffragist tale in songNEW YORK, NY.- On a recent afternoon, Shaina Taub was standing in a rehearsal room at the Public Theater with a group of 18 women in corsets and long skirts, paired with T-shirts and sports bras, planning a grand parade. Taub was suited up halfway at least as Alice Paul, a founder of the National Womans Party, and a main character of Suffs, her new musical about the womens suffrage movement in the years leading up the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. How will we do it when its never been done? Taub sang as the performers bustled up and down the risers. How will we find a way where there isnt one? The song, Find a Way, was about the 1913 Womens Suffrage Procession, the first large-scale political demonstration ever held in Washington. But Taub might have been singing about Suffs ... More  Richness in stasis: La Monte Young finally releases 'Trio'NEW YORK, NY.- La Monte Young, now 86, has released a lot of music in the past few years. In 2018, this composer and multi-instrumentalist, famed as a progenitor of minimalism, reissued a six-hour, 24-minute take on his mammoth work The Well-Tuned Piano. Last year, a significant portion of his slender back catalog, some of it long out of print on CD, reached the digital platform Bandcamp. Most recently, Young has at last released a recording of his breakthrough composition, Trio for Strings, which he originally wrote in 1958, as he was beginning a period of study at the University of California, Berkeley. All this activity is a bit of a surprise, because the student composer who shocked colleagues with Trio a nearly hourlong piece that almost exclusively used long, sustained tones has been famous for not putting out albums. ... More  My artist ghostNEW YORK, NY.- On an overcast late July day thick with humidity and dampening drizzles, I headed from Manhattan toward the Bulova Corporate Center, in Queens, in search of my ghost. Until 2017, the Queens Museum had a satellite gallery at Bulova and organized artist exhibitions there. Denyse Thomasos show was one of them. A brilliant abstract painter from the Caribbean and Canada, Thomasos made audacious mural-size canvases that evoked an architecture of floating cities, prisons and slave ships. Then in 2012, on July 20, she suddenly died from an allergic reaction during a diagnostic procedure. She was 47. Left behind somewhere at Bulova was a 1993 painting, Jail, purchased by Blumenfeld Development Group, owner of the building, and I was determined to find it with my colleague, David Breslin, with whom I was organizing ... More  Galerie Nathalie Obadia presents a new series of works by Valérie BelinPARIS.- Galerie Nathalie Obadia is presenting Modern Royals, Valérie Belins fifth solo exhibition at the gallery. The new series, after which the exhibition is titled, is shown in its entirety at the new 91 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré location. With its very painterly feel, it is presented as a group of tableaux based on the theme of the vanities. This new corpus comprises eleven portraits of women, fictional characters who are nevertheless designated by their first names, posing seated on a sofa. The title of this series suggests that the figures might be celebrities or wordly women, meant as illustrations for a romance novel. Each portrait represents a different personality, played in the studio by the same female model, whose looks vary from one picture to the next, depending on her appearance (dress, hairdo, jewelry worn in a conspicuous ... More  Exhibition features a large selection from Daido Moriyama's Another Country in New York (1971)AMSTERDAM.- Reflex Amsterdam is presenting the first exhibition featuring a large selection from Daido Moriyamas Another Country in New York (1971). The photographs capture Moriyamas signature style: rough, out of focus, and grainy. Upon taking a photograph, the would rarely gaze into the viewfinder in order to capture what he calls a passerbys view. The photographer refused photographys potential of sharpness to envision it as a tool to capture reality in its essence; exciting and chaotic. The renowned series of photographs will be on show from March 26th onwards. Another Country in New York encompasses the artists 1971 trip to New York in snapshots of the airplane, the hotel room, street life, and billboards. It was the artists first trip outside of Japan. The odd frames, dynamic diagonal compositions, and flashing ... More  Rarest of all Popeye toys leads Milestone's April 9 Spring Toy SpectacularWILLOUGHBY, OHIO .- That swaggering, wisecracking cartoon sailor Popeye has been depicted on countless toys and memorabilia since first appearing in the Thimble Theatre comic strip in 1929. With his spinach-powered superhuman strength, he was an immediate hit with readers of all ages, gaining an even higher level of visibility in his own cartoon series that launched in 1933. Ever since his debut, Popeye with his girlfriend Olive Oyl and their motley crew of sidekicks in tow has been an entertaining figure in the publics consciousness, and vintage toys designed with Popeyes image have only continued to rise in popularity and price. On Saturday, April 9, Milestone Auctions of Willoughby (suburban Cleveland), Ohio, will offer one of the finest selections of Popeye toys ever to reach the marketplace, led by the greatest ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
The Wild Game 
Murillo: Picturing the Prodigal Son 
The 8 X Jeff Koons 
Jules Tavernier and the Elem Pomo
Flashback On a day like today, Iranian visual artist Shirin Neshat was born March 26, 1957. Shirin Neshat (born 1957) is an Iranian visual artist who lives in New York City, known primarily for her work in film, video and photography.[5] Her artwork centers on the contrasts between Islam and the West, femininity and masculinity, public life and private life, antiquity and modernity, and bridging the spaces between these subjects. In this image: Shirin Neshat, From âLooking For Oum Kulthumâ series (2017) © Shirin Neshat.
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