| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Saturday, May 29, 2021 |
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| | Rehabilitating Nero, an emperor with a bad rap | |
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Bronze gladiator armor in the new exhibit Nero: The Man Behind the Myth, at the British Museum in London, May 25, 2021. The curators argue that his reputation as a cruel tyrant who played his lyre while Rome burned was an invention of his enemies. Tom Jamieson/The New York Times.
by Farah Nayeri
LONDON (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The mangled window grille isnt everybodys idea of a museum piece. Its a rusty piece of iron, bent out of shape. Yet for the next five months, it has a vitrine of its own at the British Museum. The grille is a relic of the Great Fire of Rome in A.D. 64 and a centerpiece of the museums sprawling new show Nero: The Man Behind the Myth, about the first-century Roman emperor who, for some 2,000 years, has been blamed for starting the inferno and playing music while it spread. What the exhibition aims to demonstrate is that Nero got a bad rap. Nero is famed as the Emperor who fiddled while Rome burned, a tyrant who was cruel and ruthless towards his family and a somewhat pathetic megalomaniac prone to excess, the British Museum director, Hartwig Fischer, wrote in the exhibitions catalog. Yet through sculptures and architectural fragments, coins and jewels, frescoes and writing tablets, the British Museum offers an alternative narrative of ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Two mounted police officers pose for a photograph outside the entrance to the new Bow Street Police Museum at the former home of the original 'Bow Street Runners' in Covent Garden, central London on May 27, 2021. Niklas HALLE'N / AFP
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| At his moment of triumph, Arthur Jafa is looking for trouble | | Exhibition explores the changing nature of the British monarchy and royal portraiture | | 1,000-year-old 'stolen' artefacts to return to Thailand from US | 
The artist Arthur Jafa in New York, May 5, 2021. With a survey in Europe and stark new sculptures in New York, Jafa is bringing to the fore darker, more personal themes. Lelanie Foster/The New York Times.
by Siddhartha Mitter
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- In 2019, Arthur Jafa won the Golden Lion award for best artist in the Venice Biennale for The White Album. A collage of found and original video, it mapped the psychology of Black-white relations in America today the brutality, awkwardness and sometimes care. Just as the film critiques a moment fraught with violence, in tenderly portraying the artists friends and family, it also speaks to our capacity for love, the jury concluded. Jafa was at his hotel, packing to leave town, when the news arrived. What surprised him was not that he had won, he told me recently; it was that the prize existed. I didnt know there was an Academy Awards to the art thing, he said. Jafa was a creature of film, grizzled from 30 years working mostly as a cinematographer for other people, dating to Daughters of the ... More | | 
Henry VIII, studio of Hans Holbein the Younger, 16th century, oil on panel © National Maritime Museum, London.
GREENWICH.- On 28 May 2021 Royal Museums Greenwich, in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, London, opened Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits at the National Maritime Museum, a major art exhibition exploring the changing nature of the British monarchy and royal portraiture over 500 years. Tudors to Windsors features over 150 works, including famous paintings, miniatures, sculpture, photographs, medals and stamps spanning five royal dynasties: Tudors, Stuarts, Georgians, Victorians and Windsors. Visitors will come face-to-face with the kings, queens, heirs, consorts and favourites who have shaped British royal history and portraits by some of the most important artists to have worked in Britain, often under the direct patronage of the Royal Family, from Sir Peter Lely and Sir Godfrey Kneller to Andy Warhol, Cecil Beaton and Annie Leibovitz. The majority of the artworks are drawn from the outstanding collection of the National ... More | | 
The lintels were among 133 Thai artefacts on display at museums and galleries in the US.
BANGKOK (AFP).- Two ancient sandstone artefacts believed to have been stolen from Thailand during the Vietnam War are set to return from the United States Friday night, officials say. The temple support beams with their exquisite carvings of the Hindu deities Indra and Yama date back to the late 10th or 11th century and had been on show for decades at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum. They are expected to touch down in Bangkok on Friday night and will be put on display at the National Museum for three months from Tuesday, following a special ceremony. Thai Fine Arts Department Director General Prateep Pengtako said the two lintels are about 1,000 years old and show the influence of the ancient Khmer Kingdom, which had its capital in modern-day Cambodia. "Lintels are part of the structure of ancient Cambodian temples," he told AFP. "The lintels were assessed to be taken away sometime between 1958 and 1969. In particular, 1965-66 saw a lot of Thai artefacts go ... More |
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| Gilbert & George's street-level explorations of our modern world on view at Thaddaeus Ropac Paris | | Cowan's new era of arms & armor kicks off with $1.1M two-day auction | | Rescuing artists of vision | 
Gilbert & George, BAGRAVE, 2020 (detail). Mixed media 30 panels, 380 x 377 cm (149,61 x 148,43 in). Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac, London · Paris · Salzburg · Seoul © Gilbert & George.
PARIS.- Created over the past two years, the NEW NORMAL PICTURES are a continuation of Gilbert & Georges street-level explorations of our modern world. We are asking What is human life? and making pictures about it, the artists explain. Although these pictures predate the pandemic, they resonate with the universal experience of a new normal over the past year as the world has adapted to a fundamental shift in its daily reality. However, the phrase has a broader significance for the artists, who see it as a stand-in for the word existential, referring to a sense of normality that is constantly adjusted and renewed. This is reflected in the urban other-worldliness of their pictures and the introduction of radical new elements that contribute to their surreal intensity. For us, art is an evolution. We call it a journey ... More | | 
A U.S. Navy WWII Ship's Bridge Binoculars. Price Realized: $22,800.
CINCINNATI, OH.- Cowans kicked off a new era of Arms and Armor on May 25 with a two-day sale that saw a fresh-to-market collection drive the auction well past its high estimate to a total of $1.1 million. The first auction under new Director of Arms, Armor, and Militaria Tim Carey received significant interest with nearly 1,000 bidders participating in the auction and selling 97% of all lots offered. This was very much a team effort and we have assembled one heck of a team here at Cowans, said Carey. This auction demonstrated that not only is Cowans still in the Arms and Armor business but were still one of the industry leaders. The lynchpin of the auction was over 350 lots of historic firearms and militaria from the lifelong Collection of Charlie Hinton, Baton Rouge, La. Mr. Hintons collection was new to the market and covered the full range of American military arms from the Indian War e ... More | | 
Installation view of works by Jesse Howard at the Art Preserve. Photo: Rich Maciejewski, courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center.
by Mary Louise Schumacher
SHEBOYGAN (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Charles Smith preaches with sculpture, hundreds of hip-height figures that he has been reworking, repainting and rearranging for decades, first at a small house in Aurora, Illinois, and now at his homestead in Hammond, Louisiana. Every time this self-taught artist repositions his work, he testifies anew to the unfolding history of racial violence in the United States, connecting it to personal traumas, including what he believes was the racially motivated murder of his father when he was 14, and his own combat experiences in Vietnam. Long before Black Lives Matter, Dr. Smiths art was telling whats the matter, said Smith, who refers to himself as Dr. and effectively delivers a free-form sermon whenever ... More |
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| A label reissued a dead Brazilian artist's album. He was still alive. | | Brazil's Jaime Lerner, urban transport pioneer, dies at 83 | | Displays of work by Imi Knoebel, Charlotte Posenenske, and Franz Erhard Walther on view at Dia Beacon | 
José Mauro - A Viagem Das Horas [2021].
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- In 2016, British record label Far Out Recordings reissued the debut album by José Mauro, a mysterious Brazilian singer and guitarist whose 1970 LP, Obnoxius, had become a cult classic in his home country and with the famed crate diggers Madlib, Floating Points and Gilles Peterson. The albums press materials noted that the conditions of Mauros death, presumed to have occurred in the 1970s, were unexplained. Maybe he perished in an auto accident or was killed by the military for making what they thought were protest songs. Just one thing, though: Mauro is still alive. He never tangled with Brazils military dictatorship and didnt craft anything close to political music, although his radiant art was seen as an escape. I was a student, a music student who devoted himself to composing. Simple as that, Mauro, 72, wrote in an email through a translator. Nature, that was my thing. Nature and beauty. On Friday, Far Out, which specialize ... More | | 
In this file photo taken on November 29, 2018 Brazilian former Mayor of Curitiba and former Governor of Parana state, Architect and Urbanist Jaime Lerner, poses during an interview with AFP. Heuler Andrey / AFP.
BRASILIA (AFP).- Brazilian architect and urban planner Jaime Lerner, who helped develop the "bus rapid transit" (BRT) system that changed the face of public transportation in cities around the world, died Thursday. He was 83. Lerner rose to prominence in the 1970s when he was elected mayor of his native Curitiba, a city in southern Brazil, and launched an ambitious plan to overhaul the transportation system. BRT is based on the idea that buses -- the transportation of the poor in many places -- can operate with the speed and capacity of much more expensive-to-build subway systems, using dedicated lanes, priority for buses at intersections and innovative bus stop design. Under Lerner, Curitiba rolled out what would become a model for cities worldwide, the Integrated Transport Network. Its vertebrae are its ... More | | 
Imi Knoebel, Mennigebild A2 (für Palermo), 1976/2017. © Imi Knoebel/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Nic Tenwiggenhorn, courtesy Studio Imi Knoebel.
BEACON, NY.- On view at Dia Beacon in spring 2021 are installations by Imi Knoebel, Charlotte Posenenske, and Franz Erhard Walther, who were born within a decade of each other in Germany. Though decidedly distinct, their work is linked through a shared sense of interactivity and an interest in process. Bodies of work by Imi Knoebel and Franz Erhard Walther have long been a part of Dias permanent collection. Dia acquired 155 sculptural works by Charlotte Posenenske in 2018 and a major exhibition of work by the artist followed at Dia Beacon in 2019, exemplifying the foundations long-standing commitment to deep, sustained engagement with both individual artists practices and this period of 1960s and 70s art history as a whole. Posenenskes contributions had long been overlooked in the canon, and this addition to Dias collection provides a broader ... More |
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| Cris Scorza joins the Whitney as Helena Rubinstein Chair of Education | | Leader of Americans for the Arts retires after workplace complaints | | Hauser & Wirth announces representation of artist Christina Quarles | 
Cris Scorza, photograph by Zachary Barron Studios.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Whitney Museum of American Art today announced the appointment of Cris Scorza as Helena Rubinstein Chair of Education. In her new role, Scorza will provide vision, leadership, and strategic direction for the Whitneys education program. She joins the Museum on July 1, 2021. Scorza will work collaboratively with Adam D. Weinberg, the Whitneys Alice Pratt Brown Director, and across Museum departments to build upon a foundation of program content that supports the goals of the Museum, its exhibitions, and permanent collection. Scorza will manage the education department and its staff across four program areas: interpretation and research; public programs; school, youth, and family programs; and access and community programs. In addition, she will take an active role in the Whitneys Latinx initiatives, as well as the Museums evolving Spanish language bilingual efforts. She will also hold a key ... More | | 
Lynch, 71, had voluntarily stepped aside late last year while investigations into the organizations equity and diversity practices and workplace management were ongoing.
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Robert L. Lynch, the longtime president and chief executive of the Washington-based advocacy organization Americans for the Arts who had been on paid leave since December amid workplace complaints, has agreed to retire effective immediately, the organizations board announced Thursday. Bob has dedicated his life to the arts, in particular increasing access to the arts for everyone, the boards statement said, and we know he will continue to be a passionate advocate for many years to come. The board did not say whether Lynch had received a severance package. Lynch, 71, had voluntarily stepped aside late last year while investigations into the organizations equity and diversity practices and workplace management were ongoing. Those investigations have now ... More | | 
Christina Quarles in her studio, 2021. Courtesy the artist and Pilar Corrias, London. Photo: Ilona Szwarc.
NEW YORK, NY.- Hauser & Wirth announced today that the gallery now globally represents Los Angeles-based artist Christina Quarles, in collaboration with Pilar Corrias, London. Born in Chicago in 1985, Christina Quarles has achieved wide acclaim for her exploration of bodily experience from the weight and gravity of the physical world, to the pleasures and pressures of societal existence in vivid, enigmatic paintings teeming with limbs, torsos, and faces reconfigured into new forms. Brought to life through painterly gestures and an unexpected palette, the artists scenes suggest the different ways in which race, gender, and sexuality contribute to the coalescing of identity. Quarles work spans drawing, painting, and installation, and embraces the permeability of the constructed form. As a queer, cis-woman born to a Black father and a white mother, she has described her position of engagement ... More |
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Joseph Beuys: Multiple Myths | London | June 2021
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| More News |
 Spectacular circa-1900 gilded 'Native American' weathervane headlines Morphy's June 8-9 auctionDENVER, PA.- Rare Tiffany lamps and silver designs, luxury watches, exquisite gems, and decorative art of uncompromising quality adorn Morphys gallery in anticipation of a June 8-9 auction featuring more than 2,500 expertly curated lots. The auction will commence at 9 a.m. ET each day. Those who cannot attend in person may bid absentee, by phone or live via the Internet through Morphy Live. Overseeing the luxe array of goods is a New England classic: a molded and gilded-copper weathervane depicting a full-bodied standing Massasoit Indian with a three-feather headdress, holding a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. Created in the late 19th century by Harris & Co., Boston, this stunning production gleams with its high percentage of original gilding. It is unquestionably one of the best of all known original examples of an early American ... More  The Hollywood Bowl is now on plan c: Filling all 18,000 seatsLOS ANGELES (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- They are playing ball at Dodger Stadium, with all 56,000 seats on sale for games beginning next month, and not an inch of social distance between them. Across the country, Radio City Music Hall in New York is flinging open its doors and selling 5,960 shoulder-to-shoulder seats to the vaccinated in a decidedly indoor setting. As more people get vaccinated and government COVID regulations seem to change by the week, concert and theater venues are scrambling to keep up and figure out when and how to welcome back the crowds they depend on. For the Hollywood Bowl perhaps the most celebrated outdoor venue in the nation that has meant making plans, and ripping them up again, as it rides rapidly changing county and state regulations and shifting public attitudes ahead of its planned July ... More  A writer's one-act plays debut, continuing her resurrectionNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- No one is going to mythologize my life, playwright and filmmaker Kathleen Collins said in 1984 to a group of film students at Howard University. No one is going to refuse me the right to explore my experiences of life as normal experiences. Collins insistence on portraying the ordinariness of African American womens lives rather than reproducing the Hollywood narratives that pathologized or mythologized them is resonating with a new generation of Black women artists who have recently discovered Collins and her work. Part of what makes Collins writing so appealing is her attention to the complex internal struggles and external journeys, of what Elizabeth Alexander calls those bohemian Black women who often work as artists and academics and have a robust intellectual life. Because she renders them with such care and imbues them with such ... More  Kay Tobin Lahusen, gay rights activist and photographer, dies at 91NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Kay Tobin Lahusen, a prominent gay rights activist whose photographs documented the movements earliest days and depicted lesbians who were out when they were virtually absent from popular culture, died Wednesday in West Chester, Pennsylvania. She was 91. Her death in a hospital, was confirmed by Malcolm Lazin, a longtime friend and the executive director of the Equality Forum, an LGBTQ civil rights group. Lahusen and her longtime partner, Barbara Gittings, were at the forefront of the lesbian rights movement, determined to make whom they loved a source of pride rather than shame. They were early members of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first national lesbian organization, and soon spoke out about their sexuality and their demands for equality at a time when gay rights groups were less vocal. In the 1960s, ... More  City Art Centre opens first major exhibition of artist Donald Smith with IslanderEDINBURGH.- The City Art Centre and Ann Lanntair, Stornoway present, Eileanach: Na dealbhan aig Dòmhnall Mac a Ghobhainn / Islander: The Paintings of Donald Smith. Running from 29 May to 26 September 2021. This landmark display, part of the Edinburgh Art Festival 2021, is the first major retrospective of the work of Scottish artist Donald Smith (1926-2014). Born in rural Lewis in 1926, Donald John Smith was, as Grays School of Art Principal Ian Fleming wrote in 1958 the outstanding student of his year
unquestionably a man of great ability as an artist. His painting acknowledged movements in Europe and America but remained resolutely local in its subject matter. From his studio on the west side of Lewis where he worked from 1974 to his death in 2014, his intense, lyrical images of island fishermen and women celebrate ... More  Hunting for mini artworks on New York's streetsNEW YORK (AFP).- Filmmaker Zack Obid trembles with excitement: he has just found a miniature work of art during a treasure hunt that an American artist organizes every week in his Brooklyn neighborhood. Steve Wasterval estimates that in the last three years he has painted and hidden about 80 tiny landscape drawings of Greenpoint, an area with a large Polish community seen as increasingly hip in recent times with young creatives moving in. "I really wanted to give my art away. I wanted to put it up on walls and out in the street," says Wasterval, 40, at his studio inside a former Faber Castell pencil factory. "I remember thinking they should be tiny paintings so I can hide them and people can find them and I can find as many as I want," he adds. Typically, every weekend at an unspecified time, Wasterval publishes on his Instagram account ... More  Freeman's Books and Manuscripts auction achieves 97% sell-through rate and $525,861 totalPHILADELPHIA, PA.- Freemans announced the results of our May 20 Books and Manuscripts auction, which featured a 98% sell-through rate and impressive sales of Pennsylvania material, WWII posters, rare editions, and more. The 131-lot auction achieved $525,861 in total, surpassing its pre-sale estimate. The forty poster lots performed exceptionally well, as did the selection of Benjamin Franklin materialits clear that Philadelphia material is near and dear to our buyers. We are thrilled on behalf of those consignors, says Darren Winston, Head of Books and Manuscripts. This was the first auction of my own department that I called as a new auctioneer, and for the first time I felt the great responsibility that I have to buyers, consignors, and colleagues, because I was involved in every step of the process. Lively bidding between phone and online ... More  Exceptional results for the Marion Lambert Collection achieving €8.3 million with 97% of lots soldPARIS.- On 25 & 26 May 2021, Christies hosted the sale of the collection of Marion Lambert which realised a total of 8,315,000/ £7,180,484/ $10,174,751 selling 97% by lot and 99% by value. These exceptional results reflect the relevant choices Baroness Marion Lambert had made throughout her life with the most exquisite taste. To continue Marion Lamberts engagement, her son Henri Lambert decided to have 30 lots of the collection sold to benefit the association War Child. The total of this selection achieved 1,253,750. Cécile Verdier, President Christies France and Lionel Gosset, Head of sale: Continuing Christies long history of offering prestigious collections at auction, we are honoured to have paid such a beautiful tribute to Baroness Marion Lambert. This collection celebrated her taste which included Design, Post-war and Contemporary ... More  Movies can go right to streaming and still be eligible for the OscarsNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- In another advantage for streaming, films can skip a theatrical release entirely for the second year in a row and still be eligible for the Academy Awards, which will next be held March 27, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Thursday. In making its decision, the organization cited a marketplace still impacted by the pandemic. U.S. movie theaters reopened months ago with limited capacity. Cinemas in some areas of South America, Europe and Asia are closed or have reopened only recently. Only films that had a previously planned theatrical release are eligible for Oscar consideration under the streaming rule, the academy said. (In other words, no traditional TV movies can enter the fray.) The academy had previously required at least a perfunctory theatrical release ... More  New exhibition featuring 80s Pop Art icon Keith Haring opens at Fenimore Art MuseumCOOPERSTOWN, NY.- On Saturday, May 29, Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown opens its summer season with one of the most exciting exhibitions to arrive in upstate New York in years. Keith Haring: Radiant Vision (May 29September 6, 2021) celebrates both the icon and his iconography in this energized show that introduces a new generation to Keith Haring. Museum admission is free for visitors age 19 and under during the run of the exhibition. (Made possible through a generous donation by Mr. Gary Cassinelli and Mr. Nick Preston.) Examine different aspects of Harings life and career including his subway drawings and street art, gallery shows, the Pop Shop, and his commercial work. Featuring more than 100 works from a private collection, the exhibition includes lithographs, silkscreens, drawings on paper, and posters, ... More  Chiswick House & Gardens opens a new artistic programme 'Bring Into Being'LONDON.- Chiswick House & Gardens are presenting a new artistic programme Bring Into Being which envisions a new direction for this beloved 18th century English Heritage site, transforming the public space into a cultural hotspot in West London. The new programme boasts an impressive list of artist commissions, events and activities brought to you by some of the most sought after names across art, music and science. All events are open to the public. Chiswick House & Gardens have commissioned three site-specific art installations by Turner Prize winning artist Mark Wallinger, acclaimed Ghanaian-British electronic musician and sound artist Peter Adjaye and a durational installation by Jaimini Patel. The new impressive contemporary art programme marks Chiswick Houses first leap beyond a heritage site and towards becoming a hybrid space ... More  Windermere Jetty Museum reopens with new stories of shipwrecks and ruins in the LakesBOWNESS-ON-WINDERMERE.- Windermere Jetty Museum reopened on Friday 28 May, with a new season of family-friendly activities, uncovering the hidden treasures and sunken secrets of Windermeres most intriguing shipwrecks. This world-class museum, embedded in the Lake District, is welcoming visitors back for the start of half term with a new and unique experience that makes the most of its outdoor spaces and reveals an immersive, interactive visitor journey inside. WRECKED! reveals a fascinating insight into the perils of Windermeres long-lost ships, it prompts new thinking about the human impact on the lake and surrounding landscape and embraces a spirit of adventure with a family trail covering all corners of the museum. With new displays and narratives across its remarkable and spacious galleries, visitors do really become part ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Agostino Bonalumi 
Frank Bowling 
Not Vital 
Sophie Taeuber-Arp & Hans Arp: Cooperations â Collaborations
Flashback On a day like today, American artist Eva Hesse died May 29, 1970. Eva Hesse (January 11, 1936 - May 29, 1970), was a German-born American sculptor, known for her pioneering work in materials such as latex, fiberglass, and plastics. She is one of the artists who ushered in the postminimal art movement in the 1960s. In this image: No title, 1963. Ink, gouache, crayon, and graphite on paper, 22 1/2 x 28 1/2 inches. Private collection.
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