| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Saturday, November 16, 2019 |
| | | Städel Museum exhibits drawings from Max Beckmann to Gerhard Richter | |
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Exhibition view "Great Realism & Great Abstraction" Photo: Städel Museum - Norbert Miguletz.
FRANKFURT.- Distinguished by the fast pace of scientific discoveries and technical developments, radical breaks in society and politics and the convulsions of two world wars, and seemingly reconciled by the reunification of the divided country, the twentieth century in Germany was contradictory, polyphonic and extreme. Those adjectives also characterize its art: it was a century of avant-gardes, artists associations and unyielding individuality. This broad artistic spectrum can be described by the two poles Wassily Kandinsky referred to in 1911 as fundamental for modernism: great realism and great abstraction, the representational and the non-representational. Sometimes a pair of opposites, sometimes a synthesis, these two complements together form a leitmotif that unites the nearly 1,800 works of German twentieth-century draughtsmanship in the collection of the Städel Museums Department of Pr ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day The entrance to the new Vagina Museum in Camden market, north London on November 14, 2019. Isabel INFANTES / AFP
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| | London's new Vagina Museum: education, not titillation | | St Mark's closed as Venice faces more floods | | At Sotheby's, it was 'no froth, no excitement.' That's the new normal |
A visitor looks at a line of vagina themed bunting during the press preview of the new Vagina Museum in Camden market, north London on November 14, 2019. Isabel INFANTES / AFP.
LONDON (AFP).- Reykjavik has its penis museum and from this weekend London will have a vagina museum -- a place to tackle taboos and learn a little bit more about women's bodies. In the heart of Camden, a tourist centre and hub of alternative culture in the north of the British capital, the sign for the "Vagina Museum" on an old barn door attracts a few curious glances. Nestled between shops selling vintage clothes and souvenirs, it is the first permanent museum in the world dedicated to this part of the female anatomy. "I found out there was a penis museum and no vagina equivalent, so I made it," said founder Florence Schechter, a science communicator. Far from being a cabinet of curiosities, the little museum intends to be instructive, with its first goal to expose myths around the vagina. Some of the claims displayed and then debunked are that "if you use a tampon you are no longer a virgin", "periods are dirty" ... More | |
A general view shows a woman walking across the flooded St. Mark's Square, by St. Mark's Basilica (Rear) on November 15, 2019 in Venice, two days after the city suffered its highest tide in 50 years. Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP.
VENICE (AFP).- Another exceptional high tide swamped flood-hit Venice on Friday, prompting the mayor to order St Mark's square closed after Italy declared a state of emergency for the UNESCO city. Luigi Brugnaro ordered the iconic square closed as the latest sea surge of around 1.6 metres (over five feet) struck and strong storms and winds battered the region -- lower than Tuesday's peak but still dangerous. "I'm forced to close the square to avoid health risks for citizens... a disaster," Brugnaro said. Churches, shops and homes in the city of canals have been inundated by unusually intense "acqua alta", or high water, which on Tuesday hit their highest level in half a century. "We've destroyed Venice, we're talking about one billion (euros) in damage and that's just from the other day, not today," Brugnaro said, as far-right leader Matteo Salvini joined the list of politicians to ... More | |
On Tuesday night, Sothebys saw a 40% drop in its impressionist and modern art sales compared with the equivalent sale last May. Courtesy Sotheby's.
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- If French Israeli telecommunications entrepreneur Patrick Drahi, who bought Sothebys in June in a deal worth $3.7 billion, needed proof that auctions are unlike any other business, he got a clear introduction to that reality during this weeks unpredictable sales. On Tuesday night, Sothebys saw a 40% drop in its impressionist and modern art sales compared with the equivalent sale last May. By Thursday, the auction house was heartened by the $270.6 million total of its contemporary art sale although that, too, was 28% lower than the spring total. To drive home the fickleness of the salesroom, Christies, on Wednesday, achieved an auction high for an Ed Ruscha work, fetching $52.5 million for the Prince of Pops 1964 word painting Hurting the Word Radio #2. The following night, Sothebys, on the other hand, couldnt even manage to sell Ruschas egg yolk on silk, She Gets Angry At Him, from the ... More |
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| | mumok opens an exhibition dedicated exclusively to Eva Hesse's works on paper | | Antony Gormley's Field for the British Isles opens in Colchester | | Exhibition unveils some of the highlights of a major joint acquisition |
Eva Hesse, No title, 1960. Gouache, india ink, and ink on paper, 13 ⅝ à 10 ⁹∕₁₆ in., 34.6 à 26.8 cm Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH. Anonymous Gift to the Eva Hesse Archives, 1982.105.44 © The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth.
VIENNA.- Crazy like machines, forms larger and bolderthis was how Eva Hesse (* 1936 in Hamburg; 1970 in New York) described a recently completed group of drawings in a letter to her artist friend Sol LeWitt in 1965. She was referring to her so-called mechanical drawings, which seem to depict details of technical devices and at the same time have an eerily bodily airas if one were offered a glance into the inner workings of a mysteriously mechanical organism. Hesse created these drawings during a prolonged stay in the German town of Kettwig an der Ruhr (today a borough of Essen) in 1964/65, which was to go down in art history as a period of transformation. ... More | |
Antony Gormley, Field for the British Isles, 1993. Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London © the artist. Acquired in 1995 with the assistance of the Art Fund and The Henry Moore Foundation.
COLCHESTER.- The renowned Field for the British Isles, by Antony Gormley has come to Firstsite. Field for The British Isles, which consists of 40,000 tiny individual terracotta figures, is the largest single artwork in the Arts Council Collection and its arrival in Colchester heralds the latest stage in the journey of this spectacular piece. Gormley, who won the Turner Prize in 1994 after this work was created, currently has a major solo exhibition at The Royal Academy. But it is at Colchesters Firstsite that arguably his most famous, iconic and beloved sculpture will reside, for the next four months. Field for The British Isles was made by Gormley in 1993 from a mountain of brick clay with over 100 volunteers who were invited to find their own form for each figure following three ... More | |
A Shetland Crofter.
EDINBURGH.- An exceptional collection of historic photographs that captures a century of life in Scotland will be showcased in a special exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) in collaboration with the National Library of Scotland this autumn, with a plan to tour the collection to three venues around Scotland in 2020/21. Acquired jointly with assistance from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Scottish Government and Art Fund, Scotlands Photograph Album: The MacKinnon Collection celebrates Scottish life and identity from the 1840s through to the 1940s. The collection, which was acquired by photography enthusiast Murray MacKinnon, began when he ran a successful chain of film-processing stores in the 1980s, starting from his pharmacy in Dyce, near Aberdeen. Showcasing a century of dramatic transformation and innovation, the exhibition features more than 100 selected images from ... More |
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| | White Cube announces representation of Kaari Upson | | Souls Grown Deep announces four new museum acquisition agreements | | Don't call Tara Subkoff an 'it' girl |
Kaari Upson. Photo: Dean Podmore.
LONDON.- White Cube announced representation of Los Angeles-based artist Kaari Upson (b. 1972, San Bernadino, California). The wide-ranging practice of Kaari Upson, encompassing sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, performance and video, explores the cause and effect of psychological trauma, both personal and collective, to create what Lisa Philips has described as open-ended, circuitous narratives that weave elements of fantasy, physical and psychological trauma. Growing up in West coast America where wildfires, earthquakes and crime were a constant threat, Upson has mined the anticipation of imminent catastrophe, and its aftermath, in works with unsettling acuity. Drawing on psychoanalytic discourse of the 20th century, she explores her past by using objects from her personal environment such as discarded sofas or mattresses, Pepsi cans, a knitted blanket or a childhood memento. By transforming them ... More | |
Thornton Dial, Trip to the Mountaintop, 2004. Wood, clothing, wire screen, rope, steel, wire, and plastic, 132 x 86 x 51 in. Toledo Museum of Art Museum purchase and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation © Estate of Thornton Dial / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image: Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio / Art Resource, NY.
ATLANTA, GA.- Souls Grown Deep announced today that four museums are acquiring works from its foremost collection of artworks by artists from the African American South: the Asheville Art Museum, Henry Art Gallery, Toledo Museum of Art, and The Baltimore Museum of Art(pending BMAs formal acquisition process and board approval). Souls Grown Deep provides the museums with these preeminent works through a combination gift/purchase agreement, furthering the organizations commitment to strengthening the presentation of African American artists from the Southern United States in the permanent collections of leading museums around the world. With the ... More | |
Tara Subkoff at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Nov. 6, 2019. The actress, artist, movie director and designer traces her road to self-discovery at the newly reopened MoMA. Karsten Moran/The New York Times.
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Dan Flavins outsize light sculpture looked like a luminous frame. Not one to miss an opportunity, Tara Subkoff posed strategically in front of it, its rectangular shape and pastel fluorescence complementing the candied pink of her Simone Rocha dress. Theres an optimism to this piece, Subkoff said. That suited her. Im the kind of person who sees the glass as half full. Subkoff, 46, had paused for a closer look at the Flavin, her first stop on a serpentine tour of the new Museum of Modern Art on a recent Wednesday. The space, opened up and chicly redone, was a fitting setting. An actress, artist and, in an earlier life, unregenerate gadabout, Subkoff seemed intent on presenting the world with a shiny, self-assured and elegantly gift-wrapped version of herself. She had ... More |
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| | Asian collectors compete for American Abstraction in Sotheby's Contemporary Art Evening Auction | | A rich imagination: Madhvi Parekh, an artist for today | | A $4 U.S gold coin sells for $204,000 |
Kerry James Marshall, Vignette 19. Signed with the artist's initials and dated 2014. Acrylic on PVC, 71 3/4 by 60 in. 182.2 by 152.4 cm. Estimate $6.5/7.5 million. Sold for $ 18,488,000.
NEW YORK, NY.- Exceptional works by Charles White and Norman Lewis were offered for the first time in a Contemporary Art Evening Auction at Sothebys, and both works achieved new world auction record prices. The auction opened with a four-minute bidding battle between at least six bidders for Whites Ye Shall Inherit the Earth, which achieved $1.8 million (estimate $500/700,000). Embodying Whites social activism, the work depicts Rosa Lee Ingram, an African-American woman who became the subject of one of the most explosive capital punishment cases in American history in the late 1940s. The work was included in all three locations of the artists recent museum retrospective across the United States. And following a competition between at least eight bidders, Lewiss Ritual fetched $2.8 million (estimate ... More | |
Fantasy (Under Sea), 1979, oil on canvas, 42.0 x 36.0 in._106.7x91.4 cm.
NEW YORK, NY.- Madhvi Parekhs art embodies an intuition of significance that is wholly relevant to a world in the grip of a global ecological crisis. She is an artist for our times. Susanne Langer, whose path-breaking work on aesthetics is again enjoying currency, thought that in a successful work of art "symbolic form, symbolic function, and symbolized import are all telescoped into one experience, a perception of beauty and an intuition of significance." Look at Parekhs paintings. You will see, possibly in a flash, that they exemplify Langers great insight. Madhvi Parekh was born and grew up in Sanjaya, a village in the Indian state of Gujarat. Her father was simultaneously headmaster and a teacher at the local school and, in parallel, the village postmaster and apothecary. A devotee of Mahatma Gandhi, he spoke about the great Indian leaders ideas and actions to fellow villagers and members of his family. As ... More | |
The 1879 $4 Gold Stella worth roughly $200,000.
SANTA ANA, CA.- Numismatic auction powerhouse Stacks Bowers Galleries just sold an ultra-rare 1879 400 cent piece known as the $4 Gold Stella at the Whitman Baltimore Winter Expo at the Baltimore Convention Center for $204,000. The Gold Stella was produced to the standards of the Latin Monetary Union established in Europe in the mid 19th Century. This Union instituted a bimetallic gold and silver standard at a fixed ratio of 15-1/2 to 1, using the Napoleonic franc of 1803 as its basis. The Latin Monetary Union (LMU) was initially established between Belgium, France, Italy, and Switzerland, but was soon joined by many other continental European nations. Through the Union, one franc would be equivalent to one lira, peseta, leva, or drachma and easily exchangeable within the member nations. The Union proved to be successful and lasted until its dissolution in 1927. In many ways, the LMU was a precursor to the modern European Union founded in ... More |
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Ansel Adams: Pioneering Photographer of the American West | Christie's
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Sotheby's and RM Sotheby's online only: Nissan Figaro brings $51,750
NEW YORK, NY.- Sothebys and RM Sothebys concluded their sixth successful Online Only collector car auction with the sale of a no-reserve, retro-styled 1991 Nissan Figaro for a final $51,750 on 14 November, surpassing its pre-sale estimate of $35,000 - $45,000. Offered through Sotheby's digital auction platform, the car drew strong bidding activity from multiple bidders in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Asia. Holding the unique distinction of being driven by Jerry Seinfeld on the popular Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee series, the charming city car comes to its new owner in wonderful condition throughout, finished in Pale Aqua, believed to be one of just 3,989 Figaros in this color and showing just over 9,000 km on the odometer. Sothebys and RM Sothebys continue the Online ... More
Dia appoints Donna De Salvo as Senior Adjunct Curator, Special Projects
NEW YORK, NY.- Dia Art Foundation announced today that Donna De Salvo has been appointed as Senior Adjunct Curator, Special Projects. A noted scholar of Andy Warhol, De Salvo previously held the position of Curator at Dia in the 1980s and brings with her a wealth of knowledge about Dias history and mission. De Salvo most recently served as Deputy Director of International Initiatives and Senior Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she worked for over fifteen years and helped develop a distinct institutional vision as the Whitney moved into its new home in the meatpacking district. In this newly created, part-time position at Dia, De Salvo will provide specialized input on Dias collection, exhibitions, and long-term installations, collaborating closely with its curatorial ... More
Guggenheim Museum appoints Ashley James Associate Curator, Contemporary Art
NEW YORK, NY.- The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum announced the appointment of Ashley James as Associate Curator, Contemporary Art. James, whose work merges curatorial practice with an academic background rooted in African American studies, English literature, and womens, gender, and sexuality studies, began her new position on November 12. Nancy Spector, Artistic Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator, said, Ashley is a curator who has demonstrated incisive and intersectional thinking about contemporary artistic practice. Her work complements the Guggenheims mission to present the art of today, which we understand as a deep and expansive view of art history. We are pleased to welcome her to the Guggenheim and anticipate a strong ... More
Netflix to fix Holocaust documentary after Poland complains
WARSAW (AFP).- Netflix on Thursday said it would add information to a Holocaust documentary on Nazi German death camps that Poland said "rewrites history" because it features an "incorrect" map. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki earlier this week called on the popular US streaming and production website to correct the "terrible mistake" that he believed had been "committed unintentionally". A map featured in "The Devil Next Door" documentary wrongly shows death camps built by Nazi Germany during World War II inside the borders of modern-day Poland that were established only after the end of the war. In reality, Nazi Germany set up the camps inside territory it occupied following its September 1939 invasion and takeover of Poland. "In order to provide more information to ... More
City Art Centre presents Beneath the Surface featuring work by nine contemporary artists based in Scotland
EDINBURGH.- This winter the City Art Centre presents Beneath the Surface, a group exhibition featuring work by nine contemporary artists based in Scotland - Sara Brennan, Michael Craik, Eric Cruikshank, Kenneth Dingwall, Callum Innes, Alan Johnston, James Lumsden, Karlyn Sutherland and Andrea Walsh. Each of them articulates a minimalist aesthetic through abstraction in their work, which ranges from drawings, paintings and constructions to ceramics, glass and tapestry. Eschewing narrative and observed reality, their artworks have an economy of gesture in common - a limited tonal palette or a monochrome colour plane. The surface of any artwork is often the most readily accessible component. However, what lies behind or beneath the surface often deserves ... More
International fashion exhibition opens at TextielMuseum this autumn
TILBURG.- From Chanel to Dior to Valentino, lace has been a source of inspiration for countless prestigious fashion houses. The TextielMuseum presents the international exhibition The Art of Lace | Haute Couture from Chanel to Iris van Herpen, featuring creations by the worlds most renowned names in fashion. Opening on 16 November, the exhibition portrays the innovative power of French Leavers lace and was previously on show in Calais. The visitor is given a behind-the-scenes look at lacemakers and couturiers: from the design and manufacture to the finished product, ready for the catwalk. The show includes almost 50 one-of-a-kind items by fashion greats Alberta Ferretti, Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Iris van Herpen, Louis Vuitton, Maison Margiela, Schiaparelli ... More
Little-seen Norman Cornish sketchbooks displayed at Durham University
DURHAM.- Little-seen sketchbooks by Norman Cornish will offer an intimate insight into the work and mind of the acclaimed North East artist when a new exhibition celebrating the centenary of his birth opens this month. Norman Cornish: The Sketchbooks will be at Palace Green Library, Durham University, from Saturday 16 November until February 2020. Norman Cornish was born in Spennymoor, County Durham, and worked as a coal miner for 33 years before becoming a full-time artist in 1966. His artworks documenting life in the Countys pit villages are both critically acclaimed and hugely popular. Before his death in 2014, Mr Cornish said he hoped his sketchbooks would have a life of their own and be of interest to people. His studio, at his home in Spennymoor, contained 269 sketchbooks ... More
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art opens first major UK survey of works by Judy Chicago
GATESHEAD.- In her 80th birthday year, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead announced it will present the first major UK survey of works by pioneering feminist artist, author and educator Judy Chicago. Opening Saturday 16 November, the exhibition will span Chicagos fifty-year career, from her early smoke performance actions in the desert in the 1970s, to her most recent series, The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction (201318), which has not been previously shown outside of the US. Judy Chicago explores Chicagos work from the perspective of the human condition, connecting birth and death with the emotional journeys experienced by the artist whilst highlighting Chicagos ongoing concern with the devastating effects of climate change on the natural world. The ... More
Natural and supernatural worlds collide at the Royal Ontario Museum
TORONTO.- Discover the fascinating science lurking beneath the surface of history's most enduring legends at the Royal Ontario Museum this fall with Bloodsuckers: Legends to Leeches. Vampire bats and birds, live leeches and lampreys, and more of natures most bloodthirsty animals star in this ROM-original exhibition, debuting Saturday, November 16, 2019. Bloodsuckers explores the unique intersection between science and culture, fact and fantasy, said Josh Basseches, Director & CEO, ROM. Through the ROMs own collections, this compelling exhibition unlocks the deep connections between the world of bloodfeeding animals, and their uncanny ability to fire peoples imaginations. I cant wait for visitors to see it. Blood is a vital life source for humans, and an abundant food source ... More
Babe Ruth's Dodgers coaching uniform sold for $187,500 at Julien's Auctions
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Juliens Auctions held A Southern Gentlemans Collection: The Personal Property of Goodman Basil Espy III, M.D. event today Thursday, November 14 in Beverly Hills, CA in front of a spirited audience of collectors, sports fans and bidders live on the floor, online and on the phone with the presence of Doctor Espy himself who joined the crowd at Juliens gallery in Beverly Hills. Over 400 historic sports artifacts from the worlds of baseball, basketball, hockey and beyond from Atlanta born renowned collector and doctor, Goodman Basil Espy III, M.D., who personally procured over a lifetime this distinguished and private collection, hit the auction block. Todays event also included the sale of his spectacular 150 lot collection of items from the life and career of Marilyn Monroe ... More
Banderas opens his Malaga theatre with 'A Chorus Line'
MALAGA (AFP).- Hollywood star Antonio Banderas throws open the doors of his own theatre in his hometown of Malaga in southern Spain on Friday, with an inaugural performance of "A Chorus Line". When the curtain goes up, the musical will be the first work shown at the Teatro del Soho, a former cinema which has been completely revamped by the 59-year-old actor, who like Picasso, was born and raised in Malaga. The musical, which will be performed entirely in Spanish, was specially chosen by Banderas, who in May won best actor at the Cannes film festival for his role in Pedro Almodovar's "Pain and Glory" in which he played the celebrated director's alter ego. A Broadway hit dating back to 1975, the story focuses on a group of aspiring dancers as they audition for a ... More
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Live Forever
Flashback On a day like today, The Hoxne Hoard was discovered by metal detectorist Eric Lawes November 16, 1992. The Hoxne Hoard is the largest hoard of late Roman silver and gold discovered in Britain, and the largest collection of gold and silver coins of the fourth and fifth century found anywhere within the Roman Empire. Found by a metal detectorist in the village of Hoxne in Suffolk, England, on 16 November 1992, the hoard consists of 14,865 Roman gold, silver and bronze coins from the late fourth and early fifth centuries, and approximately 200 items of silver tableware and gold jewellery.
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